Make what you will of No. 15 Alabama’s 34-0 win against No. 17 Missouri.
This month has reinforced that no game is a given for the Crimson Tide, who in the past few weeks have sandwiched a narrow win against South Carolina with losses to No. 25 Vanderbilt and No. 8 Tennessee. After those two losses placed them on the brink of erasure from the College Football Playoff picture, topping the Tigers keeps the Tide on track for at-large contention in November.
And doing while keeping the Tigers off the board gives Alabama a nice boost of credibility with the playoff rankings set to debut one week from Tuesday.
There’s another thing we’ve learned in SEC play: Missouri is not a real contender. Half of the Tigers’ six wins have come against Murray State, Buffalo and Massachusetts. The others are nip-and-tuck wins against Boston College, Vanderbilt and last week against Auburn. At very few points has Missouri resembled a team to take seriously in the SEC race.
That makes it difficult to make any grand takeaways for Alabama other than the importance of avoiding a fatal loss against an overmatched opponent.
But that alone is worth noting. The Tide took the Commodores lightly and suffered a humiliating loss. They messed around with South Carolina. They were irresponsible with the football against the Volunteers.
Alabama reversed that trend by capitalizing on Missouri’s turnovers. Any chance the Tigers had to score a road disintegrated once injured starting quarterback Brady Cook was replaced by backup and former Notre Dame transfer Drew Pyne, who threw three interceptions in relief.
A run-heavy game plan saw four players run for at least 48 yards and Alabama run for 271 yards and four scores as a team. The Tide had gained a combined 263 yards on 2.8 yards per carry in the past three games.
Amid maybe the program’s roughest months in a generation, the rout helps Alabama turn the page on October and look toward the next do-or-die matchup in SEC play. After an off week, the Tide travel to No. 7 LSU on Nov. 9.
Alabama, Notre Dame and Ohio State lead Saturday’s winners and losers:
Winners
Notre Dame
Facing a ranked opponent for the third time this season — following earlier wins against Texas A&M and Louisville — No. 11 Notre Dame took advantage of Navy’s carelessness and rolled over the No. 24 Midshipmen in an impressive 51-14 win. Given this opportunity against an unbeaten opponent in the thick of the Group of Five’s playoff race, the Fighting Irish made a statement: Riley Leonard had 261 yards of offense and three scores, the running game finished with 265 yards on 6.6 yards per carry and the defense forced six turnovers.
Oregon
Oregon has pushed the pedal down and built on this month’s thrilling win against No. 4 Ohio State. After blanking Purdue last Friday, the Ducks bullied No. 21 Illinois in a 38-9 win that cements their place as the No. 1 team in the US LBM Coaches Poll. Coming off an impressive victory against Michigan, Illinois’ troubles began on the opening drive — an 83-yard touchdown march that set the tone for the afternoon — and didn’t get much better from there, as Oregon racked up 527 yards of offense, held the Illini out of the end zone until the end of the third quarter and continued to look like the team to beat in the Big Ten. Dillon Gabriel had another three touchdowns passes for the Ducks, giving him multiple scores in every game this season.
North Carolina
The clock may still be ticking on Mack Brown’s second tenure at North Carolina, but a 41-14 win against Virginia rights the ship on the heels of a four-game losing streak and puts the Tar Heels back on track for a bowl bid. Defensively, UNC gave up only 288 yards of offense after allowing 41.5 points per game during the losing streak, including 70 points to James Madison and 41 points last week against Georgia Tech. The Tar Heels had 10 sacks, forced a pair of turnovers and held the Cavaliers to just 7 yards on 29 carries.
Tulane
After competitive losses to No. 16 Kansas State and Oklahoma in non-conference play, Tulane has moved back into the playoff picture with four wins in a row in the American Athletic. The latest, 45-37 at North Texas, might be the Green Wave’s best of the year. To do so, Tulane had to hold off a late rally by the Mean Green, who trailed 45-24 after the third quarter but made things interesting with two scores in the fourth. While No. 19 Boise State remains in the driver’s seat after Friday night’s win at UNLV, the Green Wave are positioning themselves to take advantage should the Broncos trip on the way to the Mountain West championship.
Brigham Young
No. 12 BYU continues to prove the doubters wrong and make a completely unexpected push for an unbeaten regular season. After last week’s escape against Oklahoma State, the Cougars had a much easier time in a 37-24 win at Central Florida that included 266 yards of offense and three touchdowns from quarterback Jake Retzlaff. You may not totally buy into the Cougars as a legitimate playoff team; if so, you’re not entirely alone. But we all have to admit that this schedule makes that a real possibility: BYU takes on Utah, Kansas, Arizona State and Houston in November.
Losers
Ohio State
The Buckeyes’ 21-17 win against Nebraska should raise an eyebrow. This is a Nebraska team that lost 56-7 to No. 13 Indiana last weekend and went into Saturday as roughly 25-point underdogs. That the Cornhuskers got back on track and even led Ohio State 17-14 in the fourth quarter may be a building-block moment for second-year coach Matt Rhule. But given where things stand for a program still crawling back toward relevancy, that the Buckeyes were nearly knocked off at home in their first game since losing to the Ducks doesn’t necessarily bode well for next week’s huge matchup at No. 3 Penn State. Though a big scare as a heavy favorite at home might be what Ohio State needs to get jumpstarted before facing the Nittany Lions.
Oklahoma
For one half against No. 18 Mississippi, Brent Venables’ decision to replace offensive coordinator Seth Littrell seemed to have worked: Oklahoma had 235 yards of offense, including 125 yards on the ground, and led the Rebels 14-10. The Sooners would gain just 94 yards and fail to score a single point the rest of the way, though, in a 26-14 loss that illustrates the limits of what a midseason coaching change can achieve given the team’s lack of punch on that side of the ball. One positive was the careful play of quarterback Jackson Arnold, who had multiple touchdowns without an interception for the first time since the opener against Temple.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football Week 9 winners and losers: Alabama, Notre Dame lead
