College Football Recap: Bama Stunned In College Station, Iowa Passes Biggest Test
Not all loaded college football slates deliver. Week six of the college football season delivered, and in a big way.
In the wildest weekend so far this season, No. 1 Alabama ended their 100-game winning streak to unranked opponents, No. 3 Iowa passed their biggest test of the season, and Oklahoma somehow found a way to rally in the Red River Rivalry.
And that’s just some of the craziness that occurred on Saturday.
Let’s take a look at the best from week six of the college football season.
Oklahoma completes largest comeback in history of rivalry
The Red River Rivalry always gives us a game. It’s college football at its finest with 90,000 fans split between the two teams selling out the Cotton Bowl. It’s simply special.
We had no idea just how special the 117th meeting between the two schools would be.
Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks broke free for a 33-yard score with three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to break a 48-48 tie, and the Sooners completed the largest comeback in the history of the series with a 55-48 instant classic.
KENNEDY BROOKS CALLS GAME ‼️‼️
OKLAHOMA COMES BACK TO WIN AN INSTANT CLASSIC ‼️😤
(🎥 @espn)
— 247Sports (@247Sports) October 9, 2021
It was a tale of two halves, with Steve Sarkisian’s offense looking unstoppable after jumping out to a 28-7 lead in the first quarter, taking a 38-20 lead into the locker room. But preseason Heisman favorite Spencer Rattler was benched in favor of the true freshman quarterback Caleb Williams at the end of the second quarter, sparking the Sooners offense.
“Spencer was seeing some things that we missed early that weren’t on him,” Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley said. “The big thing to me was the turnovers. We made a mental error on the first [interception] and obviously the fumble.”
Williams was 16-25 on the day, throwing for 212 yards and two touchdowns, including a 52-yarder to Marvin Mims on third-and-19 midway through the fourth quarter that evened the score for the first time since kickoff. Texas and OU traded touchdown’s before Brooks put a cap on the epic game.
“That’s why it’s the best rivalry in college football,” Riley said. “The best setting. It was awesome, man. As good as I’ve ever seen.”
Ole Miss makes final stop to survive against Arkansas
1,287 yards and 14 touchdowns. This is what the offenses for Ole Miss and Arkansas did on Saturday.
Right around the same time as Oklahoma was completing their incredible comeback against Texas, the Razorbacks and Rebels were playing in their own barn burner.
Mississippi ran for 324 yards on the ground, and quarterback Matt Corral threw for two touchdowns, including a 68-yard TD to Braylon Sanders to give Ole Miss the lead with 1:07 left in the fourth quarter.
“My number was called and I’m supposed to make plays,” Sanders said. “It was a double move and I was able to sell it and run by the defensive back. After that, I knew Matt would see me open. Our defense really stopped up to get the stop at the end.”
Corral was fantastic all game long, rushing for 94 yards and two scores to go along with his two touchdowns in the air.
The game came down to whichever defense could make a play, and it was the Rebels defense that came up big in the end.
With Arkansas down seven with 1:07 on the clock, quarterback KJ Jefferson led the Razorbacks on a 9-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a 9-yard touchdown pass to Warren Thompson with no time left. Arkansas had the option of sending the game into overtime with an extra point, but Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman went for the win, drawing up a two-point conversion that fell flat.
The final play and best play the Ole Miss defense made all day.
In one of the wildest rivalries in the country, Ole Miss outlasts Arkansas.
🎥 @OleMissNoProb
🎙 @RebVoice pic.twitter.com/4apKRGQrqd— Brad Logan (@BradLoganCOTE) October 10, 2021
“We had three options on the two-point play,” Pittman said. “We could pitch, pass or run and we felt confident. They made the play.”
“We stopped them on one play in the second half, so I guess that’s a good thing,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said.
Iowa takes down Penn State at Kinnick Stadium
It was the biggest game in Iowa City since 1985, and it didn’t disappoint.
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford left the game in the second quarter with an injury, and backup quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson simply couldn’t get the Penn State offense moving in the second half as Iowa won 23-20 in a thriller.
Roberson was 7-21 for 34 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns on the day.
Iowa’s offense wasn’t exactly impressive themselves, but the Hawkeyes took the lead on a 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Spencer Petras to Nico Ragaini with 6:26 to go in the fourth quarter.
TOUCHDOWN HAWKEYES 🔥
Nico Ragaini comes up HUGE for @HawkeyeFootball pic.twitter.com/COYqsyeR9T
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 9, 2021
“This was like the biggest of the big-time, which was pretty awesome,” Ragaini said. “You don’t get moments like this every day, taking advantage of the opportunity. It was a mentally draining game for sure, and physically draining.”
“On the sideline was so emotionally drained that almost teared up out there because we care about each other so much. We all want each other to succeed.”
Iowa’s defense turned over Penn State four times — all interceptions — and punter Tory Taylor pinned the Nittany Lions deep in their own zone time and time again to remain in the College Football Playoff conversation.
“It’s a pretty special place when the lights go on and the sun goes down,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said after the fans rushed the field.
Bama Stunned in College Station
Have you ever wondered why Alabama head coach Nick Saban never seems totally pleased with his team? It’s because he coaches college football, and anything can happen on any given Saturday.
Texas A&M stunned No. 1 Alabama in College Station on a 28-yard field goal as time expired, ending Alabama’s 100-game winning streak against ranked opponents with a 41-38 victory.
Final: Texas A&M 41, No. 1 Alabama 38.
Fans rush the field and head straight for @ZachCalzada pic.twitter.com/Bkh49XmJxk
— 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕤 𝕃. 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟 (@Travis_L_Brown) October 10, 2021
“I’m proud of our guys,” Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher said. “We made plays at critical times.”
Alabama made some uncharacteristic mistakes, including giving up a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and an interception by quarterback Bryce Young at the Aggies 2-yard line.
“Hopefully we’ll learn a lot from this,” Saban said. “We still can accomplish everything we want to accomplish, but we have to do things better than we did tonight. We have to play better, we have to be more consistent, we have to finish drives, we have to get more turnovers on defense, we have to get more stops on defense. There are a lot of things we need to fix.”
Quarterback Zach Calzada was brilliant after struggling in A&M’s previous two games, throwing for 285 yards and three touchdowns, including a 25-yard throw to Ainias Smith with three minutes to play that tied the score at 38.
“Very proud of Zach,” Fisher said. “He’s a high-character young man. It matters to him. It means something to him, and he’s gotten better each week he’s played.”
The win for Fisher is the first time one of Saban’s former assistants has beaten him head-to-head.
Other scores:
No. 2 Georgia 34 No. 18 Auburn 10
No. 9 Michigan 32 Nebraska 29
Boise State 26 No. 10 BYU 17
No. 16 Kentucky 42 LSU 21
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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