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Week 9 of college football for the 2023 season is now in the books.
To say the least there was no shortage of excitement as there were big moments happening all around the league. There were even a few upsets that had college football fans scratching their heads. All of this is what makes college football so special.
Additionally, the College Football Rankings Committee issues their first ranking of the year tomorrow so from now on every important game for each team will have more weight to it.
No. 6 Oklahoma stunned by Kansas
The Oklahoma Sooners came into this past Saturday still undefeated on the year with a huge win over Texas a couple weeks ago. That signature win secured them to be in the conversation for a possible playoff appearance. Now that journey has gotten extremely more difficult.
Oklahoma and Kansas went back and forth the entire game not letting each other breathe. Even with 21 unanswered points by Oklahoma during the 2nd quarter, the Jayhawks kept it in close distance. In the end, Kansas made the big plays when Oklahoma couldn’t.
With only 55 seconds left in the game, Devin Neal ran for the go-ahead touchdown that totaled his day at 112 yards. With a chance to save their undefeated season Oklahoma’s prayer was not answered as QB Dillon Gabriel was unable to complete the rare “Hail Mary”. The Final score was 38-33.
Oklahoma’s Coach Brent Venables had this to say about the team’s loss.
“Turned the ball over, penalties — the timing of all of it was really poor.”
Oklahoma had 3 turnovers and 101 yards worth of penalties.
No. 8 Oregon Stays in Pac 12 Race
Bo Nix continues to prove that he isn’t a fluke. The transfer quarterback was not well received during his time with his former team Auburn, but now the script has changed.
He is now a Heisman Candiadte and has his team on the outside looking in on a possible playoff appearance. This past Saturday against an always good Utah defense, he accounted for 3 touchdowns and 248 yards in the air.
The Oregon defense played lights out as well, as they only allowed Utah to score 6 points. Utah QB Bryson Barnes struggled as he only threw for 136 yards and two interceptions.
College Gameday was in attendance for this game and the Oregon Ducks put on a show even after the hype in Salt Lake City.
https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1718299197886398830
No. 18 Louisville Shuts out No. 20 Duke
In a top 20 matchup, Louisville handled business against ACC opponent Duke.
BIG HOME W 😤
The first shutout over a ranked opponent in program history!#GoCards pic.twitter.com/sPad49Lptz
— Louisville Football (@LouisvilleFB) October 28, 2023
Louisville ran all over duke this past Saturday. The ground-and-pound attack went for a total of 234 yards while the passing attack only went for 117. The Cardinals found a way to control the game the whole way through even on a stingy Duke defense.
The Duke offense could not find life as they have been dealing with injuries all season long. QB Riley Leanord has been dealing with his ankle injury all season long but now Duke has injuries to their tight end and offensive tackle.
Even with injuries, head coach Mike Elko pointed no fingers on the players.
“Everything we tried, we didn’t try the right things, because none of it seemed to work,” he said. “So, I don’t put it on Riley. I put it on us as a staff, and we’ve got to figure out how to be better.”
