College Football Booms and Busts From Week 9: Oregon, South Carolina, Oklahoma and More

October 31, 2023

Steve's list of booms and busts from Week 9. Which teams unexpectedly boomed in Week 9? Which programs fell flat? Read the Week 9 college football review.

You know you are approaching the peak of a college football season when drama is everywhere you turn. We are not just talking about in-game drama, either. We mean the type of drama where arguably the best team in the country is in the middle of a cheating scandal so messy that the future of the head coach is up in the air. There is always something going on in college football, making it a twelve-month sport. 

As for the on-field drama, there is no shortage of that either. Just when you thought Oklahoma was steamrolling toward a playoff appearance, Kansas pumps the brakes on the Sooners. Just when you started to believe that Utah had a chance to three-peat in the Pac-12, they got blown out at home, and that dream came crashing down. Each passing week tells us how little we truly know about what will happen over the remainder of the season. 

While some teams are starting to see their playoff and conference championship hopes end, others are using the second half of the season to salvage the 2023 campaign. As previously noted, college football success isn’t linear, and resilient teams just might get paid off with an unexpected bowl trip for the holiday season. Now it's time to look at our booms and busts for Week 9.

College Football Booms From Week 9

Oregon Ducks

Oregon showed they might be the class of the PAC-12 on Saturday. Yes, they lost at Washington a couple of weeks ago, but that game could have gone either way, and Oregon will likely be favored in a neutral-field rematch.

Bo Nix has the Ducks rolling over Utah 🦆
pic.twitter.com/oqE45O7udl

— Odds Shark (@OddsShark) October 28, 2023

The Ducks dismantled a Utah team that does not lose at Rice-Eccles Stadium. This one was over in the second quarter as Oregon posted another convincing win. Once the smoke clears, look for the Ducks to be the first PAC-12 Playoff team since 2016. 

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech has had quite the month of October. Two wins over Top-20 teams, including a victory Saturday over North Carolina, has the Yellow Jackets at 4-4. Second-year coach Brent Key has his squad believing they can get to a bowl game and take a monumental step as a program.

HAYNES KING WINS IT! GEORGIA TECH STUNS #17 NORTH CAROLINA pic.twitter.com/UJOvb6EASX

— College Football Report (@CFBRep) October 29, 2023

It won’t be easy as they still have to play Georgia and Clemson, but Georgia Tech has very winnable games versus Virginia and Syracuse still on the slate.

Northwestern Wildcats

What can you say about Northwestern? A few weeks before Big Ten media days, Evanston’s favorite son, Pat Fitzgerald, was fired after 17 years as head coach due to fallout from a hazing scandal. The Wildcats, coming off a 1-11 season, were already projected to struggle in 2023, and then they were left for dead. A funny thing has happened under interim coach David Braun, Northwestern has won some football games.

No one told these guys that they were supposed to fold the tent. With their victory over Maryland on Saturday, Northwestern evened their record and has a real shot at six or seven wins this season. That would be considered a monumental success by just about everyone. 

College Football Busts From Week 9

Oklahoma Sooners

Everything was going so well for Oklahoma. They beat arch-rival Texas in the Red River Showdown. They escaped a tight game against UCF to remain undefeated. The bounce-back season by coach Brent Venables was quite the story in Norman. All they had to do next was stroll into Kansas and beat a Jayhawk team relying on their backup quarterback.

JASON BEAN. KANSAS IS A FOOTBALL SCHOOL!!pic.twitter.com/7rksiCCIkf

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 28, 2023

Well, things do not always go as planned, as Kansas shocked the Sooners. It didn't feel like Oklahoma was good enough to run the table, and it won't be surprising to see them lose again this season.

Shane Beamer probably wants to put the 2023 season in the rearview as soon as possible. The Gamecocks are not good. They are 2-6 after another double-digit loss to Texas A&M and have not won a game in over a month.

Final - Carolina 17, Texas A&M 30

— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) October 28, 2023

All of this comes after starting the season with high expectations after a successful 2022 campaign. It appears that South Carolina will be home for the holidays and will be lucky to reach five wins. Beamer will survive this dreadful showing, but it does put pressure on the coach to right the ship for 2024.

Maryland Terrapins

Maryland, after a 5-0 start and an appearance on the Booms list a few weeks ago, has fallen off a cliff. Their loss to Northwestern Saturday was their third straight, and there might not be another win left on their schedule.

They close with home games against Penn State and Michigan and road tilts with Nebraska and Rutgers. Failing to reach bowl eligibility after a 5-0 start would be a monumental collapse and could warm coach Mike Locksley’s seat. The Terps must find a way to squeeze at least one more win from this brutal November schedule.

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