CFB Blitz: USC's rebound headlines Week 9 takeaways

The weekly CFB Blitz is the spot to catch up on the most important developments from the day's action and examine their significance moving forward.

Mosley leads USC rebound

Talk about pouring cold water on a hot seat. Lincoln Riley responded to his critics following the worst offensive showing of his career with the biggest victory of his USC tenure Saturday. While it was a total team effort from the Trojans, the most pivotal contributor versus Ohio State was Trent Mosley. The talented receiver announced his presence with a 69-yard touchdown on the opening drive.

He was at it again later in the first quarter with a 44-yard punt return. Tack on an Ohio State personal foul and USC got the ball at the Buckeyes' 31-yard line instead of its own 10. Mosley supplied yet more fireworks, taking an 18-yard completion to the Ohio State 14-yard line to set up another touchdown. It's hard enough to be a freshman quarterback making your first start on the road; when you're losing 14-3 after the first quarter, it's easy to see why Luke Fahey couldn't bring Ohio State back.

Mosley finished with five catches for 101 yards and the score, but he was the most important USC player in securing Riley's first top-five win with the program ... no matter how insane Mark Bowman's 70-yard catch-and-run was.

No Sayin, no explosions

OK, so Luke Fahey isn't Cardale Jones, and this isn't an encore performance of Ohio State's 2014 season. Jones stepped in for the injured J.T. Barrett that year and hung 59 points on Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game en route to a national championship. Now that we've established that, let's give Fahey his props for the freshman's fairly solid performance on the road. But the Buckeyes are going to have to adjust without Julian Sayin. In his absence, their offense is going to have to be plodding and methodical rather than keep trying to light up the skies.

Ohio State led the country in yards per attempt with Sayin at 10.6. Fahey finished with 275 yards on the day, and it took him 38 attempts to get there. Considering USC sat back in the fourth with a huge lead, it's probably fairest to look at Fahey's numbers through three quarters, which puts him at 6.6 yards per attempt. While USC recorded two completions of 65 yards or more, Ohio State's longest passing play was 39 yards. The running game also put up plenty of yards but required a ton of touches to do so, totaling 204 yards on 43 attempts.

The main thing Ryan Day needs to work on with his young quarterback ahead of Oregon's visit next week is red-zone offense. The Buckeyes consistently moved the ball on USC but were held to only field goals in the opening half. That needs to change if Ohio State is going to run the table and get back to the CFP.

Miami shows up for winning time

Countless college football games are decided in the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Miami saved its best for that stretch against North Carolina, rising over the upset-minded Tar Heels en route to a 38-35 final. A three-point victory doesn't jump off the screen as impressive, but look at the chaos that's hit the AP top 10 this season - any win is worth celebrating.

First, Mark Fletcher scored his third touchdown of the night - he'd already broken Miami's all-time record earlier Saturday with his 36th career score - to give the Hurricanes a three-point lead. Then the defense pitched in with a takeaway on a forced fumble of Billy Edwards Jr. to immediately regain possession. The line may not be as dominant as last year's group without Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr., but it's still capable of wrecking a game.

A Malachi Toney touchdown off the ensuing possession gave the Hurricanes a 10-point lead and put things out of reach to keep Miami unbeaten.

There was a period early in Mario Cristobal's Miami tenure when end-of-game scenarios were a roller-coaster ride for the fan base. However, he's clearly figured out how to prepare his team to rise to the occasion under the brightest lights - and the Hurricanes will need to do it again with a visit to Notre Dame looming.

History repeats for Nebraska

Nebraska fans will wake up tomorrow hoping that the last 90 seconds of Saturday's game were a nightmare, but the astonishing loss to Washington was very real - and all too familiar. It's the 40th time since 2018 that the Cornhuskers have dropped a one-score game. According to Page Six Previews, the closest power conference team in that span is Arkansas at 29. Even taking that history into account, this Nebraska setback was especially sickening.

Nebraska led 7-3 in the dying minutes of the fourth with Washington facing fourth-and-18 near midfield. The Huskies somehow converted with a 24-yard gain and found the end zone two plays later to take the lead. While that sucked the energy out of Memorial Stadium, the Cornhuskers still had plenty of time, and they only needed a field goal to tie. Well, there's a reason they've lost so many close games.

The pick-6 tacked onto the touchdown swiftly turned Nebraska's 7-3 lead into a 17-7 deficit. In a cruel twist, the Cornhuskers added a field goal with 30 seconds to play that made it - no surprise - a one-score margin of victory for Washington. Nebraska is now the only FBS team to lead in the fourth quarter of every game this season, and also the only team to lose three times after holding that advantage.

Old-school Big 12 shootout

If you grew up watching classic Big 12 shootouts, then Saturday's Iowa State-Oklahoma State matchup was a trip down memory lane. Both teams' defensive units opted out, allowing the offenses to light up the scoreboard for 60 minutes. The Cyclones eventually claimed a 51-49 victory with a walk-off field goal, but the final stats are eye-popping:

• 1,114 total yards and 100 combined points
• Six different touchdowns of at least 40 yards
• At least 21 points in every quarter; 34 in the fourth
• Two different non-quarterbacks with over 200 yards of total offense
• 8 touchdown passes, 2 interceptions

It's a consequential loss for the Cowboys, whose extremely faint playoff hopes were likely extinguished. Meanwhile, Iowa State remains one of the best stories in college football. The Cyclones are 4-4 despite losing more than 50 players to the transfer portal after Matt Campbell left to coach Penn State.

Best college kicking display ever

The finish to Indiana-Minnesota brought the Hoosiers a crucial eighth win on the season and will also force the retirement of many jokes about college kickers. Not one, but two 60-yard field goals in the final 24 seconds of regulation sent the contest to overtime.

The back-to-back 60-yarders marked the first time since the 1899 season that the Big Ten has had more than one kick of at least that distance, according to ESPN Insights.

It's not so shocking that the Golden Gophers' Luke Drzewiecki made his clutch field goal - he's just one week removed from taking down Iowa with a 46-yarder. However, Indiana's kicking game had been a disaster Saturday and was the main reason the game was so close in the first place.

The Hoosiers had already missed two field goals, and another attempt was ruined by a botched snap. Turns out they just needed to back up and get long-range kicker Paddy McAteer on the field instead of their usual specialist, Nico Radicic. McAteer's kick was never in doubt, answering Drzewiecki and entering both their names into college football lore.

Indiana cardiologists need the bye

Indiana now hits its bye week, and nobody will welcome the break more than the state's cardiologists. The Hoosiers have subjected their fans to four suspenseful finishes in a row:

• Oct. 10: Outscored Nebraska 14-3 in fourth quarter to win 20-17
• Oct. 17: Lost 19-15 to Ohio State when Nick Marsh's toe went out of bounds
• Oct. 24: Beat Michigan 13-6 in overtime
• Oct. 31: 60-yard field goal to force OT, beat Minnesota in extra frame

Add in a six-point home win against Northwestern earlier this year and it's obvious that Curt Cignetti and Indiana's title defense has been a roller-coaster ride.

"This is entertainment, so we thought we'd put some entertainment value in this game," the exhausted head coach told CBS Sports' Jenny Dell after Saturday's win.

Now the Hoosiers need to answer a major question at quarterback during their bye week. Josh Hoover didn't play the second half against Minnesota after taking a significant hit on an interception in the first. Cignetti hinted at a quarterback change last week versus Michigan but ultimately stuck with Hoover over Grant Wilson.

Wilson did step in against the Golden Gophers, and he performed well, completing 9 of 17 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. He added 26 yards on the ground.

Hoover was clearly battling an injury heading into Saturday, and the steep drop-off in his play over the past two weeks has made the offense stagnant. He completed just 16 of his last 37 passes with one touchdown, two interceptions, and a total of 200 yards. Getting him healthy - or getting Wilson ready to be the starter - is vital during the break.

Florida picked the wrong QB

Message boards can be a waste of time, but the Florida community was bang on this week in its almost unanimous skepticism that Aaron Philo would regain his QB1 job. Philo got off to an electric start in his first year with the Gators but struggled mightily in back-to-back losses to Missouri and South Carolina. Then he missed last week's game at Texas, and backup Tramell Jones Jr. led Florida to a comeback win. Despite that result, Philo got the nod over Jones against Georgia, and the move backfired for Jon Sumrall.

Just how badly did it backfire? In the first quarter Saturday, Philo produced a strong candidate for the worst interception in Florida history.

That set the Bulldogs up inside Florida territory and led to a Nate Frazier touchdown four minutes later. Another interception by Philo put Georgia in the red zone and eventually led to a field goal that made it 10-0. That wound up being enough for the Bulldogs to win the whole game, which had a final score of 27-8.

Jones stepped in for Philo, and outside of an end-zone interception, he played fairly well in relief. He finished with 172 yards passing and also ran for the Gators' lone touchdown. That kept Florida's 38-year no-shutout streak alive - the longest active run in the nation. However, that's little consolation for a Gators team that was dominated from the jump.

You don't want South Carolina right now

South Carolina isn't near the top of the SEC and almost certainly won't be in the College Football Playoff, but at the moment, no team in the country is more dangerous than the Gamecocks. It's an understatement to say that the last three games have cooled Shane Beamer's seat - the longtime head coach can put his feet up and relax as long as LaNorris Sellers keeps rolling. The quarterback has long been a favorite of the NFL scouting community despite his underwhelming performances on the college scene. Well, it appears he's finally figured out how to take advantage of his many physical gifts, and he authored a masterpiece Saturday against one of the nation's top defensive units.

Sellers threw for 301 yards and added 96 on the ground to embarrass Brent Venables' Oklahoma defense. Although the stats are impressive, it's the eye test where Sellers really shines, and his otherworldly arm strength was on full display.

Sellers is averaging 263 yards passing and 70 rushing per game on this three-game winning streak that features road wins at Florida and Oklahoma and a home victory versus Tennessee.

South Carolina's run won't be lost on Kirby Smart, whose Georgia team has a date with the Gamecocks in the penultimate week of the season.

Castellanos raises Texas Tech's ceiling

Texas Tech made a decisive move after losing its first game of the season last week at Cincinnati, sending Tommy Castellanos out as starting quarterback versus Arizona instead of Will Hammond. After 34 points, 472 total yards of offense, and Castellenos' three touchdowns, the change was clearly the jolt the Red Raiders needed.

Castellanos' eligibility was in question multiple times this season. However, he was granted a temporary injunction to make him eligible Oct. 16. Head coach Joey McGuire said he erred last week in not using Castellanos at all, and Saturday showed why.

The dual-threat quarterback threw for 144 yards and two scores and added 117 and a touchdown on the ground. J'Koby Williams racked up 175 yards rushing, and the duo became the first quarterback-running back tandem in Texas Tech history to each have 100 yards on the ground in a single game.

College football fans are familiar with Castellanos after the fifth-year senior previously starred at Boston College and Florida State. He can turn in electric performances like the one we saw against the Wildcats, but he's just as likely to be sunk by inaccurate passing and poor decision-making. However, there's no question he gives the Red Raiders a much higher ceiling than Hammond, and he can make them a CFP threat.

Wisconsin's Iowa nightmare continues

If you live in Wisconsin and you really want to scare the kids in your neighborhood, just dress up as an Iowa football player. The Badgers' long-running Hawkeyes nightmare continued Saturday in another blowout loss to Kirk Ferentz. The 30-0 scoreline means Iowa has gone 4-0 against Luke Fickell by a combined score of 124-16 since he took the job ahead of the 2023 season. Iowa has now scored 81 straight points against Wisconsin dating back to the fourth quarter of the 2024 contest.

The Badgers' defense became the first to hold a Lincoln Riley-coached team to seven or fewer points last week versus USC. Seven days later, Wisconsin made Hank Brown - the 93rd-ranked passer in the nation - look like a Heisman winner. Brown threw just four incompletions on the day, completing 20 of his 24 attempts for 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Wisconsin's passing attack can't buy that kind of production - the Badgers have now gone three full games without a 100-yard passer after Colton Joseph was pulled in the second half.

The 30-point outburst was the latest example that this version of Iowa is more explosive than we've become accustomed to under Ferentz. The Hawkeyes' 98-yard touchdown drive following a goal-line stand in the second half was another voyage into previously uncharted waters for the offense.

The Hawkeyes' schedule finishes with Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, and Nebraska. They've got a very real shot at going 10-2 and a solid shot at a playoff berth.

Michigan closes its air space

Michigan's defense will actually be disappointed with its performance in a 28-21 win over Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights' point total is the biggest one the Wolverines have allowed this year, ending their seven-game streak of 20 or fewer.

While that stings, the defense did accomplish something unbelievable: The Wolverines held Rutgers without a completed pass in the second half Saturday. That's astonishing enough on its own, but it's actually the second straight game in which Michigan managed the feat after doing the same thing to Indiana last week.

Another strong defensive showing - and Tommy Carr putting up over 300 yards of total offense and contributing three touchdowns - should cool down Kyle Whittingham's seat in Ann Arbor, at least for the next week.

Syracuse's dome is where ranked teams die

We don't like to offer gambling advice, but if you ever see Syracuse as a 9.5-point underdog again, place a max bet and enjoy the show. After shocking North Carolina in overtime as an underdog of that number last week, the Orange were once again getting 9.5 points Saturday against No. 19 SMU. And once again, a dramatic finish secured a Syracuse victory.

SMU became the latest victim in the ranked-team graveyard that is Syracuse's JMA Wireless Dome. Although the Orange have lost 29 total games over the past five seasons, they're 4-1 in their last five home games against ranked opponents.

SMU's second conference loss further complicates the race for second in the ACC, as the Mustangs now fall out of a tie with Wake Forest for the spot below unbeaten Miami. The Mustangs face the Demon Deacons in two weeks - a game that's now a must-win for Rhett Lashlee's bunch.