College football’s Week 7 slate was always destined to be one of the biggest of the entire season, and it did not disappoint as the monumental matchups between major brands delivered with thrilling results. Oregon took center stage in the primetime window with its landmark win over Ohio State, USC was also in the limelight earlier in the day and a pair of Heisman Trophy contenders wrapped up the late-night action.
The Ducks not only headlined West Coast action over the weekend but also emerged as college football’s biggest story as they earned one of the most significant wins of the season thus far, gave Dan Lanning a signature victory and fully emerged onto the national championship contention scene.
Not all of the programs on college football’s western flank were quite as fortunate in Week 7, though, with the Trojans coughing up a lead over a top-five team, Utah falling further from its pedestal in the Big 12’s top tier and other Power Four teams losing on the road in their new conferences.
OREGON GETS OVER BIG-GAME HUMP, EARNS LANDMARK VICTORY
Oregon had a big-game narrative problem entering its colossal showdown with Ohio State. Over the first two years of the Lanning era, the Ducks lost to Georgia in a 2022 season-opening battle, fell in rivalry games against Washington and Oregon State and came up short in the 2023 Pac-12 Championship game. As the sample size grew larger, their record under the bright lights only got worse. It was one of the many reasons why Lanning’s program entered one of the biggest regular-season games in school history as an underdog.
The 2024 Ducks are different. Two full years of high-level recruiting under Lanning’s watch and key learning experiences for a young staff positioned them for a breakthrough game, and man, did they deliver. There was no clear talent differential between an Ohio State roster that may be the most loaded from top to bottom in college football and the one Lanning built in Eugene. Oregon receivers even outplayed a Buckeye secondary that easily stands among the most elite units in the land.
Lanning compiled back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes and performed masterful work in the transfer portal to give himself a running start to his head coaching career. While other Big Ten newcomers struggled against the top half of the conference, the talent Oregon acquired in the early years of Lanning’s tenure not only went toe-to-toe with the very best the league has to offer, but it proved superior. This is exactly what all the preseason buzz in Eugene foretold — immediate Big Ten title contention and a near guarantee of a College Football Playoff berth.
The breakthrough win should be replicable. Oregon’s talent acquisition is not slowing down, and it is apparent that the school has the bodies necessary to win at the highest level. That was not always the case under past regimes, which always earned a spot on big stages but was consistently a step behind the Alabamas, Georgias and Ohio States of the college football world. Lanning made a statement with Saturday’s win, and his program-building efforts will continue to pay off.
Many of the Ducks’ biggest games through two and a half years under this coaching staff brought disappointment, but the record crowd at Autzen Stadium had nothing but jubilation in its blood when it rushed the field at the end of the 32-31 win over the Buckeyes. Might the Oregon faithful, in that moment, have sensed a turning point for their program? The signature win may just be the fulcrum for a full-on breakthrough.
This is a national championship-winning program in the making. It no longer feels like a question of “if” Oregon will hoist a CFP trophy. It is now a question of “when.”
USC PRESEASON CONCERNS HOLD MERIT
For all of the preseason excitement that arose out of Eugene, there was perhaps an equal amount of pessimism surrounding USC. Last year’s disappointment of a second year under Lincoln Riley and the key roster losses that ensued in its wake sparked doubts about the Trojans’ ability to compete in the Big Ten. Those concerns looked silly two weeks into the season, but just a month later, they appear astute.
Saturday’s loss to Penn State was the third time in four games USC stood on the wrong side of a Big Ten game. The inability to protect a double-digit lead on its home turf is the latest gaffe for a program that needs positive momentum. Instead of righting the ship, the Trojans continue to find new ways to lose — whether it be in upset fashion, with undermatched physicality in the trenches or with blown leads.
The defense is still better than last year’s unit. But the worries about the offensive line were clearly warranted, the dropoff from Caleb Williams to Miller Moss is clear, the Trojans have an inability to out-physical teams in a smash-mouth conference and coaching concerns continue to swirl.
STATE OF UTAH OFFERS SURPRISES IN BIG 12
BYU might be a team of destiny. One of the perceived Big 12 bottom-dwellers entering the year remains undefeated at the midpoint of its regular season and stands in a three-team tie for first in the conference title race. Not a soul outside of Provo would have projected the Cougars to vie for a College Football Playoff spot a month ago, but Kalani Sitake’s stifling defense and the emergence of quarterback Jake Retzlaff have this team defying expectations by a sizable margin.
Meanwhile, Utah’s best days are in the past. Cam Rising is an injured shell of his former self, and true freshman Isaac Wilson is not yet ready to lead the Utes’ offense with success. And without a capable quarterback, the team that ran the Pac-12 for two years and that joined the Big 12 as an immediate contender is now a two-loss afterthought. Even at 4-2 overall, this team is one of college football’s biggest disappointments thus far in 2024.
HEISMAN TROPHY CHECK-IN
Ashton Jeanty remains the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy after another monster performance. The Boise State running back shouldered the load in a gritty win at Hawaii with 31 carries, 217 yards and a touchdown as the Broncos pulled away late from the Rainbow Warriors. He is on pace to finish just a hair shy of 2,500 regular-season rushing yards.
At Colorado, Travis Hunter left the Buffaloes’ loss to Kansas State with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return to action. Deion Sanders did not have a specific update on his status, but if he is forced to miss time for the second year in a row, Hunter’s Heisman candidacy could come to an end.
FINAL NOTES
Washington and California fell to middle-of-the-pack teams in their respective new conferences, The Golden Bears have to be intensely frustrated after coming up short in another one-score game, even if it is abundantly clear that they have what it takes to hang with anyone in the ACC. The Huskies, on the other hand, allowed the Iowa offense to rack up a stunning 40 points in a game that got out of control in the second half.
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The Mountain West remains a two-team race between Boise State and UNLV, even with San Diego State and Colorado State holding perfect records in conference play. The Broncos and Rebels are an obvious step above those other squads and are on a collision course for a massive head-to-head showdown in two weeks.
