College football Week 7 heroes, zeroes: Tennessee makes a statement, Penn State back to the drawing board
Coming into this weekend, it was expected that the Week 7 portion of the college football season would be the most exciting.
And in many ways, this weekend definitely lived up to the hype.
Especially down in the SEC after a marquee matchup between top 10 ranked rivals played to a shootout and ended with a statement for the ages.
Who made out this week, and who needs to get back to the drawing board? Let's take a look at the heroes and zeroes from college football's Week 7 action.
College football Week 7 heroes
Good ol' Rocky Top: To be the best, you have to beat the best, and for 15 years that's been Alabama. Until today, after Tennessee unleashed its No. 1 ranked offense to the tune of 567 total yards on the Tide in a marathon back-and-forth shootout, coming through with the game-winning field goal for its first win in the series since 2006 and putting itself directly into College Football Playoff contention.
And Jalin Hyatt, in particular: Critical to the transformation of Tennessee's offense is its depth and raw skill at the wide receiver position. Hyatt put that principle on display against Alabama's secondary, becoming the first WR since DeVonta Smith to have over 200 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in a single game. Imagine what the Vols will look like when Cedric Tillman comes back to spread this field out even more.
TCU: For most of Saturday's game, it looked like the Horned Frogs had met their match. Oklahoma State built up a 30-16 lead in the fourth quarter and playing solid defense. But TCU stormed back, outscoring the Cowboys 27-10 in the final frame, when Kendre Miller scores his first TD and Jared Wiley caught a 10-yard touchdown with under 2 minutes in regulation to cap off a statement 94 yard drive that keeps TCU perfect and in the Big 12 chase.
Brian Kelly and LSU: Jayden Daniels accounted for six touchdowns, three with his arm and three on the ground, in a statement win at Florida, scoring TDs on the first 6 possessions by cutting up the Gators' hapless defenses. LSU scored on drives of 75, 73, 73, 83, 75, and 88 yards, moving to 5-2 on the year and an impressive 3-1 mark in SEC games. It gets tougher, but Kelly is slowly building a foundation on the Bayou week by week.
Illinois: Chase Brown came into Saturday as college football's leader in rushing production, and he added over 200 all-purpose yards to that total in a win over Minnesota, moving Illinois to a commanding 6-1 record. And in a fistfight with Purdue in what looks like a two-team race for the Big Ten West. Illinois and the Boilers meet in Champaign on Nov. 12.
Michigan's ground game: It's legit, and it could keep Michigan undefeated going right into The Game in November. The Wolverines ran for 418 yards on a decent Penn State front in a statement 41-17 win to take a major step in the Big Ten East race and prove that it could dominate against a top 10 opponent and left no doubt coming out of that easy non-conference slate. Blake Corum had 166 and Donovan Edwards added 173 while both ran for two touchdowns. This unit can take Michigan wherever it wants to go.
College football Week 7 zeroes
Yes, the Crimson Tide: Alabama is now 132-1 when scoring at least 49 points in a game. Give its offense credit for going snap for snap with the Vols' steamroller, but this secondary is not getting it done and the penalties are piling up. There were warning signs in the Texas game before the Quinn Ewers' injury, then again in the close win over A&M, and once more at Tennessee when it all caught up with the Tide. Bama got flagged 17 times for 130 yards against UT and 15 times for 100 yards at Texas. This might be Nick Saban's most undisciplined team.
USC's defense: Those closer and closer outings once the Pac-12 schedule opened finally caught up with the Trojans, who had no real answer for Cameron Rising. The Utah quarterback threw for 415 yards, ran for three touchdowns, and the game-winning 2-point conversion. Tight end Dalton Kincaid cut USC in half for 217 yards off 15 catches, and Southern Cal slogged through needless penalties.
Notre Dame: After starting 0-2 in his debut season, Irish coach Marcus Freeman had won three straight, including over a ranked BYU. All they needed to do was come home and beat a Stanford team that hadn't defeated an FBS team since October of 2021. But the Cardinal had other ideas, swamping ND's offense and leaving South Bend with a surprise win.
NC State: It's not too great a shame to lose to Syracuse this season, but Saturday was two losses in one for the Wolfpack: on the field to the Orange and off it as the school announced quarterback Devin Leary will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. In his absence, this offense collapsed: not going over 160 yards passing, or over 100 yards rushing, and no receiver went over 39 yards today.
Kansas: This was by far the Jayhawks' best chance to knock off OU and really show college football what this team was made of, especially with how awful the Sooners have been playing defensively. Kansas did put up 42 points in the loss, but it allowed 52 and 701 total yards to a team that didn't score a point against Texas. KU has done some good things, but there's still a huge gap between the athletes it's recruiting and those the Sooners are getting.
Penn State: Coming into this week, you could argue that PSU had the stuff to test Michigan and make a push in the Big Ten East, thanks in large part to what looked like an elite rush defense. But after watching this unit get run over by the Wolverines' elite rushing attack - for more yards (418) than it allowed in its first four games combined - you can't say that anymore. James Franklin has certainly produced a trend during his tenure at Happy Valley: fast early starts followed by second-half season collapses. This year's schedule may be more favorable, but there's still a date with the Buckeyes coming in two weeks. This team is getting rocked in the trenches and needs to get more physical to really make a run in this conference.
Matt Campbell: Since that preseason No. 7 ranking last year, it's all been downhill for Iowa State under Campbell's watch. Last season, the Cyclones were 2-5 in one-score games, and that record has collapsed this fall to just 1-4, with a combined 1-7 mark in one-score Big 12 games in particular. All of ISU's losses this season are by a combined 14 points. If he's not careful, Campbell is on course to become the next Scott Frost.