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5 biggest surprises from Saturday's college football slate

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The Week 8 schedule didn't look overly enthralling at first glance, but Saturday's action reminded us why it's foolish to doubt the craziness of college football.

Despite there being no matchups between ranked teams, a number of surprises made for exceptional viewing across the afternoon window.

Here are the five biggest surprises from the day.

Illinois-Penn State goes to 9 overtimes

History was made Saturday in Happy Valley as Illinois and No. 7 Penn State played the first NCAA football game to go to nine overtime periods. Somehow, the contest stayed under the betting total of 45.5 points despite all the extra action.

The Big Ten contest was certainly not easy on the eyes, with the overtime periods featuring some very poor execution. Based on the NCAA's new rule, the teams engaged in a two-point conversion competition beginning with the third overtime, but they combined for eight straight missed conversions. Finally, the Fighting Illini ended the slog with a successful pass from Brandon Peters to Isaiah Williams to complete the upset.

Kansas almost pulls off incredible upset vs. Oklahoma

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Fresh off an impressive home victory over TCU, No. 3 Oklahoma traveled to lowly Kansas as a massive 38.5-point favorite in the Big 12 affair. The Jayhawks hadn't beaten the Sooners since 1997 and were winless against the Power 5 since Oct. 26, 2019.

Despite the odds stacked against it, Kansas came out flying to take a 10-0 lead at the half. That scoreline also represented the Jayhawks' first lead over a top-25 opponent since 2014. The administration at Kansas was so excited the team held the lead after three quarters that it opened the gates to the stadium for the final 15 minutes to all fans, regardless of whether they had a ticket.

Alas, the buzz was sucked out of the stadium thanks to a couple of brilliant plays by Caleb Williams to lead the Sooners to the win and remain perfect on the year.

Army scores 56 points ... and loses

An explosive offense probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when discussing Army football, but the Black Knights ran all over No. 16 Wake Forest to pile up 56 points at home. Somehow, that wasn't even close to enough, as the Demon Deacons erupted for an astonishing 70 points.

Sam Hartman threw for a whopping 458 yards and five touchdowns, with Jaquarii Roberson and A.T. Perry each racking up more than 140 yards receiving. Wake Forest somehow reached its gaudy point total on just over 17 minutes of possession.

Army piled up 416 rushing yards at an average of 5.9 per carry on 70 attempts. The game featured 21 total drives - only three didn't result in a touchdown - as the teams combined for the most points ever scored in Michie Stadium.

Clemson benches Uiagalelei

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DJ Uiagalelei entered the season as a favorite for the Heisman Trophy, but he spent a significant portion of the second half of Saturday's loss to Pitt on the sidelines after being replaced following his second interception of the game.

Clemson replaced the sophomore with Taisun Phommachanh when the Panthers went up 21-7 early in the third quarter following a pick-6. Uiagalelei spent two drives on the sidelines before returning to score a meaningless touchdown on Clemson's final possession. The struggles of the Tigers' offense remain one of the most puzzling developments of the college football season. Clemson hasn't topped the 21-point mark against FBS opponents this season and entered Saturday ranked 115th in yards per play.

Dye's touchdown streak

With just 35 yards rushing on Saturday against UCLA, Travis Dye had his lowest output of the season for Oregon. Sounds like a rough day at the office for the junior running back, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Dye set an FBS record by scoring a touchdown on four consecutive carries in the win over the Bruins.

Dye found the end zone on runs of one yard and then four yards in the opening half before adding touchdowns on dashes of one yard and five yards, respectively, in the second. Those four carries in Los Angeles matched his season total of touchdowns.

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