CFB Blitz: Mateer over Manning tops Week 6 afternoon 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.

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Oklahoma forced Texas to beat itself

A kick in both halves of the Red River Rivalry ended up being the most consequential two plays of the annual Oklahoma-Texas contest. The game-winning 47-yard field goal by Tate Sandell will be the one that is played on loop in Norman, but the blocked punt by the Sooners in the first half kept this from getting out of hand.

The opening 15 minutes resembled the rest of the season so far for Oklahoma with the offense absolutely lost. The Sooners ran 15 plays for a total of 15 yards and punted five times in the frame, looking exactly like a team that hadn't scored an offensive touchdown against Texas in three years.

And then Dakoda Fields put the team on his back and put seven on the scoreboard.

That elite blocked punt gave Oklahoma a much-needed touchdown on the board, and the defense used halftime to make some adjustments and slow the Texas attack.

The second half was more self-inflicted torture for Texas, with Oklahoma waiting to take full advantage. This time the offender was Manning, with an absolutely shocking decision to throw across his body into coverage, gifting Peyton Bowen an interception. Some 42 yards later and Bowen had given the Sooners the lead. It's a throw you'd expect Dave from sales to avoid in the company flag football game, let alone a fourth-year collegian with three star NFL quarterbacks in his extended family.

The final interception was just as bad for Manning, a shocking decision to make the questionable throw despite being on the cusp of a possible game-winning field goal.

Credit to Oklahoma for taking advantage of the self-inflicted wounds, but this was just as much a case of Texas losing the rivalry contest.

Mateer over Manning

John Mateer has been one of the most criticized quarterbacks in the country while Manning continues to find himself near the top of NFL mock drafts. While Manning's pro projection might be better, the numbers looked fairly similar heading into Saturday's contest.

Leaving the contest, there's no doubt which quarterback had the better day, with Mateer rising to the moment while Manning's two picks overshadowing some otherwise solid play throughout the rest of the contest.

Mateer takes plenty of heat for his ability to read the field and deliver accurate passes, but his final two throws to Isaiah Sategna III in the last 19 seconds were absolutely perfect and on time. The Oklahoma star receiver still needed to make some elite catches, but he delivered in the clutch.

Texas may very well rebound from the close loss and make a run to the playoffs, but it's hard to see them as a true title contender if Manning's careless decision-making doesn't improve.

Chesney is Cignetti 2.0

Note to failing businesses everywhere: Go hire somebody from James Madison to fix things. First it was Curt Cignetti turning perennial-loser Indiana into college football's national champion. Now it's Bob Chesney's turn to shock the world by making UCLA the west-coast powerhouse in the sport.

The new Bruins coach walked back into Autzen Stadium on Saturday some 10 months after losing in last year's playoff with James Madison. The result was the opposite, with UCLA delivering one of the most emphatic two-point wins you'll see. A late Oregon charge made this much closer than it was, as UCLA was unquestionably the better team throughout. Chesney's swarming defense forced an outrageous six turnovers on the day, including two interceptions of Dylan Raiola that forced Dan Lanning to bench the backup quarterback in favor of third-stringer Brock Thomas.

Speaking of quarterbacks who aren't starters - Chesney actually lost his QB1 Nico Iamaleava at halftime and was forced to play with Ty Dieffenbach for the final 30 minutes. Chesney heavily adapted the gameplan and focused heavily on the running game following that move. The Bruins carried the ball 47 times to both dominate the time of possession battle 39:15-20:45 and keep the backup passer from making questionable decisions - something Oregon very much did not do.

Chesney is now the first coach ever at UCLA to win the first five games of his debut season and has the Bruins as serious Big Ten title contenders, possibly with a date against Cignetti awaiting in December.

Weekly reminder Jeremiah Smith isn't fair

Maryland at Ohio State was hardly one of the top games of the week, but we have to appreciate Jeremiah Smith in college before he goes and tears up the NFL. Smith only caught four balls for 93 yards in a blowout over the Terrapins, but still found the end zone twice thanks to his freakish run-after-the-catch ability.

That puts Smith at 11 touchdowns on the season and keeps him as the clear Heisman front-runner heading to Week 7.

To be the champ, you gotta beat the champ

Being down 17-6 with 14 minutes to play on the road - in a hostile environment - would be rattling for just about every single team in the country. However, Indiana is not like any other program in the country, and Curt Cignetti's squad showed why they are the champs with an incredible closing stretch at Nebraska.

The stadium was absolutely rocking after Anthony Colandrea's weaving touchdown run put the hosts up 11 with 14:12 to play - with the capacity crowd smelling a historic victory. But, to be the champ, you gotta beat the champ, and there's a reason the Hoosiers have now won 22 straight games and why the Cornhuskers have now lost 31 in a row versus top-10 opponents.

The first play from scrimmage after Colandrea's touchdown hit the mute button on the Lincoln party in the stands.

That served notice this was far from finished, but Nebraska could take solace that it still had the lead.

One punt and five plays later, that was no longer the case.

Indiana's eventual game-winning touchdown didn't just see one player wide-open for the score, but Josh Hoover had his choice of two different receivers that could walk into the end zone.

The final four drives of the game for Nebraska resulted in a total of 84 yards on 22 plays.

This Indiana roster isn't as dominant as last year's national champs and the offense doesn't quite have the same constant threat without Fernando Mendoza pulling the strings. That might make things harder, but the championship DNA is still there for Cignetti's bunch and should have them as title contenders again.

Matt Rhule and Nebraska will certainly lament the missed chance to end the infamous streak, but the signs are evident that the Cornhuskers are making progress toward being a top-half team in the Big Ten.

That's the South Carolina we all expected

It's fair to say that South Carolina has been among the most disappointing teams in the country so far this year. Saturday showed us why, because this version of the Gamecocks has no business being 1-3 in SEC play.

Shane Beamer's problem has never been in recruiting star talent, with the veteran coach consistently punching above his weight bringing high-school prospects to campus. That was on full display versus the Florida Gators with the much-heralded trio of LaNorris Sellers, Nyck Harbor, and Dylan Stewart owning the game.

Sellers was brilliant throughout and finally showed glimpses of why he's previously been garnering NFL interest. The dual-threat quarterback piled up 299 yards of total offense with four touchdown passes and one scoring run. His top highlight was undoubtedly a touchdown connection to Harbor. The elite sprinter caught four passes for 83 yards and gave the offense a big-play threat throughout.

Stewart - returning from his one-game suspension - was a menace for the Gators' offensive line all day, sacking Aaron Philo once and forcing two fumbles.

Beamer's big win cooled his seat slightly and snapped an eight-game SEC losing streak in the process. Unfortunately, it also reminds us why the Gamecocks have been so disappointing this season.

Somebody plug Florida back in

No fan base in the country has had a bigger roller-coaster ride over the past three games than Florida's. A blowout win over Ole Miss had fans thinking of a deep playoff run just one year into Jon Sumrall's tenure. Two games later and the Gators are praying for a spot in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Life comes at you fast in the SEC.

Florida's had defensive issues all season, but the offense put up a stinker for the second week in a row. A late touchdown in garbage time flattered the Gators; the offense went 55 minutes of game action between touchdowns in the 38-19 loss.

The Gators led the nation in scoring through four games with 44 points being their lowest output. They've now failed to hit 20 in back-to-back games as defensive units adapt to Buster Faulkner's offense. While Faulkner's been a strong play-caller over his career, the attack is once again stalled if Jadan Baugh isn't eating up yards on the ground.

West Virginia DC wins honesty award

Shut down the season-long race, we officially have our winner for college football's honesty award for the 2026 season. West Virginia defensive coordinator Zac Alley didn't hold back earlier this week when talking about how much his unit is struggling to adapt to a new scheme.

"I think we're the worst defense in college football," Alley said, according to Schuyler Callihan of Sports Illustrated. "It's pretty simple to say that it ain't f------ worked. So, I don't plan to keep doing the same thing over and over again. That seems like insanity. We'll cut it down and make sure they can execute."

The Mountaineers certainly looked like the worst defense in the sport on Saturday against Arizona, allowing the Wildcats to put up 52 points in a blowout loss. The entire game wasn't pretty, but this sequence of six drives was particularly egregious for West Virginia:

• 4 plays, 58 yards, 1:24, TD
• 3 plays, 75 yards, 1:13, TD
• 4 plays, 13 yards, 1:54, Punt
• 3 plays, 75 yards, 1:15, TD
• 2 plays, 75 yards, 0:58, TD
• 2 plays, 52 yards, 0:49, TD

Arizona scored five touchdowns over that six-drive span, with a four-play set serving as the longest of the bunch. In total, it was 35 points on 18 plays - perhaps the most efficient offensive display in recent college football history.

Don't be shocked if Rich Rodriguez has West Virginia onside kicking after each touchdown next time out, a play that would give the team a better shot at recovery than a defensive stop.

Friday's games

Start the Iowa playoff chatter

Iowa football has been many things in the lengthy Kirk Ferentz tenure, but "explosive" certainly isn't one of them. Unless, of course, the Hawkeyes are traveling 1,600 miles to Seattle on short rest to play Washington. Somehow, that normally daunting situation led to one of the most electric offensive showings for Iowa in recent memory, and we need to seriously start the playoff conversation for the Hawkeyes.

The offense looked like the 'Greatest Show on Turf' in Iowa uniforms, scoring points on five of their first seven drives in the opening half against a home team that looked like they'd rather be anywhere but on the football field. A 27-0 lead in the second quarter marked the second-most points Iowa's scored in a Big Ten road game in the last eight years, according to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press.

While we'd love to simply praise Iowa here, this result was largely aided by a Washington team that put up one of the biggest no-shows of the college football season thus far. Iowa was averaging only 2.16 yards per carry in Big Ten play this year and was starting a backup quarterback on the road. The Hawkeyes pounded the Huskies' line for 263 yards rushing on a gaudy 6.9 per carry, and totaled 465 yards of offense.

Iowa improved to 5-1 with the victory, but there's plenty of teams with that sort of record we aren't talking about for the playoffs. However, none of them have the remaining schedule the Hawkeyes are looking at with zero ranked teams remaining.

Should Iowa run the table, it will finish 11-1 with an 8-1 mark in the Big Ten. It will be borderline impossible to leave a team with that record out of the playoff.

Florida State in buyout hell

We didn't have to wait until Saturday for what is seemingly a weekly reminder that Florida State is in buyout hell with coach Mike Norvell. The Seminoles coach finally got some positive vibes in the program with a blowout win at home against Virginia last week. Six days later, it's back to misery in Tallahassee.

With a blowout 44-20 loss at Louisville on Friday - after leading 14-0 early - the Seminoles have now gone 1,050 days without a victory on the road. That streak is now at 13 losses in a row, an astonishing number given Florida State's illustrious past.

According to Austin Nivison of CBS Sports, Florida State blowing a 14-point lead to then lose by at least 14 points hadn't happened once in 385 games over the last 30 years coming into this season. Friday's result makes it twice in the last four weeks after the Seminoles blew a 21-6 lead at Alabama to eventually lose 50-36.

Three years between road wins seems unacceptable for the program Bobby Bowden built, so why does Norvell still have a job?

The main reason is a buyout that is just over $46 million. Add the salaries of assistants and staffers that would likely be fired along with him, and that number would balloon even further. The cost to bring a big-name coach to Tallahassee would be substantial and run the price tag even higher.

Florida State recently fired its athletic director and has an interim currently filling that role. Firing Norvell and running a coaching search is not something the university is about to put on someone who is not serving in a permanent capacity.