This past Saturday, #17 Pitt (who, going into their game was 7-0) faced off against #20 Southern Methodist University, who were 7-1. In what Vegas and reporters thought would’ve been a close game, quickly turned into an absolute beatdown by the underdogs.
By the end of the second quarter, it was pretty obvious who would win the game, as SMU was up 31-3. While some commentators have referred to the 2024 University of Pittsburgh team as “the Comeback Cats,” a name given because of how they accomplished their first wins of the year, and because their mascot are the Panthers, they were not able to come back and win this one, as they would drop their first game of the year 48-25.
Likewise, it was not a happy day in Happy Valley, where Penn State, who were ranked #3 and also 7-0, faced off against #4 Ohio State on Fox’s “Big Noon” game slot. In a very low-scoring and defensive game, with a total of 33 combined points scored, Penn State seemed to crumble under Ohio State. By the end of the first quarter, Penn State was up 10-7, a small lead but they were still in control. Penn State would proceed to then not score a single point until the 3rd quarter, where they made a singular field goal. In virtually every single offensive statistic, Penn State was outperformed. Penn State rushed for 120 yards, which paled in comparison to Ohio State’s 176 yards; Penn State was decently close in passing yards comparatively, with Ohio State throwing for 182 yards, and Penn State throwing for 150 yards.
By the end of the weekend, the Associated Press (AP) had released their newest AP College Football Top 25 Rankings, in which Pitt had dropped 5 spots and is now ranked as #23 in the country, and Penn State dropped 3 spots in the rankings, and are now ranked at #6. These rankings are still nothing to laugh about, though, as being top 25 out of the over 130 teams in the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as D1-A) is a very respectable and difficult team to achieve. Penn State is still currently in the College Football Playoffs, which recently just got expanded to now have 12 teams instead of only 4.
The College Football Playoffs start on December 20, and as it looks right now, the only team in Pennsylvania that will make the playoffs is Penn State, as after this loss it appears as if Pitt was knocked out of the playoffs, and the only other major team in PA is Temple, who were never in contention for a playoff spot.
