College Football Week 9 Takeaways: Backup Quarterbacks Rule the Weekend

Here are nine takeaways from Week 9 in college football:

When the Texas A&M Aggies made the surprising, but necessary, $77 million move to replace Jimbo Fisher with Mike Elko, it was understandable to look at 2024 as a bit of a rebuilding season. Some roster turnover off a 7–6 team and Elko having just two seasons as a head coach under his belt reinforced the general thinking. 

Such angst is now a figment of the imagination in College Station, Texas, following a 38–23 victory over the No. 8 LSU Tigers. Elko is the frontrunner for SEC Coach of the Year, and the No. 14 Aggies are sitting pretty atop the conference standings. The former defensive coordinator showcased why he’s one of the best schemers in the game, confusing, blitzing and downright harassing Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier (25-of-50 passing with three picks to balance out three total touchdowns) into a turnover-filled second half. 

It also helps Elko’s case that he understood one of the big themes of the day: Have a backup quarterback you can trust. Needing a spark on offense, freshman Marcel Reed entered with 8:10 left in the third quarter and seemed to unleash a unit that was mostly going through the motions. The dual-threat signal-caller finished with nine rushes for 62 yards and three touchdowns, while completing both of his pass attempts. It ignited a conversation surrounding who will wind up starting next week at South Carolina.

It’s been a rocky few months for the ACC off the field, but on it? Well, things are going quite nicely after a fun Week 9 slate set up quite the intrigue going into next Saturday.

You can start on Thursday night when the Pittsburgh Panthers advanced to 7–0 for the first time since 1982 thanks mostly to three pick-sixes of Syracuse Orange quarterback Kyle McCord. Head coach Pat Narduzzi made a savvy hire of 31-year-old Kade Bell out of FCS Western Carolina to revamp his offense over the offseason. That’s balanced out a quality step forward with a defense that is allowing 5.3 points per game fewer than it did in 2023. Now, the team is dreaming of making it back to the ACC championship game for the first time since ’21.

Standing in the way of that potential trip to Charlotte is the league newcomer SMU Mustangs, who survived five turnovers and a beat-up quarterback to escape the Duke Blue Devils with a 28–27 overtime win. The Panthers and Ponies will meet next week in Dallas for the biggest home college football game in years.

Of all the offseason hires, the Penn State Nittany Lions nabbing Kansas Jayhawks offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki was widely viewed as a potential difference-maker for a team that had been a perennial bridesmaid when it came to crossing the threshold of the College Football Playoff. It’s safe to say, especially after a 28–13 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, that bringing in Kotelnicki has more than paid off for head coach James Franklin. It also may be the biggest reason why the program is 7–0 instead of 6–1 after losing starting quarterback Drew Allar to a knee injury at Camp Randall. 

The signal-caller was sacked just before halftime and did not return to game action, spending much of Saturday night looking on from the sideline with a towel around his head. It’s a credit to Kotelnicki, however, that the Nittany Lions offense didn’t regress following the change to backup Beau Pribula. He effectively used his legs (28 yards rushing) enough to open up some passing lanes, which led to a 21-point outburst down the stretch. The defense also provided a spark, hauling in a pick-six to kick the run off. 

There will be plenty of concern about Allar’s status for next week, but having a backup come in and go 11-of-13 passing with a touchdown will allay that fear just a tad.

All the ingredients were present in Bloomington, Ind., this weekend for a slipup by America’s fastest growing bandwagon. Indiana was without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke for a full game for the first time; Memorial Stadium was sold out again; former coach Lee Corso was on hand with all the fanfare involving ESPN’s College GameDay; and the pressure was palpable with the Hoosiers being legitimately included in CFP projections. 

The Hoosiers, however, didn’t look one bit rattled Saturday as they matched their best start in program history by dispatching the Washington Huskies 31–17. Curt Cignetti’s team hasn’t trailed for a single second this season and got contributions all over (including two leaping interceptions by D’Angelo Ponds, plus an 11-of-19 passing outing and two total touchdowns from QB Tayven Jackson) to move to 8–0. The Hoosiers should be favored against both of the Michigan schools over the next two weeks as they look to set up the biggest game in program history against the Ohio State Buckeyes before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of that team in Columbus, Ohio, if Ryan Day wanted to convince the Ohio State faithful that his team was ready for next week’s mega-clash against Penn State, he didn’t do a great job. The Buckeyes needed a late interception by cornerback Jordan Hancock to seal a 21–17 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers that does nothing to cool the simmering resentment of this coaching staff. 

The biggest area of concern, beyond losing a left tackle due to injury for a second consecutive game, was OSU simply couldn’t run the ball (64 yards) despite having two of the best tailbacks in the country. Some of that is down to play-calling from offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and some is down to a lack of push up front. Star freshman Jeremiah Smith caught a touchdown pass for a seventh straight game, but that was about the lone silver lining from a phoned-in offensive performance by the No. 4 team. 

The most cathartic and hot seat-cooling (at least among a fan base) win of the weekend belonged to Kalen DeBoer as his Tide shut out a banged up Mizzou 34–0. Alabama’s offense had its most balanced effort in SEC play (215 yards passing, 271 yards rushing), while the defense swarmed the slew of Tigers quarterbacks and recorded three turnovers.

It’s still a bit too early to label every game a must-win at this point for DeBoer, but there was no doubt some pressure to go out and perform to the standards his predecessor established. Mission accomplished on that front as a trip to the LSU Tigers awaits following a bye week.

Every week there is a line set by the bookmakers that doesn’t make sense. The one that stunk to high heavens in Week 9? It had to be the UCF Knights being favored at home over the undefeated and No. 11 BYU Cougars.

The Cougars proved why that was suspect, taking the 37–24 victory and looking more and more like the team to beat in the Big 12. Anytime UCF threatened to make things interesting, BYU came up with a play to increase its cushion. The Cougars have that “it” factor teams display when they’re putting together a special run. The Iowa State Cyclones are also undefeated in the league—and the winner of the Colorado Buffaloes–Cincinnati Bearcats game is lurking in the conference title race—but Kalani Sitake’s squad has put together the most complete set of victories this season.

The Boise State Broncos bus shifted into high gear after a 29–24 win over the UNLV Rebels on Friday night, but that doesn’t mean the Group of 5 bid chase is a one-lane road. Despite having two losses, the Tulane Green Wave might be the biggest threat to emerge from the American Athletic Conference. Tulane dispatched a pesky North Texas Mean Green, 45–37, in a game that featured just shy of 1,000 yards of total offense, a combined 49 first downs and eight first-half scoring drives. 

With the Memphis Tigers needing late heroics to survive the Charlotte 49ers and the Navy Midshipmen fumbling away every other snap in a blowout loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, first-year coach Jon Sumrall’s team likely has the highest upside with a perfect league record. The Green Wave benefit from missing the Army Black Knights (owners of the nation’s longest active win streak) on the schedule, too.

When any game can turn into the game of the day, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane’s bonkers comeback against the UTSA Roadrunners staked its claim. Both sides were below .500 coming into this AAC matchup and suffering through mostly forgettable campaigns in 2024.

The Golden Hurricane scored on six of their eight second-half drives to come back from down 35–7 at the break (and 42–17 with five minutes to play in the third quarter) to take a 46–45 win. Tulsa scored touchdowns on drives of 75 and 92 yards in the final minutes. The two starting quarterbacks combined for 767 yards and nine touchdowns through the air.