Penn State, TCU, and South Florida Drop From The Ranks Of The Undefeated

Three ranked, undefeated teams all suffered their first losses of the season within an hour this afternoon: 2nd-ranked Penn State lost a narrow one to 6th-ranked Ohio State in Columbus; 4th-ranked TCU trailed the whole way at 25th-ranked Iowa State; and 17th-ranked South Florida lost at home to Houston on a last second touchdown.

The TCU game didn’t have the high drama of the other two, nor did it have much by way of offense—TCU’s lone score came on a 94-yard kickoff return to open the second half, and the remaining Horned Frogs possessions went punt, interception, punt, punt, fumble, punt, interception. Iowa State was similarly punchless, but two long first-half touchdown drives staked them to a lead they would never surrender.

Penn State entered the fourth quarter with a 35-20 lead, but allowed three touchdowns, including a 16-yard go-ahead touchdown pass from J.T. Barrett—who set the Big Ten record for career touchdown passes in the second quarter, a record previously held by Drew Brees—with 1:48 left on the clock:

The most dramatic finish came in the South Florida game. Houston quarterback D’Eriq King converted a 4th-and-24 with 1:07 on the clock with a 30-yard completion to Courtney Lark, then scored from 20 yards out on 3rd and nine with 11 seconds left on the clock.

South Florida got the ball back, but without enough time left to stage a comeback of their own. The remaining undefeated teams in the top-25 are Alabama, Georgia, Wisconsin, Miami, and UCF.