Is this all one incredible thrill ride of distraction before a soul-sucking march to glory by Ohio State?
A ‘most improbable’ victory by Indiana keeps the Hoosiers undefeated.
The ACC is a mess, but we can’t look away.
Make room in Indiana athletics lore. If the wins keep coming for the Hoosiers, they may talk in Bloomington about Omar Cooper Jr.’s catch with the same reverence reserved for Keith Smart’s jumper against Syracuse.
Cooper leaped, caught and somehow affixed his left foot to the turf millimeters inside of the white chalk, good for a last-minute touchdown and an incredible 27-24 comeback victory for No. 2 Indiana at Penn State.
“It was the most improbable victory I’ve ever been a part of,” coach Curt Cignetti said after his team traveled 87 yards in less than two minutes for the triumph.
With wayward Wisconsin and woebegone Purdue left on the schedule, the Hoosiers are going to march into the Big Ten championship with an undefeated record and a shot at the playoff’s No. 1 seed.
And I still can’t decide whether this is a team of destiny or an incredible dose of window dressing before the inevitable — Ohio State repeating as national champions — takes hold in the postseason.
That’s the big, unanswered question looming over this season. Is this all one incredible thrill ride of distraction before a soul-sucking march to glory by Ohio State?
While the Hoosiers cooked up theatrics to survive left-for-dead Penn State, the thump-thump-thump Buckeyes drumbeat played in the background, as No. 1 Ohio State steamrolled Purdue 34-10.
“Business-like,” coach Ryan Day said of the team’s 13th consecutive victory.
C’mon, Buckeyes, don’t you want in on the white-knuckle theatrics?
In lieu of that, Ohio State served another masterclass of defense. Another game in which Julian Sayin completed more than 80% of his passes. Impressive though Ohio State’s persistent dominance is, it’s serving as the season’s boring undercard. All the drama’s elsewhere.
Hours after Indiana’s thriller, No. 11 Virginia finally fell during its weekly walk on the high wire, and California used a fourth-down completion to topple No. 15 Louisville in overtime.
The ACC is a mess of mediocrity, but its conference race commands our attention. Get a load of this: With three games remaining, Duke remains in the hunt for an ACC crown. That’s the same Duke that lost to Illinois, Tulane and UConn. Yep, the four-loss Dukies, with their three nonconference losses, are in better shape for the conference championship than onetime darlings Clemson, Miami and Florida State.
Some kind of season, this one.
And if you’ll turn your attention toward Nashville, the quarterback who’s spent one-quarter of his life in college just keeps delivering heroics. Diego Pavia, you rascal. He spurred Vanderbilt’s 28-point second-half outburst and completed the game-winner with a jump pass in overtime to keep the Commodores’ playoff hopes afloat. Vanderbilt’s beating Auburn, and nobody’s storming the field, because it’s not an upset.
Like I said, this is some kind of season.
Big oil money rules the kingdoms south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
No. 9 Texas Tech solidified its Big 12 frontrunner status with a suffocating win over No. 8 Brigham Young, and No. 3 Texas A&M keeps defying stereotypes by avoiding the collapse of Aggies teams of yore.
Neither Texas Tech nor Texas A&M has ever appeared in their respective conference’s championship game. Prepare for that to change.
Head back up to Big Ten country, and Oregon maintained its playoff positioning by out-Iowa’ing Iowa in an 18-16 victory. A safety became the difference in the score after Iowa’s errant snap on a punt traveled 147 feet out the back of the end zone.
You can’t make this up. Just another college football Saturday. Soak it up. Maybe, it portends an enthralling playoff.
Or, it’s just a beautiful facade, and Ohio State will tear through that gorgeous window dressing once the postseason arrives.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This story was updated to change a video.
