The most dominant win of week 9 came from…. Tulsa? Entering the week, Memphis was 5-2, with only road losses against ranked teams in Memphis and Navy. Memphis ranked 38th in the SRS last week, and was a 6-point favorite at home against Tulsa. But the Golden Hurricane broke open the game in the second half, scoring the final 24 points en route to a 59-30 victory. Running back James Flanders had 33 carries for 249 yards and 5 touchdowns, including scores of 52 and 48 yards.
In slightly more relevant week 9 news, there was some B12 on B12 crime this weekend, as the last two remaining teams in the conference went down. Oklahoma State had the 2nd best SRS performance of the week, winning by 17 against previously unbeaten West Virginia. Texas was a bit less impressive, but still had the third best B12 performance of the week in a 35-34 home victory against Baylor.
But perhaps the most notable performance of the week came from Auburn, as the Tigers went on the road and scored 13 fourth quarter points to beat Ole Miss in Oxford, 40-29. Auburn now seems like a legitimate candidate to beat Alabama, or at least give the Tide a competitive game in the Iron Bowl.
Below are the single-game SRS results from this weekend. As always, thanks to Peter R. Wolfe for providing the game scores.
In the B10, it was a down week for both Michigan and Ohio State. Both teams barely eclipsed a 50-point SRS game, and five other B10 teams had better weeks. But if results hold, all anyone in the conference will be focused on is the Ohio State/Michigan battle in Columbus to end the season. Right now, those are still two of the top three teams in the SRS, although Alabama (on a bye) managed to move ahead of Michigan for the top spot.
Below are the rankings through week nine:
With Boise State losing this week, Western Michigan is the last non-power 5 unbeaten school. The Broncos have easy games coming up the next three weeks against Ball State, Kent State, and Buffalo, teams ranked 101, 102 and 125 in the SRS. WMU should have no trouble getting to 11-0 — which, by the way, is remarkable — but the final game against Toledo won’t be easy. The Rockets are 6-2 with two close losses, and will want revenge after Western Michigan knocked them out of the MAC Championship Game last year in the final week of the regular season.
As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments.
