In everyones favorite discourse which is the Big Ten vs SEC, the two conferences had three big matchups on national television on Saturday which went the way of the SEC. Michigan/Oklahoma and Ohio State/Texas completed the back half of home and home series that started in 2025 and Minnesota/Mississippi played the first game of a home and home series.
Michigan won the first fight with an upset over No. 11 Oklahoma
With the abysmal showing that against Western Michigan, everyone thought Michigan would get spanked to Oklahoma. I had a sneaky feeling that Michigan would find a way to play much better and pull off the upset. Despite the score only being a 17-10 win for the Wolverines, it honestly did not feel that close. Michigan dominated the time of possession, and Oklahoma’s QB John Mateer looked as bad as Bryce Underwood did last week. But that doesn’t undermine what Michigan was able to do defensively. Outside of the 3rd quarter, OU couldn’t run the offense without having at least three players in Maize and Blue surrounding the ballcarrier. I don’t think Michigan is all of a sudden back because offensively they still need to fix some things but it is a game that they looked a little more competent in.
Mississippi State quiets Minnesota and any talks of them being a CFP sleeper
I have seen some talks in the offseason of Minnesota potentially being a team that can sneak into the Playoff this year. After yesterday, I think those talks can rest for now. In front of a Gold Out crowd at Huntington Bank Stadium vs a bottom tier SEC team, Minnesota looked completely out of their league. Now Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor is definitely a promising young star, but the Bulldogs could have done whatever they wanted vs the Gophers as they went into half up 28-6. Minnesota’s QB Drake Lindsey wasn’t bad, going 31-48 for 279 passing yards. Minnesota actually at one point looked like they had a touchdown in the second half to trim the lead to only 11 but after that was overturned, the Gophers turned it over on downs and ended up having a 38-13 loss.
No. 4 Texas finally slays a demon in No. 1 Ohio State
The biggest game of the day between No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas looked to be over at half as OSU went into it up 23-3. The Longhorns D couldn’t stop Jeremiah Smith, QB Julian Sayin was carving up the Texas D and Texas had such bad luck where QB Arch Manning had a dart to Wide Receiver Cam Coleman only for Coleman to lose it while bouncing off the ground and it found an Ohio State defenders hand. Second half it was a completely different story, Manning found his groove, RB Hollywood Smothers also got going and Texas scored 21 unanswered to complete a comeback to win 24-23. With a chance to go up 9 with just over 4 minutes left, Ohio State missed a field goal and that game Texas the opportunity to march down the field and win the game. The Ohio State offense also struggled as it seemed like everything was being dropped.
In the first war of the season, the SEC won kinda handedly and we will see if this continues. I think Ohio State will be fine, it’s more Mississippi State creaming Minnesota. Because one of the biggest examples SEC talking heads use is how hard an SEC schedule is and a bottom SEC team went into a solid Big Ten team and crushed them. What is a little bad with Ohio State, is when it came down to crunch time on the road vs a physical SEC team. Texas proved they are more fit to handle those type of moments then the Buckeyes are right now.
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