CFB Wrap-up: Takeaways from Week 7's biggest games

College Football Wrap-Up recaps the most important developments from the day's action and examines their significance moving forward.

Penn State's big-game solution

The knock on Penn State during James Franklin's tenure has been the team's inability to win the biggest games on its schedule. It appears Franklin has found the solution for that issue: Give the ball to Tyler Warren. He was an absolute menace against USC, racking up 244 yards in the overtime win and matching the all-time single-game FBS tight end record with 17 grabs. His heroics didn't stop at catching the ball, though - Warren also threw for a 9-yard gain on a trick play and ran once for four yards.

The 2,500-mile journey to Los Angeles - including a bus commute to an airport with a runway long enough to accommodate such a flight - seemingly took an early toll on the Nittany Lions, who trailed 20-6 at half. However, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki drew up a masterclass to get the second half started with a bang, helped by an incredible grab by Warren.

That jolted Penn State to life, but the back-and-forth affair needed overtime after Nicholas Singleton scored a touchdown with 2:53 to play. The Nittany Lions emerged in the extra frame to give Franklin the win he desperately needed and keep Penn State firmly chugging toward a playoff spot.

Texas preps for Georgia with Red River blowout

The start of the 2024 season has shown that Texas was unquestionably a better football team than Oklahoma entering the Red River Rivalry. Add in that the Sooners were missing their top five receivers on the depth chart due to injury, and it was always going to be a monumental task to take down the Longhorns. However, despite all those challenges, the Oklahoma defense stood tall in the opening quarter, allowing just 13 total yards and leading 3-0 after 15 minutes. And that was where the positive coverage of the Sooners' effort Saturday ends.

Steve Sarkisian then reminded everyone why he's the game's best play-caller, making excellent adjustments following the opening quarter to get the Longhorns humming in Quinn Ewers' return. Texas dominated the second frame to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 21-3 halftime lead. The Longhorns outgained the Sooners 222-53 in total yards in the frame, holding Oklahoma to just 3.8 yards per play. With virtually no semblance of a Sooners passing game, an 18-point lead was essentially insurmountable.

The final count was 34 points and 406 yards of total offense at 6.7 yards per play for the Longhorns. The Texas defense had five sacks and forced two turnovers, ruining any chance of a Sooner comeback.

The task ahead is the toughest of the year for Texas: a home date with Georgia in the most-anticipated game of the year. The balanced attack on display Saturday should have the Longhorn faithful feeling very good about their chances.

Oklahoma's empty offense

Once again, the story for Oklahoma was no Dillon Gabriel, no Jeff Lebby, no offense. The Sooners have now played four games this season against Power 5 competition and scored a total of six touchdowns on offense. With Gabriel at Oregon and ex-offensive coordinator Lebby at Mississippi State, the Sooners have become non-factors on the offensive end. Whatever brief spark Michael Hawkins provided at quarterback in place of Jackson Arnold is gone, with the absence of healthy receivers effectively rendering the passing attack useless.

The Sooners broke scoreboards on a weekly basis when Lincoln Riley was in Norman, only to be undone by a porous defense come playoff time. That's flipped since the hire of Brent Venables, with a strong defense left to make up for an offense that simply can't move the football. That's made worse by the fact Venables' staff had two weeks to prepare for the Texas matchup and still couldn't formulate a successful plan.

Venables offered a firm "No" when asked if he considered a quarterback change at any point. It seems it's Hawkins' team the rest of the way no matter how the offense performs. That leaves six games - four against ranked opponents - for that side of the ball to show any sign of progress in Year 3 of the head coach's tenure.

Alabama, drama kings of 2024

Nick Saban's 17-year run with Alabama brought remarkable consistency and relentless commitment to detail that produced an almost boring level of excellence. Kalen DeBoer's first six games with the program have been anything but - and the last three boasted more drama than Saban's entire run. Saturday served as proof, with the Tide looking poised to lose back-to-back matchups for the first time since 2007 for a large portion of the second half against South Carolina.

Even after the Crimson Tide scored a 34-yard touchdown with 1:43 remaining to push their lead to eight, the drama was far from over. Nyckoles Harbour's incredible 31-yard toe-tap touchdown grab brought South Carolina within two, but the conversion failed, forcing an onside kick. The scriptwriters had one more trick up their sleeve with a Gamecocks recovery setting up one last chance. It failed and Alabama won, but nobody associated with the Crimson Tide should feel overly good about the victory.

In the last 10 quarters of football, Alabama has been outscored 92-73 and outgained 1,158-901 in total offense. The Crimson Tide have managed a 2-1 record during that time, but there are a lot of problems for DeBoer in Tuscaloosa.

The defense is allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete a whopping 69% of their passes over that 10-quarter span, which ranks 122nd out of 134 FBS teams in the nation. The poor pass defense is killing the unit's ability to get off the field on third down. A week after Vanderbilt shredded Alabama's defense for 12-of-18 third-down conversions, the Gamecocks also picked the unit apart to sustain long drives.

The offensive line struggled to protect Jalen Milroe, allowing four sacks and nine tackles for loss on the day. That forced the talented passer into two interceptions, bringing his turnover total to five over the last three games.

Alabama remains a skilled outfit with the potential to beat any team in the country - evident in its first-half performance against Georgia at the end of September. However, since then, the Crimson Tide have also shown that their challenges mean they can lose to just about anybody, too.

Iowa's offense ... explodes?

We spend plenty of time in this space highlighting the struggles of Iowa's offense, so it's time we acknowledge an explosive performance from the Hawkeyes. Iowa hung 40 points on Washington Saturday, representing the first time the former hit that total in a conference game since Oct. 1, 2021.

Cade McNamara threw two touchdowns in the blowout to mark his first scoring pass against a power conference opponent since he threw one against Iowa as a member of Michigan in the 2021 Big Ten title game.

Don't look now, but the Hawkeyes are very real players in the Big Ten race despite their two losses on the year. Iowa will likely be favored in all six of its remaining games with no ranked opponents on the schedule.

Salute to Army

Army hasn't lost a game in 350 days. With the way things are going in 2024, don't be shocked if the Black Knights' streak keeps rolling. And this version of the team actually has an explosive offense.

The troops piled up 44 points in a blowout of UAB on Saturday - the fifth time in six games they've topped the 35-point mark. The operation revolves around quarterback Bryson Daily, who presents a major threat through the air. The senior has topped 100 passing yards (essentially the 300-yard total for most teams) three times in the 2024 campaign from the triple-option formation. However, his devastating rushing attack remains true to the Army roots.

Army isn't the only service academy running wild on the competition in 2024: Navy is also perfect on the season, which sets up the potential for an AAC title matchup between the two programs a week before the annual rivalry battle.