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The recent mid-major results had everything you'd want from a college football slate: a high-octane shootout in Conference USA and a knife-fight in the Sun Belt that came down to the final possessions.
North Texas 48, Florida Atlantic 41
Eighty-nine points. That's the combined total in a game that played less like a conference matchup and more like a two-team exhibition in the open gym. North Texas edged Florida Atlantic by seven in a back-and-forth affair that kept both fanbases on their feet for all four quarters.
The Mean Green's 48-point output tells you the defense got overwhelmed at stretches, but the 41-point total on the other side says FAU's offense was equally willing to trade. Neither team blinked. North Texas simply had the edge when the game tightened, and that's what separated them by a single field goal's worth of margin in a game that looked like it could have gone either way three times over.
For a Conference USA slate that doesn't always generate much national conversation, this was the kind of result that reminds you the conference still produces genuinely competitive, high-tempo football.
Troy 24, James Madison 21
If the North Texas game was a shootout, this one was a chess match played at a walking pace. Troy held James Madison to 21 points and managed just enough to win by three in a Sun Belt contest that likely came down in the final minutes.
A 24-to-21 scoreline in modern college football is a different animal. Both offenses were contained. Both defenses got stops when they mattered. Troy's ability to keep the Dukes under 25 while finding 24 of their own is the kind of disciplined, grind-it-out performance that defines mid-major success. James Madison left the field with a one-score loss and a season that's still very much alive.
The Bigger Picture
While those two results dominated the mid-major conversation, the national narrative is already shifting toward the Halloween stretch. NCAA.com flagged the scariest upcoming matchups for top CFP contenders, and the question mark over Indiana heading into a Minnesota game is the kind of storyline that could ripple through the Big Ten's hierarchy by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Northwestern is quietly building a case that shouldn't be ignored. The Wildcats' structural gamble paired with a new-school offensive vision has them talking about the College Football Playoff in a way that would have been unthinkable a few seasons ago. Whether that dream survives the rest of the schedule is another question, but the conversation is there, and that matters.
Up next, the slate picks up with Tulane at Charlotte and Baylor hosting UCF on Friday night, before Arizona meets Texas Tech on Saturday. The midweek results set the tone; the weekend games will set the narrative.