College football at midseason: Here’s how we got here — and where we’re headed

We have arrived at the midpoint of the college football season, or as close as we’re going to get to it, with exactly 100 out of 131 FBS teams having played at least six games.

Some, like 5-1 Illinois, have put their best-laid plans into action. Others, like 1-5 Northwestern, are asking themselves where the heck life went wrong. Nine teams have gotten halfway through the regular season without losing (and six others are 5-0). Mercifully, no team has gotten halfway through without winning (though one, Colorado, is 0-5).

Five coaches — Nebraska’s Scott Frost, Arizona State’s Herm Edwards, Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins, Colorado’s Karl Dorrell and Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst — have been fired and, combined, are being paid a reported $55 million in buyouts. Great work if you can get it.

Too many outstanding players to list are chasing Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud for the Heisman Trophy. How much are they raking in? Probably not enough.

How did we get here? Where are we headed? Read on.

TEAMS OF THE FIRST HALF

Like Illinois, Kansas is 5-1 and in the Top 25. Unfortunately, also like Illinois, Kansas had its starting quarterback knocked out of Game 6 with an injury. How about both USC and UCLA being 6-0? Los Angeles is doing the Big Ten proud.

TEAMS OF THE SECOND HALF

1. Georgia and Alabama: Is it just plain a given they’ll collide again in the SEC title game and both reach the playoff? It would be nice if the season were a bit more dramatic than that. A four-game stretch for the Bulldogs against Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Kentucky could be tricky.

2. Ohio State and Michigan: Will each be 11-0 when they meet in Columbus on Nov. 26? That would be one spectacular scene.

3. Clemson: Can the Tigers win ’em all even if they don’t seem to be quite as good as any of Dabo Swinney’s six playoff teams?

PLAYERS OF THE FIRST HALF

A tip of the helmet to Illinois’ Chase Brown, who leads the nation in rushing yards with 879. The crosstown sack race between USC’s Tuli Tuipulotu and UCLA’s Laiatu Latu has been a riot. And everybody’s talking about Stroud, who has 24 touchdown passes and a preposterous 207.6 passer rating and hasn’t even gotten lathered up.

PLAYERS OF THE SECOND HALF

Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images

1. Will Anderson, LB, Alabama and Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia: Forget the Heisman race — these are the two best players in the land. Pick your order.

2. Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee and Will Rogers, QB, Mississippi State: Each tremendous passer leads an excellent team and has upset shots at both Alabama and Georgia to come.

3. Blake Corum, RB, Michigan: The other elite teams revolve around their quarterbacks. The Wolverines need Corum to be great.

COACHES OF THE FIRST HALF

Kansas’ Lance Leipold, Kansas State’s Chris Klieman, UCLA’s Chip Kelly, Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson and Illinois’ Bret Bielema all deserve some midseason recognition. So does Ryan Walters, coordinator of the Illini’s astonishingly good defense. Walters to Colorado — his alma mater — makes too much sense not to happen.

COACHES OF THE SECOND HALF

1. Kellys: Not just Chip (is he suddenly one of the best in the business again?) but also LSU’s Brian, whose Tigers have two losses already, including Saturday’s 40-13 embarrassment against Tennessee. As if winning over the maniacal LSU fan base wasn’t going to be hard enough.

2. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame: Maybe he’ll be better than Kelly, Lou Holtz, Ara Parseghian, Frank Leahy and Knute Rockne put together, but first he has to get through a bumpy Year 1. A three-game winning streak since a galling loss to Marshall has been encouraging.

3. Jim Leonhard, Wisconsin: His audition for the job on a permanent basis continues. Bet on him to nail it down.

GAME OF THE FIRST HALF

Has to be Northwestern’s 31-28 win against Nebraska in Dublin, right? No, not really. Nothing topped the tension of Alabama’s 20-19 win at Texas in Week 2, though the Tide’s 24-20 escape against Texas A&M in Week 6 came very close.

GAMES OF THE SECOND HALF

1. Alabama at Tennessee, Saturday: A Rocky Top upset? This is the No. 6-ranked Vols’ moment.

2. Ohio State at Penn State, Oct. 29: The Buckeyes are aiming for perfection. It would be such a shame to see them trip up here.

3. Clemson at Notre Dame, Nov. 5: Whatever the Irish’s record is going in, Freeman could be a star coming out.

PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS

Semifinal 1: Ohio State vs. Alabama, Atlanta, Dec. 31.

Semifinal 2: Georgia vs. USC, Glendale, Ariz., Dec. 31.

National championship: Ohio State vs. Georgia, Inglewood, Calif., Jan. 9.