College Football Week 10 Awards November 3, 2014

(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 10] unless otherwise noted.)

COACHES
Wish I were him: Jimbo Fisher, Florida State

Glad I’m not him: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Lucky guy: Gus Malzahn, Auburn

Poor guy: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Ruffin McNeil, East Carolina

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Matt Rhule, Temple

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Mark Richt, Georgia
Desperately seeking … anything: Paul Rhoads, Iowa State

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 13 Baylor (defeated Kansas 60-14)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Texas A&M (defeated Louisiana-Monroe 21-16)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Iowa State (lost to No. 18 Oklahoma 59-14)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: LA-Monroe (lost to Texas A&M 21-16)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Iowa (defeated Northwestern 48-7)

Dang, they’re good: Florida State
Dang, they’re bad: South Florida

You know, they’re not so bad: Arkansas
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Georgia

Did the season start? South Carolina

Can the season end? Eastern Michigan
Can the season never end? Kansas State

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 3 Auburn 35, No. 3 Ole Miss 31

Play this again, too: No. 24 Duke 51, Pittsburgh 48
Never play this again: No. 18 Oklahoma 59, Iowa State 14

What? Temple 20, No. 23 East Carolina 10

Huh? UConn 37, Central Florida 29
Are you kidding me? No. 22 UCLA 17, No. 12 Arizona 7

Oh – my – God: Florida 38, No. 11 Georgia 20

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current AP (post-week 10, pre-week 11)
Ticket to die for: No. 9 Kansas State @ No. 7 TCU

Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: (none)

Best non-Power Five matchup: Memphis @ Temple

Upset alert: No. 10 Notre Dame @ No. 14 Arizona State

Must win: No. 16 Ohio State @ No. 8 Michigan State

Offensive explosion: No. 13 Baylor @ No. 18 Oklahoma

Defensive struggle: No. 6 Alabama @ No. 19 LSU

Great game no one is talking about: Michigan @ Northwestern

Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Helfrich of Oregon vs. Kyle Whittingham of Utah

Who’s bringing the body bags? Presbyterian @ No. 4 Ole Miss

Why are they playing? Tennessee-Martin @ Mississippi State

Plenty of good seats remaining: Iowa State @ Kansas

They shoot horses, don’t they?  Colorado @ No. 12 Arizona

Week 10 Random Thoughts:

• The special, throwback helmets that Texas A&M wore looked positively awesome. Indeed, these are some of the coolest-looking, most college football-appropriate special helmets I have ever seen. Period.

In case the significance is lost on people, this design of helmet was meant to be a throwback to the kind of      helmets  the Aggies wore when they won their only national championship – in 1939. Do the math, and this year marks the diamond anniversary of that occasion, hence the throwback-looking helmets. Way cool, in any case. Let’s hope they break them out again before the season ends!

• The South Carolina-Tennessee game seemed to leave more questions asked than answered. Just what accounts for South Carolina’s gross inconsistency? Is it their weak defense, or is it something more systemic than that? Will another good recruiting class help the Ol’ Ball Coach rectify this problem? Will Dylan Thompson’s QB play improve next year, with the experience he is gaining this year?

On the other side of the coin, Tennessee seems to be one year away from having a really good team. All Butch Jones appears to need is to bring in one more recruiting class of players with the right kind of talent, but also who buy into his system, his approach, his way of doing things. Starting next year, they should be the team in the best position to win the SEC East, barring needed improvements on South Carolina’s end.

• Speaking of more questions asked than answered, the results of the Florida-Georgia game have certainly muddied the waters regarding Will Muschamp’s future. Everybody was prepared to write his epitaph and obituary notice before he pulled off a massive upset over the Bulldogs in Jacksonville, Fla. Does this win save his bacon for one more year, or is the die already cast? After all, Texas defeating arch-rival Oklahoma in 2013 did nothing to preserve Mack Brown’s tenure as head coach of the Longhorns (the connection being, Muschamp was once Brown’s defensive coordinator). Food for thought.