College Football Week 10 Awards November 9, 2015

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

COACHES

Wish I were him: Dabo Swinney, Clemson

Glad I’m not him: Gary Patterson, TCU

Lucky guy: Butch Jones, Tennessee

Poor guy: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Ken Niumatalolo, Navy

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Justin Fuente, Memphis

Desperately seeking … anything:  Darrell Hazell, Purdue

TEAMS

Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Michigan (defeated Rutgers 49-16)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: BYU (defeated San Jose State 17-16)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Colorado (lost to No. 11 Stanford 42-10)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Vanderbilt (lost to No. 10 Florida 9-7)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Oklahoma State (see below)

Dang, they’re good: Alabama

Dang, they’re bad:  Purdue

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Memphis

Did the season start? Texas A&M

Can the season end?  Rutgers

Can the season never end?  Clemson

GAMES

Play this again:  No. 1 Clemson 23, No. 16 Florida State 13

Never play this again: Arkansas 63, UT-Martin 28

What? Auburn 20, No. 19 Texas A&M 10

Huh?  Navy 45, No. 13 Memphis 20

Are you kidding me?  No. 12 Oklahoma State 49, No. 8 TCU 29

Oh – my – God:  Nebraska 39, No. 7 Michigan State 38

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current CFP (post-week 10, pre-week 11)

Ticket to die for:  No. 10 Oklahoma @ No. 4 Baylor

Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: BYU @ Missouri

Best non-Power Five matchup: No. 25 Memphis @ No. 16 Houston

Upset alert: Oregon @ No. 8 Stanford

Must win: Pittsburgh @ Duke

Offensive explosion: Memphis @ Houston

Defensive struggle: Kentucky @ Vanderbilt

Great game no one is talking about:  Texas @ West Virginia

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Art Briles of Baylor vs. Bob Stoops of Oklahoma

Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ No. 13 TCU

Why are they playing? Western Carolina @ Texas A&M

Plenty of good seats remaining: UTSA @ Charlotte (also:  UMass @ Eastern Michigan)

They shoot horses, don’t they?  North Texas @ Tennessee

Week 11 Take-aways:

Two quick notes.  One, it might time to put the expression “[I]t’s time to put “Clemsoning” to bed” to bed.  “Clemsoning,” if you’ll recall, refers to the Tigers usually choking (horribly at that) in big games.  They always coughed it up to the then-stud teams of the ACC, especially Florida State.  A few years ago, they went to the Orange Bowl to play West Virginia, and lost…horribly!  That was early January of 2012.  By the time the Tigers – at No. 12 — returned to the Orange Bowl two years later, this time to play No. 7 Ohio State, the situation was considerably different.  In what cannot be ignored as a statement game, Clemson beat the Buckeyes 40-35, and have not looked back since.  Now they currently sit at the top of the College Football Playoff poll.  Bully for them!

The other quick take-away is that it is now November.  Teams are what they are at this point in the season.  But more to the point, these next few weeks, including this past weekend, will be one of separation.  Teams that were hitherto unbeaten – or at least ranked in the top ten – will now start to butt heads.  Separation shall thus ensure (read:  Alabama’s dominating win over LSU).  Indeed, it hath already begun.  What a glorious month of college football this shall become!