College Football Awards, Week 6 (2024) October 7, 2024

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Akron, Alabama, Arizona State, Army, Ball State, Cal, California, Clark Lea, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, college football, Eliah Drinkwitz, Florida, Florida State, football, Golden Bears, Hurricanes, Indiana, Iowa, James Franklin, James Madison, Jeff Monken, Justin Wilcox, Kalen DeBoer, Kent State, Lincoln Riley, Louisville, LSU, Mario Cristobal, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Missouri, NCAA, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Red River rivalry, Red River Shootout, Ryan Walters, SEC, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, UAB, UMass, UNLV, USC, Utah, Vanderbilt, Washington, Western Michigan, Wisconsin
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COACHES
Wish I were him:  Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

Glad I’m not him: Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

Lucky guy: Mario Cristobal, Miami

Poor guy: Justin Wilcox, Cal

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Lincoln Riley, USC

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jeff Monken, Army

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri

Desperately seeking … anything:  Ryan Walters, Purdue

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Tulane (defeated UAB 71-20)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Clemson (defeated Florida State 29-13)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Purdue (lost to Wisconsin 52-6)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Vanderbilt (defeated No. 1 Alabama 40-35)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Texas A&M (defeated No. 9 Missouri 41-10)

Dang, they’re good: Ohio State
Dang, they’re bad:  Purdue

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Alabama

Did the season start?  Missouri
Can the season end?  UAB

Can the season never end? Indiana

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 4 Alabama 41, No. 2 Georgia 34

Play this again, too:  Washington 27, No. 10 Michigan 17

Never play this again: Wisconsin 52, Purdue 6

What?  Minnesota 24, No. 11 USC 17

Huh?  Washington 27, No. 10 Michigan 17

Double-Huh?  No. 25 Texas A&M 41, No. 9 Missouri 10

Are you kidding me??  Arkansas 19, No. 4 Tennessee 14

Oh – my – God:  Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 7)
Ticket to die for:  No. 1 Texas vs. No. 18 Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout

Ticket to die for, runner-up:  No. 2 Ohio State @ No. 3 Oregon

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: N/A

Best non-Power Four matchup: Coastal Carolina @ James Madison

Upset alert: Arizona State @ No. 16 Utah

Must win: Florida @ No. 8 Tennessee

Offensive explosion: No. 9 Ole Miss @ No. 13 LSU

Defensive struggle: Washington @ Iowa

Great game no one is talking about: California @ No. 22 Pittsburgh

Intriguing coaching matchup:  James Frankin of Penn State vs Lincoln Riley of USC

Who’s bringing the body bags? Army @ UAB

Why are they playing?  Missouri @ UMass

Plenty of good seats remaining: Ball State @ Kent State

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Akron @ Western Michigan

Week 6 Thoughts:

Upsets abounded this weekend.  On paper, this was not supposed to happen.  Most of the matchups appeared to be middling at best, without any top-ten, high-stakes slugfest.  Yet the games delivered some good contest and interesting results anyhow.  Things started in such an interesting manner Friday night, when Syracuse ventured out to Las Vegas to take on UNLV.  The Runnin’ Rebels had been on something of a hot streak lately, but the Orange played them closely throughout regulation, even took the game to overtime, where they went on to triumph with a touchdown after UNLV’s field goal.

Nor would UNLV be the only undefeated team to bite the dust suddenly and unexpectedly.  Missouri went down to ignominious defeat to Texas A&M, losing 41-10.  In so doing, the Tigers proved our suspicions that they were grossly overrated at No. 9. 

Louisville might not have been undefeated, but they were ranked before going down to defeat at home to SMU.  The Cardinals were unable to contain the Mustangs’ offense the whole game, and that lack of defense cost them dearly in the end.

USC appears to still struggle to get its sea legs under them in the B1G, for they lost to unranked Minnesota on the road, 24-17.  Clearly “rowing the boat” paid off for P.J. Fleck this week.

Arkansas’ defense showed up in a massive way at home on a night game when No. 4 Tennessee came calling, and the Volunteers went home with their first loss of the season, 19-14.

But the most jaw-dropping upset of them all, even, likely, the most jaw-dropping upset of the decade thus far, was without a doubt No. 1 Alabama losing to Vanderbilt in Nashville.  To put things in perspective, this monumental win marked the first time that the Commodores defeated a No. 1 team, ever.

If all these upsets are not enough, though, we almost had another one late at night…almost.  The [No. 8] Miami Hurricanes ventured out to Berkeley to play California.  The Golden Bears led most of the game.  Even in the middle of the 3^rd quarter, they led 35-10.  Finally, in the 4^th quarter, the ‘Canes decided to live up to their potential, and scored three touchdowns in 10 minutes of play to eventually, almost inexplicably, triumph, 39-38.

So much for middling matchups.

That notwithstanding, next week we have Texas playing Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout; No. 2 Ohio State vs No. 3 Oregon, and No. 9 Ole Miss vs No. 13 LSU.  It’s going to be grand.  Buckle up.