Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jason Eck, New Mexico
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Desperately seeking … anything: Tony Elliott, Virginia
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Wake Forest (defeated Virginia 51-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Indiana (defeated Minnesota 23-16 (OT)) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: FIU (lost to Liberty 49-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Kennesaw State (defeated MTSU 44-28)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Duke (defeated BC 47-2)
Dang, they’re good: Georgia Dang, they’re bad: Boston College
Can’t Stand Prosperity: SMU
Did the season start? Ohio State Can the season end? UTEP
Can the season never end? Utah
GAMES Play this again: Iowa State 51, No. 24 Oklahoma State 49
Play this again, too: No. 1 Miami 38, North Carolina 35
Never play this again: No. 14 Wake Forest 51, Virginia 7
What? Iowa 30, No. 25 Wisconsin 0
Come again? Iowa State 51, No. 24 Oklahoma State 49
Huh? Oregon 34, No. 20 Northwestern 26
Double-Huh?? Syracuse 30, No. 19 SMU 27
Are you kidding me?? South Carolina 42, Oklahoma 25
Oh – my – God: USC 30, No. 2 Ohio State 18
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 10) Ticket to die for: No. 7 BYU @ No. 3 Utah
Also: No. 1 Miami @ No. 4 Notre Dame
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: None
Best non-Power Four matchup: Buffalo @ Miami (OH) (Tuesday)
Upset alert: No. 5 UCLA @ Minnesota
Must win: No. 8 Kentucky @ No. 16 Tennessee
Offensive explosion: West Virginia @ No. 14 Texas Tech
Defensive struggle: Michigan State @ Michigan
Great game no one is talking about: Air Force @ Army
Intriguing coaching matchup: Kalen DeBoer of Alabama vs Lane Kiffin of LSU
Who’s bringing the body bags? Merrimack @ No. 14 Wake Forest
Why are they playing? (see above)
Plenty of good seats remaining: Hawaii @ UTEP
Plenty of good seats remaining, B1G edition: Maryland @ Purdue
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? North Carolina @ UConn
Week 9 Thoughts:
Some major and some minor upsets occurred this week. Let us address the 900-lb gorilla in the room with USC upsetting Ohio State, 30-18. If both teams were intact, this outcome would be most unlikely, even with the Buckeyes having to venture out to the west coast to play. But Ohio State’s victory at Indiana last week proved to be more Pyrrhic than first considered. The loss of QB1 Julian Sayin was a major hit to the Buckeyes’ offense, which was left sputtering at times and unable to put the ball into the end zone at other times. The rain certainly did not help things for true freshman backup Luke Fahey, either. Still, the Buckeyes dominated time of possession, and they were decent on 3rd down, on the road. One possible takeaway is that OSU can learn from this, even build upon this, and recover further as the season further progresses.
Other interesting surprises included Iowa whipping Wisconsin, 30-0. So much for this week’s defensive struggle, at least as far as the Iowa side of the equation was concerned.
Oregon’s upset over Northwestern sounds oxymoronic on a number of levels, but the immediate context makes the categorization of an upset technically correct. After all, Northwestern came into Eugene ranked. The Ducks, ranked in the top-10 at the season’s start, have suffered enough losses to be currently out of the rankings altogether. Perhaps Oregon’s win is a sign that Dan Lanning might be righting the ship for the season after all.
As for the most entertaining upset of the week, that clearly goes to South Carolina defeating Oklahoma, on the road, no less. The high-scoring affair could also consider itself an explosion of offense of sorts, what with the Gamecocks scoring 42 points compared to the home team’s 25. The Cocks’ triumph should remind the rest of the conference to take Shane Beamer’s team lightly at their own peril.
One of the most engaging games was the low-scoring affair in Bloomington, Ind., between defending national champ Indiana and scrappy Minnesota. Fun fact: this was the first game in B1G history (which spans 130 years) wherein two 60-yard field goals were kicked, and that’s not even the whole it. Both teams kicked theirs within the last two minutes of the game.
Another near-upset occurred with North Carolina plays top-ranked Miami closely throughout, making this week’s intriguing coaching matchup even more interesting to observe as the game unfolded.
Offensive Explosion Review:
For once, my predicted offensive explosion actually came to pass. North Texas triumphed over Florida Atlantic in a rather thrilling finish, with high scoring throughout the game. Interestingly, that was not the only offensive explosion worth noting. Texas State almost upset No. 20 Boise State, with a second-half near-comeback mounted in the second half (the Bobcats outscored the Broncos 22-0 alone in the 3rd quarter), but the Broncos managed to hold off the challengers in the end, barely, 46-45.
Looking Ahead
Two potentially legendary games await us next week, what with a fitting replay of the “Catholics vs Convicts” as No. 1 Miami ventures up to South Bend, Ind., to play No. 4 Notre Dame, with obvious playoff implications abounding. At the same time, No. 7 BYU plays No. 3 Utah in what could be the most legendary, definitely most high-stakes “Holy War” ever staged.
Elsewhere, other intriguing matchups abound. Kentucky plays Tennessee: the fact that the Wildcats currently outrank the Volunteers merits us to queue the “Twilight Zone” theme music.
While UCLA currently sits at the No. 5 ranking, they now venture up to the Twin Cities to play Minnesota, a team that almost upset IU on the road. Can the Bruins handle the frozen tundra of Huntington Bank Stadium?
Consider that Texas heads up to Missouri. Can the Longhorns’ defense contain the Tigers’ offense while Arch Manning continues to find his own offensive footing, including achieving further growth in playing to his strengths (he clearly takes after his grandfather more than he does his uncles).
In another must-win scenario, Oregon, which seems to have stabilized, now plays Ohio State on the road, just as the Buckeyes continue to scramble to revive their offense, assuming such a thing is possible in the first place.
Also, No. 2 Georgia plays No. 12 Ole Miss: can the Rebels’ Trinidad Chambliss overcome the Bulldogs’ potentially stifling defense? Conversely, can the Dawgs effectively contain Chambliss and thus put themselves into the driver’s seat in the whole SEC? We’ll find out this and more this Saturday. Buckle up, Buckaroos.
COACHES Wish I were him: Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Glad I’m not him: Josh Heupel, Tennessee
Lucky guy: Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
Poor guy: Sonny Dykes, TCU
Desperately seeking a wake-up call clue: Kyle Whittingham, Michigan
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Spencer Danielson, Boise State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kalani Sitake, BYU
Desperately seeking … anything: Dan Lanning, Oregon
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Northwestern (defeated Rutgers 42-14)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida Atlantic (defeated Rice 51-49) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kennesaw State (lost to Liberty 34-6)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Michigan (lost to Indiana 13-6 (OT))
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Hawaii (defeated Northern Illinois 56-21)
Dang, they’re good: Miami Dang, they’re bad: Sacramento State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: BYU
Did the season start? Tennessee Can the season end? Vanderbilt
Can the season never end? UCLA
GAMES Play this again: No. 19 Texas 34, No. 7 Ole Miss 27
Play this again, too: Virginia Tech 20, Clemson 16
Never play this again: Delaware 61, Missouri State 38
What? Minnesota 13, No. 15 Iowa 10
Come again? Wisconsin 24, No. 16 USC 7
Huh? South Carolina 27, No. 11 Tennessee 24
Double-Huh?? No. 19 Texas 34, No. 7 Ole Miss 27
Are you kidding me?? Cincinnati 31, No. 8 Texas Tech 24
Oh – my – God: UCF 39, No. 2 BYU 31 (2OT)
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 9) Ticket to die for: No. 2 Ohio State @ USC
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: No. 5 Notre Dame @ Navy*
Best non-Power Four matchup: Army @ Memphis
Upset alert: No. 22 Arizona @ No. 13 Texas Tech
Must win: No. 17 Florida vs No. 3 Georgia
Offensive explosion: Florida Atlantic @ North Texas
Defensive struggle: No. 25 Wisconsin @ Iowa
Great game no one is talking about: South Carolina @ Oklahoma
Intriguing coaching matchup: P.J. Fleck of Minnesota vs Curt Cignetti of Indiana
Also: Mario Cristobal of Miami vs Bill Belichick of North Carolina
Who’s bringing the body bags? UTEP @ North Dakota State
Why are they playing? Nevada @ No. 7 UCLA
Plenty of good seats remaining: Sam Houston State @ Missouri State
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Missouri State @ Delaware
Week 8 Thoughts:
Just as last week’s game involved many upsets, this week was certainly not devoid of them, either. For example, after celebrating its biggest regular-season win in program history, BYU suffered a let-down on the road at UCF. It’s college football: this phenomenon is not unheard of. Ole Miss suffered a loss at Texas, despite a now-predictable stagnant offense on the part of the Longhorns in the second half, and also despite 4th-quarter heroics from Trinidad Chambliss. One thing that negated a typical Chambliss-engineered comeback was that, unlike the previous two weeks, this time Texas discovered this new thing called a running game late in the second half.
Elsewhere, USC discovered the hazards and tribulations of playing a night game at Camp Randall Stadium. No doubt the shock of the hostile environment and the colder-than-normal weather did not set well with the Trojans. How else to account for losing 24-7? On the other hand, Luke Fickell now as a signature win for 2026, with a Badgers sitting at 5-2, and at a much better spot than they were during the previous season.
In Columbia, S.C., the Gamecocks were able to get their act together, and upset Tennessee with a last-second field goal. No doubt the South Carolina faithful was happy to eat the half-million-dollar fine when the fans stormed the field in celebration.
In another interesting upset, with a rivalry trophy on the line, Minnesota held off Iowa in arguably the grandest defensive struggle of the week, 13-10, and thus winning the famed Floyd of Rosedale trophy for a year.
Despite the week’s matchus appearing to be a minor let down after last week’s legendary slate of games, many turned out to be thrilling after all. Not bad for a week that was not supposed to be a “winner”.
Offensive Explosion Review:
Remember when I predicted that the Utah vs Texas Tech game was supposed to be an offensive explosion? It turned out to be quite the opposite, with Utah triumphing in the end 21-13. Some games that could have qualified as offensive explosions, though, include Oklahoma State over Colorado, 57-24 (a bit lop-sided, to be sure). Another possible example along those same lines was Delaware over Missouri State, 61-38. A less lopsided example would be Memphis over East Carolina, 41-34. One would not need to look far for two textbook examples, though, such as Florida Atlantic over Rice, 51-49, and, perhaps the grandest of the week, Colorado State over San Diego State, 56-49.
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bob Chesney, UCLA
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Billy Napier, James Madison
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Desperately seeking … anything: Steve Sarkisian, Texas
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Texas A&M (defeated The Citadel 41-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Northwestern (defeated Michigan State 24-21) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (lost to South Florida 29-2)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Michigan State (lost to No. 25 Northwestern 24-21)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Army (defeated Florida Atlantic 56-24)
Dang, they’re good: Ohio State Dang, they’re bad: Kent State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Georgia
Did the season start? Texas Can the season end? Washington State
Can the season never end? BYU
GAMES Play this again: No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24
Play this again, too: No. 4 Ohio State 19, No. 5 Indiana 15
Never play this again: Texas A&M 41, The Citadel 0
What? No. 14 Tennessee 26, No. 6 Alabama 10
Huh? Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24
Are you kidding me?? No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24
Oh – my – God: Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 8) Ticket to die for: No. 7 Ole Miss @ No. 19 Texas*
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: none
Best non-Power Four matchup: Western Michigan @ Toledo
Defensive struggle: New Mexico State @ Sam Houston
Great game no one is talking about: Virginia Tech @ Clemson
Intriguing coaching matchup: Dan Lanning of Oregon vs Bret Bielema of Illinois
Who’s bringing the body bags? Liberty @ Kennesaw State
Why are they playing? N/A
Plenty of good seats remaining: Hawaii @ Northern Illinois
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Missouri State @ Delaware
Week 7 Thoughts:
Today was an historic day for top-ten losses. For the first time in more than 5,000 days, both the number-one and number-two teams lost their respective games. If that is not enough, other top-ten teams lost as well, not only Georgia, but also Texas and Alabama. The last time that all three of those teams lost on the same day was Oct. 26, 1996, almost 30 years to the day.
In the process were some thrilling games, and others with improbable outcomes. An example of the latter was the Florida game at Texas, where the Longhorns led for most of the game, only to have zero offensive output for most of the second half, save for a quick drive late in the fourth with a touchdown made possible by a beautiful, long pass from Arch Manning, who then fumbled on the last drive to essentially seal the deal for the Gators. For the second week in a row, the Longhorns improbably gave the game away, in part due to anemic second half offensive performances.
To break it down further: Texas currently depends too much on Arch Manning while neglecting their running game. Worse yet, Manning is clearly over-coached, to the point of him appearing to be caught in an invisible straightjacket. Add late-game turnovers on top of that, and you have the Horns’ current death spiral. Needless to say, Steve Sarkisian has coach his way onto a burned orange hot seat.
Speaking of improbable losses, what to make of Georgia’s head-scratching loss to Auburn at home? While Kirby Smart owned up to his team getting out-played during the post-game presser, in hindsight, this was a trap game for the Bulldogs, who just came off a massive win on the road over Alabama, only to be caught in the Oldest Rivalry of the Deep South the following week. Welcome to the stupefying vicissitudes of college football.
Meanwhile, Ohio State was able to settle a major score with Indiana, in Bloomington no less, but it came at the cost of QB Julian Sayin being knocked out of competition for several weeks, making the Buckeye’s victory a Pyrrhic one.
As things developed, ABC Sports was wise to schedule the Notre Dame @ BYU game in the evening. Speaking of which, even though I had listed the Ohio State-Indiana game as the “Ticket to die for”, this game also qualified as such. The matchup was a classic one of heart vs talent, with the outcome being one of the relatively rare instances when heart won the day/night. This massive win for the Cougars amounted to the biggest regular season victory in the history of the program. Only the 1984 Holliday Bowl triumph, securing BYU’s only national title to date, could be considered greater. Such a victory has surely put the rest of the college football world on notice, proving that the Cougars can hang with the heavyweights, at least for this year.
After such a monster week for some big games, let us now brace for the let-down. Next week’s slate of games will not be as good. But then again, they can’t all be winners.
Random Thoughts:
Last week’s supposed/predicted offensive explosion turned out to be quite the one-side affair, 31-3 in favor of Ole Miss, with Missouri’s offense deciding to take a bye week without telling the rest of the team. Aside from the anomalous Texas State over Colorado State 66-27, a closer offensive explosion in reality turned out to be West Virginia over Cincinnati, 45-42, no overtime involved. An honorable mention would be Army over Florida Atlantic 56-24. Evidently, the Fighting Schellenbergers did not bring much fight with them to this week’s game.
Along the lines of trap games (see: Auburn’s massive upset over Georgia), keep an eye on BYU venturing to Central Florida next week. The Golden Knights’ record is nothing to right home about, but always beware of teams going on the road after an historically emotional win.
*The rationale for this game’s designation is twofold. A) it’s a down week. Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Penn State, Louisville, Wake Forest, Florida and many others have byes for Week 8. B) like a trainwreck, you cannot not look away.
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Steve Sarkesian, Texas
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Bob Chesney, UCLA
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Steve Sarkesian, Texas
Desperately seeking … anything: Jon Sumrall, Florida
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Northwestern (defeated Ball State 45-14)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Indiana (defeated Nebraska 20-17) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Stanford (lost to Notre Dame 58-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Penn State (lost to USC 31-23)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Purdue (defeated Minnesota 41-13)
Dang, they’re good: Notre Dame Dang, they’re bad: Appalachian State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Texas
Did the season start? Florida Can the season end? Northern Illinois
Can the season never end? Georgia
GAMES Play this again: Oklahoma 27, No. 1 Texas 24
Play this again, too: No. 2 Georgia 20, No. 6 Alabama 17
Never play this again: Oregon State 66, SDSU 14
What? No. 21 UCLA 17, No. 13 Oregon 15
What-what? Purdue 41, Minnesota 13
Huh? North Carolina 21, No. 25 Pittsburgh 17
Double-Huh? Kentucky 34, No. 10 LSU 33 (OT)
Are you kidding me?? South Carolina 38, No. 16 Florida 19
Oh – my – God: Oklahoma 27, No. 1 Texas 24
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 7) Ticket to die for: No. 5 Ohio State @ No. 7 Indiana
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: none
Best non-Power Four matchup: Memphis @ Tulane (Friday)
Upset alert: Florida @ No. 7 Texas
Must win: No. 6 Alabama @ No. 14 Tennessee
Offensive explosion: No. 13 Missouri @ No. 9 Ole Miss
Defensive struggle: Penn State @ Michigan
Great game no one is talking about: No. 18 Oklahoma State @ No. 20 Houston
Also: Washington @ Purdue
Intriguing coaching matchup: Brent Venables of Oklahoma vs Will Stein of Kentucky
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 25 Northwestern @ Michigan State
Why are they playing? Elon @ Stanford
Plenty of good seats remaining: Ball State @ Bowling Green
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Rutgers @ Maryland
Week 6 Thoughts:
The Red River Rivalry did not disappoint in terms of delivering a dramatic game. Having 92,000 fans in the storied Cotton Bowl stadium, evenly divided between fan bases in a bitter rivalry never fails in delivering an incredibly electric environment.
As far as the game itself and its dramatic outcome, there are lessons to be learned. On paper, Texas should have put Oklahoma away early on. The fact that they failed to do so, thus allowing for the Sooners to hang around, eventually got the underdogs thinking that they could win the game. Some key errors late in the 4th quarter, namely Steve Sarkesian opting for a [missed] field goal instead of going for it on 4th and 2, and Arch Manning throwing a most-costly interception that put Oklahoma in position to kick a game-winning field goal in the final seconds. So one lesson learned: if you are the Number-one team, act like it, assert yourselves accordingly, and put your rival away without mercy.
As far as Arch Manning goes, it is beyond time to have a grown-up conversation that he is not as great a QB as hype would suggest otherwise. That said, he does have the occasional flash of brilliance. The long bomb into the end zone in the 1st quarter was certainly impressive. Sark would do well to sometimes get out of his way and allow for him to move the chains with his schoolyard ball-style heroics that did him so well against Ohio State. The other lesson, should Sark thus heed it, is to take the straightjacket off Arch, who has clear limitations at this point, and let me run more with the ball.
In fairness, credit Oklahoma with their offensive line play. They held off Texas’ killer front four the whole game, minimizing sacks allowed with their QB, Mateer, was underperforming throughout the game except for, inexplicably, the final series.
Elsewhere, Georgia beat Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, in a hard-fought game. Many have speculated that the Bulldogs could be the best time in the country currently, but as good as they looked, it was against nobodies. Now they played somebody in the form of Kalen DeBoer’s resurgent Alabama squad, and beat them at that. Now we know that Georgia is for real after all.
Random Thoughts:
Don’t look now, but UCLA is 5-0 and just upset Oregon. Given the offensive output of both teams going into that game, it seemed like an enticing prospect for an offensive explosion. Inexplicably, it turned out to be a defensive struggle instead.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Purdue, who was one of the conference punching bags for a while, just beat Minnesota, in butt-kicking fashion no less. Next up for the Boilermakers to prove they deserve more respect in the conference is a Friday night matchup against visiting Washington, a team that is trying to lick its wounds after taking a 41-24 shellacking at home against Iowa this past Friday.
Louisville remains the biggest mystery in the ACC. After frustrating performances against both Wake Forest and NC State, they turn around and wallop Florida State, arguably a better team than either of the previous two. If we did not know any better, we might assume that they flipped some magical, invisible switch that got the Cardinals to play good football again.
Florida’s decline seems to continue. First they laid an egg last week against Missouri. Now South Carolina embarrassed them at home. Was their ripping victory over Ole Miss at Pyrrhic?
Back to Red River to offer a parting observation: throughout that game, neither team’s QB elected to throw over the middle, despite it being undefended during the bulk of regulation. No doubt this will be a vexing issue for both Texas’ and OU’s offensive coordinators to deal with this week during film study, and have a thing or two to point out to their respective QBs in the process.
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Jeff Brohm, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jake Dickert, Wake Forest
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Matt Campbell, Penn State
Desperately seeking … anything: Mike Locksley, Maryland
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Pitt (defeated Bucknell 59-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: SMU (defeated Missouri State 34-24) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Purdue (lost to No. 3 Notre Dame 49-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Northwestern (lost to Indiana 29-23)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Florida (defeated No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28)
Did the season start? Penn State Can the season end? Bowling Green
Can the season never end? Georgia
GAMES Play this again: No. 1 Texas 20, No. 14 Tennessee 17
Play this again, too: No 17 Iowa 20, No. 18 Michigan 19
Never play this again: Duke 62, William & Mary 7
What? No. 24 Mississippi State 31, No. 19 Missouri 24
Huh? Wake Forest 30, No. 16 Louisville 27
Are you kidding me?? Wisconsin 24, No. 13 Penn State 20
Oh – my – God: No. 21 Florida 52, No. 4 Ole Miss 28
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 5) Ticket to die for: No. 7 Alabama @ No. 16 Mississippi State
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: Cal @ UNLV
Best non-Power Four matchup: Western Michigan @ Buffalo
Upset alert: Michigan @ Minnesota
Must win: Louisville @ NC State
Offensive explosion: No. 7 Alabama @ No. 16 Mississippi State
Defensive struggle: Michigan State @ Wisconsin
Great game no one is talking about: Pittsburgh @ Virginia Tech (Friday)
Also: West Virginia @ Iowa State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame vs Bill Belichick of North Carolina
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 11 LSU @ McNeese State
Why are they playing? No. 11 LSU @ McNeese State
Plenty of good seats remaining: LA Monroe @ South Alabama
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Texas Southern @ Florida Atlantic
Week 4 Thoughts:
Texas survived yet another strong challenge, this time in the hostile confines of legendary Neyland Stadium. Many in the sports commentary sphere remarked that had this been a night game, the place would have been more intimidating to the visiting Longhorns to the point where the odds would have been more in the Volunteers’ favor. That assessment does not take a rocket scientist to figure out: the fans would have had all day to get good and drunk. Drunker fans equal louder fans, making for an even more hostile environment in which for the visitors to play. Small wonder LSU plays most of their games in the evening.
To compensate for this lack of, er, augmented home field advantage, Neyland Stadium opened up its gates early. Parking lots opened at 6 AM for example, but that’s not the half of it. The University of Tennessee discounted all of their stadium concessions, including (read: especially) beer, at 50 percent between 9 and 10 AM (!). The ostensible reason for all of this was to encourage early arrival in order to avoid congestion as President Donald Trump, who also attended the game, was to arrive. But let us kid ourselves. As plausible as this may be, on the surface, for the reason behind this “early bird special”, we all know the real reason behind it, and its somewhat genius. Some might say dangerously genius, as it could set a new precedence for new degrees of fan inebriation earlier in the day going forward, but time will tell.
Regardless, all of this was before the game itself. Hard to believe that this was the first time the Horns and Volunteers played each other in the regular season. Moreover, the last time these two storied programs clashed was in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day, 1969, almost seven months shy of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and a prelude to the Longhorns’ undefeated season that same year which culminated in a national title of their own.
The game lived up to its hype, for both teams gave strong efforts, and at the end, Texas’ defensive line made the difference in stifling Tennessee’s young but potentially-gifted QB Faizon Brandon. Such potential showed itself in the form of Faizon almost completing a Hail Mary pass in the end zone as the game ended.
Random Thoughts:
There are body bag games, then then there are worse, even more pointless body bag games. To wit, regarding the latter: rarely would one consider the Pittsburgh Panthers to be pitiless executioners in such affairs, but so it went when they mercilessly ground down Bucknell 59-0. It is one thing for a Power-Five team to pick up an easy win against a “Group of Six” team for cash. It is quite another to pulverize a middling FCS team with no playoff hopes even at the latter’s level of competition. In this new day and age of playoffs and increased parity in the sport at the upper levels of FBS play, is it not unreasonable that we ban such ugly matchups from ever happening again?
Same thing goes for Duke. Scheduling a low-end Sunbelt or MAC conference team for an easy win is one thing. Scheduling a middling FCS team is getting ridiculous. At least with Pitt, they kept it in-state. Stunts like these make for begging for some central authority to start making schedules like they do in the NFL.
How many holes did Jeff Brohm kick into the wall of his office in the wake of Louisville’s puzzling loss, at home to Wake Forest? Either the Demon Deacons are far better than their currently unranked status shows, or the Cardinals demonstrated some weird refusal to effectively execute plays. For a team to go toe-to-toe with Ole Miss and then to take down a formidable SMU squad only to come up short against this team leaves one to sympathize with Brohm in his current frustrations.
Don’t look now, but Luke Fickell finally got something close to a signature win in taking down then-undefeated Penn State, in Happy Valley, no less. Perhaps the Badger program is gaining strength under his leadership after all. Time will tell if this is a harbinger of further success for the program, or some curious anomaly instead.
Something to monitor for Week 5: can Missouri’s defense contain Florida’s offense more effectively than Ole Miss’ did in The Swamp this week?
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Jedd Fisch, Washington
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Dan Lanning, Oregon
Desperately seeking … anything: Barry Odom, Purdue
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Georgia (defeated Western Kentucky 70-20)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Washington (defeated Utah State 16-14) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Rice (lost to No. 3 Notre Dame 52-0)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Oregon State (lost to Texas Tech 35-24)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Mississippi State (defeated Minnesota 38-13)
The Ohio State-Texas game lived up to its hype, with a miraculous comeback win for the Longhorns over the Buckeyes, a result that has left Buckeye Nation in apoplexy if thesearticles are of any indication. Allowing Texas to score three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter is the worst second-half collapse for the Buckeyes in the Ryan Day Era.
Conversely, OSU collapse or none, this is massive win for the Longhorns, one that gets a major monkey off the program’s – and Sark’s – back. For how long have discussions swirled that Texas cannot win the big game? Now they have the huge win.
Win or lose, both teams will be able to lick their wounds for a week, what with body bag games coming up for both of them. Then, it’s on to the season, where Ohio State can no doubt take the Big Ten by storm, and where Texas has the opportunity to prove that this huge win was not a fluke as they face a positively brutal SEC schedule.
Random Thoughts:
As I look back on the random thoughts I offered for Week 2 from last year, I am struck by the interesting parallels and related differences.
For instance, take this week’s Cy-Hawk trophy game between Iowa and Iowa State. I wrote:
“The only reason the game for the Cy-Hawk trophy ended as closely as it did was because of avoidable mistakes committed by the victors. Sooner or later, a team that make fewer mistakes shall come along to play Iowa, and when they do, expect a humiliating defeat for the Hawkeyes and a possible end to the Kirk Ferentz era.”
Given how last night’s game was such a low-scoring affair, one could say the exact same thing for this go-around.
Regardless, there’s something about Iowa and their massive trophies. The Cy-Hawk trophy is so heavy, at 90 pounds, it required two o-linemen to carry it. If that’s not enough, the Floyd of Rosedale trophy, played for annually between the Hawkeyes and Minnesota, is even heavier at 98 pounds.
But in continuation of the initial observation, in another parallel to last year’s week 2 observations, Illinois played their home half of the home-and-home series with Duke. But in contrast to last year’s 45-19 ripping victory on the road, this time Duke pulled off an upset on the road, 31-27. While I observed last year:
“Keep an eye out for Illinois. They are currently ranked No. 9, and defeated a well-coached Duke team, 45-19.”, the Illini are currently unranked. I can’t imagine why.
Returning to the Texas-Ohio State game, one thing that allowed for an improved offensive output for the Longhorns in the second half was Sark getting out of Arch Manning’s way. Let us hope for the sake of that team that their head coach continues to heed this lesson as the season progresses.
Ticket to die for: Ohio State vs Indiana in the B1G Championship game
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: N/A
Best non-Power Four matchup: North Texas vs No. 24 Tulane in the AAC Championship game
Upset alert: Georgia vs Alabama in the SEC Championship game
Must win: BYU vs Texas Tech in the Big XII Championship game
Offensive explosion: (inclusive)
Defensive struggle: Georgia vs Alabama
Great game no one is talking about: Kennesaw State vs Jacksonville State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Ryan Day of Ohio State vs Curt Cignetti of Indiana
Who’s bringing the body bags? Troy vs James Madison
Why are they playing? Duke vs Virginia in the ACC Championship game
Plenty of good seats remaining: Miami (OH) vs Western Michigan in the MAC Championship game
Week 14 [Random] Thoughts:
Ohio State finally ended a four-game losing streak to Michigan, in the Big House, in a near-blizzard, no less. In so doing, Ryan Day was able to get a massive monkey off his back, in gritty conditions, no less. Even more disheartening for Michigan was that the weather definitely favored the home team, yet Ohio State still won by double-digits. This does not bode well for teams about to face the Buckeyes in the playoffs.
But before those games are to commence, a quasi-national championship matchup awaits us fans in the Big Ten championship game between Ohio State and Indiana. Lest we forget, this Hoosier team is vastly improved over last year’s playoff-participant squad.
Northwestern has to be the best 6-6 team in the nation. Most of those six losses came against formidable Big Ten teams. Should they go to a bowl game, they’ll be a deceptively dangerous team to face.
Louisville finally played up to its potential, taking out its freak loss frustrations on in-state rival Kentucky, giving the Wildcats one of their worst butt-whippings ever in a Governor’s Cup matchup, 41-0. If the Cardinals played with that consistency in half the games they lost, they would be vying for the ACC championship and a playoff spot. Then, fans would be treated to a far-better matchup than the current one of five-loss Duke vs Virginia. What could have been…
While we are on the subject of championship games, critical thinking compels us to ask: with this new era of playoffs, what is the point of them? What is the point of having extra games? With playoff rankings, flawed as they may be, what is the point of having extra opportunities for injuries for your team that could cripple it come playoff time? It is thus time that we rethink this system of championship games, and evolve away from them. Push the Army-Navy game back to the first game of the regular season, if necessary. That way, you can have the playoffs the first weekend after Rivalry Week, and be done with the season by New Year’s Day, or around that time. Oh, but what about the bowl games? Those are a vestige of the pre-playoff era. Time to evolve away from those, too. Want a few consolation games for those teams who did not make the playoffs? Fine, let’s have those, but not at the expense of the playoff schedule itself. This all drills down to the biggest systemic problem facing college football today: too many interests vying to protect their own turf at the expense of real progress and reform. We need to appoint a commissioner of college football in order to push these necessary reforms. The playoffs have brought their need to light more than anything else, after all.
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bret Bielema, Illinois
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Sean Lewis, San Diego State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Brent Key, Georgia Tech
Desperately seeking … anything: Jeff Brohm, Louisville
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Auburn (defeated Mercer 62-17)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Illinois (lost to Wisconsin 27-10) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Syracuse (lost to No. 9 Notre Dame 70-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Stanford (defeated Cal 31-10)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Texas (defeated Arkansas 52-37)
Dang, they’re good: Notre Dame Dang, they’re bad: Sam Houston
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Georgia Tech
Did the season start? Louisville Can the season end? Florida State
Can the season never end? Oregon
GAMES Play this again: No. 11 Oklahoma 23, No. 4 Alabama 21
Play this again, too: No. 12 Utah 51, Kansas State 47
Never play this again: No. 9 Notre Dame 70, Syracuse 7
What? Penn State 37, Nebraska 10
Huh? Stanford 31, Cal 10
Double-Huh? TCU 17, No. 23 Houston 14
Are you kidding me??Wisconsin 27, No. 21 Illinois 10
Great game no one is talking about: Arizona @ No. 25 Arizona State
Also: Cincinnati @ TCU
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mario Cristobal of Miami vs Pat Narduzzi of Pittsburgh
I.C.M., B1G Edition: P.J. Fleck of Minnesota vs Luke Fickell of Wisconsin
I.C.M., SEC Edition: Clark Lea of Vanderbilt vs Josh Heupel of Tennessee
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 2 Indiana @ Purdue
Why are they playing? Charlotte @ No. 24 Tulane
Plenty of good seats remaining: Bowling Green @ UMass
Plenty of good seats remaining, ACC Edition: Boston College @ Syracuse
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? UTEP @ Delaware
Week 13 [Random] Thoughts:
In an offensive explosion to end all offensive explosions, Utah triumphed over Kansas State 51-47: there’s the Big XII we all know and love, where defenses treat their job as if it’s a pillow fight!
The potential outcomes for the ACC champion right now are so convoluted, one would need one of those diagram boards detectives use to figure out “whodonit”. But Pittsburgh just beat hitherto contender Georgia Tech in convincing fashion, and are now about to face tough-but-inconsistent Miami (Fla.) this week. If Pat Narduzzi’s squad can pull an upset win, ought there not to be a path for the Panthers to walk away with the conference crown?
Am I the only person out there who thinks that Georgia should be ranked No. 2 in the playoffs instead of No. 4? They can demolish almost any team not named Alabama, or, possibly, Ohio State.
Rivalry Week is now upon us, where any number of crazy things can happen. Case in point: the theme music from The Twilight Zone is required to play in the background when discussing the fact that Vanderbilt is favored over Tennessee, rankings-wise…yet Tennessee still has a good team this year. There’s a twist, no?
This week is special for a number of reasons, one of which this time around is that there are so many intriguing coaching matchups. One that should perhaps also be mentioned in the list above is Dan Lanning of Oregon vs Jedd Fisch of Washington. While we’re at it, how about Eliah Drinkwitz of Missouri vs Bobby Petrino of Arkansas, or Jeff Brohm of Louisville vs Mark Stoops of Kentucky, or Dabo Swinney of Clemson vs Shane Beamer of South Carolina? I would be somewhat tempted to include Barry Odom of Purdue vs Curt Cignetti of Indiana, but the former will be so outgunned that the game will surely end in tragedy for the host team. Nevertheless, the list goes on, but the reader understands one more fascinating aspect of why this week could yield so many great games.
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Ole Miss (defeated The Citadel 49-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Indiana (defeated Penn State 27-24) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Boston College (lost to SMU 45-13)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Penn State (lost to Indiana 27-24)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Kentucky (defeated Florida 38-7)
Great game no one is talking about: Clemson @ No. 19 Louisville
Also: Arizona @ Cincinnati
Intriguing coaching matchup: Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame vs Pat Narduzzi of Pittsburgh
Who’s bringing the body bags, B1G edition? Wisconsin @ No. 2 Indiana
Who’s bringing the body bags, ACC edition? No. 14 Georgia Tech @ Boston College
Why are they playing? New Mexico State @ No. 21 Tennessee
Plenty of good seats remaining: Oregon State @ Tulsa
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Tennessee Tech @ Kentucky
Week 12 [Random] Thoughts:
Indiana averted one of the biggest upsets of the season when they came back in the last minute of the game to score on Penn State, in Happy Valley. For the first time all year, the Hoosiers had to play from behind, initially having to punt with only four minutes and change left in the game, and somehow forcing Penn State to punt at the two-minute warning. Moreover, the game-winning drive only became such with a series of amazing catches, including two improbable ones, one of which was the touchdown itself, what with Omar Cooper, jr., barely keeping his feet in bounds at the back of the end zone. Still, Penn State theoretically had time to kick a field goal with the ball back, with the drive stalled at the 50, forcing a Hail Mary play that went nowhere.
Once again, Penn State played up to their initially high-rank potential, as if they too were still a top-ten team. In so doing, instead of getting their doors blown off, as my speculated they would, the Nittany Lions forced the Hoosiers into situations they had not faced all year. Upon further review, perhaps Curt Cignetti should send a case of wine over to the Penn State coaching staff, as they forced IU into situations the Hoosiers will certainly have to deal with some playoff time.
In other news, Texas Tech boat raced BYU during the Noon ET timeslot in Lubbock. Remember when that was supposed to be the game of the week (admittedly as part of a relatively weak slate of games for this weekend)? As things manifested, however, it soon became clear that the Red Raiders had too many ponies for the Cougars to corral. Just as war is a laboratory to find out what should have been known between countries’ powers before the first battle, lining up teams and having them play is the ultimate showing of who is actually better than whom, and the outcome of this game is “Exhibit A”.
They say that by November, you pretty much are who you are as a team. For example, by November of 2014 (Steve Spurrier’s last full season coaching South Carolina), the Gamecocks were a team that blew 4th quarter leads. Today, and in a similar vein, Louisville is a team that blows it in overtime at home.
Who had the Auburn @ Vanderbilt game as the offensive explosion of the week on their bingo card? Not this guy: where had that offense for Auburn been all year?
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Florida State (defeated Wake Forest 42-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Notre Dame (defeated Boston College 25-10) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Colorado (lost to Arizona 52-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Purdue (lost to Michigan 21-16)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Fresno State (defeated Boise State 30-7)
Great game no one is talking about: Tulane @ No. 22 Memphis
Intriguing coaching matchup: Dan Lanning of Oregon vs Kirk Ferentz of Iowa
Who’s bringing the body bags, B1G edition? No. 1 Ohio State @ Purdue
Who’s bringing the body bags, ACC edition? SMU @ Boston College
Why are they playing? The Citadel @ No. 7 Ole Miss
Plenty of good seats remaining: Sam Houston @ Oregon State
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? FIU @ Middle Tennessee
Week 10 [Random] Thoughts:
Texas played some of its best football all season – for three-and-a-half quarters, at least. A long bomb to the end zone threatened to break favored Vanderbilt’s collective back, only to find out that the receiver dropped the ball upon further review. That gave the Commodores enough time to regroup in an effort to overcome a three-TD deficit. The Longhorns’ collapse of their defense late in the 4th quarter almost enabled that. Sloppy play on both sides of the ball that pushed Vandy’s on-side kick out of bounds finally sealed the deal for Texas. But the final minutes of play left the 100,000+ faithful in DKR Memorial Stadium breathing a sigh of relief instead of belting out a massive cheer in celebration of this counterintuitive upset.
To zoom out the lens, Texas pulled off an improbably comeback on the road last week. This week, they almost allowed for an improbably comeback at home. Looks like Sark needs to teach his team how to play the whole 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, can Josh Heupel & Co. find a higher gear? As good as this Tennessee teams have been these past few years, he cannot seem to be able to pick up a signature win against the heavyweights within his own conference, or even others (witness the drubbing the Volunteers took in Ohio Stadium during last year’s playoffs).
Oklahoma, conversely, picked up a quality win, which, ironically, gives hated rival Texas’ decisive win over the Sooners all the more quality.
Where has this Florida team been all year? Notwithstanding their win over the Longhorns in the Swamp, the Gators have underperformed the rest of the year…until now, when they threatened to upset No. 5 Georgia at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville (yes, I’m still calling that), and it turned out to be the greatest game of the week.
