College Football Week 6 Awards 2016 October 9, 2016

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Army, Auburn, B1G, Baylor, Big Ten, Bret Bielema, BYU, Charlie Strong, Charlotte, college, Darrell Hazell, Florida, Florida International, Florida State, football, Houston, Hugh Freeze, Hurricanes, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Ken Niumatalolo, Kevin Sumlin, Larry Fedora, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Lovie Smith, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Mark Richt, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Navy, NC State, NCAA, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Purdue, Red River Shootout, Rutgers, Stanford, Tarheels, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Tom Herman, UMass, USC, UTEP, Virginia Tech, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin, Wolfpack
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(Note:  All rankings are current AP [week 6] unless otherwise noted.)

COACHES

Wish I were him: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M

Glad I’m not him: Charlie Strong, Texas

Lucky guy: Darrell Hazell, Purdue

Poor guy: Lovie Smith, Illinois

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Tom Herman, Houston

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

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Larry Fedora, North Carolina

Desperately seeking … anything:  Mark Dantonio, Michigan State

TEAMS

Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Michigan (defeated Rutgers 78-0)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: TCU (defeated Kansas 24-23)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did:  Rutgers (see above)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Kansas (see above)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Auburn (defeated Mississippi State 38-14)

Dang, they’re good: Washington

Dang, they’re bad:  Rutgers

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Houston

Did the season start?  Texas

Can the season end?  UTEP

Can the season never end?  Texas A&M

GAMES

Play this again:  No. 8 Texas A&M 45, No. 9 Tennessee 38

Play this again, too:  No. 23 Florida State 20, No. 10 Miami 19

Never play this again: No. 4 Michigan 78, Rutgers 0

Close call:  TCU 24, Kansas 23

What? BYU 31, Michigan State 14

Huh?  No. 23 Florida State 20, No. 10 Miami 19

Double-Huh? Washington State 42, No. 15 Stanford 16

Are you kidding me?  No. 25 Virginia Tech 34, No. 17 North Carolina, 3

Oh – my – God:  Navy 46, No. 6 Houston 40

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current AP, week 6 rankings until further notice)

Ticket to die for: No. 1 Alabama @ No. 9 Tennessee

Also: No. 2 Ohio State @ No. 11 Wisconsin

Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Mississippi State @ BYU

Best non-Power Five matchup: Navy @ East Carolina

Upset alert: Kansas State @ No. 20 Oklahoma

Must win: No. 17 North Carolina @ No. 10 Miami also: Stanford @ Notre Dame

Offensive explosion: UCLA @ Washington State

Defensive struggle: Northwestern @ Michigan State

Great game no one is talking about: USC @ Arizona

Intriguing coaching matchup: Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss vs. Bret Bielema of Arkansas

Also: Larry Fedora of North Carolina vs. Mark Richt of Miami (FL)

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

Why are they playing?  Lafayette @ Army

Plenty of good seats remaining: Florida International @ Charlotte

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Louisiana Tech @ UMass

Week 6 Take-aways:

Nothing like the remnants of a hurricane to throw game plans out of whack. In September of 2002, for example, the remnants of a tropical storm descended on Louisville, and a Thursday night game between an unranked Cardinals team and No. 5-ranked Florida State became one to remember. The rain seemed to level the playing field to the point where the underdog Cardinals upset the highly-favored Seminoles in overtime.

This time, Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc with records and schedules alike. In the case of the LSU @ Florida game, it has been postponed with no make-up date set as of now. The Georgia @ South Carolina was postponed for just one day. In the state of North Carolina, both games played as scheduled, and with surprising results. The NC State Wolfpack help visiting Notre Dame to just three points (!), allowing their only 10 points to prevail in the game. In nearby Chapel Hill, the No. 17 Tarheels were also held to three points, while the No. 25 Virginia Tech Hokies nevertheless managed to score 34 in the downpour.

Meanwhile, with Texas, it was the same result, different day, this time to their most bitter rival in Oklahoma. The game was high-scoring, 45-40, showing once again that the Longhorns’ defensive issues have yet to be resolved. Indeed, Texas had given up a total of 620 yards (!) of offense in that game. The hotseat upon which Charlie Strong has found himself has just gotten even hotter.

Where has Michigan State’s offense gone? First they score only six points in a debacle against Wisconsin, then they lose on the road to lowly Indiana. Now, they managed to score only two touchdowns at home against BYU. Mark Dantonio seemed to have the program rolling, what with a playoff berth last year. After a team like that, surely some rebuilding would have been in order, to be sure, but this? All of us are left scratching our heads.

Don’t look now, but Stanford is in free-fall.  What I surmise is that injuries have taken their toll.  Unlike other major programs, Stanford lacks the depth of talent in their back-ups that other teams would take for granted.  This is the proverbial gap in the armor of a school where academics are taken as seriously as they are with the Cardinal.  Might it stand to reason that Notre Dame secretly suffers from the same handicap?

Meanwhile, the Toilet Bowl, B1G edition, is fast upon us next week when Rutgers and Illinois butt heads.  How it works with these bottom-of-the barrel matchups is that the loser is branded with the ignominy of being the worst team in the conference for this year.  The winners consolation is that they can point at said loser and say, “See?  At least we’re not as bad as those guys.”  Be quiet, Illinois:  you have no right to complain about this designation.  You lost to Purdue.

As things now stand, Washington is in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 North, and Tennessee’s loss to Texas A&M could potentially complicate things in the SEC East.  Meanwhile, Louisville’s strength of schedule could potentially be compromised with Houston’s unexpected loss to Navy.  That said, their big win over Florida State remains of considerable quality with their upset win over host Miami.  Perhaps these two upsets might cancel each other out in that arcane regard.  We shall see, as the stakes increase as the new month of October progresses.