College Football Week 6 Awards October 8, 2012

(NOTE:  all rankings are current AP [post-Week 6, pre-Week 7] unless otherwise noted.)

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Glad I’m not him: Danny Hope, Purdue
Lucky guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Poor guy: Mack Brown, Texas
Desperately seeking a clue: Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Butch Jones, Cincinnati

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Gene Chizik, Auburn
Desperately seeking … anything:  Skip Holtz, South Florida

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Kansas State (beat Kansas 56-16)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida State (lost to N.C. State 17-16)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Miami (Fla.)  (lost to Notre Dame 41-3)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Indiana (lost to Michigan State 31-27)
Thought you wouldn’t get your butt kicked, you did:  Georgia (lost to South Carolina 35-7)

Dang, they’re good: South Carolina
Dang, they’re bad:  Virginia
Did the season start? South Florida
Can the season end?  Southern Miss
Can the season never end? West Virginia

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 5 West Virginia 48, No. 15 Texas 45
Never play this again: UAB 52, SE Louisiana 3
What?  Temple 37, South Florida 28
Huh? Iowa State 37, No. 23* TCU 23

Are you kidding me? Arkansas 24, Auburn 7
Oh – my – God:  N.C. State 17, No. 12 Florida State 16

NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for:  No. 11 Texas vs. No. 17 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, Dallas (Notwithstanding No. 3 South Carolina @ No. 9 LSU)
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Louisiana Tech vs. Texas A&M
Best non-Big Six matchup: Fresno State @ Boise State
Upset alert: No. 17 Stanford @ No. 7 Notre Dame

Must win: Purdue vs. Wisconsin
Offensive explosion: No. 5 West Virginia @ Texas Tech
Defensive struggle: No. 4 Florida vs. Vanderbilt
Great game no one is talking about: No. 6 Kansas State @ Iowa State

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Paul Chryst of Pittsburgh vs. Charlie Strong of No. 18 Louisville
Who’s bringing the body bags? Boston College @ No. 12 Florida State
Why are they playing? Fordham @ No. 21 Cincinnati

Plenty of good seats remaining: SMU @ Tulane
They shoot horses, don’t they?  No. 8 Ohio State @ Indiana

*USA Today poll

Week 6:  Some thoughts looking back and going forward:

Do scores like that still exist in football?  Yes, the showdown in The Swamp between LSU and Florida was an obvious defensive slugfest that many could foresee.  But that pales in comparison with the near-baseball score eked out by Utah State at BYU on Friday night.  The Cougars narrowly triumphed over the Aggies by an underwhelming 6-3.  On a cheerier note, the two teams’ respective uniforms were in perfect contrast to one-another.  Utah State sported dark blue helmets, white jerseys and dark blue pants, while BYU had the exact opposite of white helmets, dark blue jerseys and white pants.  One rarely sees such a mirror-opposite contrast these days!

Speaking of defense struggles, though:  The predicted low-scoring affair between the Gators and the Tigers did indeed manifest itself, as Florida triumphed at home only by 14-6.

On the other side of the coin:  Yours truly, well, truly whiffed on predicting the “offensive explosion” game.  Normally, a Pac-12 match-up, or some game including Baylor or West Virginia (or both, in hindsight!) are rather safe bets.  But bets are not guaranteed: case in point, Oregon State defeated Washington State 19-6 in what could only be called a “workmanlike” performance.  What is much more ironic, though, is that the REAL offensive explosion turned out to be Ohio State’s win over Nebraska in a 63-38 shootout.  I know; the terms “Big 10” and “shootout” rarely go together, which is probably why such an offensive explosion possibility was so cavalierly overlooked.

New contender in town:  West Virginia has made an impressive debut in the Big XII thus far.  They first drew notice by winning their inaugural conference matchup at home in thrilling fashion over Baylor last week.  Now, they have proven that the previous week’s victory was no fluke by winning a hard-fought game over the Texas Longhorns in Austin.  Whether or not the Mountaineers are here and here to stay as a force to be reckoned with in their new home conference is a matter for continued discussion.  Do they have just the right amount of key players with an exceptional quarterback in Geno Smith, or has Dana Holgorsen put something together that can sustain WVU as a perennial top-ten program?  Time will tell, and while the Mountaineers are on a roll, plenty of tests remain.

Wanted:  Rapid Recovery:  Too many fans assume that college football teams can play on an even keel.  That might be remotely, sporadically possible if you are coached by someone whose first name is Nick and whose last name is Saban.  Aside from that, too many fans forget that we’re dealing with 19 year-olds, and as such, they are prone to the emotional roller coaster, and their collective performance periodically thus dips.  An emotional win at home can temporarily drain your incentive to focus in practice the following week, and so seven days after that big win, you can come out flat on the road.  It happens all the time.

The reason this is brought up is because Texas just lost a hard-fought game at home.  Mack Brown shall surely prove what he is made of as he and his staff diligently try to rally the troops as they prepare to take on arch-rival Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, which is easily one of the biggest games of the year, period.

Meanwhile, in the SEC:  Georgia may be good, but South Carolina is clearly better.  What on paper had to have been a knock-down, drag-out match-up turned out to be a rout in favor of the Gamecocks, who have just advanced from No. 6 to No. 3 in the AP ranks in the wake of LSU’s loss to Florida and Florida State’s surprising upset at North Carolina State.  But it does not get any easier for Steve Spurrier’s squad, as they now have to take on Les Miles’ Bayou Bengals in Baton Rouge this upcoming weekend, before having to go to The Swamp to take on Will Muschamp’s resurgent Florida Gators the week after that.  Translation:  great win, guys.  No we have to do it all over again.  And again.

With that in mind, make no mistake about it:  Spurrier has built a juggernaut in Columbia.  They are physically impressive, and currently, effective, on both sides of the ball.  As a cautionary note, though, do not be surprised if the Gamecocks emerge from the next two engagements 1-1.

Speaking of LSU:  As much as it pains me to say this, we ought to acknowledge that perhaps LSU is a tad overrated.  The reasons are simple:  the Tigers struggled to move the ball at home against Towson (!), beat a mediocre Auburn by only two points, stagnated for a half against Idaho, and got only seven first downs against Florida.