College Football Awards, Week 6 (2025) October 6, 2025

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Air Force, Alabama, Arch Manning, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Barry Odom, Bill Belichick, BYU, Cincinnati, Colin Cowherd, college football, Drew Allar, FIU, Florida, Florida State, Houston, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, James Franklin, Jeff Brohm, Kent State, LSU, Mario Cristobal, Maryland, Miami (FL), Michigan, Mike Norvell, Minnesota, Missouri, Navy, NC State, NCAA football, Nebraska, Nick Saban, North Carolina, North Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, P.J. Fleck, Penn State, Purdue, Red River rivalry, Red River Showdown, Scott Satterfield, South Carolina, South Florida, Steve Sarkesian, Tennessee, Texas, Tony Elliot, UCLA, UMass, UNLV, USC, Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington State
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COACHES
Wish I were him:  Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL)

Glad I’m not him: Mike Norvell, Florida State

Lucky guy: Tony Elliot, Virginia

Poor guy: Jeff Brohm, Louisville

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Steve Sarkesian, Texas

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: James Franklin, Penn State

Desperately seeking … anything:  Bill Belichick, North Carolina

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: NC State (defeated Campbell 56-10)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Penn State  
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (lost to No. 5 Oklahoma 44-0)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: UCLA

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  UConn (defeated FIU 51-10)  

Dang, they’re good: Miami (FL)
Dang, they’re bad:  FIU

Can’t Stand Prosperity: Texas

Did the season start?  Penn State
Can the season end?  Oklahoma State

Can the season never end? Alabama

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 3 Miami (FL) 28, No. 18 Florida State 22

Play this again, too: Navy 34, Air Force 31

Never play this again: NC State 56, Campbell 10

What?  Wake Forest 30, Virginia Tech 23

Huh?  Cincinnati 38, No. 14 Iowa State 30

Are you kidding me??  Florida 29, No. 9 Texas 21

Oh – my – God:  UCLA 42, No. 7 Penn State 35

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 7)
Ticket to die for:  No. 7 Indiana @ No. 3 Oregon

Best Only non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: Washington State @ No. 4 Ole Miss

Best non-Power Four matchup: No. 24 South Florida @ North Texas

Upset alert: No. 8 Alabama @ No. 14 Missouri

Also:  No. 15 Michigan @ USC

Must win: No. 6 Oklahoma vs Texas in the Red River Showdown in Dallas

Offensive explosion: Air Force @ UNLV

Defensive struggle: Iowa @ Wisconsin

Great game no one is talking about: Nebraska @ Maryland

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Barry Odom of Purdue vs PJ Fleck of Minnesota

Who’s bringing the body bags?  Houston @ Oklahoma State

Why are they playing? Washington State @ No. 4 Ole Miss

Plenty of good seats remaining: UMass @ Kent State

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Wake Forest @ Oregon State

Week 6 Thoughts:

What are we to make of what happened some of this week’s games?  Let us take Penn State as an example:  last week, they could have earned top-rank status in the Big Ten Conference, arguably the strongest conference this season.  A sudden, freak interception thrown by Penn State QB Drew Allar instead vaulted Oregon to near-supremacy in the B1G instead, though further tests await the Ducks (namely, IU coming to Eugene this upcoming weekend).

Then, in the most inexplicable of turns, Penn State ventures out west to play UCLA.  The Bruins have been notorious for reeling this year, so it stood to reason that the Nittany Lions could get well on a this hapless bunch, almost having to play the role of pitiless executioner, even on the road.  Funny thing how the Bruins failed to get that memo, as they pounced on the ‘Lions, first scoring 10 unanswered points and never relinquishing the lead throughout the game, despite giving up a safety with 0:25 left in the 4^th quarter.

The questions that many observers quietly raised about the limitations of James Franklin’s coaching have now become a roaring clamor heard throughout the core geographical footprint of the B1G.  Could this be a sudden unraveling of Franklin’s tenure in not-so-Happy Valley?

Meanwhile, let us recall that many folks, Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd included, projected Penn State to play Texas for the national title.  The latter’s scenario seems almost unlikely as the former’s, as Arch Manning & Co. got swallowed up in The Swamp this week.  Manning continues to wait too long in the pocket to release his passes, but remains quite adept at scrambling for yardage.  Perhaps Steve Sarkesian and staff can coach the former out of him and lean more into the latter.  If so, then further room for growth and development remains.  It had better come quickly, as they play hated, resurgent rival Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl amid the Texas State Fair next week.

The respective problems with Franklin and Sark are polar-opposites to each other.  Sark thinks he can overwhelm his opponents with a “wow” factor, and that clearly has not worked.  Moreover, Sark’s big weakness is that he is never organizationally buttoned-up as one might expect for an elite coach.  The latter is not Franklin’s problem at all, but he is totally lacking in the “wow” factor.  That actually makes him a good fit at Penn State, which historically takes a very blue-collar attitude towards the game.

Combine the two respective strengths of these respective coaches, and one has the next Nick Saban.  But alone, they are not quite as elite coaches as we thought that they were.  In their defense, so few coaches are in an overall league (the FBS) with 136 teams.

Random Thoughts:

Not a week of many potential offensive explosions, so it seems, but my prediction record on those is spotty at best.  That said, we have a bumper crop this upcoming week for potential upsets.  In addition to the aforementioned Alabama @ Missouri and Michigan @ USC, potential upsets abound elsewhere.  To wit:  South Carolina @ No. 11 LSU; Arizona @ No. 18 BYU; Arkansas @ No. 12 Tennessee; dare we also include Arizona State (ranked) @ Utah (currently unranked), and Illinois @ Ohio State?  The last one, probably not, although it will be interesting to see how well the Illini rise to that ultimate test.