UGHHHH!!!!!!! The Penn State game was beyond frustrating. To be fair to the Nittany Lions, they are dealing with injuries. It is clear that Sean Clifford is nowhere close to 100% and it definitely affected the game. The defensive line lost PJ Mustipher against Iowa and I believe that was their third starting defensive lineman lost to injury on the year. There were also a few bad calls in the game (the fumble that was ruled dead because of forward progress was idiotic and the not called late hit against Clifford). And yet none of that should have mattered against a not very good Illinois team. The defense managed some turnovers, but the offense could not convert them to points. Also, this amazing defense looked stupid against the running game. I am not sure why Pry did not stack the box earlier and force Illinois to try and pass more. Even the announcers were perplexed as to why there was no adjustment.
Those excuses that many fans will make for the loss also happen to other teams, but those elite top five teams, they overcome them. “Next man up” is something coaches say all the time, but when you watch Ohio State, Alabama, and the other elites, when someone goes down they replace them with someone as good if not better in some cases. Coming into the season, I do not think anyone thought the Nittany Lions were one of those elite teams. I think most people projected eight wins. Obviously at this point, eight wins would be a bit of a letdown after a 5-0 start, but sometimes you have to keep things in perspective.
- Georgia (7-0)–bye week, probably keeps them from destroying some other team.
- Cincinnati (7-0)–a closer game against Navy than it should have been. Not good to give up ten in the 4th quarter, especially when they need the style points.
- Alabama (7-1)–the ‘Bama defense may be concerning, but the offense has no trouble scoring.
- Michigan (7-0)–they can run the ball and the pass game is good enough to get the job done.
- Oklahoma (8-0)–almost lost to Kansas, one of the worst teams in football. They have been down after the first half too many times and it will catch up to them.
- Ohio State (6-1)–they destroyed Indiana and now look like the team we thought they would be at the beginning of the year, I have a feeling next week will not go well for Penn State.
- Iowa (6-1)–bye week!
- Michigan State (7-0)–bye week!
- Oregon (6-1)–came from behind on the road to beat a good UCLA team.
- Notre Dame (6-1)–beat USC fairly easily.
- Ole Miss (6-1)–beat LSU that was coming off a big win against Florida
- Kentucky (6-1)–bye week!
- Oklahoma State (6-1)–crazy that they were seven point underdogs against Iowa State (I took the Cowboys and made a little money, alright!).
- Wake Forest (7-0)–they scored 70! Also, they gave up 56 to Army.
- Baylor (6-1)–bye week!
- Texas A&M (6-2)–the Aggies ran all over the Gamecocks.
- Pitt (6-1)–the Panthers handled Clemson and Kenny Pickett continues to rise up in those Heisman discussions (I may have put money on him when he was sitting at +4000…I will root for Pitt if it makes me money, haha).
- Penn State (5-2)–if they play like they did today, Ohio State will beat them by four touchdowns.
- BYU (5-2)–bye week!
- SMU (7-0)–crushed Tulane, I look forward to that SMU/Cincinnati AAC title game.
- Auburn (5-2)–bye week!
- Coastal Carolina (6-1)–a big loss to App State, but I still think they are a fun team to watch.
- San Diego State (7-0)–they continue to win, but it is always close, I think things will eventually go badly.
- UTSA (8-0)–they beat Illinois in week one, I will just leave that fact here.
- NC State (5-2)–they lost to Miami, but the Hurricanes have had some bad luck this year, they could easily be 5-2, so the Wolfpack need to run the table to keep their ACC hopes alive.
Honorable Mention: Louisiana-Lafayette (6-1), Virginia (6-2), Minnesota (5-2), Houston (6-1), Liberty (6-2), Fresno State (6-2), Oregon State (5-2), Appalachian State (5-2)
Friday night I decided to watch the Washington/Arizona game. It was brutally bad. At one point in the game, Will Plummer, the Wildcats QB, was 6/8 for 10 yards. IN THE THIRD QUARTER! And somehow they were winning the game. They did not end up winning though, which got to me thinking about who the five worst teams would be if I was ranking all the FBS teams. Also, random side note…how weird is it that Will Plummer’s brother Jack is the quarterback for Purdue. They went to high school in Arizona. Their last name is Plummer. Remember Jake Plummer? He is from Arizona (although he went to ASU). You would assume they are related, right??? Nope, no relation at all. I do not know why that is crazy to me. Anways…the worst of the worst:
5. UConn (1-8)–beat Yale (3-3 FCS, Ivy League)
4. Old Dominion (1-6)–beat Hampton (3-4 FCS, Big South)
3. FIU (1-6)–beat LIU (1-5 FCS, NEC)
2. UNLV (0-7)–they lost Eastern Washington (7-0 FCS, Big Sky)
1. Arizona (0-7)–they lost to Northern Arizona (3-3 FCS, Big Sky)
Arizona just makes the rest of the Pac-12 look bad. After watching them, I cannot imagine them actually winning a game. It will have to be like Friday night, the other team playing terribly and a bunch of luck going the Wildcats way.
There are some big games next week. Obviously Penn State at Ohio State will be a big one. I think the Buckeyes are trying a Scarlet Out for the big night game at the Horseshoe. The other ones to watch: Michigan @ Michigan State, Miami @ Pitt, Georgia @ Florida, Ole Miss @ Auburn, SMU @ Houston, and lastly we have Fresno State @ SDSU (something tells me the Aztecs luck finally runs out).
