I feel like there were a bunch of late games this week. Maybe the number of games at each time is the same every week and I just noticed it more this week. I know there are more 7:00 p.m. games this week than the previous weeks since there have been a few weeks when I have almost all of the scores (minus a few west coast games) by 9:30. Yeah, I will stop complaining now. I guess this is what happens when Penn State has a bye week.
- Ohio State (6-0)–#2–W 49-20 Michigan State–The Buckeyes move to the top spot because they continue to just roll over the competition.
- Alabama (6-0)–#1–W 24-20 Texas A&M–I dropped the Tide down a spot because of Bryce Young’s injury. Granted, they still beat the Aggies, but they should have lost. And if Young needs to come back and show me he is healthy.
- Georgia (6-0)–#3–W 42-10 Auburn–This team needed a game against an easy opponent to get them back on track.
- Clemson (6-0)–#4–W 31-3 Boston College–The Tigers seem to have things figured out and the ACC is probably in trouble.
- Tennessee (5-0)–#7–W 40-13 LSU–The Vols smacked down LSU, who was actually ranked by the AP and I had them on my watch list. Tennessee has a huge test next week.
- Michigan (6-0)–#5–W 31-10 Indiana–I dropped the Wolverines a spot because they continue to have troubles with these bad teams. Yeah they won by 21, but it was close for a long time.
- USC (6-0)–#6–W 30-14 Washington State–Same as Michigan. They dropped because I think Tennessee is better than both of them.
- Oklahoma State (5-0)–#8–W 41-31 Texas Tech–The Cowboys held off the Red Raiders, and managed to stop them in the fourth quarter.
- Ole Miss (6-0)–#9–W 52-28 Vanderbilt–Ole Miss needs to take care of business these next few weeks before facing Alabama. Would love to see them win out.
- Penn State (5-0)–#10–BYE
- Oregon (5-1)–#11–W 49-22 Arizona–The Ducks continue to put up points and dominate opponents.
- TCU (5-0)–#12–W 38-31 #13 Kansas–The Horned Frogs won the big matchup against the Jayhawks. I probably had them both ranked a little higher than elsewhere, but my thought was that it did not really matter since they played each other.
- UCLA (6-0)–#14–W 42-32 #15 Utah–A great game between the Bruins and Utes. I half-expected this game to end up with Utah blowing them out, but the Bruins are legit.
- Mississippi State (5-1)–#21–W 40-17 Arkansas–I thought this game would be closer since I was high on the Razorbacks.
- NC State (5-1)–#17–W 19-17 #25 Florida State–What the hell were the Seminoles thinking throwing the ball at the end of the game? They just needed to run the clock down and kick if for the win. Had they done that, the Wolf Pack would have their second loss.
- Wake Forest (5-1)–#18–W 45-10 Army
- Syracuse (5-0)–#20–BYE
- Kansas State (5-1)–#24–W 10-9 Iowa State–Why is scoring not allowed when playing teams from Iowa?
- Kansas (5-1)–#13–L 38-31 #12 TCU
- UNC (5-1)–#23–W 27-24 Miami–Not sure if they are good, but they continue to win.
- Cincinnati (5-1)–HM–W 28-24 South Florida
- Minnesota (4-1)–HM–BYE
- Illinois (5-1)–NR–W 9-6 Iowa–Ugh,see #18
- Tulane (5-1)–NR–W 24-9 East Carolina–Probably should rank the team that beat K-State, as well as Houston, who started the year ranked or maybe on the honorable mention.
- James Madison (5-0)–HM–W 42-20 Arkansas State–I did not think the Dukes would have this impressive of a season, but here we are.
Honorable Mention
Coastal Carolina (6-0)–HM–W 28-21 ULM–Every game is close and eventually they will come up short.
Liberty (5-1)–NR–W 42-24 UMass–They lost to Wake Forest by one. I should put my disdain aside and pay attention to them.
San Jose State (4-1)–NR–W 40-7 UNLV–Time to give the MWC some love…
Notre Dame (4-2)–NR–W 28-20 #19 BYU–The Irish continue to win and with their difficult schedule, those wins matter.
Utah (4-2)–#15–L 42-32 #14 UCLA–I still think the Utes are a good team.
Watch List
Baylor (3-2)–BYE
Texas (4-2)–W 49-0 Oklahoma–I know some people want to rank the Longhorns after blowing out the Sooners, but I need them to string together a few more wins.
Pitt (4-2)–W 45-29 Virginia Tech–Keep an eye on Abanikanda, and see how Pitt fans start talking about him as a Heisman candidate.
Purdue (4-2)–W 31-29 Maryland–The Boilermakers are a good team.
South Carolina (4-2)–W 24-14 #16 Kentucky–Spencer Rattler played well enough to get a win against the Wildcats without Will Levis.
Two huge games this week. #2 Alabama travels to #5 Tennessee. If the Volunteers win this game, they will jump into the top four. Hendon Hooker is capable of leading this team to a big win against the Crimson Tide. The other big game (and the one I am naturally the most excited about) is #10 Penn State heading to the Big House to take on #6 Michigan. Even though it is a noon kickoff, the Nittany Lions will have to overcome the hostile Maize Out crowd. Down in the Big XII we have #8 Oklahoma State playing at #12 TCU. #7 USC has a tough game at Utah, who could get back into the rankings with a win. Other intriguing games:
#22 Minnesota @ #23 Illinois
#4 Clemson @ Florida State
#15 NC State @ #17 Syracuse
#19 Kansas @ Oklahoma–this game is probably the one that has the best chance of an upset. This is the kind of game that Kansas needs to win if they want to win the Big XII (I know that is obvious)
And finally, we have James Madison heading to Georgia Southern. JMU needs to watch out for Georgia Southern, they did beat Nebraska. Also, them and Georgia State always seem to spoil someone’s perfect season.
