Rankings
*I am only including teams that have played this season in my top 10
Recap of Last Week:
Welcome back Pac 12, most season are already halfway over, but better late than never I guess. The Pac 12 will start their six games-in-six weeks season, similar to the Big 10, that likely will end up backfiring. The Washington-Cal game has already been canceled because of covid. Unless a Pac 12 team looks completely unstoppable and blows out every opponent, it is likely that the league has already been eliminated from the playoff race. Oregon is the favorite to win the Pac 12, with USC behind them, but neither team has any major star players. The Pac 12 has failed to gain national relevance the past few seasons, mainly because they all beat up on each other, and no one ends up with a respectable record.
Much to the Big 10’s dismay, their covid issues did not go away after one week. After canceling last week’s matchup with Nebraska, Wisconsin had to cancel their game with Purdue this week too. Wisconsin and Illinois have both had their quarterback depth chart knocked out because of covid. Even on their fourth string quarterback, Illinois was able to keep it within one touchdown against Purdue last weekend. Purdue, who has hung on to be 2-0, will have this week off because of Wisconsin’s cancelation, which should give some of their players time to recover from injuries.
After two weeks of play, it is clear that Ohio State is the dominant team of the Big 10, and a far step ahead of everyone else. After the Nebraska game, there were concerns about the rushing game, but Master Teague put those concerns to rest against Penn State. Justin Fields has already thrown six touchdowns and no interceptions in two games, putting him right in the middle of the Heisman race. Ohio State’s only big test left of the season will be against Indiana, but they don’t seem to be on the same level, and OSU should reach the Big 10 Title Game undefeated. Who they will play in that game is a big question mark, as the west is wide open. Currently, Purdue, Northwestern, and Wisconsin are all undefeated, but besides UW, no team in the West has looked that much better than the others. Northwestern and Purdue both squeaked past Iowa, and while UW looked very dominant, they already missed two games and their quarterbacks will be out for at least three weeks. Whoever wins the west will likely have multiple losses, as all the teams seem pretty evenly matched and will likely beat each other up.
The Big 12 virtually eliminated themselves from the playoffs last weekend. Their only undefeated team left, Oklahoma State, lost in overtime to Texas. Despite gaining twice as many yards as Texas, Oklahoma State really can’t expect to win with four turnovers. They have a tough next two games in front of them, Kansas State and Oklahoma, but should still make the conference championship because of their current lead. Oklahoma has been playing much better football the past few weeks, but who knows if that means anything because their wins have come against Texas Tech and TCU, and even in those games have still allowed a lot of points. The race for a spot in the championship will likely come down to multiple tiebreakers because multiple Big 12 teams have two or three losses.
Just like Ohio State is a step above everyone in the Big 10, Alabama looks the same with the SEC. The Tide shut out Mississippi State last weekend behind Mac Jones’ four touchdowns. Jones is one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country, having already thrown 2,196 yards and 16 touchdowns. The Alabama offense has looked pretty unstoppable, and the Ole Miss game showed that the only way to keep it close is to get in a shootout. The SEC West division is extremely weak this year. LSU and Auburn, two usual contenders, have not looked good, but LSU is clearly worse. Auburn completely blew out LSU last weekend. In the East, Florida easily beat Missouri after three weeks off, and a fight broke out at halftime. Florida coach Dan Mullen was fined $25,000 for his part in the fight. Mullen has been doing lots of crazy things this season, such as was proclaiming Florida should have a full stadium at home games, and then turning around and getting covid the next week.
Clemson had a close call with Boston College last week. Boston College exposed the Clemson secondary and had huge success in the first half throwing the ball downfield. The Clemson defense stepped it up in the second half, shutting Boston College out. Although they still won, it marked back to back games where they did not look like they were playing anywhere close to their best football. This is not the game they wanted to play going into South Bend. Notre Dame, on the other hand, beat Georgia Tech easily, though I’m not sure how much that is saying. North Carolina got beat again by Virginia. They have had a pattern this season of getting down bad and then frantically trying to come back in the fourth quarter. Their comeback failed once again against Virginia. Pitt is playing FSU this weekend and will be looking to end their four game losing streak. They started off the season strong, but have since been on a four game losing streak and one of their best players just opted out.
As a born and raised Xavier fan, you will very rarely see me saying positive things bout UC. That being said, I can’t ignore how good the Bearcats are this year, and they have a legit shot at the playoffs. They finally beat, correction, crushed Memphis last weekend. The defense was on fire, only allowing five rushing yards and 300 passing yards to a Memphis offense that had been putting up over 400 yards a game. The offense put up 513 yards and only had one turnover. UC has won back to back huge games, proving that they are legit. They need to win out and hope Notre Dame and Georgia lose a few more times to get a playoff spot.
My Playoff Predictions:
Ohio State
Clemson
Alabama
UC
First Four Out: Notre Dame, Oregon, Florida, Oklahoma State
My Predictions for this Week:
(last week I was 9/12, 75%)
(11)Miami at NC State: Miami has been looking better since their loss to Clemson. NC State is still without their starting qb, so I think that Miami will have the edge. It’s a Friday night game which always shakes things up, but Miami should win.
(9)BYU at (21)Boise State: BYU has been rolling this season, but has yet to face a real test. Boise State has only played two games, but has looked pretty solid. I think that BYU quarterback Zach Wilson will be too much for Boise State to stop, and BYU will win.
Nebraska at Northwestern: Despite being 2-0, Northwestern is not ranked. Nebraska got beat easily by OSU, but showed some promising flashes on offense. After having last week off, Nebraska will be fired up to go out and get their first win, and I think they will upset Northwestern, who barely beat Iowa last week.
(23)Michigan at (13)Indiana: Michigan is coming off an embarrassing loss to in-state rival MSU, while IU continued to win. The IU offense, led by Michael Pendrix, looked a lot better last week than they did against PSU. I think that Indiana will win this week in a super close game.
Arizona State at (20)USC: This game is going to be so weird for the players, as it is being played at 9am local time. Because of this, both teams will most likely be super sluggish and it will most likely be a slow scoring game. I don’t know much about either team, so I am just going to pick USC because they are ranked.
West Virginia at (22)Texas: Both teams upset ranked teams last week, so they will both be riding momentum into this game. Texas has been up and down this season, but Sam Elinger has continued to make big plays when they really need it. I think Texas will win, but it could be close.
Houston at (6)Cincinnati: UC had back to back huge wins with great performances on both sides. I would not be surprised if they don’t score quite as much against Houston as they start to let down, but I do not see them losing. UC should win easily.
(8)Florida at (5)Georgia: This is a must win game for both teams. Both fan bases have high expectations that have yet to be reached, but a win in this game should punch the ticket to the SEC championship game, which would be huge. Georgia has a really good defense, but quarterback Stetson Bennet has not improved at all as the season has gone on. Florida on the other hand, has had an explosive offense led by the Swamp Bros, Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitt, but can’t stop anyone on defense. I just can’t pick Georgia to win because I don’t think they will be able to keep up with Florida’s offense, especially after only putting up 14 points against Kentucky last week.
(14)Oklahoma State at Kansas State: Both teams were upset last week, and need a win to keep them in the title game race. In each of the past four seasons, Oklahoma State has lost back to back games, but I think the Pokes will change that this year. They are still one of the most talented teams in the conference, and I don’t think K State has enough to beat them.
Rutgers at (1)Ohio State: Ohio State will win in a blowout.
Stanford at (12)Oregon: Oregon will have a new quarterback for the first time in four years after Justin Herbert’s departure to the NFL, and has also had many of their top players opt out. I think because of this the game will be close, but Oregon will win.
(1)Clemson at (4)Notre Dame: The absence of Trevor Lawrence is a huge help to Notre Dame, but there wasn’t much of a talent gap when DJ played last week. Boston College exposed Clemson’s weaker secondary, but unfortunately for Notre Dame, they have not had a great passing game this season. They have relied heavily on their run game, which Clemson defends very well. Despite Lawrence’s absence, I think Clemson has enough weapons to beat Notre Dame.
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