Rankings:
Recap of Last Week:
The Pac 12’s return really was not that exciting, and reinforced the idea that they will not send a team to the playoffs. The 9am local kickoff time game of USC and Arizona State started like we thought it would, with both teams off to a slow start. USC had to score two touchdowns in the final three minutes to avoid the upset. Oregon beat Stanford pretty easily and quarterback Tyler Shough looked decent, throwing 227 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Even if they go undefeated, they will only have a max of seven wins and none against a good opponent. After their loss to Colorado, UCLA coach Chip Kelly will definitely be on the hot seat, as this is his third year, and UCLA has yet to have a winning season.
The ACC should be very happy right now, as it looks like they have a very good chance to get two teams into the playoffs. Last week Notre Dame beat Clemson in an epic double overtime showdown. Notre Dame now sits alone atop the ACC standings. Even though Trevor Lawrence was out, I don’t think him playing would have changed the results of the game. Backup quarterback DJ Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards, more than Trevor ever has. Unless Clemson loses again, the teams will likely meet up in the ACC championship game and if Clemson wins, both teams should get into the playoffs. The rest of the conference is clearly a step below. Miami, who is in third, needed a last minute field goal just to beat NC State even though their quarterback D’Eriq King played great. UNC does not look like a threat, and usually needs a major fourth quarter to win. Virginia Tech lost to Liberty last week in terrible fashion. With time expiring and the game tied, Liberty kicked a 51 yard field that was blocked and returned for a touchdown for a Virginia Tech win. Not so fast though, as it turns out that Virginia Tech’s coach had called a timeout right before the field goal, so Liberty got to rekick and made it to win the game.
Besides Ohio State clearly on top, the Big 10 has been full of surprises this year. The top teams in the West are Purdue and Northwestern (who meet today) and the top of the East is Ohio State and Indiana. Northwestern already has as many wins as they did last season, 3, and have a shot at the Big 10 championship game. Their only problem is that they are only averaging 28 points a game, which will compete with OSU, and they are relying heavily on their defense to get turnovers. Purdue has flown quietly under the radar to get to 2-0 even without their best wide receiver Rondale Moore, who has yet to play. They did not play last week because Wisconsin had to cancel the game. Indiana beat Michigan handily last week and moved into the top 10 for the first time since 1987. They are starting to roll on both sides of the ball. Michigan, on the other hand, is looking rough, and their only win against Minnesota continues to look worse after the Gopher’s blowout loss to Iowa last night. Jim Harbaugh is on the hot seat for sure, and I think he will be fired at the end of this season.
Florida took control of the SEC east with their win against Georgia. Florida won big, which honestly is not much of a surprise since their offense has been so explosive. Even though their defense is not the best, Georgia’s offense cannot get it together to survive in a shootout. Georgia really needs to figure out their quarterback problem, because if it stays the way it is, they are going to have a hard time winning games. Texas A&M, who has a win over Florida, continued to look dominant when crushing South Carolina by 41 last weekend. Sam Pitman has completely turned around Arkansas. They went from not winning a conference game since 2017, to be 3-3 (and should be 4-2). They came back from being shutout at half time to beating Tennessee. Tennessee, on the other hand, has really fallen apart, losing four straight. Their quarterback continues to throw off target and tons of picks, but Jeremy Pruitt has said that their true freshman backup is not ready to play yet.
The Big 12 is still a mess, and there is no team that is much better than the rest. If the championship game were today, it would be a rematch between Oklahoma State and Iowa State, but the standings are likely going to change in the last few weeks. Oklahoma State needed two Kansas State turnovers in the fourth quarter to win, the third week in a row they have been in one score games. Texas squeaked out a win against West Virginia to keep them in the race, but because of their loss to Oklahoma, they are still in fifth. Oklahoma has been playing better since their two losses, and the offense looks more like it did the past few seasons, but their back to back losses will likely keep them out of the championship.
There are some seriously good group of five teams this year. The best one is arguably UC, who has continued to crush everyone they play. Last night they beat eastern Carolina easily, winning 55-17. Their defense is holding opponents to an average of 12 points a game and the offense is putting up an average of 41 points. Their playoff shot got really small with Notre Dame’s win, but you never know what could happen. Even though they won’t likely make the playoffs, they are in line to go to a New Year’s six bowl. BYU is another team that is playing really well. Their issue is that they only have two games left, and have only had one solid opponent. Their quarterback Zach Wilson has had a breakout year and put himself in the Heisman race. Coastal Carolina from the Sunbelt Conference is undefeated and has been shutting down opponents as well. They play Appalachian State next week, which will be their first true test, but with the numbers they have been putting up, they should go undefeated.
Covid has hit college football hard this week, with over half of the SEC games this week canceled along with two Pac 12 games, and a Big 10 game. There are not any ranked teams playing each other this week, but maybe that means there will be some upsets.
My Playoff Predictions:
Ohio State
Alabama
Notre Dame
Clemson
First Four Out: UC, Florida, Oregon, BYU
My Predictions for this Week:
(last week I was 10/12)
(9)Miami at Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech is actually a two point favorite in this game, even though they lost to Liberty last week. Both teams have been pretty up and down and hard to figure out, but after the way D’Eriq King played last week, I am going to take Miami.
(10)Indiana at Michigan State: Indiana has been playing really well this year, while Michigan State did get one good win against Michigan, but has looked pretty shaky. Their quarterback Rocky Lambardi is up and down. I think IU could fall into a bit of a trap at the beginning, but will win.
(20)USC at Arizona: I still have not done much research on the Pac 12, so I don’t know much about either team, but since Arizona has yet to play yet I am going to pick USC because they have already had a game to shake off the rust.
(2)Notre Dame at Boston College: All week the media has not stopped talking about how this could be a repeat of the 1993 meeting. I think all this talk will actually make Notre Dame come out playing hard. I think Notre Dame will win, but Boston College will hang around.
(23)Northwestern at Purdue: Both teams are undefeated and whoever wins this game will sit atop the West standings. Northwestern has played more solid defense than Purdue, so I am going to pick them, but I am sure it will be a super close game.
(11)Oregon at Washington State: Washington State beat Oregon State last week and their quarterback had pretty good stats, so I think the game will be pretty close. However, I pick Oregon to win.
Arkansas at (6)Florida: Arkansas graduate transfer quarterback Felipe Franks will be returning to the Swamp to play in his old stadium. Although Arkansas has been playing well this year, I do not think they have enough to take down Florida, especially after the way they played last week. Florida will win.
(13)Wisconsin at Michigan: This is a very interesting matchup. Michigan is desperate for a win right now while Wisconsin has been off for two weeks and we have no idea about what players will even be playing. Wisconsin has not said anything about who will be starting as quarterback, and because they have so many unknowns, I am going to pick Michigan to upset.
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