Rankings:
Recap of Last Week:
What we learned after last week: there will be chaos throughout the SEC and Big 12 every week, the ACC is back to normalcy, with Clemson securely on top, and the AAC has a chance of having an undefeated champion.
Last week was opened up with the Red River Showdown, more like Red River Shootout this year. The 98 combined points scored was the most in the history of the rivalry. What we really learned from the game was neither Texas nor Oklahoma is a top 25 team. Both teams played sloppy football, but the game definitely was exciting. The iconic Texas quarterback Sam Elingher first had to lead Texas to two touchdowns in the final five minutes to push the game to overtime. Overtime did not go much better for either team, with both missing field goals to push it to the fourth overtime. Sam Elingher threw an interception in the endzone to seal the win for Oklahoma. This game was so fun to watch, but really was just a game between two pretty bad teams.
Right now in the Big 12 there are three teams left undefeated in conference play, and only one team undefeated overall. Kansas State and Iowa State, who have both beaten Oklahoma, are undefeated in conference play, and Oklahoma State is undefeated overall. Oklahoma State currently seems like the Big 12’s only chance of sending a team to the playoffs. They are most likely going to have to go undefeated to do that, which is looking hard to do in the Big 12 this year, with so many crazy games in the conference already.
The Clemson-Miami game did not turn out to be the close game we thought it might be. Clemson held Miami to under 200 yards and really stopped their run game. Miami quarterback, DeAndre King was the leading rusher, which is not something to brag about. The only weakness Clemson showed was their field goal kicking, having three blocked field goals. I guess it is something Clemson and Alabama have in common. Notre Dame looked a little rusty to start against FSU, but ended up winning by over 20. I think their rusty start was due to being off for almost a month. When Clemson-Notre Dame meet in November, it will be another test for Clemson to see how elite they are. The only other team in the ACC that is looking like a threat is UNC. Although they have a really good offense led by sophomore quarterback Sam Howell, their defense is not good, and I think it will stop them from competing with the top teams.
The SEC had some really exciting games last week. The day started with Florida traveling to Texas AM and getting beat in an upset. This upset honestly was not that surprising, as Florida’s defense has not been good this season. They have a great offense led by Kyle Trask, but Texas A&M was able to figure out how to get past Florida’s defense and won on a walk-off field goal. I think Florida will be able to compete with all the top teams, but their defense will hold them back from the SEC championship game. LSU got beat by Missouri, showing how truly awful their defense is. The yardage Mississippi State put up against LSU is not looking as impressive as the weeks go by, and LSU continues to play terrible defense. Mississippi State has yet to win since LSU, and the air raid offense has not been working in the SEC. Last week against Kentucky, the offense did not score, and the team only scored two points from a safety.
After getting their first SEC win over two years, Arkansas got robbed of another win by calls by the refs. Towards the end of the game, as Auburn was in Arkansas territory, Bo Nix got the ball and botched the spike somehow throwing a backwards pass that rolled out and was recovered by Arkansas. However, the refs had blown the whistle dead, and when reviewed said auburn still had the ball. Auburn went on to score and win the game by 2. After the game, the SEC released a statement saying the referees had messed up the call. I think the most exciting SEC game last week was the Alabama-Ole Miss showdown. Both teams forgot to bring their defense, and the game was a total shootout. Each team scored on almost every possession, and not until the last five minutes in the fourth, did Alabama pull away. The AP rankings for this week are another example of the Alabama bias in college football. Even though Georgia has beat two top 20 teams by over 20 points and have the top defense in the country, Alabama is still ranked ahead of them. Alabama has only beat one top 25 team and had to play all the way to the end to beat an unranked team last week. How can you say so far this season, Alabama has been a better team than Georgia. If Alabama wins tonight, they should be ranked ahead of Georgia, but going into the game, Georgia obviously has a much better resume.
In the AAC, there are still five teams undefeated in conference play, but most of the teams have only played one or two games. SMU and UC are the only undefeated teams that seem capable of winning the conference. They meet next week at SMU which will be an awesome game. Both teams will have faced some obstacles going into the game, with UC being off for two weeks and SMU barely escaping Tulane last night. Both teams have really good quarterbacks and I know the matchup next week will be super exciting.
My Playoff Predictions:
Clemson
Ohio State
Georgia
Oklahoma State
First Four Out: Alabama, UC, Notre Dame, Oregon
My Predictions for this Week:
(1)Clemson at Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech’s defense has come away with a lot of picks this season, but Trevor Lawrence is looking to set the ACC record of most throws without an interception today. I think he will get that record today and come away with a big win.
Pitt as (13)Miami: This could be a trap game for Miami. They are coming off a disappointing loss to Clemson and Pitt has been a team that you can’t really figure out. I think this game will be pretty close, but Miami will win.
(15)Auburn at South Carolina: Although Auburn only has one loss, it feels like they are a lot worse than that. They haven’t really gotten their offense rolling, and barely escaped Arkansas last week. I think this will be close, but Auburn will come away with a win again.
Kentucky at (18)Tennessee: Tennessee got shut out in the second half last week against Georgia, but I think they will bounce back today. I do expect Kentucky to put up a fight, as they are a tough gritty team, but I think the Vols will win.
Louisville at (4)Notre Dame: Louisville has a pretty bad defense, and Notre Dame should be able to put up a lot of points and win easily.
(11)Texas A&M at Mississippi State: *upset alert* I think this is a total trap game for Texas AM as they are coming off a huge win and traveling to Starkville to play against a team desperate for another win. AM has been pretty inconsistent this season, and I think they are going to get upset today.
(5)North Carolina at Florida State: North Carolina should win this game pretty easily, but I will not be surprised if their defense lets FSU put up a decent amount of points.
(3)Georgia at (2)Alabama: This game is already being proclaimed the “game of the century” and hopefully it will not disappoint. I think it will be a pretty low scoring game, as Georgia has the number one defense in the country. The key for Georgia is stopping Najee Hariss, who scored five rushing touchdowns last week. Georgia needs their qb, “the mailman” to step up and play in the spotlight. I think this is the year that Georgia finally knocks off Alabama.
Boston College at (23)Virginia Tech: This is going to be a pretty fun game, with both teams only losing to UNC. Boston College has a new coach this year and is doing much better than people expected them too. I am going to pick Virginia Tech to win because they are at home, but I can see the game going either way.
UCF at Memphis: In past years, this was the AAC championship game matchup, but not this year. Both teams have already suffered losses, and are on the bottom looking up. I think UCF is still a better team and will win tonight. Memphis is still figuring out their new coach.
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