Why do we love College Football? Because of the chaos. The chaos continued again this week across the Top 25 and beyond. I promised I wouldn’t start writing weekly columns on game action, but this is far too long to chuck in the start of a thread, and besides, there’s some good storylines developing, and I love a good storyline. If you’re looking for QB ratings and the like, please look elsewhere, but for general discussion… This is what you may have missed on another week of chaos in CFB land.
Last week, I quoted something I wrote as week 6 ticked over to week 7:
This is the part of the season where things can still get shaken up before the College Football committee get locked in a hotel conference room for the first time (That's early November), so if you want to mark a week for potential chaos and mayhem... This may be your week!
This quote has lasted a good couple of weeks now, and I don't think it's going to age just yet. Let's do a quick look around. Please note, I've watched 24 games across the three main windows and some clips outside of that, but even I can't watch and digest everything. Comments welcome, if I've missed your team or a moment, I'm sorry.
You Can’t Have Crazy Without The Big 12. It’s A Proven Fact.
A good place to start would be the end of the BYU @ UCF game. Sure, Overtime was crazy, but the last minute or so of regulation? It seemed as thought the XII officials both on the field and in Texas were trying to grab the nearest Monster Energy, with calls being overturned, given when not necessary, and having to enforce a runoff to negate what would otherwise be one of those strange opportunities where someone could try a field goal two downs on the bounce.
Staying with the XII, Texas Tech found their match in Cincinnati, in a game which featured the award for worst replay review of the decade. The film was right there for targeting, the world saw it, but the XII replay team must have had Monster Energy jitters. This, combined with BYU's loss means that the XII may return to being a 2 team Playoff conference. That being said, other conferences were also doing their best to try and do the same. Positions 9 - 12 are going to be interesting, especially as JMU lost, meaning that they may end up losing to Boise and even perhaps North Dakota State / New Mexico Lobos if indeed there are two Go6 participants (Oregon State are not in the list in the assumption they'll lose to Boise).
Someone needs to tell Kansas that just because Indiana and Kentucky are playing the game of 'Look Ma, we can play Football too now!', doesn't mean that they should be forced to join in. 15 points in the 4th quarter, a blocked field goal, and this is a team that wouldn't have been such an embarrassment to talk about heading into the Union Jack Classic earlier this year. Their opponents on that sold old, record price setting day at Wembley Stadium in Arizona State made short work of the 'other Kansas' in Kansas State; you know, the Kansas team that goes bowling most years whilst the other looks on somehow spiking a football into the TV without even noticing. Oklahoma State continued to upheld the long known practice of the XII being a 'defence optional' conference by scoring 57, but conceding 24 against Colorado, and West Virginia are now 5-3. That'll make Pat McAfee happy.
Then we come to Houston @ Utah... In other words, a reminder not to shoot your load too early. There were points across this game when Houston looked the better team regardless of scoreboard, winning the passing game, the turnover game and only eventually losing the Time of Possession game by 5 seconds. Hearing that their neighbours BYU lost in a close one, Utah felt the need to uphold State pride, and hearing that McAfee's long left the state for the day, turned it around in the 4th with two rushing touchdowns. By this point, I must admit I felt the need for some caffeine / a nap but pulled through, and all in all, this was a good day of conference action. Crazy? Yes. Chaotic? Yes. Do we expect anything else? No.
What On The Earth is Going On In B1G Country?
Indiana needed OT in order to beat Michigan, and to quote Curt Cignetti over the years, the fundamentals sucked. Lots of missed opportunities and Josh Hoover being 'injured' is only going to make the situation there worse. IU look much more one dimensional than last year, and not having depth on the pass game, combined with an injured QB is going to make any run for them hard. They may make the playoffs, but unless Michigan win 'The Game', IU won't even be going to the B1G Championship game, as that will be all UCLA.
UCLA's only 'real' challenge will be the cross town rivalry against USC, where the most fun will likely be how they protect the Spartan and Bruin, as UCLA should win that game easily., especially with the Spartans losing on the road at Wisconsin; a move that will mean that even less USC fans will be going to the Colosseum for the two remaining Spartan home games this season (OSU & Maryland),, so down from 100 fans to about... 70? At this rate, I may be able to equal my record of cheapest B1G ticket at $1 from the Rutgers @ Maryland game last week, where a bottle of water will cost x5 admission. The Badgers are slowly recovering some form, now sitting at a more respectable 5 - 2, with no more ranked games in their schedule, assuming that Iowa now sit unranked (Edit: They are.). So Wisconsin fans can assume that they are going Bowling, whilst Maryland can assume that their players will be spending half of practice checking every Google Gemini ping to 'Who's my new Head Coach going to be', followed by 'How many players will my new head coach drag with him in the portal?'. At this point, every time there's a coaching change, they may as well get some Mayflower trucks ready for players too... Just not not in this Maryland case. Baltimore still hold some Colt like grudges.
What we really need to see is how OSU will recover without Julian Sayin. As it stands they would win the head to head for the B1G championship game bid, but I have a feeling that without Sayin, the team will lose more than just a QB. So in a world of hypotheticals, not knowing exactly how long Sayin will be out, you’re looking either at a UCLA / OSU or UCLA / Indiana game at Lucas Oil Stadium, but (And this is an important but,) if I were the committee I would consider if UCLA could earn a playoff spot by losing the game, and the question would also become what would happen between ranking OSU and Indiana If everyone was healthy, it’ll be a clear OSU nod; with two injured QBs, watch this space.
Staying in B1G Country, what an ending to the battle for the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry trophy between Iowa and Minnesota. The last quarter was good ol fashioned rivalry game, which just needed some popcorn and a cold drink of one's choice. This is why I'm a fan of College Football aside from polls, rankings, playoffs and bowl games. It's those times when you can watch a game between two teams with an intensive rivalry and enjoy it even if you don't know all the backstory. Oh, it's worth noting that Oregon lost on the road to Illinois, and Ryan Field continues to look like a massively expensive project for little more than a mild Chicago(ish) vanity project. The rest of the day felt a bit like calling all your relatives the day after a party where you know that something happened, but without being able to get to the source, you'd never nail down the specifics.
It’s Always Fun In The ACC… If You’re Winning That Is.
The ACC continues to be the ACC; Always Chaos Conference, which to be fair was always the case regardless of whom that 'top team' has been over the past decade and a half, be it Florida State, Clemson, or now Miami. SMU continue to be a massive sleeper in the CFP picture, putting 59 points on the board against Cal, the most of any team in the conference this week. Yes, they have one loss, but look around, and a single loss doesn't hurt as much as some other years. VT would be the conference's third playoff bid if it were to come to it, but they continue to be one of those teams that you need to watch the games in detail to see that they do have a ceiling of sorts. They beat Clemson by 4 points, but still don't quite have the 'it' factor.
Of course, there is one team that does pass the 'eye test' and have the full 'it' factor, and it's Miami, easily taking care of business against Pitt, though conceding 23 points will of course lead to some nay-sayers that they should be ranked 14th or something, because that's what people do. After 8 weeks of football, they deserve the #1 ranking if only because of the fact that they keep winning, and don't ever seem to get themselves into too big of a hole. Sure, they need to be challenged more, and this is why I believe that the ACC should have tried and get ND to 'qualify' for the ACC championship game if their results matched up, but that's now a moo point with the 24 team playoffs. Moo; you know, like a cow?
Oh, Boston College won against Georgia Tech. I have some advice for Alberto Mendoza; Let your brother make the decision making on where to go when portal possibilities come along. This stint at Georgia Tech just has destroyed any draft stock that he may have had, and it's a shame, as it's a classic case of good kid, bad situation. The comparisons to Fernando were always going to be there regardless, it just doesn't help when you end up QBing a team who can go bowling, but not much on top of that, especially in a conference where chaos continues to be the way things are generally remembered. Moving North a little, UNC had to go to OT to lose to Syracuse, but I never put a close loss against the Orange in a 'bad book' category, especially in OT; as they're the team I'd be most scared of being complacent against if I supported an ACC team. And I think most of the ACC would agree with me.
Bill Belichick and his 'Girlfriend, business partner and life coach' still likely have a job next year if they can keep their team ticking over just enough to ensure that they go bowling. It's an improvement, sure, but close game rhetoric only lasts you so long.
It Just Means… More. This Year, That’s A Fact.
I've left the SEC to last as I'm waffling this whilst watching Saturday Night Football. That's not to say that there's not been a lot going on in the conference all day. Auburn got humbled by the Lane Kiffin edition of Tigers, with LSU rolling into Jordan-Hare stadium and running rampant. John Mateer and Oklahoma continue to fight to remain relevant in the conference with a close win over the cowbell loving Mississippi State, and Paul Finebaum had almost sold out of spots for his shows this week at halftime in the Texas A&M @ Alabama game. At some point, the universe will realise that Alabama Football continues to be like a 30 year old pick up; struggles to get going but once on the move, will find a way to get the job done. The easy way, hard way or somewhere in between.
Most importantly before the clocks went back an hour in the UK; Instead of FOXtoberfest, it's COCKtoberfest! The Gamecocks defeat ranked Tennessee, adding to the list of teams who beat ranked opponents one week, then lose themselves the next. The chances of South Carolina going bowling is still low, but if nothing else, both SEC Shorts, and (in this case in particular) SEC Roll Call will be fun once again in the next 48 hours. I don't know why, but although The B1G have the best conference commercial (With the XII Respect commercial being my current #2), the SEC is second to none when it comes to taking the piss out of themselves; and I maintain a respect for the conference for them doing so. Vanderbilt meanwhile started strong before realising that they were playing Kentucky, and chose the self destruct option over the prospect of playing in OT. I believe that it was 21 unanswered points by Kentucky, who then just pulled away. I would have kept a closer eye on the game, but the backward SEC Network feed was covering about 50% of the score bug. Thanks DAZN.
That pretty much leaves Ole Miss @ Texas. The entire plot for this game was ‘Is Arch Manning going to get benched?’ If it wasn’t for the scoreline at the end of the first, it could have happened, as Manning threw 3 INTs again in the game, something which would be unacceptable for many teams if they didn’t have a Manning on the roster. I’m going to put myself on a limb and say that Texas won that game, not Arch Manning, and that the game would have been more one-sided had it not have been from the miscues and INTs by Manning. The Texas team as a whole do need to work on discipline. There’s still the silly calls for false starts and the like, they need to go before Playoff time. Ole Miss took the game to the last play of the game, but just ran out of steam when it mattered. I'm almost going to say that Ole Miss lost the game more than Texas won it, and I'm still not certain if... To put the cliche on it... Texas are back?
Overtime (As If We Need Any More)...
The person who was the 'Kicking Is Easy' kicker on College GameDay today, quite simply was the most self entitled person I think I've ever seen on the segment "But they gave $3 million last week", before kicking worse than an Alabama 4th string, walk on kicker. You could tell that Pat McAfee just couldn't be bothered with her despite giving two extra chances, and the entire segment was just soooooo annoying. I could carry on looking for a video of it, or you can trust me I can remember that College GameDay has a Facebook Page.
I need to give a massive shout out to Aubie, who decided to make use of the fact that the halftime show for the LSU @ Auburn game was on the sideline of Jordan-Hare stadium to spread some candy love. Literally, on camera shot, whilst they were live and talking. It was one of those moments that was fun to everyone... Apart from Matt Barrie, though to be fair Matt Barrie is the type of person who would slam his door on carol singers in my opinion. Can someone send him to the SEC Network full time so that I have even less interaction with him?
Next week is going to be fun with clock changes. The US are playing the removal of Daylight Savings game a week after us still, as for some reason there's never been a set, universal time to do this, and this means that College GameDay is at 1PM UK time (GMT), and then the early games start at 4PM UK time.
Conclusions.
Look. Miami deserve to be #1. Numbers #2 – 6 are all subjective at this point, and beyond that can become a game of wearing a blindfold and shooting darts at names of teams with a 2 loss record or better. This is why I’m glad that the AP Poll doesn’t really matter anymore. I’ve been saying since Week 1 that I’m waiting for November 3rd for the committee to set a benchmark and chance for us to assess for the backend of the season. This is one of those years where the ‘eye test’ is far more important than normal, and even though I’ve watched most of the important games of the day, those on the AP Poll voting list will have watched less, and making decisions based on highlights, not full game footage.
If I were forced to make a prediction on how many teams will be sent playoff dancing per conference, I would estimate: SEC – 3 teams , B1G – 2 teams, ACC – 2 teams, XII – 2 teams , Go6 – 1 team, and of course Notre Dame. That can and will change in terms of who the teams are, but the SEC do seem to be the conference with the deepest depth, and that will be rewarded with an extra playoff place. There’s a chance that either the ACC / XII will only send one team, but when you look at the top teams in the XII, there’s 3 who you could count with ease, and there’s a lot still to say for SMU and Virginia Tech in the ACC.
If I were to say things would get more back to normal next week, I’d be lying. Both because this season just has an air of chaos to it, but also because of the fact that the way schedules, rankings and injuries are looking, there are still way too many pages to write of this regular season. It’s crazy that we’re only a month away from rivalry week, but whilst in some years where you were looking around trying to find specific games where teams could ‘slip up’, it’s one of those seasons where you can just pull up a schedule and say ‘yeah, something crazy can happen at any time’. Vegas are either loving it or with their heads in their hands, but one thing’s for certain. I’d love to see the ratings.
IMAGE CREDIT: Hawk Central
