We've covered Mizzou/BC from every angle we can. Six postgame pieces on the front page. Here's my take on the rest of college football.
1) Not you too, Georgia? I knew there weren't many truly elite teams in college football this year. NIL and the portal have spread the wealth and leveled the playing field quite a bit from what we're used to. But I thought Georgia was still above what it did on Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, the Bulldogs still won (thanks in large part to Mark Stoops turtling up and punting on 4th and 6 with three minutes left only to never see the ball again with any chance to do anything which was the most predictable thing that happened all day), but they didn't look good doing it. UGA hasn't given up a touchdown in three games, but trailed more than half the night in Lexington and won 13-12. You can take the Kirby Smart approach and say "That's life on the road in the SEC" and to some extent it's true, but South Carolina walked in there last week and won 31-6. Kentucky threw for a whopping total of 114 yards and 4.2 yards an attempt. It averaged 3.8 yards per rush. It wasn't dynamic at all and Georgia couldn't separate. The Bulldogs are at Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss and home for Tennessee. By no means do I consider them a playoff lock after what I saw last night. You aren't holding any of those teams out of the end zone. You're going to have to score to beat them. I'm not convinced Georgia can.
2) For my money, the two best teams in the SEC both wear orange. Texas lost Quinn Ewers to an abdominal strain and watched Arch Manning account for five touchdowns in a 56-7 thumping of UTSA. The Roadrunners aren't any good so the result itself is no big deal, but Texas has outscored three opponents 139-19 including a road win at Michigan and looks like the most complete team in the country. If I had a vote, the Horns would be my No. 1 team.
The No. 2 team? Tennessee. Again, Kent State isn't a test so i don't really care that Tennessee humiliated the Flashes (and, yes, Josh Heupel is a dick for onside kicking with a 30 point lead, for the record). But the Vols have beaten three teams by a combined 191-13 including a win at No. 24 NC State (I don't really think the Wolfpack is a top 25 team, but if Mizzou gets credit for a ranked win yesterday, Tennessee gets credit for this one). Tennessee leads the country in scoring offense, is second in total offense and total defense and third in scoring defense. Everybody has played a lightweight or two so those numbers matter. If the Vols can beat either Georgia or Alabama, they're more or less a playoff lock barring a big misstep.
3) Let's go back to Friday night and give Barry Odom his props. UNLV beat Kansas 23-20. You don't just walk into a mostly full Children's Mercy Park and expect to walk out with a win. In all seriousness, big win for UNLV. The Rebels now have wins over two Big 12 teams. Not that either one is a heavyweight, but it's more than any other G5 team can say at this point. UNLV gets Syracuse and Boise at home and has a road game at Oregon State. That's the kind of G5 schedule that can get you the playoff spot possibly even if you lose one. And, look, guys, if you aren't rooting for 12 seed UNLV at 5 seed Mizzou in the College Football Playoff, do you even like drama and storylines?
4) The worst game of the week happened on Thursday. South Alabama beat Northwestern State 87-10. You did not misread that. USA was up 80-10 after three quarters and the coaches agreed to a six-minute fourth quarter. Because of that, casino chaos ran rampant when a lot of the bets were taken off the board. Games like this are ridiculous. I get Northwestern State agreed to play it, but my word, if you're 77 points worse than South Alabama do you need to field a team that tries to play up a level?
5) Colorado beat Colorado State 28-9. I do not care. I'm completely disinterested in pretending the Buffs as a team are something we should pay attention to. They're average to below and will struggle to make a bowl game and I don't care about all the other drama. But I still believe Travis Hunter is the best all around player in college football. He had 13 catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns, five tackles and an interception. That's impressive no matter how much you might dislike the team he plays for.
6) It seems as if we've seen the last of Billy Napier in Gainesville. Florida lost 33-20 to Texas A&M which was playing a backup quarterback (Marcel Reed may not be the backup anymore). The Gators have Mississippi State and UCF coming up and could easily win both of those games. So if you want to make a move on Napier, now might be the time before he does anything that could give people a little hope. It's not a Jimbo Fisher contract, but....
You're going to have to pay the next guy a minimum of $10 million a year for seven years (and figure out your NIL post haste). It's a mess. As I've said in another thread, I do expect Eli Drinkwitz's name to be one of those attached to the opening. I do expect Florida to try. I would think he will at least listen. If I had to handicap it today, I'd lean more to him staying at Mizzou than ending up in Gainesville, but it is going to be a story that's out there.
The wildest thing: Florida isn't even the worst major conference team in its own state. Florida State lost 20-12 to Memphis to fall to 0-3 and the Noles are already looking to next year.
7) I thought Napier would do well in Florida, but he's not my most surprising coach who hasn't worked in a new place. That goes to Luke Fickell at Wisconsin. I thought it was a perfect fit. Fickell took Cincinnati to a playoff and he's a born and bred Big Ten guy. But he brought in Phil Longo from North Carolina to run the spread offense and it just hasn't worked. Maybe there's a reason everybody in the Big Ten except Ohio State (before the PAC 12 additions) runs a more traditional offense. The Buckeyes are the only ones who can recruit the type of athletes required to spread it out and open it up. Wisconsin lost 42-10 to Alabama and wasn't competitive. There's no shame in getting your brains beat in by Bama, but the Badgers beat Western Michigan and South Dakota by two touchdowns apiece and now have USC up next on the schedule. I'd forecast a 5-7 season for them on the heels of 7-6 last year. I don't think he's in danger of getting fired, but I do think it's a program headed in the wrong direction.
8) Missouri has the nation's longest winning streak at seven games. Fort Lewis no longer has the longest losing streak.
Stone Walker ran for a touchdown and threw for one and the Skyhawks beat Arizona Christian 17-12 to end a 40-game losing streak. From the little research I've done, it's the longest losing streak in college football history, but that may be wrong. Western Illinois currently has the longest losing streak in Division One. The Leathernecks lost 51-34 to Illinois State yesterday for their 27th consecutive loss. The longest FBS losing streak belongs to Kent State, which has dropped 12 in a row after the loss to Tennessee.
9) Mississippi State is the worst team in the SEC. The Bulldogs got throttled by a mediocre--at best--Toledo team 41-17 yesterday. That comes a week after a 30-23 loss to Arizona State that wasn't nearly as close as the score makes it look. MSU will probably stretch its losing streak to seven as the next five games are Florida, at Texas, at Georgia, Texas A&M and Arkansas. They'll get a win over UMASS, I think (the Minutemen lost 38-3 to Buffalo yesterday) but then finish with at Tennessee, home against Mizzou and at Ole Miss. Anything better than 2-10 would surprise me.
10) The polls will be out later today. If I had a vote, here's my top 10 in order:
Texas
Tennessee
Ohio State
Georgia
Alabama
Ole Miss
Miami
Missouri
Oregon
USC
11) Five games I'll watch next week besides Mizzou/Vandy:
Illinois at Nebraska, Friday 7:00, FOX: It's Friday night. If this game's Saturday, I probably wouldn't watch. If Nebraska is what people say it is, it wins this game. If not, we get to laugh at its expense again.
USC at Michigan, Saturday 2:30, CBS: The Trojans should win this game. I think. But we'll see.
Utah at Oklahoma State, 3:00, FOX: I think these are two of the three best teams in the Big 12. Winner has the inside track to the title game.
Tennessee at Oklahoma, 6:30, ESPN: This one is worth it just for the Josh Heupel return to Norman. If he has a chance to score 100 on the Sooners, he will. If OU is going to make a statement it's better than it looked in the first three weeks, there's no better time.
Kansas State at BYU: 9:30, ESPN: The Wildcats are the current favorites in the Big 12. But man this is no easy task. Provo is a TOUGH place to play and you're kicking off when most of your games are already over. Big time test for the EMAWs.
1) Not you too, Georgia? I knew there weren't many truly elite teams in college football this year. NIL and the portal have spread the wealth and leveled the playing field quite a bit from what we're used to. But I thought Georgia was still above what it did on Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, the Bulldogs still won (thanks in large part to Mark Stoops turtling up and punting on 4th and 6 with three minutes left only to never see the ball again with any chance to do anything which was the most predictable thing that happened all day), but they didn't look good doing it. UGA hasn't given up a touchdown in three games, but trailed more than half the night in Lexington and won 13-12. You can take the Kirby Smart approach and say "That's life on the road in the SEC" and to some extent it's true, but South Carolina walked in there last week and won 31-6. Kentucky threw for a whopping total of 114 yards and 4.2 yards an attempt. It averaged 3.8 yards per rush. It wasn't dynamic at all and Georgia couldn't separate. The Bulldogs are at Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss and home for Tennessee. By no means do I consider them a playoff lock after what I saw last night. You aren't holding any of those teams out of the end zone. You're going to have to score to beat them. I'm not convinced Georgia can.
2) For my money, the two best teams in the SEC both wear orange. Texas lost Quinn Ewers to an abdominal strain and watched Arch Manning account for five touchdowns in a 56-7 thumping of UTSA. The Roadrunners aren't any good so the result itself is no big deal, but Texas has outscored three opponents 139-19 including a road win at Michigan and looks like the most complete team in the country. If I had a vote, the Horns would be my No. 1 team.
The No. 2 team? Tennessee. Again, Kent State isn't a test so i don't really care that Tennessee humiliated the Flashes (and, yes, Josh Heupel is a dick for onside kicking with a 30 point lead, for the record). But the Vols have beaten three teams by a combined 191-13 including a win at No. 24 NC State (I don't really think the Wolfpack is a top 25 team, but if Mizzou gets credit for a ranked win yesterday, Tennessee gets credit for this one). Tennessee leads the country in scoring offense, is second in total offense and total defense and third in scoring defense. Everybody has played a lightweight or two so those numbers matter. If the Vols can beat either Georgia or Alabama, they're more or less a playoff lock barring a big misstep.
3) Let's go back to Friday night and give Barry Odom his props. UNLV beat Kansas 23-20. You don't just walk into a mostly full Children's Mercy Park and expect to walk out with a win. In all seriousness, big win for UNLV. The Rebels now have wins over two Big 12 teams. Not that either one is a heavyweight, but it's more than any other G5 team can say at this point. UNLV gets Syracuse and Boise at home and has a road game at Oregon State. That's the kind of G5 schedule that can get you the playoff spot possibly even if you lose one. And, look, guys, if you aren't rooting for 12 seed UNLV at 5 seed Mizzou in the College Football Playoff, do you even like drama and storylines?
4) The worst game of the week happened on Thursday. South Alabama beat Northwestern State 87-10. You did not misread that. USA was up 80-10 after three quarters and the coaches agreed to a six-minute fourth quarter. Because of that, casino chaos ran rampant when a lot of the bets were taken off the board. Games like this are ridiculous. I get Northwestern State agreed to play it, but my word, if you're 77 points worse than South Alabama do you need to field a team that tries to play up a level?
5) Colorado beat Colorado State 28-9. I do not care. I'm completely disinterested in pretending the Buffs as a team are something we should pay attention to. They're average to below and will struggle to make a bowl game and I don't care about all the other drama. But I still believe Travis Hunter is the best all around player in college football. He had 13 catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns, five tackles and an interception. That's impressive no matter how much you might dislike the team he plays for.
6) It seems as if we've seen the last of Billy Napier in Gainesville. Florida lost 33-20 to Texas A&M which was playing a backup quarterback (Marcel Reed may not be the backup anymore). The Gators have Mississippi State and UCF coming up and could easily win both of those games. So if you want to make a move on Napier, now might be the time before he does anything that could give people a little hope. It's not a Jimbo Fisher contract, but....
You're going to have to pay the next guy a minimum of $10 million a year for seven years (and figure out your NIL post haste). It's a mess. As I've said in another thread, I do expect Eli Drinkwitz's name to be one of those attached to the opening. I do expect Florida to try. I would think he will at least listen. If I had to handicap it today, I'd lean more to him staying at Mizzou than ending up in Gainesville, but it is going to be a story that's out there.
The wildest thing: Florida isn't even the worst major conference team in its own state. Florida State lost 20-12 to Memphis to fall to 0-3 and the Noles are already looking to next year.
7) I thought Napier would do well in Florida, but he's not my most surprising coach who hasn't worked in a new place. That goes to Luke Fickell at Wisconsin. I thought it was a perfect fit. Fickell took Cincinnati to a playoff and he's a born and bred Big Ten guy. But he brought in Phil Longo from North Carolina to run the spread offense and it just hasn't worked. Maybe there's a reason everybody in the Big Ten except Ohio State (before the PAC 12 additions) runs a more traditional offense. The Buckeyes are the only ones who can recruit the type of athletes required to spread it out and open it up. Wisconsin lost 42-10 to Alabama and wasn't competitive. There's no shame in getting your brains beat in by Bama, but the Badgers beat Western Michigan and South Dakota by two touchdowns apiece and now have USC up next on the schedule. I'd forecast a 5-7 season for them on the heels of 7-6 last year. I don't think he's in danger of getting fired, but I do think it's a program headed in the wrong direction.
8) Missouri has the nation's longest winning streak at seven games. Fort Lewis no longer has the longest losing streak.
Stone Walker ran for a touchdown and threw for one and the Skyhawks beat Arizona Christian 17-12 to end a 40-game losing streak. From the little research I've done, it's the longest losing streak in college football history, but that may be wrong. Western Illinois currently has the longest losing streak in Division One. The Leathernecks lost 51-34 to Illinois State yesterday for their 27th consecutive loss. The longest FBS losing streak belongs to Kent State, which has dropped 12 in a row after the loss to Tennessee.
9) Mississippi State is the worst team in the SEC. The Bulldogs got throttled by a mediocre--at best--Toledo team 41-17 yesterday. That comes a week after a 30-23 loss to Arizona State that wasn't nearly as close as the score makes it look. MSU will probably stretch its losing streak to seven as the next five games are Florida, at Texas, at Georgia, Texas A&M and Arkansas. They'll get a win over UMASS, I think (the Minutemen lost 38-3 to Buffalo yesterday) but then finish with at Tennessee, home against Mizzou and at Ole Miss. Anything better than 2-10 would surprise me.
10) The polls will be out later today. If I had a vote, here's my top 10 in order:
Texas
Tennessee
Ohio State
Georgia
Alabama
Ole Miss
Miami
Missouri
Oregon
USC
11) Five games I'll watch next week besides Mizzou/Vandy:
Illinois at Nebraska, Friday 7:00, FOX: It's Friday night. If this game's Saturday, I probably wouldn't watch. If Nebraska is what people say it is, it wins this game. If not, we get to laugh at its expense again.
USC at Michigan, Saturday 2:30, CBS: The Trojans should win this game. I think. But we'll see.
Utah at Oklahoma State, 3:00, FOX: I think these are two of the three best teams in the Big 12. Winner has the inside track to the title game.
Tennessee at Oklahoma, 6:30, ESPN: This one is worth it just for the Josh Heupel return to Norman. If he has a chance to score 100 on the Sooners, he will. If OU is going to make a statement it's better than it looked in the first three weeks, there's no better time.
Kansas State at BYU: 9:30, ESPN: The Wildcats are the current favorites in the Big 12. But man this is no easy task. Provo is a TOUGH place to play and you're kicking off when most of your games are already over. Big time test for the EMAWs.
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