1. Lather, rinse, repeat at Arkansas and Auburn. Another week, more of the same for two teams that suddenly look like they'll compete for the cellar in the SEC West. Arkansas has a lead, can't hold it, loses in overtime to Texas A&M (I actually thought the Hogs would win that game even before kickoff). Auburn didn't score a touchdown for the first time with Gus Malzahn as either its head coach or offensive coordinator and flat out isn't any good right now. Those two teams are a combined 3-5 with five consecutive losses between them.
2. Leonard Fournette is a man child. You're going to start hearing comparisons to Adrian Peterson and Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker and Earl Campbell. Amazing combination of size and speed. Over 200 yards for the second game in a row, which has never happened at LSU. He's the runaway leader for the Heisman a third of the way through the season. You can't win the Heisman in September, but you can put yourself at the front of the discussion and Fournette has.
3. Welcome to the PAC-12, land of the blowout. Three highly anticipated games in the conference and all were just slaughters. None were closer than 26 points. UCLA put up 42 in the first half, scoring touchdowns on six of seven possessions, in a 56-30 win over Arizona to ruin the return of Scooby Wright. USC railroaded Arizona State in Tempe 42-14, ending any hopes of the playoff for the Sun Devils, which some people thought was going to be a thing a few weeks ago. And Utah hung more points on Oregon than the Ducks have ever given up at home and laid the worst beatdown in Eugene since 1977 in a 62-20 statement win. Just like the SEC, the PAC 12 is going to beat itself up all day long. Arizona State is out of the discussion, Oregon probably is too. But all the winners last night plus Stanford can still make a run at the playoffs.
4. What in the hell happened in Ann Arbor? I watched not one play of that game, but Michigan led BYU 31-0 at halftime and won by that same score. No Hail Mary pass is worth 32 points, and the Cougars just got completely whitewashed. I wonder if the September gauntlet of Nebraska, Boise and UCLA finally caught up with them and wore them down.
5. Break up the Blue Devils. Georgia Tech was a novelty pick for the playoff by quite a few people a few weeks ago. After a loss to Notre Dame, it wasn't out of the question. After a 34-20 loss to Duke, it is. It's Duke's fourth win over a ranked team in the last three seasons. Considering that program's history, which is pretty much nonexistent other than a year or two under Steve Spurrier, that's pretty impressive. David Cutcliffe has done a really, really nice job in Durham.
6. Rutgers beat kansas and six people noticed. Also, I don't see how the Jaybirds win a game this season.
7. TCU doesn't have the defense to make the playoff. I know Texas Tech's offense is pretty good and TCU did survive in Lubbock to the tune of 55-52, but I just don't see how the Horned Frogs can patch the defense together enough to survive a very balanced Big 12. You can't beat everybody 49-45. Eventually, you'll get burned. The Frogs have lost seven starters to injury on the defensive side of the ball and that offense is just going to be under too much pressure, I think. They'll lose at least one, maybe two.
8. Tennessee gonna Tennessee. I asked on Twitter yesterday if we could change "Clemsoning" to "Volunteering." At some point, you have to quit saying, "Boy they're showing progress and they're almost there" and start saying "They just aren't good enough to close out games." The Vols blew a two-touchdown lead for the second time in three weeks and this time they did it against Florida, which doesn't exactly remind anyone of the Greatest Show on Turf offensively. Florida won the game by converting a 4th and 14 (they were 5-5 on fourth down on the day) with a 63-yard touchdown pass on which three Vols were terribly out of position as the receiver cut to the sideline and outran everyone for the game winner. I said before this game that if UT lost, the narrative was going to change on Butch Jones. I think it will. The heat's gonna come and it's gonna come quickly. After hosting Arkansas, Tennessee gets Georgia and is at Alabama the next two weeks. I think the Vols are looking at 7-5 this year. It's fine. But it's not what it was supposed to be.
9. And thanks to Texas, Tennessee didn't have the most painful loss of the day.
VIDEO ICYMI: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...um=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national
You might recall a couple weeks ago (maybe it was last week even) the Horns lost a game because they missed an extra point that would have tied it. Also contributing to this loss was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty against head coach Charlie Strong, which in and of itself is a fireable offense in my opinion. Players lose their composure. Coaches can't. Strong did. Everyone knew the Longhorns weren't great this year, so maybe they can take some solace in the fact that they're in close games, but UT is likely going to start 1-5 after losses to TCU and Oklahoma in its next two games and will have to find two wins in games against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor just to make a bowl game. Don't think that will go over well on the 40 Acres.
10. Five games I want to watch next weekend:
*Arizona State at UCLA. Sun Devils still have talent so this isn't an easy one for the Bruins. UCLA tailback Paul Perkins might be the best player in college football most people have never heard of.
*Alabama at Georgia. Does a Tide loss knock them out of potential playoff discussion? I think it probably does. It would also mean that Alabama and Auburn, who have dominated the SEC in recent years, would start a combined 0-4 in SEC play.
*Texas Tech at Baylor. First one to 100 wins.
*Ole Miss at Florida. The Gator defense is pretty good and they're going to be riding high after the comeback against UT. If they can win this one, get ready for a few weeks of "Florida is back" talk and pencil in Jim McElwain as the first half coach of the year.
*Mississippi State at Texas A&M. The Bulldogs aren't great, but they're good. A&M has a tendency to start fast and fade. Aggies need to win this one and I'm not sure they will.
*Notre Dame at Clemson. Before the season, I picked the Tigers to make the playoff. This is a big hurdle they'll have to clear to do so. A loss doesn't eliminate them, but a win would be huge. And really, the same can be said for the Irish.
2. Leonard Fournette is a man child. You're going to start hearing comparisons to Adrian Peterson and Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker and Earl Campbell. Amazing combination of size and speed. Over 200 yards for the second game in a row, which has never happened at LSU. He's the runaway leader for the Heisman a third of the way through the season. You can't win the Heisman in September, but you can put yourself at the front of the discussion and Fournette has.
3. Welcome to the PAC-12, land of the blowout. Three highly anticipated games in the conference and all were just slaughters. None were closer than 26 points. UCLA put up 42 in the first half, scoring touchdowns on six of seven possessions, in a 56-30 win over Arizona to ruin the return of Scooby Wright. USC railroaded Arizona State in Tempe 42-14, ending any hopes of the playoff for the Sun Devils, which some people thought was going to be a thing a few weeks ago. And Utah hung more points on Oregon than the Ducks have ever given up at home and laid the worst beatdown in Eugene since 1977 in a 62-20 statement win. Just like the SEC, the PAC 12 is going to beat itself up all day long. Arizona State is out of the discussion, Oregon probably is too. But all the winners last night plus Stanford can still make a run at the playoffs.
4. What in the hell happened in Ann Arbor? I watched not one play of that game, but Michigan led BYU 31-0 at halftime and won by that same score. No Hail Mary pass is worth 32 points, and the Cougars just got completely whitewashed. I wonder if the September gauntlet of Nebraska, Boise and UCLA finally caught up with them and wore them down.
5. Break up the Blue Devils. Georgia Tech was a novelty pick for the playoff by quite a few people a few weeks ago. After a loss to Notre Dame, it wasn't out of the question. After a 34-20 loss to Duke, it is. It's Duke's fourth win over a ranked team in the last three seasons. Considering that program's history, which is pretty much nonexistent other than a year or two under Steve Spurrier, that's pretty impressive. David Cutcliffe has done a really, really nice job in Durham.
6. Rutgers beat kansas and six people noticed. Also, I don't see how the Jaybirds win a game this season.
7. TCU doesn't have the defense to make the playoff. I know Texas Tech's offense is pretty good and TCU did survive in Lubbock to the tune of 55-52, but I just don't see how the Horned Frogs can patch the defense together enough to survive a very balanced Big 12. You can't beat everybody 49-45. Eventually, you'll get burned. The Frogs have lost seven starters to injury on the defensive side of the ball and that offense is just going to be under too much pressure, I think. They'll lose at least one, maybe two.
8. Tennessee gonna Tennessee. I asked on Twitter yesterday if we could change "Clemsoning" to "Volunteering." At some point, you have to quit saying, "Boy they're showing progress and they're almost there" and start saying "They just aren't good enough to close out games." The Vols blew a two-touchdown lead for the second time in three weeks and this time they did it against Florida, which doesn't exactly remind anyone of the Greatest Show on Turf offensively. Florida won the game by converting a 4th and 14 (they were 5-5 on fourth down on the day) with a 63-yard touchdown pass on which three Vols were terribly out of position as the receiver cut to the sideline and outran everyone for the game winner. I said before this game that if UT lost, the narrative was going to change on Butch Jones. I think it will. The heat's gonna come and it's gonna come quickly. After hosting Arkansas, Tennessee gets Georgia and is at Alabama the next two weeks. I think the Vols are looking at 7-5 this year. It's fine. But it's not what it was supposed to be.
9. And thanks to Texas, Tennessee didn't have the most painful loss of the day.
VIDEO ICYMI: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...um=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national
You might recall a couple weeks ago (maybe it was last week even) the Horns lost a game because they missed an extra point that would have tied it. Also contributing to this loss was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty against head coach Charlie Strong, which in and of itself is a fireable offense in my opinion. Players lose their composure. Coaches can't. Strong did. Everyone knew the Longhorns weren't great this year, so maybe they can take some solace in the fact that they're in close games, but UT is likely going to start 1-5 after losses to TCU and Oklahoma in its next two games and will have to find two wins in games against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor just to make a bowl game. Don't think that will go over well on the 40 Acres.
10. Five games I want to watch next weekend:
*Arizona State at UCLA. Sun Devils still have talent so this isn't an easy one for the Bruins. UCLA tailback Paul Perkins might be the best player in college football most people have never heard of.
*Alabama at Georgia. Does a Tide loss knock them out of potential playoff discussion? I think it probably does. It would also mean that Alabama and Auburn, who have dominated the SEC in recent years, would start a combined 0-4 in SEC play.
*Texas Tech at Baylor. First one to 100 wins.
*Ole Miss at Florida. The Gator defense is pretty good and they're going to be riding high after the comeback against UT. If they can win this one, get ready for a few weeks of "Florida is back" talk and pencil in Jim McElwain as the first half coach of the year.
*Mississippi State at Texas A&M. The Bulldogs aren't great, but they're good. A&M has a tendency to start fast and fade. Aggies need to win this one and I'm not sure they will.
*Notre Dame at Clemson. Before the season, I picked the Tigers to make the playoff. This is a big hurdle they'll have to clear to do so. A loss doesn't eliminate them, but a win would be huge. And really, the same can be said for the Irish.
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