They might be a little brief. Sleep was in short supply and a six hour drive awaits, but we've got a couple things to do before leaving West Lafayette. Here are my 10 thoughts:
1. Rutgers should be relegated (isn't that what they call it in soccer?) Losing to kansas is one thing--and it's a pretty bad thing. But losing 55-14 to kansas? That's shameful. I don't know how that happens. I actually thought kansas was going to win this game but I didn't have the guts to pick it that way in our preview and piss you guys off needlessly. The juice wouldn't have been worth the squeeze. Curious to see the ratings in New York since that's the reason I was told the Big Ten added Rutgers.
2. Oh, the rest of the B1G ain't exactly earning congratulations either. You guys can decide which loss was the worst:
Northwestern loses 39-34 to Akron
Wisconsin loses 28-21 to BYU
Maryland loses 35-14 to Temple
Illinois loses 25-19 to South Florida
With the Wisconsin loss, the B1G's sole playoff hopes ride on Ohio State. That's got to be a weird position for the conference. Yeah, they want in the playoff. But, no, they probably don't want to have to rely on Urban Meyer to ride in on his white horse and carry the flag for the league (and, no, thank you, I will not be watching the nauseating ESPN interview with Urb today).
And yes, I intentionally left one B1G loss out.
3. Come up with your own clever Frost headline here. Troy beat Nebraska 24-19. In Lincoln. Demarcus Ware and the 2004 Trojans now have some company in talking about the most notable win in program history. Let me just run down some of the more stunning notes I saw yesterday:
*Nebraska has lost six consecutive games for the first time in 61 years
*Nebraska is 0-2 for the first time in 61 years
*Nebraska has lost eight times in nine games.
This is my personal favorite:
*Nebraska has not won a home game in 358 calendar days, since beating Rutgers last year.
No word on whether the Big Red horde stayed to clap for Troy as it walked to the locker room.
4. While the B1G's playoff hopes are dim right now, the Group of Five's rest with Josh Heupel. Boise State had a big game in Stillwater that many (including me) thought they would win. If the Broncos beat Oklahoma State, the path to 12-0 seemed pretty clear and this looked like a Boise team that might just be good enough to get a shot to crash the playoff party, especially if the PAC12 and B1G didn't have a team worthy of consideration. But Oklahoma State won 44-21 (fear the mullet) and you can forget about any thoughts of Boise getting in. They've got to shoot for 11-1 and the Fiesta Bowl now. UCF is the only G5 team with a chance...and it doesn't really have a chance.
5. I'm starting to come around on the Matt Campbell hype. I've got to admit I thought it was a little overblown all offseason. Like, he did a nice job in Ames, but they were still just 8-5. Nice season, not unbelievable. And Iowa State lost 37-27 to Oklahoma yesterday, but the Clones put up a hell of an effort. They played a backup QB against Oklahoma for the second straight year. Those two backups have now thrown for something like 700 yards in the last two games against OU. Damn impressive. Iowa State had beaten a top five team one time in 59 tries before Campbell. It has played three with him as the head coach. It is 2-1, with the one being a ten point loss yesterday. Related: Kyler Murray is special.
6. My word Alabama looks unstoppable. I mean, I know Ole Miss has a terrible defense. But the Tide had 49 at halftime and basically didn't try in the second half and won 62-7. The gap between Ole Miss and Alabama is apparently about the same as the gap between Western Michigan and Delaware State (65-0 Western Michigan). The gap between Bama and everybody looks pretty sizable too. The Crimson Tide is the first team in SEC history to score 50 in each of the season's first three games. Tua Tagovailoa was 11-15 for 191 yards and 2 TDs and had a lot of the day off. For the season he is 36/50 for 646 yards (12.92/attempt) for eight touchdowns and no picks with a QB rating of 233. Good God. The bad news for Mizzou fans? Jalen Hurts played and has now played in three games and Bama has Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas before the Tigers. Hurts is only going to play in one more game so the Tigers will get a healthy amount of Tua in Tuscaloosa in October. Can you win the Heisman if a sixth of your season is against the Ole Miss and Mizzou pass defenses? Just wondering.
7. Coach O just shutting everybody up out here. LSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead over Auburn, fell behind 21-13 and then scored the last nine points of the game for a 22-21 walk-off win in Jordan-Hare. Hell of a game and hell of a performance. If people voted by what has actually happened on the field, LSU would be the No 1 team in the country because nobody else has two wins that are impressive as they do. But LSU won't be No. 1. They've probably got not shot to be better than 5 or 6. Ed Orgeron entered this season on the hot seat for some. Not so much now.
8. For those that haven't seen it, let's take a minute to appreciate maybe the greatest punt return in NCAA history:
And here's the story behind how it happened, weeks in the making
https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...36/north-texas-fake-fair-catch-punt-return-td
I am not at all surprised North Texas beat Arkansas. I picked it straight up last Sunday morning in this segment. I am stunned it was 44-17. Just a beating.
9. My playoff predictions: Plenty of teams still have a chance, kind of. But we're three weeks into the season and the playoff is going to go like this:
1 Alabama
2 Clemson
3 Oklahoma
4 Ohio State or a second SEC team (UGA/LSU)
I'll be stunned if it's not four of those six to be honest with you
10. Five games I'll watch next weekend:
Nebraska at Michigan, 11 AM: I'm here for seven straight
Texas A&M at Alabama, 2:30, CBS: Got to watch something. Might as well watch the best team in the sport
Kansas State at West Virginia, 2:30, ESPN: I'd be stunned if it were that close, but WVU is the only team with any real chance to challenge Oklahoma in the Big 12 I think, so I'll check them out
Mississippi State at Kentucky, 6 pm, ESPN2: I'm one of those that happens to think the Bulldogs are very good and could sneak up and be second in the SEC West
Florida at Tennessee, 6 pm, ESPN: One of them has to win and take a step forward. I assume it will be the Gators
1. Rutgers should be relegated (isn't that what they call it in soccer?) Losing to kansas is one thing--and it's a pretty bad thing. But losing 55-14 to kansas? That's shameful. I don't know how that happens. I actually thought kansas was going to win this game but I didn't have the guts to pick it that way in our preview and piss you guys off needlessly. The juice wouldn't have been worth the squeeze. Curious to see the ratings in New York since that's the reason I was told the Big Ten added Rutgers.
2. Oh, the rest of the B1G ain't exactly earning congratulations either. You guys can decide which loss was the worst:
Northwestern loses 39-34 to Akron
Wisconsin loses 28-21 to BYU
Maryland loses 35-14 to Temple
Illinois loses 25-19 to South Florida
With the Wisconsin loss, the B1G's sole playoff hopes ride on Ohio State. That's got to be a weird position for the conference. Yeah, they want in the playoff. But, no, they probably don't want to have to rely on Urban Meyer to ride in on his white horse and carry the flag for the league (and, no, thank you, I will not be watching the nauseating ESPN interview with Urb today).
And yes, I intentionally left one B1G loss out.
3. Come up with your own clever Frost headline here. Troy beat Nebraska 24-19. In Lincoln. Demarcus Ware and the 2004 Trojans now have some company in talking about the most notable win in program history. Let me just run down some of the more stunning notes I saw yesterday:
*Nebraska has lost six consecutive games for the first time in 61 years
*Nebraska is 0-2 for the first time in 61 years
*Nebraska has lost eight times in nine games.
This is my personal favorite:
*Nebraska has not won a home game in 358 calendar days, since beating Rutgers last year.
No word on whether the Big Red horde stayed to clap for Troy as it walked to the locker room.
4. While the B1G's playoff hopes are dim right now, the Group of Five's rest with Josh Heupel. Boise State had a big game in Stillwater that many (including me) thought they would win. If the Broncos beat Oklahoma State, the path to 12-0 seemed pretty clear and this looked like a Boise team that might just be good enough to get a shot to crash the playoff party, especially if the PAC12 and B1G didn't have a team worthy of consideration. But Oklahoma State won 44-21 (fear the mullet) and you can forget about any thoughts of Boise getting in. They've got to shoot for 11-1 and the Fiesta Bowl now. UCF is the only G5 team with a chance...and it doesn't really have a chance.
5. I'm starting to come around on the Matt Campbell hype. I've got to admit I thought it was a little overblown all offseason. Like, he did a nice job in Ames, but they were still just 8-5. Nice season, not unbelievable. And Iowa State lost 37-27 to Oklahoma yesterday, but the Clones put up a hell of an effort. They played a backup QB against Oklahoma for the second straight year. Those two backups have now thrown for something like 700 yards in the last two games against OU. Damn impressive. Iowa State had beaten a top five team one time in 59 tries before Campbell. It has played three with him as the head coach. It is 2-1, with the one being a ten point loss yesterday. Related: Kyler Murray is special.
6. My word Alabama looks unstoppable. I mean, I know Ole Miss has a terrible defense. But the Tide had 49 at halftime and basically didn't try in the second half and won 62-7. The gap between Ole Miss and Alabama is apparently about the same as the gap between Western Michigan and Delaware State (65-0 Western Michigan). The gap between Bama and everybody looks pretty sizable too. The Crimson Tide is the first team in SEC history to score 50 in each of the season's first three games. Tua Tagovailoa was 11-15 for 191 yards and 2 TDs and had a lot of the day off. For the season he is 36/50 for 646 yards (12.92/attempt) for eight touchdowns and no picks with a QB rating of 233. Good God. The bad news for Mizzou fans? Jalen Hurts played and has now played in three games and Bama has Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas before the Tigers. Hurts is only going to play in one more game so the Tigers will get a healthy amount of Tua in Tuscaloosa in October. Can you win the Heisman if a sixth of your season is against the Ole Miss and Mizzou pass defenses? Just wondering.
7. Coach O just shutting everybody up out here. LSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead over Auburn, fell behind 21-13 and then scored the last nine points of the game for a 22-21 walk-off win in Jordan-Hare. Hell of a game and hell of a performance. If people voted by what has actually happened on the field, LSU would be the No 1 team in the country because nobody else has two wins that are impressive as they do. But LSU won't be No. 1. They've probably got not shot to be better than 5 or 6. Ed Orgeron entered this season on the hot seat for some. Not so much now.
8. For those that haven't seen it, let's take a minute to appreciate maybe the greatest punt return in NCAA history:
And here's the story behind how it happened, weeks in the making
https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...36/north-texas-fake-fair-catch-punt-return-td
I am not at all surprised North Texas beat Arkansas. I picked it straight up last Sunday morning in this segment. I am stunned it was 44-17. Just a beating.
9. My playoff predictions: Plenty of teams still have a chance, kind of. But we're three weeks into the season and the playoff is going to go like this:
1 Alabama
2 Clemson
3 Oklahoma
4 Ohio State or a second SEC team (UGA/LSU)
I'll be stunned if it's not four of those six to be honest with you
10. Five games I'll watch next weekend:
Nebraska at Michigan, 11 AM: I'm here for seven straight
Texas A&M at Alabama, 2:30, CBS: Got to watch something. Might as well watch the best team in the sport
Kansas State at West Virginia, 2:30, ESPN: I'd be stunned if it were that close, but WVU is the only team with any real chance to challenge Oklahoma in the Big 12 I think, so I'll check them out
Mississippi State at Kentucky, 6 pm, ESPN2: I'm one of those that happens to think the Bulldogs are very good and could sneak up and be second in the SEC West
Florida at Tennessee, 6 pm, ESPN: One of them has to win and take a step forward. I assume it will be the Gators
