Sorry for the delay. Traveling all day. Probably gonna be brief. Mahomes plays in 30 minutes.
1. The SEC is Alabama and everyone else. Actually, I think college football is Alabama and everyone else. But Georgia just isn't as good as they were last year. LSU already has a loss. The Tigers could always beat Bama in Baton Rouge (I'd be surprised) and that would actually probably be a good thing for the SEC because Bama would in all likelihood get in the playoff with one loss without winning the West and then the SEC champ would go as well. But I just don't see anybody who can really push Bama.
2. Speaking of teams that aren't as good as people thought in the SEC, there's a house fire in Auburn. Jimmy Sexton got Gus Malzahn the most ridiculous contract in college football history, which has a $32 million buyout at the end of this year. A week ago, people were writing that there was no way Auburn would fire him. But after a loss at home to Tennessee, don't be so sure. The Tigers are 4-3 and still have to play A&M, at Georgia and at Alabama. If they lose to Ole Miss next week (it's not impossible), Auburn is going to go from top ten to no bowl game. And Auburn fans can't stand Malzahn anyway.
3. We drove to Tuscaloosa just assuming Arkansas and Nebraska were going to get wins yesterday. And then both of them gagged away two-score fourth quarter leads. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised by either one, but it's not like Ole Miss and Northwestern are powerhouses. Because UCLA beat Cal last night, Nebraska is now THE ONLY WINLESS POWER FIVE TEAM IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL (and you're damn right that deserved all caps bolded text). After the game Scott Frost was asked about his defense and said something along the lines of "I don't call the defense." You're the head coach. You call everything.
4. Yesterday was chaos day in college football. Penn State and Washington are out of the playoff picture. West Virginia quite likely is too. Georgia's not out, but has no margin for error. Notre Dame tried to be and Ohio State struggled but survived against Minnesota. There's one Saturday like that every year. Only Alabama was immune. Not in the top ten, but Wisconsin, Colorado and Miami all lost too. Saturdays like that are fun.
5. Break up the Texas Tech....defense? I mean it's one game and I'm not doing cartwheels, but Tech held TCU to 14 points on Thursday night...the fewest points the Red Raiders have allowed in a Big 12 game in four years. I thought Big 12 teams started the game with 17 points. Elsewhere in Missouri's former home, Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State Cowboys suddenly can't score any points and got throttled by Kansas State 31-12 in a game that keeps the Wildcats bowl hopes alive for now.
6. Purdue is back to .500 on the season, although I'm not sure beating Illinois counts as a full win. The Boilers blew out the Illini 46-7 in Champaign and David Blough threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns. Look, Jeff Brohm is probably a pretty good coach...but he could have a 5-1 team if he'd started the season playing the right guy at quarterback.
7. The stat line of the week goes to Rutgers freshman quarterback Artur Sitkowski.
2/16, 8 yards, 4 INT
The backup was 0/1. The Scarlet Knights threw for eight yards and averaged less than a half yard per attempt. They completed twice as many passes to Maryland players as they did to their own. Kasim Hill was 8/17 for 76 yards and was CLEARLY the best quarterback in the game.
Sitkowski's QB rating for the game was 1.1. That is not a misprint. The backup's rating was 0.1. Also not a misprint.
8. My Heisman ballot as of today
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
Huge Gap
Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
Ed Oliver, Houston
9. The playoff if it started today:
1 Alabama vs 4 Notre Dame (?)
2 Ohio State vs 3 Clemson
Other teams with a chance: Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, West Virginia, Georgia, LSU, Florida, UCF, Michigan
10. Five games I'll watch next week:
Michigan at Michigan State, 11 am--The Wolverines have legit Big Ten title and playoff hopes. Weird things happen in rivalry games and Sparty just beat Penn State.
NC State at Clemson, 2:30, ESPN--The Wolfpack is unbeaten but has played no one. Clemson is unbeaten but has looked vulnerable. Big game in the ACC.
Mississippi State at LSU, 6 pm, ESPN--LSU should win this one, especially at home at night. But the Bulldogs are good enough to pull it off on the right day for sure.
Ohio State at Purdue, 6:30, ABC--I think the Buckeyes probably win in West Lafayette. But I'm not positive. Purdue could really create some craziness with a win.
Minnesota at Nebraska, 2:30--I'm watching as long as they're winless.
1. The SEC is Alabama and everyone else. Actually, I think college football is Alabama and everyone else. But Georgia just isn't as good as they were last year. LSU already has a loss. The Tigers could always beat Bama in Baton Rouge (I'd be surprised) and that would actually probably be a good thing for the SEC because Bama would in all likelihood get in the playoff with one loss without winning the West and then the SEC champ would go as well. But I just don't see anybody who can really push Bama.
2. Speaking of teams that aren't as good as people thought in the SEC, there's a house fire in Auburn. Jimmy Sexton got Gus Malzahn the most ridiculous contract in college football history, which has a $32 million buyout at the end of this year. A week ago, people were writing that there was no way Auburn would fire him. But after a loss at home to Tennessee, don't be so sure. The Tigers are 4-3 and still have to play A&M, at Georgia and at Alabama. If they lose to Ole Miss next week (it's not impossible), Auburn is going to go from top ten to no bowl game. And Auburn fans can't stand Malzahn anyway.
3. We drove to Tuscaloosa just assuming Arkansas and Nebraska were going to get wins yesterday. And then both of them gagged away two-score fourth quarter leads. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised by either one, but it's not like Ole Miss and Northwestern are powerhouses. Because UCLA beat Cal last night, Nebraska is now THE ONLY WINLESS POWER FIVE TEAM IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL (and you're damn right that deserved all caps bolded text). After the game Scott Frost was asked about his defense and said something along the lines of "I don't call the defense." You're the head coach. You call everything.
4. Yesterday was chaos day in college football. Penn State and Washington are out of the playoff picture. West Virginia quite likely is too. Georgia's not out, but has no margin for error. Notre Dame tried to be and Ohio State struggled but survived against Minnesota. There's one Saturday like that every year. Only Alabama was immune. Not in the top ten, but Wisconsin, Colorado and Miami all lost too. Saturdays like that are fun.
5. Break up the Texas Tech....defense? I mean it's one game and I'm not doing cartwheels, but Tech held TCU to 14 points on Thursday night...the fewest points the Red Raiders have allowed in a Big 12 game in four years. I thought Big 12 teams started the game with 17 points. Elsewhere in Missouri's former home, Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State Cowboys suddenly can't score any points and got throttled by Kansas State 31-12 in a game that keeps the Wildcats bowl hopes alive for now.
6. Purdue is back to .500 on the season, although I'm not sure beating Illinois counts as a full win. The Boilers blew out the Illini 46-7 in Champaign and David Blough threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns. Look, Jeff Brohm is probably a pretty good coach...but he could have a 5-1 team if he'd started the season playing the right guy at quarterback.
7. The stat line of the week goes to Rutgers freshman quarterback Artur Sitkowski.
2/16, 8 yards, 4 INT
The backup was 0/1. The Scarlet Knights threw for eight yards and averaged less than a half yard per attempt. They completed twice as many passes to Maryland players as they did to their own. Kasim Hill was 8/17 for 76 yards and was CLEARLY the best quarterback in the game.
Sitkowski's QB rating for the game was 1.1. That is not a misprint. The backup's rating was 0.1. Also not a misprint.
8. My Heisman ballot as of today
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
Huge Gap
Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
Ed Oliver, Houston
9. The playoff if it started today:
1 Alabama vs 4 Notre Dame (?)
2 Ohio State vs 3 Clemson
Other teams with a chance: Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, West Virginia, Georgia, LSU, Florida, UCF, Michigan
10. Five games I'll watch next week:
Michigan at Michigan State, 11 am--The Wolverines have legit Big Ten title and playoff hopes. Weird things happen in rivalry games and Sparty just beat Penn State.
NC State at Clemson, 2:30, ESPN--The Wolfpack is unbeaten but has played no one. Clemson is unbeaten but has looked vulnerable. Big game in the ACC.
Mississippi State at LSU, 6 pm, ESPN--LSU should win this one, especially at home at night. But the Bulldogs are good enough to pull it off on the right day for sure.
Ohio State at Purdue, 6:30, ABC--I think the Buckeyes probably win in West Lafayette. But I'm not positive. Purdue could really create some craziness with a win.
Minnesota at Nebraska, 2:30--I'm watching as long as they're winless.
