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On to this week's thoughts:
1) I am in love with the PAC 12 today. After finishing my work in Columbia last night, I drove to Kansas City. When I got settled in at my parents house, I turned the Washington State/UCLA game on and planned to fall asleep while watching it. The Cougars scored to go up 49-17 right after I flipped it on. There was 6:52 left in the third quarter. It was the latest chapter in The Disaster That Has Been the Chip Kelly Era. AND THEN OH MY GOD. UCLA scored 50 points...in the next 20 minutes and 45 seconds. The Bruins won the second-highest scoring regulation game in college football history 67-63. There were 1377 yards of total offense. 1077 of them came through the air. UCLA averaged 8.76 yards per play. Washington State averaged 8.78. Anthony Gordon threw nine touchdown passes...and lost. My God it was glorious.
2) Notre Dame earned some respect last night. Many on here laughed at me when I called the Notre Dame/Georgia game appointment viewing. Many believe Notre Dame doesn't have the athletes and can't compete with the elite teams in the country. The Irish proved those people wrong last night. They held UGA to 23 points and battled all the way to the last play, ending the game 40 yards short of a game-winning touchdown. Especially if USC keeps winning, Notre Dame played well enough last night that if it runs the table, it still has a chance to be in the playoff. I'm not saying it will get there, but this wasn't the same ND team that got run off the field the last couple of times it played a team of this caliber.
3) Meanwhile, another team proved it doesn't belong in the playoff. What UCF has done is very impressive. After running Stanford off the field last week, I was of the belief that if the Knights could run the table, this was the year they deserved a chance. And then the fighting Heupels went out and lost to Pitt 35-34. This is what this argument always comes back to for me: The consistency of the grind of a Power Five schedule. Can UCF (or Boise or whatever other Group of Five team you want to throw out there) get up and beat a Power Five team? Yes. Can they do it twice? Probably. Can they do it nine or ten times, which is what is required to make the playoff out of a power conference? They cannot. Sure you can beat Oklahoma or LSU or Auburn or Washington on one day. But then your next six games are teams that just don't have the talent you do and you don't have to use up 100% of your energy and effort to win them. There's a huge difference between having to get up for 2-3 games a year versus having to get up for six or seven. And scoff all you want at the middle and bottom of the power conferences, but let's say UCF is playing in the SEC East. They get Florida one week then Missouri the next then Kentucky the next then Mississippi State the next then Georgia the next. Are they winning all of those games? Almost certainly not. Glad this argument is put to rest for another year or two...even if it should be put to rest for much longer than that.
4) Let's start a tour of weekly misery in Ann Arbor because Jim Harbaugh deserves that. There may not be a less likable coach in all of college football. When Michigan hired him the prodigal son was coming home and everything was going to be great. And every year we have people putting Michigan in the top ten and saying this is the year and some people try to look real smart and pick them to the playoffs. And then Michigan beats all the bad teams on its schedule and loses to all the really good ones. Lather, rinse, repeat. Harbaugh has never won a game as an underdog at Michigan. NEVER. He is now 0-7 with the latest iteration being a 35-14 waxing by Wisconsin that wasn't nearly that close. Pete Thamel said it better than I can. On shame on anybody who talked about Shae Patterson as a Heisman candidate. Anyone who did that no longer gets to have college football opinions.
5) Next stop: Fayetteville. The Razorbacks lost 31-24 to San Jose State last night. At home. The Spartans were 4-23 in their previous 27 games. They had not beaten a Power Five team in a decade and a half. Most power rankings had them in the bottom ten in the country. But Nick Starkel and his five interceptions didn't care about any of that and the Hogs just lost their third game to a non-Power Five opponent in Chad Morris' lengthy 16-game career. Anytime people are writing about the most embarrassing losses in program history, things aren't going so well. I've got to think Morris gets at least one more year because almost any coach is going to get three years. But I'm not 100% sure of it because I'm not at all sure the Razorbacks win another game.
6) And now for our weekly stop in Knoxville. The Vols lost 34-3 to Florida. At no point did they really look like a team that had any chance to cross the goal line. They are uncompetitive. This came as a surprise to exactly no one except the dyed in the wool Tennessee fans that believe the hype every single summer. Tennessee has no quarterback. This is a problem.
7) This is not breaking news, but LSU has an offense. We've spent the better part of a quarter century wondering what would happen if the Tigers ever got a quarterback and now Joe Burrow is the Heisman front runner a third of the way through the season. LSU beat Vandy 66-38...and let off the gas. LSU leads the country in scoring at more than 57 points per game. They have scored 30 touchdowns in four games. I know we're just supposed to hand Alabama the SEC West title, but here are my current SEC power rankings
1. Georgia
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Auburn
5 (tie). Florida and Missouri
7. Texas A&M
8. Mississippi State
9. Kentucky
10. Ole Miss
11. South Carolina
12. Vanderbilt
13. Tennessee
14. Arkansas
If you take a look at that, Missouri plays No. 1, No. 5...and the bottom six. I say it every week: We thought the schedule was bad. It's worse than we thought.
8) In this week's edition of "one week has nothing to do with the next" I offer you the following results:
Tulsa 24, Wyoming 21
SMU 41, TCU 38
Appalachian State 34, North Carolina 31
There are a handful of elite teams (I'll say no more than about seven) who have separated themselves. Everyone else can lose every week. No matter who they are playing.
9) If the playoff started today (which it does not) here is how I would seed it:
1) Georgia vs 4) Alabama
2) Clemson vs 3) LSU
Obviously it won't be that way. There are not going to be three SEC teams in the playoff. If there are, the playoff will get expanded in a gigantic hurry. That is not going to happen.
Here are the other teams that I believe have a realistic shot to make it: Wisconsin, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas.
Here are teams that could theoretically make it if they win out, but I do not believe are a real threat to do so: Cal, Auburn, Missouri, Florida, Wake Forest, Virginia, Penn State, Kansas State, Iowa, Mississippi State, Notre Dame
10) Six games I will watch next week:
Navy at Memphis, Thursday, 7 pm, ESPN: It's Thursday. Navy is fun. Memphis is pretty good.
Arizona State at Cal, Friday, 9:30 pm, ESPN: I might watch every PAC12 game the rest of the year.
Virginia at Notre Dame, Saturday, 2:30, NBC: One of these teams sees the whole playoff thing die.
USC at Washington, Saturday, 2:30, Fox: Clay Helton might just win enough to keep his job. And, again, PAC 12.
Mississippi State at Auburn, 6:00, ESPN: The SEC West is going to cannibalize itself all season long. Separation game here.
Ohio State at Nebraska, Saturday, 6:30, ABC: I almost never say this. I hope the Buckeyes score 100.
