Biggest game of the year happens this weekend! Friday Night. Washington at Oregon State Washington reeling losing 3 out of their last 4 and Oregon State on a bit of a roll having beaten 3 of their last 4 opponents. Two teams going in opposite directions. I wonder when was the last time Oregon State beat Washington? Saturday 1. LSU at Alabama Game of the Year! LSU had a player leave the team for personal reasons, he was their sack leader. He said he's coming back though not for Alabama. Saban is being very cagy about Tua, says he won't rush him back just to face LSU. This game is all about can the Alabama defense handle Joe Burrow and the LSU offense? And can Tua if he plays, or Mac Jones get the ball to the outstanding Tide receivers to get big plays. I'm sure kp is hoping for some running game mixed into this, but everything points to a passing contest. 2. Alabama vs LSU 3. Ohio State vs Maryland Well Michigan worked them over last week, Penn State worked them over last month. So now it's the Buckeyes turn to work these guys over. I don't expect it to be pretty, I imagine the Buckeyes will lay 50 on them at least. 4. Clemson at NC State....this is the NC State team that Wake Forrest beat 44-10 last weekend, so I imagine that Clemson will do at least that or more. After all they should be well rested after their titanic battle with Wofford. 5. Penn State at Minnesota ...Very interesting game. Both are undefeated, and PJ Fleck is a hot name that is being bandied about for a bigger job sometime soon. Minn hasn't played a tough schedule, so I'll be surprised if they can keep up with Penn State. But one thing for sure is there will be 1 less undefeated team on Sunday. 6. Georgia vs Missouri ...Dawgs played well vs UF last week, and they have to win out they have no margin for error if they want to get to the CFP. Missouri started well and was 5-1 at one point but have lost to Vandy and UK. Dawgs should be able to name the score. 7. Oregon ...bye 8. Utah ...bye 9. Iowa State at OU ...like all 1 loss teams OU can not afford to lose another game. Iowa State is a dangerous team. Matt Campbell is considered an up and comer in the coaching world headed for bigger jobs eventually. They are 5-3 and have been in every game so OU better show up and ready to play. OU at one time was seemingly a lock for an CFP spot now they have to battle 1 loss Pac12 or 1 loss Alabama/LSU loser. Jalen Hurts has lost his mojo in terms of the Heisman but still having a great season. 10. Vanderbilt at Florida ...Gators should roll over Vandy as usual. 11. Baylor at TCU ...Baylor is in a playoff each weekend now. They are undefeated and all but I can't see them remaining undefeated. TCU is a good football team at 4-4 and capable of beating Baylor. They beat Texas. FSU at Boston College ...BC put a beatdown on Syracuse last weekend. FSU bound to be mentally down and facing a game in a cold climate. I wonder if they'll even show up. KState at Texas ...seems odd for KState to come to Austin ranked when the Longhorns aren't ranked. But that's what we have going here. Longhorns get some players back so should be healthier on defense. They just can not lose to KState, this is a must win game for the Longhorns, for their fans, for their psyche. But KState isn't going to make it easy. Wake Forrest at Va.Tech So this Wake Forrest team is getting a lot of kudos and esp their QB Jamie Newman, maybe the best QB you never heard of yet. Va.Tech coming off a loss to ND at the end of the game. Va.Tech is in the running for the Coastal Divison and needs to win this week. Wake Forrest is behind Clemson, but winning out will get them to a really good bowl game. Dave Clawson their coach has done a great job at Wake Forrest. Iowa at Wisconsin...huge game in the Big 10 West. Both teams are chasing Minn and need to win, both teams are ranked. Wisconsin at earlier was thought to be a win at Ohio State away from the CFP, but then Illinois happened and then Ohio State happened and they need this win to get their mojo back. Iowa played both PSU and UM close, not a lot of offense but plenty of defense. Tenn at Kentucky ...not a big game but a game that a Tenn team that looked like they might not win but 1 or 2 games this year could get to .500 with a win here. That's a big turnaround for the Vols. Kentucky just trying to get to bowl eligible, and maybe more, they have a shot at an 8-4 season. Out West in the Mtn West San Diego State and Boise State are just trying to keep winning both sit a 7-1 and won't play each other till the Mtn West Championship game which the winner of will be in the race for that New Years Six Bowl bid that the best Group of 5 team gets. Navy, Memphis and Cincinnati are also in the running. Heisman week...right now the talk is all Joe Burrow, not much Tua, not much Trevor, not much Jalen, none at all Johnathon Taylor, Chase Young the spectacular DE from Ohio State is this years defensive player people are talking about being Heisman worthy.
First CFP rankings come out tonight. TOK's prediction. 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Alabama 4. Clemson 5. Penn State 6. Oregon 7. Utah 8. Oklahoma 9. Georgia 10. Baylor.
The real question will be is where will the Loser of the LSU/Alabama game be ranked next week. I am going to say they will drop below Oregon and Utah. Penn State will move up to #4 unless they lose at Minnesota.
Apparently there is a snag in the hiring of Cincinnati AD, Mike Bohn, by USC. Report: Cincinnati AD Mike Bohn reconsiders Southern Cal job
PJ Fleck just signed a 7 year extension at Minnesota. Not that means anything in college sports. If the buyout is reasonable to the team who wants him and he wants the job...the contract won't hold him back. Fleck Signs Seven-Year Extension - University of Minnesota Athletics
Per Winsipedia, the last time Oregon State won was 2011. Winsipedia - Oregon State Beavers vs. Washington Huskies football series history As for teams falling from the big game, I don't think LSU would fall far. I could see Alabama falling far because their schedule is really bad to date.
2011, with the help of their record-setting QB/WR combo of Sean Mannion/Markus Wheaton. (Wheaton led the game in both receiving yards, 125, and rushing yards, 66 on 3 carries.) OrSU finished the year 3-9, also with wins over really bad UA (4-8) and Wazzu (4-8). uw meanwhile would go on to finish the year at 7-6, losing to #12 BU (10-3) in the Alamo Bowl (???). 2011 was a really bad year for the P12. UO (#4, 12-2) and Stanford (11-2) were in the middle of their run of P12 dominance. USC (#6, 10-2) was in the middle of their post-season ban. This left the Holiday Bowl to pick between three UR 7-5 teams: Cal, uw, UU. They took Cal, who lost to tu. Then third-pick Alamo chose UR uw. Finally, fourth-pick Sun took UU, who won the Sun Bowl to get to 8-5. One other wacky note that year. UCLA "won" the P12S and had the "honor" of going against the P12N winner UO. Somehow, they still went to the Hunger (Bowl)Game, losing to the Illini, to end the season at 6-8. :O A sad, sad year, except uw still sucked, so there is that.
For completeness, these are all the current muddy potential 1-loss teams that OU could be competing with at the end of the year. Of course, many of these are mutually exclusive, and most will be removed in the next two weeks. 1 loss P12 champ UO or UU 1 loss Bama non-division champ 1 loss LSU non-division champ 1 loss UGA SEC champ 1 loss OSU non-champ (either division if lose to PSU or conf if lose to Minn) 1 loss PSU non-division (either division if lose to OSU or conf if lose to Minn) 1 loss Minn non-B10 champ 1 loss Clemson non-champ (either division if lose to WF or conf if lose to UVA/Pitt/UNC/UM/VT/Duke) 1 loss WF ACC champ
Wait, doesn't KSU own a 10-9 series edge against tu? If you only count recent history (if you can consider since the beginning of the Bill Snyder era as RECENT) hasn't KSU dominated tu in the series 9-6?
WF has one more game to win before they meet Clemson (potentially) for the ACCA division championship game. (Because of that, VT.)
Depends on the nature of the loss. A "well fought SEC loss" would leave them in the Top 5. A smackdown MIGHT put them below UO/UU, but I will predict no lower than #6, with most likely #5. (Because SEC losses just mean less.)
Yeah KSU has the edge on us all-time and recent history. Which is just nuts give the overall history of the programs. Also why it's so important for Tom Herman to get the win this Saturday. Not just for this season but to assert dominance, Herman has not lost to KSU and we don't want to start this weekend! The natural order of things needs to be restored!!
The Athletic has a great article on Archie Mannings grandson who is a Freshman QB having an outstanding season at the same Catholic HS that Peyton and Eli attended, Isidore Newman. Looks like he's on his way to being another highly ranked QB. Wonder where he'll end up? The Mannings have ties to Ole Miss and Tenn of course, but I imagine young Arch Manning if he continues to develop can go where ever he wants.