Well now that we have all aknowledged that Alabama is the king of the hill, the team to beat, you might say the Red Sox of Colllege Football. We still must play out the season and see if that is in fact how it ends. This week has some really great games with implications on the CFP. Thurs Night: UNC at Miami. UNC is a wreck they did get a win last week though. Hurricanes at home though should win handily. Do they have a new starter at QB? Friday Night UCLA at Colorado More pain for UCLA fans, altitude plus an undefeated Colorado squad, but that Neb victory doesn't look so great right now. Chip doesn't have the horses this year though, they will get Buffaloed! Saturday Games. West Virginia at Texas Tech Will Grier vs the Air Raid of Tech. First one to 70 wins. Tech has been surprisingly good so far and that win on the road at OK State last week was a good win. But W.Va has too much if they come to play. Ark at Texas A&M ...just what the doctor ordered for Jimbo. Hogs are terrible. Tenn at Georgia...oh my Jeremy Pruitt is in trouble here, Dawgs way better than the Gators. Pitt at UCF ...a chance for a Power 5 win for UCF. Pitt is not esp good. Texas at KState ...well this is where the rubber meets the road. The Purple Kryptonite at Manhattan has ruined more than a few Texas teams. It's been a tough place for us to play. I think that old man coaching up there has just put a tougher team out on the field than the boys in burnt orange. So they don't look all that great this year, maybe Bill Snyder has finally slowed down. But I won't believe it till the game ends and Longhorns get the W. Purdue at Neb ...a game that really means nothing on he national scene but for Purdue and of course Neb this is a big game. Purdue was looking at maybe the season that started with some promise getting away from them and now they have a excellent win vs a pretty good BC team. Neb is in a bad place, they are ripe for another loss. Mich at Northwestern. Harbaugh seems to have gotten the offense rolling but it's been against weak competition and while Northwestern started the season thinking 9 or 10 wins, that loss to Akron is a bad one. You have to figure they won't be able to stay up with the new Mich offense. Mich defense still stoudt. Florida at Miss State ...Big for both teams, Gators to keep pace for 2nd in the SEC East and Miss State to get back on track to having a good season and bowl game. Ohio State at Penn State ...probably the game of the day. Winner has a leg up on the CFP and B1G East Championship. Stanford at Notre Dame ...both teams in the early conversations for the CFP but both likely will need to stay undefeated while a loss isn't an absolute elimination it'll certainly put the loser behind the 8 ball. Should be an electric atmosphere in South Bend Sat night. BYU at Washington...an unexpected big game for the Huskies. BYU went to Madison and beat the Badgers. While I fully expect the Huskies to win, a loss will pretty much take them out of the race for the CFP which is still within their reach if they can run the table. But lose to BYU and it's over. So.Carolina at Kentucky. Gamecocks put it on Vanderbilt last week and a win here could put them in a good spot to contend with Fla for the #2 spot in the SEC East. other games to keep an eye on for various reasons. Alabama plays on of the Louisiana schools not named LsU Clemson plays Syracuse...doubtful they'll over look the Orange this year payback will happen. Baylor at OU after barely getting by the Army OU will be back against a team that plays fair and doesn't run the triple option. Beat down coming for Baylor. Va.Tech at Duke ....Duke a pretty good team and Va.Tech lost their QB and dismissed one of their better DL's could be more trouble for Va.Tech Oregon at CAL both are ranked USC at Arizona ...I have to feel USC will put a big number on the Wildcats.
I believe Kentucky is for real. Not sure what to think about my Gators at this point but will have a much better feel after this game. But win or lose we get LSU at home next week. Penn State and Ohio State is probably the game of the week.
Tua at the top, Kyler Murray down after the OU OT game vs Army. Will Grier having an excellent season but Tua has just been spectacular and Alabama is more visible with regards to Media exposure. Will needs big games vs a team like OU in prime time to keep up with Tua. This game Ohio State/Penn State will sort of define both Haskins and McSorely as far as the Heisman.
I don't think I have ever seen a Tenn team going to play Georgia that was on paper more overwhelmed than this one. From appearances Georgia will name the score.... it gets real ugly real quick. The Dawgs would be at least a 21 point favorite over Florida right now.
These 4 1st year coaches are likely to have trouble getting to double digit wins if you combine all their wins. Pruitt at Tenn Kelly at UCLA Frost at Neb Morris at Ark All took over tough situations and have a lot of rebuilding to do and play in good leagues that won't give them any breaks.
Just noticed that Trevor Lawrence is the Starter for Clemson v Tenn. Lawrence of course was a highly recruited 5* kid and has played in every Clemson game this year. His performance in the Ga.Tech game sealed the deal for Dabo Swinney. Tough for Kelly Bryant who took the team to the Playoffs last year and was undefeated as the starter this year. But he's a senior and has no option to transfer, so he'll have to just be content to sit and wait and be ready if Lawrence falters or gets injured.
JMHO, but... Trevor Lawrence will cruise through the pathetic ACC, but isn't going to beat Bama or OSU. He may be a great passer, but he's not going to have time against those defenses, and he won't be outrunning them. I'm with Corey, I think the Bucs destroy the Nits. UF at Miss St... interesting. Mullen returns to face his old kids.
Have to agree with Scott that Trevor will slice his way through the conference as it’s fairly weak this year but will find Bama and OSU a different animal.... That being said I wouldn’t mind him playing QB for the Canes...
There have been a number of players this week who are not starting and decided to take that 4 game deal and quit their team and preserve a RS year. The latest and biggest name is Kelly Bryant who lost his job to Trevor Lawrence, he announced he's quit Clemson and will transfer. Kelly had a great year last year and lead Clemson to the playoffs, and they were undefeated this year with him as the starter. I think his record as the starter has been 18-1. But I guess Dabo see's in Trevor Lawrence his next Deshaun Watson and wants to move on to him right now. Kelly is a great college QB and should find a spot for next year, I doubt if he'll even get drafted by the NFL to tell you the truth. But like a lot of kids he wants to play and not be the backup. I'm not sure the intention of the rule was to give players an option to save a year for transfer by not playing past the 4th game, but as I said I've seen several players announce transfers this week. It certainly helps players who get injured early in the season, we had a kid get injured at ND the first week, he could come back late in the season and play in a couple of games and the bowl game and count it as a RS year whereas in the past playing in 1 game he'd have to fight for a medical redshirt later if he wanted to play.
Kelly Bryant is transferring. Wow... Dabo could be in a world of hurt real fast. Better hope that OL is extra good going forward... 😨
Clemson has no games left against a top opponent, the best teams left on their schedule are BC, Duke and So. Carolina. Might be able to run that gauntlet with the 2nd string OL.
Bryant is a very athletic QB that's for sure and would fit what Chip Kelly does with his offense. That freshman QB who has a dad like Lonzo Ball's dad might get upset and the next thing you know he's gone because they brought in Kelly Bryant.
What do you guys think about Ohio State and Ryan Day rumors that he'll be signed to a contract making him he "Coach in Waiting". At a time when Urban Meyer is young enough that he's unlike to be thinking of retiring. We tried that at Texas with Will Muschamp, but there was an actual plan that after the 2009 season Mack would retire with a 2nd Nat'l Championship ...thanks Marcel Darius for ruining Texas football... That of course never happened and Mack came back thinking in 2010 he might have another shot to go out on top but things spiraled downhill for Mack who then got pressure to retire and he didn't like that, and of course the whole money thing came into play and he wanted all of the money left on his contract. They finally came to some agreement and he retired, but Muschamp had moved on already to Fla. FSU tried that with Jimbo Fisher, Bobby Bowden was in his mid 70's and the program was not what it once was and FSU wanted Jimbo to coach so made him the Coach in waiting. Problem with that is Bobby had no intention of retiring and resented the whole situation. Of course Bowden was forced out and Jimbo did take over but it was not a good transition with Bowden vowing to never set foot in FSU stadium again.
Terry, Gene Smith has nixed that idea immediately! While it sounds like a good idea, it would be bad for both parties. Urban plans to be here until he retires.