We are into October now, things getting real. Still 14 undefeated teams left, including 8 of the top 10 teams, the other 2 Auburn and Washington have a loss. Alabama continues to look like that 2005 USC team that had 2 Heisman Trophy winners and was considered maybe the best team of the last 50 years, only the Army of Darkness could beat them. Right now I can't see a team that would even be a 3 point underdog to them. Ohio State is the team with the QB to give Tua a run for it but they don't seem as dominant on both sides of the ball. Both TCU and Penn State took them to the limit. Alabama has just crushed everybody they play. So big games this week. None on Thursday or Friday. Saturday: Alabama at Arkansas ....more pain for Chad Morris, another beat down. Texas and Oklahoma... This is the big game of the weekend. It's one of the top 5 rivalries, it's a neutral site, it's a big party. Given the game OU played vs Army I think the Longhorns should revive the Wishbone from 1969 for this game! I do expect OU to win, I am hoping that we give them all they can handle. Herman seems to be better as an underdog. Kansas at W.Va. Will Grier gets another big stat game to keep him in the Heisman race, he hasn't really had any big time opponents yet..but they are coming. Maryland at Michigan... I expect Harbaugh and company to keep winning Northwestern at Mich State...before the season I thought this might be good, a lot of people thought NU might be a 9 or 10 win team. But I expect Mich State will be another loss for them instead. Clemson at Wake Forrest. I don't expect this to be a very good game, even if Trevor Lawrence is still in concussion protocol. They just have way too much talent and even that 3rd string kid can beat WF. LSU at UF....Eddie O to the swamp. Eddie O to get his first loss. FSU at Miami ... used to be huge game, this year Miami should roll the Seminoles. FSU just doesn't look like they are a talented team in spite of their win vs Louisville. Indiana at Ohio State ...Buckeyes could be emotionally exhausted from that game at Happy Valley, but not enough to let IU make a game of it. Arz. State at Colorado ...important game in the Pac12 South. ASU played Washington tough, and Colorado's opponents are a combined 1-14 ...so to say we don't know how good Colorado is an understatement. Kentucky at Texas A&M...the rubber meets the road here. Aggies played well at home vs Clemson, not so well at Alabama. Kentucky is maybe the surprise team of the SEC East and has a Snell of a RB. If the Aggies aren't too beat up, this is the perfect comeback game for them. Vanderbilt at Georgia....just what the doctor ordered for the Dawgs. Auburn at Miss State. ... 3rd loss in a row for the other Dawgs, cowbells or not. Washington at UCLA ... Washington needs to win out, and UCLA will not be in the way. Kelly gets another loss. Neb at Wisconsin... Don't see any relief for Scott Frost here, after the BYU loss at home, Wisconsin will do everything they can to put a big number up on Neb. Notre Dame at Va.Tech. In Blacksburg, at night, after a big emotional win. Irish better be ready. Tech is a well coached team, ODU game not withstanding. Wazzu at Oregon State. OSU might be one of the worst teams in the Power 5, Wazzu will score 70. Utah at Stanford. Tree's better watch out, Utes have a good defense and Stanford doesn't have a home crowd advantage. Tree's another team that has to win out. I don't think they can though.
8) 8) 8) Great analysis by Terry as usual, with one exception: only a Texan would call Dallas a neutral field...
Actually JO'Co, it kinda is. I used to work north of Dallas, and always dreaded this Friday. I knew I35 would be FLOODED with yokels flying Paperclip flags on their Model A trucks as they rolled into town. My drive home was much longer on that day... Dallas is about equidistant from Norman and Austin.
OK, Penn State game is over and done, next up is Indiana which always seems to play their best against the Buckeyes. It's a home game for us which helps, but spotting Ohio 27 points is sort of ridiculous. Last year we lost to Iowa on the road after winning a close one here at home against Penn State. Food for thought and I am confident Coach Meyer will keep this in mind with the team in practice this week!
This weeks Heisman watch. Tua remains the favorite, Kyler Murray and Will Grier chasing. Murray and Grier will face off in the final game of the regular season on Nov 23rd.
I was listening to XM last night on the way home, they were talking about Texas Oklahoma. Said Sooner offense is epically great and it has to be to cover up for their defense. Said they will have to score more than 40 points to beat Texas. I hope we are able to score 35+ points against OU. That would be pretty good IMHO. Of course Kyler Murray has been great this year, running the ball and throwing the ball, he will be tough to stop. Also I saw that Nick Saban is sending a message to the Alabama student body about not showing up to support the team. It's not the first time he's gotten on them though, a couple of years ago he noticed that they were leaving early and thought that they needed to stay and support the team. With the Alabama team this year they could beat anybody even in an empty stadium I think. I do know that schools all over the country are experiencing problems with student attendance. Not that students don't like football anymore, but the reason is always given that the poor wifi and cell reception in stadiums is too much for them to endure being cut off from social media, so they come late and leave early. A lot of money is being spent now on stadiums all over the country to improve this. In Houston, NRG Stadium, was forced by the NFL to spend 15 million dollars in upgrades to wifi and cell reception for the Super Bowl. I know that when I was at the Vanderbilt game in Notre Dame Stadium the cell reception at my tailgate was pretty good, the last time I was there in 2015 you basically couldn't get any reliable cell service due to so many people in such a small area.
Terry, my niece graduated from UA a few years ago, and we met up with her every time we went to a game. She had an apartment on the river and was a member of a sorority with a house a block from the stadium. It was funny because it was like it was not cool to be excited about the football team. She and her friends were proud to be very blase' about going to the games. Arrive late and leave early was like the rule of coolness. I couldn't understand it.
Lord knows this state is full of people who have never stepped foot on campus who would gladly take their place in the stands.
Corey, you are correct. I have been on the wait list for.10 years for.season tickets, but I don't contribute to the Tide Pride so I am probably not moving up very fast.
GaTech really putting it on Louisville. They have no clue how to defend the Option. I don't like when my team plays this style of offense because the blocking schemes tend to put the defense line at risk for injury more than conventional blocking But I have to admit that when I don't have a dog in the fight I really enjoy watching it when it's really working.
Texas had this game won going away when I changed the channel, but now it's tied at 45 with Texas going for a game winning FG. What happened?
Alabama played a sloppy first.half. Fumbled twice but recovered them. Got stopped on 4th.and 1. Arkansas moved the ball the whole game. They fumbled on our 1 yd line and we recovered. Then Alabama offense started.clicking, but our defense couldn't stop them. Not sure what the problem was.
When OU scored to tie the game I told my buddies, they scored too quickly and that we'd win with a FG. :lol: OU SUCKS!
The number of upsets yesterday were troublesome. Apparently, some teams like the Sooners might have been overrated? I do not know what the problem is with Michigan State? Big wins for the Irish and Miami. Haskins threw for 455 yards and six TDs, just missed setting a new OSU passing record by a few total yards. Our defense is not improving and again way too many self-inflicted penalties.
Ha! I love Sam Ehlinger...he doesn't take any crap off of Kyler Murray. https://twitter.com/PaulHook_em/status/1048721978339860490/photo/1
Didn't watch as much football this weekend. Played some golf in the Morning so I missed the 11 AM CT games, then watched the Astros in the Afternoon and of course the Irish at night and when I watch ND games I don't really pay as much attention to the other games. But that doesn't stop me from having a take on the weekend. 1. Irish win at Blacksburg, big win. Tech played hard and had their moments, but not enough. Irish could've won easier if the QB had been on target in the 1st half. 2. Texas beating OU, I didn't see that coming I was mainly hoping for a close game that we could take away some positives for the rest of the season. Before the game the guys on ESPNU were all saying OU offense was pretty unstoppable because their defense was not good and they needed to score a lot of points. Texas almost choked it away though. Still that clutch drive and FG for the win, things are looking different in Austin right now. We are in the top 10 at #9 and a season that after Maryland was looking like 6-6 and ugly is turning into we are the favorites for the B12 regular season title. Now the big game is Nov 3rd when West Virginia comes to Austin. We could win out! 3. Alabama gave up 31 points to Arkansas, but a lot of those had to have come against the backups right? Gives Nick something to keep those guys grounded and not thinking that they should really be playing the Chiefs if they were looking for some competition! 4. We're down to 11 unbeatens, and UCF is in the top 10 now. From this point as the undefeated list shrinks they could rise to be serious contenders for the CFP. Last year they were the only undefeated team after the regular season ended. So it's unlikely that all of Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame and W.Va will remain undefeated that would be unprecedented in college football history. So who knows what'll happen. 5. Aggies got a much needed win against a good Kentucky team. It's not unthinkable that they could run the table, probably won't happen but even a 8-4 season would be more than probably was expected from this year and certainly 10-2 or 9-3 would have required a very optimistic fan. 6. Stanford showed the effects of playing two tough opponents in back to back road games. I think they are better than Utah but they just had no juice left in the tank. 7. Baylor is starting to show a pulse in year two with Matt Rhule. They have a good QB in Charlie Brewer. 8. UCLA put up a fight with Washington as did Neb at Wisconsin. Both lost no matter but both Kelly and Frost are laying the ground work. This season is lost for both of those guys. Still good hires though. I'm not as sure about Chad Morris at Arkansas 9. Dan Mullen looking like the best hire of the recent cycle. He's an offensive guy but it's the Gator defense that is the key to the good season so far. Maybe the Gators can surprise Kirby Smart and the Dawgs!