Strange season for sure, even programs known for defense are playing B12 football. Biggest game of the year so far is this weekend! 1. Clemson at Ga.Tech Tech has a good true frosh QB, and doing better than expected but they will be steam rolled by Clemson. 2. Alabama vs Georgia ...Game of the season so far, if UGA is going to win this game needs to be a defensive battle. Tide has the better offense, the better QB, the better WR's. Georgia defense is loaded with talent and if they are up to the task of slowing down the Tide then maybe Stetson Bennett and Zamir White can get enough points to keep it close. Bennett has never played in a game this big and esp on the road. 3. Georgia at Alabama 4. Notre Dame vs Louisville ...Irish playing well and should be in good shape physically this weekend from all the covid stuff. Louisville is a dangerous team, they have talent and they have nothing to lose. Scott Satterfield is a good coach, they will be focused and ready to play well this weekend I have no doubt. Irish defense needs to be better than they were against FSU. 5. North Carolina at FSU ...Mack has the Tar Heels really playing well and he has a really talented QB and RB. They should run and pass all over the Seminoles. Mack has been reborn at Chapel Hill. 6. Ohio State - off 7. Oklahoma State at Baylor ...postponed. 8. Cincinnati at Tulsa...yep Cincy in the top 10. They haven't really played anybody yet but Tulsa gave Oklhaoma State a good game, so this will be their first test. Luke Fickell was a candidate for the MSU job last year and turned it down, another good year from the Bearcats and he'll have even more opportunities. UC might be the top Group of 5 team but have some good games coming up, SMU and UCF. 9. Penn State - off 10. Florida vs LSU ..unless Eddie O/Bo Pellini figure something out Florida is going to lay 50+ on the Tigahs. Other games. BYU at Houston. Cougar on Cougar! BYU has really worked hard to get to where they have a full schedule. Their QB Zach Wilson is a really good player, they played a unexpectedly close game vs UTSA last week and will need to bring their A game vs a Houston team that is pretty good and has a good QB of their own. Pitt at Miami...not a big surprise that Miami got run over by Clemson, but the real test as to have they improved will be their response. Pitt is a good team, but not a great team with a solid defense. Hurricanes need a good win. Kentucky at Tenn ...Vols another team that got run over by an elite squad, Kentucky another team that is good but not great. Vols like Miami need to respond with a win to get back on the horse. Ole Miss at Arkansas. Ole Miss has the offense, and Arkansas was cheated out of a win by incompetent refs, covered up for by the SEC. Arkansas DCoord Barry Odom getting a lot of praise for his work so far and Fla castoff Felipe Franks has played pretty well for the Hogs at QB. This could be a really good game. Texas A&M at Miss State....Aggies are going to kill Miss State, State is likely in a bad place as a team, they have been called out by Leach, they have been terrible on offense after that explosion vs LSU. I don't think they get healthy vs A&M. Boston College at Va.Tech BC has a new coach in Hafley who seemingly is working a miracle in Chestnut Hill and a transfer/castoff Notre Dame QB in Phil Jurkovec who had a legendary HS career only to fall flat at ND, and now is reborn. Va.Tech despite giving up 56 points to UNC last weekend will be a challenge for BC. Va.Tech has been battling a lot of things, last spring they had a bunch of transfers, and then they had a lot o Covid problems, and now they are finally back to where they can play every week. It's a bit odd but OU,Texas, Kansas State and Iowa State all have bye's this weekend and Baylor can't play so Oklahoma State can't play either. That's 6 out of 9 conference members not playing.
I'm terrified this week. I shouldn't be, but I am. Leach will pull in some walk-on no one has ever heard of who was born to run the Air-raid!
Scott, I hear your concern. A Leach designed team will almost always be capable of scoring a boatload of points, but he is not a defense minded coach. A good defense will stop him enough to win. A balanced team is the way to go!
Vanderbilt/Missouri game has been postponed due to Covid. Vanderbilt reportedly doesn't have the min of 53 scholarship players available to play according to SEC rules, last week they played So.Car with 56 players.
Hard to believe but the main topic of Tom Herman's press conference yesterday seemed to be 'The Eyes of Texas". It's still a problem for the team apparently, Ricky Williams and Earl both talked to the team and told them it meant something to them and they should do many things to support the cause of Black Lives Matter, but that they should respect the school song. Apparently many players just ignored them and it's become an issue with donor's and fans that the majority of players don't stay and sing the song after games. It's unlikely that it's causing a rift on the team though, they are playing hard, not smart, but hard.
Heisman Watch on ESPN. 1. Trevor Lawrence - Clemson 2. Travis Etienne - Clemson 3. Justin Fields - Ohio State 4. Mac Jones. - Alabama 5. Kyle Trask - Florida 6. Najee Harris - Alabama 7. Kyle Pitts - Florida
Gators have 5 new positive tests, doesn't sound like it will cause the postponement of the game with LSU.
I've heard as many as 19 cases. Good chance of a postponement. BREAKING: Florida football on pause due to COVID cases | GatorCountry.com
Mullen said that whether or not they play this weekend will be known when they get test results back this afternoon. He also backed down on his comment to pack the swamp, he just want whatever fans the local health authorities allow to come and be loud!
Florida/LSU game postponed till Dec 12th. That is likely to be a different LSU team by then, they have so many new starters that they are struggling, by then LSU might be a better team. I have no doubt the Gators would have won handily this weekend, Dec 12th who knows.
Been in town most of the day and thanks for posting the postponement Terry. Not sure of all the ramifications, but I understand the Missouri game is in jeopardy also. We have less than 50 players who could play right now and all football activity has been cancelled to at least Monday. Blah
Fla Ath Director said several players who had symptoms, but didn't tell the Medical Staff, made the trip to A&M and played. He said they didn't understand the symptoms might be covid related thought they were allergies. Florida AD: Players didn't report COVID-19 symptoms last week
One of the things that postponed the ND-Wake game was the fact that players even though they had not tested positive had had sufficient contact with a positive player that they were put in quarantine and not available. If players who test positive were in the same plane as the rest of the team, that's a big problem.
Mike it is starting to seem like the least dangerous things these players can do is actually play the game. The plane ride, the team meal, the activities (parties) outside of football, etc all seem to be the likely sources.
An article confirming the cancellation of the game. BREAKING: Florida-LSU game officially postponed | GatorCountry.com
Here's an article about the Alabama situation. Saban and the AD. Kp, hope you didn't mind me posting this.
Missing link Bill ? Alabama coach Nick Saban, AD Greg Byrne test positive for COVID-19; Steve Sarkisian steps in to direct team