Things start to get real this week, mostly conference matchups. 1. Texas vs Mississippi State It's the 1st game for the Longhorns as SEC members. Quinn Ewers is still not a certain starter but MSU is also without it's starter (Blake Shapen) and will have a true freshman at QB. Longhorns will likely go with Arch if Ewers is not 100%. State is 1-3 and the Longhorns shouldn't have much trouble here getting their first SEC win. 2. Georgia @ Alabama This is clearly the game of the week and maybe even the season for the SEC. Dawgs looked vulnerable on offense in their close win over Kentucky. I don't expect that they will show up in Tuscaloosa with that offense. The Tide with a phenom at WR and Jalen Milroe is having a great start to the season. Should be a really good/great game. The loser is not out of the SEC Championship or the Playoffs. 3. Ohio State @ Michigan State Ohio State looking very impressive on both sides of the ball and MSU coming off a road loss to Boston College. Should be a solid win for the Buckeyes. 4. Alabama vs Georgia Roll Tide! 5. Tenn - Bye 6. Ole Miss vs Kentucky Which Kentucky team will show up? The one who took Georgia to the last play or the one who got rolled by South Carolina? Rebs should win vs either one of them. 7. Miami vs Va Tech The Hurricanes have one ot the most dynamic QB's in college football in the much traveled Cam Ward. He's been spectacular so far and should continue vs the Hokies. This is a Friday night game. 8. Oregon @ UCLA Bruins gave LSU a game for awhile but in the end another loss and Oregon should continue that, they looked over ranked early but in the last game they just throttled Oregon State. Dillon Gabriel who left OU when they told him they were going with Jackson Arnold is off to a great start and I'll bet Brent Venables is having 2nd thoughts about that situaton now that he's benched Arnold. 9. Penn State vs Illinois The Illini will be a tough out for the Nits, they have solid QB play and a good defense. Should be a really good game to open the Big 10 season for both. 10. Utah vs Arizona Utes are one of the favorites in the B12 and have looked strong so far, nobody knows the status of Cam Rising the 7th year Ute QB. But they haven't seemed to miss him and no matter who starts they are likely to bear down on the Wildcats! Other games. Minnesota @ Michigan Big question is can Michigan win consistently without a passing game? We'll see. Gophers coming off a big loss to Iowa. Oklahoma State @ Kansas State Both teams coming off of losses. KState has touted young QB in Avery Johnson but OSU has one of those 7th year QB's in Alan Bowman so if experience counts Pokes will rule! BYU @ Baylor Bears had tough loss in the mountains vs Colorado while BYU was housing KState in the Mountains. Baylor is pretty much sea level. Still think BYU is the better team. Nebraska @ Purdue That loss to Illinois has to hurt, the good news for AJ is that this might be the worst Purdue squad in a very long time. Wisconsin @ USC Another situation where a team is coming off a tough loss like USC to Michigan while Wisconsin was never really in the game vs Alabama. USC is not Alabama, so this could be a really good game. OU @ Auburn Well Hugh Freeze threw both his QB's and Rb's under the bus at his post game press conference last weekend so who knows what the mindset of the team is at this point. OU showed great defense vs Tenn and got nothing from their offense and Venables is not sure who he will go with in this game at QB. I'm going with defense travels well. Arkansas vs A&M Aggies still a team I can't figure out, they went to the Swamp and looked great, but then like the Irish looked not great vs the MAC team on the schedule. I'm not sure who Elko is going with at QB. Could be a really good game. FSU @ SMU I'd say maybe FSU has found something but if they did in beating CAL 14-9 it wasn't much. While SMU put up 66 points on a decent TCU squad last weekend . Before the season I'd bet the line on this game wias at least -20 for FSU.
I think if Georgia can put pressure on Milroe, then the Alabama offense collapses. It doesn't have to be sacks, just pressure. Milroe does not do a good job of checking down on receivers so if he gets pressure and his no. 1 target is not open, he either takes the sack or takes off. If they can't pressure Milroe, or overrun him, we have a chance.
Hugh Freeze threw Arkansas under the bus as well!! I mean no offense whatsoever to Arkansas ... I love [coach] Sam Pittman, I hope he wins the rest of his games, but I'm telling you, the hard truth is if we play them nine more times, we beat them nine times," Freeze said Monday. "That's what's hard to take, and it's hard for our fans, I'm sure, and it's certainly hard for us."
KP's wife; "What a gorgeous day...let's go to the beach!" KP: "OK but there's a 20 percent chance of rain and the last time we went you got sunburned and cut your toe on a shell."
Haha! well it would seem like it but I really try to give a realistic assessment of my team as well as other teams. When I watch Alabama, I try to look at the worst case scenario every week because, for example, if we play Georgia like we played South Florida then we will get killed. They pressured Milroe all night and USF failed to complete 4 or 5 long passes where their receiver was open for long gains and possibly touchdowns. We had a 1 point (14-13) lead into the 4th quarter. Now the next week, our OL line play was much better and as a result our offense performed much better. This week we play, the best team in the country. If we allow them to pressure Milroe and/or run on us like they are capable of we will not win. We have to play a near perfect game and maybe get lucky with turnovers to pull this one out. In summary, my perceived pessimism is a product of our worst performances. USF for the last 2 years being the examples. If we get our best performance, then I am satisfied, win or lose. Anyway, Alabama is the only team that I watch every single play, every single week. So I see the warts amongst all of the beauty marks.
kp, I give you credit for being such a great supporter for the Tide over the years. I enjoy your posts and feel like you always represent Alabama in a very positive and neutral way. Good luck Saturday.
The Tide was the last team to score a TD on Georgia. Only FG so far this year. I imagine that streak will end this Saturday.
Still nothing from Sark on the starter for Miss State. Says he will name one on Friday. We're going to decide on the quarterback thing tomorrow," Sarkisian said. "It won't be a secret. We're not trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes. Just want to give Quinn every opportunity to see if he's ready to play and what he looks like."
It’s cool to see Army’s football program doing so well! It’s been a while since they were this talented.
The Miami Va Tech game was a wild one. A dramatic finished was ruled a TD and then reversed by officials. Miami wins 38-34 as time expires.