In 2019 we'd be looking at the end of the season for many teams this weekend and Conference Championships the next weekend. Instead we have most teams with 3 regualar season games and then the Championship game Dec 19th. But there are some really big games this weekend. 1. Alabama vs Auburn ...the Iron Bowl. Auburn has been up and down this season but they are a top 25 squad, only Georgia really handled them. The other loss was to So.Carolina a loss that really upset Auburn fans. Tide probably have too much offense though for them and even though kp doesn't feel this is a great Tide defense, it should be enough given their offense will score 40+. 2. Notre Dame at UNC ...a dangerous game for the Irish, down 2 starting OL's and facing a UNC team that has one of the best offenses in the country. This could be a shootout. 3. Ohio State at Illinois... I think the Buckeyes found out a lot of things about themselves this past weekend and Ryan Day probably been working OT for the fixes. Illinois though doesn't have enough to stress out the weaknesses that IU exposed this past weekend. Back on track to the Big 10 title/CFP 4. Clemson vs Pitt ..Pitt a team that will give you a battle and they finally have Kenny Pickett at QB back and healthy, they stomped Va.Tech last weekend. Clemson has been off for 2 weeks and Trevor for 3 weeks. So they might be a little rusty, but they are eager to get back at it and I imagine Pitt will put up a fight but that Clemson walks over them in the end. 5. Texas A&M vs LSU ...A&M hasn't played in 3 weeks faces a LSU squad that played pretty well vs a decent Arkansas team. Might turn out to be a closer game that might have happened earlier in the season. 6. Florida v Kentucky ...should be something similar to last weeks Alabama/Kentucky game, the Gators offense can put up 50 on them and Kentucky isn't likely to score a lot against the Gators. 7. Cincinnati vs Temple...after a tough win down in Orlando last weekend the Bearcats should have an easy game vs a bad Temple team. 8. BYU ..is off they have SDSU Dec 12 to end their season. 9. Oregon vs Oregon State ..The Civil War, although I think they have nixed that name for political correctness going forward. ... Oregon is 3-0 but they haven't exactly looked like CFP material. 10. Miami ...is off. Other games. Iowa State at Texas...huge game for both teams, winner essentially punches ticket to the B12 championship game rematch with OU, Iowa State beat OU earlier and Texas lost to them. Neb at Iowa ..Corn state rivalry. I'll have to ask AJ if the Husker fanbase has warmed up to Iowa being their "rival" in the Big 10? Different Husker team though needs to show up if they want to beat Iowa. Washington at Washington State...Apple Cup has been cancelled due to the Virus. Both these teams could finish the 2020 season only playing 4 games. Maryland at IU ...Taulia Taglovioa, Tua's little brother has been coming on strong. Will IU be able to emotionally get themselves ready after that game in Columbus. I'm thinking they have the coaching staff to do that. Penn State at Michigan. So before the season, this was pointed to as a huge game in the Big 10 and Nationally. Both squads were thought to have top 10 potential and maybe even challenge Ohio State. Well it's still a huge game but for different reasons. James Franklin has to somehow figure out how to get the Nit's a win and Harbaugh has to keep the good vibes from beating Rutgers going. Loss for either team would have the fanbases going for tar and feathers..for real! Minn at Wisconsin. Can the Badgers bounce back? Minn has not been very good this season to say the least. Will Graham Mertz reclaim the magic he had against Michigan? Northwestern at Michigan State ...MSU other than the win vs Mich has been pretty terrible. Have to imagine this is a possible shutout for that tough NW defense. Colorado at USC...surprising Buffs are undefeated!! So is USC. So a battle of the unbeatens for the Pac 12 South. USC finally got a win last week where some magic didn't have to happen at the end. USC way more talented. Miss State at Ole Miss....Egg Bowl, a bitter rivalry game. Miss State finally got back on track a little bit last week vs a good Georgia squad, only lost by 7 on a late TD. Might have found a QB in Wil Rodgers. Ole Miss has shown that they can score, their last 2 wins they had 50+ points on offense. Could be a good shoot out. Georgia at So.Carolina...only put this here because it looks like Smart finally got smart and went with JT Daniels, he had a good game last weekend vs Miss State, assuming he comes back for 2021 might be a preview of the Dawgs next year on offense. OU at West Virginia ...OU is on a roll, but WVa is not an easy out in Morgantown. If they slip up here it opens up the B12 title game to some teams on the outside right now. Tenn at Vanderbilt. A couple of bad teams, but Jeremy Pruitt is reportedly under fire from Tenn fans, lose here and they'll likely help him pack.
Kp, I think your rivalry with Auburn is more potent than ours with Michigan. ( At least for the last 10 years)
Yeah Don, ours is intrastate. So literally, neighbors, cousins, in-laws, are all divided. Both teams have won National Championships in the last tens years and Auburn has pulled off several devastating upsets recently as well. This is.big.
Funny how these things go, the Irish lead USC in the all-time rivalry, but we had a stretch where we ran off something like 11 in a row and were 15-3-1, then it flipped and we went 3-10 against them, now we've won 4 out of the last 5.
The record doesn't make much difference in the Alabama Auburn rivalry. It has definitely affected the Tennessee Alabama rivalry but it makes no difference in the Auburn game.
KP how many will be allowed to attend the game in person? Games like the Iron Bowl just aren't the same without the crowd noise.
Weather forecast for the L$U drubbing is thunderstorms. Might put a cramp in our passing game. How annoying... I wanted to put 70 on that crappy secondary.
Houston/Tulsa game is in danger, Cougars not sure if they'll have enough players. Test results today might clear that up but they haven't been practicing.
SEC is shuffling their schedule, Vanderbilt and Missouri will now play on Sat and Ark and Tenn will not play. Originally Tenn was sched to play Vandy and Ark and Missouri were to play.
On the recruiting front, Ohio State pulled another top player out of Texas when WR Caleb Burton a top 50 prospect, gave the Buckeyes his verbal. Buckeyes are a force now in Texas recruiting.
Here's the 247 Composite rankings of the 2020 rosters based off of recruiting...you how many 5 stars, 4 stars, etc. Not a shock that Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson are the top 4, but Texas at #5 is pretty shocking! 2020 College Football Team Talent Composite
Badgers game against Minnesota cancelled due to the number of Gophers players having Covid. That is the 3rd Badger game wiped off the schedule. This series involved the longest uninterrupted series in college football going back to 1906.
Down the pike we will look back and marvel what has transpired over this year in college football. Problem is next year may not be any better, that's the scary part in my opinion.
There is a war going on between Dabo and FSU, he's taken numerous shots at them implying that they were afraid they would get mud stomped and didn't want to play. Also some are saying Clemson doesn't want to make up the game Dec 12th as that's the weekend before the ACC Championship game. If the ACC lets them not play that weekend, then the makeup game between ND and Wake Forrest should be canceled as well. Also some talk that the ACC should cancel the Championship game and declare ND conf champion and keep Clemson as a 1 loss team. Increasing the possibility of both ND and Clemson getting to the CFP. That would suck it would seem and not really in the spirt of the thing.
Another schedule change, Washington and Utah are going to play Saturday. If I was listening correctly when they interviewed the BYU coach he said BYU was ready to play Washington this Sat but got the call that it was off, he didn't seem thrilled. The narrative is that BYU was disrespected by the committee ranking them so low, but truthfully while they have killed the opposition, they really have played a weak schedule.