Last weekend in Sept, can you believe it! Friday Night Wake Forrest @ Virginia - Wake off to a good start and they just rolled hapless FSU, while Virginia lost to UNC. UVA has a QB who the people on ESPNU think is off to the best start of any of the QB's in FBS. You've never heard of him though, Brennan Armstrong. Should be a good game. UNLV @ Fresno State - Fresno State played Oregon tough at Autzen and beat UCLA in a close game at home. UNLV is woeful, not as bad as UCONN, but bad. Fresno State has the potential to be one of the best teams in the Mountain West. Saturday Only a couple of games between top 25 teams. But they are both really big games. Notre Dame vs Wisconsin at Soldier Field in Chicago. Wisconsin is historically a very sound offense, runs the ball and plays solid defense. They lost their opener to a good Penn State team, and then had an easy win vs Eastern Michigan. The Irish on the other hand have had no easy wins, they are struggling to find consistency on both sides of the ball. I have no doubt that based on high school rankings that Notre Dame has the edge in talent. But that doesn't mean much once they get to college. Irish will have their hands full with the Badgers and will need to play much better if they hope to leave Chicago with a win. The side show will be Jack Coan coming back to play his old team. Texas A&M vs Arkansas at Jerry World. This will be a very good game and one where both teams have something to prove. The Aggies have one of their best defenses in a long time and Ark so far has been so dominant on the OL and with their big backs and even their QB is big, the Aggies defense will be tested. On the other hand the Aggies have a young OL and an inexperienced QB who did play better last week, but the Hogs will come after him and make him prove it. Aggies expected to be the 2nd best team in the SEC West and Arkansas not expected to do much. I'm guessing a large contingent of loud Hog fans will be there wearing silly hats and yelling sooooooo pigggggggggggg. Should be a good game something like the Penn State / Auburn game last weekend. Other games involving top 25 teams Alabama gets a breather with Southern Miss Georgia @ Vanderbilt ...should be no problem for the Dawgs Oregon vs Arizona ..Wildcats are winless, got beat by freakin' N. Arizona last week. OU vs WVU ..a pretty decent West Virgina team, not ranked but should give the Sooners a game, unless they decide to live up to their pre-season hype. Iowa vs Colorado State ...CSU not a great team, but they did beat pre-season MAC favorite Toledo handily last weekend. Although I think maybe Toledo left it all on the field in South Bend, where they won everywhere but the scoreboad. Penn State vs Villanova ..if it were basketball 'Nova might have a shot, but likely that Penn State doesn't even have to play it's 1st team to beat Villanova. Cincinnati has the weekend off to get ready for their trip to South Bend Clemson @ NCState . Clemson struggling on offense and NCState has only given up 17 points so far this season. If it's a low scoring game that is not a good sign for Clemson. Ohio State vs Akron ...Buckeyes have some flaws this season. Won't be exposed by Akron though who are 53 point underdogs. Florida vs Tenn ..once a great rivalry but Tenn has fallen on hard times recently and they are not a very good team right now. Gators might start slow after leaving it all on the field vs Alabama last weekend. But they will get it going and win handily. Texas vs Texas Tech ...Longhorns got some needed therapy with a 58-0 win over the woeful Rice Owls. Now it's not like Tech is a juggernaut but they are 3-0 and did beat future B12 member Houston to open the season. Will be a good test for the 'horns to see if they have recovered from the mental and physical beating at Arkansas. I hope so. UCLA @ Stanford ...Can UCLA regain some mojo vs the Trees. Stanford has put together back to back wins and showed an offensive pulse. Lose to the tree's and you can sell those UCLA is BACK tee shirts. Neb @ Michigan State ...interesting game. Neb put up a much better showing in Norman than anybody thought after watching them vs Illinois. Mich State is off to a great start with Mel Tucker looking like an early favorite for B10 Coach of the Year. UNC @ Ga. Tech ..UNC had the stunning loss to Va.Tech to open the season got some of their luster back with the UVa win, now going to Atlanta to face a team that played very well at Clemson and had a shot to pull the upset. UNC and Sam Howell can not afford to not look great this weekend. USF @ BYU Cougars off to a 3-0 start and all FBS Power 5 wins to boot. It's a long way from Central Fla to Provo and the altitude is a possible factor, not the heat. This is the last weekend of non-conference scheduling for most teams. SEC teams have a week of weak teams late November but thing will be settled by then. Rest of the FBS will be pretty much strictly conference after this weekend.
Forgot to add Mich vs Rutgers. Both teams are undefeated so far this season. RU only played one close game vs Syracuse while the Wolverines have pretty much run over (literally) all the teams on their schedule. With Greg Schiano back at RU for his second time they have a coach with experience and a coach who was a successful DCoord at Ohio State before taking this job. Mich run game prowess might be interesting this season if it keeps up in Big 10 play as that seems to be a weakness for Ohio State right now. Mich will have a decided talent advantage over RU, but last year RU almost pulled off the big upset and current Mich QB Cade McNamara was the guy who bailed out the Wolverines in a relief job for starter Joe Milton. Important game for both teams. I imagine UM depth and running game will be the story here.
Spencer Rattler, OU QB, was the lock to win the Heisman this year. Except while the Sooners are unbeaten Rattler has been only good not Heisman great. Well Bryce Young who was amazing in Game 1 vs Miami has only been good since then. But look no further than Oxford, MS to find a rising QB star! Matt Corral will win the Heisman Honestly? This prediction might not even be bold at this point. Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral is on pace for 4,000 passing yards, 600 rushing yards and 52 combined touchdowns. He might be a great performance against Bama away from becoming the favorite (if he isn't already), and the Rebels' newfound defensive competence -- 20.7 points per game and 4.8 yards per play allowed, top 50 in defensive SP+ -- could give them the poll standing generally required by Heisman voters. He is the perfect quarterback for a Lane Kiffin offense, and his Rebels are must-see television every week.
Good news for Michigan QB, Cade McNamara! Bad/Sad news for RU. Rutgers cornerbacks Max Melton and Chris Long have been suspended after being taken into police custody because of a paintball gun incident, coach Greg Schiano announced Tuesday. NJ Advance Media reported that the two players have been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, stemming from an incident Monday night.
Corral may be a great QB, but he could also be Andre Ware 2.0... AJ, I think I could hit a kick with that set up! (assuming I'm in the endzone!)
How many of you know that Corral was a Gator Commit until Mullen became our coach? He wanted more of a running QB and got Emory Jones to commit and Corral went to ole Miss where he is excelling. He also had some issues coming out of high school that I don't know much about but it looks like he is headed for big things.
We'll know soon enough Scott. If the Lions draft him as they did Ware, he's destined for the trash heap.
Andre found new life in the broadcast booth. He's not bad. I used to see him at one of the Golf Courses played, never played with him, but reportedly was a good player.
I hadn't realized what a streak the Aggies have going over Arkansas. 9 - 0 as SEC Member. Arkansas leads the overall series 41-33-3
Kiffin on the transfer portal and Alabama! I think Saban is right on the impact of the 1 time free transfer. Also Kiffin commented on HS players getting fewer scholarships due to the portal, it's the same thing that Lincoln Riley said earlier this year. Coaches all across the country are looking at transfer portal players rather than HS kids. To me it's similar to building with JUCO's. A couple of years at JUCO you know more about the player, the downside has always been that they are short term fixes. I'd say the transfer phenomena is having an even bigger impact on college basketball. Most teams of course carry the max of 12 players but only play 7 or at most 8, so the rest are looking to leave. Players who have good starts to their careers at mid majors or lower level conference teams are now looking to move to a higher level Div 1 teams to get more exposure for the NBA. ______________________________________________________________________ "Now they go to cherry-pick players for any holes they may have like an Ohio State receiver [Jameson Williams] or a Tennessee linebacker [Henry To'o To'o]," Kiffin said. "So now, it's like not only do they get the best draft picks but they get to go into free agency and take players, so it really is going to set up one of the most talented teams ever, which is what we're getting ready to play." Saban, who has been a skeptic of transfer deregulation, warned that the adoption of the one-time transfer rule would further separate the haves from the have nots. Kiffin: Transfer 'cherry-picking' gives Bama edge
Lot of talk this AM on ESPNU radio about the WVa vs OU game. Pretty critical for OU who while undefeated hasn't looked the part of a playoff team and Spencer Rattler hasn't looked the part of a Heisman Trophy Candidate. WVa is a pretty good team, and Neal Brown is a good coach, so they aren't likely to roll over and play dead for the Sooners. Rattler needs to have that kind of game that everybody expected of him this year.
Ryan Day has announced that CJ Stroud will not play against Akron, minor shoulder issue that could use a week of rest. Also, millionaire freshman Quinn Ewers will not be available to play. I wonder what that is about, just not ready to play due to his late arrival? Adjust your picks accordingly!! True freshman Quinn Ewers will not be available to play, so Jack Miller and Kyle McCord will get playing time in place of Stroud. Day has yet to name a starter between the two, but both have been preparing as though they will play.
Read in Cleveland paper that Ewers is no where near ready to play yet nor was he expected to be...still learning all kinds of stuff...hasn't even lost the black stripe off his helmet yet.
This news not surprising to me at all. That's a huge leap for a player out of high school with no Spring practices, we are in pretty good shape except for the lack of playing times for number 2 & 3. We should get some good looks this Saturday evening.
Appalachian State whips Marshall at home this evening 31-30. Excellent game to watch and well played by both teams. I think they said Marshall had a 11 game winning streak that was upended tonight.