Another week of college football is in the books, and two Power Five teams—No. 3 Michigan State and No. 9 Wake Forest—suffered their first loss of the season, while some other Top 10 squads didn’t exactly impress as we head toward the unveiling of the second set of College Football Playoff rankings.
Outside of top-ranked Georgia, which coasted by Missouri 43-6 in Athens, the other top CFP contenders revealed their warts on Saturday. Michigan State lost at unranked Purdue; Cincinnati once again didn’t “wow” and needed a goal-line stand at the end of the game to hold off Tulsa 28-20 at home; Alabama struggled all night and only beat a wounded LSU team by 6 points at home; Ohio State tried to gift away its 26-17 win at Nebraska; and Oregon eventually pulled away for a 26-16 victory at Washington.
But, in this beautiful sport, survive and advance is the name of the game.
My latest Top 25:
Some odds and ends from this past weekend:
*What is wrong with Florida? The Gators were blasted 40-17 by South Carolina, suffering its worst loss to the Gamecocks in school history. After the game, head coach Dan Mullen said that he had a depleted roster because of the flu, but regardless the Gators have lost three straight games and four of their past five. And the performance against the Gamecocks was one of the worst of the Mullen era. The Florida defense allowed what had been an anemic South Carolina offense to gain 459 yards, and its vaunted rushing attack only accrued 82 yards. Things are ugly right now in Gainesville.
*Cincinnati likely didn’t do too much to impress the selection committee in its win over Tulsa, which outgained the Bearcats 446-390 in total yards and had a chance to tie it up late. It was the third straight close contest for Luke Fickell’s squad (Navy and Tulane previously), and the fact of the matter is that style points do matter. Cincy is 9-0 with the big win at Notre Dame, but more impressive wins will be necessary for the ‘Cats. That’s just life in the Group of Five—fair or not.
*Texas is scuffling and fell to 4-5 after losing at Iowa State 30-7—its fourth consecutive loss—and the Longhorns will need to win two of their last three games to make a bowl game in Steve Sarkisian’s first season.
*Meanwhile, Scott Frost continues to suffer some brutal losses at Nebraska, with the latest being at home to Ohio State. It was the latest in a string of “close but no cigar” games the Cornhuskers have played this season. Against Top-10 teams—Oklahoma, Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State—they have lost by a combined score of 104-82. Of course, Frost will need to start winning these games. And there is probably a very high level of impatience from some fans in Lincoln. But the Huskers are close to turning a corner. They just need to minimize and eventually eliminate some very fixable mistakes—particularly on special teams and a combination of questionable play-calling/not being able to develop consistent rhythm on offense.
*After a very slow start, Wisconsin has suddenly emerged as a very dangerous team. The Badgers have won five consecutive games and are the new favorite in the Big Ten West division. If they go to Indy, the East winner will face a team that ranks first in total defense and rushing defense. Of course, the question will remain whether an improving offense can hold its own.
*What a job Josh Heupel is doing at Tennessee, which went to Lexington and beat Kentucky to put the Volunteers at 5-4. They are on the path to becoming bowl-eligible after fielding one of the SEC’s worst offenses last season. Heupel knows offense and Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker has thrived, throwing for 21 TDs and leading a team that is averaging over 38 points per game. Tennessee football is fun again.
*Clemson is still not out of the ACC Atlantic division race after a second-half comeback to beat Louisville. The Tigers need to win out and get help with losses by Wake Forest and NC State, but winning the division for a seventh straight year is still on the table. Remember, as poorly as it has looked, Dabo Swinney’s squad is the lone one to compete with Georgia for four quarters.
*When the second set of CFP rankings are released on Tuesday evening, I’d expect some movement among the teams that didn’t exactly impress in Week 10. Could we see Michigan, which had a strong bounce back win against Indiana, and idle Oklahoma move up? Alabama could surely be on the move after recording just 6 rushing yards at home against a below-.500 LSU squad. I’d expect a tumble from No. 2 to 3 or 4, as its best win on the résumé is over 2-loss Ole Miss. Outside of OLB Will Anderson Jr, who had 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles for loss, ‘Bama just didn’t seem to have its usual energy against the Tigers.
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