My Week 5 Record: 17-8
Closest (Or Exact) Pick: Arkansas Vs. Texas A&M, my pick was a Texas A&M win 21-13, final score was a Texas A&M win, 21-17.
Excited I Got This Pick Right: Notre Dame beating Louisville
Ashamed I Got This Pick Wrong: Fresno State beating UNLV
Reactions: I did much better this week, going 17-8. There were some games, namely the Fresno State, Georgia, and Oklahoma State that could’ve been the pick I was ashamed that I got wrong. I thought without Matt Sluka, UNLV would struggle and fall at home. However, UNLV turned it on Fresno State and blew them out, winning 59-14. As for the Georgia game, I did pick Georgia to win, and that game would’ve landed as the pick that I’m most ashamed of because it was looking like they were going to be blown out. However, Georgia fought back to make it a close game. For the Oklahoma State game, I had them taking a close won over Kansas State, but the Wildcats proved me wrong and blew out Oklahoma State. As for the pick that I was most excited about, it came down to 2 games in my eyes. The Notre Dame game, and the Penn State game. The Notre Dame game was a much better matchup than the Penn State game, so it lands there. As for the closest/exact pick, the Arkansas Vs. Texas A&M game was the only one really in contention. I didn’t think it would be that way after a high scoring first quarter, but things changed around, and I was just 4 points off of the final score. I also predicted that Arkansas would lead for part of the game, and that ended up happening. Arkansas even led 3 times, including in the fourth quarter. My goal is to always get 20 picks right, and we are back on the upswing after a bad week 4.
(Rankings based off of the AP Poll)
1. (9) Missouri @ (T-25) Texas A&M – The only ranked matchup this week, Missouri is dead set on getting into the Alabama game undefeated, but Texas A&M can’t afford to lose another game. If they lose another, they could be out of CFP contention. Mizzou started the season with 2 easy games, but have struggled against both Boston College and Vanderbilt. They’re coming off a bye, and now have to travel to College Station. Texas A&M lost their first game of the season, but have rattled off 4 wins, including a rivalry win last week. I’ll start with the Aggies, and it doesn’t matter…
• It doesn’t matter if Conner Weigman is healthy or not. Weigman suffered a shoulder injury all the way back in week 1, and that contributed to his bad play. He braved it out in Texas A&M’s week 2 game against McNeese, but hasn’t played since. He’s thrown for 225 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 picks. Marcel Reed has stepped in, and has been playing great. He’s thrown for 585 yards and 6 touchdowns, while rushing for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s completed about 54.4% of his passes, which is the only knock on his game. He doesn’t turn it over as much as Weigman, and is a much better rusher. He’s thrown for 2 touchdowns in all of his starts, and he’s going to have to be great to beat a good Missouri defense. Reed has energized Texas A&M’s offense, and could lead Texas A&M to nice season if he stays the starter. I think he should, and even if Weigman is healthy, Reed should start.
• Although their defense isn’t the best, they’re going to need to keep on improving. They have a tough task this week with Brady Cook and Luther Burden as their opposition, and they were exposed last week. Although they let up just 17 points, they allowed Arkansas to gain 379 total yards and 22 first downs. Texas A&M also allowed a 75-yard touchdown on Arkansas’ third play. Mizzou can easily do that again this week, as Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. can easily get deep threat touchdowns. Texas A&M did force 3 turnovers, however, something they’ve done a lot this season. The Aggies have forced 9 total turnovers so far this season, 7 picks and 2 fumbles. They have 8 sacks as well, and the key to this game for Texas A&M’s defense is getting after Brady Cook. It’s no secret that Missouri likes to throw the ball, but if you can keep Brady Cook under wraps, you can stop their air game.
• Texas A&M likes to run, and they do it well. I stated earlier that Marcel Reed is a better rusher than Conner Weigman, and him playing is why TAMU leads the SEC in rushing attempts, with 212. That’s also seventh in the nation, and second in the Power 4. Texas A&M is averaging 231.6 rush yards per game, second in the SEC. Although they only have 8 touchdowns, 7 of them have came from Texas A&M’s three main rushers, Le’Veon Moss, Marcel Reed, and Amari Daniels. Moss has 76 caries for 471 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had Texas A&M’s lone touchdown against Notre Dame, and 2 more touchdowns the following week. He hasn’t scored since week 2, and that might continue this week, and Mizzou has allowed just 1 rushing touchdown all season. Reed has ran for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 5-yard touchdown rush last week. Daniels has 48 carries for 211 yards and also has 2 touchdowns, but has been used less and less as Reed starts. If Weigman plays, Daniels should be used more. Texas A&M is going to have run the ball well to keep the ball out of Missouri’s hands, because…
• Missouri’s offense can make a great defense look like a horrible one. Brady Cook has led Missouri to their undefeated start, and with 2 amazing wide receivers and a great ground game, Missouri has a very good chance to make it to the CFP. The Tigers are averaging 472.3 yards per game, sixth in the SEC. They’re also averaging 36.5 points per game, also sixth in their conference. The fact that both of those stats are sixth in the SEC not only shows how good the SEC is, but also that Missouri can keep up with the great teams of the conference. Brady Cook has thrown for 946 yards and 4 touchdowns, along with 1 pick. Cook has added 4 rushing touchdowns as well. Cook isn’t doing this alone, however. Theo Wease Jr. is the leading receiver, but Luther Burden is the obvious star. Defenses have been focusing on Burden so much that Wease gets open a lot more than Burden, and that’s led to him being the leading receiver. He has 26 catches for 287 yards, but no touchdowns. Luther Burden III has 19 catches for 257 yards and all of Brady Cook’s touchdowns. He also has a rushing touchdown. Burden’s had 6 catches in back-to-back games, and he’s also came down with 3 touchdowns in these 2 games. With a bye week, Missouri has been able to regroup and should draw up more plays for Burden to get even more open. Missouri’s ground game is headlined by Nate Noel, the heir to the Cody Schrader throne. Noel has 69 carries for 441 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had a monster game last week, rushing 24 times for 200 yards. While the carries aren’t a career high, his rushing yards were. Noel’s carries have gone up in every game as well, and so have his yards. If that pattern continues, Noel will be able to win this game for Mizzou. Marcus Carroll has added 35 carries for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns as well.
• Missouri struggled in the weirdest way possible against Vanderbilt. Usually when a team plays like Missouri did, you think its because of their offense or defense. Maybe they had a lot of turnovers, or allowed a lot of yards. Maybe they couldn’t get their defense off the field or couldn’t complete a third down conversion. None of those were the problem for Missouri last week, however. Blake Craig, Missouri’s kicker, missed 3 field goals. When college kickers do miss, it most likely comes in clutch situations, and we also give it the saying, “college kicker situation”. However, Craig decided he was going to do the exact opposite of that. Craig’s first missed kick ended a 13 play, 91 yards, 6-and-a-half-minute drive for Missouri in the second quarter. His next two missed kicks came on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter. His second missed kick came with just under 11 minutes left in the quarter, and his third kissed kick came with 7 minutes left in the game. Craig’s missed kicks were 24, 40, and 46 yards long. Vandy’s kicker then missed a kick of his own, and the game went into overtime. Both Missouri and Vanderbilt scored touchdowns in the first overtime, and Craig finally got it together to kick a field goal for Missouri in the second overtime. This time it was a 37-yarder, and he made it. Missouri’s defense stopped Vanderbilt’s offense in the next half of OT2, and lucked out as Vandy’s kicker missed another kick. On the day, Blake Craig went 3/6 on field goals and 3/3 on extra points. If Craig didn’t miss any of his kicks, not only would the game not go into overtime, Missouri would’ve won handily. On the year, Craig has been perfect on his extra points, but is 11/16 on field goals. Missouri is going to need a perfect game out of Craig this week, as he could put the game in jeopardy again for Missouri.
• Missouri’s defense is not to be messed with. They’re averaging 219 yards per game and 12 points per game, second and fourth in the SEC, respectively. After week 2, Missouri was the only team in the nation that played 2 games and didn’t allow a single point. Theres not a player on Missouri that’s a statistical anomaly. Their leader in sacks is Khalil Jacobs, who has 2. No one has multiple picks, fumble recoveries, or even forced fumbles. Their leader in tackles is Marvin Burks Jr., who has 24. He’s tied for the 23 most tackles in the SEC. Missouri does it by committee, and its lead to one of the best defenses in the nation, one that will certainly give Texas A&M fits.
Texas A&M’s rushing game should help them control the clock, but Missouri’s defense come up big and Brady Cook makes all the right throws to lead Missouri to a 31-24 win.
2. (10) Michigan @ Washington – A rematch of the national championship game from last year, the Wolverines and Huskies are now conference foes, and looking totally different. If Michigan had little passing game last year, they have none this year, and that’s basically true. Washington lost their Heisman finalist quarterback, but haven’t fallen off a cliff when it comes to their offense. I’ll start with the Huskies, and…
• Washington is a much better team than their record reflects. Although Michigan is ranked 10th in the nation, Washington are actually the favorites coming into this game. Washington Is 3-2, with their losses coming to Washington State and Rutgers. I think both of those teams could either play Michigan close or even beat the Wolverines, and Washington lost by 5 to Washington State and by 3 to Rutgers. The Rutgers game came on the road, and the Washington State game was a neutral sight, although it was still in Seattle. Washington has combined for 973 yards and 44 first downs, while being outscored 45-37. They’ve kept it close, and their offense isn’t the problem. They’ve allowed a combined 680 yards as well, so we know their defense haven’t been the problem. Washington should be able to play this game just like those, and that all starts with…
• Washington’s rush defense is going to need to be perfect this week. There’s nothing wrong with Washington’s rush defense either. They allow 121.8 rush yards per game, and have allowed 5 touchdowns. To make up for the touchdowns, Washington has forced 5 fumbles, although a few of those have came through the receiving game. Washington is also allowing 3.7 yards per rush. Kyle Monangai bashed the Washington rush defense, but what defense does Monangai not bash? Monangai ran 25 times for 132 yards and a touchdown. Washington did pretty well outside of Monangai, and those were the most yards that Washington has allowed by a player so far this year. However, Michigan boasts one of the best rushing offenses in the country, and have 3 guys that are capable of beating Washington, although my take on Donovan Edwards is a little iffy. Washington is going to need to play perfect on defense in order to stifle Michigan rush game, but they are capable of that.
• Washington has to keep the ball out of Michigan’s hands. Outside of a really good defensive performance, the only way they can do that is by running the ball well themselves. Jonah Coleman is the Huskie’s leading rusher, with 72 carries for 521 yards and 4 touchdowns. He’s the only player on Washington with rushing touchdowns, but 3 of his touchdowns came all the way back in week 1. Washington does have a lack of rushing touchdowns, but not a lack of carries, as they have 162 as a team. Behind Coleman is Cameron Davis, who has 33 carries for 165 yards. He runs for about 40 yards per game, but I would expect Washington to run just a bit more to keep the ball out of Michigan’s hands.
• Alex Orji stepped it up in the passing game. He had the best performance that I’ve seen from a quarterback this season – potentially the best of all time. Orji went 10/18 for 86 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. Like, who could you not marvel at those stats? All jokes aside, Orji’s stats reflected what Michigan wants their quarterbacks to do. Sherrone Moore obviously loves to run the ball, but Orji had the perfect Michigan game manager game. He threw a touchdown, completed at least more than 50% of his passes, and threw for just enough yards. Orji’s game against USC wasn’t a game manager performance, it was just a player sitting in the backfield handing it off. JJ McCarthy was a lot better than Orji, but the fact that Orji neared McCarthy’s stats in the national championship game is a little crazy. Orji will defiantly struggle, but if Michigan can get their ground game going, which they have a high chance of doing, all of the pressure is off him.
• Kalel Mullings has been on a tear this season. Coming into 2024, we all thought Donovan Edwards would be the star running back for Michigan. He was on the cover of CFB 25, and disappearing for most of the year, he came back in the national championship game and made a splash. However, Edwards has been very underwhelming so far this season, totaling 260 yards and 2 touchdowns on 59 carries. That’s paved the way for Kalel Mullings, who has 77 carries for 540 yards and 6 touchdowns. He started his season off on a good note, with 15 rushes for 92 yards. However, he struggled a lot against Texas, rushing 6 times for 25 yards. Since that game, Mullings hasn’t struggled at all. He’s ran for at least 110 yards and 2 touchdowns in every game, and is coming off a 24 carry, 111-yard, 2 touchdown performance. Mullings can definitely keep up that streak against Washington.
• Michigan’s defense has been surprisingly bad. When Jim Harbaugh left for the Chargers, Michigan’s defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter, followed him. Michigan replaced him with Don Martindale, who had some solid to elite defenses during his time in the NFL. However, that hasn’t translated onto Michigan. Michigan is allowing 317.6 yards per game, sixth worst in the Big Ten, and 21.4 points per game, fifth worst in the conference. Michigan does have 13 sacks and 7 turnovers, but that hasn’t been enough to save Michigan’s stats. Michigan’s defense folded late last week, as Minnesota entered the fourth quarter up 24-3, and left the game with a 27-24 win. They’re going to have to be better in the clutch this week to win.
I think Washington should be able to attack Michigan’s defense and force them to pass the ball, which leads to an upset win, 24-17.
3. SMU @ (22) Louisville – After losing their first game of the season last week to Notre Dame, Louisville hanged in the rankings, and now take on SMU, who's offense has been clicking under Kevin Jennings. I’ll start with SMU, and…
• Like I stated, SMU’s offense has been great on offense recently. Preston Stone was the preseason starter, and played pretty well before being benched. Stone threw for 336 yards, 3 touchdowns, and just 1 pick before being benched. He himself wasn’t playing bad, but the offense was not playing like we thought coming into the season. So, Kevin Jennings took over, and SMU’s offense has turned around in a big way. He’s thrown for 733 yards, 6 touchdowns, and also has just 1 pick. Jennings has added 150 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. With Jennings as the starter, SMU has scored 66 and 42 points. The rushing game has also stepped it up a notch. Brashard Smith is the Mustangs leading rusher, and he had 253 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 fumbles in the games where Stone started. However, under Jennings, Smith has 256 yards, 5 total touchdowns, and no picks. Smith and Jennings should be able to keep the SMU offense rolling this week, and it also helps when…
• SMU has an array of great receivers. This has been the situation for SMU for a few years now, as outside of 2022 with Rashee Rice, SMU hasn’t had a receiver go over 900 yards since 2019, when James Proche had multiple 1,000-yard seasons. So far this year, RJ Maryland is the leading receiver, with 16 catches for 221 yards and 3 touchdowns from his tight end spot. Right behind Maryland is Jake Bailey, who has 11 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown. Out of the back field, Smith also has 11 catches and a touchdown, but he has 121 yards. Keyshawn Smith and Jordan Hudson both have 8 yards and 113 yards, but Smith has 1 touchdown to Hudson’s 3. As you can see, SMU does it by committee, and that has contributed to the better play from SMU’s offense.
• SMU’s defense was rock solid last week. SMU hosted FSU in the ACC opener, and their defense played phenomenal. They picked off DJU 3 times, returning one of them 82 yards for a touchdown, and held FSU to 285 yards of total offense and 13 first downs. They also lucked out, as SMU’s offense held the ball for 36 minutes, so FSU’s defense could stay fresh. They held FSU to just 63 rush yards, and forced them to go 3/12 on third downs and 0/2 on fourth. Louisville’s offense had a down game last week, and SMU’s offense could have similar results to what happened last week against FSU.
• Getting Caullin Lacy back did not help Louisville’s offense. Lacy didn’t play at all this season before the Notre Dame game, but he played against Notre Dame. He did catch 5 passes for 71 yards, which is tied for the most yards and catches last week for Louisville with Ja’Corey Brooks. Lacy, however, did not find the end zone, while Brooks found it twice. Louisville did gain 400 yards of offense and had 19 first downs, both more than Notre Dame, but then again, Notre Dame doesn’t really do much on offense rather than run. Louisville had 3 turnovers, 2 fumbles and 1 pick. Tyler Shough threw both the pick, his first on the year, and also lost a fumble. All of Louisville’s turnovers turned into points for Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish scored 17 points off Louisville turnovers. I think Shough and the Cardinals offense should be able to rebound with Lacy settling in, and more great play from Louisville’s running backs and Ja’Corey Brooks should also contribute to that.
• Outside of last week, Tyler Shough has been great. Shough wasn’t even that bad last week, as he threw for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns, while rushing for 36 yards. However, He completed just 58.5% of his passes, was sacked 3 times, threw a pick, and lost a fumble on a 46-yard run. Before this game, Shough was near perfect. He had no turnovers coming into the Notre Dame game. In fact, Louisville had no turnovers before their matchup with Notre Dame. Shough threw for t least 230 yards and 2 touchdowns in every game, and was just sacked once. That means that Shough has 1,114 yards, 11 touchdowns, and just 1 pick. Ja’Corey Brooks has been his leading receiver, as he’s caught 22 passes for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns. Chris Bell has come down with 9 catches for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns as well. Caullin Lacy already has the fifth most receiving yards on the team, and these guys and more should help Shough bounce back.
• Unlike Shough, Louisville’s defense has been consistently great. The Cardinals’ defense is averaging 271.6 yards per game and 16 points per game, second and fourth in the ACC. They somewhat stopped Notre Dame’s rushing game last week, as they held the Fighting Irish to just 117 rush yards. They also forced 2 turnovers, and held the Fighting Irish on 8 of their third down attempts, a ND went 2/10 on third down. However, while focusing on the pass game, Louisville over looked the passing game. Riley Leonard threw for 2 touchdowns, both of which were deep ones. The first touchdown was 34 yards and the second one was 32. Kevin Jennings is much of a bigger threat in the passing game than Riley Leonard, so something similar shouldn’t happen again this week. Now, Louisville haven’t forced a lot of turnovers, as they have just 6 so far this year. Hey have gotten 10 sacks, and should continue to get more sacks this week, as Jennings went down 3 times last week to FSU.
I’m surprised the Louisville is still ranked, but they bounce back this week and win 35-28.
4. Rutgers @ Nebraska – Nebraska got back on track last week with a shellacking of Purdue, but now face another red and fierce Big Ten team just like themselves. That red and fierce Big Ten team is coming into this game undefeated, and just survived against Washington last week. I’ll start with the Scarlet Knights as well.
• That’s 2 straight close wins for Rutgers that both could’ve turned into losses. After blowing out Howard and Akron at home and having a bye week, Rutgers travelled to Blacksburg for their first road game. They ultimately won 26-23, and they dominated the Hokies on the ground. They ran for just 153 yards, but it took them 52 attempts to get there. Although that’s just 2.9 yards per rush, Rutgers held the ball for 39 minutes and 20 seconds, which helped their defense stay fresh and play well. The ball did fall into Virginia Tech and Kyron Drones’ hands late, but Rutgers picked Drones off to win. If Robert Longerbeam doesn’t jump up and pick the ball of, Virginia Tech had more than enough time to storm down the field and score the game winning touchdown. Rutgers was up 23-7 starting in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t put the game away and let VT back in. That trend continued into last weeks game, as Rutgers was up 21-10 late in the fourth quarter. However, Rutgers let up 3 straight droves from Washington that got them into field goal range, and all Rutgers could do on offense was punt. The first ending in a missed field goal for Washington, but when they got the ball back, they drove down the field and scored a touchdown, adding on a two-point conversion. Rutgers once again punted, and Washington got the ball back at their 39 with 30 seconds left. Washington drove down the field and got to Rutgers 38, and Grady Gros set up to kick a 55-yard field goal. He ultimately missed it, but if he made it, Washington very well could’ve won in overtime with all of the momentum they built up. Rutgers has lucked out in both of their last 2 games, and have had trouble wrapping up games late. That’s going to have to change this week, because Nebraska can certainly flip the game on Rutgers’ head.
• Kyle Monangai has been the reason why Rutgers has still won these games. Monangai has some of the best stats for running backs in the nation and the Big Ten, as he’s ran for 590 yards and 6 touchdowns on 97 carries. His yards are fifth in the nation, and second in the Big Ten. Against Virginia Tech, Monangai had 84 yards and a touchdown. That might not seem like good stats, but like I said earlier, Rutgers ran the ball a lot that week in order to chew up clock. So, out of Rutgers’ 52 rushing attempts that week, Monangai had just over half of them, as he had 26. Monangai was a big reason why Rutgers could control the clock that week, and Monangai once again had a big game on the ground, as he had 25 carries for 132 yards and a touchdown. The time of possession was pretty equal this game, but Monangai’s more than stellar performance put Rutgers over the top.
• Athan Kaliakmanis will struggle this week against a good Nebraska defense. I’ll talk about Nebraska’s defense in another bullet point, but Kaliakmanis is not going to have a good game. Kaliakmanis started his season off on a high note against Howard and Akron, as he had 3 touchdowns in both of those games. I thought that Kaliakmanis would’ve turned it around after a horrible 2023, and I wrote about that when covering Rutgers game against Virginia Tech. However, Kaliakmanis did not keep playing like I thought he would, He had a good completion percentage, completing 64% of his passes. He threw for 270 yards and no picks as well, but that’s where the good stops. He had no touchdowns, and was sacked 3 times. His poor play continued into the following week, as Kaliakmanis dropped his completion percentage down to 58.35. He threw for just 115 yards, but did get a touchdown in. That means on the year, Kaliakmanis has thrown for just 761 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 1 pick. Most of his stats come from Rutgers first 2 games, which were obvious easy wins. Nebraska’s great defense will stifle a non-changed Athan Kaliakmanis, and that will play a big part in this game.
• Nebraska defense won’t just give Kaliakmanis trouble, they’ll do it to all of Rutgers. Nebraska’s defense has been lights out this season, especially when it comes to giving up points. The Blackshirts held Colorado to just 10 points, and did the same to Purdue last week. They shutout the Boilermakers in the first half, and let up Purdue’s touchdown with 1:30 left in the game. The defense also caused Purdue’s OC, Graham Harrell, to be fired. The mot points Nebraska has given up is 31 to Illinois, coincidently the only game they lost so far this year. Nebraska is allowing just 12.2 points per game so far this year, third in the Big Ten. They’re allowing 274.2 yards per game, which is in the middle of the Big Ten, but have 16 sacks, second most in the conference. If they can sack Kaliakmanis a lot, Rutgers is going to run it even more, and that’s where the Blackshirts defense will take over. They allow 85.4 rush yards per g’s 2 other ame, and 2.8 yards per rush. Kyle Monangai is going to have a hard time getting past the Nebraska defense. If they do everything right on defense, this game very well could be a blowout.
• Dylan Raiola did everything right last week, but his team nearly failed him. Raiola went 17/27 for 257 yards and a touchdown in Nebraska’s 28-10 win over Purdue. Neither team scored in the first half, but Raiola played very well. He drove Nebraska down the field into field goal range 3 times, but Purdue blocked a 44-yard and a 32-yard field goal. John Hohl missed his first field goal of the day, a 42 yarder. The rushing game was also slow in the first half, but as they stepped up in the second half, Nebraska started to score. Raiola threw the first touchdown of the game, but Nebraska’s other 2 offensive touchdowns came on the ground. Nebraska did finish with 161 yards, most of them coming in the second half. In order to keep all of the defensive eyes off Raiola, Nebraska is going to need their run game to take over.
• Nebraska has a great group of receivers. Unlike the man Raiola imitates, he actually has a good group of wide receivers, led by Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks. Neyor is the leading receiver, with 291 yards and 4 touchdowns on 17 catches, while Raiola ins Banks more often, as he has 20 catches. He has 252 yards and 2 touchdowns to go along with it. Jaylen Lloyd has just 4 catches, one in each game, for 137 yards. If Raiola can find Lloyd more, he could have stats like Neyor and Banks. Jacory Barney Jr. and Thomas Fidone II have both been solid and reliable pass catchers, as Barney has 16 catches for 121 yards, and Fidone II has 13 catches for 112 yards. Rahmir Johnson has caught 13 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown out of the backfield as well. All of these guys and more are the reason why Raiola has been so good, along with the team as a whole.
Rutgers is going to have an edge on the ground, but unsatisfactory play from Kaliakmanis and Dylan Raiola being how good he is will lead Nebraska to a 28-21 win.
5. (12) Ole Miss @ South Carolina – After dominating all of their opponents, they fell to Kentucky at home last week, and now have to go on the road to Columbia, who should have their best 2 players back. I’ll start with the Gamecocks, and…
• LaNorris Sellers and Raheim Sanders should be back this week, which is great news. Sellers and Sanders are SC’s leading passer and rusher, and also their best players. Sellers hurt his ankle back in the LSU game, and didn’t play at all in the second half. Both him and Shane Beamer said that the injury was not serious, but apparently the injury was serious enough to have him sit out against Akron. With the bye week, Sellers has had an extra week to great ready and get healthy, which helped his case for coming back. He’s listed as questionable, but is also listed as the starting quarterback on the depth chart. I would assume he's playing, just like Sanders. Raheim Sanders has a similar case to Sellers, as he’s listed as questionable, but also RB1. Sanders got injured very early last week, as before he left, he had 1 carry for 1 yard and 1 catch for 6 yards. On the year, Sanders has run for 286 yards and 4 touchdowns on 57 carries. Even without Sellers and Sanders 2 weeks ago, SC still rolled o an easy win. Granted, it was against Akron, but crazy things can happen when you’re missing your top offensive players.
• SC’s defense was phenomenal last game. Yes, they were playing Akron, but whenever your defense plats that good, its definitely an impressive performance. They allowed just 154 yards and 9 first downs, while forcing a turnover in just 24 minutes of play. On offense, they ran all over the Zips, and that kept the defense rolling. The Gamecocks defense allowed just 1.8 yards per rush and forced them to go 3/13 on third downs. Theres nothing that SC’s defense did wrong last week, something that they’ve been doing all year. They’re allowing just 264.8 yards per game and 17 points per game, sixth and ninth in the SEC, respectively. They have 14 sacks as well, fourth in the conference. They’ve forced 9 turnovers this year, 6 of them picks. Nick Emmanwori has been the standout star in defense, with 2 picks, returning 1 for a touchdown, and has a pass deflection as well. He’s also the leading tackler on the team, with 24. Emmanwori is going to have to play like he has all season in order for SC to get the upset win.
• SC is a rushing team, but someone is going to have to break out through the air. Like I said, South Carolina likes to run the ball. They’re averaging 192.3 rush yards per game, seventh in the SEC. They have 185 carries as well, which is second out of all of the teams that have played 4 games. SC has scored on the ground 11 times, tied for sixth in the conference. If Sanders really is back this week, especially if Sellers isn’t, then SC is going to lean into the rush game more. If he’s not, the receiving problem will be evident. Mazeo Bennett Jr. is the leading receiver, and the only one with double-digit catches, as he has 11. He also has 160 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jared Brown has 7 catches for 100 yards, while Vandrevius Jacobs has 90 yards on 3 catches. Joshua Simon, Juju McDowell, and Connor Cox have the other receiving touchdowns. SC is going to need a big performance out of their receivers in order to take down Ole Miss because…
• Ole Miss is not going to have that happen again. It seems like Lane Kiffin does not really care about the loss, as he’s still saying that 1 loss doesn’t matter to their season, and that they’re not going to overreact. Although that’s great to know, I would be overreacting at least a little if I was ranked 6th in the nation and just lost at home to a team that got blown out by your current opponent. Ole Miss lost 20-17, missing a game tying field goal with under a minute left. Jaxson Dart, who has thrown for 1,815 yards, 13 touchdowns, and just 2 picks while rushing for 3 touchdowns, had by far the worst game of his season. He threw for just 261 yards and a touchdown, both season lows, and had his lowest completion percentage by far. He did complete 66.7% of his passes, which isn’t that bad, but compared to his earlier completion percentages in prior games, that’s horrible. Dart was also sacked 4 times, the most so far this season. Ole Miss couldn’t get anything done on defense, letting Kentucky nearly outgain them and allowing 8 more first downs than the Rebels got. They didn’t force a single turnover, and couldn’t get off the field, as Kentucky controlled the clock for nearly 40 minutes. Ole Miss averaged 3.2 yards per rush, and gained 92 rush yards in total. Tre Harris was the only receiver that made a real impact, as he caught 11 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown. The next highest receiver was Caden Prieskorn, who had 42 yards, but just 1 catch. We’ve seen teams this year turn it around after being upsetted like Notre Dame and Kansas State, but we’ve also seen the Florida States of the world, who haven’t been able to recover after an early loss. Hopefully Ole Miss can be a Notre Dame or K-State instead of an FSU.
• That was an uncharacteristic performance from the rushing game. Even though the entire offense struggled, they still have the best offense in the country, averaging 607.2 yards per game and 47.4 points per game. The passing game is one of the best in the country, and its really hard to have a bad passing performance. However, the same cannot be said for the rushing game. They’re averaging 216.8 rush yards per game, fourth in the SEC. Like I said, Ole Miss had 92 rush yards on 29 carries, which is 3.2 yards per rush. They also had a touchdown, coming from Henry Parrish Jr. Parrish was the leading rusher for Ole Miss, as he had 13carries for 62 yards. Only 2 other players had rushes, those being Jaxson Dart and Matt Jones. On about 9 carries, Dart had 22 yards, while Jones had 3 carries for 8 yards. They didn’t really help with anything on the ground other than the total number of rushing yards. Henry Parrish Jr. has been great throughout the year, as he has 70 carries for 490 yards and 8 touchdowns. Jones has 33 carries for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Dart has 112 yards. Those are the only ones with over 100 rushing yards. However, Parrish and Jones are both listed as questionable. Ulysses Bentley IV has been a consistent back in the past, but hasn’t played that much so far this year. He should get a higher work load if either Parrish or Jones can’t go.
• Tre Harris has been unstoppable this year. He was the only one that had a good performance against Kentucky, which has contributed to his great stats. He’s caught 49 passes for 804 yards and 5 touchdowns. Leading the nation by more than 150 yards, Harris will most likely be the first receiver in the nation to reach 1,00 receiving yards this season. The least amount of catches Harris has had so far this year is just 8, which came all the way back in week one. He’s only had 1 game with less than 100 yards, which came against Wake Forest. Harris has been simply dominant so far this year, and I don’t thin SC is going to be able to stop him. Its not just him, however. Cayden Lee has caught 16 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown, while Antwane Wells Jr. has added 14 catches for 274 yards and 4 touchdowns. Although these guys didn’t make a big difference against Kentucky, they should be able to bounce back this week.
Although they slipped up last week, I’m not picking against the Rebels, but I think SC will give them a challenge, especially if LaNorris Sellers and Raheim Sanders play. Ultimately, Ole Miss will pull out the win, 41-34.
6. Boston College @ Virginia – Both teams are coming into this game with just 1 loss, But BC has 1 more win. BC started their season off with an upset of FSU, then took down Duquesne before slipping up on the road to Maryland. They bounced back in the Red Bandana game, and had a narrow win over Western Kentucky last week. Virginia blew out Richmond to start their season, barely got by Wake Forest, fell to Maryland, and then blew out Coastal Carolina 2 weeks ago. They had a bye last week. I’ll start with the Eagles, however.
• Thomas Castellanos should be back this week. After a great start to his season, which saw him throw for 730 yards, 10 touchdowns, and just 2 interceptions. He also ran for 112 yards and a touchdown. Castellanos was a lot more effective on the ground last year, but he’s been sacked a lot so far this year, as he’s gone down 9 times. He was sacked 19 times last year. At any point he could take off, and have a big game on the ground. He missed last week with in an injury, and Boston College obviously struggled. They won just 21-20, and needed a late touchdown to win. Bill O’Brian did say that Castellanos should be back this week, and that’s great news for BC. Grayson James didn’t play badly, but Castellanos will play better.
• Boston College’s defense has been great. They’re allowing 318.2 yards per game and 15.8 points per game, sixth and third in the ACC. They also have 10 sacks tied for 6th in the conference. Boston College has had a turnover on offense in every game so far this season except for the first game, when BC ran for practically the whole game. They’ve let up 20 points coming off their own turnovers, 10 against Missouri and 10 against Western Kentucky. With Castellanos back, BC should have a lot less turnovers, which will help the Boston College defense mightily.
• Virginia was excellent on the ground in their last game. A lot of people thought Coastal Carolina was going to beat Virginia back in week 4, but I was not one of those people, and I was right. Virginia won 43-24, and controlled the clock through their rushing game. Virginia held the ball for 37 minutes, as they ran 58 times for 384 yards, which is 6.6 yards per rush. It was mostly a team effort, as the leading rusher, Xavier Brown, had 9 carries for 171 yards. That’s just under half of Virginia’s rushing yards. Kobe Pace was the next leading rusher, as he had 15 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown. The other 2 touchdowns came from Grady Brosterhous, a backup QB. Virginia should keep this rushing game going, because they need to keep the ball out of BC’s rushing game.
• Anthony Colandrea bounced back last week. Colandrea started his season off on the right foot, as he threw for 300 yards and had 3 total touchdowns. They got a big worse the next week, as he threw 2 picks. However, he still threw for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns. His numbers fully soured the next week against Maryland. In UVA’s only loss, Colandrea completed just 56.8% of his passes, and had 2 picks as well. He did throw for 247 yards and ran for a touchdown, however. Although he didn’t have to do much against Coastal Carolina, he still played great. He threw for 131 yards and completed 65% of his passes, along with 2 touchdowns. That means he’s thrown for 1,032 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 4 picks, while rushing for 2 touchdowns. The rushing game should take the lead on offense again, so Colandrea won’t have to do that much again.
Whoever wins this game will win in the trenches, and that’ll Virginia, who wins 27-21.
7. Syracuse @ (T-25) UNLV – Both of these teams have been a big surprise in the college football world, and the chaos from the whole NIL/Matthew Sluka news and UNLV being ranked. All eyes are on the Rebels. Amidst the chaos, UNLV dominated Fresno State, advancing to 4-0. As for Syracuse, they’re 3-1, with their only loss coming on a last second field goal to Stanford. I’ll start with UNLV, and…
• Hajj-Malik Williams didn’t just look good last week, he looked amazing. In his first ever competition at an FBS level, Williams went 13/16 for 182 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for 119 yards and a touchdown, being the team’s leading rusher. UNLV obviously didn’t use him that much through the passing game, but when they did, he looked really good. Even though Williams didn’t throw as many oases as Mikey Keene, Williams still out played him, as Keene went 27/41 and threw 2 picks. Williams’ 3 passing touchdowns were 12, 17, and 15 yards long, and his rushing touchdown was 6 yards long. @ of Williams’ touchdowns went to star receiver Ricky White III, who came down with 10 catches for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns. White also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. With a great wide receiver, and Williams being a dual-threat like Sluka, the UNLV offense has barely changed. Syracuse is definitely a step up defensively than Fresno State, so Williams will either struggle more than he his little struggles last week, or UNLV will use him even less, and I think the latter will be the case. So, with not such a good ground game, UNLV will have to rely on…
• UNLV will have to rely on their defense. I mean, every team has to, but UNLV especially if they chose to use Williams less. The Rebels’ defense was great last week, forcing 4 turnovers out of the Fresno State offense. They might have the best defense in the Mountain West, allowing 13.8 points per game and 3095 yards per game, first and second in the conference. They also have 13 sacks, third in the conference. UNLV might have the best secondary in the nation, as they have picked off opposing quarterbacks 9 times, tied for the second most in the nation. All of the turnovers UNLV forced last week were interceptions, as Fresno State had 3 quarterbacks play, and all threw picks. It’s going to be interesting to see how UNLV’s secondary will try to keep Kyle McCord under wraps. Speaking of Kyle McCord…
• Kyle McCord has been a big surprise this season. After 1 bad game, McCord was blamed for most, if not all of Ohio state’s offensive problems, and that led to him transferring out, and to Syracuse. He’s balled out this season, as he’s thrown for 1,460 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 5 picks. Now, he hasn’t improved all parts of his game, as he’s nearly matched the numbers of picks he had last year, which was 6. McCord’s also gone down 9 times so far, and the Syracuse o-line is not helping him out that much. Other than the picks, which could be fixed if the o-line gets their act together, McCord has clearly improved. The least amount of passing yards he’s thrown for so far this year is just 354, and he’s thrown for 4 touchdowns in 3 of his 4 games. In McCord’s last 2 games, he hasn’t been able to connect with Gadsen, and that will have to change this week. Gadsen has 16 catches for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns this season, and has 3 catches for 16 yards in his last 2 games. That has paved the way for players like Jackson Meeks and Umari Hatcher, and makes it a lot harder for UNLV to know who to guard. Gadsen is going to have to come up big for McCord, otherwise UNLV will run away with the game.
• Syracuse needs to find consistency in their rushing game. Right now, the Orange are averaging 102.8 rush yards per game, second last in the ACC. They have just 411 yards overall, with 287 of them coming from LeQuint Allen. He has just 1 touchdown on 54 carries as well. His touchdown came last week in a blowout win over Holy Cross. Allen had 2 pretty good games to start the season, as he had 15 carries for 98 yards and a receiving touchdown against Ohio, and 15 carries for 83 yards against Georgia Tech. After the bye week, Allen struggled against Stanford, as he had just 8 carries for 25 yards. He got back on track last week, with 16 carries for 81 yards and his first touchdown. Hopefully he can play like that again, as no one else is going to step up, and we’ve seen that through 4 games. If Allen can’t get things going this week, Syracuse won’t be able to hold onto the ball and keep it out of UNLV’s.
Ultimately, I think this game comes down to Kyle McCord and the Syracuse passing game vs. the UNLV secondary, and that war is win by the UNLV secondary, who force McCord’s worse game on the year and win, 42-35.
8. Duke @ Georgia Tech – Waging a comeback win over their rivals last week, Duke comes into this game undefeated, and need a win over a struggling Georgia Tech team to win to ensure that they go bowling because of this week. GT has lost 2 of their last 3, but they’re hoping that they’re bye week can change things around for this team. I’ll start with the Blue Devils however, and…
• What a nice comeback Duke had last week. Coming into the game at 4-0 and their best win being a close one over Northwestern that took 2 overtimes to finish, I didn’t trust Duke too much, but still picked them to win. My suspicions were looking to be proved right, when They fell behind 10-0 at the end of the first, and eventually down 20-0 in the third quarter. However, Maalik Murphy threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Star Thomas that finally got points on the board for Duke. Star Thomas ran it in for a touchdown on Duke’s next drive, and after failing a fourth down conversion, Duke forced a punt, and then scored 4 plays later, and made the game winning extra point. The teams traded punts after the touchdown, and Duke picked off UNC to ice the game. Duke’s offensive identity is the passing game, but the rushing game is what won them the game last week. Murphy went 15/34 for 209 yards and a touchdown, which obviously wen to Star Thomas. Thomas also got a rushing touchdown, and finished the game with 166 yards and a touchdown off 3o carries. Peyton Jones had the other rushing touchdown, which has 20 yards long. He finished the game with 6 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. As a team. Duke had 41 carries for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns, and for a team that averages 120.6 rush yards per game, third worst in the ACC, they looked like they had one of the best rushing offenses in the nation, especially at the end. Hopefully Duke can build on that momentum this week.
• Can Maalik Murphy bounce back? Like I stated earlier, Murphy went 15/34 for 209 yards and just 1 touchdown, definitely the worst of his season so far. He was also sacked 3 times, the most he’s gone down in a game this season. Murphy does have great stats this season, however, as he’s thrown for 1,226 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 4 picks. If the Duke rushing game can’t have a similar performance to last week, Duke is going to call on Murphy even more. If Murphy can’t perform, Duke could lose their perfect record.
• Haynes King can’t do everything for the offense. Jamal Haynes could not get anything going last week, as he had 12 carries for 25 yards. He did have a touchdown, but needed Haynes King to go 4/5 for 78 yards, including a 51 yards dot to Eric Singleton Jr. to get down to the Louisville 1 yard line, where Haynes ran it in. King himself went 21/32 for 312 yards, and ran 14 times for 58 yards and a 23-yard touchdown run. Because King had to do everything on offense, it became a lot easier for the Louisville defense to stop King, and that led to the Louisville win, and the eventually GT loss. Jamal Haynes has been better than his performance in that Louisville game all season, as he has 58 carries for 238 yards and 5 touchdowns on the year. Hopefully he can bounce back this week, so King doesn’t have to do everything.
• GT has one of the nest receiving corps in the nation. Malik Rutherford and Eric Singleton Jr. are neck and neck when it comes to all of the receiving stats. Rutherford has 29 catches, Singleton has 21. Rutherford has 400 yards and 2 touchdowns; Singleton has 340 yards and a touchdown. They both have longs of 51, and Singleton is averaging 16 yards per catch to Rutherford’s 13.7. It’s a real pain whenever secondaries go up against GT, as they got to choose who the main target that they’re going to guard is, and that is the main problem Duke will face this week. It’s not just Rutherford and Singleton, however. Fuuny enough, Avery Boyd and Chase Lane both have stats that are even close than Rutherford and Singleton. Boyd has 12 catches for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns, averaging 13.4 yards per catch and his longest catch of the year is 33. Lane has 13 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown, while averaging 12.2 yards per catch, and his longest catch of the year is also 33. Both of these guys will make it even harder for Duke’s secondary, but both Duke and Louisville have a top 3 secondary in the ACC, and Louisville already shut down the GT offense.
I’ve came to the realization that GT just isn’t as good as we think they are, as they’re best win is probably the Georgia State game, as crazy as that sounds. However, they should be able to keep it close, as the bye week and home field advantage give them a little edge, but not enough to be the Blue Devils. Duke wins, 24-16.
9. Iowa @ (3) Ohio State – At face value, this game might look like a blowout win for Ohio State. The Buckeyes are undefeated and ranked third in the nation, and are hosting an unranked Iowa team that’s lost their only game against good competition. However, I believe Iowa should be a ranked team, and this is Ohio State’s first good competition. They had a ridiculous non-conference schedule, destroying Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall, and then took care of Michigan State last week. Iowa started their season with a win over Illinois State, but then lost by 1 point to Iowa State. They followed that up with an easy win over Troy, and then destroyed Minnesota 2 weeks ago, and had a bye last week. I’ll start with the Hawkeyes, and…
• Kaleb Johnson is not being talked about nearly enough. There are a lot of great running backs in college football this year. Ashton Jeanty, Omarion Hampton, Kyle Monangai, and Ollie Gordon, who's not having a great start to his season, are all being talked about more than Johnson. However, Johnson has better stats than most of these backs. He has 82 carries for 685 yards and 9 touchdowns, averaging 8.4 yards per carry. We all know how bad Iowa’s offense has been in the past few years, but they have improved a little bit this year, as Kaleb Johnson has been able to stay healthy so far. If he can stay healthy for a full year this year, Iowa has a good chance at getting a quality offense for once. Johnson is less than 100 yards away from having a career high in rush yards, and he should be able to reach 1,000 yards, barring injury. Johnson had the best game of his season thus far against Minnesota, rushing 21 times for 206 yards and 3 touchdowns. Johnson’s incredible play has led to Iowa holding the ball on average for 33 minutes. Johnson should have another great game, no matter how well the Ohio State defense plays.
• After a promising start, Cade McNamara has fallen flat. We thought this year would be the year that Iowa’s offense would get it together. No more Brian Ferentz, and Tim Lester, the new Iowa OC, lead pretty good offenses while being the head coach at Western Michigan, should’ve changed things up, right? Although the ground game has improved, the most important and flashy part off an offense, the passing game, has not. Cade McNamara has thrown for 588 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 picks on a 62.7% completion percentage in 4 games. He’s thrown for under 100 yards twice, throwing for 99 yards and 2 picks against Iowa State on a 44.8% completion percentage. Against Minnesota, he threw for just 62 yards on a 58% completion percentage. McNamara hasn’t really done anything though the air in Iowa’s last 2 games, as he’s thrown for a combined 238 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 0 picks. Iowa obviously hasn’t needed to use him as much, but when they call on him, he doesn’t live up to what they need him to do. Against a great Ohio State defense, I don’t think McNamara should be able to have a good game.
• Everyone is overlooking Jeremiah Smith for Ryan Williams. Obviously, Williams has the appeal. He’s 17 years old, and is destroying an elite Georgia defense. Smith is just a year older, but will turn 19 before the end of the season. I would put Williams as the best freshman wide receiver, but Smith is definitely second. He’s caught 19 passes for 364 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’s also ran for a touchdown, which was a 19-yarder last week against Michigan State. Smith also caught 5 passes for 83 yards and another touchdown against MSU. Smith has caught a touchdown in every game, and even caught 2 against Akron. Another reason why Smith has been overlooked in the national spotlight, at least compared to Ryan Williams, is because Smith isn’t the WR1 in his team. Sure, he’s the leading receiver, but Emeka Egbuka is undoubtably the WR1. He’s caught 21 passes for 362 yards and 2 touchdowns. Egbuka has more catches than Smith, and just 2 less yards. The only stat that Smith really beats him in is touchdowns, which he has 3 more of. Don’t forget about Carnell Tate either, who has 14 catches for 220 yards and a touchdown. All 3 of these guys will test Iowa’s defense in a way they haven’t seen this season.
• This will be Will Howard’s first real test. After some quality seasons at Kansas State, Howard transferred in this season, and most of us had some doubts. How would Howard perform against some actual good defenses? Can he surpass the pressure that will be put on him as the starting quarterback at THE Ohio State university, as some people call it? So far this year, he hasn’t looked bad, but that’s came against Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall, and Michigan State. Not exactly great competition, but Howard has thrown for 1,039 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 2 picks. He's ran for 3 touchdowns as well. Both of Howard’s picks came in the last 2 weeks, and Iowa’s defense could keep that streak up. Iowa has picked off opposing quarterbacks 5 times, tied for third most in the Big Ten. Howard had his worst game of his season so far last week, but it was probably a mix of it being Ohio State’s first road game, and their first competition that they didn’t have to pay insane money for. However, Howard will struggle this game, I guarantee it.
Iowa’s home field advantage and Kaleb Johnson will give Ohio State trouble, but the Buckeyes will be able to overcome it, and win 24-14.
10. Baylor @ (16) Iowa State – Iowa has a real chance to win the Big 12 and make the CFP, but need to get past a tricky Baylor team in order to stay on track. I’ll make it quick and start with the Baylor Bears, who…
• Baylor is 2-3, but have given every team problems. We don’t need to talk about their 2 wins, as they dismantled Tarleton State and Air Force. However, their 3 losses are where we start to encounter what Baylor’s been doing this season. Their first season came on the road to Utah, as they lost 23-12. They were down 23-0 in the second quarter, but their field goal opened the scoring for Baylor. Baylor scored 2 times more in the third quarter, but didn’t score at all in the fourth. Things got a lot easier when Cam Rising went out, which made Utah squirm a little. Dequan Finn, the original starter, got injured before the air force game, and Sawyer Robertson took over. Robertson has played great since then, and even though he’s 1-2 as a starter, his play does not reflect that. He’s thrown for 787 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions while rushing for 116 yards and 3 touchdowns. Focusing back on the team, Baylor lost a heartbreaker on the road to Colorado, 38-31 in overtime. This time, Baylor had the game locked up, as they were leading 24-10 in the second quarter. However, they blew the lead to lose. Baylor was up by a touchdown late, but a miracle Hail Mary from Shedeur Sanders, and then a lucky fumble forced by Travis Hunter gave Colorado the win. The following week, Baylor were favorites hosting ranked BYU. In he first half, they weren’t living up to those expectations, as they were down 21-0 at one point, and 31-14 going into half. The defense got stops in the second half, allowing just 1 field goal in the last 2 quarters. The offense scored twice, making the score 34-28. On Baylor’s final drive, Robertson’s pass was intercepted, ending the comeback bid. It feels like if only a few plays went the other way, Baylor could be 4-1, or even undefeated. They have another tough task against Iowa State, who will test Robertson.
• The rushing game has been congregated. This hasn’t been the best thing for Baylor, as they’re averaging 146.2 rush yards per game, sixth worst in the Big 12. They have 190 carries however, fourth best in the conference. The leading back is Bryson Washington, who has the lead by just 1 yard. He has 35 carries for 158 yards and a touchdown, while Dawson Pendergrass has 34 carries for 157 yards and a touchdown. Richard Reese has added 37 carries for 143 yards and a touchdown, while Sawyer Robertson has 116 yards and 3 touchdowns. It goes even deeper than that, however, as Dominic Richardson has 31 carries for 110 yards. All of these guys have a lot of carries, but not a lot of yards. Robertson and Finn have only gone down a combined 9 times, so its most likely a problem wit the running backs. Maybe its because they’re being swapped out every few drives, which has led to no one gaining much momentum, or maybe it is because of the o-line, and they’re just a worse rush blockers than they seem. In order to get the upset this week, Baylor is going to need one, just one, of their backs to put together a quality performance and break out.
• The offense just looked sleepily out their last week. They didn’t play bad last week, in fact they played the opposite, gaining 393 yards and 19 first downs, along with scoring 20 points. They held the ball for 35 minutes as well. However, they had a layup against Houston. Their defense forced 3 turnovers, all on Houston’s last 3 drives. Iowa State scored 10 points off these turnovers. Without these turnovers, Iowa State would’ve won, just 10-0. For a team that’s trying to win their conference, which is the Big 12, a conference notable for having horrible defenses, Iowa State is going to need to step it up big time on offense.
• Iowa State is boasting the best defense in the Big 12. They’re allowing 255.3 yards per game and 7.3 yards per game, both first in the conference. They’re allowing 102.5 pass yards per game, first in the conference, and 152.8 rush yards per game, which is in the middle of the conference. They’ve sacked opposing quarterbacks 9 tines, and have forced 10 turnovers. 7 of those are picks as well. The 3 turnovers Iowa State forced last weeks were big, as it separated the teams. Baylor has played all of the teams they lost to pretty close, so something similar is going to need to happen this week. Iowa State has had some pretty easy competition, as they’ve played North Texas, Iowa, Arkansas State, and Houston. All of these teams either have bad offenses, or just aren’t on the same level as Iowa State. This game will show us how good the Iowa State defense truly is.
Iowa State is a pretty boring team, I will admit, but they get a win in another game where Baylor plays it close. ISU wins, 28-13.
11. Pitt @ North Carolina – Pittsburgh has fought their way for 2 close game, and have clobbered Kent State and Youngstown State while they were at it. As for UNC, their path to this week hasn’t been an easy one. They’ve played 3 different quarterbacks, let up 70 points to James Madison, and blew a lead in a rivalry game last week, as they’ve now lost 2 straight. I’ll start with them, however, and the key to them winning is…
• Jacolby Criswell has to complete passes. Hos overall play has been mostly great, throwing for 890 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 3 picks. He’s been sacked 6 times, however, and has completed 57.7% of his passes. In his last 2 starts, against James Madison and Duke, he completed 58% and 54% of his passes, respectively. He’s been sacked a combined 5 times in these games. Most of the passes that Criswell has missed are key ones as well, which has led to the 2 straight losses for UNC. Late in the stretch, UNC is going to have to throw the ball, and they can’t rely on Omarion Hampton. Although this is his first year starting games, Criswell has been playing college football for 5 years. It does not take 5 years to learn that you need to complete key passes.
• Omarion Hampton has been great in the last few games. He started his season off on a high note, running 30 times for 130 yards, while catching 5 passes for 17 yards in a win over Minnesota. His numbers took a bit of a hit against Charlotte, rushing just 11 times for 77 yards, He flipped a switch against North Carolina Central, rushing 25 times for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was against an FCS team, but Hampton took that momentum into next week and turned it into consistency. He ran 19 times, gaining 150 yards. He also ran for 3 touchdowns again, and caught 3 passes for 34 yards out of the backfield. Although he didn’t score 3 touchdowns last week, Hampton kept up the good play, rushing 29 times for 103 yards. He has once again used out of the backfield in the passing game a lot, as he caught 4 passes for 50 yards. That included a 37-yard catch and run. On the year, Hampton has 114 carries for 658 yards and 6 touchdowns, while catching 13 passes for 107 yards. Its honestly impressive that Hampton leads the country in carries, as Jacolby Criswell threw 48 passes against James Madison and 39 against Duke. No matter how good the Pitt rush defense is, Hampton will be able to have a good game.
• What Eli Holstein has done is no short of amazing. Coming into college, he was a 4-star recruit, and signed to Alabama. He didn’t play at all last year, and transferred to Pitt this year. Holstein won the job in training camp, and has led Pitt to 2 rivalry wins. Holstein has thrown for 1,183 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 2 picks, while rushing for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has been sacked 11 times, but that was the lone knock on his game, and he can’t even control most of it. In the biggest moment of Pitt’s season so far, Holstein went 5/6 for 113 yards and a touchdown, while rushing 5 times for 63 yards on Pitt’s final 2 touchdown drives, which took them from down 34-24 to winning 38-34. Holstein has been great in the normal moments of the game, and even better in the key and stressful parts of the game. If this game does become a close one, Holstein will be able to lead Pitt to the win.
• Desmond Reid will be back for Pitt this week. The Panthers’ leading rusher has rambled for 319 yards and a touchdown off 44 carries in 3 games. He’s been very valuable in the passing game as well, as he’s caught 13 passes for 167 yards and 3 touchdowns. Against Cincy, he had 6 catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and had 2 touchdowns against West Virginia, by far his worst rushing performance. He only had 11 carries for 26 yards. He sat out of the Youngstown State just as a precaution, but will be 100% this week. Reid should make an immediate difference this week because he’s such a threat in the air and on the ground.
Eli Holstein will lead Pitt to the lead, as the Panthers win, 34-21.
12. UCF @ Florida – After starting the season off 3-0, UCF fell at home last week to Colorado. They now shift their focus to the swamp, and the Gators need this win to stay alive for bowl eligibility. This game means a lot for the Knights. They’re 1-5 against the big brothers of the state, those obviously being Miami, Florida, and Florida State. They’re now in the Big 12, and wins like these won’t just grow their brand, they’ll be able to surpass these teams. But first, they have to…
• UCF has to establish the rushing game this week. UCF boasts one of the best rushing offenses in the nation, averaging 326 rush yards per game, second in the nation, only behind Army. RJ Harvey has been one of the best running backs in the country, as he’s ran for 525 yards and 8 touchdowns just on 75 carries. That’s 7 yards per rush. He’s helped out in the pass game as off recently, too, and has 6 catches for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns. Coming into the Colorado game, Harvey was rolling high. He had 29 rushes for 180 yards, and 2 rushing touchdowns, while also catching a 29-yard touchdown 2 weeks prior in a 1-point win over TCU. However, Colorado’s defense, which has been horrible since Coach Prime took over, held Harvey to just 77 rushing yards on 16 carries. They also forced a fumble out of him. Harvey did still impact the game, as he caught 4 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. By the time Harvey couldn’t get it going, Colorado was up big, and UCF needed to pass the ball, so they slowly went away from the run. Other than getting better blocks off, UCF can establish the run by getting stops on defense. If they force Florida off the field a lot in the early parts of this game, it will make it a lot easier to run the ball.
• KJ Jefferson struggled last week. Jefferson had a pretty easy start to this season with the way RJ Harvey was playing, and with him being shut down last week, Jefferson had to step up, and he could not do that. He went 20/35, which is a completion percentage of 57%. He threw 2 picks, both of which were costly errors for UCF, in wildly different ways. The first one in the first half that turned into a Colorado touchdown, and the other coming in the second half when UCF was down by 20. Jefferson was also sacked 5 times, which hurt him a little bit, and hindered his ability to throw great passes. Jefferson still did run for 76 yards and a touchdown, along with throwing for 2 touchdowns. Florida’s defense hasn’t been great this season, but that might not be a good thing for Jefferson. Colorado’s defense has been horrible so far this season, but they corralled Jefferson. If Harvey has a tough time again this week and Jefferson can’t perform, UCF could be in some trouble.
• Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway both looked amazing in Florida’s last game. Mertz started Florida’s first game this season, a 41-17 loss to Miami, and also got injured in that game. He did not play against Samford, and DJ Lagway took over. Granted, it was against an FCS team, but Lagway still looked great. Mertz was able to come back the following week against Texas A&M, and Bill Napier decided to play both of the quarterbacks. Both struggled, but Lagway did especially. He went 6/13 for 54 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 picks. Mertz, on the other hand, went 12/15 for 195 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. Napier continued the 2-QB system against Mississippi State, and both Mertz and Lagway played amazing. They went a combined 26/28, throwing for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns. All of the 3 touchdowns came from Mertz, but Lagway led Florida on 2 long touchdown drives. The first was 10 plays, 91 yards, and took 3 minutes off the clock, finishing right before the end of the first half. The second drive was also 10 plays, 93 yards, and this time took 5 minutes and 50 seconds off the clock. Neither of them threw any picks, and honestly, I think Napier should continue the system. It obviously worked last week, and that type of momentum carries from week to week, even though Florida had a bye last week. If things start to go sour with the system this week, Napier should make a change going into the Tennessee game, because that game will have astronomical effects of Florida’s season.
• Florida’s defense was been horrible this season. They’re dead last in pass defense in the SEC, and have the second worst rush defense and allow the second most points in the conference, putting them at second worst in the SEC, just beating out Mississippi State. They’re allowing 425.5 yards per game and 27.3 points per game. They have just 3 turnovers this season, and only 1 of those is a pick. They have 8 sacks as well, tied for third worst in the conference. They got destroyed by Mississippi State, allowing 480 yards and 31 first downs, along with 28 points. Mississippi State scored 17 points against Toledo. They’re going to need to channel their inner Colorado, and come up big. If they can’t, Florida certainly loses this game.
Mertz and Lagway will play good once again, but UCF gets back on track this week, and beats Florida in the “feared” Swamp, 30-20.
13. Texas Tech @ Arizona – For both of these teams, it looked like their seasons where over at one point. For Texas Tech, they nearly lost to Abeline Christian in week 1, and then lost to Washington State the next week. However, they’ve rattled off 3 straight wins, 2 of them being one score games. As for Arizona, they struggled a bit in their first 2 games, and then got blown out by Kansas State in week 3. After a bye week, they upset Utah on the road, and now have new life in the truly wide open Big 12, I don’t care what y’all say. However, one of these teams small but mighty CFP hopes will go out the window with a loss this week. I’ll start with the Wildcats, and…
• Arizona’s defense came up big last week. 2 weeks off letting up 31 points on the road to Kansas State, Arizona let up just 10, once again on the road. Things were even tougher against Utah, as the Utes held the ball for 2 and a half more minutes than Kansas State did. Arizona forced 2 turnovers, and stopped Utah on fourth downs 4 times, including on the Utes’ first 2 drives. The forced Isaac Wilson to complete just 50% of his passes, and after Micah Bernard ran for 182 yards the week prior, they held him to 91. Arizona’s defense got exposed against Kansas State, but I think this game against Utah is going to be a performance more like them.
• Noah Fifita finally learned how to throw to someone other than Tetairoa McMillan. TMac still had the most catches, with 6, but they only went for 50 yards, and McMillan did not find the endzone for the third straight game. Keyan Burnett took some of McMillan’s usual targets away, and he came down with 5 catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. Coming into the game, Burnett had just 3 catches for 49 yards. However, he had a breakout game last week, and should get a solid amount of targets this week. Outside of Burnett and McMillan, however, no one else had more than 2 catches. Fifita still has some room for improvement, but last week was a big step in the right direction.
• Another marvelous performance from the Texas Tech offense. Averaging 486.4 yards per game, second in the Big 12, and 41.6 points per game, first in the conference, Texas Tech has had great performances out of their offense almost every week. That trend continued last week, as TTU put up 37 points and 482 yards. TTU won 44-41, and the other touchdown from Texas Tech came on a 51-yard interception return in the fourth quarter. Behren Morton went 19/29, throwing for 251 yards and 2 touchdowns. He continued his great season that’s seen him throw for 1,426 yards and 14 touchdowns, with only 2 picks. Josh Kelly was the leading receiver, and came down with 8 of Morton’s oases, turning them into 111 yards. Coy Eakin had just 3 catches, but had 80 yards and 2 touchdowns off them. The real star of the show for the Texas Tech offense last week was Tahj Brooks, who ran 32 times for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s played in 4 games for Texas Tech this year, and has ran for at least 110 yards in all of them. He has the second most carries in the country as well, with 103. Even though the offense had a great game, they didn’t even have the best performance of the game because…
• Texas Tech’s defense had an abysmal performance last week. That wasn’t a revelation, either, as TTU is allowing 463 yards per game and 34.4 points per game, second and worst in the Big 12. The defense allowed 55 yards and 29 first downs, along with 41 points. Cincy also held the ball for 32 minutes, which didn’t help the red Raiders offense, either. The defense did force 2 turnovers, but that wasn’t enough to compensate for the 55 yards and 41 points allowed. TTU couldn’t get a stop on fourth down, as the Bearcats went 2-2 on the down. Texas Tech has the worst pass defense in the Big 12 as well, allowing 309.4 pass yards per game. Not only is that worst in the Big 12, not only is it the worst out of all P-4 teams, it’s the third worst in the country. They got exposed last week once again, allowing 426 yards from Brendan Sorsby. But hey, that’s Big 12 football, right? They’re going to need to play like a sub-par defense this week, because they’re currently playing like a sub-bogey defense.
This game will the most Big 12 game you’ll see in a while, and it doesn’t hurt that this game is going to be taking at 10 PM at night. However, Texas Tech wins another shootout, 49-38.
14. Virginia Tech @ Stanford – After 2 straight games all the way across the country, Stanford finally returns home to host their first ACC game ever. They take on a 3 loss Virginia Tech team that’s coming off what could be the most controversial call of the season. I’ll start with the Cardinal and…
• Ashton Daniels looked horrible last week. Daniels has not been having a good season so far, and he went 9/19 for just 71 yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 picks last week. He did 87 yards on the ground, but you know when you have more rushing yards than passing yards, you need to change something up. Clemson’s defense has been pretty good this season, I’ll give Daniels that, but not good enough to make him play like that. Elic Ayomanor did have an alright game, catching 4 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown. Now, Daniels did end up getting hurt, and is questionable for this game. If he can’t go, it will be Justin Lamson, who stepped in last week, going 4/8 for 54 yards and a touchdown. He’ll have to rely on Ayomanor through the air, but Stanford will most likely be very run heavy of Daniels can’t go. That’ll make…
• Micah Ford will be the number 1 option for Stanford this week. Remember, this is only if Ashton Daniels can’t play. After barely playing in Stanford’s first 3 games, Ford broke out of the Cardinal last week, rushing 15 times and gaining 122 yards. All the eyes won’t be on him on the ground, however, as Lamson himself can run. He has all of Stanford’s rushing touchdowns right now, which is just 2. Both of those guys, but Ford especially, will be garnering the most eyes from the Virginia Tech defense.
• Controversy aside, VT played a great game last week. Kyron Drones had another Kyron Drones-esque performance, completing 57.6% of his passes for 190 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He was sacked just once, and ran for 52 yards. He could’ve added 30 yards and another touchdown, but you’ll hear my stance on the call when I talk about Miami and Cal. Bhayshul Tuten had a big day on the ground, rushing 19 times for 141 yards and a touchdown, and Jaylin Lane had another rushing touchdown for the Hokies. On defense, VT forced 3 turnovers picking off Heisman candidate Cam Ward twice. They did allow 508 yards and 24 touchdowns, but they were playing Miami, what do you expect? They held the Canes’ leading rusher to just 60 yards as well, and are going to need to do the same to Micah Ford this week.
• Virginia Tech surprisingly has a good wide receiver room. For a team that throws as little as they do, I was not expecting VT’s wide receivers to have stats like this. Jaylin Lane is the leading receiver with 21 catches for 300 yards, and a touchdown. Stephen Gosnell has 12 catches for 223 yards, while his brother, Benji, has 14 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown. Ali Jennings has added 4 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Kyron Drones really spreads the ball out, but still consistently finds his top target, Jaylin Lane. If they can do this again this week, their record could be back to equal.
I think they can, and VT spoils Stanford’s ACC home opener, 24-13.
15. (8) Miami @ Cal – College GameDay is coming to Cal for the first time ever, and they get to host a red-hot Miami with one of the most entertaining players in the country. They get to do it late at night as well, which will certainly give Miami some fits. I’ll start with the Canes, and it was…
• It was a not a catch last week. On the final play of Miami’s game last week, Kyron Drones sat in the pocket, and launched the ball to the back of the end zone, where it seemed to be an incomplete pass, and that’s what all of Miami thought. The team ran over the field, but the refs called it a touchdown, so then Virginia Tech started to run over the field. However, the refs then took a look at the play in the replay booth and reversed the call, and Miami went crazy again. I do believe it was not a catch, as when the VT receiver went down to the ground, the ball bounced out of his hands, meaning he did not survive going to the ground. I’m sure this play is going to create like 5 more new catch rules, but the play not being a catch is just my personal opinion. Also, do I really need a bullet point to talk about Miami? Its basically just Cam Ward does everything on offense, but they need Damien Martinez to step up week after week, and nothing is really going wrong on defense.
• Cal is going to need to protect their quarterback this week. Cal’s last game came 2 weeks ago at Florida State, and Cal decided to be nice and give FSU their first win of the season. It was a nightmare day for the offensive line, as Cal averaged just 2.9 yards per rush, and Fernando Mendoza went down 7 times. Mendoza was sacked in total 16 times last year, and he’s already matched that mark 4 games into the season. He was sacked 6 times against SDSU the week prior as well. Miami leads the ACC in sacks, with 17, and that’s going to be a huge problem for the Cal o-line. If they can’t keep Mendoza upright, they can’t win, its as simple as that.
Miami will be able to run through the Cal o-line like a hot knife through butter, and the Canes win in Cal’s first time hosting College GameDay, 34-18. I do think that the aspect of it being a night game and one of the biggest games in modern history, Cal will be able to give Miami some struggles.
16. Colorado State @ Oregon State – Both teams are coming off a bye week, and this is a pivotal game for CSU to win. Sitting at 2-2, the need this win to get more momentum going into a tough game next week against San Jose State. As for Oregon State, they blew Purdue out of the water in their last game, and play much tougher competition in the Mountain West scheduling agreement. I’ll start with the Beavs, and…
• Oregon State dominated on the ground in their last game. Rushing 57 times, Oregon State gained 341 yards, which is exactly 6 yards per rush. This helped Oregon State control the ball for 40 minutes and 15 seconds. Jam griffin had 22 carries, rushing for 137 yards and a touchdown. Anthony Hankerson added 20 rushes for 90 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Gevani McCoy had 10 carries for 66 yards. Zachary Card had a touchdown himself, bringing to total up to 4 rushing touchdowns. Oregon State is averaging 267.8 rush yards per game, seventh best in the nation. Oregon State should rush all over their opponents, and it doesn’t matter how good the Colorado State defense is.
• Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi has not looked good this season. After an alright 2023 with obvious problems that he needed to fix, I thought BFN could do so and put together a solid 2024. However, his completion percentage dropped to just above the 50’s, he's thrown for 2 touchdowns and 4 picks, and just 600 yards as well. Although he hasn’t ever ran that much in his career, not adding anything to the ground does not help his case at all. He’s going to have to step it up big time in order to lead Colorado State to the win.
Oregon State’s defense will have their way with BFN, and the Beavs win, 38-14.
17. West Virginia @ Oklahoma State – Week 6’s Big 12 Mid Game of the Week pits together a sliding Oklahoma State hosting a 2-2 West Virginia, who needed a last second touchdown to beat Kansas in their last game. They had a bye week last week. I’ll start with the Pokes, however, and…
• Ollie Gordon II finally bounced back. After 3 straight weeks of horrible games, especially for Gordon’s standards. He ran for about 14 carries each game and had 40-something yards. He only scored 1 touchdown in that time. He did catch a combined 6 catches for 40 yards during those 3 weeks, however. Although it wasn’t the classic Ollie Gordon performance we all know, as he ran 15 times for 76 yards and caught 3 passes for 20 yards, his yards per rush went from about 3 in the past 3 weeks to 5 against K-State. That’s a step in the right direction for Gordon, and hopefully he can continue walking up the steps to another 1,000-yard season. Gordon has 88 carries for 334 yards and 4 touchdowns this year.
• Garrett Greene has not had the season we expected. After a breakout campaign last year, that saw him throw for 2,400 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions, while run for 772 yards and 13 touchdowns, we thought Green was going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12, and could even be a dark horse Heisman candidate. However, that has not been the case. He’s thrown for 902 yards, which isn’t bad for 4 games into the season, but has thrown 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. All 4 of these interceptions came in WVU’s last 2 games. Greene threw just 4 interceptions all of last year. Greene was also sacked just 5 times last year. He’s gone down 9 times already. On the ground, Greene has 210 yards and 2 touchdowns. His completion percentage went up from 53% last year to 57% this year, so that hasn’t changed much either. Theres been only one game where he completed 60% or more of his passes, which came against Albany, the only non P-4 team WVU has played so far. Greene struggled against Kansas, throwing 2 picks, completing half of his passes, and being sacked 3 times. If he can minimize the mistakes this week, WVU will get in the win collum.
The Oklahoma defense has been horrible all season, but their offense has been competent enough, even with bad play from Ollie Gordon. That leads to Oklahoma State getting the 28-17 win.
18. (11) USC @ Minnesota – After leading his team to a comeback win, Miller Moss and the Trojans have another opponent that could give them trouble, that being the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Minnesota nearly had a comeback win of their own last week, as they fought from down 21 to start the fourth quarter, just to lose by 3. I’ll start with the Golden Gophers as well, and they’re…
• Minnesota is going to have to get the running game going. In recent times, Minnesota has embodied the run-heavy offenses in the Big Ten. But that was with Mo Ibrahim, one of the best backs in school history. Darius Taylor stepped up last year, and had 800 yards. However, he missed a lot of games, so Jordan Nubin was the starter for most of the year. He ran for 560 yards. But so far this year, with a fully healthy Taylor, Minnesota has not gotten the ground game to work. They’re averaging 101.4 rush yards per game this season, second worst in the Big Ten, beating out UCLA. They’re rushing game hit rock bottom last week, as they had just 38 yards on 25 carries, which is 1.5 yards per rush. When Minnesota should’ve established the ground game, they couldn’t. That led to them falling behind, and eventually abandoned the running game altogether in the hopes of getting a comeback, upset win. Minnesota will have to change that this week.
• Miller Moss keeps putting together great game. Moss has thrown for 1,198 yards, 8 touchdowns, and just 2 picks this year, and has USC at 3-1, and could’ve even been undefeated. In Miller Moss’s first real test, he threw for 378 yards and a touchdown, which was a late one that gave USC the lead. USC has had just 1 layup so far this year, and Moss unsurprisingly looked good against Utah State, throwing for 230 yards and a touchdown. After he bye week, USC took on Michigan in their first Big Ten game. After falling behind 14-0 early and 20-10 late in the third, Miller Moss kept USC in the game both times. He finished with 283 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a pick. He did complete just 55% of his passes, but he threw 51. Moss had a similar game against Wisconsin the next week, throwing for 308 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He also ran for his first touchdown of his season. Once again, Moss kept USC in the game when the Trojans fell behind 21-10 at half. All 4 of moss’s touchdowns came in the second half. When USC doesn’t need Moss, USC rolls to an easy win. When USC calls on Moss, things are going to get rough for USC, but Moss keeps them in the game.
Miller Moss and USC roll to an easy win, 34-13.
19. Purdue @ Wisconsin – After such a promising week 1, Purdue has lost 3 straight, and decided to fire their offensive coordinator, Graham Harrell. They now have to take on a sliding Wisconsin, who blew a first half lead to USC. I’ll start with the Boilermakers, and…
• Firing Graham Harrell isn’t going to change much. When Harrell was a player, he set many NCAA records, and has thrown for the fourth most passing yards all time. So, I would say he knows a thing or two about offense. He studied and played under the late great Mike Leach, and tried to bring the air raid to Purdue. However, that hasn’t worked as well as Harrell hoped, as Purdue is averaging 172.3 pass yards per game so far this season, fourth worst in the Big Ten. Hudson Card has thrown for just 627 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 4 picks. That might not look like bad stats, but 4 of his touchdowns came back in week 1 against Indiana State. Purdue hasn’t gooten a single FBS win, and I think they have just 1 more real chance to get one, which comes on November 2nd against Northwestern at home. Out of Purdue’s remaining opponents, 5 of them are ranked, and 3 of those games are on the road. Firng Harrell isn’t going to change much because of how good of an offensive mastermind he’s been, and we’ve seen his scheme work here at Purdue. Eventually, it comes down to the guys Purdue has on offense, and the lack of good receivers is a reason why they’ve been so bad through the air.
• How do you blow that lead? Wisconsin was the obvious under dogs last week, and the fact that their quarterback was out did not help. However, after letting up an early touchdown from the Trojans, Wisconsin scored 3 touchdowns of their own and held USC to just 3 more points. Wisconsin picked Miller Moss off on USC’s third drive, but then punted away. However, USC muffed the punt, and Wisconsin scored the very next play. A few drives later, Wisconsin forced another fumble, but punted again. Wisco went into the half up 21-10, forced 3 turnovers, and most importantly, Brayden Locke was playing well. But the entire game flipped on Wisconsin’s head in the second half. After punting on their opening drive, they forced USC to punt, and muffed a punt of their own. USC would score 9 plays later. Wisconsin then could not complete a fourth down, and punted 2 more times. At this point, USC was up 31-21. That’s where things went from bad to worse, as Brayden Locke was picked off and Mason Cobb returned it 55 yards for a touchdown, sealing Wisconsin’s fate. One of the major reasons why Wisconsin lost was because of the time of possession. Because they went from up big to down pretty fast, they had to start throwing the ball and abandoning the ground game. Wisconsin had just 25 carries overall. USC took advantage of that, as they held the ball for 40 minutes. Locke struggled a lot in the second half, and The Badgers defense couldn’t get a stop in the second half. The Wisco defense should have an easier time this week with a new OC on Purdue’s side, that being Jason Simmons. Hopefully Wisconsin can bounce back after 2 bad quarters last week, otherwise their fainting playoff hopes will be gone.
The Purdue offense shouldn’t get much better, and Wisconsin wins, 29-7.
20. (15) Clemson @ Florida State – We finally got some good news out of Tallahassee, and that was that DJ Uiagalelei will not be playing this week, as he suffered a finger injury. Now, how legit is that finger injury? Probably not that legit, and is just a cover up for the benching, but FSU now has a good chance to string together a few wins with out DJU’s mistakes. As for Clemson, their high-flying offense continues, as they blew out 3 straight opponents at home, but now have a true road game against Florida State.
• Should Cade Klubnik be talked about in the Heisman race. I was as close to putting Klubnik in my top 5 Heisman candidates as Virginia Tech was to getting that catch call to go their way against Miami last week, and for good reason. Jaxson Dart and Carson Beck both struggled, while Klubnik shined for his third straight game. Now, Klubnik did have the worst completion percentage of his season so far last week, as he completed just 48.4% of his passes. He had a pick to go along with it. However, he threw for 255 yards, and had 5 total touchdowns in Clemson’s 40-14 win over Stanford. That means that on the year, Klubnik has thrown for 984 yards, 12 touchdowns, and just 2 picks. He’s ran for 4 touchdowns as well, and has been sacked just 3 times. We were all to quick to wright Clemson off, but they turned it around, especially Klubnik.
• Brock Glenn will be the new starter. If you remember what happened at quarterback last year for FSU, then you would remember that Tate Rodemaker filled in for Jordan Travis last year, but then got an injury himself, and Glenn had to fill in for the 2 biggest games of FSU’s season. Glenn played poor in both the ACC championship game and the Orange Bowl, and went 17/47 for 194 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 picks combined in those games. Travis’ eligibility was up, so he had to go to the NFL, and Rodemaker decided to transfer to Southern Miss. Norvell didn’t have trust in Glenn, and he went to the transfer portal and found DJU, but that hasn’t worked out so far this year. Now, with DJU’s “injury”, Glenn will have to be the starter for at least a few weeks. He played a little bit last week against SMU, and went 0/4. Glenn will definitely struggle this week, and could even get benched for Luke Kromenhoek if he really struggles.
Clemson should throw the ball all over FSU, and Clemson wins big, 40-13.
21. Michigan State @ (6) Oregon – after struggling the first 2 weeks, Oregon has looked flawless in their past 2 games, and now have their Big Ten home opener. Michigan State was unsurprisingly blown out by Ohio State last week, and now have another top 10 team to play. However, Aiden Chiles…
• Aiden Chiles finally looked good. Well, kind of. Chiles’ numbers were still bad last week, as he went 13/19 for 167 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. Obviously, those numbers should not go in the same sentence as looked good. However, for Chiles that’s a step in the right direction. His completion percentage is 56.3% so far this season, and he threw 2 or more picks in 3 of his prior 4 games coming into the week. Its also good numbers when you learn that Chiles’ opponent was the Ohio State defense, one of the best in the nation. If Chiles can build on his improving play, he could have actual good stats this week. It will be tough going up against a good Oregon defense, but if that’s what Chiles did against Ohio State’s defense, he can definitely do better against Oregon.
• Oregon hitting their stride all has to do with their wide receivers. Yes, Dillon Gabriel and the running game also play a big part in the Oregon offense, but you can’t make either of things go with out making some completions. Tez Johnson is coming off a monster game last week, catching 11 passes for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. One was 12, the other was 52. Behind Johnson was Traeshon Holden, who had 5 catches for 57 yards and a touchdown. On top of that, Terrence Ferguson and Evan Stewart combined for just 4 catches, so if that’s what the Oregon offense is doing right now by barely using them, imagine what they could be doing with them.
Oregon has another big offensive performance, and stifle Aiden Chiles on their way to a 45-18 win.
22. (23) Indiana @ Northwestern – Indiana is ranked for the first time in what feels like forever, and need 1 more win to go bowling for just the 14th time in school history. They can get that win by taking down Northwestern, who's 2-2, and coming off a bye. I’ll start with the Hoosiers, and…
• Will Jack Lausch be able to rebound? Preseason starter Mike Wright was benched after bad play in Northwestern’s first 2 games, which opened the starting QB spot up for Jack Lausch. Lausch looked pretty good against Eastern Illinois, but who wouldn’t? Lausch went 20/31 for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing for 62 yards. However, he did a complete 180 the next week, as Lausch went 8/27 for 53 yards and 2 picks, while rushing for 21 yards. Washington’s defense is pretty good, and Indiana’s might be better, so Lausch will once again go up against a great defense. However, the bye week might be enough for Lausch to rebound and play well.
• Indiana finally showed their first struggles. Indiana came into their game last week, a contest with Maryland, with a big task at hand on defense. They had to shut down Tai Felton, Maryland’s star receiver. They were doing that, as they held Felton to 5 catches for 38 yards throughout his stay in the game. In the third quarter, Felton exited the game and was out for the rest of the second half with a head injury. Even though Maryland’s star receiver was out, Indiana’s offense made some key mistakes, which kept Maryland in a game where their star receiver got hurt. Indiana had 4 turnovers on offense, 2 picks and 2 fumbles. Kurtis Rourke, Indiana’s quarterback, threw the 2 picks and also lost a fumble. Those interceptions were the first of his year so far. The other fumble came from Kaelon Black, who fumbled the ball in the midst of an 8-yard rush. That was also the first fumble of his season. None of these fumbles turned into points for Maryland, which just goes to show how well the Indiana defense is.
The Indiana offense should rebound, and the defense picks of Jack Lausch multiple times, as IU wins, 35-8.
23. Auburn @ (5) Georgia – Although they lost, Georgia still has a lot of momentum coming into this game. They came back in the second half against Bama, and that could lead to a great first half for the Dawgs, who can still make it to Atlanta. As for Auburn, they Auburn’d the game away last week, as they were up with ball with under 5 minutes left. However, they threw pick six, and couldn’t put the ball back in the end zone. I’ll start with the Tigers, and…
• Maybe it’s time for Hugh Freeze to stop calling the plays. Freeze didn’t call the plays last year, and Auburn ended up going 6-7, but almost beat Georgia, Ole Miss, and Alabama. That makes me think that Montgomery was not the problem, and with Hugh Freeze calling the plays, Auburn looks a lot worse out there on offense. Like I stated in the intro, Auburn had the ball while up with under 5 minutes to left, but then threw a pick six. What I failed to mention, however, that Auburn had the ball on Oklahoma’s side of the field. It was 3rd and 4, so I get why you would want to pass, but you were just 3 yards away from being in field goal range, you can run the ball. Even if you don’t get three yards or the first down, you can either try to make the field goal, or pin Oklahoma deep on the own side of the field. OU did have 2 timeouts left, along with the 2-minute timeout, but you had 2 timeouts yourself. Even if you let up a touchdown, you could still drive down and get into field goal range. That play call really confused me watching it in real time, and that has held up while I’m writing this. If Freeze makes more play calls like that, not only could he be forced to give up play calling duties, he could be fired altogether.
• Georgia suffered from a lack of a ground game last week. In the early game, when you supposed to develop the run, Georgia couldn’t do that. Along with some early mistakes by Carson Beck, Georgia fell into an early hole, and that forced Georgia to throw the ball 50 times, and abandon the running game. They can’t do that again this week, otherwise they have a good shot at losing again. Trevor Eitenne was the leading rusher, with 12 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown. No one else on Georgia had double-digit receiving yards, and the only other touchdown was one by wide receiver Dillon Bell, and it was 3 yards long. Georgia should be able to get back to the rushing game this week, which helps Carson Beck out a ton.
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry will become the Deep South’s Biggest Blowout of the season, as Georgia tramples Auburn, 48-10.
24. (4) Tennessee @ Arkansas – Outside of Alabama, the biggest winner of that Bama-Georgia game could be Tennessee, at least for the time being. Tennessee had a bye week last week, so they get to move up into the top 4 for doing basically nothing this season. Although being in the top 4 now means less that we have a 12-team playoff, it’s still a great sign of things to come for Tennessee. As for Arkansas, they led once again against Texas A&M, and lost. Taylen Green made questionable plays, but my bullet point won’t be about Green and how he should be benched, although is till think he should. I’ll start with the Razorbacks, and why…
• Why did Arkansas not use Ja’Quinden Jackson last week? He was the SEC’s leading rusher coming into the game, and luckily still is after last week. He has 79 carries for 509 yards and 9 touchdowns on the year, but his numbers should be higher than they already are. Jackson got just 10 carries for 37 yards last week. He did get a touchdown, however. What really baffles me is that Jackson had 3 catches for 36 yards last week. How did the SEC’s leading rusher, have basically the same amount of receiving yards as rushing yards in one of the biggest games of your season? Its one thing if you get a lot of carries and don’t perform well, but it’s another if you don’t get a lot of carries and make the most of it like Jackson did. Its so confusing why Bobby Petrino decided to continue to use Taylen Green, who was obviously struggling, when you have one of the best running backs in the nation sitting right there. Arkansas is going to have to use Ja’Quinden Jackson more in order to upset the Vols.
• The defense was lights out against Oklahoma. I would consider that the OU game was Tennessee’s first real test, because NC State is not looking too good this season. Tennessee’s defense played a near perfect game, and forced the benching of Jackson Arnold. The only reason why Tennessee let up those 2 late touchdowns were because of the lack of tape on Michael Hawkins Jr., and that’s why when backup quarterbacks come into games, they usually play pretty well. Tennessee allowed just 222 yards and 16 first downs, while forcing 3 turnovers and even getting a safety. They played a near perfect game, and could do it again this week with the extra week to rest.
The Vols defense should be able to force Taylen Green into bad situations, and Ja’Quinden Jackson won’t be able to get going, while the Tennessee offense continues to shine. Tennessee wins, 38-14. Arkansas should be able to hang early, and their hoe field advantage plays a role in it.
25. Wake Forest @ NC State – At what point do we move Wake Forest out of the ACC. Everyone’s talking about how FSU wants to leave because they think the competition in the ACC is not who they should be playing, and that’s partly true. The only competition in the ACC that Wake Forest should be playing is Wake Forest, because they’re both horrible. Wake Forest is coming into this game at 1-3, just losing to Louisiana. As for NC State, they got into a close game with Northern Illinois. Just like how the Big 12 Mid Game of the Week started, maybe I should start the ACC Worse than Failing your Test Game. I’ll start with the Wolfpack, and the only reason why…
• The only reason why NC State won last week was because they forced turnovers. NC State was outgained by 100 yards last week, as they had just 176 yards in the win. They had 11 first downs, and went 1-11 on third downs. They gained just 68 rush yards as well. The NC State defense rose up to the challenge, however, and forced 4 turnovers. They had 2 picks and 2 fumbles, returning a fumble for a touchdown. The other fumble came on NIU’s 1, and NC State punched it in 3 plays later. As for the interceptions, they came on NIU’s last 2 drives, and the last one ended a 64-yard drive the Huskies had, clinching the game for NC State. If NC State can’t force turnovers this week, I don’t know how they will win. NC State’s offense has been pretty bad this season, and their defenses gives way like they did against Clemson, NC State is all out of luck.
• One thing Wake Forest did do well last week was run. If I were to talk about how Wake Forest lost last week, I would go on a full-page rant, so I’m not. I’ll focus on the few positives they had, the main one being their ground game. As a team, Wake Forest had 37 carries for 218 yards and 4 touchdowns. They only had 3 rushers as well. Demond Clairborne led the way, with 12 carries for 94 yards and a 60-yard touchdown. Hank Bachmeier was the second leading receiver, with 65 yards. He had a pretty good game through the air, and his ground game added to a good performance. As for the final rusher, who was Tate Carney, he had a great game. He had 17 carries for 60 yards and 3 touchdowns. His touchdowns were all 1 yard long. He’s more of a power back than Clairborne, and that was why he was one the field down there. Hopefully Wake Forest can keep their rushing game at the same level, otherwise they will be blown out.
I think NC State can minimize the Wake Forest rushing game, and the advantage of the game being at home leads the Wolfpack to a 31-7 win.
My top 5 Heisman Candidates:
1. Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama – After being benched around this time last season, Milroe has risen back up to the top of the college football world, marked by his dominant performance against Georgia. Leading Alabama to one of the biggest wins in modern times, Milroe went 27/33 for 374 yards and 2 touchdowns. His completion percentage of 81.8% is the best of his career. Milroe did throw a pick, but he didn’t let it phase him. Milroe was great on the ground, rushing 16 times for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s ran for 2 touchdowns in all of Bama’s games so far. On the year, Jalen Milroe has thrown for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has just 1 pick, the one he threw against Geogia’s defense. He’s ran for 273 yards and 8 touchdowns as well, tied for the most rushing touchdowns in the nation by a quarterback. Milroe now has a signature Heisman moment, his 75-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Williams that clinched Alabama the win. The Tide should have an easy game this week with Vanderbilt on the schedule, but then again, I said that about Jaxson Dart and Ole Miss before playing Kentucky.
2. Cam Ward, QB, Miami – Ward led Miami back into their game after fumbling and throwing 2 picks, and just like Milroe, he didn’t let it phase him. Ward went 24/38 for 343 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also ran for 57 yards and a touchdown. All of Miami’s points that came in the second half came from Ward, including a 17-yard QB keeper. Just like Milroe, Ward had a Heisman moment of his own. Ward broke out of a sack, and before going down in another sack, Ward flipped the ball to Riley Williams, who ran 26 yards down to VT’s 1. The next play, Ward threw the game winning touchdown. Controversy aside, Ward willed the Canes to a win after his mistakes. Yes, he turned the ball over 3 times, but great players find ways to win. Ward has thrown for 1,782 yards, the second most in the nation, along with 18 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. His touchdowns are the most in the country. Ward has also ran for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns. Miami has Cal this week, and with the Golden Bears hosting College GameDay, their opponents are going to push Miami to the edge.
3. Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oregon – Oregon unsurprisingly took down UCLA easily, winning 34-13. It was their first Big Ten win in their first Big Ten game, and Gabriel was at the forefront of Oregon’s win. He went 31/41 for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns, along with a pick. His touchdowns were 12 and 52 yards long. He had two 12-yard touchdown passes. Gabriel has thrown for 1,192 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 1 pick so far this year, along with 2 rushing touchdowns. Gabriel and Oregon have been coasting so far this season, and they have another seemingly easy game this week, taking on Michigan State at home.
4. Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado – Not only does Travis Hunter re-appear on this list, he’s coming at 4. If my list was extended last week, I would’ve had Hunter at 6th. However, with a down game from Carson Beck and Jaxson Dart, Hunter moves up. Hunter was once again excellent, catching 9 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. Although it was his first game this season under 100 receiving yards, Colorado still got a big win. Hunter had 2 tackles and a pass deflection, along with an interception. Following that interception, Hunter hit the Heisman pose. Although he definitely has a shot, he should save that pose for later in Colorado’s season. Hunter has caught 46 passes for 561 yards and 6 touchdowns, and has 11 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 3 pass deflections, and 2 picks this year. Travis Hunter is really close to setting career highs in all of his stats this year, both offense and defense. Colorado has a bye week this week, but have Kansas State the next. That game is where we will see if Colorado has really improved.
5. Carson Beck, QB, Georgia – Georgia lost a big game last week, and Beck struggled mightily. He completed just over 50% of his passes, going 27/50. He threw 3 picks as well, 1 leading to an Alabama touchdown and another being the game-clinching interception for Bama. It wasn’t all bad from Beck, however. He still threw for 440 yards and 3 touchdowns, and led Georgia to a near comeback. The 3 picks are still too hard to overlook, and that’s why Beck has fallen back to fifth. Georgia has another Alabama team this week, taking on Auburn at home.