Here are the latest rankings for the week as we have completed the 9th week of the college football season. Here are the rankings...
FBS
1. Alabama 8-0, 1932
2. Oregon 8-0, 1889
3. Northern Illinois 8-0, 1721
4. Ohio State 8-0, 1677
5. Baylor 7-0, 1654
6. Florida State 7-0, 1641
7. Ball State 8-1, 1547
8. Fresno State 7-0, 1420
9. Stanford 7-1, 1417
10. Miami 7-0, 1353
11. Louisville 7-1, 1351
12. Oklahoma 7-1, 1346
13. Texas Tech 7-1, 1306
14. Central Florida 6-1, 1283
15. Missouri 7-1, 1278
16. Clemson 7-1, 1221
17. Michigan 6-1, 1207
18. Michigan State 7-1, 1175
19. Auburn 7-1, 1166
20. LSU 7-2, 1131
21. Houston 6-1, 1120
22. Oklahoma State 6-1, 1098
23. South Carolina 6-2, 1077
24. Rice 6-2, 1055
25. Oregon State 6-2, 1023
The Next Ten
BYU, Notre Dame, Texas, UCLA, Texas A&M, Buffalo, Ohio, Duke, Minnesota, Wisconsin
The Bottom Ten
UMass, Eastern Michigan, Air Force, California, Southern Mississippi, Western Michigan, New Mexico State, UConn, Miami (Ohio), Georgia State
FCS
1. Fordham 8-0, 1989
2. Towson 8-1, 1952
3. Coastal Carolina 8-0, 1947
4. North Dakota State 8-0, 1800
5. Eastern Illinois 7-1, 1754
6. Youngstown State 7-1, 1624
7. Maine 7-1, 1538
8. Bethune-Cookman 7-1, 1512
9. McNeese State 7-1, 1449
10. Charleston Southern 8-1, 1406
11. Samford 6-2, 1357
12. Jackson State 7-2, 1332
13. SE Louisiana 6-2, 1283
14. Sam Houston State 6-2, 1206
15. Eastern Washington 6-2, 1174
16. Alcorn State 7-2, 1160
17. Delaware 6-2, 1142
18. Tennessee State 7-2, 1119
19. Northern Arizona 6-2, 1099
20. Montana State 6-2, 1084
21. Princeton 5-1, 1077
22. Chattanooga 6-2, 1075
23. Alabama State 6-2, 1057
24. Old Dominion 5-3, 1044
25. Dayton 6-2, 1027
The Next Ten
Harvard, Lehigh, Sacred Heart, Jacksonville State, Montana, Prairie View, Southern Utah, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, UT-Martin
The Bottom Ten
Savannah State, Mississippi Valley State, VMI, Northern Colorado, Campbell, Valporaiso, Columbia, Stetson, Grambling, Davidson
Monday, October 28, 2013
Week 9 Under Review
Week Nine is now in the books, and we are starting to get a clear look at who is in the running for conference titles and national aspirations moving forward as we head into the final full month of the 2013 College Football schedule.
It hardly seems possible that we have come so far so fast in terms of what's been played, but once again, here we are, getting ready for the final fights for BCS title games and bowl slots. Coming up this week, we will be back on our regular schedule, as we will take a look at our FBS and FCS rankings, renew our weekly look at the Hot Seat and the Dead Pool (there is much movement there), and we will also start looking at skill position player of the year candidates, as well as coach of the year candidates.
One more piece we have coming is a final look at the issues that are plaguing not only Grambling State's football program, but issues taking place in several SWAC schools that could spell trouble for the institutions that make up the HBCU system in general. We are in the process of researching some interesting statistical information that shows how far behind these institutions have fallen in some regards, and what can be done to possibly fix the problems, and possibly save the HBCU institution. This piece goes beyond college football, and digs into the politics and the academics behind the problems that exist and contributed to the debacle that occurred two weeks ago when Grambling State players created a protest that has now gone into legal ramifications for the university.
All of this is coming up this week, so buckle up and take the ride! As for now, here's a look at the week that was...
AAC
Bowl Eligible: Houston, UCF, Louisville
Still In Play: Cincinnati, Rutgers, SMU
Bowl Ineligible: UConn, Temple
Winners: Houston, Louisville, UCF, SMU
Houston and UCF sent statement to each other in blow out wins over Rutgers and UConn yesterday, and they are certainly on a showdown collision course set for November 9th in Orlando. Houston is probably the bigger surprise here, but they are in a very good spot to push for a huge bowl birth, and a conference title, with all of this coming after we had Tony Levine on our early season Hot Seat. UCF answered the call with a blowout win of their own, crushing UConn early Saturday 62-17 to continue on in an unlikely AAC title bid. The Knights led UConn 45-10 at the half, further eroding the Huskies' abysmal season.
Louisville stayed alive in the conference race as well, although struggling early to get separation from a struggling USF team. The Cardinals have slithered to a mid-tier bowl status despite just one loss on the season, but they are still alive by the numbers for the conference title. They just need a lot of help to get there, including a Houston win over UCF, and a win over the Cougars themselves a week after UCF and UH meet.
The final winner of the week is SMU, who trailed Temple 28-14 at the half, at home, heading to a come from behind 59-49 shootout win in Dallas. SMU is still only 3-4, but is still 2-1 in AAC play. June Jones could be coaching for his life here, so a bowl is a must. Anything short would likely be followed by his dismissal.
Losers: Rutgers, USF, UConn, Temple
Rutgers is proving more and more just how truly average they are, and they allowed Houston, who was coming off of a road loss to BYU, to just trash them in their building, 49-14. Rutgers is sinking fast, and could very well play their way out of a bowl bid.
USF, UConn, and Temple have been miserable all season long, with Temple and UConn now finalizing the foregone conclusion that they wouldn't be bowl participants. The Owls and Huskies have both hit the 7 loss mark that makes them both irrelevant. USF is just about there in Willie Taggert's first season, but he arrived in Tampa with the cupboard bare.
ACC
Bowl Eligible: Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, Duke
Still In Play: Wake Forest, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh
Bowl Ineligible: None (Virginia with one more loss)
Winners: Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, Duke
Paul Johnson is one win closer to getting Georgia Tech to a bowl game after beating Virginia 35-25 on the road. Tech cannot win the Coastal Division without a bunch of help, but they are now in position to finish hot and secure a solid bowl birth in an up and down season.
Florida State rolled once again against a team that has given the Noles fits in the past in NC State. No such issue this time as FSU rolled out to a 42-0 lead at the half to establish more dominance in conference play.
The biggest winner this week in the ACC is Duke, as they not only held off Virginia Tech for a solid 13-10 win, they also won their 6th game of the season to return to a bowl once again. Worst case I see moving forward is a 2-2 split in their final 4 games that would earn Duke an 8-4 record, a 2 game improvement over 2012. Two weeks ago, we had David Cutliffe on the Hot Seat. Consider that seat cooled.
North Carolina beat Boston College at home, and while mathematically UNC is still in play, the likelihood is that they'll fall out of bowl contention shortly.
Losers: Miami, Wake Forest, Virginia, Pittsburgh, NC State, Clemson, Maryland, Boston College, Virginia Tech
There were two winners that fell to the losers list this weekend. Miami is the first, as they allowed a really subpar Wake Forest team hang around all day long, and this is the second time in as many weeks that the Canes have almost allowed a lower tier conference team take them out and ruin their unbeaten season. Miami looks on the verge of losing any time now.
Clemson is the other winner on the losers list, as they came out flat at times in allowing Maryland to hang around and give them fits. The Tigers eventually put the Terps away 40-27, but it was a sloppy game coming off of their worst game of the season and only loss, and now Clemson looks vulnerable.
In nearly defeating Miami, Wake Forest managed to live another day, but they must soon make a run to get to 6 wins, and there are only 4 games left to do it in. The way I see it, they could lose three of those games easily (Florida State, Duke, Vanderbilt).
Pittsburgh is another team on the brink, having fallen to Navy 24-21. Pitt must also win 2 of their final 4 to gain bowl eligibility, and are in the same boat as Wake Forest. The Panthers needed this win.
NC State has fallen now to 0-4 in ACC play after falling to Florida State, while Boston College leads NC State by just a game at 1-3 in conference play after dropping a winnable game against UNC 34-10.
Virginia is now just one loss away from missing out on bowl season, as they now sit at 2-6 after falling to Georgia Tech at home. Mike London is now feeling the heat, as he has not provided an improvement in play during his tenure at UVA.
The Biggest loser is Virginia Tech, a 13-10 loser to Duke. The Hokies have not been consistent all season, and the play of the offense is largely to blame.
Big 10
Bowl Eligible: Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota
Still In Play: Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa
Bowl Ineligible: Penn State (Purdue is one loss away)
Winners: Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State
The Buckeyes put their stamp on the rest of the Big 10 by just destroying Penn State 63-14 in Columbus Saturday night. There looks to be not a single team in the conference that can play with OSU right now, and that's a fact.
Michigan State has been quietly rolling through conference play, and smashed Illinois on the road in a 42-3 beat down. Look for MSU to be the only real competitor left for Ohio State in what will likely be the conference title game matchup, if the Spartans can get by a challenging last four games.
Minnesota is the big winner of the week in the conference, having taken down Nebraska 34-23, and having locked down their bowl eligibility in a season that has been marred by the health of head coach Jerry Kill. The Gophers are getting stronger, and if you look at their schedule, nine wins is not out of consideration. Even then, they could fall flat of appearing in the Big 10 title game.
Iowa stayed alive with a 17-10 OT win over Northwestern that keeps them in bowl contention.
Losers: Penn State, Northwestern, Nebraska, Illinois
Penn State just never got off of the bus in Columbus Saturday night, falling to the Buckeyes by seven touchdowns. Hopefully those additional scholarships come in handy moving forward, because the Nittany Kittens were incredibly outclassed this week.
Northwestern has now lost four straight since opening at 4-0, and the Wildcats are in danger of not qualifying for a bowl bid. The final stretch is all important now.
Nebraska has only lost two games, but the loss to Minnesota may be a stinger that could alter the future of Bo Pelini. Even at 5-2, Husker fans are livid right now.
Illinois is still statistically alive for a bowl, but reality states differently after failing to show up in a 42-3 drubbing at home by Michigan State.
Big 12
Bowl Eligible: Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State
Still In Play: Texas
Bowl Ineligible: None (Iowa State is one loss away)
Winners: Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas
OSU and Baylor officially got into the bowl mix this weekend with huge blowout wins, a favorite by Baylor as it seems. They are hanging in the conference race that includes everyone in the top 5 in the standings.
Oklahoma picked up a huge win against Texas Tech in Norman, and the Sooners sit just a half game back of Texas and Baylor in the race, and removed Texas Tech as a favorite to win it in the process.
Texas is still somehow unbeaten in Big 12 play, but still must play Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Baylor in the final three week gauntlet.
Kansas State picked up a win with a 21 point surge to hold off West Virginia, and must get hot now to retain any chance of bowl eligibility.
Losers: Iowa State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas, TCU
All of the bottom feeders lost in conference play, with the exception of Texas Tech, who takes their first loss at Oklahoma, knocking them out of national contender status, and putting them outside of the ability to control their own mission. The final part of the schedule is tough, so it's bounce back time for the Red Raiders. Everyone else on this list is essentially toast in what has been a weak season in the Big 12's lower half.
Conference USA
Bowl Eligible: Rice, Tulane
Still In Play: Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas
Bowl Ineligible: Southern Mississippi (FIU, FAU, and UTEP are all one loss away)
Winners: Middle Tennessee, Rice, Tulane, UTSA, Louisiana Tech, North Texas
MTSU kept their season alive with a game ending TD to beat Marshall and remain a game behind in third in the CUSA East. It was a must win game that almost wasn't.
Rice and Tulane are huge winners to get themselves to 6 wins this week, and will each be bowling. For Tulane, it's the first time in a long while that the Green Wave can claim such a feat.
UTSA got a morale building win against UAB, and did so in fine fashion, 52-31. They have yet another potential win this week against Tulsa.
North Texas is also on the verge of turning a corner after a strong 55-14 pounding of Southern Miss, and is now just a game away from joining Rice and Tulane as a bowl team for 2013.
Louisiana Tech stayed on the fringe of alive this week as well, but they have much work left to do.
Losers: Marshall, UTEP, Tulsa, UAB, FIU, FAU, Southern Mississippi
Marshall had MTSU locked down, but gave up the game ending TD to fall to MTSU, and remains a half game behind East Carolina in CUSA East play. Marshall also remains two wins short of a bowl bid that would turn the corner under Doc Holliday.
Every other team on the losers list was a dog this week, and each of those mentioned played like one as well. None of them has a shot to bounce back and reclaim lost seasons at this point.
Independents
Bowl Eligible: BYU, Notre Dame
Still In Play: Navy
Bowl Ineligible: Idaho, New Mexico State
Winners: BYU, Notre Dame, Navy
BYU looked solid as can be in ripping Boise State at home this weekend, and also secured a bowl bid to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, their destination by contract.
Notre Dame also locked down a bowl bid, but their destination remains murky at this time. The cruised by Air Force on the road, and look to finish out on a hot streak now.
Navy remained alive in the conversation by virtue of a 24-21 OT win over Pitt at home. Navy still needs two wins to secure the bid, and will likely get one against struggling Army, who was off this week.
Losers: New Mexico State, Idaho
I know that NMSU got their first win of the season, but they struggle to hold off Abilene Christian, a transitioning FCS member that was just playing D2 football a season ago. When you think of it like that, this isn't such a great win for the Aggies.
Idaho was completely blown out of the Grove in a 59-14 loss to Ole Miss on the road, or as Idaho calls it, just another day at the office.
MAC
Bowl Eligible: Buffalo, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ball State
Still In Play: Bowling Green, Toledo
Bowl Ineligible: UMass, Akron, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan
Winners: Ball State, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan, Buffalo, Northern Illinois
The top of the MAC is solid this season and there are still several race changing games coming up. Ball State and Northern Illinois will not meet in the title game, but they have a huge tile upcoming, and both kept pace solidly this weekend. On the other side of the conference, Buffalo is the surprising leader in the East. The Bulls have been red hot, and lead the East by a game after winning yet again. Toledo tilted Bowling Green's chances a bit by beating the Falcons 28-25.
Western Michigan got their first win, a 31-30 tug of war win over UMass, but they are looking towards next season already.
Losers: Akron, Miami (Ohio), Bowling Green, UMass, Kent State, Eastern Michigan
Bowling Green had the worst loss of the group, a 28-25 drop to Toledo, keeping the Falcons out of control of their destiny moving forward. The Falcons can still win their division, but it's going to be tough, and they have been folding in every important game this season that could state their identity.
Every other team on the losers list has fallen out of bowl contention officially in what could be the worst MAC season in years, with half of the teams out of play heading into the final month of the season.
Mountain West
Bowl Eligible: Fresno State
Still In Play: Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Wyoming, UNLV, San Jose State
Bowl Ineligible: Air Force, Hawaii
Winners: UNLV, San Jose State, Fresno State, Colorado State
UNLV is now just one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 1994 after beating Nevada in Reno for the first time in ten years in what is turning out to be a huge bounce back season for the Rebels. UNLV trailed 16-14 at the half against Nevada, and used a surge in the 4th to get the win.
San Jose State came back from a 9 point half time deficit to take down Wyoming, scoring 22 in the third to win 51-44. The Spartans also remained alive in the bowl chase.
Fresno State survived a flat performance at San Diego State to take a 35-28 win in OT, and remain in position to represent the non-AQ teams in the BCS, with the destination likely being the Fiesta Bowl if the Bulldogs can win out.
Colorado State is making solid gains this season, and got their record to 4-4 in beating Hawaii on the road 35-28. The Rams are now just two wins away from bowling for the first time under coach Jim McElwain.
Losers: Boise State, Air Force, Nevada, San Diego State, Hawaii, Wyoming
Boise State fell on the road at BYU, but they remain in the thick of the conference title race, as they lost out of conference. Still, it's a bit of a rebuilder in Boise this season. Air Force and Hawaii fell out of any kind of contention, and now both schools will look at their coaching situations moving forward. I would be shocked if both Troy Calhoun and norm Chow return, but Calhoun would likely return if either would.
Nevada lost at home to UNLV in the Battle For Nevada, and it was their first home loss in the series in a decade. It's rebuilding time in Reno, even if bowl hopes aren't completely dead yet.
San Diego State had Fresno on the ropes, and let up at the wrong time in OT, keeping Fresno's BCS hopes alive in the process. SDSU had won three straight entering the tilt.
Wyoming is fading fast, and what seemed to be a bowl lock has now become a huge question moving forward. It's going t be a brutal November for the Cowboys.
PAC-12
Bowl Eligible: Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State
Still In Play: Washington, Washington State, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, USC, Utah
Bowl Ineligible: California
Winners: USC, Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, Washington
Oregon is now the clear leader in the PAC-12 after dropping UCLA 42-14. The Ducks will maintain their number two ranking behind Alabama in our weekly PRS rankings, but they still have Stanford hovering on the horizon, and the Cardinal would love to spoil the show, as they did for Oregon State by taking out the Beavers in Corvallis, ruining their undefeated run in conference play, and completely removing them as a team that stands in the way of not only Stanford in the North, but Oregon as well.
USC stayed alive in the South race with an impressively physical 19-3 win over Utah, as the Trojans held the Utes well below season averages for both yards and points.
Washington got a bounce back win after two consecutive losses, by beating the Cal Bears, which kept the Huskies alive, and dropped the Bears to 7 losses.
Arizona stayed alive as well, and is right in the thick of the South race after taking down Colorado.
Losers: Utah, UCLA, Colorado, Oregon State, California
Utah looks to be toast after falling apart against USC on the road. The Utes couldn't build up momentum after beating Staford a couple of weeks back, and they looked lost against the Trojans.
UCLA has now lost 2 consecutive games after winning their first five. UCLA averaged over 40 points per game in that winning streak, but they have now been held to 24 total points over the last two weeks, and Brett Hundley has fallen completely off of the grid at QB, passing for just 64 yards and two picks at the Ducks.
Oregon State was the dark horse in the North, but they are now an afterthought after falling to Stanford 20-12 at home.
Colorado hasn't won a conference game dating back to last season, and Cal's loss has the Bears getting ready for 2014, as they are eliminated for any bowl consideration. The only Bear win in 2013? It came against Portland State.
SEC
Bowl Eligible: Missouri, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M
Still In Play: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Mississippi State
Bowl Ineligible: None (Kentucky is one loss away)
Winners: Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Auburn, Ole Miss
Mississippi State has to be happy after holding off a terrible Kentucky team, as it keeps them in the bowl race, and takes a little heat off of Dan Mullen.
Texas A&M finally got a quality win in which they played a complete game, but mistakes were still flying around the field in their win over Vandy.
LSU, Auburn, and Ole miss all won big, but over very weak opponents in Furman, FAU, and Idaho.
Alabama is still the beast of the SEC, and seems to be cruising towards a January showdown with Oregon.
South Carolina woke up this week, and held off Missouri in OT on the road, when Missouri missed a FG (it hit the post). The Gamecocks, strangely enough, are still in the race in the East.
Losers: Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky
Vandy is really one of the disappointing teams in college football this season, and they really faded against Texas A&M this week. At 4-4, they hardly seem a concern to anyone.
Missouri had the worst loss of the week, and rather than get aggressive and try to hit the end zone in OT, the Tigers settled for a FG try, and it hit the post, causing the Tigers to lose their first game. One more loss in conference play, and SC runs the table, the Tigers would lose the East.
Tennessee could go either way, but were nowhere near in the class of Alabama this week.
Kentucky is almost eliminated, and can still survive, but one more loss, and it's building for 2014.
Sun Belt
Bowl Eligible: None
Still In Play: UL-Lafayette, Troy, UL-Monroe, Texas State, Western Kentucky
Bowl Ineligible: Georgia State
Winners: UL-Lafayette, Troy, UL-Monroe, Texas State
ULL got into the driver's seat with a 23-7 road win at Arkansas State. The Cajuns are a win away from a bowl bid, and will likely win the conference, as they are playing hotter than anyone in the SBC.
Troy stayed alive, and barely trails ULL, but is barely getting by. They have to continue to win to save Larry Blakelney.
ULM and Texas State both picked up solid wins, but it now gets tough for both moving forward. Todd Berry needs to really win out for ULM.
Losers: Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, Georgia State, South Alabama
ASU blew a huge opportunity to turn the conference race around, and lost by 16 at home to ULL. WKU also lost a huge chance to make some noise by falling to Troy. The Toppers are 4-3, but have been terrible in conference play.
USA is as solid as it gets, but they really got pinched out of the big picture in a 2 point loss to Texas State.
Georgia State is still winless, and just has no place playing FBS football.
It hardly seems possible that we have come so far so fast in terms of what's been played, but once again, here we are, getting ready for the final fights for BCS title games and bowl slots. Coming up this week, we will be back on our regular schedule, as we will take a look at our FBS and FCS rankings, renew our weekly look at the Hot Seat and the Dead Pool (there is much movement there), and we will also start looking at skill position player of the year candidates, as well as coach of the year candidates.
One more piece we have coming is a final look at the issues that are plaguing not only Grambling State's football program, but issues taking place in several SWAC schools that could spell trouble for the institutions that make up the HBCU system in general. We are in the process of researching some interesting statistical information that shows how far behind these institutions have fallen in some regards, and what can be done to possibly fix the problems, and possibly save the HBCU institution. This piece goes beyond college football, and digs into the politics and the academics behind the problems that exist and contributed to the debacle that occurred two weeks ago when Grambling State players created a protest that has now gone into legal ramifications for the university.
All of this is coming up this week, so buckle up and take the ride! As for now, here's a look at the week that was...
AAC
Bowl Eligible: Houston, UCF, Louisville
Still In Play: Cincinnati, Rutgers, SMU
Bowl Ineligible: UConn, Temple
Winners: Houston, Louisville, UCF, SMU
Houston and UCF sent statement to each other in blow out wins over Rutgers and UConn yesterday, and they are certainly on a showdown collision course set for November 9th in Orlando. Houston is probably the bigger surprise here, but they are in a very good spot to push for a huge bowl birth, and a conference title, with all of this coming after we had Tony Levine on our early season Hot Seat. UCF answered the call with a blowout win of their own, crushing UConn early Saturday 62-17 to continue on in an unlikely AAC title bid. The Knights led UConn 45-10 at the half, further eroding the Huskies' abysmal season.
Louisville stayed alive in the conference race as well, although struggling early to get separation from a struggling USF team. The Cardinals have slithered to a mid-tier bowl status despite just one loss on the season, but they are still alive by the numbers for the conference title. They just need a lot of help to get there, including a Houston win over UCF, and a win over the Cougars themselves a week after UCF and UH meet.
The final winner of the week is SMU, who trailed Temple 28-14 at the half, at home, heading to a come from behind 59-49 shootout win in Dallas. SMU is still only 3-4, but is still 2-1 in AAC play. June Jones could be coaching for his life here, so a bowl is a must. Anything short would likely be followed by his dismissal.
Losers: Rutgers, USF, UConn, Temple
Rutgers is proving more and more just how truly average they are, and they allowed Houston, who was coming off of a road loss to BYU, to just trash them in their building, 49-14. Rutgers is sinking fast, and could very well play their way out of a bowl bid.
USF, UConn, and Temple have been miserable all season long, with Temple and UConn now finalizing the foregone conclusion that they wouldn't be bowl participants. The Owls and Huskies have both hit the 7 loss mark that makes them both irrelevant. USF is just about there in Willie Taggert's first season, but he arrived in Tampa with the cupboard bare.
ACC
Bowl Eligible: Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, Duke
Still In Play: Wake Forest, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh
Bowl Ineligible: None (Virginia with one more loss)
Winners: Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, Duke
Paul Johnson is one win closer to getting Georgia Tech to a bowl game after beating Virginia 35-25 on the road. Tech cannot win the Coastal Division without a bunch of help, but they are now in position to finish hot and secure a solid bowl birth in an up and down season.
Florida State rolled once again against a team that has given the Noles fits in the past in NC State. No such issue this time as FSU rolled out to a 42-0 lead at the half to establish more dominance in conference play.
The biggest winner this week in the ACC is Duke, as they not only held off Virginia Tech for a solid 13-10 win, they also won their 6th game of the season to return to a bowl once again. Worst case I see moving forward is a 2-2 split in their final 4 games that would earn Duke an 8-4 record, a 2 game improvement over 2012. Two weeks ago, we had David Cutliffe on the Hot Seat. Consider that seat cooled.
North Carolina beat Boston College at home, and while mathematically UNC is still in play, the likelihood is that they'll fall out of bowl contention shortly.
Losers: Miami, Wake Forest, Virginia, Pittsburgh, NC State, Clemson, Maryland, Boston College, Virginia Tech
There were two winners that fell to the losers list this weekend. Miami is the first, as they allowed a really subpar Wake Forest team hang around all day long, and this is the second time in as many weeks that the Canes have almost allowed a lower tier conference team take them out and ruin their unbeaten season. Miami looks on the verge of losing any time now.
Clemson is the other winner on the losers list, as they came out flat at times in allowing Maryland to hang around and give them fits. The Tigers eventually put the Terps away 40-27, but it was a sloppy game coming off of their worst game of the season and only loss, and now Clemson looks vulnerable.
In nearly defeating Miami, Wake Forest managed to live another day, but they must soon make a run to get to 6 wins, and there are only 4 games left to do it in. The way I see it, they could lose three of those games easily (Florida State, Duke, Vanderbilt).
Pittsburgh is another team on the brink, having fallen to Navy 24-21. Pitt must also win 2 of their final 4 to gain bowl eligibility, and are in the same boat as Wake Forest. The Panthers needed this win.
NC State has fallen now to 0-4 in ACC play after falling to Florida State, while Boston College leads NC State by just a game at 1-3 in conference play after dropping a winnable game against UNC 34-10.
Virginia is now just one loss away from missing out on bowl season, as they now sit at 2-6 after falling to Georgia Tech at home. Mike London is now feeling the heat, as he has not provided an improvement in play during his tenure at UVA.
The Biggest loser is Virginia Tech, a 13-10 loser to Duke. The Hokies have not been consistent all season, and the play of the offense is largely to blame.
Big 10
Bowl Eligible: Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota
Still In Play: Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa
Bowl Ineligible: Penn State (Purdue is one loss away)
Winners: Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State
The Buckeyes put their stamp on the rest of the Big 10 by just destroying Penn State 63-14 in Columbus Saturday night. There looks to be not a single team in the conference that can play with OSU right now, and that's a fact.
Michigan State has been quietly rolling through conference play, and smashed Illinois on the road in a 42-3 beat down. Look for MSU to be the only real competitor left for Ohio State in what will likely be the conference title game matchup, if the Spartans can get by a challenging last four games.
Minnesota is the big winner of the week in the conference, having taken down Nebraska 34-23, and having locked down their bowl eligibility in a season that has been marred by the health of head coach Jerry Kill. The Gophers are getting stronger, and if you look at their schedule, nine wins is not out of consideration. Even then, they could fall flat of appearing in the Big 10 title game.
Iowa stayed alive with a 17-10 OT win over Northwestern that keeps them in bowl contention.
Losers: Penn State, Northwestern, Nebraska, Illinois
Penn State just never got off of the bus in Columbus Saturday night, falling to the Buckeyes by seven touchdowns. Hopefully those additional scholarships come in handy moving forward, because the Nittany Kittens were incredibly outclassed this week.
Northwestern has now lost four straight since opening at 4-0, and the Wildcats are in danger of not qualifying for a bowl bid. The final stretch is all important now.
Nebraska has only lost two games, but the loss to Minnesota may be a stinger that could alter the future of Bo Pelini. Even at 5-2, Husker fans are livid right now.
Illinois is still statistically alive for a bowl, but reality states differently after failing to show up in a 42-3 drubbing at home by Michigan State.
Big 12
Bowl Eligible: Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State
Still In Play: Texas
Bowl Ineligible: None (Iowa State is one loss away)
Winners: Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas
OSU and Baylor officially got into the bowl mix this weekend with huge blowout wins, a favorite by Baylor as it seems. They are hanging in the conference race that includes everyone in the top 5 in the standings.
Oklahoma picked up a huge win against Texas Tech in Norman, and the Sooners sit just a half game back of Texas and Baylor in the race, and removed Texas Tech as a favorite to win it in the process.
Texas is still somehow unbeaten in Big 12 play, but still must play Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Baylor in the final three week gauntlet.
Kansas State picked up a win with a 21 point surge to hold off West Virginia, and must get hot now to retain any chance of bowl eligibility.
Losers: Iowa State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas, TCU
All of the bottom feeders lost in conference play, with the exception of Texas Tech, who takes their first loss at Oklahoma, knocking them out of national contender status, and putting them outside of the ability to control their own mission. The final part of the schedule is tough, so it's bounce back time for the Red Raiders. Everyone else on this list is essentially toast in what has been a weak season in the Big 12's lower half.
Conference USA
Bowl Eligible: Rice, Tulane
Still In Play: Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas
Bowl Ineligible: Southern Mississippi (FIU, FAU, and UTEP are all one loss away)
Winners: Middle Tennessee, Rice, Tulane, UTSA, Louisiana Tech, North Texas
MTSU kept their season alive with a game ending TD to beat Marshall and remain a game behind in third in the CUSA East. It was a must win game that almost wasn't.
Rice and Tulane are huge winners to get themselves to 6 wins this week, and will each be bowling. For Tulane, it's the first time in a long while that the Green Wave can claim such a feat.
UTSA got a morale building win against UAB, and did so in fine fashion, 52-31. They have yet another potential win this week against Tulsa.
North Texas is also on the verge of turning a corner after a strong 55-14 pounding of Southern Miss, and is now just a game away from joining Rice and Tulane as a bowl team for 2013.
Louisiana Tech stayed on the fringe of alive this week as well, but they have much work left to do.
Losers: Marshall, UTEP, Tulsa, UAB, FIU, FAU, Southern Mississippi
Marshall had MTSU locked down, but gave up the game ending TD to fall to MTSU, and remains a half game behind East Carolina in CUSA East play. Marshall also remains two wins short of a bowl bid that would turn the corner under Doc Holliday.
Every other team on the losers list was a dog this week, and each of those mentioned played like one as well. None of them has a shot to bounce back and reclaim lost seasons at this point.
Independents
Bowl Eligible: BYU, Notre Dame
Still In Play: Navy
Bowl Ineligible: Idaho, New Mexico State
Winners: BYU, Notre Dame, Navy
BYU looked solid as can be in ripping Boise State at home this weekend, and also secured a bowl bid to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, their destination by contract.
Notre Dame also locked down a bowl bid, but their destination remains murky at this time. The cruised by Air Force on the road, and look to finish out on a hot streak now.
Navy remained alive in the conversation by virtue of a 24-21 OT win over Pitt at home. Navy still needs two wins to secure the bid, and will likely get one against struggling Army, who was off this week.
Losers: New Mexico State, Idaho
I know that NMSU got their first win of the season, but they struggle to hold off Abilene Christian, a transitioning FCS member that was just playing D2 football a season ago. When you think of it like that, this isn't such a great win for the Aggies.
Idaho was completely blown out of the Grove in a 59-14 loss to Ole Miss on the road, or as Idaho calls it, just another day at the office.
MAC
Bowl Eligible: Buffalo, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ball State
Still In Play: Bowling Green, Toledo
Bowl Ineligible: UMass, Akron, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan
Winners: Ball State, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan, Buffalo, Northern Illinois
The top of the MAC is solid this season and there are still several race changing games coming up. Ball State and Northern Illinois will not meet in the title game, but they have a huge tile upcoming, and both kept pace solidly this weekend. On the other side of the conference, Buffalo is the surprising leader in the East. The Bulls have been red hot, and lead the East by a game after winning yet again. Toledo tilted Bowling Green's chances a bit by beating the Falcons 28-25.
Western Michigan got their first win, a 31-30 tug of war win over UMass, but they are looking towards next season already.
Losers: Akron, Miami (Ohio), Bowling Green, UMass, Kent State, Eastern Michigan
Bowling Green had the worst loss of the group, a 28-25 drop to Toledo, keeping the Falcons out of control of their destiny moving forward. The Falcons can still win their division, but it's going to be tough, and they have been folding in every important game this season that could state their identity.
Every other team on the losers list has fallen out of bowl contention officially in what could be the worst MAC season in years, with half of the teams out of play heading into the final month of the season.
Mountain West
Bowl Eligible: Fresno State
Still In Play: Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Wyoming, UNLV, San Jose State
Bowl Ineligible: Air Force, Hawaii
Winners: UNLV, San Jose State, Fresno State, Colorado State
UNLV is now just one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 1994 after beating Nevada in Reno for the first time in ten years in what is turning out to be a huge bounce back season for the Rebels. UNLV trailed 16-14 at the half against Nevada, and used a surge in the 4th to get the win.
San Jose State came back from a 9 point half time deficit to take down Wyoming, scoring 22 in the third to win 51-44. The Spartans also remained alive in the bowl chase.
Fresno State survived a flat performance at San Diego State to take a 35-28 win in OT, and remain in position to represent the non-AQ teams in the BCS, with the destination likely being the Fiesta Bowl if the Bulldogs can win out.
Colorado State is making solid gains this season, and got their record to 4-4 in beating Hawaii on the road 35-28. The Rams are now just two wins away from bowling for the first time under coach Jim McElwain.
Losers: Boise State, Air Force, Nevada, San Diego State, Hawaii, Wyoming
Boise State fell on the road at BYU, but they remain in the thick of the conference title race, as they lost out of conference. Still, it's a bit of a rebuilder in Boise this season. Air Force and Hawaii fell out of any kind of contention, and now both schools will look at their coaching situations moving forward. I would be shocked if both Troy Calhoun and norm Chow return, but Calhoun would likely return if either would.
Nevada lost at home to UNLV in the Battle For Nevada, and it was their first home loss in the series in a decade. It's rebuilding time in Reno, even if bowl hopes aren't completely dead yet.
San Diego State had Fresno on the ropes, and let up at the wrong time in OT, keeping Fresno's BCS hopes alive in the process. SDSU had won three straight entering the tilt.
Wyoming is fading fast, and what seemed to be a bowl lock has now become a huge question moving forward. It's going t be a brutal November for the Cowboys.
PAC-12
Bowl Eligible: Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State
Still In Play: Washington, Washington State, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, USC, Utah
Bowl Ineligible: California
Winners: USC, Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, Washington
Oregon is now the clear leader in the PAC-12 after dropping UCLA 42-14. The Ducks will maintain their number two ranking behind Alabama in our weekly PRS rankings, but they still have Stanford hovering on the horizon, and the Cardinal would love to spoil the show, as they did for Oregon State by taking out the Beavers in Corvallis, ruining their undefeated run in conference play, and completely removing them as a team that stands in the way of not only Stanford in the North, but Oregon as well.
USC stayed alive in the South race with an impressively physical 19-3 win over Utah, as the Trojans held the Utes well below season averages for both yards and points.
Washington got a bounce back win after two consecutive losses, by beating the Cal Bears, which kept the Huskies alive, and dropped the Bears to 7 losses.
Arizona stayed alive as well, and is right in the thick of the South race after taking down Colorado.
Losers: Utah, UCLA, Colorado, Oregon State, California
Utah looks to be toast after falling apart against USC on the road. The Utes couldn't build up momentum after beating Staford a couple of weeks back, and they looked lost against the Trojans.
UCLA has now lost 2 consecutive games after winning their first five. UCLA averaged over 40 points per game in that winning streak, but they have now been held to 24 total points over the last two weeks, and Brett Hundley has fallen completely off of the grid at QB, passing for just 64 yards and two picks at the Ducks.
Oregon State was the dark horse in the North, but they are now an afterthought after falling to Stanford 20-12 at home.
Colorado hasn't won a conference game dating back to last season, and Cal's loss has the Bears getting ready for 2014, as they are eliminated for any bowl consideration. The only Bear win in 2013? It came against Portland State.
SEC
Bowl Eligible: Missouri, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M
Still In Play: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Mississippi State
Bowl Ineligible: None (Kentucky is one loss away)
Winners: Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Auburn, Ole Miss
Mississippi State has to be happy after holding off a terrible Kentucky team, as it keeps them in the bowl race, and takes a little heat off of Dan Mullen.
Texas A&M finally got a quality win in which they played a complete game, but mistakes were still flying around the field in their win over Vandy.
LSU, Auburn, and Ole miss all won big, but over very weak opponents in Furman, FAU, and Idaho.
Alabama is still the beast of the SEC, and seems to be cruising towards a January showdown with Oregon.
South Carolina woke up this week, and held off Missouri in OT on the road, when Missouri missed a FG (it hit the post). The Gamecocks, strangely enough, are still in the race in the East.
Losers: Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky
Vandy is really one of the disappointing teams in college football this season, and they really faded against Texas A&M this week. At 4-4, they hardly seem a concern to anyone.
Missouri had the worst loss of the week, and rather than get aggressive and try to hit the end zone in OT, the Tigers settled for a FG try, and it hit the post, causing the Tigers to lose their first game. One more loss in conference play, and SC runs the table, the Tigers would lose the East.
Tennessee could go either way, but were nowhere near in the class of Alabama this week.
Kentucky is almost eliminated, and can still survive, but one more loss, and it's building for 2014.
Sun Belt
Bowl Eligible: None
Still In Play: UL-Lafayette, Troy, UL-Monroe, Texas State, Western Kentucky
Bowl Ineligible: Georgia State
Winners: UL-Lafayette, Troy, UL-Monroe, Texas State
ULL got into the driver's seat with a 23-7 road win at Arkansas State. The Cajuns are a win away from a bowl bid, and will likely win the conference, as they are playing hotter than anyone in the SBC.
Troy stayed alive, and barely trails ULL, but is barely getting by. They have to continue to win to save Larry Blakelney.
ULM and Texas State both picked up solid wins, but it now gets tough for both moving forward. Todd Berry needs to really win out for ULM.
Losers: Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, Georgia State, South Alabama
ASU blew a huge opportunity to turn the conference race around, and lost by 16 at home to ULL. WKU also lost a huge chance to make some noise by falling to Troy. The Toppers are 4-3, but have been terrible in conference play.
USA is as solid as it gets, but they really got pinched out of the big picture in a 2 point loss to Texas State.
Georgia State is still winless, and just has no place playing FBS football.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Bilo's Week 9 Picks
Here are my picks for week 9 FBS and FCS games. I am only picking Saturday games this week.
FBS
Saturday
Ball State over Akron
Miami over Wake Forest
Houston over Rutgers...Don't like Rutgers as a 7 point favorite this week.
Louisville over USF
UCF over UConn
Iowa over Northwestern
Oklahoma State over Iowa State
Nebraska over Minnesota
Texas A&M over Vanderbilt...You may want to take a look at Vandy and the points (+17) this week.
Georgia Tech over Virginia...Tech seems a lock at -10.
Pittsburgh over Navy
Old Dominion over Norfolk State
Ohio over Miami (Ohio)
Bowling Green over Toledo
UMass over Western Michigan
SMU over Temple
Florida State over NC State
Buffalo over Kent State...Bulls are a lock as a PK.
Clemson over Maryland
Boston College over North Carolina...Upset Alert!
Virginia Tech over Duke
Alabama over Tennessee
Michigan State over Illinois
Northern Illinois over Eastern Michigan
Texas Tech over Oklahoma...Upset Alert!
Rice over UTEP
Tulane over Tulsa...Take Tulane at +3.
Kansas State over West Virginia
Western Kentucky over Troy
Utah over USC...Utes are a 6 point dog.
UTSA over UAB
Notre Dame over Air Force
Louisiana Tech over FIU
Nevada over UNLV
Baylor over Kansas
LSU over Furman
UL-Monroe over Georgia State
Missouri over South Carolina
North Texas over Southern Mississippi
Texas State over South Alabama
Oregon over UCLA
Wyoming over San Jose State...Upset Alert!
Auburn over FAU
Ole Miss over Idaho...Take a swing at the Rebels at -41.
Texas over TCU
Ohio State over Penn State
Arizona over Colorado
New Mexico State over Abilene Christian...Maybe the Aggies get their first win!
Stanford over Oregon State
Fresno State over San Diego State
Washington over California
Colorado State over Hawaii
FCS
Saturday
Delaware over Rhode Island
Towson over Richmond
Sacred Heart over St. Francis
Wagner over Robert Morris
Brown over Cornell
Charleston Southern over Charlotte
Harvard over Princeton
Penn over Yale
Hampton over Delaware State
Howard over Morgan State
Duquesne over Bryant
Lehigh over Bucknell
Holy Cross over Lafayette
Colgate over Georgetown
Dayton over Morehead State
Maine over Villanova
Jacksonville over Davidson
Marist over Stetson
C. Connecticut State over Salve Regina
Liberty over Gardner-Webb
Dartmouth over Columbia
Wofford over Samford
Presbyterian over Point
Illinois State over South Dakota
North Carolina A&T over Florida A&M
North Carolina Central over Savannah State
Eastern Kentucky over SE Missouri State
Chattanooga over Citadel
Drake over Valporaiso
Jacksonville State over Tennessee Tech
South Dakota State over Northern Iowa
Texas Southern over Grambling
Sam Houston State over Northwestern State
Mississippi Valley State over UA-Pine Bluff
Southern Utah over Idaho State
North Dakota State over Indiana State
Montana over Eastern Washington
James Madison over William & Mary
Georgia Southern over Appalachian State
Elon over Western Carolina
Alabama State over Alabama A&M
Stony Brook over New Hampshire
Bethune-Cookman over South Carolina State
San Diego over Butler
Central Arkansas over Stephen F. Austin
McNeese State over Nicholls State
Mercer over Campbell
Montana State over UC-Davis
Portland State over North Dakota
UT-Martin over Austin Peay
Tennessee State over Eastern Illinois
Jackson State over Prairie View
Coastal Carolina over VMI
Alcorn State over Southern
Western Illinois over Missouri State
INcarnate Word over Houston Baptist
SE Louisiana over Lamar
Northern Arizona over Cal Poly
FBS
Saturday
Ball State over Akron
Miami over Wake Forest
Houston over Rutgers...Don't like Rutgers as a 7 point favorite this week.
Louisville over USF
UCF over UConn
Iowa over Northwestern
Oklahoma State over Iowa State
Nebraska over Minnesota
Texas A&M over Vanderbilt...You may want to take a look at Vandy and the points (+17) this week.
Georgia Tech over Virginia...Tech seems a lock at -10.
Pittsburgh over Navy
Old Dominion over Norfolk State
Ohio over Miami (Ohio)
Bowling Green over Toledo
UMass over Western Michigan
SMU over Temple
Florida State over NC State
Buffalo over Kent State...Bulls are a lock as a PK.
Clemson over Maryland
Boston College over North Carolina...Upset Alert!
Virginia Tech over Duke
Alabama over Tennessee
Michigan State over Illinois
Northern Illinois over Eastern Michigan
Texas Tech over Oklahoma...Upset Alert!
Rice over UTEP
Tulane over Tulsa...Take Tulane at +3.
Kansas State over West Virginia
Western Kentucky over Troy
Utah over USC...Utes are a 6 point dog.
UTSA over UAB
Notre Dame over Air Force
Louisiana Tech over FIU
Nevada over UNLV
Baylor over Kansas
LSU over Furman
UL-Monroe over Georgia State
Missouri over South Carolina
North Texas over Southern Mississippi
Texas State over South Alabama
Oregon over UCLA
Wyoming over San Jose State...Upset Alert!
Auburn over FAU
Ole Miss over Idaho...Take a swing at the Rebels at -41.
Texas over TCU
Ohio State over Penn State
Arizona over Colorado
New Mexico State over Abilene Christian...Maybe the Aggies get their first win!
Stanford over Oregon State
Fresno State over San Diego State
Washington over California
Colorado State over Hawaii
FCS
Saturday
Delaware over Rhode Island
Towson over Richmond
Sacred Heart over St. Francis
Wagner over Robert Morris
Brown over Cornell
Charleston Southern over Charlotte
Harvard over Princeton
Penn over Yale
Hampton over Delaware State
Howard over Morgan State
Duquesne over Bryant
Lehigh over Bucknell
Holy Cross over Lafayette
Colgate over Georgetown
Dayton over Morehead State
Maine over Villanova
Jacksonville over Davidson
Marist over Stetson
C. Connecticut State over Salve Regina
Liberty over Gardner-Webb
Dartmouth over Columbia
Wofford over Samford
Presbyterian over Point
Illinois State over South Dakota
North Carolina A&T over Florida A&M
North Carolina Central over Savannah State
Eastern Kentucky over SE Missouri State
Chattanooga over Citadel
Drake over Valporaiso
Jacksonville State over Tennessee Tech
South Dakota State over Northern Iowa
Texas Southern over Grambling
Sam Houston State over Northwestern State
Mississippi Valley State over UA-Pine Bluff
Southern Utah over Idaho State
North Dakota State over Indiana State
Montana over Eastern Washington
James Madison over William & Mary
Georgia Southern over Appalachian State
Elon over Western Carolina
Alabama State over Alabama A&M
Stony Brook over New Hampshire
Bethune-Cookman over South Carolina State
San Diego over Butler
Central Arkansas over Stephen F. Austin
McNeese State over Nicholls State
Mercer over Campbell
Montana State over UC-Davis
Portland State over North Dakota
UT-Martin over Austin Peay
Tennessee State over Eastern Illinois
Jackson State over Prairie View
Coastal Carolina over VMI
Alcorn State over Southern
Western Illinois over Missouri State
INcarnate Word over Houston Baptist
SE Louisiana over Lamar
Northern Arizona over Cal Poly
Monday, October 21, 2013
FBS PRS Rankings: Edition 8
There are nine unbeaten teams left, and the first BCS poll has been released for the final season of that garbage system. While our PRS Rankings were set in place to show the flaws of the BCS system, it will still be relevant when FBS football goes to a "playoff" next fall. The playoff system should be just as flawed as the current BCS system, mainly because people like Bill Hancock will still be running the show, so expect more laughs in disgust when the new system is put in place in 2014.
Here is our 8th edition of our FBS PRS Rankings for 2013!
1. Alabama (7-0, 1702)
Last Week: Defeated Arkansas 52-0
This Week: Tennessee
While true that the Vols are coming off of a solid upset win at home against South Carolina, Carolina isn't playing to the level of Alabama right now. The Tide should bring UT back to Earth in a crushing way.
2. Oregon (7-0, 1669)
Last Week: Defeated Washington State 62-38
This Week: #18 UCLA
The Ducks don't have to hold scoring down on their opponents when all they do is score. UCLA is coming off of a tough loss to Stanford, where they had several flaws exposed. Look for Oregon to jump on that and send the Bruins to their second straight loss.
3. Northern Illinois (7-0, 1473)
Last Week: Defeated Central Michigan
This Week: Eastern Michigan
NIU is on fire, and so is QB Jordan Lynch, who ran for almost three times what he passed for in the win over CMU. Look for the winning to continue against an inept Eagles team that seems like they are playing out their coach's final games.
4. Missouri (7-0, 1457)
Last Week: Defeated Florida 36-17
This Week: South Carolina
The Tigers didn't need James Franklin in beating Florida last week, and now it seems as if Connor Shaw won't be available for SC this week. They are coming off of a horrible loss at Tennessee that took them right out of the conference race, and gave Mizzou the keys to the car in that same race. Mizzou will thank them by pounding the Gamecocks at home.
5. Texas Tech (7-0, 1434)
Last Week: Defeated West Virginia 37-27
This Week: At #15 Oklahoma
The Red Raiders are a huge surprise this season, and nobody saw them getting to 7-0 outside of Lubbock. They have a chance to make a huge splash once again this week by beating the Sooners in Norman. The Sooners may have been looking ahead to this game when they struggled to beat lowly Kansas last weekend.
6. Ohio State (7-0, 1415)
Last Week: Defeated Iowa 34-24
This Week: Penn State
The Buckeyes were lucky to survive their challenge at the hands of Iowa last weekend. If they aren't careful, Penn State would be more than happy and able to do what Iowa couldn't. This game is yet another trap on the schedule for the Buckeyes.
7. Florida State (6-0, 1410)
Last Week: Defeated #20 Clemson
This Week: NC State
The Seminoles have not only set themselves up to win the ACC this week, they have also established themselves as a very real candidate to play for the title. Jamies Winston has established himself as a true Heisman candidate, and it would seem as if FSU is back in a big way. NC State should be an easy target, but they have proven to be a difficult win for FSU before.
8. Baylor (6-0, 1350)
Last Week: Defeated Iowa State 71-7
This Week: At Kansas
Another week, another 70 point game for the Bears. Kansas gave Oklahoma a tough time last week, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bears pile up another huge week.
9. Ball State (7-1, 1287)
Last Week: Defeated Western Michigan 38-17
This Week: at Akron
The Cardinals give the MAC a second top ten poll in our rankings this week, and they are very much for real, making Pete Lembo a name to be considered for bigger jobs down the line. Akron may challenge the Cardinals somewhat, but Ball State should stay in the top ten.
10. Oregon State (6-1, 1219)
Last Week: Defeated Cal 49-17
This Week: #12 Stanford
The Beavers are the shock of the Pac-12, and are tied with Oregon for the lead in the North. If the Beavers can withstand a charge from Stanford, They could very well coast to the final game of the season when they play Oregon for the division title.
The rest of the top 25:
11. Michigan (6-1, 1207)
12. Stanford (6-1, 1189)
13. Fresno State (6-0, 1178)
14. Miami (6-0, 1176)
15. Oklahoma (6-1, 1150)
16. LSU (6-2, 1099)
17. Louisville (6-1, 1086)
18. UCLA (5-1, 1063)
19. UCF (5-1, 1026)
20. Clemson (6-1, 968)
21. Auburn (6-1, 936)
22. Michigan State (6-1, 894)
23. Virginia Tech (6-1, 874)
24. South Carolina (5-2, 847)
25. Houston (5-1, 836)
The Next Ten
Rice, Oklahoma State, BYU, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Boise State, Texas, East Carolina and Texas A&M are tied at 35th.
The Bottom Ten
UMass, Eastern Michigan, Southern Miss, California, Purdue, UConn, Miami (Ohio), New Mexico State, Georgia State, Western Michigan
Here is our 8th edition of our FBS PRS Rankings for 2013!
1. Alabama (7-0, 1702)
Last Week: Defeated Arkansas 52-0
This Week: Tennessee
While true that the Vols are coming off of a solid upset win at home against South Carolina, Carolina isn't playing to the level of Alabama right now. The Tide should bring UT back to Earth in a crushing way.
2. Oregon (7-0, 1669)
Last Week: Defeated Washington State 62-38
This Week: #18 UCLA
The Ducks don't have to hold scoring down on their opponents when all they do is score. UCLA is coming off of a tough loss to Stanford, where they had several flaws exposed. Look for Oregon to jump on that and send the Bruins to their second straight loss.
3. Northern Illinois (7-0, 1473)
Last Week: Defeated Central Michigan
This Week: Eastern Michigan
NIU is on fire, and so is QB Jordan Lynch, who ran for almost three times what he passed for in the win over CMU. Look for the winning to continue against an inept Eagles team that seems like they are playing out their coach's final games.
4. Missouri (7-0, 1457)
Last Week: Defeated Florida 36-17
This Week: South Carolina
The Tigers didn't need James Franklin in beating Florida last week, and now it seems as if Connor Shaw won't be available for SC this week. They are coming off of a horrible loss at Tennessee that took them right out of the conference race, and gave Mizzou the keys to the car in that same race. Mizzou will thank them by pounding the Gamecocks at home.
5. Texas Tech (7-0, 1434)
Last Week: Defeated West Virginia 37-27
This Week: At #15 Oklahoma
The Red Raiders are a huge surprise this season, and nobody saw them getting to 7-0 outside of Lubbock. They have a chance to make a huge splash once again this week by beating the Sooners in Norman. The Sooners may have been looking ahead to this game when they struggled to beat lowly Kansas last weekend.
6. Ohio State (7-0, 1415)
Last Week: Defeated Iowa 34-24
This Week: Penn State
The Buckeyes were lucky to survive their challenge at the hands of Iowa last weekend. If they aren't careful, Penn State would be more than happy and able to do what Iowa couldn't. This game is yet another trap on the schedule for the Buckeyes.
7. Florida State (6-0, 1410)
Last Week: Defeated #20 Clemson
This Week: NC State
The Seminoles have not only set themselves up to win the ACC this week, they have also established themselves as a very real candidate to play for the title. Jamies Winston has established himself as a true Heisman candidate, and it would seem as if FSU is back in a big way. NC State should be an easy target, but they have proven to be a difficult win for FSU before.
8. Baylor (6-0, 1350)
Last Week: Defeated Iowa State 71-7
This Week: At Kansas
Another week, another 70 point game for the Bears. Kansas gave Oklahoma a tough time last week, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bears pile up another huge week.
9. Ball State (7-1, 1287)
Last Week: Defeated Western Michigan 38-17
This Week: at Akron
The Cardinals give the MAC a second top ten poll in our rankings this week, and they are very much for real, making Pete Lembo a name to be considered for bigger jobs down the line. Akron may challenge the Cardinals somewhat, but Ball State should stay in the top ten.
10. Oregon State (6-1, 1219)
Last Week: Defeated Cal 49-17
This Week: #12 Stanford
The Beavers are the shock of the Pac-12, and are tied with Oregon for the lead in the North. If the Beavers can withstand a charge from Stanford, They could very well coast to the final game of the season when they play Oregon for the division title.
The rest of the top 25:
11. Michigan (6-1, 1207)
12. Stanford (6-1, 1189)
13. Fresno State (6-0, 1178)
14. Miami (6-0, 1176)
15. Oklahoma (6-1, 1150)
16. LSU (6-2, 1099)
17. Louisville (6-1, 1086)
18. UCLA (5-1, 1063)
19. UCF (5-1, 1026)
20. Clemson (6-1, 968)
21. Auburn (6-1, 936)
22. Michigan State (6-1, 894)
23. Virginia Tech (6-1, 874)
24. South Carolina (5-2, 847)
25. Houston (5-1, 836)
The Next Ten
Rice, Oklahoma State, BYU, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Boise State, Texas, East Carolina and Texas A&M are tied at 35th.
The Bottom Ten
UMass, Eastern Michigan, Southern Miss, California, Purdue, UConn, Miami (Ohio), New Mexico State, Georgia State, Western Michigan
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Week 8 Under Review
Week 8, as it turns out, was separation Saturday. There were several top 10 teams falling, and several teams staking their place in their respective conference races (Missouri, UCF). Let's take a look at the week that was...
The Game That Was Never Played
The situation at Grambling State is worsening by the day, and if Eddie Robinson turns any faster in his grave, he'll dig himself right out into open air. There were player protests all week long, and meetings with President Pogue and others ended up collapsing into chaos. Interim coach George Ragsdale was fired, and Dirt Winston was hired as the interim coach, meaning that Grambling has had three coaches since last month. terrible relationship between the coach and his superiors.
The players have cited many complaints in their quest, such as the firing of Doug Williams, facility issues, and overall locker room conditions that they claim have led to several cases of staph infection. They also cite long bus rides to Indianapolis and Kansas City for (useless) neutral site games. In short order, and I agree with this assessment, the Tiger players have been treated like cattle at best, and they are tired of getting treated as such, when football is always the money making cash cow for any program. In a rare move, I am siding with the players in this complaint, as it looks as if the administration is completely to blame.
Doug Williams wanted to raise funds to improve conditions, and he had a plan. The Problem? It differed from the plan of campus leadership, widening an already disastrous relationship with the administration. Williams' idea, by the way, was much better.
It would seem to me that President Pogue would take any and all ideas not only to save the football program, but to save his school, which has seen budget slashes taking the school from approximately 36 million dollars down to around 13 million, for the entire university.
The argument has been spelled out by detractors that the players shouldn't complain when they are getting a free college education, but how quality is the education they are getting at Grambling when professors are asked to teach additional courses beyond their course load for a semester, and often these classes are outside of their specialties? To me, it becomes a matter of the blind leading the blind, especially when a high number of professors in America are already more worried about tenure than actually teaching.
In short, the protest dragged on to the point that when the buses showed up to drive the Grambling players to Jackson, Mississippi for their weekly game against Jackson State, the players were nowhere to be found. Those buses left empty, and the game, which was JSU's homecoming, was cancelled. Of course when you cancel any game, both schools suffer financially, no matter what they may say publically. When that starts happening, pressure will mount, and heat will rise.
In closing, I call for the resignation of President Pogue, as these conditions have now made it perfectly clear that he has lost control over a large segment of his institution, and he has shown me amongst others that he no longer has the ability to not only control the situation, but make it any better. Without huge changes, not only will the Grambling football program cease to exist, but the school itself may as well. Pogue's resignation is a must at this point.
Now for a look back at the week...
AAC
Bowl Eligible: Louisville
Winners: UCF, Cincinnati, Temple
UCF came back from 21 down to beat Louisville 38-35. With the win the Knights have gotten into position to take the AAC, but still must face down Houston, who lost out of conference yesterday. Cincinnati stayed alive in a blowout win over UConn, but they have not shown any consistency all season, so it's hard to see where they could fall in a spoiler role, which is where they are right now. Temple head coach Matt Ruhle got his first win for Temple in their 33-14 win over Army at home.
Losers: Louisville, SMU, Memphis, UConn, Houston
Louisville had their shot lined up to compete for a national title spot, and lost it, along with Heisman candidacy for Teddy Bridgewater in a loss to UCF. SMU may have beaten Memphis for just their second win, but they damn near blew a 31-3 lead, being outscored 26-3 after the half. Memphis never should have fallen behind like they did, so even with the massive comeback attempt, they still fall as losers this week. UConn looked horrible once again, and one more loss takes them out of range for bowl consideration, but let's face it, the dream is dead. Houston got into a shooting match and fell short against BYU in Provo, but they do stay unbeaten in AAC play.
ACC
Bowl Eligible: Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech
Winners: Miami, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke, Florida State
Miami had a rough game at UNC, and injuries cut deeply, but the Canes persevered, and survive as an unbeaten team into week 9. The bigger win came by Florida State, who's 51-14 thrashing of Clemson made the Noles not only the clear favorite in the ACC, but puts them right in line for a shot at a national title. Make no mistake, FSU is back. Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Duke all picked up must win victories, keeping them in line for bowl births.
Losers: North Carolina, Syracuse, Maryland, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Clemson
UNC is falling apart this season, and they completely blew it against Miami, as they had the game within their grasp. Syracuse is fading fast with a 56-0 loss to Georgia Tech, and Virginia is joining them after getting hammered at home by Duke. Maryland, after a surprising fast start, has now lost three straight, starting with that conference opening thrashing by Florida State. Pitt won, but struggled, trailing 10-0 to Old Dominion in the first quarter of play.
Big 12
Bowl Eligible: Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma
Winners: Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Baylor
OSU is still plugging away quietly, but there is no mistake that something has been missing from this team this season, as the offense has been chugging along at a well below average pace for the Cowboys. Texas Tech struggled against a weak WVU team, but Morgantown is still a pit to play in. None of the Tech coaches had ever visited Morgantown before, so experience with the place was lacking. That said, Tech is now 7-0, and is quietly hanging around in what could be a messy championship picture. Baylor is back into 70 point land yet again, destroying ISU 71-7. Oh, the Bears are also ranked at their highest point in 33 years.
Losers: TCU, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa State
TCU is just not getting it done this fall, but everyone has to rebuild sometime. WVU had Texas Tech playing scared, but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter and grasped defeat from the jaws of victory. Oklahoma beat Kansas, but struggled in the first half. They may have been looking ahead to Texas Tech, but they showed many deficiencies that remained from their loss to Texas in week 7. Kansas, although gutsy, is just a mess, James Sims not included. Iowa Sate gave up more points than they have in a very long time, and their season is just about done.
Big 10
Bowl Eligible: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State
Bowl Ineligible: Penn State
Winners: Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin
Minnesota got a huge road win against Northwestern, keeping their bowl hopes alive, and also winning a game without head coach Jerry Kill, who is still on a leave of absence. Minnesota may be ok, but they will have to beat someone from the upper echelon eventually. Ohio State got the scare of the year from Iowa at home, but the Buckeyes held strong, and stayed unbeaten. Wisconsin rolled on the road against an inconsistent and sloppy Illinois team.
Losers: Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana
Two winners make the losers list this week in the Big 10 in both Michigan State and Michigan. For the Wolverines, they won by scoring 63 points, but gave up a whopping 47 to Indiana. Indiana had this game within 2 heading into the 4th, but may have the worst defense in the nation. Michigan State was favored by 27.5 over Purdue (look at my picks this week, I told you Purdue would cover that) and barely managed to score 14 points in the entire game in a 14-0 win. Give Purdue credit, but their offense sucks. Northwestern is sinking like a stone, and has now lost 3 straight after starting 4-0. Iowa is sinking as well, giving up a prime opportunity to get a huge win at Ohio State. Illinois is just all over the place, and could be a year or two away from playing for a quality bowl.
Conference USA
Bowl Eligible: None
Winners: East Carolina, North Texas, Rice
The winners were clear this week, with all three of the above mentioned programs winning in double digits. East Carolina got a huge bounce back rout over USM, while North Texas made a move towards a bowl appearance with a win over Louisiana Tech, ruining Tech's homecoming. Rice was a clear winner (45-19) over New Mexico State, making NMSU, an Independent, officially ineligible for a bowl in 2013.
Losers: Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech
Southern Miss is now a loser of 18 straight games, and one win away from becoming officially bowl ineligible. Tech got pounded 28-13 on Homecoming. Nothing to analyze here, it just is what it is.
Independents
Bowl Eligible: None
Bowl Ineligible: New Mexico State
Winners: BYU
BYU won another shootout, and Taysom Hill showed his potential on the ground again. This was a big win over the previously unbeaten Houston Cougars, and keeps BYU in line for their annual trip to the Poinsettia Bowl.
Losers: Army, Navy, Notre Dame, New Mexico State
Notre Dame loses by winning this week, as they struggled to get by USC 14-10. Seriously, this was a chance to lay down the wood on the Trojans, and the Irish just barely showed up. Army got rolled by previously winless Temple, so they are just sucking huge right now. Navy can't stop a top tier running back, and Toledo ran all over the Middies in the OT win 45-44. NMSU is now 0-7, and may finish winless. NMSU fans still seem to doubt my call on Doug Martin being a short timer coach in Las Crucas. Yes, I read your fan message boards from time to time...
MAC
Bowl Eligible: Ball State, Northern Illinois
Bowl Ineligible: Western Michigan, Miami (Ohio)
Winners: Toledo, Akron, Ohio, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Buffalo
Toledo stayed alive as far as bowl hopes are concerned, but they still need to pick up some wins in MAC action to stay alive overall. It's been a struggle at times, and this week was no different as the Rockets had to go to OT to beat Navy in a 45-44 shootout. Ohio bounced back from a terrible loss to CMU last week, beating Eastern Michigan to hang on in the conference race. Ball State and Northern Illinois both picked up solid conference wins and are setting the pace in the conference, but both are in the same division, so it's going to come down to a game that won't be in the title tilt that may set up who wins the MAC. NIU's Jordan Lynch had an ok passing game, but he rushed for over 300 yards in the win and scored 4 TDs on the day in the win over C. Michigan. Buffalo is tied with Bowling Green in the East, and could play a major spoiler roll, as they are as hot as any team in the country right now.
Losers: Miami (Ohio), Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Kent State, Central Michigan, UMass
With their latest losses, UMass and Miami have now officially fallen off of the bowl radar. Miami stayed winless in their loss to Akron, while UMass comes off of beating Miami by falling to Buffalo 32-3 to keep the Bulls streaking. EMU and WMU are just a combined 1-14 this season overall. Kent State fell apart once again, and lost to an upstart South Alabama program in non-league action.
Mountain West
Bowl Eligible: Fresno State
Winners: Colorado State, Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State
Colorado State won their rivalry game over Wyoming, and they even their mark in conference play. The season may not be done for the Rams just yet, even at 3-4. Boise State stayed even at the top of their division, beating Nevada 34-17. I still see Boise State as the clear winner of the division when we get to the end of the season. Utah State will challenge BSU, and they got a much needed bounce back win over New Mexico on the road 45-10. The Aggies may be finding their way without Chuckie Keeton, but they have to find someone to lead soon. Fresno State is still unbeaten, and made themselves officially bowl eligible by cruising past UNLV 38-14 at home. The Bulldogs are trying to crack into the BCS bowls, and they are still alive in that goal.
Losers: Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV
Wyoming is starting to show some major flaws, and getting crushed by CSU was not a good place to find themselves heading into the crunch time part of the season. Nevada is in a rebuilding period that may last a couple seasons. New Mexico is definitely better now than they were under Mike Locksley, but they are nowhere near competitive yet. UNLV has not beaten an FBS team with a winning record this season, and lost once again to a team with a winning record in Fresno State, snapping a 4 game winning streak by the Rebels.
PAC-12
Bowl Eligible: Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford
Winners: Colorado, Stanford, Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State
Colorado needed a win, and playing an FCS program general makes that happen, but it's very weak to schedule this type of game so late in the season. That being said, Charleston Southern is in the midst of their best season ever, and was ranked in our FCS top ten last week. Stanford got huge win over UCLA, and keeps pace a game back from Oregon. The win wasn't pretty, but it was a must. Arizona State's blowout win over Washington put the Sun Devils into first place in the South division, a half game now over UCLA. Arizona got their first win in conference play over a Utah team that had beaten Stanford last week. Oregon and Oregon State cruised, and Oregon State is unbeaten since losing to FCS Eastern Washington in the season opener, and is tied atop the North with Oregon. The Civil War stands to be a great game this fall.
Losers: UCLA, Washington, USC, Utah, Washington State, California
UCLA's loss was costly, but by no means are they out of the race to the conference title game. The Bruins, however looked terrible throughout the 24-10 loss to Stanford, and nobody on the field looked worse than Brett Hundley. Hundley saw not only the end of the Bruins run to a dark horse national title contention, but also saw his Hiesman candidacy vanish in a single day. Washington is falling fast in the North race, and Keith Price is just not right this season. USC saw yet another inept offensive performance against their arch rival Notre Dame. Utah bounced back from a win over Stanford to get beaten on a late 4th quarter run by Arizona on the road. Washington State fell hard to Oregon, but they're definitely improving under Mike Leach by leaps and bounds, and a bowl is still within reach for the Cougars. Cal is toast, and will be working towards next year moving forward.
SEC
Bowl Eligible: Missouri, Alabama, Auburn, LSU
Winners: Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Missouri, Auburn, Ole Miss, Alabama
Missouri is now on a crash course with Alabama for the SEC title game, with a little help from their friends at Vandy and Tennessee this weekend. The Tigers remain unbeaten, and have a wide lead in the East after Vandy knocked Georgia out of the race in the east, and Tennessee hit a game ending FG to beat South Carolina. Those were huge wins for the Commodores and Volunteers, but they were bigger for the Tigers, who crushed Florida behind Maty Mauk at home. Auburn came from bhind late to knock Texas A&M out of the West race, and stay in the race themselves. What a difference a year makes out on the plains under Gus Malzahn. Alabama is still the undisputed favorite after crushing Arkansas 52-0. Ole Miss stayed alive, but they really are on the fringe, but beating LSU is always sweet for the Rebels, and it was in fine, game ending fashion with a late FG for a 27-24 win.
Losers: Georgia, South Carolina, Florida. Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas
Oh the Georgia Bulldogs are in trouble, and the haters will be out for Mark Richt's job after consecutive SEC losses, this time to Vanderbilt, where UGA blew a 24-14 lead. South Carolina also finds themselves out of the SEC race for now, after starting the season in the top ten nationally, and again, it came to a game ending FG, where Tennessee stole the 23-21 win. Florida is dead in the water, and may be lucky to finish the season at .500 after what I saw in the loss to Missouri. Texas A&M has proven that even with Johnny Manziel at QB, you still have to play defense. The Aggies fell to Auburn 45-41, and traded leads several times with the Tigers. LSU has also fallen out of the race in the west, handing the division to Alabama, as they too lost on a last second FG by Ole Miss. Arkansas has been dead for weeks now, and Bret Bielema must be starting to wonder why he left Wisconsin.
Sun Belt
Bowl Eligible None
Bowl Ineligible: Georgia State
Winners: UL-Lafayette, South Alabama, Texas State
ULL went on the road and trashed Western Kentucky, giving the Cajuns a half game lead in the Sun Belt race. South Alabama got a win out of conference, and the rapidly inproving Jaguars are 3-3 on the season, and are only one game out of the lead. Texas State had to grind out a 24-17 win over winless GSU, getting their first SBC win, and keeping the Panthers winless.
Losers: Western Kentucky, Georgia State
The Toppers had an opportunity to win at home, and make some noise in the SBC race, but fell flat, losing by 17 to ULL. WKU is now 1-2 in conference play under Bobby Petrino. Georgia State is now 0-7 after falling to Texas State in a game that was actually within their reach.
Coming up next, FBS and FCS PRS Rankings...
The Game That Was Never Played
The situation at Grambling State is worsening by the day, and if Eddie Robinson turns any faster in his grave, he'll dig himself right out into open air. There were player protests all week long, and meetings with President Pogue and others ended up collapsing into chaos. Interim coach George Ragsdale was fired, and Dirt Winston was hired as the interim coach, meaning that Grambling has had three coaches since last month. terrible relationship between the coach and his superiors.
The players have cited many complaints in their quest, such as the firing of Doug Williams, facility issues, and overall locker room conditions that they claim have led to several cases of staph infection. They also cite long bus rides to Indianapolis and Kansas City for (useless) neutral site games. In short order, and I agree with this assessment, the Tiger players have been treated like cattle at best, and they are tired of getting treated as such, when football is always the money making cash cow for any program. In a rare move, I am siding with the players in this complaint, as it looks as if the administration is completely to blame.
Doug Williams wanted to raise funds to improve conditions, and he had a plan. The Problem? It differed from the plan of campus leadership, widening an already disastrous relationship with the administration. Williams' idea, by the way, was much better.
It would seem to me that President Pogue would take any and all ideas not only to save the football program, but to save his school, which has seen budget slashes taking the school from approximately 36 million dollars down to around 13 million, for the entire university.
The argument has been spelled out by detractors that the players shouldn't complain when they are getting a free college education, but how quality is the education they are getting at Grambling when professors are asked to teach additional courses beyond their course load for a semester, and often these classes are outside of their specialties? To me, it becomes a matter of the blind leading the blind, especially when a high number of professors in America are already more worried about tenure than actually teaching.
In short, the protest dragged on to the point that when the buses showed up to drive the Grambling players to Jackson, Mississippi for their weekly game against Jackson State, the players were nowhere to be found. Those buses left empty, and the game, which was JSU's homecoming, was cancelled. Of course when you cancel any game, both schools suffer financially, no matter what they may say publically. When that starts happening, pressure will mount, and heat will rise.
In closing, I call for the resignation of President Pogue, as these conditions have now made it perfectly clear that he has lost control over a large segment of his institution, and he has shown me amongst others that he no longer has the ability to not only control the situation, but make it any better. Without huge changes, not only will the Grambling football program cease to exist, but the school itself may as well. Pogue's resignation is a must at this point.
Now for a look back at the week...
AAC
Bowl Eligible: Louisville
Winners: UCF, Cincinnati, Temple
UCF came back from 21 down to beat Louisville 38-35. With the win the Knights have gotten into position to take the AAC, but still must face down Houston, who lost out of conference yesterday. Cincinnati stayed alive in a blowout win over UConn, but they have not shown any consistency all season, so it's hard to see where they could fall in a spoiler role, which is where they are right now. Temple head coach Matt Ruhle got his first win for Temple in their 33-14 win over Army at home.
Losers: Louisville, SMU, Memphis, UConn, Houston
Louisville had their shot lined up to compete for a national title spot, and lost it, along with Heisman candidacy for Teddy Bridgewater in a loss to UCF. SMU may have beaten Memphis for just their second win, but they damn near blew a 31-3 lead, being outscored 26-3 after the half. Memphis never should have fallen behind like they did, so even with the massive comeback attempt, they still fall as losers this week. UConn looked horrible once again, and one more loss takes them out of range for bowl consideration, but let's face it, the dream is dead. Houston got into a shooting match and fell short against BYU in Provo, but they do stay unbeaten in AAC play.
ACC
Bowl Eligible: Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech
Winners: Miami, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke, Florida State
Miami had a rough game at UNC, and injuries cut deeply, but the Canes persevered, and survive as an unbeaten team into week 9. The bigger win came by Florida State, who's 51-14 thrashing of Clemson made the Noles not only the clear favorite in the ACC, but puts them right in line for a shot at a national title. Make no mistake, FSU is back. Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Duke all picked up must win victories, keeping them in line for bowl births.
Losers: North Carolina, Syracuse, Maryland, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Clemson
UNC is falling apart this season, and they completely blew it against Miami, as they had the game within their grasp. Syracuse is fading fast with a 56-0 loss to Georgia Tech, and Virginia is joining them after getting hammered at home by Duke. Maryland, after a surprising fast start, has now lost three straight, starting with that conference opening thrashing by Florida State. Pitt won, but struggled, trailing 10-0 to Old Dominion in the first quarter of play.
Big 12
Bowl Eligible: Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma
Winners: Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Baylor
OSU is still plugging away quietly, but there is no mistake that something has been missing from this team this season, as the offense has been chugging along at a well below average pace for the Cowboys. Texas Tech struggled against a weak WVU team, but Morgantown is still a pit to play in. None of the Tech coaches had ever visited Morgantown before, so experience with the place was lacking. That said, Tech is now 7-0, and is quietly hanging around in what could be a messy championship picture. Baylor is back into 70 point land yet again, destroying ISU 71-7. Oh, the Bears are also ranked at their highest point in 33 years.
Losers: TCU, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa State
TCU is just not getting it done this fall, but everyone has to rebuild sometime. WVU had Texas Tech playing scared, but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter and grasped defeat from the jaws of victory. Oklahoma beat Kansas, but struggled in the first half. They may have been looking ahead to Texas Tech, but they showed many deficiencies that remained from their loss to Texas in week 7. Kansas, although gutsy, is just a mess, James Sims not included. Iowa Sate gave up more points than they have in a very long time, and their season is just about done.
Big 10
Bowl Eligible: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State
Bowl Ineligible: Penn State
Winners: Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin
Minnesota got a huge road win against Northwestern, keeping their bowl hopes alive, and also winning a game without head coach Jerry Kill, who is still on a leave of absence. Minnesota may be ok, but they will have to beat someone from the upper echelon eventually. Ohio State got the scare of the year from Iowa at home, but the Buckeyes held strong, and stayed unbeaten. Wisconsin rolled on the road against an inconsistent and sloppy Illinois team.
Losers: Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana
Two winners make the losers list this week in the Big 10 in both Michigan State and Michigan. For the Wolverines, they won by scoring 63 points, but gave up a whopping 47 to Indiana. Indiana had this game within 2 heading into the 4th, but may have the worst defense in the nation. Michigan State was favored by 27.5 over Purdue (look at my picks this week, I told you Purdue would cover that) and barely managed to score 14 points in the entire game in a 14-0 win. Give Purdue credit, but their offense sucks. Northwestern is sinking like a stone, and has now lost 3 straight after starting 4-0. Iowa is sinking as well, giving up a prime opportunity to get a huge win at Ohio State. Illinois is just all over the place, and could be a year or two away from playing for a quality bowl.
Conference USA
Bowl Eligible: None
Winners: East Carolina, North Texas, Rice
The winners were clear this week, with all three of the above mentioned programs winning in double digits. East Carolina got a huge bounce back rout over USM, while North Texas made a move towards a bowl appearance with a win over Louisiana Tech, ruining Tech's homecoming. Rice was a clear winner (45-19) over New Mexico State, making NMSU, an Independent, officially ineligible for a bowl in 2013.
Losers: Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech
Southern Miss is now a loser of 18 straight games, and one win away from becoming officially bowl ineligible. Tech got pounded 28-13 on Homecoming. Nothing to analyze here, it just is what it is.
Independents
Bowl Eligible: None
Bowl Ineligible: New Mexico State
Winners: BYU
BYU won another shootout, and Taysom Hill showed his potential on the ground again. This was a big win over the previously unbeaten Houston Cougars, and keeps BYU in line for their annual trip to the Poinsettia Bowl.
Losers: Army, Navy, Notre Dame, New Mexico State
Notre Dame loses by winning this week, as they struggled to get by USC 14-10. Seriously, this was a chance to lay down the wood on the Trojans, and the Irish just barely showed up. Army got rolled by previously winless Temple, so they are just sucking huge right now. Navy can't stop a top tier running back, and Toledo ran all over the Middies in the OT win 45-44. NMSU is now 0-7, and may finish winless. NMSU fans still seem to doubt my call on Doug Martin being a short timer coach in Las Crucas. Yes, I read your fan message boards from time to time...
MAC
Bowl Eligible: Ball State, Northern Illinois
Bowl Ineligible: Western Michigan, Miami (Ohio)
Winners: Toledo, Akron, Ohio, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Buffalo
Toledo stayed alive as far as bowl hopes are concerned, but they still need to pick up some wins in MAC action to stay alive overall. It's been a struggle at times, and this week was no different as the Rockets had to go to OT to beat Navy in a 45-44 shootout. Ohio bounced back from a terrible loss to CMU last week, beating Eastern Michigan to hang on in the conference race. Ball State and Northern Illinois both picked up solid conference wins and are setting the pace in the conference, but both are in the same division, so it's going to come down to a game that won't be in the title tilt that may set up who wins the MAC. NIU's Jordan Lynch had an ok passing game, but he rushed for over 300 yards in the win and scored 4 TDs on the day in the win over C. Michigan. Buffalo is tied with Bowling Green in the East, and could play a major spoiler roll, as they are as hot as any team in the country right now.
Losers: Miami (Ohio), Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Kent State, Central Michigan, UMass
With their latest losses, UMass and Miami have now officially fallen off of the bowl radar. Miami stayed winless in their loss to Akron, while UMass comes off of beating Miami by falling to Buffalo 32-3 to keep the Bulls streaking. EMU and WMU are just a combined 1-14 this season overall. Kent State fell apart once again, and lost to an upstart South Alabama program in non-league action.
Mountain West
Bowl Eligible: Fresno State
Winners: Colorado State, Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State
Colorado State won their rivalry game over Wyoming, and they even their mark in conference play. The season may not be done for the Rams just yet, even at 3-4. Boise State stayed even at the top of their division, beating Nevada 34-17. I still see Boise State as the clear winner of the division when we get to the end of the season. Utah State will challenge BSU, and they got a much needed bounce back win over New Mexico on the road 45-10. The Aggies may be finding their way without Chuckie Keeton, but they have to find someone to lead soon. Fresno State is still unbeaten, and made themselves officially bowl eligible by cruising past UNLV 38-14 at home. The Bulldogs are trying to crack into the BCS bowls, and they are still alive in that goal.
Losers: Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV
Wyoming is starting to show some major flaws, and getting crushed by CSU was not a good place to find themselves heading into the crunch time part of the season. Nevada is in a rebuilding period that may last a couple seasons. New Mexico is definitely better now than they were under Mike Locksley, but they are nowhere near competitive yet. UNLV has not beaten an FBS team with a winning record this season, and lost once again to a team with a winning record in Fresno State, snapping a 4 game winning streak by the Rebels.
PAC-12
Bowl Eligible: Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford
Winners: Colorado, Stanford, Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State
Colorado needed a win, and playing an FCS program general makes that happen, but it's very weak to schedule this type of game so late in the season. That being said, Charleston Southern is in the midst of their best season ever, and was ranked in our FCS top ten last week. Stanford got huge win over UCLA, and keeps pace a game back from Oregon. The win wasn't pretty, but it was a must. Arizona State's blowout win over Washington put the Sun Devils into first place in the South division, a half game now over UCLA. Arizona got their first win in conference play over a Utah team that had beaten Stanford last week. Oregon and Oregon State cruised, and Oregon State is unbeaten since losing to FCS Eastern Washington in the season opener, and is tied atop the North with Oregon. The Civil War stands to be a great game this fall.
Losers: UCLA, Washington, USC, Utah, Washington State, California
UCLA's loss was costly, but by no means are they out of the race to the conference title game. The Bruins, however looked terrible throughout the 24-10 loss to Stanford, and nobody on the field looked worse than Brett Hundley. Hundley saw not only the end of the Bruins run to a dark horse national title contention, but also saw his Hiesman candidacy vanish in a single day. Washington is falling fast in the North race, and Keith Price is just not right this season. USC saw yet another inept offensive performance against their arch rival Notre Dame. Utah bounced back from a win over Stanford to get beaten on a late 4th quarter run by Arizona on the road. Washington State fell hard to Oregon, but they're definitely improving under Mike Leach by leaps and bounds, and a bowl is still within reach for the Cougars. Cal is toast, and will be working towards next year moving forward.
SEC
Bowl Eligible: Missouri, Alabama, Auburn, LSU
Winners: Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Missouri, Auburn, Ole Miss, Alabama
Missouri is now on a crash course with Alabama for the SEC title game, with a little help from their friends at Vandy and Tennessee this weekend. The Tigers remain unbeaten, and have a wide lead in the East after Vandy knocked Georgia out of the race in the east, and Tennessee hit a game ending FG to beat South Carolina. Those were huge wins for the Commodores and Volunteers, but they were bigger for the Tigers, who crushed Florida behind Maty Mauk at home. Auburn came from bhind late to knock Texas A&M out of the West race, and stay in the race themselves. What a difference a year makes out on the plains under Gus Malzahn. Alabama is still the undisputed favorite after crushing Arkansas 52-0. Ole Miss stayed alive, but they really are on the fringe, but beating LSU is always sweet for the Rebels, and it was in fine, game ending fashion with a late FG for a 27-24 win.
Losers: Georgia, South Carolina, Florida. Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas
Oh the Georgia Bulldogs are in trouble, and the haters will be out for Mark Richt's job after consecutive SEC losses, this time to Vanderbilt, where UGA blew a 24-14 lead. South Carolina also finds themselves out of the SEC race for now, after starting the season in the top ten nationally, and again, it came to a game ending FG, where Tennessee stole the 23-21 win. Florida is dead in the water, and may be lucky to finish the season at .500 after what I saw in the loss to Missouri. Texas A&M has proven that even with Johnny Manziel at QB, you still have to play defense. The Aggies fell to Auburn 45-41, and traded leads several times with the Tigers. LSU has also fallen out of the race in the west, handing the division to Alabama, as they too lost on a last second FG by Ole Miss. Arkansas has been dead for weeks now, and Bret Bielema must be starting to wonder why he left Wisconsin.
Sun Belt
Bowl Eligible None
Bowl Ineligible: Georgia State
Winners: UL-Lafayette, South Alabama, Texas State
ULL went on the road and trashed Western Kentucky, giving the Cajuns a half game lead in the Sun Belt race. South Alabama got a win out of conference, and the rapidly inproving Jaguars are 3-3 on the season, and are only one game out of the lead. Texas State had to grind out a 24-17 win over winless GSU, getting their first SBC win, and keeping the Panthers winless.
Losers: Western Kentucky, Georgia State
The Toppers had an opportunity to win at home, and make some noise in the SBC race, but fell flat, losing by 17 to ULL. WKU is now 1-2 in conference play under Bobby Petrino. Georgia State is now 0-7 after falling to Texas State in a game that was actually within their reach.
Coming up next, FBS and FCS PRS Rankings...
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool
Here is our look at the Dead Pool, where we look at coaches who sooner or later, will not be coaching at their present school any longer. Whether this season, or next, we cannot see how their current situation can possibly be fixed.
Let's take a swim in the Dead Pool!
Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
There was a short period where it looked as of the Demon Deacons would make a place for themselves in the ACC under Grobe. That was a short lived era. The Deacons are 3-3 right now, but they are not nearly that good a football team. They fell to Clemson 56-7, so that shows how far away they are under Grobe right now.
Mack Brown, Texas
He saved himself for 2013 by beating Oklahoma last week, but with a change coming in the AD, Brown will likely coach his final season in 2014. If the Horns fall apart in the second half of this season, he could still go this winter.
Doug Martin, New Mexico State
Martin was hired not because he was the best guy for the job, but because he was one of the few who wanted it. I see absolutely no opportunities for a single win this season, and the pressure will only get worse when the Aggies join the Sun Belt. Martin was an assistant on a sinking ship when he took this job, and if he was only going to get fired at Boston College anyway, why was he a great candidate for this job? Look at his head coaching record, and you will find one winning season...ever.
Charlie Molnar, UMass
Got his first win of the season against equally hapless Miami (Ohio). It'll likely be the last win for the Minutemen in 2013. I wrote about this program in depth last week, so I won't pile on again.
Ron English, Eastern Michigan
We are weeks away from the end of his tenure. He started 2013 on this list, and has done nothing to come off of it. The Eagles are just 1-5.
Norm Chow, Hawaii
Another season long swimmer, Chow lost at UNLV last week, and once again, I see no opportunities for a win in 2013 moving forward. With what would be just 4 wins in two seasons, it becomes obvious that this was a mistake hire, but then again, I already know that.
Scott Bilo can be reached by email at scott.bilo@powerratedsports, or by cell at 702-883-3983. Enjoy the rest of the week in College Football!
Let's take a swim in the Dead Pool!
Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
There was a short period where it looked as of the Demon Deacons would make a place for themselves in the ACC under Grobe. That was a short lived era. The Deacons are 3-3 right now, but they are not nearly that good a football team. They fell to Clemson 56-7, so that shows how far away they are under Grobe right now.
Mack Brown, Texas
He saved himself for 2013 by beating Oklahoma last week, but with a change coming in the AD, Brown will likely coach his final season in 2014. If the Horns fall apart in the second half of this season, he could still go this winter.
Doug Martin, New Mexico State
Martin was hired not because he was the best guy for the job, but because he was one of the few who wanted it. I see absolutely no opportunities for a single win this season, and the pressure will only get worse when the Aggies join the Sun Belt. Martin was an assistant on a sinking ship when he took this job, and if he was only going to get fired at Boston College anyway, why was he a great candidate for this job? Look at his head coaching record, and you will find one winning season...ever.
Charlie Molnar, UMass
Got his first win of the season against equally hapless Miami (Ohio). It'll likely be the last win for the Minutemen in 2013. I wrote about this program in depth last week, so I won't pile on again.
Ron English, Eastern Michigan
We are weeks away from the end of his tenure. He started 2013 on this list, and has done nothing to come off of it. The Eagles are just 1-5.
Norm Chow, Hawaii
Another season long swimmer, Chow lost at UNLV last week, and once again, I see no opportunities for a win in 2013 moving forward. With what would be just 4 wins in two seasons, it becomes obvious that this was a mistake hire, but then again, I already know that.
Scott Bilo can be reached by email at scott.bilo@powerratedsports, or by cell at 702-883-3983. Enjoy the rest of the week in College Football!
Coaches on the Hot Seat
Here's a special Saturday edition of Coaches on the Hot Seat. For clarification on what this piece means, we are looking at coaches who may not be on the firing line, but are feeling some heat. They may or may not be elevated to our Dead Pool column, which is a gauge on who may be in line for being fired. Don Treadwell is the only coach in the country this season which has been fired while just sitting in our Hot Seat column. Lane Kiffin and Paul Pasqualoni were already on our Dead Pool list when being fired earlier this season. We don't look at FCS coaches on this list, but we do cover those jobs in our "As the Carousel Turns" columns.
Let's see who's on this week's Hot Seat!
June Jones, SMU
Jones has done some special things at SMU, but has it been enough? The Mustangs have played a difficult schedule, true, but that cannot be an excuse as to why you can't win games. Well coached teams rise to the challenge and make opportunities. SMU has not done that, with their only win coming against Montana State by 1. Now, as I type this column, they lead Memphis 31-3 coming off of a bye week. Now is the time to turn it around.
Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Tech fans have been waiting a while now to see how long it can take to get Tech to the upper level in the ACC. They are getting tired of waiting for the tide to turn. As an old Wishbone fan, even I admit that the era has gone from the game where you can win big as a ground based option offense. Tech has got to turn on the jets, considering they are 3-3 coming into today.
David Cutliffe, Duke
Cutliffe is 4-2, but is 0-2 in the ACC. The Devils are coming off of a solid thumping of Navy last week, but they have to find a way to win in ACC play. If they can get to a bowl again, the heat may level off. Sooner or later, 6-6 will no longer be enough.
Mike London, Virginia
We've been waiting for three solid seasons to see an upswing in success for the Cavaliers. It hasn't happened, and Virginia is just awful on offense. The pressure is mounting, and sooner or later, a turn must take place. London could be a Dead Pooler by the end of November for lack of progress.
Charlie Weis, Kansas
Weis may not be gone by the end of this season, but he has already pressed the panic button and reassigned the offense to take himself off of primary play calling duties. Weis has been too authoritarian on offense, and his assistants were too afraid to voice their opinions on game planning. Not good.
Paul Rhodes, Iowa State
The Cyclones aren't playing badly at times, but they cannot hold on to win close games. Eventually you have to win those games, and that's the difference right now between 1-4 and 3-3. Rhodes will get 2014 to swing it around, but after that, he may be toast if he can't.
Jerry Kill, Minnesota
This has nothing to do with football. Kill's health is terrible, and his seizures have only worsened the last two seasons. He has an obligation to step aside when his health effects his program, and now it's happening with him taking a leave of absence. I have epilepsy in my own extended family, and it never goes away. Kill should step away for his health, and officially turn over the reigns, for his sake, for the team's sake, and for that of his own family.
Ron Turner, FIU
I don't agree with this necessarily, but there is a great deal of pressure on Turner already, with the Panthers looking just abysmal most weeks. It's too soon to nuke him now in my opinion, but just know that the heat is already on according to several sources.
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
The Raiders are 3-4, and falling right out of the CUSA race early. Stockstill is loved by many, but this program is looking like a mess to me, and should be so much better than it is. New blood may be in order.
Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech
One year in, an the locals are already clamoring for blood as the Bulldogs are 2-4 out of the gate. It seems like Sonny Dykes has spoiled the folks in Ruston. Holtz needs another year or two to get it straight, but the locals are already lighting their torches.
Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
Tulsa was highly regarded heading into the season. They have disappointed as much as anyone in the nation. As Blankenship gets deeper into his own era, the Golden Hurricanes look like they are fading. Blankenship will get one more season, more than likely, but he has to get it right after surprising everyone to win 10 last season.
Dan Enos, Central Michigan
I am upgrading Enos this week, and pulling him out of the Dead Pool temporarily. The Chippewas are coming off of a win over Ohio, and while still just 3-4, they have now won two games in MAC play and could play spoiler as we head into the back half of the season. If they start to fade again, it's back into the pool. He is coaching for his life right now.
Rocky Long, San Diego State
After an awful start, the Aztecs are coming back in a big way, and could be tied for 1st in the Pacific division of the MWC tonight. If the Aztecs continue to come back, then Long can get comfy once again.
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
The Falcons have been purely terrible in 2013, and haven't been relevant in MWC play in a while now. Calhoun should be feeling the heat rising. I am checking sources this week, and checking further into his status, but I am feeling a slip in his support.
Will Muschamp, Florida
If the Gators fall today, which they are trailing right now, they will be 4-3 and out of the SEC East race. Muschamp is not loved in Gainesville, and there are some folks who will bleed no tears with his departure. It's nuts to think he'd be cut after 2013, but how about 2014? Talent is lacking, and so are the wins.
Mark Richt, Georgia
Every year...Richt is back on the list again after falling to Missouri at home last week and taking the Bulldogs out of the SEC East lead. UGA is now 4-2 after starting the season with a loss to Clemson to knock them out of the top ten. Patience is thin.
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Still waiting for that promised blooming of MSU success? So am I. It hasn't happened, and after an 0-2 start in SEC play, we have to start wondering when Mullen starts to face the same heat that Sylvester Croom once felt.
Coming up next...Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool
Let's see who's on this week's Hot Seat!
June Jones, SMU
Jones has done some special things at SMU, but has it been enough? The Mustangs have played a difficult schedule, true, but that cannot be an excuse as to why you can't win games. Well coached teams rise to the challenge and make opportunities. SMU has not done that, with their only win coming against Montana State by 1. Now, as I type this column, they lead Memphis 31-3 coming off of a bye week. Now is the time to turn it around.
Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Tech fans have been waiting a while now to see how long it can take to get Tech to the upper level in the ACC. They are getting tired of waiting for the tide to turn. As an old Wishbone fan, even I admit that the era has gone from the game where you can win big as a ground based option offense. Tech has got to turn on the jets, considering they are 3-3 coming into today.
David Cutliffe, Duke
Cutliffe is 4-2, but is 0-2 in the ACC. The Devils are coming off of a solid thumping of Navy last week, but they have to find a way to win in ACC play. If they can get to a bowl again, the heat may level off. Sooner or later, 6-6 will no longer be enough.
Mike London, Virginia
We've been waiting for three solid seasons to see an upswing in success for the Cavaliers. It hasn't happened, and Virginia is just awful on offense. The pressure is mounting, and sooner or later, a turn must take place. London could be a Dead Pooler by the end of November for lack of progress.
Charlie Weis, Kansas
Weis may not be gone by the end of this season, but he has already pressed the panic button and reassigned the offense to take himself off of primary play calling duties. Weis has been too authoritarian on offense, and his assistants were too afraid to voice their opinions on game planning. Not good.
Paul Rhodes, Iowa State
The Cyclones aren't playing badly at times, but they cannot hold on to win close games. Eventually you have to win those games, and that's the difference right now between 1-4 and 3-3. Rhodes will get 2014 to swing it around, but after that, he may be toast if he can't.
Jerry Kill, Minnesota
This has nothing to do with football. Kill's health is terrible, and his seizures have only worsened the last two seasons. He has an obligation to step aside when his health effects his program, and now it's happening with him taking a leave of absence. I have epilepsy in my own extended family, and it never goes away. Kill should step away for his health, and officially turn over the reigns, for his sake, for the team's sake, and for that of his own family.
Ron Turner, FIU
I don't agree with this necessarily, but there is a great deal of pressure on Turner already, with the Panthers looking just abysmal most weeks. It's too soon to nuke him now in my opinion, but just know that the heat is already on according to several sources.
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
The Raiders are 3-4, and falling right out of the CUSA race early. Stockstill is loved by many, but this program is looking like a mess to me, and should be so much better than it is. New blood may be in order.
Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech
One year in, an the locals are already clamoring for blood as the Bulldogs are 2-4 out of the gate. It seems like Sonny Dykes has spoiled the folks in Ruston. Holtz needs another year or two to get it straight, but the locals are already lighting their torches.
Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
Tulsa was highly regarded heading into the season. They have disappointed as much as anyone in the nation. As Blankenship gets deeper into his own era, the Golden Hurricanes look like they are fading. Blankenship will get one more season, more than likely, but he has to get it right after surprising everyone to win 10 last season.
Dan Enos, Central Michigan
I am upgrading Enos this week, and pulling him out of the Dead Pool temporarily. The Chippewas are coming off of a win over Ohio, and while still just 3-4, they have now won two games in MAC play and could play spoiler as we head into the back half of the season. If they start to fade again, it's back into the pool. He is coaching for his life right now.
Rocky Long, San Diego State
After an awful start, the Aztecs are coming back in a big way, and could be tied for 1st in the Pacific division of the MWC tonight. If the Aztecs continue to come back, then Long can get comfy once again.
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
The Falcons have been purely terrible in 2013, and haven't been relevant in MWC play in a while now. Calhoun should be feeling the heat rising. I am checking sources this week, and checking further into his status, but I am feeling a slip in his support.
Will Muschamp, Florida
If the Gators fall today, which they are trailing right now, they will be 4-3 and out of the SEC East race. Muschamp is not loved in Gainesville, and there are some folks who will bleed no tears with his departure. It's nuts to think he'd be cut after 2013, but how about 2014? Talent is lacking, and so are the wins.
Mark Richt, Georgia
Every year...Richt is back on the list again after falling to Missouri at home last week and taking the Bulldogs out of the SEC East lead. UGA is now 4-2 after starting the season with a loss to Clemson to knock them out of the top ten. Patience is thin.
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Still waiting for that promised blooming of MSU success? So am I. It hasn't happened, and after an 0-2 start in SEC play, we have to start wondering when Mullen starts to face the same heat that Sylvester Croom once felt.
Coming up next...Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Bilo's Picks: Week 8
Here are my picks for all week 8 FBS and FCS games:
FBS
Tuesday
UL-Lafayette over Western Kentucky...Picked this one on Twitter on Monday
Thursday
Miami over North Carolina...Miami remains unbeaten
Friday
Louisville over UCF...Winner gets the leg up on AAC title front
Saturday
Cincinnati over UConn
East Carolina over Southern Miss...ECU needs a win to stay alive in CUSA race
Michigan State over Purdue...27.5 spread looks nutty to me
South Carolina over Tennessee
Toledo over Navy
Texas Tech over West Virginia
Memphis over SMU
Northwestern over Minnesota
Oklahoma State over TCU
Georgia over Vanderbilt
Missouri over Florida...Upset alert! Mizzou should be favored, even without James Franklin
Georgia Tech over Syracuse
Ohio over Eastern Michigan
Akron over Miami (Ohio)
Army over Temple...Upset alert!
Ball State over Western Michigan...Love the 20 point spread here for the Cardinals
Wyoming over Colorado State
Colorado over Charleston Southern
Northern Illinois over Central Michigan...NIU -16 is a lock
South Alabama over Kent State
Buffalo over UMass...I would be tempted to lay money on the Bulls -20 here
Michigan over Indiana
Ohio State over Iowa
Duke over Virginia...Upset Alert!
Maryland over Wake Forest
Houston over BYU...Love the Cougars at +9.5
Oklahoma over Kansas
North Texas over Louisiana Tech
Texas A&M over Auburn
Stanford over UCLA...Game of the week #1
Arizona State over Washington
Pittsburgh over Old Dominion
Alabama over Arkansas
Baylor over Iowa State
LSU over Ole Miss
Texas State over Georgia State
Notre Dame over USC
Florida State over Clemson...Game of the week #2
Wisconsin over Illinois
Rice over New Mexico State
Boise State over Nevada
Utah State over New Mexico
Utah over Arizona...Upset Alert!
Oregon over Washington State
Fresno State over UNLV...UNLV 4 game win streak ends here
Oregon State over California
FCS
Saturday
Villanova over New Hampshire
Fordham over Yale...New FCS #1 gets another huge challenge
Holy Cross over Colgate
Richmond over Rhode Island
Lehigh over Georgetown
Harvard over Lafayette
Monmouth over Cornell
Norfolk State over Hampton
North Carolina A&T over Delaware State
Sacred Heart over Bryant
Marist over Davidson
Jacksonville over Campbell
Butler over Drake
Mercer over Carnegie-Mellon
Penn over Columbia
Dartmouth over Bucknell
Chattanooga over Elon
Furman over Appalachian State
Presbyterian over VMI
Illinois State over Indiana State
South Dakota State over Missouri State
Florida A&M over Howard
North Carolina Central over Morgan State
Tennessee State over UT-Martin
Morehead State over Valporaiso
Eastern Illinois over SE Missouri State
North Dakota State over Southern Illinois
Eastern Kentucky over Tennessee Tech
Prairie View over Mississippi Valley State
Jackson State over Grambling
Alcorn State over Texas Southern
Abilene Christian over Incarnate Word
Coastal Carolina over Liberty
Sacramento State over North Dakota
Montana over Cal Poly
Wofford over Western Carolina
Southern over UA-Pine Bluff
Towson over Albany
UC-Davis over Northern Colorado
Youngstown State over Western Illinois
Bethune-Cookman over Savannah State
Murray State over Austin Peay
Nicholls State over Stephen F. Austin
Northern Iowa over South Dakota
Montana State over Weber State
Brown over Princeton
Duquesne over Robert Morris
Dayton over San Diego
Central Arkansas over Lamar
SE Louisiana over Northwestern State
Northern Arizona over Idaho State
Sam Houston State over McNeese State
Eastern Washington over Southern Utah
FBS
Tuesday
UL-Lafayette over Western Kentucky...Picked this one on Twitter on Monday
Thursday
Miami over North Carolina...Miami remains unbeaten
Friday
Louisville over UCF...Winner gets the leg up on AAC title front
Saturday
Cincinnati over UConn
East Carolina over Southern Miss...ECU needs a win to stay alive in CUSA race
Michigan State over Purdue...27.5 spread looks nutty to me
South Carolina over Tennessee
Toledo over Navy
Texas Tech over West Virginia
Memphis over SMU
Northwestern over Minnesota
Oklahoma State over TCU
Georgia over Vanderbilt
Missouri over Florida...Upset alert! Mizzou should be favored, even without James Franklin
Georgia Tech over Syracuse
Ohio over Eastern Michigan
Akron over Miami (Ohio)
Army over Temple...Upset alert!
Ball State over Western Michigan...Love the 20 point spread here for the Cardinals
Wyoming over Colorado State
Colorado over Charleston Southern
Northern Illinois over Central Michigan...NIU -16 is a lock
South Alabama over Kent State
Buffalo over UMass...I would be tempted to lay money on the Bulls -20 here
Michigan over Indiana
Ohio State over Iowa
Duke over Virginia...Upset Alert!
Maryland over Wake Forest
Houston over BYU...Love the Cougars at +9.5
Oklahoma over Kansas
North Texas over Louisiana Tech
Texas A&M over Auburn
Stanford over UCLA...Game of the week #1
Arizona State over Washington
Pittsburgh over Old Dominion
Alabama over Arkansas
Baylor over Iowa State
LSU over Ole Miss
Texas State over Georgia State
Notre Dame over USC
Florida State over Clemson...Game of the week #2
Wisconsin over Illinois
Rice over New Mexico State
Boise State over Nevada
Utah State over New Mexico
Utah over Arizona...Upset Alert!
Oregon over Washington State
Fresno State over UNLV...UNLV 4 game win streak ends here
Oregon State over California
FCS
Saturday
Villanova over New Hampshire
Fordham over Yale...New FCS #1 gets another huge challenge
Holy Cross over Colgate
Richmond over Rhode Island
Lehigh over Georgetown
Harvard over Lafayette
Monmouth over Cornell
Norfolk State over Hampton
North Carolina A&T over Delaware State
Sacred Heart over Bryant
Marist over Davidson
Jacksonville over Campbell
Butler over Drake
Mercer over Carnegie-Mellon
Penn over Columbia
Dartmouth over Bucknell
Chattanooga over Elon
Furman over Appalachian State
Presbyterian over VMI
Illinois State over Indiana State
South Dakota State over Missouri State
Florida A&M over Howard
North Carolina Central over Morgan State
Tennessee State over UT-Martin
Morehead State over Valporaiso
Eastern Illinois over SE Missouri State
North Dakota State over Southern Illinois
Eastern Kentucky over Tennessee Tech
Prairie View over Mississippi Valley State
Jackson State over Grambling
Alcorn State over Texas Southern
Abilene Christian over Incarnate Word
Coastal Carolina over Liberty
Sacramento State over North Dakota
Montana over Cal Poly
Wofford over Western Carolina
Southern over UA-Pine Bluff
Towson over Albany
UC-Davis over Northern Colorado
Youngstown State over Western Illinois
Bethune-Cookman over Savannah State
Murray State over Austin Peay
Nicholls State over Stephen F. Austin
Northern Iowa over South Dakota
Montana State over Weber State
Brown over Princeton
Duquesne over Robert Morris
Dayton over San Diego
Central Arkansas over Lamar
SE Louisiana over Northwestern State
Northern Arizona over Idaho State
Sam Houston State over McNeese State
Eastern Washington over Southern Utah
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
FBS and FCS PRS Rankings: Edition 7
Here is an abbreviated look at our weekly PRS Rankings for FBS and FCS football heading into week 8:
FBS
1. Alabama (6-0, 1448)
2. Oregon (6-0, 1433)
3. LSU (6-1, 1276)
4. Louisville (6-0, 1254)
5. Missouri (6-0, 1252)
6. Ohio State (6-0, 1221)
7. UCLA (5-0, 1217)
8. Northern Illinois (6-0, 1214)
9. Clemson (6-0, 1191)
10. Texas Tech (6-0, 1187)
11. Florida State (5-0, 1122)
12. Baylor (5-0, 1065)
13. Ball State (6-1, 1028)
14. Stanford (5-1, 1001)
15. Houston (5-0, 991)
16T. South Carolina (5-1, 978)
16T. Michigan (5-1, 978)
18. Fresno State (5-0, 966)
19. Miami (5-0, 945)
20. Oregon State (5-1, 938)
21. Oklahoma (5-1, 901)
22. Virginia Tech (6-1, 874)
23. Texas A&M (5-1, 817)
24. UCF (4-1, 785)
25. Nebraska (5-1, 769)
Next Ten
Michigan State, Maryland, Auburn, Texas, Oklahoma State, Bowling Green, Penn State, Rice, Georgia, BYU
Bottom Ten
Purdue, Hawaii, Akron, Air Force, UConn, Miami (OH), Temple, New Mexico State, Western Michigan, Georgia State
FCS
1. Fordham (7-0, 1716)
2. Coastal Carolina (6-0, 1434)
3. Towson (6-1, 1417)
4. Eastern Illinois (5-1, 1275)
5. North Dakota State (6-0, 1246)
6. Charleston Southern (7-0, 1198)
7. Youngstown State (6-1, 1140)
8. Samford (5-2, 1116)
9. Sam Houston State (5-1, 1113)
10. Bethune-Cookman (5-1, 1112)
11. Maine (5-1, 1101)
12. Tennessee State (6-1, 1078)
13. McNeese State (5-1, 980)
14T. Lehigh (5-1, 964)
14T. Harvard (4-0, 964)
16. Jackson State (5-2, 916)
17. Montana (5-1, 888)
18. Delaware (5-2, 885)
19. James Madison (5-2, 878)
20. Sacred Heart (6-1, 847)
21. Old Dominion (4-2, 814)
22T. SE Louisiana (4-2, 803)
22T. South Carolina State (5-2, 803)
24. Alabama State (5-2, 802)
25. Southern Utah (5-2, 794)
Next Ten
Prairie View, Villanova, Eastern Washington, Northern Iowa, William & Mary, UT-Martin, Jacksonville State, Alcorn State, Northern Arizona, Chattanooga
Bottom Ten
Albany, Columbia, Campbell, Valporaiso, VMI, UA-Pine Bluff, Northern Colorado, Stetson, Grambling, Davidson
FBS
1. Alabama (6-0, 1448)
2. Oregon (6-0, 1433)
3. LSU (6-1, 1276)
4. Louisville (6-0, 1254)
5. Missouri (6-0, 1252)
6. Ohio State (6-0, 1221)
7. UCLA (5-0, 1217)
8. Northern Illinois (6-0, 1214)
9. Clemson (6-0, 1191)
10. Texas Tech (6-0, 1187)
11. Florida State (5-0, 1122)
12. Baylor (5-0, 1065)
13. Ball State (6-1, 1028)
14. Stanford (5-1, 1001)
15. Houston (5-0, 991)
16T. South Carolina (5-1, 978)
16T. Michigan (5-1, 978)
18. Fresno State (5-0, 966)
19. Miami (5-0, 945)
20. Oregon State (5-1, 938)
21. Oklahoma (5-1, 901)
22. Virginia Tech (6-1, 874)
23. Texas A&M (5-1, 817)
24. UCF (4-1, 785)
25. Nebraska (5-1, 769)
Next Ten
Michigan State, Maryland, Auburn, Texas, Oklahoma State, Bowling Green, Penn State, Rice, Georgia, BYU
Bottom Ten
Purdue, Hawaii, Akron, Air Force, UConn, Miami (OH), Temple, New Mexico State, Western Michigan, Georgia State
FCS
1. Fordham (7-0, 1716)
2. Coastal Carolina (6-0, 1434)
3. Towson (6-1, 1417)
4. Eastern Illinois (5-1, 1275)
5. North Dakota State (6-0, 1246)
6. Charleston Southern (7-0, 1198)
7. Youngstown State (6-1, 1140)
8. Samford (5-2, 1116)
9. Sam Houston State (5-1, 1113)
10. Bethune-Cookman (5-1, 1112)
11. Maine (5-1, 1101)
12. Tennessee State (6-1, 1078)
13. McNeese State (5-1, 980)
14T. Lehigh (5-1, 964)
14T. Harvard (4-0, 964)
16. Jackson State (5-2, 916)
17. Montana (5-1, 888)
18. Delaware (5-2, 885)
19. James Madison (5-2, 878)
20. Sacred Heart (6-1, 847)
21. Old Dominion (4-2, 814)
22T. SE Louisiana (4-2, 803)
22T. South Carolina State (5-2, 803)
24. Alabama State (5-2, 802)
25. Southern Utah (5-2, 794)
Next Ten
Prairie View, Villanova, Eastern Washington, Northern Iowa, William & Mary, UT-Martin, Jacksonville State, Alcorn State, Northern Arizona, Chattanooga
Bottom Ten
Albany, Columbia, Campbell, Valporaiso, VMI, UA-Pine Bluff, Northern Colorado, Stetson, Grambling, Davidson
Week 7 Under Review
I have just returned from a road trip to Los Angeles, where I attended the UCLA-California game at the Rose Bowl Saturday night. I'll get into it a little bit more later in this post, but I had some insights to this game that I wanted to share after leaving the Rose Bowl.
First of all, I felt that California did very little to lose the game to UCLA, even as the final score was 37-10 in favor of the Bruins. Cal's main issue was execution of their screen pass games, and their conservative passing game calling, where it was bubble screen after bubble screen.
Let's not be fooling ourselves here, Sonny Dykes has little to work with, as recruiting really slowed down the last few years in Berkeley. Dykes is building from the ground up, and at least he has his QB. Now he needs to find other athletes to surround Goff at QB, and the Bears will climb. I liked what I saw in the Bears, and I can see where there is still so much work to be done. I believe in what Sonny Dykes can do, but the Bears a couple of years away.
As far as what I saw in UCLA live (I watch them every week on film), the Bruins were obviously holding back offensively after rolling out to an early 17-0 lead. The Bruins closed up the play calling, and it became obvious that they started to turn their attention to the next two weeks with Stanford and Oregon both coming up on the road in consecutive weeks. There were two separate 4th down plays where the Bruins easily could have gone for it and didn't, once settling for a Fairbairn FG, and once settling for a punt on 4th and 1. It was frustrating for a fan base that packed the Rose Bowl (84,000+ in attendance) as the collective wanted to see the Bruin machine in full swing.
One other observation...UCLA's defense is as good as it has ever been. They sniffed out the screen plays that were a prevalent part of what Cal does on offense, and did pick up a late goal line stand when Cal was rolling down the field in the 4th quarter.
Cassius Marsh was ejected in the first half for UCLA for tossing a punch at an ill timed moment. Anthony Barr was on fire for UCLA, in on an amazing amount of plays, and his presence was always there in the pass rush. One note on Barr...he was not on the field during the 4th and goal during the goal line stand I spoke of, as his helmet had come off the play before. I hate the rule, but what I hate even more is the need to announce it to the crowd every time it happens.
One final observation from Pasadena...The Rose Bowl is out of control as far as the constant need to create noise in the stadium. All of the electronics feel out of place, and there is constantly something going on, giving me a massive headache at times. From the constant presentations on the giant video board (which seems tacky in this grand old place) to the junior Bruin cheerleaders (my least favorite aspect of the night) dancing to the insanely inappropriate "Any way you want it, that's the way you get it", UCLA and the Rose Bowl folks need to de-amp the stadium experience just a bit (well, a lot actually). And a nightclub in the Rose Bowl? Really? It's too much for a college stadium environment. How about letting the game become the center piece? And by the way, the average fan is more than four feet tall...leg room anyone? When your knees are in your chest for the entirety of the game, you almost pray for people to leave so that you can stretch out your legs to the row below you. That being said, the Bruins won, so it was a great night. Sorry Cal fans.
Now let's take a peak at the rest of the week that was...
AAC
Winners: Louisville, Cincinnati, Houston
The biggest winner of the week in the AAC was Houston, who managed to roll onto a 5-0 record for the year. Houston is my surprise team in the AAC, and in the nation so far. Louisville struggled to beat Rutgers, and I knew that a 19 point spread was too much. Teddy Bridgewater was ok, but not great in the win, and his Heisman dreams may be fading a touch. Cincinnati got a solid win, but they need to continue on the path that they set forward on in this game.
Losers: Rutgers, UConn, USF, Memphis, Temple
Rutgers never really felt like they could beat Louisville, but they did cover the spread like I knew they would. UConn played their first game since Pasqualoni's firing, and it was much the same as before, with a whopping 10 points on the board. Memphis and Temple continue to struggle weekly, but USF was a winner, and I still placed them here, as they were lucky to leave the UConn game with a win, scoring a miserable 13 points in the win.
ACC
Winners: Virginia Tech, Duke, Syracuse
It was a weak showing for the ACC in week 7. Virginia Tech is still winning, but not really doing it in impressive manner, this week sliding by Pitt 19-9. Duke has now quietly won 4 games this season, and is starting to find themselves, and may have done so this week in a 35-7 win over a quality Navy club. Syracuse is putting it together at a good time, but now is the time to find their sprint speed at 3-3.
Losers: Pittsburgh, Clemson, Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, NC State, Georgia Tech
Pitt is a tram without a real identity right now, as some weeks they look like a quality football team, and then they fall apart like they did against Va. Tech this week. Clemson really needed a statement week, and instead, they let an average BC team hang around and scare them well into the second half. BC had the Tigers on the ropes, but like a team not ready for prime time, BC fell apart when it counted. Maryland struggled again, and the shine has seemingly worn off, only beating Virginia by one. That loss for UVA placed Mike London on my hot seat. NC State is struggling now after a hot start, and they may be sliding out of bowl contention. Georgia Tech has now lost two straight, and they are fading fast.
Big 10
Winners: Michigan State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State
MSU is now quietly sitting at 5-1, and nobody outside of Big 10 country may be seeing them as a team to watch now. Scoring 42 against Indiana was the right place to do it, and they are now making their own opportunities. Nebraska was an easy pick to blast the spread this week, and easily did so in their 44-7 win over Purdue. Wisconsin is a team that needs a streak, and they may be setting it up now. I listened to the Penn State win on the freeway heading to Pasadena, and they certainly persevered against a Michigan club that kept on punching back. The 43-40 OT win for PSU may have made their season.
Losers: Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan
Indiana is a year away from doing some damage in the Big 10. They could still catch their breath and compete for a bowl game, but I believe they have to go 4-2 the rest of the way to catch it. Purdue is a mess, so no big surprise in their slide. Northwestern is doing what they do every year, heading into a mid season collapse. Michigan is just a mess right now, barely keeping their head above water most weeks, they completely dropped the ball, and several shots at winning against Penn State.
Big 12
Winners: TCU, Texas Tech, Texas, Baylor
TCU is missing something this season, but they got back to .500 football with the win over Kansas. Texas Tech got a slugfest from Iowa State, but ISU has been providing some fire this season for favorites. The Red Raiders are no 6-0 in Kingsbury's first go as head coach. Texas got the biggest win of the week in the conference, finally getting the Oklahoma monkey off of their backs, and they also saved Mack Brown in the process. Baylor scored about half of their average, but they are making the Big 12 a two horse race with Texas Tech this fall.
Losers: Kansas, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Kansas State
Kansas loses, Charlie Wies is making changes to the offensive staff, so everything is perfectly normal in Lawrence. Iowa State keeps getting into fist fights with teams that they shouldn't beat, but winning one of these games has to happen. Oklahoma has turned into a pretender after falling to Texas, and has fallen out of the national conversation for now. Kansas State is fading fast, like what was expected.
Conference USA
Winners: Tulane, Rice, North Texas, UAB, Tulsa
Tulane and Rice are huge surprises in conference play this season, and are both in play for the CUSA title after huge wins, with Tulane taking out ECU. North Texas is getting better and better, and got a huge road win at MTSU this week. UAB and Tulsa got much needed wins, but they are not in the race, so enjoy the experience now.
Losers: East Carolina, UTSA, Marshall, FAU, Middle Tennessee, FIU, UTEP
East Carolina totally fell apart at the wrong time, getting dumped by Tulane. The Pirates are still in the mix, but this loss should not have happened. Marshall got the win, but they struggled to get there against a weak FAU club. UTSA battled Rice, but fell short. The Runners are two years away I think. Middle Tennessee, FIU, and UTEP are just done.
Independents
Winners: Army, BYU
Army needed to beat Eastern Michigan this week, as wins are hard to come by. When you play a team as bad as EMU, and you fall, there is no hope. Army just may have hope now. BYU got cranking against a strong run game in Georgia Tech, and they won by 18, making people take notice this week.
Losers: Navy, Idaho
Navy is a confusing football team to me right now, falling by 4 TDs against Duke. It was a weird loss, and Navy may be in trouble. Idaho is just lucky to be in games, but they weren't this week.
MAC
Winners: Central Michigan, Buffalo, UMass, Northern Illinois
CMU got a huge win in conference play, beating an overwhelming favorite in Ohio. Buffalo is the outside candidate when looking for an upset winner of the conference, and trashed WMU 33-0. Northern Illinois' win over Akron (27-20) doesn't look great on paper, but Akron has been getting better, and gets up for big games. UMass got their first win of the year, but likely won't win any others, so there's that.
Losers: Eastern Michigan, Ohio, Western Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Akron, Bowling Green
EMU is just a wreck, and you can expect Ron English's walking papers any time now. Ohio has no excuses for dropping their game to CMU this week, and it may cost them severely at the end of the season. WMU and Miami remain winless this fall, and Akron continues to push, but also continues to fall short. BGSU is great in conference play, but outside of the league, not so much. Remember when Kent State pushed for a BCS bid last fall? It's a distant memory now.
Mountain West
Winners: San Diego State, San Jose State, Wyoming, Boise State, UNLV
Every team on this list this week got a major win that they needed, especially SDSU and SJSU, who are playing for their lives right now. That being said, the major win of the week goes to UNLV, who won their 4th in a row. The Rebels have not beaten an FBS team with a winning record during the streak, but this is a much different look than what we are used to.
Losers: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State, Hawaii
The only team on this list that I never saw slumping was Utah State, but you now know exactly what Chuckie Keeton meant to this team, and with him out for the season, USU is now 3-4. Matt Wells has got to find a new focal point weapon for his offense, and find someone else to rally around if the season is to be saved. Everyone else on this list is just toast.
PAC-12
Winners: USC, Oregon, Utah, Arizona State, UCLA, Oregon State
USC got the huge win of the week by just holding on to beat Arizona. Nobody needed a win as much, and even though it was ugly after the half, USC still got a huge lift to 4-2 with the 38-31 win, after blowing most of a 28-3 lead. Utah gets an even bigger nod, knocking off Stanford, who had been a title contender. The Utes now have a win to build the rest of their season on. Arizona State got the easy win over Colorado, but now needs to beat somebody worth something. The lone national contenders left? UCLA and Oregon, but Oregon has a huge edge. The Bruins could be a real threat in 2014, but I believe that 2015 will be the year when they hit stride.
Losers: Arizona, Washington, Stanford, Colorado, California, Washington
Washington proved to be a pretender by falling to Oregon in a game that was never close. Stanford really tripped up, but has to bounce back quickly with UCLA coming to town this week. Washington State is not ready for the big time yet, and had a massive collapse late in the game after playing neck and neck for almost three quarters. Cal and Colorado are a mess.
SEC
Winners: Missouri, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama
Missouri gets the win of the week in the SEC, taking down Georgia on the road. The Tigers are alive and are now in the drivers seat in the SEC East. Yes, Missouri. South Carolina will be giving chase, and stayed alive with a huge blowout win over Arkansas. Auburn is feeling the changes under Gus Malzahn, but they are not ready to compete with Alabama yet instate. Alabama is still the target at the head of the SEC table, and blew Kentucky out of the building 48-7.
Losers: Georgia, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss
UGA is now off of the table in the SEC East and nationally, and now you can expect the seat to heat up under Mark Richt, as the haters will begin to hate. Florida is just out of gas now, and has also fallen out of the SEC East race, and likely won't scrap back into it. Miss. State and the Aggies both won, but they certainly looked shaky in doing so. Ole Miss has completely embraced the pretender role in the SEC West.
Sun Belt
Winners: Troy, Arkansas State, UL-Monroe
Every one of these wins were out of desperation this week, with Troy and ULM needing wins to take heat off of their coaching staffs. Arkansas State pounded Idaho, and they should have.
Losers: Georgia State, Texas State
GSU is a mess and will not win a game this season. Texas State had an opportunity in the loss to ULM, but they lost their focus and fell apart at a bad time in the 21-14 loss.
First of all, I felt that California did very little to lose the game to UCLA, even as the final score was 37-10 in favor of the Bruins. Cal's main issue was execution of their screen pass games, and their conservative passing game calling, where it was bubble screen after bubble screen.
Let's not be fooling ourselves here, Sonny Dykes has little to work with, as recruiting really slowed down the last few years in Berkeley. Dykes is building from the ground up, and at least he has his QB. Now he needs to find other athletes to surround Goff at QB, and the Bears will climb. I liked what I saw in the Bears, and I can see where there is still so much work to be done. I believe in what Sonny Dykes can do, but the Bears a couple of years away.
As far as what I saw in UCLA live (I watch them every week on film), the Bruins were obviously holding back offensively after rolling out to an early 17-0 lead. The Bruins closed up the play calling, and it became obvious that they started to turn their attention to the next two weeks with Stanford and Oregon both coming up on the road in consecutive weeks. There were two separate 4th down plays where the Bruins easily could have gone for it and didn't, once settling for a Fairbairn FG, and once settling for a punt on 4th and 1. It was frustrating for a fan base that packed the Rose Bowl (84,000+ in attendance) as the collective wanted to see the Bruin machine in full swing.
One other observation...UCLA's defense is as good as it has ever been. They sniffed out the screen plays that were a prevalent part of what Cal does on offense, and did pick up a late goal line stand when Cal was rolling down the field in the 4th quarter.
Cassius Marsh was ejected in the first half for UCLA for tossing a punch at an ill timed moment. Anthony Barr was on fire for UCLA, in on an amazing amount of plays, and his presence was always there in the pass rush. One note on Barr...he was not on the field during the 4th and goal during the goal line stand I spoke of, as his helmet had come off the play before. I hate the rule, but what I hate even more is the need to announce it to the crowd every time it happens.
One final observation from Pasadena...The Rose Bowl is out of control as far as the constant need to create noise in the stadium. All of the electronics feel out of place, and there is constantly something going on, giving me a massive headache at times. From the constant presentations on the giant video board (which seems tacky in this grand old place) to the junior Bruin cheerleaders (my least favorite aspect of the night) dancing to the insanely inappropriate "Any way you want it, that's the way you get it", UCLA and the Rose Bowl folks need to de-amp the stadium experience just a bit (well, a lot actually). And a nightclub in the Rose Bowl? Really? It's too much for a college stadium environment. How about letting the game become the center piece? And by the way, the average fan is more than four feet tall...leg room anyone? When your knees are in your chest for the entirety of the game, you almost pray for people to leave so that you can stretch out your legs to the row below you. That being said, the Bruins won, so it was a great night. Sorry Cal fans.
Now let's take a peak at the rest of the week that was...
AAC
Winners: Louisville, Cincinnati, Houston
The biggest winner of the week in the AAC was Houston, who managed to roll onto a 5-0 record for the year. Houston is my surprise team in the AAC, and in the nation so far. Louisville struggled to beat Rutgers, and I knew that a 19 point spread was too much. Teddy Bridgewater was ok, but not great in the win, and his Heisman dreams may be fading a touch. Cincinnati got a solid win, but they need to continue on the path that they set forward on in this game.
Losers: Rutgers, UConn, USF, Memphis, Temple
Rutgers never really felt like they could beat Louisville, but they did cover the spread like I knew they would. UConn played their first game since Pasqualoni's firing, and it was much the same as before, with a whopping 10 points on the board. Memphis and Temple continue to struggle weekly, but USF was a winner, and I still placed them here, as they were lucky to leave the UConn game with a win, scoring a miserable 13 points in the win.
ACC
Winners: Virginia Tech, Duke, Syracuse
It was a weak showing for the ACC in week 7. Virginia Tech is still winning, but not really doing it in impressive manner, this week sliding by Pitt 19-9. Duke has now quietly won 4 games this season, and is starting to find themselves, and may have done so this week in a 35-7 win over a quality Navy club. Syracuse is putting it together at a good time, but now is the time to find their sprint speed at 3-3.
Losers: Pittsburgh, Clemson, Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, NC State, Georgia Tech
Pitt is a tram without a real identity right now, as some weeks they look like a quality football team, and then they fall apart like they did against Va. Tech this week. Clemson really needed a statement week, and instead, they let an average BC team hang around and scare them well into the second half. BC had the Tigers on the ropes, but like a team not ready for prime time, BC fell apart when it counted. Maryland struggled again, and the shine has seemingly worn off, only beating Virginia by one. That loss for UVA placed Mike London on my hot seat. NC State is struggling now after a hot start, and they may be sliding out of bowl contention. Georgia Tech has now lost two straight, and they are fading fast.
Big 10
Winners: Michigan State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State
MSU is now quietly sitting at 5-1, and nobody outside of Big 10 country may be seeing them as a team to watch now. Scoring 42 against Indiana was the right place to do it, and they are now making their own opportunities. Nebraska was an easy pick to blast the spread this week, and easily did so in their 44-7 win over Purdue. Wisconsin is a team that needs a streak, and they may be setting it up now. I listened to the Penn State win on the freeway heading to Pasadena, and they certainly persevered against a Michigan club that kept on punching back. The 43-40 OT win for PSU may have made their season.
Losers: Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan
Indiana is a year away from doing some damage in the Big 10. They could still catch their breath and compete for a bowl game, but I believe they have to go 4-2 the rest of the way to catch it. Purdue is a mess, so no big surprise in their slide. Northwestern is doing what they do every year, heading into a mid season collapse. Michigan is just a mess right now, barely keeping their head above water most weeks, they completely dropped the ball, and several shots at winning against Penn State.
Big 12
Winners: TCU, Texas Tech, Texas, Baylor
TCU is missing something this season, but they got back to .500 football with the win over Kansas. Texas Tech got a slugfest from Iowa State, but ISU has been providing some fire this season for favorites. The Red Raiders are no 6-0 in Kingsbury's first go as head coach. Texas got the biggest win of the week in the conference, finally getting the Oklahoma monkey off of their backs, and they also saved Mack Brown in the process. Baylor scored about half of their average, but they are making the Big 12 a two horse race with Texas Tech this fall.
Losers: Kansas, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Kansas State
Kansas loses, Charlie Wies is making changes to the offensive staff, so everything is perfectly normal in Lawrence. Iowa State keeps getting into fist fights with teams that they shouldn't beat, but winning one of these games has to happen. Oklahoma has turned into a pretender after falling to Texas, and has fallen out of the national conversation for now. Kansas State is fading fast, like what was expected.
Conference USA
Winners: Tulane, Rice, North Texas, UAB, Tulsa
Tulane and Rice are huge surprises in conference play this season, and are both in play for the CUSA title after huge wins, with Tulane taking out ECU. North Texas is getting better and better, and got a huge road win at MTSU this week. UAB and Tulsa got much needed wins, but they are not in the race, so enjoy the experience now.
Losers: East Carolina, UTSA, Marshall, FAU, Middle Tennessee, FIU, UTEP
East Carolina totally fell apart at the wrong time, getting dumped by Tulane. The Pirates are still in the mix, but this loss should not have happened. Marshall got the win, but they struggled to get there against a weak FAU club. UTSA battled Rice, but fell short. The Runners are two years away I think. Middle Tennessee, FIU, and UTEP are just done.
Independents
Winners: Army, BYU
Army needed to beat Eastern Michigan this week, as wins are hard to come by. When you play a team as bad as EMU, and you fall, there is no hope. Army just may have hope now. BYU got cranking against a strong run game in Georgia Tech, and they won by 18, making people take notice this week.
Losers: Navy, Idaho
Navy is a confusing football team to me right now, falling by 4 TDs against Duke. It was a weird loss, and Navy may be in trouble. Idaho is just lucky to be in games, but they weren't this week.
MAC
Winners: Central Michigan, Buffalo, UMass, Northern Illinois
CMU got a huge win in conference play, beating an overwhelming favorite in Ohio. Buffalo is the outside candidate when looking for an upset winner of the conference, and trashed WMU 33-0. Northern Illinois' win over Akron (27-20) doesn't look great on paper, but Akron has been getting better, and gets up for big games. UMass got their first win of the year, but likely won't win any others, so there's that.
Losers: Eastern Michigan, Ohio, Western Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Akron, Bowling Green
EMU is just a wreck, and you can expect Ron English's walking papers any time now. Ohio has no excuses for dropping their game to CMU this week, and it may cost them severely at the end of the season. WMU and Miami remain winless this fall, and Akron continues to push, but also continues to fall short. BGSU is great in conference play, but outside of the league, not so much. Remember when Kent State pushed for a BCS bid last fall? It's a distant memory now.
Mountain West
Winners: San Diego State, San Jose State, Wyoming, Boise State, UNLV
Every team on this list this week got a major win that they needed, especially SDSU and SJSU, who are playing for their lives right now. That being said, the major win of the week goes to UNLV, who won their 4th in a row. The Rebels have not beaten an FBS team with a winning record during the streak, but this is a much different look than what we are used to.
Losers: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State, Hawaii
The only team on this list that I never saw slumping was Utah State, but you now know exactly what Chuckie Keeton meant to this team, and with him out for the season, USU is now 3-4. Matt Wells has got to find a new focal point weapon for his offense, and find someone else to rally around if the season is to be saved. Everyone else on this list is just toast.
PAC-12
Winners: USC, Oregon, Utah, Arizona State, UCLA, Oregon State
USC got the huge win of the week by just holding on to beat Arizona. Nobody needed a win as much, and even though it was ugly after the half, USC still got a huge lift to 4-2 with the 38-31 win, after blowing most of a 28-3 lead. Utah gets an even bigger nod, knocking off Stanford, who had been a title contender. The Utes now have a win to build the rest of their season on. Arizona State got the easy win over Colorado, but now needs to beat somebody worth something. The lone national contenders left? UCLA and Oregon, but Oregon has a huge edge. The Bruins could be a real threat in 2014, but I believe that 2015 will be the year when they hit stride.
Losers: Arizona, Washington, Stanford, Colorado, California, Washington
Washington proved to be a pretender by falling to Oregon in a game that was never close. Stanford really tripped up, but has to bounce back quickly with UCLA coming to town this week. Washington State is not ready for the big time yet, and had a massive collapse late in the game after playing neck and neck for almost three quarters. Cal and Colorado are a mess.
SEC
Winners: Missouri, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama
Missouri gets the win of the week in the SEC, taking down Georgia on the road. The Tigers are alive and are now in the drivers seat in the SEC East. Yes, Missouri. South Carolina will be giving chase, and stayed alive with a huge blowout win over Arkansas. Auburn is feeling the changes under Gus Malzahn, but they are not ready to compete with Alabama yet instate. Alabama is still the target at the head of the SEC table, and blew Kentucky out of the building 48-7.
Losers: Georgia, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss
UGA is now off of the table in the SEC East and nationally, and now you can expect the seat to heat up under Mark Richt, as the haters will begin to hate. Florida is just out of gas now, and has also fallen out of the SEC East race, and likely won't scrap back into it. Miss. State and the Aggies both won, but they certainly looked shaky in doing so. Ole Miss has completely embraced the pretender role in the SEC West.
Sun Belt
Winners: Troy, Arkansas State, UL-Monroe
Every one of these wins were out of desperation this week, with Troy and ULM needing wins to take heat off of their coaching staffs. Arkansas State pounded Idaho, and they should have.
Losers: Georgia State, Texas State
GSU is a mess and will not win a game this season. Texas State had an opportunity in the loss to ULM, but they lost their focus and fell apart at a bad time in the 21-14 loss.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool
June Jones, SMU
Jones only has one win this season, and that was a last second grab from Montana State, a one point win. Jones is running out of time in Dallas, as the faithful are more than restless. Jones may be on his way out sooner than later.
Garrick McGee, UAB
He has already changed his DC this season, and when you start changing coordinators during the season, you may as well start packing your bags. Whether this season or next, McGee is as good as done here.
Doug Martin, New Mexico State
This was never going to be a long term hire, and he's proving why. The Aggies are winless at 0-6, and any kind of miracle run is out of the question. Martin has one more season in Las Crucas, but if he were let go this season, I wouldn't be shocked. It's a matter of time.
Norm Chow, Hawaii
Chow is done, it's just a matter of when the UH administration gets the balls to tell him that it's over. He was a bad fit, and at 0-5, there are next to no victories on the horizon. Hawaii likely falls to 0-6 this week at UNLV.
Charlie Molnar, UMass
We should start by saying that Molnar was walking into a weird situation before taking the job. UMass plays 90 miles from home at cavernous Gillette Stadium. They don't have FBS talent, or anything resembling it, and they play in a recruiting wasteland of greater New England. There is almost no such thing as a die hard college football fan to be found in the state, and if gambling didn't exist, nobody would watch it there at all. This is a go nowhere situation, and Molnar is not the right guy to make to go somewhere. Having lived in Mass for almost a decade, I can tell you that there is next to no media coverage on TV, radio or newspapers for BC, and there is absolutely zero interest in UMass football and zero coverage in the only media market that matters, which is Boston. Amherst is as small a town as you will find anywhere in America, and outside of the campus, nobody is behind this program. Had they stayed on the FCS level, they could find success that way. As an FBS program, they are lost. Molnar is done here, and without a splashy hire that can actually coach rather than just serve as a name, it won't work. Molnar never even had that much going for him.
Ron English, Eastern Michigan
He's still swimming and will finish out the year. Expect him to be fired after the last game of the season by the new AD. Other than one season with 6 wins (2 were against FCS teams), English has largely failed here, and a 42-14 loss to Buffalo is a huge example of that failure.
Already Drowned: Lane Kiffin, USC; Paul Pasqualoni, UConn; Don Treadwell, Miami (Ohio)
Kiffin was done before the season began, as was Pasqualoni. Treadwell is the latest guy to lose a grip on his floatation device and slid to the bottom of the pool as well. Treadwell's 0-5 start to the season was a disaster which was built off of the disaster of last season. He was an offensive guy at Michigan State who was hugely hailed when hired, and yet his offense is one of America's worst in 2013. The Miami administration is not known for making rash decisions, but when it's obvious, a move must be made. I applaud Miami (Ohio) for making a decision that was best for the program moving forward. The Red Hawks actually do have a winning tradition, it's just getting harder to remember it as the losing continues.
Jones only has one win this season, and that was a last second grab from Montana State, a one point win. Jones is running out of time in Dallas, as the faithful are more than restless. Jones may be on his way out sooner than later.
Garrick McGee, UAB
He has already changed his DC this season, and when you start changing coordinators during the season, you may as well start packing your bags. Whether this season or next, McGee is as good as done here.
Doug Martin, New Mexico State
This was never going to be a long term hire, and he's proving why. The Aggies are winless at 0-6, and any kind of miracle run is out of the question. Martin has one more season in Las Crucas, but if he were let go this season, I wouldn't be shocked. It's a matter of time.
Norm Chow, Hawaii
Chow is done, it's just a matter of when the UH administration gets the balls to tell him that it's over. He was a bad fit, and at 0-5, there are next to no victories on the horizon. Hawaii likely falls to 0-6 this week at UNLV.
Charlie Molnar, UMass
We should start by saying that Molnar was walking into a weird situation before taking the job. UMass plays 90 miles from home at cavernous Gillette Stadium. They don't have FBS talent, or anything resembling it, and they play in a recruiting wasteland of greater New England. There is almost no such thing as a die hard college football fan to be found in the state, and if gambling didn't exist, nobody would watch it there at all. This is a go nowhere situation, and Molnar is not the right guy to make to go somewhere. Having lived in Mass for almost a decade, I can tell you that there is next to no media coverage on TV, radio or newspapers for BC, and there is absolutely zero interest in UMass football and zero coverage in the only media market that matters, which is Boston. Amherst is as small a town as you will find anywhere in America, and outside of the campus, nobody is behind this program. Had they stayed on the FCS level, they could find success that way. As an FBS program, they are lost. Molnar is done here, and without a splashy hire that can actually coach rather than just serve as a name, it won't work. Molnar never even had that much going for him.
Ron English, Eastern Michigan
He's still swimming and will finish out the year. Expect him to be fired after the last game of the season by the new AD. Other than one season with 6 wins (2 were against FCS teams), English has largely failed here, and a 42-14 loss to Buffalo is a huge example of that failure.
Already Drowned: Lane Kiffin, USC; Paul Pasqualoni, UConn; Don Treadwell, Miami (Ohio)
Kiffin was done before the season began, as was Pasqualoni. Treadwell is the latest guy to lose a grip on his floatation device and slid to the bottom of the pool as well. Treadwell's 0-5 start to the season was a disaster which was built off of the disaster of last season. He was an offensive guy at Michigan State who was hugely hailed when hired, and yet his offense is one of America's worst in 2013. The Miami administration is not known for making rash decisions, but when it's obvious, a move must be made. I applaud Miami (Ohio) for making a decision that was best for the program moving forward. The Red Hawks actually do have a winning tradition, it's just getting harder to remember it as the losing continues.
Coaches on the Hot Seat
David Cutliffe, Duke
The Blue Devils are now 3-2 on the season, but are 0-2 in ACC play. The Devils can still turn it around, but the clock is ticking.
Bo Pelini, Nebraska
The Huskers picked up a nice 20 point win over Illinois to open Big 10 play. There are still questions about how much support he has in Lincoln, but he should be safe unless Nebraska goes into an utter collapse.
Paul Rhodes, Iowa State
The Cyclones are likely headed for yet another loss this weekend, and when they let a win over Texas escape last weekend, it was one of their final remaining shots at a season changing victory.
Ron Turner, FIU
Turner got a big win over Southern Miss last weekend to avoid a winless start to the season. It's a start, but could be their only win of the season.
Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
After a three point loss to Rice, Tulsa is running out of opportunities this season. If Tulsa falls to UTEP this week, Blankenship could slide into the Dead Pool.
Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech
Holtz is lacking support early on in Ruston, but their win over UTEP should buy him some coolness to the seat. The Bulldogs need to win where they can.
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
The Falcons tanked at Navy last weekend, which is terrible news for Calhoun, but a loss at home to San Diego State this week could be a disaster beyond comprehension.
Rocky Long, San Diego State
The Aztecs got a huge win over Nevada last weekend. That's a good start, but a win at Air Force may be a must for Long. SDSU is having a terrible season, and a loss to the Falcons could be deemed a disaster, even on the road.
Gary Pinkel, Missouri
The real season starts now for the Tigers, as they visit Georgia in SEC play. If they are for real, they will show it now. If they start to fold, it'll be now as well. Everything is riding on the second half of the season for Pinkel.
Todd Berry, UL-Monroe
Berry's season is fading fast, and a loss to Texas State this weekend would likely be one of the final pieces in an ultimate collapse. Berry pulled himself out of the fire last season, but is sinking right back in for 2013. He could be Dead Pool in a week or two.
Larry Blakeney, Troy
Every game is a must win for the long time Trojan's coach. Troy has fallen incredibly far in the last three years, and his tenure is growing ever more stale. He really saved himself with a one point win over South Alabama last week, but the pressure is far from off.
Coming Up Next: Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool
The Blue Devils are now 3-2 on the season, but are 0-2 in ACC play. The Devils can still turn it around, but the clock is ticking.
Bo Pelini, Nebraska
The Huskers picked up a nice 20 point win over Illinois to open Big 10 play. There are still questions about how much support he has in Lincoln, but he should be safe unless Nebraska goes into an utter collapse.
Paul Rhodes, Iowa State
The Cyclones are likely headed for yet another loss this weekend, and when they let a win over Texas escape last weekend, it was one of their final remaining shots at a season changing victory.
Ron Turner, FIU
Turner got a big win over Southern Miss last weekend to avoid a winless start to the season. It's a start, but could be their only win of the season.
Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
After a three point loss to Rice, Tulsa is running out of opportunities this season. If Tulsa falls to UTEP this week, Blankenship could slide into the Dead Pool.
Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech
Holtz is lacking support early on in Ruston, but their win over UTEP should buy him some coolness to the seat. The Bulldogs need to win where they can.
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
The Falcons tanked at Navy last weekend, which is terrible news for Calhoun, but a loss at home to San Diego State this week could be a disaster beyond comprehension.
Rocky Long, San Diego State
The Aztecs got a huge win over Nevada last weekend. That's a good start, but a win at Air Force may be a must for Long. SDSU is having a terrible season, and a loss to the Falcons could be deemed a disaster, even on the road.
Gary Pinkel, Missouri
The real season starts now for the Tigers, as they visit Georgia in SEC play. If they are for real, they will show it now. If they start to fold, it'll be now as well. Everything is riding on the second half of the season for Pinkel.
Todd Berry, UL-Monroe
Berry's season is fading fast, and a loss to Texas State this weekend would likely be one of the final pieces in an ultimate collapse. Berry pulled himself out of the fire last season, but is sinking right back in for 2013. He could be Dead Pool in a week or two.
Larry Blakeney, Troy
Every game is a must win for the long time Trojan's coach. Troy has fallen incredibly far in the last three years, and his tenure is growing ever more stale. He really saved himself with a one point win over South Alabama last week, but the pressure is far from off.
Coming Up Next: Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool
Bilo's Picks: Week 7
I knew that the week had to come when I took some lumps, and via some serious screwball action in the FCS ranks, week 6 was the week. For week six on the college football season, I finished 78-31. My official record for 2013 is now 478-135 overall, including both FBS and FCS picks. It's time for a bounce back this week to improve my winners to losers ratio. Here are my picks for FBS and FCS winners for week seven!
FBS
Thursday
Louisville over Rutgers (but the 19 point spread may be a little much)
Air Force over San Diego State (Upset Alert!)
Arizona over USC (Upset Alert!)
Friday
Cincinnati over Temple
Saturday
Army over Eastern Michigan
South Florida over UConn (Upset Alert! as UConn is favored)
Georgia over Missouri
Michigan State over Indiana
Nebraska over Purdue (14 point spread is a gift this week...Point spread lock of the week)
Virginia Tech over Pittsburgh
Houston over Memphis
TCU over Kansas
Texas Tech over Iowa State
Oklahoma over Texas (UT favored by 14 has to be a mistake...should be OU by 14)
South Carolina over Arkansas
Navy over Duke (Upset Alert!...Duke is a 3.5 point favorite)
Ohio over Central Michigan
Buffalo over Western Michigan
Auburn over Western Carolina
Ball State over Kent State
UMass over Miami (Ohio) (Both teams are winless...This week's Toilet Bowl)
Clemson over Boston College
Troy over Georgia State
Maryland over Virginia
NC State over Syracuse
Baylor over Kansas State (With the O/U at 72.5, I'd be comfortable with the over here)
LSU over Florida
East Carolina over Tulane
Wisconsin over Northwestern
Colorado State over San Jose State (Upset Alert!)
Wyoming over New Mexico
Rice over UT-San Antonio (Minor Upset Alert...UTSA is a 2 point favorite at home)
Oregon over Washington
Marshall over Florida Atlantic
Michigan over Penn State
Northern Illinois over Akron
Stanford over Utah
Alabama over Kentucky
Arkansas State over Idaho
North Texas over Middle Tennessee
Texas State over UL-Monroe
BYU over Georgia Tech
UAB over Florida International
Bowling Green over Mississippi State (Upset alert!)
UTEP over Tulsa (Upset Alert!)
Boise State over Utah State
UNLV over Hawaii (Rebels can get 4th straight win, but all wins came against losing or FCS teams)
Texas A&M over Ole Miss
Arizona State over Colorado
UCLA over California (I will be at the Rose Bowl Saturday night to witness this one in person)
Washington State over Oregon State
FCS
Thursday
South Carolina State over North Carolina Central
UT-Martin over Tennessee Tech
Eastern Illinois over Austin Peay
Note: All three of my picks for Thursday's FCS bill are road teams.
Saturday
Charlotte over UNC-Pembroke
Delaware over Albany
New Hampshire over Rhode Island (It's now or never to save the season for UNH)
Lehigh over Columbia
Monmouth over St. Francis
Mercer over Valporaiso
Harvard over Cornell
Brown over Bryant
Bethune-Cookman over Howard
Sacred Heart over Central Connecticut State
Holy Cross over Bucknell
Drake over Davidson
Fordham over Georgetown (Fordham off to best start since 1980)
Georgia Southern over Citadel
Princeton over Lafayette
Butler over Campbell
Dayton over Stetson
Duquesne over Wagner
Charleston Southern over VMI (CS off to their best start ever at 6-0)
Yale over Dartmouth
Wofford over Elon
North Dakota State over Missouri State
South Dakota over Indiana State
Norfolk State over Delaware State
North Carolina A&T over Hampton
Murray State over SE Missouri State
Prairie View over Alabama State (Huge game in the SWAC standings)
Sam Houston State over Lamar
Jackson State over Mississippi Valley State
Eastern Washington over North Dakota
James Madison over Richmond
William & Mary over Penn
Samford over Appalachian State (App. State off to their worst start in years)
Western Illinois over South Dakota State
Jacksonville State over Tennessee State
Central Arkansas over Nebraska-Kearney
Alcorn State over Grambling
Northwestern State over Nicholls State
Southern Utah over Portland State
Northern Iowa over Southern Illinois
San Diego over Marist
Idaho State over Northern Colorado
Coastal Carolina over Gardner-Webb
Stony Brook over Colgate
Florida A&M over Savannah State
Chattanooga over Furman
Montana over UC-Davis
Towson over Villanova
Youngstown State over Illinois State
UA-Pine Bluff over Texas Southern (Both teams are winless...FCS Toilet Bowl)
Southern over Alabama A&M
SE Louisiana over Stephen F. Austin
Abilene Christian over Houston Baptist
Cal Poly over Weber State
Northern Arizona over Sacramento State
FBS
Thursday
Louisville over Rutgers (but the 19 point spread may be a little much)
Air Force over San Diego State (Upset Alert!)
Arizona over USC (Upset Alert!)
Friday
Cincinnati over Temple
Saturday
Army over Eastern Michigan
South Florida over UConn (Upset Alert! as UConn is favored)
Georgia over Missouri
Michigan State over Indiana
Nebraska over Purdue (14 point spread is a gift this week...Point spread lock of the week)
Virginia Tech over Pittsburgh
Houston over Memphis
TCU over Kansas
Texas Tech over Iowa State
Oklahoma over Texas (UT favored by 14 has to be a mistake...should be OU by 14)
South Carolina over Arkansas
Navy over Duke (Upset Alert!...Duke is a 3.5 point favorite)
Ohio over Central Michigan
Buffalo over Western Michigan
Auburn over Western Carolina
Ball State over Kent State
UMass over Miami (Ohio) (Both teams are winless...This week's Toilet Bowl)
Clemson over Boston College
Troy over Georgia State
Maryland over Virginia
NC State over Syracuse
Baylor over Kansas State (With the O/U at 72.5, I'd be comfortable with the over here)
LSU over Florida
East Carolina over Tulane
Wisconsin over Northwestern
Colorado State over San Jose State (Upset Alert!)
Wyoming over New Mexico
Rice over UT-San Antonio (Minor Upset Alert...UTSA is a 2 point favorite at home)
Oregon over Washington
Marshall over Florida Atlantic
Michigan over Penn State
Northern Illinois over Akron
Stanford over Utah
Alabama over Kentucky
Arkansas State over Idaho
North Texas over Middle Tennessee
Texas State over UL-Monroe
BYU over Georgia Tech
UAB over Florida International
Bowling Green over Mississippi State (Upset alert!)
UTEP over Tulsa (Upset Alert!)
Boise State over Utah State
UNLV over Hawaii (Rebels can get 4th straight win, but all wins came against losing or FCS teams)
Texas A&M over Ole Miss
Arizona State over Colorado
UCLA over California (I will be at the Rose Bowl Saturday night to witness this one in person)
Washington State over Oregon State
FCS
Thursday
South Carolina State over North Carolina Central
UT-Martin over Tennessee Tech
Eastern Illinois over Austin Peay
Note: All three of my picks for Thursday's FCS bill are road teams.
Saturday
Charlotte over UNC-Pembroke
Delaware over Albany
New Hampshire over Rhode Island (It's now or never to save the season for UNH)
Lehigh over Columbia
Monmouth over St. Francis
Mercer over Valporaiso
Harvard over Cornell
Brown over Bryant
Bethune-Cookman over Howard
Sacred Heart over Central Connecticut State
Holy Cross over Bucknell
Drake over Davidson
Fordham over Georgetown (Fordham off to best start since 1980)
Georgia Southern over Citadel
Princeton over Lafayette
Butler over Campbell
Dayton over Stetson
Duquesne over Wagner
Charleston Southern over VMI (CS off to their best start ever at 6-0)
Yale over Dartmouth
Wofford over Elon
North Dakota State over Missouri State
South Dakota over Indiana State
Norfolk State over Delaware State
North Carolina A&T over Hampton
Murray State over SE Missouri State
Prairie View over Alabama State (Huge game in the SWAC standings)
Sam Houston State over Lamar
Jackson State over Mississippi Valley State
Eastern Washington over North Dakota
James Madison over Richmond
William & Mary over Penn
Samford over Appalachian State (App. State off to their worst start in years)
Western Illinois over South Dakota State
Jacksonville State over Tennessee State
Central Arkansas over Nebraska-Kearney
Alcorn State over Grambling
Northwestern State over Nicholls State
Southern Utah over Portland State
Northern Iowa over Southern Illinois
San Diego over Marist
Idaho State over Northern Colorado
Coastal Carolina over Gardner-Webb
Stony Brook over Colgate
Florida A&M over Savannah State
Chattanooga over Furman
Montana over UC-Davis
Towson over Villanova
Youngstown State over Illinois State
UA-Pine Bluff over Texas Southern (Both teams are winless...FCS Toilet Bowl)
Southern over Alabama A&M
SE Louisiana over Stephen F. Austin
Abilene Christian over Houston Baptist
Cal Poly over Weber State
Northern Arizona over Sacramento State
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