Seven Points: Saturday Edition

Here is our special Saturday edition of Seven Points!

Point One: Chuckie Keeton Hurt Again
Many of you have followed the cursed career of Utah State QB Chuckie Keeton. Keeton, who at one point was given billing as a dark horse Heisman candidate, lost the last two seasons to severe knee injuries, derailing a once promising career. The NCAA allowed Keeton an extra season, and of course, Keeton is injured again, this time for at least six weeks.

Point Two: Myles Jack injury does not derail UCLA season
Everyone is in a doom and gloom phase in Westwood these days with the news that Jack is out for the season with a severe knee injury. Cheer up people, the Bruins have plenty of talent to not have to depend on someone like Jack to carry the season. Eddie VanderDoes and Fabian Moreau are also out for the season on D, but look for young rising stars like Takkarist McKinnley on the line, Damon Hollins and Kenny Young at LB, and the return of Ismael Adams to boost those spots.

Point Three: Give back that pre-season Heisman, Jeremy Johnson
Jeremy Johnson of Auburn was given God-like status before ever taking the field this season, coming off a decent turn last season as a reserve. Everyone was handing him every major award and calling him the bets QB in the nation. Not only was that not true (I did not buy in), Johnson will not be Auburn's starter today against Mississippi State. What a difference a month can make.

Point Four: Don't count out Alabama just yet
Sure, Alabama has been far from dominant this season, and losing to Ole Miss by giving up 43 points and a ton of offense did not help, but I wouldn't count out Nick Saban and company just yet. Alabama has a habit of rebounding from such games and churning out huge comebacks to get within range of SEC titles, so even with their QB quandaries, I would not expect the Tide to roll up and die just yet.

Point Five: Will Sarkisian even last the season at USC?
There is severe grumbling after the Trojans were beaten handily at home by Stanford to open PAC-12 play last week, and the Trojans have a tough road trip to Tempe tonight to take on a motivated Arizona State team. The last time the Trojans visited Tempe, Lane Kiffin didn't even make it off the plane home with a job. An 0-2 start in conference play would make Sarkisian's already volatile situation that much worse.

Point 6: Memphis' win over Cincinnati Thursday was less impressive than widely thought
Memphis rolled up a ton of offense and beat the Bearcats 53-46, but that win was full of gaffs on defense, a ton of missed tackles, and a lack of overall energy. right now, I wouldn't pick Memphis for any NY6 games this season based on their inability to play basic fundamental defense at all. Call me unimpressed.

Point Seven: Can we expect more upset insanity in the D2 Top 25 today?
No D2 top 25 teams play other ranked opponents today, but that may be the bad news. There have been so many upsets in the first few weeks of D2 play, that the poll has been completely unstable from one week to another. Picking a final 4 out of this group is just impossible this early on, as no team has established themselves as a dominant party.

Lies, Damed Lies, and Statistics
Texas Tech gave up 82 points to TCU last season, but yet is barely a seven point home dog to the Frogs today. Patrick Mahomes and Bowling Green's Matt Johnson are our top two FBS QBs heading into the week, and that could very well be the difference. Can Tech pull the upset one week removed from that kind of loss? We're not certain that can be the case, but TCU must bring their A game on D, and they haven't done that since the opening win against offensively inept Minnesota, who could lose to Ohio today. Mahomes is averaging 343 yards passing per game, while TCU's Trevon Boykin is averaging 328.