Conference championship week is over as Alabama proves yet again they are inevitable, a Group of 5 team finally makes the playoffs, Michigan’s run sadly continues, but maybe most importantly we won’t have any drama for the Heisman as Bryce Young sewed up the award with a big game against previously undefeated and No. 1 Georgia.
For the last time before bowl season, let’s take a look at the latest Top 20 poll from 18 Stripes.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (+3) | 12-1 | 41-24 W vs. Georgia |
| 2 | Georgia (-1) | 12-1 | 41-24 L vs. Alabama |
| 3 | Michigan (-1) | 12-1 | 42-3 W vs. Iowa |
| 4 | Cincinnati | 13-0 | 35-20 W vs. Houston |
| 5 | Notre Dame | 11-1 | Idle |
| 6 | Ohio State (+1) | 10-2 | Idle |
| 7 | Baylor (+2) | 11-2 | 21-16 W vs. Oklahoma St. |
| 8 | Ole Miss | 10-2 | Idle |
| 9 | Oklahoma State (-4) | 11-2 | 21-16 L vs. Baylor |
| 10 | BYU (+1) | 10-2 | Idle |
| 11 | Utah (+6) | 10-3 | 38-10 W vs. Oregon |
| 12 | Pitt (+4) | 11-2 | 45-21 W vs. Wake Forest |
| 13 | Michigan State (-1) | 10-2 | Idle |
| 14 | Oklahoma (-1) | 10-2 | Idle |
| 15 | Louisiana (+5) | 12-1 | 24-16 W vs. App St. |
| 16 | UTSA (NR) | 12-1 | 49-41 W vs. Western Kentucky |
| 17 | NC State (+2) | 9-3 | Idle |
| 18 | Oregon (-8) | 10-3 | 38-10 L vs. Utah |
| 19 | Clemson (NR) | 9-3 | Idle |
| 20 | Iowa (-6) | 10-3 | 42-3 L vs. Michigan |
First, I’m keeping Georgia ahead of Michigan unlike the pansies at the committee. I’m doing so on the basis of the Dawgs showing they were more dominant throughout the season even if they didn’t win their conference and maybe were exposed a little bit by Alabama. Michigan is peaking at the right time seemingly but we don’t forget close escapes against Rutgers and Nebraska. Plus, screw Michigan.
Holy hell, Crimson Tide! 41 points, 536 yards of offense, at 7.6 yards per play against this Georgia defense is frightening. For his part, Bryce Young (451 total yards, 4 TD) clinched the Heisman. Alabama did lose their star receiver John Metchie for the season to a knee injury but you have to wonder, will it matter in the playoffs?
As expected, Iowa’s trash offense could do nothing against Michigan. Pathetic.
Cincinnati calmly dispatched Houston, they get to keep their coach (for now at least?), and they ultimately made the playoffs. Honestly, good for them.
Notre Dame’s bowl opponent Oklahoma State slogged through 87 offensive plays for just 16 points in a disappointing loss for the Big 12 title. Dave Aranda stock was starting to rise late in the season and now it’s shooting up even further.
Chaos now reigns in Oregon where Mario Cristobal says peace out for the Miami job back in his hometown and alma mater. Quite the 180 for the Ducks this year from that win over Ohio State and they were once feeling so good. It’s nice to see Utah win the Pac-12 though, I was rooting for that.
Of course, ACC Champions Pitt happened just like we all predicted.
OUT: Wake Forest, San Diego State
That ACC title game loss begs the question again if Dave Clawson is ever going to escape Wake Forest for a better job? Get out, Dave!
I was excited to see Brady Hoke get blown out in the Mountain West conference title game.
The Top 8 Bowl Games to Watch
Last Week: 4-2
Overall: 54-40
*I’ll have bowl game predictions later this month. For now, these are the ones I’m interested in (using playoff committee rankings):
No. 8 Holiday Bowl
UCLA (+1) vs. #18 NC State
NC State is just dying to backdoor their way into a top 15 ranking, their first since 2002.
No. 7 Cheez-It Bowl
#19 Clemson (-1) vs. Iowa State
Clemson’s coaching staff is in shambles with the loss of Brent Venables (finally!). This could be a sneaky big game for their momentum going into 2022.
No. 6 Alamo Bowl
#14 Oregon (+3) vs. #16 Oklahoma
The stolen coach’s bowl game! Perhaps this is the game that gets Bob Stoops (as interim coach) the itch back and he’ll make a return full-time in the future.
No. 5 Sugar Bowl
#7 Baylor (+1.5) vs. #8 Ole Miss
Not a bad spotlight for Lane Kiffin as 2 SEC teams ahead of him make the playoffs again.
No. 4 Rose Bowl
#11 Utah (+6.5) vs. #6 Ohio State
I actually think this is one of the best matchups of the post-season.
No. 3 Peach Bowl
#12 Pitt (-3.5) vs. #10 Michigan State
No one would’ve believed this game would be possible back in the pre-season.
No. 2 Cotton Bowl
#4 Cincinnati (+13.5) vs. #1 Alabama
As expected, David needs to slay Goliath.
No. 1 Orange Bowl
#3 Georgia (-7.5) vs. #2 Michigan
For goodness sake, don’t mess this up Georgia.
Not even putting ND-OSU in the Top 8 of bowls you’re excited for?!?! That’s pretty bold, my dude.
I assume he meant the non-ND games, no way the Holiday Bowl is more interesting..There’s some talk in Pittsburgh now that Pickett is now considering opting out of the Peach Bowl (he emotionally said he would play in a press conference after ACCCG). If that happens or Walker doesn’t play (which idk that he isn’t), that matchup loses a lot of juice.
(I think I understood that and said it in jest)
I mean michigan winning a playoff game is absolutely sickening, but there is a very intriguing gut wrenching path for them as well. lose the bowl game, gattis takes job at virginia, the two d ends and hill go pro, rb goes pro, pretty sure they have. a really veteran o line and this becomes a 1 year blip.
the one thing i’ll say if they beat ohio state, georgia and bama they’ll have earned it even if it wasn’t a transcendent bama or clemson team
Yes, please.
Kyren and Kyle both declare for NFL draft and plan to skip the bowl game. Not terribly unexpected but still kinda sucks, was hoping to see one more Williams game.
Dang! Was really hoping to see Kyren play in person ☹️ I get it, but it does stink. Makes the game tougher as well.
Yeah, especially bummed Kyren isn’t playing in the bowl game.
This news was tough to take. Losing the pass pro and those ridiculous runs is tough, but losing the leadership is worse, IMO.
As an older generation, also, I really dislike the devaluation of playing a full season.
Our pass pro just took a not insignificant hit….
Hard not to think that Clemson’s magical run is going to end (very) soon. They had both coordinators for almost a decade which is absolutely unheard of. Now they are both gone, and defensive recruits are already leaving (they’ve lost 3 top 100 recruits from IMG academy since Venables left). They are 14th right now for 2022 class and only seem to be in it with 2 more top 100 recruits. We’ll see how good a coach Dabo really is now.
Any of those decommits DBs or WRs with names like O’McSullivan?
Sadly not. We only offered the 5 star CB: https://247sports.com/Player/Daylen-Everette-46085466/
He doesn’t seem to be trending anywhere. Perhaps Freeman could perform is first magic trick as a head coach and nab him.
I’ll be happy if we can get Moore back.
Elko leaving to be head coach at Duke. Who will A&M throw oodles of cash at to come there? It’ll be a fight with LSU one would think.
Ryen Russillo has a 20 min. interview with Tommy Rees on his podcast. It’s interesting. He discusses his decision to stay and the timeline of things. You can find it on Spotify for one.
Haha, his whole family hated ND.
Rees even noted that he sees Freeman recruiting and realizes he’s going to have to raise his game recruiting. Rees is competitive and doesn’t want to be outdone.