The bottom 6 teams in our top 20 poll from last week all lost opening the door to several new programs entering this week’s poll. At the other end of the rankings we had a few close matchups led by Missouri going down to the wire in a near-upset of Georgia in front of a feisty Columbia night crowd.
As Notre Dame prepares for the trip to Las Vegas we’re now getting into the meat of conference schedules. Time to separate the milk from the fat.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State +(1) | 5-0 | 49-10 W vs. Rutgers |
| 2 | Alabama (+1) | 5-0 | 49-26 W at Arkansas |
| 3 | Georgia (-2) | 5-0 | 26-22 W at Missouri |
| 4 | Clemson | 5-0 | 30-20 W vs. NC State |
| 5 | Tennessee | 4-0 | BYE |
| 6 | USC | 5-0 | 42-25 W vs. Arizona St. |
| 7 | Michigan (+1) | 5-0 | 27-14 W at Iowa |
| 8 | Oklahoma State (+3) | 4-0 | 36-25 W at Baylor |
| 9 | Utah | 4-1 | 42-16 W vs. Oregon St. |
| 10 | Penn State | 5-0 | 17-7 W vs. Northwestern |
| 11 | Ole Miss (+3) | 5-0 | 22-19 W vs. Kentucky |
| 12 | Oregon | 4-1 | 45-27 W vs. Stanford |
| 13 | Wake Forest (NR) | 4-1 | 31-21 W at Florida St. |
| 14 | Kentucky (-7) | 4-1 | 22-19 L at Ole Miss |
| 15 | TCU (NR) | 4-0 | 55-24 W vs. Oklahoma |
| 16 | Cincinnati (NR) | 4-1 | 31-21 W at Tulsa |
| 17 | Syracuse (NR) | 5-0 | 59-0 W vs. Wagner |
| 18 | UCLA (NR) | 5-0 | 40-32 W vs. Washington |
| 19 | Kansas (NR) | 5-0 | 14-11 W vs. Iowa State |
| 20 | Minnesota (-5) | 4-1 | 20-10 L vs. Purdue |
National Storylines
Missouri had leads of 13-0 and 19-9 against Georgia but the Dawgs put things together with 20 points in the second half to keep their undefeated season alive.
Ohio State took care of business and move up into our top spot for the first time this season.
Alabama lost quarterback Bryce Young to a shoulder injury after the Heisman-hopeful was tackled awkwardly. Backup Jalen Milroe threw for 65 yards and ran for 91 yards with 2 total touchdowns in Young’s absence. Nick Saban is now 16-0 against Arkansas.
Oklahoma State picked up a big win at Waco this weekend and are now 1 of just 3 unbeaten teams in the Big 12, with the other 2 playing each other this weekend.
Penn State turned the ball over 5 times which isn’t helpful as they got into a Big Ten knife fight with Northwestern.
A solid defensive effort from Ole Miss saw the Rebels hold off previously undefeated Kentucky. That’s another win for the SEC West.
This is not a typo, TCU out-gained Oklahoma by 313 total yards on Saturday. That Brent Venables defense has allowed 96 points and 1,177 yard over the last 2 weeks.
Wake Forest lost in overtime to Clemson last week and bounces back with a nice 10-point win to hand Florida State their first defeat.
We are pleased to welcome undefeated TCU, Syracuse, UCLA, and Kansas to the rankings!
Houston lost at home to Tulane 27-24 in overtime and the Cougars have only won once out of their last 4 games.
Texas A&M lost by 18 points in Starkville as a matchup against Alabama looms.
Georgia Tech fired Geoff Collins and immediately upset Pittsburgh on the road 26-21.
Big yikes in Madison where the Badgers are blown out by Illinois 34-10. The administration has had enough and fired Paul Chryst on Sunday naming defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard the interim head coach.
Colorado also fired Karl Dorrell after the Buffs lost 43-20 at Arizona.
Fresno State was 10-3 last year and are now 1-3 after losing to UConn. Tough east coast trip! Things are not going well in Jeff Tedford’s return to campus.
Once ranked Michigan State have lost 3 straight after a 27-13 loss at Maryland.
Auburn led LSU 17-0 in the 2nd quarter. They squandered that lead losing to Brian Kelly & Co. 21-17, ouch.
Mike Elko has his first ACC win as Duke defended home turf in a 38-17 win over Virginia. The Hoos are 2-3 and their once explosive offense has looked terrible under new coach Tony Elliott.
I kept Minnesota in the rankings only because they were without star running back Mohamed Ibrahim just a couple days after I mentioned him for Heisman hype. Only 47 yards on 26 carries is not great in his absence though.
OUT:
No. 13 Washington
The Huskies got into a Friday night shootout with UCLA and came out on the losing end for their first loss.
No. 16 Arkansas
The Hogs now sit at 3-2 with back-to-back losses.
No. 17 NC State
The Wolfpack only drop 4 spots to 14th in the AP Poll but were never ranked that high by this website.
No. 18 OklahomaÂ
Venables first season in Norman could start to get very difficult with Texas on tap plus 3 more ranked teams remaining on the schedule.
No. 19 Baylor
Oklahoma State took the 2nd half kickoff to the house and opened up a 23-3 lead against Baylor this past weekend. The Bears answered with a touchdown, interception, then another touchdown but couldn’t complete the come back.
No. 20 Florida State
Clemson and Syracuse are now the only undefeated teams in the ACC.
Opponent Watch
Ohio State (5-0): An off game from CJ Stroud doesn’t matter as the Buckeyes total 5 rushing touchdowns in a big win.
Marshall (3-2): The losing streak is over as the Herd dispatch Gardner-Webb 28-7.
California (3-2): A visit to Pullman wasn’t very fun for Cal, they lost 28-9 and had a terrible running performance with 31 yards on 24 carries.
North Carolina (4-1): Virginia Tech only scored 10 points against this Tar Heels defense. North Carolina blows out the Hokies and Drake Maye is tied for the national lead with 19 passing touchdowns.
BYU (4-1): Despite a +3 turnover differential BYU needed a strong 2nd half effort to beat rival Utah State as Notre Dame is up next in Las Vegas.
Stanford (1-3): The Cardinal have lost 3 straight games and haven’t beaten a Power 5 opponent in a full calendar year. Is David Shaw not long for the Farm?
UNLV (4-1): Las Vegas’ Team sits atop the Mountain West, uhh, West division following a 31-20 win over New Mexico.
Syracuse (5-0): I live in New York and didn’t know Wagner College is in New York.
Clemson (5-0): Despite not looking great on offense this year, Clemson has scored at least 30 points in every game.
Navy (1-3): Tough break in the pursuit of the Commander-in-Chief Trophy with Air Force taking out Navy 13-10. That’s 3 straight wins in the series for the Falcons, the first time they’ve pulled that off since winning 6 straight from 1997 to 2002.
Boston College (2-3): A late field goal followed up by a defensive stop saw Boston College get past Louisville 34-33 in Chestnut Hill. Phil Jurkovec had 3 turnovers (including a hilarious 31-yard fumble thrown backwards) but completed 18 of 21 passes for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns.
USC (4-0): The Trojans offense got back on track against Arizona State as USC moves up to 9th nationally in yards per play.
Week 6 Games to Watch
Now featuring dates, channels, and times eastern!
Tennessee (-2.5) at LSU
Saturday, ESPN, 12:00 PM
This begins a defining stretch of the first Brian Kelly season at LSU featuring 3 current top 10 teams in 4 games with Ole Miss and Alabama coming up soon, PLUS the other non-ranked team is Florida. It’s too bad Tennessee has to play Alabama and Georgia doesn’t because if the Vols win this the November 5th trip to Athens would be the Game of the Year.
Texas (-7) vs. Oklahoma [Dallas, TX]
Saturday, ABC, 12:00 PM
We can blame Texas plenty for there probably being a lot of Red River Rivalry games in recent years where one team isn’t ranked. Neither team being ranked is bizarre. I was prepared for an insane Oklahoma -2 type of line and I’m glad everyone came to their senses.
TCU (-7) at Kansas
Saturday, FS1, 12:00 PM
This is pretty hilarious. The Fox Big Noon Kickoff Show is headed to Bloomington for the Michigan at Indiana matchup (Fox really starting to become The Michigan Network which is stupid) the whole country is just dying to see. Meanwhile, ESPN GameDay is coming to Lawrence for this game between TCU and Kansas (both ranked!) only for the game to kickoff at Noon on Fox Sports 1, you have to love college football.
Utah (-4.5) at UCLA
Saturday, Fox, 3:30 PM
It hasn’t even been a month since UCLA barely escaped South Alabama at home and here we are with the Bruins ranked and able to put down one of the best wins in the league, plus a chance to move from being maybe Sneaky Good to Actually Good. Important note that Utah has won 5 straight in this series.
Washington State (+13) at USC
Saturday, Fox, 7:30 PM
They are playing some solid defense these days in Pullman while their offense is decent enough to cause USC some issues. Mike Leach has beaten the Trojans twice as coach at Washington State, maybe he can do it again? I PAY ATTENTION TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL I SWEAR.
Texas A&M (+24) at Alabama
Saturday, CBS, 8:00 PM
I bet CBS wasn’t expecting this enormous spread when they decided to pick this game for the primetime night kickoff. The good news for A&M is that Jimbo Fisher’s buyout drops from $85,950,000 this year to $76,800,000 next year so there’s always hope on the horizon.
Florida State (+3.5) at NC State
Saturday, ACC Network, 8:00 PM
We had this previously circled as a big game, then both FSU and NC State went and lost this past weekend. The ACC Atlantic is super competitive right now so the loser here is going to find it hard to climb back and is probably relegated to a mediocre bowl game.
I dunno…..I’m thinking it’s gonna be really REALLY difficult for Leach to beat USC this time around….. 😉
An all-time brain fart for me.
I knew it was….I was just being a smart ass
I wonder what happened to the anti-vaxer Nick Rolovich? Jake Dickert has WSU’s defense second in the Pac 12 in scoring defense behind only Utah. That’s including their 41-44 loss to Oregon. Some talented QBs in the Pac 12. Cameron Ward vs Caleb Williams in the WSU-USC game should be a fun game. Michael Pennix at Washington, Cameron Rising at Utah and Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who outshone Pennix last week. Among Pac 12 QBs, DT-R has the highest completion percentage, QB rating, plus a 10-1 TDs to Interceptions. Running a Chip Kelly offense averaging 40 points per game with Charbonnet running against that Utah defense should be another excellent matchup.
USC-Utah next week.
Let’s not rehash the anti-vaxxer tag…..the guy made a personal choice to not get the vaccine and he lost his job because of it. I don’t recall him being on a soapbox telling people not to get the vaccine.
Hell, the president said the pandemic is over but all the federal workers who were fired have not yet been rehired….weird
Rolovich speaks!
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34651998/ex-washington-state-coach-nick-rolovich-speaks-why-comply-state-vaccine-mandate
His gut feeling is God and not conspiracy theories.
Thin. I imagine he was well aware of the Catholic Church’s guidance. https://sports.yahoo.com/as-the-pope-and-church-have-argued-for-covid-19-vaccines-fired-coach-nick-rolovich-162857442.html
From the link in the article to the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith statement:
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html
Now that we have such high vaccination rates in most places, his college football achievements may argue for another position elsewhere, though that rules out the Notre Dame community.
Dickert seems to have done a good job with the challenge of replacing half the staff. USC looms and the Pac 12 may turn out to be a free-for-all.
Might want to read point 5 of the CDF’s guidance especially since the Church often makes distinctions between licit and mandatory.
I almost excerpted and posted point 5, but decided just the links. The bishop of Spokane had some relevant guidance for the area. Voluntary, moral and ethical are good distinctions.
Oklahoma getting shelled doesn’t really help Notre Dame, but at least Marcus Freeman’s defense looks a million times better than Brent Venables’? That kinda makes me feel a little better, even if it’s not very fulfilling.
It will be interesting to see how it goes for the two. Oklahoma and Notre Dame are running in close parallel: the only programs with multiple playoff appearances and no wins and fairly equal feelings of not measuring up to the true championship contenders.
Both ND and OU obviously with the historic blue blood ties, got left by coaches at the same time when neither get left in our lifetimes…Both hire a defensive minded first time HC.
Which one gets back to playoff level first? The hill for Venables might be steeper than we thought, though I guess the same can also be said for Freeman with the way the season has gone.
Freeman got to keep pretty much all of the infrastructure around his program that Venables lost. Assistant coaches, recruiting coordinators, recruiting class, current team all stayed relatively more intact for ND than OU.
Add to that OU is rapidly approaching moving to the SEC West to tangle with Alabama annually and it seems to me like Freeman has a lot of advantages over Venables to make it back to the CFP first.
Yeah, clearly different situations are different, I meant just running in parallel, not exactly the same down to every single detail.
I do think they are fairly similar Freeman got to keep Rees (maybe not a blessing!) but otherwise had a lot more turnover on his staff then was expected. Oklahoma’s 2022 recruiting class finished 8th, ND was 7th, there’s not a lot of difference there. Oklahoma lost some players with Riley, but it wasn’t a catastrophic exodus of all their talent and recruits totally fleeing and abandoning the program..Just the most high profile one (Caleb Williams) and later recruits.
He probably deserves a pass this year because did OU ever play defense?
Touche. And OU is 57th in FEI defense as of now, even after TCU shredded them, they’re probably better than that bad showing. Just never expect them to give up 41 in a half and 55 within three quarters with all those yards too – made me think of the first time angles and similarities between the programs in the playoff era.
Maybe this is appropriate to mention: nick saban went 7-6 in year one at alabama with a loss to ULM Rajun cajuns. Kirby smart went 8-5 his first year at georgia. Both defensive minded coaches who have turned their respective programs into humanity shredding laser beams.
Again, plenty of differences too, saban already had a BCS ring from LSU, but let’s all have a deep breath of reality with these first year coaches.
What would college football look like if alabama canned saban after his first season? Certainly there were people calling for it, and if the irish finish 7-6 this year, how loud will the fire freeman crowd get? By no means am I saying that freeman is saban, that’s a wild comparison, but HCMF says the right stuff, Carrie’s himself the right way, and has demonstrated humility as a leader and passion as a competitor.
Good perspective. It is easy to say “gotta have some patience” and it’s all fun and games until you lose to Marshall, lol
Outcry to call for Freeman’s job after this season, while I’m sure will happen somewhere in this world, that is simply frustrations boiling out. Also a ludicrous suggestion. As long as he doesn’t have a serious scandal and also keeps even what he has now for his recruiting class, it’s a big Mike Franseca sized “who cayuhs” from me. Gotta give it a little more time.
I think the tough scenario for Freeman is what if he’s an average of about 8-4 for three years. Recruiting at about this level now, getting some impressive talent in, but not exactly translating on the field. That could be a really hard decision if he’s better than just an obvious “yeah, this ain’t workin'” in a few years but also hasn’t really proven he’s a home run. To the article above, at least in all of our favor is that ND won’t be sunk in a Jimbo Fisher-sized contract on Freeman.
100% agree, if the talent pool gets elevated but wins go down, then game over, it is all about the W’s after all, talent acquisition is just the major supporting component.
At this point I’m inclined to defer to a 3 year projection, see what level and trend of the program are. Our current level from 2017 is a top 15 team consistently, I feel trend from 2017-2021 was fairly constant maybe slight improvement, it just felt like the offense was ALWAYS some key component away.
This team was always going to have a tough time breaking in a new QB regardless of number or midriff, and the WR situation was brutal too. But in the window of this season, and considering the talent of the competition, I do think they’ve trended the right direction (post marshall). BYU will be a huge data point on that trendline, but my hope is the are a more cohesive team playing to their internal talent level week to week.
And honestly, that was a hard September to manage as a new head coach, welcome to the show marcus. I think hes handled it admirably though.
I’m still optimistic about the program, but wins always help bolster that optimism.
Man, you need to be more careful with snark that pure. I almost lost my morning coffee there.
I strongly feel we all must wait for Year 3. Ara said that when he signed his first contract with ND (“if I can’t get it done in three years, I shouldn’t stay” or words to that effect). And honestly, our own ND experience since bears this out, does it not? The third year tells it all.