A pair of top 10 teams in our rankings had a rough week 9 but the tippy-top of the rankings continue to remain unblemished. That is guaranteed to change with the biggest game of the week coming up this Saturday afternoon for SEC East supremacy.
We also have a handful of previously 1-loss teams starting to fall down the polls while our eyes are turning back toward previously 2 and 3-loss programs who could make their way into the good graces of his ranking system. In the AP Poll, 3-loss Texas, Kentucky, and Notre Dame are sitting just outside the top 25.
Exciting days are back? Well, let’s see how Clemson fares in South Bend and then get back to me.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tennessee | 8-0 | 44-6 W vs. Kentucky |
| 2 | Ohio State | 8-0 | 44-31 W at Penn State |
| 3 | Georgia | 8-0 | 42-20 W vs. Florida |
| 4 | TCU (+1) | 8-0 | 41-31 W at West Virginia |
| 5 | Clemson (-1) | 8-0 | BYE |
| 6 | Michigan | 8-0 | 29-7 W vs. Michigan State |
| 7 | Alabama | 7-1 | BYE |
| 8 | Oregon | 7-1 | 42-24 W at California |
| 9 | USC (+2) | 7-1 | 45-37 W at Arizona |
| 10 | UCLA (+2) | 7-1 | 38-13 W vs. Stanford |
| 11 | Ole Miss (+2) | 8-1 | 31-28 W at Texas A&M |
| 12 | Utah (+3) | 6-2 | 21-17 W at Washington St. |
| 13 | Illinois (+4) | 7-1 | 26-9 W at Nebraska |
| 14 | North Carolina (+6) | 7-1 | 42-24 W vs. Pittsburgh |
| 15 | LSU (+5) | 6-2 | BYE |
| 16 | Wake Forest (-6) | 6-2 | 48-21 L at Louisville |
| 17 | Kansas State (NR) | 6-2 | 48-0 W vs. Oklahoma St. |
| 18 | Oklahoma State (-9) | 6-2 | 48-0 L at Kansas State |
| 19 | Tulane (NR) | 7-1 | BYE |
| 20 | NC State | 6-2 | 22-21 W vs. Virginia Tech |
National Storylines
NC State have lost quarterback Devin Leary (pectoral tear) for the season but snuck past Virginia Tech 22-21 during Thursday’s action.
Utah also saw their quarterback Cameron Rising miss their game on Thursday but escaped the road trip to Washington State 21-17.
TCU pulled away late from a tricky road game at West Virginia, winning 41-31. Max Duggan’s hot season continued with 341 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 16 completions.
Arkansas picked up their first SEC win since week 2 after going into Auburn and winning 41-27. That’s now 4 straight losses (and 5 of 6 lost) for War Eagle and was the last straw before Bryan Harsin was fired this past Monday.
Oklahoma were out-gained by Iowa State but used a fake field goal for a touchdown and +2 in the turnover department to win 27-13 in Ames. Why Matt Campbell didn’t leave ISU this off-season remains a mystery. The Cyclones are now last in the Big 12 with 5 straight losses.
Miami were without quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and totaled just 272 total yards to survive an absolute pillow fight in overtime against Virginia 14-12.
The stingy Illinois defense shutout Nebraska in the 2nd half while limiting the Huskers to just 248 total yards. That moves Illinois to 7-1 on the season, already their most wins since 2011.
Wake Forest was leading Louisville in the 2nd half and dealt with perhaps their worst 20 minutes of football in program history featuring 4 lost fumbles, 4 interceptions with 2 pick sixes, and 1 punt. That led to 35 unanswered points by Louisville and a 48-21 victory.
Kansas State were without their quarterback Adrian Martinez yet served up one of the most shocking results of the season shutting out Oklahoma State 48-0. Backup quarterback Will Howard threw for 296 yards and 4 touchdowns in relief.
Florida fought back in the 3rd quarter to close the gap to 28-20 before Georgia ended up turning up the heat and winning by 22 points.
South Carolina’s fun 4-game winning streak came to an end following a disappointing 23-10 loss at home to Missouri. The Gamecocks only mustered 203 total yards.
Will Levis threw 3 interceptions as Kentucky were blown off the field 44-6 by Tennessee.
Texas A&M led at halftime while hosting Ole Miss on Saturday night. The Rebels would come back and hold on for the win 31-28 to remain in 2nd place in the SEC West. Of note, 5-star true freshman Connor Weigman picked up his first career start and played well with 338 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and no picks.
Ugly scenes in the tunnel after the game as Michigan limited Michigan State to just 11 first downs and 37 rushing yards in a 29-7 victory in Ann Arbor.
OUT:
No. 14 CincinnatiÂ
The Bearcats were +2 in turnovers this weekend visiting The Bounce House but gave up 30 first downs in a 25-21 loss to UCF. Cincinnati suffers their 2nd loss of the season and their first in the AAC, dropping them down to 3rd in the league via tie-breakers.
No. 16 Syracuse
The Orange have lost 2 straight and suddenly their upcoming stretch against Pittsburgh, Florida State, and Wake Forest looks a little more daunting as they hope not to fall down the ACC standings.
No. 18 Penn State
Two out of Penn State’s last 3 games have come against top 5 AP opponents which they’ve duly lost to, however, their run in to finish the season is very friendly and a 10-2 season is within reach.
Opponent Watch
Ohio State (8-0): The Buckeyes were on upset alert in the 2nd half in Happy Valley, trailing Penn State 21-16. Then, J.T. Tuimoloau happened.
The defense end finished with 6 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, fumble recovery, and 2 interceptions, including a pick six.
Marshall (4-4): Now officially in last place of the Sun Belt East following a 24-13 home loss to Coastal Carolina.
California (3-5): Oregon nearly piled up 600 total yards in a 42-24 win in Berkeley.
North Carolina (7-1): Pitt fought hard taking a 24-14 lead in the 2nd half before being overwhelmed in a 42-24 loss at North Carolina. Quarterback Drake Maye now has 29 passing touchdowns to just 3 interceptions.
 BYU (4-5): Once ranked, BYU have lost 4 in a row following a 27-24 defeat to East Carolina. The Pirates sealed the win with a 33-yard field goal as time expired.
Stanford (3-5): The Cardinal remain in last place in the Pac-12 after UCLA nearly doubled them up in total yardage during a 38-13 rout. Must be nice.
UNLV (4-4): The Rebels were off this week coming off the loss to Notre Dame and face San Diego State on the road this weekend.
Syracuse (6-2): The Orange have a 2-game lead over 3rd place Florida State in the ACC Atlantic division.
Clemson (8-0): We have a meeting this weekend inside Notre Dame Stadium as Clemson were resting on Saturday.
Navy (3-5): Starting quarterback Tai Lavatai was lost for the season after a knee injury but the Middies persevere in a 27-20 overtime victory against Temple.
Boston College (2-6): Patience is wearing thin in Chestnut Hill as Boston College falls 13-3 to UConn, the first loss for the Eagles in the 15-game series against the Huskies. First-round hopeful Phil Jurkovec threw a pair of interceptions before leaving with a knee injury.
USC (7-1): This USC defense has given up 80 points over the last 2 games but pulled away from Arizona 45-37 in Tuscon as quarterback Caleb Williams completed 31 passes for 411 yards, 5 touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Week 10 Games to Watch
Now featuring dates, channels, and times eastern!
Air Force (-7) at Army
Saturday, CBS, 11:30 AM
If you’re getting bored of the usual pre-game shows on ESPN or Fox you can hop over to CBS at 11:30 eastern to see if Air Force can win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 2016. Last year, Army won this game in overtime but only retained the trophy after a finale loss to Navy given us the 3-way tie and the 2020 winner keeping the hardware (and pride).
Tennessee (+8.5) at GeorgiaÂ
Saturday, CBS, 3:30 PM
Oh man, here we go. Sanford Stadium is going to be absolutely on fire this weekend. One big issue for the Dawgs is that top pass-rusher Nolan Smith (20 career TFL) is out after having pectoral surgery this week. I’d expect this line to keep creeping back towards Tennessee. If you want to ponder the meaning of the regular season you have to ask yourself, is it better to lose this game, not face a potential loss in the SEC Championship, and hope you get in the playoffs OR could either program win on Saturday, lose in the SEC Championship and still get in the playoffs?
Liberty (+13.5) at Arkansas
Saturday, SEC Network, 4:00 PM
Arkansas’ brutal schedule continues with PJ’s 9th best Group of 5 team this week coming off a bye and visiting Fayetteville. This is a tough timeslot for a quality game going up against one of the most anticipated regular seasons matchups of 2022.
Texas (-2.5) at Kansas State
Saturday, FS1, 7:00 PM
This is very interesting seeing an extremely riding high Kansas State team coming off one of the best wins of the season as home dogs to Texas. I have to think this line is taking into account Adrian Martinez possibly not starting and lightning not striking twice with a dominant performance without him.
Alabama (-13) at LSU
Saturday, ESPN, 7:00 PM
If LSU wins this weekend you will be ___________________________.
Brian Kelly says he came to LSU for games like Saturday night against Alabama:
“It’s not pressure. It’s a privilege. It’s why I came to LSU, to play in games like this.”
A Top 15 primetime matchup in Death Valley. It doesn’t get much better. #LSU
— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) October 31, 2022
If LSU loses this weekend you will be _________________________.
Wake Forest (-5) at NC StateÂ
Saturday, ACC Network, 8:00 PM
Without Devin Leary at quarterback this NC State team seems destined to slump back to mediocrity in the ACC. Speaking of which, technically Leary has a 6th-year available and could be a graduate transfer to another school for 2023.
“It’s not pressure. It’s a privilege. It’s why I came to LSU, to
play in games like thischeck my bank account every week to make sure the direct deposit went through.”If LSU wins this weekend I’ll be exasperated.
This top 20 is much better than the CFP committee. They get a lot of defense by getting the final four basically right each year, but the rest of their rankings are an incoherent mess and the first one this year is no different. LSU has absolutely no business being ranked tenth with only one quality win, nor, as you correctly point out, any business being above Utah, who has much better wins as another 2-loss team.
UCF above Liberty because I guess beating UC is and losing an extra game is better than beating BYU. I’d be fine having neither in the top 25, but you chose one, so justify it.
Texas is the three loss team ranked. Hilariously stupid. Do they listen to themselves talk about other teams? Their best win is over Oklahoma, they’ve only beaten two teams likely to be bowl eligible at the end of the season. Off the top of my head I can tell you at least two 5-3 teams with multiple wins over already bowl eligible top 25 teams.
If LSU loses this weekend… well, asperated isn’t a good antonym for exasperated, so I’ll say I’m hoping to be entertained by the result and fallout.
Regarding purely the output of the LSU Bama game, I would much rather see LSU win. One win here doesn’t necessarily mean much long term for LSU, and it dooms Bama this season.
However, it will be very hard not to overreact to that win as an indicator that ND was the factor holding BK back (and ergo all current and future coaches). This would be an acknowledged overreaction to one great win, but I am confident that deep down I will overreact and probably wake up at 3am crying with no idea why.
He would have to win a national title for that apply to me, not just one game against Saban. Even then, if Notre Dame held Kelly back, it really was Kelly holding himself back by not dedicating the effort/interest in recruiting to make his team better, which Freeman is already showing is possible with his 2023 class at RB, WR, CB and (maybe) S being better than what Kelly averaged, and right off the bat — and most of those positions talent levels being the problem for Kelly at ND.
It’s clearly playing the game on easy mode to go to a talent rich state where it’s ingrained in their culture (which very much is NOT Kelly’s culture) to steer there and win with that. It wouldn’t impress me too much that he accomplishes what he should there, hell Les Miles and Coach O did it and neither one of them would have won a natty at ND, so that statement is true it’s just a matter of time if Kelly wears out his welcome before he achieves the success that a place like LSU always should be getting towards.
That might sound a little too jilted, and maybe it is, but either way it’s not going to bother me too much. Kelly did all he was going to be able to do at Notre Dame, and the program was in a much better spot Dec 2021 than it was in Dec 2009. That’s good enough for me. It is going to be annoying though to hear about it reinforce some national opinions that probably aren’t entirely accurate.
Your last two paragraphs are exactly why I would deep down feel that ND is what was holding him back. If BK wins a NC then he clearly wasn’t holding himself back. It’s not like he’s suddenly out there recruiting his butt off. He just has natural advantages now that ND doesn’t offer.
Obviously beating Bama isn’t winning a NC, that’s why it would be an overreaction. Even if he did win an NC, there’s tons of randomness that goes into it, but it would be really hard not to feel those feelings.
In that sense, I guess it is true on some level. I can’t say I fully embrace it, since Kelly never truly topped out Notre Dame’s capabilities with a little more emphasis and natural born drive for maximizing recruiting.
I’d be more impressed or inclined to believe ND actually held Kelly back if BK won a title at a non-SEC school. Like, OK, if he would have revived Miami or USC or (snicker) Nebraska and would win a title there? Yeah, then maybe Notre Dame was the limitation. But if he were to win at a place it is universally accepted that it is easier to win at, that already has an established culture and history of regularly winning titles? I’m nonplussed about what that truly says about Notre Dame.
The PAC is much more competitive than most conferences outside the SUCK this year. Crown Clemson. Michigan-Ohio State again for B10. Illinois? TCU realistically just has Texas and Texas Tech. PAC has your 8, 9, 10 and 12 teams. Oregon is looking like a Playoff team but has Utah (maybe Washington competes), while USC has us and UCLA.
Michigan State suspended four more players. One was a starter who transferred in.
I love the BK quote. I wish someone had asked the follow up question: “If you came to LSU to play games like this, why did you spend your time at ND convincing your AD to water down the schedule in order to artificially inflate your winning percentage?”
If LSU wins I’ll probably just start screaming and not stop until I pass out or burst a blood vessel in my brain