After week 7 we have a new no. 1 in the 18S poll thanks to Washington’s come-from-behind victory over Oregon. Huskies are superior to Bulldogs in every way so this is okay. Outside of that, the top 15 stayed relatively stable except for USC tumbling quite a bit. You hate to see it.
Here’s the latest 18S Top 20 Poll.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington (+1) | 6-0 | vs. Arizona State |
| 2 | Georgia (-1) | 7-0 | BYE |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 6-0 | vs. UCF |
| 4 | Ohio State | 6-0 | vs. Penn State |
| 5 | Florida State | 6-0 | vs. Duke |
| 6 | Michigan | 7-0 | at Michigan State |
| 7 | Penn State | 6-0 | at Ohio State |
| 8 | Texas (+1) | 5-1 | at Houston |
| 9 | North Carolina (+2) | 6-0 | vs. Virginia |
| 10 | Oregon (-2) | 5-1 | vs. Washington State |
| 11 | Alabama (+1) | 6-1 | vs. Tennessee |
| 12 | Utah (+1) | 5-1 | at USC |
| 13 | Ole Miss (+1) | 5-1 | at Auburn |
| 14 | Oregon State (+2) | 6-1 | BYE |
| 15 | Tennessee (+3) | 5-1 | at Alabama |
| 16 | Notre Dame (NR) | 6-2 | BYE |
| 17 | Duke (+2) | 5-1 | at Florida State |
| 18 | Missouri (NR) | 6-1 | vs. South Carolina |
| 19 | Air Force (+1) | 6-0 | at Navy |
| 20 | USC (-10) | 6-1 | vs. Utah |
Out:
#15 Louisville
#17 UCLA
National Storylines
Jamey Chadwell has Liberty a quiet 6-0 following their Tuesday night 31-13 win over Jacksonville State.
An insane ending on Thursday night saw Houston beat West Virginia 41-39 thanks to a walk-off Hail Mary.
A turned ankle by tight end Brock Bowers highlighted Georgia’s 37-20 win at Vanderbilt. It’s reported that Bowers could miss the rest of the regular season.
Oklahoma State have shaken off a slow start to the season and beat Kansas 39-32.
Michigan State gave up 21 points in the 4th quarter to Rutgers and lost 27-24. The Spartans are now 0-3 in the Big Ten.
Alabama fell asleep and had to hold off Arkansas in Tuscaloosa by the score of 24-21.
Once again, Michigan fell behind 7-0 to an opponent and still finished with 52 straight points to beat visiting Indiana.
Illinois picked up their first B1G win of the season upsetting Maryland 27-24 in College Park.
North Carolina scored 27 points in the 2nd half to remain undefeated and hand Miami its 2nd straight loss 41-31.
A failed 4th down, late Washington touchdown, and missed Oregon field goal gave us a wild finish as the Huskies stay perfect and move to no. 1 in our poll beating the Ducks 36-33.
Oregon State held off visiting UCLA 36-24. That’s wins in 10 out of their last 11 games for the Beavers stretching back to last year.
Weird score of the week comes from Arizona ripping apart Washington State in Pullman 44-6, yikes.
Tennessee needed a comeback in the 2nd half to take care of Texas A&M 20-13 in Knoxville.
Air Force remains undefeated and ranked again in the 18S poll after a classic 34-27 win over Wyoming.
Cincinnati remains winless in the Big 12 (0-3) after Iowa State beat them 30-10 in the Queen City.
LSU beat down Auburn by 30 points.
TCU dominated visiting BYU to the tune of 44-11.
Former Notre Dame recruiting target quarterback Avery Johnson scored 5 rushing touchdowns in Kansas State’s 38-21 win at Texas Tech.
A late flurry of scoring saw Florida beat South Carolina 41-39.
A touchdown with no time remaining saw Colorado State upset visiting Boise State 31-30. That clinches 3 straight seasons with at least 4 losses for the Broncos.
We thought Wisconsin as decent favorites looked weird last week and sure enough the Badgers lost to Iowa 15-6 in an incredibly Big Ten West type of final score. The Dairy Raid is 81st in yards per play this season.
Opponent Watch
Navy (3-3): An absolute barn burner saw the Middies beat Charlotte 14-0 on the road last weekend.
Tennessee State (4-2): On homecoming, the Tigers beat Norfolk State 24-17 in Nashville.
NC State (4-3): The deep offensive woes continue for the Wolfpack in a 24-3 loss at Duke.
Central Michigan (4-3): The Chippewas beat visiting Akron just barely 17-10.
Ohio State (6-0): No upset in West Lafayette as the Buckeyes blowout Purdue 41-7.
Duke (5-1): It’s a tough schedule coming up for the Blue Devils.
Louisville (6-1): The Cards were -3 on turnovers and suffered a let down sandwich loss to Pitt 38-21.
USC (6-1): The Trojans probably have the toughest remaining schedule in the country, good luck.
Pitt (2-4): No Phil Jurkovec, no problem!
Clemson (4-2): The Tigers were off this week and travel to Coral Gables this weekend.
Wake Forest (3-3): It got bad fast for the Demon Deacons who are 0-3 in ACC play following a 30-13 loss at Virginia Tech.
Stanford (2-4): Trailing 29-0 at halftime, the Cardinal came back to beat Colorado amazingly 46-43 in double overtime. Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor went OFF in this win.
Week 8 Games to Watch
All time are eastern.
James Madison [-3.5] at Marshall
Thursday, Oct. 19th, 7:00 PM, ESPN
We haven’t had a real great selection of Thursday night games in 2023. This week, you can check out undefeated James Madison travel to Huntington for a quality Fun Belt matchup.
Penn State [+4.5] at Ohio State
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 12:00 PM, Fox
Finally, some stuff is going to get sorted out in the Big Ten after most of the conference has played a crop of cupcakes this season–except Ohio State challenging Notre Dame out of league play of course. This is a mega matchup according to traditional polls and advanced stats and yet…it doesn’t really feel like it right now? I think it’s because both teams have young and unproven quarterbacks and to date neither strike a ton of fear into the rest of the country. Be that as it may, the winner here will have a leg up for the Big Ten crown.
UCF [+18.5] at Oklahoma
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 12:00 PM, ABC
During the pre-season this looked like a really interesting matchup with upset potential inflicted upon the Sooners. Instead, UCF has opened their Big 12 journey on an 0-3 start and haven’t looked very good lately while Oklahoma is in the driver’s seat for the playoffs. However, Knights quarterback John Rhys Plumlee is scheduled to come back this weekend and the UCF offense should get a nice boost. I think OU struggling to cover here (quarterback Dillon Gabriel is also facing his former school) is the smart bet.
Air Force [-11.5] at Navy
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 12:00 PM, CBS
The reigning Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy winners come into this game ranked, undefeated, and looking to stomp a Navy program that’s been down on its luck recently. Air Force has also won 3 straight in this series for the first time since they won 6 straight from 1997 through 2002. Sounds like a perfect time for an incredibly tight military rivalry game!
Washington State [+18.5] at Oregon
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 3:30 PM, ABC
This line has swung heavily in Oregon’s favor since the opening line on Sunday. Is Vegas expecting the Ducks to bounce back in a big way after their loss? The Cougars are coming off an embarrassing loss and this hefty spread feels a little too much of an overreaction for me. This series typically features A LOT of points. Even with Wazzu’s 4-game losing streak to Oregon they’ve managed to average over 32 points per game.
Tennessee [+8.5] at Alabama
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 3:30 PM, CBS
It is now time for the Third Saturday in October. Last year, Tennessee snapped their ugly 15-game losing streak to Alabama and return to Tuscaloosa where they haven’t won since 2003. I think the Vols offense has proven enough that they can move the ball a little bit against the Tide and I do not trust Jalen Milroe and Alabama to cover more than a touchdown right now.
Toledo [-2] at Miami (OH)
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 4:00 PM, ESPNU
Check out Chuck Martin, quietly Doing Good Things™ in his 10th season with the RedHawks. This is a matchup between the East and West division leaders in the MAC, and most would agree it’s also the 2 best teams in the MAC overall by a wide margin.
Duke [+13.5] at Florida State
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 7:30 PM, ABC
Duke’s defense did really well this past week, so much so that they ran only 42 plays against NC State and it was no problem. That likely changes this weekend against the explosive FSU offense. Quarterback Jordan Travis was banged up this past Saturday which is something to monitor if this game gets really physical. A Duke win here would shake the ACC the hell up, which would be fun. But, it’s probably not happening.
Utah [+6.5] at USC
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 8:00 PM, Fox
This line opened at 8.5 points and has been tumbling toward Utah ever since. Perhaps a bounce back win isn’t in the cards for USC? Typically we associate physical play more with defense but it’s been the physical Utes offense that has given the Trojans fits in recent seasons. USC has lost 3 straight to Utah while giving up a combined 132 points in those meetings. This one should be super close in the end.
Clemson [-3.5] at Miami
Saturday, Oct. 21st, 8:00 PM, ACC Network
Clemson is coming off a bye and should be well rested for this trip to Coral Gables. That loss to Duke seems like a long time ago for Clemson and they are already sitting on 2 losses in league play. Miami, on the other side, have started 0-2 in ACC play after initial high hopes. Whichever side loses this game is going to be in a dark, dark place.
I realize that Indiana is terrible, but it’s funny seeing how longtime B1G programs are conditioned to just roll over for Michigan. IU took a 7-0 lead on a trick play for a TD, then promptly gave up and tried nothing interesting for the rest of the game.
It’s possible that Michigan is a very good, even great team this year, but I am convinced that their cakewalk schedule is going to come back to haunt them in the end. Harbaugh’s bowl game issue doesn’t come from nowhere.
Teams like that get “big play syndrome” where they’re so used so rolling everyone every play, that when they’re in an actual earn-your-yards dogfight, mentally those teams cant deal.
You saw it with lincoln and caleb Saturday, when they have to slug it out against a physical athletic defense, theres an exponential loss of effectiveness. I think michigan may get that down the stretch too, how will they handle a drunken brawl game where every play doesnt work? Or even more, a game where they have to exceed expectations to win?
tOSU has a leg up on the rest of the b10 in that regard, they definitely had a drunk brawl in south bend.
Yep, the TCU-Michigan game last year is a perfect example of that. TCU came out throwing the kitchen sink at Michigan and they had no idea what to do.
I feel like they’re absolutely going to blow it at Penn State for that reason, it’s the first time they play a team with a pulse all year and it’ll be in front of a 100k of Pennsyltucky’s finest psychopaths.
I don’t really know how good Alabama’s defense is, but do you really think their offense would score more than 10 points on us?
As you pointed out, they have Tennessee and LSU, as well as the Iron Bowl, should sort things out for them.
Snoozer Alert. BIG West fans may be in for more low-scoring games like Wisconsin-
iowa.
Overall, their QB are bad. Based on total passing yards, Hudson Card (Purdue, transfer from Texas) is 36th (1617 yds), Luke Altmyer (illinois, transfer from Ole Miss) is 40th (1571 yds)and Tanner Mordecai (Wisconsin) is 77th (1127 yds) nationally. The next highest is Athan Kaliakmanis (Minnesota) at 121st.
For QB Passer Ranking in ESPN passing stats, only three of the seven current starting QBs have more than 14 attempts per team’s games played – Card, Altmyer and Tanner Mordecai (Wisconsin), who is now out for the season with an injury in the Iowa game.
By season’s end only Card and Altmyer will qualify. Card has been sacked 17 times and Altmyer has been sacked 26 times. What’s the record?
Athan Kaliakmanis (Minnesota), Heinrich Haarberg (Nebraska), Deacon Hill (Iowa) and Brendan Sullivan (Northwestern) are those current starters who do not qualify.
Previously, starters Cade McNamara (Iowa) and Ben Bryant (Northwestern) went out for the season due to injuries.
Matt Rhule this week had to address whether Haarberg with 52% completion rate and total yards of 631 yards would remain the starter.
For those who have been complaining about ND’s schedule the past few weeks, USC has a very poorly designed schedule. The first 6 games were mainly cupcakes, followed by a second half with ND, Utah, Wash, Oregon, and UCLA — looks like they might get a couple more losses
BTW, Washington still only 5th in the AP Poll is wild to me.
Same, but AP Poll is governed by inertia and hates resume-based voting.
I can’t lose in the Clemson/Miami game.
I recognize, however, that it’s better for ND if Clemson wins. Nonetheless, either side losing just feels good to me.
Clemson losing might make them give up on the season and make that game easier for us. The way our O is playing, would be nice if Clemson were a little less motivated.
Peeking ahead a bit here,
But if the five of Washington, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida st and Oklahoma win out. Who goes to the playoffs. I can’t help but think that the SEC is out this year, nobody has looked super dominant. However, not really thinking the ACC has a ton of firepower either. Florida St. is questionable in their strength of schedule, and throw in a bit of SEC bias, they are out. However, I’d love to see the SEC not make the playoffs, it would just mean more.
Relative to the other four Washington doesn’t have any fans or money or influence, so no doubt in my mind that they would get left out.
Washington has fans! No one is ever awake to know about them.