Washington continues to look wobbly following the win over Oregon but haven’t dropped one since with a couple close calls. The same can’t be said for Oklahoma who got rock chalked over the weekend and will need to fight back into the playoff picture. By the way, the first College Football Playoff rankings come out tonight at 7 PM ET on ESPN.
Here’s the latest 18S Top 20 Poll.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 8-0 | vs. Missouri |
| 2 | Ohio State | 8-0 | at Rutgers |
| 3 | Florida State | 8-0 | at Pittsburgh |
| 4 | Washington (+1) | 8-0 | at USC |
| 5 | Michigan (+1) | 8-0 | vs. Purdue |
| 6 | Oklahoma (-2) | 7-1 | at Oklahoma State |
| 7 | Texas | 7-1 | vs. Kansas State |
| 8 | Oregon (+1) | 7-1 | vs. California |
| 9 | Alabama (-1) | 7-1 | vs. LSU |
| 10 | Ole Miss (+1) | 7-1 | vs. Texas A&M |
| 11 | Notre Dame (+2) | 7-2 | at Clemson |
| 12 | Penn State (+2) | 7-1 | at Maryland |
| 13 | Missouri (+2) | 7-1 | at Georgia |
| 14 | Air Force (+2) | 8-0 | vs. Army |
| 15 | Louisville (+5) | 7-1 | vs. Virginia Tech |
| 16 | LSU (+1) | 6-2 | at Alabama |
| 17 | Utah (-7) | 6-2 | vs. Arizona State |
| 18 | James Madison | 8-0 | at Georgia State |
| 19 | Oregon State (-7) | 6-2 | at Colorado |
| 20 | Tennessee (NR) | 6-2 | vs. UConn |
Out:
#19 North Carolina
National Storylines
Another Tuesday victory for Liberty (8-0 now) this time 42-29 over Western Kentucky.
Sam Houston State remains the only winless team in FBS following a 37-34 coughed up lead versus UTEP.
Suddenly 3-1 in the ACC, Virginia Tech smoked visiting Syracuse 38-10.
Georgia easily handled Florida 43-20 in their rivalry game in Jacksonville. Will the Dawgs 3-peat?
Texas had no problems without Quinn Ewers as the Horns beat BYU 35-6.
Oregon demolished Utah 35-6 in Salt Lake City for one of the most impressive wins in the country this year.
North Carolina is now North Carolina-ing following back-to-back losses, this time losing to Georgia Tech 46-42.
Colorado drops to 1-4 in the Pac-12 following a 28-16 loss at UCLA.
Jeff Monken was a hot commodity in the coaching market not too long and now has 5 straight losses at Army including this past weekend 21-14 at home to UMass.
A late touchdown by Kansas backup quarterback Jason Bean gave Kansas a 38-33 win over Oklahoma in Lawrence. The ranks of the undefeated Power 5 is smaller by one.
Miami was in an overtime game for the second straight week and held off Virginia 29-26.
Things are getting tough in the Pac-12 with Arizona knocking off Oregon State 27-24.
Tennessee visited Kentucky with the Vols winning 33-27.
Northwestern picked up their 2nd conference win after beating Maryland 33-27 in Evanston.
UCF is still winless (0-5) in Big 12 play after a 41-28 loss to West Virginia.
Maybe it’s time to talk more about SMU who are 4-0 in the American following a 69-10 beatdown of Tulsa.
Iowa State is sneaky decent at 4-1 in the Big 12 after a 30-18 win at Baylor.
Ditto for Oklahoma State rising up to 4-1 in league play following an easy 45-13 win over Cincinnati.
Nebraska is 5-3 and beat visiting Purdue this past weekend 31-14.
Opponent Watch
Navy (3-4): No game this week for Navy as they travel to Temple this week.
Tennessee State (6-2): The Tigers are moving up the FCS ranks with a 43-20 win against Lindenwood.
NC State (5-3): The Wolfpack used a bye week to get healthy and held off Clemson 24-17 at home.
Central Michigan (4-4): Bye week for the Chips.
Ohio State (8-0): The Buckeyes remain undefeated following a solid 24-10 win at Wisconsin.
Duke (5-3): Duke’s offense struggled mightily in a 23-0 loss at Louisville.
Louisville (7-1): The Cards remain 2nd in the ACC with their win over Duke.
USC (7-2): This USC defense remains a performance art exhibition as the Trojans barely hang on against Cal 50-49 following a late failed 2-point conversion from the Bears.
Pitt (2-6): It’s been a really bad year for the Panthers.
Clemson (4-4): Notre Dame has a chance to drop Clemson under .500 which, yes please.
Wake Forest (4-4): The Demon Deacons were blown out by Florida State 41-16.
Stanford (2-6): It was a good game for a while before Washington pulled away super late beating the Cardinal 42-33.
Week 10 Games to Watch
All time are eastern.Â
Ohio State [-18.5] at Rutgers
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 12:00 PM, CBS
I know, this game shouldn’t be included under normal circumstances. Ohio State is 9-0 against Rutgers and none of the games have been even remotely close. And that makes just a 18.5 point spread seem curious! Rutgers is doing not terribly this year and maybe they can conjure up some Piscataway magic during a Noon start?
Texas A&M [+3] at Ole Miss
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 12:00 PM, ESPN
In a packed Noon timeslot (including our Notre Dame visiting Clemson) we’ll see if Ole Miss can continue hanging around in the SEC West and hope to grab a divisional title for the first time ever. Those hopes are slim with a loss to Alabama already on the books, but you never know. The Rebels have won the last 2 meetings in this series although this has been a really close league matchup since the Aggies moved to the SEC.
Kansas State [+4] at Texas
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 12:00 PM, Fox
Kansas State and Texas are among 5 teams in the Big 12 all tied with a 4-1 record in league play. Texas backup quarterback Maalik Murphy (potentially a very intriguing transfer candidate this off-season, just saying) wasn’t asked to do too much last week but might be put under more pressure this weekend against a feisty Wildcats program. The Horns have won 6 straight in this series, though.
Oklahoma [-6] at Oklahoma State
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 3:30 PM, ABC
This weekend we say goodbye to Bedlam. At least for a while and on an annual basis. This was shaping up to be a huge upset type of game for Oklahoma but they spoiled that themselves by losing this past weekend and now will likely come in ready to play. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, have shaken off a really poor start to the season and have won 4 straight. Yup, the Cowboys are yet another 4-1 team in the Big 12 along with the Sooners. I believe Oklahoma State would jump to the top of the Big 12 with a win in this game.
Penn State [-10.5] at Maryland
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 3:30 PM, Fox
Every once and a while Maryland reminds itself that they are coached by Mike Locksley, someone who has built a bit of momentum with the Terps and then can’t help but do things like lose to freaking Northwestern last weekend. Penn State should roll in College Park this weekend, although if Maryland’s offense can move the ball a little bit I think the Nittany Lions could be on upset watch.
Missouri [+16] at Georgia
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 3:30 PM, CBS
This is the first of 3 straight ranked opponents for Georgia, first the Tigers, then Ole Miss, followed up by Tennessee. I’m not sure how many of these 3 opponents will end up ranked by the end of the season but they’re in that spot now. The Dawgs generally have no problems with Missouri (11-1 all-time in the series) although Luther Burden III (5th nationally in receiving yards) going off in Athens and announcing himself as the top wideout for the 2025 NFL Draft would be pretty fun to watch.
Washington [-3.5] at USC
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 7:30 PM, ABC
For as shaky as Washington has looked lately can you anyone trust USC’s defense to stop the Huskies? Plus, now all those miles are starting to pile up for the Trojans as they are in the thick of a brutal stretch of games to end the season. A USC win would be good for Oregon as there would be a 3-way tie atop the conference standings joining these 2 teams. As bad as things have gotten recently for the Trojans they still have a lot to play for in the conference.
LSU [+3] at Alabama
Saturday, Nov. 4th, 7:45 PM, CBS
It’s time to re-visit the scene of Brian Kelly’s finest moment at LSU so far, defeating Alabama in a 2022 instant classic of a game. The Tigers come in with one of the best offenses in the country while Alabama have been improving a little but way off their usual standards on that side of the ball. It’s Brian Kelly vs. Tommy Rees. However, this LSU defense can be super leaky and the Tide’s defense could be good enough to slow things down. If LSU wins we may be on a crash course for a possible upset over undefeated Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and what would happen for the playoffs in that scenario?
So which coach gets the award for worst job of passing praise and taking blame this week, Deion Sanders or Pat Narduzzi?
Narduzzi: “We lost a lot of good players last year. We thought we’d replace them and we obviously didn’t do a good job with that.”
Colorado Football, Coach Prime addresses the O Line, running game issues and keeping Shedeur Sanders upright: “The big picture, you go get new lineman. That’s the picture and I’ma paint it perfectly.”
I give it to prime. I read it like his paradigm is rooted in: the coaches give the players comprehensive/perfect coaching and opportunity, i.e. failure to perform on field is totally on the player, and serves as justification to get rid of them. For a coach to establish that model, feels a little self serving CYA.
It creates an almost mercenary environment devoid of development or team building. And maybe in the modern transfer portal, that’s the new model, but in my heart, that doesnt bode well; it doesnt serve to instill team building (skilling) vs complete talent acquisition (staffing).
It pains me to give any credit at any time to narduzzi, but I take more issue with prime, so that’s saying something given his competition here.
prime, my dude, do you know what happens if you just replace the OL every year?
I was just looking at CU’s ’24 class to see if Neon Deon is building up the lines. Sure enough, the only OL commits are the 3 lowest ranked kids in the class and one looks like a transfer (maybe JUCO?). But more interesting is that our old buddy Brandon Davis-Swain is now committed to the Buffs.
I had to look it up after you mentioned him. I see on 247 he committed to CU the day after his OV and then went on 3 more OV’s right after. I honestly don’t care if any of these kids go on a million visits, just found that funny after you mentioned his name.
Our buddy Dabo is going through some emotions this week. Yikes.
Motion to leave Michigan unranked while they’re under investigation.
SECOND
Thirded?
The schedules alone of most of these teams should preclude them from being ranked. I can’t wait for the expanded playoffs and wish they would expand it even more tbh. I hate the gnashing of teeth of who’s a top 4 team.
I had this conversation with ‘Noise when we were together in Dublin and given that TFR appears in this article I’ll post the thought now. I know there are many that were glad to see Rees go. I’m not qualified to judge an OC (or any football coach) but my take at the time of his departure was, don’t ND fans want to see a grad, former player, and coach go on to success and growth under the tutelage of one of the greatest coaches of all time with the idea that he might one day have sights on returning as to ND for a HC job? Rees is polarizing to many here so, insert Elko, or Lea, or another of choice and ask the same question.
A not-so-bold take I shared with ‘Noise six weeks ago and based on nothing other than a gut feeling; the Prime tenure (experiment?) in Colorado will not end well. I’m not predicting how, just that a program that’s wandered in the wilderness for a long time might find itself in a similar wasteland when it’s over.
I’ve been a long time hater of Rees going back to when he played so I admit I’m very far from biased when it comes to him. Outside of the playcalling aspect which we’ve all discussed a ton, I also don’t think he was a great talent evaluator and recruiter to want him to come back. IElko was such a limited time frame since he was in and out basically so tough to gauge. He obviously recruited well at TAMU. Lea I feel the same way as Rees on the recruiting front. I think Lea is a master level DC when he has a school that can recruit itself for the most part, but I don’t think he loved the recruiting piece. ND’s talent level is so much higher since Freeman came on board as DC and then HC.
I really think Freeman is the answer especially in a expanded playoffs. The guy just gets his teams up for big games and the talent level is going to continue to rise.
Yes, I absolutely want Rees to do well. It would be great if he turned into an excellent OC and, later, HC. It benefits ND to have a broad network of successful alumni and former coaches in college football. We haven’t had that in a very long time — at least since Lou’s era and arguably even before that.
However, that does not mean that he was qualified for the jobs ND gave him when it gave him those jobs, or that he would be ready to come back now.
100% in agreement. I didn’t think he was doing anything that an average Offensive Coordinator couldn’t do at ND (in terms of recruiting, talent development, and play-calling). According to the advanced stats, we have a top 20 offense this year, and nobody seems particularly enamored with Parker. That’s basically where we ended up with Rees in good years, and it’s where he has Alabama this year.
That being said, it would be absolutely incredible if in 2-3 years he had turned Alabama into the best offensive team in the country. I would love that for him, and I would love if someday he was coaching ND at an elite level.
I assume the failed 2-point conversion had nothing to do with USC’s defense and everything to do with Cal’s execution of the attempt. I refuse to look up a replay to either confirm or deny this.
I want to see Ohio St and Georgia in the final, with a healthy win by Ohio St. That way I’ll look back on our missed opportunities and pretend if we had done a few things different this year, it would be ND sitting on its first playoff championship trophy. And yet, that doesn’t sit right with me, probably end up rooting for the PAC-12/Big 12 team that makes it into the playoffs.