The Ole College Try

LSU-Florida was tough but this week was all about Georgia losing, or should I say South Carolina winning.  Throws the SEC east into a scramble with Missouri - you read that correctly Missouri - the team that lost to Wyoming in first place.  Some other undefeateds loss, and the biggest loser of all might have been Notre Dame. 

Game of the Week

South Carolina 20 - Georgia 17. Georgia outgains a game South Carolina team that lost its starting quarterback, who was actually the backup quarterback before they lost their original starting quarterback.  Despite being thoroughly outplayed, South Carolina forced Jake Fromm into 3 interceptions and 1 fumble and held on to a tie game.  South Carolina failed to score in the initial overtime, but then the defense forced its last Fromm turnover to keep the game tied. South Carolina, with the ball first in the second overtime, settles for a field goal, which Georgia could not reciprocate when potential All-American Rodrigo Blankenship missed a game-tying field goal from just over 30 yards - his second miss of the game.

Best Team Performance

Clemson Tigers. After a couple of poor performances that saw the Tigers slip from first to second in the polls, Clemson came out fast and strong to thoroughly annihilate the Florida State Seminoles 45-14. Not that Florida State has been great this year, but they had been playing better the last couple of weeks and they do have some athletes.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Michigan State Spartans.  The Spartans entered Madison an underdog, and in that they did not disappoint.  Wisconsin, even behind a subpar performance statistically from start Jonathan Taylor, ransacked Michigan State 38-0.  It was Wisconsin's 4th shutout in 6 games this year.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

CeeDee Lamb, WR - Oklahoma.  Often overlooked by the trio in Alabama, Lamb asserted his dominance in the Big 12 with a magnificent 10 catch, 171 yards and 3 touchdown performance, with 2 of the touchdown catch-and-runs being of the Wow variety as he made some tacklers miss, and ran through others.  If you have not seen these plays - go find them, NOW!

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Israel Mukuamu, DB - South Carolina Gamecocks.  Mukuamu was a one-man wrecking ball against Georgia, and he was easily the best player on the field in the Gamecocks' upset.  He had 11 tackles, 7 of the solo variety, 3 interceptions, and returned one of the interceptions for a touchdown.  In a 20-17 overtime game, a defensive touchdown is more than huge, it is critically important.  Mukuamu's reward is the Florida Gators coming off a loss next week.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Blanton Creque, K - Louisville Cardinals.  For the second week in a row.  His 41 yard field goal with 2:15 remaining in the game iced Louisville's victory over previously undefeated Wake Forest by giving the Cardinals a 10 point lead.  This was huge as Wake Forest did march down the field to score a touchdown with 1:05 left to cut the lead to 3.  Creque hit all 10 - that's right 10 - of his kicks in what would have been the game of the week most weeks.

Goat of the Week (Player Edition)

Rodrigo Blankenship, K - Georgia.  His missed 37-yard field goal cemented Georgia's first loss, and likely their playoff chances.  Georgia still could make the playoffs by winning out (including defeating Alabama or LSU in the SEC championship), but they might still need help.

Goat of the Week (Coach Edition)

Mark Dantonio - Michigan State.  Not for anything goat like that he has done, he just looks like he has lost the team, or the team has absolutely frustrated him.  Perhaps both.

Breakthrough Performance

Kenneth Murray, LB - Oklahoma Sooners.  Murray had 5 total tackles, including 1 sack and 2 tackles for loss, as the Sooners defeated their Red River Rivals, the Texas Longhorns 34-27.  This isn't so much a breakthrough for Murray, but for the defense as a whole as the Sooners have been prolific on offense and horrific on defense for the past few years.  If this defense stands up, they will be in the playoffs.

Finally

Miami Hurricanes.  They win a meaningful game against ranked ACC-rival Virginia 17-9, the first meaningful win of Manny Diaz's career.  One week after he was the Goat coach on this blog.

Impact Injury

Ryan Hilinksi, QB - South Carolina.  Already thrust into duty due to injury, Ryan Hilinski himself was injured forcing the Gamecocks to turn to Freshman Dakereon Joiner.  Joiner flashed some athleticism, but only went 6-12 for 39 yards, although he did gain 28 on the ground.  For a team that should be riding high before hosting Florida next week (after defeating Georgia in Athens), instead South Carolina faces question marks at the primary position on the field.

Team Rising

Appalachia State Mountaineers.  With Memphis losing to Temple, Appalachian State finds itself with a real opportunity to lead the Group of 5 into a major bowl game.

Team Falling

Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  It would be easy to say Georgia here, but Wake Forest not only fell from the ranks of the unbeatens, but gave up 62 points to Louisville in doing so.

Player(s) to Watch

Najee Harris, RB - Alabama Crimson Tide.  Lost in the high-flying passing offense that is Alabama, is a strong running back who rushed for another 114 yards on 20 carries in Alabama's 47-28 victory over Texas A&M.   

My New Favorite Player

Joey Magnifico, TE - Memphis Tigers.  The senior tight end, who will likely be playing on Sundays, had 6 catches for 87 yards, as Memphis fell to Temple 30-28, but his biggest play was the catch he "didn't" make.  He is a wide body with decent athleticism, who just knows how to get open.  More on Magnifico later.

Players of the Week (Just Week 7)

Lots of great performances this weekend  really hard to separate the top 10 or 12.

5.  Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB - Louisiana State Tigers - Dominant rushing presence for the Tigers victory over the Gators; 13 carries for 134 yards and 2 TDs.

4.  Kelly Bryant, QB - Missouri Tigers.  The Clemson transfer was 23-35 for 329 and 1 TD in division-leading Missouri's 38-27 victory over Mississippi.

3. Jack Plummer, QB - Purdue Boilermakers. Plummer was 33-41 for 420 yards and 3 TDs in Missouri's 40-14 victory over Maryland.

2.  CeeDee Lamb, WR - Oklahoma Sooners.  See above.

1.  Israel Mukuamu, DB - South Carolina Gamecocks.  See above.

Predicted Playoffs/Championship Match Ups

Alabama (1) v. Ohio State (4)/ (2) Oklahoma v. (3) Clemson

The only things that have changed is the order.  Wisconsin could replace Ohio State and LSU could replace Alabama  Things will shake out in the upcoming weeks.

Remaining Unbeatens

Alabama, Appalachian State, Baylor, Boise State, Clemson, LSU, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, SMU, Wisconsin

Remaining Winless Teams

Akron, New Mexico State, Rice

Rant(s) of the Week

Why the hell do we have video review if it doesn't work.  Late in the Memphis-Temple game, Memphis down by two, but has fourth down.  Quarterback Brady White throws a pass that is caught by tight end John Magnifico at the 30, who bobbles the ball as he hits the ground.  The play is called complete, and a first down with 2 minutes left, and already in the range of Memphis's kicker, who has several field goals over 50 yards.  Replay shows that the ball does bounce up quite a bit when Magnifico hits the ground, but the replay also shows that the ball is in his arm when it bounces into Magnifico's torso.  He cradles it without the ball ever touching the ground.  A 10+ minute replay review overturns the call, giving Temple the ball as Memphis turned it over on downs.  But, if the replay takes over 10 minutes, it cannot be indisputable video evidence, it just can't.  And, not one angle shows the ball actually hitting the ground.  Yes, it bounces up on Magnifico's contact with the ground, but you never see the ball hit the ground.  Memphis falls from the undefeated and is no longer in contention for a major bowl as the best Group of 5 team.

Last Week's Trivia Answer

The question is:  This week's question comes to me from Ryen Russillo on the SVP podcast by way of Sinickal:  What was the most recent college football champion to win its first championship, and what year was it?

The answer is the 1996 Florida Gators.  Every champion since then has been a repeat champion.

Match up(s) to Watch

6.  Clemson v. Louisville - Clemson looked like Clemson against Florida State, and Louisville looks like the can score 50 on anybody.  At the very least, it should be a fun game to watch.

5. Temple v. SMU - The once-defeated Owls, who played a tremendous game last week against then-undefeated Memphis, plays an undefeated Mustangs team in Dallas.

4.  Arizona State v. Utah - Two once-defeated Pac-12 teams battle for conference supremacy.  Plus, Herm Edwards has made this team exciting!

3.  Harvard v. Holy Cross - Harvard plays its last non-conference game, but doesn't have to leave town for an away game.

2.  Baylor v. Oklahoma State - The undefeated Bears travel to under-the-radar Oklahoma State to try to prove who the biggest threat to Oklahoma is.

1.  Michigan v. Penn State - Even though Michigan has not looked good most of the year, their only loss is an understandable butt-whipping at the hands of Wisconsin.  Pen State is still undefeated, and once to make its case that it is a legitimate threat to Ohio State and Wisconsin. This game will see who the real contender is.

Trivia Question of the Week

Which active college running back has the freshman rushing record for most yards in a season?  Bonus question, whose record did he break?