<grammarly-extension style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; pointer-events: none; z-index: 1;" class="_1KJtL">Not such a great Saturday for College Football, there was a different vibe this weekend. There were controversial calls in almost every game. The weather was a huge factor all over the East coast and the teams were plagued with injuries. Good for one team to allow them to upset a top 10 team, bad for stats. Just different.
#1.
Alabama 35 – Tennessee 13 – The spread was “off” for this game.
Multiple penalties, many injuries, both teams losing their starting quarterbacks. That was the way this game went. A huge cross-conference rivalry for many years was sloppy and ugly, for both teams.
This is the closest an opponent has come to beating Alabama this season. As a Bama fan, I can tell you, there were times in this game that I was a little more than nervous. One of those times was when Volunteers back-up quarterback Jarrett Guarantano tried to sneak the ball over the goal line to bring Tennessee to a score deficit. The ball was fumbled, Alabama’s Trevon Diggs picked it in the end-zone and ran it back the full length of the field bringing Alabama’s lead to 35 – 13. That ended the scoring for this game.
Both teams had 93 yards in penalties. The Tide’s Heisman hopeful quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will be out for at least two weeks after having surgery on a high-ankle sprain.
Alabama remains in the #1 position in this week’s AP Poll.
Alabama hosts Arkansas on October 26th as a 33 point favorite.
#2.
LSU 36 – Mississippi State 13 – The 18 point spread was covered.
It’s the Joe Burrow show! No kidding, the guy is phenomenal and it was a show as he was tackled by his pants and his rear was exposed for the world to see. If he was embarrassed at all he didn’t show it, he passed for 327 yards and 4 touchdowns in this game.
The score would have been closer had the Tigers not caused two interceptions and one fumble. Turnovers at the exact wrong time were the downfall for the Bulldogs in this game. Also, another game riddled with penalties as the Bulldogs gave up 109 yards on 13 penalties. The Tigers didn’t fare much better with giving away 88 yards in 7 penalties.
The difference in this game was Joe Burrows and turnovers forced by the Tigers defense.
LSU remains at #2 in this week’s AP Poll.
LSU will play host to Auburn on October 26th as a 12 point favorite.
#3.
Clemson 45 – Louisville 10 – The 24 point spread was covered.
Trevor Lawrence threw two inceptions? Well, yes, he did but was also able to pass for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns. He is quite the quarterback for Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and company. To pad his stats, Clemson’s fantastic running back, Travis Etienne carried the ball 192 yards on 14 carries.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney stated that the Cardinals had “played them tough”. Let’s clarify that, for the ACC this could be their toughest competition by the Tigers beat the Cardinals 551-263 yards of total offense. That doesn’t look too tough, at least on paper.
The ACC just doesn’t afford much competition for the Mighty Tigers of Clemson, so they should walk into the playoffs.
Clemson dropped to #4 in this week’s AP Poll.
Clemson will host Boston College on October 26th as a 33.5 point favorite.
#4.
Ohio State 52 – Northwestern 3 – The 28 point spread was covered.
This game was played on Friday night and was basically a yawn fest. The Buckeyes had scored 31 points by half-time and held the Wildcats to a one field-goal for the game.
Buckeye quarterback Justin Fields played proficiently as he passed for 194 yards and 4 touchdowns. Heisman hopeful running back J.K. Dobbins racked up 121 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Ohio State has and will face fierce competition in the Big 10, but Northwestern wasn’t among them.
I may have to agree with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit who thinks Ohio State is CFB’s most complete team. After seeing this week's performance, I believe he is correct. We will see how the rest of the season plays out.
Ohio State moved to the #3 position in this week’s AP Poll.
Ohio State will host Wisconsin on October 26th as a 14 favorite.
#5.
Oklahoma 52 – West Virginia 14 – The 34 point was covered.
The Sooners had to punt on their first possession of this game! Is that their first punt? Of course not but it sure seems like it as they scored on their next 4 possessions.
Jalen Hurts and company put up gaudy numbers in this game with Hurts passing for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushing for 75 yards and 2 touchdowns. Yes, he scored 5 touchdowns as maybe the best dual-threat quarterback in NCAA football this year.
One of the most exciting moments in this game saw the Sooner Schooner take a turn too tight and sent its occupants and wheels flying across the field. I am happy to announce there were no major injuries to humans or horses. The Schooner was not so fortunate and will need a couple of new wheels.
Oklahoma remained at #5 in this week’s AP Poll.
Oklahoma will travel to Kansas on October 26th as a 21.5 favorite.
#6.
Wisconsin 23 – Illinois 24 – The 31 point spread was not covered.
Shock game of the week! The Badgers were supposed to win by 31 points against the Fighting Illini. What happened?
The biggest difference that I saw was the Badgers 3 turnovers. They lost momentum as well as points. The Illini having home-field advantage was able to get their crowd involved and just kept coming back.
Until this game, Wisconsin had not trailed all season. They had every reason to believe they would go into next week's game with Ohio State undefeated. It could be that they overlooked the Illinois team. It happens when there are big games coming up. The Badgers seemed to struggle the entire game even though they were able to hold the ball more than 40 minutes of the 60-minute game, Illinois defense proved formidable.
The Badgers dropped to #13 in this week’s AP Poll
Wisconsin will travel to Ohio State on October 26th as a 14 point underdog.
#7.
Penn State 28 – Michigan 21 – The 9 point spread was not covered.
It was a “white-out” in Beaver Stadium. If you have never seen this on TV, it is actually beautiful. Everyone is in white and it would be very intimidating seeing 106,000 enemies. The mood for the Wolverines was not inviting in Happy Valley. The Wolverines were in front of the 21,000 fan section and couldn’t hear their snap counts acquiring 3 offside penalties in a row. They also lost time of the play clock and had to call a timeout before the first snap. Fans can make a difference in a game. Never doubt that electric atmosphere.
Even though statistically the game was close, the Nittany Lions always had control of the game.
In the 3rd quarter, it appeared Penn State was going to give the Wolverines good field position as the Nittany Lions went 3 and out. In comes the Penn State punter to punt for almost 60 yards with enough hang-time to allow the defenders to run down the field and leave the Wolverines to begin on their own 10-yard line.
Penn State moved up to the #6 position in this week’s AP Poll.
Penn State will travel to Michigan State on October 26th as a 5.5 favorite.
#8.
Notre Dame – Enjoyed a Bye Week
Notre Dame maintained their #8 in this week’s AP Poll
Notre Dame will travel to Michigan on October 26th as a 2.5 underdog.
#9.
Florida 38 – South Carolina 27 – The 6 point spread was covered.
A week after losing to #2 LSU the Gators showed resilience and perseverance to get the win over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Going into half-time the score was 10-10, in the fourth quarter the Gators trailed 20-17 but Florida came back and refused to allow the Gamecocks to ruin their season as they had done to Georgia.
Gator quarterback Kyle Trask passed for 200 yards and 4 touchdowns but threw an uncharacteristic interception.
It was in the fourth quarter that the Gators rallied to score 21 points.
Gamecock coach Will Muschamp was angered by so many penalties and had “words” with an office which resulted in an Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The flag was thrown 40 yards down the field from Muschamp which incited the coach to call the official “gutless”. Coach Muschamp has spoken to the “highest authorities” in the SEC about the officials in this game.
Florida moved up to the #7 position in this week’s AP Poll.
Florida will enjoy a bye week on October 26th and will play Georgia on November 2nd for the “Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”.
#10.
Georgia 21 – Kentucky 0 – The 25 point was not covered.
This game was tied at 0 until the third quarter and D’Andre Swift ran for a 39-yard touchdown.
The passing game for both teams was disturbed by the effects of the remnants of Tropical Storm Nestor. It rained and sometimes pouring rain throughout the game.
Georgia was able to capitalize on two Kentucky mishaps. One being a shanked punt that gave the Bulldogs possession on the Wildcat 39 yard-line and a fumble by the Wildcats giving the ball to the Bulldogs on the Kentucky 31 yard-line. Both resulted in Georgia's touchdowns.
This was a sloppy game with the weather being a huge factor. The Bulldog defense was able to shutout the Wildcat offense.
Georgia remained at #10 in this week’s AP Poll.
Georgia has a Bye week before the “Cocktail Party” rivalry game with Florida on November 2nd.
Until next week, be happy and stay safe,
Mama
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