SEC Dominance… and Oklahoma
As our friend Josh Pate says, we will talk about the winners
first.
Mississippi State absolutely housed Minnesota on the road.
Kamario Taylor looks legit and the bulldogs scored on their first four offensive
possessions. State gets to find out how real they are this week against
Florida.
Tennessee dominated Georgia Tech down the stretch in a game
not nearly as close as the box score indicates. If not for a blocked punt due
to an excessive hold by the punter, and a garbage time TD the final would have
been even uglier than the 45-24 final. The Vols forced two interceptions from
Alberto Mendoza and ran for nearly 300 yards behind DeSean Bishop and Duane
Morris. Faizon’s stats do not jump off the page, but he led a score on the
opening drive capped by a passing touchdown and did not turn the ball over.
Texas roars back in the 4th to take down the top
ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. After a first quarter where everything that could
go wrong did, the Longhorns held it together and adjusted. Sark proved he could
win the big one. On the flip side, Ryan Day has some questions to answer.
Big 10 Highs and Lows
Indiana rolls against middling competition. Cignetti talked
a lot in the off season about SEC cupcakes just for the conference to go 8-2
against power four opponents including big wins over the little 10. Meanwhile
the Hoosiers have looked great against nobodies. The Hoosiers have quietly
brought back a lot of defensive pieces from last year’s title run through court
orders, and they may be the best shot the Big 10 has to continue their title
streak.
Michigan after losing (I do not care what the box score
says) to Western Michigan bounces back in a big way to knock off the Oklahoma
Sooners. Kyle Wittingham put together a great game plan to manage Bryce Underwood,
who was underwhelming despite the win. John Mateer and the Oklahoma offense
looked lost. Makes you wonder if Michigan’s defense can keep them in some of
these big games. I now have their matchup against Penn State circled on my
calendar. Oklahoma on the flip side now must respond. The schedule only gets
harder and an early season playoff pick could quickly be in 8-4 territory if
the offensive line can’t figure it out.
We already talked about Ohio State and Texas, so I won’t
rehash the game too much, but how do you blow a 20 point lead in the 4th
quarter? Reminiscent of the years when Alabama could only be undone by their
kicker, Ohio State was not able to hold on following a late miss from their
kicker. Ryan Day has won a title before, but before that the question was always,
could he manage a team in the big game. In 2024 he had the most talented roster
to the tune of $40 million in NIL and road them to the national championship.
But if you also remember they got dominated by Michigan before that run and
lost to Oregon, the playoff number 1 seed, in the regular season. There are
lingering questions about Day’s game management, but he has bounced back in the
past and still has the talent to do so.
The much more baffling loss would be the Oregon Ducks in
Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Pokes lost to Tulsa the week before, and it should
have been by more than the box score indicated. The Cowboys were floundering through
a 10-game losing streak and somehow shocked the entire college football world by
beating a preseason national title favorite? Highlight of the game was Mestemaker
laying his body on the line for a hurdle into the endzone on a late score to
put the Cowboys up for good. Oregon has now looked lackluster in back-to-back games,
and I am starting to wonder if they can pull it together. Dan Lanning lost both
of his coordinators and Dante Moore has looked underwhelming despite being labeled
as an NFL Draft darling. Makes you
wonder if the internet rumor about his run/pass tell being his foot placement
has some legs to it. This is the first time a team on a ten game losing streak
snapped it against a top 10 team.
Big 12, Bleeding Kansas and Whole Hog BBQ’s
Kansas released a hype video accusing their rival Missouri
of being the cause of the Civil War and then proceeded to get boat raced in
their home stadium. PR disaster for the Rock Chalks. Nobody wants to hear a
sanctimonious Eli Drinkwitz in a post game presser. Missouri looks solid
through two games. They have feasted off weaker SEC schedules the last few
seasons and it does not look like this season will be much different. I am
still waiting to see Hardy suit up following a gunshot wound in the offseason.
Utah! Those razorbacks have families! The Utes absolutely
rolled the Arkansas Razorbacks who were the only other SEC team to lose to a
nonconference foe so far this season. I was not sure what we would get out of
Utah with the departure of Wittingham. It may say more about the state of
Arkansas football than it does about Utah. Time will tell in a conference that
is very compact.
Speaking of compact, the conference favorite Texas Tech has
looked… very beatable. They need to figure out the QB position. The talent is
there and the money has been invested. We will get to see how real they are
when the Houston Cougars come to town on Friday.
ACC: an Atlantic Nightmare
I cannot make heads or tails of this conference. Clemson
stinks, UNC is 2-0 with a win over a power 4 opponent and SMU coughs the ball
up more than a greased pig in a butterfinger factory. Above it all is the Miami
Hurricanes stat padding against bad teams and campaigning for the Malachi
Toney/Darian Mensah Heisman campaigns. There is a clear front runner, but who
is number two? Keep an eye on the Pitt Panthers as a sleeper, and the Louisville/SMU
game this weekend. Also keep an eye on the moving truck pictured to be at Mike
Norvel’s house following the firing of the Florida State Athletic Director.