While we are still days from New Years, there is some college football news to go with some games as well.
Top 25:
Thoughts: - This bowl season has me convinced that it’s time to expand the college football playoff. Watching 4-5 against 5-6 teams duke it out is awful. 2025 can’t come fast enough (2025 is when ESPNs current contract is up, expansion won’t happen before then). There are plenty of issues to resolve (player opt outs, expanded schedules, etc…) but no one is watching the garbage bowls (except probably me) anyway. - Coastal Carolina’s dream season ends on a wacky note. Liberty fumbled in the last minute on the Coastal goal line and the game ended in OT on a blocked kick. I’m pretty impressed by Liberty’s offense, if they could find WRs who could catch they can be pretty special next year. Coastal had been tied with Alabama for the longest current winning streak in the FBS. Coastal just doesn’t have the talent to play against top teams, this puts BYU’s loss in additional context as a full strength A&M or Florida would put 60 up on either team easily. Group of 5 teams most of the time lack the talent to compete against Power 5. - That being said, I think Cincinnati has a fantastic chance of knocking off Georgia. Georgia has already had 5 or 6 starters opt out of the game and they are getting crushed by covid right now. This is a fantastic opportunity for Cincinnati to get a marquee win in the national spotlight. - Louisiana-Lafayette’s almost chocked away a 17-point lead over UTSA in the First Responder Bowl. The Ragin’ Cajuns responded with a time-consuming winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and a critical defensive stop. - Utah Utes RB Ty Jordan, the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year killed himself in an accidental discharge. He was back home in Texas when he did it. - Miami quarterback D'Eriq King announced that he will return to the team for the 2021 season. King is talented QB who could make a lot of noise next year in a Trevor Lawrence less ACC, which is huge news for the Hurricanes. - New England Patriots quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch has been named the new head coach at the University of Arizona, replacing recently fired head coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin’s Wildcats were obliterated 70-7 against Arizona State in his final game. - Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney is still going off on Ohio State making the playoffs: "Obviously, they're a great team. They're plenty good enough and talented enough to beat us and good enough to win the national championship. But in my opinion, I don't think that it's right that three teams have to play 13 games to win it all and one team has to play eight. What universe am I living in? And it has nothing to with them. It was about qualifying. And I didn't think they were qualified, based on the number of games, versus all these other teams. ... In my opinion—Texas A&M, Florida, Oklahoma, Cincinnati—they got punished for playing more games." - I’ve also discovered that Ohio States local reporters should be drug tested for trying to make the case that Justin Fields as played better than Trevor Lawrence this year and that they would rather have The Award That Most Not Be Named: Our top four are the finalists. I see no reason to change the list other than strikeout a deserving Najee who finished 5th. 1. DeVonta Smith: Deserves the award. The dude balled out. 2. Mac Jones: Stepped into Tua’s shoes and made Tua an afterthought. 3. Trevor Lawrence: Missed too many games 4. Kyle Trask: Looked pretty darn good against Alabama. But two losses in a row doesn’t help the cause. Playoff Prediction for This Week. Our prediction here was also correct. ND is the most marketable team not named Alabama. Yes, they get more viewers than Clemson on a weekly basis. That being said. 1. Alabama over Notre Dame. The point spread is about 20. ND needs to be able to run the ball tied in with short passing to chew up clock if they want to keep it close. It’s close for three quarters, then the doors come off. 2. Clemson over OSU. Justin Fields hasn’t looked great this year. He probably won’t look great against a talented Clemson defense and a Clemson offense that will score on just about every drive. I think Clemson wants to make a statement about OSU not being deserving and does their best to publicly embarrass OSU on the national stage. Just a note. Another big factor often forgotten is these are also the top recruiting teams in college football as well. Destroying a foe in front of prospects goes a long way in getting them signed to letters of intent.
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Top 25: 1 Alabama 52 - 7 Florida 46 3 Clemson 34 - 2 Notre Dame 10 4 Ohio State 22 - 14 Northwestern 10 5 Texas A&M 34 - Tennessee 13 10 Oklahoma 27 - 6 Iowa State 21 9 Cincinnati 27 - 23 Tulsa 24 Oregon 31 - 13 USC 24 24 San Jose State 34 - Boise State 220 Six other Top 25 teams had their games canceled (Indiana, Miami, Georgia, Louisiana, Coastal Carolina and Iowa) Thoughts: - Florida played better than anyone thought they would. Kudos to theme for taking a massive swing at Bama. Bama’s offense is unbelievable while their defense continues to be up and down. I think Clemson can put up 35 on them, not sure about Notre Dame. That being said, the Tide will still be the favorites to win it all. - Clemson was clearly pissed at ND trying to steal an ACC crown and beat ND like they owed them money. I think getting players back on defense was more important for Clemson than Trevor Lawrence as the defense looked great. Clemson at full strength can play with Bama like no one else can. - Ohio State underwhelmed me. Northwestern played them well but Ohio State gets by on pure talent because the Big 10 doesn’t have it on the same level that will face against Alabama or Clemson in the semi’s. If they aren’t ready they’ll be down 30 by half with no let up. - Oklahoma won the Big 12 for the 5th straight time. Congrats on beating up a weak conference. - Speaking of dominance, Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon have won 25 of the 35 conference titles over the last 6 years. - Texas A&M beat a sorry Tennessee team. - Speaking of Tennessee, rumors are starting to fly about illegal activity within the football program. Judging by their recent performances, if they paid for players they should get their money back. - Cincinnati won but didn’t look dominate against Tulsa. IF you are going to play weaker teams then you need to show up and show off. This wasn’t enough to spread the Bearcat Gospel. - LSU won a shootout against Ole Miss. Freshman reciever Kayshon Boutte hauled in 14 catches for 308 yards and three touchdowns. Not a bad day. - San Jose State had an under-appreciated great in winning the Mountain West. Big money was won by anyone who bet on them to win. - Biggest shock of the week was that I enjoyed the Oregon/USC game. Despite the miscues it shows that Oregon has the talent to compete against anyone. The issue with them is coaching as they play up or down to their opponent each week. That they needed Washington to fall out due to Covid just made it that much more special. - Illinois is going with Bret Bielema as their next head coach. - The Rose Bowl will be played at Jerry World in Texas. The Award That Most Not Be Named: 1. DeVonta Smith: Deserves the award. The dude balled out. 2. Mac Jones: Stepped into Tua’s shoes and made Tua an afterthought. 3. Trevor Lawrence: Missed too many games 4. Kyle Trask: Looked pretty darn good against Alabama. But two losses in a row doesn’t help the cause. 5. Najee Harris: The forgotten stud for Bama. - Lawrence has a good shot at winning if the three Tiders take votes from each other. Final Playoff Prediction. 1. Alabama. They gave up a lot of points but they can win a shootout with anyone 2. Clemson: Will jump to 2 because OSU didn’t look great. 3. Ohio State: Didn’t look great but just needed a win to make it in. 4. Notre Dame: I think this goes to the Golder Domers because people love to hate ND, though I’d rather see Cincinnati Waiting in the wings: - Texas A&M: Didn’t blow away Tennessee by enough to move the needle - Cincinnati: Barely beat Tulsa. Not the inspiring win they needed. - Coastal Carolina: Just because they had a great year and now they’ll up playing before New Years day unless enough teams drop out. Enjoy the politicking by Notre Dame, A&M and Cincinnati this week for the 4th spot. Should be interesting. What can we gleam from the penultimate CFP rankings?
Let's work our way down the list at scenarios: 1. Even if they lose in the SEC title game, Alabama is probably in. The fact the CFP still have 2-loss Florida ranked #7 means that if the upset happens, Alabama won't be penalized too much. 2. Notre Dame is probably in, barring a blowout loss in ACC title game. Even if Clemson avenges their only loss, that still puts the Irish at 10-1, with their only loss being to the #3 team in the nation, who they already beat. As long as the game is close, they won't drop out of top 4. If the Irish get blown out? All bets are off. 3. Clemson is in with a win, but will be out with a loss. The CFP isn't going to take a 2-loss non-conference champion. 4. Ohio State is in, if they win. If they lose in the upset to Northwestern, they are out. 5. Texas A&M needs help. They need Northwestern to upset the Buckeyes, the Irish to get the season sweep against Clemson, or, barring a Clemson loss, an absolute blowout victory by Clemson that convinces the CFP to drop ND below #4. 6. Iowa State is out. Sorry, but even as Big XII champ, they aren't going to take a 2-loss Big XII team over a 1 loss Texas A&M. 7. Florida is out, even if they upset Alabama in the SEC title game. The CFP isn't going to take a 2-loss SEC champ over two 1-loss teams from the other division, or a 1-loss Notre Dame or Clemson. LSU ended any hope the Florida Gators had. 8. Georgia is out. A 2-loss non-SEC division winner, let alone champ, isn't getting selected. 9. Cincinnati. Look. Cute story, but there is a reason that despite being undefeated, the CFP only has them ranked #9. Their best win was SMU. They are a mid-major program that played a mid-major schedule. Give that schedule to half of the teams in the P5, and they go undefeated too. In the words of the lovely Shania Twain, "That don't impress me much." 10. Oklahoma: See Iowa State. What this all boils down to: Barring any major upsets, the College Football Playoff will be the four teams the CFP committee currently has ranked 1-4. Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State. OK, check my logic. Agree? Disagree? Anything I failed to consider?
Top 25:
Thoughts: - North Carolina looked amazing against Miami. One of the most complete beatdowns I’ve seen in a long time. NC just kept pounding it down Miami’s throat and the Hurricanes had no answers. If both Clemson and Notre Dame make the playoffs then NC gets to play in the top six new years bowl as the ACC representative. Not a bad year for Mack Brown. - LSU’s win against Florida removes the chances of Florida getting into the playoff if they beat Alabama next week. - Florida’s Trask threw for over 400 yards but too many mistakes should cost him the Heisman. If he has a huge game and they beat Alabama then he still has a shot. - Alabama demolished Arkansas and they could have easily put up another 21 if they wanted to. They are clearly the most talented team this year. - DeVonta Smith should win the Heisman this year as he is more important to his team than any of the QBs. - Iowa took Wisconsin behind the woodshed. Iowa continues to be good, not great on a yearly basis. - BYU pulled out the win, but the more I watch the less I’m impressed. BYU losses by 40 against one of the playoff teams. - Coastal Carolina slipped passed a Troy team that they didn’t want to play. - Colorado choked against Utah and can be properly forgotten again. - Arizona State routed Arizona 70-7 and got Kevin Sumlin fired. - Army sunk Navy in a 15-0 shootout. - Georgia took out some anger on Missouri. - USC is set to play against Washington in the PAC-12 title game, unless Washington can’t play and then it will be Oregon. - If you haven’t seen the wild ending to the Western Michigan - Ball State game, you need to. Playoff Prediction for This Week. No changes to the four this week. 1. Alabama. If they don’t destroy Florida by at least 28 points the game will be a shocker. 2. Ohio State: Expect OSU to unload on Northwestern to seal their spot. 3. Notre Dame: Time for the rematch. 4. Clemson: Put up or shut up time has arrived. Waiting in the wings: Not Florida anyone. - Texas A&M: Will need a blowout in the ACC Championship game or it gets a nice New Years Day bowl and no championship. - Cincinnati: Just sitting still, hoping that magic happens. - Coastal Carolina: Just keep on trucking. www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30483665/sources-big-ten-expected-change-6-game-rule
The Big Ten officially changed its policy that teams must play six games to be eligible for the conference championship game, meaning undefeated No. 4 Ohio State will face Northwestern on Dec. 19. The conference made the announcement Wednesday after its administrative council, made up of all athletic directors and senior women administrators, voted to eliminate the minimum-game requirement in collaboration with the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors. The Buckeyes' place in the postseason became a question Tuesday when Michigan canceled the teams' regular-season rivalry game because of COVID-19 issues within the Wolverines program. It was the third canceled game for Ohio State this season, after others against Illinois and Maryland, and left the Buckeyes at just five games played overall. "The decision was based on a competitive analysis which determined that Ohio State would have advanced to the Big Ten Football Championship Game based on its undefeated record and head-to-head victory over Indiana regardless of a win or loss against Michigan," the conference said. Ohio State coach Ryan Day saluted Big Ten officials for reconsidering the requirement. "A lot of changes have happened since that recommendation was put in place," he said in a statement. "I know making this decision was not easy, and I am thankful for the opportunity our players will now have to play in Indianapolis as an undefeated East Division champion." Ohio State (5-0) beat Indiana 42-35 last month, handing the Hoosiers (6-1) what has turned out to be their only loss. "Coach [Tom] Allen and I are proud of this team and the success we have had so far this season," Hoosiers athletic director Scott Dolson said in a statement. "We are one of only two teams in the country with three Top-25 victories and have matched a program record for Big Ten wins. Although we understand the conference's decision, we are disappointed. From the start of the year, we have said we can only control what we can control. We had a chance to earn our spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, but ultimately fell a touchdown short on the road against a great Ohio State team. We look forward to resuming activities and completing one of the best seasons in our school's history." Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, who is also the chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee, told ESPN he called Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren before the athletic directors met on Wednesday morning to let him know he would recuse himself from the discussions and the voting, but he would join the videoconference to listen. "He wasn't surprised," Barta said of Warren. "I alerted him to the fact I absolutely was going to be on the call, but I wasn't going to contribute to the discussion and I was going to recuse myself and the University of Iowa was going to recuse itself from the vote. I did want to listen, because as athletic director I did want to hear how the conversation went." Barta said he joined from the Dallas airport, as he was flying home from the third CFP rankings meeting in Grapevine, Texas. He said he had to leave the call a little early, but "knew where it was headed" and had listened to almost all of it. All 14 athletic directors and Warren were on the call, according to Barta. He declined to say what the vote count was. "It was very collaborative and I've always appreciated the way the Big Ten athletic directors work together and this was no exception to that," he said. "At the end of the day, it was pointed out that if they had been able to play against Michigan, even if they would have lost, they had already clinched the top spot in the East, so real collaborative discussion and in the end it was voted that the six-game minimum be waived." Every team in the Big Ten will play an additional game the weekend of Dec. 18-19, and Barta said the athletic directors also discussed those matchups on Wednesday morning. He said they wouldn't be determined until after Saturday's games. "In normal circumstances, people would roll their eyes and say, 'That's crazy, you can't turn it around that fast,'" he said, "but in COVID-19 pandemic time, the faster we can find out after the games are done Saturday the better. I know the Big Ten is going to work hard at getting them done as quickly as possible. I don't have an exact time of when we'll learn the matchups." Northwestern, at 5-1, will represent the West Division in the title game. Once again the cancellations messed with the scheduled but some fun games did show up thanks to schools working together, with an assist from ESPN. Nothing changed in the Top 12.
Top 25: Saturday, Dec. 5
Thoughts: - BYU against Costal Carolina was everything you were looking for, as long as you were looking for the offensive explosion that everyone predicated. The game was nasty in a beautiful way and a stop on the 1 yard line as time ran out. BYUs vaunted offense turned up lame for most of the game so that hype train can stop for a bit. CC has back to back games against Tulsa but really opened eyes with their performance. - How the game came together is interesting as ESPN played a huge role in getting the two teams together when Liberty fell off. Nice moment for ESPN and CC and kudos to BYU for being game to rush to get everything across country in time. - Congrats to the Coastal Carolina fan who stole from “Catholics vs Convicts” and came up with the “Mormons vs. Mullets.” - Ohio State beat Michigan State by 40 points is not impressive. OSU beating them when down 23 players is though. OSU needed to remind the playoff voters who they were, and they did that. - Alabama looked like Alabama. They could have easily scored 70 if they wanted to. He won’t win it, but DeVonta Smith deserves The Trophy That Must Not Be Named. How many other players grab a highlight reel 25 yard TD and their average goes down? - Clemson looked good against V Tech despite some hiccups. I think a healthy Clemson beats Notre Dame in the ACC Championship game unless NDs offensive line can take over the game and slow it down. Travis Etienne’s struggles may bare some minding. - Notre Dame’s Ian Book is now the winningest QB in ND history. Not a bad record to have. ND lives and dies on how well its lines play. - Texas may end up with another year of Tom Herman if they can finish the year 7-3. Texas is one of those schools that require a team to compete for national championships. And of course, its been a while since that happened. - Iowa State is in the Big 12 Championship game. Easily one of the best seasons in ISU history so I wouldn’t be surprised if Neal Brown starts getting sniffs from other programs. - Indiana looked pretty good in beating a Wisconsin with their backup QB. I love the enthusiastic behavior from the Hoosiers after the game in messing with their coach during his interview after the win. - Colorado is 4-0! Be honest, most of you probably thought they gave up football decades ago. - I enjoy how bad Oregon sucks this year as I continue my hatred of the PAC12. The Ducks may have lost to California but all is not lost in the PAC12 dumpster fire as they still get to the PAC12 Championship with a little help. - Huge win by Rice in beating Marshall. The garbage was complete garbage (10 interceptions!) but a win against a ranked opponent is still huge. - Does Tennessee get a new coach this year or next? Jeremy Pruitt is probably not the answer. - U of Louisiana-Monroe has trailed for 538 minutes and 12 seconds of its 600 minutes played this season — 10 games at 60 minutes each — and been tied for the remaining 61 minutes and 48 seconds. No team since at least 1999 has gone an entire season without once holding a lead at any point. - Shane Beamer, Oklahoma's assistant head coach for offense. Yes, he’s Frank Beamer’s son. - Illinois has its backup kicker, Caleb Griffin, returning punts. - The Sun Belt played some of the most entertaining games of the weekend. Good on them for coming to play. Playoff Prediction for This Week. No changes to the four this week. 1. Alabama. They clearly look like the most dominate team in college football. 2. Ohio State: Even shorthanded they show their talent in demolishing MSU. 3. Notre Dame: The Goldern Domers and their 1983 offense keep rolling. 4. Clemson: Two weeks until the showdown. Waiting in the wings: - Florida: Congrats on winning the SEC East, now you get Bama. - Texas A&M: Will need a blowout in the ACC Championship game or it gets a nice New Years Day bowl and no championship. - Cincinnati: Just sitting still, hoping that magic happens. - Coastal Carolina: Down go the Mormons! The Mullets showed that they have grit and are willing to literally throw down. I also learned that they have no business being in the playoff when your QB throws for 85 yards in the game (not a typo) but a New Years Day invite would be a great Cinderella story and set up future Chanticleer success. An agreement has been reached for BYU to replace Liberty as Coastal Carolina's opponent this Saturday after COVID-19 issues prevented the Flames from playing in the game, sources told ESPN. Liberty (9-1) had several players and staff members to test positive or be quarantined this week because of COVID-19, including star quarterback Malik Willis. The Flames had still hoped to play in the game, but school medical officials would not allow it and paused all team-related activities after Wednesday's test results were returned Thursday morning. BYU (9-0) and Coastal Carolina (9-0) are both ranked this week in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Cougars are No. 13 and the Chanticleers No. 18. BYU, which last played on Nov. 21, had been looking for another opponent. The Cougars weren't scheduled to play again until Dec. 12 when they face San Diego State. ESPN's College GameDay was already set to broadcast Saturday from the Coastal Carolina campus so it is a nice pickup for them. I'll be surprised if the winner of the game doesn't make the Top 10 as this will give them a signature win and a huge boost. Other Updates: - Michigan has cancelled out on their game against Maryland. - LSU is a historic underdog against Alabama. As a 29.5-point dog they are the biggest reigning champion dog in the last 40 years. - Boise St against UNLV has also been cancelled. - So has Houston vs SMU. - The Las Vegas Bowl is the 10th bowl game canceled because of the pandemic; the Bahamas, Celebration, Fenway, Hawaii, Holiday, Motor City, Pinstripe, Redbox and Sun bowls. If you don't recognize a few of them it is ok as they are new bowls this year. - ESPN did a neat story on the history of the Southwest Conference and why it died: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30424417/i-wishof-well-demise-southwest-conference-25-years-later This weekends schedule: Friday, Dec. 4 Saturday, Dec. 5
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