College Football - Week 7 (Oct. 11)

[Andy]

Top 25 games

------------------------

(1) Florida State at Syracuse (12 pm, ESPN)

(2) Auburn at (3) Mississippi State (3:30 pm, CBS)

(3) Ole Miss at (14) Texas A&M (9 pm, ESPN)

(9) TCU at (5) Baylor (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2)

North Carolina at (6) Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC)

(7) Alabama at Arkansas (6 pm, ESPN)

(8) Michigan State at Purdue (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2)

USC at (10) Arizona (10:30 pm, ESPN2)

(11) Oklahoma vs Texas – in Dallas (12 pm, ABC)

(12) Oregon at (18) UCLA (3:30 pm, FOX)

(13) Georgia at (23) Missouri (12 pm, CBS)

(16) Oklahoma State at Kansas (4 pm, FS1)

(19) East Carolina at South Florida (7 pm, ESPNU)

Duke at (22) Georgia Tech (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3)

Washington State at (25) Stanford (9 pm Friday, ESPN)

 

Other nationally available games

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BYU at UCF (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN)

 

San Diego State at New Mexico (9:30 pm Friday, ESPNU)

Fresno State at UNLV (10 pm Friday, CBSSN)

 

Illinois at Wisconsin (12 pm, ESPN2)

West Virginia at Texas Tech (12 pm, FS1)

Indiana at Iowa (12 pm, ESPNU)

Northwestern at Minnesota (12 pm, BTN)

UL Monroe at Kentucky (12 pm, SEC Network)

Tulsa at Temple (12 pm, ESPNEWS)

Rice at Army (12 pm, CBSSN)

Middle Tennessee at Marshall (12 pm, FSN)

Cincinnati at Miami (12 pm, FSN South/ESPN3)

Buffalo at Eastern Michigan (1 pm, ESPN3)

Arkansas State at Georgia State (2 pm, ESPN3)

Bowling Green at Ohio (2 pm, ESPN3)

Miami (OH) at Akron (2 pm, ESPN3)

UMass at Kent State (2 pm, ESPN3)

New Mexico State at Troy (3 pm, ESPN3)

Western Michigan at Ball State (3 pm, ESPN3)

Louisville at Clemson (3:30 pm, ESPNU)

VMI at Navy (3:30 pm, CBSSN)

Boston College at NC State (3:30 pm, FSN)

Liberty at Appalachian State (3:30 pm, ESPN3)

Chattanooga at Tennessee (4 pm, SEC Network)

Central Michigan at Northern Illinois (5 pm, ESPN3)

Washington at California (6 pm, Pac-12 Network)

Idaho at Georgia Southern (6 pm, ESPN3)

Penn State at Michigan (7 pm, ESPN2)

Houston at Memphis (7 pm, CBSSN)

LSU at Florida (7:30 pm, SEC Network)

Charleston Southern at Vanderbilt (7:30 pm, FSN South/ESPN3)

UConn at Tulane (8 pm, ESPNEWS)

Air Force at Utah State (10:15 pm, ESPNU)

Colorado State at Nevada (10:30 pm, CBSSN)

[OleMissCub]

A tie at third. Interesting.

[Andy]

A tie at third. Interesting.

I'm going to the ND game, and it bums me out that I'm going to miss Auburn/MissSt. That should be tremendous.

[CubInOK]

Auburn-Miss State and TCU-Baylor are on at the same time. Bad move scheduling people.

 

Also, [expletive] Texas.

[Guest]

Arizona at 10 seems high. Great win at Oregon but this is a team that needed a crazy comeback and a hail mary to beat Cal at home, barely beat Nevada at home and barely beat UTSA on the road.

 

TCU I'm fine with because they at least have three blowout wins in their other games.

 

Also not surprising to see Alabama drop the fewest spots out of the big teams that lost. They only dropped four while Oklahoma was 7 and Oregon was 10. And aTm only dropping 8 after getting blasted seems light as well. Oh well on that one, they'll go one way or the other with vs. Ole Miss, @Bama and @Auburn coming up in their next four games.

[Derwood]

A great slate of games, all of which I'll miss because I need to drive 12 hours that day

[Guest]

Pretty weird to think that Mizzou will have a stranglehold on the East if they can manage to win this game and move to 2-0. If LSU beats Florida they'd be able to nearly wrap up the division the following week. Which of course means that Saturday will be a replay of Georgia's last trip to Mizzou and we'll be back to "first team to 4-4 wins the East".

[fiver]

The early line is Auburn -3. I'm not sure anyone can stop Dak Prescott this year, but I still like Auburn in this one.

[UMFan83]

Damn, great games next weekend. Too bad Oregon and UCLA both had to lose before their game.

[NOLA]

The early line is Auburn -3. I'm not sure anyone can stop Dak Prescott this year, but I still like Auburn in this one.

With you on this one. I'm slightly leaning to MS State.

Arkansas shows if they are back to being competetive this week vs Bama.

[Derwood]

No idea how PSU will do against Michigan after last week's debacle

[rawaction]

So how good is Iowa. Only B1G team I haven't seen. Assuming IU will lose either way on the road. But they are going to have to win at Iowa, Michigan or Rutgers to get top a bowl game.

[dew1679666265]

To make a bowl after that debacle against Florida, Tennessee will have to beat 2 of Missouri/South Carolina/Kentucky along with the games they have no business losing (Vandy/UTC).

 

I see no real chance of that happening given the team that showed up yesterday. It's disturbing to me that Butch and co can't seem to win the evenly matched games - Florida last year and this year and Vandy last year.

 

I guess another 5-7 season will be fun.

[UK1679666180]

To make a bowl after that debacle against Florida, Tennessee will have to beat 2 of Missouri/South Carolina/Kentucky along with the games they have no business losing (Vandy/UTC).

 

I see no real chance of that happening given the team that showed up yesterday. It's disturbing to me that Butch and co can't seem to win the evenly matched games - Florida last year and this year and Vandy last year.

 

I guess another 5-7 season will be fun.

 

Was there a bad game plan last night? UF can beat on big plays, minus Hargraves their secondary is not good. Worley is a similarly skilled QB as Towles (not as mobile).

 

I know UT is very young but they should be better than where they're at. The game with UK will likely decide which one will go to the Music City Bowl/Indy Bowl.

[dew1679666265]

Was there a bad game plan last night? UF can beat on big plays, minus Hargraves their secondary is not good. Worley is a similarly skilled QB as Towles (not as mobile).

 

I know UT is very young but they should be better than where they're at. The game with UK will likely decide which one will go to the Music City Bowl/Indy Bowl.

 

I wasn't a fan of the gameplan - far too conservative the entire game. They wouldn't move on from the run even though it never came close to working and never tried to attack Florida down the field. Part of that was lack of protection and UF players (Dante Fowler is really good) constantly in the backfield, but they could have taken a couple of shots. Butch also inexplicably decided to punt on 4th and 3 from the UF 38 and, predictably, it went into the end zone. That was probably at least 3 that he gave up on, which would have been critical at the end.

 

I think we're moving along at a decent pace and recruiting is going very well, my concern is the ability of this staff to coach against SEC competition. It's all a bunch of Butch's buddies from his previous stops and so far, when the talent has been even, they've not been able to gameplan a win.

[UK1679666180]

I'm surprised Butch didn't offer T. Martin the OC job, Thigpen and Martin would be the best 1-2 punch of recruiters.

 

I just wonder how much Jones feels his hands are tied having a non-mobile QB, he's more comfortable running a Rich Rodriguez offense and Worley isn't that guy.

 

Have to do something to keep the safeties honest.

[dew1679666265]

I'm surprised Butch didn't offer T. Martin the OC job, Thigpen and Martin would be the best 1-2 punch of recruiters.

 

I just wonder how much Jones feels his hands are tied having a non-mobile QB, he's more comfortable running a Rich Rodriguez offense and Worley isn't that guy.

 

Have to do something to keep the safeties honest.

 

Butch was very insistent on bringing his Central Michigan/Cincinnati guys with him to Tennessee and brought almost all of them. I like Bajakian more than Jancek (who failed miserably already in the SEC at Georgia), but I'm not particularly enthralled with either. Still upset Butch didn't keep Jim Chaney as OC. Tee Martin's only shot at a job here was as, if I recall correctly, WR or RB coach and he turned that down.

 

I really do think we need to have Worley keep the ball on some of these zone reads. I'm not sure if it's his call not to keep it or if the staff is telling him to give it up each time, but no matter how good the line is, in this offense if there's no threat of a QB run, they'll key in on the RB every time and stop him. Worley is more mobile than most give him credit for too - certainly fast enough to pick up a reasonable amount of yards 2-3 times a game.

[Guest]

I'd love to know why the AP voters think Michigan State deserves to be ranked four spots ahead of Oregon.

[Guest]

I'd love to know why the AP voters think Michigan State deserves to be ranked four spots ahead of Oregon.

Recency bias.

[rawaction]

I'd love to know why the AP voters think Michigan State deserves to be ranked four spots ahead of Oregon.

 

Its always been interesting to me to see what gets more value. Do u knock a team for losing head to head to a good team OR give them credit for losing to a better team than the team that beat them lost to?

[Ryne Ween]

I'm surprised Butch didn't offer T. Martin the OC job, Thigpen and Martin would be the best 1-2 punch of recruiters.

 

I just wonder how much Jones feels his hands are tied having a non-mobile QB, he's more comfortable running a Rich Rodriguez offense and Worley isn't that guy.

 

Have to do something to keep the safeties honest.

 

Butch was very insistent on bringing his Central Michigan/Cincinnati guys with him to Tennessee and brought almost all of them. I like Bajakian more than Jancek (who failed miserably already in the SEC at Georgia), but I'm not particularly enthralled with either. Still upset Butch didn't keep Jim Chaney as OC. Tee Martin's only shot at a job here was as, if I recall correctly, WR or RB coach and he turned that down.

 

I really do think we need to have Worley keep the ball on some of these zone reads. I'm not sure if it's his call not to keep it or if the staff is telling him to give it up each time, but no matter how good the line is, in this offense if there's no threat of a QB run, they'll key in on the RB every time and stop him. Worley is more mobile than most give him credit for too - certainly fast enough to pick up a reasonable amount of yards 2-3 times a game.

 

And wouldn't these guys be the guys that Brian Kelly didn't take with him from both spots?

[evv98]

So how good is Iowa. Only B1G team I haven't seen. Assuming IU will lose either way on the road. But they are going to have to win at Iowa, Michigan or Rutgers to get top a bowl game.

 

They are bad. They may have played the crappiest schedule of any major conference team and have struggled against it. They are 4-1 but could easily be 0-5 or 1-4. They barely beat FCS Northern Iowa. They needed two touchdowns in the final three minutes to beat Ball State. They lost to Iowa State on a last-second field goal. They trailed by ten at half before rallying in the second half to slip by Pitt. They were down by ten early to Purdue and tied at half before beating them.

 

Offensively this team has no play makers. They have two serviceable QBs, but their receivers have had trouble getting open. The offense for the first three weeks was mostly from quarterback scrambles or dump offs to the tight end. The offensive line was supposed to be the strength of the team, but they have under-performed. They have several decent running backs, but they lack someone with the ability to make a defender miss.

 

Defensively they have been pretty good, but then they haven't played a good offense yet. The run defense has been stout in four of the five games, but Pitt manhandled them for the better part of three quarters. The linebackers are young and have been exposed at times, but they have played better recently. The defensive backfield is experienced but lacks athletes.

 

The kicking game has been horrible. It has been bad enough that KF has passed up fairly easy field goal attempts to go for it on fourth down, or worse, punt from the 35. And the punting game always seems to be kicking against the wind.

 

Iowa should beat Indiana, but that is not assured against any opponent. The Hoosiers have beaten better Iowa teams in the recent past and any effort even close to the Missouri game would probably mean an Indiana victory.

[Ryne Ween]

I'd love to know why the AP voters think Michigan State deserves to be ranked four spots ahead of Oregon.

 

Its always been interesting to me to see what gets more value. Do u knock a team for losing head to head to a good team OR give them credit for losing to a better team than the team that beat them lost to?

 

I mean a convincing head to head victory ought to do it. Not sure why MSU is ranked ahead of TCU.

[UK1679666180]

I'd love to know why the AP voters think Michigan State deserves to be ranked four spots ahead of Oregon.

Recency bias.

 

This is why.

[Ryne Ween]

So if MSU holds serve against these next few bad conference opponents they will be number 3 or 4 when they play OSU. The buckeyes now have a legit path to the playoff.