Why We Love College Football
Let's Look Back on the Week That Was With All These Upsets
There’s a reason why we love college football so much. Heading into this week, we have to reflect and look back at last week, and man, the upsets in the top 25, especially in the top 10, were unbelievable.
Again, college football is incredible. There's a reason why so many people love it. Just look at it. Let's dive into these fascinating things from the previous week in college football.
Let's start with Vanderbilt beating Alabama. Vandy was 0-40 against top teams in the AP poll (0-40 against the number one team). It's their first win against the number-one team in the AP Top 25. Nobody thought it was going to happen. Alabama comes off this huge win against Georgia, and Vanderbilt just beats them.
Was it fatigue? Was it a letdown? Were there things in the second half of the Georgia game that showed Alabama was vulnerable on defence? Whatever the case was, Vanderbilt was able to expose it. While Ryan Williams still had a great game for Alabama, their defence didn't play well, and Vanderbilt exposed them.
Let's head to Arkansas. Arkansas is always a tough team to play, and again, I've been saying this and talking about this on Around Campus, the College Football Podcast about Tennessee and the hype around them. Everybody's hyping them up. Look at what they did during the first couple of weeks.
They played a bunch of nobodies. Arkansas is a good team, but they lost, and they didn't look great doing it. So again, you say to yourself, Okay, what's going on here? Are they for real? Well, they discovered the hard way that it won't be a cakewalk every night.
Now you move over, and you look at USC. The Trojans get a win at home against Wisconsin after they lost to Michigan, and then they lose to Minnesota. The Golden Gophers know how to Row That Boat under PJ Fleck. USC didn’t look. They have to travel to the Midwest for the second time in three weeks. USC probably should win that game. But this is where the schedule comes into play with these new Conferences.
These West Coast teams are coming East, playing these early games. We see it all the time in the NFL. This was what would happen when marquee names started to travel, and these schools are not playing within their region now. They're crossing the country. They're exhausted from the travel. Minnesota took advantage of a USC team.
The Trojans are good. Lincoln Riley is a good coach, but they have to learn to play defense. And we'll see what Miller Moss is made of. Look, they beat up a bad Wisconsin team. USC was a play away from beating Michigan. They would have won the game if their defence could have stopped Michigan’s Donovan Edwards. Now they have Penn State, and that offense is coming to town.
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Then you go down the list to Michigan. Nobody was sold on Michigan being a top-10 team. And nobody was sold on Florida State being a top-10 team. Michigan goes to Washington, the rematch of the national championship, different teams, different systems, and Washington beats them up in Washington. Now, Washington plays well at home. They're coming off a tough loss at Rutgers, and they bounced back and beat Michigan, and they beat him by 10. The quarterback played. Washington is for real.
And you say to yourself, all right, like that's this already crazy enough week as it is, but college football makes you want to come back and watch even more. And let’s talk about the biggest one from last week: Texas A&M trouncing Number 9 Missouri. That game wasn’t even close. The Final score was 41-10, and it was over in the first half at 24-0. Texas A&M and Mike Elko’s offense scored four touchdowns on their first five drives. So another Top 10 team goes down.
Louisville goes down to SMU. UNLV loses to Syracuse. College football this year is crazy because of the unknown, the 12-team playoff, these new conferences, this new travel schedule, and this new travel schedule. These are what make college football so good. But this is a consequence of having the expanded playoff, for having just four conferences, no regions, and look, only a handful of undefeated teams are left.
Let’s give some love to Army and Navy, who are undefeated. They're in the same conference. They could be playing a conference championship game, plus the Army-Navy game at the end of the year. So please give it up for those two teams playing well.
Is the U back? They were down 28 points to Cal. Cam Ward and the offense struggled early on in the game. They put drives together but stalled until the second half, when the defence stepped up. Miami kept plugging away. There were signs against Virginia Tech, a game they probably should have lost.
The Hurricanes had help in that game and in this one, too. But you know what, that is what good teams do. Now Miami is up to number Six in the nation. They still have a tough schedule ahead with Clemson. So, is the U back? Well, if they win the ACC and get in the playoffs, they might be, but they have many years to come before they're back, truly, truly back.
As we close out this edition, Georgia looks good and strong, as it should. Clemson bounces back after a tough start. Let's see what they're really made of. They could make the ACC Title Game and Play Miami, so let’s see how they stack up against them.
We know Texas is back and might be the best team in the SEC. They have Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. Ohio State and Oregon are up there. It's all about the new scheduling and the new conference realignment. There will not be a team going undefeated this season. That is what makes college football so good.
In the old four-team playoff, weeks like this would be killers for some teams. Now, it does not matter in the 12-team playoff. These teams can bounce back. This year, we will finally see two or three lost teams in the playoffs.
So, what's the takeaway from this? The takeaway is that college football is a great sport, but you don't know what you'll get weekly with these teams. We just don’t know who the best teams are yet.