2018-10-11 05:45

Again week 6 did provide some great upset, as it did last season.

This week was my worst pick week in ESPN College Pick'em since a long time, but according to the other people in RZA list, it's the same for them.

So many games were 'clear' and then did something else happen. I love it.

This makes me hope that it's not the usual suspects getting into the playoffs, well, at least not ALL of them.

Here is a question for you, which you might like to answer or not.

Alabama and Georgia are right now #1 and #2 in both major polls.
Ohio State is #3 and Clemson at #4.
Notre Dame is lurking at #5 and hopes for a playoff spot.
Behind them is West Virginia sitting at #6 and right now at #19 is Colorado.
All those teams are unbeaten, right now.
Assuming all teams do win their remaining games and the conferences, except Alabama.
Who do you think will get the TOP 4 spots?
If the SEC championship game is close, I could even imagine that Alabama would not drop out of TOP 4, but even if that happens, would Notre Dame really get the nod over a unbeaten Big12 Champ, having beaten the second strongest team in BIG12 twice?
I don't think so.
I think Notre Dame need more than 1 struggling conference champ out of BIG10 and SEC or ACC.
I think the BIG12 and the PAC12 will eliminate themselves during the regular season.

But ... you never know and that's the good thing.

I selected this 3 games as the BLOCK OF GRANITE GAMES FOR WEEK 6

Sat, Oct. 6
#19 Texas vs. #7 Oklahoma
A major game and a high scoring one, too.
Texas led by a score at halftime, 45-24 after the 3rd quarter.
Then came Oklahoma back, scored and scored until the tied the game with 2:30 left.
Texas got one strong drive together and scored a game winning FG with 9 ticks left.
Oklahoma did try to lateral-play their way to the endzone on the last play but that ended with a fumble.
Boom, Oklahoma lost, Texas remained unbeaten inside the BIG12 and Tom Herman is right now the most loved person in lone-star-country.
The Sooners did a day later fire their DC, Mike Stoops, brother of former Oklahoma HC Bob Stoops.
We will see, what that brings to Oklahoma.
Given the fact that there are still many games left to play, we might see a rematch at the end of the season and BIG12 Championship game.
#19 Texas 48 - #7 Oklahoma 45 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 13-9

Sat, Oct. 6
#6 Notre Dame @ #24 Virginia Tech
This went as expected, Notre Dame did take care of business in the 2nd half and won this important game.
For Notre Dame this was really important to stay in the playoff picture, but overall I'm not sure it will be enough.
Right now it looks like the next tough games will be the road games against Northwestern in a few weeks and against USC at season end.
For Virginia Tech this game was of cause not helping regarding reputation, but I think it was a good preparation to play Miami mid-November.
#6 Notre Dame 45 - #24 Virginia Tech 23 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 14-9

Sat, Oct. 6
#5 LSU @ #22 Florida
Florida did lead at the half 14-10, with LSU having one scoring drive stopped by a fumble.
Then it did look like LSU got some grip, got an INT from Florida while they tried to aggressively getting into the endzone quickly after the half.
LSU did not score much, just a FG, but held Florida scoreless.
Then came a LSU-TD followed by a Gators-TD to have a 20-19 score for Florida.
And then it went out of control for LSU.
With 2 minutes left to play did LSU try to score quickly and were intercepted in their own half for a TD.
Now drown by 8 they did try it even more and were again intercepted to seal the game.
LSU did lose not only a game, they lost the reputation they gained over the past few weeks.
Now they will have a harder time getting anywhere.
Florida got a much needed win to stay in the hunt in the East.
#5 LSU 19 - #22 Florida 27 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 14-10

Other interesting games:
Sat, Oct. 6
#13 Kentucky @ Texas A&M
The teams needed OT to decide the game, but A&M did score a TD in first OT after Kentucky were unable to hit the FG in the first drive.
A&M won 20-14 and does now look quite healthy for a team with a new coach, while Kentucky took the first loss and is now 1 win behind leader Georgia.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-3

Sat, Oct. 6
Arizona State @ #21 Colorado
The Buffalos were able to control the Sun Devils offense in the 2nd half and won this game 28-21.
Colorado now the leading team in the PAC12 South, while the rest will have to play and win and pray and hope for a Buffalo loss.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-4

Sat, Oct. 6
#8 Auburn @ Mississippi State
Mississippi State did make a statement here and won 23-9, which does put Auburn 2 losses behind Alabama and it will be interesting to see, whether any team will be able to put a dent into the Crimson Tide.
The Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama is this season on the Tides ground.
The Bulldogs got their 1st win inside the SEC.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-5

Some other interesting results of week 6:
Utah State won against BYU 45-20, which likely ends all talks about BYU being competitive, now being 3-3. The will likely get 6 wins in total, but more?
Northwestern did beat Michigan State on the road 29-19. Tough season for the Spartans. Northwestern now top competitor against Wisconsin.
Iowa State did beat Oklahoma State on the road 48-42. This is amazing, since the Cyclones did so far not score so many points in a game.
Buffalo won against Central Michigan 34-24. Buffalo still unbeaten inside the MAC.
South Carolina did beat Missouri 37-35. Mizzou now 0-2 inside the Conference.
Pittsburgh won against Syracuse 44-37 in OT. The 2nd loss in a row for the former high flying Orange.
Miami (OH) did beat Akron 41-17. Akron now 0-1 inside the MAC, while they won the division last season.
San Diego State won against Boise State on the smurf turf 19-13. Big loss for Boise, dropping out of the rankings for sure now and having 1-1 inside the conference.
Baylor won against Kansas State 37-34, now 4-2 overall, which is a great start since 2016 and a major rebound to the 1-11 season last year.
Utah did upset Stanford in Stanford 40-21. The 1st loss inside the conference for Stanford, 1st win inside the conference for Utah.
UAB won against Louisiana Tech 28-7. UAB now leading the division.

And now let's move forward to week 7.
Some great matchups coming up, which will have huge impact on the conference landscapes and the playoffs.

I selected this 3 games as the BLOCK OF GRANITE GAMES FOR WEEK 7

Sat. Oct. 13
#2 Georgia @ #13 LSU
That loss against Florida did hurt LSUs reputation a lot.
If they would have won that last game, this game here would be much more interesting, than it is now.
The big Bulldog comes for a visit and now Georgia is a quite high favorite, 7.5 points.
The big question now is, is LSU able to spoil the fun here, or not?
Coach Orgeron did so far good enough in Tigers country to justify his job.
The loss to Florida is a big dent in his process and the Bulldogs game might put another one into this.
Remember that Les Miles, National Championship Coach of LSU, was let go after a few so-so-seasons.
And remember that Georgia did (almost) the same with their former coach Mark Richt and it did pay off, since Kirby Smart did so far everything right in short time.
I guess the expectations for the Tigers coach are high to make LSU great again and they did start great, so all fine until last week.
Now they lost one game, on the road, and will face now the SEC Champ of last season, at home, and they are the underdogs.
Could become a fun game, or could be come a blowout.
Is LSU able to score against Georgia?
Is LSU able to keep Georgia’s offense in check?
Based on Georgia’s success so far I do not doubt that Georgia is able to do something against LSU. Maybe less than against other teams, but I think they will be good.
So, can LSU counter that or will they lose?
My pick is, Kirby Smart will win another game and will keep Georgia on track to win the SEC East, while LSU will drop 2 in row, which will make the soon-to-come-Alabama-game quite boring.
Bulldogs win.

Sat. Oct. 13
#7 Washington @ #17 Oregon
Right now it looks like this will be a very important game for the PAC12 North standings, if not THE important one.
Washington is perfect so far inside the PAC12 and Oregon has lost in a close one against Stanford and won against Cal.
The Huskies are clearly the team to beat, but playing in Eugene is not easy and Oregon has a very good QB this season.
I'm not surprised to see that Washington is only favored by 3.0 points.
Biggest battle will be the Huskies defense vs. the Oregon offense.
If Oregon can score often and fast, this will be a Ducks win, for sure, since even the Huskies can't score too often.
So they need to shut down the Ducks attack, at least good enough to make them play with more risk to stay in the game.
And the Huskies offense will need to control the ball. If the Ducks offense is not on the field, they can not score.
I'm confident in Petersen’s team to win here, but it will a very tough game.
Huskies win.

#15 Wisconsin @ #12 Michigan
Nothing is clear at that moment. Michigan did suck most of the early games they did play so far, even if they did win.
Sure they won 5 straight after losing the opener to Notre Dame, but they opponents were never top teams.
Toughest games seemed to be the road trip to Northwestern, won by 3 points.
Now they face Wisconsin, at home.
The Badgers win all games, except that BYU game they did fumble.
That did cost them reputation and they did also not play those TOP teams so far, toughest game likely being the Hawkeyes game in Iowa, which they won.
Wisconsin can not effort a loss, neither does Michigan.
Vegas see Michigan ahead by 8.5 points, which is a lot against the Badgers.
I think the Big House will help Michigan to stay in the game, whether they can win it ... not sure.
They BYU-loss did show that Wisconsin is beatable and Michigan does look like they get the offense better together, so for Michigan fans there is hope that Wisconsin does let the Wolverines score often.
Does the Michigan defense stand against Wisconsin’s offense?
I think the potential is there.
We will find out on Saturday.
My pick is on Michigan to stay unbeaten inside the BIG10, but in a close one and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Badgers stealing this.
Wolverines win.

Other interesting games:

Pittsburgh @ #5 Notre Dame
Selected because of the potential of being a smash mouth-football game, this get a bit spoiled by being played in South Bend. Notre Dame clearly favored to win this (the line is -21.0)
Pitt can spoil the fun, if playing perfect and intense.
Notre Dame win.

#6 West Virginia @ Iowa State
Looking at West Virginia it's hard to think they will really win the BIG12 this season, since they did not convince me 100% regarding their strength.
Iowa State did let OSU stumble last week, so WVU could be the next. Vegas sees West Virginia 6.5 points ahead. Not much comparing their season results so far.
I'm willing to pick the Mountaineers in a close one.
Mountaineers win.

#16 Miami @ Virginia
This might look like a give game already for Miami, but Virginia got better over the past few seasons so this should be a bigger contest than some seasons ago.
Nevertheless is of cause Miami the favorite to win here (the line is -6.5). Just keep in mind that they might stumble on this road trip.
Hurricanes win.

#19 Colorado @ USC
Colorado is the leading team in the South which should be a major pain for USC. Playing this in LA should keep the game open and eventually will Colorado lose their first game.
USC is favored by 7.0 points, so expect a close game. I'm willing to give USC the nod here.
Trojans win.

Don't forget your Pick'em picks.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite