2019-12-11 06:56

So that's it, almost.

The championship games are done and all favorites did win except 2 teams.

Before I go with the news and the College Football Playoffs, I cover the games.

Let's have a look at the results of the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 15

Sat. Dec. 7
DR PEPPER BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#7 Baylor vs. #6 Oklahoma
Very interesting game.
Baylor did struggle in the 1st quarter, but had a good 2nd quarter and went into the halftime break with a lead.
Interesting was that Baylor had to take out their starting QB, who did hit the turf with his head during a sack.
That QB did play some more drives, but after a while the referees did call for a 2nd, now deeper, examination and the backup QB did turn the game before the half.
Then came Oklahoma strong out of the break and scored some points and took the lead again and when Baylor did trail 13-23 they brought in the 3rd stringer, who did create a comeback to force OT at 23-23.
Then in overtime did Oklahoma start 1st and scored a TD.
So now the 3rd stringer had to tie the game and that was too much.
Oklahoma defense was there, again at the right time, and did sack him for 10 yards and on 4th and 20 it was all or nothing and it did turn out it was nothing for Baylor and another BIG12 Championship for Oklahoma.
Baylor will play a high rated bowl game, for sure and has the chance to top the 11 wins right now, which ties the school record for most wins.
Their opponent will be a very high ranked SEC team.
Oklahoma did dream of a playoff spot, which did ... we will see later.
#7 Baylor 23 vs. #6 Oklahoma 30 (OT)-> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 27-19

Sat. Dec. 1
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#4 Georgia vs. #2 LSU
That was supposed to be a clash of almost equal teams, but it turned out, that LSU was too much for Georgia.
What I did not expect was that LSU would be able to score at any time.
At halftime we had a 17-3 game, which was OK, but after the 3rd quarter it was 34-3!
Georgia did play awful.
They had 2 missed field goals and 2 interceptions.
In garbage time did Georgia score again, but that was WAY too less to get this game turned around.
LSU wins the SEC, 1st time since 2011 (where they won the SEC Championship, but lost then the National Championship game against Alabama).
They will now play inside the College Football playoffs.
Georgia did on the other hand loss so clearly, that they have to hope for some major losses in other games to stick to their 4th place they had before the game.
#4 Georgia 10 vs. #2 LSU 37 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 28-19

Sat. Dec. 1
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#23 Virginia vs. #3 Clemson
This was awful.
The ACC has to do something, quickly, otherwise this is too much one-dimensional and only Clemson fans will watch this.
Poor Virginia had to swallow 62 points and Clemson was dominant on all sides of the ball.
Virginia did throw 3 INTs, which of cause did help Clemson even more.
I hope they level of quality did increase for some teams, because if Clemson does dominate further, this gets really boring.
With Florida State only a shadow of former strength, as is Miami and Virginia Tech, this might not happen fast.
The only hope right now is, that Virginia is getting better every season, so they get better recruits and maybe they can compete next season.
Well, Clemson will play inside the playoffs, Virginia will get a nice bowl spot.
#23 Virginia 17 vs. #3 Clemson 62 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 29-19

Sat. Dec. 1
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#1 Ohio State @ #8 Wisconsin
Until the halftime, this was an open game. No, Wisconsin was leading big time, so this might become an open game again, if Ohio State gets it done soon.
The Badgers lead 21-7 at the half and it did look like Ohio State would go down.
Then after the break Wisconsin was unable to score again, not on a single down.
There were 2 drives special in this scenario, 1st was the 1st drive of the Badgers after the break, where they lost a fumble.
The Buckeyes had scored a TD before and now got the ball back, and finally scored a field goal out of this gift.
21-17 now.
The next Badgers drive should have ended with a field goal, but the 48 yarder was missed and Ohio State did march over the field and scored a TD.
Now it was 24-21 for Ohio State and that did it.
The Badgers were unable to counter it, Ohio State did score further and at the end it was a clear Buckeyes win.
For Ohio State it means playoffs, for the Badgers it means Rose Bowl.
#1 Ohio State 34 @ #8 Wisconsin 21 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 30-19

Other interesting games:

Fri. Dec. 6
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#5 Utah vs. #13 Oregon
Let's make this short, this was Utahs worst game of the season.
They did score only in the 3rd quarter and Oregon was unstoppable and won 37-15.
This was the worst case scenario for the PAC-12 regarding the playoffs and it did happen.
Good for Oregon, who will go for the Rose Bowl, bad for the rest of the conference, they lost again some reputation.
The last time the PAC-12 champ was in the playoffs was 2016 (Washington).
Jacks interesting games Score: 39-13

Fri. Nov. 30
MARATHON MAC FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Miami (OH) vs. Central Michigan
It looked like Miami had some tricks left, they won against CMU 26-21.
The Chippewas led at the half by 4, but were unable to stop Miami after the break and before CMU did score again did Miami lead 23-14.
Both teams will go bowling.
Jacks interesting games Score: 39-14

Sat. Dec. 1
SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Louisiana @ #21 Appalachian State
Appalachian State led 35-17 at the half and Louisiana did play catchup for the rest of the high scoring game, but lost at the end 45-38.
Still a great accomplishment for both teams.
The Mountaineers did win again the Sun Belt, with a new HC and will go to a bowl. Unfortune for them their HC was hired away after just 1 season to become the next Missouri HC.
Louisiana did improve from 7-7 last year under a new HC to 10-3 so far and will go bowling again.
Maybe we have a rematch again next year with different results.
Jacks interesting games Score: 40-14

Sat. Dec. 1
AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#20 Cincinnati @ #17 Memphis
Hmmm. The Bearcats did lead at the half 14-10, but Memphis played hard and from that point on did the lead swap between the teams, until Memphis won 29-24.
The Tigers will now play in the BIG BOWL at new year as non-power-5-reprensentive (this year it's the Cotton Bowl) and will face Penn State.
The problem is, they will do this with out their HC Mike Norvell, who got the call from Florida State to become their new HC.
So Memphis will be guided into this very important game by their AHC/Co-OC Ryan Silverfield, with Norvell being allowed to assist, as it seems.
Not the best case, but could be worse.
Silverfield is also leading candidate to become the next HC of Memphis.
Cincinnati will go also to a bowl of course.
Jacks interesting games Score: 41-14

Sat. Dec. 1
CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
UAB @ Florida Atlantic
UAB got smoked by the Owls and FAU did win 49-6.
Both teams got a bowl call, so they will play again.
FAU did lose their HC on the way.
I did ask myself whether some team would pick Lane Kiffin as their new HC and Ole Miss was so wise or so dumb to do this.
Whether it was wise of dumb can only future tell.
DC Glenn Spencer will take over for the bowl game, and who knows who will be the next HC.
Kiffin was very successful at FAU, and almost no noise there, and did win the conference 2 times in 3 seasons.
Not bad. Ole Miss would be happy to get that.
Jacks interesting games Score: 42-14

Sat. Dec. 1
MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Hawai'i @ #19 Boise State
Also here a clear result.
As expected, did play Hawaii not their best game and Boise State won 31-10 at home.
Hawaii will play at home their bowl game, while Boise State gets a great matchup against Washington in Las Vegas. Washington will be coached for the last time by former Boise State HC Chris Petersen, under which current Broncos coach did work at that time. Family reunion, I guess.
Jacks interesting games Score: 43-14

So that's it.

After the weekend of cause the chatter was all about the next College Football playoffs rankings and whether Georgia or Oklahoma should get the #4 spot.
But honestly, after the gameday it was, for me at least, quite clear that it would be really tough to put Georgia with 2 losses (1 against South Carolina at home, 1 bad one against LSU on the Championship game) ahead of Oklahoma with 1 loss (against Kansas State, on the road).

And they did put Oklahoma ahead.
They did also decide to put LSU ahead of OSU, which might be symbolic, or they wanted to send a message. Don't know.
Here are the final standing (not sure what will happen if Navy wins or loses against Army, likely they stay at that point in the rankings, at the end only AP-polls and Coaches polls do matter anyway. And the bowls are fixed also.

RK Team Rec
1 LSU 13-0
2 Ohio State 13-0
3 Clemson 13-0
4 Oklahoma 12-1
5 Georgia 11-2
6 Oregon 11-2
7 Baylor 11-2
8 Wisconsin 10-3
9 Florida 10-2
10 Penn State 10-2
11 Utah 11-2
12 Auburn 9-3
13 Alabama 10-2
14 Michigan 9-3
15 Notre Dame 10-2
16 Iowa 9-3
17 Memphis 12-1
18 Minnesota 10-2
19 Boise State 12-1
20 Appalachian State 12-1
21 Cincinnati 10-3
22 USC 8-4
23 Navy 9-2
24 Virginia 9-4
25 Oklahoma State 8-4

So the playoff matchups are LSU against Oklahoma and Ohio State against Clemson. I like that.

Some more news:
QB Joe Burrow of LSU, QB Justin Fields of Ohio State, QB Jalen Hurts of Oklahoma and DE Chase Young of Ohio State are finalists for Heisman Trophy.
Right now it is expected that Joe Burrow is the favorite, but you never know.

South Florida did hire Clemsons OC Jeff Scott as new HC. Scott was for 12 years on the Clemson coaches roster, since 2015 the Co-OC.
He will coach for the playoffs, so he is not gone immediately. But of cause his work at USF starts now.

As mentioned did Missouri hire Eliah Drinkwitz away from Appalachian State after just 1 season there. Before that was Drinkwitz the OC of NC State.

Also as mentioned did Ole Miss hire Lane Kiffin to become their new HC. Kiffin had 1 season inside the SEC as HC of Tennessee and was for some seasons the OC of Alabama.

And also named in the reviews was the new Florida State HC Mike Norvell from Memphis. He did guide Memphis for 4 seasons and was very successful there.

Another hire comes from Rutgers, who had a very bad season and thought it would be good to get their former successful HC back. Greg Schiano did lead Rutgers for 11 seasons from 2001 to 2011 and was quite successful when the team was in the Big East at that time.
He then went to the NFL, become the HC of Tampa Bay, but was fired after 2 seasons and did then work as assistant in college and the NFL.
He gets a major contract, I hope he is worth it. Rutgers has great potential but is a big piece of work.

UTSA did hire Jeff Traylor, the AHC/RB coach of Arkansas as next HC. It's his 1st HC gig.

Old Dominion did name Ricky Rahne, the OC of Penn State, as new HC. Also his 1st HC gig.

And Arkansas did hire Georgias AHC/OL coach as new HC, Sam Pittman. He is a long time assistant, did serve as HC for 2 seasons on a junior college a long time ago, but did see a lot of stuff during his career. Eventually a very smart hire for Arkansas.

Open spots at HC are still at Boston College, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Appalachian State, New Mexico, UNLV, Colorado State and Fresno State.
Still very few new spots, last season (at the end) 27 schools had new coaches, so far I can only see 13 schools.
But maybe after the bowls some stuff will happen.
Especially the NFL did not call so far, so there still might some changes at top level schools, which would then cascade into the lower levels.

Let's have a look at the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAME FOR WEEK 16

Sat. Dec. 14
Army vs #23 Navy
Like so many seasons the only game on this weekend and a very important one for the US people.
The president did announce again he will attend the game, which of cause will cause some more attention.
Usually the president is bound to sit one half at Army and one half at Navy.
Trump did something for the academy graduates recently, he did allow them to go pro instantly.
Before that they had to fulfill their military service or repay their education.
Of cause did that lower their draft value in the past.
Not sure this is a good thing, but likely this will help the academies to recruit more talented players to them.
Army is driving a 3 game winning streak, but this season was not that good as the past few and they are now a 10.5 point underdog.
Army did win so far only 5 games, 2 of those are against FCS teams.
Navy on the other side won 9 games so far.
The teams had played 120 times so far and started this in 1890.
Navy leads by 8 wins now.
The Commander-In-Chief-Trophy, the Trophy played for between all 3 service academies, can be won by Navy with a win.
If Army wins, they keep the Trophy, since they won it last season and with a win against Navy all games would be split, in which case the previous year winner does keep the hardware.
I give Navy here the pick of the week, since they did play very will this season and Army did not really convince me.
They had some bad losses, could be easily 2 or 3 wins better, but at the end this just shows the team need some more experience to overcome such deficits.
Last season I thought Army coach Monken would be recruited, but he is still there and I heard no buzz ar all about any of the service academy coaches.
Seems like they all are happy and will stay, which is good for the teams.
I do expect a game where Navy outscores Army by at least 2 TDs.
Enjoy the game.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite, News