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, Coaches Corner (0/2) , Howtos (0/10) , Inside Deventer Devils (0/28) , Jack6s RZA Guide (0/21) , News (1/646) , Rumours (0/0) , Stories (0/4) , Top25 Rankings (0/22) 2025-10-02 07:29
The conference games did start as majority of the matchups and the results were often stunning.
How stunning?
Well, there is one SEC HC position vacant after this weekend.
Ironically this came from a non-conference game, still a very important one, which outcome did show the program, that they have to move on from their setup so far.
I’m talking about Notre Dame visiting Arkansas, which turned out to be a quite one-sided game. Sure, you already guessed, that Arkansas did fail to do anything and lost 13:56 at home. Their HC so far was Sam Pittman, in his 6th season, and while his team did peak in year 2 of his reign, last seasons 7-6 was only accomplished by winning a bowl and the start of this season was 2-3, including now 3 losses in a row.
So, he got fired and his interims HC is not an unfamiliar face on Razorbacks campus, since he was already the HC of Arkansas from 2008 to 2011, with a constant increase on wins from 5 to 8, 10 and then 11 in his last year. That’s right, Bobby Petrino, this season so far, the OC of the team, is named interims coach. You might ask yourselves, why he did not coach further at Arkansas, when he had 11 wins in his last season? Well, there was a motorcycle crash with a female trainer of Arkansas, which did turn out to be his love affair at that time. Petrino was fired roughly 10 days later. Since he had several other jobs as HC and coordinator, but none was as successful than his time at Arkansas since.
I don’t think he will become the permanent HC after the season, but in this crazy business, you never know. He already did fire several assistants, so maybe he CAN change the Razorbacks to a better version of themselves during the season?
More crazy results?
- East Carolina did win against Army, 28:6 and Army is now 1-3 after winning the AAC last year.
- Virginia did beat Florida State, 46:38 on 2OT. The Virginia fans did storm the home field, and FSU did drop severely in the rankings, while Virginia did get into the ranks for the 1st time this season.
- BYU did sink Colorado, 24:21, which leaves Colorado at 2-3 right now. Looks like the big hype is over for the Buffs.
- Duke did whip Syracuse,38:3, on the road. The Orange won last week against Clemson on the road and now Duke! did upset them on the home field.
- Louisiana-Monroe won against Arkansas State, 28:16. ASU is 1-4 and that could mean, a coach change is coming soon.
- Cal won against BC on the road, 28:24. It looks like both teams will not have a big say inside the ACC, but they did at least settle their standings against each other.
- UConn did beat Buffalo, 20:17. UConn now 3-2 and the fans are wondering what’s going on.
- Hawai’i won against Air Force, 44:35 on the road. Air Force lost 3 in a row now.
- Kennesaw State did beat Middle Tennessee, 24:16. Not sure what the Blue Raiders are doing, but they should change it, fast, now being 1-4.
- Old Dominion won against Liberty, 21:7. Liberty is now 1-4 and in deep trouble. Right now, this looks like the worst season of that HC so far, which could mean, he will not see his 4th season.
- Virginia Tech did win against NC State, 23:21. The team won now 2 in a row with the interims HC, but granted last week was against a FCS team. This victory here is ace.
I like this, even that means the picking is getting tougher.
Let’s look at the games I did pick as preview last week and review them.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 5
Sat. Sep 27
#4 LSU @ #13 Ole Miss
This went almost as expected.
The Rebels offense had more problems scoring than in the games so far and the LSU offense had even more problems.
The 1st quarter was still quite open, and LSU got in the lead, but with an INT starting the 2nd quarter, LSUs luck ran out and Ole Miss scored twice to get into the locker with a 17:7 lead.
A sloppy 3rd quarter by Ole Miss did give LSU all the chances they could get, but they had to settle for field goals and went trailing 13:17 into the last quarter.
And that was all offense and all-time management.
Ole Miss scored extending the lead and did eat some stuff of the clock.
LSU did answer on an even longer drive and left roughly 5 minutes to play.
They did a regular kickoff and tried to stop LSU, but they did just get 1st down after another even with a 4th down try and did run down the clock to zero, winning the game.
Tough loss for LSU, Big win for Ole Miss.
Maybe we will see both teams in the playoffs or even in the SEC Championship game, but I have doubts.
Right now, Ole Miss looks like a good bet for a spot in both events, LSU not.
#4 LSU 19 @ #13 Ole Miss 24 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 6-1
#6 Oregon @ #3 Penn State
A so call white-out game, meaning inside the stadium of Penn State with over 100K capacity all fans do wear white clothes to have a specific look.
The game was one of the top games of the BIG10 and might become a preview of the BIG10 championship game or at least a decide on the top seats.
So, high stakes and at the end it was a great game.
The game started all defense and went 3:3 into the half.
Then did Oregon score a TD on the 3rd and put by that pressure on the Lions at home.
Beginning of the 4th did Oregon score another TD and all did look like lost for Penn State.
But the team did come back, scored a TD on the next drive, stopped Oregon and scored again to tie the game.
Oregon had the ball last and was stopped, so the game went into OT.
Penn State got the ball first and scored a TD, Oregon did respond and scored also. So, 2nd OT.
Oregon needed just one play to score a TD and Penn State needed only one play also, but to lose the game with an INT.
Both teams did look sharpe and will likely get to the playoffs.
It will get down to Ohio States results and maybe some other team(s) to find the BIG10 Championship participants and I do guess it will come down to a tiebreaker.
#6 Oregon 30 @ #3 Penn State 24 (2OT) -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 7-1
#17 Alabama @ #5 Georgia
The real surprise this weekend, with Georgia facing Alabama and with the Bulldogs winning so good last week against Tennessee on the road, was that game here.
I mean, at home. Against a rival. What could go wrong?
Turned out, a lot.
The 1st quarter was almost all defense, but Alabama did score a TD and took the lead.
Then came the 2nd quarter all offense and every team did throw punches, with Georgia having a fumble on top to let Alabama win this quarter also to go in total into the locker rooms with Alabama leading by 10 points, 24:14.
The 3rd quarter was then almost all defense again, with Alabama missing a field goal and Georgia scoring a TD to start the comeback, right?
No, in the 4th quarter the teams did bring their best defenses, which was a nightmare for Georgia, which was stopped on 4th and 1 on the Bama 8 and later having to punt from mid-field with 3 minutes left to play.
Alabama did run down the clock and the Bulldogs got their 1st defeat of the season, at home, against that damn rival, who lost already against the Seminoles start of the season. Fair?
No, if you are Bulldogs fan. Live, for all others.
Tough loss for Georgia, losing that crucial game, no 1 game behind in the SEC standings.
Big win for Alabama, now dreaming of the SEC Championship and beyond.
I’m quite sure we will see both teams in the playoffs, but maybe I’m wrong.
#17 Alabama 24 @ #5 Georgia 21 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 7-2
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Sep 27
#21 USC @ #23 Illinois
I was wrong.
Illinois was absolutely able to score, and USC had to play catch-up most of the game.
They did finally get the lead with less than 2 minutes left to play and Illinois did march down the field and kicked a walk-off winning field goal from 41-yards for a 34:32 win. BAM!
Great win for Illinois, especially after last weeks disaster against Indiana. Bad loss for USC, since as one of the self-declared top programs of the country you need to win such games to play with the big boys.
We will see, whether USC can recover from that, but my guess is, not.
The BIG10 will be very tight this season and this loss is devasting.
Jacks interesting games Score: 5-2
#11 Indiana @ Iowa
Not sure, this was an entertaining game.
Quite defense driven and both teams had their chances.
At the half tied at 10 did the 3rd quarter feature only drives with punts at the end.
Then in the 4th did finally Iowa score a go-ahead field goal, only to have that tied at 13 a drive later by Indiana.
Then came the crazy part, with both teams sharing INTs, Iowa missing a field goal and finally Indiana getting a TD to get the lead.
Iowa tried everything, played out the 4th and 10 on mid-field with 16 ticks to play, but failed and Indiana did kneel down and allowed even a safety to happen to run down the clock for a 20:15 win.
I don’t know how good Indiana really is, but in 2 weeks they play Oregon and late in the season Penn State and then we will know.
Not sure they will make the playoffs with that schedule.
Iowa on the other side did already get 2 heavy blows, so likely they will be no part of the post-season conversation, except some bowl invite.
Jacks interesting games Score: 6-2
Eastern Michigan @ Central Michigan
I make this short.
My hope in the Eagles was wrong, they did get a clear loss by CMU.
The final score was 24:13 Central Michigan and the Eagles are now 1-4, which is one of the worst starts of the current HC, while CMU is 3-2 and might have a good season ahead of them under their new HC.
Jacks interesting games Score: 6-3
That’s it for the last gameday.
Unfortune, it looks like the games of next week are not stacked with a lot of great games I’m longing for.
Still, several of those games could be important or even deciding for the conferences standings or even playoffs, since right now, we just don’t know, which teams will be THE hot teams.
Some websites do promote several teams right now with a good chance for the playoffs, but seriously, with just 1 or 2 losses this picture could turn upside down for almost every team in the TOP 25 to 50 teams!
Sure, a team like Eastern Michigan has now with 1-4 record no chance getting into the playoffs, or at least very very limited chance. It’s clear the top 12 teams, will likely have a margin of 1 to 3 losses during the season to make the playoffs, especially since the spots are not bound to conferences and conference standings.
So, let’s have a look on the games of the upcoming weekend.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 6
Sat. Oct 4
#14 Iowa State @ Cincinnati
This one is on paper quite clear, I think.
Iowa State did win so far, all games and in Matt Campbells 10th season as HC, the team looks well build. The won against Kansas State (at that time preseason ranked), they won against one of the best FCS teams, they won against rival Iowa at home for the 1st time since ages (how odd THAT is), won against Arkansas State and they won against Arizona last week.
What can go wrong against Cincinnati, even on the road?
Well, number one, the team lost 2 starting CB due injuries.
Number 2, Cincinnati is also unbeaten and won 3 in a row, they lost only to Nebraska on season start. Scott Satterfield is their HC and in his 3rd season, and the teams win total did go up so far from 3 to 5 in the past 2 seasons and this year the team will likely get at least to a bowl.
Doesn’t sound too bad for Iowa State?
You are right, at least for me, but Vegas has the home team favored by 1.5 points, so there is not much confidence in Iowa State, or a lot of confidence in the Bearcats. I don’t know.
I think the Cyclones defense will be the key. They did great so far and did control all offenses they did face.
Down by 2 CBs, this might get a bit messier, but the real strength of Iowa State is that they play with blitzes.
If Cincinnati can’t handle that, they will fall. If they do and the incoming backups at Iowa State are not that efficient as the 2 injured guys, this could become the 1st loss of the Cyclones.
Campbell did so far always field a good defense, so I think they can compensate.
Cyclones win.
#16 Vanderbilt @ #10 Alabama
Last year, this game at Vanderbilt was THE thing for Alabama fans.
The Crimson Tide lost to the Commodores for the 1st time in 40 years!
That was eventually a coincidence with Alabama in a transition phase with a new HC and Vanderbilt having one of the strongest teams in the last 10+ years with overall 7 wins including a bowl win. The last time a coach won 7 or more was when James Franklin did win 9 in consecutive seasons, which did earn him right away the job at Penn State. Prior to that there was a season at 2008 and then 1982! In fact, Vanderbilt has a history record of 0.485.
What is so disturbing for the Bama fans was, a) the series of 40 seasons winning against Vandy was interpretated as ‘forever’, b) the current HC Clark Lea did win until that season only 9 games in 3 seasons before, and the team had only 2 the season prior that named game. And c) ... it’s VANDY! No, c is, they did win almost every game in the past 10+ years and did expect to do further, even under a new HC.
Well, they did not.
So, Clark is in his 5th season now and so far they are ... drum roll ... 5-0!
Alabama is in the 2nd season of Kalen DeBoer and are 3-1. But of course, that is not the whole truth.
The whole truth is, Vanderbilt did so far play no quality team and even they might have lost such games often in history, this season they did not. But with Alabama, LSU, Texas and Tennessee on the schedule until season end, it’s hard to imagine, the team will stay unbeaten.
If so, they would be the best team for 100 years.
And Alabama did so far play FSU (lost), ULM (well ...), Wisconsin and last week Georgia and they won those past games.
Most impressive obviously the Georgia game on the road.
Crimson Tide is favored by Vegas by 10.5 points, I think they will likely beat that.
But never underestimate the Commodores with that current QB.
Crimson Tide win.
#3 Miami @ #18 Florida State
Oh man, FSU did look so good so far and then did the team lose to Virginia in OT. That was a major drop in national confidence on that team and it was also a loss which might hurt in conference standings.
So far, they are now 3-1 and the do only have a rank left, since they won against Alabama on season start.
Miami on the other hand is 4-0 with wins included against Notre Dame and Florida. If Miami wins this game here, they get the Florida Cup, which they also won last year. The Florida Cup is a non-regular Cup between FSU, Florida and Miami.
Do I have to say, what Vegas sees here? Sure.
Miami is favored by 4.5 points.
Not that much. Likely the Bama-game.
Because I think Miami is way better that FSU.
They had several tough situations and games already and they did best all of it, thanks to their defense and the QB.
FSU did fall last week against Virginia ...
I might troll the Seminoles a bit here and of course they have a chance, still I can’t imagine the Hurricanes falling victim to such a team.
Hurricanes win.
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Oct 4
#24 Virginia @ Louisville
Tony Elliott is in his 4th season and tries to get Virginia back on track. His results were so far not big, 3 wins in his first 2 seasons, 5 last year, but now the team is 4-1 and has taken down FSU at home last week.
They face Louisville, who is under the watch of Jeff Brohm, now in the 3rd season. He was quite successful at Purdue and was hired to have Louisville in the top ranks of the ACC or beyond. The success was so far OK, but went from 10 wins to 9 wins last year and this season the team is 4-0.
There is no doubt that the Cardinals are the favorite.
Vegas gives them a line of -6.5 at home, I personally think they will likely win with a higher margin.
The only x-factor in this is the Virginia offense. If they can expose the Cardinals defense as last week the Seminoles defense, this will get interesting. But honestly, I doubt that.
Granted, Louisville has not played really tough teams, but the team looks promising and Brohm should be able to get this done.
Cardinals win.
#11 Texas Tech @ Houston
TTUs win against Utah did put the team in top conversation within the BIG12. Houston on the other hand did win so far against disappointing Colorado and Oregon State, so not the best teams so far on the schedule.
Willie Fritz leads the Cougars in his 2nd year as HC and has already as many wins now (4-0) as last year in total.
For Vegas the favorite is clear with the Red Raiders favored by 10.5 points. But we did see many favorites fall with even higher betting line, so, nothing is given.
I like the Cougars so far, but I cannot ignore how bold they did win against Utah on the road.
And the team did also win against Oregon State in a much more convincing way.
Hence ...
Red Raiders win.
UNLV @ Wyoming
A top matchup in the Mountain West.
UNLV is 4-0 in Dan Mullens 1st season as HC, so maybe that was a homerun hire for the Rebels. They face Jay Sawvel 2nd year version of the Wyoming Cowboys and it looks better than last seasons version (3-9) at 2-2 already.
The team lost to 2 BIG12 teams, which is not unusual and has the chance to make a mark inside the MWC.
Vegas favors UNLV by only 3.5 points, which is likely because they have to play on the road and UNLV has also so far no signature win, except a win against a very bad UCLA team.
I like the progress Mullan has made with the team so far and I hope for a close game.
Rebels win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2025-09-24 08:45
Oh-ho, this weekend, usually as the 4th regular gameday in majority another let’s-kick-the-shit-out-of-non-conference-opponents-gameday did prove for some teams to be a BAD day.
Serval teams did get an upset handed to them, which did loom on the horizon, but most didn’t like to see, so ignored it or even tried to counter it with bets on the favorite.
What do I mean with that?
Like Tulsa @ Oklahoma State with a betting line of -10.5 in favor of OSU, despite the Cowboys miserable performance so far. Of course, when you look at the game sheet prior the game, all was clear. Inferior team (Tulsa, 1-2, only a win against an FCS team) plays at a superior team (Oklahoma State, 1-1, only win against an FCS team), where the road team had not won since 1951 and in a rivalry series, which is heavily in favor of the home team. But at the end did the shitty offense of OSU prove to be THAT shitty, that the Tulsa defense did hold it to 12 points and the OSU defense did allow 16 in the 1st half, which proved to be enough to win the game 19:12.
NOW you might say, oh, clear, OSU is BAD this season, but it was only between the line and the game sheet prior the game was clearly in favor of OSU, so most bets went in their favor.
When I did start writing this, no axe came down on the Cowboys HC so far, but on Tuesday the Axe CAME down and Mike Gundy was fired.
He leaves Oklahoma State as the coach at the program with most wins in 21 seasons. He won 12 Bowls (out of 18), won the conference once and got several awards during that time period. Still, his results lately were bad, and it does look like, he was not able to adapt to the new NIL era.
There were many more games that way, but so far, no coach was axed in addition and as far as I know, only one coach is really under fire (Florida). But of course, with every gameday the frustration at some programs might rise and the axe might already be on the table, we just don’t know it yet.
A fun weekend. For sure.
Here some surprises (at least for me):
- Rice did win against Charlotte, 28:17. The surprise is, that Rice has already won 3 games out of 4. Last season the team finished 4-8 and fired their HC mid-season. So, the new coach, Scott Abell, is already close to match last seasons results and the conference games have not even started big time. I think they have a chance to get more W than last year.
- Memphis did beat Arkansas 32:31. The Tigers had scored a TD with a bit und 5 minutes left and Arkansas got the ball, went over the field and fumbled the game away on the 7-yard line next to Memphis endzone. For Memphis a great win, for Arkansas a catastrophe and word is, that the Razorbacks HC can feel some heat under his butt.
- Some more heat is likely to feel under Dabo Swinneys butt right now at Clemson. The Tigers did lose at home against Syracuse 21:34. I don’t think the coach will be fired during the season and likely not at the end, but boy, he is now victim of his own success in the past. He had brought the Tigers into the spotlight and built the level of expectations so high, you can only fail at some point, big time. Right now, it looks like, this is the season. The Tigers fell to 1-3 and the playoffs are out of reach, the ACC crown with 0-2 inside the conference at least difficult, if not also out of reach and with the team like that, a bowl looks also at least challenging. The Tigers could become the Seminoles of this season.
- North Texas won against Army, 45:38 in OT. That’s now the 2nd game Army did lose so far in OT. Last season had Army won the AAC, but I think this season this won’t happen.
- UCF won against UNC, 34:9. The Belichick Tar Heels do so far suck big time and you can’t see and genius in those games. Can it be, that hiring one of the best NFL coaches in history as new HC be the wrong hire?
- Eastern Michigan won against Louisiana, 34:31. The Eagles had started the season 0-3 and did then pull this against a seemingly stronger opponent? Good job. Louisiana was only a 2.5-point favorite, still after that start of EMU I did never think they would get this done.
- Duke did score big against North Carolina State and won, 45:33. More surprising was, that Duke was actually the favorite in this game, by 3.5 points. I mean, NC State had started 3-0 and Duke 1-2 and lost a week before against Tulane.
- New FBS team Delaware won against FIU, 38:16. Wow, that’s overall for Delaware a great start into the season. They are 3-1 now.
- Kennesaw State did beat Arkansas State, 28:21. Kennesaw State has a new HC, Jerry Mack, a former NFL assistant and also former HC of an FCS team. He did so far a great job with the team and has them now at 2-2. For Arkansas State it looks like a down season, but they have all conference games ahead of them, so they can still turn the season around at 1-3 now.
- Western Kentucky won against Nevada, 31:16. Nevada looks BAD this season so far, while WKU has more ups than downs.
- Virginia did somehow start scoring and won 48:20 against Stanford. Not sure what to make out of Virginia at 3-1 right now and also not sure what to make out of Stanford at 1-3. It seems Stanford is in for a tough season and will likely not reach a bowl. Whether Virginia will become a strong contender this season is open, but the results do at least indicate they will not end up at the bottom. If they win one more than last year (5 wins), they will go to a bowl.
- ULM won against UTEP, 31:25. This did look like the bad team vs bad team matchup and someone had to win. But ULM did finish so bad last year, that it’s a small surprise they won against UTEP. But quite small.
- And as last game, San Diego State did beat Cal, 34:0! Surprisingly is Cal 3-1 now, while I thought they must be 0-4. I mean, an ACC team get spanked by a MWC by zero?
I just recognized I did not do such a list last week. Sorry for that.
There were also some surprises, but I will not go into those details this week. Overall, the 4 weeks so far are only the intro for the conference games, which do come in much more quantity from week 5 onward.
In college football the conference games are for the individual college success much more important, because the primary goal is still to win the conference. Only the expended playoff format did shift the view on the whole season and the non-conference games a bit, so that contenders and teams seeing themselves as such have to be monitored a bit more on those games.
Let’s get in the selected games reviews.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 4
Sat. Sep 20
#17 Texas Tech @ #16 Utah
Oh boy, did I pick wrong here.
Texas Techs big success in the 1st half was, to control the Utah offense and getting some points on the board. They led 10:3 at the half and both sides had some errors.
Then had the Red Raiders to exchange the QB, based on an injury and suddenly was Texas Techs offense much more dangerous.
The 3rd quarter was scoreless, overall, but the 4th did see 21 unanswered points by TTU, after Utah did close the gap to trailing 10:13.
Obviously did Utahs offense not click and Utahs defense did also not really work.
We will see, whether the team will fall apart of rebound in the next week.
For TTU it looks like they can at least try to play as contender inside the BIG12.
#17 Texas Tech 34 @ #16 Utah 10 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 3-1
#22 Auburn @ #11 Oklahoma
A quite open game, which went into the half time as tied game.
The 3rd quarter was a mess, and Oklahoma was only able to get 3 points out of it, while Auburn did miss their field goal try.
Then in the 4th did Auburn really get the lead, after OU scored another field goal, by punching a TD in.
The Sooners did answer also with a TD and failed the 2-pointer but managed to stop Auburn INSIDE their own endzone to record a safety, getting the ball by that to run down the clock and winning this game.
In total it does not look too promising for Auburn, while OU also did not look too good, but also not too bad.
I don’t think any of the teams will be a top contender and any will be a bottom feeder, also.
#22 Auburn 17 @ #11 Oklahoma 24 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 4-1
#9 Illinois @ #19 Indiana
This was one of the biggest surprises of the gameday.
I had expected a close game and was not sure, who will be the winning force at the end.
I did pick the home team, thanks to their home field advantage and because they were good last season.
Man ...
Indiana came into the game and drew 1st blood, allowed the Illini to answer, but after that, there was no mercy.
Illini were stopped and forced to punt on almost every drive, while Indiana did score, on almost every drive.
At the end it was a 63:10 win for Indiana, which looks really impressive, but buys you only joy for one week.
It’s not clear, where Illinois just had a rough day and will be the spoiler they were last season, again, or they will be victims as they were in this game here.
And it is not clear, whether Indiana will give almost every opponent such a treatment as this here, or it was just some unusual.
For one week, all heads did turn, and Indiana is in the spotlight.
#9 Illinois 10 @ #19 Indiana 63 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 5-1
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Sep 20
Tulane @ #13 Ole Miss
This was much less open that I had expected it.
Sure, I expected a big showing by the Ole Miss offense, but that Tulane needed until half of the 2nd quarter to get a lousy field goal to get on the board for the 1st time was not my expectation.
In total did Ole Miss dominate the game and won 45:10.
We learned not much from that game, since it was quite clear that Ole Miss defense will be much better than any opponent Tulane had so far, so no wonder here.
Jacks interesting games Score: 4-0
Florida @ #4 Miami
Let’s make this short, Florida is on trouble and Miami is for now a major contender for the ACC and the national championship.
It was a bit closer than I expected it, Miami did lead only 13:0 at the half, allowed a Florida TD in the 3rd quarter, while was kept scoreless in that period, and at the end did Miami win 26:7.
So far, no consequences on Florida side, but I bet the hot seat did get hotter, again.
Jacks interesting games Score: 5-0
Fresno State @ Hawai'i
This reads like ERROR-BOWL.
Fresno State did miss the field goal on the opening drive.
Hawai’i fumbled the ball away on a negative play inside their own red zone.
And Fresno? Did not make anything out of it, thanks to another missed field goal.
Hawai’i got on the board 1st with a safety in the 2nd quarter, only be stopped on the concurrent drive.
Fresno did fumble on their next drive and Hawai’i returned it for a TD.
The Bulldogs got a decent drive together and scored to close the gap.
The Rainbows were intercepted at mid-field on the next drive and Fresno did decide to run with basically not time left on the clock, instead of trying a 55-yarder to go into the locker room, trailing 7:9.
The 3rd quarter was the only quarter with no big errors and Fresno State trailed 13:15 at that moment.
But wait, the 4th quarter was again a bank regarding errors.
Fresno missed another field goal, which explains, why the 55-yarder at the end of the half was no option.
But Hawai’i just don’t want to pull away and throw an interception.
Finally did Fresno hit a good field goal to take the lead and Hawai’i threw another INT, this time a pick 6, to spice the things up.
The Bulldogs now ahead by 8 points and Hawai’i was stopped on the next drive.
But Fresno get stopped and the Rainbows get a final goo drive together, go into the endzone and score.
The 2-pointer did of course fail, because so much did fail on that day, and of course also the onside-kick-try, which gave Fresno State the 23:21 win.
Man, I did not learn anything out of this, except that I think that Hawai’i will have a new HC next season.
This is not personal against Timmy Chang, but it just don’t look as the team will progress into the right direction.
They got so many chances in this game and just threw it away.
Sure, errors can happen and do happen, and football is basically only alive because of that. But man, THOSE many errors are not a good sign.
Jacks interesting games Score: 5-1
Now the real season starts, with lots of conference games and lots of decisions, which do have more impact on the conferences than most games had in the past 4 gamedays.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 5
Sat. Sep 27
#4 LSU @ #13 Ole Miss
This will be a crucial game for one of the teams, the losing team.
Because, the loser will drop depended on the result a few or several spots and will drop also in the SEC standings.
That means, the losing team will face the pressure to stay in the hunt for the SEC crown and for a playoff spot by a multiple.
Both teams are right now labeled as contender.
Ole Miss and LSU had great results in the past few seasons, except winning a SEC championship and getting into the playoffs.
Ole Miss was close last season regarding a playoff spot, but missed it by a rank or two.
So far, both teams are perfect and did win fine.
For Ole Miss, this opponent is on paper the toughest they have to face all season, beside Georgia. So, if they win here, the road is at least a bit less bumpy.
For LSU, this also quite true, but their schedule looks slightly tougher overall.
Right now, Vegas favors Ole Miss by 1.5 points, which is not much.
We have seen until now, that the Ole Miss offense is potent, and the LSU defense was able to shut down offenses. Whether they can do that with the Kiffen-offense, we have to wait.
Ole Miss defense was so far strong enough to allow less points than they can score, and the LSU offense did not look overwhelming so far.
Two scenarios possible, either we will see some sort of shootout, or (more likely) some sort of crawling for points on both sides.
I expect not a high scoring game, more a game of scouting for errors, taking advantage of those and every big play and every scoring play will be a heavy hit.
I have doubts, LSU will be up for the task, but I also believe that the teams defense is very capable and will keep the team in the game.
I also believe that Kiffin will find spots to exploit and scoring, while I do not trust the LSU offense so far. Hence ...
Rebels win.
#6 Oregon @ #3 Penn State
Almost similar situation here in the BIG10, expect Oregon won the BIG10 last year (against Penn State) and made it to the playoffs, as did Penn State, who almost made it to the National Championship game.
The similarity is, that a loss here will mean a small drive deeper in the ranks and the pressure will rise.
Oregon did so far look great in Dan Lannings 4th season as HC, but granted did only play quite weak teams.
They did face as unbeaten team a tough defense and eventually also a good offense. James Franklin is in his 12th season and did good with the Lions. The program left the past behind them (even though I hope they do not forget the events) and build a winning team. What’s missing for him is, win the conference again and hopefully getting a National Championship. That’s what the fans want (sure, every fan of every team wants this, but Penn State was in the past a national relevant team, which won several ones and for sure the regions thinks, it’s time get another one).
I think who loses here will have a tougher time but is not eliminated. On paper has Oregon after this game a quite easy schedule, while Penn State has to face Ohio State on top.
It looks like the BIG10 might need a tie-breaker to determine the Championship game participants and I think their top 4 to 5 teams will make the playoffs and both teams here are right now projected to be in this range.
Now, again a high-power offense against a rock hard defense.
Vegas believes in Penn State by 3.5 points, I believe in Oregon here.
They key will be Penn States offense and how they will be able to score against Oregon. If they can do that, regularly, the game is all Penn State. If not, Oregon will win.
I have doubts on the Lions offense, hence ...
Ducks win.
#17 Alabama @ #5 Georgia
In the good old days a few seasons ago, this game did almost single handed decide, who will win the SEC and often, who will win the National Championship.
But the times have changed, and Alabama has a new coach, who is under fire being not Nick Saban and not as successful as one of the most successful coaches ever. What a loser, hu?
Kalen DeBoer is in his 2nd season and last year, the team did record only a 9-4 season, including a bowl loss.
Ask Florida fans, how they would like to have that record now.
But seriously, the team did struggle a bit on the coaches change and what fans did really drive mad was, the team did not lose to LSU (they won that), Ole Miss (did not play against them) and Georgia (they won that), no they lost to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Of those only Tennessee was in contender shape, the rest was mediocre at best.
The fans believed they lost their pride and testicles, I guess.
This season they did start with a loss to FSU on day 1.
FSU had 2 wins last year, so fans did think, the team lost to a cupcake. A disgrace.
Now the team faces Georgia, who did win all games and did it seemingly on best effort basis. There was not difference, regardless the strength of the opponent. But that win against Tennessee in OT did give them some credit and is for sure a factor, why they are favored by 2.5 points at home on this game here.
Only 2.5 points I would so.
I’m not sure Alabama is in shape, I think Georgia is in better shape, likely.
What you cannot underestimate is the hate and the passion the teams will bring on against each other.
Whether that will be enough to beat Georgia at home, I don’t know.
I think a crucial game for both, I think chances are a bit better for the Bulldogs and I think Alabamas HC can prove he got the team into the right direction, if the team wins, or at least not loses with a big margin.
Bulldogs win.
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Sep 27
#21 USC @ #23 Illinois
When USC made the splashy move to hire Lincoln Riley as new HC away from Oklahoma, where he had won 4 consecutive conference championships, I think the program did believe USC would become a dominant force inside the THEN PAC-12. But Riley got schooled in the PAC-12 Championship by Utah and from there onward, it went downhill, slowly. Last year they switched to the BIG10 and barely made it to 7-6, including a bowl win. This season, Rileys 4th at USC, does look a bit easier on the schedule and they are now 4-0 so far. They face Illinois, which I did preview last weekend and who got a ton of points against them in the game against Indiana. They are still ranked (for whatever reason) and do host USC.
What I have seen so far is, that USC has a decent offense, while Illinois was exposed to have no defense. The critical part will be, whether Illinois can fix that defense. I don’t know, whether Illinois offense can beat USC defense over the 4 quarters regularly, but for sure, if their defense is still bad, that will be a long day, again.
The betting line is right now USC -6.5, which is not too much.
My gut feeling is, USC will put up more of a margin that that.
Trojans win.
#11 Indiana @ Iowa
Now we get to the hottest team of the BIG10, at least this week.
Indiana did just pour out points by buckets against Illinois and will face now a very hostile environment against Iowa.
Iowa is under the watch of Kirk Ferentz since almost 3 decades. His results are mixed. We have seen double digit win seasons, conference championships, losing championships, bowl seasons and no bowl seasons. His worst record on a season however, beside the building phase at the start, was 4 wins in 2012 and since then did the team go to bowl, each year. That means, the team is from my point of view running quite well. It did shatter many times as division champ on the strong opponent form the other division, usually Ohio State or Michigan, and when the divisions were put away last year, the team did finish at 5th place, together with Illinois.
This season the team did so far record 3-1, with the single loss against rival Iowa State. The team looks quite capable to win something this season and did not allow many points so far.
Can Indiana come in here and score almost 70 points as last week? Likely not.
Can they score more than Iowa? Likely yes.
Indiana is favored by 7.5 points. I think that might fit, but the big mystery is, how the Hawkeyes will play defense at home. The intensity could lead to a very close game.
Overall, I think Indiana has the best chance to win, since they can produce points at any moment, while Iowa needs to walk down the field and eat the clock big time, so as long as Indiana gets a chance to answer, they will have a good chance to do so, while Iowa likely will not have that chance.
Hoosiers win.
Eastern Michigan @ Central Michigan
Some might enjoy this preview; some will just raise their shoulders in disbelieve.
The thing is this game is likely not relevant in terms of the MAC-Championship and in terms of the playoffs anyway.
But it is relevant for the fans of the Eagles and the Chippewas.
It’s the 1st game this season of the MICHIGAN MAC TROPHY, where 3 teams did compete for the trophy assigned to the winning team, or if no team won, assigned to the last seasons winner.
Last year did Western Michigan get the trophy exactly because of that, every team did lose to every other team once and lost to another won, so everyone had a record of 1-1 in this series.
Eastern Michigan won the trophy last time in 2022, Central Michigan in 2021.
The Eagles are now in the 12th season under Chris Creighton and he seems to be happy at this place. I can’t imagine he did not get any offers from other schools, better paid, in this time period, because his results are remarkable. When he came to Eastern Michigan, the program was one of the worst, if not THE worst, in the country. The Eagles have overall a career record of .432, so it is a losing team anyway, and prior the current HC, it did lose BIG. If you ignore a coach with a 2-1 record in 2003, you find only a coach with a better record than the current in the late 70s. The last conference championship was 1987, which is also the last bowl the team did play in prior the current HC.
OK, the rules and amount of bowls did rise over the past decade and for sure did Eastern Michigan profit from that, but still, you need 6+ wins to get into a bowl and Creighton had so far 6 bowls in 12 seasons, with the last one still running.
Last season was a down year for the Eagles at 5-7.
This season the team did start with a really bad game, losing to a FCS team and 2 others, but did win against Louisiana last gameday.
Central Michigan has a new HC, a former Army assistant and NAIA HC. Matt Drinkall took over a team, which was went downhill under a former SEC HC, and finished 4-8 last year.
The expectations at Central Michigan are higher, the career record of the program is .587 and the team won conference championships quite often in the past, last time although only in 2006 to 2008 3 in a row. So, since 17 seasons, nothing at that front.
So far, the team did win 2 and lost 2, quite as expected.
Vegas has CMU favored by 6.5 points, which can be much or not. Hard to judge.
I can see EMU winning here, I can see them losing.
In doubt I pick the home team.
Eagles win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
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