2025-10-09 07:05

The craziness factor did go into overdrive this weekend, when several high-profile programs suffer defeats against so far underperforming programs.

Let’s start with the game between Penn State at UCLA.
Penn State got beaten the week before at home by Oregon by just 6 points. That did result in a small drop in the rankings, like ‘sure they lost, but they were quite close and since they both were top teams, Penn State has to be in the top’.
Now they had to travel to Los Angeles (to Pasadena to be correct) and face a team, which fell to 0-4 prior the game, which is under interims coaching and which did not look like any threat at all for a top team like Penn State. Betting line, Penn State favored by 24.5 points!
Fine, everyone thought Penn State would come into town, beat the shit out of the Bruins and go home, but UCLA did score first, did make a successful onside kick after that and scored again, having the Lions already stunned twice before Penn State even had the ball. Then came an absolute disaster quarter for Penn State and the Lions trailed suddenly 7:27 at the half.
Fine, Franklin did likely gave nice speech in the locker room, but that did not help much, since Penn State fumbled their first possession of the 3rd quarter away and the only good thing was a blocked punt returned for a TD, which did in total gave the Lions the quarter at 14:7, but overall the team was still down 21:34.
Then it did look like Penn State would turn the table and would escape here with 2 back eyes, but nope, UCLA did answer when needed and at the end did UCLA win their 1st game of the season against a high ranked Penn State team, 42:37.
The consequence was, Penn State did drop from #7 out of the top 25 with enough points to be at #28, if there would be such a spot.
BAM!

Another crazy game? Sure.
How about Texas ranked at #9 against a bad Florida team?
Texas had only lost to Ohio State at season opener so far and was therefore highly ranked. Same thing as with Penn State.
They went to Florida, which did so far suck big time, lost against South Florida, LSU and Miami, 3 times in a row. The coach likely already asking for some isolation material to stay on his seat.
Well, turned out, that came from Texas.
Here Florida was only a 4.5-point underdog, but seriously, with a Manning at the helm against a Gator team in decline? What could go wrong?
Hmmm. A lot, as it seems.
Gators were up 19:7 at the half and Texas had more or less no offense.
Florida did even win the 3rd quarter 10:7 and then slowly did Texas wake up and tried to win the game, but that was too late.
The did throw INTs and were lucky Florida did not score further, but with that kind of performance, too few points are scored, so Florida won at the end 29:21.
Texas did also drop out of the top 25 to a virtual #27 and Florida might be on a healing path, we will see.

Other crazy games?
- Ball State did win against Ohio, 20:14. The 1st FBS win for Ball State this season, upsetting a 2-score favorite at home. Not bad.
- Wake Forest won against Virginia Tech on the road, 30:23. Sure VT is only on interims reign, still they were the favorite and got decked.
- Washington did beat Maryland on the road, 24:20. First loss for Maryland this season.
- Appalachian State did win against Oregon State, 27:23. I have the feeling, the Beavers will get a new HC, soon, since the team is 0-6 and even if the coach is only in his 2nd season, going from 5-7 to 0-6 is not the kind of progress the program seeks, I guess.
- Akron won against Western Michigan, 28:22. Also for the Zips the first FBS win of the season.
- Duke did beat Cal, on the road, 45:21. So far Cal did look like a winning team this season and now Duke did just steamroll them to stay perfect inside the ACC. Crazy.

That weekend did ruin my ESPN pick sheet, but fine, that way the season says interesting.

Let’s look at the games I did pick as preview last week and review them.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 6

Sat. Oct 4
#14 Iowa State @ Cincinnati
I did lean on Iowa State defense and that unit did let everyone down in the 1st quarter to allow 17 unanswered points.
The Cyclones then did recover a bit but missed a field goal mid quarter to add some greave to their misery and when the teams did split for the half that quarter was 15:14 for the Cyclones and the game was still Cincinnati leading 31:15.
The 3rd quarter was almost all defense and Iowa State was only able to get close by 1 score.
So, the 4th quarter was the thing then. And here did Iowa States offense suck big enough to NOT get closer and when finally Cincinnati was able to score another TD it was clear that Iowa State would lose that game.
At the end it was only a 1 score loss, but still a loss.
A big setback for the Cyclones, who did look until this game like a sure thing for a great season, but now they are 1 loss behind of 4 teams inside the BIG12, including Cincinnati.
#14 Iowa State 30 @ Cincinnati 38 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 7-3

#16 Vanderbilt @ #10 Alabama
By far not the sure win Alabama did likely hope for.
The 1st quarter was dominated by errors, mostly Tide errors.
Vandy did lead 7:0 after that quarter and even when Alabama did tie the game, Vandy was able to get ahead again. Only before the break did Alabama tie the game at 14 again and the teams did split.
I’m sure the Bama fans were not really happy, since this was at home and against Vandy.
Then, finally, did Alabama pull away and won the game by a stronger defense which did no longer allow any scoring.
The team did beat the betting line, but likely the fans were still not that happy with that performance against damn Vandy.
At the end, I think for the Alabama coaches it was just that win they had to make, and they had upcoming Missouri as much tougher game already in their head.
Vanderbilt will try to spoil more teams season, not sure they can be better than last year, or not.
#16 Vanderbilt 14 @ #10 Alabama 30 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 8-3

#3 Miami @ #18 Florida State
The State champ is Miami, winning against FSU 28:22.
Unfortune for the Seminoles fans did their team only came to play in the last quarter, where they did score 19 of the 22 points and where their defense did not allow a single score.
But at that point the team was already behind by 25 points.
In total Miami did stay on course and is aiming for the ACC and beyond, while FSU did show some fighting spirit, but not enough to play a big role inside the ACC as they would like to play as Florida State.
#3 Miami 28 @ #18 Florida State 22 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 9-3

And some other interesting games:

Sat. Oct 4
#24 Virginia @ Louisville
After a tied game at the break did first Virginia turn the game to their side, then did Louisville tie it up in the 4th quarter, only to lose the game in OT 27:30.
The Cardinals had opened the OT with a field goal and Virgina just punched in a TD to win.
Now Virginia looks quite hot inside the ACC, while Louisville needs to be lucky to get another shot into the title game.
Jacks interesting games Score: 6-4

#11 Texas Tech @ Houston
Well, Houston never stood a chance in this game, was basically always behind and never in a position to tie the game or better.
At the end a clear 35:11 win by the Red Raiders to keep the hunt for a championship game spot alive.
Jacks interesting games Score: 7-4

UNLV @ Wyoming
Even UNLV started with a fumble drive, they had a strong 1st quarter to lead by 2 scores and then defend that lead in a quite defense driven game to win 31:17.
UNLV looks strong this season, while Wyoming might have to settle for a mid-field position in the standings.
Jacks interesting games Score: 8-4

That wraps up the last gameday and we can look to the next one.

Here we will see some interesting games between teams, who are likely top contenders and teams who are eventually top contenders.

The conferences standings are quite fresh and not really aligned so far, since the real conference matchups did start only a few gamedays ago and the scheduling does not always give every team a top contender in that period. Sometimes teams are lucky, and they have in a season only one or two of those at all on their schedule, which either means, happy regular season and then comes the hangover on an eventual championship game and/or bowl, or the teams are top contenders themselves and the field is not as dense as some might wish for.

I will give a conference overview starting November, prior that it doesn’t make sense.

Also, there is no sense preaching the top 25 list or some other sort of list down, every week, since the real sorting will start later, and the REAL list is the committee list for the playoffs.

So, let’s have a look on the games of the upcoming weekend.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 7

Sat. Oct 11
#1 Ohio State @ #17 Illinois
Only really a top game, because it is for Ohio State on the road.
Last year was for Ohio State almost perfect, since they won the National Championship. It was only ALMOST perfect, since the team did not win the conference and THE GAME. The Buckeyes did lose against Oregon, the later conference champ, mid-season and later the team did lose also against Michigan in THE GAME, one of the, if not THE, most anticipated rivalry games, every season.
Ryan Day is the HC of the Buckeyes since 2019 and he has won that rivalry game only in his 1st year, then came covid and then came Michigans dominance.
Well, last year did they lose again, despite Michigan being not a top contender and therefore the team did miss the Championship game, but went into the playoffs as one of the top 12 teams named by the committee and they made the best out of it and won against all odds.
This season the team is perfect, did win close games against Texas at season start and against Washington on the road.
Now they face an Illinois team, which is hard to judge.
They lost big against Indiana, but did also best Duke, which does right now turn the ACC upside down, and won against USC, a team with much deeper pockets and a tradition to win.
Bret Bielema has the team for sure on a winning path, again.
This game here it the toughest they have so far in the season, likely the toughest of the season.
Vegas does not give a lot for the Illini, making them a 14.5-point underdog.
I personally do also not think they will stand a chance, but Illinois at home is not take lightly since a few seasons and don’t forget the Penn State loss of last week. Those Lions fans and the coaches do still wonder, why they lost that Should-Have-Been-Won-Game.
I do not pick against Ohio State here; I just hope for a close game and an interesting outcome.
Buckeyes win.

#8 Alabama @ #14 Missouri
I didn’t want to s e l e c t Alabama again, but in such a game here, I cannot ignore them.
With the win last week against Vanderbilt the team is right now one of 5 unbeaten teams inside the SEC and one of the hottest, even the Vandy game was not really hot.
It’s more that Alabama WAS one of the team to beat until the last coach did step aside. Then last season, with the new coach Kalen DeBoer the team did take at least one step back, if not two, and IF he manages to do the same as he did at Washington, the team is up to make at least one step forward, if not two.
That would mean, that Alabama is again a top team and that means, they play for the SEC Championship and beyond.
BUT, Missouri is one of the teams, which might give Alabama a hint for reality.
Missouri is also perfect inside the SEC and on top overall.
Eliah Drinkwitz is in his 6th season and did build the team after 3 mediocre seasons into a winner with 11 wins in 2023 and 10 wins in 2024.
In both seasons they did lack the final punch to actually play for something worthy in the postseason and the numbers are only that high, because they won both bowls in that season.
In 2023, if at that point the playoff system would have been already the new one, they would have likely played at least 1st round, but it wasn’t that system then.
Last year they ended up barely in the top 25.
This season they did so far play only non-contenders, from my point of view, with South Carolina likely being the toughest team.
Now, Alabama, but at least at home.
I think the Vegas guys are also not really sure, what to make out of both teams and whether they are really the real deal inside the SEC, so the line is Alabama -2.5 as guest team.
Not much, but it sends a message. The message is, they prefer Alabama but are not sure why.
I think the key will be Alabamas defense, which is a unit, the quite capable Missouri offense have not met yet this season.
If that defense, which did allow max so far 21 points, if you except the season start against FSU, does control Missouris offense, then the game will be tough for them.
Because for sure will Alabama find ways to score and likely 20+ points easily. So my expectation is, if Missouri can exploit the Bama defense, then this is an open game. If not, I think Alabama will prevail.
I’m torn between the Tigers as underdog and the Tide as likely better suited and stuffed team.
Coin toss.
Tigers win.

#7 Indiana @ #3 Oregon
I did preview both teams already in previous entries, so I go directly into the game itself.
We have an Indiana team, which looks like an exception to their history, that one lighthouse in a lot of bad seasons.
They do face the reigning BIG10 champ, which does again click on all cylinders, and which is very likely to enter the BIG10 Championship game again.
But ... one of the teams have to give up here and will be a win behind in the Championship game seatings, and that might be too much this season.
Both are 5-0 overall and 2-0 inside the conference.
And there is Ohio State and Michigan also unbeaten inside the conference.
Chances are high, the winner of Ohio State and Michigan might take the 1st seat (likely OSU) and the winner here takes the 2nd.
Sure, every team can start sucking like Penn State did and if that happens with the 4 teams mentioned, the BIG10 will be a mess with a lot of tie breakers to calculate.
I only wanted to point to the fact, that those 4 teams do NOT meet against each other except the 2 games mentioned.
And this here is the 1st of those, with THE GAME is the last.
Playing at home. Oregon is favored to win here by 7.5 points.
That’s not that much, if you have Indiana vs Oregon on any year in mind.
This year, I don’t know.
Indiana did put A LOT of points on some opponent, but I doubt they can do that on Oregon.
Oregon did the same with many teams, but is Indianas defense as bad? I don’t know. They did not face such a team so far.
So, crucial matchup will be for sure, Indiana defense vs Oregon offense, because if that defense can stand up, this will be a fun game.
If not, I think Oregon will outscore them, likely more than the line suggest.
With that in mind and the home field waiting, I go with Nike ... ahhh ... Oregon.
Ducks win.

And some other interesting games:

Sat. Oct 11
#6 Oklahoma @ Texas
It’s a shame it came to that, but the Red River Rivalry became one of those ‘Oh, by the way, Sooners do play Longhorns also this weekend’ games.
Brent Venables is in his 4th year and the Sooners are seemingly heading into the right direction, 5-0 so far.
But they did not face a lot of good teams, in fact, none.
Steve Sarkisian is in his 5th season with Texas and this was supposed to be the championship season with that Manning QB winning everything there is and going to Mars and win a Noble Price and so on.
Expectations were HIGH in Texas after last seasons success and the team went 3-2 so far and lost to struggling Florida last week.
Now they face that hated rival.
What can go wrong, right?
Well, Vegas doesn’t know, and I think deep down everybody is expecting that none of the teams here will have a say inside the SEC this season and both will end up 2nd tier or worse.
So, the line is Sooners -1.5.
Not sure what my take is here, because I think Texas HAS the tools, they just fumble them around and are not DOING something with it.
I expect a high emotional game, nobody cares about, once it is over.
I think Texas is better than they did show and that they will try to make better after the Florida disaster, so ...
Longhorns win.

#18 BYU @ Arizona
If any teams did so far look like a favorite inside the BIG12, it’s BYU.
Kalani Sitake is in his 10th season with the team and has a very good record with the team, did miss last year the Championship game only by a tie breaker and won the bowl to finish 11-2.
This season so far 5-0. The team seems to be doing always enough to win, but they did not face one of the other likely contenders so far.
Arizona is under the watch of Brent Brennan in the 2nd season and last year was a bad one, but so far is the current one much better.
They have already as many wins this season as they had over the whole season last year.
They lost to Iowa State, which is for sure at least in the mix for a contention and do now host BYU.
Do I think Arizona is a contender? No.
Do I think this is a BYU win by default? No.
Arizona could be the team this year, nobody wants to play, because you might disregard them as a bump on the road and you crash into a wall.
Vegas has BYU up by 1.5 points, which is nothing, so there is also some mixed feelings about this.
I’m not sure, what to expect, a shootout of a defense standstill, but I lean towards a shootout.
In that I think the BYU defense will come up big more often than they fail.
Cougars win.

#21 Arizona State @ Utah
This feels like the pity-bowl.
Arizona State, reigning BIG12 champ, playoff team last year, did just seemingly crash, when they lost to Mississippi State on week 2. But the team did win all other games and is perfect inside the BIG12.
They MIGHT return to the championship game. But you might not trust in that confidence, because of that loss to the Bulldogs.
And Utah, they were supposed to come back after a bad season, because that is what their coach is doing since the ages of the dinosaurs.
But they seemingly crashed against Texas Tech 2 weeks ago and that did hurt also.
Here, one team will have to let go.
If Arizona State wins, all will say ‘yeah, they are contenders’ and Utah will be just in for another mediocre season at best.
The other way around, both teams might end up 2nd tier and will have no say for the championship game.
I personally still believe in Utah to be not bad, so I think they can win this.
Vegas is also confident and picks Utah as 5.5-point favorite.
Utes win.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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