2024-10-08 07:21

Oh, what a fun weekend!

I did expect a more or less boring favorite-wins-it-weekend, since many games did look quite one-dimensional, but we had several games where the fans did storm the field, since the heavy underdog did pull an upset for the ages.

That did shuffle the standings and rankings a bit.

Overall, it will be interesting to see, whether teams, which did lose, will lose again, maybe even soon, or the team does have a turnaround / recovery.

Some news on the conference realignments, with no word so far from the PAC-12, still looking for at least 1 more team to join, the Mountain West did pitch some offers and got a 'no, Thank You' card from Texas State of the Sun Belt (with no real reason why given) and a 'Yes, we love it' from UTEP from Conference USA. MWC still in need for another full member to stay a conference.
CUSA is right now stable to stay a conference with the loss of UTEP.

Let's jump into the reviews!

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 6

Sat. Oct 05
#9 Missouri @ #25 Texas A&M
Well, this will be fast, Missouri was unable to do anything in the 1st half and A&M was already leading 24:0 at the half.
They did increase the score to 34:0 until Mizzou did start scoring and at the end it was a landslide win from the Aggies, which was for sure a big setback for the Tigers and a big step for the Aggies.
#9 Missouri 10 @ #25 Texas A&M 41 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 14-4

#12 Ole Miss @ South Carolina
Another of those clear games, which was over at the half, when Ole Miss did lead already 24:3. South Carolina was just not able to stop the Rebels.
The 2nd half did go much slower, but the Gamecocks did more or less just let the time run down and lost in a boring game.
Ole Miss has a win on the record, which gives them a small boost again and South Carolina needs to focus on the next games to eventually get the 6 wins for a bowl.
#12 Ole Miss 27 @ South Carolina 3 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 15-4

SMU @ #22 Louisville
This was a much better game. SMU did look like the clear winning team at half, leading 24:13.
Then the Cardinals came out of the locker room and scored on the 1st drive to cut the Mustangs lead to 4.
Mustangs were held to a field goal and the Cardinals did score on their next drive a TD to tie the game at 27.
When then SMU was held for another field goal try, which they missed, the Cardinals fans did smell hope.
But Louisville was unable to score and that went on for both teams, until SMU did score a TD with less than 7 minutes left to play.
More than enough time, right?
Yeah, Louisville did march over the field, went to the red zone and ... was intercepted ...
SMU won and Louisville got a big kick in the butt.
SMU 34 @ #22 Louisville 27 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 16-4

Oh man, 3 of 3 in the top games, but I promise I have picked worse on other games.

And some other interesting games:

Sat. Oct 05
Boston College @ Virginia
A good example to stay focused for the whole game. Virginia was down 6:14 at the start of the 4th quarter. Then they scored a field goal, intercepted BC on the next drive and scored a TD on the next drive. BAM. Virginia leading 17:14.
Next drive BC, they crawled to mid field, slowly and then ... fumbled the ball, it was returned for a TD and the game was basically over.
Virginia had even a missed FG in the remaining time, but it did not matter, they won 24:14 and my nice theory of the hot Eagles became a story of the Eagles, losing the ball like hot potatoes ...
Jacks interesting games Score: 10-8

South Alabama @ Arkansas State
A very defense driven game (which was at least for me surprising), with Arkansas State leading at the half 6:3.
The 3rd quarter was in favor of South Alabama, and they took the lead after a TD 10:9.
Then the game became a bit alive in the 4th and Arkansas State score a TD (and failed the 2-pointer), South Alabama scored a TD (and failed the 2-pointer) and Arkansas State did score a Field Goal for the lead, with a few ticks left, to win 18:16.
Jacks interesting games Score: 10-9

Kansas @ Arizona State
And this here was quite epic.
Tied at the half at 14 did both teams gain and lose constantly.
Kansas was in lead by a FG, ASU scored a TD, Kansas answered with a TD also and got the lead back.
ASU scored, Kansas scored, fans all in the bonfire of constant lead change.
ASU got the ball with roughly 2 minutes left to play and they needed a TD.
And they got it with a few ticks left to win 35:31.
A rough start for the Jayhawks so far and a good start for the Sun Devils.
Jacks interesting games Score: 11-9

Wheeeee, that was close to fail all picks in this category. Let's get to the REAL upsets.

And some more funny result of week 6:

- Syracuse did take on UNVL on the road and after OT, they won 44:41. It's the 1st loss of UNLV so far and after that 1st win with their new starting QB, when everyone did say, 'who was that guy leaving again?', now they might regret to let their QB redshirt over 100K. With that loss, I say, they have to win the conference now to have an outsider chance to get in the playoffs.
- Houston did play TCU on the road and man, TCU has again a rough season. Houston won 30:19 and both teams have already 2 conference losses, which makes it unlikely they will play for the conference title.
- Now to the biggest upset of the weekend, when Alabama did visit Vanderbilt. Alabama was ranked #1, hat that big win against Georgia last week and lost this big time. Vandy did lead 23:14 at the half, Alabama looked like they would recover in the 3rd, but failed to stop the Commodores offense and allowed in the 4th quarter 10 points in a row (thanks to a Tide fumble) to be in deep trouble when they got the ball with 5 minutes left to play. Alabama scored a TD, gave Vandy the ball with almost 3 minutes left and ... sucked on the defense part. Vanderbilt did beat Alabama 40:35, which was the 1st ever win by Vandy against a #1 team, EVER. They also did not win against Alabama in 40 years (23 games). The fans did storm the field and took down the goal posts, carried it through Nashvilles downtown and tossed it into the river. Not sure why, but try to stop them, I guess. The university was fined 100.000$ for the storming to be paid to Alabama. Massive win for Vandy, BIG embarrassing loss for Alabama, who were a 20+ points favorite in this game.
- And we had more, with Arkansas beating Tennessee 19:14. The Vols did lead until 3 minutes left to play, when Arkansas did get the ball and suddenly marched over the field in 4 plays and score a TD with 1 minutes left to play. Tennessee tried the comeback and came even to the red zone, but time ran out when they tried to get a TD. Same pictures here, fans stormed the field and took down the goal posts. The team was fined 250.000$ (for the 2nd event of such nature) to be paid to the Vols. For Tennessee a big setback in the conference and national wide.
- A different funny game at Cal, where Miami was the big favorite, but was behind 25 points in the 3rd quarter. Then the Hurricanes did start to recover and did score a TD, held Cal to a field goal and then ... it went all downhill for Cal, big time. Miami scored a TD, Cal was stopped, quickly, Miami score again, Cal was again stopped and (I guess you know it) Miami scored another TD to get the 39:38 lead. Less than 30 seconds to play did Cal try to do something, was intercepted and Miami did prevail to win this shocker 39:38. Miami stays hot, while Cal did get a cool shower after this home loss.
- Next upset, with Washington playing Michigan in a rematch of the National Championship game. The Huskies did look like they would lose it, at home, but had a burst of scoring in the 4th and won the game, 27:17. The fans did storm the field but left the post intact as it seems.
- Next field storming? USC did play Minnesota on the road and were 9.5-point favorite. But the Gophers did come from behind in the 4th and did beat the Trojans 24:17 with a late TD. Gophers fans did get on the field, but not compare to Vandy ....
- Wake Forest did beat NC State, 34:30. Wake Forest got the ball, trailing, with 7 minutes left to play and did slowly eat away the clock and scored the TD with a minute left to play. NC State was intercepted on the next play and the Deacons ran down the clock to get that 1st conference win.
- Charlotte did win against East Carolina, 55:24. East Carolina so far with a very inconsistent season so far.
- James Madison came to Monroe. Louisiana to play ULM, as 16.5-point favorite and did lose 19:21. A really big win for the Warhawks, who are (as usually losing team) 4-1 so far.

That's that for week 6.

A sidenote, 2 teams did already reach Bowl eligibility, Miami and ... Indiana. Who would have thought that? Not many teams did even had the chance to get those 6 wins, but I think no one did expect Indiana hit a perfect 6-0 start.

As dull week 6 did look like on paper last week, as exciting does look week 7 this week. I hope the games will be thrilling, but at least they will be important.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 7

Sat. Oct 12
#1 Texas vs #18 Oklahoma
The RED RIVER RIVALRY is coming and it's the 120th game between the two teams. Oklahoma did win last season, but Texas leads the series by 12 wins.
This season it seems the game is quite clear, since Texas is a 14.0-point favorite, but don't underestimate the rivalry factor in this game.
On paper, Texas is better suited, they might even have their starting QB back in the lineup, even the backup did play very good and eventually a QB-battle is brewing at the Longhorns.
Oklahoma is not perfect as Texas and had one loss against Tennessee, but more important, they had also not very convincing wins in some of the other 4 games.
Played on neutral site, there is no homefield advantage.
Everything is possible in this game, but if all goes well, Texas will win here by at least a score.
Longhorns win.

#2 Ohio State @ #3 Oregon
This looks like a dream matchup in the new BIG10, with Ohio State and Oregon both being contender and ranked so close together. It could be also a preview on the conference final, but the season is not even half done, so a lot can happen.
Both teams are unbeaten and did look convincing strong, even Oregon had a close game against Boise State in September.
Played in Eugene, Ohio State is still the favorite by the books by 3.0 points.
Not a lot.
The key will be, whether Oregon can get their offense going and keep the Buckeyes offense in check.
So far, no team was able to control the offense of OSU, so we might see a high scoring game, which would be great.
Ohio State did put a lot of effort and money this off-season into the team and the coach has to deliver.
On paper the Buckeyes should be much better than Oregon, but so far they had no chance to really show the full firepower.
I have doubt Oregon can keep up with that team, but I do respect the homefield advantage and the long travel for the Buckeyes.
I expect a high scoring game and a quite close win by ....
Buckeyes win.

#9 Ole Miss @ #13 LSU
Ole Miss had dreams about the playoffs and more with a very mature team. They got a hit into the family jewels 2 weeks ago against Kentucky but recovered against South Carolina.
LSUs ambitions are always high, and they had in the past few seasons great results, just the last push did not happen to be a TOP SEC team. They started the season against USC and lost, but since then they did win all games, but all of those teams were not that good.
Now they face Ole Miss, with their high-flying offense and I fear the Tigers have to play catchup all game.
Played in Death Valley, the homefield will be crucial for LSU and is likely the main reason Ole Miss is only favored by 3.0 points.
I could be wrong, but I think Ole Miss has the potential to score on almost every drive, while LSU did so far not prove they can play with the big boys this season on offense or defense.
Rebels win.

And some other interesting games:

Fri. Oct 11
#16 Utah @ Arizona State
I think no one did expect this game to be crucial for the BIG-12 contention, but both teams did lose in the last 3 weeks, and they are in need to win here to stay in the contention.
Utah was expected to be a contender, but the struggle against Arizona in their last game was a bit of a stunner. They had a bye week since and should be well prepared to play Arizona State. The Sun Devils lost 3 weeks ago against Texas Tech but are much better than anticipated and play at home.
Utah is favored by 6.5 points, which I'm not so convinced to agree on.
I do favor them, by an inch, based on their overall strength and the bye week. If the Sun Devils can take a few pages out of the Wildcats playbook and copy the way they did beat Utah, ASU has a road to victory.
I actually torn between the small edge I give Utah and the gut feeling that ASU will play this season much better than expected.
Ah damn it ...
Sun Devils win.

Sat. Oct 12
#4 Penn State @ USC
Another test for the Lions, this time a long trip away in the new BIG10-rivals town L.A.
Vegas has Penn State head by 5.5 points, which is reasonable, since USC did so far not deliver according to the expectations.
They lost against Michigan and last week against Minnesota.
That's not the USC team the fans want to see.
Penn State is way better than Minnesota and have bested every team so far. USC is their real big test, and it is on the road.
Will that limit them? Maybe.
But their offense looks good and so far, did their defense play strong.
I expect a close game, but ...
Nittany Lions win.

California @ #22 Pittsburgh
Last preview, with a team not many did see here coming.
Cal lost 2 times in a row, last week against Miami on a crazy meltdown.
Pittsburgh is perfect so far, which is one of the big surprises so far and many do thing, whether this will hold on, or will the team break down at some point, eventually this weekend.
Pitt is favored by only 3.0 points.
Their most surprising wins were against UNC and West Virginia.
If the Bears can control the Pitt offense better, I think they have a chance. Other than that will Pitt just outscore Cal.
I do believe the Panthers will fall at some point, but I doubt it will happen at home against a team like Cal.
Panthers win.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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