2016-10-10 10:17

Oh wow, what a weekend.
Hurricane Matthew did lead to several games under questionable conditions, some postponed games which were played a day later and one game which is questionable it will ever be played.

That weather did really changed the season outcome of some teams.
Notre Dame lost against NC State in heavy rain from the side. That field was basically a swimming pool.
Two field goals and a punt block returned for a score was the complete scoring summary.
Would have Notre Dame lost under good conditions? I don't know, but that rain did more or less destroy the whole offense production, of both teams.
Good for NC State, bad for the Irish.

North Carolinas good offense did also vanish under heavy rainy conditions. Interesting was, Virginia Tech was able to play.

LSU and Florida might not play this season against each other. That game in Florida was for whatever reasons not shifted to Louisiana and both teams do not have any additional open slots for the game left.
As far as I know, there is discussion to cancel the non-conference games a bit later on a specific date, where both teams do play against cupcakes and to use that slot.
Problem with that is, both schools would have to compensate the schools losing that game, which can be millions of dollars.
My pick here, that Tigers-Gators game will not be played. Maybe they will do it on the SEC Championship game date, if both teams are not participating (which is currently the opinion of the majority).

The Duke-Army game was also a low scoring one on a soaked field with no stopping of rain over the whole time.

South Carolina did shift the game one day to play under safe conditions for players and fans (and lost against Georgia).

And UCF did shift their game to November to play Tulane, also because of the Hurricane.

But that was not the whole wow-effect of the weekend.

Some might say, business as usual, when I say, that we saw some heavy upsets this weekend, and they might be right.
Still, it's a surprise of some team falls, if they are heavily favored in a game and lose.
Not really national prominence, but Arkansas State did beat Sun Belt favorite Georgia Southern on Thursday already and that will have huge impact inside the conference.
How about Houston getting a few torpedoes too much from Navy and the Houston-for-playoffs-boat sank silently, but fast?
What about UConn beating Cincinnati?
Wyoming beating Air Force?
BYU crushing Michigan State?

There were several games and next weeks preview will show a quite changed landscape for the playoff picture.

Let's have a look at the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 6

Sat. Oct 8 - 3:30 PM ET
#9 Tennessee @ #8 Texas A&M
It took 2 OTs to beat the Tennessee-wiggle-themselves-out-of-misery-curse.
The Vols came back in the 4th quarter, again.
Did force OT but a good A&M defense did intercept the Vols in the 2nd OT to claim the victory.
For the Volunteers that means the East division is now quite open again, while A&M has a buy week and will face Alabama after that.
A win over the Crimson Tide would make A&M the leader in the West.
Tennessee 38 - Texas A&M 45 (2OT) -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 14-11

Sat. Oct 8 - 3:30 PM ET
#25 Virginia Tech @ #17 North Carolina
As mentioned above did VT play good under rainy conditions, while UNC did not.
Fuentes new look Hokies has now a good chance to win the division, which would be a huge start.
But the big games are coming and it's hard to believe the team will go undefeated in that period.
Next is a road trip to Syracuse.
UNC on the other hand lost their first ACC game and will face Miami on the road next weekend.
Virginia Tech 34 - North Carolina 3 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 14-12

Sat. Oct 8 - 7:00 PM ET
#1 Alabama @ #16 Arkansas
Arkansas did try to stay in the game, but lost it already in the first half.
It was 35-17 at the half and that margin did not change much over the remaining time.
Alabama is the team to beat inside the SEC, no doubt, while Arkansas can play spoiler for the rest of the season and can hope to win some more games.
The Crimson Tide will play Tennessee next week, Arkansas will face Ole Miss.
Alabama 49 - Arkansas 30 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 15-12

Sat. Oct 8 - 8:00 PM ET
#23 Florida State @ #10 Miami
Oh man, that was a shame.
Miami was up front at the half 13-3, but a huge 3rd quarter made FSU the leader 17-13 at the start of the 4th.
FSU did hit another field goal and extended it to 20-13.
Miami got the ball with 3 minutes left after a big punt return on the FSU 16 yard line.
They needed a TD to tie the game, right?
Four plays later they GOT that TD, lined up for the extra point and that kick was BLOCKED!
The Hurricanes did not try an onside kick, instead they did rely on their defense and tried to force a punt with 1:30 left in the game.
But they were unable to get that going and FSU was able to run out the clock and win that game.
FSU will host Wake Forest next week, Miami will host UNC.
Florida State 20 - Miami 19 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 15-13

Sat. Oct 8 - 12:00 PM ET
Texas vs #20 Oklahoma
That was a great game, unfortunate for Charlie Strong did Oklahoma win.
The game was almost tied at the half, Oklahoma leading by 1.
In the 3rd did Oklahoma score a TD more than Texas and pulled away 35-27 and later in the 4th even 42-27 until Texas woke up.
With less than 2 minutes to play did Texas get close with a TD-score, trailing only 45-40, but the onside-kick was lost and even when Texas was able to force a punt, the remaining 3 plays did not change the score.
The last play was the usual lateral try, which does work only in a few games per season and the Sooners did not let that happen and won the game.
Oklahoma had many turnovers, so the Longhorns defense did look a bit better than the weeks before, but not enough to win this.
Whether this will be enough to save Charlie Strongs job is not known yet, so far no "He got fired" news, which likely means he will survive this until further notice.
He is at the moment at #1 in coacheshotseat.com, whatever that means ....
Texas will likely snap their losing streak next week against Iowa State, Oklahoma will host Kansas State.
Texas 40 - Oklahoma 45 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 16-13

Other interesting games:

Sat. Oct 8 - 12:00 PM ET
LSU @ #18 Florida Gators
That game was officially postponed and no substitution date was announced yet. Likely to be canceled.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-9 (no change, game postponed)

Sat. Oct 8 - 12:00 PM ET
Maryland @ Penn State
Penn State really did dominate against Maryland, won 38-14 and hopefully that means Penn State found their rhythm. They will need it, next game in 2 weeks is Ohio State.
Maryland might bounce back against Minnesota next week.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-10

Sat. Oct 8 - 12:00 PM ET
Iowa @ Minnesota
That was Big10 football and at the end did Iowa win 14-7. Iowa plays Purdue next week, Minnesota faces Maryland.
Jacks interesting games Score: 18-10

Sat. Oct 8 - 12:30 PM ET
Georgia Tech @ Pittsburgh
The Yellow Jackets did really give Pittsburgh something to work with and almost won that game, but Pitt won 37-34.
GT will non-conference Georgia Southern, while Pitt will play Virginia on the road.
Jacks interesting games Score: 19-10

Sat. Oct 8 - 3:00 PM ET
#6 Houston @ Navy
As mentioned did Navy win here 46-40 and outplayed Houston. Big loss for Houston and basically for the whole Group of 5 conferences.
Houston faces a strong Tulsa team next week, Navy will play Eastern Carolina on the road.
Jacks interesting games Score: 19-11

Sat. Oct 8 - 3:00 PM ET
Toledo @ Eastern Michigan
Toledo win 35-20, so the Eagles did beat the spread of 17 a bit, still they lost.
The Rockets will play Bowling Green next week, while Eastern Michigan will travel to Ohio.
Jacks interesting games Score: 20-11

Sat. Oct 8 - 4:00 PM ET
#21 Colorado @ USC
Oh, another wrong pick by me. Colorado did tie the game at the start of the 4th quarter, but were unable to stop USC to score right after that.
The next drive was only a Buffalos field goal, which lead to the final score of USC winning 21-17.
Colorado did lose at the end, because they got worn down in the 4th and were unable to hold USC on offense.
The Buffalos will play the Arizona State Sun Devils next week, USC goes into the desert to play the Arizona Wildcats.
Jacks interesting games Score: 20-12

Sat. Oct 8 - 7:30 PM ET
#5 Washington @ Oregon
Very boring game, if you are not a Huskies fan. The Ducks lost 70-21.
That ended a 12 game losing streak against the Ducks for Washington.
Both teams do have a bye week now, in 2 weeks Washington will play Oregon State, while Oregon plays Cal on the road.
Jacks interesting games Score: 21-12

Sat. Oct 8 - 10:30 PM ET
UCLA @ Arizona State
Turnover prone game, which was won by the Sun Devils 23-20.
ASU now on top of the south, UCLA under pressure.
ASU will play Colorado next week, UCLA will play against the hot Washington State on the road.
Jacks interesting games Score: 22-12

Sat. Oct 8 - 10:30 PM ET
Washington State @ #15 Stanford
Uiiiih, that did hurt.
Stanford did lose 42-16, at home.
The two Washington teams did destroy all Cardinals dreams of PAC12 Champ repeat in 2 weeks.
Wazzou will face UCLA, Stanford plays Notre Dame in South Bend.
Jacks interesting games Score: 22-13

And some other results which might be interesting:
As mentioned did Arkansas State get their first win, beating Georgia Southern 27-26.
Louisiana Tech did beat WKU 55-52. Defense was obviously not in the house.
Also as mentioned did UConn beat Cincinnati 20-9. The Bearcats are now 0-3 in the American.
TCU got lucky and won against Kansas 24-23. The Jayhawks did almost win, but missed the game winning FG from 54 yards out.
Southern Miss did lose against UTSA 55-32.
Purdue did win against Illinois 34-31 to get their first Big10 win.
Georgia State won against Texas State 41-21 for their first win of the season.
Wyoming did upset Air Force 35-26.
I did also mention that BYU did beat Michigan State. The Cougars won 31-14 on the road.
North Texas did beat Marshall 38-21.
Idaho won against Louisiana-Monroe 34-31.
Kansas State did beat Texas Tech 44-38.
Florida International has no won 2 in a row under interims management. Last week they won against UTEP 35-21.
Oregon State did upset Cal 47-44 in OT.
Charlotte did win against Florida Atlantic 28-23. The Hail Mary pass by FAU, which did look like a TD at first and made the Owls celebrate was taken back by the officials and the 49ers did win instead.
And at last, the moved game between Georgia and South Carolina ended on Sunday with a Bulldogs win 28-14.

Tags: Block of Granite, News