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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