2025-10-30 14:55

Oh ho! And the next big-name HC did get the pink slip almost right after his team did lose the 3rd game of the last 4 games and fell to 5-3 overall.

The review of the game will be a bit down from here, because it was one of my highlighted games, but I will spoil you here already with the result, because it was significant and led to the firing of the HC.

LSU did host Texas A&M and was blasted out of their home stadium, 25:49.
That were the most points against a ranked LSU team in their home stadium since Georgia did scored 52 in 2008.

So, with that humiliation at home did the fans start to bring out the axe and called for Brian Kellys head. And after a night of considerations in the AD office and likely a check on the purse the AD did fire Brian Kelly, even he will likely receiver a buyout of 54 million dollars.

Kelly was basically hired away from Notre Dame, where he went for 12 seasons without any title, but with a very good record, and hired him for a 10-season contract worth almost 100 million dollars, 90% guaranteed. Now he was left go in his 4th season, after fielding 10-4, 10-3, 9-4 and now 5-3, including 3 consecutive bowl wins. What he did not deliver was a title inside the SEC or on national stage. He did reach only one time the SEC Championship game and was beaten by Georgia.

I did say it in previous blog entries, LSUs ambitions are HIGH, and if you don’t deliver, you are expandable. The program has deep pockets and does use it, at the end they have to watch what the HC in charge does with the players and what the players produce on the field with that money. And Kellys path did not fit with the goals of the program, understandable.

Whoever will be the next one, I hope he gets a similar contract as Kelly, because in that environment, that kind of contract is the right compensation. It is heard, the program wants to negotiate the Kelly buyout, but honestly, I would not give an inch, if that’s possible, because this program is a mad house and any coach deserves the highest compensation on that.

LSUs HCs of the past 2 decades were (I leave the interims out, if they did not get the real deal done):
Les Miles 2005 to 2016. He was the last exception with that long period. He did win National Championship (2007) and SEC Championships (2007 and 2011) but fell from grace later with NCAA violations and sanctions.
Ed Orgeron 2016 to 2021. He was the interim, who got the real deal and was lucky to have a future NFL start as QB, winning the National Championship and the SEC in 2019. Once the QB was gone, he fell from grace and was let go 2 seasons later.
And then came Kelly with no title.

I think every HC getting there knows what comes, as does the future HC of Florida. It’s a shark bay kind of business.

Enough of that.

Crazy game? Sure.
BYU did beat Iowa State, 41:27. BYU is by that really in a prime position to play for the BIG 12 Championship, while Iowa State did lose now 3 games in a row, which will likely mean, the HC will again vanish from any promotion considerations.
Rudgers did win against Purdue, 27:24. This was one of the cellar fights of the BIG10 and Rutgers got their 1st win inside the BIG10 this season.
Wake Forest won against SMU, 13:12. It was important for SMU to win this and now they are 1 win behind the leading teams inside the ACC.
Suddenly did Kent State win against Bowling Green, 24:21. By that is Kent State still in the mix for the MAC Championship seats and the favorite Bowling Green is more or less eliminated.
Auburn did win against Arkansas, 33:24. For both teams no easy season, but Auburn got that 1st win inside the SEC, while the Razorbacks still have to wait for their 1st win in the SEC.
Buffalo did stumble over the so far not so good Akron Zips, losing 16:24. That did put Buffalos a step back in contention.

Not so many real upsets this week.
Let’s look at the games I did pick as preview last week and review them.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 9

Sat. Oct 25
#8 Ole Miss @ #13 Oklahoma
This game was some sort of rollercoaster ride. Ole Miss was the clear better teams for the 1st half and a bit beyond that.
The Rebels were leading 22:10 at the half and kept that margin alive until roughly 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
Then did Oklahoma score a TD on a big play on the 1st play of a drive, stopped Ole Miss, so Oklahoma got the ball back, and scored again before the quarter was over. Suddenly the Sooners were leading, 26:25.
Unfortune for the home team did Ole Miss then answer with a TD and took the lead back, held the Sooners scoreless for the whole quarter and won at the end 34:26.
An important win for Ole Miss to stay in the contender field, while Oklahoma can start to think about the other bowl spots.
#8 Ole Miss 34 @ #13 Oklahoma 26 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 13-6

#15 Missouri @ #10 Vanderbilt
This was a very defense driven game, which at the end did Vanderbilt win!
Right now, Commodore fans must feel like Christmas and several other holidays are all at once.
At halftime the game was tied at 3, after 3 quarters the game was 10:3 Vandy and then did Missouri tie the game starting the 4th, went to midfield a bit later, fumbled and Vandy took the opportunity and score a game winning TD.
I think next season Vandy will have a heavy hangover on those 2 seasons (2025 and 2024) and eventually will fall back to old days, but for now the team is in the mix of the contender inside the SEC and in the mix for a playoff spot.
Wonders!
Missouri is for me right now away from the contenders spots and has to live with a good bowl spot, but not more.
#15 Missouri 10 @ #10 Vanderbilt 17 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 14-6

#3 Texas A&M @ #20 LSU
Man, this was a real booboo the Tigers did let happen at home.
The 1st half did even look OK, did still show the problems of LSU.
In the 1st quarter did LSU score 1 TD, Texas A&M did score twice.
In the 2nd did then the LSU defense hit their high and scored a safety and caught 2 INTs. Those actions led to 11 points in total, which did show the major program of LSU already. Their offense did just not click and needed all the chances the defense could provide them and then even here were the results not the best. And that did hurt in the 2nd half.
LSU did lead at the break 18:14, but A&M came out of the locker room and scored a TD on their first drive to take the lead.
LSU did punt after a 3-play drive and allowed a punt return TD. Then they did punt again after 6 plays and A&M scored another TD.
LSU did 3-and-out.
Now already in the 4th quarter did A&M score again and latest here did everyone in the stadium understand, that this won’t end pretty for LSU.
At the end did LSU score in garbage time one more, but that was after allowing 35 points in a row.
The fans wanted the head of Brian Kelly and they got it.
We will see, whether the next HC will do better.
AT least the Aggies did pat themselves on the back for now, because their bold firing of their last HC did so far pay off. A&M is right now one of the strongest, if not THE strongest contender inside the SEC and nationwide.
#3 Texas A&M 49 @ #20 LSU 25 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 15-6

And some other interesting games:

Sat. Oct 25
#18 South Florida @ Memphis
When I went to bed on Saturday, the game did look like I expected it.
South Florida was leading, and I expected the Bulls do grind this game home. But the truth is, the Bulls did lead for 3 quarters and then suddenly did their offense not find any room to progress and their defense was unable to keep the Memphis offense in check. You might think that a 31:17 lead would be enough to bring the game home with good time management, but Memphis did score, the Bulls did give the ball back after just 2 minutes, Memphis did score and the Bulls did ... you get it, I guess.
When Memphis did score their 17th point in a row, USF had one last drive and went to the Tigers 34-yard line and missed the game tying field goal to lose 31:34. By that did the AAC stay quite open and likely did South Florida shot themselves in the foot for a playoff spot.
Jacks interesting games Score: 14-5

#25 Michigan @ Michigan State
Quite open until the half, basically lost for MSU in the 3rd and then closed with false hope for the Spartans fans mid in the 4th.
At the end did Michigan win a good game, 31:20. For the Wolverines, this was just a bump in the roadmap, while for the Spartans it seems the season is not as good as it could have been.
Jacks interesting games Score: 15-5

Houston @ #24 Arizona State
ASU was awful. Houston did dominate the game for 3 quarters and led 24:0!
Then did the Sun Devils suddenly get a drive going and scored, stopped the Cougars and scored again and later again, all with no Cougar points as answer. But what does this help, if you lose 16:24?
Houston in the hunt, Arizona State did drop to ‘likely eliminated’.
Jacks interesting games Score: 15-6

That’s it for gameday 9.

Now we get to a new section, the conference standings.
With week 10 coming, most teams had so far between 8 and 10 (including week zero) games. Still some ground left to work with and the fields inside the conference are still big.
So here is my take: Obvious the leading teams, often still perfect inside the conference, are named, as are the 1-loss-behind-them-teams.
If needed 2-loss-behind-teams will come also into the mix, but I will try to avoid that. That has the risk a team might get back into the conversation seemingly suddenly, since I never did mention it, or which went out of the list weeks before, but so be it. I want to make the lists as small as possible.

Let's go to the conference standings after week 9.

American Athletic Conference
Right now, the AAC is split in half. We have two perfect teams inside the AAC with Navy and Tulane. They will not play against each other in the regular season, so eventually they will do that in the Championship game.
Right behind them are 5 teams with 1 loss, #25 Memphis, South Florida, North Texas, Temple and East Caroline. Those 7 leading teams will play in different patters against each other, so the field will likely shrink in the next few weeks. From here the rest has 3 losses or more and it’s unlikely any team in that group will become a contender this season, again. Of all teams in the AAC is only Memphis ranked at #25. That’s important for the playoff spots, maybe.

Atlantic Coast Conference
The ACC is quite open. Leading teams are the perfect ones, you never would have had on your list prior the season. #8 Georgia Tech, and #15 Virginia are the lone survivors on a schedule, which usually would not leave them perfect at that moment. They will not play against each other in the regular season, so maybe those 2 will play in the Championship game. The 1-loss-teams following will have a say in that with Pittsburgh, #16 Louisville, SMU, Duke and #10 Miami (FL). With several games left, this will be sorted out quickly and every team here still has a chance.
But to be fair, some teams NEED to perfect teams to fall against other teams, to get back into the mix and have a chance by tiebreaker rules to get a spot in the championship game. After those teams, there are 3 teams with 2 losses, but likely those won’t have a say in the championship game spot race.

BIG10 Conference
Only one team did surprise big time inside the BIG10 and this one is leading right now, together with the reigning national champion as perfect teams, #2 Indiana and #1 Ohio State. Also here, no direct contest until season end for those 2 teams. Right behind them are with 1-loss inside the conference, #6 Oregon, Iowa, #21 Michigan and #23 USC. The chances for the 1-loss-teams to catch the perfect ones are getting slimmer but are still there. 5 teams behind them have 2-losses, but none of them does strike me as candidate for a magical return to the prime contender places.

BIG-12 Conference
The BIG-12 has also 2 perfect inside the conference teams, #10 BYU and #17 Cincinnati. Strange in this conference is, there are only 2 teams behind them with 1-loss inside the conference, #13 Texas Tech and #22 Houston. That might give some of the teams with 2 losses a chance to sneak back into the mix. Right now, none of the 4 teams are really able to do that, but with so many games left, we might see it. Especially, because BYU and Cincinnati will play a game against each other, and both will play some of the 1-loss or 2-loss teams. The BIG-12 seems to be quite open.

Conference USA
The CUSA will very likely not have any say on the playoff spots, but side the conference there are still the spots for the Championship game to be seated and here are Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State the teams with no loss inside the conference so far. They will play against each other later, so that leaves some room for the 1-loss teams to get back into the Championship game spots. With 1 loss behind the leading teams are Western Kentucky, Missouri State, which are ineligible for post-season activities, thanks to their FCS-to-FBS-transition and Liberty. There are 4 teams behind them with 2-losses, but to be fair, I don’t think any of them will have a say in the spot seating at the end.

Mid-American Conference
The MAC is the 1st and only conference having right now only 1 perfect team inside the conference, Miami (OH). They are followed by 4 teams with 1 loss each, Central Michigan, Ohio, Buffalo and Western Michigan. Since One team with 1-loss is already a must for the Championship game seat, the 2-loss teams can at least dream of getting back to real contention, which are Toledo, Ball State and Kent State. I personally think, the field will get sorted out fast in the coming weeks.

Mountain West Conference
Thanks to the last weekends results, the Mountain West has only 2 flawless teams left, Boise State and San Diego State. Behind them are with 1 loss each, Hawai’i and UNLV. I think this group will play it out at the end. But Boise State and SDSU will play against each other, soon, so, eventually will a 2-loss team get back into contention. Right now there are 4 teams waiting for their chance and once it’s clear which might have a chance, I will name them.

Southeastern Conference
The SEC is right now dominated by the 2 undefeated teams inside the conference, #3 Texas A&M and #4 Alabama. Right behind them are the hopeful 4 teams with 1-loss each, #5 Georgia, #7 Ole Miss, #9 Vanderbilt and #20 Texas. The 2-loss-teams are also quite good in the mix for an eventual playoff spot, but I do right now doubt they will have a say in the SEC Championship game spots. For now, none of the 4 teams with 2-losses is close to get into the playoffs or in SEC contention, so I leave them out.

Sun Belt Conference
The SUN BELT has still divisions and the division champs will play in the championship game. Leading in the East is James Madison as perfect team. Behind them are with 1 loss each Coastal Carolina and Marshall. JMU will play both in the remaining season, so lots of room for upsets. In the West is Southern Miss and Troy perfect and leading the division. Only Arkansas State with 1 loss is still in contention, the rest has already 3 losses or more. Troy and Southern Miss will battle it out later.

That's it for the conferences. The PAC-12 will resurface next season with several teams coming in, this season they are only 2 teams not worth the conversation and with no championship game, so I leave that out.

Now for the next big thing, the bowls.
This season we have 11 College Football Playoff games and 34 other FBS-Bowls. For the CFP-games, the 1st-round games are technically no bowls, but are filled with teams which are bowl eligible and the games are covered in the bowl season, so this season I will count them into the mix. Technically we have 8 spots for 1st round games, 4 spots for the CFP-Bowls (the rest will be filled from the 1st round winners and then by the remaining winning teams in the CFP-bows until the Championship game) and 68 other bowl spots. That adds up to 80 teams needed for post-season games.

Bowl eligible teams
So far, we have 40 teams already qualified.
Regardless their results will be Delaware and Missouri State not eligible, since they are in transition from FCS (but in the past did teams in transition phase play bowls, if additional teams were needed and they had the 6 wins needed) and Akron is banned from postseason based on APR score.

Week 6: Memphis,
Week 7: Georgia Tech, Navy, Indiana, Ohio State, BYU, Texas Tech, UNLV, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Week 8: Virginia, North Texas, South Florida, Tulane, Oregon, Cincinnati, Houston, Hawai’i, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, James Madison
Week 9: Louisville, Miami (FL), Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Washington, TCU, Utah, Western Kentucky, Boise State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas, Southern Miss, Troy

That’s that for the overview.
So, let’s have a look on the games of the upcoming weekend.
Unfortune this week most matchups are quite one-sided, or between non-contenders. Of course, this leaves room for a lot of surprises and upsets, but those are hard to predict.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 10

Sat. Nov 1
#9 Vanderbilt @ #20 Texas
Yes, a 3rd big game from Vanderbilt preview in a row. Likely this won’t get beaten in the next decade, so enjoy it as long as it lasts. Vanderbilt is right now 3-1 inside the SEC, as is Texas.
The Longhorns have a question mark on their star QB, who is in concussion protocol and it is open, whether he will be active on Saturday. But I guess he will.
Texas is favored to win by Vegas by 2.5 points.
That’s interesting, since Texas had some issues this season and Vanderbilt did beat some teams so far.
I expect a close game, likely a defense driven game and I do predict, if the Vanderbilt QB has a great game, the Commodores will win, if not, they will be defeated big time.
I think I will go with Texas here, because of 2 issues.
One, Texas at home is still a tough one.
Two, with the QB situation looming, this might be a tough one to prepare for.
Longhorns win.

#18 Oklahoma @ #14 Tennessee
Here we have Oklahoma and Tennessee, 2 teams with already 2 losses on their SEC bill and that means, which ever team does lose this game here, is very very likely out of any contention inside the SEC and the playoffs.
Vegas has the Vols ahead by 3.5 points and I’m willing to follow that trail, because Oklahoma did suck against Texas and Ole Miss in the past 3 week and do have to go to Tennessee and play against a strong team. The Vols did lose only to Alabama and Georgia so far and those teams are a bit stronger than the teams Oklahoma did lose against.
So, that and the home field advantage, equals ...
Volunteers win.

#17 Cincinnati @ #24 Utah
A trap game inside the BIG-12!
Cincinnati did sneak slowly into in the ranks and did beat team after team since week 2, after they lost to Nebraska in week 1. Now they are in top position inside the conference (5-0) and has to face an up-and-down-Utah team. Utah did lose 2 games already inside the BIG-12 and looks beatable, only that they did lose against 2 of the top contenders. Now they face the 3rd top contender and are favored by Vegas by 10.5 points!
That’s a shot against Cincinnati. It means, regardless what you have done, we believe your team to be a sissy.
Is that the case? We don’t know, but we will find out.
Utahs units are good, bit did show also some weaknesses from time to time and if Cincinnati can exploit those, they will win.
But at home, I’m with the Utes to get this done, even I think it will be closer than the betting line.
Utes win.

And some other interesting games:

Sat. Nov 1
#10 Miami @ SMU
One team will likely has to end their dreams about a Championship spot.
Miamis loss to Louisville did put the team in a bad position here, while SMUs loss to Wake Forest did the same to the Mustangs. With 2 losses, that losing team is likely eliminated.
Miami, could still hope for a playoff spot, but I think a loss to SMU would end also that, SMU would be toast.
It’s played in Texas, so Miami has to play good and focused.
They are favored by 11.5 points, in this game.
On a good day, this should be a homerun for this seasons Miami team.
Will they have one? I don’t know and it’s hard to predict.
I think their HC will have them prepared and the rest is as every game a gameday progression.
Hurricanes win.

Navy @ North Texas
A top game inside the AAC is featuring an unbeaten Navy team against a 1-loss-inside-the-conference North Texas team. North Texas is believed to be another sleeping giant, thanks to the wide and very productive Texas high school system and with the money boost of the conference change the past year, the school might become a constant program in the top ... I don’t know ... 30? 40? At least inside the AAC it would be a sign of strength, if the team would be in the contenders list for a longer period. This season the team did lose so far only to South Florida, quite heavily. So, their status as contender is questionable.
Navy on the other hand is perfect so far, but their tough part of the schedule starts basically this weekend and runs until Army-Navy at the end of the season. That means their strength is also not really known.
One thing is quite sure.
The loser will have a problem, regarding the contention. Navy will fall 1-loss behind and will have a tie-breaker-disadvantage for now. They would be eliminated, but at the edge.
Tougher will be a North Texas loss, because I think with 2 losses any team inside the AAC will be likely eliminated.
Vegas has North Texas ahead by 6.5 points and I did, before I did check the betting lines, pick UNT also, because auf the homefield advantage and the untested Navy squad.
Sure, can go anyway, but I think Navy will have a tough time in November and it will start here.
Mean Grean win.

Washington State @ Oregon State
And because of lacking interesting games for me, the unofficial PAC-12-Championship game of 2025.
The PAC-12 is only 2 teams big, right now, after all other teams did bold for other conferences, like the BIG10, the BIG-12 and the ACC. The conference will be re-staffed in 2026 with 6 teams from other conference, like MWC and SUN BELT.
That means, this season and last season were and will be the only one with no official Champion, but in both seasons the teams did or will play against each other and for sure the winner will have the bragging rights.
Last year did the Beavers win.
This season the Beavers do look bad and then some, so the betting line is stunning 3.5 points in favor of Washington State. Why only so low? Because the Cougars are also bad this season.
So bad vs worse, but we do not know, right now, which team is what.
I think the Beavers will lose this, but you never know.
Cougars win.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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