2024-10-29 08:50
This week, most games did go as expected or within a margin of error which seems OK.
The major programs in terms of leading teams did from my point of view get the wins needed and expected with a few exceptions.
Another HC got the pink slip this weekend. Mike Bloomgren was fired by Rice after a 2-6 start this season and an overall record of 24-52 in 7 seasons. He came to Rice after a 1-11 season by his predecessor and increased the win total every season from 2018 to 2023, with the exception on the shorter season of 2020. In 2022 the team went to a bowl with a 5-7 record, thanks to the highest APR in the country of all 5-7 schools (and lost). In 2023 the team went also to a bowl with a 6-6 record (and lost again).
This season the team won so far only 2 games, one against a FCS team and one against UTSA.
The program decided to look for a new HC early on. Good luck, Rice is a very special program, which is known for their teaching, not their sports, so you need to find a person with a tough skin.
Let's go to the conference standings after week 9.
American Athletic Conference
The undefeated bunch is still Army, Navy and Tulane.
The 1-loss-group contains now only Memphis, since North Texas and Charlotte lost against direct contenders.
Atlantic Coast Conference
The ACC remained as strange as is was, with Clemson, Miami, SMU and Pittsburgh staying on track so far.
As 1-loss team is only Virginia Tech left.
Duke and Syracuse did fight against unbeaten teams and lost to them.
BIG-12 Conference
BYU and Iowa State are still standing unbeaten.
With 1 loss are Kansas State and Colorado.
Texas Tech lost (eventually surprisingly) to TCU and Cincinnati lost against a contender.
BIG10 Conference
The BIG10 is still led by undefeated teams from Indiana, Oregon and Penn State.
With 1-loss behind them is only Ohio State left.
Illinois and Wisconsin lost against contenders.
Conference USA
Only 2 unbeaten teams left here, Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State.
Liberty did surprisingly lost to Kennesaw State and dropped to the 1-loss-team group, which has also Sam Houston in it.
Mid-American Conference
The MAC has only 1 unbeaten team left, Western Michigan.
The list of 1-loss teams has Miami (OH), Ohio and Bowling Green.
Buffalo and Toledo lost to contenders. Eastern Michigan was upset by Akron.
I still keep the 2-loss teams out, those are 4 additional teams, which are right now irrelevant.
Mountain West Conference
The MWC has now 3 unbeaten teams left, Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State.
UNLV lost to Boise State and dropped to the 1-loss club, having now in addition only Fresno State.
San Jose State and New Mexico lost to direct competitors and dropped out for now.
Southeastern Conference
The SEC had a match between the 2 unbeaten teams left and only Texas A&M is now perfect inside the SEC.
LSU joined the 1-loss-field, containing in addition Georgia, Texas and Tennessee.
Missouri got hammered by Alabama and Vanderbilt lost a close one to Texas and bot are for now outside the focus.
Sun Belt Conference
The Sun Belt had a tough weekend for the leading teams.
The East has now only 1-loss-teams as leading teams, with Old Dominion, Georgia Southern and Marshall.
In addition, there are James Madison and Coastal Carolina with 2 losses, which might get into the driving seats fast.
The West is led by Louisiana only as unbeaten team, since Louisiana-Monroe lost big time to South Alabama.
So, ULM now a 1-loss team with Arkansas State, South Alabama and Texas State.
That's it for the conference.
A lot of stuff still open, especially the many unbeaten teams are a bit concerning, since almost no conference is playing a full round robin (so a game against each other team in the conference) anymore, because there are not enough gamedays. That means some teams, like Miami, do NOT play Clemson, Pittsburgh and SMU on the remaining games and the conference might end up with 2 or even 3 unbeaten teams to fill the 2 championship game seats.
Not perfect, but on the other hand better than having eventually 1 weak division and 1 strong division and the championship game is dull in 90% of the time.
Bowl eligible teams
8 additional teams got the 6th win this weekend, so now 33 teams have already bowl eligibility, which is almost half of the bowl spots available.
Week 6: Miami, Indiana
Week 7: Army, Pittsburgh, BYU, Iowa State, Oregon, Penn State and Texas
Week 8: Clemson, Duke, SMU, Memphis, Navy, Illinois, Kansas State, UNLV, Washington State, Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and Notre Dame
Week 9: Tulane, Ohio State, Colorado, Sam Houston, Boise State, Alabama, Ole Miss, James Madison
78 bowl spots are available.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 9
Sat. Oct 26
#8 LSU @ #14 Texas A&M
Man, I don't know what happened, but LSU did just crumble to nothing in the 2nd half.
The Tigers led 17:7 at the half, all well, except they missed 2 FG-tries in that half, so they could have been more in front.
The 3rd quarter started OK, but on the 2nd LSU drive, the QB was intercepted, and A&M did score a TD a bit later.
Then LSU did get the ball back and fumble the ball away, only to let the Aggies again score a TD.
Now the Aggies in lead, 21:17, LSU did try their best to get the game 100% down the toilet and did throw an INT again.
From there it was all catchup for LSU and at the end did Texas A&M win this 38:23.
The high praised QB of LSU had 3 INTs and the LSU defense did allow 242 yards rushing and 5 TDs from that squad.
THAT is not top-level SEC.
I might be wrong, but I think LSU will not play for the SEC Championship.
#8 LSU 38 @ #14 Texas A&M 24 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 21-7
#21 Missouri @ #15 Alabama
Oh, this is easy.
The 1st half was quite open, but Alabama was the better team.
The Tide led 13:0 at the half.
And then ... Missouri had 2 more turnovers and Alabama just had to cash in, control the clock and the Missouri offense was too weak to get any comeback try going.
Losing with 0 points is a tough cookie for the Tigers.
#21 Missouri 0 @ #15 Alabama 34 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 22-7
#12 Notre Dame @ #24 Navy
Oh my god, when I did read the score, I could not believe it.
An Irish win, sure, but by a margin of 37 points? No.
A closer look did reveal that Navy had 1 INT and fumbled 7 times, losing 5 of those. 6 turnovers!
You cannot come back from that.
On top was the rushing defense of Navy not in the stadium as it seems 265 yards. But to be fair, Notre Dame allowed 224, which is one of the reasons I did believe in a much close game.
But OK, it is as it is.
#12 Notre Dame 51 @ #24 Navy 14 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 23-7
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Oct 25
#17 Boise State @ UNLV
UNLV did start strong and took the lead in the 1st quarter, but Boise State answered with a very strong 2nd quarter to get into the locker room with a 20:10 lead.
But the game was not over, UNLV won the 3rd quarter and regained the lead.
Boise State got the ball back, marched over the field and scored a TD, still more than 12 minutes left to play.
But this time did UNLV fail to get a lot of yardages and had to give the ball back to the Broncos.
And those did eat away the clock, they did even play a 4th down, instead of trying a 53 yarder, and converted that.
The game ended with Boise kneeling down, no extra score, just the 29:24 win.
Boise secured the W in this TOP game inside the MWC, UNLV is set back with now 1 loss behind the Broncos.
Jacks interesting games Score: 18-10
Sat. Oct 26
#5 Texas @ #25 Vanderbilt
Until the 2nd Quarter ended, this did look like a clear Longhorns win. They led 21:10 at the half.
Then they scored a field goal in the 3rd, stopped Vandy and when they had the ball back, they did throw and INT.
Vandy did not asked why and scored a TD to make it a 1-score-game.
After a period of punt-drives, Texas was again able to kick a field goal, or better Vandy did keep Texas out of the endzone, and the Longhorns had to kick.
Then the Commodores did try everything, with less than 2 minutes left, and managed to score a TD.
Unfortune for them the onside kick did fail and Texas won the game, 27:24.
Jacks interesting games Score: 19-10
#20 Illinois @ #1 Oregon
I make this short, Oregon was dominating the Illini, big time, winning 38:9.
For Illinois that means they likely have to aim a bit lower than championships and playoffs, for Oregon it means they are right on track to get to the BIG10-Championship game and further.
Jacks interesting games Score: 20-10
UL Monroe @ South Alabama
And here the bonus game, which did turn out to be a bad pick.
The 1st half did look promising, ULM leading 17:12.
But from the start of the 3rd quarter onward did ULM just not play anymore.
Southern Alabama did score 34 unanswered points and won 46:17.
Since ULM was not expected to be 5-2 at that point, this loss is not too bad for them, still a bit disappointing.
Southern Alabama did keep themselves by the win in the wider mix for the division title.
Jacks interesting games Score: 20-11
And some more funny result of week 9:
- Sam Houston won against FIU, 10:7, and by that became bowl eligible. It's the 3rd FCS-to-FBS-Program in the past few seasons which managed to do that on the 1st season they could do that. The others were in the past Jacksonville State and James Madison in 2023 (both had enough wins, but were still in the transition year and got an invite only, because several spots in the bowls were still open) and Liberty in 2018 (got enough wins but did not play in a bowl because of the transition phase and got eligible again in 2019 and played in a bowl then).
- Kennesaw State did upset Liberty 27:24, giving them the 1st win of the season and the 1st FBS win of the program at all.
- Old Dominion won against Georgia Southern, 47:19, and did by that push the East division of the Sun Belt wide open. A big hit for Georgia Southern and a huge win for Old Dominion.
- Miami did win the rivalry game against Florida State, 36:14, which seals the season for FSU as non-bowling-season, now 1-7, since FSU is usually very bad on APR, so even if they get to 5-7 and a spot is open, likely another university will get the spot. And to be clear, I don't think FSU will finish 5-7. More 3-9 or so.
- Indiana won against Washington at home, 31:17. This does keep Indiana in the competition for a championship spot. Their biggest game is likely Ohio State late November.
- UNC won against Virginia, 41:14. Still a long way for UNC, but at least they did stop the 4-game-losing-streak.
- TCU did beat Texas Tech, 35:34. For Tech a big setback in the contenders ranking, for TCU another step towards a turnaround.
- Akron did win against Eastern Michigan, 25:21. EMU was one of the teams aiming for a spot in the MAC-Championship game, but with that kind of performance, no way.
- Houston won against Utah, 17:14. The Utes having now clearly a down season with crucial injuries and maybe also a lack for motivation.
- Auburn won against Kentucky, 24:10, and by that did kick Kentucky down the ladder inside the SEC.
We are entering November and that means, we have max 5 games left for the teams to get the standings final and to find the teams worth a spot in the conference championship games, a spot in a bowl game and / or a spot in the national championship playoffs.
On 5th of November the 1st committee ranking will be published and THEN it will make sense to look at the possible 5+7 teams having a shot for the national championship.
Week 10 is coming and that has again not many very crucial games, but of course are ALL games crucial (ask the teams, which did take too many of those supposed to be not-crucial games too lightly, like Florida State) and some of the games this week will HAVE a huge impact on the conference standings, since a loss against a direct competitor will set the losing team always not only 1-loss behind, it also does ruin the direct compare in case of a tie-breaker.
A small hint for all college football friends, RZA-manager hmpf22 did asked me, whether I knew that YOUTUBE would stream so many games and since when? And I had to admit, I did not know.
The last info I had was, that for Germany the rights for TV were not purchased, by any station and therefore no channel would broadcast college football games. The news did not mention the live streaming on YOUTUBE and I did never looked for it. But it is true, if you search for 'college football games live' on Saturday, you get a lot of high-class games streamed by several channels.
Don't ask me, how this is done, regarding streaming rights and so on, as consumer you don't have to case about that, at least according to German law, as far as I know.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 10
Fri. Nov 1
San Diego State @ #15 Boise State
Of the 3 teams still unbeaten inside the MWC, here 2 of them do meet.
Boise State is this season all the rage, having so far only lost to Oregon in September, and that in a close way.
Oregon is right now ranked #1, so that game does Boise State not hurt much, likely even help them.
The Broncos have a Heisman-Candidate as RB! who is right now still on the path to eventually break Barry Sanders single season rushing record. Even if he does not, just watching him play, is fun.
San Diego State is 3-4 so far, but perfect inside the MWC and will take on that liked and maybe hyped Broncos team.
Vegas does NOT favor the Aztecs, in fact they give Boise State a line of -23.5, which is massive.
Why? Because San Diego State lost to Wazzu (7-1) last week and won only to Hawai'i (3-5) and Wyoming (1-7) the games before.
This season many favorites, even with heavy lines, did fall, so everything is in the mix, but I personally think Boise will take care of the Aztecs on their blue home turf fast.
Broncos win.
Sat. Nov 2
#4 Ohio State @ #3 Penn State
OK, NOW we really have a tough matchup.
Ohio State did basically buy a lot of players in the offseason to get the team back into the top level of the BIG10 and beyond, but so far, the team did not perform 100% according to the expectations. Those would have been a perfect record, instead of 1 loss to Oregon, and convincing wins against all teams, not named Oregon so far, which did not happen. Last week the win against Nebraska was by 4 points only.
Ohio State, as guests, are favored by 3.5 points, but I'm not sure that does tell the story right.
Penn State did so far play perfect, and the team did look like they would struggle against several of the teams but did at the end prevail.
Yes, they did not have a game like OSU had with Oregon, but they had tougher games.
Now they play for sure a very good team, at home.
I'm not 100% sold on the Buckeyes, but I'm also not 100% sold on the Nittany Lions.
The reason is both had their struggling moments.
I believe OSU has a few more top-level players, but if those play sloppy or not in synch, the Lions team will compensate this, especially at home.
History says in such games Penn State will lose, but not all goes according to history, and I like Penn State this season so far.
Nittany Lions win.
#18 Pittsburgh @ #20 SMU
Pitt might be without their starting QB in this game here, but likely he will play.
Pittsburgh is one of the small wonders of the season, being now 7-0.
SMU is also very strong so far and 7-1, but 4-0 inside the conference. BYU was so far the only team, which won against SMU, in a close game, in September.
For SMU, this game here is likely the toughest game left on the schedule, so winning here would eventually mean, to go perfect into the ACC Championship game.
Pitt on the other hand has several tough games ahead, and this is the 1st of those. In fact, there are so many still coming, that it seems unlikely that Pitt will survive this unscratched.
Vegas favors SMU by 7.5 points, and I think they are quite right.
The only thing, which will keep Pittsburgh in this game is, their defense, which did step up in basically every game.
If they can stop SMU from scoring, the have a chance.
Still ...
Mustangs win.
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Nov 2
Texas Tech @ #11 Iowa State
Tricky game.
Iowa State is as perfect team so far playing at home favored by 14.0 points.
I think they will win, not sure that high.
Texas Tech did show a lot of potential so far, especially on offense, but lost 2 in a row.
We might see a shootout, but I expect more a crazy defense by ISU and a clear win by them.
Cyclones win.
Toledo @ Eastern Michigan
Toledo is favored to win by 8.0 points in a game, which is more or less an eliminator game.
The winner can still dream of eventually getting to the championship game (both teams are 1 game behind the 2nd seat team right now) and the loser is likely out of competition.
The Eagles are good at home, Toledo solid on the road, but not unbeatable.
I favor EMU.
Eagles win.
UL Monroe @ Marshall
And another do-or-die game.
Marshall is 1 game behind the leading teams in their division in the Sun Belt, ULM is in the same situation on the other Sun Belt division.
The Thundering Herd is favored by 10.5 points, which is a lot.
Louisiana Monroe did show not much last week against a competitor, so I expect either a better performance, or that the team will slowly drop in the standings.
In doubt, for the home team.
Thundering Herd win.
Georgia Southern @ South Alabama
And another Sun Belt game for the top.
Georgia Southern did drop a game last week and might drop dead with another loss here.
South Alabama did save their season with that big win against ULM, but they need to win more.
They are favored by 6.5 points, which seems fair.
Both teams can play, and I expect a closer game.
Still, I think the Jaguars have the drive to win this.
Jaguars win.
That's for week 10, I hope you enjoy the games.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2024-10-23 07:35
And another gameday is done and the season got its next (small) turnaround.
Instead of just show everyone who has the biggest balls this season did Texas lose at home to Georgia and can line themselves up with other teams getting a loss as favorite.
Other teams did also suffer crucial losses, which I will explain in a few minutes.
The last gameday did also lead to the first few head coach firings on the FBS level.
East Carolina did fire Mike Houston and the DC Blake Harrell will take over for the remaining games. Houston was hired for the 2019 season and took over a struggling program (under the HC before him the team had 3 seasons with 3 wins each) and did elevate the program in their 3rd season to a bowl (not played because of covid), got a 8 win season including a bowl win a season later in 2022. But the team fell flat to 2 wins in 2023 and now with a 3-4 start, including the loss last weekend, the program decided to move on and will start to look for a new HC, who wins more games in the future.
The 2nd HC fired is Will Hall for Southern Miss. The team will be handled by Reed Stringer, the assistant HC of the team so far. Hall was hired for 2021 after a catastrophic 2020 season did see the HC resigning after the 1st game (a loss) and 2 interims HC were used for a 3-7 record, the worst season since 2014. Halls record with Southern Miss is 3-9, 7-6 (including a bowl loss), 3-9 last year and a 1-6 start this season. The Golden Eagles are a career winning team, so such results are way off the expectations for the program, hence the firing.
Prior the gameday came in the news, that the Mountain West is now confident for the near future, since they found the 8th full member. Remember, the Conference was raided by the PAC-12 and some sort of tug of war did start between the PAC-12 and the MWC over the few teams left in the MWC, which did not commit to their current conference at that time. That duel was won by the MWC, since after a few days, all teams did commit in writing to the conference, led to the status, that the conference had 7 full members for 2026 (including the new team UTEP from the CUSA) and an 8th football-only team, Hawai'i. Now it was announced that Hawai'i would upgrade their status to full member for 2026, which brings the conference to 8 teams in 2026, sustaining their conference status.
I personally think the conference is still a bit unstable, since any subtraction (for whatever reason) would start the drama new.
The PAC-12 is still in need for at least an 8th member full member or an 8th football only member, since they got Gonzaga (a basketball centered university) joining for 2026. So far no news on that 8th team.
Let's go to the conference standings after week 8.
American Athletic Conference
Thanks to losses the undefeated leading group did shrink to Army, Navy and Tulane.
The 1-loss-group contains now Memphis, North Texas and Charlotte.
East Carolina lost their game (hence the HC firing) and dropped out of my primary observation with 2 losses inside the conference.
Atlantic Coast Conference
The ACC has a quite strange look right now.
Clemson, Miami, SMU and Pittsburgh did sustain their unbeaten record.
As 1-loss teams right behind them are Duke, Syracuse and Virginia Tech are left as 1-loss-teams.
Louisville, Virginia and Boston College did all lose to teams from the club mentioned above last gameday and have now 2 losses.
BIG-12 Conference
Texas Tech left the unbeaten club, so this contains now only BYU and Iowa State.
With 1 loss are now Kansas State, Cincinnati, Colorado and of course Texas Tech.
Arizona State and West Virginia lost each their crucial games against contenders and dropped out now.
BIG10 Conference
The BIG10 is still led by undefeated teams from Indiana, Oregon and Penn State.
With 1-loss behind them are Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Nebraska and Michigan lost to contenders, while Iowa lost to a rebuilding teams. Regardless, all drop out for now.
Conference USA
Still 3 unbeaten teams left here, Liberty, Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State.
Sam Houston lost to WKU and fell to 1-loss.
Surprisingly did all so far 1-loss-teams lose last gameday, so FIU, LT and Kennesaw State have all now 2 losses.
Mid-American Conference
The MAC has only 1 unbeaten team left, Western Michigan.
The list of 1-loss teams did by that ride to Buffalo, Toledo, Miami (OH), Eastern Michigan, Ohio and Bowling Green.
NIU and Central Michigan lost to teams from above list and are so far no longer in the focus.
Since a 2-loss team is quite close to get a spot in the Championship game, with only 1 unbeaten team left, it would make sense to add the 2-loss teams also, but as long as there are so many 1-loss-teams left, I skip that.
Mountain West Conference
The MWC is still wide open, and is led by perfect teams from UNLV, Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State. No change here.
The list of 1-loss-teams contains San Jose State, Fresno State and New Mexico.
Nevada and Wyoming lost both to 1-loss teams last gameday.
Southeastern Conference
The SEC has only 2 teams left unbeaten, Texas A&M and LSU.
The group of 1-loss teams does contain now Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas and Vanderbilt.
Arkansas and Alabama lost to contenders and will be left out for the near future.
Sun Belt Conference
The SBC has still 2 divisions and that might lead to some strange setup in the championship game.
The East is led by perfect Georgia Southern.
They are followed by 1-loss teams from Marshall and Old Dominion.
James Madison and Coastal Carolina lost crucial games against contenders and are no longer contenders.
The West is led by Louisiana and Louisiana-Monroe.
Texas State, Arkansas State and South Alabama do have 1 loss each.
That's it for the conference.
A small explanation to the sometimes shifted sorting. I take the standings as they are and the standings do a l t e r based on the results of the last gameday, since tie breakers do kick in and do change the sorting. It's easier to follow the sorting on some web pages than to check and double check, whether I left one out or did left one on too much.
Bowl eligible teams
16 more teams did get the needed 6+ wins this gameday, so now we have 25 in total already.
Miami, Indiana (after week 6), Army, Pittsburgh, BYU, Iowa State, Oregon, Penn State and Texas (after week 7), Clemson, Duke, SMU, Memphis, Navy, Illinois, Kansas State, UNLV, Washington State, Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and Notre Dame (after week 8)
78 bowl spots are available.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 8
Sat. Oct 19
#7 Alabama @ #11 Tennessee
This is the rivalry, which at the end gives the winner cigars for the whole team, am NCAA violation, reported by the winning team to honor the tradition running since 1950s. The game itself is done since 1901 with over 100 games.
Alabama had an incredible winning streak since 2007 running, coming to an end in 2022, winning again in 2023 and this year, the Vols did get the cigar, thanks to a great defense.
Alabama was in the lead beginning of the 4th quarter and Tennessee did score a TD 2 drives after that Crimson Tide TD, regaining the lead.
After that, Alabama did try a lot, but failed and gave the Vols even good field position to extend the lead.
When with 1:30 left Alabama got the ball the last time and was intercepted the game was all Tennessee and Crimson Tide got their 2nd loss of the season.
For Tennessee it was beside the rivalry win a huge step towards the playoffs, but they still have some big teams to tackle.
Alabama has to start winning again and hope for a lot of upsets to eventually getting back into the driving seat.
The good news for them is, they lost so far only to likely at the end of the season high ranked team, so they will be ranked also quite high, if they win all remaining games and THAT might be enough to get into the 7 at-large teams list.
#7 Alabama 17 @ #11 Tennessee 24 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 18-6
#24 Michigan @ #22 Illinois
It was 2009, when the Illini last time won against Michigan and since then did Michigan win 6 games in a row.
Not sure when both teams were ranked on such a game, but my guess is, it is a long time ago.
This season the Wolverines have growing pains under their new HC and Illinois seems to have a great season.
The Illini did lead 13:0 before Michigan got points on the board and the still lead 13:7 at the half.
In the 3rd did Illinois score a TD for 8 points to extend the lead and never looked back, kept the Wolverines offense in check and won this.
Michigan has a tough season compared to the programs standard and as reigning National Champion, while Illinois actually is still in the hunt for a spot in the BIG10-Championship game and also quite close to the top12 ranked spots.
#24 Michigan 7 @ #22 Illinois 21 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 19-6
#8 LSU @ Arkansas
The game was quite open until mid-3rd quarter. At that point Arkansas did trail only by 6 points, but they did trail more or less the whole game so far.
Then did LSU score a TD and Arkansas did just ran out of steam from there onwards.
LSU is right now one of the top teams inside the SEC and if they can keep this up, they will play for the SEC Championship and more.
But LSU has one of the most challenging remaining schedule inside the SEC ...
Arkansas is now at 2 losses inside the SEC and needs a lot of luck to get back into contenders position.
#8 LSU 34 @ Arkansas 10 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 20-6
#5 Georgia @ #1 Texas
And this game here did again flip the SEC a bit upside down, even realistically it just did mean the field is more open than the results so far might have suggested.
Texas lost the game big time, at home.
The 2nd part did hurt the most for sure.
Texas trailed 0:23 at the half, which did hurt the fans, for sure.
The 3rd quarter did look like the Longhorns did get their things together, when they kept the Bulldogs scoreless and scored on their side 15 points.
But right after that last score did Georgia march over the field, scored and got the ball back a few plays later on a Texas fumble they were able to recover.
From that point onward the defenses did stand and the game did ran out of time until it was over.
For both teams this was an intensive game.
Season not over, both teams in very good position to finish the season with great results.
#5 Georgia 30 @ #1 Texas 15 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 20-7
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Oct 19
#6 Miami @ Louisville
Miami needed some time to get into the game, but after that period they did never let the lead go (OK, Louisville did tie the game twice, but never got the lead again).
In the 4th quarter did Miami then had again a comfortable lead and Louisville did score with less than a minute to play to make it a 1-score-game, but failed on the on-side-kick, so Miami won a high scoring game 52:45.
Right now, Miami looks like the team to beat for the ACC Championship, while Louisville is now 2 games behind the unbeaten teams.
Jacks interesting games Score: 15-9
Nebraska @ #16 Indiana
Whoever thought the Huskers are on a good way to get back into the contender seat regarding strength did get a big hit that gameday.
Indiana did win 56:7 and stayed in the front line for a championship game seat, while Nebraska has to get back to the drawing board and has to find out, why they did lose that high.
Jacks interesting games Score: 16-9
East Carolina @ #23 Army
The game, which did result in the 1st HC firing of the running season.
Army did dominate the 1st half with 24:0, then ECU did wake up a bit, but allowed still more Army points than they were able to score, so when ECU did wake up in the 4th to 100%+ the 21:7 4th-quarter performance was meaningless, since Army won in total 45:28.
Army on top of the American right now, ECU looking for a new HC.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-9
Ohio @ Miami (OH)
Ohio did disappoint me a bit, losing the 1st half 0:16.
They did then also lose the 3rd quarter, but at least got points on the board, so when they did try to make a comeback, they were already too deep in the hole.
Combined with the Miami defense, which did prevent the last 2 Ohio drives to get something the Bobcats did lose this game and opened up the conference a bit more.
Miami won 30:20 and is like 2/3 of the conference still in the mix for a championship seat.
Jacks interesting games Score: 17-10
And some more funny result of week 8:
- New Mexico State did end their losing streak of 5 games against Louisiana Tech, winning 33:30.
- UTEP did even end their 6-game-losing streak by winning against FIU, 30:21.
- Virginia Tech did beat Boston College, 42:21. It seems BCs magical season start is getting a reality infusion in the past few gamedays.
- Time to panic at Oklahoma State? The team did lose to BYU, 35:38. The team is now 3-4 and lost 4 in a row.
- Or maybe panic at FSU, which did lose to Duke, 16:23? FSU now 1-6 and still several big teams ahead, including rival Miami next gameday. It does not look like a bowl season this year. Good they did prolong the HC not long ago, the costs to get rid of him (if they want to do that) will be tremendous!
- Maryland did win against USC, 29:28. With 2 minutes left to play did the leading USC team miss a 41-yarder to extend the lead to 9 points and Maryland used the chance to walk over the field and score a TD within a minute to get a 1-point lead. USCs offense did get stuck in mid-field and lost the game. I'm sure not everyone is happy in Southern California with a 3-4 record.
- Baylor did turn on the scoring machine and won against Texas Tech, 59:35. Big win for Baylor to save their HC and their season, now at 3-4, while Texas Tech got a small setback now with 1 loss behind the leading teams inside the conference.
- Georgia Southern did win against James Madison, 28:14, and is by that right now the best bet for a championship game seat on that division. But many games ahead. JMU looks like it did fail on their season goals already, now 2 games behind Georgia Southern.
- Michigan State did get a win against now former contender Iowa, 32:20. Iowa now way behind the leading teams.
- It seems Florida is trying to save their HC, by winning. The team did win against Kentucky, 48:20, and is now 4-3. But they face 4 high ranked teams in the last 5 games, so a bowl game spot has to be earned a very hard way.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 9
Sat. Oct 26
#8 LSU @ #14 Texas A&M
Not many did expect this game to be a game for the TOP position inside the SEC prior the season, for sure.
LSU was considered a contender, but not the TOP contender, and Texas A&M under a new coach with a bad season behind them was considered to be somewhere between resurrection and rebuilding but with all the likely top teams in mind, not to be on top of the SEC now.
Still, both teams are the only unbeaten teams left inside the SEC and one team will go down this weekend.
Vegas has A&M favored by 2.5 points, which is not much.
LSU won all games except the opener, and they seem to get the team really together. Their wins against Ole Miss and Arkansas were very good.
And A&M did also lose their opener, but since then did beat everything coming, most Missouri with 30+ points margin.
Played at College Station with the 12th man behind them should the Aggies be able to overcome any eventually existing difference in talent and synch, which such a team under a new coach might have compared to a more mature team as LSU.
I hope for a thriller here but expect Texas A&M actually getting the upper hand at the end.
Aggies win.
#21 Missouri @ #15 Alabama
If you do step into the big shoes of one of the best, if not THE best HC in football history, you have to have a thick skin. After the loss against Vanderbilt the fans went wild, now the team lost to Tennessee, and some ask the former HC to come out of retirement to help the team.
I have only one answer to that: 'be lucky not to be Michigan'.
Alabama is having not a top season, yes, but they are so far 5-2 (Michigan is 4-3) and the team did beat Georgia already, so it can't be too shabby.
Missouri did dream of a championship and is right now 6-1, with a loss to Texas A&M so far.
Vegas favors Alabama by 13.5 points!
That's a lot.
I think Mizzou has a very capable offense, so Alabamas struggling defense will be the key.
If they can keep the Tigers in check, the Tide will roll.
If not, the fans will become angrier.
But played at home, this game should be manageable for Alabama.
Crimson Tide win.
#12 Notre Dame @ #24 Navy
There were (often) times, when Notre Dame vs Navy did mean, you watch a done-deal happening.
But they keep on playing against each other, now the 97th time, and Notre Dame lead by 67 wins.
The current Irish winning streak is 6 games.
This season we have both teams ranked, which did not happen since whenever, but Navy is not ranked very often.
Played on the home turf of the Jets and the Giants, this will be a spectacle, in which Notre Dame is favored by 12.5 points.
Can Navy win? Sure, but I think 1 out of 5 max.
So I pick Notre Dame, which has deeper talent, a stronger team and won already against some tougher teams (also lost to NIU, which is still a mystery) and Navy did play only softer teams so far. I expect them to have some trouble getting their offense going.
Fighting Irish win.
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Oct 25
#17 Boise State @ UNLV
The top game of the Mountain West.
Boise State aims for the top and more, while UNLV does the same, but does not look THAT convincing as Boise State.
But played in Nevada, this game can become a close one.
Boise State is favored by 3.0 points and crucial will be, whether they can let their explosive RB run wild, or not.
UNLV is not known for their tough defense, so it will eventually become a shootout in the desert of Las Vegas.
Boise State win.
Sat. Oct 26
#5 Texas @ #25 Vanderbilt
Is this a trap game for Texas?
Vanderbilt has really a good team this season, even the name does not ring that way.
But they won many games so far, even against Alabama and Kentucky. They are 18.5 point underdog against a Texas team, which lost to Georgia the first time this season, so on paper all well.
Still, played in Nashville, the Longhorns might take the team too lightly and will fall?
Such events are hard to predict, so I stay with the facts, which are, Texas did so far play great, except that very good Georgia team.
Vanderbilt will likely give them more to fight against then usual, but I still think ...
Longhorns win.
#20 Illinois @ #1 Oregon
And another great game, nobody did see coming.
Illinois is enjoying a great season so far and Oregon did so far play almost as expected and is leading the BIG10.
The good news for Oregon is, they play at home, the bad news is, Illinois did beat the odds this season many times.
Here Oregon is favored by 21.5 points, so this might be done.
But we DID see such upsets happening this season already.
I personally don't think the Illini will get Oregon to lose here, still, the game can go any way with THAT team.
Ducks win.
UL Monroe @ South Alabama
And as extra a very surprising game.
Louisiana-Monroe was bad the past few seasons, if not decades.
Last time with 6 wins? 2018, no bowl invite.
Last time a winning season? 2012, 8-5 with a bowl loss.
Last time they had a winning HC? Until 1993, playing on FCS level.
Now they are 5-1 and leading the division together with Louisiana.
South Alabama is 1 loss behind them and is of course looking for a win to get back into the driving seat towards a possible Championship seat.
The Jaguars play at home and are favored by 7.0 points.
The Warhawks were underdogs in 4 of the 6 games so far and only the Texas game was not won. In all others they were even a higher underdog than the 7.0 points and did upset the team, so they should not be taken lightly.
I do believe ULM made great progress; I do believe South Alabama has the tools to play for a championship.
And I do believe this game could become a close game.
I'm uncertain, who will win.
The surprising team from Louisiana, or the 3-4 team from Alabama which won so far only against quite weak teams?
Ah, who cares, go for it!
Warhawks win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
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