, Coaches Corner (0/2) , Howtos (0/10) , Inside Deventer Devils (0/28) , Jack6s RZA Guide (0/21) , News (0/645) , Rumours (0/0) , Stories (0/4) , Top25 Rankings (0/22) 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
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2025-09-18 08:50
The season is now moving towards week 4 and at some universities the panic is already in berserker mode.
Two HCs were already fired, mid-September. Wow.
To understand this, I think we have to make a small trip into history.
In the not so long ago past, a college football HC was hired and got usually 2 to 3 seasons to build a team based on his vision and in year 3 to 5, if the results were not as expected, the seat got hotter until he got fired, mostly late in the season, say week 8 onwards, when it became clear that the season goal was not in reach anymore or there was just no sign of improvement. Often after a significant game against a rival or an opponent which should have been beaten but wasn’t.
This kind of expectations on improvements went from high to very high to win-now in the past 10 to 15 seasons, with the win-now-part coming in since the NIL-deals / free agency part of the circus called roster building became the dominant part of the offseason.
Still, in 2023 the 1st HC to be let go, because of bad results was in mid-November. In 2024 the 1st one to be let go under such circumstances was mid-October. Now it’s mid-September. To be fair, early firings were always there, like 2022 with beginning of September firing of Nebraska HC. Or in 2021 at USC, also mid-September.
The difference is, those HC in the past were in their 5th plus season and expectations were already high and the results stayed low or went downhill, and the patience of the program went also downhill, fast.
The difference here is, we have Virginia Techs HC, Brent Pry, in his 4th season fired after an 0-3 start and we have even worse UCLA firing DeShaun Foster in his 2nd season after an 0-3 start.
Sure, if I would be in an official position at those universities, I would also become very angry and inpatient after that start, but the consequences for new HCs are tough.
I think the programs do see now in this era of college football instant improvements, because of the roster management options available, so they expect such improvements from their next HC and if those do not come, or worse, the results do show a decline in performance, the eject button is hit earlier in terms of years. And it is hi earlier in terms of months, because in the coaches market now, the earlier you start looking, the higher the chances to get the candidate you wanted.
In the past the coaches market did start to spin at season end, but now the search starts early and the signings do become official at season end, but the real stuff did happen weeks before.
Virginia Tech and UCLA are not top-level universities in terms of attractiveness and money, but they are still an improvement for many HCs and assistants, so they should be able to find a replacement. I’m just not sure they will be able to find the guy they want.
Given that start of the blog, we go right into the reviews.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 3
Sat. Sep 13
#6 Georgia @ #15 Tennessee
Both teams came out aggressively but only Tennessee had the better start in the 1st quarter, leading 21:7 at home, when they switched side.
In the 2nd quarter did then Georgia catch a bit up, but thanks to several errors they teams did split to the locker rooms with the Vols still leading 21:17.
Then it became an open game, when Georgia came out of the break and scored on the 1st drive to take the lead and Tennessee needed all of the 3rd quarter to regain the lead.
When the last quarter started, Tennessee led 28:27 and Georgia had the ball, which led to a field goal, hence another shift in the leading team.
But Tennessee did answer and scored a TD, Georgia fumbled and the Vols did put a FG on top, leading now 38:30. Should be enough, right?
Wrong, Georgia did score a TD to tie the game up, but Tennessee got the ball back to march over the field and ... missed a 43-yarder!
Regular time over, the game went into overtime.
Tennessee started, had to settle for a field goal and Georgia did respond with 3 strong runs to score a TD and to win this game, 44:41, in OT.
I think nobody downgrade Tennessee too much after this fight, but over all did Georgia made a splashy win here, while Tennessee got one loss inside the SEC, they might miss later in the season.
They had the win on the foot and I hope the team is behind the kicker.
That was tough.
#6 Georgia 44 @ #15 Tennessee 41 (OT) -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 1-0
#18 South Florida @ #5 Miami
This could have been the best Cinderella story since ages, but unfortunately did Miami just play hard football on South Florida and did give them never a chance.
Every quarter was way in favor of the Canes and the Bulls had often to punt of to settle for a field goal.
They got a TD in garbage time, which did start already end of the 3rd or start of the 4th quarter, but Miami was just too much and won 49:12.
I’m not sure what we will see of South Florida this season.
They might become a force inside the AAC and the quite high ranking now might help them to get into the playoffs, if they win the AAC and no other non-power4-team has a better rank.
But those are a lot of ifs, for a team which did so far only win against 2 non-conference teams and which will have to go flawless from now on to get in that described region.
Miami does look strong enough to play for the ACC title and beyond right now.
#18 South Florida 12 @ #5 Miami 49 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 2-0
#16 Texas A&M @ #8 Notre Dame
Well, eventually there goes the season for Notre Dame.
The game started great for the Irish, they blocked a punt and recovered it for a TD on the 1st drive, they stopped A&M again the on 2nd drive.
But then the guests did recover and stopped Notre Dame with 3 and out scored a TD on their next drive and from that onward, the game was wide open.
Notre Dame had a lead of 10 points, twice, but did let A&M take that lead away and gave them even a lead of 4 later on.
They claimed the lead back, let A&M tie the game and when the Irish did then score a TD, late in the 4th and their HC did decide to go for 2 with no reason beside to put more pressure on the Aggies, man that backfired the worst way. No 2-pointer and A&M scored the tying TD on that last drive and kicked themselves to the win with an XP.
The Irish did try some lateral magic, but that was of course just desperate action after a bold decision, which did go the worst way wrong.
Here comes the consequences.
Let’s start with A&M. They got a win against a ranked opponent, on the road, so they will rise in the ranks. Dependent on their SEC outcome, they did make a huge step towards a playoff spot. HUGE!
Now the Irish. BIG booboo for the program for this season. BIG!
The Irish as independents will have NO championship game to play a likely high ranked team and win to get the last boost in the ranks. Nope.
They are now 0-2, both losses against ranked teams, but still 0-2.
Even if they win all remaining games, they will be 10-2.
Only 1 team did get a playoff spot with 2 losses last season, without a championship game, Tennessee. They had a much tougher schedule, then the Irish will have this season.
So, right now, it’s hard to say, whether Notre Dames playoff hopes are already gone, but for sure they got a BIG hit.
#16 Texas A&M 40 @ #8 Notre Dame 41 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 3-0
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Sep 13
#12 Clemson @ Georgia Tech
There could be a small panic mode already at Clemson right now.
The team did play a bad 1st half at GT, tried to get the game turned in the 3rd and did then allow a walk-off-field goal from 55 yards to lose against the Yellow Jackets 24:21.
The fans did storm the field, and Clemson did rush away in shame.
Clemson wanted to dominate the ACC, but their QB is right now worse than last year and their defense struggles.
Jacks interesting games Score: 1-0
Arkansas @ #17 Ole Miss
This was an offense battle in the 1st half, which Ole Miss won, 31:28, and a defense battle in the 2nd half, which Ole Miss won 10:7.
So, in total did the teams play 41:35 and even Arkansas did lose, they did play good and we can at least expect interesting games of them this season.
Not sure they can improve their record, but they will let every opponent pay a price to get a win against them and I think we will see also some upsets by Arkansas.
Ole Miss can relax and mark the must-win-game as a win.
Still a long season to go, for both teams.
Jacks interesting games Score: 2-0
Florida @ #3 LSU
And here we have the next university in mid-level or eventually already in high-level panic.
Florida came into this game with a heavy stain on their reputation after their loss to South Florida last week.
A win against ranked LSU on the road would cool down the heat and would make many people relax.
But Florida did play only one OK quarter and then started sucking again.
After a 3:0 start in the 1st quarter did then get the lead in the 2nd.
Florida did tie the game a bit later, but from there it went downhill.
At the half did the team trail 10:13, threw and INT for a pick-six in the 3rd and both team did them decide to commit errors without consequences in the 4th, which granted LSU a 20:10 home win and Florida their next loss.
Given the upcoming games for Florida, the chances for their HC to survive the season are slim.
LSU on the other hand did look OK, but far from being the #3 team in the country.
Jacks interesting games Score: 3-0
PS: This pick record makes me look like a wizard, but my ESPN pick game had 5-5, I just was lucky or selected the right games. Don’t know.
That brings us to the next weeks previews.
I did check some news channels and beside the 2 already fired HC there are not many coaches named as next candidate for the eject button as unified answer, beside Billy Napier of Florida. Several colleges are named to have their HC on the watch, but depended on the site I look, the top 5 or 10 do look different. That does not mean there isn’t something cooking on those campus, but it seems the impressions are not nation wide and honestly, every team right now with no perfect record and without the HC on his 1st season might be on some list.
So, I skip that topic for now, except Florida, and go on with the normal previews.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 4
Sat. Sep 20
#17 Texas Tech @ #16 Utah
Let’s have a BIG12 game as starter.
Texas Tech is enjoying a 3-0 start under 4th season HC Joey McGuire, who had the team so far in a quite constant success rate at 7 or 8 wins and 3 consecutive bowls (2-1 there) in those numbers included.
The Red Raiders were never THE team in the BIG12, when Texas and Oklahoma were also in it, but now, they do have a shot to win big.
It’s the best start under that HC ever, but likely also the fluffiest schedule so far in that period.
Now they face Utah, a team which is under management of Kyle Whittingham in his 21st season. That guy did win everything in reach, beside the National Championship. Last year the team had the worst season since 2013 and missed a bowl spot at 5-7. The press was all over the HC, whether he would retire or not, with most sensing, he would.
Well, he did not and so far does the team look sharp, winning 3 in a row, but only against a small portion stronger opponents that TTU had so far.
The 1st real test for the programs and Utah is favored by 3.5 points right now.
The key unit will be the defense of Utah.
Because both offenses did show they can score and I’m quite confident, the Utah offense will have chances to score against TTU, but will TTU have chances to score against Utah and if so, how often.
I personally think, Texas Tech will give the Utes fans something for their money, but at the end they will drive home with their 1st loss of the season. Utah did look good so far and did play against stronger teams and plays at home ...
Sure, the Red Raiders might surprise all and win this, but right now ...
Utes win.
#22 Auburn @ #11 Oklahoma
Which brings us to a felt-2nd-tier-SEC-matchup.
None of the team had an impact last year.
Brent Venables of Oklahoma, in his 4th season with the team as HC, did have a hard time last year as new team inside the SEC and finished 6-7, including a bowl loss.
Some do speculate on his job security, but so far did the team win 3 straight, including a win against Michigan.
Nobody expects the team to keep up with the winning until season end and be a big contender for the SEC title.
Same for Auburn, in their 3rd season with Hugh Freeze as HC and his record did get worse in his 2 seasons so far, from 6-7 to 5-7.
The Tigers are not considered to be contenders and there is also rumor on Freeze job security, but so far the team won also 3 straight with a win against Baylor as biggest asset.
Both teams are right now ranked and this game here will likely send one team out of the ranks and the other will stay on the level or rise a bit.
The Sooners are favored by 6.5 points, which is not that much, still quite a lot.
This is likely based on the known results and some sort of history evaluation, with Oklahoma being just considered to be the stronger team.
I confess, that happens to me also.
It seems Oklahomas offense is not that sharp, but the Auburn defense lacks a bit of a punch also. Hence, both teams might get good shots on scoring and we might see an open, high-scoring game.
Or we will see a defense driven game with both teams struggling to do something.
I have right now problems to see Auburn taking this away from Oklahoma in Norman. So, I think a close win by Oklahoma is coming.
Sooners win
#9 Illinois @ #19 Indiana
And another matchup you don’t get previews about often.
Inside the BIG10 both teams did create some sort of annoyance image around themselves.
Bret Bielema came to Illinois and made the team something you have to earn a win against, if you win at all. Before that, for a long time, Illinois was shit, a must-win for every team playing them.
But Bielema won 8 in his 2nd year and 10 in his 4th, last year.
This season, the key will be, whether the portal stuff did mess up the team or did help.
So far, 3 wins and none was in any doubt, even not against Duke.
On the other side of the field, Indiana.
Long time also a laughing stock of the BIG10, a Basketball university willing to play football. But roughly 10 seasons ago started a transition with a coach, who had a least some good seasons with the team and in which the team was not a given win on the schedule, only to get fired 2 seasons ago and replaced by Curt Cignetti, who carried the team into the playoffs in his 1st season!
Now the team is also 3-0 and so far all good, with the problem, that the team did only play cupcake teams.
Vegas has Indiana ahead by 5.5 points and I’m willing to make that gamble also, based on their last season success and the home field advantage.
I hope for a great, close game.
Hoosiers win.
And some other interesting games:
Sat. Sep 20
Tulane @ #13 Ole Miss
Jon Sumrall took over a rebuilt Tulane team last year and kept it so far on a high level.
The Green Wave peaked in 2022 with 12 wins, including a conference championship and a bowl win. That was the best mark for the team since 1998 and since then the teams record was way under .500. Last year the new HC did get 9-5 and made it to the conference championship game, only to lose against Army and later to lose in a bowl.
But the team did start now 3-0, including wins against Northwestern and Duke.
Now they face ranked Ole Miss, which will be a different task.
Lane Kiffen is in his 6th season and since his time as OC with Alabama became much mature and has built an offense powerhouse, which did only fail to leapfrog the big contenders of the past 10 seasons. The team did start 3-0 so far with 2 SEC wins already.
The only stain the team has so far is, they did allow too many points against the 2 SEC teams from my point of view, which might turn out to become a problem, once they face a defense, which can control the Ole Miss offense more successfully.
In this game here, the assumption is, that the level of playing is way different between the AAC team and the SEC team and no wonder is Ole Miss a favorite to win at home by 13.5 points.
I think Tulane has the offense power to score against Ole Miss, but likely will lack the defense power to stop the Ole Miss offense and therefore will be outscored over the 4 quarters.
Rebels win.
Florida @ #4 Miami
I will make this short as possible.
Miami is favored to win here by 7.5 points.
That seems reasonable, considering the results Florida had so far (1-2, win against an FCS team, close loss to South Florida, loss to LSU) and Miami had so far (3-0, wins against Notre Dame, an FCS team and South Florida).
For the Florida HC Billy Napier this might be his last game as Florida HC, or at least another nail in the coffin, or it might be his path to redemption, since winning against a ranked state rival on the road will for sure cool the heat a bit.
Miami is out to win to reach for something bigger, Florida is out to win to save the coaches job.
I don’t think Florida will turn the things around quickly, hence ...
Hurricanes win.
Fresno State @ Hawai'i
And for fun the last game of the gameday on the island of Hawai’i.
The Bulldogs have a new HC, Matt Entz.
He was the HC of North Dakota State from 2019 to 2023 and won the FCS National Championship twice in that period. He went to USC to become a defense assistant and AHC last year, only to be name the HC of Fresno State for this season onward.
He has taken over a team, which had a 6-7 season last year and went under interim guidance for the whole season, because the regular HC had to step down prior the season start with health issues. (By the way, that interims HC went on to UCLA this season, only to become after 2 games THEIR interims HC, because the regular one got fired)
So, the team needs some reshape and some tooling to become the new HCs team.
Thanks to a tight schedule the team is already at 3-1, with only loss to Kansas on week zero against Kansas.
They have to travel to Hawai’i to face a Rainbow Warrior team under Timmy Chang in his 4th season. Chang has a good name with Hawai’i as a former start QB of the Warriors, but his success as coach is so far not that convincing. After a 3-10 season he had 5-8 and 5-7 so far.
The aim is for sure to improve here.
The biggest asset Hawai’i has is his home field advantage based on the traveling time every team has to do to play there.
And so far the wins the team did gain were almost entirely at home.
So far has the team a 3-1 record, with the only loss against Arizona.
The odds on the game are in favor of Fresno State at 2.5 points, which is not much.
I personally have a hard time to judge the game.
Turning a team around in 1 season, or a few games, is tough.
On the other hand, the coach did guide his former team to 2 National Championships and that’s something.
Hawai’i might have made a jump in the strength of the roster, but so far it’s hard to tell.
I favor a bit Hawai’i but only because I like them as underdogs and because of the home field advantage.
Hopefully a close and entertaining game.
Rainbow Warriors win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
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