1. Alabama is for real. Offense, defense, you name it. Circle November 5th on your calendar- that’s the date of the defacto SEC Championship Alabama-LSU game. Both teams are better than anyone in the SEC East. (Possible dark horse: South Carolina)
2. On the surface, the Big East looks to be wide open again. Rutgers, Cincinnati, West Virginia, and South Florida all have one loss. However, after a 44-17 drubbing by Pitt Thursday night, South Florida has dropped out of the top 25, leaving West Virginia as the league’s only ranked team. Their only loss came courtesy of then-#2 LSU in Week 4. It’s possible South Florida could mount a comeback- they looked very good prior to this week- but with a conference loss on their record now, I’d look for West Virginia to win the Big East.
3. There are 3 unbeaten teams in the Big 10 (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois). Smart money right now is on Wisconsin to win the conference. Michigan has beaten a WAC team, two MAC teams, Notre Dame, and Minnesota (note they also did so the last three years under Rich Rodriguez). Illinois has beaten two non-AQ teams, a I-AA team, and Northwestern, but they’ve also beaten a ranked Arizona State team. While Wisconsin also spent the early part of the season beating up on lower-tier competition, they walloped new conference foe #8 Nebraska 48-17 on Saturday.
4. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Notre Dame edge back into the rankings with another win next week. Be thankful that B.Kerr does not cover college football. (Seriously, just take my word for it).
5. Stanford just keeps finding ways to win, including using Andrew Luck as a receiver.
6. Clemson spanked Virginia Tech on the road. Best team in the ACC, followed by Georgia Tech.
7. If Penn State is Linebacker U, LSU is Cornerback U. I hate to bring up the same player repeatedly, but Tyrann Mathieu had another big game on Saturday, breaking the LSU record for career forced fumbles less than halfway through his sophomore year. Unreal. (Despite losing, former LSU CB Patrick Peterson had himself a pretty good game for the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday too).
8. An interesting comment on CBS during the Alabama-Florida game: apparently Florida’s backup QB is a true freshman because the other QBs on the roster were option-type guys brought in by Meyer; the coaching staff has already started converting them to other positions. Started John Brantley was injured against Alabama and is not expected to play in Week 6 at LSU. A true freshman against LSU’s defense? That could get ugly for the Gators quickly.
9. Robert Griffin III may be human after all. Baylor lost to Kansas State, and Griffin, like every other QB on the planet, has now thrown more incompletions than TD passes. (This was not the case before the KSU game). Baylor is still #25 in the AP Poll.
10. The Wisconsin student section is insane. The visual on TV when they all start doing “Jump Around” at once, all in red, is something to behold.
Several big games next week, look for my picks on Friday! Thanks for reading.
