Week Seven Wisconsin & LSU Emerge From The Pack

 

Week Seven saw the first major upset of the season as far as the playoff rankings are concerned with 3 TD favourites Georgia losing at home to South Carolina. This has not only severely dented their hopes, but has also probably eliminated Notre Dame, given their quality loss in Athens now looks a lot less shiny. They also made a meal of getting past USC and now an Orange Bowl berth looks like their target.

The nights big game saw LSU make a huge statement as they took down a very good Florida with a modicum of ease. Can any defense stop Joe Burrow this year? Well, funny you should mention that as one who might be able to is Wisconsin, who not only cruised to 6-0 but pitched their 4th shut out of the campaign. Like LSU they are fast emerging as contenders. Both LSU and Wisconsin were dark horses pre-season, but are now firmly in the spotlight as potential National Champions.

In the night’s other big games Oklahoma kept themselves firmly in the playoff conversation with a win at Texas in the Red River Rivalry, while Penn State kept their unbeaten run going with a hard-fought win at Big 10 rivals Iowa. In the all ranked SEC clash Alabama won with a bit to spare over Texas A&M, who will now finally drop out of the top 25 with three losses.

The week ended with 12 teams unbeaten four of whom are in the Big 10, while there are still three in the Group of Five Conferences – the field for that at large coveted Cotton Bowl place is shrinking rapidly.

Overall eight of the top 25 lost and there should be some new faces in the ranks given some of the unbeaten teams were on the outside looking in last week.

How did our predictions go?

14-4 Straight up and 9-9 against the spread.

AP Top 25 Results

No 20 Virginia 9 @ Miami (Fla.) 17

Miami looked to be on their way back to form last week in that entertaining loss to Virginia Tech, and this week they went one better. Not the most of entertaining wins but a crucial one for the Hurricanes who still have a chance at the division.

Colorado 3 @ No 13 Oregon 45

A comfortable win for the Ducks, whose defense shone, forcing four interceptions and held Colorado to 131 yards passing. Justin Herbert had a quiet night allowing the run game to dominate things offensively. The issue for Oregon now is where do they get a quality win from to move them up the rankings, with USC losing at Notre Dame, they will have to hope Arizona State continues to surprise.

N0 23 Memphis @ Temple

Memphis had one of those nights as they lost for the first time this season at conference rivals Temple. Three consecutive turnovers in the first half should have put this one to bed, however, despite eventually turning the ball over four times, they will count themselves unlucky as a controversial overturned call probably ended up costing them the game. It certainly looked like a catch to us:

This play was ruled “incomplete” costing Memphis Football the game vs. Temple.

What do you think? pic.twitter.com/3pGltxQJ6W

— Grind City Media (@grindcitymedia) October 12, 2019

This will dent their Cotton Bowl hopes, but conversely leaves Temple nicely placed, also at 5-1 but with a couple of big wins now.

 

No 16 Michigan @ Illinois

The Wolverines cruised into a commanding lead but then inexplicably switched off, allowing Illinois to pull it back to within three points, before a couple of late TD’s calmed Michigan fans nerves. This will not impress the pollsters.

 

No 6 Oklahoma 34 @ No 11 Texas 27

The Sooners got revenge for last years loss in this historied fixture, but they made it more difficult than it should have been turning the ball over twice. They are now 6-0 and pretty much assured a place in the Big 12 Championship game.

 

South Carolina 20 @ Georgia No 3 17 (2 OT)

It was one of those nights in Athens for both teams, with Georgia dominating yardage, but turned the ball over 4 times. South Carolina also could have won this one earlier missing two potential game-winning Field Goal attempts before snatching it in double OT. This hasn’t completely ended the Bulldogs playoff chances but barring a run of shock results, they will have to win out and then take the Conference Championship to get in. The Gamecocks have given themselves a chance of bowl eligibility with this win, but still have a tough schedule ahead.

 

Michigan St. 0 @ No 8 Wisconsin 38

The Badgers have the best defense in the FBS! Bold statement I know but this is the fourth opponent they have blanked and Michigan State are not a bad team (even if they were made to look like one in this one). Holding the Spartans to 149 yards of total offense was good enough, but add in the running exploits of Jonathan Taylor and QB Jack Coan’s ball management (only 1 TO so far), and you have what looks like a genuine playoff contender. Mark your diary now 26th October @ Ohio State that game could be of all the marbles!

 

Washington St. 34 @ No 18 Arizona St. 38

WASU might not be winning with any style, but they are never the less 5-1 after snatching this one late. This is the 4th consecutive 1 score game they have been involved in and it sets things up nicely for next weeks trip to Utah.  The Cougars have now lost their last three and are in danger of missing out on a bowl game

 

Florida St. 14 @ Clemson No 2 45

Clemson put that disappointing performance against North Carolina firmly behind them in this one, running up a 42-0 lead, before easing off a bit. At 6-0 they are in complete control of the ACC and should consolidate their position in the playoff places for another week. The Seminoles will now be targetting bowl eligibility at best.

 

No 25 Cincinnati 38 @ Houston 23

Cincinnati led from the opening drive, but it took a pick-six late in the fourth quarter to finally ice this one. The Bearcats are now 5-1 and still alive in the race for the Cotton Bowl place, while Houston are in danger of missing out on a Bowl game for the first time since 2012.

 

No 1 Alabama 47 @ No 24 Texas A&M 28

The Tide never looked like losing this one, but once again gave up a lot of points and yards. That’s now 82 points they have conceded in SEC play – most unlike them. Texas A&M surely cant cling onto a top 25 rating this week with three losses – can they?

 

Texas Tech 30 @ No 22 Baylor 33 (2 OT)

Texas Tech gave unbeaten Baylor quite a game before succumbing in double OT. This was quite an entertaining game, with over 1000 yards of offense and 3turnovers each. TTU are no pushovers as they showed last time out against OSU, and Baylor could be in with a chance at the Big 12 Championship wand at 6-0 are heading for a Bowl game this year at the very least. As we said last week there is still a path open for them to reach the playoffs but that is still a long way off.

Louisville 62 @ No 19 Wake Forest 59

Wake Forest succumbed to the curse of the newly ranked teams, losing their unbeaten record in a crazy game which had 16 TDs and nearly 1100 yards of offense. This was Wake Forests first Top 25 appearance since 2008 and although they had the better of the offensive play yardage wise they made too many mistakes and that early fumble which led to a Louisville TD meant they were always chasing the game. On a historic note, this was the second-highest points total ever in an ACC game.

 

No 10 Penn St. 17 @ No 17 Iowa 12

Penn State leaned on their defense to come away with a huge Big 10 road win.  10 of their 17 points came off of turnovers and despite a late Iowa rally, they maintained their unbeaten start. Iowa has lost their last two games by one score or less, but have a couple of easire games coming up which should see them get to Bowl eligibility before they face Wisconsin in November.

 

USC 27 @ No 9 Notre Dame 30

Notre Dame made hard work of this and with Georgia losing, their playoff hopes have all but evaporated. Still, they showed they have a quality running game and QB Ian Book had another TO free game (his third in a row). USC are pretty much out of the PAC 12 race but should make a Bowl game at 3-3 with some easier games coming up.

 

No 7 Florida @ N0 5 LSU

Can any defense stop LSU QB Joe Burrow? He may have narrowly missed out on making it 300 yards passing in a fifth straight game, (he finished with 293) but he showed a lot of poise in rallying the Tigers from 28-21 down in the second half.  Florida were not disgraced by their effort and with Georgia losing they are still in with a chance at the SEC championship game. Which could be a rematch – boy would we love to see that.

 

No 15 Utah 52 @ Oregon St. 7

Utah were 52-0 up going into the last minute before the Beavers got on the board. Not much more to say on this one other than Utah remain on course to make the Rose Bowl.

 

Hawaii 37 @ No 14 Boise St.

Despite losing starting QB Hank Bachmeiser Boise had little trouble dealing with Hawaii. They forced 4 TOs and stand in QB Chase Cord threw three TDs as the Broncos cruised to 6-0 in the Mountain West. Hawaii trailed 52 – 21 going into the fourth quarter and never threatened. Still, they are nicely placed to become bowl eligible and their QB Cole McDonald has 20 TD’s on the year.

 

Racking them up

Outside of the two big combined scores above the honours on the scoring front goes to:

Louisiana Tech 62 Umass 21

Louisiana Tech cruised to 5-1 and are top of the C-USA West. This served as a nice warm-up for their next clash at second place Southern Miss, however, they will need to keep hold of the ball better as they did give up three TOs.

The only other not mentioned team to break 50 points was Washington, who beat PAC 12 rivals Arizona 51 -27, helped by 45o yards of offense and a defense which forced 4 turnovers.

Entertaining Game of the Week

A good week for exciting games this with Louisville v Wake Forest probably set go down as the entertaining game of the season, while Florida @  LSU also had its moments. Outside of the top 25 fixtures the one which stood out for us was…

San Jose State 38 @ Nevada 41

This one ticked a lot of boxes – plenty of offense, check 961 yards, Turnovers yes five, late drama? yes, plenty with San Jose rallying back from a 31-10 third-quarter deficit to tie the game up twice in the Fourth, before losing to a field goal as time expired. Got to feel a little sorry for SJSU QB Josh Love who had 405 yards passing and 3 TDs. Not often you end up losing after a performance like that.

 

Performance of the Week

A few candidates for this one but outside of the obvious one in the top 25, we will go with Bowling Green’s upset win over Toledo. This was the 100th anniversary of their first meeting and given that Bowling Green had given up 201 points in their last four games a win and only giving up 7 points probably overshadowed the significance.

One you might have missed

Nebraska 7 @ Minnesota 34

Once again Minnesota – they are now 6-0 and no one seems to be taking any notice. Ok, this is probably their best win, however, they are now 6-0 with three Big 10 wins amongst them, they are running the ball well and they held Nebraska to less than 300 yards of offense.  Surely they will break into the top 25 this week with all the ranked losses?

Looking Good

Appalachian State 17 @ Louisiana 7

Another team who the pollsters seem to ignore! They are now 5-0 and although this win may not look much to the layperson, this is a repeat of last years Sun Belt Conference Championship. This adds another nice win to the Mountaineers resume with that victory at UNC still the best Sun Belt result this year.  We have been wondering what they have to do to get a top 25 place, and hopefully, this was it.

Still Unbeaten

Not many now and the odd surprise among them.

In The AAC –  SMU

In The ACC – Clemson 

In The Big 12 – Baylor & Oklahoma

In The Big 10 – Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin & Minnesota

In The Mountain West – Boise State

In The SEC –  Alabama & LSU

In The Sun Belt – Appalachian State

Now 12 left. With none of them meeting next week and a few having bye weeks, we may still have twelve going into week nine.

Looking for a win

No change here although  C-USA – Rice didn’t play so they have an excuse. However, New Mexico State was no match for Central Michigan on the road losing by 42-28. They are now 0-7 so won’t make a bowl game and will struggle to match last seasons three wins.