First things first: Texas is back and Notre Dame is a playoff team. Both of those statements are true in the moment, but the validity of both is temporary until proven otherwise. Let's start with Texas being back; they obviously aren't back to the glory of Vince Young and Mack Brown, but they're as good as they've been since Brown was the head coach. It's only Tom Herman's second year leading the Longhorns' charge, and he's certainly pulled this program out of the miserable pit that it had resided in recent years. Now, all of this hype and excitement does not mean Herman's job is finished in Austin. Those boosters and fans are expecting rings during his tenure. But the current hoopla is definitely warranted, as Texas is ranked No. 9 in the country after beating three ranked opponents (at the time of their meeting) this season: No. 22 USC, No. 17 TCU, and No. 7 Oklahoma. This isn't an overhyped fluke in the slightest. The Longhorns are back for now, and it feels great to say. Looking ahead to the remainder of their schedule, the legitimacy of Texas will still be challenged. The biggest threats in the upcoming weeks are Oklahoma State in Stillwater, No. 6 West Virginia, and Texas Tech in Lubbock. Those three matchups come consecutively after this weekend's game against Baylor. The road that lies ahead is not an easy one, but in this moment, right here, right now, Texas is back.
In 2017, Notre Dame was very much in the playoff conversation up until mid November, when they got absolutely thrashed in Miami by the 'Canes 41-8. For now, the No. 5 Fighting Irish are a serious playoff contender with a 6-0 record and three wins in top 25 matchups (No. 14 Michigan, No. 7 Stanford, No. 22 Virginia Tech). The difference between Notre Dame's seat at the playoff discussion table this year compared to last season, is that due to the opponents that lie ahead, 2018's seat seems to be far more stable. The Irish have gotten through the toughest part of their schedule with a "zero" in the loss column, and they'll be favored in each of their remaining games. This Saturday they host a .500 Pitt team, and the Irish are favored by 20.5 points. The following week they host Navy, which won't result in a loss but could be a game that bangs them up a bit. Then we get to November, which seems a tad sketchy to me. Don't get me wrong, the Irish will be favorites in these games, but if a slip up does occur, I think November is the most threatening month of that possibility. November 3rd Notre Dame makes the quick trip to Evanston to take on Northwestern. The Wildcats just took down Michigan State and completely blew a lead over Michigan in the prior week. Northwestern can give good teams a hard time. The last two times these teams have faced off (2014, 1995), the Wildcats have come out on top in close ones. After Northwestern, the Irish face off against two traditional powerhouse programs that are currently in shambles: Florida State and USC. But sandwiched in between those two is the Shamrock Series game against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. Between Syracuse's ability to compete and the uniqueness of the game's setting, it just gives off a vibe that even in the case of a Notre Dame win, the flow of gameplay might be thrown off a bit. Having said all of that, the Irish should win out, causing a whole flurry of playoff debates, which is what we live for. Everything has been clicking with them since Brian Kelly named Ian Book as the starter. After serving a four game suspension to start the season, running back Dexter Williams has certainly made his presence and value known since returning. The defense looks great and Julian Love just keeps making big plays. All is well in South Bend, and all is projected to remain that way. Also, I can't mention ND's Shamrock Series game at Yankee Stadium without mentioning their atrocious uniforms for that night:
That's not me being some anti-New York guy just hating the getups for having Yankee pinstripes. I couldn't care less about that. It's the fact that they're hideous that really grinds my gears. I mean, honestly, who gave this the green light? Some guy whose job it was to make them look cool? Something doesn't add up. As a matter of fact, of all the Shamrock Series uniforms, only a coupletwotree have been anywhere from decent to good. Don't mess with the classics unless you can make it look sick, which they've failed to do on multiple occasions.
Some other much more concise thoughts before this week's "games to watch" post:
It's just beating a dead horse at this point, but Alabama and Tua Tagovailoa are still seemingly unstoppable in 2018. Tua's current odds to win the Heisman are at -150 (next best odds: Dwayne Haskins +450) and the Tide's odds to win the National Championship are at -200 (next best odds: Clemson +750).
After the loss to Texas last weekend, Oklahoma fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. It's about time.
Remember, Mike Stoops returned to Norman after Bob Stoops allowed Brent Venables to leave for Clemson.
There are eleven remaining undefeated teams this year: two from the SEC ('Bama, Georgia), two from the ACC (Clemson, NC State), one from the Pac 12 (Colorado), one from the BIG 10 (Ohio State), one from the Big 12 (West Virginia), and three from the AAC (Cincinnati, UCF, USF).
Boston College will be wearing throwback uniforms on Saturday against Louisville to honor the Doug Flutie days. If their quarterback isn't wearing that jersey in the manner of a sports bra like Flutie used to, it'll be a disappointment.
👀 @BCFootball will be wearing some “new” threads this weekend...
For the 113th time, the Texas Longhorns (no. 19) and Oklahoma Sooners (No. 7) will battle it out in the Red River Showdown with the College Gameday boys in town. The Longhorns' recent (and impressive) win streak has made this matchup more interesting than it has been in recent years; the last time these two faced off with both teams being in the top 25 rankings was 2012. And this is a rivalry between two blue chips that are used to having both teams ranked when they meet. Before the Texas-being-bad streak of 2013-2017, we'd have to go back to 2005 to see a ranked vs. unranked Red River Rivalry game. But even though Texas hasn't enjoyed their usually typical level of success lately, they've still showed up to play and compete with Oklahoma in the last few meetings. In the previous five games between these two teams, each game has ended with a one-possession point differential. The unranked Longhorns came out on top in two of those, and lost the other three by five points each. Oklahoma heads into this one currently favored by eight points, which is the highest amount of points for this one to still be in the one-possession range. Both teams are 2-3 against the spread this year. Texas has done a great job rebounding from the week one loss to Maryland, and the Oklahoma offense is firing on all cylinders. Kyler Murray has successfully made everyone sad that he's pursuing a professional baseball career, because watching him play football is pure beauty. This will be the Longhorns' third ranked opponent in four weeks, and the Sooners have not faced a team in the top 25 yet this season. If Texas can pull this one off, could I maybe, potentially contemplate saying that the Longhorns...are...back? We'll see if that's a possibility when this one ends early Saturday afternoon.
Although it's not expected to be a competitive game, I'm going to be checking in on Maryland vs. No. 15 Michigan at the Big House. I've been pretty dismissive of Michigan, but their only loss being to Notre Dame is now looking to be more of a resume booster than the immediate tarnish of a fulfilling season it once seemed to be. And coincidentally, since Michigan seemed to be counted out to a certain extent, I haven't been tuning in as intently for their games in recent weeks. Now it's not like Harbaugh and his boys can ride the wave of having one loss in South Bend until the end of the year, flipping that into a playoff berth (in the scenario that ND runs the table and gets into the CFP). After Saturday's matchup against the Terps, Michigan is looking at three straight games against ranked opponents: at home vs. No. 16 Wisconsin, on the road at No. 20 Michigan State, and then back to Ann Arbor to host No. 11 Penn State. Despite an upset scare/a comeback that shouldn't have been necessary last weekend against Northwestern, Michigan is expected to handle Maryland with ease as 17.5 point favorites. And if they do effectuate the Vegas prognosis (and assuming that their next three opponents win until their respective meetings), we'll be looking at three straight weeks of Michigan featured in the weekly "games to watch." And more importantly, the more that Notre Dame's stock rises, so does Michigan's. Which means if you're obsessive over deciphering, analyzing, and projecting any and all aspects that could influence playoff scenarios that may or may not happen, familiarizing yourself with Michigan is in your best interest. Toss this one on the second or third screen for the early games, or just switch to it intermittently during the Red River commercial breaks.
The Afternoon Games
Saturday's afternoon platter is highlighted by a top-25 SEC matchup between Coach O's No. 5 LSU Tigers and the No. 22 Florida Gators in Gainesville. LSU has not lost a game yet this season, and have two wins over teams that were ranked in the top ten at the time of their meeting (Miami was No. 8 and Auburn was No. 7). Florida hopped back into this week's rankings after beating Mississippi State last week 13-6, knocking the then No. 23 Bulldogs out of the top 25. Florida's lone loss to Kentucky isn't looking as bad as it did at the time, as Benny Snell and the No. 13 Wildcats have been rolling. The last time a regular season battle between LSU and Florida has been decided by double digits was in October of 2011, when "Moves Like Jagger," "Party Rock Anthem," and "Pumped Up Kicks" were some jams topping the Billboard charts. Between the traditionally close games and these two teams obtaining loads of momentum, Vegas is predicting this to be a tight one, as LSU is favored by 2.5 points. The Tigers' defense has looked very legit this year so far, but concerns have been raised about their production on the offensive side of the ball. However, the offense looked better than they have all season last week as they thrashed Ole Miss 45-16. Whether that's an outlier of a performance, or the unit is starting to click, we'll have a better idea on Saturday. The Swamp should be an especially hostile environment on Saturday afternoon, which could potentially disrupt quarterback Joe Burrow and the flow of the offensive unit. The Gators defense has allowed only 14 points per game, which is the 9th best in the nation.
The latest AP top-25 had a few new appearances in there, with the No. 21 Colorado Buffs being one of them. You know how everybody has those "college football is better when (insert team) is good" takes? For whatever reason, I feel that way about Colorado. I inexplicably have a strong desire for them to be a successful football team. Why? I have no clue. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for black and gold uniforms. Maybe it's because Ted Johnson and Chauncey Billups are by boys. Whatever it is, I'm digging the sight of them in the top 25 and I hope their stock continues to rise. But unfortunately for the undefeated Buffs, they can't waste time relishing in the fact that they're currently in the rankings, because Herm Edwards and his Sun Devils come to Boulder on Saturday. Arizona State is 3-2 so far this year with a win over Michigan State and a seven-point road loss at Washington. Colorado's opponents so far haven't been the mightiest of FBS teams (Colorado State, a rather pathetic Nebraska squad, the abomination that is Chip Kelly and UCLA), but for what it's worth one of their victories came against Keith Foulke's favorite team the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. Colorado enters this Pac 12 South showdown favorited by 2.5. They are 3-1 against the spread this season, while ASU is 4-1 against the spread. Of the eight times these two teams have met, Colorado has only come out on top one time (2016).
The Night Games
No. 6 Notre Dame has officially entered the playoff discussion, as they've got nothing but wins in the rearview and winnable games up ahead. The Fighting Irish seemingly have only a few glaring challenges left on their schedule, starting with Saturday night's trip to Blacksburg, Virginia to take on the No. 24 Virginia Tech Hokies under the lights. The Irish are currently favored by six points over the Hokies. Notre Dame is really firing on all cylinders now that they've implemented junior Ian Book under center. After starting the season with three close victories, ND and their new QB1 really shifted gears by slapping around Wake Forest and Stanford. Virginia Tech's one loss was beyond embarrassing two weeks ago, a 49-35 upset by Old Dominion. They did rebound nicely by handling No. 22 Duke 31-14 in Durham, knocking the Blue Devils out of the rankings. The initial starting quarterback for VTech, Josh Jackson, suffered a broken fibula in their one loss on the year. In the win over Duke, junior quarterback Ryan Willis lit it up by completing 17 of 27 passes for 332 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks. After Virginia Tech on Saturday night, Notre Dame's biggest remaining threats that could end their playoff hopes are probably Navy in South Bend and Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. The Irish obviously can't look past the Hokies, as the crowd should be wild as usual (Enter Sandman is a top three college football entrance tradition) and Notre Dame's only other road game this season was two weeks ago at Wake Forest.
The SEC gives us two games in the night slot that are intriguing. No. 13 Kentucky is rolling and running back Benny Snell is putting up numbers that put him in the Heisman conversation. The Wildcats travel to College Station to battle it out with Texas A&M, who we've seen can compete with top tier talent. The Aggies are favored by six at home. Mississippi State was knocked out of the rankings when they lost two straight to Kentucky and Florida. The Bulldogs host No. 8 Auburn on Saturday night. Auburn is favored by four points in this one.
