Biggest Story of the Week: Everyone
is Flawed
The talking
heads on TV won’t tell you the truth, but I will. As great as this season has
been so far, and it has been really entertaining, you can’t confuse great games
and great teams. At this point in the season, there are no great teams in
college football.
Start at the
top with Alabama. They have a true freshman quarterback and suddenly, a lack of
competent running backs. There is no way they go undefeated.
Louisville
has a great player and a scum bag coach. No one should be crowning them after
one win at home against a Florida State team that we don’t know much about.
The reality
of this season is that by the end of the year, there may be a couple of great
teams, but at this point, there are legitimate questions about every team in
college football. No one has proven that they are good enough to play four
quarters of great football week after week.
If I had to
pick who I thought would be the best team by the end of the season I would go
with Clemson. They have the best quarterback in the country to go along with a
balanced team with weapons on offense, play makers on defense, and a manageable schedule
with some big tests, but not the gauntlet that other teams have to navigate.
Even though
I don’t believe anyone is great at this point, I think this season has been,
and will continue to be, great. If you look ahead to the next three or four
weeks, there are multiple games that you would say are “Must-See” and there are
going to be more upsets due to the parity in college football.
Biggest Win of the Week: Tennessee
It had been
11 years since Tennessee beat Florida, and no one would have thought the streak
was about to end as the two teams headed to the locker room at half time.
Tennessee wasn’t just trailing 21-3, they looked inept on offense and they
looked vulnerable on defense. I have never been a fan of Josh Dobbs, and he
made me look like a genius in the first half.
Then
something changed.
If you were
watching the CBS broadcast, you know that Gary Danielson, who is of course the
smartest person in the world (just ask him, and he will tell you), believes that there was a pass in the
third quarter where the Tennessee receiver made a great catch that turned the
game around. I don’t think that turned the game around for two reasons. One,
the reason it had to be a great catch was because Dobbs nearly hit the defender
in the back with the pass. It was an awful pass. The second reason is because
two plays after the “game-changing” play, Dobbs through a terrible
interception.
As much as
it might bother someone as smart as Danielson, all that changed was momentum.
Dobbs hit two long passes on busted coverages, and Florida got tight. The
Tennessee crowd got into the game, and the Tennessee defense dared Austin
Appleby to beat them. They pinned their ears back and brought pressure for the
entire second half, and Florida wasn’t able to respond.
Not to sound
like a broken record, but both of these teams have serious flaws and flawed
teams aren’t going to be consistent. From week to week and sometimes quarter to
quarter, you aren’t going to get the same team.
Now,
Tennessee is in the driver’s seat in the East. However, they travel to Georgia
this week, and follow that up with games against the best two teams in the SEC,
Texas A&M and Alabama. If Tennessee loses to Georgia they will lose three
straight and probably drop another game this season, finishing 8-4 and probably
causing Butch Jones his job. If Tennessee can win in Athens, then they probably
will go 10-2 and win the East.
Either way,
ending the streak of 11 straight loses to Florida was a big monkey off the back
of the program.
The biggest
flaw Tennessee has, and they have a few, is their head coach. He is a cliché
machine, but I don’t believe he really knows what he is doing. He continues to
talk about building their program. This is Butch Jones 4th season in
Knoxville! How long does he expect to get to build something? It’s smoke and
mirrors. The team might win this year in spite of Jones, but he is big on talk
and short on substance and Tennessee will not compete for titles on a
consistent basis as long as he is the head coach.
Biggest Loss of the Week: Notre Dame
There were
some serious candidates for worst loss this week. You could look to Michigan
State who got blown out at home against Wisconsin. You could pick Georgia, who
looked totally outmatched by Ole Miss. My runner up was LSU, who couldn’t get
the offense going, yet again, and somehow managed to not be prepared to run a
last-second play when the officials had spent four minutes discussing a penalty.
They were the runner up because Les Miles is running out of time very quickly.
All Hail to
the Victors of the dubious “honor” of worst loss of the week, and that goes to
the storied golden-domers at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is quite possible the
greatest college football program of all time, but for the past 10 years, they
have struggled to be relevant. Somehow, they maintain their status as an
Independent with their own network tv deal with NBC, but on the field they have
underwhelmed for the better part of a decade.
I’m not
going to pretend like the loss to Duke at home was the worst loss in the team’s
history, but as a three touchdown favorite at home, the loss tied for the
biggest upset of an Irish team of all time.
There have
been rumors that there are issues between head coach Brian Kelly and defensive
coordinator Brian VanGorder. After the game, Kelly called out his players by
saying it didn’t matter what they had done in the past, if you want to play for
him, you better bring some fire and passion.
To me, Kelly
sounded like a burnt-out teacher at the end of their rope, trying one last time
to crack down on the class before they lose all control of the situation. Kelly
may keep his job because I don’t know where Notre Dame would go for a head
coach, but Irish Eyes aren’t smiling this season, and I don’t see this program
turning things around any time soon.
The College Football Playoff if the
season ended Today:
1. Alabama
2. Louisville
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
5. Michigan
6. Texas A&M
7. Wisconsin
8. Stanford
Three Things to Watch for Next Week:
1. Clemson/Louisville: Lamar Jackson is
the star of the young season. Deshawn Watson was the returning favorite for the
Heisman trophy. Clemson hasn’t managed to impress so far this season.
Louisville has put themselves in the talk for a spot in the playoff with their
total destruction of Florida State. Prime time in Death Valley. Next Saturday
night is going to be amazing.
2. Wisconsin/Michigan: Michigan comes
into this game ranked in the Top 5, and I have no clue as to why. Jim Harbaugh
has turned the perception of Michigan around with his off-field antics, but he
has yet to make a statement on the field. Wisconsin has already beaten Michigan
State and LSU in the young season, so they are battle-tested. Time for King of
Khakis to put up, or for the love of all things holy, just shut up. I’m pulling
hard for Wisconsin.
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