College Football Week 6 Recap

Game of the Week: Arizona State 38, USC 34

            Thursday night I was awoken by one of the worst allergy attacks I have ever had. I could not breathe, or sleep, but I was able to catch Thursday night’s thrilling upset win by Arizona over Oregon. Under normal circumstances I would have never been able to stay up and watch that game, and I thought perhaps it was God’s way to make sure that I was able to watch it, and to make it the game of the week. But Arizona State, beat number 16 USC in a thrilling high scoring affair, which ended in a Hail Mary. In a weekend of great, and epic games, I think a game ending on a Hail Mary is better sign from the guy upstairs than my post nasal drip on Thursday night.

Player of the Week: Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State (19-25, 259 Yards, 77 Rushing Yards, 5 total TDs)

            I think Mississippi State may be here to stay. The chances of them running through the SEC West without a loss are slim, but the Bulldogs I believe their biggest statement win this season, even bigger than the LSU game. The Bulldogs defense gave one of, if not the best offense In college football fits yesterday, forcing Kenny Hill to throw 3 interceptions. But what gives them the biggest edge is the play of Dak Prescott. Prescott demonstrated yet again his great pose in big games, and his ability to hurt defense in the air and on the ground. While he may not have had the most prolific game on Saturday, it is hard to keep him out of the Heisman picture.

Disappointment of the Week: Top 10 Teams

            I was getting all excited yesterday about making Oklahoma my disappointment of the week, because they had no answer for TCU yesterday. At this point, Alabama had command in Ole Miss, A&M was getting slaughtered but that wasn’t shocking, UCLA had not played yet, and Oregon seems to lose to Arizona every year. But with all of these upsets this weekend, it’s hard to say just one is the “Disappointment of the Week”. But I did tell you about Oklahoma.

Game to Watch: No. 2 Oregon @ No. 8 UCLA, 3:30, FOX

            Next week will be an elimination week in College Football headlined by two big games Oregon @ UCLA, and Auburn @ Mississippi State. While the later game will be the first loss for one of the SEC West teams, they still will be somewhat in the playoff picture. However that does not apply to the PAC-12 matchup, which is why it will be the biggest game next weekend. Both Oregon and UCLA fell victim to the upset bug this week, and with USC and Stanford also losing this week, the PAC-12 strength of schedule has diminished, making it tougher for either Oregon or UCLA to make the playoff with one loss. But two losses will be an automatic disqualifier from the playoff, and these two programs who had pre-season visions of playing for the National Title, only one will be able to keep that dream alive after Saturday.

Coach on the Hot Seat: Brady Hoke

            Lost to Rutgers…now he is just baiting me. I am considering renaming this category: “The Brady ‘Fire me Now’ Hoke Award”

Playoff Prediction:

1. Florida State

2. Georgia

3. Michigan State

4. Oregon

            So this, for obvious reasons, looks completely different than what has been my traditional top 4. In all honesty, after this week, it is a complete crap-shoot, trying to predict, outside of Florida State, who will make this final four. But I think this could be very likely. Before I unveil my reasoning, I will add two more teams in a new category “Don’t Count Them Out Yet”, which will consist of the two teams who have a strong chance of still going to the playoff.

1. Florida State: I think they will go undefeated this year, especially with Notre Dame going to Florida State. I wanted to put Notre Dame in here, especially after this weekend’s win over Stanford, but their schedule is too tough. I don’t think they can beat Florida State in Tallahassee, and despite the heroic play of Golson he makes way too many mistakes and they are prone to catching the upset bug as well.

2. Georgia: Georgia should be able to win out the rest of their games as well, especially since Florida is anemic on offense, and they get Auburn at home. The defense will continue to improve throughout the season, and with the SEC West teams beating up on each other, I like Georgia, just at this point, to win the SEC.

3. Michigan State: This was a great weekend for Michigan State. With all of these upsets, all of sudden their loss to Oregon was more than acceptable, it can be worn as a badge of courage. But they need to win out (which is more than doable) and really beat down Ohio State if they are going to convince the committee. The Buckeyes are the only threat left for Sparty, and a convincing win and the Big 10 title should be a lock for the playoff.

4. Oregon: Oregon’s offensive line will get healthy, and I have them going into UCLA and finishing off the Bruins disappointing season this Saturday. Stanford is not as strong as they have been in recent years, and Oregon should get over that bump as well. If they are able to win out, they can put behind Thursday’s shocking loss.

Don’t Count Them Out Yet: Alabama & Ohio State

            Two oldies but goodies. Alabama lost at the perfect time, and it is not unforeseeable for them to win out the rest of their games and easily make the playoff. They still have a very good offense, and a young defense which will continue to improve throughout the season. Its too early to count out Nick Saban’s group.

            As for Ohio State, they may be the best-kept secret in all of College Football. The offense has been exploding as of late as J.T. Barrett and company look more and more like Ohio State week after week. So consider the following: What if Ohio State, wins out their remaining games, including going to Michigan State and pulling off the upset. If that were to take place only Ohio State and Florida State would be the only playoff representatives to go undefeated in conference play. It would be a very ‘Ohio State like’ thing to do.

2015 NFL Mock Draft

Pick	Team	Player	College	Position
1	Oakland	Marcus Mariota	Oregon	QB
2	St. Louis	Jameis Winston	Florida State	QB
3	Jacksonville	Todd Gurley	Georgia	RB
4	New York J	Amari Cooper	Alabama	WR
5	Tampa Bay	Andrus Peat	Stanford	OT
6	Minnesota	Cedric Ogbuhei	Texas A&M	OT
7	Cleveland (from Buffalo)	Leonard Williams	USC	DE
8	Houston	P.J. Williams	Florida State	CB
9	Cleveland	Ty Montgomery	Stanford	WR
10	Tennessee	Shilique Calhoun	Michigan State	DE
11	Miami	Landon Collins	Alabama	S
12	Washington	Randy Gregory	Nebraska	DE/OLB
13	Pittsburgh	Vic Beasley	Clemson	DE/OLB
14	New Orleans	Ronald Darby	Florida State	CB
15	Carolina	Melvin Gordon	Wisconsin	RB