SEC policy? Doesn’t get any more blatant than this, Paul.
Tennessee, looking to get back into consideration for respectability meaning more wins, cancelled a contract to play Army West Point next season. Army, who runs the triple option that the Vols never see, has been on the upswing the past few years. Against a few Power Five teams the past few years, they threatened, but came up short: West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl, 24-21; at Michigan, 24-21, and at Oklahoma, 28-21. Tennessee planned to host the Cadets next season with Knoxville hosting the 2022 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention! Evidently fearing a loss, they paid Army $500,000 to cancel and booked wayward Akron in their place for a one-million-dollar payout.
“On Brave Old Army team, on to the fray…” They frightened off Tennessee, however.
SECret to success
This year these same Zips lost to Auburn, 60-10, and to Ohio State, 59-7. So why not contract a team you can clobber instead of a team that will challenge? Maybe make your team better? No. Easy win for the money serves a purpose for more money. Basically, assured of a win, Akron replacing a possible loss helps them. Non-conference games with Akron, Ball State, and UT Martin at home and Pitt on the road, they’re doing the math for 2022. At best, 3-1 now. Vanderbilt looks to be a certain fourth win. South Carolina, Mizzou, and Kentucky present possible wins. If they win two, that’s six wins (6-2) – a Bowl game. The balance of the season lists Florida, at LSU, Alabama, and at Georgia. They get into a guaranteed bowl game at 6-6. Thank you, Akron, for stepping up. It’s conjecture, but it’s part of the plan. More bowl games, the more money into the SEC coffers.
If you can’t beat ‘em, don’t play ‘em.
This year, Alabama plays FCS Mercer and New Mexico State (slowest team ever seen if you watched highlights against Hawaii) this year. Too many clunkers dot SEC slates: Rice, Alabama State, Arkansas- Pine Bluff, Samford, Charleston Southern, LA-Monroe, Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, Tennessee Tech, Prairie View, UConn. They counter that they play these teams because their conference is so tough. How do they prove that? SEC non-conference games this year include losses to UCLA, Memphis, Boston College, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and East Tennessee State. Throw in a few desperate wins against Colorado, UT Chattanooga, Georgia State, and even down-trotting Clemson. Not much proof of any extraordinary “toughness” here. The Game Day guys will talk about the Arkansas win over Texas and the Ole Miss win over NC State, but they won’t go into any depth about these.
At least Auburn agreed to a home and home series with Penn State in 2021-22. First time at a Big Ten campus in 90 years. Was it the last?
Fine-tuning our schedule again
This Saturday, we had planned to go see Middle Tennessee (1-3,0-2) host a good Marshall team (2-2, 0-1) in a ConferenceUSA match. MTSU lost at Charlotte last week, 42-38. Marshall fell to a good Appalachian State team, 31-30. It might not be a very good game. We’re thinking of going to see an FCS game even closer to us instead for better competition on the gridiron. Austin Peay (2-2) hosts Tennessee State (1-2) in Clarksville. We get to add the TSU Tigers under new HC Eddie George for one thing. We had planned to see the Tigers host Tennessee Tech on October 16. Tech is currently 0-4, and rather than go to see these two clash in big, empty Nissan Stadium that day, we set eyes on a more competitive game with some bite.
That day in the Southern Conference, FCS No. 19 Chattanooga (1-2, including a 28-23 loss versus Kentucky) hosts FCS No. 14 East Tennessee State (4-0,1-0). ETSU plays on our slate for the first time. Both have two games prior to this meeting. If both teams win both games, it will be a fight for first in the SoCon. That’s what we like to see!
Ailym Ford nears end zone for UTC against Austin Peay. Back to Chattanooga for us in October.
Finebaum’s Smoke and Mirrors
The SEC also has their watchdog, Paul Finebaum , throwing out signals attacking the ACC on its way down, starting with Clemson. No other college football fan can see that ,of course. Only Paul can see that with all those TV monitors in front of him. Give us the news he doesn’t want us to see. For bashing, he should look no further than his beloved SEC. However, he takes the low road to distract everybody form the evident decline of the SEC. That’s what his network pays him for, being the conference’s wingman. Nice job if you can find the work.
Week Four in Review
We wanted to see if either undefeated Big Ten team would be exposed as very overrated, but No. 14 Michigan’s 20-13 win over Rutgers (3-1) showed that the Scarlet Knights held their own against a nemesis who had beaten them 280-61 over five games before last season’s 48-42 U of M win. RU gets tested again the next two weeks against No. 11 Ohio State (3-1) and at No. 17 Michigan State. Michigan (4-0) won’t run into the top of their eastern division foes until going to Michigan State on October 30…
Boston College (4-0) defeated Mizzou (2-2), 41-34. Anyone notice the SEC sent the same refs to Boston that had officiated the Penn State-Auburn week the previous week? They must’ve done a stellar job per SEC evaluations to get to travel to BC for this non-conference contest…In other ACC action, we had special interests seeing how Wake Forest and Virginia would do against each other last Friday. We’ve got both penned in for upcoming games. Wake (4-0) defeated the Wahoos soundly, 37-17, to jump up to No. 24 – ahead of Clemson! We’ll see UVA against Louisville on October 9 and at BYU on October 30. The Demon Deacons will host NC State on our agenda on November 13…Of course, NC State pulled the upset we called last week when they defeated Clemson, 27-21…
At 4-0 after beating Missouri of the SEC last week, can the Eagles challenge for the ACC title? Quick, somebody tell Paul Finebaum!
Notre Dame beat Wisconsin, 41-21, scoring 21 points in Q4. The three late TDs came on a kickoff return and two pick sixes. Not sure if anyone can say the Irish offense is that good, or if the Wisconsin defense is not what it seems based on this score. We’ll find out about both this upcoming weekend…UT San Antonio (4-0) could be rising to the top of ConferenceUSA after their 31-28 win at Memphis (3-1). They start conference play next week versus UNLV (0-4).
Our Best of Week Four
Collegefootballfan.com is excited to see BYU play for the first time since 1989 this season when they host Virginia on October 30. Also, our first game ever in Provo! This weekend, the No. 13 Cougars will visit Utah State (3-1). The Aggies will be up for this after suffering their first loss last week to Boise, 27-3. We look for State to throw a scare into BYU, but they will remain unbeaten…
SEC
No. 2 Georgia (4-0) is untested despite a close win over Clemson who struggles offensively. Thirty-five points in the first quarter against Vanderbilt on the road is nothing to brag about. The Dores are bad. UAB? South Carolina? No. 7 Arkansas (4-0) has locked horns with Texas and A&M, both ranked. Look for them to make this very close, if not an upset surprise… Also in the SEC, No. 12 Mississippi (3-0) at No. 1 Alabama (4-0): the soap opera stuff gets put aside and the teams play. Saban, the Recycler, will know how to beat Lane Kiffin. It won’t be pretty…
ACC
Louisville (3-1, 1-0) at No. 24 Wake Forest (4-0, 2-0), another ACC scouting report for us, will be a tussle. Both beat Florida State and beat good passing teams respectively in UCF and in Virginia. It will be close with Wake taking this win at home, based on their wealth of experience, and QB Sam Hartman…
Wake and Louisville duked it out two years ago to a final score of 62-59 won by the Cardinals. Looking for similar results when Wake meets Louisville again this weekend, but Deacs coming out on top
.
AAC/Independent
No. 9 Notre Dame inflated their win over Wisconsin who has no offense to speak of and a very good defense with a kickoff return and two pick sixes in the fourth quarter last week to win, 41-21. No. 7 Cincinnati plays strong on both sides of the ball. They are a team on a mission. This game and Indiana were must-wins before American Athletic competition begins. With a bye last Saturday, they are focused to get to the CFP. QB Desmond Ridder will lead an offense that can keep ND’s off the field. Their defense will hold the Irish in check with or without Jack Coan. This is the Bearcat’s shot and they know it…
Big Twelve
We saw Baylor (4-0) defeat Texas State in our FBS opener, and they haven’t lost since including last week’s win over No. 14 Iowa State to land at No. 21 in this week’s AP poll. Oklahoma State looms at No. 19 with a 21-20 victory at Boise and with a win over previous No. 24 Kansas State. OSU has been solid at home and they will meet in Stillwater. Baylor relies on the run mostly and the Cowboys stop the running game. They should prevail in a good game at home…We still see Oklahoma on course to lose one of its next three. WVU came close to pulling it off last weekend.
Big Ten
No. 4 Penn State (4-0,1-0) looks forward to having Indiana (2-2, 0-1) visit Beaver Stadium after they handed the Nittany Lions a one-point loss in last season’s opener on a controversial last-play score. We saw IU defeat Western Kentucky last week, 33-31. Though Michael Penix threw for 373 yards, he never tossed one into the end zone against a very loose Hilltopper secondary. IU’s defense also gave a lot of cushion to WKU’s receivers last week allowing Bailey Zappe the throw for 365 yards and three TDs. Topper receivers were wide-open all night. Penn State will not offer Ty Fryfogel and their TE Peyton Hendershot anywhere near the amount of space they enjoyed last week. On the other side, Sean Clifford, Jahan Dotson, and the rest of the PSU receiving corps will take full advantage of the space IU will give them. We look for the Lions to win by at least three touchdowns.
WKU’s Dalvin Smith scores on a 13-yard TD pass against Indiana. If IU allows PSU receivers to get this open on Saturday, the Lions’ offense should have a field day.
Rack ‘em up for Eight in “Achtober”
During the first full month of fall, we plan to attend seven and hopefully eight games during October. Thanks to a couple of Thursday night games and our new-found flexibility to venture to new locations, we are taking advantage. After our short ride to Austin Peay this Saturday against Tennessee State, we head out Thursday to Jonesboro, Arkansas to see No. 16 Coastal Carolina (4-0) with QB Grayson McCall take on Arkansas State (1-3). Saturday after, we venture a few hours away for an afternoon game in Louisville to see the Cardinals take on the Virginia Cavaliers.
On Thursday night, October 14, we plan to see Navy (0-4) try to turn things around in Memphis against the Tigers. We look forward to seeing a significant SoCon game in Chattanooga when UTC plays ETSU the following Saturday. We stay FCS on October 23 if the Ohio Valley Conference game between Austin Peay at Murray State matters for a conference title. If not, Boston College at Louisville could be of interest in the ACC instead. Hopefully, the TV programmers will see thing our way to time the start of UCLA at Utah conveniently to allow us to see that game along with Virginia at BYU in Provo on October 30. Looking forward to Halloween. No tricks, just treats this year!