Seen 'em all – 133 FBS teams in action. Three new members to be added the next two years. All divisions: 706 games attended since 1979! Get my new book now available on Amazon.com in Kindle and in Paperback: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly! Follow our 31-game schedule in 2024.
Chestnut Hill, MA – On a cold, blustery day in New England, Wake Forest traveled north to best Boston College, 41-10, to take the ACC Atlantic title. The No. 18 Demon Deacons (10-2, 7-1) travel back to neighborly Charlotte, NC next to meet No. 17 Pitt (10-2, 7-1) for the ACC championship. For the Deacs, their last 10-win season came in 2008.
A slow start overcame Boston College which seemed more sluggish as the Deacs held the Eagles scoreless beyond midway through the second quarter. Surprisingly, their defense held BC (6-6, 2-6) to 182 total yards. They made three take-aways and held the Eagles to only 19 yards passing.
The Demon Deacons invaded BC’s Alumni Stadium to stake their claim to the ACC’s Coastal Division title.
Hartman leads the Deacs
For Wake Forest, QB Sam Hartman (20/32 passes, 236 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) punctuated a 71-yard scoring drive in the first with a seven-yard TD run. Their second score came the more conventional Wake way as he connected with AT Perry on a 35-yard pass and catch following an INT by DB Ja’Sir Taylor. Trailing 14-0, the Eagles looked like that would climb back into the game. Before the first period ended, QB Phil Jurkovec who has experienced better days, completed one of his three completes of the game for 15 yards to TE Trae Barry to close the score 14-7.
Wake’s defense sacked BC QB Phil Jurkovec three times to shut down the Eagle passing attack.
Accurate, Wake PK Nick Sciba booted a 45-yard FG early in the second, and the Eagles responded with a 23-yarder by Connor Lytton. Jurkovec fumbled the ball away on the next BC possession on his 19. Wake failed to capitalize though as Hartman’s pass into the end zone was picked easily by BC CB Brandon Sebastian. After a punt by BC from their 13. Wake’s next drive starting at the 50 went for paydirt as Hartman connected with Perry again (four catches 81 yards, two TDs) for an 11-yard TD pass with 00:10 left in the half.
Wake’s AT Perry (9) caught two TD passes today, but BC CB Brandon Sebastian picked off a Hartman pass in the end zone to thwart a third.
It’s sunnier in Philadelphia and in the upper stands at BC
With a 24-10 Wake Forest halftime lead, we looked for warmer climes during intermssion. We moved out of the shade in the south end zone to the upper west sideline of BC’s Alumni Stadium in the warm sunshine. The 25,851 in attendance reported seemed to be dwindling aleady. The figure was most likely bloated as student season ticket holders probably stayed home on Thanksgiving weekend. Their Eagles hadn’t given them much to cheer about. They lost five of their last seven games. Why bother to stay on campus to sit out in 35 degree weather against the best of the ACC this year?
All Wake Forest in the second half
A BC punt from their four was returned 22 yards by WFU’s Tyler Morin. With the aid of a face mask penalty,the Deacs started at the BC 14. Sciba drilled a 23-yard FG midway through the third. On Wake’s next series, a 32-yard completion to Jacquiri Roberson (5 catches for 71 yards) put Wake at the BC three. It resulted in a five-yard TD pass to RB Christian Turner (18 carries for 51 yards, one TD) to put the Deacs up, 34-10. An INT by Wake DB Malik Mustapha had Wake Forest on the move again heading into Q4.
Wake’s Tyler Morin (83) returned this punt and a face mask penalty put the Deacs at BC’s 14.
Sixty-one yards later, Hartman connected with TE Blake Whiteheart for a two-yard scoring pass. With 11:10 remaining, the writng was on the wall. This game was over. The sun set and the chill picked up. Didn’t want to drive back to Rhode Island in the dark. Getting hungry. Time to go. Good call. No one scored after we left.
TE Blake Whiteheart hauled in a two-yard TD pass for Wake’s final score of the day.
Mission accomplished
Contacted Wake Alum and enthuisast, Jim “Bug” Harton, “Mission accomplished.” My Wake nickname officially changed. With this win, the Deacs have won 10 of 11 games collegefootballfan.com has attended in person. The new moniker is now “10 and almost 0” Koreivo! Proud of that mark and proud to be of service to my Wake Forest friends looking forward to seeing their Deacs play Pitt in the warmer climes of Charlotte next Saturday.
CFF.com plans for AAC championship
Having rooted hard for some new blood in the CFP and focusing on Cincinnati since early this season as our favorite longshot, we’ve decided to go to Nippert Stadium next Satureday for the 4 pm EST kickoff! The No. 3 Bearcats (12-0, 8-0) host the No. 16 Houston Cougars (11-1, 8-0). We want to root hard for the Cats in this one to be sure they make it to the CFP.
Since Houston lost their first game of the 2021 season to Texs Tech, 38-21, they went undefeated the rest of the season. Last Saturday, they defeated 1-11 UConn on the road, 45-17. A tougher animal than the hapless Huskies await them in Cincy. In the annals of our 43-year history, the Bearcats stand, 2-3. The Cougars stand 3-3. First trip to Nippert, so we’re psyched! Check out our Conference Championship picks later this week on Steveo’s Salvos!
Maybe some day more Wake Forest fans will understand the legend of “10 and almost 0” Koreivo! Bigger question: How much longer can we keep the “almost 0” intact?
With this final week of the regular season to be played and a Saturday of conference championships to follow, the latest CFP (College Football Playoff) awaits more changes. However, we feel like a deserving non-Power Five team is now getting fair consideration, but no letdown can arise. Championship games the following week will shake things out further among the current top seeds.
If things work out favorably in our estimation, we believe the results will enable college football fans to see one of the best CFP brackets imaginable for 2021. Hopefully, final results will render consideration for changes in the future for the benefit of all of college football as we described last week. College Football week 13 will provide significant impact as to what teams will be playing on December 31.
Here come the Cincinnati Bearcats to the CFP!
10-year contract for James Franklin? No so fast!
This has been announced on line, but wait for an explosive negative reaction regarding this coming out of Happy Valley. Announcements report one-sidedly that “Franklin agrees” to $100 million for 10 years. Well, who wouldn’t from his perspective? However, we don’t believe this news is very agreeable for many who bleed Blue and White! We’re talking administrators, alumni, benefactors, and season ticket holders alike.
Regarding openings, LSU and USC bandied James Franklin’s name around. He never denied interest in making either of these moves. In the meantime, his Nittany Lions lost three straight games including one to a weak Illinois team. The Lions’ 2021 CFP aspirations ended. So did interest for potential programs looking for better leadership. His value declined. How does Penn State offer him a ten-year contract for the job he’s done as the program declines instead of improves? Where’s the depth of the program brought on by his perceived recruiting acumen?
During the last eight years in State College, he’s 1-7 against Ohio State and 3-5 versus Michigan. Iowa has beaten PSU the past two years. Despite issues regarding the pandemic in 2020, losses to “lesser” programs like Maryland, Nebraska, and Indiana don’t sit well with the Faithful of Dear Old White and Blue. It seems like James Franklin has made this program as good as he can. Does he deserve another ten years to get it better than it is today? Pessimism pervades. Be ready. A harsh backlash awaits to explode.
Things looked better than “rosey” for James Franklin and Penn State when they were 3-0 after beating Auburn.
Under the radar
Speaking of prospective coaching changes, we see names like Billy Napier, Mario Cristobal, Lincoln Riley, and Franklin under consideration. In some cases, why would these guys move? If we wanted to hire a new coach, there is one clear-cut choice for us. We don’t know of contractual limitations, but our guy would be Lance Leipold of 2-9 Kansas. Laugh if you want, but Leipold is an effective game-plan coach who can recruit. He just needs the time and the name-brand to do it.
Leipold arrived in Lawrence after being hired on April 30, 2021. With little if any spring practice, coaching hires to be made, and a very late recruiting season for his new program, the Jayhawks have surprised only a few times but in very big ways. They held and led 6-0 ranked Oklahoma scoreless in their first half before falling, 35-23. Three weeks later they beat Texas, 57-56, coached by highly desired Steve Sarkisian picked from Alabama after stints with USC and Washington. At frustrated 4-7 Texas, they might be renewing some thoughts. Money is no an object to right the ship there.
FormerBuffalo Head Coach Lance Leipold led the Bulls to a 13-23 record his first three years. The next three, they went 24-10 including a 2-1 bowl record.
On track for a great future…somewhere
Our point is that with challenges ahead for Leipold at Kansas who has won only 21 college football games since 2010, with little time invested thus far, signs are imminent he has the Jayhawks improving. If he took over a “name-brand” program, he would accelerate its improvement to the highest level of college football. We even imagine some CFP activity in his future. For those who don’t know, he turned around a despondent Buffalo Bulls program in in the third year of his six years there prior to this move. Before that, he led D-3 Wisconsin-Whitewater to a 109-6 record and six national championships in eight years. He’ll surprise many at Kansas, but give him an established program, he’ll make it better, faster. Watch his progress wherever he coaches in the future.
“Pend” in this Bowl Game already
This one looks like a no-brainer for us to attend this year. Never been to this one dating back to 1976. It’s within a one-day drive from where we live now. The game is played in a city not visited yet, and two ranked teams are primed to play one another right now. This is the definition of a Bowl Game for us!
On December 18, we will venture to Shreveport, Louisiana, look for some great Cajun food, and attend the Radiance Technologies IndePENDence Bowl where the No. 13 BYU Cougars (9-2) will tangle with the undefeated No. 22 UT San Antonio Roadrunners (11-0). This should be fun! The Cougars visit 4-6 USC this weekend, and UTSA visits 5-6 North Texas in their final Conference USA game. Barring any upsets here, we expect both to improve their records, remain ranked, and to prepare for a slugfest in Shreveport!
We ventured out to Provo, Utah to see No. 13 BYU defeat Virginia, 66-49, this year. We hope to see them battle undefeated UTSA in Shreveport, LA next month.
We await the matchup to be announced for the Music City on December 30 in Nashville. Look forward to definitely attending. Teams from the Big Ten and the SEC square off at Nissan Stadium. Tailgate to be enjoyed on Broadway! An evaluation will be determined when teams are announced for the Birmingham and Liberty Bowls both played on December 28. Respectively, the first pits an American Athletic team against an SEC team, and the latter features a Big 12 against another SEC. We’re open to some other opportunities including CFP games, but we’ll wait and see.
Playoffs?
We thought we could squeeze one FCS game in nearby. Our best shot to see UT Martin, Ohio Valley champ (9-2, 5-1), got bumped when SE Missouri State upset them last week. Originally banking on a home game ranked at No. 8 in the second round following a bye and possibly on Friday night, that got defused. Instead, they play at Missouri State this Saturday in the first round (we’ll be in Boston for Wake Forest at BC).
East Tennessee State (10-1, 7-1), champs of the Southern Conference, will host a second round game in Johnson City the following week. However, we are opting for No. 4 Cincinnati hosting No. 24 Houston at Nippert Stadium on December 11 for the AAC championship. If we can’t get a ticket, we will go see ETSU. They’ll play the winner of the first round contest between Davidson (Pioneer League) vs. Kennesaw State (Big South).
Our Best Game results of Week 12
Our optimism for competitive games precedes us. Most winners chosen came up right, but our margins had much to be desired:
Chosen winners won bigger
We predicted Cajuns by a FG over Liberty in our game. They impressed us much more in the 42-14 win…Houston ran past Memphis by more than a TD, 31-13…Buckeyes by 10 over Michigan State? Ha, try 49!… Clemson by a TD over Wake? Three TDs instead…Cincy by 14? Even better. Destroyed SMU by 34 to prove they belong as a CFP participant.
Chosen winners came close, but…
We gave Nevada the benefit of being home to beat Air Force by three. The visiting Falcons prevailed, 41-39… Iowa State, we reasoned based on their superior defense, would beat Oklahoma by seven. Instead, OU won by that margin, 28-21. This week, it’ll be bedlam for the Sooners! Read below.
WEEK 13: Previews of our top college football games
Night visions!
With Cincinnati’s dominant win over SMU last week and a move finally into CFP consideration, this team can focus on being successful toward its goal. They’re on a mission now to close in on their ultimate goal, a national championship by a non-Power Five school. East Carolina (7-4, 5-2) poses a good challenge on the road. However, the Bearcats can smell the rewards, and they won’t let the Pirates stand in their way.
ECU has won close games. They lost at second-place AAC Houston by seven. Their biggest loss was in their opener vs. Appalachian by 14. Cincy knows they still have to win and impress the CFP pollsters. ECU keeps it close at the start Friday night, but the Cats will win by more than two TDs knowing other CFP teams can possibly lose this weekend. Other contenders pause to jump past the Cats if they falter.
Looking behind; looking ahead
Army (7-3) at Liberty (7-4) matches our last host playing the team we’ve seen the past seven years close our regular season. Liberty struggled with a strong Louisiana Ragin Cajun team (10-1) at home to lose, 42-14. Their offensive line struggled against Louisiana, and we believe Army’s tough front can give them fits. Since Army’s emotional win over Air Force, they rolled against two slugs – Bucknell and UMASS. On the other side, Liberty has had little time to prep for the triple option. ArmyNavy looms two weeks away. No looking past Liberty. Army rolls in this one by more than 14 points.
Louisiana gained 130 rushing yards against Liberty last week. Expect Army to rush for about 200 more against the Flames this Saturday.
For all the marbles
No. 2 Ohio State at No. 5 Michigan (Herbstreit vs. Howard?) – OSU has dominated U Of M since Jim Harbaugh arrived no matter what success the Wolverines have achieved over that period. After sleep-walking through five games after the Oregon loss, the Buckeyes seem to have woken up against better competition since. They will be up for Michigan as usual, and they will be eye-balling a fifth straight win in the Big Ten Championship game. Michigan has a loss, tight win at PSU, and two wins over weaklings over the last four games. OSU by ten intends to remain CFP-bound.
Our 630th game this weekend features No. 18 Wake Forest visiting Boston College (6-5, 2-5) to claim the Atlantic Division of the ACC. The Deacons potent offense can be offset by their inconsistent defense. In the case of BC, the defense is the strength. The offense is more suspect. If Wake can take advantage of one of the weaker offenses in the ACC (so was Clemson’s), they have a good chance to win by more than a TD. The difference from last week is the dominance Clemson holds over the Deacs. Wake should not be as intimidated this Saturday by the Eagles. They should be traveling to nearby Charlotte a week later to play Pitt for the ACC championship.
Wake Forest WR A.T. Perry grabbed this 24-yard pass from Sam Hartman against NC State in their win two weeks ago. Wake needs this combo to connect several times on Saturday to beat the BC Eagles in Chestnut Hill.
O-U-t spells “out” of CFP!
Saturday is the end of the line for No. 10 Oklahoma (10-1,7-1) as they visit No. 7 Oklahoma State (10-1, 7-1). The OSU Cowboys play tenacious defense that will prevent the Sooners offense from bailing them out late after they fall behind. The pending move by the Sooners to the SEC adds more fuel to the OSU fire in this one. The Cowboys win by more than seven. With OU out of CFP contention, we can now consider attending a CFP semi-final!
Lynchburg, VA – The No. 23 Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana (10-1) extinguished the Liberty Flames (7-4), 42-14, in a game that displayed more overwhelming dominance by a SunBelt team over an opponent than could be displayed by an SEC team at home only two weeks ago. Cajun QB Levi Lewis threw three TDs taking advantage of his tall receiving corps near the end zone. After a slow start, the Cajuns built a lead and the Flames came within reach. However, their strong finish extinguished the Flames for a dominant win over a team that fell to Ole Miss, 27-14, in Oxford just two weeks ago.
Height advantage
Late in the first, Lewis connected with 6’5” WR John Stephens in the end zone on a four-yard fade pass right to start the scoring. In the second, following a Liberty punt, the Cajuns drove again with a similar result as Lewis lofted a pass to 6’4” Kyren Lacy from 15 yards away to go up, 14-0. To this point, Liberty had trouble moving the ball against the Louisiana D. Liberty fans, Mike and his son Tyler who plays baseball for Liberty, said that the offensive line had been struggling of late. The Cajuns came up with four sacks this day, four alone by LB Chauncey Manac. He also achieved credit for 4.5 tackles for losses.
Cajun WR John Stephens goes high for fade pass for game’s only score in Q1.
Heating up
With the lead, the Cajun defense added to the margin after a ten-yard sack by Manac. On the next play, Dalen Cambry picked up a Malik Jackson fumble and ran it into the end zone for a 26-yard score. Finally, the Flames offense caught a spark on its next series when Malik Willis (14 for 34, 162 yards, 2 TDS, 2 INTs) threw a 29-yard scoring strike to WR John Shaa to put seven up on the board. The teams went to the locker rooms with the visitors from Louisiana up, 21-7.
LB Chauncey Manac (17) makes one of his many stops behind the line of scrimmage for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Halftime highlights
Liberty’s Army ROTC Cadets depicted the USMC “Iwo Jima” Memorial as part of a very impressive Veterans’ tribute during their halftime program.
A rarity seen this season
The Cajuns kick return put them on their own 13 to start the third. Rarely do we see any drives start after kickoffs any more behind the 25. The Ragin Cajuns went three-and-out and paid for it giving LU its best start to the day at the Louisiana 40. Three plays later, Willis and Shaa hooked up again for a 30-yard score and got to within seven. Were the Flames about to mount a comeback after they struggled in the first half?
John Shaa’s second TD catch of the day brought Liberty to within seven as they looked to mount a comeback in Q3.
Cajun HC Billy Napier decided to focus on the rushing game on the next series using Montrell Johnson as his work horse. He carried six times for 22 yards. Lewis, who connected with nine different receivers, completed two passes to Peter Le Blanc for his only two of the game for 38 yards. Johnson carried it in from two, but more importantly they ran 7:04 off the clock with their 28-14 lead.
Ragin’ Cajun domination
The Liberty kick return also started them shorter than usual from their 17. On the next play, Willis’s pass got batted down and landed on top of DL Mason Narcisse who was flat on his back. Despite what seemed like a sure three, the Cagins came up short on a fourth and three at the five to surrender it over on downs. Even St. Laurie who sat out in the colder Virginia mountain air this afternoon commented that Louisiana got too greedy. “Should’ve taken the three,” she said. However, S Kam Pedescleaux came up with another pick for the visitors to start a series from the 35.
Kyren Lacy’s leap for a fade pass gave Louisiana their 14-0 lead in the second period.
Finishing Touches
The Cajuns started Q4 at the Flames’ 26. Two plays later, Lewis tossed a two-yard TD pass to 6’4″ Neal Johnson to extend their lead, 35-14. HC Hugh Freeze’s Flames drove to the Louisiana 28. Desperate now in fourth down territory, a six-yard sack resulted with the Cajuns taking over on their 34. With momentum going their way, the Cajuns just bullied the Flames down field with RBs Montrell Johnson and then Emani Bailey fighting their way to the goal line. With 2:26 left, Emani took it over from two. To seal the deal, the Cajuns picked off their third INT of the half and started to celebrate their 10th straight victory all the way back to Lafayette, Louisiana to the tune of 42-14, complete annihilation.
Barometric reading
We feel like we’re beating a dead horse here. More evidence demonstrated here that SEC teams are not superior against common, non-conference competition when compared to other FBS teams. No. 9 Ole Miss beat the Liberty Flames in Oxford on November 6, 27-14. The Cajuns of the Sun Belt just dominated this team at their home stadium in Lynchburg, VA. The Rebels didn’t show dominance back in fired-up “Hotty-Toddy” land.
Louisiana’s OL just bull-rushed Liberty’s defense into the end zone for Montrell Johnson’s score.
Coming up, Week 14
The Ragin Cajuns (10-1, 7-0) try to go out on a winning note against instate rival UL-Monroe next week to sit alone undefeated in the Sun Belt. The War Hawks 4-7,2-5 come off a 27-14 loss at LSU. The Cajuns look for another shot at the Conference USA champ in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Too bad they can’t get something better than that, but surely under contract here. We’d love to see them in a bowl with a Power Five team.
Before ArmyNavy however, we’ll be in Chestnut Hill, MA to see No. 21 Wake Forest (9-2, 7-1) play Boston College (6-5, 2-5). A win for the Demon Deacons will give them the title for the ACC Atlantic Division Championship!
Never understood why the CFP committee has to meet starting in late October to assess the final four of the College football playoffs come January. It’s become more evident that it’s to maintain the power structure of Division I (FBS) football. The rich get richer. All others get left out to play in consolation games (inaccurately referred to as Bowl games) mostly for the good of TV ratings in late December after the Christmas specials fade out. The rich programs also continue get the best players among the current recruits as a result. They’d all love to play for a perennial winner. Understood.
How does Bama get top recruits every year? Well, it’s certainly not because Nick Saban has good looks!
Too much talk, need more action
With weeks left to play and upsets occurring like we’ve had this year, can’t the AP pollsters come up with a pretty good idea of the best four teams in college football? Apparently not (another thing we never understood is the coach’s poll. How do coaches, focused on only two teams, theirs and the upcoming opponent, evaluate weekly 128 other teams?). Media and fan discussions make good banter as to what teams are most deserving to make the playoffs.
However, it’s time to cut all the boring, useless hot air and make playoff system decisions based on what counts, game results for the current season. What difference does it make if “experts” feel that the second-place team in one conference “might” be better than a few first-place teams in others?
Playoffs =Tournament of Champions +
For this purpose, based on the current structure of ten FBS conferences and seven Independent teams, the ten conference winners get automatic bids into the playoffs (see FCS, D-2 and D-3 formats). The Independents, like the conference championship games, pare the two with the best records in a game played in Week 14. A committee comprised of the ten conference commissioners and one independent’s rep selects a twelfth team for the playoffs. A commissioner cannot vote for a team from his/her respective conference.
Better schedules, more competitive games to watch
Teams currently plan schedules to avoid comparable competition outside their respective conferences. Lose a non-conference game, and they fear being out of the consideration for the national title. This suggested scenario provides incentives for teams to upgrade their schedules. Only one champion from each conference now qualifies.
However, one second-place team gets an at-large bid. If they want to get that at-large bid, play and beat better competition relative to everyone else. No more FCS games on any FBS schedules. Let the Commissioners take a vote based on wins outside of each potential at-large’s conference play. This should provide more interesting inter-conference play than what we see now. A twelfth spot exists for a non-champion. Earn it.
New Expanded, College Football Playoffs
This Committee of Commissioners seeds the ten conference champs, the top Independent, and the one at-large team. That’ll stir enough banter and hot air among the masses. The Top Four teams selected get a first round bye. The other eighth play at the home stadium of the higher ranked team (again, see FCS, D-2, and D-3 formats). The next round will also be played at the home of the Top Four teams. Play the semi-finals on New Year’s Day on a rotational bowl basis as done now. Play the Championship game on a day to be determined. We like Saturdays because it’s college football.
We got to see one of the top Independents play this year when we ventured out to Provo, Utah to see No. 14 BYU play Virginia. If the NCAA adopted our proposal, they’d play Notre Dame in our proposed playoffs.
Let the “bowls” continue
All none-qualifying playoff teams can fill the other bowls. Or instead, let every team get a “consolation” game if they want one. Set up a committee do make up those parings. Every game gets televised these days as it is. There are so many bowls now, “everybody gets a trophy.” And in this case, an equal amount of practice time for the year.
Win, win, win, win, win
Collegefootballfan.com believes that a move to playoffs among predominantly conference champs will be more beneficial to parity in college football than ever before. This would help distribute talent more equally among the entire FBS membership. Rather than the best talent playing for almighty Power Five teams who currently overstock on talent, players may seek opportunities to play elsewhere to win a championship to get into the playoffs.
Rather than take a shot at getting beat out of a position and deciding to transfer elsewhere later, players can find a team where they can participate right away and more importantly, compete for a shot at the top in the playoffs. This will strengthen the rosters of many more teams than just the handful that dominate the top poll positions every year. It would be great to see more parity among more programs than we see now.
This plan is a win for everybody: schools, players, coaches, fans, media, and bowl committees.
We tweeted!
In response to an article on-line this week, “CFP Rankings: what the committee got right and what they got wrong”, here’s our two cents below for what it’s worth. Sent a similar response to Herbstreit almighty this week about his insight regarding Cincinnati. We took a shot knowing that the current polling doesn’t matter. We guarantee that Alabama or Georgia will lose a game. Any takers?
Cincinnati TE Josh Whyle snags pass from Derek Ridder (9) for a 29-yard TD pass against UCF last season. Cincy continues to challenge this week for a CFP spot in January.
Oklahoma met its match in Baylor, a Big-12 team that plays defense unlike the Sooners. With leading offensive Big-12 players, the Bears knocked them out of contention, 27-14. We can start thinking about CFP Orange Bowl tickets now, but only if Cincy gets in…Penn State missed out on beating Michigan who prevailed in State College, 24-17. We think this may have sealed James Franklin’s career in Happy Valley. More see he’s an inadequate game coach now. Not sure who else wants him now, but he’s probably good at selling cars…Purdue had knocked off Iowa and Michigan State, but Oho State was more prepared because of it. The “Spoiler-makers” put up 31 points, but State put up 59.
Close Encounters, not so fast were we
Ole Miss outdid Texas A&M, 29-19, despite losing to both Auburn and Alabama while the Aggies beat both, especially Bama, thankfully. We’ll be gauging the Rebels this weekend as we see a recent vanquished foe of theirs play this weekend…Not only was QB Brennan Armstrong, the nation’s passing yardage leader out for Virginia last Saturday against Notre Dame, but so was their top RB Mike Taulapapa. The Cavaliers didn’t have chance to keep it close though we hear ND held back in a 28-3 win.
Inspiration from above and elsewhere
San Diego State prevailed in a key MWC battle over Nevada, 23-21. We only got this one because we learned to never pick against our late buddy, Tom Ables, Mr. San Diego State, again…Alabama’s 59-3 victory over New Mexico State (1-9) inspired pollsters that this win should keep them No. 2 in the CFP. Read the accolades here regarding their win over the 128th ranked team in the nation.
In two weeks, the Aggies meet No. 129 UMass (1-9) who already defeated No. 130 UCONN (1-9). Bama will probably keep its eye on the results for future scheduling. Our local FCS favorite Austin Peay is already slated for their annual FCS charity event in Tuscaloosa next November.
What’s the chance of Alabama taking the last train to Clarksville and meeting Austin Peay at Fortera Stadium, home of the Govs? Hahaha!
WEEK 12: Previews of our top college football games
We venture to Lynchburg, VA Saturday to see Liberty (7-3) host a game for the first time. Their formidable visitor, the No. 22 Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (9-1) come in at the top of the improving SunBelt. Their nine-game winning streak includes a big win over 8-2 Appalachian State at home, but a one-point win over 2-8 Arkansas State on the road. We expect the better Cajuns to show up for this expected shoot-out. The home team is favored, and we should see another great game down to the wire. We look for the Cagins though to win by a field goal.
We saw The Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana defeat Texas State last year to go bowling as No. 17.
Night visions again
Memphis (5-5,2-4) at No. 17 Houston (9-1,7-0) on Friday night. The Memphis Tigers can be explosive, but the Houston Cougars have the stingier defense. They also have the incentive to meet Cincinnati for the AAC championship on December 4. Both have beaten 8-2 SMU in tight games. We look for this one to be the same as the Cougars prevail by a TD…
Air Force (7-3,4-2) at Nevada (7-3,4-2) for a tough MWC battle also on Friday night. The Falcons lost two close ones in conference play to Utah State and to SDSU. The Wolfpack lost two by two points to MWC foes Fresno and SDSU. Nevada is home and it will be their potent passing attack versus Air Force’s triple option to control the tempo. We look to the Pack to take this close one by three.
Going down?
No. 7 Michigan State (9-1, 6-1) at No. 5 Ohio State (9-1, 7-0) -Sparty’s hungry. They fell from ranks of the unbeaten at Purdue two weeks ago, 40-29. The Buckeyes bested Purdue at home, 59-31, last week. OSU put a lot of additional points on the board against lesser teams to climb back into things after they lost to Oregon. The Spartan defense will not be as forgiving to DJ Stroud and company. In front to the home crowd, the Buckeyes get it done by ten points at best.
No. 13 Wake Forest (9-1,6-0) at Clemson (7-3,5-2) – Though Wake has the supremacy here via the passing game led by Sam Hartman, their defense has the penchant of allowing opponents into games to create shoot-outs. Clemson’s defense has played well all season. Though its offense has not been what it’s been in the past, they’ve improved the past few weeks.
On top of that, the Tigers have held the whammy over the Deacs. WFU has not beaten the Tigers since 2008 and has not beaten them in Death Valley since 1998. It will be close because Wake will score as usual, but the Tigers will score more than they probably have all season. Clemson wins by a TD. Wake has to wait to win the Atlantic Division of the ACC when they trek to Boston College a week later. Looks as if they have no shot to make the playoffs even if they won both games, but we’ll be there. As pointed out previously, Clemson would probably be in if this was their record.
Wake Forest goes the way of their QB Sam Hartman (10) , but the Deacs need to shore up their defense in the future.
Down again
Iowa State (6-4,4-3) at No. 12 Oklahoma (9-1,6-1) poses the Sooners with another defense that is better than theirs. OU’s offense bails the Sooners out, but like in the case of their 27-14 loss at Baylor last week, the Cyclones are even stingier on defense than Baylor’s. Like the Sooners, the Cyclones come off a loss, but by three points to a fired-up Texas Tech in their coaching disarray. We look for the Sooners to go down once again as their defense is suspect against a team with a better defense whose offense can also put points up on the board. ISU wins by a TD.
Ready for the playoffs this year
SMU (8-2,5-2) heads to Nippert Stadium to face No. 5 Cincinnati (10-0,6-0) who is waiting for an opponent like this to show the CFP pollsters what it can do to make the 2021 playoffs. Luke Steckel has to have the Bearcats charged up for this one at home. The UC defense makes a difference against the pass-happy Mustangs averaging 498.5 passing yards per game with QB Tanner Mordecai. The Bearcats only allow 164 passing yards per game. If SMU has to go to their ground game which is limited, the Cats are even more unyielding. This is a game for them to shut down the schedule-critics. They will make the most of it. QB Des Ridder leads the offense to a 14-point + win in this one.
Why bother?
Georgia has looked head and shoulders above its competition this year. So why do they bother to order up a game at this time of year against FCS Charleston Southern? It’s evidently their built-in safety valve if something went wrong against the rest of the weaklings in the SEC they already beat this year. No doubt they have great defense, but an FCS team? They haven’t played any team this season currently in the Top 25. Come on, man! They could have at least scheduled a team from the SEC West as a non-conference game to prove their worthiness. of course, the SEC’s biggest fear is having only one team in this year’s playoffs!
Utah State stands at 8-2, 5-1 in the MWC. They can still win their two remaining MWC games, but their slate is void of any major wins. They fell to Boise and BYU. They didn’t play Fresno, San Diego State nor Nevada this year. Maybe next year for them to get consideration or they bolster their schedule.Of course in our proposal, if they win the MWC title game, they would make the playoffs.
Winston-Salem, NC – NC State outgained Wake Forest’s potent offense, but despite WFU’s turnovers, errant passes, and multiple muffs, this 45-42 win by the Demon Deacs leave NC State Wolfpack trailing and howling after CFF.com’s 628th college football game. The No. 13 Deacs (9-1,6-0) opened up their lead over the Pack (7-3,4-2) in the Atlantic Division race of the ACC. They seek the championship game in Charlotte on December 4. Also, for the ninth time in the last ten confrontations between the two squads in Winston-Salem, the Deacs continued their dominance over their nearby ACC rival.
Wake WR A.T. Perry grabbed this 24-yard pass from QB Sam Hartman for a first quarter 7-3 Demon Deacon lead.
First half winds down
As time expired at the end of the first half, PK Nick Sciba booted a 45-yard FG to extend Wake’s lead, 24-20. His score came right after State’s Devin Carter caught a 21-yard TD pass from Devin Leary. The Wolfpack got to within one. Thanks to Deacon Taylor Morin’s 43-yard kickoff return to State’s 49, the Deacs got Sciba into range within 15 seconds.
Under pressure, NC State QB Devin Leary fires a 28-yard TD pass to WR Devin Carter (seven receptions for 132 yards, two TDs) to close the gap, 21-13, in the second period.
Second half winds up
To start the third period, the Wolfpack’s Zonovan Knight gave his team the lead, 27-24, with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown. The Deacs offense, led by QB Sam Hartman, seemed to get things under control again. On the next drive, he connected with Brandon Chapman on a third and long and on a fourth and long to Donald Stewart to keep the drive alive. He finished it off with a five-yard TD pass to Chapman to recapture the lead.
The two teams played to a standstill through the balance of the third. Sure-handed WR A.T. Perry (according to Guest Game Analyst and WFU fanatic, Jim “Bug” Harton) dropped two consecutive passes before Hartman short-tossed him. Wake punted the ball away. Nick Anderson intercepted a Leary pass, but Wolfpack DB Tyler Baker-Williams returned the favor on the very next play picking off Hartman. State’s FG attempt thereafter went wide left.
Tales of two defenses
Wake’s ensuing drive resulted in a pick in the end zone by DB Derrick Pitts. The Wolfpack now leads the ACC in INTs with 13, close to the top in all of college football. They held Hartman to 20 of 47 for passing with 290 yards with three TDs and three INTs. State’s Devin Leary outgunned him with 37 of 59 for 408 yards and four TDs. Surprisingly, Wake held State to 74 rushing yards and no TDs. Whereas the Deacs gained 116 on the ground and ran it in three times for short runs to finish long drives. The score heading into Q4 showed the Demon Deacons ahead, 31-27, in front of a very enthusiastic crowd of 34,503 garbed in colors of both schools.
The Deacs held NC State RB Ricky Person, Jr., stuffed here, to 36 of the 74 total yards they allowed on the ground this evening.
Air strikes
In the fourth quarter, Morin’s 35-yard punt return to the NC State’s 46 brought the Deacs some needed momentum. The ensuing drive resulted in a screen pass right to Justice Ellison from the four for a 38-27 Demon Deacon lead. Following a targeting call and ejection on the kickoff, the Wolfpack started out at the 50. We questioned Sciba’s condition as all his kicks seemed intentionally short now enabling State to return for extra yards and decent field position to start.
JusticeEllison takes in a four-yard TD pass to open the WFU led in the fourth, 38-27.
Leary went strictly to the air with 10:05 remaining. His third completion of the drive to Emeka Emezie (10 snares for 133 yards and two TDs) put the Pack into the end zone for a quick response with 8:07 left. The same pair reconnected on the two-point conversion to close the gap now, 38-35. Wake retaliated to widen the gap to ten completing a clock-eating, scoring drive of 75 yards. Ellison (17 carries for 56 yards and two TDs, one TD reception) carried the ball in from the four. Wake took the clock down with 1:47 left to play. However, game not over!
Ellison takes it in from the four for his third TD of the game.
Fight to the Finish!
Starting from the 25, NC State HC Dave Doeren had Leary still focused on an attack through the air. On his sixth completion on nine attempts, the drive culminated with a scoring strike to Devin Carter from the eight. State jumped to within three, 45-42, with 45 seconds left. Wake HC Dave Clawson had his hands team ready for an onsides on the kickoff. With a case of the dropsies this evening, we noted where A.T. Perry lined up. Sure enough, that is where the onsides kick was aimed. As the ball approached him, the Wolfpack’s Baker-Williams snatched the bounce close to his 45. The replay confirmed that the ball did not travel the full 10 yards. It was close! Wake ball.
Every second counts
Wake possessed the ball at State’s 44. In victory formation, Hartman took a quick knee. The Pack called it’s second time-out of the half. Realizing he had to run more time off the clock to avoid turning the ball back over, Hartman delayed his knee-drop on the two subsequent snaps to delay the clock stoppages to let the clock expire.
Victory for the Deacs, 45-42! They held off the Wolfpack’s challenge for the Atlantic Coast division lead. With two more Divisional games remaining, the Deacs still have their work cut out! They still have two fights on their hands going forward. If they win both, there will be a third game for the ACC Championship on December 4.
Wake celebrated Veterans’ Day with a night parachute leap on to Truist Field prior to kickoff!
Next up for college football Week 12 (and 13)
No. 25 NC State closes their season at home against Syracuse Saturday and follows against archrival North Carolina in Week 13 of college football. It they take wins from both and the Deacs falter, they can be back in the hunt to play the winner of the Coastal Division in Charlotte. Wake’s work is cut out for them next week at Clemson. The Tigers (7-3, 5-2) have captured the last six ACC titles. Wake has not beaten them since 2008. The last time they ever won at Clemson dates back to 1998.
NC State defeated Clemson earlier this season, 27-21. The following week, Wake visits Boston College (6-4, 2-4), and luckily for them, we plan to be there! Why is that lucky for them? Read “Extra Points” below!
For Collegefootballfan.com, we will attend our college football Game 629 this Saturday when we will see Liberty (7-3) host the No. 22 Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (9-1) at Lynchburg, VA. Our first game there should be a fun battle between two improving FBS programs! Check out our Game Review for Game 629 next week.
Extra Points!
Jim “Bug” Harton and his crew of Wake Forest Alumni Fans including “Goober”, “One-Iron”, “Wheels”, and Earl(?) among others, welcomed Collegefootballfan.com when we first met a few years ago to tailgate at Truist Field. Telling them that we’d seen their beloved Wake Forest play six times previously, we let them know their Deacs had won them all. They knew of no one else who could ever stake that claim. Hence, they tagged me with their latest Wake Forest nickname, “6-0 Koreivo”.
The Demon Deacons won two more in our presence, but then we let them down in a 62-59 loss to Louisville two years ago. However, they’ve still kept me tagged with an updated nickname despite the lone loss and with the latest victory. I’m now known as “9-and-almost-0” Koreivo. We need to get to Chestnut Hill next week since we’ll be having Thanksgiving in Rhode Island with Family. Hopefully, the moniker “10-and-almost-0” can be updated with a win over Boston College to get the Deacs to the ACC title game in Charlotte.
Crimson Tide? Deacon Blues? Not in this outfit!
To the contrary of Steely Dan’s 1977 hit “Deacon Blues”, in our annals of collegefootballfan.com history, The Demon Deacons do not take a back seat to The Crimson Tide of Alabama. As a matter of fact, having attended 10 games played by both, they share the highest winning percentages and exact same W-L record of all teams we’ve seen play at least 10 games or more since 1979. Both sit atop our record book with record of 9-1.
Alabama has recorded wins in our presence over Auburn (2), Rutgers, Ohio State (Kick-off Classic), Penn State (2), Notre Dame (2013 National championship), Washington (CFP Peach) , and Oklahoma (CFP Orange). Their lone loss came at Penn State in 1985, 19-17.
Deacs on top
As for the Deacs, here’s what they’ve done to reach 9-1 so far and in some of our most exciting college football games ever:
College football winds down to the final weeks of the 2021 season to determine four teams to compete in the College Football Playoffs. Exciting! However, in College Football Week 11, what do we have to show for this? Alabama versus New Mexico State. Something’s wrong with college football – CFP No. 2 vs. No. 128? On the brink of selecting four teams to play for national championship?
That’s not by accident. That’s by design. Alabama plays the New Mexico Aggies again for the second time in three years (last year because of covid-19, teams the SEC stayed within the conference as did most others). The Tide crushed NMSU in 2019, 62-10. They also play them in Tuscaloosa again. This program has had two winning seasons since 2000. In each year prior to 2019 late in the regular season, The Tide has hosted college football FCS schools like Western Carolina, The Citadel, Mercer (who they played this season already), and Tennessee Chattanooga, each multiple times. Warm-up games for Auburn?
Prudent planning
Since the beginning of the Saban era, the Tide has won these games by a total score of 572-67. So, as we come down to determining the Final Four of College Football, Alabama gets another automatic pass even without a “signature win”. Why don’t they just take a bye week? Maybe a better opportunity could have been found on October 30 when they had a bye, or on September 11 when they played Mercer. Can’t find any real “competition”? Why doesn’t Bama take a lesson from Wake Forest and North Carolina? Last week the two played a non-conference game even though both play in separate divisions of the ACC. Wake got knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten, but they still are undefeated in conference play for the championship.
Why don’t Bama and Georgia come up with an agreement to do the same? Sooner or later, they’ve got to play each other. Georgia plays FCS Charleston Southern next week. Why bother? Are Georgia recruits currently showing interest in CSU going to de-commit from matriculating at Charleston to go to Athens instead? Are Alabama recruits teetering between playing in Las Cruces or in Tuscaloosa next year going to be more clear after this year’s meeting on where they will play? Who are we kidding? These opponents of these two SEC schools can’t entice the same players.
No doubt they’re good, but Bama on a cruise control schedule to get to the CFP once again.
BAMA-UGA rivalry – NOT!
Heck, The Tide and The Dawgs had to play last year during the regular season because of Covid. Bama won, 41-24. In their previous “regular” season game played back in 2015, they also won, 38-10. Before that meeting, in 2008, The Tide rolled, 41-30. Oh, wait though. The two previous times these two met on the field in 2007 and 2003, Georgia prevailed. Is that the issue? So UGA and Bama, neighborly rivals playing in the same conference ( located only 273 miles apart; Las Cruces ~ 1,500 miles) have only met on purpose five times in the last 18 years. Five times? Wonder why? If Bama would arrange a non-conference series against an Eastern division member of the SEC East, bet on them doing it with Vanderbilt.
The Very Smart and the Very dumb
Expect Bama to hold on to second in the CFP after they drub No. 128 New Mexico State (1-8) this weekend. A 20-14 win over struggling 4-5 LSU in Tuscaloosa didn’t cause them to lose any ground either. For “entertaining” team No. 128 this weekend, votes should be deducted just for that. Nick Saban, however, is smart. He knows how dumb voters calculate wins and losses. He’s ahead of “the game” in that respect – CFP No. 2 vs. No. 128? Why even take this game into consideration? Automatic win here. 51.5-point spread. A joke!
FBS expansion
With all the revamping of college football conferences, three new teams have been drawn into the Football Bowl Subdivision to challenge for conference championships for bowl money rather than for lesser playoff money. Collegefootballfan.com will add these once they officially compete at that level to assure that we’ve still “seen ‘em all!” James Madison, who we’ve seen compete twice in the FCS playoffs joins the SunBelt effective July 2023 at the latest. The FCS national champions of 2016 who interrupted eight in a row by North Dakota State will conveniently become a member of the SunBelt for our purposes. We will see them play again at home in Harrisonburg, Virginia, or when they visit Appy State or some other SBC campus in striking distance from us.
The Jacksonville State Gamecocks and Sam Houston State Bearkats will join Conference USA in 2023. Most likely, we will see both play at nearby Western Kentucky or Middle Tennessee. An announcement was made this week that these two programs will remain in CUSA and not realign with the Mid-American. The Gamecocks may become a “local trip” for us, and we’ll find a way to see the Bearkats who won the delayed 2020 FCS National Championship last spring.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders will continue their battles between each other and new Conference USA foes as they decided not to join the Mid-American this week as rumored.
CFF.com’s Ancient History
We’ve seen Bearkat HC K.C. Keeler not only coach at Delaware and D-3 Rowan during the course of our history. He actually started at LB for Delaware in our first game when we started this crazy, weekly college football adventure in 1979. In our opener of 627 games so far, UD defeated Rhode Island, 49-14. His HC Harold “Tubby” Raymond (300 wins) got inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Fighting Blue Hens went on to win the D-2 national championship that year. Head Coach Keeler racked up two FCS championships – one at Delaware and one at Sam Houston. His Rowan Profs fell in the D-3 finale four times. We look forward to see what he can accomplish in the FBS.
First game program from 1979 when Sam Houston HC played LB at Delaware.
Wild Guess on our part
Collegefootballfan.com is a big fan and follower of Naval Academy football. Down these past few years, we hope that they will come around again soon. The membership of the American Athletic Conference they’ve competed in since 2015 will change drastically. Soon to be gone foes are Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston who will join the Big Twelve. New teams joining the AAC include Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas State, Rice, Alabama-Birmingham, and UT San Antonio. None of these are traditional programs of college football the Naval Academy has played over the years.
This college football program goal, despite their unique purpose (along with the Military and Air Force Academies) to develop leaders for America’s armed forces, has always been to play at the highest level of college football possible. In other sports, they play in the in the Patriot League against schools of high academic standards such as their own, all located primarily in the northeast. This arrangement has also allowed them to maintain their natural rivalry in all the other sports with Army, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, since it is also a member of the Patriot League.
With no disrespect to the new programs joining the American Athletic conference to play football as some, particularly UTSA, have made some developments to become very competitive recently. One of the primary goals of Naval Academy football has always been to show the country that the Navy wants to represent The Brigade of Midshipman as a major football program throughout the country – similar to what our Navy does around the world displaying our flag on our ships on the high seas and in foreign ports. They display our physical presence globally.
The reforming AAC seems somewhat limited geographically and competitively to allow the Navy to show the country similar intentions. Navy football needs to continue such exposure to the nation and succeed against the most formidable competition possible on the gridiron. When USNA joined the American Athletic Conference, it needed assurances to keep its traditional rivalries intact with Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame for such reasons. With all this in mind, we believe there are underlying discussions in place, and perhaps aligned with Army, that they may try to make a move to join a more competitive conference. Based on geography, their purpose, and some alliances developed in the past prior to current conference realignments, we see the possibility of Navy (and Army) trying to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Academics are more than aligned with current ACC members. Annapolis and West Point sit well within the geographic footprint of the current members. Navy has that connection with Notre Dame that has ACC membership in other sports. If Army also joins, that is a plus to maintain the rivalry in line with scheduling needs. Pitt, BC, Syracuse, Virginia, Duke, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech have histories with Navy and Army over the years. Surely, there has to be some considerations going on here. If this becomes reality, we won’t be surprised.
Navy and Virginia faced off with another in the 2018 Military Bowl. Played in Annapolis, the Mids defeated the Cavs, 49-7.
WEEK 10, Review of our Top college football games
Tough picks for us last week among our best we predicted. For the game we covered, Collegefootballfan.com called for Western Kentucky to win a close one. However, we didn’t find out until right before that Middle Tennessee lost QB Chase Cunningham the previous week to a leg injury. Missed that one regarding the margin, but WKU came out on top, handily, 48-21. Read our game review from last week’s game clicking here…
Tough calls
We figured Air Force wanted the C-I-C Trophy more than Army since they had already beaten Navy and could take the hardware home after this one. However, they tied Army late with a field goal to take the game into OT, 14-14. Army recovered their own fumble in the end zone to score. Then, they broke up an Air Force pass on fourth down in the end zone to ice the game and go to 5-4. Army wins the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy outright if they defeat Navy in the Meadowlands on December 11 in memory of 9/11 twenty years later. We’ll be there.
We looked for the Wake Forest defense to hold UNC’s offense and win by two TDs. They led 48-34 going into the final period, but UNC reeled off 24 straight points, 21 on TD runs of 13, 21, and 50 by Ty Chandler among his 213 rushing yards. The Tar Heels (5-3, 3-3) outscored No. 13 Wake (8-1, 5-0) with Sam Hartman pitching for 398 yards and five TDs, 58-55. We’ll see the Deacs host NC State this week (7-2, 4-1) in challenge match for the ACC Atlantic division’s upper hand…We predicted Texas A&M, now No. 11, would defeat Auburn, now No. 16, by ten. They Aggies won at home, 30-3…
SEC close calls
We were misled to believe big, bad No. 4 Alabama (8-1,5-1), seeded No. 2 in the latest CFP polls would destroy unranked LSU (4-5, 2-4) at home. Instead, LSU held them down at the start and almost came back in the end, but fell in a close one, 20-14. Double standard for sure. Alabama still holds at No. 2 this week. No problem for them to struggle nor have any win of significance yet to be held in such high regard…
Bama defeated No. 12 Ole Miss (7-2, 4-2), you say? Figured the Rebels should be good by three TDs over independent Liberty (7-3) in Oxford last week. They won, 27-14. Good win here, but nothing dominant for a team that’s supposedly in the best conference in the nation. We’ll be able to make a better comparison regarding Ole Miss against another good team we’ll see Liberty play. On November 20, we’ll see them host No. 24 Louisiana (8-1, 6-0) of the SunBelt. The Ragin’ Cajuns continue on an 8-game winning streak, and face a good Troy team next week. They should provide a pretty good barometer on the road to compare what an SEC squad did to The Flame only a few weeks before.
Tennessee Vs. Kentucky turned out to be thrilling as we expected. The excitement definitely met our expectations, but the final result didn’t. We picked Bourbon over Whiskey, but the Volunteers (5-4, 3-3) came up with the victory, 45-42, over the Wildcats (6-3, 3-3). Kentucky’s third straight loss knocked them out of the Top 25. They should recover over the next two weekends though. They visit Vanderbilt (2-7) and then of all teams, host Alabama’s favorite patsy, New Mexico State! If they win over both of these pushovers, will they be ranked again? Don’t be surprised.
WEEK 11, Preview of our Top college football games
So many great matchups this week. Too bad Alabama decides they won’t play any meaningful games this time of the season. CFP No. 2 vs. No. 128 – 51.5-point favorites. Short and sweet assessing nine significant contests here:
Night visions
No. 17 Pitt (7-2,4-1) hosts a tired UNC Thursday night after last week’s upset over Wake. Kenny Pickett outduels Sam Howell in this by a TD. ACC Coastal to be determined…No. 2 Cincinnati has to score a lot and win big on Friday night over South Florida (2-7) to impress pollsters. They can then compare scores of USF losses to NC State, Florida, BYU, SMU, and Houston – some close, some not… Our game, No. 13 Wake hosting No. 23 NC State for key ACC Atlantic battle at 7:30 Saturday night. The comeback lost to UNC has to wake the Deacs defense up. NC State plays tough defense as usual. However, they have faced no team with as much offensive firepower with QB Sam Hartman at the controls. We look for Wake to be ready for the challenge and win by two TDs.
No. 18 Baylor’s pass break-ups like this limited the Texas State passing attack in their opener for their 29-20 win.
No. 9 Michigan (8-1) at No. 23 Penn State (6-3) in a noon start on Saturday. PSU QB Sean Clifford playing at full strength again and Jim Harbaugh seems more focused on claiming how Michigan State beat this team because of bad calls two weeks ago. The tough PSU defense shuts them down and shuts Harbaugh up. Lions put the Wolverines out of reach regarding any CFP hopes…
Purdue (6-3,4-2) at No. 6 Ohio State (8-1, 6-0) has proven to be no slouch with wins over Iowa and Michigan State now. The Buckeyes are aware, but Boilermaker QB Aidan O’Connell seems to be on a roll and the Purdue defense can be stout. This game will be close, but we look for OSU to pull this one out in the end.
Close encounters
Texas A&M (7-2,4-2) at Ole Miss (7-2,4-2), a game in which we cannot root for either coach. For A&M, this is only their third road game of the year. Ole Miss is 5-0 at home, but no win has been overwhelming. Ole Miss lost to Bama and to Auburn on the road. A&M beat both the last four weeks. The Aggies should win here by a touchdown…No. 7 Notre Dame (8-1) travels 6-3 Virginia off a bye week and a 66-49 loss we attended in Provo, Utah. Supposedly QB Brennan Armstrong will play for UVA after suffering a rib injury late in their last game. ND won their only two away games by three points at campuses visited against mediocre Florida State and Virginia Tech. We figure they win this game by one point if Armstrong is at full strength. Otherwise, more.
Inspiration from above and “benevolence” from below – CFP No. 2 vs. No. 128?
Nevada (7-2, 4-1) visits San Diego State (8-1, 4-1) in a Mountain West battle. Both lost to Fresno State. We won’t go against the SDSU Aztecs like we did once before as we know our late pal, Tom Ables, Mr. San Diego State, will not let us pick against them. Aztecs beat this Wolfpack by more than a TD…
Alabama holds its annual late season, fund-raiser for New Mexico State this weekend. Surely it will be fun – NOT! NMSU does get a big paycheck to take home at least. Nick Saban will probably complain that the Alabama student body didn’t show up for this one. Who can blame them? Hopefully some college football pollsters will see the light here. Real college football fans already do. CFP No. 2 vs. No. 128? Definitely there are better things to do this weekend, even in Tuscaloosa!
Bowling Green, KY – Hilltopper QB Bailey Zappe had a typically successful passing day, but credit WKU’s six picks to humble Middle Tennessee, 48-21, in their college football rivalry unofficially titled “100 miles of hate.” The aspect Middle Tennessee hated the most coming into this contest was losing its starting QB Chase Cunningham to a lower leg injury the week before. Reportedly, Cunningham sits out for the rest of this season. WKU QB Zappe entered this game second in the nation in passing yards. As Virginia didn’t play Saturday, he surpassed Brennan Armstrong to now lead the nation with 3,688 yards.
QB Bailey Zappe, a grad transfer from Houston Baptist, now leads the nation in passing yards at WKU.
Blue Raider QB Blues
With Cunningham, the Blue Raiders won three of their last four games. MTSU HC Rick Stockstill lost his third QB of the season if you count last year’s starter Asher O’Hara who transferred. Next, Bailey Hockman who had transferred in from NC State decided not to play college football anymore after three games. Saturday, the Blue Raiders resorted to utilizing two non-scholarship QBs left on the bench, and the WKU secondary took advantage.
Race to the Top
Things started better than expected for the Blue Raiders. Soph QB Nick Vittiato led them to a score on their first drive connecting with DJ England-Chisolm on 45-yard post pattern. It looked too easy. Thereafter, things went all downhill from there for MTSU. Not surprisingly, WKU responded quickly on their first possession with a 17-yard TD pass from Zappe to Daewood Davis. Zappe threw his first of four TDs to start. However, a key pass on this series went to Jerreth Sterns who not only led the Hilltoppers with 111 yards on 11 catches this day, but he also set the all-time high for WKU pass receptions in a season.
WR Jerreth Sterns picks up yards against MTSU to break the Hilltopper record for receiving yards in a season. He still has at least three games left to play this season. He also transferred with Zappe from Houston Baptist.
After an exchange of punts, the WKU pick-fest started. A tipped MTSU pass got swiped by Khalef Hailassie to put the Toppers at the Raider 19. Malachi Corley hauled in a five-yard pass to go up, 14-7. Before the first quarter ended, Hilltopper DB Beanie Bishop fielded an errantly thrown ball by Vittiato to nowhere near a Blue Raider receiver. He ran it back untouched for a 43-yard pick-six.
Hilltoppers stake their claim
Trailing 21-7, but driving early in the second, another MTSU tipped pass resulted in an INT by DE Jaden Hunter to put WKU back on offense from their 19. Getting the ball back over on downs, Stockstill brought in QB Mike DiLiello to replace Vittiato. He got the Raiders down to the 36, but Vittiato came back in and finished this drive off from there to Ali Yusuf. Maybe MTSU was warming up now to make a serious challenge against their archrival?
Blue Raider QB Nick Vittiato (18) had a rough debut against the Hilltoppers to say the least. The Toppers intercepted five of his passes.
Brayden Narveson’s 35-yard FG increased The Hilltopper’s margin by three. Bishop picked off another pass for WKU and returned it 29 yards to the Blue Raider ten. On second down, Zappe fired a 10-yard TD pass to Mitchell Tinsley to settle the score for the half at 31-14 in favor of the Hilltoppers.
Halftime hopes
In Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium among 21,113 fans mostly clad in Hilltopper red, we settled back to watch halftime for the first time this season. We hoped to see the Blue Raiders make some kind of adjustments on both sides of the ball to try to settle in. Hopefully, maybe they could get the rivalry juices flowing to support their two seldom-used quarterbacks trying to develop a rhythm for their offense.
Hilltopper cheerleaders had much to cheer about in their team’s win over rival Middle Tennessee.
Hilltoppers continue to mount attack
WKU received the second half kick-off and put together a 74-yard scoring drive with Zappe (29 for 50, 281 yards, 4 TDs, one rushing TD) and Davis finishing it off with a 28-yard TD. On MTSU’s third play, they fumbled, and Hunter recovered for the Toppers at the Raider 33. Zappe carried it in from the eight for the 45-14 lead. On a bright sunny, beautiful fall Saturday for college football, this game got even more boring.
DiLiello came in again to show what he could do. Interception by Demetrious Cain. No difference. WKU started at the MTSU 29. Naverson booted a 42-yard FG. Vittiato came in to guide MTSU once again. He went for all with a 48-yard bomb into the end zone. Interception, Davion Williams. No difference. I told St. Laurie (who I enticed with a visit to the Corvette Museum, dinner, and a casino stop to go to Kentucky with me) at some point; we could leave at the end of the third. She responded; this must be bad if I decided not to stay until the end. She was right about that! WKU led 48-14 with 7:38 left in the THIRD QUARTER.
After Zappe’s eight-yard TD run, collegefootballfan.com had seen enough as WKU led 48-14 with 7:38 to play in the third period.
Early exit
When the third period came to an end, the Topper ‘s ensuing drive was around midfield. Though we started out of the stadium, we stopped at the portal to turn and watch the highlight of the game. A WKU student took on the punt, pass, and kick challenge for $15,000. He put up a nice, impressive, long punt, and somehow got good distance on a pass he tended to “submarine” down field. But, he sailed a kick through the uprights from where the ball landed to win the cash prize. Definitely had to be a soccer player in his formative years. Great to see it!
On the way out we heard some cheering on the outskirts of the stadium and noted that the scoreboard indicated that the Blue Raiders had scored. Shocking! However, we weren’t rushing back in. We had plans for dinner and the casino on the way home to look forward to now. Game reviews indicated a 68-yard punt return set the Raiders up at the Topper 16. Frank Pleasant took it in from the five, and a scrimmage of second-teamers likely followed after that until the end of the game. Thanks to seven turnovers by the Blue Raiders of which six were interceptions thrown by QB understudies, final score: WKU 48 MTSU 21.
TheWestern Kentucky Hilltopper Marching Band has a great sound!
Next: College Football Week 11
The Blue Raiders (4-5, 2-3) return home in Murfreesboro to face Florida International, struggling at 1-8, 0-5. It might be the perfect scenario to give their QBs some game experience for next year. Old Dominion and at Florida Atlantic remain after that. Next year, MTSU opens at home against Mizzou. Definitely a consideration for us to attend to take in our first college football contest ever at Murfreesboro.
The Hilltoppers (5-4, 4-1) look to become bowl eligible if they can beat Rice (3-6, 2-3) on the road in Houston next Saturday. FAU and at Marshall finish out their regular season schedule. Their lone conference loss was to No. 15 UT San Antonio (9-0,5-0), 52-46.
For collegefootballfan.com, we travel to Winston-Salem, NC to see a key Atlantic Division clash in the ACC when No. 21 NC State (7-2, 4-1) visits No. 13 Wake Forest (8-1,5-0). We look forward to meeting up with” Bug” and his clan from Wake to tailgate for a good one on college football week 11. We can’t believe how this time of the year always go by so quickly for us. Only five more Saturdays to go until Bowl season starts.
Time for college football to put the Whammer-Jammer, Yellow Hammer down on Alabammer!
Alabama is College Football Playoff Committee’s No. 2? As pointed out in previous Salvos here, this is the “smoke and mirror strategy” pervaded by the slippery Mr. Finebaum (Law degree from UT) and other misinforming pundits. Don’t know how anybody can buy into Paul’s SEC bias. The committee says Cincinnati, who fell out of the Top 4, only has one “signature” win – over No. 8 Notre Dame. Where’s Alabama’s “signature win”? FCS Mercer? Southern Miss? Texas A&M – oops, that was a loss! Maybe one of the also-rans out of the SEC – like Tennessee or Mississippi State? Oh wait, they lost games to Pitt and Memphis, so they can’t be signature wins. They are just SEC also-rans, maybe even embarrassments.
We saw Memphis beat Navy this year in an AAC game, 35-17. They also beat Mississippi State of the SEC on this same field, 31-29.
Disrespected Cincy struggled against Navy’s triple-option offense, but still won. Tennessee opted out against playing that same offense against Army next season. Holy smoke, Bama plays 1-7 Mexico State the week after next! Read Ryan McGee’s latest Weekly Bottom 10 column on ESPN.com. “Whew Mexico State” and “Southern Missed” come in at seven and ten respectively in THE ESPN BOTTOM TEN. They ever talk about that on SportsCenter? Alabama #2? Based on these credentials? What a joke!
Mixed message here
Howie Kussoy, Sports Editor for the New York Post, says one thing we agree with, but doesn’t put his money where his mouth is. He analyzes the UNC-Wake Forest this weekend appropriately reporting here: “‘The polls do not matter and come into our discussions,’ Play-off Committee Chair Gary Barta said with a straight face on Tuesday night. Then may I ask, ‘Where would Wake Forest – the only undefeated team in the ACC and the only team in the nation to score 35 points in every game this season – be ranked if its name were Clemson?’” Right on the money, Howie. Over-rated Clemson started at the top right from the get-go. Turned out not to be the same college football team without Trevor Lawrence, et al.
However, he contradicts himself when he selected North Carolina -2.5 against the Deacons. What did he base that on, the preseason polls? We see he was wrong earlier when he picked UVA to beat Wake. Wake held UVA and Brennan Armstrong to 17 points. We attended UVA games where the Cavs put up 34 and 49 points respectively against Louisville and BYU – BYU! – on the road both times. He thinks Sam Howell will have an easier time against Wake than Sam Hartmann will have against UNC who gives up 30 points per game? The Tar Heels don’t run the triple option like Army unless he knows something no one else following college football does. Where are these pundits’ heads when they make these predictions?
We watched UVA tack 49 points on the board against a heralded BYU defense at Provo just last weekend. Wake only allowed Virginia 17 in Charlottesville!
Look in the mirror, “After the Fall Paul”
After last week’s win by Michigan State over Michigan, 37-33, “Monday-morning” Paul says that Jim Harbaugh isn’t the best HC in the state of Michigan. If Paul Finebaum’s so astute, why didn’t he say that last week? His inference back then was that Michigan’s fate would be sealed against Ohio State at the end of the season, not against the Spartans. Right here, in Salvos, we nicely agreed with him that Michigan would not make the CFP, but pointed out where he was wrong.
We stated, “We see this week’s road trip to No. 8 Michigan State (7-0, 4-0) definitely a challenge to the Wolverines’ unblemished record. In two weeks, when they go to No. 20 Penn State, if the Lions can cast some doubts aside, that’s a second.” We forecasted Michigan’s fate would be sealed before they met the Buckeyes. Mr. Finebaum’s not the best college football forecaster anywhere. He has no room to criticize if this is supposedly his forte. Call him “After the Fall, Paul”.
Here’s a friendly suggestion to Paul Finebaum and Nick Saban
Since Tennessee backed out on Army next year and picked up Akron instead (more on the Zips later), Collegefootballfan.com would like to make a proposal. Paul Finebaum said he was disappointed in his Ama Mater’s dastardly decision to cancel and do this dishonor to vets and service members around the country. Nick Saban always likes to open the Alabama season at a neutral site to offset any supposed home team advantages, the kind soul that he is.
Collegefootballfan.com suggests Alabama schedule two upcoming season openings with twists – back-to-back seasons at two totally different sites against the same team, but not in nearby Atlanta as usual. Real neutral sites instead. We propose that Bama open against Army (or even play later in each season, and replace an FCS opponent). Play the first-time in the Meadowlands where the Corps of Cadets could attend, for instance, and play the following year in Arlington, Texas where The Tide has opened against a few teams in recent years. Playing there would deliver great Army interests in the state of Texas, too.
Surely Brave, Old Army team would love to see their Black Knights take on the Crimson Tide in the Meadowlands! They’ve played Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame on the road within the past decade.
Everybody wins – Army, Bama, fans, New Mexico State, Paul
And for the benevolent Alabama fans who say they play New Mexico State to help fund their athletic program financially, send NMSU a donation made from the profits from these games instead! Maybe even contribute to a few beleaguered FCS programs. This arrangement would be win-win-win+ for all involved. I’ll make the connections to get this started. Let me know.
James Franklin speaks fundamentally
We can say that we don’t always agree with what PSU HC and former East Stroudsburg QB James Franklin’s calls in certain game situations. However, we liked what he said after the CFP votes came out Tuesday night. He stated as he’s said this in the past, “I think the first thing you have to do if you’re not going to have a true playoff system … is make sure everybody is playing under the same model. How can you have some conferences that play FCS opponents and other conferences that don’t? How can you have some conferences that are playing 9 conference games and others playing 8?” This is a very serious inadequacy with college football.
Let’s think. In what “Power Five” conference does every school play an FCS team? In what “Power Five” conference of 12 teams or more do they only play eight conference games instead of nine which could be easily done eliminating some very uninteresting and unnecessary non-conference games? Think about it. The answer is revealed at the end of our Salvos.
Adam Rittenberg’s “Shaky starts”?
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg has been left out of our Salvos since Paul Finebaum provides us with so many interesting topics. If we had more time, we could call out many of these pundits who have what we’ll call “negative impact” to the fairness of college football. Adam insinuates teams like Ohio State and Auburn got off to “shaky starts” and have made amends since the season is now half over. It’s astounding what blind eyes pundits have to the reality of college football.
Ohio State fell to Oregon early in Week 2 and fell from No. 3 to No. 9. Adam notes this week, “Ohio State didn’t look sharp Saturday night against Penn State, delivering a product not unlike the one it had 50 days earlier against Oregon.” Gee, why were the Buckeyes so sharp those five weeks in between averaging 50 points per game? Against Tulsa, Akron (told you they’d come up later), Rutgers, Maryland, and Indiana. How come this all gets swept under the rug? These teams have combined records of 16-25. None have winning records. The Buckeyes play 5-2 PSU at home and Adam wonders why they’re struggling, particularly against one of the best defenses in the nation? Here’s your answer Adam: they beat up on weaklings relatively speaking. Like Saban asked, “Did any of you guys ever play sports?”
All these top teams need to be given a second thought before being put on a pedestal because they have beaten “nobodies”. Look, there are outstanding teams out there that can’t get their competitive matches every week based on conference schedules for one thing, but the best gauge is to judge this inter-conference play until they play formidable conference foes. When teams go out of their way to load up on a few more other weak programs, that has to be taken into consideration. The fact that Ohio State’s one loss at home to Oregon needs to be weighed-in into this analysis very heavily.
Always pressure-packed games when Ohio State meets Penn State in Happy Valley!
Different definition of “Shaky start” for the Auburn Tigers
As for Auburn’s “shaky” start, it’s shaky as to who they decided to start with. They beat Akron (noted again), 60-10, and then beat FCS Alabama State, 62-0, in their first two games. Just send Alabama State a donation or have the Educational Chancellor of the state of Alabama make a money transfer or something. A week later they lose to Penn State, 28-20. So is this what Rittenberg refers to as a shaky start? After PSU, the Tigers got a big break at home in their win over Georgia State. That was “shaky”. Things are even shakier now as we can see that they’ve gone 3-1 getting clobbered by Georgia and playing other teams getting beaten as most in the SEC do every season by UGA and Bama.
Auburn’s“shaky” start? QB Bo Nixon led the Tigers hard until the end to try to beat Penn State. Shaky because Penn State won, 28-20?The two previous teams they played previously can be referred to as “shaky”.
Factor this as objectively as one can
Pundits and CFP pollsters need to look at the competition before even considering wins, total points, and margins of victory. Like everything else in the media, there is too much politicking going on in college football. There’s intent here to water-down schedules purposely by programs because they see the media is blind regarding this parameter. In the end it’s all about the money. However, we see solutions to doing this better even with the green stuff still in the way.
Week 9, Our top college football games in Review
We called for Coastal Carolina to squeak by Troy State as the Trojans defense would offer a challenge. They surprisingly put up more points than we expected though. The Chanticleers triumphed, 35-28… As mentioned, Mel Tucker had his disrespected Spartans up for Michigan in front of the home crowd, and we noted that the Spartans beat the Wolverines at the Big House the previous season. They came out on top, 37-33, and catapulted into the first edition of the CFP (What do these weekly ratings matter? Six more weeks of college football to go, including conference championships).
Auburn came out on top of Ole Miss, 31-20, having performed better against comparable competition and playing at home as we noted. Just another game between also-rans in the SEC. Ho-hum…NC State’s defense came up as expected against Louisville and derailed the Cardinals by more than one TD, 28-13. Collegefootballfan.com hopes The Wolfpack is on a collision course with Wake Forest since we will be at that game on November 13.
We fell apart on our selections late in the day as we expected SMU to win over Houston since they seemed to have more scoring capabilities. Houston won in a fight to the finish at home, 44-37. Unless SMU surprises Cincinnati on November 20, the Houston Cougars will probably play the Bearcats in Nippert Stadium on December 4. We have to consider trekking up to that one! …We understand Penn State’s Sean Clifford started off well and played healthy even silencing the Horse Shoe crowd for a while. The returned fumble by the Buckeyes was big, and they prevailed, 33-24.
Our Best College Football Games of Week 10
Our game this Saturday, unofficially known as the rivalry called “100 Miles of Hate”, is where we go this weekend. Since we live right in the middle, how can we not go? ConferenceUSA teams, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (4-4, 3-1) meet the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (4-4, 2-2), in Bowling Green, KY. Both come off convincing C-USA wins. WKU defeated Charlotte (4-4, 2-1) 45-13, while MTSU clubbed Southern “Missed” (1-7, 0-4), an Alabama favorite, 35-10.
MTSU surprised Marshall and fell by three to Charlotte. Charlotte was WKU’s best win. Prior to that on consecutive weekends, they beat ODU and FIU. Both have one win apiece. Both fell to No. 16 UT San Antonio (8-0) by competitive scores. WKU QB, Bailey Zappe is second in the nation yardage-wise in passing. This game will be close. With WKU at home, they will win by three with a lot of hate going back and forth. We’re rooting for our home team, Middle Tennessee, though. By the way, we read that these two may continue this rivalry in the MAC in upcoming seasons.
Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy Game
Army (4-3) vs. Air Force (6-2) in Arlington, Texas. (Tell Bama Army plays there, too.) Both run the triple option. This is for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy. The Air Force Falcons take it home with a win since they already beat Navy, 23-3. Army will have to still beat Navy if they defeat Air Force. The Cadets have lost three-straight to the three best teams on this year’s slate.
The Falcons come off a 20-14 loss to then No. 22 San Diego State, two weeks ago. This is difficult to call. Army’s triple-option has not been as effective on the road as it’s been at home. Air Force’s defense knows this offense and has had two weeks to prep as well. No one runs it better in practice than they can. The rivalry factor plays into this. Air Force needs to win, and Army can’t afford lose. We’ll give this slight edge here to Air Force by a TD.
USAFA QB Haaziq Daniels (4) found a seam on this play to race 28 yards for a Falcon TD against Navy. He’ll be looking to do the same this weekend versus Army.
No. 10 Wake Forest (8-0, 5-0) – not Clemson – visits North Carolina (4-4, 3-3). We tipped our preference previously in “Mixed message here”. UNC comes off a loss to Notre Dame and has also lost to Georgia Tech and Florida State. Wake QB Sam Hartmann turns out to be the Heisman candidate this year, not UNC’s Sam Howell. Sam at Wake Forest has the horses around him this year. Sam at Carolina sky blue doesn’t. The Deacons will win by two touchdowns setting up a big ACC game the week after for us in Winston-Salem vs. NC State.
Liberty (7-2) at No. 15 Ole Miss (6-2): the Flames record is over-inflated this season with victories over one-win teams such as ODU, UMass, and North Texas. The two losses are by three points to so-so at-best Syracuse and UL-Monroe. The rest of the wins are over teams the SEC likes to schedule. And despite their current QB Malik Willis transferring from Auburn when he had success against Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss should win this big at home. If not, that will give us a lot more ammo about the stature of the SEC. We plan to see Liberty host Louisiana (7-1), leaders of the SunBelt, on November 20. A Liberty win here would make that game more interesting, but even we say Ole Miss should win this by more than two TDs at home against former HC Hugh Freeze.
SEC entertainment for those who like to fantasize
No. 12 Auburn (5-2,2-1) at No. 13 Texas A&M (6-2, 3-2) are both SEC also-rans. Auburn already lost to UGA, and despite A&M’s 41-38 win at home over Bama, they fell at home to mediocre Arkansas and Mississippi State. However, since their win vs. Alabama, momentum seems to have shifted their way with dominant wins over SEC bottom feeders Mizzou and South Carolina. Auburn sandwiched their loss to No. 1 Georgia with wins over other struggling SEC teams who can’t beat the two best teams in the conference either. We look for A&M to keep the momentum going their way now. Auburn will have to make up for this when they host Alabama in the Iron Bowl. A&M should win Saturday by ten.
Prepare the Remote!
LSU (4-4,2-3) at No. 2? Alabama should not be a prime-time game. Ed Orgeron is on his way out at LSU. His team already lost to UCLA, Auburn, Kentucky, and Mississippi. You know what they say about snowballs’ chances in hell? Turn this off and watch something else before the first half is over. Alabama beats another struggling SEC program here by three TDs, just like they did to Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Tennessee.
Tennessee (4-4, 2-3) at No. 18 Kentucky (6-2,4-2) could be the most entertaining among the SEC broadcasts this weekend. The Vols lost to Pitt, beat some nobodies, lost to struggling Florida (4-4,2-4), lost to struggling Ole Miss in the Brew-fest at home, and then fell in line with the rest of the SEC losing to No. 2? Alabama by 28. Kentucky comes in with a two-game losing streak to No. 1 Georgia (again like every other SEC challenger) and Mississippi State, The Leach Project.
Three of the first four wins were close against weaker teams. They beat Florida (who may win the state of Florida championship if they beat FSU. The already beat FAU and USF) by seven and beleaguered LSU by three TDs (prime-time vs. Bama -ha!). Kentucky’s undefeated at home, and UT is 1-2 on the road. We’ll take Bourbon over Whiskey in this one by 10 points. Should be fun – better than watching Bama busting LSU.
Answers to: In what “Power Five” conference does every school play an FCS team? In what “Power Five” conference of 12 teams or more do they only play eight conference games instead of nine which could be easily done eliminating some very uninteresting, non-conference games?
Provo, Utah – Former BYU HC Bronco Mendenhall returned to his former employer of 10 years with his Cavaliers and top-rated QB Brennan Armstrong, fell short as Brigham Young “Bronco-busted” Virginia, 66-49. Both teams came into this evening’s contest with 6-2 records. In front of a welcoming but Cougar-charged college football crowd of 57,685, the game was tale of two halves. The halftime score with Virginia in front, 42-38, would have been close to what we expected as the potential final outcome going into this game.
Virginia HC Bronco Mendenhall stands on the visitors sideline at Lavelle Edwards Stadium for the first time this past Saturday. He won 99 games as BYU’s HC from 2005 to 2015.
Lots of yardage, lots of points
Up to that point the game got off to a big lead by the home team and a heroic comeback by the visitors. The Virginia Cavalier offense scored on big plays in six consecutive possessions led by the leading passer of total yards in college football. Armstrong led all passers coming in with 3,220 yards. He started off slow, but added another 337 yards to his total and four TDs against a stalwart BYU Cougar D before leaving the game late with a rib injury.
BYU’s QB Jaren Hall kept pace with 349 yards passing and three TDs. However, RB Tyler Allgeier’s rushing performance put BYU over the top gaining 266 yards on 29 carries and crossing the goal line five times. The individual grit among these playmakers made this game outstanding. In the meantime, fans have to wonder, whatever happened to good defense? In the annals of our history, the 115 points make this our third highest score since we started this in 1979 among 626 games to date!
Cougars explode early
BYU’s defense seemed in control to start the game holding the super-charged Virginia Cavalier passing attack at bay. In the first three series with tight pass coverage and some pressure on Armstrong, the Cougar defense sandwiched an interception between two three-and-outs. Each resulted in three TDs for 21-0 lead before the first quarter ended.
QB Jaren Hall takes the ball in for BYU’s first score.
Hall ran in from the one. Allgeier scored from the three following LB Payton Wilgar’s INT to spot BYU on the UVA ten. WR Puka Nacua caught a 26-yard fade pass from Hall for the next six. Seemed like Brigham Young “Bronco-busted” Virginia already! Having seen Armstrong against Louisville several weeks earlier, with his receiving corps, we couldn’t imagine them being shut down. Referring to Armstrong, one nearby Cougar fan said, “Hit him hard. Beat him up.” Armstrong displays toughness. He started to show it.
Tyler Algeier bulls over for BYU’s second score, his first of five TDs this evening.
Comeback Cavaliers
Armstrong capped a 75-drive in retaliation with a five-yard TD run before the first quarter ended to avoid the shut out. Going into the second period, Allgeier kept motoring to get BYU into the end zone again on a four-yard run. It didn’t look like the Cougs were ready to back down offensively at all. They commanded with a 28-7 lead. On the other side, the Cavs’ motors just got fired up. They started hitting – hard, fast, and often – offensively and defensively.
Next, Armstrong connected with Jelani Woods falling into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. Then came a significant defensive stand. UVA held BYU to a four-and-out! Armstrong connected with Dontayvion Wicks on a 70-yard catch and run to close the gap, 28-21. The Lavelle Edwards Stadium crowd suddenly got very quiet. The best BYU could do to counter came from Jack Oldroyd’s 32-yard FG midway through the second. Virginia countered three plays later on Devin Darrington’s quick exit through the defensive line and swerving downfield for a 49-yard TD jaunt.
Virginia’s Devin Darrington breaks away on his 49-yard jaunt to offset the BYU lead, 31-28.
The Cavalier defense forced BYU to punt a second time. Taking over from the 23, the Cavs drove to the BYU 30. Armstrong found no receivers open, broke out of the pocket and scrambled unscathed all the way for a touchdown and a sudden and unexpected UVA lead, 35-31. 1:46 remained to play in what seemed like the end of the game, but action was winding down for what was only the first half. Both teams made the most of the time remaining.
Still the first half?
Within only 32 seconds and three plays, Hall struck back again with a 40-yard TD pass to Samson Nacua (3 catches for 107 yards and a TD) to regain the lead. However, Armstrong did not intend to let the Cougars take the lead going into halftime with them getting the kick to start the second half. He brought the Cavs 75 yards downfield to score with 22 seconds remaining on a 12-yard TD pass to Billy Kemp IV. Surprisingly with time left, BYU ran out of gas to score. In what looked like a final score, Virginal led BYU at the half, 42-38. We love to find competitively, close games, but geez, can someone besides Georgia ramp up the defenses? Brigham Young “Bronco-busted” Virginia? No way!
Question at the end of the half: “Coach Sitake, what changes do you have to make in the second half?” Coach Sitake answer: “We have to keep doing well on offense, but our defense has to play better.” We could figure that was said all the way up where we sat.
Fans looking forward to move to Big 12
Prior to the game, the PA announcer welcomed the crowd to Lavell Edwards Stadium, “set in one of the most beautiful locations in all of college football”, basically that was his point. In the darkness with an 8:15 PM kickoff, I said to the season-ticket holder next to me, “I’m sure it’s nice, but I can’t see a thing!” He grunted, “Yea, we can’t wait to start playing in the Big 12. They avoid scheduling many late games. We hate these late starts. Most can’t make it home until late the next morning!”
We could sympathize with him. It’s all about the TV money. The atmospheres at Penn State white-outs are tremendous. Usually though, those games go down to the wire. No one leaves early. Thousands of vehicles leave in the dark sitting bumper-to-bumper for a long time. It’s generally cold by then. Local hotels are already booked in advance at exorbitant rates for minimum stays of two days. Closest hotels we could book take two hours to get to. By the time we roll in, it’s 3-4 a.m. We hope they do get more day games when the Cougars join the Big 12 starting in 2023. A day game would be great to see here to enjoy the scenery. We’ve seen pictures.
We’d prefer to see these nice BYU cheerleader uniforms in the sunlight.
Seems like the third game for us today
After driving two hours from the Hawaii-Utah State game in Logan, which seemed extended due to numerous penalties, reviews, and typical lengthy TV timeouts, it seemed like we had seen two complete games already. This is as close as we had ever gotten to a “triple-header!” Hopefully, this wouldn’t go into overtime. Plans were in place already to get up at five to turn in the rental car by 6 am to catch an 8 am flight. We pondered just going to pick up what we left back at the hotel, and just going directly after that to Salt Lake City Airport.
Beginning of the end of a great football Saturday in Utah
BYU got off with another fast start. Allgeier broke off a 49-yard TD run, his third of the game, to take back the lead from UVA, 45-42. UVA’s offense sputtered. BYU’s FG attempt at the end of the next drive caromed off the upright, no good! This quarter, the clock moved quicker. Virginia scored on its next drive with only 2:10 left in the third. WR Keytaon Thompson, the most impressive receiver we’ve seen all season, caught a two-yard scoring pass to take back the lead for UVA, 49-45.
Still listed as a QB on the roster shown on the internet, the senior Keytaon Thompson stands 6-4, 190 lbs. We’ll refer to him as an H-back. He’s the toughest receiver we’ve seen to bring down. Watch for this guy at the next level. He’s something! He stood out at the Louisville game we attended, and he stood out again yesterday. BYU fans commented how impressive he is. He had this one short TD catch, but with 8 other catches for 89 yards, he fights for every yard he gets, punishing tacklers, but also just sliding off for more yards as well. Write down his name and see where he ends up in the draft next April. We say that he’s going to be around for a while and make an impact in the pros.
End zone entertainment
Up until this point, in the thin mountain air in Provo, every kick-off sailed into, through, or over the end zones. UVA’s ball boy and ball girl both actually caught kicks from there kicker behind the end lines. The pretty blonde ball girl had impressed first with her catching capability, but the ball boy made a one-handed catch while holding a ball under his other arm. He received enthusiastic applause from BYU fans, and a replay was shown on the video board. However, the next UVA kickoff rolled out of bounds. BYU started for the first time for either team on its 35 after a kick-off. Maybe it signified the Virginians were being affected now by the altitude in the Rockies.
UVA’s ball girl and ball boy performed impressively catching on kick-offs. We noted at halftime that she has pretty good arm, too!
Big Cougar Finish
Eleven seconds into the final period, BYU finished a scoring drive with Neil Pau’u grabbing a Hall pass from 10 yards out while keeping his feet inside the left goal line pylon for the score. The Cougs led again, 52-49. UVA’s next possession was turned over on a tremendous play by DL Uriah Leiataua. He made the hard tackle, and recovered the fumble he caused. BYU took over with the ball at Virginia’s 31. From there off left tackle, Allgeier took it in for the score right away, their biggest lead since the second period.
The ensuing Cavalier drive started typically again from the 25. At midfield, Armstrong’s pass got picked by LB Drew Jensen. The Cougar defense drove 65 yards with Allgeier doing the honors from three yards out for his BYU record fifth rushing TD of the day, now leading 66-49, with 7:12 left. Plenty of time for Mr. Armstrong? Finally, had Brigham Young “Bronco-busted” Virginia? Well, we weren’t ready for what happened next.
Brigham Young “Bronco-busted” Virginia
When UVA’s offense came on the field, Jay Woolfolk came on replacing Armstrong at QB. He got the same pass protection Armstrong was afforded. He completed two passes and ran twice to get down to the BYU 35. Three incompletions later, the ball went back to the Cougars. With 4:56 left, Allgeier converted two first downs and BYU ran out the clock. Game over! Exciting, explosive, offensive game. After all that, who knows how the game could have ended if Armstrong remained healthy. Finally, Brigham Young “Bronco-busted” Virginia. BYU came out 7-2. With the win, the Cougars climbed to No. 17 in the Top 25. UVA fell to 6-3, but even worse, what’s with Brennan Armstrong? They have three critical games remaining.
Though listed as a QB, Keytaon Thompson (99) carried the ball five times for 25 yards along with his nine receptions. We look for him to go in the first few rounds of the 2022 draft.Tell Mel Kiper to call us!
Next up!
BYU hosts FCS Idaho State next Saturday. After that, it’s got road games at two struggling teams -Georgia Southern and USC. Ironically, today. GSU announced it’s hiring former USC HC Todd Helton. We’re interested to see where BYU will go bowling and who they’ll play. Hopefully, they will get to play another Power 5 Team. As an Independent, they’ve beaten five now. They deserve a shot at somebody else.
Questions now linger regarding Brandon Armstrong’s health. They have another big game next week at home hosting No. 8 Notre Dame, 7-1. After that they travel to 6-2 Pitt, critical to their bowl bid considerations within the ACC. They end at home against rival Virginia Tech.
Is it OK to use the word “Hate”?
For Collegefootballfan.com, we don’t have to travel as far to this weekend’s game. We’ll be attending the traditional rivalry unofficially known as “100 miles of Hate”. What choice do we have? We live right in between the two schools now. Middle Tennessee (4-4, 2-2) lies southeast of us, and Western Kentucky (4-4, 3-1) is to the northwest. Members of ConferenceUSA now, these two have played for years moving within conferences and divisions. They don’t like each other.
Both come off wins a week ago, MTSU over Southern Miss, and WKU over Charlotte. The game will boil over at WKU in Bowling Green where we saw the Hilltoppers fall to Indiana this year, 33-31. WKU QB Bailey Zappe stands at No. 2 currently behind Brenna Armstrong of Virginial in passing yardage in the FBS. He has 3,407 yards to his credit and 33 TDs.
Extra points:
These two teams are scheduled to meet again on September 9, 2023 in Charlottesville, VA. This could change, however, since the Cougars supposedly start Big 12 competition that season.
The win for BYU was the 600th for this football team since it started play back in 1922. Cougar HC Kalani Sitake recorded his 46th win this evening to reach that goal. Bronco Mendenhall recorded 99 wins during his tenure with the Cougars. Lavelle Edwards for whom the stadium is named led the program to 257 victories. They are the top three winningest coaches in BYU history. That’s 402 from this trio alone.
Whatever bowl BYU gets invited to this season, it will be their 39th. Their first was in 1974. From 1978-1980 they played in the Holiday Bowl losing to Navy and Indiana before defeating SMU. An OG for BYU those three years was Andy Reid, sixth winningest coach in the NFL history at Philadelphia and now at Kansas City.
Logan, Utah – USU QB Logan Bonner racked up 361 passing yards and four TDs Saturday to race past Hawaii and fend off comebacks to win their sixth game of the season, 51-31. Bonner connected with four different receivers for scores. Deven Thompkins snagged seven catches for 176 yards, and Elelyon Noa carried 23 times for 111 yards and at TD. Aggie WR Brandon Bowling scored the last two TDs for State – one on a pass reception and one on an unusual kickoff return. Defensively, Utah State held the Rainbow Warriors to 12 yards rushing and recorded five sacks. An early Warrior drive was halted by an interception in the end zone.
Utah State QB Logan Bonner added twenty-five yards rushing in addition to his 361 passing yards.
Aggies race past Hawaii!
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium surrounded by scenic mountains in front of an enthusiastic, USU, Halloween-clad, student body, the Aggies got off to a fast start. They scored on their first three possessions. Noa closed out their first drive with a one-yard TD run. A pick by Cash Gilliam in the end zone led to USU’s next series. Bonner connected with Justin McGriff for a 45-yard TD.
USU DB Cash Gilliam (4) gets under tipped pass to intercept to halt an early Hawaii scoring threat.
Aggie PK Connor Coles added a 41-yard FG to put the Aggies up 17-0 early in the second period. Then, Hawaii started to challenge. Matt Shipley’s 49-yard FG finally put the Warriors on the scoreboard. The Hawaiian defense halted the next Aggie drive to take possession back on downs. From his 31, U of H QB Chevan Cordeiro (23 for 39, 296 yards, three TDS, one INT) tossed a pass to Dedrick Parson for a 29-yard score to whittle the Aggie lead down, 17-10. With Bonner removed temporarily from play with an injury, back-up QB Andrew Peasley connected with Thompkins for a 45-yard completion down to the three. With seven seconds left, Coles finished the first-half scoring with a 22-yard FG. He enhanced the Aggie lead before halftime festivities in front of 19,219 fans, 20-10.
The exuberant Aggie student body cheered their team on throughout the contest against the Rainbow Warriors.
Blow-out? No so fast, my friends.
Bonner came out firing right out of intermission. The first drive resulted in a 46-yard TD pass to Derek Wright. Some might have called it a back-shoulder throw. Others may call it an underthrown pass which the receiver came back to catch in the end zone. Most of the second half plays came with penalty flags (Hawaii 10 for 89 yards, USU seven for 80) or reviews for various reasons. However, Utah State’s momentum did not slow down. The next drive of 80 yards finished with a well-executed screen pass left to wide open Carson Terrell. He received an escort blocker into the end zone from 21 yards out. After Hawaii’s three and out, a 69-yard drive resulted in a 14-yard scoring pass to Brandon Bowling. With USU ahead, 41-10, Aggie HC Blake Anderson started to substitute now with the game seemingly well in hand.
On the opening drive of the third period, Derek Wright caught this 46-yard scoring strike in the end zone from Logan Bonner to extend the Aggie lead, 27-10.
With 4:37 left in the third, Cordeiro led his Warriors down field to score on a TD pass to Kaoli Nishigaya from 12 yards out. Peasley now substituted for Bonner with an ample lead of 41-17. He fumbled on his first drive, however, and the Bows took over at Utah State’s 45. Cordeiro took advantage and fired a scoring strike to Calvin Turner Jr. They followed up together on a two-point conversion to close the deficit, 41-25, before the end of the third. Supposedly, we suspect many attendees had Trick-or-treating plans. They headed toward the Maverik exits to take advantage of nice weather despite the sudden Warrior comeback looming. We planned to go to Provo for more college football after this, but we stayed enjoying every minute of this contest.
Warrior WR Calvin Turner, Jr. (7) hauls in a Cordeiro pass from 27 yards to close the score, 41-25.
Aggies fend off comeback
Anderson put Bonner and Noa, who was replaced during various series to give RB Pailate Makakona reps, both back in to stem the potential Warrior threat. The moves paid off with some relief as Coles put up three more with his 22-yard FG. More relief came from the defense. They held Hawaii in check to halt a fourth and one on their 28 to take back over on downs. Anderson returned to his starters to the bench again.
So close, yet so far
Peasley had the Aggies moving until he seemed to panic under pressure with a misfired backward lateral that rolled past his intended RB. Rainbow DB Eugene Ford scooped up the rolling ball and returned it 74 yards for six points. The two-point conversion failed, but with 8:20 left to play, the 44-31 Aggie lead did not seem so comfortable. The Bows felt an opportunity to challenge as well, and displayed it on the ensuing kickoff.
HC Todd Graham, who we first saw as a head college football coach at Tulsa back in 2007, called for some trickery. His kicker approached the ball from right to left, stopped, and another player approached from the left to kick it onsides to the right. WR Brandon Bowling of the Aggies raced forward to pick it up on the hop. He raced past Warrior defenders 45 yards untouched for the kickoff return. Seven seconds later, the Aggies were up by 20, 51-31.
USU’s Brandon Bowling (10) fields onsides kick before steaking past Hawaii kicking team for 45-yard touchdown return.
“It’s not over until – we say it is…”
Despite the margin with 8:13 remaining, this game felt like it was “The Game That Was Never Going To End”. Collegefootballfan.com had a long drive ahead of us to get to our next game in Provo! Penalties, turnovers, and reviews continued. State looked like it had another score on a fumble recovery that was returned. However, the play was reviewed for targeting. On the replay, it looked like the tackler hit Cordeiro squarely on the shoulder, and the targeting would be reversed. But it wasn’t. Hawaii (4-5, 1-3) kept the ball with a first and ten from their 40.
Utah State took over with an INT by DB Monte McGary, and two flags were thrown. After reviews, USU did take over from their 40. They stalled and punted. Cordeiro was replaced at QB by Brayden Schager. He got sacked and fumbled. Utah State started from its 47. They punted, and U of H went four and out. USU lined up in victory formation. The game was finally over. Utah State’s record now stand at 6-2, 4-1. A post-season game or two, including a conference title game, should lie ahead for the Aggies.
Hawaii’s DL DJuan Matthews (2) stops RB Elelyon Noa for a short gain. Noa compiled 111 yards rushing for the Aggies and scored the opening TD of today’s game.
Next up!
These two teams head in different directions next week logistically and from a challenge perspective. The Aggies head to New Mexico State (1-7) who lost twice this season already to Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors return home to take on San Diego State (7-1, 3-1) who just got knocked out of the Top 25 on Saturday with a 30-20 loss to Fresno State.
The Aggies, now alone atop college football’s Mountain Division of the MWC, do not play the SDSU Aztecs during the regular season. If they can make it to the championship game against the West Division, they could play SDSU, Fresno, or Nevada. All are currently 3-1 in MWC play. Fresno and Nevada still have to play each other. Fresno’s detriment lies in their lone MWC loss to 1-3 Hawaii.
Collegefootballfan.com left the beautiful, Logan area and traveled back out to I-15 South as daytime turned into night on our way to Provo for the highly anticipated shoot-out there between Brigham Young (6-2) and Virginia (6-2), coached by the BYU Cougars former HC, Bronco Mendenhall. Look for our Game Review shortly!
The fall foliate and the scenic mountains surrounding Logan, Utah on a sunny fall day make Maverik Stadium at Utah State a great venue to enjoy college football on a Saturday afternoon!
Extra Points:
Bought a great seat on the goal line 18 rows up, courtesy of an Aggie Fan, George, who attended with his wife. They had extra tickets last minute since his son and friends couldn’t make it. First time George had these seats. He also noted how good they are. In an oval-shaped stadium, the view line is great as from the “corner” the angle provides a view of the entire playing field as well as the scoreboard directly in front of you for stats and replays. This location has become our location of choice at many venues we attend for the first time. Basically, we choose it for these reasons and for picture-taking as well.
Speaking of picture-taking, the Utah State sideline scenery is pleasant to cheer with as well!These girls had plenty to smile about.
Let’s do this again!
The Maverik Stadium surroundings are some of the most picturesque among the 160 venues we’ve now attended on and off campuses throughout the country. Ice-capped mountains and fall foliage on a sunny, comfortable mid 50s afternoon is unforgettably enjoyable. We have to say the fans and students, who stayed throughout most of the game, seemed to enjoy themselves. They supported their team throughout with great enthusiasm.
Many celebrated Halloween within the spirit of the day costumes and all, but they showed strong support for their team on the field. They have great team spirit out there in Logan. They totally get involved celebrating and cheering their team on with their “alternate fight song”, “The Scotsman”. It sings of their pride being Aggies from Utah “where the sagebrush grows”. Click here to witness the Utah State Aggie Spirit. It was great! We hope to go back to Merlin Olsen Field to see the Aggies and their fans again in the future!
Happy Halloween!
On our way out we saw a unique Halloween costume idea by a group of Aggie coeds dressed up in caps and gowns with a sign depicting them as “Future Trophy Wives.” We enjoyed the creativity displayed out there in Aggie land. The “Fan of the Game” was introduced on the video board with a sign she made revealing her true Aggie Spirit. The PA broadcast said she arrived early at the game and showed great spirit throughout. She was shown with the sign that she made honoring the Aggie QB Logan (how appropriate for a kid from Rowlett, TX to end up in this town) Bonner. It read, “Bonner plays hard” with a heart on it. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders a little as the announcer spoke. Not sure if she was among those future trophy wives, but she could have been.
Check it out!
On a historic note, we read a college football report that noted Deven Thompkins gained over 100 yards in his sixth consecutive gamed for the Aggies. He’s one game shy of tying the record of seven consecutive games set by WR Kevin Curtis in 2002. We watched Utah State play the first time ever before that streak when they defeated UCONN quarterbacked by an up-and-coming freshman, Dan Orlovsky. In 2001, State became the 71st team added to our “goal to see’ em all!” The Aggies won a hard-fought 38-31 victory. Orlovsky and Curtis both made it to the NFL. Check out this history and more of 118 other FBS teams seen over the years in our book, “Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all!”
Namesake of Utah State’s playing field, Merlin Olsen. USU All-American and NFL Hall of Famer with the Las Angeles Rams. More scenes surrounding Merlin Olsen Field below.
