The recap of the college football weekend! Grab your WCE shirts for the season here.
Week 8 gave us a lot of blowouts, even in the 2 ranked matchups. ESPN’s College Gameday went to Penn St for the “White Out” against Michigan, and the Nittany Lions didn’t disappoint. James Franklin, Saquon Barkley, and Trace McSorley did not disappoint in a 42-13 beatdown of the Wolverines.
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Let’s start with my Top 10, and move into some other rankings after an unexpectedly interesting Saturday.
My Top 10
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Penn St
- TCU
- Miami
- Wisconsin
- Notre Dame
- Clemson
- Oklahoma
- Ohio St
Just like last week, I’ve got an emphasis on the teams that have stayed undefeated thus far. So I’m keeping the 6 Power 5 undefeated teams at the top of the rankings, but I’ve moved Notre Dame up to #7 over Clemson, as Notre Dame has two top 25 wins (in blowout fashion) that are more impressive than Clemson’s wins, and their loss (by 1 point to Georgia) is more impressive as well..
Alabama handled Tennessee 45-7, covering an astronomical spread of 36.5. Alabama is now 2nd in the country in scoring defense (giving up 9.8 ppg) and 6th in the country in scoring offense (scoring 43.0 ppg). Georgia had a bye week. Penn St got revenge Michigan this week at home with a 42-13 bashing in Happy Valley. As a reward, the Nittany Lions get to travel to the Horseshoe and deal with Ohio St’s comeback tour.
TCU beat Kansas 43-0, holding the Jayhawks to 26 yards of total offense for the game. Miami got a 27-18 win at home over Syracuse. Wisconsin put a 38-13 beating on Maryland in a game that will soon be forgotten (honestly, I had to look up the score because, honestly, I even forgot who Wisconsin played).
Notre Dame converted all the doubters with a 49-14 thrashing of USC, which sets up some incredibly meaningful games in the coming weeks against 1-loss NC State, Miami, and Stanford.
Clemson’s big wins don’t look as good as they once did, and their loss to a 4-4 Syracuse team isn’t exactly great. They’ve still got a fantastic defense, and I’m sure they fixed some things on offense with their bye week. They have Georgia Tech next week.
Oklahoma is still in the top 10, but moved back a spot to 9 after a close, last second win over Kansas St. Ohio St had a bye week, but Notre Dame’s win moved them back a spot. The Buckeyes will get their chance to move up in the rankings when Penn St comes to visit Columbus this coming weekend.
SEC Power Rankings
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Texas A&M
- Auburn
- Miss St
- LSU
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Arkansas
- Vanderbilt
- Missouri
- Ole Miss
Nothing changed in the Top 9. I moved Tennessee up to 10 because, honestly, they put up a valiant effort against Alabama early. Arkansas got roasted at home against Auburn, but they’ve been working with a backup qb.
Vanderbilt was off, Missouri smoked Idaho (offense putting up big numbers against non-Power 5 teams? yup, that’s normal), and I had to put Ole Miss in the last spot because their biggest bright spot on offense was QB Shea Patterson, who is now out for the season after suffering a torn PCL against LSU Saturday night in a 40-24 loss.
Hot Seat Rankings
Butch Jones
- I don’t believe Butch Jones will be fired until the end of the season. Supposedly, there’s a clause in his contract that says his buyout drops significantly if he does not reach bowl eligibility. And 2 – if there’s a coach they’re going after that is already coaching at another school, there’s no point in doing this before the season ends anyway. Tennessee
Bret Bielema
- Bielema lost to Auburn Saturday in a blowout. 52-20 at home never looks good. The defense is awful, and the offense can’t keep up with anyone right now with a backup QB getting the snaps. Bret is now 10-26 against the SEC in his 5 years on campus, and he still has Miss St, LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri to go. He might get two of those, at best. If he does win against Ole Miss and Missou, his record will be 12-28. There’s not much to say here… his star in Fayetteville is fading fast.
Barry Odom
- Odom needed his Tigers to look good in a win over Idaho for his 2nd win of the season. They did, putting up 68 points on the day. The biggest question here, like we asked last week, is who would want to come coach at Missouri right now? They couldn’t find anybody last year, and I doubt they’ll be able to find anybody this year, so Odom may be safe.
Jim Mora
- UCLA beat up on a badly injured Oregon team 31-14 in the Rose Bowl yesterday, and it came at the perfect time. The schedule sets up for several tough matchups to end the season. If Mora can get this team bowl eligible with how bad this defense is, I’d imagine he may stick around at the end of the season.
Gary’s Heisman Top 5
Saquon Barkley (Penn St)
Bryce Love (Stanford)
Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma)
Jalen Hurts (Alabama)
JT Barrett (Ohio St)
Undefeated Power 5 teams
SEC
- Alabama
- Georgia
ACC
- Miami
Big 10
- Penn St
- Wisconsin
Big 12
- TCU
Here’s what I wrote last week, and it still holds true today:
There are only 6 undefeated Power 5 teams left, and some of them are not, in my opinion, the best teams in their conference. I expect Miami to take a loss soon, I don’t know that Wisconsin is as good as Penn St or Ohio St, I don’t think Penn St can win at Ohio St, and TCU still has a game in Norman, OK left on the schedule.
Could this be the year that we get 2 teams from the same conference in the playoff? It’s entirely possible. Alabama and Georgia should each be 12-0 heading to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, and the loser of that game is still in GREAT position to get to the CFB Playoff.
