The college football season just seems to get more and more wacky. I don’t know how many people saw Auburn and LSU being as good as they have been the last few weeks when they met for that 18-13 game back at the end of September, when it was a game for somebody’s job. When Penn St got beat by Pitt and thrashed by Michigan, I doubt anybody expected them to be able to beat Ohio St towards the end of October. In the Pac-12, who would have thought that Utah and Washington would be their only playoff contenders? And West Virginia destroyed TCU… and looks like the class of the Big 12, if only because they’re the only team in the conference that can play any semblance of defense.
It’s been a weird year already. So hey, here’s our Top 10 list for Week 6.
1. Alabama
Not surprising, I know. A dominant win over #6 Texas A&M leaves very little doubt about who the best team in the country is at this moment. They’ve been #1 all year, and with good reason. They’re #1 in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and they’ve scored a non-offensive touchdown now in 10 straight games dating back to last season, including all 8 this season. Yesterday’s performance by Johnathan Allen was nothing short of super-human, with his superman dive for a sack early, and his fumble return for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter to give Alabama a 2 score advantage.
The road gets a little more difficult to navigate in November though – we thought this team went through the gauntlet with games at Arkansas, at Tennessee, and hosting Texas A&M, but they won those by 19, 39, and 19 points. Now at LSU and hosting Auburn in the last game of the year look a little more tricky than they did at the beginning of the year. Still games that they’ll be double digit favorites in, but definitely more tricky to navigate.
Next up: Nov 5, at LSU
2. Michigan
Michigan was light years ahead of Illinois, and they did what they’re supposed to do against an overmatched opponent in a 41-8 thrashing of the Illini. They didn’t cover the spread, but hey, close enough. Especially on a day that saw their biggest rival go on the road as 20 pt favorites and lose straight up.
The end of the season looked like a tough stretch for the Wolverines before this season started, but games at Michigan St and at Iowa suddenly look like games they should win by 3 touchdowns. We’re not going to know anything about this team until the last game of the season when they travel to the Horseshoe to play Ohio St.
Next up: Oct 29, at Michigan St
3. Washington
Another team that played a very overmatched opponent and did what they’re supposed to. Oregon St wouldn’t have been able to hang with Washington even with their starting qb, but without him, there was simply no chance. Washington jumped out to a 31-0 halftime lead and then went sleepwalking through the 2nd half, en route to a 41-17 win.
Next up: Oct 29, at #17 Utah
4. Louisville
The Cardinals put a beatdown on the Wolfpack. And we kinda expected NC State to put up a fight, since they took Clemson to overtime in Death Valley last weekend. What we’re finding out is the Clemson win over Louisville was an anomaly – which is why we have Louisville ranked ahead of Clemson in these polls. Based on what we’ve seen, Louisville is still the better team, and had they played on a neutral field or in Papa John Stadium instead of at Clemson that night, Louisville would have won. Petrino’s bunch still has to have a lot happen for them to make the playoff, but hey… we’ve seen weird shit happen before. And this team is really really good.
Next up: Oct 29, at Virginia
5. Clemson
Clemson had a bye week. So the last thing we remember about this team is them winning a game they absolutely should have lost at home to NC State last week, and then we watched NC State get jacked 54-13 at Louisville this week. None of us are really sure how Louisville lost that game at Clemson earlier in the year, because we still think Louisville is the better team, which is why we have them ranked ahead of the Tigers.
Clemson looks an awful lot like the 2014 Florida St team that were defending their national championship. They’ll get through these easy games by playing with fire, and when they play a really good team in the postseason, they’ll get their doors blown off. That is, if they don’t get caught beforehand. Florida St could catch this team next week in a primetime game Sat night on ABC.
Next up: Oct 29, at Florida St
6. West Virginia
On College Gameday, every single analyst picked TCU to win at WVU yesterday, because nobody was buying into the Mountaineers really being very good this year. And Holgorson’s bunch took the Horned Frogs behind the woodshed. 34-10 doesn’t sound like it’s that bad, but this game was never in doubt. Their defense is legit (as evidence by them holding Texas Tech to 17 in Lubbock last week and Tech hanging up 850+ yds on Oklahoma this week in a 66-59 loss) and they didn’t let Kenny Hill and TCU do anything with the football for the entire game. Time to start talking about the possibility of and undefeated West Virginia at the end of the year…
Next up: Oct 29, at Oklahoma St
7. Nebraska
Purdue fired their coach last week, and then took a 14-10 lead into halftime against the Cornhuskers on Saturday. And then Nebraska come out in the 2nd half and methodically scored 17 unanswered and basically stomped out any hope of Purdue winning this football game. Nebraska still has not played any great competition (only Wyoming at 5-2, and Northwestern at 4-3 have winning records), but they’re 7-0 and they get a chance to prove themselves this weekend in Madison at our #10 team Wisconsin, who has already opened up as a 7 point favorite. After that, they get to host Ohio St, so they’ll get a chance to prove they belong in the Top 10 the next 2 weeks.
Next up: Oct 29, at Wisconsin
8. Texas A&M
Yes, A&M and Ohio St both took a loss. And yes, Ohio St was ranked #2 in the AP while the Aggies were #6 last week. But, to be fair, the Aggies lost at the #1 team in the country, and while the score was definitely worse, nobody can have a loss to Alabama count too much against them right now. The Tide is rolling. Texas A&M’s body of work still looks pretty good right now. The win over Auburn is legit, and Tennessee is still 5-2. Their only loss being at #1 Alabama makes their resume a little bit better than Ohio State’s.
A&M doesn’t have a lot left to do – they still get Ole Miss and LSU coming into Kyle Field, but the rest of the schedule is New Mexico St, at Mississippi St, and UT-San Antonio. This team should end the season 11-1 and hoping at an outside shot at the playoff.
Next up: Oct 29, New Mexico St
9. Ohio State
This game had all the right ingredients for a big upset: Saturday night primetime game, audience over 100k+, Buckeyes winning a close OT game on the road in Madison last week, and a sneaky good Penn St team that’s been improving since being demolished at Michigan. The Nittany Lions seemed to figure things out in this game, and it still took a blocked field goal return for a TD to win the game. Ohio St finally ran out of gas. And the problem is that the road doesn’t get any easier for the Buckeyes, who now suddenly look mortal. Northwestern and Maryland aren’t pushovers, and they host Nebraska at the beginning of November. And don’t forget that Michigan is coming to town to close out the season. This is still a good team… but maybe not as good as we thought initially.
Next up: Oct 29, Northwestern
10. Wisconsin
The Badgers won a predictably ugly 17-9 game at Iowa this week, and this defense is for real. The offense is boring, but the Big 10 is boring. They’ve got 2 losses, but their losses are to Michigan and Ohio St (in OT), and they look like they could win out and get a rematch with one of those 2 in the Big 10 title game.
Next up: Oct 29, #7 Nebraska
