PROFESSOR LUICCI/Book a Title Ticket for Alabama
Five questions
Q. We get that TV types have to generate interest and potential controversy even when there is none, but can they just stop with the Alabama “doomsday” scenario?
Enough already. Alabama is not going to lose before the playoffs, no matter how silly people want to get speculating about Nick Saban’s juggernaut being tripped up by Auburn or Georgia and how that would affect the Tide’s playoff prospects. We’ll repeat this: Alabama is not losing before the playoffs. The Tide just shut out two quality SEC opponents, one on the road, and now have a dominant defense to complement an offense capable of 50 or more points any game. Auburn isn’t good enough offensively to give the Tide a scare. Georgia is a solid football team but not in Alabama’s class. LSU proved that. It’s time to move on to some other contrived playoff controversy to drive ratings.
Q. How is it possible that the three most talent-rich football states in the country – Florida, Texas and California – can’t produce a single Power 5 school of national prominence?
It’s really a remarkable phenomenon. The best Power 5 team from California will be the winner of Saturday’s Stanford-Cal game. Both are currently 6-4. Florida State and Miami are struggling just to finish .500. Florida is 7-3 but belongs in the lower reaches of the Top 25, and it’s likely that UCF is the state’s best college team. The Lone Star State can offer 7-3 Texas – which could easily be 5-5 – and 6-4 Texas A&M as the best from its college ranks. Strange times.
Q. With form holding among the Top 10 last Saturday, did any playoff hopefuls not help themselves in building a case for the postseason?
If you watched Ohio State-Michigan State you know how deceptive the 26-6 score was. When the Buckeyes’ best player is the punter something is not quite right with Urban Meyer’s crew. And this has been a season-long malaise for Ohio State. Even if the Buckeyes win out and win the Big Ten they face a perception problem regarding the playoffs, the perception being they’re not playoff quality. UCF didn’t help itself by letting 2-8 Navy hang around in a 35-24 victory. That won’t boost the Knights’ longshot hopes, and the fact that USF is reeling and that the West Division of the AAC is a study in mediocrity means UCF is almost out of chances for style points. The last opportunity is against 9-1 Cincinnati this week. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s defense continues to undermine the Sooners’ playoff hopes, regardless of how dangerous – and fun – the offense is. Time is running short and those three teams squandered major opportunities despite winning on Saturday.
Q. Did anyone notice that Davidson rushed for a Division 1 record 789 yards against San Diego?
And lost. Yes, lost. The Wildcats had four players rush for 150 yards or more—just the second FCS team to have four 100-yard rushers in a game – and surpassed the single-game rushing record in either the FBS or FCS ranks with those 789 yards on the ground. And lost. San Diego claimed a 56-52 victory because QB Anthony Lawrence threw seven TD passes and wide receiver Michael Bandy had 10 catches for 324 yards and four TDs. Just from a time of possession standpoint, it’s almost inconceivable that a team can rush 73 times for 789 yards and lose.
Q. Who does Louisville go after now that it has fired Bobby Petrino?
Give this train-wreck of an athletic department credit for cutting ties with Petrino immediately so it can get its search underway while an interim coach takes over. Kansas could learn from that instead of letting David Beaty twist in the wind by finishing the season after firing him more than a week ago. Beaty gets to close out against Oklahoma and Texas, which seems to be cruel and unusual punishment even at a program where simply sitting through a football game is that. Purdue coach Jeff Brohm continues to be part of the speculation at Louisville, since he is from there and played there, but the 5-5 Boilermakers are wildly inconsistent after a similar campaign in 2017 when Purdue went 7-6, beating Iowa but losing to Rutgers. So what has Brohm really shown in two years at the FBS level? That he’s a .500 coach occasionally capable of upsetting good teams but capable of inexplicably losing to bad ones – as was the case in Saturday’s 41-10 loss to Minnesota? Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell makes sense, since he’s from the general vicinity and has the young Bearcats out to an 9-1 start. Ohio State’s Ryan Day might be worth a look too. Then you have to factor in the chaos at Louisville in assessing how good a job it really is, despite top-flight facilities. Being in the ACC’s Atlantic Division makes for a difficult rebuild.
On the rise
Northwestern (6-4)
The same team that lost earlier this season to 4-5 Akron is headed to the Big Ten championship game thanks in large part to a gritty 14-10 win at Iowa. Despite going 0-3 in non-conference play, the Wildcats have fattened up against the Big Ten by going 6-1 in the league.
Iowa State (6-3)
Saturday’s victory over Baylor was the Cyclones’ fifth straight – the first time they have ever won five straight league games in the same season – and has them poised for a spot in the Big 12 title game if they win their last two (Texas and Kansas) and West Virginia loses to either Oklahoma State or Oklahoma.
Pittsburgh (6-4)
After starting 2-3, losing to hapless North Carolina and getting routed by UCF, Panthers have won four of five and will clinch the ACC’s somebody-has-to-win-it Coastal Division by beating Wake Forest or Miami.
On the decline
USC (5-5)
Anyone who watched the Trojans’ 15-14 home loss to Cal saw a poorly-coached, mistake-riddled football team on the brink of infighting. USC has lost three of its last four, with only a victory against lowly Oregon State preventing a total free fall.
USF (7-3)
All of the good will Charlie Strong created with a 7-0 start is long gone. Bulls have allowed 133 points in losing three straight and have to finish up with surging Temple and unbeaten UCF.
Colorado (5-5)
Seriously, this team was once ranked? Five straight losses later it is just rank. Imagine starting 5-0 and missing out on a bowl, which is entirely possible for the Buffs, who close out with Utah and Cal.
Who’s hot
Daniel Jones, QB, Duke
The redshirt junior set a school record by accounting for 547 yards – 361 passing, 186 rushing – as the Blue Devils beat North Carolina again. Jones also combined for four touchdowns.
Qadree Ollison, RB, Pittsburgh
Shades of Tony Dorsett. The 225-pound senior shredded Bud Foster’s Virginia Tech defense by rushing for 235 yards and three TDs, highlighted by a school-record 97-yard run as the Panthers routed the reeling Hokies.
Drue Chrisman, Punter, Ohio State
The sophomore’s first punt went four yards. His next five pinned Michigan State at its 5, 6, 3, 1 and 2 yardlines to finally turn the game in Ohio State’s favor. By the way, how shrewd is Spartans coach Mark Dantonio to intentionally give up a safety in what was a 7-6 game?
Who’s not
Brian Lewerke, QB, Michigan State
Has any QB in the country regressed more than this once-promising signal-caller? Against a mediocre Ohio State defense he was 11 of 28 for 128 yards with no TD passes and an interception. And he was bench midway through the game.
Benny Snell, Jr., RB, Kentucky
He was the key to the Wildcats’ early success and he’s the reason for the recent failures. The SEC’s leading rusher managed just 80 yards in a 24-7 loss to Tennessee – the third straight game he has been held under 100 yards.
Jack Coan, QB. Wisconsin
Maybe it’s judging him a bit too harshly filling in for the injured Alex Hornibrook on the road, but against a usually accommodating Penn State defense he was terrible: 9-of-20 passing for 60 yards with no TDs and two INTs. He also finished with minus-43 yards rushing.
Playing it forward
The top games of the coming week
Lehigh at Lafayette, 12:30
Throw out the records when these two meet – no, really, throw them out. Lehigh is 2-8 and Lafayette is 3-8 but none of that matters when they meet for the 154th time in the sport’s most-played rivalry, once that dates to 1884 (they used to play twice a year in the early days if you are trying to do the math).
Syracuse-Notre Dame, 2:30, Yankee Stadium, NBC
The Irish’s last serious threat to an unbeaten regular-season and a berth in the playoffs comes in the form of the 8-2 Orange, who have won four straight following a four-point loss at Clemson and a seven-point OT loss to Pittsburgh.
West Virginia at Oklahoma State, 3:30, ABC
Mountaineers control their destiny in the Big 12 race but need to win what will likely be a shootout against a dangerous Oklahoma State team on the road before finishing up six days later at home against Oklahoma.
Cincinnati at UCF, 8 p.m., ABC
The game of the year in the AAC, with the 9-1 Bearcats, probably a year ahead of schedule because of their youth, looking to pose a threat to UCF’s 22-game winning streak and 9-0 record.
Story Lines
1. We at TMG College Sports are always looking to help out when we can, so we’ve come up with a controversy-free solution to the fourth playoff spot (assuming Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame finish unbeaten). Simply combine Oklahoma’s offense with Michigan’s defense. It’s perfect if you think about it. And it’s a combined team that can give any of the other three a serious run for the national championship. The reality is, Oklahoma doesn’t belong with the top three because its defense is just horrendous. It offsets all of the accomplishments of a dazzling offense on a weekly basis. And as much as folks seem to think that Michigan is a cinch for the fourth spot if they win out, the Wolverines’ offense is inconsistent and lacks a dangerous passing game. But the defense is the country’s best. You wouldn’t pay to see Alabama against a combination of Oklahoma’s offense and Michigan’s defense?
2. The most interesting game of the week nationally will take place in New York City, supposedly a Big Ten stronghold when it added Rutgers, but won’t involve any Big Ten teams. Syracuse, which really is New York City’s team, takes on Notre Dame (New York City’s other team) in a game with playoff implications for the Irish. The Orange represent the last real impediment to a 12-0 season for Brian Kelly’s squad, and they’ve show dramatic improvement in Dino Babers’ three years (unlike the coach of the team that is not New York City’s team but fooled the Big Ten into believing that could be the case). The Big Apple isn’t much of a football hotbed, but it does care about Syracuse and Notre Dame. It’s just another loss for Rutgers, which could have elbowed its way onto the City’s radar if it wasn’t headed for its second 0-9 showing in Big Ten play in the past three years.
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Tom Luicci was the national college football and basketball writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. from 1979-2014.