College Football Plus: Final Four is wide-open race
Ostensibly, it was a quiet week.
The Top 9 teams in the college football rankings won their games.
And the 10th --Penn State--had the week off.
So nothing significant happened, right?
We at TMG beg to differ.
Oh, the scores came in throughout the day, but what you saw were tsunami warnings, particularly in the Southeast, which led to lots of rumblings in the other part of the country.
In looking at what we have seen in the past few weeks, we can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that there are NO super teams in college football.
And with the first unofficial CFP rankings (by committee) less than a month away, we could make a strong argument for 9 or even 10 teams as legitimate Final Four contenders.
Let's start at the top with Alabama, which showed its vulnerability last month with a healthy Bryce Young when it went down to the wire before squeezing out a victory at Texas.
It showed its vulnerability without its Heisman-winning QB on Saturday night when it was 3 yards and one play from a loss and hung on for a 24-20 victory over (3-3) Texas A&M.
Young was not playing after suffering a high ankle sprain a week ago in a win at Arkansas.
Without their field leader, the Tide looked like a pond ripple, turning the ball over 4 times, missing two field goals and committing two major defensive penalties on the final drive of the game which ended with an A&M incomplete p sass on the Alabama 3 yard line.
Had it gone in A&M's favor, Aggie coach Jimbo Fisher, who was part of the Jimbo and Nick (Saban) soap opera of the spring would have had posted back-to-back wins over St. Nick and moved into iconic status.
But it didn't. A&M is 3-3 and in the also ran department again and Alabama is still unbeaten and now must deal with the SEC underdog special of the week in unbeaten Tennessee.
Juicing up the scene is that the game will be played in Knoxville.
"This was not our best football out there tonight,'' understated Saban after the game. "When you don't have your quarterback out there playing and the second team guy's got to play, everybody's got to play better.""
The second team guy--Jalen Monroe--looked like a second team guy, committed three turnovers and not everybody played better, which created the drama.
Young--who lobbied to play on Saturday night --presumably will be back and as good as Tennessee has looked in rolling over LSU, Alabama is still 15-0 against the Vols in its last 15 games and 13 of those wins have been by 14 or more points.
Having said all of that, almost the entire Top 10 looks capable of winning--or losing--on any given afternoon or evening.
No. 2 (and defending national champion) Georgia, looked beatable for two weeks against inferior opponents before smothering Auburn on Saturday.
Ohio State looks impressive, but has yet to be tested. Clemson, Michigan and USC are all winning, but coming up short on style points.
And then there is a collection of dark horses such as Tennessee, Ole Miss, UCLA and even Oklahoma State who could slip into the Final Four.
Stay tuned.
Who's Hot
Nebraska
Kidding here, sort of . But with a 14-13 victory over Rutgers on Friday night, the Huskers are tied for first in Big Ten West.
Colorado State
The Rams beat Nevada, 17-14 and actually won their first game of the season. Enjoy.
Clemson
The Tigers are winning games,their latest triumph being a 31-3 sprint past Boston College, but not getting a whole lot of respect. Watch out.
UCLA
The Bruins are 6-0 with back to back wins over Washington and Utah. Their offense can score on anybody in the Pac-12 and now must be considered as legitimate conference title contenders.
UConn
The Huskies have won back-to-back games to improve their record to 3-4, which is one more wins than Boston College has thus far.
Who's Not
Oklahoma
What in the name of Barry Switzer is going on in Norman. 49-0 loss to Oklahoma, 0-3 start in Big 12, Back to back games in which the Sooners have lost by 30 or more points, something that has NEVER happened in Norman.
Michigan State
The Spartans were crushed by Ohio State, 49-20 on Saturday and are now 0-3 in the Big Ten.
Army
The Cadets dropped to 1-4 after getting sacked by Wake Forest, 45-10. Wake is good. Army is bad.
Auburn
The Tigers were crushed by Georgia , 42-10 and are now 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the SEC. What is the O/U on Coach Brian Harsin finishing the season, month, week with his job?
Say What
Interim Coaches
Arizona State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Georgia Tech all fired their coaches in the first month. All posted victories on Saturday.
Play it Forward
(Games of note for next week)
Penn State vs. Michigan
Winner gets to take on Ohio State
Alabama at Tennessee
Tide has rolled against the Vols for 15 years.
Oklahoma State at TCU
Big 12 showdown doesn't have much glitter does it?