Mr. CFB: What We Learned, Week 6
I can’t believe I am going to write this sentence:
Gentle readers, we are now officially halfway through the 2022 college" football season
It’s funny. In August you wait, and wait, and wait and think that college football season is never going to get here. Then it starts and you look up and we’re closing in on Halloween.
We are approaching the third Saturday in October, which is the traditional date for the Alabama-Tennessee game. And this time, for the first time in a long time, these two old rivals are both ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll. College Game Day will be in Knoxville and the atmosphere will be one of the most intense since Tennessee's national championship season of 1998.
So looking forward to that game has to head the list of things we learned in the second Saturday in October.
1—If Bryce Young plays the entire game, Alabama will beat Tennessee. If Young can’t go the distance, the Crimson Tide can’t win.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Young and how dynamic Alabama is when he’s on the field.
But I also have a lot of respect for what Josh Heupel has done with Hendon Hooker as his quarterback. Tennessee’s 40-13 dominance of LSU in Baton Rouge was one of those games that makes you sit up and say “wow!”
Hooker had two more touchdown passes in Baton Rouge which gives 10 on the season with NO interceptions.
So dating back to last season Hooker has thrown 41 touchdown passes with no interceptions.
Tennessee leads the SEC with an average of 46.8 points per game. Alabama averages 44.3 points per but they don’t get to that number without Young.
Stay tuned.
The game is at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
2—Mississippi State is for real:
Mike Leach is a wonderfully entertaining coach. Nobody gives a better press conference than this guy.
Because of that we in the media tend to focus on the clever things he says (like wedding advice to Alyssa Lang of the SEC Network) instead talking about the fact that this guy is a very good football coach.
If not for a 31-16 loss to LSU Sept. 17, Leach’s Bulldogs would be 6-0 heading into Saturday’s game at Kentucky (7:30 p.m., SEC Network).
After Saturday’s 40-17 convincing win over Arkansas, the Bulldogs lead the SEC in passing (354 yards per game). In just six games quarterback Will Rogers has completed 71.4 percent of his passes for 2,110 yards, 22 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Mississippi State beat Texas A&M 42-24 two weeks ago. But the home stretch includes Oct. 22 at Alabama, Nov. 12 vs. Georgia, and Nov. 26 at Ole Miss.
3—With Saturday night’s 24-20 loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher has bought himself some time--maybe the rest of the season.
The fact is that Texas A&M, despite its struggling offense, had one play from the Alabama two-yard line with three seconds left to beat the No. 2 Crimson Tide. Last season Texas A&M kicked a field goal on the final play to beat Alabama. This time the Aggies came up short.
But the big picture is that, with this week off, Coach Jimbo Fisher has a chance to catch his breath and start selling the future.
After the game Fisher said “this shows what we’re capable of.”
With the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class on his very young roster, Fisher has six games left in this season. The Aggies (3-3) can win them all with the possible exception of Ole Miss.
4—There is something dreadfully wrong at Oklahoma:
Saturday’s 49-0 beat down of Oklahoma by Texas was stunning. Maybe it shouldn’t have been.
Consider theses stats: Oklahoma is now 0-3 in the Big 12 for the first time since 1998, the year before Bob Stoops arrived as head coach.
And a big part of the problem is clearly defense. One thing we thought Oklahoma would NOT have to worry about is defense with Brent Venables, the ultra-successful former coordinator from Clemson, as its first-year head coach.
Wrong.
In the past three games the Oklahoma defense has given up 1,745 yards (581.5 ypg) and 145 points (48.3 avg).
My best guess is that Oklahoma and Texas are going to join the SEC in 2024. But Oklahoma had better figure some things out before then or it will get REALLY ugly. The rest of the 2022 schedule looks daunting for a team with a bad defense: Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.
5—Florida has reached a critical point in this season:
The Gators struggled early at home against Missouri but finally prevailed 24-17. The score was tied at halftime 10-10 and the Gators gained only 65 yards.
Florida went up 24-10 in the second half but with only a 24-17 lead late in the game the Gators had to stop a fourth-and-two by Missouri to preserve the win and improve to 4-2.
Florida plays at home against LSU (7 p.m. ESPN), its sixth home game in seven weeks. The Gators need to beat the Tigers because the closing stretch is tough. After LSU Florida gets a week off, and then plays No. 1 Georgia in Jacksonville. The Gators will finish with three of their final four games on the road (Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Florida State).