College Football Chaos is coming... Hopefully

Why was there such surprise from college football fans when the 1^st College Football Playoff Rankings were released a few weeks back? You didn’t think a 1-loss Alabama team should be in the playoff ahead of 8 other undefeated teams?  What about Notre Dame and their resume that lacks a big win?

Guess what, it doesn’t matter what you think.  ESPN runs the College Football Playoffs.  They pick the teams and given the chance, they are picking big names like Alabama and Notre Dame.  Look at last year, #3 TCU beats Iowa State 55-3 the final week of the season and they DROP 3 spots in the standings to make room for Ohio State, who jumped up from #5 (outside the playoff) to #4 (in the playoff).  Who do you think gets more eyes on the television, Urban Meyer and Ohio State or TCU?  Who has a bigger fan base?  Who has a rich football tradition and who is still somewhat new to the national picture in college football?

Yes, Ohio State won the national championship, I realize that. But does that justify them even getting into the playoff?  TCU then went on to beat the #9 team in the nation 42-3 in their bowl game.  How do we know they don’t do the same thing to Alabama in the Playoff Semifinal?  That #9 team that TCU beat was Mississippi.  The same Mississippi team that handed Alabama their only regular season loss last season.  Last year it was Ohio State, this year it is Notre Dame.

Notre Dame brings eyes to the television.  ESPN knows this.  That is why if Notre Dame wins their last 2 games, they will be in the playoff, deserving or not.

That is also why I am hoping for mass chaos over the final few weeks of the season.  Consider these possibilities, this is what I’m rooting for.

IN THE ACC:
Clemson wins their final 2 regular season game. Finish regular season 12-0
North Carolina wins last 2 games of regular season. Finish regular season 11-1
NORTH CAROLINA WIN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP.
Both teams finish 12-1.

IN THE B1G:
Iowa wins out in regular season, finishes 12-0.
Michigan State wins out in the regular season to finish 11-1.
Ohio State loses to Michigan State, but beats Michigan. Finishes 11-1
MICHIGAN STATE BEATS IOWA IN B1G CHAMPIONSHIP.
All 3 teams from Big Ten have 1 loss. 2 coming in the final 3 weeks.

OR

Iowa wins out, going 12-0
Ohio State loses both of their final 2 games, finishing at 10-2
Michigan wins their fins 2 games, finishing 10-2
Michigan State beats Ohio State, but loses to Penn State
MICHIGAN BEATS IOWA IN B1G CHAMPIONSHIP.
2-loss Michigan gets bid over 1-loss Iowa?

OR

Iowa loses to Nebraska, finishes 11-1
Ohio State wins out. Finishes 12-0
IOWA BEATS OHIO STATE.
Both tied at 12-1

IN THE SEC:
Florida loses to Florida State, finishes the season 10-2.
Alabama wins out, going 11-1
FLORIDA BEATS ALABAMA.
Both teams from SEC have 2 losses

OR

Florida loses to Florida State, finishes the season 10-2.
Alabama loses to Auburn, finishes 10-2.
BEST 2 SEC TEAMS WITH 2-losses BEFORE THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP

OR

Florida wins out, goes 11-1.
Alabama loses to Auburn, finishes 10-2.
Mississippi wins out and finishes 9-3.
Arkansas loses 1 of their last 2, finishes 7-5.
MISSISSIPPI BEATS FLORIDA
SEC Champ has 3 loses.

IN THE BIG XII & PAC-12
In both of these conferences there are still so many possibilities, I just checked out some of the extremes.

In the PAC-12, there are only 5 teams that can possibly play in the conference title game.  2 of the teams already have 2 losses, the other 3, each have 3 losses.  We could conceivably have conference champion that have 3 or 4 losses.

Stanford could finish 8-4, win the title game and finish at 9-4
USC could end up the same, 8-4 in the regular season, but a 9-4 conference champion.
Oregon, Utah and UCLA could all finish 9-3, meaning a 3-loss conference champion.

The Big XII at least has a possible playoff team remaining, but they also backloaded their schedule so that every team that has a chance has to play a brutal schedule down the stretch.

Here is what the Big XII schedule looks like the final 3 weeks.
#6 Oklahoma State – vs #10 Baylor, vs #7 Oklahoma
#7 Oklahoma – vs #18 TCU, @ #6Oklahoma
#10 Baylor - @ #6 Oklahoma, @ #18 TCU, vs Texas
#18 TCU - @ #7 Oklahoma, vs #10 Baylor
Sure Oklahoma State could run the table and be undefeated after this stretch and play their way into the playoff.  Or all 4 teams could end the season 10-2 in a 4-way tie.  Nice job Big XII!

We didn’t even mention Notre Dame yet.  With 2 games left, the Irish still leave plenty of questions, a lot of which sit with their opponents and schedule this season.
Notre Dame could still lose to Boston College today or Stanford next week.  But even if they win out, who is their best win (Temple, USC, Stanford, Pitt, Navy)? Tough to find one in that group.  Even worse would be for Notre Dame to win out, but Clemson loses once or maybe even twice.  They have hung their hat on having the best loss.  Well if Clemson suddenly isn’t #1, then what does Notre Dame have going for them?

What if Notre Dame wins out AND Oklahoma State wins out?  Who does the committee take, an undefeated Big XII champ or a 1-loss Independent team?

Oh yeah… What about Houston, they are still undefeated too. If chaos ensues, does a 2-loss Power 5 team get in over an undefeated Houston team? A Houston team that would have 2 wins over Power 5 schools and 2 wins over ranked opponents and the same “best win” as Notre Dame (Navy).

Lots of question still to be answered over the last 3 weeks.  I don’t know what will happen, nobody does, but I do know who I will be rooting for. 

LET’S GO CHAOS!

Pirates Scheduling News

The Pirates made 2 scheduling announcements today.  The 1^st announcement, that Major League Baseball has selected the Pirates and Cardinals to officially open the season, moving the game from its originally scheduled date of Monday April 4^th, to an ESPN Broadcast Sunday afternoon game.  Typically, ESPN kicks off the season with a Sunday night game, but this game will be a 1:05 1^st pitch to kick off the season.  With the season opener moving up 1 day, the rest of the series adjusts as well.  The series was originally scheduled Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.  This now changes to playing Sunday, OFF DAY Monday, play Tuesday and Wednesday, OFF DAY Thursday.  The Pirates then travel and play in Cincinnati for a weekend series beginning Friday.

Obviously, this is a huge honor and recognition for the Pirates to be selected for this game, but the 1^st thing that I thought of was how this allows Hurdle to set up his rotation.  If the Pirates would elect to, and I don’t see why they wouldn’t, they don’t need to throw their #5 starter until GAME 8 of the season. Considering the large question marks regarding the Pirates starting pitching staff for the 2016 season, I think this could be very beneficial.  This also allows the Pirates to throw Cole 3 times in the teams 1^st 9 games.  I know that people may complain about pushing him too much early in the season, but he is the ace of your staff and he would still be going on full rest for all of these starts.  The way the Pirates have started off the last 2 seasons, I would say it would be a good idea to push Cole to make these starts.  The Pirates were 21-26 in April over the last 2 years, which is 5 games UNDER .500.  They were a combined 63 games OVER .500 after April in those 2 seasons.  For whatever reason, the Pirates get off to slow starts, this may be something that helps to avoid that again in 2016.

Another small benefit from this scheduling means that the team could elect to carry an extra bat for the 1^st 7 games of the season.  Being that the Pirates play in Detroit for games 7-8, I’m guessing that they will opt to keep an extra bat, since they will need a DH.

As for the 2^nd announcement made today, the Pirates will be playing in Puerto Rico this season.   The Pirates and Marlins are scheduled to play a 4-game series in Miami from May 30^th to June 2^nd.  Major League Baseball, assuming with the Miami Marlins, moved the 1^st 2 games of that series to Puerto Rico.  The move was to celebrate Roberto Clemente, as all of Major League Baseball will celebrate Roberto Clemente Day on May 31^st.

My only hope is that the celebration of Roberto Clemente Day is kicked off by Major League Baseball announcing the retirement of the number 21 league wide. It would be long overdue.

Playoff Preview

The good news about the 1^st CFB Playoff rankings that were unveiled earlier this week is that there is still plenty of time for all of these rankings to work themselves out.  Of course there has been a lot of 2^nd guessing, 1-loss Alabama and Notre Dame teams ahead of 8 undefeated teams, 2 SEC schools but no PAC-12 or Big XII teams are two of the more common complaints.  But as I said, luckily it will all play out on the field. 

We are going to breakdown the rankings and figure out what exactly we can expect as the season continues.

1) CLEMSON TIGERS (8-0, 5-0 ACC)
Next Game: SAT vs #16 Florida State
Best Win: vs #5 Notre Dame 24-22
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: #16 Florida State this week
Clemson has been probably the most consistent team both week to week and unit to unit on the field.  The Clemson D is one of the top in the nation and the O can also put up points with the best of them.

2) LSU TIGERS (7-0, 4-0 SEC)
Next Game: SAT @ #4 Alabama
Best Win: vs #10 Florida 35-28
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: #4 Alabama this week
LSU has done it with a power running game and a stingy defense all season.  Saturday in Tuscaloosa will be the Tigers biggest challenge to date.  A win against Alabama will put them in the driver’s seat in the SEC West.

3) OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next Game: SAT vs Minnesota
Best Win: @ Virginia Tech 42-24
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #7 Michigan State 11/21
Ohio State is the Florida State of this season.  They have not been very impressive, but they keep winning.  Like FSU last year, they probably don’t deserve to be in the rankings, but as long as they win, the defending champion will have a spot reserved in the playoff.

4) ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (7-1, 4-1 SEC)
Next Game: SAT vs #2 LSU
Best Win: @ #19 Texas A&M 41-23
Worst Loss: vs #18 Mississippi 43-37
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #2 LSU this week
Alabama is a very good team that is not deserving of this ranking.  If they beat LSU on Saturday, then you put them here, but their bad home loss weighs more for me than their handful of good but not great wins.

5) NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (7-1)
Next Game: SAT @ Pitt
Best Win: @ #22 Temple 24-20
Worst Loss: @ #1 Clemson 24-22
Biggest Remaining Challenge: @ #11 Stanford 11/28
Notre Dame is not the best 1-loss team.  They will get a chance to earn that title the last game of the season against Stanford.  ND always puts together a tough schedule, but this year none of their opponents lived up to expectations, making it tough to get a good read on the Irish.

6) BAYLOR BEARS (7-0, 4-0 Big XII)
Next Game: THUR @ Kansas State
Best Win: @ Texas Tech 63-35
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: @ #8 TCU 11/27
Baylor has pounded everyone they have faced, but unfortunately they have played nobody.  Their 3-game stretch in Mid-November will be a make or break stretch for the Bears.

7) MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next Game: SAT @ Nebraska
Best Win: @ #17 Michigan 27-23
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: @ #3 Ohio State 11/21
Michigan State has been tried and tested, but just keeps winning.  In my eyes they have been the best team in the Big Ten.  When they face Ohio State in Columbus in 3 weeks it will not only be for the Big Ten East, but also likely a playoff spot.

8) TCU HORNED FROGS (8-0, 5-0 Big XII)
Next Game: SAT @ #14 Oklahoma State
Best Win: vs Texas 50-7
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #6 Baylor 11/27
TCU has not been as dominant as Baylor in their wins over bad opponents.  The Big XII back loading the conference schedule is not doing anyone any favors.  TCU finishes with 3 Top 15 opponents in their final 4 games.

9) IOWA HAWKEYES (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next Game: SAT @ Indiana
Best Win: @ Wisconsin 10-6
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: Big Ten Championship Game 12/5
Iowa should be the overwhelming favorite to win the rest of their games.  If that happens, does an undefeated Iowa team from a very weak Big Ten West make the playoffs?

10) FLORIDA GATORS (7-1, 5-1 SEC)
Next Game: SAT vs Vanderbilt
Best Win: vs #18 Mississippi 38-10
Worst Loss: @ #2 LSU 35-28
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #16 Florida State 11/28
Florida finally has an explosive offense to go with a tough defense.  The Gators have already clinched a spot in the SEC Title game against most likely the winner of ALA/LSU this week.  That could give them a chance for a rematch against LSU.

At this time last year, Ohio State was ranked #16, so there is still a lot of time for change in these rankings.  Some other teams to keep an eye on outside of the Top 10 are Stanford and Oklahoma.  Stanford still has 2 or 3 games to help their cause and Oklahoma still has games against 3 undefeated teams to state their case.

Week 8 Review

We are 8 into the college football season and I look back and wonder, have we learned anything yet about this season?

Think about it, all the questions that fans ask themselves as the season goes on are still unanswered.  So in this weeks’ review I am going to do my best to answer them or at least try to answer them.

Before we get started on that though, there are 2 other matters that we DO KNOW that need to be discussed.  First, did you see the end of that Florida State – Georgia Tech game?! If not, check it out!

2 weeks in a row now, a last second special teams play goes completely haywire and results in a possible CFB Playoff team losing.  Last week Michigan, this week Florida State.

And how can we not mention the mess at Miami?  Lose by 58, the worst loss in school history.  Fire Al Golden (which we all knew was coming).  Now where does Miami go?  As you know I love coaching searches and the domino effect it has nationwide, I just didn’t think we would have so many openings in the middle of the season.  Normally in college football coaches almost ALWAYS last the season, simply because the number restriction put on by the NCAA for coaches allowed per team.  It isn’t very easy to replace a head coach when every coach is stretched thin already with their prior duties.  We knew it was bad for Golden at Miami, but this bad?

Okay, on to the important questions of the season, not who is going to replace Golden, that is for another time (I plan on writing a coaching rant soon).

The top offense in the country, Baylor, is now going to be without their starting quarterback Seth Russell for an extended period of time, can they still win without him?  Can they make it to the CFB Playoff without him?
First instinct is to say, “No way, Baylor is done!” But then you take a closer look and see that Russell’s backup is not terrible.  I realize that isn’t a ringing endorsement, but the thought behind that is, “How good do you really need to be in that system at Baylor?”  Each of the last 6 years Baylor has averaged over 40 points a game and that is with 4 different quarterbacks.  So is it the player or the system, I’m leaning towards system.  That being said, the backup in question, Jarrett Stidham, is a true freshman that was the 6^th ranked dual threat QB in the country last year and had offers from pretty much every school in the country.  He chose to play at Baylor and for Art Briles.  In limited time this year Stidham has gone 24-28 (85.7%!!!!!) for 331 yards, 6 touchdowns and no interceptions.  He has also run for 26 yards and a touchdown.  There will obviously be a drop off from Russell, a guy who has played in the system for 3 years and has over 300 more pass attempts then Stidham, a guy who was playing high school ball at this point last year.  Luckily for Stidham this injury came at the best possible time.  Baylor is off this week before going on the road to Kansas State Thursday November 5^th.  Kansas State has yet to win a Big XII game this season.  He will get extra time and extra reps before he plays in that K-State game, then he will get a long week with extra reps before his 1^st test, Oklahoma, which is still 3 weeks away.  Is it an ideal situation for Baylor, no, but can they still win?  Yes, I think they can.

Is Washington State under Mike Leech actually good?
Simple answer, YES!  Mike Leach has been off the radar since being fired at Texas Tech in 2009.  While at TTU, he never had a losing record and went 84-43 in 10 seasons.  In his first 3 seasons at Washington State, he was 12-25 and was surely on the hot seat entering his 4^th season at the school.  After losing the season opener to FCS Portland State, that seat only got hotter.  Since that game the Cougars have won 5 of 6 including road wins at Oregon and Arizona.  WSU is now 5-2 overall, and 3-1 in PAC-12 play entering this week’s game with Stanford who is the only team ahead of them in the PAC-12 North.  As long as QB Luke Falk and WR Gabe Marks stay healthy, this could be a special year in Pullman.  2 more wins this season and it would give them the most wins since 2003.

Has there been any conference that has proven they deserve at least one spot in the CFB Playoff, regardless of who their eventual champions in?
Of course we could go crazy here and use ridiculous examples of why no conference is safe, but that would just be a waste of time.  Plus, even without going overboard it isn’t a sure thing that any conference is safe.  We are going to just focus on the teams that remain undefeated or have just 1 loss, because nobody with 2 losses is going to make the playoff.  Let’s go conference by conference.
ACC: (Clemson, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina & Pitt)
Clemson is the front-runner in the ACC and if they stay undefeated it will be very difficult to keep them out of the playoff.  However, if they do stumble along the way, I find it hard to believe that there would still be a spot for an ACC team.  Florida St losing to Georgia Tech last week all but eliminates them from contention.  They do still have 2 big road games to help their cause, playing Clemson and Florida.  One key for both Florida State and Clemson is that whoever wins the ACC Coastal division be 11-1 or 10-2 going into the conference championship game.  Duke, North Carolina and Pitt are all still undefeated in the ACC from the Coastal division, but they also all still play each other, starting this week when UNC travels to Pittsburgh.  Pitt has a slight advantage in the ACC race, as they are 4-0 in conference play, where both Duke and North Carolina are 3-0.  Pitt’s lone loss is to an undefeated Iowa team, which certainly helps the Panthers.  They also have a chance to make a statement with 1 last non-conference game against Notre Dame next week.  Pitt gets North Carolina at home and travels to Duke in November.  North Carolina, who’s lost to South Carolina the 1^st week of the season looks a lot worse now than it did 6 weeks ago.  UNC’s fate will be determined in their next 2 games as they host Duke next week after their Thursday night game with Pitt this week.  Duke, also with just 1 loss, lost to Northwestern, which like UNC looked better a few weeks ago than it does now.  The best case for the ACC is to get Pitt into the championship game at 11-1, with that lone loss being to an undefeated Big Ten team.  The ACC then needs the winner of the FSU-Clemson game to run the table and win the ACC Championship game.  Anything less probably leaves the ACC out of the playoff picture.

Big XII: (Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU)
The nice thing about the Big XII is that they have a balanced schedule where all 10 teams play each other.  The downfall is that they do not have a championship game and that leaves the potential for a tie atop the conference like last year, when Baylor and TCU were both left out of the playoff after finishing tied for 1^st place.  The interesting thing to consider in this instance is that the conference also set up the scheduling that none of these 4 teams have played each other yet.  They won’t play this week either.  The Last Man Standing Contest in the Big XII begins November 7^th.  Oklahoma is the 1 team in this group that already has a loss, and it was an ugly one, losing to rival Texas.  The Big XII could be on the outside looking in once again this year when the playoff teams are announced if Oklahoma runs the table, giving every team at least 1 loss.  A tie atop the standings could also prove to be damaging to the Big XII.  The Big XII will be rooting for either Baylor, TCU or Oklahoma State to make a clean sweep over the next month, giving them a clear cut candidate for the playoff.

Big Ten:  (Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State)
The Big Ten, like the Big XII will have a chance to sort itself out on the field.  Michigan State and Ohio State still are yet to play, and the winner of that (and the EAST) will most likely square off against Iowa.  The Hawkeyes would have to lose 2 of their last 5 games and have Wisconsin win out for them not to make the Big Ten Championship.  Now the biggest question is does an undefeated Iowa team get into the playoff?  Iowa’s best non-conference win is Pitt.  Their best win of the season will be in the Big Ten Championship if they end up undefeated.  I don’t know if that is good enough.  If either Ohio State or Michigan finish the season unbeaten, they will certainly get into the playoff.  One interesting scenario is what if Michigan beats Ohio State? If that happens, there is a chance that there is a 3-way tie for the Big Ten East between Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.  A Michigan-Iowa Big Ten Championship Game would not be good for the Big Ten.  It would also open up the possibility of a 1-loss Ohio State or Michigan State team getting into the playoff without even playing for the conference championship.

PAC-12: (Stanford, Utah)
This is about as simple as it gets, Utah is in the PAC-12 South and Stanford is in the PAC-12 North, those are the only 2 teams with a chance to play in the playoff from this conference.  The winner of the championship game gets in, the loser is out.  That is, if both of these are the 2 teams that are representing their divisions in that championship game.  Utah plays in the tougher division, but they have already played USC and Arizona State.  Their biggest remaining game is UCLA, which could steal that bid to the conference championship game with a win.  The PAC-12 South is another division (like the Big Ten East) that could have a sloppy tiebreaker in play.  Utah is currently in 1^st place, but UCLA, USC and Arizona State are all just 1 game back.  In the North, Stanford has a 1 ½ game lead over 2^nd place Washington State and could all but wrap up the division with a win in Pullman this week.  The downfall for Stanford however could be their regular season finale, a non-conference game against Notre Dame.

SEC: (Alabama, Florida, LSU)
If one of these 3 teams win the SEC, they will be in the CFB Playoff.  Florida has the easiest path, playing in the SEC East.  Florida will still have to beat Florida State to close out their regular season, then whoever comes out of the SEC West.  Both LSU and Alabama still play each other (November 7^th) as well as others from the SEC West.  If any of these 3 schools win out, they will be in the CFB Playoff. 

Has there been any conference that has proven they should be in consideration for 2 of the 4 CFB Playoff spots?
This is something a lot of people have talked about, especially about the SEC, but honestly I think it will take a lot to convince anyone that one conference deserves half of the bids to the playoff.  The playoff is already set up that 1 conference champion is left out, if 2 teams from one conference get in, that means 2 champions will be left out, while 1 team that didn’t win their conference makes it.  I don’t think this is likely to happen this year, but let’s take a look at any of the possibilities.
ACC:
The ACC is widely considered the weakest conference of the Power 5, fair or not, and many think that even an undefeated Clemson would be the one left out if all the other conferences have high ranking teams.  That being said, I think it is safe to say that the ACC will not have 2 entrants into the playoff this season.  The best the ACC could do this year would be to have 2 1-loss teams.  It would take convincing for the selection committee to put in 1 team from the ACC with 1 loss, let alone 2.

Big XII:
The Big XII has a chance for 2 playoff spots after getting shut out last year, but it will take some crazy happenings for it to fall in place.  The 2 likely candidates are Baylor and TCU.  Both schools are undefeated and have been near the top of the rankings all season.  These 2 play the 2^nd to last week of the season AT TCU.  The only way I see both teams making the playoff is if they play each other in a closely contended game and the home team (TCU) wins.  Then again, that exact thing happened last year, with Baylor winning a 61-58 showdown at home last year and both teams were still shutout.  However, that is when they both had 1 loss.  Maybe an undefeated TCU and a 1-loss Baylor team could make it this year, if everything else falls right for them.

Big Ten:
The Big Ten has a few different ways that I could see them landing 2 teams in the playoff (even though I think the conference as a whole is very overrated).  The first way is if an undefeated Iowa wins the Big Ten Championship game over an undefeated Ohio State or Michigan State.  In that instance, I believe that Iowa gets in by default, but I think the loser of that game also has a strong case to make the playoff if there are no other undefeated conference champions to pick from.

PAC-12:
The PAC-12 is much like the ACC where they may not even get 1 team in the playoff let alone holding out hope for 2.  The PAC-12 may even have a tougher hill to climb than the ACC however.  Where the ACC has the potential of 2 1-loss teams, there is no chance of that in the PAC-12.  With no undefeated teams remaining and just Utah and Stanford with 1-loss, the best the conference could do is 1 remaining 1-loss team after the conference championship game.

SEC:
The SEC has 3 teams that could end the regular season with 1-loss, 2 of them which would end up in the SEC Championship.  I think there is a distinct possibility that the winner of the SEC Championship and the 2^nd place SEC West team or, if Florida wins the SEC Championship over an undefeated LSU team, both of those teams make the playoff.  Obviously this would all depend on how the other conferences finish, but I feel like this is the most likely situation for 1 conference to claim to playoff spots.

What 1-loss teams are in the best position to make a serious claim at a playoff bid?
Notre Dame as an independent has a lot working against it when it comes to the playoff selection committee, but they have put themselves into a good position this season.  Their only loss is to an undefeated Clemson team on the road.  They have also played just enough other Power 5 teams to make themselves warrant their high ranking.  At the beginning of the season their schedule looked brutal, but teams like Georgia Tech and Texas have not lived up to their preseason expectations, allowing the Irish to get to this point in their schedule with just 1 loss.  Notre Dame still has 3 games remaining over ranked teams, all on the road.  If ND can run the table they would have to be considered one of the top 1-loss teams in the country.  There are 10 teams remaining from Power 5 conferences (plus Notre Dame) that have just 1 loss.  Let’s see how they would rank with the rest of the 1-loss teams in the country at this point.

1) Stanford would be my top 1-loss team right now.  They are playing as good as anyone in the country and their only loss came in Week 1, when ESPN forced them to travel east and still play a noon game (I’ve discussed this in the past, I’m not a fan of this).  Stanford has already beaten USC on the road and have a 21-point win over UCLA under their belt.  They close the season with home games against Oregon, Cal and Notre Dame.  The last game will be a make shift elimination game for playoff contention if both enter that game still with just 1 loss.

2) Alabama is my number 2 team and I think there is a pretty big drop off between 2 and 3.  Alabama has looked great at times this year, but also very un-Alabama like other times this season.  Their loss came at home against Mississippi.  They didn’t look like a playoff team this week at home either, when they needed a last minute touchdown to beat a pretty average Tennessee team.  The good thing for Alabama is that they still have plenty of opportunity to prove themselves with upcoming games vs LSU and at Mississippi State in back to back weeks.  If they take care of those 2 and the final 2 regular season games, they will also get a highly ranked Florida team in the SEC Championship Game.

3) Florida got on the map after pasting Ole Miss 38-10, just 2 weeks after Mississippi beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa.  The Gators then pounded the 2-time defending SEC East Champion Missouri, 21-3 on the road.  Florida also had a solid showing, losing to LSU by 1 touchdown, while playing with their back-up QB.  Florida should only improve as new QB Treon Harris gets more reps and more comfortable in the offense.  Playing in the SEC East, they have a pretty easy road to the SEC Championship game, they do however still have their end of the season rivalry game with Florida State, another 1-loss team.

4) Notre Dame as mentioned above, has put themselves in a good position to claim a playoff spot with just 1-loss.  They do still have 3 road challenges ahead, when they take on undefeated Temple this week, 1-loss Pitt next week and another 1-loss Stanford team the final week of the season.

5) Florida State is ranked in this position right now, but they still have 2 games on the road against Clemson and Florida, which could certainly knock them from playoff contention.  The Seminoles started the season slow, but had been playing better before tripping up last week on the road to Georgia Tech.

6) Oklahoma is still in contention to win the Big XII, but their lone loss was a bad one, losing to Texas while the Longhorns were in the midst of playing their worst football of the year.  The Sooners still have a chance to prove they belong, as they have 3 games left against undefeated teams (TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma St).

7) Utah is a team that I’m still not completely sold on.  Their best wins are against overrated Oregon and Cal teams as well as beating Michigan in Week 1.  That was not the same Michigan team that has taken the field recently in Ann Arbor.  With a pretty weak remaining schedule, UCLA looks like they would be the only team that could challenge the Utes.  Utah would still have a PAC-12 Championship game with Stanford if they survive the final 5 games on their schedule.

8-10) Duke/UNC/Pitt I don’t think that any of these teams are really a threat to make a run to an 11-1 finish of the regular season.  All 3 are still undefeated in the ACC Coastal division, but I don’t think it is out of the realm of possibility that the division winner still loses 1 more game.  These 3 teams all still play each other, so things should sort themselves out, but I wouldn’t consider any a real threat to be sitting with 1 loss at the end of the season, putting themselves in playoff talk.

THIS WEEKS TOP GAMES:
A slow week, only 1 game on the schedule is between 2 ranked teams.

North Carolina @ Pitt – Thursday 7:00pm, ESPN
Oregon @ Arizona State – Thursday 10:30pm, ESPN
USC @ Cal – Saturday 3:00pm, FOX
Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech – Saturday 3:30pm, ESPN
Notre Dame @ Temple – Saturday 8:00pm, ABC
Stanford @ Washington State – Saturday 10:30pm, ESPN

Pitt Panthers Mid Season Report

We are now at the mid-way point in the college football season, so I wanted to go back and take a look at the 1^st 6 games for the Pitt Panthers.

OVERVIEW:
Pitt is 5-1 for the 1^st time since the 2009 season, when the Panthers started 9-1.  Of those 5 wins for Pitt, 3 of them have come against teams that beat them last year (Akron, Virginia, Georgia Tech).  They also have wins against Youngstown State, who they lost to the last time the two teams played in Paul Chryst’s debut and Virginia Tech, who was considered to be one of the two favorites in the ACC Coastal this season (Georgia Tech the other).  Pitt has played 4 of 6 games on the road, winning 3 of them.  The Panthers only loss has come to an undefeated Iowa team on the road in a game that ended on a 57-yard field goal to give the Hawkeyes a 27-24 victory.

The Panthers are 3-0 to start conference play, something that last happened in 2010 as a member of the Big East.  Pitt still has 5 ACC games remaining on the schedule, to go with a non-conference game against Notre Dame. 

OFFENSE:
The Pitt offense suffered a major loss in the 1^st half of the 1^st game of the season when they saw the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, James Conner, go down with a season ending knee injury.  They have also seen their returning starter at quarterback, Chad Voytik, get replaced by graduate transfer Nate Peterman.  The offense has not been the same without these 2 players on the field.  It currently ranks 105^th in the nation in total offense, averaging 346 yards per game.  Last year the Panthers were 40^th in the country, averaging nearly 100 more yards per game.

Peterman offers a different style of play than Voytik.  Peterman has a bigger and better arm than Voytik, but really seemed to struggle grasping the system early on, making many fans, myself included, wonder why he was the choice over Voytik.  I think the biggest problem with the offense has come in the many differences between the Peterman and Voytik.  The thing that made Voytik so good last year was his running ability.  Last year he had 2 games in which he ran for over 100 yards.  Peterman isn’t that type of player.  He is a pocket passer, which Voytik is not.  Although both quarterbacks are learning a new system under new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, this system is a much better fit for Peterman than Voytik.  Peterman has gotten better in each of his last 3 games as quarterback, with his 3 touchdown performance against Georgia Tech on Saturday being his best game of the year.

With Conner out for the year and a new quarterback at the helm, a lot of defensives have stacked the box to take the run away, while also trying to shutdown Tyler Boyd, thus forcing Peterman and the inexperienced wide receiving corp to beat them.  To this point nobody has been able to take Boyd out of the game, as he has 41 of the teams 91 receptions, despite being suspended for the season opener.  Also, the trio of Qadree Ollison, Chris James and Darrin Hall have been just good enough at running back to keep the running threat in play.

The play of the offensive line coming into the season was a question mark due to injuries.  Since then, the Panthers have stayed somewhat healthy and the unit as a whole has performed well.  Pitt has allowed just 14 sacks in 6 games this season and have averaged just over 5 negative plays per game on the offensive side of the ball.  Considering some of the more high profile type offenses in the country like, West Virginia, Boise State and Arizona State all average nearly double that, 5 isn’t all that bad.  Nationally that ranks around 50^th out of the 127 teams in college football this season.

Basically, the offense is a work in progress.  It has been just good enough to this point in the season to produce the results necessary for this team.  This is a young and inexperienced unit that will only get better the more they play together as a group.  That is a good thing for this Panther team.

DEFENSE:
When Pat Narduzzi came to Pitt, most people figured he would bring his tough, physical and stingy defense with him, they just didn’t think it would produce so quickly.  With a lot of the same players back from last year, the defensive side of the ball has put up considerably better numbers.  The Panthers are allowing 60 yards and 5 points less per game this season.  In just 6 games, they have also already surpassed their total sack numbers from last year (19 to 22).  Pitt is ranked in the top 20 national in 1^st Downs Allowed (6^th), Passing Yards Allowed (12^th), Sacks (3^rd), Tackles for Losses (19^th), Total Defense (17^th).

Two of the players this season that have helped the defense improve are freshman safety Jordan Whitehead, who leads the team in tackles and senior defensive lineman Ejuan Price, who has been a menace in opposing backfields, leading Pitt tackles for losses and 2^nd on the team in sacks.  Whitehead, a highly touted recruit last year, has come right in and contributed immediately.  Price, has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but finally seems healthy and playing to his potential.

The Pitt defense has been what has kept the Panthers in games this season while the offense was trying to find its footing.  That is a complete role reversal of the two units from last year, when the Pitt offense had to outscore their opponents because their defense couldn’t stop anyone.

The one area that Pitt could certainly improve at on the defensive side of the ball is in the takeaway department.  Pitt has only forced 8 turnovers this season (2 fumbles, 6 interceptions).  The Panthers only forced 14 turnovers all of last season, so they are ahead of that pace, but that is still well below the national average.

This unit has been a pleasant surprise for the Panthers this season and they have needed it to be with the offense being sluggish at times.  The defense is playing fast and aggressive and the more success they have the more confidence the players will get.  The defense has been very good this season and should get even better as the season progresses.

SPECIAL TEAMS:
The Pitt Special Teams unit hasn’t been all that special this season.  While they have had their moments of greatness, they have been just average for the most part so far.  Pitt has scored 2 touchdowns on PT this year, a kick return for a score in the opener vs Youngstown State and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown at Iowa.  In the kicking game, although Chris Blewitt made a clutch 56-yard FG to win the game against Georgia Tech, he has just been okay overall this season, going just 6 of 9 in field goals.  He has made all 21 extra points, but if you are a scholarship kicker in division 1 football, you should make all your extra points.  The punting of Ryan Winslow has been good, but not great.  He has shown the ability to place the ball and have some touch punting inside the 20, but he hasn’t done it on a consistent basis.  In the return game, Pitt hasn’t been great on returns or on kick coverage.  I guess the best way you can look at it is that they are averaging about 7 yards more per kick return than allowed and almost 3 yards more per punt.  That net yardage can add up and shift field position, which is never a bad thing.  The Panthers have blocked 3 kicks this year, which is tied for 2^nd in the nation.  That is obviously pretty good.

For me the having an excellent Special Teams unit is a bonus.  Special Teams can be a game changer for you if you do things right.  At the same time, it can cost you a game if you do things poorly.  Pitt has done just enough on special teams to impact games for a positive, while not having their special teams cost them any games.

COACHING:
Another season, another coaching staff.  That is just the way things have gone at Pitt in the past 5 years or so.  The excitement that came in with Pat Narduzzi and his staff has certainly not worn off to this point.  One of the things that Narduzzi preached early on and has continued to talk about was changing the mindset of this team.  He wanted them to expect to win and be confident.  I feel that the Panthers have done that in every game this season.  In years past, Pitt would not have been 5-1 at this point.  They have only outscored their opponents by an average of 6 points, yet are still 5-1.  That means that they are winning close games.  They are winning in the 4^th quarter.  That has historically been when Pitt decided to fold.  Not this year.  I think the coaching staff is the reason.

LOOKING FORWARD:
Pitt has 6 games left beginning this Saturday at Syracuse.  After that, the Panthers leave Heinz Field just once, a road game against Duke.  That means Pitt gets 4 of their final 5 games at home.  If Pitt can get past Syracuse this week, they will be 6-1 with 5 of those 7 games on the road.  Coming home for that final stretch could be the difference for this team.  They will get North Carolina at home in a game that should greatly impact the ACC Coastal division.  With both undefeated in ACC play, the winner will be in the driver’s seat going into the final month of the season.  They also get Notre Dame at home.  The Irish have much more talent than Pitt this season, but that hasn’t stopped the Panthers in previous years against Notre Dame.  Pitt has won 2 of the last 3 at Heinz Field between these 2 teams and each of the last 6 meeting have been decided by a touchdown or less.

In the Panthers final 6 games they have 3 games in which they should win (Syracuse, Louisville, Miami), 2 games in which could go either way (UNC, Duke) and 1 in which they will be considered an underdog (Notre Dame).  That said, we know how Pitt works, they could go 1-5 with their lone win being against ND and I don’t know if I would be surprised.  Either way, it should be a fun final 6 games.

Week 7 Review

After 7 weeks into the season, I have come up with 5 categories to describe where various teams stand.

STUDS
Teams that have to look of true national title contenders at this point in the season.

Baylor – The Bears offense is beyond video game mode right now.  They have scored 56 or more in every game this season, and 62+ in their last 5.  14 different players have scored offensive touchdowns so far for Baylor, there are 8 FBS teams that have 14 fewer TOTAL touchdowns this year.  The Bears are averaging 63.8 points per game, the difference between them and the 2^nd best offense in the nation (TCU) is the same difference as the 2^nd best offense and the 30th best offense.

Utah – It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Utes just keep winning.  Utah scored the final 20 points on Saturday night to beat Arizona State.  Utah is the only remaining undefeated team in the PAC-12 and 1 of 2 with CFB Playoff hopes.  The other being 1-loss Stanford.

Michigan State – The greatest ending to a college football game in history?  Seriously, I know that we live in the present a whole lot nowadays and make bold statements like that all the time, but I can’t think of anything bigger than the last :10 at the Big House on Saturday.  The Spartans have struggled at times this year, but they have still yet to lose.  They have 3 very winnable games (vs IND, @ NEB, vs MD) on the schedule before a showdown in Columbus with Ohio State.

Clemson – The offense has weapons all over the field and the defense is one of the best in the country.  The undefeated Tigers have 2 ACC road games before a showdown with undefeated Florida State at home November 7^th.  If they can take care of business, the ACC might have their 2^nd representative in the CFB Playoffs in 2 years.

Stanford – Since the Cardinal week 1 loss to Northwestern, they have been just dominating teams.  As I said when it happened, no west coast team should travel east for a noon kickoff, and that is just what happened in that opening game loss.  (They can thank ESPN for scheduling that one for them).  Stanford looked sluggish that entire game and probably shouldn’t be judged on that game, but will.  If Stanford is going to make a run at the PAC-12 title and a CFB Playoff spot, they are going to earn it.  They close with Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, and the PAC-12 title game (probably Utah).

LSU – The top team in the SEC to this point of the season.  Alabama may have something to say about that November 7^th, but until then, the Tigers get to hold that claim.  The Tigers get a warm-up this week with Western Kentucky before a week off.  Then they will travel to Tuscaloosa for that showdown with the Tide.  LSU has done it with the running of Leonard Fournette and the rush defense.  The Heisman favorite has run for 1,202 yards and 14 scores in 6 games, while the LSU defense is allowing just 92 yards per game and 5 scores.  The one negative with LSU to this point is that they have let teams hang around in games they should have put away.  That could hurt them if they continue that trend.

Alabama – The Tide have looked like a completely different team since their home loss to Ole Miss last month.  Alabama have 28 point and 18 point victories on the road against Top-10 teams in their last 3 games.  The bad news for Alabama is that the SEC doesn’t seem to have a ton of top notch teams, which could hurt as they look for big wins to get back into the CFB Playoff picture.  The good news is that they are Alabama and are normally given the benefit of doubt.  That, and the fact that they do have at least 1 more chance to impress when they host LSU on the 1^st Saturday of November.

DUDS
Teams that had a good showing out of the gate and got the hopes up of their fan base only to fall flat on their face since.

West Virginia – The Mountaineers opened the season playing one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the country.  After jumping out to a 3-0 start after beating up on the likes of Georgia Southern, Liberty and Maryland, WVU has dropped 3 straight by a combined 51 points and 1 of those 3 went to OT.  At 0-3 in the Big XII play and TCU on deck, you have to wonder if the wheels will come off for the Mountaineers.  It isn’t crazy, looking at their schedule to think that they could start 0-6 in conference play this year.  If that happens, does Dana Holgerson have a job come December?

Northwestern – The Wildcats started the season 5-0 with wins over Stanford and Duke.  Since then, they have lost 2 straight by a combined 68 points.  Luckily, they play in the Big Ten West so they don’t have many more games that should challenge them.  But you have to think that Northwestern saw a schedule without Ohio State and Michigan State and thought this season could be something special after that hot start.

Boise State – The Broncos turned the ball over 8 times in last week’s game, EIGHT! 7 of those turnovers came in the 1^st half.  BSU had just 6 turnovers in their 1^st 6 games this season.  Boise State was not in the running for a playoff spot and was really on the outside of even getting a Selection Committee bowl, but with that loss to Utah State, any chance they might have had is gone.

Ole Miss – For a team that has been able to take it to Alabama for 2 straight years, it is shocking to see how average they have been since that game.  The 2 road games since their win in Tuscaloosa have been a 28 point loss to Florida and an 18 point loss to a non-conference Memphis team.  Yes, Memphis is talented and very good, but no way should Ole Miss have been outscored 37-10 by the Tigers in the final 55 minutes of that game.

STILL WAITING
I know that we are half way into the season, but there are still a few teams out there that just are tough to get a good read on.  Here are a few.

Notre Dame – I have watched at least part of every Notre Dame game this season, and they are the most frustrating team for me because I have no idea how good they are.  The Irish are 6-1, and the only game where they really wowed me was the one game that they lost at Clemson.  Other than that, I feel like they have played down to their competition.  They needed a last minute Hail Mary to beat a bad Virginia team.  They were only up by 1 late in the 2^nd half over a 1-5 UMASS team before pulling away in the final 35 minutes.  They were tied with Navy until the final seconds of the 1^st half.  Even last week, they were tied at halftime and down 7 going into the 4^th quarter to a USC team that had fired their head coach 5 days earlier and was in complete shambles.  Good teams shouldn’t be in these types of situations, but Notre Dame continues to find themselves in them.  I’d like to say that ND only has 1 game remaining (@ Stanford) that is losable for them, but the way they have played to this point, every game is a game they lose.

Ohio State – FINALLY Urban Meyer played the quarterback that is best fit for his system, and for the 1^st time all season the Buckeyes looked like the defending national champions.  JT Barrett was in on 15 offensive plays in Saturday’s win over Penn State, and those 15 plays accounted for 132 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Barrett was 4 for 4 passing for 30 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he also ran 11 times for 102 yards and 2 more scores.  Meyer has always had more success with a quarterback that was a running threat, and Cardale Jones is not that.  Jones is a talented thrower, but he makes the Buckeye offense one-dimensional.  Ohio State has 3 cupcake games before ending the season with Michigan State and Michigan.  It will be interesting to see if Meyer makes the necessary switch at QB to allow this team to be a title contender.  They might be ranked #1 right now, but they aren't playing like the best team in the country and haven’t all season.

TCU – The Horned Frogs are very talented, but their defense has hurt them to this point in the season.  Sure, they are still undefeated, but at some point, TCU is going to come up against a team they can’t just outscore.  TCU is the 2^nd highest scoring team in the country, but they are also 69^th in scoring defense and 73^rd in total defense.  With teams like Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Baylor still on the schedule, the Frogs better fix that defense, or it will be a disappointing November.

Florida St. – The Noles are good, but this might be the biggest case of “who have they beat?” ever.  Take a look at the 6 teams that FSU has notched W’s against this year: Texas St, USF, BC, WF, Miami, and Louisville.  Those teams are a combined 16-21 this season and Miami is the only team with a winning record.  Dalvin Cook has been sensational for Florida State this season, when healthy, averaging 8.7 yards per carry, rushing for 955 yards and 10 touchdowns.  With the ACC lacking much power at the top, FSU will only have games at Clemson and Florida to prove how good they really are.

SURPRISING
Teams that were nowhere near anybody’s preseason Top 25, but have found themselves ranked at the halfway point of the season.

Iowa – The Hawkeyes are undefeated.  Let me say that again, the Iowa Hawkeyes are UNDEFEATED!  There are only 14 undefeated teams remaining this season, only 4 of them are 7-0 and Iowa is one of them.  Iowa had 7 wins all last season and that is with a bowl game.  Maybe even crazier than all of this is that, in all likelihood, they will be favored to win the rest of the games on their schedule.  That speaks volumes for how bad the Big Ten West is, but at the same time, a win is a win.  If a team can make it through the regular season in a Power 5 conference, you would think they would have to be considered for the CFB Playoff.

Pitt – The Panthers don’t have any great wins to this point, but they are 5-1 and 3 of those 5 wins are against teams they lost to last season.  Pitt is 3-0 in the ACC and in 1^st place in the ACC Coastal division.  They showed up at #25 in the AP Poll this week, the 1^st time they have been ranked in season since 2009.  The 5-1 start for Pat Narduzzi and the Panthers is the best start for a 1^st year head coach at Pitt since Foge Fazio started 7-0 in 1982.  He did that with the help of a little known quarterback by the name of Dan Marino.

Temple, Memphis, Houston, Toledo – 4 Group of 5 schools that are all looking to throw a wrench into the Selection Committee bowls and maybe even the CFB Playoff.  All 4 of these teams are not only undefeated, but all have at least one win over a Power 5 team already under their belts. Houston has a win at Louisville in week 2.  Memphis has that Ole Miss home win we already discussed to go along with a 32-point road win over Kansas.  Temple dominated Penn State to open the season and have another opportunity when they host Notre Dame in 2 weeks.  Toledo also has 2 such wins, at Arkansas and home over Iowa State.  This week could be key to these teams' success.  All 4 teams are in action, and all 4 will be playing on the road.

Florida – The Gators were a mess at this point last season, coming off 2 straight home losses, including a 42-13 loss to Missouri.  Fire Will Muschamp.  Enter Jim McElwain and with a lot of the same players, and Florida is now 6-1 and the clear favorite to win the SEC East.  Florida’s lone loss came this week at LSU, and that game went down to the wire, with Florida playing their back-up quarterback.  The Gators finish the season with 4 of their final 5 games inside the Sunshine State.  What a difference a coaching change can make!

DISAPPOINTING
Teams that had high expectations to begin the year, but never reached them.  This is the group for the 2015 season.

Georgia Tech – The Yellow Jackets won 5 straight games to end the 2014 regular season before taking Florida State to the wire in the ACC Championship game, then pounding a good Mississippi State team in the Orange Bowl.  Coming off that success, they were the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC Coastal division at the beginning of this season, and some even thought they could win the ACC Title.  Tech started this season 2-0 and ranked #14 in the country before losing 5 straight.  To be fair, the losses come to teams with a combined 27-4 record this season, but they are still losses.  GT was a favorite to win their conference, now they might not even be bowl eligible by the end of this season.  No worries though, it has to get easier now, right?  Nope, they get undefeated Florida State this week.

Michigan – The Wolverines could very easily be placed in the “SURPRISING” group after their 5-1 start, but after that finish to rival Michigan State, there is no other way to describe Michigan right now than “disappointing”.  We will be able to see if Michigan will fold or bounce back after such a tough loss.  3 of their final 5 games will be on the road, and 1 of the 2 home games will be against the current #1 team in the country.

USC – The Trojans were finally back at full strength after their NCAA sanctions and won 4 of their last 5 in 2014, entering this season in the preseason Top 10.  They started 2-0, but have lost 3 of 4 since, and have now fired yet another head coach.  The talent is still there, but they need to have it somehow produce on the field.  This week would be a good start when undefeated #3 Utah comes to town. 

Week 6 Review

Week 5 of the NFL season saw 10 games decided by one score or less, 3 of which ended in overtime and that was still no match for the excitement we had on Saturday night during the primetime games in college football.  Which leads me to ask the question that I ask myself at least once every weekend, why in the world would anyone choose pro football over college football.  So about that Saturday…

LATE NIGHT FUN

All of these games were going on at the same time, most coming to an end within minutes of each other.

* #2 TCU trailed on the road against Kansas State 35-17 at halftime and were down 42-31 with 8 minutes to play.  The Horned Frogs then scored 21 points in the final 8 minutes, including a game winning touchdown with :70 left on the clock.  TCU scored 35 2^nd half points for the win, 3 of those 5 touchdowns were of 50 yards or more.  FINAL SCORE – TCU 52, K-State 45.

* #4 Michigan State held on for a last minute win on the road against Rutgers.  Rutgers took a 14-7 lead early in the 2^nd quarter and held a 14-10 lead at halftime.  Michigan State scored the 1^st 14 points of the 2^nd half, but once again let Rutgers get back into the game, tying it at 24 with under 5 minutes to play.  MSU, a very overrated team, then needed a touchdown in the final minute to avoid overtime against one of the worst FBS teams in the country.  Oh and to pour some salt in the wounds of those Rutgers fans that thought they might win, the game ended when Rutgers spiked the ball to stop the clock on FOURTH DOWN!  FINAL SCORE – Michigan State 31, Rutgers 24

* Everyone knows that Morgantown is a tough place to play.  Give the Hoopies all day to get lathered up and it makes things very interesting.  Oklahoma State found this out first-hand as they blew a 17-2 halftime lead and survived in overtime.  The reason they survived, Dana Holgerson.  The Mountaineers tied the game with 2:44 remaining and forced OT with the 21^st ranked Cowboys.  Oklahoma State then scored on their 1^st possession of overtime.  WVU was in position to match, with 3^rd and goal from the 4 yard line.  After Rushel Shell lost 7 yards on 3^rd down, WVU had a 4^th and 11 for the ball game.  Instead of calling a timeout to get the perfect play in the game for that situation, Holgerson watched his team scramble all over the field after a negative play trying to get their 4^th down play off.  Skyler Howard then scrambled around, almost immediately, before forcing a pass towards the corner of the end zone that was not even catchable by the intended receiver.  Well played Holgy! FINAL SCORE – Oklahoma State 33, WVU 26.

* #12 Florida State built a 17-3 2^nd quarter lead, as many expected would happen in their rivalry game with Miami, but “The U” wouldn’t go away.  Miami scored the games next 3 touchdowns while FSU settled for 2 field goals, giving the Canes a 24-23 4^th quarter lead over the Noles.  Florida State, led by injured running back Dalvin Cook, had the last response though.  Cook, who was battling a hamstring injury all game, scored his 3^rd touchdown of the game with just under 7 minutes remaining to give the Seminoles the lead for good.  Cook finished the game with 222 yards on the ground as well a 3 catches for 47 more yards to go with those 3 scores. FINAL SCORE – Florida State 29, Miami 24

* #16 Cal entered their game with #5 Utah undefeated, representing the only 2 undefeated teams in the PAC-12.  Cal QB Jared Goff threw for 340 yards and 2 scores in the game, but lost to a Utah team that threw for exactly half that yardage total.  The reason? Goff also threw 5 interceptions.  Goff had only thrown 4 interceptions in Cal’s first 5 games of the year.  Maybe the craziest thing about this game is that despite the 5 interceptions by Goff, Cal still had the ball at the Utah 21 with under a minute left in the game going for the game tying score.  FINAL SCORE – Utah 30, Cal 24.

SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS

With so much excitement going on Saturday, but with so little time and space to go over all of it, here is a quick rundown of the other headlines from Saturday’s games.

* Georgia loses star running back Nick Chubb to a gruesome knee injury on the 1^st offensive play of the game, but still jumped out to a 24-3 lead in the 2^nd quarter lead.  Then they blow that lead.  Tennessee comes all the way back for a 38-31 win.  It was Georgia’s 2^nd straight loss.  Tennessee’s 1^st SEC win of the season.

* Florida is now a perfect 4-0 in SEC play, 6-0 overall.  The Gators now will be without starting QB Will Grier for the rest of the season after testing positive and being suspended 1 year for PED use. 

* Michigan is legit.  The Wolverines blowout previously unbeaten Northwestern 38-0.  It is the 3^rd straight shutout for the Michigan defense, outscoring their opponents 97-0 during that stretch.

* Big Game Bob Stoops is still a thing.  The Stoops lead Sooners got dominated by rival and struggling Texas.  The win for the Longhorns may have saved Charlie Strong’s job, as he was carried off the field by his players.

* The Baylor offense is like playing Madden on rookie level right now.  The Bears took it easy on BIG XII foe Kansas on Saturday and still finished with a 66-7 win.  Baylor held a 52-7 lead at halftime and put it in cruise control for the final 30 minutes.

* Clemson wins again, in dominating fashion over Georgia Tech, 43-24.  It begs the question, is Clemson good enough to get a CFB Playoff spot if they finish undefeated?

* Oregon is tough to watch right now.  The Ducks lost to lowly Washington State Saturday and although they are still a decent team, they are nothing like most people are used to seeing from the uniform factory.

* The PAC-12 is a mess.  It was once a conference that people thought might get 2 CFB Playoff bids, now they would be lucky to get 1.  Utah is the only chance and now they just have to hope to run the table.

               

COACHES ON THE HOT SEAT

When I outlined this week’s recap, I decided to focus on all of the possible coaches that may be looking for jobs come January and what programs would be looking for a new leader.  Then chaos ensued.  4 coaches were fired or retired within a 36 hour window.

* North Texas fired head coach Dan McCarney immediately following the school’s 66-7 loss to FCS Portland State Saturday.  The lone UNT score was a garbage TD by the back-ups with a minute left in the game.  To make matters worse, North Texas paid Portland State nearly $500K to play this game.

* Randy Edsall is out at Maryland.  This comes to no surprise to many, but it is still big news as Maryland is a Power 5 school and rarely do college coaches lose their job mid-season.

* Steve Sarkisian is the surprise in this group as he was in just his 2^nd year at USC and posted a 9-4 record in his 1^st season.  Sarkisian was let go Monday after showing up to practice intoxicated.  If you recall, he also made news during the offseason when he was drunk at an alumni/booster function.  The real question here is will Pat Haden, the USC AD, be around to hire Sarkisian’s replacement, as his hires have been questionable at best at Southern Cal.

* Steve Spurrier surprised everyone when he announced Monday that he would be retiring from South Carolina effective immediately.  I think most people thought that this would be the Old Ball Coach’s last season, but nobody expected it to end this way.  Spurrier had just 1 losing season, his 1^st,  as a college coach in 25 years at Duke, Florida and South Carolina.  The Gamecocks are 2-4 this season.

SHOWDOWN SATURDAY

Just as I brag what a great week of college football it was last week, we have by far the best schedule of top games we have had all year.  Here are just a few can’t miss games this Saturday.

Florida vs LSU

Alabama vs Texas A&M

Michigan State vs Michigan

Week 5 Review

5 weeks into the college football season and we have complete chaos and it is FANTASTIC.

Let’s start with the Top 10 last week as 4 teams lost by a total of 73 points, and one of those losses was by just 2 points by #6 Notre Dame.  That means the other 3 lost by a combined 71.  #3 Mississippi and #8 Georgia each lost conference games by 28 points (38-10 finals in both games).  # 7 UCLA, coming off of a 26-point win on the road against a ranked Arizona team, lost by 15 at home against a then 2-2 Arizona State team.  Throw that on top of #1 Ohio State struggling against Indiana, who played without their starting QB and RB.  We also had #2 Michigan State nearly blowing a 21-point lead to hang on to beat lowly Purdue 24-21.  Basically what I am saying is that even the best teams in the country don’t look dominant.

Before we get into conference breakdowns after 5 weeks of the season, how about this little bit of food for thought, for the 1^st time since October 10, 2010 no SEC team in ranked in the Top 5 in AP Top 25.  That is 80 straight weeks.

On to my thoughts about each conference through 5 weeks.

ACC:
- Is anybody in the ACC good enough to make it to the 4-Team CFB Playoff from the ACC?  The conference only has 2 undefeated teams remaining (Clemson and FSU) and they have to play each other in 5 weeks.  And strength of schedule isn’t going to help anyone in this conference as 5 of the 14 teams already have 3 losses this year.

- As much as I enjoyed watching the Clemson/Notre Dame game on Saturday, I came away not having any idea how good Clemson really is.  Sure they beat a Top 6 Notre Dame team, but they barely beat ND.  They looked really good for 2 ½ quarters, looked decent for 1 quarter and looked flat out bad for the final 7 minutes or so.  The ACC Atlantic is pretty down, so the Tigers don’t have many chances to prove to their voters how good they really are.

- After watching Florida State sneak by teams all last season, but still make it into the playoffs because they were the undefeated defending champion, may have tainted me a bit about Jimbo Fisher and his squad.  I immediately have only seen them play twice this year, but they haven’t been very impressive if you ask me.  Yes they are undefeated, but beating up on Texas St, then struggling with South Florida, BC and Wake isn’t blowing the doors off of anyone.  I just don’t trust them to be the team we are once again being led to believe they are.  I don’t think it would really surprise anyone if they lost any of their next 3 games (vs MIA, vs LOU, @ GT) and then they still have Clemson and Florida waiting on their schedule.

- The Coastal Division is once again completely up for grabs.  The overwhelming preseason favorite and defending division champ, Georgia Tech, has started 0-2 in conference play.  The team most “experts” picked to finish 2^nd place in the division, Virginia Tech, is 0-1 and just had their worst offensive outing in 29 years.  The crazy thing is that you can’t count either of those teams out yet.  Each of the last 3 years the winner of the Coastal Division has had AT LEAST 2 losses in the conference.  Right now, both Duke and North Carolina seem to be the front-runners.  Both teams have already beat Georgia Tech, and Duke also has a win Boston College making them 2-0 just 5 weeks in.  The Blue Devils do play 3 of their next 4 and 5 of their final 7 on the road however, including a trip to Chapel Hill to take on UNC in 5 weeks.  North Carolina has 2 “should-be” wins up next and the close with a tough 5 game stretch, including 3 of those 5 on the road.  As I mentioned, this division is anyone’s for the taking.

BIG XII:
- The Top 4 teams in the Big XII (TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma & Oklahoma State) have clearly separated themselves as best in the conference.  All 4 are still undefeated, but none of the 4 have had what anyone would call a signature win to this point.  Oklahoma State is probably #4 of those 4 teams, but their schedule gives them the potential to get to 8-0 before having to face any of the other 3 top teams.  TCU also has their schedule back-loaded and doesn’t face 1 of the other top teams until November.  However, they play 2 of the 3 teams on the road.  Baylor, who hasn’t beat anyone yet, plays all the other teams in successive weeks, with the final 2 games against Oklahoma State and TCU on the road inside a 6 day window.  As with the other 3 teams, Oklahoma has their schedule back loaded and won’t face any of them until November 14^th.  It should make for an interesting next month or so as all 4 of these teams should remain undefeated.  The downfall, the Big XII still does not have a conference championship and these 4 teams beating up on each other in the final month of the season could keep all 4 out of the CFB Playoff.

- What is going on at Texas?  Since playing in the National Championship Game to conclude the 2009 season, Texas is just 37-32.  In those 32 losses 21 are by double digits and 16 (half) are by 20+ points.  Texas went to Charlie Strong, a man who made a name for himself by coaching defense, to turn things around last year.  All he has done is go 7-11 while giving up an average of 27.8 in those 18 games.  In just year 2 of his 5 year deal Charlie Strong is on the hottest of hot seats.  Next up for the Longhorns, the 10^th ranked Oklahoma Sooners, who have beaten Texas in 4 of their last 5 meetings in the Red River Rivalry Game.

- Kansas is the worst team of any P5 team in FBS football.  The real question, are they the worst P5 team EVER?  Kansas is 0-4 this season and that includes a lost an FCS team in South Dakota State.  They also have losses to Rutgers and Iowa State, both who only have 1 other win this season and those came against FCS schools too.  Memphis is the other school to beat Kansas this season, 55-23 and that was a down game for the Tigers.  Memphis had 651 yards of offense outgaining Kansas by 292 yards.  The Tigers also had 3 turnovers or that game could have been much worse.  Next up for the Jayhawks is Baylor, who very well could put up 100 if they wanted to on Saturday against Kansas.  The good news for Jayhawk fans… Midnight Madness is Friday.

Big Ten:
- Ohio State this year reminds me a whole lot like Florida State last year.  Florida State was the preseason #1 team as the defending National Champions, with a returning starting QB from that team (OSU has 2).  Sound familiar?  FSU then slept walked through the majority of their regular season schedule, and amazingly did just enough to be selected into the CFB Playoff as the #3 seed.  Ohio State is on that exact path.  Everyone knows that Ohio State has the players and talent to compete and probably beat any team in the country.  It seems like Ohio State knows this too, which is not a good thing.  The good thing for Ohio State is that the Big Ten is not good this year, so they could just coast through conference play.  The bad news is that if someone does upset them, they will be eliminated from playoff contention.  Ohio State should cruise in their next 5 games before playing games against Michigan State and Michigan in back-to-back weeks to close the season.

- Yes, I said Michigan there as I referred to a big game with Ohio State and NOT because it is a rivalry game.  Most people expected Jim Harbaugh to turn things around at Michigan, but I don’t think anyone thought it would be so soon.  Michigan is now 4-1 this year with their only loss coming in their opening game on the road against Utah, which doesn’t exactly look like a bad loss at this point, does it?  During their 4-game win streak the Wolverines have outscored their opponents 122-14, including 2 straight shutouts.  I’m not saying Michigan is back, but they are well on their way.  We will learn a lot more about Big Blue over the next 2 weeks (vs Northwestern, vs Michigan St.).  This Michigan team looks good enough to compete in the vastly overrated Big Ten East, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they beat the Buckeyes at the Big House this year.

- I mentioned that the Big Ten East is overrated, that must mean that the Big Ten West not rated at all.  The West is currently led by Iowa, Northwestern and Illinois; while typical powers like Nebraska and Wisconsin are a combined 5-5 so far this season.  Iowa, Northwestern and Illinois are a combined 14-1 this year, they combined for 18 wins total last season.  Northwestern has a tough test this weekend (@ Michigan), and Iowa has Illinois and Northwestern in back-to-back weeks coming up, but those 2 teams are in good position to really make a run at the West Division title.

- How bad does Maryland need to get before Randy Edsall is fired?  Not to kick a guy when he is down, but Edsall wasn’t even that good before he got to Maryland when he was at UCONN.  In his 12 years at UCONN before leaving for Maryland Edsall was 74-70 and UNDER .500 in conference play (22-26) in a bad Big East.  That somehow got him a promotion to the Maryland job.  Since taking over in College Park he has gone 22-33 (10-23 in ACC/Big Ten) in 4+ seasons.  So far this season the Terps have been blown out in all 3 of their losses, losing by 21 to Bowling Green, 39 to WVU and getting shutout 28-0 by Michigan Saturday.  They get #1 Ohio State this week.  Maryland probably won’t be favored in another game this season until their finale with Rutgers. 

PAC-12:
- Does anybody want to win the PAC-12?  No, seriously.  We are 5 weeks into the season and only 2 teams are undefeated and those 2 teams play each other this week!  Even crazier is that there are just 3 teams still undefeated in conference play.  7 of the 12 teams in the conference have multiple losses already.  At this rate we are going to have two 7-5 teams playing each other for the conference title.  More confusing is the complete inconsistency week in and week out by some of these teams.  UCLA went on a 3 game stretch of coming back from 10 points in the 4^th quarter to beat an average BYU team, to blowing out #16 Arizona on the road, to coming home and getting blown out by an unranked Arizona State team.  That same Arizona State team lost by 28 at home to USC last week before upsetting UCLA.  The whole conference is a mess.

- As I mentioned, the PAC-12 only has 2 undefeated teams left (which will be just 1 after Saturday) and just 3 teams with 1 loss.  If the PAC-12 hopes to get into the CFB Playoff this season they better hope 1 of those 5 teams run the table.  That is possible with the teams we are talking about (Cal, Utah, USC, UCLA, Stanford) when you look at their schedules, but is it likely considering what we have seen so far from this conference?

SEC:
- Florida is 5-0, should we be taking them serious yet?  They finally have an offense, so that is a plus considering the defense has always been there, but they have been putting up numbers against the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.  Sure Ole Miss was ranked #3 and just beat Alabama, but they have been doing it with offense, not their D.  We have seen this before from Florida, so I am going to wait before I get on the bandwagon, although I’m willing to acknowledge that this team has the potential to be pretty good.  The good news for the Gators is you only have to be “pretty good” to win the SEC East.  The real test will be in 2 weeks when Florida plays LSU under the lights in Death Valley.

- Speaking of questioning how good teams are, has anybody snuck under the radar more than Texas A&M this season?  A&M is 5-0 and already has 2 wins against SEC West teams.  They also opened the season with a convincing win over then-ranked Arizona State.  Despite all of that they just barely snuck into the Top 10 in the rankings this week.  The Aggies have a week off before they host Alabama, which should be a match-up of Top 10 SEC teams.

- LSU is good, really good, but I’m still having a tough time buying in to any team that has yet to hold a team under 19, a team that has allowed 24 to Syracuse and 22 to Eastern Michigan.  LSU has the Heisman Trophy winner in Leonard Fournette, but they are going to need more on offense as the schedule gets tougher, because as I mentioned, that defense is not a typical LSU defense.

- In case you missed Nick Saban’s media session today, Alabama isn’t out of this thing yet.  Bama had a statement win Saturday when they smacked Georgia 38-10 in Athens and just reminded everyone that they are still the King of the SEC until further notice.  Bama still has games against Texas A&M on the road and at home versus’ LSU, but if they get past those 2, you’ll probably be seeing back in the CFB Playoff.

- I have decided that Chip Kelly has no chance at keeping his job with the Philadelphia Eagles after this season, so the next question is what college team does he end up with?  The list of 5 I came up with was Miami, Maryland, Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina.  Those 5 teams are all probably going to be in the hunt for a coach come December, so now we need to find out who are legitimate candidates.  Miami won’t want to pay what Kelly will demand, so they are out.  Maryland has the money with the backing from Kevin Plank, I just can’t see them going that big after Kelly and I’m not sure Kelly will burn his bridges with Phil Knight at Nike by going to Team Under Armour.  Texas would be by far the most entertaining prospect and something I could see happening if UT doesn’t get Saban this time around.  This leaves 2 SEC schools in Tennessee and South Carolina.  Tennessee may want to hold off on yet another coaching change, they have had 3 since Phil Fulmer left in 2008, but Butch Jones just hasn’t panned out like they had hoped.  They went for the splash hire when Fulmer retired and got burned by Lane Kiffin who left after 1 season to go to USC.  Would they be willing to try it again?  The other candidate is South Carolina who, by my guess, will be forcing long time head coach Steve Spurrier to retire after this season.  USC has always been close in the SEC and has shown that they want to take the big step into being an SEC power, but they have never quite gotten there.  Chip Kelly would change that.  Chip Kelly could make South Carolina an immediate threat in the SEC East, which means contending for SEC Championships on a regular basis.  Texas would be the more entertaining spot for Kelly, but South Carolina is the best fit for both parties.

OTHERS:
- Notre Dame is really good.  I realize they lost on Saturday to Clemson, but they showed me more in that game than in the 4 prior combined.  At the beginning of the season I thought they would be 5-2 at best after they opened with a tough 7 game stretch.  Texas hasn’t lived up to expectations and I guess they could still lose to Navy and or USC, but beating Georgia Tech they way they did and coming back and nearly beating Clemson showed me how good they really are.  Now I wonder where they will go from here.  ND has 7 games remaining and should be the favorite in all but maybe 1.  If this Notre Dame team goes 11-1 is that good enough to get into the CFB Playoff?  Is 10-2 good enough for a BCS bowl?  Personally I don’t think a 1-loss independent team gets into the playoff (another reason ND should join a conference full time), but this team might just be good enough to do so.  Do I think they are one of the top 4 teams in the country? No, but wins against USC and on the road against Stanford, as well as others losing might get them there.

- Watch the Group of 5 to make a run at one of the BCS bowls this season.  Teams like Memphis, Temple and Toledo are all undefeated with good wins.  Boise State has 1 loss, but has been very good other than their stumble to BYU in week 2.

Here are a few games to keep an eye on this Saturday:

Georgia Tech @ Clemson
Navy @ Notre Dame
Northwestern @ Michigan
Florida @ Missouri
Cal @ Utah

I know it’s not much, but hang in there for one more week.  Week 7 is loaded with great games.

The Sports Fix : MLB Postseason

In this edition of The Sports Fix we focus on the format and scheduling of the Major League Baseball Postseason.  About two weeks ago the NBA re-formatted their playoffs and it made me think that baseball should also re-think how they do things in the postseason.  The NBA playoffs make a ton more sense now, but the way they did it makes no sense (Top 8 teams in conference make the playoffs regardless of division.  Great for getting the best teams in, but why have divisions now?).  Okay, that is WAY too much NBA discussion.

Anyway, let me start by saying the double Wild Card in baseball is silly.  And yes, I realize that last year the 2^nd Wild Card team, San Francisco, went on to win the World Series, but that isn’t changing my opinion.  You have 162 regular season games for a reason, if you can’t get into the Top 4 in your league, then you probably don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.  There is no need for the Wild Card Game except to sell an extra playoff game to owners and add it to the TV contract.  So even though there are about 7,851 reasons not to have the Wild Card Game, money talks and it ain’t going away any time soon.

My first change to the MLB Postseason is changing the idea of the “wild card” team as an automatic road team in their 1^st series.  Why punish a team for finishing with a better record than a division winner?  Or maybe the better question, why reward a division winner for winning a bad division?  This is the 4^th year of the Wild Card game and it will be the 3^rd time in 4 years that one of the winners of that game will have a better record than one of the division winners.  With my format, I would simply seed the remaining teams AFTER the Wild Card Game 1 through 4 based on their regular season record.  This still give the division winners a pass into series play, but now it rewards the wild card team for what they did in the regular season.  This gives the wild card winner a chance to avoid the top team and if they were really good in the regular season, it would give them the ability to host a divisional series.  If the goal is to get the best two teams in the World Series, this is the best way to do that.

And if the goal is to get the best two teams into the World Series, one can assume that it is also to crown the best team as World Champion.  To do that there must be a change to the scheduling in the playoffs.

We saw last year with Madison Bumgarner and his amazing post season run that a pitcher can dominate an entire postseason simply because the schedule allows it.  That shouldn’t be the case.  Teams play 3 and 4 game series with a 5 man rotation all season only for that to change in the postseason, when teams play 2 (sometime 1) games before getting a day off.  The Giants played 17 playoff games (including the Wild Card Game) and Bumgarner was able to start 6 of them and pitch a 7^th.  This wasn’t because Bruce Bochy rushed his ace out there on short rest either.  Bumgarner had his normal rest between every one of his 6 start.  That was because the Giants played those 17 games over 29 days.

Here is how we change things.  This season the playoffs begin on October 6^th with the AL Wild Card Game.  Game 7 of the World Series is scheduled for November 4^th.  I am fine with the mid-week wild card games, I like it actually.  I also am fine giving a day off after the wild card game before the start of the divisional series.  That travel day is needed for the winner of the Wild Card Game.  That is about all that I like about the current schedule.

In the Divisional Series you should play the 1^st 4 games without a day off.  Yes I realize that there is a travel day between games 2 and 3, but guess what? Both teams make the same trip, there is absolutely no advantage for 1 team over another.  This gives the 2 teams a true 4-game series.  If the series is still tied after 4 games, I would give 1 day off before game 5.  This is for both travel and to allow the aces for each team to pitch in the deciding game.

I use the same idea when scheduling the League Championship Series too.  However, this series goes 5 games before either team has a day off.  That forces teams to use their entire rotation (just like they would in the regular season) and it eliminates 1 travel day.  There would be no day off between games 2 and 3 even though the series moves cities.  An off day for the 2^nd travel day once again gives each team a breather and allows both coaching staffs to get their pitching staff in order for the final 2 games.

The World Series would be identical to the LCS’s.  Also the World Series would NOT be determined by the mid-season exhibition that baseball likes to call the All-Star Game (sorry Bud Selig).  I would just rotate back and forth between leagues like it was done for 100 years before Bud screwed things up.

This scheduling doesn’t eliminate November baseball (that is for another Sports Fix at another time), but it does force the teams to play the playoffs the same way they played the 162 games that earned them a spot in the postseason.

These changes may seem minor, but they would certainly help baseball from dragging the season out any longer than it already has to.  It would also help crown a true champion that would be determined using the same standards and methods as teams use from April through September, rather than changing them for the most important part of the season.