By Joe Torosian
College Football (Games seen)
Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24—The Cowboys aren’t great, but they ran the ball against a team that can’t stop the run. Jaylen Warren’s 193-yards on 33-carries is only diminished because it came against the Longhorns.
Georgia 30, Kentucky 13—If the Wildcats were in the ACC this year they’d win the conference. But instead, they’re maybe, fifth best in the SEC. Bulldogs QB Stetson Bennett played well but…no.
Utah 35, Arizona State 21—What dominant second half by the Utes. The defense is underrated, and Cameron Rising is a terrific PAC 12 quarterback.
Washington State 34, Stanford 31—Called this one. The Palouse is a tough place to play, and Cougars quarterback Jayden de Laura is someone you can’t sleep on.
TOP Four College Playoff Teams
(Strictly Based on Games I’ve seen)
1—Georgia (7-0): No let down against Kentucky, and the threat of “The Let Down” will be their biggest opponent until SEC title game.
2—Alabama (6-1): Low Tide already happened against Texas A&M, now it’s nothing but Crimson Tide until they face Georgia.
3—Cincinnati (6-0): They keep doing what they need to do. The string plays out with them going to the playoffs and getting thumped by an SEC team.
4—Ohio State (5-1): A bye, losses by Penn State and Iowa, and voila—the Buckeyes are back in the top four.
(Outside Looking In)
5—Oklahoma (7-0): Apparently Lincoln Riley has seen enough of Spencer Rattler. Caleb Williams moves into the starting lineup and throws for four and runs for another in TCU blowout.
6—Penn State (5-1): Getting Illinois after a bye is a really good thing. But if they’re going to compete in Columbus on October 30th they better have Sean Clifford. Keeping his injury under wraps is a bush move my James Franklin and Penn State. It evokes, beckons, a bad sports karma.
7—Texas A&M (5-2): Used a great running game to support Zach Calzada. Aggie rushers broke off nearly 8-yds per crack against Missouri.
8—Iowa (6-1): Knew the Hawkeyes would fall soon—just didn’t think it would be this soon…and against Purdue?
9—Oregon (5-1): Victory over Cal not impressive. They need to wake up because, believe it or not, the season is in the balance. UCLA, Utah, and Oregon State are looming. And that’s what makes Washington State dangerous.
10—Ole Miss (5-1): They let Tennessee hang around a little too long. Need to find some better pieces to put around quarterback Matt Corral.
11—Notre Dame (5-1): A week off, USC coming to South Bend, the Irish like to run the ball…blowout and they don’t even need to consider the green jerseys.
12—Auburn (5-2): They’ve only lost to top five level teams. You cannot write them off. See Arkansas…and Ole Miss should be paying attention.
13—Oklahoma State (6-0): Undefeated standing upon the carcasses of Missouri State, Tulsa, Boise, Kansas State, Baylor, and Texas. Cowboys don’t play anybody until the Sooners come to Stillwater. And—they don’t have a quarterback.
14—Kentucky (6-1): No shame losing to Georgia, but the Wildcats will be judged by the what they do going forward. Final five games all winnable.
15—Utah (4-2): No they’re not a playoff contender, but they could be PAC 12 champs. Can’t afford a let down in Corvallis.
16—Arkansas (4-3): Razorbacks lost their third straight. Allowed Auburn to come to town and resurrect Bo Nix’s season. Arkansas started 4-0 with one victory over a ranked team. Have lost last three against team’s ranked #1, #12, #19.
17—UCLA (5-2): Went to Seattle and the great DTR went with them. And this week Oregon comes to the Rose Bowl. Next week the Bruins go to Utah. The season is in their hands.
18—Texas (4-3): The Longhorns high-powered offense let them down, and it’s okay to have a bad day…But the defense is having a bad year…So the offense can’t have a bad day.
19—Arizona State (5-2): Much like Kentucky…it’s not the loss to Utah, it’s going to be what they do going forward. Remainder of schedule is all winnable. But other than dominating UCLA (jury still out on Bruins) the Sun Devils failed their only other challenge: BYU.
20—Florida (4-3): Awful nice of them to let LSU’s Coach O. end his run with a victory. The Gators had a high moment against Alabama and a bunch of low ones since.
21—Minnesota (4-2): Not a great team but Tanner Morgan and friends just keep grinding. Currently in second place in the Big 10 West.
22—Washington State (4-3): You screw around with these guys and they’ll blow up on you. Stanford, Oregon State—both beat USC—and the Cougars beat them. .
23—Oregon State (4-2): Hopefully, the Beavers spent the bye week in rehab reality. The Utes are coming to town and they won’t be caught off guard by Chance Nolan and friends. Utah certainly isn’t USC.
24—Wisconsin (3-3): Badger better when Graham Mertz only throws 15 times.
25—Stanford (3-4): If only every week they could play USC.
26—LSU (4-3): I was wrong. Last week I said, Ed Orgeron has about two months to get his resume ready. He needs to get it ready now.
27—Purdue (4-2): What a win in Iowa. The 24-7 victory over the Hawkeyes might be the Boilermakers biggest win since the days of Kyle Orton.
28—USC (3-3): Any Trojan die-hards believing a victory is possible in South Bend?
29—Nebraska (3-5): Lost a close game to Minnesota. But we called that before it happened. Bugaha leads the nation is moral victories. They should play the Detroit Lions in the “We Try Hard Bowl.”
30—West Virginia (2-4): It was a struggle but survived bye week.
(Have not seen: Michigan, Michigan State, BYU, Wake Forrest,)
Next Week:
(Winners in Bold)
Cincinnati at Navy
Illinois at Penn State
Oklahoma at Kansas
Wisconsin at Purdue
LSU at Ole Miss
Oregon at UCLA
Utah at Oregon State
Oklahoma State at Iowa State
Tennessee at Alabama
Ohio State at Indiana
USC at Notre Dame
South Carolina at Texas A&M
Minnesota at Maryland
West Virginia at TCU
Ark-Pine Bluff at Arkansas
BYU at Washington State
BYE
Iowa
Nebraska
Texas
Georgia
Auburn
Kentucky
Florida
Arizona State
Stanford
Joe T. is the author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” … “Temple City & The Company of The Ages” … “The Dead Bug Tales” … “The Dark Norm” & “FaithViews for Storm Riders”…all five available through Amazon.com.
www.JoeTorosian.com
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
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Be sure to read:
Fanview (Every Monday)
College Football Breakdown (Every Tuesday)
Standings & Stuff (Every Wednesday)
College Hoops Breakdown—by Riley Saxon
The Urena Express—by Steven Urena (MLB)
From The RamCave—by Joe T. (Every Friday)
