A weekend previously coined a ‘cupcake weekend‘ in College Football decided to be anything but, as the #5, #7, #9, #14, #15, #16 and #19 all lost. As I so intelligently predicted on Friday, the playoff picture is and will continue to work itself out. Remember that problem with all those “2 loss SEC schools”? Yeah well problem solved, now only 2 remain. Despite getting their ass whooped, I think Indiana had a pretty great day, watching all that chaos unfold and essentially punching their ticket to the post season. The ACC & Big 12 were also smiling on the SEC implosion, as it may open the door for multiple teams to sneak into the playoff. We now have the 4th iteration of CFP rankings (see below) from the Committee and I’m sure they aren’t contentious AT ALL. With all that being said, let’s get into the recap.
If you didn’t have the opportunity to watch the NFL on Sunday, you missed out. ‘The Witching Hour’ typically between 3-4pm on Sunday, is known for having chaos and wild finishes left and right, and this Sunday’s may have been the Witchiest witching hour yet.
NFL Quickie: We should start with the Vikings holding off a crazy comeback attempt by the Bears, to win 30-27 in overtime. What looked like an easy Minnesota win heading into the 4th quarter quickly turned into a tie game, thanks to Caleb Williams. The young rookie had 224 yards and 2 TDs in the 2nd half, and led the Bears down the field in 32 seconds to hit a FG & send the game into OT. Unfortunately the offense stalled out, and the Sam Darnold led Vikings kicked a game winning 29 yard FG to move to 9-2. Sadly the Lions did not score 47.5 points, nor did they allow enough from the Colts to even get close to hitting the over, so that one hurts. What the Lions DID do was run.the.damn.ball. Gibbs and Monty combined for 170 total yards and 3 scores, and it was the Detroit defense that was the story of the day. They held the Indy offense to 260 total yards, and brought out the ugly side of Anthony Richardson, where he looks like a fish out of water and can’t complete a pass. Lions win 24-6. I’m ready to say it, Tua is BACK. The former quadriplegic was scary efficient – 74% completion on 318 yards & 4 scores as they dominated the Patriots 34-15. How could you not love Baker Mayfield? The guy is a real gamer. Speaking of real gamers, Bucky Irving stand up and take yourself a bow. The rookie from Oregon had a career day, amassing 90 rush yards, 65 rec yards & 1 TD. I know they played the Tommy DeVito led Giants, but man Bucs are hitting their stride at the right time. P.S. – Giants coaching staff, you know you have Malik Nabers right? THROW HIM THE BALL. Bucs blowout the G-men 30-7. Now we’re at the meat and potatoes of the witching hour, Commanders v. Cowboys. This game was WILD. For starters, it was 3-3 at half, looking like a snoozefest, then the 3rd quarter saw a 200% increase in points for both teams, leading to a 10-9 score headed to the 4Q. THEN, both teams decided to blow their loads simultaneously in the last 5 minutes like it was the ending to a Boogie Nights movie. A Cowboys TD pass sparked it, followed by a 2 minute TD drive from Jayden Daniels to bring them within 3 (20-17 Boys), followed by the coolest kick return TD (99 yards btw) I may have ever seen from KaVontae Turpin to make it 27-17 with 2:40 left to play. Following that was a 51 yard FG to bring the Manders back within one, and after a quick 3 and out, they had it back with a minute to play and 86 yards to tie it. It didn’t take long as Scary Terry McLaurin connected with Daniels on a go ball to tie the game!! OH WAIT…the Commanders kicker missed the game tying extra point attempt… game over. In a less exciting game, the Broncos beat the Raiders 29-19, Gardner Minshew broke his collar bone and Bo Nix is playing very very good football right now. Titans upset Houston 32-27 behind a rare Will Levis masterclass and win the battle of the Oilers throwback uniforms (IYKYK). Packers move to 8-3 with a 38-10 whomping of the Brock Purdyless 49ers, Shanahan hot seat?? Seahawks defense continues to be a brick wall as they shut down the Cardinals top 10 offensive attack, win a stinker 16-6 (member when I picked that over? Oof). Bryce Young plays his best game in a Panthers uniform as he puts up 27 and nearly takes Mahomes to overtime, but the Kansas City/Taylor Swift illuminati black magic strikes again as they manage to get into FG range and Butker wins it. Lastly, we have SNF – where Saquon Barkley looked like prime Barry Sanders against that flaccid Rams rush defense. Mr. Barkley ran for a career high 255 (DAMN!), caught and ran for another 47, and scored twice. Matty Stafford tried his best to mount a comeback, but the Rams defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed, despite Matt’s 245 yards & 2 TDs.
We sure do have a lot to cover after a wild weekend of Chaos, so buckle up
Ohio State brings Indiana back to reality with a good old fashion asswhoopin
OSU 38
IU 15
Well, the enormous noon kickoff certainly was ‘big’, a big waste of time. I stuck to my guns and chose Indiana to keep it within the 12 point spread, and I quickly realized that was a poor decision. I’ve loyal to my Hoosiers to a fault this season, but they have made me a very success man betting on them, so I figured they had earned the credit. Boy was I wrong. First, it was the special teams fiasco we witnessed from IU. The punter shit down his leg trying to make a routine catch, muffing it and giving OSU the ball at their 7 yard line. The Buckeyes proceeded to score with just a minute left in the half to take a 14-7 lead going into the break. A few possessions and punts later, they gave up a 80 yard punt return TD to DB Caleb Downs, which ended up being the early nail in the coffin. Second, after the game opening TD drive, IU’s offense was held to just 83 yards the rest of the game. QB Kurtis Rourke stunk ass, the defense stunk ass (OSU ran for 130 yards, passed for 200) and the only bright spot was RB Ty Son Lawton, who was able to run for 80 yards and score the only 2 TDs of the game for the Hoosiers.
I don’t want to sit here and give Ryan Day any credit, so I won’t, but I will say Indiana was outcoached and outplayed in all 3 facets of this game. For the first time this season, they faced adversity, and looked like a deer in headlights. “What does this mean? Is Indiana cooked?” Welllll I’m not so sure. Prior to the SECs implosion, I’d lean yes, or at least give them a coin flips chance to get in, but now, I think they’re a shoe in. OSU is on a path to rematch against Oregon in the B1G ten championship game, and it’s shaping up to be 4 reps from the B1G ten in the yoffs.
Bracket Busters
#7 Alabama 3
Oklahoma 24
Jalen Milroe… you okay man? What the HELL happened to the team that whomped UGA and LSU? Maybe Bama was overlooking 5-5 Oklahoma in anticipation of hosting 4-6 Auburn?? That seems like the only possible explanation, DeBoer was afraid of Hugh Freeze and his affinity for strippers. I did not have the pleasure of watching this game, but from what I’ve seen and heard, Oklahoma’s defense came to PLAY. A defense that allowed Maine (yes, Maine) to score 14 points on them, held one of the most dangerous dual threat QB’s in all of CFB to just 7 rush yards, 160 pass yards and forced 3 INTs. Credit to HC Brent Venables, who has had a bumpy start to his OU tenure, for having his boys ready to play. So, is Bama dead? According to ESPN, no, but I’m ready to say kinda. They have some BAD losses that I don’t believe outweigh the good wins.
#9 Ole Miss 17
Florida 24
Now, I did watch this game, and mannnnnn did I enjoy that ending. In an effort to not bury the lead here, lets just skip to the end. Jaxson (with an x) Dart had not one, not two, but 3 different opportunities to tie this game and instead he just kept throwing interceptions. I have never seen something like that in my life (aside from Carson Beck once every few weeks). Dart had played pretty well all game up to that point (323 yards & 2 TDs), but threw into triple coverage in the endzone unnecessarily, and then back to back interceptions in a matter of 15 seconds (first one was called a drop). For the Gators, DJ Lagway is the future. The dude is a BALLER, and can spin in with some of the best of them. UF needs to give him whatever he wants in NIL money to keep him in Gainesville, because he is likely going to be the hottest thing on the market in the offseason. Now, for the question, “Is Ole Miss dead?” – I do not know, maybe? The 3 losses are 7-4 LSU (oof) 6-5 Florida (yikes) and 4-7 Kentucky (BIG yikes). It’ll be interesting to see where the committee places them and Bama, but I think Bama favoritism is likely the route they go.
#15 TAMU 41
Auburn 43 (4OT)
Next on the hit list is Texas A&M. Those knuckleheads man, all they had to do was take care of a 4-6 Auburn team and then it was just Texas. Too bad so sad for them, apparently they didn’t the memo to wear your lucky underwear when you play at Jordan-Hare to counteract the bullshit and black magic that goes on there. Hugh Freeze used every ounce of that stadium voodoo to get this win. This game was crazy from the start, and we saw a 21-0 Auburn early into the 2nd quarter. A late score from the Aggies put them down 21-7 at half, and credit to them for coming out swinging in the second half, putting up 296 total yards. QB Marcel Reed finished with some video games numbers (365 yards 3 TDs) but unfortunately for the Aggies, so did Payton Thorne (340 yards 2 TDs) RB Jarquez Hunter (160 yards & 3 TDs) and freshman WR Cam Coleman (130 yards & 2 TDs). This explosion of offense went back and forth until Auburn tied the game to end regulation with a 30 yard FG. The ensuing overtimes were just as electric, leading us to a 2 point conversion battle where both teams tried some trickery, Auburn was successful, A&M was not. The field storming followed as the Tigers get their first banner win in the Hugh Freeze era. Texas A&M, you might be dead, UNLESS you beat Texas this weekend and yeahhhhh you’re gonna have to beat UGA in the SECCG as well.
#16 Colorado 21
Kansas 37
Not gonna say I told you so, but Kansas might be the best 5-6 team of all time. They complete the trifecta, and knock Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes right out of playoff conversations. This game was never really close. Kansas jumped out to a quick 17-0 start behind the efforts of EB Devin Neal, who ran through Colorado’s defense like a fist through wet paper. He finished with 200 rushing & 80 receiving yards and found the endzone 4 times. Shedeur played well, but was visibly frustrated with his inability to connect downfield with his WRs, and ended up shoving an official. Kansas bottled up the big play, ran the ball, and just beat the hell out of the Buffs. Kansas is now the 1st team with a losing record in CFB history to defeat ranked opponents in 3 consecutive weeks. #ROCKCHALKJAYHAWK
#14 BYU 23
#21 Arizona St. 28
BYJew has officially lost all of it’s sauce, as the Cougars fall to the hottest team not named South Carolina. As predicted. ASU RB Cam Skattebo balled out, tallying 150 yards on the ground and 3 scores, as he was pretty much unstoppable all night. Another game where one team dominated the 1st half, and created an insurmountable lead at the break (21-3). BYU came out in the 2H and proved they could hang, slowly starting to chip away at that lead after being down 28-9. Scoring on back to back possessions, the Cougs came within 5 with 8 minutes to play. ASU fed Skattebo to milk that clock all the way down, until a late game interception by BYU QB Jake Retzlaff sealed the game. Another field storming occured here, actually two of them (who hasn’t pre-maturely stormed before amiright?) as the Sun Devils move to 9-2 with Playoff hopes alive and well.
CFB Quickie: #1 Oregon eats popcorn & watches the madness unfold as they relax on bye. #3 Texas takes care of Kentucky at home 31-14. #4 Penn State barely survives a trip to Minnesota thanks to a game winning FG, they carry the boats home 26-25. #6 Notre Dame shames all of America with a 49-14 asskicking of the Black Knights to hand them their first loss. #8 Miami quietly takes care of business against Wake Forest 42-14. #10 Georgia handles UMass at home as they secure a date with the Texas v TAMU winner in the SECCG. #11 Tennessee played UTEP for some reason, that went about as well as you’d expect, 56-0 Vols. #12 Boise State escapes Wyoming with a 17-13 win to move to 10-1 behind another solid Ashton Jeanty performance (170 yards 2 TDs). #13 SMU beats UVA like a drum 33-7, and punch their ticket to the ACC championship game. The rest of the top 25 played a whole bunch of nobodies, and if I didn’t cover them, they didn’t lose.
Alright, it’s that time of the week. I will preface by saying this weeks rankings weren’t as egregious as the last, but they still need some work.
We start at the top, where Oregon holds onto that #1 ranking and seeding, as they should. I was a little Ohio State would jump them for beating up on an unproven team, but this was the first good decision by the committee. The Ducks are followed by their best win, #2 Ohio State, who is appropriately seeded at the #5 spot hosting the #12 seeded Arizona State Sun Devils. Texas is sitting at the #2 seed and #3 ranking, which is interesting but I assume the committee is waiting for the Texas A&M matchup to really make a decision on Texas. If they win handsomely in College Station but fall to UGA again in the SECCG, do they stay in as a 10-12 seed? I surely do not know. Next is a string of assholes, #4 ranked #6 seeded Penn State, and I’ve got beef with them. They host 4-7 Maryland (Big game!) and will be 11-1, firmly in a cozy playoff spot (fuck them). Then we get to the next asshole, #5 ranked #7 seeded Notre Dame and honestly I’m not sure what to do with them so I suppose that win over Army looks good. After A&M fell to Auburn, their good win doesn’t look as good anymore. The last asshole, Miami, comes in as with a #8 rank but #3 seed, if they can win the ACC. A slip up vs a very capable 8-3 Syracuse team is definitely something to watch for, as it would slide Clemson right into the ACCCG with a win over in state rival USC, but we’ll get to that. We then have two back to back SEC teams #7 UGA (#8 seed) and #8 Tennessee (#9 seed) who are scheduled to face each other in that 8 v 9 game. If UGA wins out, they will claim a top 4 seed and a bye, and with a loss could be out, who knows at this point. Indiana slides back 5 spots to the #10 rank after getting beat by 4 scores in their first game against a team with a winning record. They are slotted to face off with Penn State, which means there would be 2 inter-conference matchups in the 4 first round games – DUMB, WE WANT CROSS PLAY!! The final two spots belong to #11 ranked but #4 seeding Boise State, who will face off against UNLV in the Mountain West championship game as that rematch is shaping up to be electric, and #12 ranked and seeded Arizona State who looks to be the only Big 12 representative.
Other notable bullshit – Clemson has risen 5 spots after that MASSIVE win over Citadel and is now the 1st team out, followed closely behind God’s second favorite team, Alabama. Despite losing to a 5-5 Oklahoma team by 3 scores, the Tide are still in the hunt. If any more fuckery goes on in the Top 12, be prepared for Bama to sneak in somehow. Ole Miss falls the 13 but I still think they are dead, so don’t worry about that. South Carolina has snuck allllll the way up to #15…. and if they go to Clemson and pull off that upset….be on the lookout for the Gamecocks to make a case for one of those final spots. Also please unrank Missouri man, just please do it, or at least rank Kansas for shits and gigs.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Happy Thanksgiving Eve!
Love you guys,
TWD
