There wasn’t much going on this week. It was the final week before universal conference play, so many of the big teams were either idle or playing against one of the punching-bag teams.
Texas, for example, took on mighty Sam Houston, a school known to Texas football fans as Sam Houston Institute of Technology because of what the initials spell. The spread was 40. Texas covered with ease.
Florida State played against the ultimate punching bag, Kent State. The Seminoles scored 35 in the first quarter, then lost interest in the score and decided to give everyone a chance to play. The Seminoles finished the game with about 500 rushing yards from 12 different ball carriers. They also had nearly 300 passing yards with four passers and ten different receivers. The spread was 45 and they covered.
Kent State has not defeated an FBS team since 2022. Things will not get better for them in their next game. They play Oklahoma. Give the kids credit. You can’t say they play a pussy schedule. They also played Texas Tech earlier this year.
There were a few items to note:
I mentioned last week that Illinois’ ranking in the top ten seemed ridiculous. It was much more absurd than I imagined. How often does a top ten team lose by fifty or more? Indiana beat them 63-10. Indiana seems to be for real this year. They may rise into in the top ten this week, and they will certainly be close.
On the other hand, I also thought #17 Texas Tech was overrated, but they proved me wrong by beating #16 Utah 34-10. Or maybe they proved that Utah didn’t belong there.
Florida was ranked #13 in the pre-season polls, and is now 1-3, locked in a competition with Clemson and Oklahoma State to be the season’s biggest disappointment. The Gators managed only seven points against #4 Miami. Clemson, #4 pre-season, lost to Syracuse this week and are now 1-3. Oklahoma State suffered the ultimate indignity this week: they thought they were playing a punching-bag team (Tulsa) – and lost to them! That is the first time Tulsa has defeated Oklahoma State in 27 years.
#22 Auburn and #11 Oklahoma were evenly matched. Oklahoma won it with some impressive defense, featuring ten sacks, thus making their own case for the top ten. Those sacks were personal – Auburn’s QB was Oklahoma’s QB last year! (That transfer portal has really changed the game.)
OK, I’ll stop making fun of Vanderbilt for a while. They rose to 4-0 by scoring 70 in a game where they gave their punter the day off. (They didn’t score on every possession. They went for it on fourth down every time, and failed twice.) The last time Vandy scored 70 in a game, movies were silent, Babe Ruth was still pitching for the Red Sox, and football crowds shouted things like “boola boola” and “stoutly accomplished, lads.” I grant you that Georgia State is not a such a formidable opponent, but they beat Vandy last year, so this game was sweet revenge.
Overrated teams o’ the week
Two teams are now at least 15 places higher in the polls than in the computer analysis:
Florida State is #8 in the poll, #23 in the computer rankings. I guess we’ll see which is correct in two weeks, when the Miami Hurricanes (top five by both measurements) come to town.
Iowa State is #14 on the poll. That makes no sense to me or the computer, which assigns it #37. That is not likely to get adjusted much very soon. Their schedule worked out well for ’em. In their big conference, they can’t play every team every year, and this year they will not have to face Utah or Texas Tech. They will still have to hold off BYU and TCU to stay undefeated.
Ryan McGee (at ESPN’s Bottom 10 column) refers to them as “Sam Houston, We Have A Problem”.