College Football Takeover: Week 10 gets Down to Business

Dude…

We’re getting down to the final few weeks of the college football regular season and it has been a LONG time since the race to the national championship has been this wide open. We don’t have a true clue who really looks like they could win it all the most and there are still many undefeated teams going into week 10 of the season. For this past week, we recap the first week of the season where teams played with College Football Playoff rankings assigned to top 25 wins and there was everything from key matchups being played to ranked teams taking a fall. We’re here to recap just a handful of different events that happened in this crazy weekend.

How6rd’s Takeaways

SEC takes shape after two huge matchups: There was a lot on the line between two of the top teams in each the SEC East and SEC West this weekend facing off in what had a lot of implications for both the SEC Championship and College Football Playoffs. Georgia hosted a Mizzou squad, who has had their best season in nearly a decade, in a battle that the top dog in the conference got punched in the mouth and had to overcome a deficit. The Georgia Bulldogs did just that after trailing in the third quarter as they took the lead and made it up to 11 points before Mizzou scored a touchdown of their own getting back into the game. The biggest help of this game was the Georgia defense’s resiliency after getting hit in the mouth with that touchdown as the next drive they picked off Brady Cook for the first time on the day in the third quarter essentially making a play that sealed the game for them the rest of the way.

Over in Tuscaloosa, this game also was a test of durability for both LSU and Alabama as it looked like the first team to make a crucial mistake was the one to lose the game. This is exactly what happened to LSU as they overall did well for themselves and held their own on offense for most of this game. After halftime, both of these teams had made big adjustments after scoring three touchdowns each on each other at first and was waiting for someone to mess up, which occurred in the beginning of the fourth quarter as Jayden Daniels threw a lone pick on what was an impressive day for him otherwise. Daniels’ impressive day was overshadowed by Jalen Milroe’s rare performance of scoring four (4) rushing touchdowns with 155 yards of rushing essentially beating the Tigers at their own game. As Daniels’ hopes at the Heisman award are all but over on such an impressive season for the QB, Alabama looks to be a dangerous force once again that looks to return back into the SEC championship against a Georgia powerhouse once again.

The Group of 5 is very confusing because of the NCAA: As multiple teams around the country are battling for a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against a top Power 5 team, there are a lot of questions regarding who really deserves the spot. Although this wouldn’t be the case with the obvious answer in the James Madison Bulldogs who are 9-0 and consistently looked impressive amongst the best teams outside the Power 5, they aren’t able to be bowl-eligible as it stands in the NCAA with their dumb ruling. After Air Force was completely shut down for the first time all year by Army, they suffered their first loss and quite possibly put themselves far down the list of Fiesta Bowl contenders. This leaves us now to Tulane and Liberty who have had very impressive seasons, but the big issue is that they’ve struggled against teams having lackluster seasons to say the least. This mostly concerns Tulane as of late who’ve had a seven-point win against North Texas, a two-point win against Rice, and this past weekend beat a now 1-8 East Carolina team by three points in a 13-10 game…yikes. We can also put this in the line that both of these teams are just tough and find ways to win consistently, more so in the undefeated Liberty Flames, but it’s also difficult to really find a team that can beat somebody like Ole Miss or the loser of the Pac 12 title game again from any of these teams. If the NCAA would just get rid of their FCS-FBS transition ruling of banning teams on getting into postseason play, then we could be having a much different conversation on how impressive the James Madison Bulldogs really are.

Arizona Football is… great?!: Now obviously we’ve seen some bad football out of the state this year between the Cardinals and Arizona State, but the Arizona Wildcats are making a huge case to arguably be the best three-loss team in the country right now. At the start of this year the Wildcats didn’t look anything to be feared of in the competitive Pac 12 after a loss to an underwhelming Mississippi State team, but after Jayden de Laura picked up an injury going into a big game against Washington it was up to the redshirt freshman Noah Fifita to step up and fill in for the starting role. Since that moment Arizona has had two close losses against Washington and USC and beaten everybody in their path including a ranked Washington State, ranked Oregon State, and ranked UCLA all with three impressive showings from the young QB. After their win against UCLA this past weekend the Wildcats are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2017, and they now should be talked amongst the best in the country as this team could be looking at a solid bowl game especially if they win out the rest of the season.

PC’S Takeaways

Washington should be in if they win out: Wow, wow, wow. That’s all I have to say about this team. Michael Penix Jr. Phenomenal. Dillon Johnson with his 230 yards on the ground and 4 touchdowns, insane. Rome Odunze and the rest of the wide receiver room, incredible. This Huskies offense was able to outgun the USC offense. Yes, we all know the weak point of this talented USC team was their defense. When they face off against a high power offense, they fold like a tower of cards. This doesn’t disprove the offensive prowess that Washington demonstrated. How can you not be impressed with this team?? They’ve been challenged week after week. Each team has given them their best chance and still hasn’t lost. I’ve been saying for WEEKS that Michael Penix Jr. is my favorite for the Heisman Trophy this year. If Washington can continue to figure out how to win games, then there shouldn’t be any reason why they don’t make the playoffs.

Texas almost lost: UGHHHHHH…. If you can’t tell I wanted to see the Kansas State Wildcats win this one so badly. Will Howard played the game of his LIFE. He threw 4 touchdown passes and had 327 yards to go with that. Jacob Parrish had 2 interceptions. It all seemed like everything was going to go the Wildcats way. However, the Wildcats decided to try and go for the win in overtime. They were well into field goal range to push the game to a second overtime. However, they gambled and Will Howard fell down and threw up a goose egg that ended up falling incomplete to lose the game 30-33. Texas’s backup QB, Maalik Murphy, played a great game. The biggest factor was the Longhorns run game. They stomped all over K-State’s defense and put up over 200 yards rushing. The Longhorns continue to barely scrape by. I still feel like the only way they could make the College Football Playoff is if some miracle happened. It just would’ve been nice to see the Longhorns fall to the Wildcats in their final season in the Big 12. One can only hope.

Oklahoma…STATE WON?!: SEC! SEC! SEC! Too soon? Not for the Cowboys as they chanted the Sooners out of Stillwater with a 27-24 upset win over the Oklahoma Sooners. Ollie Gordon II has been a surprisingly good running back this year. He put up 137 yards on the ground and had 2 touchdowns to go along with it. The Sooners defense looked like a donut around a fat guy, non-existent. The Cowboys just ran all over the Sooners D and couldn’t stop them at all. The Cowboys took an early 14-0 lead and never looked back. Now sitting at 7-2, the Cowboys look to try and make a New Year’s bowl or a highly recognizable bowl to play in. The Sooners were looking like College Football Playoff contenders, but after losses to the Kansas Jayhawks (that’ll never get old saying) and the Oklahoma State Cowboys, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. This is the last time we know for a fact we will have an Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State rivalry game. Thank God the right team came out on top in their final encounter.