Every Saturday during college football season we watch football from Noon till the last games which usually start at 10:30-11:00pm. Those games usually don\u2019t end until well past midnight. We watched Oregon State vs. Texas State and UNLV vs. Wyoming. The latter game came down to an interception in the end-zone. WHY? That is the question I have for Dan Mullen from last night. You run the ball all the way down the field and then decide while into the red-zone to have your quarterback who can\u2019t throw, put the ball in the air to have your quarterbacks final throw end up an interception. We had #1 Miami fall on the road to Notre Dame. #6 Kentucky got blown out by Tennessee. #7 Texas is still alive after their scare against Missouri. BYU which three weeks ago had their biggest win in school history at home vs. Notre Dame lose 2 of their next 3 games. Ohio State is pretty much eliminated from the playoffs. SERIOUSLY \u2013 We will discuss this one more later on. We are now part of the reality of college football \u2013 PARITY. There are no great teams anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now there are 2 \u2013 After University of Miami lost to Notre Dame 31-24 only Utah (9-0) and UCLA (9-0) are left amongst the unbeaten. Both teams still have time to stumble. This is just the reality of college football. UCLA is a good team but they are beatable. Utah got a scare from BYU but they got a big win at home. It will be interesting to see if these two teams stay unblemished through the Conference Championship games?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University of Miami \u2013 I was more impressed with them in a loss than a win. SAY WHAT? Yes, Miami was down 21 without their star receiver and did not quit. They were one questionable call away in the end-zone from coming away with a win in South Bend. Reality is last night Notre Dame was the better team. I am not saying that if these two teams faced again that Notre Dame would win. At South Bend, in November in a MUST win situation, Notre Dame played with urgency all night long. They won and now without a major slip up between today and the end of the season the Irish will be in the field of 12. Miami just needs to win out against Duke, BC and Pitt and win the ACC title game and they will in the field as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ohio State \u2013 I saw all the experts say after last week\u2019s loss to USC that it was not a big deal. Do these guys actually watch the games or just play the result. Ohio State without starting QB Julian Sayin was not very good. Oregon went into Ohio State and beat them badly. Now with three losses they need a ton of help to even be considered one of the first four teams out. It would not shock me if we did not see the last of Jeremiah Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgia \u2013 Boy did they look good. They went into Ole Miss and beat them baldy. Trinidad Chambliss is no longer in the Heisman Race. That ended last night. UGA looked like a complete team. They are without a question one of the top 2-3 teams in the country. Smart has a team that could quietly win another Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dark-HORSE \u2013 Tennessee was left out of the first set of Rankings. They beat Bama soundly. They just beat Kentucky Soundly. There is no way Bama should be ranked ahead of the Vols. Win out and it will be interesting to see if the Tide get in over Tennessee. I think Alabama has to win out. I doubt a three loss Tide gets in over a 2 loss Vols team who beat them during the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Texas Tech \u2013 WOW \u2013 from a team that had a great defense last year they can\u2019t stop anyone this year. Thomas Castellanos got to Texas Tech late and boy did the Red-Raiders hit on that transfer. Their defense is a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
USC \u2013 Shane Beamer \u2013 Guys got 9 LIVES\u2026.He went from the hot seat to a team that if they win out could make it into the 12 man field. I never understood why he was on the hot seat in the first place. South Carolina is very difficult to win at and he has done exactly that \u2013 WIN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oregon \u2013 Lanning fired his OC and his team went into the SHOE and beat the tar out of Ohio State. That is a team that you probably don\u2019t want to sneak into the playoffs. They are big up front on the offensive and defensive lines and this is a team that has talent but has had bad luck in the injury department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oregon State \u2013 They got off to a good start but boy \u2013Texas State and Fresno State have put a beating on the Beavers the past two weeks. They need a bye week to get straight. Good team but the past two weeks their opponents have figured them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cooper Barkate \u2013 Miami \u2013 He showed the nation last night that the Hurricanes have more than Mali at the receiver position. He could come up big down the stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
51-26, 23-12, 51-26 \u2013 Those the records of Kevin Sumlin, Mike Elko and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M. Jimbo was 26-10 after three seasons, Elko is 23-12 and Sumlin was 28-11. Texas A&M for some reason thinks they are an ELITE program. Maybe with the 12 team playoff they will finally do something but come on. Their fan base and boosters are not realistic. Each of these coaches have done well enough that many other programs would be ecstatic with them. These guys want Elko gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Road Games \u2013 of the top 25 last week 30 of the 48 games which they lost were on the road. It has become more and more difficult to win on the road. The home team is 30-18. That means more than 63 percent of the time the home team is going to win. We will see if that trend continues through the final three weeks of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heisman Trophy \u2013 Mensah had his chance last night without Malachi Toney to put his name in the mix. They come back and win that game from 21 down and Mensah was the reason why, He is probably the front runner today for the award. We will stick with Jeremiah Smith. Even without a decent quarterback he is the best player in college football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hot Seat \u2013 Will Hall \u2013 I don\u2019t like to call coaches out. There is so much that goes into winning and losing BUT\u2026.What was Tulane thinking. They have won of the best jobs in G5. They hire a coach who failed miserably at Southern Miss and you hire him. After getting blown out by Tulsa this experiment will probably be a one and done deal. Tosh \u2013 Cal Coach \u2013 There is word going around he may be a one and one deal as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hot Seat #2 \u2013 Kyle Willingham \u2013 One way to get fired is to lose to your Rival Michigan State \u2013 The other way to get fired is to lose to your other Rival is a couple of weeks. Michigan had good intentions after their head coach got let go after a messy divorce. Kyle WAS a very good coach. As you can see he is not missed at Utah and Michigan is terrible. They thought putting the backup quarterback in would change the direction of their program. Boy were they wrong. Michigan may be open in a few weeks. Will Stein would look good for the Big Blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hot Seat #3 \u2013 He probably should have stepped away when his son left. Deion is in trouble. Colorado looks like they did when he took their program over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FSU Opening \u2013 This past week FSU finally parted ways with Coach Norvell. Not going to lie, I have been in the business for over 20 years and here is one of the great guys in college football. I know fans want to win which he did in 2023. What happened after the snub by the playoff committee is truly one of the great mysteries of college football. I said at the time that while FSU was the first team to fall apart they won\u2019t be the last. College football has changed and the current system is no longer sustainable. Penn State crashed and burned last year. Ohio State may this year. You have programs and fan bases that think just changing a coach is going to change the fortunes of their program. Ask LSU \u2013 they got the Trojan horse as their head coach. Norvell did not win and what happened was inevitable. I don\u2019t blame him fully as FSU after going 13-0 panicked and decided to give him an extension which now is over a 50 million dollar payout. They had two choices- 1) Tell Sexton that we will not give your client a new contract without a small payout 2) Given Norvell at that point more money for NIL. Coaching is GREAT\u2026But having a talented roster is more important. How you spend that money is also important. Ask Ohio State who has bought and paid for 4-5 (5-Star receivers) but does not have a competent backup quarterback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who should FSU go after \u2013 1) PJ Fleck (Minnesota), Jimbo Fisher, Jake Dickert (Wake)\u2026.One of these three would do very well for FSU. If USC is dumb enough to fire Lincoln Riley. \u2013 FSU can call me and I will get them his number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Playoffs<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Utah (Big 12) vs. 12. Boise State<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Texas (SEC) vs. 11. Tennessee (SEC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Alabama (SEC) vs. 10. Wake (ACC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. UCLA (Big 10) vs. 9. Texas Tech (Big 12)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every Saturday during college football season we watch football from Noon till the last games which usually start at 10:30-11:00pm. Those games usually don\u2019t end until well past midnight. We watched Oregon State vs. Texas State and UNLV vs. Wyoming. The latter game came down to an interception in the end-zone. WHY? That is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4031,"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030\/revisions\/4031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitescoutingservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n