2018-19 NCAA Football (Week 14)

Games I watched (some of):

(10) Washington 10-3 (17) Utah
Yeah, that game was as boring as the score would indicate. The winning TD was a flukey pick-6, otherwise there was no offense--NO OFFENSE--in this game at all.  This was two mediocre offenses against two okay defenses. Washington gets a Rose Bowl birth, where I reckon they'll get spanked by a so-so Ohio State squad. Pac-12 was really nothing special this year and this championship was pretty much the perfect capper of the season for the conference.

(5) Oklahoma 39-27 (9) Texas
Probably Oklahoma's crappiest game of the year--they played better in their L to Texas earlier in the year. The Sooners started the game by trying to go low-key, which was exactly what Texas was planning on--really? How is it that Texas was perfectly situated for that? Oklahoma really never did get their offense going but still managed to grind up the Horns. Texas is a nice team, moving in the right direction but they weren't as good as Oklahoma at any point this season (well, except for that week they beat them, I guess....).

(7) Central Florida 56-41 Memphis
Man, UCF really dug themselves a hole but it is a tribute to that overwhelming offense that they spotted a tenacious Memphis squad two quick TD's, sputtered through the first half and still easily covered the spread. Kinda impressed with Memphis that they put up that kind of fight, but once UCF got their feet under them, this game was over. I'm impressed, I'm ready to see Central Florida against a for-real opponent--especially in a year when everyone is playing for 2nd place anyway.

(1) Alabama 35-28 (4) Georgia
I was impressed with Georgia for the first three quarters, but honestly I thought Bama's WR's dropped a lot of balls in the 1st half, missed a lot of plays they would normally make and that's basically what kept UGA in the game. Bama going to their 2nd string QB (who would be an all-American at any other school) for the comeback just shows how much better they are than everyone else this season. UGA did their best, kept the game spicy but they're just not as good as Bama (and if Bama played better this wouldn't have been that close).

(6) Ohio State 45-24 (21) Northwestern
Buckeyes did enough to hold the lead, Northwestern looked like they were going to make a game of it early in the 2nd half but Ohio State still has enough big play ability to easily sock the game away. Northwestern played hard, I liked their moxy, but even as mediocre as Ohio State has been this season, they still have more than enough talent to easily take this game.


Didn't see
(2) Clemson 42-10 Pittsburgh
Yeah, this was predictable, Pitt was up and down all year long while Clemson plowed their way through an undefeated season without even trying hard.

(19) Boise State 16-19 (23) Fresno State
Two tough squads, ones to keep an eye on during the bowl season.

(24) Iowa State 27-24 Drake
Not a strong finish for Iowa State. Guess they only get it up for the tough games.


My final rankings
(1) Alabama (duh)
(2) Clemson (can they beat Bama? I dunno, maybe)
(3) Oklahoma (that offense is really good, they can give Bama or Clemson a game at least, though I don't see them beating either)
(4) Georgia (hung tough with Alabama for 3/4 of a game, more impressive than most everyone else this weekend)
(5) Notre Dame (solid, workmanlike Irish squad, they'll be Clemson's toughest opponent all year, they might could knock them off, we'll see)
(6) Central Florida (I'd rather see them than anyone else in a big game)
(7) Ohio State (after they throttle Washington they'll be the most uninspiring, unimpressive, luckiest 13-1 Rose Bowl-winning Big 10 champion I ever saw)

(8) nobody (LSU has 3 L's, Washington has no offense, Michigan blew their chances, Penn State and Florida weren't all that great this year, if Kentucky wins at Tennessee this would be their spot but they didn't get it done, either--we don't need an 8 team playoff, people!  We don't need it!)