2019-20 NCAA Football (Week 9)

Games I saw some of:
(9) Auburn 20-23 (2) LSU
The score looks close and it was tied at halftime, but I thought LSU was the better team all the way through. I expected them to take off in the 2nd half and they did, making it look like a victory that Auburn was able to tie it by the half. Auburn is good but they're out of the SEC race now (but I'd hate to be the upstart small conference team that meets them in a bowl). LSU is for real, man, we'll see when they meet Alabama in a coupla weeks. Ahhh, this college football season has managed to pony up at least one good size match each week, nice to see the stakes are still rising this deep into the season.

(13) Wisconsin 7-38 (3) Ohio State
Buckeyes, too, are for real, feels like Bama and Clemson have some competition this year for the first time in ages (I would've included Oklahoma, too, but oh well). Sloppy conditions kept this game for a while--seems like they should've favored the Badgers, too--but once the Buckeyes got going, they dominated with ease. Wisconsin (like, say, Auburn) is a top quality 2nd tier team but not good enough to roll with the tough guys. Ohio State, on the other hand, seems tightened up on both sides of the ball: a disciplined defense that doesn't get beat and an offense that doesn't make mistakes and makes the most of chances (if perhaps a little streaky). Not ready to put them at #1 just yet but it's in front of them.

(5) Oklahoma 41-48 Kansas State
When the score went by and K State was up 41-24, I did a double take and was like, 'wait, what?' Nope not a typo. So I turned it on in the 3rd quarter and, man, Oklahoma's defense (that I just started to come around) couldn't stop an old man running up hill! Anything K State wanted to do, they did with ease: up the middle, pass to the flat, connecting on 3rd and long, QB sneaks--whatever they wanted! Indeed, they were one lucky stop near midfield (with about 8 minutes left) from really blowing the doors off Oklahoma, their offense pulled up after that, but they could've (and should've!) kept the beatdown going. OU made a game effort down the stretch but they were too far behind to make it work. Outside of the Georgia-Florida winning knocking Alabama (or will it be LSU?), I don't see how OU gets back into the playoff. As for K State, I've been to Manhattan, Kansas, and I'm here to report that beating Oklahoma is all they're gonna talk about for the next coupla years.


Top 25
Handled their business:
(1) Alabama, (2) Louisiana State, (3) Ohio State, (4) Clemson, (6) Penn State, (11) Oregon, (12) Utah, (16) Southern Methodist, (17) Minnesota, (19) Michigan, (20) Iowa, (21) Appalachian State


Bad beat:
(9) Auburn. Yeah, both of these squads are nice 2nd tier teams, I can see them meeting each other in a bowl. But they're not with the elites, not this year.
(13) Wisconsin.


Not good:
(5) Oklahoma. Oh, that defense was a sieve! Damn shame, I thought this squad was going deep this year.
(8) Notre Dame. I didn't see much of this (still baseball season for one last weekend) but it appears that Michigan controlled easily throughout then took 'em to the brick oven in the 4th quarter. After Michigan's mostly mediocre performance this season, for Notre Dame to get so thoroughly whipped was a surprise to me. They'd need a lot of crazy upsets to get themselves back into the playoff talk.
(15) Texas. Well, it is worth noting that my favorable opinion of UT came from their spunky efforts in losses rather than how they looked in their W's. I suspect they're still an edge of top 25 kinda team, they'll get a nice bowl game this year.
(23) Iowa State. Yeah, conference loss at home should pretty much remove them from the top 25 for the rest of the season.
(24) Arizona State. Nice defense, no offense. They're the kinda team that doesn't get blown out but loses a lot of close ones.


Next week's intriguing matches:
(8) Georgia @ (6) Florida (okay, this game is back on; figured Florida would take this one but I think Georgia has a better chance of coming up big in the SEC final)
(7) Oregon @ Southern Cal (I think the Ducks are the better team but conference road games in prime time can always go sideways)
(15) SMU @ (24) Memphis (ehh, could be fun)