2021-22 NCAA Football (Week 10)

Games I watched (some of):

(9) Wake Forest 55-58 North Carolina

For three quarters, Wake Forest was the better team. Yeah, they were allowing the Tarheels to move the ball and even score points, but Wake was moving even better and scoring even more reliably. But they just sorta stopped playing in the 4th quarter. Thought UNC's pass rush picked up the energy but otherwise Wake just fell down on the job. Apparently they do this every year and, well, it was only a matter of time before Wake ran out of gas and turns out it was in Chapel Hill. UNC gets to salvage a disappointing season by playing spoiler. Wake Forest was really never likely to get a spot in the playoff but they were still in the mix til this weekend.  

(3) Michigan State 29-40 Purdue

Purdue came to play, Sparty did not. Purdue enjoyed this game, Michigan State dreaded it; Purdue played with abandon, they had fun, Michigan State played uptight and couldn't wait to get back to the bus. This is the beauty of college football: Purdue was not particularly good at anything this season but they got beat #2 Iowa and #3 Michigan State, so they still had a fuckin' great year! And Michigan State just shot to the top 5 for no particular reason and bubbled up some excitement in an otherwise non-descript year. 

(12) Baylor 28-30 TCU

Last week in the intriguing matchups, I meant to add Oklahoma State going to West Virginia, but that game turned out to be a bit of snooze, since OSU took control early and easily won that game. But I should've also added this game, except that I thought Baylor would handle a depleted TCU, but I was mistaken. Again, like the Purdue match (or even A&M thrashing Auburn over on the other channel at this same time), TCU really relished the chance to go out on the field and give the what-for to a hated foe, whereas Baylor saw this game as precious and squandered away their natural love of the game to worry instead. Baylor was coming back, really felt like they should've finished off this game but they didn't get it done, great W for TCU. 

Top 25

Handled their business

(1) Georgia, (2) Alabama, (4) Oregon, (5) Ohio State, (6) Cincinnati, (7) Michigan, (10) Notre Dame, (11) Oklahoma State, (14) Texas A&M, (15) Brigham Young, (16) Ole Miss, (19) North Carolina State, (21) Wisconsin, (22) Iowa, (24) San Diego State, (25) Pittsburgh

Won but did not impress

(Well, honestly....Alabama, Oregon, Cincinnati, Ole Miss, San Diego State and Iowa can all go over here...lot of non-descript conference matches...but its late in the season and getting the W is what is important.)

Bad beat

(13) Auburn, (17) Mississippi State. Meh, all those SEC West teams are pretty much the same, going back and forth on each other is to be expected. 

Not so good

(3) Michigan State. Don't handle your business, don't get to be in the running any more. 

(9) Wake Forest. If they had just finished that UNC game, they'd be firmly anchored in the top ten, but oh well. 

(12) Baylor. Baylor rose up the ranks simply because the rest of their schedule can be meaningful, but they've got to win the games they gotta win to get the chance to at the real opportunities. 

(18) Kentucky. UK has advanced nicely over the last decade or so, but Mississippi State and Tennessee are the next stepping stones to overcome if the Wildcats are going to continue to rise.  

(20) Minnesota. Fresh to the top 20 and getting smacked at home by Illinois. Not so good. 

Next week's intriguing matches: 

(6) Michigan @ Penn State (two fading giants, kinda like watching not King Kong and Godzilla, but maybe like the warm up action scenes, maybe a giant gekko going at an overgrown gila monster or something; should be fun)

(8) Oklahoma @ (13) Baylor (If OU is for real, they'll handle Baylor; we'll see)

(19) Purdue @ (4) Ohio State (Purdue is mediocre but they've already beaten two top-5 squads this season, they got one more crazy upset in them?)

Minnesota @ Iowa (who ya got? The Big-10 West all comes down to this)

(11) Texas A&M @ (15) Ole Miss (meh, SEC West is annoying but there is a lot of talent over there, so this should be a fun contest)

(16) North Carolina State @ (12) Wake Forest (I think State is the better, more reliable squad and Wake has overachieved and is ready to completely flail; we'll see)

(9) Notre Dame @ Virginia (upset alert! The Irish should finish off the Cavs, but Notre Dame has been nice but not great this year and they need to run through the finish line; UVA isn't great but they don't suck and they'll get it up for Notre Dame in a way that Notre Dame might not do for UVA)

TCU @ (10) Oklahoma State (I think the Cowboys got this, but we'll see)