Games I watched (some of):
Chattanooga 23-28 Kentucky
*sigh* The big improvement the Wildcats were touting this year was a for-real stud recruit QB...uh...I don't see it. His accuracy is not so good, his reads are not so good, he holds the ball too long and while he looks like a pretty good runner, the whole reason he came to UK was to be a passer...so....what are we supposed to do with this guy? Hopefully, it was just a bad week and they got away with playing a terrible game on both sides of the ball and the Wildcats will be ready to give Georgia and Florida a game when the time come; yeah, that's the hope. Otherwise, there was nothing good about this. UK's o-line and d-line both got mostly pushed around and UK's defense (outside of a fluky game-saving 95-yard interception return for a TD) was pretty nothing special in the middle of the field. If there's hope in Lexington, it's because there's nothing else.
Alabama 31-29 Florida
Wow! After the 1st quarter, Bama was up 21-3, everything felt predictable and Reddit was lighting up with the standard complaints of Alabama 'ruining football', etc. But from that point on, Florida kinda kicked the shit out of the Tide in a way that I haven't seen anyone (outside of Clemson) do in ages. Dude, that 99-yard drive the Gators had was a thing of beauty--a fucking masterpiece! When Nick Saban has trouble sleeping, that drive is what he'll think of while he's staring at the ceiling. If Florida doesn't miss a PAT early on, this could've been an entirely different result. But even though Florida came up short, Alabama did not look invincible, and suddenly this season is wide open again.
Auburn 20-28 Penn State
Fun game! I thought these two were pretty much even, give the slight edge to the home squad and, yeah, a one score game that stayed interesting deep into the 4th quarter. Really it all turned on a bad Auburn turnover right after halftime, which gave Penn State a short field to score a crucial TD, otherwise very tight game between two similar teams. And considering how ordinary Alabama and Ohio State have looked so far, feels like we're gonna get a wacky season and these two are well-positioned to make some noise.
Top 25
Handled their business
(2) Georgia, (4) Oregon, (5) Iowa, (7) Texas A&M, (8) Cincinnati, (9) Ohio State, (10) Penn State, (12) Notre Dame, (14) Iowa State, (17) Ole Miss, (20) Arkansas, (21) North Carolina, (23) Brigham Young, (25) Michigan
Won but did not impress
(1) Alabama. I dunno, man, for three quarters that got handled. Yeah, they won, they're still Alabama, they're still #1, but they looked mortal in a season when there's a lotta mortality out there.
(3) Oklahoma. Dude, Nebraska is not any good. When are the Sooners gonna get rolling?
(6) Clemson. Yeah, weird weather delay, they didn't fall apart or anything, so one is inclined to look the other way at this lackluster result. But, man, all that aside: that offense don't look good, man. I don't know what's up with them but they need to figure it out.
(16) Coastal Carolina. Struggling at Buffalo? I thought this was a high powered offense that could go anywhere and run it up, but apparently not.
Bad beat
(11) Florida. A missed extra point away from possibly dealing the biggest upset in years. (Although, let's be honest: the Gators got flat out smoked in the 1st quarter, so not a perfect performance)
(19) Arizona State. Yeah, they're probably just not as good as BYU.
(22) Auburn. Tough loss. Bad turnover early in the 2nd half was the difference, otherwise pretty even with the #10 team in the land on the road. An impressive L.
(13) UCLA. A shootout loss at home to Fresno State...I could live with that if this Fresno State squad turns out to be good--and they might--but they haven't yet. (But my first thought: wow, so is LSU gonna be really bad this year?)
(15) Virginia Tech. If I call this a 'bad beat', then I'd be acknowledging that @West Virginia is naturally tougher than Hokies on the road. But since Tech was ranked and the Mountaineers are not, this is just not so good.
(24) Miami. Hmmm....in three weeks I've given Miami a 'bad beat' and 2 'not so goods'. I'm officially ready to discard the Hurricanes. (Beat Clemson and we'll talk)
Next week's interesting matches:
(12) Notre Dame @ (18) Wisconsin (okay, I'll be watching)
Louisiana State @ Mississippi State (an interesting 'are either of these squads actually any good' kinda match)
(7) Texas A&M @ (16) Arkansas (I'm pretty sure Arkansas is overrated but I haven't decided yet about A&M, a loser leaves town match)
(9) Clemson @ North Carolina State (this game shouldn't be this intriguing but Clemson needs every W and Raleigh isn't the easiest place to get one)
(24) UCLA @ Stanford (the Bruins are still undefeated in the conference, so this match is actually kinda pivotal to see if UCLA can still have a good season)
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