2021-22 NCAA Football (Week 7)

Games I saw (some of):

Auburn 38-23 (17) Arkansas

Auburn was better. The two teams were pretty similar, I like Auburn's QB (Nix), thought he was the real difference in this game. But in the 2nd half, Arkansas just couldn't hang. The SEC West teams (except Alabama, of course) are all pretty much the same. 

(11) Kentucky 13-30 (1) Georgia

Yeah, my prediction going in was 27-13; I expected UK to have a brilliant opening drive and then one more pretty good drive in the 2nd half (I wasn't far off) and I expected UGA to be move the ball fairly well but to struggle from time to time against UK's solid defense (yeah, I was pretty much right on that). I'm still not a fan of the Kentucky QB or the attack in general, but that defense is legit and should definitely win a few more games (I got them going 3-2 from here and finishing 2nd in the SEC east--that's still a monster year for UK!). Georgia is good (thought I can't imagine anyone thought Kentucky would be their toughest regular season opponent this year), they're gonna stay good from here and I give them a better-than-usual shot against Alabama in the SEC Final--and I think UGA makes the playoff whether they win or lose that game (probably likewise for Alabama, too (*)). Note that I am far from an SEC homer that always thinks SEC teams are better than everyone else--far from it! I typically think Georgia is overrated every year, but this team is good and as long as they don't blow it, I think they're in the final four. 

Top 25

Handled their business

(1) Georgia, (3) Cincinnati, (4) Oklahoma, (5) Alabama, (10) Michigan State, (12) Oklahoma State, (13) Ole Miss, (21) Texas A&M, (22) North Carolina State 

Won but did not impress

(9) Oregon. After such a horrific L to Stanford, you'd think that Oregon would love to use their Friday night spotlight at home to thump another sorry conference opponent. But, no, they scuffled into the 4th quarter with a really sorry Cal team. Oregon is withering before our eyes (but the Pac-12 is so weak that it just doesn't seem to matter). 

(24) San Diego State. Needed double overtime to finally finish off a so-so San Jose State. Sorry, not impressive. 

Bad beat

(11) Kentucky. Pretty much what I expected, UK was up against the #1 team and they're not as good. 

(25) Texas. The bad beat is that they were ranked just high enough to look embarrassing when they drop a home game to a conference opponent that's pretty much just as good. Looked capable (not good--we'll say 'capable') in the Red River Shootout last week but did not carry over the momentum. 

Not so good

(2) Iowa. Oh, Iowa...right when the world's eyes are on you, you got kinda stomped at home by a Purdue team that doesn't do anything particularly well. Iowa is still atop their division, still in line for the B-10 championship game but they don't seem so sexy right now. 

(17) Arkansas. Getting rolled at home by an unranked team always sucks. 

(18) Arizona State. Meh. More Pac-mediocrity.

(19) Brigham Young. Thought last week's L was just a bad game but it seems like BYU is fading fast. Can they rebound?

(20) Florida. Yeah, I bought into 'em for a while, but the Gators are overrated. 

Next week's intriguing matchups:

(None); it's very kind of the NCAA to offer us an annual reminder to clean the garage and winterize the lawn mower; feels like a good week for MLB playoffs, Bundesliga and to catch some early NBA.

(*) Wait, wait, wait...a 2-Loss SEC team in the playoff? Yeah, dude: Clemson sucks, the Pac-12 sucks, Notre Dame is nice but nothing special, 2nd place in the B-10 suddenly doesn't look so sexy. Cincinnati is really the only wrinkle (and I'm rooting for them to win it all). So...yeah...I think a 2-loss Alabama team is certainly in the mix to get in the playoff.