2022-23 NCAA Football (Week 4)

Games I saw (some of):

Maryland 27-34 (4) Michigan

Maryland fumbled the opening kickoff, Michigan recovered and quickly scored and it felt like Michigan was gonna roll. Well....not so much, from that point on the game was even and really for most of the 1st half, I thought Maryland was the better team. Michigan, though, clawed their way back and looked strangely good up against the best competition they've seen this season. So Michigan handled their business against a pretty good conference opponent, a good W, but I'm not penciling them in for the playoff just yet. As for Maryland, well, they're done with the toughest opponent they'll probably have all season.

(5) Clemson 51-45 (2OT) (21) Wake Forest

Two weird observations on two weird QBs: the ballyhooed Clemson recruit just doesn't look very good at the game of football, though he's a hell of an athlete, while the Wake Forest QB seemed limited and hesitant throughout and yet struck me as the archetypal NFL back up; so, yes, I'd be surprised if the Clemson QB plays on Sunday, while I can totally see the Wake QB being in the League for a decade (while playing in like, 3 games). On the field, I thought the refs favored Wake--multiple defensive pass interference calls on Clemson, while never bothering to call the Wake secondary for grabbing and pulling throughout. Did it make a difference? Well, yeah, Wake's big plays downfield was what kept them in the game. So while Clemson didn't run up the score, I still thought this was a pretty good W for them. As for Wake Forest, they play smart, they don't suck, but I don't see them as particularly meaningful this season--the refs gave them their best chance at a big win and they didn't get it done.

(20) Florida 33-38 (11) Tennessee

Man, that Florida QB must be maddening to root for: every so often, he'll pull off some magic but more often than not, he's scrambling for his life or just throwing the ball away. Good talent but he's not there yet and Florida will go as far as he drags them (they've already lost to Kentucky and Tennessee, can they possibly beat Georgia? Uh....I'm not saying 'no'). I liked Tennessee's balanced offense and frankly the score is closer than it should've been because the Vols went into time-killing mode in the 4th rather than just playing the game to the end (a weird thing that football coaches inflict on their own squads, at times). I think Florida can still be dangerous but I think Tennessee was the better team. 

Top 25

Handled Their Business

(1) Georgia, (2) Alabama, (3) Ohio State, (4) Michigan, (5) Clemson, (11) Tennessee, (12) North Carolina State, (13) Utah, (14) Penn State, (17) Baylor, (18) Washington, (19) Brigham Young, (23) Texas A&M, (24) Pittsburgh

Won but did not impress (a lot this week!)

(7) Southern Cal. Didn't bring their A-game (got away with it this week....).

(8) Kentucky. Didn't bring their A-game (got away with it this week....).

(15) Oregon. Didn't bring their A-game (got away with it this week....).

(16) Mississippi. Didn't bring their A-game (got away with it this week....).

Bad beat

(10) Arkansas. Losing at A&M is not a bad loss but it would've been better to roll into Alabama with an A&M W in your back pocket. 

(20) Florida. Losing at Tennessee is not a bad loss (though it has pretty much finished them in the SEC East), they can still win games.

(21) Wake Forest. Losing to Clemson is not a bad loss (but the refs were tying to help them out and Wake couldn't get it done), but not sure the rest of the ACC has much to offer. 

Not so good

(6) Oklahoma. Losing at Kansas State happens every now and again but losing to them at home is unacceptable. Now its up to OU to play plucky underdog for the rest of the year and that hasn't happened in a while.

(22) Texas. I'm still convinced that Texas is a legit good squad but they clearly still have bad days in them (I'm guessing this isn't the last one).

(25) Miami. See ya, Hurricanes. I expect we'll hear all about their next glittering recruiting class but I don't expect to hear about them until then.

Next week's intriguing matches

(15) Washington @ UCLA (Washington is ranked but the Bruins look like the more fun squad)

(4) Michigan @ Iowa (Michigan is just an upset away from falling off the face of the earth and Iowa is just the team to put it on them, we'll see)

(7) Kentucky - (14) Mississippi (hasn't been this much excitement about a UK-Ole Miss match up since...oh, uh....well....never; honestly, I don't what to expect)

Texas Tech @ (25) Kansas State (if you like watching a football get slung all over the field, then you're probably gonna wanna tune in to this one)

(2) Alabama - (20) Arkansas (Bama is still kinda funky and vulnerable but I don't see the Razorbacks getting it done)

(9) Oklahoma State - (16) Baylor (this should be prime Big 12 action)

(22) Wake Forest @ (23) Florida State (the Seminoles won a game and I'm suddenly supposed to be impressed; I dunno, no outcome of this game would surprise me but they're both ranked (though one of them is guarantee to be gone next week), so I'm supposed to watch....*sigh* I will)

(10) North Carolina State - (5) Clemson (still not sold on Clemson but I know they've got overwhelming talent, so I gotta keep an eye on them)

West Virginia - Texas (Big 12 is the place to be this weekend, lot of slinging gonna be going on this Saturday)