2023-24 NCAA Football (Week 6)

Games I saw (some of):

(20) Kentucky 13-51 (1) Georgia

A coupla years back, Alabama came to Lexington and laid a 63-3 beatdown on the Wildcats. My takeaway (follow me now): wow, Kentucky's better than I thought! Why did I think that? Because Alabama their A+ game and did not fuck around when they very easily could've put forth a C- effort, won 31-10 and no one would've thought twice about it. But what I'm saying is Coach Saban looked at Kentucky and said to himself, 'Whoa, these guys are actually pretty good and there's no f'n way I'm gonna risk a loss to f'n Kentucky!' And so they brought the stomp boots and withheld all mercy. Yes, UK got stomped but it was a stomping of respect, not an indicator that Kentucky sucked. I was sorta expecting the same thing this week against UGA and, well, if you lean back and squint, I guess you could make the same argument. The difference here is that UK shot themselves in the foot with dumb penalties and missed/dropped passes and then just sorta gave up by halftime (that was disconcerting). If you thought UK had a shot at covering +14.5 at UGA it was because that so far the Bulldogs haven't really had a complete game and certainly don't look as in control on either side of the ball as they have in their last two runs to the championship. It may well be (buck up, Kentucky fans!) that this was the game they were waiting for, this was the game they marked on the calendar as the real start of the season. I would suggest Florida and Tennessee (and Kentucky) were really the only three "tough" games on their schedule (and if you think Florida and/or Tennessee has a shot at covering, I wouldn't bet on it!). Kentucky had moments of moving the ball and they had moments of getting stops, but UK's dumb mistakes dug an impossible hole and they all knew it right away. Unfortunate to see the Wildcats just give up so quick, but really the only glaring weakness that jumped was--holy shit!--their punter is terrible! That guy should not be in Division One. As for UGA, well, they cruised too easily to really tell, but they look like they're rounding into shape and it may well be a third championship for the Bulldogs. 

(12) Oklahoma 34-30 (3) Texas

Fun game! Both teams looked good to me, went right to the end, I was impressed (at times) by both squads, I think they're both top tier teams and I expect they'll both be hanging around come playoff time.  Can't help but pointing out, though, that this is a disappointing L for Texas, they were the higher ranked team at home, they've got to take this one. Great W for the Sooners, the first great moment since Caleb Williams left town. 

Top 25

Handled their business

(1) Georgia, (2) Michigan, (4) Ohio State, (5) Florida State, (11) Alabama, (12) Oklahoma, (14) North Carolina, (15) Oregon State, (16) Mississippi, (23) Louisiana State, (25) Louisville

Won but did not impress

(9) Southern Cal 

I only watched the 1st quarter, but, man, they looked uninterested in playing football. Not sure if Arizona at home is just that much of a mail-in game or if they're looking ahead to Notre Dame or if LA life is just too exciting to get the job done, but 3 OT's later and the Trojans got the W, so maybe I'm making too much of nothing. But if they can lose to Arizona, then they can lose to *ahem* a lot of teams. 

Bad beat

(20) Kentucky

You're out of your element, Donnie. Moments of playing hard vanished pretty quickly as the Bulldogs finally played their first really good game of the season. 

(21) Missouri

I dunno, LSU is always a tough opponent, even if they seem to be down this year. Missouri made a game of this, went deep into the 4th quarter, not a good L but not a devastating L.  

Not so good

(3) Texas 

Gotta beat your conference rivals at home. You just do. 

(10) Notre Dame

Been a while since the Irish played a schedule this tough. But then again, getting pushed by Duke and then whipped by Louisville doesn't exactly feel like a gauntlet. (Playing Southern Cal next week, that's the gauntlet!)

(13) Washington State

Gotta win at UCLA if you want to be a top ten team. Not a bad L but they didn't get it done. 

(17) Miami

Hmmmmm, loss at home to Georgia Tech?  WTF?

(24) Fresno State

I don't know west coast football, I thought they could get the win at Wyoming, but it feels like Wyoming wanted this one. 

Next week's intriguing matches 

(8) Oregon @ (7) Washington (your marquis match, who wants to win the Pac this year?)

Texas A&M @ (19) Tennessee (good SEC match, we'll see what A&M can generate on the road)

(23) Kansas @ Oklahoma State (time to see if Kansas is truly worthy of being ranked, the Cowboys probably see this as a winnable game, right?)

(10) Southern Cal @ (21) Notre Dame (okay, Irish, time to get the ol' mojo back)

(25) Miami @ (12) North Carolina (feels like the Tar Heels should lay a serious smackdown here, right?)

Missouri @ (24) Kentucky (two mid-level SEC squads coming off tough losses, who will bounce back quicker?)

(18) UCLA @ (15) Oregon State (PAC-12 shootout, let's see it)