Let’s dive into the week that was in college football and hit all the highlights on the SoBros Network’s College Football Roundup.
*The Clemson Tigers were able to fend off the Syracuse Orange on Saturday, 27-21, but man, it hasn’t been pretty. There were some pretty questionable calls that favored the Tigers, who turned the ball over FOUR times in the game. Dabo Swinney elected to bench DJ Uiagalelei after Syracuse got up by two touchdowns in favor of freshman Cade Klubnick. It took 172 yards and two touchdowns from Will Shipley and the Orange failing to put points on the board at all in the second half for the Tigers to escape with the win. Man, it has been ugly – and sure, Clemson gets credit for winning these games when they could be losing ’em, but it just looks like this team is going to creep into the playoffs unbeaten as the 4 seed, and it’s going to get trounced by Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio State, or Alabama. This game makes four this season that they could’ve easily lost. This feels like a team that is flirting with disaster each and every week.
WILL SHIPLEY RUNS FOR 50 YARDS TO GIVE CLEMSON THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/SyFW6j28FM
— ESPN (@espn) October 22, 2022
*At this point, I am dying to see the Ohio State Buckeyes play somebody. They’ll head to Penn State this weekend, so that ought to be a doozy, but if they can survive that trip, they’re going to be sitting there at 11-0 hosting Michigan in another massive game at season’s end. I just don’t see this team losing this season, and they have a pretty damn good chance of winning it all. They are quietly having the most boring of seasons, and it’s because they’re just uninterestingly destroying people.
*I know you guys are going to roll your eyes at my love for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, but that was about as close a 30-6 as you could’ve seen in the SEC. For the Alabama Crimson Tide, we saw what a machine this club can be when it isn’t shooting itself in the foot with penalties, and regardless of what you think of the Bulldogs, that was an impressive win. Nick Saban has an interesting way of handling losses, and I can’t help but wonder what this team’s trajectory is if it can really button things up moving forward down the stretch.
*Man, Jayden Daniels has really turned it on for the LSU Tigers. It seems this club has found its way on offense, and after steamrolling Ole Miss in the second half, they’ve climbed to second in the SEC West. That game against Alabama in a couple of weeks is starting to look a lot more compelling.
*Every week, we keep saying the hourglass is going to run out on this Cinderella run for the TCU Horned Frogs, and all they do is keep winning. Against a game Kansas State Wildcats team that jumped up 28-17, TCU rallied back to win this thing 38-28. My big takeaway is that you just can’t bet against this TCU team. Sonny Dykes is in the conversation for ‘Coach of the Year’ and the Horned Frogs are likely the Big 12’s last chance at a playoff spot. Who saw this one coming?!
*With the Oregon Ducks clobbering the UCLA Bruins, it might’ve effectively ended the Pac-12’s hopes of getting a team into the playoffs with every contender having a loss now. At this point, they need some losses from SEC and Big Ten contenders, along with TCU and Clemson to get in. So, this race might just be for the Rose Bowl at this point. The Ducks put themselves in the best position after that win, and that ugly loss to Georgia feels like forever ago at this point.
*The Oklahoma State Cowboys ain’t dead yet! Props to Mike Gundy‘s squad for bowing up late in that game against the Texas Longhorns, a game that Texas led for what felt like three quarters. We could be heading towards an epic re-match between the Pokes and TCU with a Big 12 title on the line.
*Man, what are the Texas A&M Aggies going to do with Jimbo Fisher? They’re absolutely snowed under with that massive contract, but this Aggies team is a massive disappointment…maybe THE biggest disappointment in all of college football. They can’t get anything going on offense, and the talented defense just can’t seem to get stops. They’re in a bad, bad spot. On the other side of Saturday night’s game, Shane Beamer deserves credit for getting the South Carolina Gamecocks to 5-2 with two quality wins over the Aggies and the Kentucky Wildcats. I thought we were collectively overvaluing that win in Lexington, but it’s looking a little less fluky now. What is this team’s ceiling? I don’t know, but they’ve become a fun team to watch.
*Remember when I wrote about the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as an interesting team to watch down the stretch as they could be a surprise bowl team? I’d like to take that back, if it’s not too late, after seeing their quarterback run out of bounds on the final play of the game….
Georgia Tech, known for their prestigious academics. Highest regarded school in the state, producer of scholars
— Baxter Street Boys (@baxstboys) October 21, 2022
pic.twitter.com/Da7s8R0Qk2
*The Rutgers Scarlet Knights got their first Big Ten home win since 2017 on Saturday. The whole state of New Jersey be like:
RUTGERS (-2.5)‼️ pic.twitter.com/p4Oq9VK9Oe
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) October 22, 2022
*In this week’s Group of Five talk, let’s recognize the Liberty Flames as legitimate threats to make the Cotton Bowl. I still think it’s ultimately going to be the boring ass Cincinnati Bearcats because no one from the rest of the Group of Five is going to run the table and they just keep winning games, but if the Bearcats’ deficiencies eventually catch up with them, the Flames could be in position to steal that spot with a relatively manageable schedule down the stretch if they can get past Arkansas on 11/5.
*Shout out to the Maryland Terrapins! I haven’t written about ’em a lot in this column this season so far, but they’ve quietly snuck up to 6-2, could easily be 7-1 if not for a two-point loss to Purdue, and gave the Michigan Wolverines all they could handle. Mike Locksley has the program headed in the right direction. If you want to get really crazy with me here for a second, look at the Terps remaining schedule. They can beat Wisconsin. They can beat Rutgers. If they could somehow upset Penn State or Ohio State, we’re talking about a team that will go into its bowl game with a chance to win its 10th game. A 10-win Maryland team?!?! Who could’ve seen that coming back in August?!
My Current Bowl Projections
- Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Georgia
- Peach Bowl: Tennessee vs. Clemson
- National Championship: Tennessee vs. Ohio State
- Rose Bowl: Michigan vs. Oregon
- Orange Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Ole Miss
- Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. TCU
- Cotton Bowl: USC vs. Cincinnati
If you haven’t already, be sure to go subscribe to the College Football Roundup Podcast, on which Steven McCash and myself break down all the action from the college football world and look ahead to the week to come.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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