No Quinn? No Problem. Texas soared with Arch at the helm in Quinn Ewers’ absence, and Michigan and USC made an early case for game of the year. 32 yards passing? no problem. Let Kalel Mullings eat. Welcome to the Big Ten, USC, and welcome to the SEC, Oklahoma.
Josh Heupel emerged victorious in his return to Norman as Tennessee was in control from start to finish against one of the two new kids on the SEC block. Things got interesting near the end, though it wasn’t nearly that close, and Missouri struggled despite being a top 10 team against an inferior opponent.
Florida State got into the win column (about time!) and Sonny Dykes got ejected. When was the last time a football coach was thrown out of a game? Just doing some quick research, it looks like Scot Loeffler was the last one for Bowling Green in 2021.
Best pick from Week 4: Michigan over USC
This one gets the nod because I nailed the score to this game. As a former student, this was extra meaningful because of it being USC’s first Big Ten game and I was accustomed to seeing Michigan fall short against the Trojans. Kalel Mullings led all players with 179 rushing yards and scored the critical touchdown on 4th and goal from the 1.5 yard line. I’ll have a hard time seeing a better game this season.
Texas and UL Monroe is a close second because I nearly nailed a second score this week, missing by one point for 51-3 instead of the 52-3 I predicted.
I’ve made predictions on nearly 8,000 games just from watching college football as a fan, and the number of correct predictions and winners I had prior to this season equivalent to the number of fingers I have on one hand. My luckiest streak ever is picking a score correctly three straight weeks. I have two correct scores now this season along with many close calls.
Worst pick from Week 4: BYU over Kansas State
Kansas State was ranked 13th entering last week and lost by 29 points. Enough said. Same could apply for FIU and Monmouth.
I was tempted to put TCU and SMU on here because SMU scored 66 on the Horned Frogs, and to add to the insult, the aforementioned ejection of Sonny Dykes took place.
Week 4 record: 47-17
Record after 4 weeks: 244-61 (.800)
Predictions for Week 5
September 26 (1 game):
Army def. Temple, 35-21
September 27 (2 games):
7) Miami def. Virginia Tech, 45-14
Rutgers def. Washington, 27-24
September 28 (53 games):
6) Ole Miss def. Kentucky, 45-10
12) Michigan def. Minnesota, 34-13
20) Oklahoma State def. 23) Kansas State, 24-20
22) BYU def. Baylor, 41-30
Indiana def. Maryland, 42-24
Nebraska def. Purdue, 37-21
Buffalo def. UConn, 28-21
Boston College def. Western Kentucky, 38-14
Northern Illinois def. NC State, 28-24
Syracuse def. Holy Cross, 35-14
Navy def. UAB, 34-20
Tulane def. South Florida, 38-28
James Madison def. Ball State, 51-27
Sam Houston State def. Texas State, 31-24
13) USC def. Wisconsin, 34-24
16) Notre Dame def. 15) Louisville, 27-24
24) Texas A&M def. Arkansas, 30-24
Miami (OH) def. Massachusetts, 38-21
Wake Forest def. Louisiana, 30-27
Kansas def. TCU, 31-30
Colorado def. UCF, 38-31
Liberty def. Appalachian State, 33-27
Fresno State def. UNLV, 28-26
Central Michigan def. San Diego State, 31-24
Georgia State def. Georgia Southern, 34-23
Marshall def. Western Michigan, 35-28
Ohio def. Akron, 31-20
Eastern Michigan def. Kent State, 38-24
21) Oklahoma def. Auburn, 30-17
Duke def. North Carolina, 48-27
East Carolina def. UTSA, 29-24
1) Texas def. Mississippi State, 56-7
Bowling Green def. Old Dominion, 33-23
Louisiana Tech def. Florida International, 34-28
Kennesaw State def. UT Martin, 35-31
Florida Atlantic def. Wagner, 41-17
3) Ohio State def. Michigan State, 38-17
17) Clemson def. Stanford, 41-20
18) Iowa State def. Houston, 37-7
Troy def. UL Monroe, 28-20
Rice def. Charlotte, 29-27
North Texas def. Tulsa, 38-31
4) Alabama def. 2) Georgia, 32-28
9) Penn State def. 19) Illinois, 34-26
Memphis def. Middle Tennessee, 41-24
14) LSU def. South Alabama, 48-13
SMU def. Florida State, 31-17
Cincinnati def. Texas Tech, 35-27
New Mexico State def. New Mexico, 30-26
Air Force def. Wyoming, 21-19
Washington State def. 25) Boise State, 29-24
10) Utah def. Arizona, 27-20
8) Oregon def. UCLA, 55-20
I like the fact that they didn’t overly penalize USC for losing a nail-biter to Michigan, though I was surprised to see Kansas State remain ranked after being shellacked in Provo. Alabama and Georgia is the biggest game of the week, though in my opinion, the loser will still make the playoff. My preseason pick is that Georgia will avenge Alabama in Atlanta, so time will tell if that indeed comes to fruition.
To finish this post, one topic I didn’t really have an opinion on prior to the season is who would win certain post-season awards. If I had to answer whom I think would win them based on the preseason and now, some of the picks are below.
Heisman: Before season – Carson Beck; now – Jalen Milroe
Doak Walker: Before season – Donovan Edwards; now – Kalel Mullings
Fred Biletnikoff: Before season – Emeka Egbuka; now – Ryan Williams
Outland: Before season – Mason Graham; now – Mason Graham
Bronko Nagurski: Before season – Deontae Lawson; now – Mason Graham
Jim Thorpe: Before season – Will Johnson; now – Will Johnson
Maxwell: Before season – Jalen Milroe; now – Travis Hunter
Davey O’Brien: Before season – Carson Beck; now – Jalen Milroe
Ray Guy: Before season – James Burnip; now – Alex Mastromanno
Lou Groza: Before season – Bert Auburn; now – Dominic Zvada
These are not all the awards that are given out, though I had to do some research on the Ray Guy and Lou Groza awards in particular. Additionally, the Lott Impact Award gets decided the year after as well, as Junior Colson, who is now with the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL, was announced as the recipient of the award from the 2023 season during Michigan’s game against USC. It is a bit shortsighted though it is evident that these award winners also have great team success, as those light up the field despite poor team record don’t always get the same attention. Rare exceptions include Toby Gerhart, who was second to Mark Ingram in 2009 for the Heisman despite his Stanford team going 7-5 in the regular season, or Lamar Jackson winning the Heisman for a 9-3 team that lost their last three games, including their bowl game to LSU. If Lamar didn’t have the stats he had, I think DeShaun Watson would have won it instead.
College Football Prediction Central with Paul Shen 