Reactions from Week 6 + Predictions for Week 7 of the 2024 College Football Season

We have a new no.1 for the third time as Texas regains the top spot from yet another fellow SEC team. Georgia opened the season as the no.1 team and then it was Texas before Alabama beat Georgia. I still cannot believe what went down in Nashville last week with Vanderbilt taking down Alabama. What a game that was.

In case anyone wants to know, no I do not bet on games. Interestingly, I picked a third game correctly this season and was close to another again with SMU over Louisville by seven instead of four. However, I still had some questionable picks as many upsets aside from Alabama also took place.

Record through 6 weeks: 313-96 (.765)
Week 6 record: 36-13 (.735)

Actually I did to substantially better (13% more correct picks from last week), much to my surprise. Based on the unexpected, it could have been better. For this week, I will also indicate who the favorite is, so I can compare my record next week against what it would have been if I picked only the favorite in each game.

According to WTFStats on instagram, there is at least one football game every day for the next 52,… yes 52, days!

October 8 (1 game):

Liberty (F -17) def. Florida International, 41-10

October 9 (1 game):

Jacksonville State (F -20.5) def. New Mexico State, 42-14

October 10 (3 games):

Coastal Carolina def. James Madison (F -10), 34-31
Louisiana Tech (F -5) def. Middle Tennessee State, 28-24
Western Kentucky (F -19.5) def. UTEP, 48-17

October 11 (4 games):

Memphis (F -7) def. South Florida, 42-21
Maryland (F -10.5) def. Northwestern, 31-20
UNLV (F -18.5) def. Utah State, 42-27
16) Utah (F -6.5) def. Arizona State, 30-23

October 12 ():

7) Alabama (F -21) def. South Carolina, 52-7
10) Clemson (F -20) def. Wake Forest, 41-13
21) Missouri (F -27.5) def. Massachusetts, 38-10
Washington def. Iowa (F -2.5), 23-14
Wisconsin def. Rutgers (F -2.5), 24-21
Georgia Tech (F -6) def. North Carolina, 38-27
Ball State (F -6.5) def. Kent State, 31-14
Toledo (F -9.5) def. Buffalo, 30-10
Army (F -25.5) def. UAB, 42-7
Eastern Michigan def. Miami (OH) (F -3), 30-27
1) Texas (F -14) def. 18) Oklahoma, 42-28
4) Penn State (F -5.5) def. USC, 31-24
11) Notre Dame (F -24) def. Stanford, 33-17
22) Pittsburgh (F -3) def. California, 34-27
23) Illinois (F -19.5) def. Purdue, 38-17
Virginia def. Louisville (F -7.5), 30-24
UCF (F -3) def. Cincinnati, 29-26
San Diego State (F -2) def. Wyoming, 27-24
Georgia State (F -1.5) def. Old Dominion, 38-31
Western Michigan (F -8.5) def. Akron, 33-21
Northern Illinois def. Bowling Green (F -3), 28-24
14) BYU (F -4) def. Arizona, 31-21
Central Michigan def. Ohio (F -3), 27-24
5) Georgia (F -32) def. Mississippi State, 41-10
San José State (F -1) def. Colorado State, 30-23
UL Monroe (F -7) def. Southern Miss, 26-14
8) Tennessee (F -15.5) def. Florida, 41-20
New Mexico (F -6.5) def. Air Force, 34-27
Washington State (F -3.5) def. Fresno State, 37-27
Texas State (F -14.5) def. Arkansas State, 42-21
North Texas (F -6.5) def. Florida Atlantic, 33-26
UTSA (F -6.5) def. Rice, 31-14
3) Oregon def. 2) Ohio State (F -3), 31-24
9) Ole Miss (F -3) def. 13) LSU, 51-46
Oregon State (F -4.5) def. Nevada, 28-20
Louisiana (F -10.5) def. Appalachian State, 38-27
Vanderbilt def. Kentucky (F -14), 28-27
11) Iowa State (F -3) def. West Virginia, 31-26
Syracuse (F -4.5) def. NC State, 32-23
Georgia Southern def. Marshall (F -2.5), 34-31
Minnesota (F -5.5) def. UCLA, 27-20
Colorado def. 18) Kansas State (F -4.5), 41-30
17) Boise State (F -21) def. Hawaii, 48-20

I’ve included the spread as of Monday night though it is possible for the spread to change over the week. For the sake of not overthinking, I will compare my record this week against the favorites and against the spread and indicate those results in the next prediction post.

In a couple weeks, the first CFP rankings will be released, so if the top 11 + top G4 were to be ranked as of right now, I’d have the following:

1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Oregon
6. Penn State
7. Texas A&M
8. Clemson
9. Indiana
10. Iowa State
11. Tennessee
12. Boise State
    

Byes: Texas, Ohio State, Clemson, Iowa State

Seeds 5-12: Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, Texas A&M, Indiana Tennessee, Boise State.

As far as the actual 12th ranked team in the country, I would put Notre Dame. As I see things right now, I put Tennessee ahead of ND simply because their loss is less damaging in my opinion than Notre Dame’s. I believe you have to reward teams as necessary based on their record, which is why Indiana is in the top 10. A case can be made for Army to be up here, though they haven’t played the caliber of teams Indiana has. Clemson has rebounded nicely since their week 1 loss, and while Miami is undefeated still, they have barely escaped the last two weeks. But they will have opportunities to look impressive still and make their move. Most importantly, head-to-head has to matter. That’s why I have Texas A&M in the top 10 and barring Oregon actually beating Ohio State, the Buckeyes have to stay ahead of the Ducks as of now. Alabama has the head-to-head over Georgia and Texas is clearly the number 1 team in the country right now.