Road warriors emerged last night with the Crimson Tide and Ducks getting top-5 wins in primetime. Oregon’s win catapulted them into the no.2 ranking this week behind Ohio State, though I’m not sure I agree with Penn State falling all the way to 7. Though there is precedent in penalizing teams for losing big games since Texas got knocked all the way down to 7 after losing in week 1 to Ohio State as the top ranked team. Florida State and TCU suffered losses too. Prayers up for Squirrel White though the entire team made it out after the field storming.
Georgia continues to struggle against Alabama, though it was remarkable that Alabama won without scoring in the second half. That running game is deadly with Jam Miller as the bellephant though (pun intended).
I was enormously wrong picking against Utah, buying into the idea that they might be less good than advertised after losing a ranked matchup against Texas Tech the week before. Kansas surprised me as did Minnesota. Not only did Utah bounce back nicely, BYU and Illinois did too.
Record through 5 weeks: 245-59 (.806)
Week 5 record: 40-13 (.754)
Predictions for Week 6
October 2 (1 game):
New Mexico State def. Sam Houston State (-1.5), 27-24
October 3 (5 games):
Western Kentucky def. Delaware, 38-34
South Florida (-27.5) def. Charlotte, 41-14
New Mexico def. San José State, 42-21
23) BYU (-19.5) def. West Virginia, 31-14
San Diego State def. Colorado State, 20-13
October 4 (45 games):
12) Georgia def. Kentucky, 45-17
14) Iowa State def. Cincinnati, 41-20
20) Michigan (-16.5) def. Wisconsin, 42-14
22) Illinois (-9.5) def. Purdue, 38-17
Pittsburgh (-5.5) def. Boston College, 31-27
Clemson (-13.5) def. North Carolina, 31-17
Baylor (-5.5) def. Kansas State, 38-35
Navy (-10.5) def. Air Force, 42-35
UAB def. Army, 34-13
Ohio def. Ball State, 37-27
Virginia Tech def. Wake Forest, 34-31
Temple def. UTSA, 38-28
NC State def. Campbell, 52-10
Western Michigan def. Massachusetts, 52-17
Arizona def. Oklahoma State, 40-23
7) Penn State def. UCLA, 41-20
9) Texas def. Florida, 45-24
10) Alabama def. 16) Vanderbilt, 45-31
21) Notre Dame def. Boise State, 45-28
24) Virginia def. Louisville, 42-38
Maryland def. Washington, 37-23
Northwestern def. UL Monroe, 24-17
Oregon State def. Appalachian State, 34-27
SMU def. Syracuse, 31-21
UConn def. Florida International, 35-27
James Madison def. Georgia State, 41-17
Central Michigan def. Akron, 48-20
Buffalo def. Eastern Michigan, 34-20
Miami (OH) def. Northern Illinois, 27-7
5) Oklahoma def. Kent State, 52-7
Nebraska def. Michigan State, 37-30
Texas State def. Arkansas State, 36-21
Old Dominion def. Coastal Carolina, 38-24
11) Texas Tech def. Houston, 34-24
UNLV def. Wyoming, 38-31
Troy def. South Alabama, 33-20
Rice def. Florida Atlantic, 28-14
1) Ohio State def. Minnesota, 48-17
3) Miami (FL) def. 18) Florida State, 42-28
6) Texas A&M def. Mississippi State, 44-35
TCU def. Colorado, 41-34
Kansas def. UCF, 42-35
Memphis def. Tulsa, 39-34
California def. Duke, 36-33
Fresno State def. Nevada, 42-28
I’m still trying to stay consistent to most if not all of my preseason playoff picks, where the one preseason pick that seems eliminated from contention is Clemson. An important exclusion from this year’s field is Penn State per my predictions, where, without knowing what would happen yesterday, that Penn State’s rushing offense couldn’t carry them. Drew Allar made some nice plays yesterday when the chips were down, but Oregon’s defender Jake Thieneman made the game sealing interception with a beautiful catch of his own. Oregon is a more complete team than most except Ohio State right now and I believe that right now is reflected in the AP poll this week.
College Football Prediction Central with Paul Shen 