Georgia Emerges On Top, Lane Kiffin Wins While Losing, Jimbo Fisher Gets The Alumni Off His Back (For Now) & Bad Defenses Are All The Rage
Whoa, that was exciting.
College football delivered close game after close game after close game in Week 6 (Oct. 10) in a storm of points that rivaled the rainfall from Hurricane Delta. Here is the Pigskin Prognosticator’s review of the weekend’s games with its winners and losers and highlights and lowlights.
College Football Winners
The Georgia Bulldogs emerged as the biggest winners, flattening Tennessee in the second half to win going away, 44-21. The Dawgs are playing something unheard of in the SEC these days: defense.
The Alabama offense scored touchdowns on every second-half possession to win the game for the Crimson Tide, and the team needed it. Mac Jones was an incredible 28-of-32 for 417 yards (and no interceptions), Najee Harris ran for 206 yards and the offensive line knocked the Ole Miss defenders around like bowling pins. As for the Tide’s defense, well, keep reading under this week’s losers.
Lane Kiffin devised an offense that flat-out embarrassed Nick Saban. The Rebels may have lost the game but they gained a lot of respect not just around the league, but around the country.
Jimbo Fisher finally beat a ranked team. Could this signal a turnaround for Texas A&M? Doubtful, to be honest; Florida imploded in this game. Keep reading under the College Football Losers subhead. But at ol’ Jimbo got disgruntled alumni off his back. For now, anyway.
Spencer Rattler was rattled but came back and rallied the Oklahoma Sooners to a four-overtime 53-45 overtime win over Texas in the Red River Rivalry. He simply outlasted the Longhorns’ Sam Enlinger.
It would be easy to put the Clemson Tigers in here after yet another rout, this time 42-17 over Miami but really, how much of a true winner is a team playing in the equivalent of a subdivision league?
College Football Losers
Coach O and LSU lead the pack here. Coach O looks more like the guy who went 0-for-the-SEC while at Ole Miss rather than the front man for last year’s incredible season. Could he be the first guy to go from winning a National Championship one year to being run out of town the next?
The Florida Gators defense was overlooked while the media was gushing over its offense for the first games but it was a weakness that was going to eventually cost this team. It was pathetic. Of course the offense didn’t help, either, having a crucial fourth-quarter fumble on what looked like would be a game-clinching drive.
Texas and Tom Herman took a big hit. First, the Longhorns fell behind by two touchdowns. Then they rallied in the fourth quarter but Herman – playing chicken – kicked the extra point instead of going for two at the end of regulation. Overall, his teams are overrated, can’t tackle, play sloppy and play only in spurts. That’s why they are so inconsistent. As a result, Herman is sitting on the hot seat. One fan even suggested bringing back Mack Brown.
Oklahoma managed to make the losers list despite winning the game. Yes, Rattler stood tall but the defense is definitely a loser.
The Alabama defense, as noted above, was brought to its knees against Ole Miss. At least the players played hard, forced two fourth-quarter field goals instead of giving up touchdowns, and got two sacks on the Rebels’ last desperation possession. Still, they are going to have to get their act together for this to be a championship team.
College Football Highlight & Lowlights
One of the biggest highlights was watching the Missouri Tigers celebrate their upset of LSU after they stopped the visiting Tigers four times from the 1-yard-line at the end of the game. New Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz got his first signature win.
The biggest lowlight, without a doubt, was the wrong and horrible officials call at the end of the Auburn game. Tigers quarterback Bo Nix fumbled the ball and then spiked it, the ball going backward. It was a fumble but once again Auburn luck prevailed as the officials incorrectly ruled it intentional grounding. Arkansas Head Coach Sam Pittman repeatedly (and correctly) said “it’s our ball.” But somehow the refs blew it and Auburn kicked what was the game-winning field goal the next play. Arkansas should have won this game.
This was the second blown call this year in Jordan-Hare that cost the visiting team a victory. In the opener, Kentucky clearly scored a touchdown – the running back was four yards inside the end zone – but the officials declared the runner down at the 1 because they blew the whistle while the back was still churning his legs. While that one play wasn’t the difference maker in the score, it occurred right before halftime and cost the Cats momentum and re-energized the hosts.
The magical luck continues at home for a team that should really be 0-3.
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