Welcome to the twelfth edition for the junior season of The Hangover, where I recap the previous weekend in college football. This week, The Hangover comes to you from Athens, Georgia, where I watched the Bulldogs once again struggle to move the ball offensively in a 19-13 win over Texas A&M. There is a ton to parse through from this past weekend and what the results mean, so let’s dive in!
You know in that old line in those cheesy movies? Sometimes it’s a horror film and other times it’s a spy film, but the line always remains the same: “It’s quiet. Too quiet.”
That’s the feeling I was getting every week looking at the College Football Playoff Rankings. Things weren’t changing enough, especially near the top. It was quiet. Too quiet.
Not anymore. The debates have heated up in earnest after this weekend. It started early, when Ohio State was pushed for the first time this season by Penn State, which did all of the pushing with a back-up quarterback in the game. Meanwhile, Alabama rolled through Western Carolina–not a surprise–but Mac Jones looked in-command of the offense and took many a bold shot down the field (the big test is next week, though). Then, Georgia played Texas A&M.
The weather was horrendous. Trust me, whatever you saw on TV was worse in-person in the first half. I’ll let Ollie Williams tell you what it was like.
So yes, there’s a bit of an excuse for Jake Fromm’s issues throwing the football. Then, late in the first half, blue skies were spotted in the distance, the rain subsided, and…Fromm didn’t get better.
Jake Fromm completed three passes all day on third down, two in a first half touchdown drive. The rest of the game saw the Georgia quarterback overthrowing receivers and taking sacks to force punts. It wasn’t an impressive game by any stretch.
Later in the evening, eyes turned to Tempe as Herm Edwards and the Arizona State Sun Devils hosted Oregon in primetime. Arizona State’s defense made Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert look routinely pedestrian, and Jayden Daniels threw for 408 yards, lighting up the Ducks’ typically stingy defense. Despite a late Oregon rally, there was a feeling of control over the entire game for Arizona State. When the clock hit zero, Herm Edwards had a signature win in year two and the Ducks were eliminated from the CFP.
Elsewhere, Oklahoma was fumbling away yet another game, losing a first half 21-0 lead against TCU and needing a late stop to win 28-24. In the last four weeks, the Sooners have lost by a touchdown to Kansas State, beaten Iowa State by one, beaten Baylor by three, and topped now 5-6 TCU by four points. Not exactly the most impressive run in Lincoln Riley’s tenure.
The other team seemingly up for the fourth spot in the CFP is Utah, and the Utes looked good handling Arizona. Now, though, the potential Pac-12 title game match-up against Oregon has lost some luster. How good would that win be compared to Auburn should Alabama win the Iron Bowl this upcoming weekend?
Assuming the top three teams win their conferences (they don’t even have to win out), the battle for the fourth spot will be down to Alabama, Oklahoma, and Utah. In my opinion, that’s a favorable grouping for the Crimson Tide, especially if Mac Jones can lead Nick Saban’s club to a controlling win over Auburn. The only caveat to all of this is Georgia. A victory over LSU in the SEC Championship sends both the Bulldogs and the Tigers to the playoff, although I’ve yet to see evidence on the field that makes me think Georgia can beat the Bayou Bengals. But who knows and, frankly, who cares? The chaos is here. We got a taste of it this past weekend, and more is coming. Buckle in, college football fans. The quiet is long gone, and the craziness has arrived.
More Week Thirteen Thoughts
-Did Clay Helton save his job? USC’s 52-35 win over UCLA after a historic day from quarterback Kedon Slovis put the Trojans at 8-4 on the season and 7-2 in the Pac-12, but I’m not sure it’s enough. If USC can get James Franklin, they should pull the trigger. If they can’t get their top few choices though, I think keeping Helton is the right call. Here’s a fun scenario: if Utah loses to Colorado this week, USC advances to the Pac-12 championship game. Surely Helton can’t get fired then, right?
-Am I crazy for wanting to give SEC coach of the year to Jeremy Pruitt? Yes, the same Jeremy Pruitt that we destroyed multiple weeks in a row back in September. Well, Tennessee is bowl-eligible, sitting at 6-5 after winning at Missouri 24-20. Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano has looked like a different player since Pruitt got in his face during the Alabama game (and some of y’all were saying Pruitt was “too harsh”), and things are looking up on Rocky Top. The turnaround job this season after a disastrous start is beyond impressive.
-By now, you’ve seen the videos of the student protest at Harvard-Yale that delayed the game over an hour at halftime. Politics of the protest aside, this is incredibly annoying for both teams. I mean, surely both head coaches were about to pop a blood vessel as they sat and waited in the locker rooms. As it was going down, somebody made the comment to me, “You wouldn’t see that at an SEC stadium.” My response? “Uh, yeah, because the first student going out onto the field would get tackled.” Ivy League, I know you’re the Ivy League, but maybe a few more security guards next time. Luckily, the 50-43 two overtime classic finished before it got too dark (there weren’t any lights in the stadium).
-It more or less came out of nowhere, but Tom Herman is on the hot seat, y’all. A careless, disinterested showing against Baylor in a 24-10 loss puts Texas at 6-5 on the season. Remember last year when the Longhorns won the Sugar Bowl and Sam Ehlinger stole the mic and said, “We’re baaaack!” Yeah, not quite, man. Herman’s lost the goodwill he accumulated last year, and finishing the season strong is now a priority. Going into next year, which could be make or break for Herman, 8-5 looks and feels a lot better than 6-7.
-An update on the CFP Considerations List: we’re down to nine teams after the losses by Oregon and Penn State. Officially, the only remaining teams with a chance to make the College Football Playoff are 11-0 LSU, 11-0 Ohio State, 11-0 Clemson, 10-1 Georgia, 10-1 Alabama, 10-1 Utah, 10-1 Oklahoma, 10-1 Minnesota, and 10-1 Baylor.
Gray’s Top Ten
- LSU
- Clemson
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Utah
- Oklahoma
- Minnesota
- Michigan
- Florida
LSU remains at the top spot. Then, things have changed just a little bit. In their first true test of the season, Ohio State didn’t blow me away. Right now, I think Clemson would win a game between these two on a neutral field, so I moved the Tigers up to the two spot. Just below that, Alabama bumps back up over Georgia to number four. Again, I’ve watched Georgia live and in-person four times this season, and I just don’t think the Bulldogs are one of the top four teams in the country. Utah moves into the six hole, and Oklahoma comes in at seven despite continually playing with fire. Minnesota is at eight ahead of a huge game this weekend against Wisconsin that will decide who goes to the Big Ten Championship, and Michigan claims the ninth spot ahead of the game against Ohio State this weekend (am I crazy for leaning Michigan here?). Finally, Florida fills out our top ten.
Next Four Out: Baylor, Penn State, Oregon, Notre Dame
Coach of the Week
Props to P.J. Fleck at Minnesota and Matt Rhule at Baylor for bouncing back this week. The Golden Gophers and the Bears were the two undefeated darlings who both suffered their first losses of the year last weekend. This week, though, both teams responded with decisive wins. Minnesota jumped out to a 21-0 lead on Northwestern and kept the Wildcats at arms length the rest of the way, winning 38-22. As mentioned earlier, Baylor beat up on Texas 24-10, and it wasn’t even that close. The Longhorns needed a rushing touchdown with one second left to make the score even somewhat respectable. The win also advances Baylor to the Big 12 Championship game for a rematch against Oklahoma. We all knew these men were good coaches after the year they’ve both had, but Saturday showed that they’re effective motivators as well. As long as Fleck and Rhule stick around, Minnesota and Baylor could be very good for a while.
Idiot of the Week
What in the world is going on at Washington? Chris Peterson‘s program has taken a step back this year, and question marks are being raised after a disappointing 20-14 loss at Colorado this weekend. Yes, the Huskies just scored 14 points against the team that is 106th in total defense, 87th in scoring defense, 118th in team passing efficiency defense. Jacob Eason was a very-pedestrian 21/34 for 206 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Could all of this be because of Jonathan Smith, last week’s Coach of the Week and the second-year head coach at Oregon State (Smith was the offensive coordinator for four seasons in Seattle). I’m not sure, because the offense for Washington wasn’t this abysmal last year. For whatever reason, things just aren’t working for the Huskies. Maybe this is the year Mike Leach finally beats his nemesis Chris Peterson for the first time since 2012.
150 Corner
Rivalry weekend brings some of the best action in college football each year, and two match-ups in particular stand out: Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan. It’s fierce and competitive, and over the past years these games have delivered some classics. Here are the best games of late in these two series.
Random Rankings
Next week, we’re going to give you the early season preview of The List. If you’re new here, The List is a ranking and review of all of the 2020 Oscar contenders. We’ll release it the Monday/Tuesday before the Academy Awards in February. Next week is the ranking of the films on that list that we’ve seen so far, just without the reviews (we’re saving those for the big post).
Oh, and now seems like a great time to announce another venture we’re trying here at RR HQ. We’ve been reviewing films for The List the last four years, so we’ll be releasing an entire post where we rank (and, in some cases, re-rank) all of the Oscar contenders from our time in college. It’s a big project with a ton of films, so we’re bringing in an outside consultant, reader Stacey Torkelson, to help put our thoughts into words (and maybe re-watch a few movies). Stay tuned for that, because it will be BIG and AWESOME.
Now, let’s turn our attention to this week’s Random Rankings. It’s almost time for Thanksgiving, so let’s give you our top five best things about Thanksgiving list. As usual, this list is final. Please direct all anger and hate mail if you’re a lover of something not mentioned to the same special corporate filing cabinet used by Michael Scott in the pilot episode of The Office.
1. Thanksgiving Weekend Football
2. Food, especially the Desserts
3. Thanksgiving Movie Releases
4. Seeing People For the First Time in a While
5. No School Most of the Week
SEC Power Rankings
Rivalry week is here in the SEC! Expect some more movement once the regular season wraps up. Here’s how The Hangover sees things stacking up in the conference where it just means more.
- LSU (LW: 1)
- Alabama (3)
- Georgia (2)
- Florida (4)
- Auburn (5)
- Texas A&M (6)
- Tennessee (7)
- Kentucky (8)
- Ole Miss (9)
- Mississippi State (11)
- Missouri (10)
- South Carolina (12)
- Vanderbilt (13)
- Arkansas (14)
So Who’s Ready for Next Week?
As the race for conference titles and the CFP comes into focus, every game matters (more or less). Plus, lots of bragging rights are at stake this weekend. Here’s what’s coming up in Week Fourteen. Note: the rankings shown are from this week’s AP Poll, since the updated CFP Rankings will come out Tuesday.
Ole Miss at Mississippi State, 6:30 CT on ESPN (Thursday)
Texas Tech at Texas, 11:00 am CT on FOX (Friday)
#23 Virginia Tech at Virginia, 11:00 am CT on ABC (Friday)
#19 Iowa at Nebraska, 1:30 CT on Big Ten Network (Friday)
#18 Cincinnati at #17 Memphis, 2:30 CT on ABC (Friday)
Washington State at Washington, 3:00 CT on FOX (Friday)
#2 Ohio State at #10 Michigan, 11:00 am CT on FOX
#3 Clemson at South Carolina, 11:00 am CT on ESPN
#4 Georgia at Georgia Tech, 11:00 am CT on ABC
Louisville at Kentucky, 11:00 am CT on SEC Network
#5 Alabama at #16 Auburn, 2:30 CT on CBS
#13 Wisconsin at #9 Minnesota, 2:30 CT on ABC
#11 Baylor at Kansas, 2:30 CT on ESPN
Oregon State at #14 Oregon, 3:00 CT on Pac-12 Network
#15 Notre Dame at Stanford, 3:00 CT on FOX
Texas A&M at #1 LSU, 6:00 CT on ESPN
Iowa State at Kansas State, 6:00 CT on FS1
Colorado at #6 Utah, 6:30 CT on ABC
Florida State at #8 Florida, 6:30 CT on SEC Network
#7 Oklahoma at #21 Oklahoma State, 7:00 CT on FOX
Arizona at Arizona State, 9:00 CT on ESPN
That’s it for this edition of The Hangover! We’ll be in Auburn next week for the Iron Bowl. Until next time, football fans!
