10. The Big 12 Has Gone Goofy
1. Utah; 2. Kansas State; 3. Oklahoma State; 4. Kansas; 5. Arizona.
That is the top five teams in the Big 12 media poll before the season. It did not seem wrong at all. It was thought that Utah would be the best team, and Arizona had a great season before this one. Now we are here.
Five teams in the Big 12 have records of 1-4 or worse. Who are they? Utah, Arizona, UCF, Kansas, and 0-5 Oklahoma State. Five of the teams ranked before the season might not even go bowling.
9. Penalizing Vanderbilt
For a moment, forget that Vanderbilt is Vanderbilt. There is Diego Pavia, duct tape, and a prayer behind this, but it is also a bad out.
Texas beat a team that was ranked 25th in both polls two weeks ago 27–24 in Nashville. It was a tough game.
Hey, College Football Playoff committee. It is a new year, so let us start a new habit: do not punish teams for big losses.
The only reason Vandy dropped out of the top 25 was because it lost by three points to Texas. Teams that did not play Texas should have moved up instead.
By the way, Georgia State’s only win over an FBS team is still over Vanderbilt.
8. The Washington State Issue
Almost certainly, Washington State will go 11-1. Their only loss will be on the road to Boise State, whose only other loss might be to Oregon this season.
Again, the Cougars beat Texas Tech, which is as many or more Big 12 wins as five other teams in the league. However, the rest of the schedule is not very good.
It is not enough to beat San Diego State 29–26. If the CFP world gets bigger, there should be room for a Wazzu, but it can not be close again. All of the games between Utah, New Mexico, Oregon State, and Wyoming have to be ugly blowouts.
7. Schedules Matter, Part 1: Texas A&M
We are all crazy about Texas A&M after their great win over LSU. The rest of the games are at South Carolina, New Mexico State, Auburn, and Texas.
At worst, it should finish 10–2, and at best, 11–1. It would have a chance to win the SEC Championship. This is getting a little unfair now.
There are games against LSU and Texas, but they were both in College Station. There are no SEC games for Georgia, Tennessee, or Alabama. This week’s game at South Carolina will likely be the hardest away game.
6. Schedules Matter, Part 2: Army
It sounded like “Navy over Notre Dame is my upset special” about thirty times last week. Not a chance.
Notre Dame is that good, and Navy played well even though they had a bad schedule. But it was enough to bring Memphis down. Army does not have one of those.
People in America love Army because it is 7-0 and has won all of its games by a large margin. However, Army has yet to beat a team that will bowl.
This week, Air Force is here after taking on Lehigh at Florida Atlantic, Temple at Tulsa, UAB at East Carolina, and Rice at Florida Atlantic.
Vanderbilt had to play Texas, but it didn’t.
5. The Most Interesting Conference in College Football
Kent State. The Golden Flashes are the only team that is not really in the running for the MAC title. All 11 teams are still in the running, and eight of them are only two games behind Western Michigan, which leads the conference with a perfect 4-0 record.
Akron is 1-3 after coming from behind to beat Eastern Michigan. Northern Illinois is also 1-3, but they beat Notre Dame. And Central Michigan is 1-3 after beating San Diego State.
The most likely winner is Miami University, which is 3-1 in the MAC. But this is going to be crazy.
4. This Heisman Race is Awful
It has to be won by someone.
Even though Ashton Jeanty had 128 yards and a touchdown, the Boise State star running back can not be anything but off the charts in the Mountain West, and UNLV pretty much shut him down.
Things are fine with Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, but he is not screaming HEISMAN. That is what ESPN keeps saying about Miami quarterback Cam Ward, but… meh. Travis Hunter is great, but Deion Sanders is the star for Colorado. Shedeur Sanders throws a lot.
3. Boise State Might Be the 4 Seed
The Big 12 is fine, but things are going to get messy soon.
It is possible for even the worst teams in the league to win their last five games. For example, Utah could beat BYU, and Iowa State could lose any of its last five games. The Big 12 champion could be 11-2 or even 10-3 if everything goes as planned.
Boise State’s only mistake was losing to Oregon 37–34. With a 45–24 win, it may be the only time the Cougars lose this season.
The Broncos will likely finish between 7th and 9th in the final College Football Playoff rankings, ahead of the Big 12 champion, even though their Group of Five schedule is not very tough. This is because they will have won 12 games and the Mountain West title.
That would mean a bye in the first round and probably a game against the winner of the Big Ten Championship between Ohio State and Oregon in the quarterfinals.
2. Indiana Football is Having More Fun Than Anyone
How can we be sure that Indiana is good? There is no better quarterback in college football than Kurtis Rourke right now, and he was not even in the 31–17 win over Washington that was not even close.
When your team goes from being unknown to being famous in an instant, it is the most exciting thing in sports. It is not a given that Indiana will win the national title, but this is the best start in Hoosier football history—all eight wins were by 14 points or more, and…
Once more, schedules. It is possible that Nebraska is the only team that has beaten a bowl team. Like any football fan from Indiana would care.
Soon, there will be games at Michigan State and Ohio State on the road, as well as a game at home against Michigan. But for now…
We are all for you, Indiana. Have fun with this.
1. Deion Sanders Got Colorado to a Bowl Game
In the basement, I still have a box with Deion posters, a jersey, and other things from 35 years ago. Please know that I have no bad feelings toward him—he might be my favorite athlete of all time, or 1B next to Jordan.
Colorado is still not really my cup of tea.
The pass defense is not good, the Big 12 is not great, the team lost to Nebraska, who was just okay, needed Jayden Daniels to beat Baylor, lost to Kansas State, has not played Iowa State or BYU yet, and…
Colorado is going to a bowl game for the first time since 2020. Even back then, going to a bowl game in a five-game COVID year was not quite normal. The last time the team went bowling over the course of a full season was in 2016.
Colorado’s football has been awful. Since 2007, there has only been one season with six wins or more. Since 2005, there has only been one season with twenty wins or more.
No matter what you think, give Coach Prime his due, even if you think he is overrated, dishonest, or a sideshow attraction.
Before he got there, Colorado had only one win. Now they have six wins and counting. It is still in the thick of the race for the Big 12 title, and the College Football Playoff is still possible if they win out and get some help.
Coach Deion Sanders is pretty good at what he does.
