Last Week’s Recap
Stop the clock! Apparently that wasn’t in the gameplan this week for Colorado when they saw themselves down 14 with 6 minutes left and no timeouts.
The Buffaloes proceeded to waste time on every snap getting lined up as well as changing plays at the line of scrimmage.
When they scored to get within 7 points there was under 2 minutes remaining in the game and their only chance, an onside kick, was not recovered.
Commendable effort to come back from 27 down in the second half, but questions remain, especially with coach Prime who needs to have better control of the clock.
However luckily for coach Prime all anyone wanted to talk about after the game was USC’s defense, who surrendered 564 yards of total offense and 41 points.
Will USC’s defense once again be the reason this team, led by the best quarterback in the country, be left out of the college football playoffs?
While USC worries about defense, that wasn’t a worry in Durham, North Carolina where defense is all we saw.
Maybe the teams were exhausted with all the College Gameday festivities, the second in as many weeks for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame however didn’t look like the tired team when it mattered most.
After being held to under 300 yards and 13 points for 57 minutes, Notre Dame went 95 yards in 2 minutes to take the lead, highlighted by a 4th and 16 Sam Hartman miracle run.
This time Notre Dame had all 11 players on the field to force a fumble and leave Durham with their college football playoff hopes alive, barely.
After the lucky Irish escape, there’s no break this week as they head on the road to face a dangerous Louisville team, with the USC Trojans waiting for them on deck.
Talk about escaping, that’s what the Georgia Bulldogs did in Auburn after finding themselves quickly down by double digits.
Georgia pulled it together before half getting into the break knotted up, but that didn’t last long in the 3rd quarter.
Once again, they fought back and with the game tied, they decided to go to the best tight end in the nation Brock Bowers who Auburn decided they did not want to cover in the second half.
Carson Beck found Bowers for a 40-yard touchdown with under 3 minutes remaining to give the Bulldogs the victory.
Bowers had 7 catches for 155 yards in the second half in what was a pathetic attempt to cover him by the Auburn Tigers.
He was routinely open on 3rd and long plays, not allowing Auburn to get off the field.
At one point it seriously looked like Georgia’s 21 game winning streak was in jeopardy, but like all great teams do they found a way. Great teams, a term the state of Texas hasn’t associated with the Longhorns in quite some time but here they are currently ranked 3rd in the AP poll.
They hosted the number 24 ranked Kansas Jayhawks in Austin in Week 5, dominating them in every aspect of the game. Their defense held the Jayhawks to 260 yards while the offense racked up 661 yards of total offense.
The Longhorns are hitting on all cylinders and the fact they put up this type of performances with the biggest game of the season, a battle with Oklahoma in the Texas State Fair on deck must have put the nation on notice that this team is serious National Title contenders.
A win this week would provide Texas with the best resume in the country when it comes time for the selection committee to discuss who deserves a playoff spot.
Marco’s College Football Playoff Rankings
1. Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia escaped Auburn thanks to Brock Bowers second half performance that has people wondering if he has put himself in the Heisman conversation.
That’s not the only thing people are talking about, questions are being asked if this Bulldogs team has what it takes to defend their title.
Like I said last week, until beaten I’ll keep them at 1.
Week 6 -At Vanderbilt
2. Florida State Seminoles
The Seminoles enjoyed an early Bye week after they reportedly were fighting a bug the previous 2 weeks verse Boston College and Clemson.
Jordan Travis also had time to recover from a shoulder injury.
Florida State needs to come out of this BYE firing on all cylinders if they want to separate themselves from the pack.
Week 6- Virginia Tech
3. Ohio State Buckeyes
After a last second win at Notre Dame the Buckeyes enjoyed the bye week and now host the highflying Terrapins.
Week 6- Maryland
4. Texas Longhorns
What figured to be a tough game for Texas taking on a Kansas team they dismantled last year and who were looking for revenge, turned out to be the opposite.
Kansas avoided the perennial “look ahead spot” by once again dismantling the Jayhawks.
College Gameday will be heading to the Texas State Fair to host what will be the toughest game for the Longhorns all season.
A Longhorns win puts Texas in prime position to make the College Football Playoffs.
Week 6- Oklahoma
Clawing At The Door
Washington Huskies
While some people refuse talk about the Huskies and Heisman contender Michael Penix Jr’s close victory over Arizona this past Saturday night, I will not.
I haven’t thought much of the Huskies early season schedule and for them to come out of Arizona with only a 7-point victory is somewhat alarming for me.
They’ll have the bye week to regroup before hosting the Oregon Ducks in a pivotal conference game.
Week 6- BYE
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks came out sluggish Saturday night, only racking up 13 yards in the 1st quarter.
They woke up after that scoring 42 unanswered points to get to the BYE unscathed and awaiting a conference battle with the Washington Huskies.
Week 6- BYE
USC Trojans
Caleb Williams outdueled Shadeur Sanders to keep his repeat Heisman campaign humming along.
Unfortunately for him all anyone wants to talk about is how bad their defense is. A very interesting spot this week for them as they face Arizona with a trip to Notre Dame awaiting them next week.
I will have my eyes on the Trojans this week to see how they come out verse Arizona.
I believe this team can put a beat down on Notre Dame, but not if they first don’t take care of business at home.
Week 6- Arizona
Michigan Wolverines
Michigan is knocking on the door in my rankings. Their schedule is brutally easy, but if they keep winning and teams keep losing its skies the limit for them.
They dismantled a horrible Nebraska team this past week and now take on a very bad Minnesota team.
Michigan shouldn’t get tested until mid-November.
Week 6- At Minnesota
