This weekend of College Football has a few interesting games but outside of those few it was a boring Saturday. The marquee game of LSU vs Texas A&M delivered in a sense but it was not the close game that it was supposed to be. The atmosphere in that game did deliver though. Ohio St and Nebraska struggled but ended up squeaking away with wins and Notre Dame locked in a playoff spot as long as they don’t lose another game. Let’s jump into the winners and losers from this weekend.
Winners of the Weekend:
1). Pitt is now 7-0 after absolutely clobbering Syracuse on Thursday night. The 41-13 victory over a good Syracuse team sets Pitt up perfectly in the ACC and has them looking toward a playoff spot. The defense forced 5 interceptions from Kyle McCord, who led the league in passing yards per game going into the game. The defense suffocated Syracuse all game and allowed for the offense to be set up in good field position all game and had 3 pick sixes. Looking ahead, Pitt travels to number 20 SMU this Saturday in a massive game for both teams. If Pitt can win this game the nation will have to start taking them seriously as a playoff threat. Following SMU they conclude the season with Virginia, Clemson, and Louisville and then close it out with Boston College. Every single one of those games besides Clemson they will be favored in. Start buying stock in Pitt now because they are a really good team.
2). Boise St survives against UNLV on the road and wins the game 29-24. With Boise St winning this game it will be impossible really for them not to get the Non-Power 5 automatic playoff birth. This was the last test remaining on their schedule and now it will be about padding ruining back Ashton Jeanty’s Heisman resume for the rest of the season. For Boise St to win this game in what was an “off night” for Jeanty’s standard is massive for this team. It shows the team and the rest of the country that they can win without their best player having his best game. It is also crazy how we are considering 33 carries for 128 yards and a touchdown a bad game for Ashton Jeanty. That just proves how absurd his numbers have been all season. I know you can’t take moral victories in losses, but looking back at Boise losing by only 3 points on the road at Oregon is making Boise’s resume look really good right now.
3). Texas A&M is the last big winner of the weekend. They were the biggest winner of the weekend. Texas A&M outscored LSU 31-6 in the second half and won the game 38-23. Texas A&M came out in the second half and made all the moves and changes and stayed undefeated in the SEC and sit atop first place. The spark came from Texas A&M intercepting LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier and then making the move and putting in Marcel Reed at QB. After they decided to Reed in the game he scored a rushing touchdown on his first play and that changed all the momentum in the game. Even though LSU was still leading 17-14 after that touchdown, you just knew A&M was winning the game. Coach Elko’s decision to put in Marcel Reed was a great move by a great coach. Yes, Marcel Reed is not as great of a thrower, but his legs make that offense so much dynamic and much more of a threat versus the higher echelon teams. This was a massive win for A&M and with their remaining schedule, as long they don’t trip up, will be going to the playoffs.
Losers of the Weekend:
1). We will stick with Texas A&M vs LSU for a second with this one. Garrett Nussmeier’s second-half performance is a massive loser. The man looked like he was seeing ghosts in the second half and completely forgot and how to play the QB position. The craziest part was that he played so good in the first half that people were starting to talk about him potentially being the number 1 overall pick in the draft. I do not think I have ever seen such a dramatic shift by a quarterback play in a single game. Credit to A&M’s second-half adjustments though because they completely confused the man. Even though he played the worst stretch of football in his life that half, I will go out on an island and say he will never have that bad of a stretch in his career.
2). Kyle McCord was the second loser of the weekend. Yes, he threw for over 300 yards, but he threw 5 interceptions, including three pick-sixes in their loss to Pitt. Before this game, McCord had been playing so well and even had his name in the Heisman discussion for the numbers he had been putting up throwing the football. He can kiss all that hype and praise goodbye now after that terrible performance. Now I will say that one of his interceptions was super unlucky and very unfortunate, but still even if that one did not happen, it would have been 4 instead of 5. I still believe in McCord and always thought that Ohio St made a mistake letting him walk because he is better than Will Howard, but this performance will make me start questioning how much I still believe in him.
3). Missouri is the last loser of the weekend. They are the fakest 6-2 and somehow still ranked team ever. They are coming off a 34-0 loss to Alabama in a game that was way worse than the score indicates. Somehow this team was ranked inside the top-5 to begin the year and whoever votes in the AP Poll completely botched their evaluation of this team. Their defense is bad, their special teams are bad, and their offense is bad. The only thing going for them right now is that they have one of the best wide receivers in the country in Luther Burden on their team. I feel bad for Burden because he is such a special receiver, he just has no one to get the ball to him. Missouri is still somehow ranked and they belong nowhere near the AP Poll. They should not be receiving a single vote. They are a really bad team that has had such an easy schedule.
Honorable Mention Winners:
1). Oregon
2). Penn St
3). BYU
4). Notre Dame
5). Indiana
Honorable Mention Losers:
1). Ohio St
2). UNLV
3). Navy
4). Liberty
5). Oklahoma St
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