College Football Week 9 Recap

A dearth of major upsets spelled trouble for my spooky week 9 predictions:

1. Double, double toil and trouble; Mountaineers win and burst Frogs' bubble

TCU's defense decided to show up this week, as the Horned Frogs won 40 - 10, thereby breaking the pattern of close games won by the road team in this series.  TCU looked like a playoff team and Trevone Boykin looked like a Heisman contender as they routed the Mountaineers and busted this prediction.

2. Something wicked this way comes; Georgia knocks and Florida drops

In another game where defense dominated, the Gators controlled this game from start to finish.  The Georgia loss could spell trouble for coach Mark Richt, as many viewed this as a must-win game for the Bulldogs coach to keep his job.  As for Florida, they are feeling good about the hire of Jim McElwain as they take a 2-game lead in the SEC East and remain in the playoff picture after winning 27 - 3.

3. Once upon a midnight dreary, Wolverines lose, all weak and weary

Michigan looked a bit weak and weary, but they still survived the Gophers on the road thanks to a goal-line stand and some terrible clock management by Minnesota.  If this was the job interview for interim coach Tracy Claeys to take over as the Gophers' permanent head coach, he had it all but wrapped up until he botched the final 19 seconds, down by 3 points.  A replay review reversed what would have been the go-ahead-touchdown for Minnesota and instead gave them first-and-goal from the half-yard-line with 19 seconds left.  That should have been enough time to run at least 3, maybe even 4 plays.  Instead, the Gophers wasted 17 seconds (12 ran off pre-snap) on a failed first down pass.  And after that, instead of kicking the field goal to send it to overtime, they tried a QB sneak but were stopped short.  I'm fine with the decision to go for the win in regulation, especially when they were so close to the end zone and had enough time to run 4 plays if called correctly.  You could even have one be a running play, since they had a timeout.  But after the wasted first down play, I would say just kick the field goal.  But Claeys gambled, likely knowing this was his job interview, and it simply didn't pay off.  Wolverines walk away with the win, 29 - 26, feeling a bit lucky after they had such terrible luck in their previous game.

4. Undefeated for all season, Cowboys boast the better score.  Quoth the Raiders, “Nevermore.”

This prediction looked like it had the best chance to succeed, at least early on.  Texas Tech jumped out to a big lead and held on to a 10-point advantage at halftime.  But Oklahoma State outscored the Red Raiders 42 - 15 in the second half to win the game 70 - 53.  I look forward to the Big 12 champion (whomever it may be) facing a real defense in the playoffs.  I guarantee they won't be scoring 70 points then...

5. The CFP Committee does the mash, they do the rankings mash

The committee definitely shook things up with their first set of rankings, especially in the top 10, where they put one-loss teams Alabama and Notre Dame at 4 and 5, respectively, ahead of numerous undefeated teams.  And throughout, there was plenty of deviation from the AP poll, as no team held the same spot in both sets of rankings.

Speaking of rankings, here is my first attempt at a top 25 for the year. I will continue to update these each week around the same time the committee releases their rankings.  This week they come in after the committee's list, but in the future I'll try to get mine out before they release theirs.

Week 9 record: 1 - 4
Overall record: 11 - 34

Other headlines from week 9:

Another school says goodbye to their head coach as Beamer announces retirement

Coaches seem to be dropping like flies this season, as Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer was the latest to go.  He was a coaching legend who had a great 18 year run with the Hokies.  But it was obvious that the time was growing near for him to step down, as Virginia Tech struggled to meet lofty preseason expectations the past few years.

J.T. Barrett faces suspension, loss of financial aid after OVI arrest

The bye week provided a bigger challenge than the Buckeyes' last three opponents, as news broke Saturday that J.T. Barrett was arrested for drinking and driving.  Now, I know that these players are kids and everyone makes mistakes, but as a leader of this team Barrett should know better than to drink at all during the season, let alone get behind the wheel afterwards. He will be suspended for one game and couuld potentially lose a lot of money as a result of his bad decision-making.  Whether or not this changes anything in terms of who the starter is going forward remains to be seen.  A notable side note is that Braxton Miller is listed as second string QB against Minnesota. Hmm...

Miami stuns Duke on crazy kick-off return

For the third straight week we had a game end in unbelievable fashion.  It was set up when the Blue Devils scored a touchdown to take the lead with 6 seconds left. Game over, right? Wrong.

(It is worth mentioning that the ACC refs officiating the game will be suspended based on evidence that they missed some calls on the final play that likely would have given Duke the win)