This season is already flying by, and even though it doesn’t feel like it (because of so many weird matchups) conference play has begun for most. It’s time for things to ramp up.
American
The American had a lot of teams mentioned as playoff favorites and none of them really panned out. Suddenly it feels like the American’s playoff hopes rests in the hands of Army? And Navy!? Despite the cut block rules both teams are running the triple option at a high level Bryson Daily (Army) and Blake Horvath (Navy) are two of the best triple option QBs the sport has seen in some time. It’s not just their running ability and decision making both are good passers, Daily in particular is able to hit receivers in midrange throws as well making Army’s passing attack difficult to defend as well.
ACC
It might be time for us to begin asking if this is the year for Miami FL. Correction, it’s not a question, it SHOULD be the year for the Hurricanes. So far they’ve shown they have everything needed to run through this conference, there’s a lot of tricky teams but no one seriously threatening.
One thing that helps the ACC’s chances of multiple bids is that Clemson and Miami FL don’t play each other. Clemson is rolling right now, my opinion is that their offensive success the last 2 games is the product of defensive collapses by Appalachian State and NC State, but what is scary for anyone in Clemson’s path is the Tigers offense has confidence, something they haven’t had in some time. Louisville is the wild card, they passed their first test against Georgia Tech but it’s about to get real for the Cardinals, they play Notre Dame next weekend and they also play Miami FL, Boston College and Clemson in a 3 game stretch.
The race at the top seems to be taking a straightforward shape but it’s clear the mid pack is going to be chaos. Stanford was expected by many to struggle and all they did was roll into the dome and upset Syracuse. Whether it’s home or away expect to see more unexpected results like that in the mid pack all season and make sure to watch because those will be the most entertaining games.
Big Ten
There’s some exciting teams that have hidden in the mid pack of this oversized conference and one of them announced themselves to the entire nation on Friday. Illinois was very impressive against Nebraska. The Fighting Illini are a gritty team that battles hard, Luke Altmyer is playing at a very high level and their defense continues to force turnovers. Suddenly their matchup in NBC Primetime against Penn State looms large.
Indiana already was mentioned as a sleeper this offseason (including by me) but the Hoosiers are even better than expected, they are a wagon that is destroying everyone in their path so far. Finally, how about Rutgers?? They’re 3-0 after winning at Virginia Tech!
Big 12
Utah made a huge statement, despite Cam Rising not playing after all the Utes dominated Oklahoma State up front on their way to a pretty comfortable win (even though Oklahoma State scored some points at the end.) Oklahoma State meanwhile is having extremely concerning run game issues, that was supposed to be the strength of the offense with Ollie Gordon running behind an experienced Oline but they have surprisingly regressed. Oklahoma State plays at Kansas State next and this season could get real ugly for the Pokes quick because…
Kansas State is going to be out for vengeance. I always love the after dark home games for BYU because there’s at least one a year that just gets extremely weird and that’s what happened this week, a wild landslide of events just before and after halftime allowed BYU to score 31 points in a period of 5 minutes of game time on their way to a 38-9 win. Kansas State needs to get right. For BYU it remains to be seen if they can contend in the Big 12 but their physical style of play is back, especially on the defense and at a minimum the Cougars are going to be a massive problem in Provo for the rest of the Big 12.
Arizona State’s dream start came crashing down at Texas Tech. Lubbock is a tough place to play and the Sun Devils dug themselves an early 14-0 hole. Teams are focused on stopping Cam Skattebo and Arizona State is struggling to move the ball as a result. Texas Tech meanwhile has quietly gotten back on track after an inauspicious start, the Red Raiders are suddenly 3-1 with a conference win so it’s all still in front of them.
The wildest game of the night came from Colorado and Baylor. Colorado once again spent a lot of the game struggling to protect Shedeur Sanders but he still found ways to get the ball to his weapons in crunch time and made an absurd throw on the last play of the game to bring the game to OT where Travis Hunter made his play of the game in forcing a Baylor fumble at the goal line to seal a Buffs win. Where both programs go from here will be interesting, will Baylor bounce back from a crushing loss? Will Colorado pick up momentum from a big win?
CUSA
CUSA home games also featured the 2 strangest weather delays of the game. Western Kentucky hosted Toledo after the Rockets had a big win, and the Tops started slow but following the rain delay it was Western Kentucky that gained momentum allowing them to pull off one of the biggest wins for this conference yet.
Liberty and East Carolina had an even bigger weather delay that led to both teams playing until 2am local time. Liberty had an absolute meltdown early on digging themselves a 17-0 deficit (they were lucky it wasn’t more) this experienced group wasn’t distressed by the rough start, they chipped away as the game went on to come out with an 11 point win.
Sam Houston continues to roll, the Bearkats dominated New Mexico State from start to finish to pick up yet another win. It’s been an incredible transformation for the Bearkats as they’ve come from being a program that couldn’t win to being 3-1 and a clear contender along with Liberty and WKU.
MAC
Oh the pain of this conference. Every time a team gets a big win it always seems like they come crashing down to earth. That happened for both Northern Illinois and Toledo. NIU struggled to move the ball all day against a very salty Buffalo defense. It was a tough loss for a Huskies team that had such a landmark win. Buffalo meanwhile already has a crown jewel victory under Pete Lembo. The Bulls are a serious contender in the MAC already. Toledo meanwhile as mentioned above lost momentum after the rain delay against a solid WKU squad.
Maybe a top contender might be a team that came short of a landmark win? In back to back games sandwiched around a bye week the Falcons threatened Penn State and Texas A&M into the 4th quarter but couldn’t close either upset. Still it’s clear the Falcons are one of the favorites to win the conference, it’s going to be fun to see them in conference play.
Mountain West
This wasn’t a super eventful week for the Mountain West, a lot of teams on byes or playing FCS teams but…
Friday night sure was a lot of fun. San Jose State battled hard with Washington State and took the Cougars to the brink including taking a 14 point lead into the 4th quarter. It was heartbreaking for the Spartans to come so close and lose in double OT but the game was evidence that Ken Niumatalolo’s squad is going to be one of the better teams in the Mountain West, pretty good for his first season there.
Fresno State took care of business at New Mexico, dispatching them in the first half unlike some power conference teams did. Fresno State is the forgotten about contender to win this conference, that game against UNLV next week will be a good one.
Pac-12/Independents
Sometimes survival is the name of the game. Washington State opened the season strong with good wins over Texas Tech and Washington (who both have only lost to the Cougs so far) but faced a tough San Jose State who took them to the brink. It was a good effort to not let the game get away from them and come back to win it.
UConn might have found something. The Huskies had everything go right in a 48-14 boat racing of FAU. This was the first of a wild 6 game home stretch for the Huskies and a great indication they might work their way toward a bowl game.
SEC
Vanderbilt is more feisty this year and it’s already a lot of fun, just don’t get your hopes up for them to actually win. They brought Missouri to the brink but made a litany of mistakes in the 2nd OT to come up short of the win.
Missouri and LSU are a couple teams that might be overrated, Missouri had the aforementioned struggle with Vanderbilt at home and LSU took a while to shake off a bad UCLA team.
Oklahoma’s offense is a serious mess, it is pretty much dysfunctional from any angle possible. Jackson Arnold is making too many mistakes but he’s not exactly getting help either. It could be a long season for the Sooners, although it is funny how quickly they flipped from all offense and no defense to all defense and no offense. Tennessee on the other side continues to impress and I don’t think we’ve seen everything they can do yet. They pretty much got a lead on Oklahoma then parked the bus in the 2nd half to move on.
Sun Belt
Don’t look now but James Madison is once again one of the best teams in the conference. The Dukes absolutely throttled North Carolina, leading 53-21 AT HALFTIME on their way to coasting to a 70-50 win. There was concern around the Dukes offense when they only put up 13 on Gardner-Webb but those can clearly be erased this offense is going to be dangerous.
It was already time to sound the alarm on Appalachian State but the Mountaineers are clearly in a ton of trouble. It was astounding seeing them get run off their home field by South Alabama. The lack of physicality is shocking, their defense can’t tackle and their offensive line can’t block.
Louisiana just always seems like they’re so close to a breakthrough but winning one score games is proving to be a problem for them, they battled hard with Tulane in a fun battle but the Ragin’ Cajuns just couldn’t come up with a drive when they needed it in an 8 point loss.
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