Week 6 – The Call Sheet

Injury crisis – To add insult to injury, standout Duke quarterback Riley Leonard went down with a high ankle sprain on the last play of the game and is expected to be out for around a month or so. Brutal for the Blue Devils. That’s the type of injury that can totally derail your season.

Hurtin’ Hawkeyes – The Iowa jokes aren’t as funny anymore, now that we know starting quarterback Cade McNamara is out for the season with a knee injury. The real question remains, though: How much does this impact the Drive for 25?

Bluegrass beatdown – I think Ray Davis is still running on the Gators’ defense. What a top, top showing.

Where does Baylor go from here? – On Saturday, I praised Aranda and Baylor for coming back from the dead and avenging a sure loss against UCF. But where do they go from here? The Bears have Texas Tech this week (feels must-win for both teams) and still have weird games against Cincy, KState, TCU and West Virginia. Aranda might be coaching for his job, folks.

Country roads – I failed to properly touch on this Saturday night, but man, how about them Mountaineers? We all collectively wrote in pen that Neal Brown was a dead man walkin’, and he messes around and notches two big wins in a row and likely saves his job. Good for him.

Blow it up, Bloomington? – Indiana fired OC Walt Bell on Sunday after a pretty lackluster start to the year for the Hoosiers. Sure, Tom Allen. I’m sure that’ll fix all of your problems.

Not so sunny in San Diego – Let’s not beat around the bush, the Azetecs are having a hell of a few months, and not in a good way. They tried to leave the Mountain West, publicly twerked for the PAC 12, got rejected by the Big Boy conference and had to tuck their tail between their legs and go back home.

And now their football team stinks. They are a Brady Hoke team in every sense of the word, and I mean that as a giant insult. The Aztecs should be much better than they are and if I were the AD, I’d be on the hunt for a much more offensive-minded coach than whatever we’re staring at with Hoke at the moment.

Alabama vs. Texas A&M

Little did we know that last year, the 2022 version of this game would preview the 2023 installment. Less we forget, last year Jalen Milroe had to start in place of an injured Bryce Young, and he narrowly led the Tide to a 24-20 win to stave off an upset.

Are we looking at a similar type of game this year? I kind of think so.

Both of these teams had pretty convincing wins last week, so that’s not the issue. But I do wonder which one of these teams can get their offense going when they meet on Saturday.

Milroe is serviceable and has shown some real WOW moments on the ground. The problem? How well someone plays the quarterback position is largely determined by how they throw the ball. On the other side, A&M’s offense has looked gumbled and sort of clunky for much of the year. And now they’re dealing with a backup quarterback. Yikes.

Despite A&M and that Petrino Jimbo offense looking much better against Arkansas, I’m still a little skeptical of how they can hold up against a killer Bama defense. I suspect Bama will try to run the ball and get after Max Johson with a variety of blitz pressures. Give me the Tide.

Oklahoma vs. Texas

Nothing signals the beauty that is the Texas State Fair quite like deep-fried chicken on a stick, Big Tex looming large over the patrons and the good old-fashioned Red River Rivalry.

Every year this matchup is beautifully stupid, full of panache and it just puts a little pep in your step when you toss it on the TV. I don’t expect the 2023 version to look or feel any different.

At this moment, both of these teams are a lot alike. Texas and OU are both riding high with undefeated records, have had no problems putting up a bevy of points and probably think they’re a lot better than the team across the field from them.

How are they different? Texas goes as their offense, and their quarterback goes. They’ve largely looked good this year, especially on the national stage against Alabama. Oklahoma on the other hand, plays football with a sack of hammers and has somehow transitioned their defense from a leaky sieve under Lincoln Riley to a bunch of badass hitters under Brent Venables.

I really like the polar opposite feel of this game. Unlike most years, I thiiink it’ll be much more balanced, and likely won’t feature a million bazooka bombs, as fun as that was. The other interesting angle of this game is that the winner is firmly in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 Championship race. Texas has a few more tests to pass post-OU, whereas the Sooners have a pretty walkable schedule.

Kentucky vs. Georgia

Tom Fornelli made a great point on the Cove 3 Podcast on Monday. We all keep saying that Georgia hasn’t played their best, but what if they are playing their best? And they’re best just isn’t as good as we expected?

I don’t know that we’ll find this out on Saturday, but I’m intrigued to see how Georgia handles the physicality of Kentucky. UGA has looked less-than-convincing in their two SEC East games thus far and I think this is the best team they will have faced to date.

Last week, the Wildcats dog-walked the Florida Gator defense and in all honestly, they just operated like a Mark Stoops-led team. Stoops and Kirby seem to be cut from not too dissimilar cloths, as in their teams are usually physical as hell, take very little shit and want to beat you down. The difference? Kirby has 5 stars and Stoops is reliant on 5-star hearts.

I don’t think this is the week we see the mighty Georgia Bulldogs fall, but I kind of think Kentucky could give them a hell of a run. That run game is no joke and is going to really test Georgia’s largely unproven defensive line. On the other side, can Carson Beck make enough plays against a non-pushover defense?

I’m guessing UGA’s scare against Auburn will shock them into playing much better this week, but we should all keep an eye on this one.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville

Sam Hartman and the Fighting Irish did juuuust enough to escape Durham with a win on Saturday. Despite their offense looking nothing like what Hartman was used to at Wake Forest, he has this weird mystique about him that I can’t help but like. Not to be super cliche, but Hartman has this moxy and find a fuckin’ way gene about his game and I hate how much I like it.

I’m pretty curious to see how the Irish look after back-to-back huge games. The offense should be fine, especially if they can keep hitting that big polar bear tight end of there's and get Estime enough touches.

On the other side, I can’t really figure out Louisville. They have an awful schedule, and despite their offense sort of slogging along against the only teams they‘ve played thus far with a pulse, they sit at 5-0 and have most likely had this game schedule for a long time coming.

Can Jeff Brohm scheme up enough creativity for Louisville to score on Notre Dame’s strong defense? Can Notre Dame get up for a third big game in a row? Can’t wait to find out.

Fresno State vs. Wyoming

Let’s take a trip out to Laramie, where we’re going to be treated to a delightfully tasty Mountain West game between the Bulldogs and the Cowboys. Fresno State has not so quietly found another stud quarterback in Mikey Keane and their offense is an absolute wagon right now. The Bulldogs are cookin’ with gas in 2023, notching wins at Purdue and at Arizona State already. Can they snag a big road victory?

I’ve been really impressed with Fresno State this year, but the Cowboys are no slouches either. They have wins against Texas Tech and App State on their resume, plus they hung really tough with No. 3 Texas for three quarters. This team is no pushover.

Why does this game intrigue me? I’m glad you asked. I try to enjoy all of the parts of college football – the weird, the wild, the bewildering. I think this has the potential to get really drunk in a hurry and I’m so here for it.

Fresno State feels like the rightful favorite here, but many a man has walked into the American West and left with a rightful ass whoopin’ so who knows.

Colorado State vs. Utah State UNDER 66

+1 Texas Tech vs. Baylor

Kent State vs. -26 Ohio