Week 7 – The Call Sheet

Programming Note: I’m going on vacation and won’t spend a ton of time thinking about college football. That means there will be no Week 7 Sunday Storylines or Week 8 The Call Sheet. Coverage will resume with the Week 8 Sunday Storylines.

Excuses, excuses – Two days after Miami improbably squandered a lead and victory against Georgia Tech, head coach Mario Cristobal did what great leaders do: throw their inferiors under the bus when times get hard.

On Monday, Miami OC Shane Dawson admitted to being at fault for Miami’s mind-boggling decision to run the ball and not kneel the game out. I’m not sure I’m buying it. Mario trumps the OC…he should get the blame here.

U-S-See they still won’t play defense – No more USC title talk. Heck, no more CFP talk for the Trojans, either. If they won’t play defense and are just going to dick off in a major phase of the game, we should stop talking about them as a serious threat.

Fort Worth flop – In case anyone was wondering, the Cinderella slipper has come all the way off for the TCU football program. Not only are they not the feel-good story that they were last season, but they’ve now entered losing to a stinky Iowa State territory. Yikes.

Rich Rod rollin’ – I really enjoyed watching Jacksonville State beat UTEP in Week 0, but man oh man, I did not have them going 5-1 on my Bingo card. If Rich Rodriguez keeps up this sorcery, you have to figure a bigger school might give him another look.

Liberty is what Coastal Carolina was – A few weeks ago, I discussed how Coastal Carolina has been totally zapped of all their fun, in large part due to losing head coach Jamey Chadwell.

Well, Chadwell is cooking with gas again, now in Lynchburg, Virginia with Liberty. The Flames are 5-0 and look like a sure-fire bet to make some noise in the CUSA race.

Oregon vs. Washington

A heavyweight prize fight. When an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object. These are just a few ways to describe the appropriate levels of hype surrounding this Top 10 matchup between the Ducks and Huskies.

Let’s not mince words. This one should be an absolute banger. Do you want offense? Buddy, this offense has enough offense to go around. Do you want star power? Plenty on the plate here too. Likable coaches who are generally fun to root for? Yep, it’s got that too.

While this game features two Heisman-level quarterbacks in Bo Nix and Michael Penix, I think this game is settled on the defensive side of the ball. I thiiink we’ve seen enough from Oregon’s defense to know that they’re pretty good and should have the chance to make life hard for UW’s insane offense. The real question lies with the Husky defense.

UW hasn’t exactly played a worldbeater schedule, especially when you stack up the offenses. Can UW get enough stops to give Penix and Company the chance to win? Or does Oregon exert its dominance and firmly rest atop the Pac-12 hierarchy?

Iowa vs. Wisconsin

If you want football played in metaphorical jeans, well, this is the game for you.

These teams try to be very different–Iowa sludgy and grimey, whereas Wisconsin aims to be powerful and energetic. Yet for years, these two teams have often mimic’d each other, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. Like most B10 football games, I suspect that’ll be where this one is decided.

Every week, Iowa’s offense reaches new levels of despicableness, so who knows what we’ll get there. What we will get? A hard-hitting defense and always-sound special teams units. For Wisconsin, this one is about putting that new Dairy Raid offense to the test.

While the Badgers will undoubtedly want to air it out a bit, I’m curious to see if they can establish some sort of run game. They’ve been OK so far this year but lost the only tough opponent they’ve faced in Wazzu. This game should be very brutish and I suspect it could go a long way in deciding the B10 West bid to Indianapolis.

Wyoming vs. Air Force

The West Coast is having a moment. Oregon-UW will get all the praise (and it sort of should), but this game is no slouch. With ten wins and only one loss between them (that would be on the road against Texas), these two teams are legit good, legit fun and should provide us all with a tasty mid-evening Saturday night treat.

As much as I love Wyoming, oh man I also love Air Force. They slice and dice you in very diabolical ways. You sort of have to be into weird shit to like them, and well, consider me a weirdo.

The Pokes are fresh off a huge win against Fresno State, but if I’m being honest, have gotten pretty fortunate in a few of their wins. If the average regresses to the mean, it might be a good shout to go with the Falcons. The Air Force offense has been on an absolute tear and is favored by -11 out of the gate.

Going to stake my claim now that this will be the best G5 game of the year. Book it.

UCLA vs. Oregon State

If you want to see some dogs, this game has plenty of them. What happens when one team plays defense with a sack of hammers and the other team has a buzzsaw of an offense? Let’s find out!

As I alluded to, UCLA has a legit good defense this year and it’s slightly jarring, I must admit. We’re so used to the Bruins and Chip Kelly rolling out awesome offenses, but this year it’s been all about defense. On the other side, Jonathan Smith’s team appears to be rebounding nicely from their early-season loss to Wazzu.

At home, I have to lean with the Beavs here. Corvallis is a weird place to play and for me, there’s just something bout OSU that I can’t quite shake.

Miami vs. UNC

This game certainly lost some luster when Mario Cristobal decided to jackhammer the Canes’ expected win percentage…but I digress. This one should still be entertaining, especially since it features two of the top three teams in the conference.

Miami sort of got caught with a Letdown Lookahead Sandwich (s/o The Solid Verbal) after losing to GT last week. But outside of that game, they’ve looked good? Tyler Van Dyke has looked strong and they even beat the hell out of Texas A&M. If not for inexplicably blowing that game…this one would be at the top of the list.

I’m curious to see how Drake Maye looks. He hasn’t been bad per se, but certainly hasn’t put up the same gaudy stats he did last year. Also, the Tar Heels suddenly have. a defense…can they make life hard for Miami? Does that disastrous loss derail the Canes’ season? Can’t wait.

Georgia Southern vs. -3.5 James Madison – JMU is a wagon and I like the Dukes here.

NC State vs. -3.5 Duke – Not buying that NC State offense. No sir.

ULM vs. Texas State UNDER 62 – I’m not sure ULM will score a ton here against America’s Team.

-3.5 Troy vs. Army – I don’t generally like betting against Army, but here we are.