Week 8 – Sunday Storylines

Chapel Hill choke job – Bizarre things happen in life and in football, but man oh man, I did not have a 1-5 Virginia team going on the road to defeat No. 10 UNC on my Saturday night Bingo card. Tony Elliott (who has largely not done a ton right since taking the job in Charlottesville) notches his first signature victory in a massive 31-27 win.

Weird. Inexplicable. Hilarious (b/c it occurred on The CW of all channels.) Call it what you will but that’s a horrific loss for Mack Brown, Drake Maye and company. A week after making a statement win over a now-reeling Miami team, the Tar Heels crash out against the Hoos.

How does this impact the ACC title race? Does this send the Tar Heels into a spiral of their own?

FSU’s strong statement – In the primetime game of the night, the Florida State Seminoles showed the country why they’re a serious national title contender. Through a combination of strong defense and heroics from Jordan Travis and their ample weaponry, the ‘Noles closed out No. 16 Duke by a commanding 38-20 final score line.

Duke QB Riley Leonard gave it a go–and when healthy–he kept them in the game. Duke is no slouch and showed that they looked nothing like the Duke teams of yesteryear. Furthermore, Mike Elko should be very high on a lot of coaching search lists. That man has worked wonders.

With UNC’s mind-boggling loss to UVA, FSU officially is driving the ship to the ACC title race. I really like this ‘Noles team. It feels like they have a unique combo of talent, grit and a superstar quarterback. Fun stuff.

Smokin’ on that Vols pack – General rule of thumb: If you have a good team on the ropes, and don’t convert in the red zone, you’ll get burned. Tennessee came out like a bullet agate and instead got left behind in a cloud of smoke at Bryan-Denny Stadium in a 34-20 loss to Alabama.

Alabama’s defense kept them in the game in the first half, and their offense picked up the slack in the second half. I’ve been saying it all year: This doesn’t feel like a super elite Bama team, but they’re still destined for 10-ish wins. With this win today, they stay on that pace.

Offense optional – Major respect to James Franklin for the biggest bullshit lie of the season thus far. In his postgame remarks, he had the gall to say that he thinks both OSU and PSU were perhaps the two toughest/best teams in the country. Laughable.

Both teams struggled to dazzle offensively, especially so for the Nittany Lions. Quarterback Drew Allar finished with a measly 29.2 QBR and the team rushed for just 49 yards on 26 carries. One of the few bright spots on offense came from Marvin Harrison Jr. who finished with 162 yards and a touchdown.

Two things can be true at once. I think both offenses are pretty out of sink and not great and the defenses are pretty damn good. I still think both teams get stuffed in a trash can by superspy Michigan later this year.

The Big 10 West is ASS – More of a general statement than an analysis of a singular game, but Jesus Christ all mighty the B10 West is horrific. Iowa? Stinks. Wisconsin? A mess. Nebraska? Not good. Northwestern? Should be relegated to the shadow realm.

And don’t get me started on the quarterback play. It’s like 1920s-level bad. Perhaps worse than the teams themselves. What an eyesore for the sport that division is.

Inexplicably Iowa – ICYMI, Iowa got a bit of a hose job on what would’ve been a game-winning punt return touchdown from Cooper DeJean. The Hawkeyes predictably couldn’t move the ball and lost at home to Minnesota at home for the first time since 1999.

Here’s my take on the DeJean dilemma: Was the call correct? Technically yes. But was the play awesome? Hell yes, it was. In the words of Internetsman Brian Floyd, if it’s awesome, the call should stand. I tend to agree here.

Never say die Utah – At this point, Utah is just one of those amphibious creatures that can get their tails chopped off and keep on trucking and it makes absolutely no sense.

Without Cam Rising, and by grit and grind and pure balls, the Utes knocked off USC 34-32 in The Coliseum. Backup QB Bryson Barnes is as gritty as they come and had a pretty remarkable run to get the Utes in field goal position for the game-winning kick.

For USC, this is just a kick in the groin. It’s not even Halloween yet and your season is effectively over. Caleb must understandably have his eyes set on the NFL. Rumors are swirling about Lincoln maybe wanting to join him in The League. When it rains it pours, I guess.

OU and Texas survive – OU and Texas both survived some surprising scares on Saturday, and that’s not nothing. We’ve reached the nut-cutting time of year and sometimes winning is more than enough.

I still think we’re bound to get a fun rematch of Red River later this season, but it was odd to see OU dick around with UCF and little cousin Houston give Texas hell.

Cardiac Canes – Two weeks removed from getting a ton of deserved shit heaped onto them, Miami outlasted Clemson 28-20 to save their season and keep their ACC title hopes alive.

Despite being down TVD, the Canes bowed up when it mattered most and got a stop in 20T. Clemson is just not great this year. Not much else needs to be said there.Also of note: Mario tried his damndest to screw this thing up…but alas. Sometimes God looks favorably upon us all and maybe that’s just what happened here.

Hogs in hell – Mississippi State and Arkansas played perhaps the most disgusting game of the year on Saturday and finished with just 10 points between them.

MSU has somewhat of an excuse for scoring only seven points, as QB Will Rogers was out injured. But Arkansas…baby, what is you doing? I’ve said it before but I think it might be time for the PittBoss to hit the unemployment line. They’re edging towards a 0-for-conference record and KJ Jefferson has inexplicably turned into a complete pumpkin. Not good.

Mizzou is pretty good – Can’t believe I’m saying it, but Mizzou is good. They just are.

The Tigers racked up 220 rushing yards today against South Carolina (who are weirdly bad this year?) and won 34-12. It’s weird to see Mizzou be good. Not totally natural but it is what it is.

Falcon up! – With their win over Navy, the Air Force Falcons move to 7-0 on the season. It’s safe to say the Falcons are officially a wagon! What a fun team to watch and get behind.

N/A - picks will be back next week.