Last week: 7-4 Season: 53-27
This week is even better than last week with seven top-25 games. An incredible day to stay home and try to watch as many games as possible. I do have to work, but at least my job involves some level of "I'm-doing-my-job-by-watching-this-game," giving me some leeway.
The initial College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday. The top 10 was as follows: 1. Georgia 2. Alabama 3. Notre Dame 4. Clemson 5. Oklahoma 6. Ohio State 7. Penn State 8. TCU 9. Wisconsin 10. Miami
Since I go by ESPN.com's scoreboard each week when typing up games I'll pick, and it uses playoff rankings, the numbers you'll see beside the teams on my posts from here until the end of the season will utilize the playoff rankings.
No. 7 Penn State at No. 24 Michigan State, Noon ABC
Penn State 30, Michigan State 21
Syracuse at Florida State, 12:20 p.m. ACC Network
Syracuse 24, Florida State 23
Wake Forest at No. 3 Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. ESPN
Notre Dame 38, Wake Forest 17
Textile Bowl
No. 4 Clemson at No. 20 N.C. State, 3:30 p.m. ABC
Clemson 24, N.C. State 20
No. 15 Iowa State at West Virginia, 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Iowa State 26, West Virginia 24
No. 21 Stanford at No. 25 Washington State, 3:30 p.m. Fox
Washington State 29, Stanford 27
National game of the week - Bedlam
No. 5 Oklahoma at No. 11 Oklahoma State, 4 p.m. FS1
This one has playoff implications as both teams have one loss already. So a defeat here against the arch-rival would carry the extra sting of getting knocked out of the national title picture. Oklahoma has a road win over Ohio State but a road loss at surprising Iowa State, which is 7-2. That victory still looks great as the Buckeyes get back into the title picture. The Cowboys lost to TCU at home. Both teams have struggled a bit with teams they should've soundly beaten (Oklahoma 49-41 over Baylor, 42-35 over Kansas State; Oklahoma State 41-34 over Texas Tech, 13-10 over Texas). This game also pits two Heisman-contending QBs in Baker Mayfield for OU and Mason Rudolph for Oklahoma State. It seems like Oklahoma usually comes through in the huge Bedlam games, and I'm sure the Sooners will be ready.
Oklahoma 36, Oklahoma State 33
No. 19 LSU at No. 2 Alabama, 8 p.m. CBS
Alabama 24, LSU 13
No. 13 Virginia Tech at No. 10 Miami, 8 p.m. ABC
It's early November, but the Hurricanes would actually clinch the Coastal Division title with a win against the Hokies. They are 5-0 in the conference, and Tech is 3-1. A second loss for the Hokies would mean they could only tie Miami at 6-2, and then Miami would of course have the tiebreaker. ESPN has Miami listed as a one-point favorite. I'm pretty sure Miami opened the week as a two-point favorite and then in the middle of the week, Tech became the two-point favorite. So it seems like there is lots of uncertainty about this game. The Hokies have one loss at home to Clemson, and have otherwise smashed opponents and also coasted a little. Last week's win over Duke in heavy rain was nothing to write home about, but did end up being 24-3. And Tech struggled at Boston College but won 23-10, and that was the last time BC lost a game. Tech's other wins came against lesser competition in big wins over teams such as UNC, ODU, and ECU. Except the Clemson game, Miami has had a better schedule than Tech, having already played Georgia Tech and a surprising Syracuse team that had just upset Clemson in addition to Florida State before that team completely unraveled. But Miami has lived on the edge a lot, getting close victories over FSU, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and even struggling UNC. I think that penchant for close games finally comes back to bite Miami.
Virginia Tech 30, Miami 27
No. 22 Arizona at No. 17 USC, 10:45 p.m. ESPN
USC 40, Arizona 37
Georgia Tech at Virginia, 3 p.m. NBC Sports Washington
It is getting to be gut-check time for the Cavaliers, who have now lost two straight after a 5-1 start. I was unable to watch last week's game against Pittsburgh, and that ended up being a good thing as UVa lost 31-14 in what appeared to amount to an uninspired effort and wimpy offensive performance. There's been talk about whether the team is starting to be paralyzed by the pressure to perform and reach six wins for the first time since 2011, and it seems like there could be some truth to that theory, as linebacker Micah Kiser said this week that the team got away from celebrating small victories the past couple weeks. It sounds like the team was maybe swallowed up by a combination of looking ahead/the big picture. If the Wahoos can refocus and truly take it one game at a time, it might not be too late to salvage bowl eligibility.
The problem, as has been detailed before, is the most winnable games are behind Virginia, and it ended up 5-3 in those games. The last four opponents all present challenges that are probably greater than any other early in the schedule, but each future foe also has some flaws/uncertainties that could make you say, well, Virginia could win if ... But UVa has to play better than the past two weeks. If it puts together more performances like 41-10 against BC and 31-14 against Pitt, the Hoos will surely be on the sofa during bowl season.
Georgia Tech comes in 4-3 and with a mixture of results complicating the question of whether it is a good team or not. The Yellow Jackets handled both Pitt (35-17) and UNC (33-7) better than UVa did.
They also beat a solid Wake Forest team by 14 points. But in the opener, they lost to Tennessee 42-41, and the Vols have proven to be quite bad since then, especially on offense. Tech's other losses came to Miami by one and Clemson by 14. As I mentioned when writing about Virginia Tech-Miami, the 'Canes have been close to having a couple losses, so we don't really know how good they are and if that was an "impressive" road loss for Georgia Tech.
Last season, this game was one of the better ones UVa played as its season spiraled out of control. The week before the Virginia Tech game, UVa actually led Georgia Tech at halftime, 10-7, but the Yellow Jackets controlled the second half and won, 31-17. It was 24-17 late, but Matt Johns threw a pick-six to seal the win for Georgia Tech. UVa held the Jackets to 199 yards rushing, a respectable number against the triple option. Coach Bronco Mendenhall has performed well against option teams as a defensive coordinator over the years and beat Tech twice while at BYU. In last year's game, though, Georgia Tech ripped off long scoring runs of 67 and 60 yards and a passing score of 54 yards.
This year, Georgia Tech has an impressive new QB in TaQuon Marshall, who has rushed for 4.6 yards per carry. KirVonte Benson is Tech's best weapon in the run game with 5.9 yards per carry, but Marshall is the one with 12 TDs. As is normal in the system, Marshall doesn't pass much, but he does have five passing TDs, and Ricky Jeune has 17 catches for three of those TDs. On defense, the Jackets have a very experienced secondary that will probably be an issue for Kurt Benkert, who has been tentative and inaccurate recently.
Even though Mendenhall has a pretty good history against this offensive scheme, and UVa has seemed to say the right things about refocusing, it is too tough to trust the Wahoos after getting blasted the past two weeks by a combined score of 72-24 against what is probably just a better team that will wear UVa down eventually.
Georgia Tech 27, Virginia 17
This week is even better than last week with seven top-25 games. An incredible day to stay home and try to watch as many games as possible. I do have to work, but at least my job involves some level of "I'm-doing-my-job-by-watching-this-game," giving me some leeway.
The initial College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday. The top 10 was as follows: 1. Georgia 2. Alabama 3. Notre Dame 4. Clemson 5. Oklahoma 6. Ohio State 7. Penn State 8. TCU 9. Wisconsin 10. Miami
Since I go by ESPN.com's scoreboard each week when typing up games I'll pick, and it uses playoff rankings, the numbers you'll see beside the teams on my posts from here until the end of the season will utilize the playoff rankings.
No. 7 Penn State at No. 24 Michigan State, Noon ABC
Penn State 30, Michigan State 21
Syracuse at Florida State, 12:20 p.m. ACC Network
Syracuse 24, Florida State 23
Wake Forest at No. 3 Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. ESPN
Notre Dame 38, Wake Forest 17
Textile Bowl
No. 4 Clemson at No. 20 N.C. State, 3:30 p.m. ABC
Clemson 24, N.C. State 20
No. 15 Iowa State at West Virginia, 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Iowa State 26, West Virginia 24
No. 21 Stanford at No. 25 Washington State, 3:30 p.m. Fox
Washington State 29, Stanford 27
National game of the week - Bedlam
No. 5 Oklahoma at No. 11 Oklahoma State, 4 p.m. FS1
This one has playoff implications as both teams have one loss already. So a defeat here against the arch-rival would carry the extra sting of getting knocked out of the national title picture. Oklahoma has a road win over Ohio State but a road loss at surprising Iowa State, which is 7-2. That victory still looks great as the Buckeyes get back into the title picture. The Cowboys lost to TCU at home. Both teams have struggled a bit with teams they should've soundly beaten (Oklahoma 49-41 over Baylor, 42-35 over Kansas State; Oklahoma State 41-34 over Texas Tech, 13-10 over Texas). This game also pits two Heisman-contending QBs in Baker Mayfield for OU and Mason Rudolph for Oklahoma State. It seems like Oklahoma usually comes through in the huge Bedlam games, and I'm sure the Sooners will be ready.
Oklahoma 36, Oklahoma State 33
No. 19 LSU at No. 2 Alabama, 8 p.m. CBS
Alabama 24, LSU 13
No. 13 Virginia Tech at No. 10 Miami, 8 p.m. ABC
It's early November, but the Hurricanes would actually clinch the Coastal Division title with a win against the Hokies. They are 5-0 in the conference, and Tech is 3-1. A second loss for the Hokies would mean they could only tie Miami at 6-2, and then Miami would of course have the tiebreaker. ESPN has Miami listed as a one-point favorite. I'm pretty sure Miami opened the week as a two-point favorite and then in the middle of the week, Tech became the two-point favorite. So it seems like there is lots of uncertainty about this game. The Hokies have one loss at home to Clemson, and have otherwise smashed opponents and also coasted a little. Last week's win over Duke in heavy rain was nothing to write home about, but did end up being 24-3. And Tech struggled at Boston College but won 23-10, and that was the last time BC lost a game. Tech's other wins came against lesser competition in big wins over teams such as UNC, ODU, and ECU. Except the Clemson game, Miami has had a better schedule than Tech, having already played Georgia Tech and a surprising Syracuse team that had just upset Clemson in addition to Florida State before that team completely unraveled. But Miami has lived on the edge a lot, getting close victories over FSU, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and even struggling UNC. I think that penchant for close games finally comes back to bite Miami.
Virginia Tech 30, Miami 27
No. 22 Arizona at No. 17 USC, 10:45 p.m. ESPN
USC 40, Arizona 37
Georgia Tech at Virginia, 3 p.m. NBC Sports Washington
It is getting to be gut-check time for the Cavaliers, who have now lost two straight after a 5-1 start. I was unable to watch last week's game against Pittsburgh, and that ended up being a good thing as UVa lost 31-14 in what appeared to amount to an uninspired effort and wimpy offensive performance. There's been talk about whether the team is starting to be paralyzed by the pressure to perform and reach six wins for the first time since 2011, and it seems like there could be some truth to that theory, as linebacker Micah Kiser said this week that the team got away from celebrating small victories the past couple weeks. It sounds like the team was maybe swallowed up by a combination of looking ahead/the big picture. If the Wahoos can refocus and truly take it one game at a time, it might not be too late to salvage bowl eligibility.
The problem, as has been detailed before, is the most winnable games are behind Virginia, and it ended up 5-3 in those games. The last four opponents all present challenges that are probably greater than any other early in the schedule, but each future foe also has some flaws/uncertainties that could make you say, well, Virginia could win if ... But UVa has to play better than the past two weeks. If it puts together more performances like 41-10 against BC and 31-14 against Pitt, the Hoos will surely be on the sofa during bowl season.
Georgia Tech comes in 4-3 and with a mixture of results complicating the question of whether it is a good team or not. The Yellow Jackets handled both Pitt (35-17) and UNC (33-7) better than UVa did.
Last season, this game was one of the better ones UVa played as its season spiraled out of control. The week before the Virginia Tech game, UVa actually led Georgia Tech at halftime, 10-7, but the Yellow Jackets controlled the second half and won, 31-17. It was 24-17 late, but Matt Johns threw a pick-six to seal the win for Georgia Tech. UVa held the Jackets to 199 yards rushing, a respectable number against the triple option. Coach Bronco Mendenhall has performed well against option teams as a defensive coordinator over the years and beat Tech twice while at BYU. In last year's game, though, Georgia Tech ripped off long scoring runs of 67 and 60 yards and a passing score of 54 yards.
This year, Georgia Tech has an impressive new QB in TaQuon Marshall, who has rushed for 4.6 yards per carry. KirVonte Benson is Tech's best weapon in the run game with 5.9 yards per carry, but Marshall is the one with 12 TDs. As is normal in the system, Marshall doesn't pass much, but he does have five passing TDs, and Ricky Jeune has 17 catches for three of those TDs. On defense, the Jackets have a very experienced secondary that will probably be an issue for Kurt Benkert, who has been tentative and inaccurate recently.
Even though Mendenhall has a pretty good history against this offensive scheme, and UVa has seemed to say the right things about refocusing, it is too tough to trust the Wahoos after getting blasted the past two weeks by a combined score of 72-24 against what is probably just a better team that will wear UVa down eventually.
Georgia Tech 27, Virginia 17
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