Week three of the college football season was a dress rehearsal. Now, we begin answering the question. Who is going to end up in the Big Top in Inglewood (LA), California playing for the College Football National Championship? There will be two teams who wind up in the center ring of college football’s three ring circus known as the college football playoff. As we look toward the week of September 24, there are some unpredicted teams trying to get into the center ring. Observe the teams no one gave any consideration of having zero losses going into week four: Duke, Kansas, Oregon State, Tulane, Indiana, Syracuse, and Rutgers. This is not college basketball; it is college football. Two of these teams will face off this week in a battle of the unbeatens: Kansas and Duke.
While this lineup of teams may not look the part or have the name recognition associated with the college football national championship, there were a couple of teams last week, who had considerable attention, trying to put their foot into the center ring, who were knocked onto the ropes during dress rehearsal: BYU and Michigan State. While Kansas and Duke and most other undefeated teams listed above have little or no chance to get into the center ring, they at least want to be in the spotlight of one of the side rings in the big circus of College football by being invited to play in a big bowl at the end of the year; something they have not experienced in a long time.
Michigan has not been tested yet, and Michigan State got bested by the surprising Washington Huskies. Clemson can climb back into center ring contention, alongside Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State, with a win over a no loss Wake Forest team who is ranked in the top twenty but who has not beaten an AP ranked team in their last sixty plus consecutive attempts. Oklahoma says wait a minute, what about us.
Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Penn State, USC, and Arkansas are beginning to make some noise. Oregon and Texas A&M have already stubbed their toe and are licking their wounds while they try to get back. Notre Dame and Utah have fallen too far to climb over the ropes and get back into the fight. Both teams, because they have some marquee games in front of them, have a chance to get back into a side ring to show their football proficiency.
The Ring Master, knowing he has tigers, gators, elephants, lions, and bears at his disposal, has some key games on display this Saturday. Some with high interest and entertainment value because of tradition and early season performance. Some with high hopes, aspire to be Lion King of college football at the end of the year.
Last week’s dress rehearsal was quite a show:
UCLA 32 South Alabama 31
In a season which has seen the unexpected challenges, and even unexpected upsets like Appalachian State beating Texas A&M, it appeared Saturday afternoon in the historic Rose Bowl that the upset bug would bite once again. The South Alabama Jaguars held an 8 point lead going into the 4th quarter.
However, the last chapter was written as the bears from Westwood came out of hibernation to rally for 9 points in the 4 th quarter win 32 to 31.
Alabama 63 Louisiana-Monroe 7
Alabama scored a touchdown on offense, on defense and on special teams in the first half of the first quarter to begin what would become a 63-7 win over Louisiana-Monroe. The last non-conference opponent of Alabama’s until late November, the Warhawks trailed 35-7 at halftime. While the Crimson Tide offense scored a pair of touchdowns in each of the two final quarters, the Tide defense pitched a second half shutout.
Helpful to Alabama’s success was 319 combined punt and kickoff return yards, including two punt returns (one off of a blocked punt) for touchdowns. Two interceptions and 60 yards of penalties prevented the home standing Tide’s performance from nearing perfection. The difference in the final score is indicative of the competitive disparity between Alabama and La-Monroe.
Penn State 41 Auburn 12
It appeared as though the 1st ever visit of a Big 10 team to east Alabama had all the trappings of being a thriller, but not to be. The big time cat fight turned into a lion feast as Penn State bullied the Tigers in route to a 41 to 12 victory.
Texas A&M 17 Miami 9
The final score is what matters in Texas A&M’s 17-9 win over Miami. A week after the aforementioned loss to Appalachian State, the Aggies faced a gut-check and need-to-win situation under the Kyle Field lights against the highly-ranked Hurricanes. Winning the game might well be the only positive A&M can take away from this contest.
Miami outgained Texas A&M by more than 100 yards. Miami achieved 11 more first downs than Texas A&M. Miami snapped 25 more offense plays than Texas A&M. Miami possessed the football for nearly 10 more minutes of game time than did Texas A&M. A statistical analysis of this game does not point to an Aggie victory. The difference-making play was a punt muffed by Miami deep in its own territory, setting up an A&M touchdown that would put the Aggies in the lead for the remainder of the game. The Hurricanes moved the football but failed to comparably convert yardage to points, and the result was a Texas A&M bounce-back victory.
Ring Master if you please! Featured games this week: The Clemson Tigers travel to Wake Forest, Alabama will play host to the Vanderbilt Commodores, Wisconsin will meet Ohio State in the Horseshoe, The Florida Gators will climb the Smokey Mountains to take on Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas A&M will square off in Arlington, TX. Yes, don’t forget Duke will go all the way to Kansas to play the Kansas Jayhawks in David Booth Stadium, the oldest college football stadium west of the Mississippi River. One of these two teams will suffer their first loss in this battle of upstarts. Elephants, Tigers, Lions, Gators, and Bears. It’s just college football.
The show must go on and what a show it is, College Football.
Week three of the college football season was a dress rehearsal. Now, we begin answering the question. Who is going to end up in the Big Top in Inglewood (LA), California playing for the College Football National Championship? There will be two teams who wind up in the center ring of college football’s three ring circus known as the college football playoff. As we look toward the week of September 24, there are some unpredicted teams trying to get into the center ring. Observe the teams no one gave any consideration of having zero losses going into week four: Duke, Kansas, Oregon State, Tulane, Indiana, Syracuse, and Rutgers. This is not college basketball; it is college football. Two of these teams will face off this week in a battle of the unbeatens: Kansas and Duke.
While this lineup of teams may not look the part or have the name recognition associated with the college football national championship, there were a couple of teams last week, who had considerable attention, trying to put their foot into the center ring, who were knocked onto the ropes during dress rehearsal: BYU and Michigan State. While Kansas and Duke and most other undefeated teams listed above have little or no chance to get into the center ring, they at least want to be in the spotlight of one of the side rings in the big circus of College football by being invited to play in a big bowl at the end of the year; something they have not experienced in a long time.
Michigan has not been tested yet, and Michigan State got bested by the surprising Washington Huskies. Clemson can climb back into center ring contention, alongside Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State, with a win over a no loss Wake Forest team who is ranked in the top twenty but who has not beaten an AP ranked team in their last sixty plus consecutive attempts. Oklahoma says wait a minute, what about us.
Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Penn State, USC, and Arkansas are beginning to make some noise. Oregon and Texas A&M have already stubbed their toe and are licking their wounds while they try to get back. Notre Dame and Utah have fallen too far to climb over the ropes and get back into the fight. Both teams, because they have some marquee games in front of them, have a chance to get back into a side ring to show their football proficiency.
The Ring Master, knowing he has tigers, gators, elephants, lions, and bears at his disposal, has some key games on display this Saturday. Some with high interest and entertainment value because of tradition and early season performance. Some with high hopes, aspire to be Lion King of college football at the end of the year.
Last week’s dress rehearsal was quite a show:
UCLA 32 South Alabama 31
In a season which has seen the unexpected challenges, and even unexpected upsets like Appalachian State beating Texas A&M, it appeared Saturday afternoon in the historic Rose Bowl that the upset bug would bite once again. The South Alabama Jaguars held an 8 point lead going into the 4th quarter.
However, the last chapter was written as the bears from Westwood came out of hibernation to rally for 9 points in the 4 th quarter win 32 to 31.
Alabama 63 Louisiana-Monroe 7
Alabama scored a touchdown on offense, on defense and on special teams in the first half of the first quarter to begin what would become a 63-7 win over Louisiana-Monroe. The last non-conference opponent of Alabama’s until late November, the Warhawks trailed 35-7 at halftime. While the Crimson Tide offense scored a pair of touchdowns in each of the two final quarters, the Tide defense pitched a second half shutout.
Helpful to Alabama’s success was 319 combined punt and kickoff return yards, including two punt returns (one off of a blocked punt) for touchdowns. Two interceptions and 60 yards of penalties prevented the home standing Tide’s performance from nearing perfection. The difference in the final score is indicative of the competitive disparity between Alabama and La-Monroe.
Penn State 41 Auburn 12
It appeared as though the 1st ever visit of a Big 10 team to east Alabama had all the trappings of being a thriller, but not to be. The big time cat fight turned into a lion feast as Penn State bullied the Tigers in route to a 41 to 12 victory.
Texas A&M 17 Miami 9
The final score is what matters in Texas A&M’s 17-9 win over Miami. A week after the aforementioned loss to Appalachian State, the Aggies faced a gut-check and need-to-win situation under the Kyle Field lights against the highly-ranked Hurricanes. Winning the game might well be the only positive A&M can take away from this contest.
Miami outgained Texas A&M by more than 100 yards. Miami achieved 11 more first downs than Texas A&M. Miami snapped 25 more offense plays than Texas A&M. Miami possessed the football for nearly 10 more minutes of game time than did Texas A&M. A statistical analysis of this game does not point to an Aggie victory. The difference-making play was a punt muffed by Miami deep in its own territory, setting up an A&M touchdown that would put the Aggies in the lead for the remainder of the game. The Hurricanes moved the football but failed to comparably convert yardage to points, and the result was a Texas A&M bounce-back victory.
Ring Master if you please! Featured games this week: The Clemson Tigers travel to Wake Forest, Alabama will play host to the Vanderbilt Commodores, Wisconsin will meet Ohio State in the Horseshoe, The Florida Gators will climb the Smokey Mountains to take on Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas A&M will square off in Arlington, TX. Yes, don’t forget Duke will go all the way to Kansas to play the Kansas Jayhawks in David Booth Stadium, the oldest college football stadium west of the Mississippi River. One of these two teams will suffer their first loss in this battle of upstarts. Elephants, Tigers, Lions, Gators, and Bears. It’s just college football.
The show must go on and what a show it is, College Football.
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