College Football: 2016 Season

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Here are my latest college football musings...

* The big game today was #6 Texas A&M at #1 Alabama. Both undefeated, but one will remain undefeated after today. That team was... by the score of 33-14... A-la-bama. Yep. The boys in crimson whacked the boys in maroon. I don't know... you play against Alabama, and beat downs like this happen. Natural occurrence.

* That's Alabama, though. How did their Iron Bowl rivals do? #21 Auburn torched #17 Arkansas 56-3. It is the largest margin of victory against a ranked team in Auburn's history. Auburn enjoying plenty of home cooking while grilling the crap out of Arkansas.

* West Virginia was also undefeated. They still are after taking down visiting TCU 34-10. I tell you- I first started following college football in about 2002. West Virginia was still in the Big East, and TCU was in either Conference USA or the Mountain West. Never thought these two would be in the Big XII.

* It was 41-8 in Ann Arbor, MI as the #3 Michigan Wolverines smacked around the Illinois Fighting Illini.

* Staying in the Big Ten, Rutgers headed to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Can Rutgers finally win a B1G game? No. They failed 34-32. Not THAT bad if you're a Scarlet Knights fan.

* The Iowa Hawkeyes lost 17-9 hosting the #10 Wisconsin Badgers.

* In Columbia, MO; the Missouri Tigers hosted the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State. The boys from Murfreesboro, TN handed the Tigers a 51-45 loss.

* The final scoreboard is like a high-scoring baseball game, but Colorado defeated Stanford 10-5 at Stanford. You may want to keep tabs on the Colorado Buffaloes and how they are doing.

* FCS musings now... Hard to believe Indiana State defeated Southern Illinois 22-14 at Southern Illinois University. Indiana State usually is not a good football school. The Salukis of Southern Illinois are usually pretty good in football and basketball. More people know the Sycamores for some basketball player named Larry Bird, who came out pretty good in the NBA.

* Sam Houston State took out the Colonels of Nicholls State 38-21. The Bearkats are now 7-0 on the season after their win at Nicholls State.

* Northern Iowa did real good at home blasting the Missouri State Bears 61-7.

* The Western Illinois Leathernecks are currently hosting the Bison of North Dakota State University. Both teams are 5-1. NDSU currently leads 21-19 as of this post with 7:55 left in the game.


That's a lot from me, but congratulations to all winners from this week's games.
 
An interesting note of the UofM/Illinois game is that this was the first time in a college game that both head coaches previously lead an NFL team to the Super Bowl. Obviously Jim did it with the 49ers (who probably regret not having him now), and Lovie Smith did it with the Bears (who also probably regret firing him and not having him now).
 
I thought that coaching deal was a cool story about the Illinois at Michigan game, AnthonyD1993.

#11 Houston just lost 38-16 at SMU. Playoff hopes even more over than when they lost at Navy. And at least we lost fighting at Navy. This here... I don't know what this game was. Oh, well. Maybe next season for the College Football Playoff for the Coogs. Terrible shame...
 
THIS JUST IN...

Michigan State has lost four in a row heading into their game at Maryland. Make it five straight losses as the Terrapins gave floundering Michigan State a terrible 28-17 defeat. Up next for Michigan State- they host the blue and maize. Yep. Great Lakes State pride on the line with the proverbial two teams in two different directions expression. Michigan at Michigan State next Saturday.
 
Congrats to NDSU on the win against Western Illinois but holy crap this Oklahoma/Texas Tech game. :eek:
 
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Rutgers proves once again that they are the doormat of the B1G Ten. And I'm not even including Maryland, who is better despite the fact I haven't even seen one scoreboard noting they've played a game this year. But this play below is the embarrassment of the week:


4th and 19th and punting out of your own endzone. Go for a punter running play! I'm sure that will get you the yards you need!
 
All I can say about this season is that it's been incredible as a Husky. From nowhere to top-5. And that complete and utter destruction of Oregon was just so sweet after all these years.
 
In case you forgot, Ohio State got upset at Penn State this past Saturday Night. That obviously will shake up the AP Polls. So who leads in the AP polls? Here are the polls as of October 23:

(source used: Yahoo! Sports)
! = currently undefeated

NCAA FBS Top 25
01 - Alabama!
02 - Michigan!
03 - Clemson!
04 - Washington!
05 - Louisville
06 - Ohio State
07 - Nebraska!
08 - Baylor!
09 - Texas A&M
10 - West Virgina!
11 - Wisconsin
12 - Florida State
13 - Boise State!
14 - Florida
15 - Auburn
16 - Oklahoma
17 - Utah
18 - Tennessee
19 - Louisiana State (LSU, of course)
20 - Western Michigan!
21 - North Carolina
22 - Navy
23 - Colorado
24 - Penn State
25 - Virginia Tech

Other teams with votes: Washington State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Troy, USCal, San Diego State, Pittsburgh, SMU


Yeah... what happened to my Houston Cougars? Well, when you fail bad at SMU and basically mail in the season, you get out of the Top 25. We deserve to be no longer ranked after that crappy performance in Dallas.

I hope Fresno State can find themselves a new coach after dumping their previous coach. Fresno State is a fine football program.

On a more serious note, it is surely great seeing teams like Michigan, Washington, and even West Virginia have such great seasons and be among the Top 10. I know Crash is pleased that teams are bowing down to Washington. I know wvumidget is pleased with how the WVU Mountaineers are asserting themselves in the competitive Big XII. Really, though, I'm impressed with the likes of Western Michigan and Colorado. Colorado hasn't been relevant in football for quite a few years until now.


I will try to look up what this weekend's games will be like and then offer some thoughts on the upcoming Halloween weekend of college football.
 
To me, this week is about the Big Ten. The ESPN/ABC networks have three B1G football games lined up. Michigan State is on the skids. Maybe a win over visiting Michigan could reverse the fortunes of Sparty. Then, it's the Ohio State Buckeyes about to host the Wildcats of Northwestern University. And later, it will be the Nebraska Cornhuskers trying to stay undefeated... only as long as Wisconsin doesn't have anything to say about that in Madison, WI. Alabama is off this week, so this will be a time for a few other conferences to have some fun this week. When Alabama does return the following week, the Crimson Tide will be at the LSU Tigers. Yikes!

I hope you all get to enjoy this week's games. Good luck to all of your teams.
 
Lots of college football coming your way today and tonight. Three Big Ten... uh, B1G football games are coming up including Michigan at Michigan State, Northwestern at Ohio State, and Nebraska at Wisconsin. Clemson will set it off in Tallahassee at Florida State. No matter what game(s) interest you today, enjoy today's action!

Good luck to all of your teams.
 
Disappointed that the Utes didn't win against Washington, but happy Michigan took another win over their rivals!
 
Recently wrapped up....

In an epic showdown, Texas defeated undefeated Baylor 35-34 in Austin. Baylor's got a loss now on the season. The boys in Burnt Orange are now 4-4 on the season. Great game!


I may offer some more musings from today's action, but I wanted to share this report.
 
Musing time...


* ESPN had themselves some big time fun with the Big Ten. It was Michigan at Michigan State, Northwestern at Ohio State, and Nebraska at Wisconsin. The one game I was concerned most about with the higher-ranked teams was Nebraska at Wisconsin. My fears were confirmed when Nebraska failed in Overtime at Wisconsin. So that loud thud you heard in Madison, WI was Nebraska going down as an unbeaten take a loss. Sing along, boys and girls- "DOWN GOES NEBRASKA!" As for the other games... Michigan held on at Michigan State 32-23, and THE Ohio State University beat Northwestern 24-20. The Northwestern Wildcats gave everything Ohio State could handle, though. Poking around on Twitter, the official attendance at The Shoe was 107,296. That's as much as a large town or a small city! But one last time... Nebraska wasn't as fortunate as Michigan and Ohio State today.

* DOWN GOES WEST VIRGINIA! West Virginia's singing the blues with Nebraska also. The Mountaineers were brought down to Earth with a 37-20 loss in Stillwater, OK. The Oklahoma State Cowboys took down the boys in blue and gold from Morgantown, WV.

* Also in the Big XII... DOWN GOES BAYLOR! In the capital of Texas, the Longhorns of UT-Austin took down the Baptist school, Baylor Bears 35-34. I reported on this earlier today in a post. I just wanted to add this to my musings, though.

* DOWN GOES BOISE STATE! 30-28 was the loss for Boise State at the Wyoming Cowboys.

* My Houston Cougars HAVEN'T mailed in the 2016 season. We won 31-24 hosting the Golden Knights of Central Florida.

* I remember the game between Notre Dame vs. Miami as the "Catholics vs the Convicts." If you want to call it that and these teams that, then it was the Catholics who won this rendition. The score in South Bend, IN was 30-27 in favor of Notre Dame over "The U."

* Have you bowed down to Washington yet? The Huskies of U-Dub win again, and this was a slugfest in Salt Lake City, UT. I think the rest of their schedule is: at California, USCal, Arizona State, and at Washington State. UW is 8-0 now.

* 84-7 was the score in Harrisonburg, VA as the Dukes of James Madison annihilated the poor Rams of the University of Rhode Island.

* Even though this isn't a college story, it is a VERY good High School story. ESPN2 shown a High School game on Thursday between Woodland Christian at California School for the Deaf. This was an incredibly fascinating game to see just how much different it is to bring the excitement of football to the deaf. CSD won the game 43-0. CSD is in Fremont(?), CA, by the way. I didn't see all of it, but it was such an amazing experience as well as something vastly different.


Congratulations to all other winners of this week's games. This Tuesday is the first of the College Football Playoff rankings. So be sure to pop into this thread for when the Top 4 and the First 2 Out are revealed.
 
Welcome to November! More importantly, today is the first of the College Football Playoff rankings. So we will get our first idea of the four best NCAA FBS teams at present. Even if I report on the rankings, don't wait on me- just pop in this thread and discuss once the rankings are released.
 
Undefeated Western Michigan will play at Ball State later tonight. But for now, we got College Football Playoff rankings! Here are the first official rankings of the 2016 season...

--- Top 4 ---
01- Alabama
02- Clemson
03- Michigan
04- Texas A&M

--- First 2 Out ---
05- Washington
06- Ohio State

Those AP Polls don't mean anything anymore. We now have learned who the four best NCAA FBS teams are at present. We also know what teams are good... but not good enough to be among the Top 4. Remember- you don't need to be atop the rankings, but you want to be among the four best so you can play to become #1.

So, GTPlaneteers... what do you think about these rankings?
 
I'm just happy Michigan isn't 4 at the moment. To be honest, whoever is 4 at the final rankings (regardless of whether or not the Wolverines go undefeated) is probably going to get blown the hell out by Bama.
 
Friday Night Big Ten Football! It will be a reality come next season. Some sort of TV deal will allow for certain Big Ten teams to play on Friday nights in 2017. None of the traditional B1G powers have signed on to play these Friday Night games. So you probably won't see teams host like Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or anybody like that. I am also sure we won't see some sort of marketing deal like with the "Color Rush" uniforms on the NFL's Thursday Night Football games.

Tonight, #24 Boise State will host San José State. Enjoy this weekend of college football.
 
I really think it's a dumb idea anyway because I've always felt like Friday is for high school football. Glad that the majority of the core powers in the conference think it's dumb as well.
 
Quick musing...

DOWN GOES TEXAS A&M!

The Aggies of 4th-ranked Texas A&M University didn't have a good trip at Mississippi State University. It was a 35-28 win for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Pending disaster from Alabama, Clemson, and/or Michigan, and assuming Washington wins at California; the Washington Huskies will surely be in the Top 4 of the College Football Playoff after being denied the Top 4 from the rankings posted this past Tuesday.


Keep enjoying this week's action!
 
Some random thoughts...

* Can you believe it? Michigan State loses AGAIN. This is probably the worst season of Michigan State football since I started following most sports in 2002. Their latest fail was at Illinois to the tune of a 31-27 loss. If nobody has been fired yet, there likely will be some firings. What would be most surprising is if Coach Dantoni keeps his job. When I looked on Twitter, I couldn't believe this stat: Michigan State is 0-6 in Big Ten play. Tremendous shame for what is usually a pretty competitive team year after year. I'll tell you this much... Michigan State Spartans basketball (men and women) better have tremendous season to get over the woes of the 2016 football season. Good news for Sparty- they host Rutgers in their next game! If Michigan State drops this one against Rutgers, people REALLY need to be fired at Michigan State. Seven straight losses for the boys from East Lansing.

* 31-10 was how much Arkansas won by visiting #11 Florida. The Natural State not too natural to Florida today.

* Speaking of Florida, Notre Dame and Navy set it off in Jacksonville, FL. It was the Midshipmen who defeated Notre Dame 28-27. Coach Ken Niumatolo coach becomes the second Navy coach to defeat Notre Dame three times.

* Kansas State gave #18 Oklahoma State all they could handle. However, the Cowboys of Oklahoma State survived 32-37 in Manhattan, KS. They escape The Little Apple with a win.

* Staying in the Big XII, Texas took down Texas Tech in an offensive shootout. The Longhorns won this one 45-37 in Lubbock, TX.

* #17 Baylor is overrated... at least according to TCU. In Waco, Texas; it was 62-22 as the Horned Frogs of TCU completely embarrassed the Baylor Bears.

* Two "M's," but only one can be better. Is it Maryland or Michigan? The Big House up in Ann Arbor, MI saw the Wolverines remain unbeaten in authoritative fashion. Like, 59-3 authoritative.

* Both wear orange, but one can be better. This was another one for the "not even close" distinction. 54-0 was Clemson's whacking of visiting Syracuse.

* So how is North Dakota State University doing? What's good, NDSU? The Bison whacked the Youngstown State Penguins 24-3 at NDSU.

* I always knew North Dakota as the Fighting Sioux. Well, they're the Fighting Hawks these days. They defeated the Bears of Northern Colorado 23-13 at Northern Colorado.

* 49-24 was the score as South Dakota State won at home against the Bears of Missouri State.

* Just like the Texas A&M at Mississippi State score, it was also 35-28 as Southern Illinois defeated the visiting South Dakota Coyotes.

* At Fordham University, the Fordham Rams defeated the Colgate Raiders 24-20.

* The Lamar Cardinals didn't have such a good time at Nicolls State, losing 35-10.

* Most people don't even know Georgetown University has a football team. The Georgetown Hoyas lost at home to the Crusaders of The College of the Holy Cross 21-20.

* A big match in the realm of HBCU (historically-Black colleges and universities) took place in Charlotte, NC as the Aggies of North Carolina A&T defeated the South Carolina State Bulldogs 30-20. NCAT is currently top-ranked in the Black College Football ranks.


Congratulations to all winners from this week's games.
 
Kansas lost their 40th straight road game.

The Spartans were straight garbage for years and usually have been until Rich Rod and Brady Hoke sucked it up in Ann Arbor and Mark Dantonio showed up in East Lansing. Generally speaking, the bulk of the good recruits always went to Michigan or Ohio State and Michigan State took whoever didn't go to the others. I don't see him getting fired in the slightest because he's the only reason the Spartans were even relevant.

I put today and the Rutgers game as two possible games that the Spartans could win with their remaining schedule. I have to be honest- I'm loving seeing Michigan state struggle this year. Dantonio is a good coach, but it's nice to see that "With pride comes the fall" quote finally come back to bite him in the ass. Rutgers lost by 6 to Indiana, and that Indiana team has a solid roster.
 
I'd like to see Washington get shafted from the Top 4 now, considering Texas A&M's fail at Mississippi State. Alabama won a defensive struggle at LSU, Clemson demolished Syracuse, and Michigan ran over Maryland. Washington and THE Ohio State University turned their respective opponents into roadkill also. So the obvious order for the College Football Playoff would be: Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, and Washington. It may also be possible the CFP could be: Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, and Ohio State. Now I wonder what "First 2 Out" would be. Texas A&M is done playoff-wise. This next set of rankings will be very interesting to follow. We may see a completely new name make the six featured teams. Some of these names could creep up: #7 Louisville, #8 Wisconsin, #9 Auburn, and #10 Nebraska. Be sure to check out the Playoff rankings this Election Day Tuesday.
 

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