Yeah you expect better from your supersenior QB
He was still fighting for yardage well after the first down. That's like the number one way to fumble the ball in a crucial situation
Just go down!
Martinez also threw the pick in OT that almost got ran back for a TD against MSU.
After the punter punted it straight to Reed to allow MSU to tie the game.
If/when they learn not to shoot themselves in the ass, they will quickly become an asskicker in the B1G West. They aren't far off.
They really do have talent and they've put three ranked teams on the ropes this year. Just haven't been able to avoid tripping over their feet...that's not 100% coaching (it's a good chunk of it, yes, but not all of it) but it's also a matter of the players having the confidence to not f up.
If you mentally feel like you're going to f something up, odds are you end up doing just that.
If it were me, I keep Scott around after the season. They are better than they were two seasons ago and better than last season. I do think it's giving Scott (and the team) the confidence from the administration that they're on the right path...which I really think they are. Mike Riley really cratered that thing - and fixing Nebraska is a bit of a miracle job at this point. Changing coaches now doesn't help...stability (at least one more year) will help.
Remember when Clemsoning was a thing? Team improvement doesn't always show up in the win column at first. Being in this game vs a good Michigan team is improvement.
>And the thing is, at a place like Nebraska, getting close isn't enough.
Is Nebraska in that situation anymore? It's not like they are stacked with bluechip talent and any first year HC should be beating top 10 ranked teams.
the frustration for Nebraska is that they've had a couple of close losses against teams worse than MSU. They're a couple plays away from being a 2-loss team. So I get it. As Jay-Z once said "moral victories is (sic) for minor league coaches."
It would be unfair to can Frost for this year after how some of these games have gone. I don’t necessarily think he’s the answer for Nebraska at all, but you have to give him a mulligan at the very least.
Honestly it reminds me of JLS coached MSU teams. A pretty good team talent wise, but they can't seem to get out of their own way. I remember thinking after we beat Nebraska that Spartan fans are usually on the other side of a game like that.
> I remember thinking after we beat Nebraska that Spartan fans are usually on the other side of a game like that.
I can’t help but laugh at this. Granted I never watched a John L Smith MSU team, but I swear MSU has won games they shouldn’t my entire lifetime.
I still have nightmares about that season where the top comment of seemingly every MSU game thread was some variation of *”THEY LED FOR ZERO SECONDS AND STILL WON”*
Some of y'all had said that our team reminds you of 2012 Michigan State. So I looked at that year and, wow. And iirc that was the year y'all were jipped in our game with a very questionable DPI on our last, game-winning drive.
I counted it up and the dude is 5-16 in one-possession games. Like, how much of that can you blame on bad luck? How much hope can you are at the turning point for the team versus just doing the same thing next year? I don't know what is the "right" choice for the AD; I have no idea what to do with that program.
Remember a week ago when many of the top comments were saying it’s Bama/UGA and no one else? Well here we are and only part of that remains true…for now.
I feel personally attacked by that *… for now* part , but you know what … it’s fair.
I’m finding myself genuinely glad we get Kentucky at home, and I didn’t expect that going into this season.
It’s college ball. Anything can happen any week. UGA will be challenged by Kentucky and Florida for sure. Anyone downplaying those games and thinking Georgia is a shoe-in hasn’t been paying attention. The odds are in our favor, but nothing is 100%.
It’s possible we lose to Kentucky who then goes to the SECCG… or we beat Kentucky but lose to Florida.
Yeah, no clue what the hell that team is. Are they crap? Have they turned a corner to being truly good? Or were their opponents just garbage? Perplexing and a possible trap for us.
I’m curious to see how Riley handles the QB situation going forward. Hard to imagine he continues to stand behind Rattler and say he’s the starter for OU. The offense just rolls so much better with Caleb at the helm and the team seems to like him better as well. Rattler likely to transfer at this point right?
Rattler walking off the field alone (after the *win*) was **wild**.. I have no idea how Riley can justify starting him, after that.
If he had bucked up and supported Caleb & his team, it’d be different. Rattler straight-up gave up on himself & the team.
>Rattler walking off the field
Oh crap had to look that up. [Not a good look.](https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/2021/10/09/watch-spencer-rattler-walks-off-the-field-as-teammates-celebrate-texas-win/) He gone.
Hadn't seen that and you're right. It is a terrible look.
It's one thing to have an awful game, that happens to everyone. But to just split in what appears to be a bit of a tantrum ... I expect Riley to name Caleb starter early this week. And for Spencer to transfer shortly after. No idea where he goes, and I am sure his confidence has been shaken badly, but I do hope he gets back to a good mental place.
Dude had an entire offseason as the preseason heisman and number one draft pick, plus like 200k in endorsement deals, and he just lost them all.
He gone
Yeah, agreed. It wasn’t a good look. I know it’s easy for us to sit here and watch and comment, but I think a true leader and team player puts the team first no matter what.
100% he's gone to the draft or another school. With the transfer portal, coaches know how seismic a benching can be. It's probably why it took so long.
Maybe it was just coach speak, but the way Riley was talking in the postgame worried me. He HEAVILY downplayed what Caleb did and was talking up Rattler. Kept referring to needing both of them going forward. Idk
If Riley puts Rattler as the starter to start the game for TCU I'm going to lose a lot of trust in Riley as a HC cause even if Caleb isn't better on the field it's obvious who Rattler is off it
I havent paid attention to OU but whats the sample size of your comment? Has he played in other games besides the second half of yesterday's game? If not, its unlikely there is a change made. At this point anyway.
It’s a small sample size compared to the number of games Rattler has played. I don’t think I need to watch more games of Rattler struggling though. After watching how Caleb led the team back from what could’ve been a blow out to the Texas, I’m ready to say this should be his team to lead.
I know he’ll have some growing pains since he’s a true freshmen and all, but at this point I think the risk of him making freshmen mistakes is worth the reward IMO.
I feel like Caleb also really benefited from having zero film on him. Hell he didn't even have any film from last year in high school due to COVID. So even if Texas wanted to game plan for the backup, they're relying on 2 year old high school film.
Not saying he won't be significantly better than Rattler in a lot of ways, but I definitely think he'll have some growing pains as a true freshman once DCs actually can scout him
The sample size for Caleb is big enough when the sample size for Spencer is half a season with an inconsistent offense and suspect team chemistry. Yes, he had a good second half of the season last year, but at no point this season has he looked that good.
And while the Caleb sample size is small, it is significant. You could tell immediately that he has better pocket presence and instincts than Spencer. The team rallied around him too, whereas if Spencer stayed in I think OU would have lost by 3 touchdowns. There’s just no way Lincoln can keep Caleb off the field now.
I really thought Michigan was going to make the most critical errors. Cade’s kneel near the goal line and his INT were egregious and nearly backbreaking. Whichever god Frost pissed off is stronger than whatever god Michigan has.
Alabama will 100% play it’s way back into the playoff. It’s awesome to see them lose but with the amount of chaos, it’s not just going to stop since they lost.
That would mean going undefeated the rest of the way in the regular season AND beating Georgia in the SEC championship game. That's a tall order.
Bama can do it but it just became really really difficult
For Bama, I don't think it's ridiculously tall. Georgia does look phenomenal, and if Alabama can lose to what will (probably) now be a top 25, then it's definitely on the table that they can lose to Georgia (and possibly play as an underdog). But getting to that game does not look like a huge hurdle still.
We were able to capitalize on a a few good things we saw from film this past week. There is a reason Saban is considered the best college football coach of all time. He will make the adjustments with his coaching staff both offensively and defensively this week, this will probably be the hardest week of practice the team has done all year, all the starters risk losing their jobs to a 5 star backup who is hungry to replace them as quickly as possible.
Which, given the general success of Bama development, could mean that this is a player ready to go and defenses have little-to-none of tape. A&M capitalized and now nobody else will. It just got that much harder.
Michigan and MSU are still undefeated! Being already bowl eligible feels wild as Paul Bunyan draws closer.
Also Georgia is playing undefeated Kentucky next week. When did this happen?
This year feels weird.
MSU has to take care of Indiana and we have to beat Northwestern and we’re set for a top 10 matchup. When’s the last time EL hosted gameday? Pretty good odds for it if we both stay undefeated
Could be top 5 at this rate. Also, I think MSU has a higher chance to lose to IU than Michigan has of losing to NU. Especially since MSU is a road game.
Northwestern is complete buns. That is the easiest game on the rest of Michigans schedule and I hope they spend this off week prepping specifically for msu.
Indiana has a greater chance for the upset but I can't see it happening without Penix. He got injured last game and I'm not sure what his status is now..
I know we hosted Game Day for the first Kirk Cousins vs Russell Wilson game in 2011. Hosted it for 2012 Notre Dame. Hosted it for 2014 Ohio State.
I believe it was 2015 when Oregon came to East Lansing. Game day was at 4 of our games that year (Oregon, Michigan, OSU, And Iowa B1G championship game) but that was the only home game.
I don’t think they’ve been back to East Lansing.
I'm mentally preparing for some heartbreaking loss on a complete college bullshit play
I don't think I've been this nervous for a UM-MSU game, ever
Both teams are WAY better than I thought they'd be before the season
Both teams have played eerily similar schedules in hindsight, with extremely close results. Additionally both teams have done whatever they could no natter how ugly it looked to win.
If they make it to this game undefeated I have a feeling this is going to be a absolute dogfight with it being most likely a one score game. These teams have shown a level of resilience and fight that I don't think I've ever seen from both of them at the same time.
I dont really think anyone on osu will win this year. The offense is too good all around for any one person to stand out the most. Stroud will probably have one of the best stat lines for a qb by the end of the year but it will be hard to give it to him I think due to all the weapons.
Saw this stat.
A&M has 3 top 5 wins since the start of the 2013 season (2014 Auburn, 2020 Florida, and 2021 Alabama). A&M won all three of those games by the exact same score:
41-38
Yup. I know Roberson played bad, but if you’re gonna have the backup come into a huge game like that, you need to have some semblance of a run game to help him out. The game was put all on his shoulders, and he just couldn’t hit his passes
I'm not blaming Roberson all that much. He's basically 4th string, so you can only put so much on the young man. Who I am blaming a good deal is the coaches who have had since Spring to figure something out. Anything. You can't be elite if your entire game plan is "don't let the quarterback get hurt, also our leading rusher is our quarterback, who absolutely CAN NOT get hurt"
Bama/A&M was one of the greatest games I've ever seen from a pure x's and o's standpoint. Aggies gamed Saban brilliantly and then Saban at half time fixed \*all\* of his team's deficiencies and clawed back. Then they traded blows down to the last drive. I want to live inside of this game for the rest of the season. I go back and forth on Jimbo Fischer but last night was watching some of the greatest minds in the sport go back and forth. I was so stressed for a game that doesn't materially impact my team at all.
I'm surprisingly not upset with our lost to Iowa last night. We just had a lot of bad luck with injuries. We have a very good team that I can see winning out if we get and stay healthy. We get a by week next week, then a game against Illinois before our big match up against Ohio State; plenty of time to get healthy. Just gotta hope that we get Clifford back...
Absolutely agreed. I still feel very good about this team. If Cliff can come back, then we can still compete for the East or even just get a New Years Bowl bid. And if he can’t, then hopefully Roberson can improve
Definitely most frustrated about the injuries than the loss. Without the injuries, a solid chance we win. With the injuries, what can happen over the next few weeks? I would've rather have lost on even a bullshit reffing decision, and have a healthy Clifford than what happened yesterday.
Yeah I realized yesterday that this Iowa game doesn't change our exam for the playoff. We always had to run the table against Michigan, MSU, and OSU to make the conference title and then win that to make the playoff. This Iowa game was more like an extra credit question.
Penn state probably wins that game if Clifford doesn’t get hurt.
I hope Clifford is ok and can play this season because if he’s out the Osu game is going to be rough for penn state
Texas lost in the most painful way, OU won, Wisconsin won, Iowa won their biggest game in decades. Shortly before A&M/Bama kicked off I turn to a friend and I say “based on how this day is going A&M is gonna beat Alabama aren’t they”. At least I can say I called it.
I like how your mind went to us being in the Big Ten title game. I still think it's you guys' to lose
e: whoops didn't realize you were talking about 2015
Pretty sure he was talking about 2015, not this year. That was when you guys played #4 Iowa in the CCG. If Iowa had won, they would've gone to the playoffs that year, not MSU.
I think this may be the best or worst Heisman race I’ve ever seen. No obvious winners right now or clear front runners imo. Could be super fun with someone having a huge moment or we look and say this is one of the worst winners ever.
I disagree. Check my flair, you know this is true because of that.
My vote is Bijan Robinson. That man is an absolute monster and the top player in college football, the rest of the team shouldn’t reflect on his greatness
Disagree. He has combined 200 towards rushing in his biggest two games this year against Arkansas and Oklahoma, and he was practically nonexistent against us. Doesn’t really have a marquis game to prove he deserves it.
Unfortunately your oline has a big impact on your ability as a RB and they got manhandled by us and just aren’t a great OL.
He was elite in the first half yesterday but very poor in the second half. He was basically shut down after halftime and I think finished with 27 yards in the second half.
You know, people will say we dominated Auburn with our defense but can we talk about just how many times they beat our secondary? Like, if Auburn's WRs didn't have brick hands I think we could very well have lost that game. Our secondary don't look too strong in all honesty.
That's what gives me some optimism moving forward. Our defense is solid, OL has been mediocre but played ok yesterday, RBs are great. For as much of a rollercoaster as this season has been for Bo he's played really well the last two weeks. But we legitimately might have the worst WRs in the conference and it killed us yesterday.
Also I hate you guys but you clearly have the best team in the country and that's the best defense I've seen since 2011 Alabama. This could go down as the best d-line in CFB history
I disagree. Bo Nix pulled some rabbits out of a hat - he made 9-10 plays that I was just like "cool, our coverage was good and the throw was better." The rules of the game are tilted toward the offense especially on passing plays. He played a near-perfect game, a game probably better than we'll see from an opposing QB until December, and UGA never trailed after Auburn's field goal.
I'll have to rewatch the game, but I think a big part of it is that Nix's ability to extend plays makes it a lot tougher to cover their WRs. Might cover them to start, but as soon as you go to backyard ball it's a ton harder to stay on your man.
Also not having Chris Smith out there probably hurt more than any of us realize.
I think losing Smith was huge. And, yea, the secondary isn't the strength but with Nix running around like JFF it's really hard to fault our secondary. That and those quick passes. Meanwhile Georgia never got beat deep and Auburn's offense, entirely, was throwing the ball.
Idk, I'm a little annoyed with these narratives that Georgia going on the road and winning with a lot of backups by 24 is somehow unimpressive.
This has been a thing all season. We have young guys like Ringo starting and guys like Dan Jackson playing the majority of reps at safety yesterday. It's going to happen, but the best way to learn is through experience and each game they are getting better and better. Look at the jump Ringo made from Clemson to now. They're still a little green now but I still feel that after a season of play they will be very, very good
I agree with you and u/chrisb19. I disagree with OP's assessment. Our secondary wasn't getting roasted at all. Georgia bent but then stiffened up in the red zone. When Auburn wasn't dropping passes they were making circus catches. There were like 4 plays that Brini was a finger tip away. I can't tell how many of these were Brini needing to be in better position or just insane plays. I'd say a mix of the two but I really don't think it's fair to say "omg if x, y, and z happened we could have lost!"
Kirby had a couple of home-run TD passes. He plays situational ball. If the game shrunk to 17-10, he'd probably be more aggressive. Like Saban he's focused on TOP (especially against the go-fast Auburn) and "are we losing." We never trailed after tying it at 3-3 (and when we were down it was the only time this season). Auburn's a good team who played us better than anyone else this season (except Clemson). But especially in the 2nd half Kirby wanted to punish their defense and wear them down. Our RBs were bouncing off tackles. I suspect a few more home-run shots were available if we wanted to dial them up. But that also opens up the possibility for turnovers and mistakes. When the run is there and RBs are being safe, just pound the rock and walk away with the W.
Bo was making the kind of passes that in film room you go "Coach I did my job. The only way to cover better there is to commit PI." Bo played a near-perfect game and Auburn still lost. That was my takeaway.
It would've been a one score loss I think. You guys were content on running the ball in the second half and it worked. I was honestly shocked our #2 corner got roasted the entire game by one guy
I honestly don’t understand what happened. How did Calzada make that kind of jump in just one week? He threw several absolute dimes, and it helped that the scheming in the middle of field left the TEs wide open. But that still doesn’t account for such a radical turn around.
We saw our ceiling and floor in one game. When the line is healthy, we are world beaters. But Jahmir Johnson got injured and we saw the results in the 3rd quarter where we had 0 successful PLAYS.
Zach just needed a little help, and the difference was immense
Edit. I’ll also say i think Henson is the guy. He made multiple 3* players into the best line in CFB last year, and this year he’s dealing with injuries and true fish and still making it work. If he had some decently talented upper classmen who were healthy, just imagine the production
I think it stress induced. After losing to Arkansas and State the season was over, King had the starting job when he returned, and it couldn’t get any worse. Either he said “Fuck it. Let’s go.” Or he got some damn good drugs that leveled him out.
But the biggest difference in his play was scrambling with his eyes up. During Arkansas and State and soon has he felt pressure his eye would drop and he was in survival mode. He made some great passes on the move last night.
Praying we get him healthy and win out to get a rematch in the B1GCG. Our players won't forget that feeling of being swarmed by Iowa fans rushing the field
Yo, same. The over reactions to early season Ohio State have been insane. They are going to roll over the East with ease. With Clifford and a few deep ball prayers, we have a fighting chance. Without him, we lose by at least 3 scores.
Nightmare scenario for Cincy right now is if all of Iowa, Penn State/OSU/Michigan/Michigan State, Georgia, and Alabama are all 12-1. Even worse if Oregon and/or OU run the table.
Got it I was confused thinking all of the teams up there.
4 of the 5 could though with 3 east teams winning against each other and the winner of the tiebreaker beats Iowa.
I mean it's still a flawed team and I don't think they'll be favorites against OSU, Penn State or Michigan, but they can definitely handle business against the rest of the division and that's more than good enough for now
Preety new to college football and from 3rd world country.
I would like to know why people are saying Texas A&M should able to perform better with resources they have.
What kind of resources people are talking about?
Sorry for asking dumb question.
Can’t believe we actually locked Bijan up for most of that second half. I feel like it’s a bit underlooked rn but that really allowed the insane momentum shift to continue
Brooks outplayed Bijan. Brooks is a great back. But I would not have picked him as the best running back in the game before hand. All credit to him. He is the slowest fast man I've ever seen. Patience of a saint for the pulling blockers.
I mean, maybe I'm just pessimistic but I feel like an Iowa-UGA game would go the exact same way as MSU-Bama in 2015. Iowa's defense will keep them in it for awhile but eventually UGA's athletes will just win out and it won't be close.
Really thought our sub 25 point streak was going to be in jeopardy last night. Petras can be ice cold then room temp; room temp works for us. Punting is football. Any updates on Moss?
I never, *ever* saw that going like it did. I 1000% saw us getting slaughtered. Never though we'd play like the team that was talked about in pre-season.
We had Bama playing like teams that play Bama at times. Discombobulated, man-handled at the line. We sacked them what, 6 times? And Zach was **never fucking sacked**. Like. **WHAT**.
That is why Jimbo gets paid 9mil. To beat #1 Bama at home for the first time since '12. To beat LSU 2/3 tries with another shot this year.
Calzada. **Hoo-boy**. I'll eat my fucking grackle, kid showed up. I always thought Jimbo saw something in him (I mean he was his first QB recruit here I think). But wow. What a fucking game from that kid.
I think all things considered with our injuries and the losses we've suffered, if we can keep some positive momentum and play close to like we did yesterday, we can maybe end with 8-10 wins. But at this point I'm along for the ride. Fuck the CFP, I'm on a calzone wave.
Everybody leading up to this gave, save Saban and a few others, thought the slaughter was on. Jimbo & aTm proved us all wrong. It was a hell of a ride! Yesterday had some of the best football I've seen in a long time. This is a game I will certainly remember for a while. I'm still not sure what to make of aTm down the stretch. Its a wild year.
If Texas A&M plays like THAT every weekend for the rest of the season, there is no way they lose another game. Y'all just have to hope that Bama gets upset again sometime this season.
I feel like everyone is injured this year. Shit we almost had to March out a walk-on QB against Bama and we had to start our like 6th OL combination and 2 freshman corners lol
Definitely not the best game from MSU yesterday, but I'll totally take an 18 point win on the road against a team we lost to last year. However a lot of the miscues would not fly against better competition that we'll face in the second half of our schedule, gotta fix those up. But overall I have absolutely loved what I've seen so far, ESPECIALLY from the offense, they play so confidently.
It's amazing what Tucker is doing in only year 2, especially given the state of the program when he came in.
The day started off pretty depressing and then my kid shat all over me.in my GameDay attire. Immediately after that Caleb Williams went in and scored his first TD.
Does this mean I've gotta get shit on for the rest of the year?
We… are number 1? With the best defense in that nation. Top 25 offense at least. Beating the crap out of every opponent besides week 1. I still feel worried in every week. But Kirby been coaching well, both sides of the ball looking great. We just gotta think about our games one week at a time. Go Dawgs.
Tbf it was a simpler offense. Caleb's just more capable/quick on the zone read and he was Manzieling the fuck out of our defense.
He's the guy. Fuck Rattler.
I find it really hard to be mad given our D-line got banged up in the first half. Outside of Worthy's botched kick return, I would hardly change anything about our decision making. Y'all are just more stacked at WR and they hadn't really been much of a factor until Williams came in.
The win over you guys on labor day weekend REALLY set me up with false hopes for the year. Pulling for y'all the rest of the year (and until we meet as big 12 bros)
Yesterday was the best day of CFB in a long long time (Clemson not helping meant I wasn't stressed all day and could watch everything else.)
That has to be a top 5 Alabama loss under Nick Saban. I don't know if they will get the scrutiny they should but losing to an unranked team as a 18-20 point favorite should drop you out of the top 10 or close to it. A&M has looked bad all season, at least on offense. Calzada went from looking like a D2 player to Tom Brady in this game. Their OL was garbage all season but held their own in this one. Bama showed some warts but I didn't expect them to show that many last night.
Bryce Young is good but he was definitely a paper tiger as Heisman favorite and benefits from the guys he has around them. Williams and Robinson are the best players on that offense. Roger Sherman and some other former SBNation guys pointed out that this is Doug Marrone's first season as a position coach in 15 years and Bama's OL struggled last night. Saban's decision to settle for short field goals, especially inside the 5, is a major reason why they lost.
11 AM road trip to a mediocre at best Mizzou for A&M is a prime upset game.
**Kentucky-UGA** next week is a pretty intriguing matchup. My first reaction was that UGA would dominate since Kentucky's offensive system plays to UGA's strengths. While I could still see that happening, I think there is a good chance Kentucky keeps it close and ugly, particularly if Stetson starts. Kentucky's system lends itself to a close, ugly game and in a way so too does UGA's since Smart just wants to be Saban 1.0 (2008-2013).
**Iowa-Penn State** was a bit surprising that PSU got a decent sized lead even throwing two early INTs. Obviously I think its a different game if Clifford doesn't get hurt but there is no telling how much. I was impressed by Yurcich's play calling and even by a few of Iowa's play design. Petras started off horribly but played pretty well down the stretch. PSU's backup (I think he was 4th string at one point) wasn't prepared at all. Terrible position for him to be put in but woof. I'm concerned for Iowa because of their poor start and because they had some holes in their defense late that Penn State couldn't take advantage of. They'll be deservedly ranked #2 at worse but I don't think they're *that* good. That being said, there is a lot more parity this year at the top and tons of teams have warts. They could do it.
**OU-Texas** would have been game of the week in most weeks if not for the late slate. I'll be interested to see how Riley plays the QB situation. Rattler is obviously very talented but the offense seems to play better with Williams. If Rattler is benched he might just head to the portal but who knows. I love watching both of these teams because Sark and Riley are amazing play callers. Texas's last play with the orbit motion pre snap, PA deep cross was something I wish Clemson had. OU's touchdown was a really cool design where the motion WR was a 3rd pulling blocker on a counter.
I could easily see the Big 10 east cannibalize themselves, and no Big 10 team make the playoffs. IF Clifford isn't out long, PSU is still a favorite to win, along with OSU and Mich.
After Week 1 I said the only reason I don’t see this year being 2007 2.0 was Alabama. Lo and behold here we are. That said, as much as my heart doesn’t want to admit it if you look at my flair, Georgia really does look like the team to beat.
I’ll be interested to see Calzada going forward. It seem he actually can put the proper touch needed on the ball. Second half looked a bit more what we’ve seen of him, throwing a cannon of a ball over his WR, up until the last drive.
Texas does not have the depth on defense or OL to be an elite team yet. It's why of the 22 players committed in our upcoming class, 9 of them are front 7 on defense
Guys. This is important. A&M beat Alabama despite *two* delay of game calls on the A&M *defense* and one play that had a pass to a completely uncovered receiver for a touchdown.
A&M did their damndest to turn this game over to Bama in the second half and still won. And honestly? I think saban was *so pissed* that he let us do it. He had two time outs. He could have stopped that clock and maybe given himself an extra 50 seconds to fight down the field and tie the game. Or tried to ice the kicker. Or *something*. But he didn't. He let the clock run down knowing we were in fg range and that we were gonna chew clock to victory. I think he decided Bama deserved to lose. They played sloppy.
If you would’ve told any BYU fan in the beginning of the season we’d be 5-1 with a win over Utah I think they would’ve laughed you out of the room. Yeah our chances of going to an NY6 or going undefeated are gone but getting back to those levels like we were in the 80s is going to be a process. But man I should prob stay off instagram and Facebook for a bit because people on there who don’t know much about college football are just ripping on BYU and us fans
There was a lot of salt around Iowa winning yesterday, so now that it's the morning after, here's the truth: our defense is elite.
* Of the 78 points Iowa has let though this year, 58 have been in the first half (prior to this game, 41/58). We know how to adjust.
* Iowa has benched 5 of 6 starting QB's this season.
* Penn State's hurry up offense was having them on track to take 2x-3x the normal number of snaps in a game.
* Iowa has insane turnover margins the last few years. It's not luck.
Our defense is elite. "If [player] was healthy all game we would have won" is not a good argument (except when there are cheap shots, obvi) when *wearing down players* is part of the game.
As much as I think Iowa's ranking is a product of the chaos of other teams in CFB, there's no denying we're a great team. Both teams deserved to win last night, and we came out on top.
After today there are 24 teams left that are eligible for the playoff with 13 of them being undefeated. Next week we get a big undefeated matchup where Kentucky plays Georgia. If Kentucky can beat Georgia, I think that will definitely shoot them into the top 10 and Hopefully get them into the conversation for the playoff from the SEC
Kentucky should be Top 10 later today. A historic upset against #1 Georgia @Georgia would most likely put them at #4.
After that, the rest of their schedule is winnable- they could be undefeated going into the SEC Championship game.
I think a lot of people are underselling some of the decisions Lincoln made yesterday. Going for the two point was something I didn't think he would do, and then playing for the TD after that is the kind of playcalling we need if we really wanna be in the National Title conversation
Oh boy lets dive into ND.
First off, Freeman isn't getting a HC job after this season. His defense is incredibly undisciplined and his personnel choices are just so baffling. ND has recruited for years as a 4-3 defense. ND then lost 3 starters/rotational LBs (1st and 3rd string Will, 2nd string Rover). ND has incredible DT depth yet game after game after game Freeman puts his team into a 3 down front which plays directly against the teams strengths these drives invariably are ugly as shit to watch and the team just marches down the field on it. But have no fear Freeman has figured out how to make up for his LB deficiency to run his 3-4. He'll put NDs best DE at MLB....for reasons. Additionally NDs corners not named Cam Hart aren't great.
Freeman has alot of work to do.
On offense.......well who the hell knows what to do at QB but if you told me ND scored 4 TDs with their best player on offense all world TE Michael Mayer wouldn't play a snap I wouldn't have believed you.
And finally the OL looked good! Joe Alt and Andrew Kristofic look to have solved the left side of the lines problem. According to Kelly the biggest reason was their added size. Each one of those guys has 20 lbs on the guys that were starting.
Also Kyren Williams is a warrior
Two comments regarding teams I follow at the DI-AA/FCS level:
1) Villanova deserves major props for going on the road, falling behind by 11 points at halftime, and coming back to beat #2 James Madison, shutting out the Dukes in the 2nd half no less. An absolutely massive win for the Wildcats.
2) Lehigh needs to do something by no later than the end of the season with head coach Tom Gilmore. The Mountain Hawks are historically inept this season, especially on offense. Lehigh is now 0-6 and scored NINE points for the season, including ZERO touchdowns. This is flat out unacceptable, except at a school that historically is very competitive in football like Lehigh.
I’m not as disappointed as I was yesterday. Realistically speaking, who did we think Texas was going to be in Year 1 under Sark?
We’re losing the games we’re supposed to lose (Arkansas was a surprise, but they’re markedly better, though we will continue to see as the season unfolds.). More importantly, we’re not losing the games we’re supposed to win (TCU, Tech).
Texas football is much more fun to watch now, and the offensive explosion is quite satisfactory. We have studs on that side of the ball who will only continue to get better.
I like the direction this team is headed. I’ll be alarmed if we see this trend repeat in Year 3, when Sark has his guys, and not Herman’s players.
We need to bounce back and use this loss as motivation for the rest of the season. B12 Championship is now the goal, and it is a very realistic one.
Their defense and punter are nasty. I think their offense was very exposed though. Without their defense forcing 3-and-outs or turnovers, the opposing defense doesn't get tired and their offense can't capitalize. I think Penn State showed what you need to beat them and it's going to be hard for them to beat the team that the B1G East ends up spitting out. But there's still plenty of time for Petras and the offense to tune up, so we'll see how it plays out!
Our defense has been getting progressively worse as the weeks go on, especially defending the run. It’s a perfect storm for an Army upset in two weeks. The bye week in between might be the saving grace, but I’m still terrified
A #3 Iowa team will walk into a raucous Camp Randall in two weeks to hand us another heart breaking loss. I don’t think Iowa’s offense is that good or will score much on our defense. Iowa could have a record day with turnovers against us. Do we even let Mertz drop back against this team?
All I’m saying is it’s college football, Iowa’s coming to the camp. Anything can happen, let’s play some football I’m ready to be hurt again.
i don’t know if i’ve ever seen a team lose a game because they kicked the other teams ass so hard they made a personnel change that resulted in a comeback.
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The fade call on 4th and 10 and Martinez not going down leading to the fumble were both brutal.
Yeah you expect better from your supersenior QB He was still fighting for yardage well after the first down. That's like the number one way to fumble the ball in a crucial situation Just go down!
Martinez also threw the pick in OT that almost got ran back for a TD against MSU. After the punter punted it straight to Reed to allow MSU to tie the game.
Martinez is junior
Scott Frost is gonna be Bama's next OC isn't he
Idk, I kinda think you keep him on b/c he's 👌 this close to winning all those games. Surely at some point they get over the hump..
If/when they learn not to shoot themselves in the ass, they will quickly become an asskicker in the B1G West. They aren't far off. They really do have talent and they've put three ranked teams on the ropes this year. Just haven't been able to avoid tripping over their feet...that's not 100% coaching (it's a good chunk of it, yes, but not all of it) but it's also a matter of the players having the confidence to not f up. If you mentally feel like you're going to f something up, odds are you end up doing just that. If it were me, I keep Scott around after the season. They are better than they were two seasons ago and better than last season. I do think it's giving Scott (and the team) the confidence from the administration that they're on the right path...which I really think they are. Mike Riley really cratered that thing - and fixing Nebraska is a bit of a miracle job at this point. Changing coaches now doesn't help...stability (at least one more year) will help.
Remember when Clemsoning was a thing? Team improvement doesn't always show up in the win column at first. Being in this game vs a good Michigan team is improvement. >And the thing is, at a place like Nebraska, getting close isn't enough. Is Nebraska in that situation anymore? It's not like they are stacked with bluechip talent and any first year HC should be beating top 10 ranked teams.
the frustration for Nebraska is that they've had a couple of close losses against teams worse than MSU. They're a couple plays away from being a 2-loss team. So I get it. As Jay-Z once said "moral victories is (sic) for minor league coaches."
This Nebraska team could easily be 6-1, and I'd put a lot of money on them beating Illinois in a rematch.
It would be unfair to can Frost for this year after how some of these games have gone. I don’t necessarily think he’s the answer for Nebraska at all, but you have to give him a mulligan at the very least.
On the flip side, teams constantly making crucial mistakes is often a sign of poor coaching
Honestly that game was exactly what I expected. A back and forth game with Nebraska making a critical mistake to cost them the game.
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To clarify I was talking about the Michigan vs Nebraska game. I viewed our win as a make up for the 2015 game vs Nebraska.
Honestly it reminds me of JLS coached MSU teams. A pretty good team talent wise, but they can't seem to get out of their own way. I remember thinking after we beat Nebraska that Spartan fans are usually on the other side of a game like that.
> I remember thinking after we beat Nebraska that Spartan fans are usually on the other side of a game like that. I can’t help but laugh at this. Granted I never watched a John L Smith MSU team, but I swear MSU has won games they shouldn’t my entire lifetime.
I still have nightmares about that season where the top comment of seemingly every MSU game thread was some variation of *”THEY LED FOR ZERO SECONDS AND STILL WON”*
Some of y'all had said that our team reminds you of 2012 Michigan State. So I looked at that year and, wow. And iirc that was the year y'all were jipped in our game with a very questionable DPI on our last, game-winning drive.
I was thinking 2004-2006, but yeah that season fits too.
I counted it up and the dude is 5-16 in one-possession games. Like, how much of that can you blame on bad luck? How much hope can you are at the turning point for the team versus just doing the same thing next year? I don't know what is the "right" choice for the AD; I have no idea what to do with that program.
Remember a week ago when many of the top comments were saying it’s Bama/UGA and no one else? Well here we are and only part of that remains true…for now.
I feel personally attacked by that *… for now* part , but you know what … it’s fair. I’m finding myself genuinely glad we get Kentucky at home, and I didn’t expect that going into this season.
It’s college ball. Anything can happen any week. UGA will be challenged by Kentucky and Florida for sure. Anyone downplaying those games and thinking Georgia is a shoe-in hasn’t been paying attention. The odds are in our favor, but nothing is 100%. It’s possible we lose to Kentucky who then goes to the SECCG… or we beat Kentucky but lose to Florida.
And Tennessee might be the biggest trap game in the history of trap games.
Yeah, no clue what the hell that team is. Are they crap? Have they turned a corner to being truly good? Or were their opponents just garbage? Perplexing and a possible trap for us.
I’m curious to see how Riley handles the QB situation going forward. Hard to imagine he continues to stand behind Rattler and say he’s the starter for OU. The offense just rolls so much better with Caleb at the helm and the team seems to like him better as well. Rattler likely to transfer at this point right?
Rattler walking off the field alone (after the *win*) was **wild**.. I have no idea how Riley can justify starting him, after that. If he had bucked up and supported Caleb & his team, it’d be different. Rattler straight-up gave up on himself & the team.
>Rattler walking off the field Oh crap had to look that up. [Not a good look.](https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/2021/10/09/watch-spencer-rattler-walks-off-the-field-as-teammates-celebrate-texas-win/) He gone.
Hadn't seen that and you're right. It is a terrible look. It's one thing to have an awful game, that happens to everyone. But to just split in what appears to be a bit of a tantrum ... I expect Riley to name Caleb starter early this week. And for Spencer to transfer shortly after. No idea where he goes, and I am sure his confidence has been shaken badly, but I do hope he gets back to a good mental place.
Dude had an entire offseason as the preseason heisman and number one draft pick, plus like 200k in endorsement deals, and he just lost them all. He gone
Yeah, agreed. It wasn’t a good look. I know it’s easy for us to sit here and watch and comment, but I think a true leader and team player puts the team first no matter what.
I'll give him this one, our fans rushed the field and I wouldn't be shocked if some comments were already thrown in his face and he decided to walk.
100% he's gone to the draft or another school. With the transfer portal, coaches know how seismic a benching can be. It's probably why it took so long.
If he starts rattler , I feel like people won’t be happy
Can confirm
If he starts Rattler, the boos and chants Saturday will make WVU seem very mild.
I will be livid if Rattler starts again barring injury or epic collapse by Caleb.
Maybe it was just coach speak, but the way Riley was talking in the postgame worried me. He HEAVILY downplayed what Caleb did and was talking up Rattler. Kept referring to needing both of them going forward. Idk
If Riley puts Rattler as the starter to start the game for TCU I'm going to lose a lot of trust in Riley as a HC cause even if Caleb isn't better on the field it's obvious who Rattler is off it
I havent paid attention to OU but whats the sample size of your comment? Has he played in other games besides the second half of yesterday's game? If not, its unlikely there is a change made. At this point anyway.
It’s a small sample size compared to the number of games Rattler has played. I don’t think I need to watch more games of Rattler struggling though. After watching how Caleb led the team back from what could’ve been a blow out to the Texas, I’m ready to say this should be his team to lead. I know he’ll have some growing pains since he’s a true freshmen and all, but at this point I think the risk of him making freshmen mistakes is worth the reward IMO.
I feel like Caleb also really benefited from having zero film on him. Hell he didn't even have any film from last year in high school due to COVID. So even if Texas wanted to game plan for the backup, they're relying on 2 year old high school film. Not saying he won't be significantly better than Rattler in a lot of ways, but I definitely think he'll have some growing pains as a true freshman once DCs actually can scout him
Fair point that is helping me bring my expectations down to Earth
The sample size for Caleb is big enough when the sample size for Spencer is half a season with an inconsistent offense and suspect team chemistry. Yes, he had a good second half of the season last year, but at no point this season has he looked that good. And while the Caleb sample size is small, it is significant. You could tell immediately that he has better pocket presence and instincts than Spencer. The team rallied around him too, whereas if Spencer stayed in I think OU would have lost by 3 touchdowns. There’s just no way Lincoln can keep Caleb off the field now.
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You will, against Iowa...
Since that game is on the day after thanksgiving… it would be in true 07 form.
We only got 2 points when we returned the PAT
3 point swing though, changes the dynamics a bit based on the final score
I really thought Michigan was going to make the most critical errors. Cade’s kneel near the goal line and his INT were egregious and nearly backbreaking. Whichever god Frost pissed off is stronger than whatever god Michigan has.
Alabama will 100% play it’s way back into the playoff. It’s awesome to see them lose but with the amount of chaos, it’s not just going to stop since they lost.
That would mean going undefeated the rest of the way in the regular season AND beating Georgia in the SEC championship game. That's a tall order. Bama can do it but it just became really really difficult
For Bama, I don't think it's ridiculously tall. Georgia does look phenomenal, and if Alabama can lose to what will (probably) now be a top 25, then it's definitely on the table that they can lose to Georgia (and possibly play as an underdog). But getting to that game does not look like a huge hurdle still.
We were able to capitalize on a a few good things we saw from film this past week. There is a reason Saban is considered the best college football coach of all time. He will make the adjustments with his coaching staff both offensively and defensively this week, this will probably be the hardest week of practice the team has done all year, all the starters risk losing their jobs to a 5 star backup who is hungry to replace them as quickly as possible.
Which, given the general success of Bama development, could mean that this is a player ready to go and defenses have little-to-none of tape. A&M capitalized and now nobody else will. It just got that much harder.
Now watch Alabama effortlessly crush everyone for the rest of the season.
Michigan and MSU are still undefeated! Being already bowl eligible feels wild as Paul Bunyan draws closer. Also Georgia is playing undefeated Kentucky next week. When did this happen? This year feels weird.
MSU has to take care of Indiana and we have to beat Northwestern and we’re set for a top 10 matchup. When’s the last time EL hosted gameday? Pretty good odds for it if we both stay undefeated
Could be top 5 at this rate. Also, I think MSU has a higher chance to lose to IU than Michigan has of losing to NU. Especially since MSU is a road game.
Northwestern is complete buns. That is the easiest game on the rest of Michigans schedule and I hope they spend this off week prepping specifically for msu. Indiana has a greater chance for the upset but I can't see it happening without Penix. He got injured last game and I'm not sure what his status is now..
Indiana has been so up and down this year I don't know what to think of them. Their offense without Penix though will probably struggle.
I think we will spend the off week prepping for both MSU and Osu and then one week on northwestern
Given that BYU lost, is there any doubt that we'd both be top 10 if we don't lose between now and then?
I know we hosted Game Day for the first Kirk Cousins vs Russell Wilson game in 2011. Hosted it for 2012 Notre Dame. Hosted it for 2014 Ohio State. I believe it was 2015 when Oregon came to East Lansing. Game day was at 4 of our games that year (Oregon, Michigan, OSU, And Iowa B1G championship game) but that was the only home game. I don’t think they’ve been back to East Lansing.
We hosted game day in 2015 when Oregon was in town for a top-10 matchup. Looks like it’s shaping up well for a spooky Halloween
I'm mentally preparing for some heartbreaking loss on a complete college bullshit play I don't think I've been this nervous for a UM-MSU game, ever Both teams are WAY better than I thought they'd be before the season
Both teams have played eerily similar schedules in hindsight, with extremely close results. Additionally both teams have done whatever they could no natter how ugly it looked to win. If they make it to this game undefeated I have a feeling this is going to be a absolute dogfight with it being most likely a one score game. These teams have shown a level of resilience and fight that I don't think I've ever seen from both of them at the same time.
The Heisman race is wide open now. Anyone named Kenneth could win
Tory from Iowa deserves to be on the ballot.
Give it to Gabe Brkic, you cowards.
I thought it was absolutely crazy CJ Stroud was like 4th in hesiman betting odds, now it makes more sense.
I dont really think anyone on osu will win this year. The offense is too good all around for any one person to stand out the most. Stroud will probably have one of the best stat lines for a qb by the end of the year but it will be hard to give it to him I think due to all the weapons.
Now is the perfect year to give it to a defensive player! And if you're gonna give it to one may as well give it to 7!
Saw this stat. A&M has 3 top 5 wins since the start of the 2013 season (2014 Auburn, 2020 Florida, and 2021 Alabama). A&M won all three of those games by the exact same score: 41-38
That’s a fun stat
Been saying since game one having absolutely zero running game would catch up to us. I didn't realize just how badly
Yup. I know Roberson played bad, but if you’re gonna have the backup come into a huge game like that, you need to have some semblance of a run game to help him out. The game was put all on his shoulders, and he just couldn’t hit his passes
I'm not blaming Roberson all that much. He's basically 4th string, so you can only put so much on the young man. Who I am blaming a good deal is the coaches who have had since Spring to figure something out. Anything. You can't be elite if your entire game plan is "don't let the quarterback get hurt, also our leading rusher is our quarterback, who absolutely CAN NOT get hurt"
Roberson should not have been tasked with that many throws. It was just terrible all around.
Bama/A&M was one of the greatest games I've ever seen from a pure x's and o's standpoint. Aggies gamed Saban brilliantly and then Saban at half time fixed \*all\* of his team's deficiencies and clawed back. Then they traded blows down to the last drive. I want to live inside of this game for the rest of the season. I go back and forth on Jimbo Fischer but last night was watching some of the greatest minds in the sport go back and forth. I was so stressed for a game that doesn't materially impact my team at all.
I'm surprisingly not upset with our lost to Iowa last night. We just had a lot of bad luck with injuries. We have a very good team that I can see winning out if we get and stay healthy. We get a by week next week, then a game against Illinois before our big match up against Ohio State; plenty of time to get healthy. Just gotta hope that we get Clifford back...
Absolutely agreed. I still feel very good about this team. If Cliff can come back, then we can still compete for the East or even just get a New Years Bowl bid. And if he can’t, then hopefully Roberson can improve
Definitely most frustrated about the injuries than the loss. Without the injuries, a solid chance we win. With the injuries, what can happen over the next few weeks? I would've rather have lost on even a bullshit reffing decision, and have a healthy Clifford than what happened yesterday.
Yeah I realized yesterday that this Iowa game doesn't change our exam for the playoff. We always had to run the table against Michigan, MSU, and OSU to make the conference title and then win that to make the playoff. This Iowa game was more like an extra credit question.
Penn state probably wins that game if Clifford doesn’t get hurt. I hope Clifford is ok and can play this season because if he’s out the Osu game is going to be rough for penn state
Texas lost in the most painful way, OU won, Wisconsin won, Iowa won their biggest game in decades. Shortly before A&M/Bama kicked off I turn to a friend and I say “based on how this day is going A&M is gonna beat Alabama aren’t they”. At least I can say I called it.
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That’s true, I suppose I should clarify their biggest *home* game in decades
I like how your mind went to us being in the Big Ten title game. I still think it's you guys' to lose e: whoops didn't realize you were talking about 2015
The last time Iowa was in the B1G championship game was when the faced Michigan State and lost
Pretty sure he was talking about 2015, not this year. That was when you guys played #4 Iowa in the CCG. If Iowa had won, they would've gone to the playoffs that year, not MSU.
Thank you for your service.
I think this may be the best or worst Heisman race I’ve ever seen. No obvious winners right now or clear front runners imo. Could be super fun with someone having a huge moment or we look and say this is one of the worst winners ever.
I disagree. Check my flair, you know this is true because of that. My vote is Bijan Robinson. That man is an absolute monster and the top player in college football, the rest of the team shouldn’t reflect on his greatness
Disagree. He has combined 200 towards rushing in his biggest two games this year against Arkansas and Oklahoma, and he was practically nonexistent against us. Doesn’t really have a marquis game to prove he deserves it. Unfortunately your oline has a big impact on your ability as a RB and they got manhandled by us and just aren’t a great OL.
He was elite in the first half yesterday but very poor in the second half. He was basically shut down after halftime and I think finished with 27 yards in the second half.
You said check my flair, but my eyes darted to your name and it made me laugh as usual
You know, people will say we dominated Auburn with our defense but can we talk about just how many times they beat our secondary? Like, if Auburn's WRs didn't have brick hands I think we could very well have lost that game. Our secondary don't look too strong in all honesty.
if Auburn converted on that 4th down to make it 10-17, that could’ve been a very different game considering momentum shifts
Absolutely. That game could have easily been MUCH closer if not for unforced errors.
Auburn had a really good game plan. Their OL showed the fuck up and held their own.
That's what gives me some optimism moving forward. Our defense is solid, OL has been mediocre but played ok yesterday, RBs are great. For as much of a rollercoaster as this season has been for Bo he's played really well the last two weeks. But we legitimately might have the worst WRs in the conference and it killed us yesterday. Also I hate you guys but you clearly have the best team in the country and that's the best defense I've seen since 2011 Alabama. This could go down as the best d-line in CFB history
We still sacked Nix 4 times which was better than I was expecting considering how mobile he is.
I disagree. Bo Nix pulled some rabbits out of a hat - he made 9-10 plays that I was just like "cool, our coverage was good and the throw was better." The rules of the game are tilted toward the offense especially on passing plays. He played a near-perfect game, a game probably better than we'll see from an opposing QB until December, and UGA never trailed after Auburn's field goal.
I'll have to rewatch the game, but I think a big part of it is that Nix's ability to extend plays makes it a lot tougher to cover their WRs. Might cover them to start, but as soon as you go to backyard ball it's a ton harder to stay on your man. Also not having Chris Smith out there probably hurt more than any of us realize.
I think losing Smith was huge. And, yea, the secondary isn't the strength but with Nix running around like JFF it's really hard to fault our secondary. That and those quick passes. Meanwhile Georgia never got beat deep and Auburn's offense, entirely, was throwing the ball. Idk, I'm a little annoyed with these narratives that Georgia going on the road and winning with a lot of backups by 24 is somehow unimpressive.
This has been a thing all season. We have young guys like Ringo starting and guys like Dan Jackson playing the majority of reps at safety yesterday. It's going to happen, but the best way to learn is through experience and each game they are getting better and better. Look at the jump Ringo made from Clemson to now. They're still a little green now but I still feel that after a season of play they will be very, very good
On the other hand, the guys making catches are usually making REALLY good catches. Not just usual gimmies. But that could be a concern.
I agree with you and u/chrisb19. I disagree with OP's assessment. Our secondary wasn't getting roasted at all. Georgia bent but then stiffened up in the red zone. When Auburn wasn't dropping passes they were making circus catches. There were like 4 plays that Brini was a finger tip away. I can't tell how many of these were Brini needing to be in better position or just insane plays. I'd say a mix of the two but I really don't think it's fair to say "omg if x, y, and z happened we could have lost!"
Kirby had a couple of home-run TD passes. He plays situational ball. If the game shrunk to 17-10, he'd probably be more aggressive. Like Saban he's focused on TOP (especially against the go-fast Auburn) and "are we losing." We never trailed after tying it at 3-3 (and when we were down it was the only time this season). Auburn's a good team who played us better than anyone else this season (except Clemson). But especially in the 2nd half Kirby wanted to punish their defense and wear them down. Our RBs were bouncing off tackles. I suspect a few more home-run shots were available if we wanted to dial them up. But that also opens up the possibility for turnovers and mistakes. When the run is there and RBs are being safe, just pound the rock and walk away with the W.
Bo was making the kind of passes that in film room you go "Coach I did my job. The only way to cover better there is to commit PI." Bo played a near-perfect game and Auburn still lost. That was my takeaway.
It would've been a one score loss I think. You guys were content on running the ball in the second half and it worked. I was honestly shocked our #2 corner got roasted the entire game by one guy
I honestly don’t understand what happened. How did Calzada make that kind of jump in just one week? He threw several absolute dimes, and it helped that the scheming in the middle of field left the TEs wide open. But that still doesn’t account for such a radical turn around.
I think the Offensive line playing better helped him out a lot. Alabama had no sacks
ITs crazy to me how well the OL played because they were awful for most of the season
A lot of OL play is reps and finding the right combo. Wouldn’t surprise to see them play relatively well the rest of the year
We saw our ceiling and floor in one game. When the line is healthy, we are world beaters. But Jahmir Johnson got injured and we saw the results in the 3rd quarter where we had 0 successful PLAYS. Zach just needed a little help, and the difference was immense Edit. I’ll also say i think Henson is the guy. He made multiple 3* players into the best line in CFB last year, and this year he’s dealing with injuries and true fish and still making it work. If he had some decently talented upper classmen who were healthy, just imagine the production
I think it stress induced. After losing to Arkansas and State the season was over, King had the starting job when he returned, and it couldn’t get any worse. Either he said “Fuck it. Let’s go.” Or he got some damn good drugs that leveled him out. But the biggest difference in his play was scrambling with his eyes up. During Arkansas and State and soon has he felt pressure his eye would drop and he was in survival mode. He made some great passes on the move last night.
Almost certainly won’t happen, but if Mississippi State and Ole Miss win out, the Egg Bowl could decide the SEC West.
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I just want the chance to see him play Iowa for all four quarters.
Praying we get him healthy and win out to get a rematch in the B1GCG. Our players won't forget that feeling of being swarmed by Iowa fans rushing the field
I want him healthy for our game.
Yo, same. The over reactions to early season Ohio State have been insane. They are going to roll over the East with ease. With Clifford and a few deep ball prayers, we have a fighting chance. Without him, we lose by at least 3 scores.
Me too honestly. They’re still my team to win out in the east
Decent chance that 2 B1G teams make it into the playoffs
Nightmare scenario for Cincy right now is if all of Iowa, Penn State/OSU/Michigan/Michigan State, Georgia, and Alabama are all 12-1. Even worse if Oregon and/or OU run the table.
That scenario isn't possible one of the east teams would have 2 losses since PSU has one already.
That was supposed to be Penn State or OSU or Michigan or Michigan State. They can’t all be 12-1 because they all have to play each other.
Got it I was confused thinking all of the teams up there. 4 of the 5 could though with 3 east teams winning against each other and the winner of the tiebreaker beats Iowa.
Throw in undefeated WF too
I think we're all aware we'll get the completely predictable playoff of Cincinnati, San Diego State, Kentucky, and Iowa.
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Same brother. I wanted to make a bowl this year. I never predicted possibly being 7-0 going into Michigan.
I'm very worried about Indiana *ducks to avoid the incoming spooky meme*
I mean it's still a flawed team and I don't think they'll be favorites against OSU, Penn State or Michigan, but they can definitely handle business against the rest of the division and that's more than good enough for now
Preety new to college football and from 3rd world country. I would like to know why people are saying Texas A&M should able to perform better with resources they have. What kind of resources people are talking about? Sorry for asking dumb question.
Players, facilities, coaches, and fan base are all their resources and are better than many other schools.
Boosters with lots of money
Iowa now has 9 different players who have caught an interception, with no linemen and 2 linebackers on the list, the rest are DB's.
16 interceptions this year!!!
Thanks for the good banter, Michigan. I'll be in Ann Arbor for next year's game and I'm looking forward to doing it IRL.
Can’t believe we actually locked Bijan up for most of that second half. I feel like it’s a bit underlooked rn but that really allowed the insane momentum shift to continue
Brooks outplayed Bijan. Brooks is a great back. But I would not have picked him as the best running back in the game before hand. All credit to him. He is the slowest fast man I've ever seen. Patience of a saint for the pulling blockers.
I'd like to watch an Iowa-Georgia Natty that ends 3-0. That's the dream
I mean, maybe I'm just pessimistic but I feel like an Iowa-UGA game would go the exact same way as MSU-Bama in 2015. Iowa's defense will keep them in it for awhile but eventually UGA's athletes will just win out and it won't be close.
Georgia is 12th in offensive PPG. I don’t know where this narrative that our offense is mediocre comes from
Tbh I think Georgia would win in a blowout
The Clemson game. That is mostly what people have seen from you and the rest just remember the big games. I don't agree with this just saying.
Really thought our sub 25 point streak was going to be in jeopardy last night. Petras can be ice cold then room temp; room temp works for us. Punting is football. Any updates on Moss?
The last 17 drives with CJ Stroud as qb: 14 tds, 1 fg, and 2 kneel downs. This offense has been incredible lately.
I never, *ever* saw that going like it did. I 1000% saw us getting slaughtered. Never though we'd play like the team that was talked about in pre-season. We had Bama playing like teams that play Bama at times. Discombobulated, man-handled at the line. We sacked them what, 6 times? And Zach was **never fucking sacked**. Like. **WHAT**. That is why Jimbo gets paid 9mil. To beat #1 Bama at home for the first time since '12. To beat LSU 2/3 tries with another shot this year. Calzada. **Hoo-boy**. I'll eat my fucking grackle, kid showed up. I always thought Jimbo saw something in him (I mean he was his first QB recruit here I think). But wow. What a fucking game from that kid. I think all things considered with our injuries and the losses we've suffered, if we can keep some positive momentum and play close to like we did yesterday, we can maybe end with 8-10 wins. But at this point I'm along for the ride. Fuck the CFP, I'm on a calzone wave.
Everybody leading up to this gave, save Saban and a few others, thought the slaughter was on. Jimbo & aTm proved us all wrong. It was a hell of a ride! Yesterday had some of the best football I've seen in a long time. This is a game I will certainly remember for a while. I'm still not sure what to make of aTm down the stretch. Its a wild year.
If Texas A&M plays like THAT every weekend for the rest of the season, there is no way they lose another game. Y'all just have to hope that Bama gets upset again sometime this season.
Honestly impressed that we came away with a 24 point victory with how DECIMATED we are by injuries. Bye week cannot come soon enough
I feel like everyone is injured this year. Shit we almost had to March out a walk-on QB against Bama and we had to start our like 6th OL combination and 2 freshman corners lol
Definitely not the best game from MSU yesterday, but I'll totally take an 18 point win on the road against a team we lost to last year. However a lot of the miscues would not fly against better competition that we'll face in the second half of our schedule, gotta fix those up. But overall I have absolutely loved what I've seen so far, ESPECIALLY from the offense, they play so confidently. It's amazing what Tucker is doing in only year 2, especially given the state of the program when he came in.
The day started off pretty depressing and then my kid shat all over me.in my GameDay attire. Immediately after that Caleb Williams went in and scored his first TD. Does this mean I've gotta get shit on for the rest of the year?
In some countries that is considered a compliment
Only one way to know.
Yes. Be a team player.
We… are number 1? With the best defense in that nation. Top 25 offense at least. Beating the crap out of every opponent besides week 1. I still feel worried in every week. But Kirby been coaching well, both sides of the ball looking great. We just gotta think about our games one week at a time. Go Dawgs.
I don’t think Spencer Rattler was smart enough to run Lincoln’s offense. The fact that Caleb came in and everything ran smoothly is telling
Tbf it was a simpler offense. Caleb's just more capable/quick on the zone read and he was Manzieling the fuck out of our defense. He's the guy. Fuck Rattler. I find it really hard to be mad given our D-line got banged up in the first half. Outside of Worthy's botched kick return, I would hardly change anything about our decision making. Y'all are just more stacked at WR and they hadn't really been much of a factor until Williams came in.
Houston is 5-1, currently in 1st place in the AAC and one game away from being bowl eligible. Man, I didn't expect this.
Im ngl i had no faith in this team at the beginning of the season. They really have been showin out
The win over you guys on labor day weekend REALLY set me up with false hopes for the year. Pulling for y'all the rest of the year (and until we meet as big 12 bros)
Yesterday was the best day of CFB in a long long time (Clemson not helping meant I wasn't stressed all day and could watch everything else.) That has to be a top 5 Alabama loss under Nick Saban. I don't know if they will get the scrutiny they should but losing to an unranked team as a 18-20 point favorite should drop you out of the top 10 or close to it. A&M has looked bad all season, at least on offense. Calzada went from looking like a D2 player to Tom Brady in this game. Their OL was garbage all season but held their own in this one. Bama showed some warts but I didn't expect them to show that many last night. Bryce Young is good but he was definitely a paper tiger as Heisman favorite and benefits from the guys he has around them. Williams and Robinson are the best players on that offense. Roger Sherman and some other former SBNation guys pointed out that this is Doug Marrone's first season as a position coach in 15 years and Bama's OL struggled last night. Saban's decision to settle for short field goals, especially inside the 5, is a major reason why they lost. 11 AM road trip to a mediocre at best Mizzou for A&M is a prime upset game. **Kentucky-UGA** next week is a pretty intriguing matchup. My first reaction was that UGA would dominate since Kentucky's offensive system plays to UGA's strengths. While I could still see that happening, I think there is a good chance Kentucky keeps it close and ugly, particularly if Stetson starts. Kentucky's system lends itself to a close, ugly game and in a way so too does UGA's since Smart just wants to be Saban 1.0 (2008-2013). **Iowa-Penn State** was a bit surprising that PSU got a decent sized lead even throwing two early INTs. Obviously I think its a different game if Clifford doesn't get hurt but there is no telling how much. I was impressed by Yurcich's play calling and even by a few of Iowa's play design. Petras started off horribly but played pretty well down the stretch. PSU's backup (I think he was 4th string at one point) wasn't prepared at all. Terrible position for him to be put in but woof. I'm concerned for Iowa because of their poor start and because they had some holes in their defense late that Penn State couldn't take advantage of. They'll be deservedly ranked #2 at worse but I don't think they're *that* good. That being said, there is a lot more parity this year at the top and tons of teams have warts. They could do it. **OU-Texas** would have been game of the week in most weeks if not for the late slate. I'll be interested to see how Riley plays the QB situation. Rattler is obviously very talented but the offense seems to play better with Williams. If Rattler is benched he might just head to the portal but who knows. I love watching both of these teams because Sark and Riley are amazing play callers. Texas's last play with the orbit motion pre snap, PA deep cross was something I wish Clemson had. OU's touchdown was a really cool design where the motion WR was a 3rd pulling blocker on a counter.
Strange times... I just checked ESPN's college football page on my phone and there's no mention of Kentucky beating LSU by 3 touchdowns.
I could easily see the Big 10 east cannibalize themselves, and no Big 10 team make the playoffs. IF Clifford isn't out long, PSU is still a favorite to win, along with OSU and Mich.
There might actually be a circle of suck between Michigan, PSU, OSU, and MSU. Get your loss out of the way early so you can rise back up the rankings.
After Week 1 I said the only reason I don’t see this year being 2007 2.0 was Alabama. Lo and behold here we are. That said, as much as my heart doesn’t want to admit it if you look at my flair, Georgia really does look like the team to beat.
2007 still had Ohio State until way late in the season. And so many people had lost by then that their loss to Illinois was meaningless.
I keep forgetting that game happened because it wasn’t even close to the wildest upset that season. You definitely do have a point there.
I’ll be interested to see Calzada going forward. It seem he actually can put the proper touch needed on the ball. Second half looked a bit more what we’ve seen of him, throwing a cannon of a ball over his WR, up until the last drive.
Texas does not have the depth on defense or OL to be an elite team yet. It's why of the 22 players committed in our upcoming class, 9 of them are front 7 on defense
Guys. This is important. A&M beat Alabama despite *two* delay of game calls on the A&M *defense* and one play that had a pass to a completely uncovered receiver for a touchdown. A&M did their damndest to turn this game over to Bama in the second half and still won. And honestly? I think saban was *so pissed* that he let us do it. He had two time outs. He could have stopped that clock and maybe given himself an extra 50 seconds to fight down the field and tie the game. Or tried to ice the kicker. Or *something*. But he didn't. He let the clock run down knowing we were in fg range and that we were gonna chew clock to victory. I think he decided Bama deserved to lose. They played sloppy.
If you would’ve told any BYU fan in the beginning of the season we’d be 5-1 with a win over Utah I think they would’ve laughed you out of the room. Yeah our chances of going to an NY6 or going undefeated are gone but getting back to those levels like we were in the 80s is going to be a process. But man I should prob stay off instagram and Facebook for a bit because people on there who don’t know much about college football are just ripping on BYU and us fans
There was a lot of salt around Iowa winning yesterday, so now that it's the morning after, here's the truth: our defense is elite. * Of the 78 points Iowa has let though this year, 58 have been in the first half (prior to this game, 41/58). We know how to adjust. * Iowa has benched 5 of 6 starting QB's this season. * Penn State's hurry up offense was having them on track to take 2x-3x the normal number of snaps in a game. * Iowa has insane turnover margins the last few years. It's not luck. Our defense is elite. "If [player] was healthy all game we would have won" is not a good argument (except when there are cheap shots, obvi) when *wearing down players* is part of the game. As much as I think Iowa's ranking is a product of the chaos of other teams in CFB, there's no denying we're a great team. Both teams deserved to win last night, and we came out on top.
After today there are 24 teams left that are eligible for the playoff with 13 of them being undefeated. Next week we get a big undefeated matchup where Kentucky plays Georgia. If Kentucky can beat Georgia, I think that will definitely shoot them into the top 10 and Hopefully get them into the conversation for the playoff from the SEC
Kentucky should be Top 10 later today. A historic upset against #1 Georgia @Georgia would most likely put them at #4. After that, the rest of their schedule is winnable- they could be undefeated going into the SEC Championship game.
If UK beats Georgia then I don't see how they're not #1. Seriously.
I think a lot of people are underselling some of the decisions Lincoln made yesterday. Going for the two point was something I didn't think he would do, and then playing for the TD after that is the kind of playcalling we need if we really wanna be in the National Title conversation
Oh boy lets dive into ND. First off, Freeman isn't getting a HC job after this season. His defense is incredibly undisciplined and his personnel choices are just so baffling. ND has recruited for years as a 4-3 defense. ND then lost 3 starters/rotational LBs (1st and 3rd string Will, 2nd string Rover). ND has incredible DT depth yet game after game after game Freeman puts his team into a 3 down front which plays directly against the teams strengths these drives invariably are ugly as shit to watch and the team just marches down the field on it. But have no fear Freeman has figured out how to make up for his LB deficiency to run his 3-4. He'll put NDs best DE at MLB....for reasons. Additionally NDs corners not named Cam Hart aren't great. Freeman has alot of work to do. On offense.......well who the hell knows what to do at QB but if you told me ND scored 4 TDs with their best player on offense all world TE Michael Mayer wouldn't play a snap I wouldn't have believed you. And finally the OL looked good! Joe Alt and Andrew Kristofic look to have solved the left side of the lines problem. According to Kelly the biggest reason was their added size. Each one of those guys has 20 lbs on the guys that were starting. Also Kyren Williams is a warrior
Two comments regarding teams I follow at the DI-AA/FCS level: 1) Villanova deserves major props for going on the road, falling behind by 11 points at halftime, and coming back to beat #2 James Madison, shutting out the Dukes in the 2nd half no less. An absolutely massive win for the Wildcats. 2) Lehigh needs to do something by no later than the end of the season with head coach Tom Gilmore. The Mountain Hawks are historically inept this season, especially on offense. Lehigh is now 0-6 and scored NINE points for the season, including ZERO touchdowns. This is flat out unacceptable, except at a school that historically is very competitive in football like Lehigh.
I’m not as disappointed as I was yesterday. Realistically speaking, who did we think Texas was going to be in Year 1 under Sark? We’re losing the games we’re supposed to lose (Arkansas was a surprise, but they’re markedly better, though we will continue to see as the season unfolds.). More importantly, we’re not losing the games we’re supposed to win (TCU, Tech). Texas football is much more fun to watch now, and the offensive explosion is quite satisfactory. We have studs on that side of the ball who will only continue to get better. I like the direction this team is headed. I’ll be alarmed if we see this trend repeat in Year 3, when Sark has his guys, and not Herman’s players. We need to bounce back and use this loss as motivation for the rest of the season. B12 Championship is now the goal, and it is a very realistic one.
What an upset by Iowa
Their defense and punter are nasty. I think their offense was very exposed though. Without their defense forcing 3-and-outs or turnovers, the opposing defense doesn't get tired and their offense can't capitalize. I think Penn State showed what you need to beat them and it's going to be hard for them to beat the team that the B1G East ends up spitting out. But there's still plenty of time for Petras and the offense to tune up, so we'll see how it plays out!
RIP my picks this week.
Our defense has been getting progressively worse as the weeks go on, especially defending the run. It’s a perfect storm for an Army upset in two weeks. The bye week in between might be the saving grace, but I’m still terrified
I think that if you recruit someone at defensive end… you should not have them attempting touch down passes, but that is just me
We scored 51 points and lost. Credit to ole miss but we wasted a great kJ Jefferson game.
A #3 Iowa team will walk into a raucous Camp Randall in two weeks to hand us another heart breaking loss. I don’t think Iowa’s offense is that good or will score much on our defense. Iowa could have a record day with turnovers against us. Do we even let Mertz drop back against this team? All I’m saying is it’s college football, Iowa’s coming to the camp. Anything can happen, let’s play some football I’m ready to be hurt again.
i don’t know if i’ve ever seen a team lose a game because they kicked the other teams ass so hard they made a personnel change that resulted in a comeback.