Georgia entered Saturday's game against Tennessee as the third ranked team in the country.
It's true that the bulldogs looked listless at times against the other teams. It's true that there's been little on the Dawgs' schedule to get excited about since they beat Oregon. Tennessee had been impressive in wins against Alabama, LSU and Kentucky.
This wasn't incorrect.
How could anyone doubt these people?
The defending champ delivered their reminder in Saturday's 27-13 win over the Volunteers, and barring an unlikely meltdown in the last three games, they've punched their playoff ticket.
Saturday was nightmare material for many of the other top teams.
Brian Kelly's signature win was the result of Alabama's overtime loss to LSU. The Alabama defense didn't have an answer for Daniels, and the team became the third top 10 team to lose.
C.J. Stroud was held to 76 passing yards by Northwestern. It was part of the canon, but no one wants to watch it again.
The top four will not last. DJ Uiagalelei was benched for the second game in a row, and only one other person entered in relief, and he threw an intercept deep in the Tiger's own territory to set up the Irish's touchdown. The 35-14 win by Notre Dame may have been a death blow to the hopes of the team.
Michigan beat Rutgers but was behind at the half. The team was behind in the fourth quarter. The magical season ended against Michigan State. Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Syracuse all lost.
Six teams had 40-to-1 odds to win the national title entering Saturday. They lost three of them.
Defending champ Georgia took care of business.
One year ago, Georgia's narrative was one of doubt because of history, doubt because of its former walk-on quarterback, and no team could deliver that.
Georgia is powered by its own confidence. The team is similar to the LA Lakers. It's not a good idea to get too excited over a road trip. Be generous with your time.
Georgia didn't need an A-game after its victory over Oregon. In each of Georgia's past seven wins, Stetson Bennett had his feet in a kiddie pool for the first half. The job of ensuring that Georgia finished with more points than the other team is exhausting and easy.
Look at the way the win unfolded. Bennett hit Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint with a throw in the back of the end zone. Georgia presents a lot of problems, but that duo accounted for just 34 yards against Tennessee.
Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint made an outstanding grab and got both feet in bounds to give the Dogs a 21-3 lead.
One run that offered an answer to a few hundred prank callers was the only pass that Bennet completed. There were no long kick returns, no pick-sixes, and no running backs with 100 yards or more. Tennessee was forced to play by a plan that was foreign to them because Georgia was simply better at the little things. By seeing how the magic trick was done, Tennessee was able to climb to the top of the rankings. Georgia didn't offer anything. The Dawgs won.
The win from a macro level was breathtaking, even though nothing Georgia did was remarkable. 11 guys are doing the right thing at the same time, one plays after another, again and again, and that's what the championship is built upon. Georgia does better than any other state.
Georgia has two wins over top-eight opponents by a combined score of 76-16, not because of a treasure trove of highlights and amazing performances, but because they are just continually, relentlessly better.
The Tide's chances of punching their own playoff ticket now look all but over because Alabama is the key to all good playoff resume.
After DJ Uiagalelei was benched for the Syracuse game, the world was reassured by the fact that he was still the quarterback of the team. It's possible that the loss to Notre Dame will cost the Tigers a spot in the playoffs.
It's the third loss in a row for the Tide and their worst stretch since they lost three of 10. The three losses were dominated by dominance. The season ended with back-to-back Ls, but the nine games that preceded them were all 13 or more victories.
Do you think now is the right time? Alabama could easily have four losses to its name already, if not for an injury to the Texas quarterback. Since winning the 2020 national championship, Alabama has had 10 games that ended in losses or one-possession wins.
What is going wrong? The receiver has not played well this year. The defense didn't have an answer for Daniels' mobility on Saturday. Bill O'Brien looked like a father trying to relate to his teenage kids as he talked to them about the birds and bees.
Folks, Bill O'Brien is in the booth with his hat backwards ๐ pic.twitter.com/RrgbO6oKeV
โ Morgan Moriarty (@Morgan_Moriarty) November 6, 2022
Alabama used to beat teams that got off the bus. It feels like a long time ago that the 2020 dominance felt like a long time ago.
After close wins against Wake Forest, Florida State and Syracuse, the committee's initial top 25 ranking ruffled feathers for the team. TheTigers continued to pile them up despite all the red flags The luck came to a screeching halt Saturday, as Notre Dame destroyed the Tigers' O-line, frustrated the QBs into two brutal INTs and scored on a bungled punt.
Notre Dame's refusal to join full time is not enough to cause the demise of the conference. The Irish are almost out of the playoffs. In the regular season, Notre Dame has won 27 games in a row against the Atlantic Coast Conference. Jack stole lunch money from JimPhillips.
There's a question of whether turning over the offense to Klubnik with an eye toward the future makes sense. It seems like the young quarterback doesn't make the team better immediately.
Five of the eight national championships have been won by Alabama and Clemson. In the past, neither team made the playoffs. A new era is about to start.
It's a shame the College Football Playoff committee doesn't see the beauty of TCU's plan in the future. It was a slap in the face for a team that had yet to lose, that had four wins on the road, that had toppled four ranked foes.
The argument was that the Frogs don't win impressively enough, but we can't imagine why anyone would want a big win.
On Saturday, the narrative played out the same way it always does. Texas Tech and TCU were tied at one point. The Red Raiders led 17-14 at the end of the third quarter. Then there was a flurry of activity. The Frogs like to play with their prey.
In the fourth quarter, the Horned Frogs scored 21 points. In the past four games, Sonny Dykes' crew has scored 55 unanswered points in the final frame.
These late game heroics are a sign of weakness according to the committee. It's possible that the committee is too cool for it. The team that arrives to a party late, sporting a tuxedo T-shirt, a beltbuckle the size of a Ford Focus and carrying a bottle of Hennessy is the Horned Frogs.
Who doesn't need a lot of blow outs? We get too many of those during the college football season. The people want drama and intrigue. It is as if Prince is a college football player.
The committee might be impressed by the dominance of other teams. Ohio State traveled to Illinois for a game on Saturday. The usually dominant Ohio State was pulled into the depths of misery by a team that knows how to win. The biggest roadblock of the season came against an opponent that gave up 33 points to Iowa last week. The quarterback averaged less than 3 yards per throw. That is one of the reasons for committee skepticism.
There aren't any reasons for doubt about those close games. It's a mark of certainty. There is genuine value in the fact that there is consistency. The Frogs are similar to the show "Law and Order: SVU" The early scenes might be hard to watch, but the good guys always find a way to win, and Ice-T will seem confused about what's happening.
That's what I like about that. The committee doesn't like to be bored. Some people don't get to play in the same division as Rutgers and Indiana.
They know how to deliver the goods and we will take drama every time.
A year ago, Florida State's last-drive comeback to beat Miami likely ended the coach's career. Despite the Hurricanes winning five of their last six games, he was fired. It wasn't enough to ignore the loss.
This year's loss to Florida State is something Miami fans will want to ignore.
The largest road win by either team in the history of the series was by Florida State, which defeated the Canes 45-33.
When Mario Cristobal was at Oregon, he overlooked him, but that didn't stop him from carrying 15 times for 128 yards and 2 touchdown.
The win was so one-sided that the next Miami stadium proposal will be just a circus tent in the Everglades, while the FSU now have a realistic chance to win the title.
The Florida and Texas A&M teams played each other.
Texas A&M was down a lot of players due to the flu.
Everyone checked their couch cushions to make sure they could afford Jimbo Fisher's buy out.
Richardson accounted for four touchdown -- two passing, two rushing -- and turned in his best game of the season, and David Tepper wondered if he could just go ahead and draft Richardson now.
Liberty won the game 21-19.
Liberty is trying to be the first team to be perfect with wins over two Power 5 teams and a Mormon church. The last two games for the Flames are against Virginia Tech and New Mexico State. The team has a good chance of finishing 11-1. It's heartbreaking to think how close we might've been to Liberty holding a parade through Lynchburg and winning a national championship based on a passage in the Book of Revelation.
It seems like Hugh Freeze makes a lot of sense if Houston Nutt has any pending litigation at auburn.
The Temple team defeated the South Florida team by a score of 54-28.
Edward Saydee entered Saturday with less than 300 rushing yards on the season. Saydee carried the ball 24 times for 265 yards and three touchdown in the 54-28 win against the Bulls.
I wonder if this was the final straw for Jeff Scott. The Bulls haven't won a conference game this season. The Owls had scored in a game this season, but Temple had given up 54 points. Under Scott, the Bulls are 4-26 and with SMU, a road trip to Tulsa and the finale against No. 25 UCF remaining, it's unlikely things will improve.
The Kansas and Oklahoma State teams played a game.
The first point is that Kansas is bowling. We assume the Kansas football team bowls in December because no one can endure more failure after a Jayhawks season. Thanks to Saturday's win over Oklahoma State, the Jayhawks are going to a bowl game. It will be the first bowl game for the Jayhawks. The only teams that have played in a bowl are James Madison and the University of Massachusetts.
It was Kansas' first win over an AP top 25 opponent since 2010 when they beat Georgia Tech. Rutgers has the longest losing streak against ranked opponents currently.
Texas beats Kansas State.
Bijan Robinson is the most overlooked star in college football. He has more than 1,100 rushing yards on the season after Saturday's 30 carries for 209 yards. If the Longhorns win out, there is no chance that Robinson will get into the conversation for the award.
Kansas State is the hardest team to pin down. Beat Oklahoma if you lose to Green Wave. Lose to Texas then destroy Oklahoma State. It's not hard to point the finger at Adrian Martinez. He ran for 52 yards and accounted for three touchdown He brought too much Nebraska with him. A trip through the transfer portal can't erase the Cornhusker curse.
Michigan defeated Rutgers.
Rutgers was in front at the half. Always remember that. In its past four games, Michigan has scored 100 or more points.
The Michigan ground game continues to dominate, as evidenced by the fact that two runners ran for over 100 yards. Oregon State and Air Force have both rushed for 150 yards or more in each of their first nine games.
For a long time, we assumed that the "Tech" in Louisiana Tech meant mechanical engineering or learning how to fix computers by plugging them back in. La Tech has been working on a much larger marvel of human achievement.
The mascot of Louisiana Tech is driving around in a car.
Did any of the mascots have their own cars? Does it make sense that the dog is driving a car rather than a model of the General Lee from the show? What is Uga's opinion on all of this?
Don't ask any of those questions. This perfect does not need a story.
Any team that doesn't have a live mascot in a remote-control car is probably just throwing away wins after Louisiana Tech beat Middle Tennessee.
You're a kid. What has happened to Virginia's offense this season?
This kid is living his best life at the football game ๐ @UVAFootball pic.twitter.com/fXVDKtzxzb
โ ACC Network (@accnetwork) November 5, 2022
Marshall won a game in which it didn't score a touchdown, had just 89 passing yards, and turned the ball over two times. Right now, Iowa is jealous.
Marshall's defense forced four turnovers, held Old Monarch to just 209 yards of offense, and stuffed the Monarchs on 14 of 16 third- or fourth-down attempts.
Marshall's Tyqaze Leggs jumps on a football that Old Dominion's quarterback coughs up.
In the first four games of the season, no touchdown has been scored. Iowa was part of the first two. Last week, it was between Miami and Virginia. Marshall, you've done a great job. We're sure you're excited to join that group.
The defending champ finally got back in the win column after back-to-back losses in the conference.
Some things didn't go well for Pitt.
Pitt manages a 2 yard punt pic.twitter.com/FvVjQg210m
โ CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) November 5, 2022
This is what the analytic said to do.
Mack Brown got his first win in his career at Virginia on Saturday when the Tar Heels escaped with a 35-28 victory. The Heels are now 1-8 and look like they will win the Coastal.
The party goes on in other parts of Chapel Hill.
NC State and Wake Forest are bowl eligible for the first time, thanks to Duke's 38-31 victory over Boston College on Friday.
Despite the fact that barbecue sauce is like wringing out a gym sock onto your pulled pork, it's still deserving of a big celebration.
We don't want to alarm anyone, but the University of Connecticut is close to bowl eligibility. It's alright. If you want to build a bomb shelter in your backyard, now is a good time to make a deposit.
After the win over Boston College, the social media team at the University of Connecticut felt good.
Crown us. ๐
The Kings of New England have arrived and are here to stay#HuskyRevolution pic.twitter.com/xnuIXrIiKl
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