The Couch Power 10, Week 6
Another October weekend is in the books, and as the leaves turned increasingly orange and red and the cider scents wafted more aggressively through the chill air, institutions across America watched as their football teams gave them burgeoning hope, or crushed their spirit, in turn.
Last weekend can be summed up in four words: 'Almost, but not quite.' The week was filled with exciting games, and in many of them, there was a plucky upstart that made a heavy favorite seriously sweat. However, almost none of those upsets came to fruition; on the whole, only 4 ranked teams lost last week, and two of those were to fellow ranked teams. In the most dramatic of them all, Texas A&M had a play from the 2-yard line to stun #1 Alabama on their home field, but a mind-numbing play call saw them throw an incompletion to a double-covered receiver. Elsewhere, Florida State decided to throw away their good field goal position and lobbed an end zone interception with 20 seconds left against #14 NC State. #7 Oklahoma State trailed Texas Tech at home entering the 4th quarter. #20 Kansas State scored 3 total points in the last 3 quarters against Iowa State and still held on for the 1-point win. #24 Cincinnati took their first lead at home over South Florida with 6 minutes left. Michigan State, Indiana, Boston College and Vanderbilt all entered halftime in the thick of a dogfight before getting steamrolled in the 2nd half by Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson and Ole Miss respectively. In the game on the forefront of everyone's minds, Miami nearly beat 2022 ACC Champions North Carolina and 2022 Heisman winner Drake Maye, but their late rally came up just short. Ah, well. Better luck next time, underdogs.
Just a refresher: this is not a definitive ranking on how good the teams are, or on who I think will be/deserves to be in the playoff at the end of the year. Rather, it's more of a "What if preseason rankings and bigwig bias didn't predetermine the top teams" kind of thing, an ideal ranking of the country's teams based on what they've actually proved on the field to date:
1. Tennessee
Alright, alright...last week was fun, but now it's time to restore Tennessee to their rightful place, which is #1. I kid, kind of; I don't think Tennessee is really the best team in the nation. However, in a week where it seemed like every highly ranked team was struggling to put away inferior opponents, the Vols were getting their third Top 25 win of the season, and doing so by annihilating LSU in the middle of Baton Rouge. That feels like a statement to me.
2. Ohio State
Next in the 'eye test' tier: Ohio State, who looked human for a half in East Lansing, before doing what they've done pretty much all season and blowing out the other team in the 2nd half. I'm still waiting for the Buckeyes to play a real quality opponent, it's true. But I'm also still waiting for them to show any real signs of weakness...none so far.
3. TCU
With College Gameday in town and the eyes of a hopeful nation upon them, Kansas' unbeaten season came to an end in a thrilling wire-to-wire game. Given what national darlings the Jayhawks had become, that probably cast TCU as the villains. But really, there's a lot to like about this TCU team, too. They're undergoing a culture change with a first-year head coach, they play a high-octane, entertaining style, and out of nowhere, are suddenly a contender in the Big 12 (and possibly beyond?!?) thanks to back-to-back massive conference wins.
4. UCLA
UCLA may have been the quietest 5-0 team in the country; they certainly were among the quietest unbeaten Power 5 teams thus far. Starting the season with little hype, playing on the West Coast, and mostly beating up on cupcakes will do that to you. However, after the last couple weeks, Chip Kelly and UCLA's time flying under the spotlight is over. Beating a ranked Washington team is one thing, but to follow that up with a fairly comprehensive victory over #11 (and preseason conference favorite) Utah is a whole other thing. All of a sudden, the Bruins are halfway through the season with zero losses, only two games against ranked teams remaining, and visions of a berth in the National Championship being played in their own town are suddenly dancing in their head.
5. Clemson
These next two teams essentially are the reverse of Al Pacino in The Godfather Part 3: just when I thought I was in, they pull me back out. I had finally begun to believe enough in Clemson to move them all the way up to #2 last week, but their extremely pedestrian start against Boston College gave me real pause. I know this sounds like nitpicking over a game they ended up winning by 28 points. And yes, we once again have every reason to believe Clemson will finish 12-0, but look, we are 6 games into the season and still yet to see them put together a complete game.
6. Alabama
And in an even more extreme example, I had finally begun to buy in to Alabama being the best team in America, and they may still be-- but while wins over Texas and Texas A&M are still good wins, the fact that they could have, and honestly SHOULD have, lost both games is, uh, very not good. The fact that they were missing reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young is, of course, very relevant, and when he returns, that will add a whole other dimension. But Young played against Texas, and even without the star quarterback, you would expect the Tide to have enough of a talent and coaching advantage to not come within 2 yards of a second straight loss to Texas A&M.
7. Georgia
After the back-to-back eggs laid in ugly wins against Kent State and Missouri, a rivalry clash with a flailing Auburn team provided a natural opportunity for the Bulldogs to get back in form. They got there eventually, but not before yet another half of having their tires stuck in the mud. Still, that Oregon win continues to age brilliantly, and the Dawgs are 6-0 without another ranked opponent until November.
8. Oklahoma State
One week after singing Oklahoma State's praises, the Cowboys tried their best to make me look silly. Fortunately for my reputation, Gundy's guys rallied to see out Texas Tech, and remained unbeaten heading into a huge stretch of games. Their showdown on the road against Couch #3 TCU (Big 12 championship preview??) this weekend kicks off a stretch of four straight weeks against a currently ranked opponent. We should be finding out very shortly whether this team is for real or not.
9. USC
Lincoln Riley's divorce with Oklahoma was anything but amicable, and to make matters worse for Sooner fans, there's no question who has come out on top thus far. While Riley's old team was getting annihilated by archrivals Texas to fall to 3-3, his new team USC (featuring ex-Oklahoma QB Caleb Williams) was improving to 6-0 by closing out a win over fellow Top 20 team Washington State. I spent ample time praising the Trojans' cross-town rivals above, but SC and their fans will be quick to point out that they're the L.A.-area team that's actually ranked in the AP Top 10, and they also play only two more ranked teams all year. Thus, reasonable minds could conclude visions of a berth in the National Championship being played in their own town are also suddenly dancing in Trojan heads.
10. James Madison
Talk about burying the lede: in what is undoubtedly the biggest story from last weekend, 2021 FCS national runner-up and 2022 FBS Playoff spoiler James Madison remained unbeaten with a dominant win over Arkansas State. The Dukes are making a mockery of the Sun Belt, and now voters are taking notice, as they jumped in to the AP Top 25 for the first time.
Just missed: Ole Miss, Penn State, Michigan, Syracuse, Coastal Carolina, Drake Maye Heisman hype
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