NMP Week 6
Oregon
Ohio St
Georgia
Texas
Miami
Penn St
Tennessee
Indiana
Notre Dame
Boise St
BYU
LSU
Alabama
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Iowa St
Clemson
SMU
Army
Colorado
Pittsburgh
Kansas St
Vanderbilt
Arizona St
South Carolina
Others Getting Votes: Louisville, Washington St, Tulane, UL Lafayette
Added: South Carolina
Dropped: Memphis
Biggest Winners: Alabama (6), LSU (5), BYU (5)
Biggest Losers: Kansas St (11), Clemson (11), Pitt (6)
This weekend had its fair share of upsets and games that shook up conference and playoff races. With all the shake up and a rather large amount of teams on bye weeks this week, I figured it was a good time to take a deeper dive into teams and do a full reevaluation of the top 25. Oregon, undefeated beat OSU, simple. Ohio st beats PSU @PSU and Georgia once again looks like 2 different teams the 1st and 2nd halves. Texas still slots in at 4, pretty simple there too I think. Miami again stays undefeated after a slight scare, defense needs to carry a little more weight, but is enough to hop TN after they also start very slow again. Indiana, while they may have played rather weak competition, the games aren’t even close, what they have been able to do on O and D this season is really remarkable. Notre Dame still just chilling there at 9. Boise St continues to run Jeanty but now Madsen is really rounding into form, could be a real threat in the 1st round of the playoffs if they make it. BYU… they keep winning games, they keep moving up, just really hard to keep them behind multiple 2 loss teams now. Now you get the 4 SEC teams who can both look dominant and very beatable all in the same game, sometimes even half. Could really have them in any order and I wouldn’t really complain either way. Put A&M last purely because of the QB situation and the unknown week to week of who you’ll get. While Ole Miss is probably the most complete out of the bunch, they just can’t seem to put it all together. Alabama has the most potential and highest ceiling out of the 4, but also has the lowest floor… by a lot. LSU, thus far, has put together the best season so far, justtttt slightly, and are the least volatile. Iowa St lost to a very sneaky good Texas Tech team, could be a harsh drop, but only time will tell. Clemson, I was probably too high on them, looking back at their schedule and seeing that they really weren’t too competitive with the biggest games on their schedule, a justified huge drop (ACC Mizzou???) SMU just absolutely smokes a really good Pitt team, in the drivers seat for an ACC champ game spot. Colorado on a bye week, have a heisman front runner, arguably the best college QB, and actually a pretty solid defense too, look to see them in the Big 12 champ game if they can hold their own the rest of the year. Pitt, really sad to see them lose, especially the way they did. Holstein and the O just could not put anything together whatsoever. K St I still think is pretty good, but you just can’t be losing to this years Houston team… And to round out the top 25 this week, 3 teams no one wants to see on their schedule the rest of the season, Arizona St and Skattebo, Vanderbilt and Pavia, and South Carolina and Sellers. Very tough, very good teams, these are the type of teams you would absolutely love to play for.
Heisman Race:
Travis Hunter, Colorado
Ashton Jeanty, Boise St
Cam Ward, Miami
Jeanty is starting to slip off his blistering pace, can definitely claw it back. Travis takes my #1 spot, just barely. Ward is the only reason Miami doesn’t have 2-3 losses. Daily, from Army, falls off due to injury, no timetable on return currently. Gabriel, from Oregon, will probably end up in New York this year but I just get a sense he’s getting the Trevor Lawerence treatment and is on peoples’ boards as more of a career award than a current season award.
Key Games:
3 Georgia @ 14 Ole Miss
13 Alabama @ 12 LSU
Michigan @ 8 Indiana
20 Colorado @ Texas Tech
25 South Carolina @ 23 Vanderbilt
11 BYU @ Utah