Final GameDay – Discover the Alabama Crimson Tide-Tigers Clemson IV and other observations of the 8th week

Sports



[ad_1]

The capital sin in college football is too advanced. Well, that or use the port-o-johns after a night game in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. But instead of looking too far forward, let's look back.

In January 2018, when Alabama fought Clemson in the Sugar Bowl, an aperitif before another national championship.

Back in January 2017, when Deshaun Watson went from the big quarter to the legend of Clemson by finally defeating the Crimson Tide.

In January 2016, when Watson was battling Bama for three quarters before Alabama finally withdrew.

It is not this season that suggests that we will have to see Alabama and Clemson again in the playoffs. This is history You see the sun rising every day; it is reasonable to expect it again tomorrow.

Clemson vs. Alabama, a familiar clash in the playoffs. John Korduner / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images

Let's start with this: Clemson-Bama IV seems almost inevitable, the state of Ohio adding this certainty to its loss to Purdue. But what Saturday showed us – and all that 2018 has shown, in fact – is that if we still get a sequel, it will not be like the first three at all.

Look at Alabama, after all. Less than 10 minutes into Saturday's game against Tennessee, a team that has just won a stellar victory against Auburn, with a coach who knows Nick Saban's system as intimately as anyone else, the Tide led 28-0 and the only question was how embarrassing it would be.

Then look at Clemson. Saturday 's game against NC State was supposed to be the last challenge for the Tigers, an undefeated opponent who had led them over the last two seasons. And by the half, Clemson was up 24-0, his freshman quarterback having the look of a burgeoning star.

It is obvious that Clemson and Alabama have been the dominant programs of the past three seasons, but it is also clear that their genius was tinged with some mortality. Remember that the Clemson offensive line struggled to open all race tracks against the tide, even though Watson was working hard to win a title. Remember how Alabama's passing game was a predictable palace cleaner between run games and defensive domination. Both programs were the football equivalent of Death Star, the planet's destructive giant in "Star Wars" which, for reasons not entirely clear, still included a problematic self-destruct button.

We can see these same flaws in the main competition for Bama and Clemson. The struggles of the Ohio state against TCU, Minnesota and the state of Penn eventually caught up with the Boilermakers. Our Lady remains an offensive enigma. Texas and LSU struggled, but all that was felt like a fight. And then there are both teams at the top.

And maybe there is a flaw somewhere on Alabama's list this year as well. Saban certainly tried to nibble, even imploring the media to abandon the impenetrable machine that won its first eight games with an average of 38 points.

Or maybe the nascent confidence of a Clemson team that has dominated its opposition at 124-17 over the last 10 quarters is just a glance, and the close call against Texas A & M and Syracuse is a better indicator. It's just that the trend seems to be going in the opposite direction.

The reality through eight weeks is however clear enough. Tua Tagovailoa has opened the Alabama offensive to a level where the Tide score at a pace equal to that of the best Art Briles and Chip Kelly tempo teams. In addition, the tide still has this fierce defense and this powerful ground game.

In eight weeks, Clemson went through his biggest storm and Trevor Lawrence appeared on the other side as the obvious successor of Watson's legend. He dismantled NC State 's secondary Saturday, throwing lasers to the sideline, one after the other. The Wolfpack knew what was coming, but they were powerless to stop it. And that comes just a week after the ground game racked up 471 yards against Wake Forest.

Yes, we have already seen Bama-Clemson. And yes, it is likely that we will see these two men face each other again. But we have not seen anything like it.

to play

1:16

Jim Harbaugh and Mark Dantonio are competing for what happened before Saturday's Michigan-Michigan State match.

A good day for Michigan

When Baker Mayfield celebrated the Ohio State logo, he was forced to apologize. Chase Winovich, Michigan, did not feel so magnanimous after the Wolverines victory for the seventh time in a row, this time against an ugly, wet win against Michigan State's "little brother".

From the pre-game battle on the Michigan State logo to the war of post-match words between coaches at their press conferences, rivalry within the state has become just as fun as the one with Ohio State.

Of course, the only thing that could add extra pleasure to a "little brother" victory is to watch your other rival fall embarrassingly. That's exactly what Michigan has seen happen in the state of Ohio, which has been successful by Purdue in the Buckeyes' annual report "Wait, how's that?" he passed? " Game. (Note to Jeff Brohm: check your membership card with Frank Beamer and Kirk Ferentz can provide you with the usual smoking jacket.)

It was therefore among the best Saturdays in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a long time. But the biggest question now is: how much should we trust this Michigan team?

The defense is really good. Nobody has accumulated more than 319 yards of offense against the Wolverines this season, and Michigan State's performance was particularly horrendous. The Spartans only managed 94 yards and recorded a catastrophic 12 points over a third.

What is less clear is what to do with the Michigan offense, which has been spectacular in five home games against less competition, but has struggled to find consistency in three tests on the road, including a loss to Notre Dame and a near-miss against Northwestern. This might not bode well for an end-of-season trip to Columbus, Ohio. Again, who feels good about Ohio State right now.

Little blues brother

Winovich succinctly summarized the Michigan-Michigan State game: "Sometimes your little brother acts, and you have to put it in place."

It's hard, but is that right? Here's where we put the Michigan win in our all-time smackdowns 'little brother' list.

1. Michael vs. Fredo in "The Godfather": At least, Sparty has not been taken in a long boat ride, never to return.

2 Cain vs. Abel: Although the Michigan defense was right on Saturday defensive, it was more like the Old Testament, but it was not as serious as this rivalry.

3. Stannis vs. Renly on "Game of Thrones": Honestly, Winovich has a great "Song of Ice and Fire" look, but as long as there is no black magic, it does not give it all. .

4. Noel Gallagher vs. Liam Gallagher: We have the impression that after the theatrical show on Saturday, the state of Michigan could turn against him.

And we will mark Michigan's victory in 5th place, just ahead of Billy versus Jimmy Carter and the Jonas Brothers in a Royal Rumble.

Troll of the week non-Michigan

Clemson 's rivalry with NC State had been marked by all sorts of off – court tragedies, including last year' s match, accusing Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren of cheating. offended a laptop away from the Tigers.

So this year, Clemson has added a game card on the sideline with a photo of a laptop on it, just for that game. Dabo Swinney then says, "It was the ultimate troll. Is that what you call it? "

Boiling on

Purdue opened the season with three straight losses, with a total of seven points. What could we say about boilermakers at the present time if they had managed to win a victory over two of them?

1 related

The domination of the state of Ohio by Purdue shows what all those who watched the Boilermakers this year already knew. It's a very good team that had a lot of trouble starting the season. But over the past four weeks, Purdue has hit a good team from British Columbia, dominating Nebraska and Illinois, and offered us one of the best performances of the season.

From the electric Moore Rondie to the mighty D.J. Knox to the underrated David Blough, it's an offense that can do it all. And on defense, we saw Purdue now bottle AJ Dillon and Dwayne Haskins. After canceling their Heisman campaigns, it may be time to start talking about Moore.

Michigan State's tough challenge is coming, and then Iowa may be the biggest game we've ever seen in early September. And if Purdue wins, Brohm's paycheck will become much bigger at the end of the season.

Week 8 takes hot

Butch Jones is a champion of life

How do you celebrate a 58-21 win over the team that fired you? Nothing is better with a big win than a nice stogie and a little trolling in social media.

After beating volunteers on Saturday, Bama center Chris Owens released a photo of himself and Jones, now Tide's offensive analyst, smoking victory cigars – something the former Tennessee coach has not often used for his last season at Knoxville.

It's hard to say how much the impact of Jones' vision on Alabama's victory has been significant, but the photo is so good that we will forgive him the total debacle of the trash.

to play

1:32

Head Coach Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers get their first win of the season beating Minnesota 53-28.

It's good to be back at the bottom

Scott Frost said Nebraska was at a low three weeks ago and that the situation was getting worse. So, technically, Nebraska was below the bottom when Saturday's match started. This means that Minnesota's much needed, well-deserved, well-deserved victory should officially bring the Cornhuskers back to the top. And really, Nebraska has looked pretty good in the last few games, which should give hope that now that the # 1 win is in the books and there are still a few games left to win, this season could Prove to be a nice little progression. stone for the Huskers after all.

These losses were impressive

With our apologies to Frost, who does not really adhere to these probabilities of victory, we are going to side with the maths and point out that, even if it does not win a lot of fans, you have to applaud the ability of Cincinnati and Caroline North.

The Bearcats had a 94% chance of winning according to ESPN's Win Probability with less than five minutes to play, but they gave up the field to a game of 7, or 75 yards per Temple to equalize things and then lose in extension.

And North Carolina – poor, poor North Carolina – was even worse. The Heels had a 94% chance of winning with 2.5 hours of play, but that was not the case. Syracuse quarterback Tommy DeVito left a 42-yard dime at Nykeim Johnson to send the game to OT less than a minute later. This is the second week in a row that UNC had a touchdown late in the game, then gave up a long run and lost. We do not know what Larry Fedora did to anger the football gods (maybe they're crazy that he's in better shape than them), but it's been a long time since nothing left like UNC.

But here's the important thing to remember: statistically speaking, it's just as hard to lose when you only have a 6% chance of winning it as against the same odds.

27 players are enough to win the Coastal CAC

Bronco Mendenhall made a few eyebrows this summer claiming that Virginia only had 27 ACC caliber players. The quote was more than a little misinterpreted, but that's beside the question. No matter how many players he has, it seems that enough is enough for Virginia to claim victory in the Coastal Division after defeating Miami and Duke two weeks in a row. The Hoos are now 5-2 and their only loss to the conference is at NC State. If you are browsing the rest of the schedule, it's not hard to contemplate the last week's clash with rival Virginia Tech who will decide the division. And since the Cavaliers have not won this match since 2003, they are indebted.

One is better than two

There must be something in the water in Ohio, where Kent State and Miami (Ohio) have decided to make two in overtime in hopes of winning, and both have failed. We admire the courage to do something risky, but it's also important to remember that Evel Knievel suffered over 400 fractures in her lifetime.

No Heisman Five

Will these guys be in the Heisman conversation? Probably not. But we still want to highlight their performances in the eighth week.

• Florida State had a horrible start to the season, but let's give a bit of love to QB Deondre Francois, who was brilliant against Wake Forest on Saturday and who completed 65% of his throws with 10 touchdowns and two choices. . Willie Taggert might have known what he was doing after all.

• Oklahoma was looking for someone on the field after Rodney Anderson injured his knee. Say hello to Kennedy Brooks, who had 168 yards in 18 races – nearly three times the yardage per yard, which TCU let in on average.

• Rutgers quarterback Artur Sitkowski has only 15 out of 33 passes to gain 81 yards, which would normally be a pretty ugly line of stats. But since he finished 2-for-16 for 8 yards and four caps last week, it's been a huge improvement, and we're optimistic – or "Fat Sandwich is half-consumed," if you prefer.

• The strength coach of LSU: we can only assume that the strength coach of LSU is gaining the power of his beard, which is certainly wonderful.

* Syracuse running back Moe Neal is not the bigger of the two men, but if an official wants to knock him out, well, Neal can do very well.

Buy or sell

Buy Oklahoma: The Sooners defeat against Texas has slightly changed their dynamics in the playoffs, but there remains a chance to be redeemed in the match for the Big 12 title, if both teams won, and Kyler Murray & Co. would continue to look like one of the best offensive units in the country after suspending 52 on TCU. Murray's campaign at Heisman would be over-piloted right now if it was not for this guy in Tuscaloosa.

Sell ​​Penn State: Leading indicators have always liked Penn State, despite two losses. But the Nittany Lions struggled to defeat Indiana on Saturday, and with Michigan playing so well, it's hard to see how Lions live up to their potential.

Buy Iowa: They will never be sexy, but damn it, the Hawkeyes continue to look impressive. This is essentially the Big Ten version of the LSU game: a racing game, excellent defense and just enough QB to keep winning.

Sell ​​Lane Kiffin's brilliance: The FAU only accumulated seven points against Marshall and fell to 3-4, while quarterback Chris Robinson continued to struggle. An attack that seemed unstoppable last season has been pretty bad this season. We still love Kiffin's Twitter feed, but the product on the field has not been up to the pre-season hype.

Buy Eriq King: While Ed Oliver is getting all the love, the Houston quarterback is experiencing an incredible season so far. King finished with 413 passing yards and four touchdowns in a win against the Navy. That brings his touchdown total for the season to 32 – best in the country.

Game of the week under-appreciated

This is not effective fake punt that we loved here. That's Joe Schopper, the punter of Purdue, who is putting a terrible blow to Jordan Fuller, of the Ohio State. Last year, Schopper completed two passes and also ran 13 yards with scythes. At this point, he would start with linebacker and linebacker for UConn.

Underestimated victory of the week

Texas Tech's 48-48 win over Kansas was marked by another fantastic performance by Alan Bowman, who rushed for 408 yards. It was clearly one of the top two games of the Big 12 on Saturday. How many Big 12 games were there on Saturday? It does not matter.

The life of a pirate

It's almost impossible to explain what energy looked like in Pullman, Washington on Saturday – perhaps a combination of the release of a small country and Black Friday at Walmart. And, of course, Mike Leach's team in Washington State has offered a lot of things to celebrate.

The crazy thing about Cougars this year is not that they are 6-1, although that was certainly surprising. And that's not it Gardner Minshew has played so well in the quarterback, with at least three total touchdowns until now. That's the defense.

Washington State held Justin Herbert under control, and Oregon racked up 58 rushing yards on Saturday. That's something the Cougars have not done since UCLA was held at age 43 in 2016.

It's certainly not the team that has planned to qualify for the Pac-12 qualifiers, but the Leach crew is good. And look at the rest of the slate: all winning games, with the division potentially at stake in the Apple Cup against Washington.

And if the only problem at the end of the year is a three-point loss on the road to USC, it's a summary that the playoff committee should consider. The fact that we say that after eight weeks in total is a huge credit for what Leach has accomplished there.

[ad_2]
Source link

Tags

Powered by https://naaju.com/us | Designed by Naaju
© Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved