Week 10 of the college football season had just about everything a fan could want and then some.
There were Top-25 showdowns, major upsets, and action from early morning until late in the night. There were Heisman moments, too, not to mention copious replay reviews (it is a love-hate thing). Even the yearly coaching carousel got into the action.
Here are six takeaways from the BYU and USU games, the Pac-12’s debut and more.
Utah State has entered full-on rebuild territory
Had this been written in the immediate aftermath of Utah State’s 34-9 loss to Nevada Thursday night, the takeaway would have been that the Aggies should probably embrace a rebuild.
At 0-3 to start the season, an uncompetitive 0-3 at that — USU has an average margin of defeat of 28 points — it has become clear that Utah State simply cannot contend with the best the Mountain West Conference has to offer in 2020.
That is not good enough for a program that, per athletic director John Hartwell, aspires to be “regular contenders for the Mountain West Championship.”
With the announcement Saturday that Gary Andersen has been ousted as head coach of the Aggies, the idea of a rebuild, with an eye on contention in future seasons, has been given a major boost in credibility.
Sure, interim head coach Frank Maile could spark a major turnaround that leads to him keeping the job on a permanent basis. It has happened before. And yet, given the 45 freshmen and 23 sophomores on Utah State’s roster, and the fact that 21 different players have started games for the first time in their careers this season, that kind of turnaround seems unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely.
More likely, though, the Aggies empty the bench — they kind of already have, which Andersen alluded to following the Nevada game — and see what’s there, with Maile taking the lead on player development. Maybe the Aggies discover a reason to hope for a bounce-back 2021 season in the process.
BYU is great this season, but are they New Year’s Six great?
The debate about whether or not BYU is a good team is over.
The Cougars’ 51-17 beatdown of rival Boise State Friday night saw to that. Quibble all you want about the players the Broncos were missing, teams simply do not go into Albertsons Stadium and win like that unless they are great. In fact, it had never happened, not in the modern era at least.
If that idea is disagreeable, all anyone had to do was listen to any college football analyst, pundit or expert over the weekend. They all said the same thing, namely that BYU is a great football team.
Of course, now that that debate is over, it is time for another one: Is BYU New Year’s Six great?
For the uninitiated, the New Year’s Six refers to the six premier bowl games — the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. When not serving as a College Football Playoff semifinal — there is a three-year rotation — the games are played on New Year’s Day, hence the name.
The bowls all have historic tie-ins to Power Five conferences and as such there is a guaranteed spot in one of the bowls for each of the P5 conference champions, as well as for the highest-ranked champion of a Group of Five conference.
There are more spots in bowls than tie-ins, though, meaning there is an at-large bid available every year. In 2019, Florida was awarded it and played ACC representative Virginia in the Orange Bowl (ACC champion Clemson was a CFP participant). In 2018, the at-large bid also went to Florida, while in 2017 it belonged to Penn State.
The point of all of that was to illustrate that in order to qualify to play in the New Year’s Six, BYU has to be at least a top-12 team in the country, according to the rankings of the College Football Playoff committee. That, and have a more desirable brand than the teams around them vying for the same at-large bid.
While the Associated Press and Coaches Polls have BYU ranked in the top-10 nationally, the playoff committee’s initial rankings won’t be revealed until Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 5 p.m. MST. And the rankings that really matter — the final CFP rankings — won’t be released until Dec. 20.
All of which is to say... let the debate begin. Though if BYU’s performance against Boise State was any indication, it might be a short-lived debate.
The Pac-12 is back, and the South looks wide open
Fans of Pac-12 football have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the 2020 season to finally arrive — in the case of Utah, Washington, Cal and Arizona fans, the wait continues — and it did at long last Saturday.
The wait proved well worth it, too, beginning with the Pac-12 South showdown between USC and Arizona State.
The Trojans came away with the victory, rallying to defeat the Sun Devils 28-27, in truly dramatic fashion, which was beautifully laid out on Twitter for all to see.
While the Trojans won, ASU basically outplayed them 98% of the game, only to fall short in the end. There is an argument to be made that the Sun Devils are the better team, and that that will show over the course of the conference’s condensed six- or seven-game schedule.
Another argument could be that the Trojans are clearly going to be the best the Pac-12 South has to offer. They weren’t on their game — their inability to tackle was particularly egregious — and still managed to win.
A third perspective, and given the history of the Pac-12 it is arguably the most viable one, is that both the Trojans and Sun Devils are flawed — do you really believe in a Clay Helton team? — meaning the Pac-12 is wide open, which is only good news for Utah, whenever they get to play.
In other Pac-12 action, Colorado took down UCLA, Oregon handled Stanford and Washington State dispatched Oregon State.
The Ducks’ win could validate preseason hype, but it was the first week of Pac-12 football, so who really knows. The only certainty is the Pac-12 is back.
Something strange is happening in the Mountain West
There is an argument to made that San Jose State is the best team in the Mountain West.
Just let that marinate for a moment.
San Jose State — a team that has yet to finish with a winning record in conference play since joining the MWC, a team that finished last season with a 5-7 overall record (the Spartans were 2-6 in conference), a team that had basically no fall camp to speak of — might be better than Boise State.
As it is, with wins over Air Force, New Mexico and San Diego State, the Spartans have proven themselves to be conference championship contenders three weeks into the season, a development few, if any, saw coming.
The same can be said about Nevada, kind of. The Wolfpack are also 3-0, with wins over Wyoming, UNLV and Utah State and have gone from being a completely average team to maybe a great one.
The only other unbeaten left in conference action is Boise State. The Broncos boast wins over Air Force and Utah State.
The unbeaten trio will get to decide who is better on the field, as Boise State is slated to take on San Jose State on Nov. 28, while Nevada gets the Spartans on Dec. 11. The only head-to-head game missing is Boise State versus Nevada, but that could happen in the conference title game.
Things are just getting a little crazy in a conference that was expected to be Boise State, San Diego State, maybe Wyoming and then the rest, so at this point it wouldn’t be all that much of a surprise if Fresno State or Colorado State make a run at it.
Top 25 showdowns clear up the College Football Playoff picture. Or did they?
There were four Top-25 matchups over the weekend: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 8 Florida, No. 9 BYU vs. No. 21 Boise State and No. 13 Indiana vs. No. 23 Michigan.
None was bigger than the showdown between the Tigers and the Fighting Irish (SEC fans would fiercely argue that point... SEC, SEC, SEC) and it didn’t disappoint. The teams battled into double-overtime before the Notre Dame defense took over and won the game for the hosts, 47-40.
Clemson lost its first regular-season game since 2017, when it fell to Syracuse, as the Irish snapped the Tigers’ 36-game win streak, tied for the fourth-longest in FBS history.
Norte Dame’s win did nothing to clear up the CFP picture. In fact, it made it all the muddier, as one-loss Clemson will surely still have the respect of the playoff committee, especially considering the fact that star quarterback Trevor Lawrence sat for the second consecutive game after testing positive for COVID-19.
The teams will likely meet in the ACC Championship game, and if Clemson gets revenge, the possibility exists that both Notre Dame and Clemson will get spots in the playoff.
While Clemson’s loss only muddled the postseason picture, Florida’s 44-28 win over rival Georgia went a long way in clearing it up.
Both the Gators and Bulldogs had one loss entering their annual clash for the top of the SEC East, and with the win, Florida is firmly in the drivers seat to make it to the SEC Championship game, where Alabama will most likely await.
Georgia, meanwhile, with two losses drops from the playoff picture entirely, though an at-large bid in the New Year’s Six is a possibility if the Bulldogs win out.
No. 9 BYU, as previously discussed, dispatched No. 21 Boise State, putting themselves firmly in the New Year’s Six discussion.
As for Indiana and Michigan, the Hoosiers’ 38-21 win over the Wolverines all but eliminates Michigan from the playoff picture, while simultaneously establishing Indiana as the chief challenger to Ohio State in the Big Ten. Both teams are in the Big Ten East, though, and their Nov. 21 meeting will likely serve as a playoff elimination game for one or the other.
2020 is making a good argument for an expanded playoff
It has been a rallying cry since the inception of the CFP — Expand the playoff!
The Haves of college football have wanted nothing to do with it. A four-team playoff is exclusive, and let’s face it, a four-team playoff benefits the SEC, the Big Ten and ACC in a big way (sometimes also the Big 12 and Pac-12).
The Have Nots, meanwhile, have been left on the outside looking in time and again, including less nationally recognized Power Five teams and top Group of Five teams.
This year, though, has been far crazier than most in recent memory when it comes to unknowns or unheralded teams making noise. Noise that is driving further discussion of playoff expansion.
First there is No. 6 Cincinnati. The Bearcats have been one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference in recent years, while overshadowed by UCF, Memphis and Houston. Cincinnati is 6-0 now, however, with a 38-10 win over Houston on Saturday.
After Cincinnati, there is BYU, and again the Cougars are making waves on a national stage.
Then there is No. 15 Coastal Carolina, which at 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Sun Belt, just keeps winning.
No. 16 Marshall is 6-0, and coming off a 51-10 beatdown of UMass.
No. 18 SMU is 7-1, and an expanded playoff would give Heisman hopeful Shane Buechele a spotlight he hasn’t had had since he was Texas’ quarterback.
Finally there is No. 25 Liberty, which eked out a 38-35 win over Virginia Tech Saturday, has two wins over ACC opponents this year and will play Coastal Carolina on Dec. 5.
Then there are teams like No. 14 Oklahoma State, that with one loss in the Big 12 is on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Or No. 11 Miami, which is 6-1 with a loss to Clemson on the resume. Or No. 7 Texas A&M, which lost to No. 2 Alabama, but beat Florida and will not get a shot at an SEC championship.
Some of those teams will be knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten, or drop a second game, but this year more than most, the possibility exists that there will be more than four deserving playoff teams.