Week 6 observations and Week 7 ponderings

So was Week 6 enough chaos for ya?  For the second week in a row I attended the Boise St. game, so I missed watching Alabama, Tennessee and USC get taken down, but at least I was able to watch the best running back in the country continue to put up insane numbers.  Week 7 kicks off on Tuesday.

C-USA

Sam Houston was SUPPOSED to be a little flat Thursday after pulling off one of the biggest comeback wins of the year...on the road again...short week...but apparently the Bearkats didn't get the memo.  DJ McKinney ran for 138 yards and two TDs and Hunter Watson threw for two scores in a 41-21 beatdown at UTEP, and it wasn't that close. The 'Kats dominated the first half, outgaining the Miners 263 yards to 70, but only led 17-7 at the break.  The domination continued in the third quarter with TD drives of 62, 90 and 68 yards and a 38-7 lead. Watson (19 of 29 for 224 yards) sat out the fourth quarter as Sam Houston amassed 517 total yards, 295 on the ground.

Jacksonville St. had their second strong outing in a row, after an 0-3 start, with a 63-24 blowout win over FBS newcomer Kennesaw St. The Gamecocks led 21-17 at the half but blew it open in the second half with a 42-7 explosion.  Jack St. rolled up 577 yards, 384 rushing.

Early leans:

With Sam Houston on a bye, there's nothing here that trips my trigger, but WKU should be able to run on UTEP Thursday.  The Miners are giving up 240 yards a game on the ground.  The game I'm eyeballing is NEXT week:  WKU at Sam Houston.  The Bearkats have been a money maker this year (5-1 ATS)

Sun Belt

The home dogs were barking for the most part, and in a couple cases biting!  UL-Monroe scored the biggest upset in the conference, taking down James Madison, 21-19.  The Dukes outgained the Warhawks by 140 yards and had an early 10-0 lead, but after recovering a muffed punt at the ULM 20 late in the first half, Alonza Barnett III fumbled two plays later, and Daniel Knudson ran it back 82 yards for the go ahead TD.  JMU scored with 4:04 left but missed the tying two point try, and was stopped on downs their last two possessions.

Jaylen Raynor threw for 345 yards and a TD and led a game winning 10 play, 60 yard drive that ended with Clune Van Andel's 34 yard field golf with 10 seconds left as Arkansas St. edged South Alabama, 18-16.  It was the Jaguars' third straight road game, and they were coming off a beatdown at LSU. 

Coming off a thrilling win at Wake Forest a week ago, Louisiana had its' hands full at Southern Miss, eventually pulling away for a 23-13 win.  The Ragin' Cajuns dominated the stats, outgaining the Golden Eagles 410 yards to 183, outrushing them 188 yards to 43 and had over 41 minutes of possession time. 

Texas St. rebounded from their demoralizing come from ahead loss to Sam Houston with an easy 38-17 rout at Troy. The Bobcats were led by QB Jordan McCloud, who went 20 of 29 for 252 yards and three TDs, and ran for 72 yards and another score.  Texas St. rushed for 215 yards (5.5 YPR) and held the Trojans to 63 (1.9).  

Braylon Braxton threw for 129 yards and three TDs and rushed for 140 yards and two more scores to lead Marshall past Appalachian St. 52-37.  The Mountaineers, who are still dealing with the devastating damage done by Hurricane Helene in Boone NC, that caused them to have to cancel last week's game against Liberty, outgained the Thundering Herd by 108 yards, but two crucial turnovers led to 10 points.

Coastal Carolina rallied from 17-7 down with 28 unanswered and held on to beat Old Dominion, 44-37, despite surrendering 200 yards rushing (5.4 YPR).

Early leans:

JAMES MADISON -9' over Coastal Carolina - the Dukes should rebound Thursday, off their first loss, and are averaging nearly 200 yards on the ground (5.5 YPR) in their last three games, while the Chanticleers have allowed 584 (6 YPR) in their last two.

GEORGIA ST. -1' over Old Dominion - Panthers off a bye. Third straight roadie for Monarchs, who are 4-17 SU and ATS when coming off a loss of 13 points or fewer.

TEXAS ST. -14' over Arkansas St. -  Red Wolves hung 77 points on the Bobcats a year ago.  Sweet revenge?

Just leans for now, until something better pops up.

AAC/Independent 

The service academies continue to dominate. Army was tied 7-7 with Tulsa going into the second quarter, then quit playing with their food and rolled in a 49-7 rout. Bryson Daily completed all five of his passes for 140 yards and two TDs, and rushed for 110 yards and two more scores, while Kanye Udoh exploded for 137 yards rushing and two scores on just six carries!  The Black Knights rushed for 321 total yards at 8 yards a pop.

Meanwhile, Navy rushed for 329 yards (6.7 YPR) and won at Air Force for the first time since 2012.  Blake Horvath again led the way with 134 yards through the air and 115 yards on the ground, with a pair of TDs, in the 34-7 beatdown of the Falcons.

As good as Army and Navy have looked, don't count out Tulane in the conference race.  The Green Wave destroyed UAB in Birmingham, 71-20, scoring TDs in all three phases of the game, and led 57-6 going into the fourth quarter.

Charlotte moved to 2-0 in conference play with a 55-24 upset win at home over East Carolina. The 49ers rushed for 307 yards (6.0 YPR) and held the ball for nearly 41 minutes. 

I put my money on UConn to roll over Temple, and not only did they not cover the 17 point line, they damn near lost the game outright!  Trailing 23-20 and facing a fourth and goal with three seconds left, the Owls opted to go for the win instead of the tying field goal, but QB Tyler Douglas fumbled and Jordan Wright took it the other way for a 96 yard score and a 29-20 win.  That's twice I've lost going against Temple this year.  

Early leans:

Cash cow Navy has the week off, and the other cash cow, Army, is favored by more points than I wanna give up (-26), but they'll probably cover. Nothing to see here.

BIG Ten

No big shakeups here over the weekend. All the favorites held serve except one.

QB Max Brosmer completed 15 of 19 passes for 169 yards and ran for three TDs, the last of those from a yard out with 56 seconds left, rallying Minnesota to a 24-17 upset win over USC. The Trojans, who led 17-10 going into the fourth quarter, had one last chance, but Miller Moss threw an end zone interception from the Gopher 28 yard line with just a few seconds left.  

Dillon Gabriel threw for 257 yards and two TDs and Jordan James rushed for 166 yards on 24 carriers as Oregon dominated Michigan St. 31-10.  The Ducks outgained the Spartans 477 yards to 244, outrushed them 213 yards (5.8 YPR) to 53 (1.8) and led 31-0 early in the fourth quarter.  Sparty gained 120 yards on two late scoring drives, including a 42 yard field goal with 28 seconds left that got them the back door cover.

Next up for the Ducks is a huge showdown with Ohio St. in Eugene. The Buckeyes led Iowa, 7-0, at halftime but dominated the second half in a 35-7 blowout win. QB Will Howard was 21 of 25 for 209 yards and four TDs for the Buckeyes, who outgained the Hawkeyes 412 yards to 225 (80 of those coming on Iowa's lone TD drive when it was 35-0).

Drew Allar was 17 of 24 for 237 yards and a TD and ran for another score as Penn St. shut down UCLA, 27-11.  The Nittany Lions played without star RB Nick Singleton and failed to rush for 100 yards for the first time this season.  The Bruins are playing hard on defense but their 127th ranked offense couldn't get anything going as QB Ethan Garbers sat out with a leg injury. UCLA was held to 260 total yards with 73 of those coming on a late TD drive, down 27-3.

Indiana improved to 6-0, their best start since the LBJ administration, and became the first team in the country to become bowl eligible by outlasting Northwestern, 41-24. Kurtis Rourke went 25 of 33 for 380 yards and three TDs, as the Hoosiers scored the final 14 points after the Wildcats closed the gap to 27-24 early in the fourth quarter.  Indy totaled 529 yards of offense and never trailed.

Defense ruled the day on a hot, blustery day in Lincoln, as Nebraska held off Rutgers, 14-7.  The Cornhuskers have held five of their first six opponents to ten points or less.  The Scarlet Knights had six plays from inside the two yard line but were held scoreless until late in the game.

Will Rogers threw for 271 yards and two scores to lead Washington past Michigan, 27-17, for their 18th straight win at Husky Stadium.  The Wolverines, down 14-0, replaced ineffective QB Alex Orji midway through the second quarter with backup Jack Tuttle, who gave them a bit of a spark, as Michigan led 17-14 going into the final stanza.  But Tuttle then turned the ball over twice, leading to 10 points and the win for UDub.

Wisconsin bullied Purdue, 52-6, outgaining the Boilermakers 589 yards to 216.

Early leans:

RUTGERS -2' over Wisconsin - I'm not reading too much into the Badgers blowout over Purdue.  

IOWA -2' over Washington - some line value here based on last week's results.

OREGON +3' over Ohio St. - long road trip for the Buckeyes, and I can't remember the last time the Ducks were an underdog at Autzen.

Also long road trips for Minnesota and Penn St. as both head to SoCal.  Lean to the Trojans if Singleton isn't playing for PSU.

GL on your plays mah man @Boisestateand8

That Boise State Rb is very impressive indeed

@LVTruck

@Macwestie1

 BOL to you too Mac!  

Yeah, it's pretty rare for us to have a talent like Jeanty.  And he's as good a person as he is a player!

Big 12

A world turned upside down best describes this conference, and at this point it's anybody's guess which two teams will be playing for the automatic berth in the 12 team playoff. 

Rocco Becht threw for 277 yards and two TDs as Iowa St. rallied from 14- 3 down, scoring the last 24 points in a 43-21 runaway win over Baylor.  The Cyclones rushed for 265 yards, their third straight game over 200, and finished with 542 total yards, their most in two seasons.

Texas Tech blew an 18-3 halftime lead, fell behind 19-18, then rallied for a 28-22 win at Arizona. Tahj Brooks atoned for two fumbles with 128 yards rushing on 21 carries with three TDs.  

After back to back shutout losses Houston made a QB change and it paid off big time, as Zeon Chriss completed 15 of 18 for 141 yards and a TD, and rushed for 97 yards on 11 carries with a score to lead the Cougars to a 30-19 upset win at TCU. The Horned Frogs are flat out playing some bad football.  Over the last four games they've allowed 902 yards rushing (5.2 YPR) and only rushed for 340 (3.2), and they've committed 11 turnovers in their last three games.

Speaking of bad football, the folks in Stillwater OK are seeing plenty of it.  West Virginia rolled into town, jumped out to a 24-0 lead and cruised past Oklahoma St. 38-14, and it wasn't that close. The Mountaineers outgained the Cowboys 558 yards to 227, and outrushed them 389 yards (6.0 YPR) to 36 (1.7).

In a game that saw six lead changes in the second half, Arizona St. handed Kansas its' fifth straight loss, 35-31. QB Sam Leavitt threw four TD passes, including a three yard strike to Jordyn Tyson with 16 seconds left for the win.  The Sun Devils also rushed for 313 yards (7.0 YPR).

Early leans:

BYU -5' over Arizona - hard to fade the Cougars right now (5-0 SU, 4-0 ATS)

COLORADO +4 over Kansas St. - Buffs are getting better by the week.

How far does CU elevate? I bet over 5.5 season wins and was confident about it, but I didnt expect this game to be lined so closely. Interesting game.

@spottie2935

 Yeah, I'm not in love with it, but K St. has been a Jekyll and Hyde team so far this year; dominant at home, shaky on the road. I'll be watching the line movement on this one.

ACC

No shortage of dramatics here this past weekend, but when it was all said and done most of the teams that were supposed to win did so.

Miami FL. did it the hard way, trailing 35-10 midway through the third quarter, then rallying for a remarkable 39-38 win at California. Cam Ward overcame a pick six early in the second half, throwing for 437 yards and two TDs, including the game winner, a five yard strike to Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left.  Ward accounted for 277 yards in the fourth quarter alone. This, after rallying the Hurricanes from ten points down in the fourth quarter to beat Virginia Tech last week.

In a back and forth affair that featured four lead changes and three ties, Syracuse rallied to upset UNLV, 44-41 in overtime. LeQuint Allen shook off a leg injury and rushed for 71 yards and two TDs, including the game winner from a yard out, and also caught nine passes for 58 yards and two more scores to lead the Orange.

SMU blew a 24-13 halftime lead, but rallied in the fourth quarter to upset Louisville, 34-27. QB Kevin Jennings completed 21 of 27 for 281 yards, and rushed for 114 yards on ten carries and a TD to lead the Mustangs. SMU drove 83 yards in 11 plays for the winning TD in a game that featured a combined 943 yards of total offense.

Pittsburgh remained unbeaten as Eli Holstein threw for a career best 381 yards and three TDs and added 76 yards on the ground and another score to beat struggling North Carolina, 34-24. RB Desmond Reid contributed 210 yards of total offense on 29 touches as the Panthers outscored the Tar Heels 10-0 in the fourth quarter to break a 24-all tie.

Demond Claiborne rushed for 136 yards on 20 carries and two TDs and also caught a scoring pass,  and Wake Forest rallied from ten down in the fourth quarter to upset NC State, 34-30. Claiborne's third TD with 1:01 remaining put the Demon Deacons ahead to stay and Branson Combs interception on the Wolfpack's next possession sealed the deal.

Virginia rallied from a 14-0 deficit, forcing three fourth quarter turnovers to take down Boston College, 24-14, scoring 18 of their 24 points in the final stanza.

Jamal Haynes rushed for 128 yards on 19 carries and caught a TD pass and Georgia Tech rallied from 14-10 down with two fourth quarter TDs to hand Duke its' first loss, 24-14.  The Yellowjackets outgained the Blue Devils 412 yards to 279, and outrushed them 245 to 74.

Virginia Tech ended a two game skid by manhandling Stanford, 31-7.

Cade Klubnik passed for 235 yards and two scores, and Phil Mafah rushed for 154 yards on 20 carries as Clemson dominated Florida St. 29-13. The Tigers outgained the Seminoles 500 yards to 250 and outrushed them 265 yards (6.6 YPR) to 22 (1.0 ).

Early leans:

Stanford +23' over NOTRE DAME -  The Irish have lost multiple starters on both lines.

PITTSBURGH -3' over California - long road trip for the Golden Bears, and blowing a 25 point lead last week may be hard to shake off.

Good stuff bud.  TY 

@Boisestateand8

Excellent information to ponder over mah man 

he  will be a go...great ink by you.....

Great write ups!

 Good stuff!!!

MWC/PAC 2 

Ashton Jeanty rushed for 186 yards and three TDs on just 13 carries, all in the first half, and Maddux Madsen completed 21 of 25 passes for 256 yards and three scores, as Boise St. cruised past Utah St. 62-30. While the Broncos led 49-17 at halftime, it should be noted that defensively they're still a work in progress. Aggies QB Spencer Petras was 27 of 41 for 372 yards and three scores and WR Jalen Royals had a career day with nine receptions for 211 and two TDs. The two teams combined for a whopping 1106 yards of offense.

WR Nick Nash threw a 16 yard TD pass to Jabari Bates with 50 seconds left as San Jose St. rallied past Nevada, 35-31. The Wolfpack rushed for 190 yards (5.3 YPR) and had over 35 minutes of possession time in a losing effort.

Marquez Cooper rushed for 109 yards and two TDs, the second, from two yards out, capping an 87 yard fourth quarter drive, as San Diego St. rallied past Hawaii, 27-24. The Rainbow Warriors were then stopped on downs at the Aztec 31 with just over a minute left.

Anthony Hankerson ran for 113 yards and two TDs, including a 25 yard game winner in double overtime and Oregon St. then made a goal line stand to beat Colorado St. 39-31. 

Early leans:

UTAH ST. +19 over Unlv - Aggies have enough offense to hang here. Rebels have to be deflated somewhat after overtime loss to 'Cuse.  Under the Friday night lights.

Washington St. -3' over FRESNO ST. - Both teams off a bye. John Mateer and the Cougs should be able to run a little here.

HAWAII +20' over Boise St. - long trip for the Broncos, and their pass defense is concerning. Jeanty MIGHT actually have to play in the second half.

MAC

Early lean:

EASTERN MICHIGAN +2 over Miami OH - Eagles are 4-1 SU, 4-0 ATS and off a bye. The Redhawks have played the much tougher schedule, but their only win is against UMass in OT, and they're off a loss at Toledo and now go on the road again.  This is a spot play and I'm not in love with it, but there isn't much in this conference that DOES excite me.

SEC

Chaos reigned here on a grand scale last week. The two biggest upsets of the weekend occured here.

Vanderbilt was 0-60 against AP top five teams going into Saturday, but Sedrick Alexander ran for two scores, Randon Fontenette scored on a pick six and QB Diego Pavia (16 of 20 for 252 yards, two TDs) outplayed Jalen Milroe, as the Commodores stunned #1 Alabama 40-35, a week after the Crimson Tide's dramatic win over Georgia. Vandy held over 41 minutes of possession time, jumped out to a 13-0 lead and never trailed in this one for their first win over 'Bama in 40 years.

Arkansas rallied from a 14-3 third quarter deficit to record their first home win over a top five opponent since 1999, knocking off #4 Tennessee, 19-14. Hogs QB Taylen Green went 19 of 27 for 266 yards but was injured on a roughing the passer play early in the fourth quarter, and Tennessee trailing 14-10. Redshirt freshman Malachi Singleton took over and led a 59 yard drive, and ran 11 yards for the winning score with 1:17 left. Nico Lamaleava then drove the Vols to the Razorback 20, but ran out of time on a fourth down scramble.

Texas A&M sits alone at the top of the standings with their third conference win, a 41-10 beatdown of Missouri. QB Conner Weigman went 18 of 22 for 276 yards, after missing the last three games with an injury, and Le'Veon Moss rushed for 138 yards and three TDs on just 12 carries to lead the Aggies, who led 34-0 midway through the third quarter. A&M outgained Mizzou 512 yards to 254 and outrushed them 236 yards (6.6 YPR) to 68 (2.3).

Carson Beck completed 23 of 29 for 240 yards and two TDs as Georgia rebounded from last week's loss, with a 31-13 win over Auburn. 

Ole Miss also rebounded from a tough loss a week ago with a dominant 27-3 rout of South Carolina.

And Billy Napier saved his job for another week as Florida jumped out to a 24-3 first half lead and held on to beat UCF, 24-13.  The much maligned Gator defense held the Knights' high powered running game to 108 yards and notched five QB sacks.

Early leans:

LSU +3' over Ole Miss - The Bayou Bengals had a bye, a week after their best outing of the season.  The Rebels are on the road again and the home team in this series is 10-1 ATS.

Adding to my early leans:

Vanderbilt +13' over Kentucky - Commodores are 3-0 ATS as a double digit dog, with two outright wins and a double overtime loss.  What's not to like?

Great stuff man, thank you for all the effort you put into this, its a nice read to recap and remember everything we saw from the previous. 

Im on Georgia State, Stanford, and Pitt. Like and lean Iowa, Oregon, and LSU but havent played them yet. 

@Yanasaur

@Boisestateand8

 I really like Vandy and the way they can play on both sides they might even upset!  wouldnt that be something.

@spottie2935

 Agreed! Diego Pavia is outstanding, and I don't think the oddsmakers have caught up to how good this team is.  

@Boisestateand8

 Agree I think some of that is because of last season.