Week 4 2017

May the Best Dawg Win
And that they did. It was not the dawg fight we all expected but Georgia collected its first statement game of the season with a rout of Mississippi State Bulldogs, 31 - 3. It was a statement game because M State routed highly touted LSU just a week earlier, 37 - 7. UGA's balanced attack, with a dominant defense, and spreading out the yards on the ground to four or five running backs, humbled the other bulldogs, big time.

Dominant
Georgia over Mississippi State. This doesn't seal anything for the SEC-East but it does give UGA some confidence as they head into SEC-East conference play.
Alabama over a confident Vanderbilt, 59  - 0. Maybe Bama felt they had something to prove since Clemson has been getting more first place votes.
TCU over OK State. TCU looks ready for a big year.

Not Dominant (ranked vs un-ranked teams)
Clemson, in the first three quarters against Boston College. They entered the 4th tied at 7, but turned it on to win 34 - 7.
Oklahoma almost gave away the game to 0 -3 Baylor. Great offense but they'll need a better defense if they expect to make a run.
Florida wins on a last second missed field goal by Kentucky (who probably would have gotten the field goal had it not been for a holding call a play earlier).
Penn State beat Iowa on the last play of the game with a TD pass, whew!

Week 3 2017

Clemson is for real...again. Maybe the 2017 plan was to rebuild their offense but they obviously had a better foundation to build on then pre-season writers thought. Though I'm still not counting out Washington, Clemson (and Bama of course) are three of my playoff bets.

Texas coming back? Don't count them out yet.
SEC-West suddenly weak? Maybe so. LSU lost. So did Ole Miss.
Florida-Tennessee offensive struggles? Yes, but we all loved the final minute which contained great examples of how to throw the bomb...and how not to defend the bomb.

Georgia had a chance to refine a few things against their annual FCS opponent in prep for their SEC slate. That slate starts next week against a surprising Mississippi State team that surprised LSU 37 - 7, jolting themselves into the Top 25.

Hey BYU...don't forget that you were shut out by LSU, who got throttled in Starkville, and you are headed to Starkville in four short weeks. Yikes!

And speaking of BYU, when I left the BYU - Wisconsin game at the start of the 4th quarter, there were also Badger fans leaving. That just added insult to injury. BYU just has not found any rhythm yet. The defense is hanging in there as best they can but the offense just cannot find the right mix. There was a great series in Q1 that lead to a tying field goal, but that was all Wisconsin needed to see and they all but shut down the BYU offense after that. It could be a really woeful season for us Cougar fans.

Week 2 2017

Once again, Ohio State was exposed (remember the playoff last year, 31 - 0)? How many times must they be exposed before we realize they are not that consistent? Good? Yes. Coach with a mastermind? yes. Consistently dominate? No, and  no again. I guess they'v earned the respect to "always" be in the title conversation since they have had some great success. But this year there were nay-sayers early on, nobody listened, and now the nay-sayers have their day.

And, of course, kudos to Oklahoma. That's a team that looks to have all the right parts this year.

Yep - I'm sure there
were plenty of
UU parties.

Georgia over Notre Dame with a freshman QB. The defense lived up to the pre-season hype allowing only 55 yards on the ground after NDs 300+ the week before. K Smart is doing something ... smart. Are they ready for the big time? I'd like to think so.

BYU vs Utah, the Holy War, another close one and down to the last minute. The BYU defense was solid and consistent but that can only help so much. The offense is just stale - like they are still trying to find their way and find what works. But there are simply no stand out players on offense (yet). They had the ball, the time, the mojo, and the Utah defense was tiring ... but BYU could not execute the plays to pull off a last minute win. If there was a year that I expected Utah to be down this was the year - it may be while before BYU hands the Utes another L.

Not enough situations like this for BYU to win.

Week 1 2017

Yes - it was a doozy. Two fun comebacks (UCLA over TA&M, Tenn over GaTech), Alabama was, well, a lot like Alabama, close call for Ohio State, FCS over FBS, poll controversy, teams with big questions, teams with no answers, etc. But it all paled in comparison to the link below. That, for me, made the weekend great.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/uscs-blind-long-snapper-jake-olson-snaps-pat-49589889

Kudos to USC coaches and players. No need to say anything else.