By Dean Lowery ’27, Alex Jessey ‘28, Benjamin Ross ’28, Joe Parmigiani ‘28, Christian Arnold ‘28
Introduction
Ouch. A lot of teams fell hard last week. Clemson and Iowa St. took the most damage, and Penn St. humiliated themselves twice on the goal line. Indiana seems like they might be well inside the bubble at this point, after another dominating performance. More drama to look forward to this week.
Three Big Games
#2 Georgia @ #18 Ole Miss, Oxford, Mississippi, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Well, it seems like this is Ole Miss’ last stand. The Rebs will have to capitalize on Carson Beck’s mistakes and consistently make plays down the field if they want to keep this one close. This is a must-win game for the home team.
Keys for the Bulldogs: Carson Beck has struggled in recent weeks, with six interceptions in his last two games. Coming into another tough matchup in a hostile environment, Georgia needs their defense to shut down the Ole Miss passing game and the offense needs to come to play.
Keys for the Rebels: Jaxon Dart remains one of the nation’s most productive quarterbacks, and he’ll need to prove it against Georgia. Receiver Tre Harris has performed well for the Rebels, and they need to show up on Saturday to keep the season alive.
#11 Alabama @ #14 Louisiana St., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Tiger Stadium
The play-in game of all play-in games. The classic rivalry. LSU has been dominating at home (especially at night) and will look to dash DeBoer’s hopes of taking the Crimson Tide back to the playoff in his maiden voyage with the team.
Keys for the Crimson Tide: Coming off a dominant victory against Missouri, Alabama marches into Death Valley to take on LSU in a classic rivalry matchup. Jalen Milroe hasn’t lived up to expectations this season, and he needs to put together a legacy game to lead the Crimson Tide to victory.
Keys for the Tigers: Just when LSU seemed to be rolling, they suffered a big defeat against A&M. QB Nussmeier has emerged as a potential top QB in the draft, and with the crowd behind them, the Tigers will be hoping for a statement win this season with only 1 loss in conference play.
South Carolina @ #24 Vanderbilt, FirstBank Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
The two biggest surprises of the SEC season are facing off, and the winner of this football game could be headed straight toward a New Year’s Six bowl. Should be a fun one in Nashville.
Keys for the Gamecocks: Just a few plays away from being 7-1, South Carolina will have their hands full with the Commodores. 2nd in the SEC in sacks could be huge; if the Gamecocks’ defense is able to disrupt Diego Pavia, Vandy could very well fall apart on offense.
Keys for the Commodores: Vanderbilt’s defense is coming off a great performance on the road against Auburn. In another game that could be low-scoring and come down to a late-game drive down the field, QB Diego Pavia’s passing will be on full display. A win against pesky South Carolina will cement Vanderbilt as a top-25 team.
Three Big Players
Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado Buffaloes @ Texas Tech
Travis had a bye week, yet still comfortably remains in the Heisman lead. The Buffs will need a solid performance from their do-it-all star, given the win that the Red Raiders are coming off of.
Cam Ward, QB, Miami Hurricanes, @ Georgia Tech
This guy is still amazing. For a few moments, it seemed as though the Hurricanes would lose their undefeated record against Duke, at home nonetheless. Then, as always, Ward came alive. Throwing for 400 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception, Ward remained poised as his Hurricanes came back. He now boasts the best QBR in the nation and will look to add to his resume this week in Atlanta.
Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oregon Ducks Vs. Maryland
Gabriel has some work to do if he wants to catch the top 2 but the opportunities are there as the Ducks look to go undefeated and win the conference championship in their inaugural season in the B1G. He goes against a struggling Maryland team this week.
Three teams to watch
Well, well, well. Who is going to occupy the coveted fifth automatic bid? We might start using the term “Cinderella” in football.
#12 Boise State Broncos (7-1) Vs. Nevada
The Broncos got major props from the committee, given that they were ranked nine spots ahead of the next best Group-of-Five team. The Broncos dominated San Diego St. throughout that game, and they look to keep it rolling against Nevada.
#21 Washington St. (7-1) Vs. Utah State
Washington St. has quietly risen the polls, finally cracking the rankings this week. Their one loss is to Boise St., and it was pretty emphatic, so it would likely take a couple of slip-ups from the Broncos to give the Cougars room to prevail. Nonetheless, they are beginning to turn heads.
#25 Army Black Knights (8-0) @ N. Texas
Woah. The Committee gave the Black Knights no respect and made it abundantly clear that Army will have to win out to earn a spot in this year’s playoff. The Knights will get a nice road test before their bye week to prepare for their biggest game (Nov. 23) against the Fighting Irish
Three Value Bets (14-3 on the season)
Oklahoma @ #24 Missouri (+3)
BYU(-3) @ Utah
Iowa State(-3) @ Kansas
The “Dartmouth” Poll
Well, the AP Poll and the CFP Poll are out, and both have interesting takes. Here’s what our team came up with.
