1. We are officially at the halfway point of the college football season, and I know it’s STILL too early to draw any real conclusions, but I wonder if we can go ahead and slot in our final four for the college football playoff?
I think Georgia has a spot locked up, as long as they run the table. If they make it to the SEC title game and lose to a one-loss Alabama, the Tide will likely get that spot in the Final Four. Either way, I think the SEC has shown just enough slippage this season to only warrant one spot in the Final Four. At least for this season.
The Big Ten has a logjam at the top of one division, with Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan all undefeated. That will work itself out with time, starting with this weekend when Penn State plays Ohio State, but I think this year the Big Ten gets two spots in the Final Four, as long as whichever team finishes second ends up with just one loss. That takes care of three spots, and as for the fourth, in my mind it probably belongs to either Washington or Oklahoma. Florida State could also make a case, but I feel like they’re third in line behind those other two.
And of course, none of this will matter anyway when all these teams get upset over the next month.
2. One of the more interesting subplots to follow this season in college football has been the Brian Ferentz point watch. The Iowa offensive coordinator has long been the opposite of a fan favorite, as his teams have consistently struggled to score points. During the last offseason, the outgoing Iowa AD signed Ferentz to a contract extension that would cut his base salary, but pay him more overall and trigger an extension if the Hawkeyes could average 25 points per game and win at least 7 games this season.
Twenty-five points per game isn’t unthinkable – Oregon is averaging almost double that this season. Saturday’s 15-6 (lol) win over Wisconsin gave Iowa their sixth win of the season, with five games remaining, all against unranked opponents. So, while the seven wins seems do-able, the points thing is still a work in progress. They’ve totaled 146 points thus far, which means they’d need to average about 30 a game the rest of the way. Considering they’ve only topped 30 points once this season, I’m not so sure this is a realistic goal. Then again, they play some struggling teams to finish this out. So, you’re saying there’s a chance?
In the meantime, just keep taking the Iowa under every week.
3. I’ve always found it interesting how NFL teams that draft QBs tend to have them sit their first season to basically just watch and learn. It’s diametrically opposed to what NBA teams do with their prized rookies, and I don’t know if that’s because going from college to pro as a football player requires that much more strength, or is the game really that much more complex? I say this as a novice, but how much more difficult can an NFL defensive scheme be than an SEC defensive scheme?
I bring this up because it seems like every weekend on Red Zone, I see Bryce Young running for his life from defenses closing in around him. The Panthers rookie started five games this season and has been sacked 16 times, has a completion percentage around 63 percent, and has 6 TDs to go with 4 INTs. The Panthers are also winless. And it’s not like Bryce Young is some newbie – he was one of the best college football players to ever play at Alabama, where he faced serious defenses week after week.
I don’t know if the rest of the Panthers are that bad or what, but watching Bryce Young just try to get a pass off each week is a little shot of sadness in my weekly Red Zone routine.