Tis The Season: Week 5 Takeaways
I can’t believe it’s already 10.01. We’re officially in the best month for sports. CFB, NFL, post season baseball and the start of the NBA season at the very end of the month all at once. You also have a McGregor fight this weekend. The only thing really missing for me is a big time golf event. (PS: damn you, Europe). Not to mention, it’s time for Pumpkin Spice everything. Basic? Sure. Delicious? 100%.
There were some pretty good games this weekend, especially the night slate. ADD on full display. So, as we gear up for CFB week 6, let’s look back. Here we go:
1. Penn State crumbled under pressure.
If there’s anything I took away from this weekend – first and foremost – it is WHAT THE FUCK was that play call on 4th-and-5?! Calling multiple timeouts to trot that play out when you have one of the most clutch QBs in the country behind center?? I mean, holy shit. It made ZERO sense.
Also, Penn State apparently forgot how to tackle during the last ten-ish minutes of the game.
The game lived up to the hype and Happy Valley was absolutely electric. But nobody that roots for State should forgive James Franklin for that. Now Ohio State has an absolute cake walk of a season until Michigan. And the biggest takeaway for the Buckeyes is that they’re good… but they’re not unbeatable.
2. Notre Dame is probably playoff bound.
I wasn’t all in on the Irish after they knocked off Michigan in week 1 (shout out, Portnoy), but it’s hard to deny how good this team is with Ian Book at QB. Plus, Stanford pretty much just ran out of gas. It didn’t help that Bryce Love left the game after he re-injured his left ankle either.
Notre Dame’s schedule from here on out isn’t daunting either (at least the 2018 versions of these teams). They have Virginia Tech, Pitt, Navy, Northwestern, FSU, Syracuse and USC left.
It wouldn’t be the craziest thing for a Brian Kelly team to not live up to expectations and stumble along the way, but it also wouldn’t be crazy for them to end up 12-0 this season with this quarterback.
3. Clemson could be in a really shitty situation.
Cue “I told you so.” When Kelly Bryant announced that he was going to transfer last week, my immediate question was “what’s going to happen if Trevor Lawrence gets hurt?” And now we are seeing it unfold less than a week later.
Technically, Kelly Bryant could still come back. Last I checked, he’s still enrolled. But would he?
I wouldn’t. The decision has already been made. Plus, he’d run the risk being benched if Trevor Lawrence gets healthy again which would ruin the red shirt option. It’d be the equivalent of leaving somebody because they found somebody younger and sexier and then coming right back after they start to have issues that may or may not last.
Pass.
4. A&M sucked vs Arkansas, but Jimbo Fisher and a helmet was the bigger storyline.
When I saw this happen in real time, my first thought was “well, Twitter is not going to like this.” Do I think it was a good move? No. Do I think people should act like he reared back and punched a kid in the face? Also no. Tyrel Dodson was doing something stupid during a close game. It happened. People freaked out. And after the game, the senior LB said his coach ‘did the right thing.’
Then you have these kind of people…
Everybody has different opinions, sure. New school vs old school. Passion vs anger. Whatever. It was not a great look in this day, age and culture, but fire with cause?! Let’s all move on.
5. West Virginia, actually good.
It got a little dicey at the end of the game, but WVU proved that they’re a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12. Will Grier’s Heisman campaign continued when he threw for 370 yds and three TDs. Their defense is pretty damn good too.
They’ll roll right into November undefeated barring some disaster and then we’ll find out exactly how good Dana Holgerson and his awesome hair’s team is.
6. Mississippi State, actually not that good.
Just a few weeks ago, you could argue that if MSU was a more high profile team, they’d probably be in the top ten. Well, that’s long gone. They lost the “Dan Mullen Bowl” and it wasn’t pretty. Credit to Florida, but the Bulldog offense has stunk vs SEC competition. Nick Fitzgerald is struggling so much that Joe Moorhead may have to bench him for Keytaon Thompson. Crazy.
PS – I always loved going to Starkville for games. I also always hated the headaches during games. Those cowbells are rough. I don’t know how they do it every week.
7. The road to winning the SEC East is going through… Kentucky. (I can’t believe it either).
I still think Georgia will win the SEC East, but I can’t ignore how good Mark Stoops’ squad is looking. They’re 3-0 in SEC play and head to College Station this weekend to try to hit 6-0 overall for the first time since the 50s. If they can keep rolling, the East could be decided when UGA comes to Lexington on 11.03.
Also, Benny Snell is quietly becoming one of the most fun guys to pay attention to both on and off the field.
8. Fall weddings took on a whole new meaning.
Presented without comment.
Our resident Penn State fan Jeff D Lowe was in the stands at Happy Valley this weekend and will jump on the recap episode with me and JackMac. I’m sure there will be some strong words coming our way. Be on the look out. It’ll drop tonight.