"Week 10 Review”
Written by Wendi
For those that celebrate, I hope you had a great Halloween. If you did go trick-or-treating, how many people did you see dressed up as Michael Myers? I know me and Sam saw quite a few. I thought to myself, "was it a bad omen for what was to come the next day?” There were some teams that just didn’t seem that scary after all. Georgia had quite the scare against a feisty Florida team. 8th ranked and undefeated Georgia Tech lost to unranked NC State. 10th ranked Miami lost in OT to unranked SMU. 16th ranked Cincinnati got blown out by 24th ranked Utah. 22nd ranked Houston lost to an unranked West Virginia Team and 21st ranked Michigan barely skated by against a 2-6 Purdue team. The Halloween hangover showed up for a lot of teams.
For starters, 9th ranked Vanderbilt may have been exposed against 20th ranked Texas. After Texas quickly went up 17-0, Vandy’s offense sputtered most of the game and Texas’ defense was playing lights out. That is until the fourth quarter at least. Then Texas did was Texas usually does…Texas gave up 21 points in the last 15 minutes of the game and Vanderbilt almost pulled off a successful onside kick but went out of bounds. Maybe Texas is "finally” back. They won 34-31.
In some ACC action, Duke handed Clemson their fifth loss of the season in a shootout with 999 total yards of offense. They couldn’t get one more yard to make it an even 1000? There was some questionable officiating at the end of the game and Dabo Swinney let it be known after the game. In doing so, Clemson was fined $10,000. Will Dabo be the next Coach to get canned? Clemson has Florida State next on their schedule (I Wonder what FSU team will show up) and is looking to bounce back after a heartbreaking 46-45 loss. 15th ranked Virginia traveled several time zones west to take on the California Bears. Virginia forced two turnovers and if it wasn’t for a couple of special teams miscues, Virginia would have had more points on the board. Cavaliers won 31-21.
Elsewhere in the ACC, did anyone stay up to watch the FSU and Wake Forest game? This FSU team hasn’t showed up since Week 3 when they blew out Kent State 66-10. They blew out a very good Wake Forest team 42-7. Florida State still needs two more wins to become bowl eligible. They have Clemson, Virginia Tech, NC State, and Florida left on the schedule. Can they do it? Can Mike Norvell’s job be saved?
I was glad David put all the service academies on the picks. Go Army by the way! You are considered an alumnus by attending the college/university you choose. Are you considered an alumnus of a service academy? Or are you just considered a soldier or veteran? Maybe something I need to look up. Unbeaten Navy took on North Texas and Navy could not stop turning the ball over in crucial moments. With three turnovers, Navy lost 31-17. Meanwhile North Texas is vying for a spot in the group of 5 slot in the CFB playoffs. Air Force hosted Army in the battle of the Commanders in Chief trophy. In a wild finish after being tied, Army marched down the field 65 yards and kicked a game winning field goal to win 20-17.
After throttling Kansas last week, Kansas State played dead against Texas Tech. Tech had their starting QB back and didn’t miss a beat by throwing for 249 yards. The Wildcats had sticky fingers from the all the Halloween candy the night before because they had a total of five turnovers. Guess they thought they saw the headless horseman instead of the Texas Tech mascot on the horse. Red Raiders won 43-20.
In the SEC, we had a matchup (pillow fight of the week) between Mississippi State and Arkansas. The Bulldogs came in with a heartbreaking four game losing streak and the Razorbacks came in with a 6-game losing streak. Only one of them can be a winner. Who was it? Well, Arkansas was up 14 points in the fourth quarter. They allowed Mississippi State to score 17 unanswered points for the win 38-35. Arkansas sucks. Well, so do the Bulldogs. A "win” for Arkansas is as rare as seeing bigfoot out in the wild. Will they even get a single conference win this season?
Either John Mateer has healed completely or Tennessee is a fraud. I will take the latter. To put it this way, if you look at Tennessee’s schedule, they have only beaten one team with a winning record and that team is Mississippi State. What does that tell you? It was a close game when Oklahoma scored to take the lead with two minutes left in the game. The Sooners went on to win 33-27. Tennessee has no business being ranked. But the "SEC just means more”.
Nebraska’s QB went out late in the game against the USC Trojans due to an injury and will be out the remainder of the season. It’s not like he was doing that great and maybe, just maybe… their backup will be better. It took a second half comeback for the Trojans to win 21-17 in a blackout stadium in Lincoln. USC relied heavily on the run game after being unsuccessful in the passing game.
On to Pick’ems…
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I lived to tell the tale. As did most of us unless…your name is Evelyn, Mike M, Marc and let’s not forget Chris. Chris was on a suicide mission for Halloween. Usually people run from Michael Myers, Chris went looking and found him. The good thing for you is (bad for Evelyn) that you are only 21 points behind the person in front of you. Evelyn has been having bad weeks lately so there is still time to catch up, especially if you can win first place one or two weeks. Marc got caught up in the violence after he, Mike M, and Evelyn tripped over a tree branch while running. Marc got trapped while they escaped with some injuries. Luckily the injuries were non-fatal and should make a full recovery. Everyone else was smart enough to not hide in barn full of axes, pitch forks, chainsaws, etc.… and decided to get into the running car that was patiently waiting.
Now that the horror movie is over, there wasn’t any movement in the top 9 spots but there was some shuffling at the bottom thanks to Chris. As a matter of fact, Evelyn did say "thank you Chris” on Saturday at my house when she came over to watch football. True story. The race has tightened for 3rd place between myself, Adam, Cindie, and Mike H. Kim is working her way up with her having a good week. Sam and Sean still have a big lead in the top two spots. Can they continue that big lead? Or will one of them finally break?
Most points for the week: There was a three-way tie between Mike H., Kim, and Cindie with 46 points which means there will be $20 this week for the taking.
Least points for the week: Outside of Chris not doing his picks, Marc only got 29 points after falling victim to Michael Myers.
Best pick of the week: I thought the people who went 10 on Florida State were crazy. It turned out to be a good pick for Kim, Adam, Sean, and Noah.
Worst pick of the week: Evelyn and Marc putting 10 on Vandy.
Letters to the Editor:
Surely I won’t miss a third week of picks…. right?
Well, if you pay attention and turn them in on time, you won’t…lol
Is anyone stopping Indiana this season?
Not in the regular season since they only have Penn State, Wisconsin and Purdue left. They will go to the conference championship against Ohio State. I’m assuming it will be a good matchup.
Is Sean going to be able to take Sam down?
Sam still has a sizeable lead, so Sean would need to gain on him each week. Not likely but it is possible.
Texas is definitely back!
If you write this again, I’m not submitting anymore of your "letters to the editor.”
How much does an SEC team need to pay refs like Georgia does?
I thought they all did unless you are Auburn.
Texas A&M gonna take it all the way?
Maybe. But doubt it.
Miami sux, so does Clemson, and Auburn.
You are right, but what are we, 12? Who writes it like "sux”…ha-ha.
Here are the rankings after Week 10:
1. Sam – 383 points
2. Sean – 367 points
3. Adam – 348 points
4. Wendi – 347 points
5. Cindie – 345 points
6. Mike H – 340 points
7. Kim – 334 points
8. Rick – 323 points
9. Noah – 313 points
10. David – 313 points
11. Marc - 294 points
12. Mike M - 293 points
13. Evelyn - 286 points
14. Chris - 267 points
116 points separate first and last place!
