Every college football season has a weekend like the one we just had, where the only thing unexpected was, well, the expected. The number of undefeated teams got sliced almost in half, from 11 to 6. The ways that some of them lost were pretty painful as well, from Florida’s six turnovers in a 17-9 loss to rival Georgia to Rutgers’ 35-23 loss on Homecoming to Kent State to Ohio’s eschewing of a tying field goal in favor of going for a win against Miami (Ohio) and coming up short.
In the meantime, several of the still-unbeaten teams flexed their muscles. Alabama looked completely dominant in a 31-point win over a previously-unbeaten Mississippi State squad. Kansas State overwhelmed a Texas Tech team that had been playing really good football recently by the same margin. And if there are any doubters left about Notre Dame, they’re awfully quiet now; going into Norman, Oklahoma and winning by 17 opens a lot of eyes. It’s getting to the point where it isn’t just the BCS haters that wish 2014 was already here. A playoff between these three and Oregon would be pretty much must-see TV, would it not?
Of course, there’s still hay to be put in the barn. Alabama has LSU this week, an extremely dangerous Texas A&M the week after that, and the SEC Championship (now against Georgia, most likely) if they navigate those rough waters. Oregon has USC and Oregon State left, not to mention a Pac-12 Championship Game (although that will be played in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium). Kansas State will be favored over everyone left on their schedule, but TCU and Texas won’t be pushovers. Notre Dame has USC, and, well…that’s about it.
In small-college news, Mount Union (Ohio), a traditional Division III power, allowed 14 points in a 33-14 win over previously-unbeaten Heidelberg (Ohio). Why is this such a big deal, you ask? It was the first time the Purple Raiders let an opposing team score since the first game of the season. Since then, they had six straight shutouts; a span of 377:27 of game time elapsed between scores against them. They’re currently 8-0, and outscoring opponents by a total of 420-21.
Congratulations to our week 9 winner, JustWinAWeek, who must be absolutely thrilled with their 165-point performance. Second place was a tie between maestro and BritanniaTex, who each had 159 points.
Standings after nine weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…
| 1st | maestro | 1468 |
| 2nd | The Tradition | 1457 |
| 3rd | gatorbamalover | 1453 |
| 4th | Crimson Gator | 1448 |
| 5th | AUBrian | 1446 |
| 6th | jagrag | 1444 |
| 7th | Allison | 1439 |
| 8th | CUtigers | 1436 |
| 9th | Bamarock | 1428 |
| 10th | BritanniaTex | 1422 |
Another tough lineup of games (five games between top-25 teams) is featured in week ten, so it’s going to be really important to pick well! The first games are set for Saturday, November 3 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
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Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.