Week 4 is in the books and with it the non-conference portion of the schedule is in the rear-view mirror for most teams. Let's take a look back at how the week went. As usual, the figure below shows the comparison of the opening spread to the actual point differential. Overall, there were 7 total Vegas upsets and quite a few over and underachievers. Let's now take our weekly spin around the country.
Big Ten
I guess I would say it was a fairly positive week for the B1G. 12 of the 14 teams won, and let's face it, we all gave up on Purdue and Maryland weeks ago. Iowa won big, Rutgers beat a power 5 team, and PSU actually covered the spread (did not see that coming). OSU and Wisconsin chugged along, and IU even picked up their 4th win, which usually doesn't happen until November. But, a few teams, namely Northwestern, Nebraska, and MSU fell well below the "did not cover" line into the underwhelming zone. Oh, and I think Michigan won, but I am not sure. I don't really follow them.
ACC
Clemson and Florida State took the week off and left Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in charge. Let's just say mom and dad are not going to be happy when they get back from vacation on Monday. Remember when we thought GA Tech was a playoff contender? Well, Duke seems to have ended that little thought experiment. The whole state of Virginia had a rough week as UVA got destroyed by Boise and VA Tech got upset by East Carolina. On the bright side, BC actually didn't get upset by Northern Illinois, and Syracuse covered the spread against LSU. When your bright spot is BC and Syracuse being slightly less disappointing than expected, your conference had a bad week.
Big 12
I had a feeling the TX Tech - TCU game was going to be closer than expected, but TT just couldn't get job done. It sure feels like the Horned Frogs have been living the charmed life over the past couple of seasons. They are bound to stop drawing black-jack one of these weeks, right? In other news, OK State pilled onto to Texas' misery, Kansas lost the battle to decide who might be the worst Power 5 team, and Baylor shotgunned another pan of Group of Five cupcakes. My only question is: how good is West Virginia? They have put up at least 40 points in all three games and only given up 23 total, granted against weak competition. The trouble is they still have road games at Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, and Kansas State. I got my eye on you, WVU.
Pac 12
The short version is that state of California had a really good week and the states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington had really bad weeks. In the Pac 12 south, the Arizona schools sure look like pretenders while USC, UCLA, and Utah have risen to the top. Up North, the Division looks like Stanford's to lose even if the only undefeated team is Cal. Oregon? Really guys? You were favored by 14 and lost by 42! Utah? Hey, I still appreciate your service to college football in Week 1, but thanks for nothing, jerks.
SEC
Last week at this time, I was patting LSU and Ole Miss on the back and they both followed that up with underwhelming performances against Syracuse and Vandy. Arkansas lost to Texas A&M as expected, and Auburn got "upset" by Mississippi State (really, Vegas, you actually thought that Auburn was going to win?) Basically, the SEC West is kind of a mess. In the East, Florida edged out Tennessee and is suddenly 4-0, which makes their home game next week against Ole Miss almost interesting. 2-time defending SEC East champs Missouri also lost... to Kentucky... as expected... in tackle football. At the end of the day, I have to wonder if Georgia really is the team to beat overall.
Independent / Group of Five
It sure seemed like UMass kind of hung around with ND a bit, didn't it? I can't figure the Irish out. Memphis did beat Cincinnati, which keeps them in the running for a New Year's Six Bowl, but you know who is also undefeated? Navy. Huh. In the MAC, Toledo is the only remaining undefeated team and that league's best shot at New Years Day, but BGSU got a nice win over Purdue and Akron even scored an upset of LA-Lafayette. Finally, BYU? Really guys? You had ONE JOB. The state of Utah was just a HUGE disappointment this weekend. Let's try to do better next time, shall we?
Big Ten
I guess I would say it was a fairly positive week for the B1G. 12 of the 14 teams won, and let's face it, we all gave up on Purdue and Maryland weeks ago. Iowa won big, Rutgers beat a power 5 team, and PSU actually covered the spread (did not see that coming). OSU and Wisconsin chugged along, and IU even picked up their 4th win, which usually doesn't happen until November. But, a few teams, namely Northwestern, Nebraska, and MSU fell well below the "did not cover" line into the underwhelming zone. Oh, and I think Michigan won, but I am not sure. I don't really follow them.
ACC
Clemson and Florida State took the week off and left Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in charge. Let's just say mom and dad are not going to be happy when they get back from vacation on Monday. Remember when we thought GA Tech was a playoff contender? Well, Duke seems to have ended that little thought experiment. The whole state of Virginia had a rough week as UVA got destroyed by Boise and VA Tech got upset by East Carolina. On the bright side, BC actually didn't get upset by Northern Illinois, and Syracuse covered the spread against LSU. When your bright spot is BC and Syracuse being slightly less disappointing than expected, your conference had a bad week.
Big 12
I had a feeling the TX Tech - TCU game was going to be closer than expected, but TT just couldn't get job done. It sure feels like the Horned Frogs have been living the charmed life over the past couple of seasons. They are bound to stop drawing black-jack one of these weeks, right? In other news, OK State pilled onto to Texas' misery, Kansas lost the battle to decide who might be the worst Power 5 team, and Baylor shotgunned another pan of Group of Five cupcakes. My only question is: how good is West Virginia? They have put up at least 40 points in all three games and only given up 23 total, granted against weak competition. The trouble is they still have road games at Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, and Kansas State. I got my eye on you, WVU.
Pac 12
The short version is that state of California had a really good week and the states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington had really bad weeks. In the Pac 12 south, the Arizona schools sure look like pretenders while USC, UCLA, and Utah have risen to the top. Up North, the Division looks like Stanford's to lose even if the only undefeated team is Cal. Oregon? Really guys? You were favored by 14 and lost by 42! Utah? Hey, I still appreciate your service to college football in Week 1, but thanks for nothing, jerks.
SEC
Last week at this time, I was patting LSU and Ole Miss on the back and they both followed that up with underwhelming performances against Syracuse and Vandy. Arkansas lost to Texas A&M as expected, and Auburn got "upset" by Mississippi State (really, Vegas, you actually thought that Auburn was going to win?) Basically, the SEC West is kind of a mess. In the East, Florida edged out Tennessee and is suddenly 4-0, which makes their home game next week against Ole Miss almost interesting. 2-time defending SEC East champs Missouri also lost... to Kentucky... as expected... in tackle football. At the end of the day, I have to wonder if Georgia really is the team to beat overall.
Independent / Group of Five
It sure seemed like UMass kind of hung around with ND a bit, didn't it? I can't figure the Irish out. Memphis did beat Cincinnati, which keeps them in the running for a New Year's Six Bowl, but you know who is also undefeated? Navy. Huh. In the MAC, Toledo is the only remaining undefeated team and that league's best shot at New Years Day, but BGSU got a nice win over Purdue and Akron even scored an upset of LA-Lafayette. Finally, BYU? Really guys? You had ONE JOB. The state of Utah was just a HUGE disappointment this weekend. Let's try to do better next time, shall we?
