NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision

One that drives me crazy is that we give coaches their walking papers before we even get to Halloween.

And the latest now, the third coach in the FBS to be fired, Dave Aranda, at Baylor.

They're four and three.

And I know they've had some heartbreaking losses here these last few weeks, but...

Turnovers and penalties, 12 penalties in that ball game.

And they finally gave up a rushing touchdown.

They're the FBS team that had not – and they just made mistakes, and I am shocked that Will Hammond is not playing better than he is.

His accuracy, I'd say, is inaccurate.

It was a little concerning that there were, and not just specifically on that one, but it was just concerning that in certain instances we have lots of different takes on what the actual rule in the rulebook says.

The specific language from the NCAA rule book, 9-1-16A5, when a defensive player's contact against the kicker or holder is caused by an opponent's block, legal or illegal, there is no foul for running into or roughing.

The distinction is important, right? Roughing the kicker 15 yards and automatic first down contact that endangers the kicker.

That's why that guy said, that's why the sideline judge at his angle, his line of sight, called it because it went lower extremity and it looked like it could have broken the leg with the contact.

Kent State's a double digit favorite on the road against Sacramento State.

How bad are the Hornets, man? They're the lowest FBS power rated team I have ever had.

Kent State's first road favorite role since week 11 of 2022.

And they're going across three time zones to play a 1030 kick on a short week.

But by the way, I looked this up in the Killer Sports database, so we'll have to see where this number ends up going here, if it's able to stay where it is.

Um...

If it's 24 and a half or higher, and at some places it is, that'd be the biggest favorite role ever against an FBS team for UNLV.

Wow.

And then you have to reduce some things in terms of the passing game, saying, hey, we need to sacrifice these things because there's more sustainability, I would say, which is fascinating to say, but I think there's more sustainability with what Bryce Underwood can do for you at quarterback than with Tommy Carr.

Granted, this was his first start ever at the major FBS level, so you take it with a grain of salt.

Indiana has just shown that in terms of the quarterback play, we were told a lot of confidence.

There was a lot of confidence in Josh Hoover this past offseason coming from Kurt Cignetti, and I think that's proven to be just BS, and that it's just like, hey, it's what you had to feed the media at the time, and you're seeing like, hey, he's an okay quarterback, and this is an okay offensive line, and there are talented playmakers for Indiana, but they just don't have the pieces that they did last year truly dominant in games like this.

Did you? Did you really?

Yeah, top two defenses in college football, in FBS, yeah.

Yeah, well, there you go.

Okay, well, who we got next

We're going to kind of zoom in on a little bit on the SEC, just to sort of give you a sense for how this season is shaping up to be a little different than what you traditionally assume a college football season is going to be, because there is some different stuff this year.

And One of the things that is different is, boy, everyone sure is losing football games, huh? This is the first time since the FBS, FCS, or 1A, 1AA split in 1978 that only three teams have been undefeated at this point in the calendar.

Only three teams in FBS are undefeated right now.

And none of those teams are in the SEC.

Miami from the ACC, Utah from the Big 12, and UCLA from the Big 10.

the thing that they've done really well, especially last year and this year has been preventing giveaways.

And the fact that Nebraska, you know, knock on wood right now is the only FBS team not to lose a fumble.

Like, and you think about that in the context of what Nebraska was doing, you know, five, six, seven years ago, you think about Matt rules first year, uh, at Nebraska when they were, I think, worst or right around the worst in the country in turnover margin.

And now they've gotten to this point.

Now, Washington's not a fantastic rushing team in terms of efficiency.

It's toward the bottom of the table.

the FBS level, but just how they spread those snaps around will be interesting.

And to hear Matt Rule talk about Anthony Jones today, like he's a guy who brings that grittiness, that leadership, that self-accountability that they're looking for in that program.

Yeah, it does.

And we are approaching Halloween with only three unbeaten FBS teams.

This is the first time that's happened since 2003.

I always call it the witches of November.