The Season Rolls On

GT/NC: GT QB Taquon Marshall continues to fly. The announcers kept talking about all the injuries UNC had. Nice to see so many different Tech players break off big plays. Without two key fumbles (one on the goal line), the score would've been worse.

Supposedly GT had recruited UNC QB Chazz Surrant, who might've done better in Paul Johnson's system. As I've said so many times before, so many of those "dual-threat" QB's struggle with dropbacks, finding secondary receivers, and throwing downfield. They're great with the 1-2-3-pass, the screen, and quick slants, but if the primary receiver is covered they tuck and run. That's ok sometimes, but not late in the game down two scores.

Heard a new story: while at Navy Paul Johnson kept two cadets on the sidelines who were trained in enemy codebreaking. He said it was easy for them to steal the other team's signals. Is this true, or was Johnson just pulling the announcers' legs?

The Dawgs took it to Tennessee. Very impressive. Fromm looked good. He will wing the ball downfield. Had receivers drop one or two passes. Kirby said he made a few good decisions (the two TD runs) but also made a new bad decisions. Probably didn't want his head to get too big. Georgia moved up to number five. They have five good running backs.

Same old Jacob Eason. Didn't see the wide open receiver. Instead overthrew a receiver that was covered. Georgia will struggle to score with Eason at the helm.

The Vols aren't very good, especially at QB. Still it was an ugly 41-0 win for UGA. Not pretty. A little bit of a struggle. Start Fromm and maybe they can win out.

Clemson had it tough in the first half. After jumping out to a 10-0 lead the Hokies fought back, exposing flaws in QB Kelly Bryant's decision-making ability and passing game. Bryant is another 1-2-3 passer, though he has the talent to scramble if needed. In the second half the defense took over, turned two interceptions into scores. Evan with their relatively easy schedule the rest of the way, I'm not sure Clemson can hang with Bama.

I was impressed by Virginia Tech's freshman QB Josh Jackson. He will be trouble for GT's defense.

Deshaun was the first rookie QB since Fran Tarkenton in 1961 to throw 4 TD's and run for another. Tark did it in his first game, Watson in his third. I say the jury is still out on Watson, though he did fire one of those TD passes. Against the Titans. Great guy. We'll see how he does against Seattle.

Louisville's Lamar Jackson lit up the scoresheet - against another weak team. NC State might pose more of a challenge.

Duke started 4-0 and thought they were something, until they ran into Miami. The Canes should best FSU next week. The Noles struggled to beat Wake Forest. GT/Miami will be a good game, and will define the season for both teams.

Auburn pounded Mississippi State. I didn't hear any more cries to fire the coach. Shoot, they're 4-1, with the lone loss coming in a close game against the defending national champions. LSU lost to Troy. Can Bama be beat? Saban is on a mission. Two straight 50-plus point wins - a first in the Saban era.

USC lost at Washington State, dashing their national championship hopes.

As I said last month, Penn State's Saquon Barkley has the Heisman Trophy all wrapped up. He's having one of those magical seasons where everything goes right. Head coach James Franklin is showcasing him. The West Coast media darlings have lost. Michigan's Wilton Speight got hurt. The media continues to ignore Baker Mayfield's great season and career. The Heisman is fixed.

Terrible call in the Falcons game. Ball was jostled in Matt Ryan's hand, but he regained control before throwing it 15 yards downfield. When Ryan re-gripped the ball his hand was too far back to make an accurate pass. The NFL says they're trying more to stick with the original call, which I'm sure led to the play not being overturned. Take back that one play and the Falcons win - against the number one defense in the NFL, and without starting wide receivers Julio Jones and Mohammed Sanu. Even so there were a few complaints about the loss. The Falcons still have the best record in the NFC.

With Andrew Luck hurt, the Colts traded for former NC State QB Jacoby Brissett. I hadn't been a fan of Brissett when he was in college, but in the first half last night against the Seahawks he made several good throws downfield. Eventually the Seahawk defense took over.

After two straight weeks of noon, 3 pm, and 8 pm games, Tech is off this next Saturday. Both UGA and Clemson play at noon, so I won't be watching football all day and night.