What a fun week in football. We are starting to see which teams are legit, and which are frauds. There were a ton of good games, and I myself was able to experience yet another stadium/gameday atmosphere in Columbus, OH. It was a noon kickoff so I was not able to watch most of the morning slate, and half of the afternoon slate, but got back to the hotel in time to watch the evening grouping and to consume copious amounts of water and Taco Bell before my departure Sunday back to Chicago. 

As per usual, this week we have Winners and Losers, and this week a specific team had to be on some sort of substance. Additionally some good friends of the program made this weekend great, along with my fight to get above 50% ATS, and what is to come in my season moving forward. 

Winners

Florida

Jon Sumrall has Florida rolling. They are off to a 3-0 start, and just beat Alex Golesh and Auburn on the road in what I expect to be the first in a long line of matchups between the two coaches. Jaden Baugh is absolutely electric with the ball. He is making a case for being the best RB in the country right now, and Aaron Filo is doing his job well. I absolutely loved the Sumrall hire when it was announced, and it is already paying dividends. They host Ole Miss next week which will be a very tough test for them. 

Ole Miss

In a game that had arguably the biggest story line off the field, Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss had an incredible game. Ole Miss played great all game, but what impressed me the most was their ability to turn it back on when they needed to. They gave up 17 unanswered points, and it was looking similar to the Ohio State Texas game last week, but in this case, Ole Miss was able to dial it up again, and close out the game. Additionally their secondary looked much improved from Week 1, they only gave up 158 passing yards. I am not sure how they are not in the top 3 in the country. They have beat both Louisville, and LSU now which I would argue is the best resume in the country up to this point. 

Louisville

I have been high on Louisville all year. I put them in my ACC conference title game pre-season, and they are looking the part. This week they took down SMU who gave up the ball three times. Louisville was able to capitalize on those mistakes, and take control of the game. That is great to see from them as the worst way to lose a game is by not being able to take control of mistakes. They vaulted to 16 in the AP Poll, and Keyjuan Brown looks fantastic, he had two TD runs of 50+. I expect Louisville to keep rolling. 

Michael Hawkins Jr.

West Virginia is slowly putting together a sneaky season. They are off to a 3-0 start, just beat a ranked Virginia team, and that is largely due to the QB play from Michael Hawkins Jr. He just had 313 total yards and 5 TDs against Virginia. It would be a longshot, but if they keep this up they could be real contenders in the Big 12. His stat sheet this week is being overshadowed by QB’s who are already in the national spotlight, but I expect him to be soon. 

Darien Mensah

As I said last week, he stays on this list until he should not. He started this game 23/23. I do not care who you play, if you throw 23 straight completions, that is perfection. He finished 30/34, 220 yards, and 3 TDs. His second half was not as great as his first, but he still played extremely well, and he is outstanding. 

Iowa Rushing Attack

422 rushing yards, 10.3 YPC, three different backs over 100 yards. Xavier Williams had 6 rushes for 151 yards, and 3 TDs (a mind boggling 25.2 YPC), Braeden Jackson had 11 rushes for 125, and 1 TD, and Nathan McNeil had 12 rushes for 111 yards, and 2 TDs. They absolutely dominated this game and all three backs did outstanding. Yes they played an FCS team, but it is hard not to be excited about this. They are the heart of this offense, and they look scary. 

Kevin Barbay

You might be wondering why I have the offensive coordinator for Tulsa on here. Yes they won 42-0 this week, but that is not why he is on here. In the 2023-2024 season he was the OC/Primary Recruiting Coordinator for Mississippi State, and he secured a commitment from Karmario Taylor. Kamario Taylor is now tearing up his competition. He has thrown for at least 225 yards in all three games along with an 11/1 TD/Interception ratio. He looks incredible and has one of the best arms in the sport. He is giving Mississippi fans something to be very excited about, and has led them to a 3-0 start. Mississippi should be thanking Mr. Barbay for this. 

Me

Self shoutout here, but you’ll see why in the betting recap section. 

Losers

Texas A&M 😦

Oh man this one hurts. But my aggies just got outplayed, and Kentucky was the more physical team. Going into the half 7-7, both teams knew that someone needed to create separation, and Kentucky outscored Texas A&M 21-0. Marcel Reed did not look great not completing a ton of his passes, and throwing two picks. Shoutout to Kentucky, Will Stein has them in a great spot, and this win for them will only boost their confidence moving forward. Texas A&M needs to rebuild their identity, and I trust Mike Elko to get them where they need to be physically. Awful loss for the boys. 

Texas Tech

Texas Tech won, yes, but they did not look great at all. But through three games, they look very rough. They are not beating teams the way they were last year, and they have a big question mark at QB. I expect a loss to come soon for them as they are just not playing to the caliber everyone thought they would and they are 0-3 ATS which is an indication of an imminent loss unless things turn around in Lubbock. 

Oklahoma Offense

Oklahoma has taken a major step backwards. They absolutely cannot run the ball. On 32 carriers they averaged 1.9 against New Mexico. They then have to resort to throwing the ball more forcing Mateer to play hero ball, and then he throws two picks. They are not playing well at all on the offensive side of the ball, and going into SEC play, this will put them in big trouble.  

Sam Leavitt

He is not the answer at QB that LSU thought he would be. In 2024 he was fantastic, but last year he was not great before his injury, and this year is no different. He has not looked great thus far, and actually looks like he is regressing a bit. Defenses do not respect him as a passer which is halting their entire offense. At no point in the game did I think that he was dangerous throwing the ball. I would not be shocked if he was replaced at some point this season. 

Drugs

NC State

In my years of watching football, I have never seen anything like this. NC State is winning the game 31-28 with five seconds left and they have the ball, and somehow fumble the ball in the endzone which Vanderbilt recovers and they win the game. I do not put this solely on CJ Bailey, I put this on the coaching staff. You have a million options in this situation to kill five seconds and not lose the game. Should CJ Bailey have had two hands on the football, yes he should have, but as a coaching staff, you need to tell your players what to do here. You could have had CJ Bailey take a knee after a few seconds, you could have had him run out of the back of the endzone, and punted. You could have had them punt, could have thrown the ball 50 yards down the field, you could have had the other 10 players on the field hold every defender and then accept the safety penalty. As a coaching staff, they handled this situation horribly. I feel absolutely terrible for the NC State fanbase, and NC State +3 betters.  

friends of the program

Sam Biglin/Case Hartman

Work sent me to Columbus the later half of the week, and I was fortunate enough to stay the weekend for an Ohio State game. I just wanted to shout out a few of the fellas who made the weekend great. I had a ton of fun meeting all of my co-workers in Columbus. Sam took me to a nice German brewery Friday afternoon, and then we met up Saturday morning with some early morning buckets at The O on Lane before we tailgated. Case also provided tickets to the game which was fantastic to see the shoe. Full recap coming tomorrow, but it was awesome to experience Columbus and Ohio State, and these two helped organize a great weekend. 

betting recap

Another fantastic week. Last week we went 16-11, and this week we went 13-9-1. This brings the season total up to 43-40-3. After an atrocious 1-6 start Week 0, and mediocre 13-14-2 Week 1, we have put up two straight weeks hitting at nearly 60%. I have also reclaimed my #1 spot in the Pick’em pool going 8-2 on those ML picks. We have finally gotten back to positive, and I have no plans to stop here. To the moon. 

Upcoming plans

It has been an absolute blessing to be able to attend two college football games in the last two weeks. I love nothing more than being on campus for games to experience what makes this sport special. Next week, I will be on my couch, which I am excited to do as it has been go go go recently. There is a chance I will get to go to a very special game soon, but that is not confirmed just yet, but what is confirmed is USC at Wisconsin October 24th. Madison is one of the best college towns in the country, and I am very excited I get to return to it. Additionally I am looking to add on one more game after that, but again not confirmed yet so until it is, it stays hush hush.