Week 8 Review + Week 9 Preview + A special Thursday Night Play

I'm officially back stateside and I couldn't be happier to have access to a full slate of games as well as properly working toilets. Let's review Week 8 and set the table for Week 9.

Good Morning Subscribers! Yesterday evening I landed back in Boston after 2.5 weeks of travel. While I love traveling, especially to foreign countries, I’ve always been a firm believer in the quote from the legendary Rick Steves, “the happiest of any trip is the day I come home.” I thoroughly enjoyed my time over the last week in the UK and the low countries, but by golly did I miss myself some college football. Let’s recap my week 8 card and discuss some of the biggest games on the week 9 slate.

Mucc’s Card - Week 8 (6-3)

Penn State +5 at Ohio State - L

Wake Forest -1 vs Pitt - W

Alabama -8.5 vs. Tennessee - W

Rutgers at Indiana over 39.5 - W

Minnesota at Iowa over 30.5 - L

Boston College +5.5 at Georgia Tech - W!!!!

Baylor +3.5 at Cincinnati - W

Mucc’s MWC MLWoTW: Utah State +275 at San Jose State - L

Lock of the week: Air Force -9.5 at Navy - W

Oh baby don’t look now but the kid is hot! Another positive week on the card for yours truly, but I won’t brag too much as I needed some serious late help from Air Force and Alabama to cover. Overall it was another fun week in college football. It’s hard for me to comment to in depth about what I saw since I didn’t see much given where I was in the world. Just a couple of quick hitter observations:

• Was I Wrong about Ohio State?: Yes, I took Penn Sate in the Horseshoe to cover. Yes, I called Ohio State fraudulent. Yes, Ohio State won fairly convincingly. Was I wrong? To be honest, I don’t think so. Sure, Ohio State won the game by 8 and covered, but nothing the Buckeyes did made me think any more or any less about them. They are a good team, with a strong defense and the best wide receiver in the country, but they are not in the same stratosphere as Michigan right now. If anything, I learned that you can never trust James Franklin and Penn State in a big game. 42 pass attempts for Penn State was not something I had on my bingo card. The fact the Nittany Lions didn’t try to get dynamic back Nick Singleton more involved was shocking to me. As for Ohio State, they really are pretty one dimensional in the passing game - if Marvin Harrison Jr is open they roll, if he’s not then they don’t have the rushing attack or second options to open it up at all. These are two good teams, but neither of them are great.

• BC is back: My Eagles went on the road against a peer opponent in the ACC and kicked the ever living stuffing out of the yellow jackets of Georgia Tech. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see Hafley and the boys absolutely manhandle Georgia Tech up front. I said in my card blog that I thought the Eags had an advantage on the line and it showed as the Eags racked up over 300 yards rushing (and 500+ yards of total offense!!) on the day. Last year, the biggest disappointment for BC fans was seeing a subpar offensive line for the first time in a very long time. This year, to have an offensive line that is brutalizing opponents almost brings a tear to my eye. If you play football in the northeast, it’s a requirement that your offensive line be physical and finally BC is back to meeting that bar. QB Thomas Castellanos is the most exciting QB in the ACC and I really believe the Eagles have a chance to win at least 4 of their next 5 games (more on that later).

• UNC went Clemsoning: Mack Brown and the Tar Heels took a page out of pre-2014 Clemson’s playbook by losing a game they absolutely should not have lost in despicable fashion. Having seen UVA play live this year, I am shocked that they were even in the game with UNC let alone the ones who walked away with a W. Drake Maye put up solid numbers for the Tar Heels again, but his inability to make a play in big spots and crucial turnovers hurt UNC dearly. Ultimately, UNC should not be giving up 30+ points at home to Tony Musket and the UVA offense, just a total brain fart from the Tar Heels as they head into a much tougher stretch of the season.

• FSU is a legit Playoff Contender: I know it’s shocking to say but Duke is a quality win this year and FSU handling the adversity of being down at halftime and storming back to beat the Blue Devils may have been their most impressive performance to date. FSU QB Jordan Travis wasn’t excellent, but he did enough to lead the ‘Noles to a dominant second half. I continue to be impressed with the ‘Noles toughness which should help carry them to at least the ACC title.

• You Can’t Win without a Defense: USC may be one of the most talented (and expensive) teams in the country this year, but they seem to have forgotten that there are multiple phases to a football game. The Trojans gave up 34 points to a pig farmer QB from Utah. With their national title hopes dashed, the Trojans still have an outside shot at a Pac 12 title game appearance, but I’m not holding my breath with the way they play defense.

• Signs show that Michigan is quite Good: If you follow college football, or just like a good conspiracy, there is no doubt you are aware of the elaborate sign stealing allegations being levied at the Michigan football program. My favorite writer, Jason Gay, wrote a great piece today recapping the lunacy of the whole thing today in the WSJ. With or without the opponent playcalls though, Michigan are some bad mama jamas. For what seems like the 100th straight game, they beat the ever living stuffing out their opponents in a 49-0 blanking of little brother Michigan State. This Michigan team is incredibly tough defensively, but QB JJ McCarthy has started to find his footing and I think they are the best team in college football at this moment.

• Struggle Bus for some top teams: Washington, Texas, Tulane, and Ole Miss all struggled this past weekend to beat some pretty inferior opponents. The team I’m worried about the most coming out of this week is Texas. During their 31-24 win against hapless Houston, they lost QB Quin Ewers for what appears to be 4-6 weeks. Now Ewers backups aren’t chumps, both Malik Murphy and Arch Manning are highly rated guys with talent, but you have to wonder if the loss of their star QB may lead to a slip up before an eventual Big 12 title game rematch with Oklahoma.

Week 9 Preview

Week 9 is relatively light in terms of big time matchups, but we have a few games that are interesting for some of the top teams in the country. I will be in attendance at the Battle for New England on Saturday (high Noon), but I’ll definitely be tuning into some of these games later in the day.

#8 Oregon at #13 Utah (3:30 EST): This is the best game of the day and both of these teams need to win to keep their playoff/Pac 12 championship hopes alive. Oregon is simply better than Utah on paper. They have better athletes, they have an incredible defense, and they have a balanced offense with QB Bo Nix and RB Bucky Irving providing a consistent 1-2 punch. HOWEVAH, Utah is elite at home. Rice-Eccles stadium is a house of horrors for opponents and the Utes have won 29/30 games at home. I don’t know if it’s the altitude or the fans, but playing in Salt Lake against the Utes is straight up one of the hardest tasks in college football. I already mentioned it, but I love that Kyle Wittingham called out the fact that QB Bryson Barnes is a pig farmer in his spare time. That’s the kind of fact that makes me believe the Utes could do something special on Saturday.

#1 Georgia vs. Florida (3:30 EST): I don’t know fam, are we sure Georgia is the best team in the country? The Bulldogs are banged up, with 2 interior offensive lineman out and star tight end Brock Bowers lost for the season. QB Carson Beck has gotten better each week, but the World’s Largest Cocktail Party against Florida is always a fight. Florida comes in off a thrilling 41-39 win over South Carolina and a bye week to prep for the Dawgs. The Gators aren’t great, but they have the rushing attack and defensive line to give any team problems. I saw this line floating around 13-14 points in favor of Georgia, but it will be under advisement as I look at putting my Week 9 card together. I think if Florida can force a couple of turnovers and their QB Graham Mertz can hit a few play action passes, we may see the Bulldogs on upset alert.

BATTLE FOR NEW ENGLAND Uconn at Boston College (12pm): I take it back, THIS is the game of the day. The beauty about writing this column is that I can shamelessly write about my team and my loyal subscribers just have to endure it. Seriously though, I am fired up for this one. Three straight wins for the Eagles and I’m right back to drinking the koolaid. Hell, there’s a path for the boys from Chestnut Hill to still make it to the ACC title game and I am BUYING into the hype.

Here’s the deal: I fully expect the Eagles to rock the Huskies world. BC is bigger, faster, stronger, and straight up better than Uconn right now. BC has found the formula with a mauling offensive line and a dynamic playmaker in QB Thomas Castellanos. Last game against Georgia Tech was one of the Eagles best defensive efforts as they finally forced some turnovers and shut down the Yellow Jackets passing attack. If the Eags give even 80% of the effort they gave last weekend, they should win this game by a TD. The Eagles need to continue their ground and pound approach and wear the Huskies d line (perhaps their best unit), down early. This would also be the best way to open up what has been an inconsistent passing attack for BC. If the Eagles can establish the run, this would give Tommy Heisman some favorable matchups in the the intermediate and deep passing game. Uconn’s secondary is weak, and worse teams have shown they can throw the ball on the Huskies. With that all being said, this will be Uconn’s super bowl so I expect them to give maximum effort. Anything can happen in the Battle for New England (well not really anything because BC leads the overall series 12-1).

THURSDAY NIGHT SPECIAL PLAY

Virginia Tech -2.5 vs. Syracuse: Lane Stadium at night on a Thursday, just as God intended it. Both of these team’s kind of stink, but they’ve shown flashes of competent play throughout the year. However, I see one team trending in the right direction and one team trending in the wrong direction. Virginia Tech is coming off a bye week and a big win at home against Wake Forest. The Hokies have a stout defense, but an anemic offense which has hurt them at times this year. In the Wake Forest game QB Kyron Drones played the best he’s played all season, and showed that the Hokies could actually throw the football. Syracuse, while also coming off a bye week, has gotten their ass kicked for three straight games as a combination of inferior offensive line play and horrible secondary play has plagued the Orangemen (they still called that or is it just Orange?). None of this analysis really matters though, because the operative stat is 11-5. That’s Virginia Tech’s record at home on Thursday Night football since ESPN made it a thing in the late 90s. “Exit light, enter night” Hokies by a billion.

Look out for tomorrow’s full card!

Love and Overs,

Mucc