College Football Week Six Recap: Winners and Losers - jmik58's Blog

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College Football Week Six Recap: Winners and Losers Stuck

Posted on October 8, 2012 at 11:49 AM.

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The SEC completely owns the college football landscape and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

The perpetual self-serving game of leapfrog ignited this week within the nation's best conference as other teams were left staring up through the eye of the storm once the latest AP Top 25 Poll had been settled. While Alabama rested this week and Oregon took care of business, teams three through five held hands and dropped from the national title race in varying degrees of disappointment.

While #3 Florida State lost to an unranked squad from North Carolina State, #4 LSU and #5 Georgia were taken down by fellow top-ten SEC teams -- limiting their fall yet catapulting their successors. West Virginia (who defeated #11 Texas) climbed only slightly along with other unbeaten squads such as Kansas State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Due to their win over LSU, however, the Florida Gators jumped nearly everyone to land at the number-four spot.

Those stuck in the middle can only sit and watch as the rest of the season is set up for more trade-off movements within the polls at the hands of the SEC. While little will be made of it in the immediate future, it's clear that a single loss from anyone outside of the SEC will almost guarantee an exit from the national championship picture.

The SEC is good because they fill the top-ten, and the nation calls them the best because of those rankings. There's no way around the reciprocal back-patting as other teams fight for a spot at the big-boy table. With little room for error, no one outside the SEC can afford to let down their guard for a single week.

As always, the final result doesn't always tell the full story. Here are five winners and losers from week five of the college football season.

FIVE TEAMS ON THE RISE

#9 West Virginia (5-0)
Week 6: #11 Texas, won 48-45.
Week 7: Texas Tech (4-1)

Everything about this matchup was nearly identical from the pregame analysis to the postgame boxscore. The Mountaineers looked like they may have been in trouble with the Texas defense and realistically the game could have gone in favor of the Longhorns had the game been extended by a few more minutes. Wins are all that matters though and West Virginia proved they could win the big conference contests on the road.

#10 Florida (5-0)
Week 6: #4 LSU, won 14-6.
Week 7: Vanderbilt (2-3)

No one questions the defensive talent of the best squads in the SEC, but the thing that sets apart the likes of Alabama from the rest is a quality running game. Granted, a few timely injuries to the LSU linebacker corps helped the Florida cause, but the Tigers looked pedestrian in the second half trying to stop Mike Gillislee. A team is bound to bust a special teams or defensive score at some time during the season and it will be interesting to see if the Gators can develop a threatening passing game against a tough defense when the moment calls for it.

#9 Notre Dame (5-0)
Week 6: Miami (FL), won 41-3.
Week 7: #18 Stanford (4-1)

Excitement is definitely building in South Bend but so is the difficulty of the schedule. The Irish completely dominated the Hurricanes, running the ball 51 times while Miami ran only 53 offensive plays the entire game. Notre Dame has been exceptional at controlling the pace of the game and has shown a surprisingly strong defense, allowing only 7.8 points per game -- second best in the nation.

#6 South Carolina (6-0)
Week 6: #5 Georgia, won 35-7.
Week 7: #9 LSU (5-1)

I thought the Gamecocks would win but not quite like that. Ground games seemed to be the theme of the week for the nation's best teams -- ignoring West Virginia, of course. South Carolina outgained the 'Dawgs 230-115 on the ground and played nearly mistake-free football by not surrendering a single turnover and only five penalties for forty-one insignificant yards.

#12 Ohio State (6-0)
Week 6: #21 Nebraska, won 63-38.
Week 7: Indiana (2-3)

At this point in the Big-Ten season it looks as though the Buckeyes may run the table as an undefeated squad. OSU pulled out a one-point squeeker on the road against arguably the best defense in the league (Michigan State) and returned home to demolish the most explosive offense in the conference. If Wisconsin can hit their stride by November they may catch the Buckeyes looking forward to the matchup with Michigan but don't count on it.

FIVE TEAMS ON THE DECLINE

#3 Florida State (5-1)
Week 6: NC State, lost 17-16.
Week 7: Boston College (1-4)

After this loss it's a nearly impossible climb for the 'Noles to get back into the national title hunt. Their only shot will be to remain undefeated and hope that their regular season finale against Florida finds the Gators undefeated. A late-season victory over a top-three squad from Gainesville could be enough to put them back in the picture.

#4 LSU (5-1)
Week 6: #10 Florida, lost 14-6.
Week 7: #3 South Carolina (3-0)

This loss was weeks in the making. Quarterback Zach Mettenberger was showing he just didn't have the qualities necessary to lead the Tigers offense and the Gators took advantage of key in-game injuries to LSU linebackers in route to a second-half ground explosion. If the Tigers can rebound and go unbeaten the rest of the way they still have a shot.

#5 Georgia (5-1)
Week 6: #6 South Carolina, lost 35-7.
Week 7: No Game

The Bulldogs were dominated all over the field in every facet of the game. Moral victories weren't even in the cards as UGA struggled to gain yards through the air (106 passing for the game) or on the ground -- only scoring a pity touchdown in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout.

#15 TCU (4-1)
Week 6: Iowa State, lost 37-23.
Week 7: Baylor (3-1)

The excuses were already being prepared before the game even kicked off with the suspension of Horned Frogs quarterback Casey Pachall. The offense, however, wasn't the problem as the Cyclones controlled the game and humiliated an uninspired TCU squad by two touchdowns. To make matters worse, Iowa State did the deed with a backup quarterback of their own in Jared Barnett.

#21 Nebraska (4-2)
Week 6: #12 Ohio State, lost 63-38.
Week 7: No Game

Forget the black shirts, the only thing that is black lately for Nebraska has been the eyes of its defenders. While the 'Huskers put up decent numbers offensively, they turned the ball over four times to compound matters as the Buckeyes racked up a ridiculous 371 yards rushing for the game. It may be time for a change in leadership in Lincoln as the defensive identity continues to evolve into a shameful weekly display.

Sound Off: Who are your winners and losers from week six of the college football season?

Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @long_snapper

Comments

# 1 BSchwartz07 @ Oct 8

Just a note... Ohio State is at Indiana next week, not Washington State

# 2 jmik58 @ Oct 8

@BSchwartz07 ... Thanks, will get it fixed. One problem with using template from previous week.

# 3 NoDakHusker @ Oct 8

I agree that a change is needed at Nebraska. While Pelini rescued Nebraska from the dark days of Bill Callahan, he hasn't really done much to get Nebraska to be anything more than a 8-9 win team.
I'd like to see Nebraska pursue NDSU head coach Craig Bohl, formerly an assistant under Tom Osborne. Just look at his defenses under Osborne and currently at the top ranked FCS school in NDSU. THAT is what the blackshirt defense should look like.

# 4 Bmore Irish @ Oct 9

i think LSU is lucky to have only dropped as much as they have the past couple weeks. unfortunately for them, they're about to drop more when they lose to south carolina. florida st totally caught me off guard, but that's what college football's all about