Tag: USC

Kirk Herbstreit releases college football top 6 team rankings following Week 4

Do you have the same top four?

Week 4 of college football has come and gone and with it goes FBS contests for the month of September.  What do we know a month into the 2022 season?  And what do we still have to find out?  It would appear plenty in both categories.

Week 4 saw No. 6 Oklahoma get knocked off at home as Adrian Martinez and Kansas State proved unstoppable for Brent Venables and company.  Elsewhere USC escaped Oregon State with a hard fought victory despite their offense having nowhere near their A-game.

Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State, cruised to victories while Michigan perhaps had more of a test than most would have thought against Maryland.

How did the weekend make Kirk Herbstreit feel about the College Football Playoff outlook?

Here is who Herbstreit ranked as his top-six college football teams on Sunday.

 

2022-23 college football coaching tracker

Who else will join the list?

It’s safe to say we may never again see a college football off-season quite like we did following the 2021 season.  Heck, before the conference championship games were even played Lincoln Riley bolted Oklahoma for USC.  I started up a coaching tracker at Fighting Irish Wire shortly after, thinking there was no way Notre Dame would be added to the list but as sure as sure gets, Brian Kelly wound up ditching Notre Dame for LSU seemingly hours later.

Traditional powerhouses such as Florida, Miami, Oregon, and Washington would join the coaching party before in-full, 29 college football FBS programs made changes.

What will 2022 bring?  A couple of coaches who entered the year on very hot seats have already been relieved of their duties and a few more seem like they’re just a matter of time.

Keep up to date all season and off-season long with the 2022-23 college football coaching tracker:

ESPN FPI projects remainder of Notre Dame football season

Eight games to go and the Irish are 2-2. How do they finish this fall?

Notre Dame is still just 2-2 on the 2022 season after their dominating performance at North Carolina this weekend but with eight games still to go there is plenty to play for even if the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six are off the table.

Is Notre Dame certain to go bowling at all this year?  How likely are they to win eight or more games?  Both seem a lot more likely following the 45-32 victory in Chapel Hill that can simply be described as better.

I’m in a love-hate relationship with ESPN’s FPI.  I say it almost weekly but it’s true.  It takes emotion out of it’s rankings and uses all mathematical formulas to rank all FBS teams 1-131 weekly.  However, it seems to lack when it comes to teams that manage to regularly find ways to lose or sneak out wins.

Joel Klatt releases new college football top 10 following Week 4

Which do you agree and disagree with?

College football is the greatest game on earth (fact not opinion) but it’s biggest issue is that by the time you blink you’re seemingly a third of the way through it.  That’s at least how it feels after the first four weeks of the season have already come and gone and most teams are already 1/3 of the way done with their schedules.

So what have we learned at this point?  And how much figuring out do we still have left?

As conference seasons heat up we look at who Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt rated in his top 10 this week as he actually gave a few extra teams as an added bonus.

Updated USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll sees shake-up after week 4 upsets

More than a few new teams makes the Coaches Poll

The Irish got a solid road win over North Carolina and that hopefully reflected in them getting more votes this week than last in the latest USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll. With just two votes in others last week, this week saw the coaches give Notre Dame not much more respect as they grabbed just one extra vote this week.

Multiple upsets once again happened this weekend which included No. 6 Oklahoma falling on the road to Kansas State, No. 20 Texas A&M beating No. 10 Arkansas, unranked Texas Tech besting No. 19 Texas and Middle Tennessee State shocking No. 25 Miami, FL.

Here is the updated coaches poll with last weeks ranking in parenthesis.

USC vs Oregon State Prediction, Game Preview

USC vs Oregon State game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 4 game on Saturday, September 24

USC vs Oregon State prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 4, Saturday, September 24

USC vs Oregon State How To Watch

Date: Saturday, September 24
Game Time: 9:30 ET
Venue: Reser Stadium, Corvallis, OR
How To Watch: Pac-12 Network
Record: USC (3-0), Oregon State (3-0)
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CFN 1-131 Rankings | Bowl Projections
CFN Week 4 Expert Picks | Week 4 Schedule
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What 12-Team Playoff Would Look Like
Top 10 Coach Hot Seat List: After Week 3
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USC vs Oregon State Game Preview

Why USC Will Win

Nothing is slowing down this offense.

Caleb Williams is in total command, the running game stepped up against Fresno State – the balance was great in the 45-17 win – and so far it seems like the faucet gets turned on whenever it needs to.

It doesn’t always work this easily, but the Trojans rolled at will against the Bulldogs. Oregon State needed a late score to survive at Fresno 35-32.

The Beavers have a good enough offense to hit the USC defensive front hard, but the pass rush isn’t there. Don’t get any pressure on Williams, and he’ll do whatever he wants.

– CFN Expert Picks, Week 4

Why Oregon State Will Win

The offense is rolling.

There’s good balance, the running game is averaging five yards per carry, and Chance Nolan is connecting on the downfield passing game enough to open it up.

It’s going to be the ground attack, though, that has to take over.

USC is giving up 4.8 yards per carry and allowed Rice, Stanford, and Fresno State to rumble, but all three had to abandon what worked to try keeping up the pace.

Oregon State has to get the 1-2 punch of Deshaun Fenwick and Damien Martinez going early, it needs to keep Williams and company on the sidelines, and …

– Week 4 Schedule, Predictions, Game Preview

What’s Going To Happen

USC’s defensive front might be having big problems against the run, but there’s no issue with the pass rush.

Oregon State’s offensive front has been great in pass protection, strong for the running game, and it’s going to have a terrific game. It’s not going to be enough.

The energy will be amazing, the team will be jacked, and it’ll be a fun first half. Then USC’s offense will wake up and take over halfway through the third quarter.

The defense that will get hit hard will make up for it with two late takeaways.

– NFL Expert Picks, Week 3

USC vs Oregon State Prediction, Line

USC 40, Oregon State 31
Line: USC -5.5, o/u: 70.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
USC vs Oregon State Must See Rating (out of 5): 4

College coaches all over America this week are raising awareness and research dollars for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive genetic disorder that takes the lives of young men. Fans can donate to Coach To Cure MD online or by texting the word CURE to 501501 to give $25.

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Robert Griffin, III shares college football top-7 rankings

Former Heisman winner shares his rankings…

2011 Heisman Trophy winner and Baylor legend Robert Griffin, III was the NFL’s Rookie of the Year in 2012 and spent time in the league through 2020 as he played for the Washington, Cleveland, and Baltimore franchises.   Since taking his final snap in the pandemic year of 2020, Griffin has joined ESPN where he works as an analyst for both the NFL and college football.

This week Griffin joined the slews of college football analysts and fans and released his own team rankings.  Some people go with a round number like 10, others go with five or six, but Griffin went with seven programs he ranked.

Notre Dame clearly isn’t ranked in this but three teams the Irish will ultimately play in 2022 are.  Griffin’s top seven goes as follows:

ESPN FPI projects remainder of Notre Dame football season

How many wins do you think the Irish end up with this year?

It’s been a slow start to the season for Notre Dame as the Irish sit at 1-2 after their narrow escape over Cal this weekend but with nine games still to go there is plenty to play for even if the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six are off the table.

Is Notre Dame certain to go bowling at all this year?  How likely are they to win eight or more games?

I’m in a love-hate relationship with ESPN’s FPI.  I say it almost weekly but it’s true.  It takes emotion out of it’s rankings and uses all mathematical formulas to rank all FBS teams 1-131 weekly.  However, it seems to lack when it comes to teams that manage to regularly find ways to lose or sneak out wins.

That was the biggest thing I kept noticing when tracking FPI with Texas a season ago and even with Notre Dame this year, their 25th overall ranking despite the 1-2 start may leave you with questions.

Regardless, here is how ESPN’s FPI forecasts the remainder of the regular season for Notre Dame:

Kirk Herbstreit updates his college football top 6 following Week 3

Who is your top 6 through three weeks?

Week 3 came and went without any huge upsets like the week previous saw, but it was still a thrilling weekend of games that ended on some epic Hail Mary’s that went answered at Appalachian State and unanswered for Cal in their battle at Notre Dame.45-17

Powers like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and plenty of others rolled to easy victories.

How did the weekend make Kirk Herbstreit feel about the College Football Playoff outlook?

Here is who Herbstreit ranked as his top-six college football teams on Sunday morning.

Joel Klatt releases new college football top 10

Who are your top 5 after 3 weeks?

Week 3 of the college football season came and went and included some dramatic finishes and close calls in terms of upsets.  Some impressive showings however perhaps changed how things look in terms of rankings after most teams have now played a quarter of their regular season games.

Who was the most impressive this past weekend and even in winning, who perhaps didn’t look as good?

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt released his latest top 10 rankings early Sunday morning and shared a few teams knocking on the door of entering his top 10.  Take a look at how his shaped up below and check-in with how close theWeek 3 result: y are to your top 10 through three weeks.