Well we were marginally better with picks last week. The Power of Powder Blue and Dr. Lou were the key to my 2 correct picks. It was a wild weekend of college football and we’re here to recap the action.

Texas A&M @ Mississippi State

Sam and I both missed this one. I thought A&M would come back after a tough game with Arkansas ready to play, and that Mississippi State was overrated. Boy, was I wrong! State looked utterly dominant throughout. Dak Prescott is a legitimate Heisman candidate and the QB Dan Mullen needs to run his offense. The QB he had like this was everyone’s favorite party animal, Tim Tebow. And, we all know what he did. Texas A&M’s offense is still elite, but the defense is still terrible. You can’t outscore people every game, especially against teams who can put up just as many as you. If there is one flaw in this Mississippi State team, it’s the pass defense. We all know what the offense can do and the front 4 on defense are one of the better units in the league and can really stuff the run. But the pass defense is awful. The Bulldogs are 11^th in the nation against the run allowing only 98.2 yards/game but they are 121^st against the pass at 328.2 yards/game. Ouch! If State wants to make a serious run at a playoff spot, they have to get things cleaned up on the back end of the defense.

Alabama @ Ole Miss

The Power of the Powder Blue lives on! I picked Ole Miss because of the pimpin’ helmets they wore last week. And it worked like a charm. The question going into this game was whether “Good Bo” or “Bad Bo” would show up. Wallace was cool as a cucumber throughout the game, despite frustrating drops by the Rebel receivers. Alabama’s kicking ghosts from the past made a visit again as Alabama missed 3 field goals. The biggest thing that I took away from this game was how undisciplined this year’s Crimson Tide team has been thus far which is very unusual for a Nick Saban coached team. Penalties and turnovers have been a constant through the first 6 weeks of the season. But in the end, Wallace made the clutch throws and Senquez Golson made the key pick to seal the game. Ross’s hit of the game goes to the security guard with lightning fast reflexes who body slams the Alabama fan after throwing his drink over the railing at the Ole Miss faithful.

Unfortunately, I can’t find a decent gif of the incident so here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcdgmEnYx5U

LSU @ Auburn

Wow who saw this game coming? LSU/Auburn games are famous for being close, brutally physical games but not this Saturday on the Plains. This was a complete beat down from start to finish. Nick Marshall was efficient throwing the football and electric running the football. Sammie Coates finally came out of his trance he was in to start the season to the tune of 144 yards receiving. Cameron Artis-Payne pounded his way to 100+ yards yet again. And the defense held LSU to 280 yards of offense and 0-13 on 3^rd down. LSU needs to find a QB and fast if they don’t want to finish last in the division. While Auburn’s offense gets all of the attention, and deservedly so, the defense has been the key to the Tigers undefeated start in my opinion. Sure the offense got rolling this past week and is averaging over 40 point per game, but if you watched the Tigers play it was obvious it wasn’t clicking on all cylinders. If the defense keeps playing like it has and the LSU game jump starts the offense, Auburn will be a dangerous team to play the rest of the season.

Stanford @ Notre Dame

Why would anyone question Dr. Lou? If you could interpret his exclusive interview he gave to 4 Down Territory and translate the gibberish, you knew that Notre Dame was going to win. And with some quick score equivalents (109 Dr. Lou points = 17 normal points), I was able to predict the exact score. Maybe Dr. Lou will make more appearances in the future. Who knows! But anyway with the win over the Trees, the Fighting Irish have placed themselves squarely in the College Football Playoff hunt. Florida State is 2 weeks away, and if they can clear that hurdle they have a real shot of being one of the 4 teams selected.

It was a wild weekend in College Football. #2, #3, #4 and #6 all lost. The race for the top 4 is as wide open as it has been all season and 4 Down Territory will be here to cover all of the action. Tune in tomorrow for the State of the Conference as I discuss the rise of the Mississippi schools and if they can continue making the noise they have been so far (and I don’t mean cowbells).