Welcome to Week 6 of the 2020 College Football season. Ordinarily this is the time where we have wrapped up most of the non-conference games and we begin to get a feel for who some the real contenders are. In the Season of COVID, only the first part of that sentence applies. On one hand we already know one team who is NOT a contender, somewhat surprisingly. [step away from the pack, Oklahoma Sooners] On the other, we are still two weeks away from the Big Ten playing their first slate of games, and four weeks away from when the Pac-12 is scheduled to join the party. We knew this would probably be weird…and that it is.
One bright note; the Houston Cougars, who I mentioned in my last article, finally got to play their first game last night. It was supposed to have been their 5th game of the season. Much like the month of September, the start of the game was nothing short of a failure to launch. But after falling behind 24-7 to Tulane, they came back and won 49-31.
The SEC looks pretty strong so far. [yeah, shocker] The usual suspects, Alabama and Georgia, look like the cream of the crop along with Florida. LSU rebounded after an ugly opener against Miss St. Speaking of, the Bulldogs followed up their surprise victory with a clunker against lowly Arkansas…big win/ugly loss, a Mike Leach hallmark. I’m looking forward to seeing if Tennessee is for real, which brings me to…
Game of the Week:
#14 Tennessee at #3 Georgia, 3:30pm ET, CBS (My Pick: Tennessee +12.5)
It’s the biggest game so far of the Jeremy Pruitt era. The folks in charge at Tennessee had seen enough to sign him to a contract extension a couple weeks ago. I imagine the fanbase wanted to see more. Here’s his chance. Maybe a big upset isn’t in the cards, but if they hang with Georgia to the end, then maybe this is the start of something big in Knoxville. They’ve already put up 30+ on what were supposed to be two pretty good defenses in Missouri and South Carolina. The Bulldogs aren’t supposed to the a pretty good defense…they ARE a pretty good defense. The Vols are going to have to find a way to keep QB Jarrett Guarantano upright. He can make plays downfield when he has time, but gets sacked a lot. Success on 1st and 2nd down will be crucial.
Defensively, they have to force 3rd-and-longs and get off the field. It’s been their weakness so far. On the flip side, Georgia hasn’t shown much of a big-play offense so far. Though last week against Auburn, they didn’t need to….their average starting field position made the offense’s life much easier. Tennessee will help themselves greatly if their special teams can prevent that from repeating.
Georgia made it look easy against their longtime rivals last week, pretty much putting the game out of reach before halftime when they went ahead 24-0. I think they’ll beat Tennessee, but a bit of a letdown in execution will allow the Vols to make it somewhat interesting and cover.
(Honorable Mention):
#7 Miami at #1 Clemson, 7:30pm ET, ABC (My Pick: Clemson -14.5)
I couldn’t omit this game simply because of the rankings, but this must be the 5th time we’ve heard “Miami is back!” since they joined the ACC in 2005. They were wrong the previous four times, and so far this doesn’t feel any different. The ‘Canes always seem to fizzle out against Clemson. This is one time where I expect 2020 to play out to form, so lay the points on the Tigers.
If the Playoff Was Seeded Today:
For those of you who have been BSL readers over the years, you probably have heard of the Deified Dozen, the Top 12 rankings as determined by our board’s followers of college football. Well, for obvious reasons we have decided to give it a hiatus this year. But I plan to fill this space with my own Top 4 that I would put in the Playoff.
1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Florida
See, SEC fans? I told you it would look much different this week.
College Football Analyst
Mike is a Baltimore native living in Portland, OR since 2007. He currently runs his own business specializing in video production and online marketing. Prior to that he was a legal technology consultant, worked for 9 years at Johns Hopkins University and served 6 years in the Air Force. He also enjoys travel, food, beer, and is a volunteer at the Oregon Humane Society.