Mike Elko and the rest of Aggieland learned the importance of positive self-talk and were clearly moved by Pinocchio, trying to convince us that “This is a real program, with a real culture”. As much as I agree, it reeks of little brother syndrome, and he’s frankly right. Saturday proved that the Aggies can still be a team that Dat Nguyen can be proud of. LSU is still questionable regarding how relevant they’ll be in a playoff race, but they were still manhandled by A&M, which is no small task. Especially since they made Nussmeier look incredibly mid. The lack of a true starter at QB could come back to bite them, but as of right now, it’s not a problem. Can the Aggies be consistently good? I don’t know. But they look much closer to the part, especially being atop the SEC. More than anything, A&M proved that if you have between $70-$80 million on hand you can make your problems disappear. And that’s a life lesson.
Another team that may want to fork up some cash to make their “problems” disappear is Ohio State, which is wild to say considering Ryan Day’s lost three regular season games in three seasons. One of those games was lost due to Michigan knowing every play from their Inspector Gadget level cheating assistant. Maybe I’m wrong, but Ohio State fans seem like the only fans that would pull an Epstein on Ryan Day after winning a conference game. Nebraska feels like a team that’s just a year away, especially with Dylan Raiola sometimes showing his age, but they could be a force next season. Ohio State made their living on Saturday mainly by out-scheming Nebraska, and I’m not sure how well they can fare against more elite coaching staffs like Penn State, who they’ll play this weekend. OSU frankly doesn't feel like they’ll be physically dominating anyone, so it could be a rough season by their standards. One interesting nugget I came across is how Indiana has a common opponent with Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State, and beat all those common opponents much more soundly than the blue blood programs. So, I know the transitive property doesn’t work in CFB, but it's an interesting nugget to consider. Coach Cig is really smoking on every single pack they come across.
Unfortunately, we have to pour one out for the Navy Midshipman, because we know Notre Dame does not support the troops. I was hoping for Navy and Army to be undefeated when they play, but it’s looking like they’ll both have one loss, which still gives great vibes. As much as Navy has an awesome scheme, they played their worst game, giving up 6 turnovers, and couldn’t deal with the talent Notre Dame has on their roster. Also, I doubt Notre Dame will lose again, so I think the haters will have to come to terms with the Irish in the playoff. Elsewhere, Texas got its first real win of the season against Vandy, so good for them I guess. The fighting Joey McGuire’s couldn’t pull it out in Ft. Worth with their freshman QB having to take over. While this game against TCU was essentially lost when Behren Morton was injured, I still have many questions about what value Coach McGuire brings to a team on game day outside of hype. To be honest, I’m a little scared that TCU is also coming off a two-game winning streak, just like Baylor. I won't lie, my pucker factor is insane for the Baylor game this weekend. I would almost literally take a bullet to the shin for Baylor to beat TCU at home this weekend. I think they have a good shot, but it would also be the most Baylor thing to waste all this momentum and the blackout to get clapped around at home. But I trust in Sawyer, and in the rest of the team playing confident, so hopefully we’ll do the clapping instead.
Well, that’s it for me this week, it’s been an awesome season so far, and I can’t wait to watch week ten this Saturday. Thank you so much if you read the whole thing. I appreciate you and I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’ll be back next week to recap week ten. Thanks for stopping by!
-10/30/24