Day: September 22, 2019

Week three recap

After three weeks there are still eight undefeated teams, seven at 3-0 and the Lions at 2-0-1. Most of those were expected to be good from the outset of the season, but there are some minor surprises.  The 49ers were expected to be mediocre, with only a slight chance at the post-season, while the Bills and Lions were expected to be in the bottom half of the standings.

• The Bills’ 3-0 means almost nothing, having come against very weak competition. Ya gotta figure they will probably crumble once they start facing the big boys.
• The Lions, on the other hand, have to be absolutely thrilled with what they have done. Their two wins are against the Chargers and Eagles, two teams that were expected to breeze into the playoffs. It’s still going to be a tough season for their improved team because of their schedule. If the Lions could trade places with the Pats, they would probably win the AFC East and make the playoffs, but in the NFC North, they could finish last if they falter even slightly.

As for the underperformers … there are seven teams that have not yet managed a W. There are no real surprises in that group, other than that the Giants are not in it! Six of the no-win teams were expected to miss the post-season, and the Steelers were expected to have only a small chance.

 

 

This week’s polls.

The big winners:

Wisconsin moved up five spots by defeating Michigan easily.

Cal moved way up, eight spots. They defeated Ole Miss this week, and previously handed an L to Washington.

The other side of the ledger:

Utah and Michigan dropped nine spots each.

Washington State dropped 14 spots, from 19th to a spot far off the board at 33rd.

Arizona State followed a similar path, tumbling from 24th to 38th.

TCU dropped from the top 25 all the way to no votes at all, as a consequence of losing to Southern Methodist.

It was a more interesting week:

#3 Georgia and #7 Notre Dame battled down to the wire, with Georgia emerging on top 23-17.

The game between #8 Auburn and #17 A&M produced a similar score, 28-20 in favor of Auburn, but it was not a close game until the Aggies made a furious fourth-quarter push.

The Michigan-Wisconsin game was supposed to be close, but was not. #13 Wisconsin was up 28-0 at halftime over #11 Michigan, and they rode that lead to an easy victory.

#10 Utah lost a close one to USC, 30-23.

Austin must have been wild last night, as the #12 Longhorns took a 36-30 home victory over previously undefeated Oklahoma State.

#19 Washington State, which had been undefeated, blew a 32-point lead in the process of losing to UCLA, which came into the game without a win! The final score was 67-63, which sounds more like a Big 12 game.

#15 UCF lost a nail-biter to Pitt, 35-34.