Smackdown Saturday: Bulk Upset Weekend Jumbles the CFP Picture

Published on 13-Oct-2018 by Alan Adamsson

Football - NCAA    NCAA Football Daily Update

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Smackdown Saturday: Bulk Upset Weekend Jumbles the CFP Picture

For all the pomposity the FBS has accorded to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, they did get one thing right.

They don't start publicizing the priorities of their opinions until the end of October.

Thusly, those dudes and dudettes don't look half as silly as the coaches and media who get sucked into the game's annual PR exercise of spewing out early-season polls.

 

Week 7 has just turned out to be one of those times when the cred of the entire exercise is exposed to the harsh light of cold reality.

Big brands presumed to be candidates for the CFP's anointed four went down like trees today.

 

When all was said and done, there was no sign of bears -- or popes, for that matter -- just the detritus of pre-season dreams gone awry.

One of the vanquished that still has a modicum of control over its own destiny is Georgia.

It wasn't like getting spanked by LSU in Death Valley wasn't anticipated by learned souls, but the 36-16 final was more of a whipping:

 

When West Virginia moved to the Big XII, eyebrows were raised by the mere fact of the travel challenge the Mountaineers had just presented themselves.

Dudes may fly charter, but it's still a haul to Ames. This is underscored by the fact that Iowa State was ready for them, to the tune of a 30-14 bitta humblage:

 

And as the USA's lower-right quadrant has started to see 'way too many times, don't dick with a cyclone.

Stuff gets messed up.

 

Remember the überhyped Week 1 clash between Auburn and Washington?

Frankly, why spend the brain power on it? The Tigers undid anything they'd accomplished in that one at home to LSU, and now the Huskies have joined them on the CFP sidelines by not getting outta their own way at Oregon, where they lost to the Ducks, 30-27, in overtime:

 

If ever there's a mongoose to the Big Ten snakes these days, it's the Michigan State Spartans.

Speaking of, let's give those little critters their due:

 

Ditto for Sparty, as in a 21-17 road win at Penn State.

Seems like they had a few tricks up their collective sleeves, too:

 

Suddenly, that Spartans-Wolverines rumble looks like more than an in-state things.

Jim Harbaugh's crew has quietly gone about their business, Shea Patterson looks like the dude Harbaugh thought he was, and that loss in South Bend doesn't look so bad, anymore.

In the wake of their 38-13 drubbing, Wisconsin might agree.

 

That being said, coming off what passes for a statement game last weekend, Notre Dame damn near got trapped by pesky Pittsburgh.

The Irish needed all of their lucky charms to escape the Panthers. That 19-14 scare was hard-fought:

 

So, there'll be a massive shakeup when ballots are counted on Sunday.

Who knows? Maybe the go-their-own-way UCF Golden Knights might get a little more love. Dudes got to 6-0 when they climbed outta a huge hole to squeak a 31-30 last-tick victory in Memphis:

 

Really, at this stage of the season, there's only one logical vote to cast.

 

Until December, nothing else really matters.

More weekends like this are probably on the menu, anyway.