After week 7 top 25 college football thoughts and analysis

In this episode of the Off-Season Sports Podcast, the host discusses the week seven match-ups and results in college football. He highlights the performances of top-ranked teams such as Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, and Texas. He also mentions the close game between Washington and Oregon, as well as the struggles of USC and Louisville. Alabama survives a rally from Arkansas, and North Carolina and Oregon State have impressive wins. Overall, there are some teams that may move up or down in the rankings based on their performances. Hello and welcome to the Off-Season Sports Podcast. In this week's episode, we're gonna break down the week seven match-ups and the week that was of college football. Starting us off at number one, and still, is Georgia. Georgia scores 27 points to beat Vanderbilt 37 to 20. However, they did lose star tight end Brock Bowers with an apparent ankle injury that will sideline him four to six weeks. From what I'm hearing, he's gonna require surgery, a tight rope surgery of some sorts in his ankle. Carson Beck threw for 261 yards and two total touchdowns. I'm gonna be holding Georgia at number one for right now. They still are the defending national champs. I'm not gonna sell any stock in this team anytime soon until they prove to me that this injury was a significant one to the team. Again, they still are the national champs. We're gonna keep them at one. Rolling on to number two is Michigan. The Wolverines dominate against Indiana with another thrashing, beating them 52 to seven. The Wolverines have won 19 straight Big Ten games, matching a school record set from 1990 to 1992. They have scored 30 plus points in a program record 10 straight games dating to last season. I'm still gonna hold them at number two. They haven't really faced anybody, haven't had that adversity game yet where they have to struggle a little bit to get through and survive and win. That's coming, I have a feeling though. They have to face Ohio State and I believe they're playing Penn State as well. They are playing in-state rival Michigan State next week. Again, should be a cakewalk for them. Rolling right along to number three is Ohio State. The Buckeyes traveled to face Purdue and pummeled them 41 to seven. Kyle McCord went 16 of 28 and he threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns. D'Allen Hayden had a great game, rushing 11 for 76 yards and a touchdown, holding them at three. Again, haven't had a huge opponent but they will come next week. They need to get healthy in the running back room. That's why D'Allen Hayden had a great game, like a coming out game for him. Like I said, they play Penn State. I think they were expecting this type of victory this week. It was a good little warmup game for them in my opinion and they have a huge one next week. Like I said, I'm holding them at three. They're playing pretty well. Next up is for Florida State. Florida State demolished the Syracuse 41 to three. The Florida State team looked amazing against a really bad Syracuse team this year. Jordan Travis completed 23 of 37 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown. The Seminoles didn't allow a touchdown in a game for the first time this season. Florida State has allowed just one offensive touchdown in the last three games. So they are really looking like a top team in the nation of college football. I'm gonna, like I said, hold them at four. They host Duke next so we'll see what happens. Coming up at six is Oklahoma. They are on a bye week. They face UCF this upcoming weekend. Next up is number six, Penn State. They went on and whooped UMass. Struggling UMass team, they've only won one game. They're one and seven, 63 to zero. I'm gonna hold them here at six. They have a huge one against Ohio State next week. So we'll see what happens. Drew Ehler, 16 of 23, 162 yards. Three touchdowns. I don't know if this is gonna help or hinder each team next week. They both had pretty soft teams. One's really banged up. Ohio State's really banged up team right now. We'll see what happens. I'm holding them at six. Not sure where the polls are gonna sit this week. Coming in at seven is Washington. And they are playing number eight, Oregon. This was the game day game where the game day crew of ESPN had their college game day. This was one of my games of the week. If you got to watch it, it was a heck of a game. Washington pretty much squeaked one out at the end. Oregon missed a field goal. Washington wins 36 to 33. Michael Penix, Jr. had a hell of a game. Going 22 of 37 for 302 passing yards, four touchdowns, and one pick. His counterpart on the other side of the ball, Bo Nix in Heisman Hopeful for Oregon, also had himself a game as well, going 33 of 44, 337 yards, two touchdowns. This game came down to the last two minutes, really the last minute. Michael Penix, Jr. went and marched his Huskies team down the field, 53 yards, scoring a touchdown, but he left Oregon too much time on the clock. Oregon was able to march down the field, get in field goal range, but ultimately missed the field goal, the game-timing field goal, descended to overtime. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning took full responsibility in his post-game presser. I understand where he's come from. He wanted to be aggressive, and he went for it three times on fourth down, and he failed on all three. Those were six points lined up for the kicker to get. Instead, he chose to go for it, so tough game for both teams. Washington played a heck of a game. Oregon played a heck of a game. If anything, I'm moving Washington up a few spots, so I'm buying some more stock in them. Oregon, I would sell some stock, and I'm not gonna keep them out of the top 15 at most. They're staying around. They're a hell of a team. Washington plays Arizona State next Saturday while the Ducks return home to host number 19 Washington State. So those are your seven and eight matchups. Moving on to nine was Texas. They were on a bye week. I would hold Texas at nine, but because of Oregon losing, they may scrape up in the polls by a little bit. Coming in at 10, we have USC. That was another top 25 matchup, USC going into South Bend to play Notre Dame. Unfortunately, USC lost 48 to 20. This team was skidding. They looked out of sync. They played out of sync. It was just an overall bad game. Caleb Williams throws for three picks. Just a weird thing to have. It's like they have the yips, USC. Lincoln Riley doesn't have them focused, or something's going on in that locker room. They're not synced. They have been regressing each week. They don't look like the same team that opened up the season and dominating each game that they've played, and it gets even tougher for the Trojans. They go off and face number 16, Utah. They are gonna go sliding down in the polls. I just don't know how far. Same thing with Notre Dame. They're gonna slide up the polls. I don't know how far. They had them at 21 going into week seven after their loss to Louisville, and we'll see what happens with them. All right, so moving on to number 11, Alabama. They faced Arkansas at home, and Alabama had taken over the game, reeling off 24 consecutive points and seemingly poised for an easy win. Nothing come in quite so easily for this team, however. Jalen Milrow completed 10 of 21 passes for 238 yards, passed for two touchdowns, and rushed for a third. As number 11, Alabama survived a second-half Arkansas rally in a 24-21 victory over the Razorbacks on Saturday. Going to hold this team at 11. They are playing a little bit better, but I'd like to see them play upset this season, maybe not quite make it into that CFP championship playoff, which I believe we're gonna get our first voting or rankings, as they like to say, on in a couple weeks. So we'll see where they have them. Moving into number 12 is North Carolina. Last week's headline was this week's star, as Tez Walker showed up against the U. Walker had six receptions for 132 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Tar Heels to a 41-31 victory against Miami. I'll slide them up in the polls. I don't know how far they go up, but with some upsets like USC, they may slip into that 10 spot. Drake May and Tez Walker look amazing together, just look like a whole new dynamic to that team. So we'll see what happens. Next at 13 is Ole Miss. They have a bye and they'll play Auburn next. Up next is Louisville at 14. Louisville is off to their best start in 10 years at 6-0. The Cardinals had to travel to face the struggling Pitt team. Pitt came to play, upsetting the Cardinals 38-21 while forcing three turnovers, excuse me. Jack Plummer was sacked three times. Plummer completed 29 of 52 passes for 336 yards and a touchdown, but also three multiple interceptions for the third time this season. I'm selling my stock and whatever I bought on this team. They're gonna slide in the polls, maybe into the 20s, maybe even out of the polls, depending on how they're feeling after this loss. It's a really struggling Pitt team this year, so I don't know what's gonna happen with them. Next up at 15 is Oregon State. The Beavers have won 15 of their last 16 games at Reser Stadium and were hosting 18 UCLA and beat them 36-24. CJ Yungalua went 14 for 24 and threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns. I'm gonna move them up. We're seeing how the Pac-12 is playing out. You never know who's gonna get upset week after week in that league. They have one blemish on their record, but the Pac-12 in their final year may be the hottest conference this year. So we'll see what happens. I'll move or buy more stock in this team. Don't know how hot they'll get. Like I said, the CFP is coming out in a couple of weeks, so we'll see if they make it there. They have a bye next week. Moving on to 16 is Utah hosting Cal at number 16 Utah. Utah used its rushing attack to blow out the Golden Bears 34-14, rushing for a team total of 317 yards. I'll hold them here at 16. Like I said, the Pac-12, you never know who's gonna get upset. I don't have my confidence now that Cam Rising isn't gonna be in for the rest of the season, so I'm gonna hold them there. Coming in at 17 is Duke. Duke hosted in-state rival North Carolina State and had a great bounce back performance even without starting quarterback Riley Leonard. The Blue Devils managed to put up 301 total offensive yards despite a slow second half, only putting up 98 yards total offense. Great team win. Defense played well, only holding the Wolf Pack to three points. And without a starting quarterback, they go on the road to play FSU. Not sure how they come out of Dope Campbell Stadium facing a really good FSU team. Should be a great matchup. Hopefully Riley Leonard can get back on the field. I'm gonna probably hold the Devils at 17 just because of them playing FSU. If they can go into Dope Campbell and upset FSU, it'll be a great boost for them. And their team, however, I find that very tough to see them pulling that off. So I'll hold them here at 17. Next up is 18 UCLA. On the road to face Oregon State, UCLA freshman quarterback Dante Moore was 15 of 34 for 168 yards and a touchdown pass but was intercepted three times, including the one that was ran back for a score. UCLA rallied in the fourth but couldn't quite get the upset complete. I wasn't too high on this team. They shouldn't be in the polls next week. I'm selling all my stock. It's a freshman quarterback. We'll see what happens. Coming in at 19, we have two teams, Washington State and Tennessee. I'm gonna cut to the chase. Washington State lost to Arizona 44 to six. They should be completely knocked out of the polls. Not sure where they're gonna land next week. If they're in the polls at all, I would drop them. And then coming in also at 19 is Tennessee. Tennessee was hosting Texas A&M. They won 20 to 13. Again, Tennessee is gonna be that sleeper team that can come out of nowhere and make it to that SEC championship with some help along the way. I'm gonna buy a little bit more stock in them. So we'll see what happens there with Tennessee. Next at 20, we have Kentucky. Kentucky hosted Missouri. And they also ended up losing 21 to 38. Not a great game for the Wildcats. They'll probably follow the polls. I agree, wasn't too high on this team. I think they'll play upset as well in the SEC. So we'll see what happens there. Next up, we have number 22, excuse me, number 21. Notre Dame, I talked about them earlier. Again, they'll slide up in the polls. I think they have a great shot at making the CFP. Again, I keep repeating myself, but the first CFP rankings or polls, however you wanna look at it, is coming out in a couple of weeks. So we'll see what happens there. So we'll see. I like Notre Dame. I believe if they can win out the rest of their schedule and a few losses with Michigan and Ohio State coming up, they have a clear shot and contention to make at least one of those four CFP spots if they win out. We'll see. We'll see what happens with Notre Dame. Coming in at 22 is LSU. They hosted Auburn and they ended up winning 48 to 18. Again, another upset team in LSU for the SEC. Their star quarterback or Heisman quarterback, however you wanna look at him, excuse me, is playing lights out. He had a great performance. So I'm gonna buy more stock in LSU. They're sitting at 22. They should slide up in the polls. We'll see what happens. And then we go on to number 23, which is Kansas. They went on the road to Stillwater and play Oklahoma State and they lost 39 to 32. Another wild Big 12 matchup there. I don't know. This Kansas team, they have a shot to play upset. Like I said, I think Oklahoma and Texas are gonna be in the Big 12 championship come to that week, championship weekend. It's gonna be tough. Big 12 can have some crazy games at times. So we'll see what happens there. Kansas ultimately will probably fall out of the polls. I'm selling my stock. I wasn't too high on the team anyway. And last but not least, you have Miami. Miami played North Carolina. They are who we thought they were, mediocre team with a big name brand that hasn't been relevant since the early 2000s. So we'll see what happens. Tyler Van Dyke was carrying this team, throwing for 391 yards and four touchdowns. However, when a hurricane hits rough terrain, it slows down. That's what happened with the hurricanes. The devastating loss last week compounded with two turnovers in the third quarter, both leading to scores in this week's game against North Carolina. They just lost all their momentum. They lost 41 to 31. If you have stock in this team, sell it. Miami will need help getting back in the polls if they want to compete in the ACC. Again, I foresee Florida State running the ACC the way they keep playing. So we'll see what happens there. I will not see you all next week. I am gonna be taking a small vacation. So I will see you all back here for week nine highlights and my thoughts on the top 25, which I believe after week nine, the first college football committee is being selected. So maybe I will do a special pod drop on that. But as always, have a good one, enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you back here in two weeks.