Welcome back to VIBE CHECK, where we monitor and assess the weekly pulse of college football. Each week, we grade a handful of teams based on their on-field performance, off-field shenanigans (good and bad!), message board chatter, and more. This is very (read: not at all) scientific and should be taken very (read: not at all) seriously.
Week 7 was a real treat as we saw FOUR top-10 teams fall and a couple teams — like Tennessee — make real power moves towards earning a spot in the College Football Playoff. This week, we have a couple more big ones, including a top-10 matchup between Pac-12 teams, a top-15 matchup between ACC squads and TWO top-20 matchup featuring Big 12 sides.
Let’s get to the vibes.
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: Bama fans
Look, there is no shame in losing to this year’s Tennessee team. I get that the Crimson Tide were rolling with a 15-year winning streak over the Vols and have designs on winning another national championship under Nick Saban. While I don’t think that dream is dead for Alabama after last week’s 52-49 Tennessee loss, some of the fans are not taking things well and have resorted to conspiracy theories.
Some think the refs were in on things all along.
Did the head referee during the Alabama/Tennessee game celebrate a Tennessee touchdown?
You be the judge 👀 pic.twitter.com/YDQcddV8uH
— Touchdown Alabama (@TDAlabamaMag) October 18, 2022
Others think the goalposts were tossed into the river need to be double-checked.
Presented without comment. pic.twitter.com/93zjKmoVFP
— Bob Loblaw (@law_moose) October 18, 2022
Not sure either of these hold much water (pun intended), but Bama will be looking to rebound against Mississippi State this weekend.
You Love to See It: Syracuse
It’s time to talk about the undefeated and No. 14 ranked Syracuse. The Orange have had an excellent start to the season and have a chance to notch a huge road win this weekend as they head to No. 5 Clemson. A win in Death Valley would not only make a huge statement, but it would also put ‘Cuse in the driver’s seat in a very competitive Atlantic Division.
New offensive coordinator Robert Anae and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck — both of whom came in the offseason from Virginia — have breathed life into a dangerous Orange offense that features quarterback Garrett Shrader and running back Sean Tucker.
Defensively, Syracuse ranks sixth nationally in points allowed per game (13.2), but it’ll have its hands full with D.J. Uiagalelei and the Clemson offense. The Orange are coming off a win over then-No. 15 N.C. State. Can they make it two ranked wins in a row?
One thing to consider, however, is this important bit of high analytics:
In case you were wondering Syracuse Football is 4-5 in their first game following a Taylor Swift album release. Doug Marrone was 2-0 and we never would have pegged him for a Swiftie
— NunesMagician.com (@NunesMagician) October 21, 2022
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: Georgia Tech's offense
After firing head coach Geoff Collins before Week 5 following a lackluster 1-3 start to the season, Georgia Tech showed signs of life with two straight victories. There was a good chance of making it three in a row with a struggling Virginia team coming to town on a three-game skid of its own.
Instead, the Cavaliers defense dominated to the tune of nine points surrendered while holding GT to barely more than 200 total yards of offense (and 55 yards rushing!). Virginia linebacker duo Nick Jackson and Chico Bennett Jr. combined for 15 tackles and four sacks, accounting for half of the Hoos’ sacks on the evening. They threw in an interception and a forced fumble (and recovery) for good measure.
The UVA defense allowed 206 yards and a field goal tonight to help secure the win!@UVAFootball pic.twitter.com/m30eTQo3DR
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) October 21, 2022
In Georgia Tech’s defense, the Jackets lost starting quarterback Jeff Sims in the second quarter and had to rely on backup Zach Gibson for the remainder of the game. Things ended just about as chaotically as you could imagine for a 16-9 game between two struggling teams as Gibson decided just to run out of bounds to end the game rather than try for a Hail Mary and the tie.
Don’t worry, if you watched the game you can reach out to these folks:
There's a class action forming in the post-game discussion of UVA @ GT 😂 pic.twitter.com/DCOPpg8AEw
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 21, 2022
You Love to See It: UCLA-Oregon
In case you missed it, the best game of the week is taking place on the West Coast as the now-No. 9 UCLA Bruins make a trip to No. 10 Oregon to battle the Ducks for conference supremacy. Both teams are 3-0 in conference play to this point.
The Bruins are straight up vibin’ right now. UCLA is improbably the last remaining undefeated team in the Pac-12 (more on that in a minute), and now it gets to cruise out of a bye week after watching all the mayhem unfold around it in Week 7. Heading into the break, UCLA won back-to-back games over ranked teams as it took out (then) No. 15 Washington and No. 11 Utah.
The Ducks opened the season with a humbling loss to Georgia (no shame there), but have responded with five straight wins — including one over then-No. 15 BYU. Oregon will be hosting ESPN’s College GameDay for the top-10 matchup, complete with a top-notch guest picker:
A college basketball great and @OregonWBB legend 👏
We can't wait to welcome @sabrina_i20 to our show in Eugene this weekend! pic.twitter.com/GczIyItGhu
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 20, 2022
This one cannot be missed.
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: USC
Oh, USC. Last week, we highlighted what a good time the Trojans were having. Then they ran into a buzzsaw named Utah, which exposed USC’s passing defense to the tune of 424 passing yards. But neither team was particularly stout in the 43-42 game.
But this is an absolutely brutal way to lose a game:
Utah takes down USC!
A late two-point conversion is enough to hand the Trojans their first loss of the season
(via @CFBONFOX) pic.twitter.com/Y9PnDtzHXa
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 16, 2022
USC’s shot at making the College Football Playoff might have disappeared as quickly as the win percentage on this graph. Just brutal, brutal stuff.
• USC led for 53 minutes
• Game was tied for 6 minutes
• Utah led for the final 40 seconds pic.twitter.com/lyigHmfSzR— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) October 21, 2022
