Woody's Weekly Things: Big Three blues, West Virginia, Michigan

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position

MORE: Week 10 in review | Biggest questions for the next set of CFB rankings

Even before I started working at Rivals.com, I would spend my Saturdays watching as many college football games as possible. Now that I have interacted with most current college football players, it gives Saturday’s a different perspective. Each week, I will watch as many games as possible and share my thoughts in this space, examining weird moments and sharing some throwback recruiting stories as well.

It was a Saturday to forget for Florida’s “Big Three” as Florida, Florida State and Miami all lost, with the Gators and Canes dropping games they were favored to win at home. Even with the loss, the Gators are having a season better than most expected, but Florida State and Miami continue to have nightmare campaigns. Saturday marked back-to-back weekends where all three schools lost, marking the first time that’s ever happened. Yes, ever. Much has been written about the Seminoles' struggles, but now the spotlight is on Mark Richt and the Canes, who are now are now 5-7 over their last 12 games after the magical start to the 2017 season. Miami looked poise to take advantage on the recruiting trail after coaching changes and down years for the Seminoles and Gators in 2017 but now the three programs are essentially even as they fight to finish at the middle of the pack in their respective conferences. With players from the Sunshine State like Jerry Jeudy starring for Alabama on Saturday night, it’s going to be a tough close to the 2018 season for fans of the Big Three.

Over the years there have been plenty of West Virginia teams that have started the year hot, only to disappointment down the stretch. Well, at least through one week in November, that’s not going to be this West Virginia team. The Mountaineers went to Texas and got a big win in the Longhorns' house, punctuated by one of the gutsiest calls of the year as West Virginia went for two to win the game and converted. Everyone knew Will Grier would be good, but the team’s overall play has them in real contention for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Plenty of people have taken shots at Michigan over the past few seasons, mainly because of the team’s on-field performance not matching the number of Jim Harbaugh-related headlines. But now Michigan is good and the Wolverines seem set on getting their revenge. Saturday’s emphatic beat down of Penn State was just another stop on the tour, with Ohio State setting up to be the capper. Former five-star and Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson’s play has been huge for Michigan, and the team’s defense is among the nation’s best. I enjoy petty revenge more than pretty much anything, so Michigan getting pay back on Penn State for last season and rubbing it in via touchdown celebrations is right in my wheelhouse.

While West Virginia is celebrated for its bold two-point strategy, the same can’t be said for Iowa and Texas Tech. The Hawkeyes went for two in the third quarter against Purdue and failed to convert, then did it again in the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes ended up losing the game by – two points – both which should have been on the board if they hadn’t gone point-chasing early in the game. Texas Tech’s decision to go for two was a little more justified as the Red Raiders trailed by two with 6:54 left in the game, but it backfired when a trick play went wrong, leading to a two-point interception return for Oklahoma the other way. Just like that instead of being down by one with an extra point, the Red Raiders were down by four and an Oklahoma touchdown on the next drive sealed the game. I’m not saying Texas Tech shouldn’t have gone for two, but running a trick play I’ve seen high school all-star teams fail to convert 100 times over the last six years was ill-advised.

Political pundit and noted LSU fan James Carville made an appearance on College Gameday Saturday morning, capping a two-week tour for Carville in which he railed against the SEC for suspending Tigers linebacker Devin White. Carville, who also wrote an op-ed piece for a Louisiana newspaper following White’s dubious second half ejection from LSU’s game against Mississippi State, ripped SEC commissioner Greg Sankey during his appearance. Carville maintains that the SEC makes things easier on Nick Saban and Alabama and pretty much sounds like a regular crazed SEC fan when discussing the matter. The shocking thing for me is that ESPN came out later in the day and apologized on-air for Carville’s comments. Now, had one of the members of the Gameday panel made the comments I could see the apology, but guests on shows of this nature say crazy stuff all the time. ESPN and the SEC are partners, but the apology only adds fuel to the fire of anti-SEC crazed fans, who think the network and the conference are in cahoots. It was a lose-lose situation for the network and I imagine Carville won’t be making any more appearances anytime soon.

Every week in this space I’ll share my thoughts on the top four and how I think things should shake out when the rankings are released.

1. Alabama – The Tide are dominating and seem destined for the playoff as the top seed.

2. Clemson – The Tigers continue to destroy teams on a weekly basis but should be tested this week on the road at Boston College. I still expect Clemson to finish the year undefeated, though.

3. Notre Dame – It wasn’t pretty but the Irish remain undefeated. As long as they don’t lose, they’re in. If they do, it’s going to be a mess.

4. Michigan – My top four is unchanged, as I had the Wolverines in the top-four last week (pat on the back) over LSU. Michigan continues to get better each week and might be favored by the time the end of season showdown against Ohio State rolls around.

The rest: Georgia sits at No. 5 and still controls its own destiny, assuming it were to beat the Tide in the SEC Championship Game. I would put Oklahoma at No. 6, slightly ahead of Washington State and West Virginia. The Sooners, Mountaineers and Cougars all need help in order to make the Final Four.

UCF Watch: After I correctly predicted the Knights would be No. 12 last week, I think the committed will rank them No. 11 this week, although I wouldn’t be shocked to see them stay the same. UCF giving up 40 points and winning against a 5-4 team is not equal to Oklahoma giving up 40 points and winning against a 5-4 team in the eyes of the committee.

At the time we first saw Wills in person, he had a few offers following his sophomore football season and looked like he would develop into a nice college prospect. But after watching him workout in person he quickly earned an invite the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge as an underclassman and it wasn’t much longer after that he was entrenched as one of the nation’s top overall prospects. Some questioned his initial ranking, especially given his competition in Kentucky, but Wills just kept getting better as a recruit and eventually committed to Alabama over Kentucky. Even then, Wills still had his doubters, with many saying he would never see the field in Tuscaloosa. Cut to this season, where Wills is Alabama’s starting right tackle (protecting lefty Tua Tagovailoa’s blindside) and appears bound for an NFL future. Getting to know Wills early and watching his development has been fun.

Purdue’s entire team could go in this section depending on the week, but this week it’s Wright that earns the honors. The Memphis native had as many stars as he did offers coming out of high school, when he was a two-star and Middle Tennessee State and Southeast Missouri State were the only schools on his list. He ended up heading to junior college, where he would be re-ranked as a three-star, but the point of this section is to make fun of myself so here we are. Wright had a monster game Saturday for the Boilermakers, catching six passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs.

This is a memorial post as Beaty was fired this week, despite the Jayhawks showing quite a bit of promise this season. But attendance is struggling and perhaps now that the roster has some talent, a new coach can take the torch from Beaty and lead the team to respectability. Personally, I think he deserved another year and I think if the Jayhawks hadn’t lost to Nicholls State in Week 1, he might have gotten it.