WEEK 10

Three minutes. That was the delta between when last week’s OTC recap was sent and when the push notification arrived announcing that LSU had parted ways with Brian Kelly.

 

Remember this? I intentionally delayed writing this week’s recap in hopes LSU would kneejerk react and fire Brian Kelly today, but alas, my wait was for nothing.

 

It’s a reminder that life is all about timing. And speaking about timing, I owe you all a mea culpa. After weeks of hyping the Billy Napier watch, hand to God, it wasn’t until last Sunday night that I realized ole Billy had been let go the prior weekend. In fairness to me, my brother, who got engaged in January, and then got his fiancée pregnant shortly thereafter was having a joint courthouse wedding / baby shower in Chicago that weekend (lots of sad USC fans, if you were wondering). But, no excuse, I need to do better. If it happens again, you can Napier/Kelly me from the weekly recap role.

 

I’d also like to make another commitment to this group. In an effort tobe more self-aware, I sometimes run things through ChatGPT and ask it to shred me. Turns out, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about coaches this season. Can you blame me? The college football coaching carousel should have its own popcorn brand it’s so entertaining. Nonetheless, this is supposed to be about the young (and getting older) men on the football field each week. I hereby promise to still talk about coaches, but do a little less of it. 

 

Ok, some Week Ten headlines: Vandy is better, but still fake. Indiana is… a legit contender? Miami (FL) easily the weakest hurricane of last week (all seriousness, prayers to Jamaica). Utah is maybe really good(remember their only losses of the season are to undefeated BYU and one-loss Texas Tech). In short, this season is a complete crapshoot.

 

Even though Texas ultimately didn’t cover (by a half point), don’t be fooled. They dominated this game, with Vandy getting some garbage scores late to make the box score look far closer than it was on the field.

 

The aforementioned Utes decimated the visiting 17th ranked Bearcats 45-14. The spread was 11.5. Mama mia. Texas Tech dominated Kansas State in similar fashion, launching themselves into the top 10 as we head to Week 11. UVA remains a one-loss team, but peep those earlier results – they’ve had some REALLY close calls with some trash teams. The other shoe is going to drop there. Mark my words.

 

Arizona State somehow bested the Cyclones in Iowa. Chalk it up to things I don’t understand this season. The Trojans gritted one out against an always-formidable Cornhuskers team in Lincoln. Oklahoma was equally gritty in Knoxville, coming off losses in 2 of the last 3 weeks (to Ole Miss and Texas, to be fair). Clarkster and Lee Corso’s Diaper get credit for being the only two with faith in the Sooners.

 

North Texas had a clear land advantage against Navy, shipwrecking the poor Midshipmen. Duke and Clemson went for nearly a hundred combined, with Duke getting the final strike with 40 seconds to play. And last, and definitely least, I’ve saved Georgia Tech, those loser bumblebees who stumped all of OTC, with 14 of us ranking them at 8, 9, or 10 confidence points. OVERRATED LOSERS!

 

Thanks to his Oklahoma clairvoyance, Lee Corso’s Diaper landed the week’s top score of 40 (remember all those 8s, 9s, and 10s on GA Tech – hence the low high total).

 

We’ve had a change on the podium – not in terms of who’s on it, but in order. Dallas2697 retains gold, with an eight-point lead overall. He is now followed by… BOTH RecordSetter 98 and PSU 1996 who are all squared up at 360. Sprint82 with the honorable mention just two behind at 358.

 

First CFP rankings come out Tuesday, right before a CLASH OF THE TITANS. Tune in to ABC (if you don’t have YouTube TV and now can’t watch any ABC/ESPN games) at 12pm next Saturday for UNDEFEATED BYU vs. soon-to-be-two-loss Texas Tech. Game of the week. Maybe the season. Possibly the decade. Outside of that, only one other top-25 matchup. And you know what that means… ESPN (corporate greedy f***s that they are) will throw some real curve balls at us with the Pick ‘Em slate. 

 

So, read up, and… think you’re slick? Make that pick!

 

#9 Vanderbilt @ #20 Texas (-3.5)

Navy @ North Texas (-6.5)

Duke @ Clemson (-4)

Arizona State @ Iowa State (-7.5)

#13 Texas Tech (-7.5) @ Kansas State

#15 Virginia (-5.5) @ California

#8 Georgia Tech (-4.5) @ NC State

#18 Oklahoma @ #14 Tennessee (-3)

#23 USC (-4.5) @ Nebraska

#17 Cincinnati @ #24 Utah (-11.5)