Opinion: College Football's Week Six Villains

Another weekend of college football is in the books, so let’s go through who let themselves down on the gridiron with my Week Six Villains:

Louisiana State: Somewhat unbelievably, the Tigers have dropped their first two SEC games for the first time in the decade that Les Miles has been coach down in Baton Rouge. They were outplayed by Mississippi State in their first conference outing, and were even worse on the road against Auburn. The Tigers were down 31-7 at half time in front of a hostile crowd, and gave up a whopping 247 yards in the first quarter alone. Remember when LSU had those great defenses?

Oregon: Perhaps we should have expected the Ducks to lose to Arizona on Thursday night after their narrow escape against Washington State in their last game. It’s not often we write that the Ducks were dominated, but – for the second straight year – they were, and it started up front, getting nothing from their offensive line, who gave up five sacks.

College Football Playoff Committee: A carnage-filled first Saturday of October makes it unlikely that the inaugural four-team playoff bracket will be filled with undefeated teams, which opens things right up.

Let’s just say the schools that lost today don’t lose again all year. That means there’s going to be an incredible amount of jockeying for position between a host of very good one-loss teams – Alabama and Oregon lead that list, Oklahoma not far behind – and the committee can pick just four teams.

For example, do you put an undefeated Baylor squad out of a weaker Big XII conference in over, say, a one-loss Oregon team? There are questions like that to be answered right across the country, and there’s almost certain to be controversial admissions. Combing the form guide as it is, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.

Michigan: Reeling, the Wolverines have lost their third straight game, going down to Rutgers on a late blocked field goal by the Scarlet Knights after Michigan lost to Minnesota and Utah in their last two starts. They were shredded through the air, giving up a career-high 404 yards (and three touchdowns) to Rutgers QB Gary Nova.

After a week of controversy surrounding backup QB Shane Morris and a possible concussion, the Wolverines badly needed a win to take some of the pressure off of embattled head coach Brady Hoke. They didn’t get it, instead falling into a 2-4 hole that they won’t climb out of. It’s the worst start for the Wolverines since opening 2-7 under Rich Rodriguez in 2008. Shocking to see the state of this program.

The Pac-12: Touched on Oregon’s problems above, but there are wider-reaching issues for the west-coast conference, who, aside from seeing the Ducks succumb on Thursday night, had other big problems suffer reputation-tarnishing losses. UCLA lost at home to Utah and Stanford lost on the road in Notre Dame after giving up an Everett Golson touchdown from a fourth-and-eleven situation with less than a minute to go.

Aside from losses, the fact that the conference seems to be eating itself from the inside out isn’t a good sign as far as getting a team into the playoff. Let’s see: UCLA beat Arizona State, Arizona beat Oregon, USC beat Stanford, Arizona State beat USC. Arizona beat Oregon. USC beat Stanford. Washington State beat Utah. Utah beat UCLA. The way things are going, the Pac-12 will be lucky to have one one-loss team left.

Jeff Driskel: The Florida quarterback was benched and watched his back-up bring the Gators back for an ugly 10-9 victory over Tennessee. It was a deserved benching, for Driskel completed just 11-23 for 59 yards and three interceptions. It doesn’t help that he had little to no pocket protection, but still, it’s been one bad performance after another for Driskel, who has 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on the year, and is completing just 55% of passes. On those numbers alone, I won’t be surprised if Driskel doesn’t take another snap for Florida.

Wisconsin: Their star back Melvin Gordon had a career-high 258 yards at nearly ten yards a carry but the Badgers got next to nothing – other than turnovers – from their quarterbacks, and lost 20-17 to Northwestern. That was a game the Badgers should’ve won. They dominated offensively, but the four turnovers between two quarterbacks, Tanner McEvoy and Joel Stave, and a complete lack of any offense through the air doomed them to a bad road loss.

Brigham Young University: The Cougars lost their superstar starting QB Taysom Hill to a leg fracture late in the second quarter of Friday night’s home game against Utah State, and had to slot backup Christian Stewart into the contest.

The problem was, Stewart had thrown only two passes all season prior to his enforced appearance, and that didn’t bode at all well for the No. 18 Cougars, who saw their undefeated record go up in smoke, falling to the Aggies 35-20.

Looking at the bigger picture, Friday night ended everything that the Cougars had been hoping to achieve in 2014: an undefeated season, a Heisman shot for Hill and a slot in a major Bowl game. It’s all gone, and it’s a shame, because BYU with Hill at the offensive controls were a great team to watch.