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College Football

Bottlegate’s Top 10 College Football Teams And The Top 5 Heisman Hopefuls

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College football is back! The preseason polls don’t mean a damn thing (except for Alabama). Notre Dame is losing heartbreaking games, an Urban Meyer team is scoring a lot of points, double overtimes, drunk fans, Heisman hopefuls, the GameDay crew… WE’RE BACK, BABY. It’s the best time of the year and if you’re like me you watched enough college football to make your eyes bleed this past weekend.

Here is Bottlegate’s weekly Top 10 teams in the country from what my eyes told me. I’ll try and have these up around every Tuesday before the AP Poll comes out once we get back into the swing of things.

 

10. Texas A&M

Beat a ranked team and a good quarterback in UCLA and Jacob Rosen. After Trevor Knight’s game I wouldn’t be surprised if Katy Perry tries to reignite this lost romance since Trevor and that Duck Dynasty girl broke up. Johnny Manziel is back taking classes in College Station, maybe a little of his Johnny magic rubs off on Trevor Knight and A&M can be the darkhorse of the SEC.  Huge matchup for the Aggies next weekend when they host Prairie View A&M.

 

9. Stanford

Christian McCaffrey had a very ho hum 166 yards rushing and receiving and the Cardinal beat the Wildcats 26-13. Nothing flashy or sexy but that’s who Stanford is. Plus their former quarterback just joined the Browns practice squad so we’ll throw Stanford in the top 10. Big primetime matchup next weekend vs. a USC team that just got embarrassed.

 

8. Georgia

Nick Chubb is BACK. After 1 week Chubb looks like he’ll be invited to New York in December as a Heisman finalist. I imagine that within a couple games Kirby Smart will name Jacob Eason the full time starter and the Georgia offense will really start to take off once he gets some game experience. Big game vs. the powerhouse Nicholls Colonels next week in Athens.

 

7. Texas

Notre Dame v Texas was by far the game of the weekend. Do I think Texas deserves a spot in the top 10 after just one game and opening up the season unranked? Not necessarily but winning that kind of game is worth the #7 ranking. One of their quarterbacks also beat the odds

And a note to all you Notre Dame fans- Now you guys can rest easy. ND got their inevitable soul crushing and demoralizing loss out of the way early in the season and you guys can now coast through 2016 without being stressed every Saturday. Their CFB Playoff hopes are essentially done due to Brian Kelly not rolling with one of the best QBs in the country full time.

Next up: UTEP

 

6. Michigan

I still don’t see the hype with Michigan this season because they haven’t been relevant in like a decade on the field… but there’s this Harbaugh guy… and even as a diehard OSU fan I have to be honest with myself- Jim Harbaugh is awesome for college football. I won’t like Jim Harbaugh for that last week in November but I’ll be a fan the other 51 weeks of the year.

Michigan hosts UCF on Saturday.

 

5. Houston

In their last two games Houston has beaten Florida State and Oklahoma. I’m admittedly not very familiar with the Cougars but every time I see them on TV they look like they’re having the most fun a team’s ever had. That’s a big component of the Bottlegate rankings.  If Houston stays undefeated they’re getting into the playoff. Barnburner vs the Lamar Cardinals on Saturday.

 

4. Ohio State

I don’t care if it was Bowling Green, 77 points is nothing to sneeze at. Mike Weber won’t be Zeke but he showed some signs of being the next big Ohio State running back. This team is athletic and young as hell and should get better game after game. The Bucks host Tulsa next Saturday at 3:30 and will probably win by 30. Oklahoma will be a good measuring stick for this team.

 

3. Clemson

Clemson almost lost to an Auburn team that went 7-6 last year. Auburn may surprise a few people this year, but this Clemson team that almost won the national championship last season, and that has the preseason Heisman favorite under center has no business almost getting upset by a third tier SEC team.

 

2. Alabama

We saw the Tide absolutely decimate a pretty decent USC team in their first game since winning the national championship last season. Bama would get the #1 spot but I’m biased against the SEC and this wasn’t a true out of conference road game. They’ll probably be #1 in a few weeks however because I think this team is pretty terrifying. Bama hosts Western Kentucky and their giant trash can mascot on Saturday.

 

1. Florida State

After the first half on Monday night I was ready to drop Florida State out of the top ten altogether. Second half Florida State was another story. Deondre Francois and Dalvin Cook have a chance to be the most lethal backfield in college football this season. I think this was the most impressive win of the opening weekend. The Noles will have to learn how to win a game without Jameis Winston giving halftime speeches, however.

HUGE matchup vs the Charleston Southern Buccaneers on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/Insane_Athletes/status/773265228280700928

 

Heisman (in no order)

Deshone Kizer

215 yards passing and 5 TDs. 77 yards rushing and 1 TD. Bovada has Kizer listed at +4,000 to win the Heisman. That might be a GREAT value bet.

 

Deondre Francois

33-for-52 for 420 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers vs Ole Miss. His Heisman odds are unlisted on Bovada but when they list them this might be a great bet to throw a few bucks on.  Those Freshman Florida State QBs do pretty well.

 

JT Barrett

379 total yards and seven touchdowns vs Bowling Green. Bovada lists JT as +550.

 

Nick Chubb

222 yards rushing and 2 TDs against North Carolina. Chubb is listed at +1,000.

 

Probably Christian McCaffrey

166 total yards and 2 TDs. Bovada lists him at +400, the best odds of any player to win the Heisman.

 

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I don’t expect much movement next week in the top 10 because unlike week 1, week 2 is filled with cupcakes for all of the good teams in CFB.

And someone alert me once Deondre Francois’s odds get listed on Bovada.

Buckeyes

Don’t look now but OSU’s “replacement QB” J.T. Barrett is 7th in the Heisman watch

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From Heismanpundit.com

Here is the week 6 edition of the 2014 HP Heisman Watch. After taking into account the games played so far, these are the players who have the best chance of actually winning the Heisman. This is not a prediction of the final order of the race, nor is it an endorsement of who would or should win if the vote were held today. It’s a long view of the race that takes into account schedule and statistical trends.

1. Todd Gurley  2.Marcus Mariota

 3. Dak Prescott  4. Everett Golson

5. Ameer Abdullah  6. Melvin Gordon

7. JT Barrett  8. Kenny Hill

Not bad company for a freshman who has started 5 games in his collegiate career. He has the Buckeye offense humming right now and is only getting better each game. Things may get VERRRYY interesting come December…

 

7. J.T. Barrett, FR, QB, Ohio State

This could’ve been Braxton Miller’s spot. In fact, if Braxton Miller was healthy and doing what Barrett has been doing, he’d be in the top three of the Heisman race right now. As its stands, the redshirt freshman is on pace to have the best season for a quarterback in Ohio State’s long and storied history. It’s looking more and more like the Buckeyes will be 7-1 when they take on Michigan State in East Lansing. If Barrett continues to play like he’s been playing while leading OSU over Sparty, he’s going to have a shot at being the third-straight redshirt freshman to win the Heisman. He’s currently on pace for almost 4,000 yards of offense and 45 touchdowns in 12 games. Beat Michigan State and he’ll be able to add to those numbers in the Big Ten title game. If Ohio State is 12-1 at that point and primed for a playoff spot, Barrett’s production could propel him to the Heisman.

Season Stats: 88 of 133, 1,354 yards, 66.2%, 17 TDs, 5 INTs, 186.3 rating, 276 rush yards, 2 TDs

Season Pace: 3,249 passing yards, 41 TDs, 662 rush yards, 4 TDs.

 

If JT Barrett even sniffs those numbers listed under “season pace” Urban Meyer is going to have quite the decision on his hands deciding who starts under center next season. Do you go with the 2 time Big 10 offensive player of the year in Braxton Miller? Or do you go with the younger quarterback who just had the best season for a QB in the history of Ohio State? If Barrett stays on this pace, I start him no questions asked. At Ohio State it’s “what have you done for me lately,” and there’s no way you can put a record setting quarterback as second string. You’re starting to see just what JT is capable of this year- distributing the football, accuracy, finding the open guy, decent running ability… IF Barrett stays on this pace and earns the starting spot for next year, I fully expect Braxton Miller to pull a Russell Wilson and use his last year of eligibility at a different school. What school is that? Arizona. Running Rich Rod’s offense. *You heard it here first on Bottlegate.com.

 

 

*I don’t really believe that