College Football Week 6 Overreactions and Underractions: Penn State Opens the Door for Notre Dame

While College Football Week 6 didn't feature the marquee matchups of Week 5, a slate that will be hard to match this season, it did bring chaos. Two top ten programs lost to unranked opponents. Florida exposed Texas in their first SEC matchup. Penn State followed up its big game loss to Oregon by losing to winless UCLA. This combination of losses, along with Vanderbilt's and Florida State's, opens the door for Notre Dame to re-enter the College Football Playoff chat.

"James Franklin 1 (cropped) (cropped)" by Governor Tom Wolf is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Off the Field & Screen went 3-2 in its College Football Week 6 Preview selections. Texas has been consistently overranked, despite having no marquee wins to its name. However, Alabama and Kalen DeBoer continue to win. And, to continue the Notre Dame theme, Texas A&M's dominant win makes them look a lot better.

College Football Week 6 Overreactions

Overreaction 1: Preseason Polls

The preseason polls have helped LSU and Texas stay higher in the polls than they deserve. Last week, Ole Miss exposed LSU as an SEC pretender, and this week, Florida did the same to Texas. However, at this point, it appears that LSU is better than Texas, even though neither deserves a top ten spot. The question for the future is whether this will also affect Ohio State's standing. Should their win over Texas be more valued than Oregon's win over Penn State? Penn State certainly didn't help that argument this week.

The point is that the preseason polls blur the lines about which wins matter the most and which programs are contenders. Early losses don't hold enough weight, either. Ultimately, the voting system is "fun," but developing a new ranking system is worth exploring.

Overreaction 2: Alabama Is Back

Kalen DeBoer and Alabama have overcome an early-season loss to FSU by beating Georgia and Vanderbilt in back-to-back weeks, but the pressure doesn't stop. They have ranked opponents in four of their next five games. The problem for DeBoer is that the standard for Alabama isn't simply a good season, and it certainly isn't met by beating Vanderbilt. They'll have to finish this season strong and make some noise in the CFP to get in the realm of "back" as Nick Saban has defined it.

Overreaction 3: The Early ACC Hype

Last week's review covered this topic in detail, explaining the issues with the ACC having more than one CFP participant. Miami's victory over FSU sets their spot in stone, barring a massive upset on their remaining schedule.. Georgia Tech's path involves beating either Georgia or Miami. If Georgia Tech beats Georgia and Miami, that might allow for two ACC teams. Or a Georgia win and a Miami loss. The point is that the path is extremely difficult.

In terms of the CFP, it will be challenging to accommodate a two-loss ACC team. Of course, this will be complicated by the other two-loss program being Notre Dame. If it comes down to Notre Dame or Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets will be in trouble. At one point, it felt like four teams still had a chance. It's now down to two, with Miami having the easier path.

College Football Week 6 Underreactions

Underreaction 1: Penn State Falling Apart

The significance of Penn State's loss to UCLA cannot be understated. It likely ends their season. The only road to the CFP now is running the table, including matchups against Indiana and Ohio State.

The narrative surrounding James Franklin has been that he cannot win the "big games," but he takes care of business in the other games. With a 37-42 loss to UCLA, that narrative is crumbling. It is one game, but it changes the season. Penn State has fallen behind Oregon, and Indiana is on their heels. They've not been able to take down Ohio State, either. Furthermore, don't count out Michigan as a better Big Ten team.

Underreaction 2: Notre Dame Going to the CFP

No one should question this reality. Notre Dame is a big brand that draws eyeballs to the screen. As Penn State and Texas falter, and Texas A&M and Miami ascend (their two losses), Notre Dame will continue to rise despite their weak schedule. If the decision comes down to Georgia Tech or a similar program, Notre Dame will receive the preference. It's not fair, but it's reality.

Underreaction 3: Texas Is a Fraud

Texas hasn't been good all year. Arch Manning could still develop into an elite college quarterback, but he hasn't lived up to the hype to this point in the season. Somehow, they've stayed ahead of better programs with each successive poll release. They've stayed ahead of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, despite each of those programs having a more difficult schedule. Their preseason rankings, combined with a loss to OSU, have kept them in the top ten. Losing to a Florida team that hasn't exactly thrived this season either should put them in a more appropriate spot in the polls.

Best Games

Cincinnati's 38-30 upset over Iowa State

Is the talent in this conference so evenly matched that no team will emerge as a favorite? If so, they'll likely knock all but one team out of the CFP.

Florida's 29-21 Upset over Texas

Billy Napier needed this win like his job depended on it... because it likely did.

Miami's season-defining win over FSU

Miami needed this win over FSU to cement their place in the ACC title game. The season is approaching the halfway point, but Miami's schedule should allow them to cruise to a conference title.

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