We saw a lot of football on Saturday. Some good, some bad. I went to a game in person, so I wasn’t able to see every play of every game. But what I did see caused me to think the following:

– I have said for the last two weeks on the podcast that I thought UGA would beat Clemson, and then falter down the stretch. I still stand by that. From what I heard through the audio of the broadcast, neither team looked great on offense, and Georgia’s defense shut Clemson down. I still think Clemson is a playoff team, but I’m not sure UGA is. If you believe Matt’s crazy-but-entirely-possible SEC Championship scenario, they may be…but will be no. 4 in the seeding. UGA has to find an offense, and if they can’t clear the hurdle to beat Alabama should they face them OR win the Natty, I think quiet rumblings about Smart’s leadership will begin.

– Miami is not back yet. What a beating. I couldn’t watch after a couple of drives. It was like watching a completely one-sided Attitude Era match—and I’m not even a wrestling fan. If there was ever a game where the Jim Ross “STOP THE —— MATCH!” meme was appropriate, that was it. Yikes.

– Hope everyone’s ready for Alabama domination again this year, because that’s what you’re getting. Power run, power D, power my TV off because if I see Clemson vs. Bama 11 or whatever it is in the playoff, I’ll be watching YouTube videos of the Birmingham Bolts’ 2001 season instead.

– Matt looks like a genius. After I hemmed and hawed and said that maybe LSU could recover, they dropped one in the grand cathedral of college football. They looked bad. They were inept on offense and could not stop the front four of UCLA from getting in the backfield, they looked Big 10 slow on defense, and worst of all—fed Chip Kelly’s ego. If they don’t win a major game this year, and get embarrassed by Auburn, Alabama, or A&M, I think Matt’s right—Coach O may be done.

– Did you know that East Tennessee State had a football team? Did you know Vanderbilt currently doesn’t? How bad of shape did Derek Mason leave that program in? Holy cow. I think the rise of that program under Bobby Johnson and peak under Franklin is over. It’s like 2000 again in Nashville—and not in a good way.

– And Mississippi State is wiping its brow and thanking its lucky stars for Vandy so everyone can forget that it took a sneeze of a field goal attempt to keep them from losing to LaTech. I think they’ll be better, but that was not pretty.

– Akron has to have the most unfortunate nickname in college football in the Zips.

– Akron also has the most accurate name in college football, because they did Zip against Auburn. Literally nothing of note until the backups came in, and then their backup QB started moving and making things happen. His number? 0.

– How about Auburn? I mean, again, it’s Akron, but they showed discipline, executed well, rarely threw an across body or back foot pass, and seemed to click. We’ll see how they do against Penn State, but I don’t think it’ll be that bad of a first year for the new coach. And while there were still several Mike Bobo trademarks (extensive use of play action, namely) it seemed to work fairly well. I’m looking forward to seeing that AU-Penn State game.

– Montana knocked off Washington. Unreal. More later.

– Matt is 3-for-3 in the predictions, by the way. Agreed on UGA, called Orgeron, but the most impressive was calling UNI giving Iowa State fits and the Cyclones barely escaping with a win. Spot on, and the seventh-ranked team played like the seventh-best team in the Big-12. Hoping they improve.

– Lastly, weren’t we all pulling for Tulane to knock off Oklahoma? The Green Wave, wearing some of the sweetest duds we’ve seen in a while, ran out to a decent lead, only to lose it in grand fashion…to then come back and make it a game late. Hanging 35 on the second-best team in the country is nothing to be ashamed of, and we at The Message Pitch love the Green Wave program under Coach Fritz. They’ve got a chance to show what they have against a former SEC rival in Ole Miss in a couple of weeks. We’ll be watching.

Did I miss something? Leave your team out? Let me hear it! Have a safe weekend, enjoy yourself, and unwind responsibly.