I didn't watch closely Ohio State's 59-7 pasting of Akron last week which is why I didn't do a review.
I tell ya Herbie: I didn't see the surprise return to prominence of the Arkansas Razorbacks this season.
With wins over Texas and Texas A&M, Arkansas seems to be building a winner under Sam Pittman, who had his hiring questioned by just about everyone before the 2020 season.
Pittman has been a tireless recruiter and a tip that the Hogs could be improved this season could have come when looking at the results of 2020 with Arkansas losing three of their seven losses by a combined seven points.
Arkansas will be heavy underdogs at Georgia this Saturday but even with a defeat, Arkansas seems to be headed in the right direction.
I Tell Ya' Herbie: Conference realignment is always a fun topic for me to think about and discuss and I haven't written anything about the SEC gaining Texas and Oklahoma or the Big 12 responding with a raid of the AAC in adding Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston along with independent Brigham Young.
The SEC hasn't decided whether to shuffle their divisions a bit when the Longhorns and Sooners arrive or to go to a "pod" system, where you play the same three teams every year and the schedule changes from year to year by playing different pods to fill out the schedule remainder.
I'm not a fan of the pod system, because sooner or later you will have more than two teams that qualify for the conference title game, and chaos and unfairness ensues.
So assuming the divisional format is kept the easy fix is to move Alabama and Auburn to the East Division and add Texas and Oklahoma to the West division but in order to do that (and keep Alabama and Auburn together), one team would have to go to the West from the East.
My pick for that would be Missouri, which would add neighboring Arkansas and former Big 8/12 fellow member Oklahoma as regulars on their schedule.
That's the best fit.
I Tell Ya Herbie: As for the Big 12, I've heard different rumors for their move from ten to twelve teams which have mentioned a return to divisional play or using a mini-pod system that would see teams play the same six teams every year and the other five would rotate in and out off a schedule.
My guess for divisional play would likely see things break down in this manner:
Division One: Cincinnati, West Virginia, Central Florida, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State.
Division Two: Oklahoma State, Baylor, Houston, TCU, Texas Tech, Brigham Young,
But there are rumors that the Big 12 may not stop at the four schools that they have added and could add two or even four more schools within the next year in an attempt to shore up the conference before the next round of conference checkers.
I will mention a few possibilities in the next edition of "Herbie"
I Tell Ya' Herbie; This is a year that may be looked back at as an aberration.
Powerhouses such as Clemson, Ohio State, and even Oklahoma, although the Sooners are still unbeaten, are struggling while other schools are surprising with their starts such as Wake Forest, Michigan State, and Arkansas.
One reason that this could be happening is that powerhouse teams lost players to the NFL as usual but the middle-of-the-pack teams has been able to improve this season with players gaining an extra year of eligibility due to the Covid crisis.
It'll be interesting to see if things level back to normal next season.
I Tell Ya' Herbie: Here is our inaugural Top Ten, which is based on who you beat and how you are playing not on reputation.
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