I Tell Ya' Herbie

   Time for a few thoughts and notes from the college football world, which we like to call I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Lincoln Riley and the tradition of USC appeared to be well-matched when Riley left Oklahoma for Southern California in 2022. 

The Trojans appeared to be the crown jewel of the Big Ten's West Coast expansion and both appear to be mismatched.

Riley blames everyone but himself for the woes of USC and after finishing 8-5 in the final year of the Pac 12, USC was expected to finish in the upper tier in the Big Ten, even if they weren't an elite team.

The Trojans surprised many with an opening week upset of LSU but have won only twice since posting a 3-4 record of this writing and 1-4 in the Big Ten.

Losses to offensively inept Michigan, boat rowing Minnesota, and losing huge leads in losses to Penn State and Maryland have made me wonder just how they managed to defeat resurgent Wisconsin?

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The Big 12 has two unbeaten teams- BYU and Iowa State, neither of which were expected to be title contenders.

Texas Tech suffered their first conference loss, losing at home by twenty-four to mediocre Baylor, to drop one game back, Colorado and Cincinnati each have one loss in conference and play each other this Saturday with the winner keeping hopes alive and the loser likely praying for tie-breaker miracles.

This leaves one loss Kansas State, who were trashed by BYU but will play Iowa State on November 30th in what could decide the participants in the Big 12 title game.

Another crazy year in the wacky Big 12.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            In the Sun Belt East, the door has opened for Georgis Southern to win the division after beating pre-season favorite James Madison, holding a win over Marshall, and the slow start to perennial contender Appalachian State.

Should the Eagles defeat Old Dominion on Saturday, they would have a two-game lead over the entire division except for Marshall, who they would have the tiebreaker after their win over the Thundering Herd.

UL-Monroe is the only unbeaten team in the Sun Belt West and holds a one-game lead over Arkansas State, South Alabama, and Texas State, all of whom the Warhawks will play in the final half of the season.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            It's hard to believe that after the first two weeks of the season, two teams that suffered non-conference defeats would be the final two schools standing without a loss in the SEC standings.

LSU has rebounded from their loss to USC on a neutral field in Las Vegas, while Texas A&M hasn't been defeated since a home defeat to Notre Dame.

The winner will have a step up on a possible SEC title trip while the loser will join five teams with one conference loss of this writing with Alabama not part of that group with two league setbacks.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Which SEC coach has the more tenuous job security currently, Auburn's Hugh Freeze at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the SEC or Brent Venables of 4-3 (But 1-3 in SEC play) Oklahoma?

I'd say Freeze as one of Auburn's two wins was over 1-AA Alabama A&M, their remaining games are road games at Kentucky and Alabama with home games against ranked Vanderbilt and Texas A&M along the aforementioned Sun Belt West leader UL-Monroe.

Auburn might be lucky to get two wins out of that run and winning one might be the most likely result.

I don't think 3-9 is what Auburn thought they were paying for when they hired Freeze from Liberty.