Three Biggest Storylines for Week 9 of CFB Season
With Week 9 of the CFB season already here it appears we have more confusion than clarity as to who is the top dog in College Football this year. Some love parity, some love order, but nobody loves USC breaking up the Pac-12 just to be 3-4 on the season. Either way, here we are…
1. The Self Cannibalization of the SEC
If I had told you before the season started that by Week 9 Texas A&M would be at the top of the standings in the SEC, you would think I’m insane. If I told you that after Week 1 of this season that LSU would be second in the SEC standings come Week 9, you would probably try to admit me back into the pysch ward you’re pretty sure that I’ve just broken out of. We were well aware of the abundance of talented teams that would be in the SEC this season and we assumed that the cream would eventually rise to the top. However, what we did not expect is the entire SEC to be cream. Because of the abundance of talent with teams that have a legitimate chance of making the CFB Playoffs in the SEC, many of these same teams are going to end up knocking each other out of playoff contention while in SEC play. Just look at who we thought would be at the top of the SEC; Texas suffered a loss last weekend against Georgia, Georgia has a loss agaisnt Alabama (a loss that continues to look worse and worse by the week), Alabama already has two losses and has no realistic chance of making the playoffs, Ole Miss has blown their playoff chances, and LSU in all likelihood can kiss their playoff chances goodbye with another loss. All of this and we have not even touched on Tennessee yet. The overwhelming talent that resides in the SEC will ultimately be it’s undoing. The teams that come out of the SEC and into the playoffs may have won the battle, but could ultimately lose the war due to the battle scars they received.
Curernt SEC Standings
1. Texas A&M
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. Tennessee
5. Missouri
6. Texas
7. Vanderbilt
2. Is Penn St. the Best Team in the BIG10?
With all the talk of Oregon and Ohio St. coming out of the Big Ten, many a people have completely overlooked Penn St. Perhaps the best team in the Big Ten, Penn St. has by far been one of the best teams defensively in the country by only allowing 14.5PPG. The issue with previous iterations of Penn St. was a lack of a potent offense to complement the stout defense, it appears however that all that has changed this season. Penn St. is boasting a dominant running attack led by Nicholas Singleton and quarterback Drew Aller currently holds a bolstering QBR of 88.7. This combination of an efficient offense and dominant defense is what Penn St. fans have been looking for for at least the past seven seasons and it appears they finally have it. All that of course will be put to the test come Nov. 2 when the Nittany Lions square off against Ohio St. Someone should see if Sheck Wes can make it to the game.
3. The Development of Culture
A sentiment that is often expressed around the STBY company is the understanding that it takes 4-5 years to establish a culture within an organization/program. This timeframe is universal no matter the league, no matter the team, and most importantly no matter the profession. Perhaps it was foolish of us then to think that Kalen DeBoer and Alabama would be the exception. Alabama fans are hysterical right now and understandably so, they’re not used to seeing their beloved program only be worthy of a #15 ranking in the AP Poll. Let’s remember that Alabama lost over twenty players in the transfer portal, have an entirely new coaching staff, and are playing in the most dominant conference in football to boot. If Alabama supporters learned anything under the Nick Saban era it should be that great things take time, and everything should be done with greatness in mind. The same patience that was shown to Saban, they should be willing to show to DeBoer. I understand that there will never be another Nick Saban. But who knows, fifteen years from now we could saying there will never be another Kalen DeBoer.
