2022 Blog Poll: Week 6 — Don’t think we didn’t see those seven quarters of Mizzou and Auburn

Alabama outgained Texas A&M, dominated them analytically, yards per play, efficiency on both sides of the ball, mauled the Aggies in the running game, and were even leading in passing yards until the final cushiony drive. But, when you miss two field goals and have four turnovers, not many teams are going to win with an effective -5 for the game. The Tide, of course, was without reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young, and his backup accounted for a pitiful 12.5% 3rd down percentage in the first two quarters and three of those turnovers.

Georgia was healthy, playing at home against a lame duck coaching his team full of three-stars in a way that can only be described as “begging for a buyout”....so what’s your excuse?

Here is the Week 6 Blog Poll. The usual caveats apply. The criteria are nebulous, far-ranging, and capricious — strength of schedule, bad and good coaching, injuries, exigent circumstances, home/away results, defense or lack thereof, offense or lack thereof, line play, power poll-ishness, can you cover a spread (Vegas is pretty smart about how good a team is), head-to-head where possible or prudent, and my own lying eyeballs.

Other notes:

Ohio State once again smoked another bad team. Eventually, some decent ones will pop up on the schedule, but it hasn’t through almost half of the season. That win over 3-2 Notre Dame is doing all the Buckeyes heavy lifting...which is still better than you can say about Michigan. Damn, what a terrible schedule. Of the top teams in the East, it may be Penn State’s win over Purdue that is the best of this trio.

UCLA beat down the Doogs. TCU and Kansas played an outstanding fun game. Oklahoma State is just chugging along winning games pretty convincingly. Illinois’s defense and running game are B1G as we are accustomed to.

The ‘Sip have some quality teams this year, and as I have said since March, the Mississippi State game will be the toughest one on ‘Bama’s schedule. Road Lane tried to lose to Vandy for three quarters, but eventually it was Vandy.

And, in the midmajors, it’s the weakest crop we’ve seen in a while. SJSU is very much ynder the radar, but this team could be undefeated. See also: South Alabama, Tulane. Cincy didn’t go anywhere, but neither have they won a meaningful game. That double-digit loss the Hogs looks worse. Meanwhile, James Madison and Coastal are the class of a Sun Belt that has been up and down this season.

Could it be possible? The ACC has about half a dozen actually decent teams for a change?! Clemson, Syracuse, Wake, NC State, FSU and...don’t look now...North Carolina.