College football midseason roundup with the 5 things that matter, winners and losers, overrated and underrated aspects to the season so far, and what it all means
College Football Midseason Roundup
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CFN 1-131 Rankings | Rankings by Conference
Bowl Projections | Week 7 Scoreboard
Week 8 Early Lines | AP Rankings | Coaches Poll
What 12-Team Playoff Would Look Like
Top 10 Hot Seat Coach Rankings | Heisman Race
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– Everything is fine One Really Big Thing
– That BIG win Most Overrated Thing
– Quarterback injuries Most Underrated Thing
– Superpowers are back What It All Means, Midseason
Winners & Losers From College Football First Half
Winner: Pac-12
UCLA is all of a sudden great. It’s 6-0 for the first time since 2005, and USC got to 6-0 for the first time since 2006 before losing to Utah. The Utes are great, Oregon is great, Oregon State has become wildly interesting, and Washington is as fun as any team going.
Washington State went to Madison and beat Wisconsin, Stanford went to South Bend and beat Notre Dame, Arizona took out one of the best teams in the FCS when North Dakota State came to Tucson.
Forgetting the expansion aspect – other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? – the conference had a great few weeks.
Loser: Mountain West
What happened? All of a sudden the league that was so great over the last few years forgot how to play.
Boise State had to change offenses midway through, Fresno State struggled when QB Jake Haener went down, and it can’t be confirmed, but an angel reportedly loses its wings every time San Diego State’s brutal offense attempts a forward pass.
Utah State – awful. Nevada – awful. Colorado State, Hawaii, awful and awful.
To be fair, the rise of UNLV has been a blast, Wyoming has balled out, and Air Force and San Jose State have been great. The league could use a big second half, though.
Winner: Big 12
Who doesn’t want to be a part of the Big 12 shopping spree?
BYU has been okay, UCF is great, Cincinnati will probably be the top Group of Five program going to a New Year’s Six game, and Houston has been wildly fun. That’s all on the way in 2023 to go along with a base – at least in full form a season – with the strongest top-to-bottom conference in the country.
Where’s the easy out? Really? Iowa State is the worst team in the conference? Or maybe it’s Oklahoma? Or Texas Tech? They all might be bowling, including Kansas – one of the best stories in college football in the first half.
Loser: Big Ten
How much longer do we have to wait before Ohio State is just handed the Big Ten title trophy so we can go do other stuff?
Michigan has been great, and Illinois is having a wonderful breakthrough season, but there’s a whole lot of bad just about everywhere else.
Nebraska’s season fizzled immediately against a Northwestern team that flat-out died ever since the trip to Ireland. Wisconsin has been a massive disappointment, Michigan State a bigger one, and Iowa’s offense makes people sad.
Ohio State vs Michigan will be fun, but probably not.
Winner: Sun Belt
The whole Sun Belt, Fun Belt thing is kicking in full force.
It yoinked a bunch of programs from Conference USA, and then it went on a rampage to start the season.
How good was James Madison over the first several weeks? That’s how you make an entrance.
Appalachian State? All it did was beat Texas A&M. Marshall? It might not even go bowling, but it beat Notre Dame. Old Dominion? Welcome to the new era with your new coach, Virginia Tech, here’s a loss.
Nebraska has been miserable for years, but a loss to Georgia Southern broke the program’s back.
South Alabama might be the league’s best team, Southern Miss has been a good new edition, and Troy is in the mix. From top to bottom, the conference is strong, but …
Loser: Group of Five programs
Remember last year when we were all wondering if Cincinnati should be in the College Football Playoff, and then Alabama and reality smacked us all in the face? Good times.
Yeah, that whole narrative ended never happened for 2022 as the Group of Five programs tapped out almost instantly. Houston bailed out fast. Cincinnati lost right away. UCF lost to Louisville – that’s not good – and after the hot start, the Sun Belt CFP dream fizzled after they started beating each other up. Conference USA? No. The MAC? Double no.
It’s been a rough run for the second-tier. At least their respective conference races are fascinating.
– Everything is fine One Really Big Thing
– That BIG win Most Overrated Thing
– Quarterback injuries Most Underrated Thing
– Superpowers are back What It All Means, Midseason
