Texas Lets OU Win, Kiffin’s a Fraud, The Dawgs Get the Monkey Off Their Back

Dawgbone Jr's Weekend Observations: Born barkin', raised on Kirby's domination of rivals, and fueled by SEC and National championships - Dawgbone Jr recaps the weekend's biggest games all season long.

Texas Lets OU Win, Kiffin’s a Fraud, The Dawgs Get the Monkey Off Their Back

#7 Indiana 20, Nebraska 17

Since 2016, Nebraska is 0-31 against AP Top 25 teams. It’s an insane stat, and they choked this one away. The crowd in Lincoln was rocking and ready for this huge matchup, and Matt Rhule let them down. The Nebraska defense completely shut down an Indiana run game that had been great up to this point. Hoosiers RB Turbo Richard ran for just 10 yards on Saturday after rushing for 204 the week before. Meanwhile, Nebraska QB Anthony Colendrea made plays through the air and with his legs, and it looked like the Cornhuskers were going to pull off the upset. But good teams find ways to win. It was a rough day for the Indiana offense, but they made monster plays in the fourth quarter. WR Nick Marsh caught two touchdowns to give the Hoosiers the lead, and he was a problem for the Nebraska defense all game. Indiana looked dead in the water until the game turned on a dime with those two explosive scores. Nebraska has a solid team, but they just can’t win big games. Indiana is definitely a good team, but there is no way they beat Ohio State next week.

#1 Texas 24, Oklahoma 27

Texas has looked shaky all year, even after some huge wins, and the Sooners broke their hearts in Dallas. The way Oklahoma won was about the only way they could have: defensive touchdowns, winning the turnover battle, and explosive plays from WR Isaiah Sategna III. That’s the only recipe for Oklahoma to win an SEC game, and they followed it perfectly. Arch Manning looked phenomenal in the first half. His deep ball to Cam Coleman on the first touchdown might have been the best throw of his career. The second half was a complete disaster, though. Both of his interceptions were awful. The pick six was the worst throw of his career, and Peyton Bowen made him pay with an incredible return. The other pick was just as bad. Texas had the ball with a chance to win on a field goal, and Manning handed it to Oklahoma. That was the one thing Texas could not do, and it backfired when OU won on a walk-off field goal. Manning looks exactly the same as he did last year, and there hasn’t been much improvement at all. It’s a shame Oklahoma’s offense is so bad, because their defense is so good. Mateer and the offense did nothing to win this game. The defense and special teams gave them two touchdowns, and when the offense did move the ball, it was because of a stupid mistake from Texas. Texas is the team that beat Texas in this game.

#21 UCLA 17, #13 Oregon 15

What a disastrous start to the year for Dan Lanning and Oregon. They came into the season ranked second and were a top favorite to win the national title, but now there is no chance they make the playoffs. Not having Dante Moore was a huge issue for the Ducks. Dylan Raiola was horrible against the Bruins defense, going 6/19 for 43 yards with two interceptions. Lanning rightfully benched him, and third-string QB Thomas looked a whole lot better. The UCLA run defense was on fire too, holding the Ducks to just 73 rushing yards on 27 attempts. In total, the Bruins defense caused seven turnovers. Crazy. UCLA even had their backup QB in for part of the game, and Oregon still couldn’t win. Hopefully UCLA gets Nico back soon. Former Georgia D-lineman Bear Alexander made an incredibly dirty play when he punched Nico in the neck after a tackle, and it could turn out to be a bad injury. Fortunately for UCLA, their schedule is so easy that they’ll make the playoffs this season. What a job Bob Chesney has done in his first year.

#10 LSU 34, Kentucky 35

Kentucky is two plays away from being 3-3 over their last two games, but instead they’re 5-1. For the second week in a row, the Wildcats won in overtime on a walk-off two-point conversion, and with the exact same score too. Sam Leavitt is now 0-3 in road games against SEC teams. He has had a rough start to the season, and I could see LSU changing quarterbacks in the next couple of weeks. He’s a turnover machine, and he showed it Saturday by throwing a pick and fumbling the ball. He did play well for a lot of the game, but he’s bound to make a catastrophic mistake at some point. Kentucky QB Kenny Minchey is quickly becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the conference. His stats weren’t the best, but he was safe with the football and made some big-time throws. True freshman WR Kenny Darby is an absolute stud for the Wildcats, and his name is one to watch the rest of the season. This was kind of a choke for LSU. Kentucky gave them every chance to close out the game by missing field goals, but Leavitt and the offense couldn’t convert. Then in overtime, the defense let the Kentucky QB walk right into the end zone for the winning two-point conversion. LSU fans might already be getting tired of Kiffin after such a rough start. For Kentucky, head coach Will Stein has been by far the best new hire in the SEC, and the Wildcats are a dark horse for the playoffs this year.

#2 Dawgs 20, #6 Bama 17

Before I dive into this game, the refs will not be mentioned at all, because football games don’t get decided by zebras. Anyway, this game felt like all the Georgia-Bama games the Dawgs have lost, except this time they won. They played a fantastic game on offense and defense, just not on special teams. Gunner Stockton had one of his best games last week, but this week was the best game of his career. He went 18/22 for 249 yards with two total touchdowns, and he was 9/10 on third down. His throw to Craig Dandridge on third down at the start of the second half was one of the best throws of the year. He was ripping it with confidence and picking apart Bama’s secondary. Four different Georgia receivers also had over 40 yards. With injuries forcing them into bigger roles, RBs Dwight Phillips Jr. and Bo Walker played the games of their lives. They combined for 189 yards and each averaged about seven yards a carry. The O-line was incredible too. Bama’s D-line is one of the best in the country, and the Dawgs ran all over them in the second half. The defense was just as good. Keelon Russell and the Bama offense have been explosive this year and made some big plays Saturday, but Georgia’s defense was clutch in the critical moments. When Gunner threw an interception, the defense immediately sent Bama backwards and got them out of field goal range. Then on Bama’s final drive, KJ Bolden came flying in to sack Russell and push them out of field goal range again. It was a fantastic night for both coordinators, Glenn Schumann and Mike Bobo. Some could argue this is the best regular-season win of the Kirby Smart era, and I’d have to agree.

Dawgbones

Dwight Phillips Jr. was most definitely the player of the game along with Gunner Stockton, but since the Dawgs beat Bama in the regular season for the first time since 2007, the entire team can have as many dawgbones as they want.

Other Thoughts

Washington needs to fire their coach.
Missouri’s defense has been playing lights out.
A&M might be the worst team in the conference besides Arkansas.
South Carolina can be great or terrible, and you never know which one you’re going to get.
Florida went from playoff team to possibly another 7-5 season.
Tennessee’s offense sucks, and they have a major QB issue.
Maybe Penn State shouldn’t have fired James Franklin.
The ACC is so bad besides Miami.

Week 7 Game Predictions (6-4 last week)

Ohio State 31, Indiana 17
Florida 14, Texas 27
Mississippi State 34, LSU 31
Alabama 24, Tennessee 14
Missouri 24, Ole Miss 28
Auburn 10, Georgia 31
Florida State 10, Miami 49
Notre Dame 27, BYU 13
Wisconsin 21, UCLA 24
Kentucky 21, Oklahoma 20
Oklahoma State 41, Houston 34

Dawgbone Jr (aka Bennett Wiggins)