Winners
Cincinnati
Put some respect on the Bearcats name. If you haven’t been paying attention Cincinnati has been a great team out of the AAC conference for the past two seasons. Luke Fickell has built a quality program that isn’t just being competitive with bigger programs, but now they are starting to beat them. Cincinnati controlled most of the game against the Fighting Irish ending in a 24-13 win. The Bearcats are making a serious claim to be in the College Football Playoff if they remain undefeated.
Kentucky
Kentucky football: “It isn’t pretty but it gets the job done”. The Wildcats have a tough defense and an offense that has success running the football. Those two qualities alone will keep you in every game. The Wildcat’s latest win over the Florida Gators put the rest of the SEC on notice. Kentucky is now 5-0 and a possible dark horse to win the SEC. Even if they don’t make it to the SEC championship there is no denying that the WIldcats will not go away easily.
Michigan
Jim Harbaugh has the Wolverines off to a 5-0 start with a convincing win over Wisconsin in Madison. The defense looks to be improved over the new direction of Mike Macdonald, and the offense is doing what it needs to do to win football games. Michigan could be “back”, but we will have to see more out of this unit if they plan on seriously contending for the Big Ten Championship.
Losers
Oregon
Just when you thought there was a clear-cut favorite to win the Pac-12 Oregon is upset by Stanford. The Ducks dropped an away game to the Stanford Cardinal, but their destiny for the conference is still very much in play. However, their College Football Playoff hopes may have gone down the tubes due to the notion that the Pac-12 is the worst Power 5 conference.
Notre Dame
There is no denying that Cincinnati is a good football team, so this really isn’t a “bad loss” for Notre Dame. The worst part about this loss is that they don’t have great teams on their schedule to build a resume to get into the College Football Playoff. There are some great brands remaining such as USC, UNC, and Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, all of those programs are looking to have down years. It’s likely that Notre Dame will win out, but even with 11 wins, their resume will not be good enough to make the playoff.
Fresno State
Like the ancient saying says “Never bet against Hawaii on the island”. Fresno State was riding high after defeating UCLA and conference foe UNLV. The Bulldogs were looking to not only win the Mountain West but also make a claim that they could potentially make a New Years Six bowl game at the end of the season. That dream took a big hit on Saturday when Fresno State lost to the Rainbow Warriors. Jake Haener has looked spectacular this season but unfortunately threw four picks in the loss. Fresno State is a solid football team, but they have plenty of issues to work out going into the bye week.