With the college football season at its midpoint, it’s a good time to assess what we’ve seen so far and what it might mean the rest of the way.
Is the bubble bursting for Deion Sanders and Colorado after a scintillating start to the season? Can USC fix its offensive line and protect Caleb Williams in his quest for another Heisman Trophy? And will we be fortunate enough to see a rematch of Week 7’s Washington-Oregon thriller?
Can Penn State take the next step and make it to the College Football Playoff? Will Notre Dame continue to progress after its big win over USC? And could the ACC get two teams in the CFP?
ESPN’s college football reporters examine these questions in the aftermath of Week 7.
Colorado’s poor finish could be a bad omen
From the moment Colorado rallied past Arizona State on Oct. 7, Deion Sanders focused on the team’s habit for slow starts, saying he was “sick of it,” even after the Buffaloes rallied for their fourth win. Colorado answered its coach Friday night, storming out to a 29-0 halftime lead against one-win Stanford, scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions and outgaining the Cardinal 324-114. “Finally put it together … like I desired,” Sanders said. The Buffs were 30 minutes away from a 5-2 start — well ahead of every external prediction for the season — and a well-timed open week. For a team that had outscored its first six opponents 126-84 in the second half, and 89-42 from the third quarter on, victory seemed secure.
In December 2021, Swarbrick gave Freeman a chance to lead the Notre Dame program, understanding that there would be a learning curve. Only 35, Freeman had been a Group of 5 defensive coordinator less than a year earlier. “I have no reason to suspect it’s a bigger learning curve or a smaller one in Marcus’ case, but there has to be one,” Swarbrick told me then.
Freeman has had some difficult moments in his first year-plus on the job: losing to Marshall at home to drop to 0-2; losing to a bad Stanford team, also at home, midway through last season; the 10 defenders on the field fiasco against Ohio State on Sept. 23; getting drubbed by Louisville two weeks later. But his teams have responded admirably and recorded two dominant signature wins — 35-14 over Clemson last November and 48-20 against USC — that show the potential of Freeman’s program. Notre Dame fans want to embrace Freeman, perhaps more than his undeniably successful predecessor, Brian Kelly. That much became clear Saturday night with the chants and high-fives he received after he came up the famous stadium tunnel.
Like all coaches at programs like Notre Dame, Freeman will be judged on CFP appearances. Kelly had two in his final four seasons. Freeman told me before the season that he’s less focused on tangible goals and more on getting his team to its full potential. He echoed that feeling Saturday.
“There is a process to guarantee you have a chance to have success,” he said. “That’s what we couldn’t cheat. I’m proud of the way the coaches and the players really attacked it.”
Freeman’s process to become a top-level coach might not be linear, but growth spurts like the USC and Clemson wins show he’s on his way. — Adam Rittenberg
Two ACC playoff contenders?
One of the biggest knocks against the ACC in the College Football Playoff era — or really in any era — is that the conference never had multiple teams in the hunt for a national championship in the same season. This could be that season.
Both Florida State and North Carolina hit the midway point undefeated and have each scored more than 30 points in all their games thus far. They have some remaining tests along the way: Both teams play Duke, Florida State still has Miami and Florida and North Carolina still has Clemson.
But they don’t play each other in the regular season, so the possibility exists that they could end up in the ACC championship game, both as undefeated teams. If this scenario were to unfold in any other conference, there would already be talk about possibly getting two teams into the playoff. It happened to the ACC in the pandemic year in 2020. One-loss Clemson avenged its loss to Notre Dame in the conference championship game, handing the Irish their first loss. But both teams ended up making it into the playoff.
But the narrative around this conference makes talk of getting two teams in the playoff premature. Part of that is because Florida State has looked shaky at times, part of it is because North Carolina has not been able to sustain early success in recent years, part of it is because the rest of the conference outside the top five is mediocre.
If both teams keep winning, then perhaps the conversation changes in the second half of the season. But this is the ACC, of course, and fans have been scarred into believing the worst will happen at any moment (#goacc anyone?) For the latest examples, see undefeated Miami blowing the game versus Georgia Tech two weeks ago, and undefeated Louisville losing on the road to 1-4 Pitt on Saturday.
That leaves the last two standing. As of right now, ESPN’s Football Power Index gives Florida State a 30.1% chance to win out, and North Carolina a 7.9% chance. Not great odds, but certainly better than at any point last season for two teams. The ACC will take that. — Andrea Adelson
