Trending upward:

1. Alabama

59-0 over A&M. Impressive. T.J. Yeldon is back. 13 carries, 114 yards, and two touchdowns. He had so many outstanding runs. Derrick Henry had 70 yards on 10 carries and a TD rushing, along with a 41 yard catch and run for a score which was a gem. Blake Sims played very well hitting on 16 of 27 passes for 268 yards and three TDs. Also ran for a beautiful 43 yard house call. Really impressive on offense and the defense was dominating. Held a usually explosive A&M offense to 172 total yards. Reggie Ragland and Ryan Anderson are playing all world good right now. The whole defense did on Saturday. Reggie with an incredible leaping snag for  an interception of Kenny Hill. Ragland just grabbed it out of the air right after Hill threw it. It was awesome. Tide looked like the best team in the country on Saturday. Blake and the Tide go to Knoxville Saturday night for a 6:30 CT kickoff/ 7:30 ET on ESPN2. This will be a good test for Sims as there will be 107,000, mostly UT fans, putting the pressure on. If Blake can handle the crowd and play well, it’s a good omen for Baton Rouge on Nov. 8th. Tide off after this Saturday before heading to Death Valley. Jacob Coker with a nice TD pass to third string tight end Ty Flournoy-Smith in the fourth quarter. Coker needs to be ready to play as Blake has struggled with a right shoulder injury. Amari Cooper with eight receptions for 114 yards and two TDs., a 24 yarder and 45 yarder. Two beautiful pass-receiving plays. Amari playing as well as any player in the country right now. Superb overall effort.

2. Georgia

Todd who? Nick Chubb ran for 202 yards on 30 carries and two TDs against Arkansas Saturday in the Dawgs 45-32 victory at Fayetteville after running for a buck, 43 against Missouri in a 34-0 win the Saturday before. With Keith Marshall expected back for the Florida game in two weeks and Sony Michel a 50-50 proposition and all their receivers back, the Dawgs are looking better and better in the East, and nationally. Dawgs now 4-1 in conference and 6-1 overall. Off this week before playing the Gators at that cocktail thing on Nov. 8th.

3. Ole Miss

Destroyed UT on Saturday @ home, 34-3. Bo Wallace 13-0f-28 for 199 yards, two TDs and no ints. He’s taking care of the football, which is critical for his and his team’s success. Defense is as good as anybody in the country right now. Go to LSU this weekend against a rejuvenated group down in Baton Rouge. Kickoff is set for 6:15 PM CT on ESPN. Should be a classic

4. Mississippi State

Just playing excellent football right now. Dak Prescott and State hit the road on Saturday against Kentucky, which just got blasted by LSU in Death Valley Saturday night. That will be the 2:30 PM CT game on CBS.

5. LSU

The young guys are starting to get it. Leonard Fournette starting to play more like the all world player he was expected to be when he came in this year and an older running back is doing well. After a late game cardio kid win over Florida at the Swamp two Saturdays ago, the Bengal Tigers destroyed Kentucky, 41-3.. Senior Terrence Magee ran for 127 yards on nine carries. Another freshman, Darrel Williams, ran for 61 yards on 10 carries. Fournette had 43 yards on the ground on 15 carries; not exceptional, but he’s got a lot of help. He did have a TD. LSU rushed it for 303 yards total.  Anthony Jennings just needs to manage the game well, and get the ball to his talented young receivers, Travin Dural, Trey Quinn and Malachi Dupre. Dupre didn’t play Saturday night; not sure on his status for Ole Miss this week. He could be critical against Ole Miss along with Dural. LSU hosts Ole Miss Saturday night in an epic. The Tigers not out of it at 2-2 and 6-2 overall.

6. Missouri

Just blasted Florida at the Swamp in one of the most unusual games you’ll see. Missouri only gained 119 yards of total offense, but scored a touchdown on a 96 yard kickoff return by Marcus Murphy on the opening kickoff, an 82-yard punt return by Murphy, a 21 yard fumble return by Markus Golden, and a 46 yard interception return by Darvin Ruise. The Tigers played dominant defense at the Swamp, which is starting to become a calm lake place to play. Rece Davis of ESPN reported an amazing stat: when teams only gain 120 yards or less of total offense, their opponent is 147-2 against them. The only team that has sustained those two losses is Florida under Will Muschamp. I really like Muschamp, but he’s going to have to get it together quickly or his ship will have sailed at the end of the season.

We’ll see:

1. Auburn

It’ll be interesting to see how long Gus stays with Nick Marshall this Saturday if he starts out struggling again. Jeremy Johnson is a quality quarterback and Gus might want to go with him if Marshall can’t become more accurate passing the ball. The running game needs to get better, and the defense needs a good outing against South Carolina this Saturday, so AU can get some momentum back that they lost against State two Saturdays ago. This  could still be a very good team, but the defense, the running game and the quarterback position need to improve.

2. South Carolina

Won 41-10 over Furman on Saturday and that’s progress. Going to AU this week (6:30 PM CT on the SEC Network), so Ball Coach will need to pull out this one or this season could spiral downward totally. Defense just not too swift. Mike Davis had a good game Saturday rushing for 111 and two TDs, and backup David Williams ran for 110. Shon Carson added 85 yards and a TD. So the running game was very good. Dylan Thompson was 14-of-22 for 262 yards and two TDs. This Saturday will tell us if  the Gamecocks can turn around their season.

3. Tennessee

The Vols have shown improvement this season, but with Alabama coming into Neyland Stadium, they’ll have to improve drastically for Butch Jones to prove that he is turning the program around. They’re better this year, but can’t just lay an egg on Saturday against the Tide.

4. Arkansas

They’ve also shown improvement in year two under Bret Bielema. Play an improved UAB team Saturday at home at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network. Need to have a big game there.

5. Kentucky

Playing much better, but got dominated by LSU Saturday night in Baton Rouge. Could be an interesting game this Saturday with Mississippi State coming to Lexington for the CBS game at 2:30 PM CT. If Kentucky can play well and even get it done, Mark Stoops can show his players and his recruits that it’s possible to win at UK in football.

Could  get ugly:

1. Florida

Like Will Muschamp a lot as a person, but the offense is terrible right now. Jeff Driskel has been a disaster. Just has lost any confidence he ever had. Freshman Treon Harris is just too young right now. Muschamp is a good guy  and a good football coach, but he’s got to show improvement or they might make a coaching change in Gainesville at seasons end.

2. Texas A&M

Wow, that defense is pathetic. Mark Snyder, their defensive coordinator, is struggling with this group and may be in trouble if things don’t improve dramatically on that side of the ball. The wide receivers are dropping pass after pass, and they can’t find any kind of running game, and Kenny Hill looks frustrated out there. Tough season so far  for the Aggies.

3. Vanderbilt

31 true and redshirt freshmen have played this year. Really like Derek Mason, but he has a new defensive and offensive system in place, and the players have had a lot of trouble adjusting. At Missouri this Saturday @ 3 PM CT on the SEC Network. Dores really need a good game or it could be curtains for the season. Think Mason needs this year and the spring to get his team on board with his philosophies, but there needs to be more improvement this year.

Trending upward nationally:

1. Oregon

Got their left tackle back two Saturdays ago and playing much better on the offensive line. They had been decimated by injuries up front but getting their left tackle back has really helped them. Looking like a factor again nationally.

2. Kansas State

Bill Snyder got a huge victory at Oklahoma on Saturday. Really solid football team. A sure fire contender in the Big 12 and nationally. Play Texas and Oklahoma State at home the next two weeks. If the Wildcats can get through those two, an epic is setting up at TCU on Nov.8th.

3. Arizona State

Beat USC on a Hail Mary three weeks ago and dominated Stanford this past Saturday night at home, 26-10. Very good quarterback, good offense period, and a defense that is really coming around. Todd Graham has his team playing excellent football.

4. Michigan State

Playing really well after losing pretty handily to Oregon the second week of the season. Have Michigan at home, then Ohio State comes to East Lansing for what could be a de facto Big Ten championship game. Can’t count out Nebraska on the other side, but both of these teams looking solid right now.

5. Ohio State

Freshman quarterback J.  T. Barrett has really gotten it together. The Buckeyes starting to look like a factor nationally; certainly in the Big Ten. Play at Penn State this weekend in what should be a nice matchup. If they get by the Nittany Lions, they’ll play Illinois at home a week from Saturday and could go to Michigan State @ 7-1 overall and 4-0 in conference.

6. TCU

The Horned Frogs just demolished Oklahoma State at home on Saturday, 42-9, after losing a tough one to Baylor, 61-58, on the road in a massive shootout in which they held a 21 point lead with 10 minutes left in the game. But this is a good  team. With Baylor’s loss to West Virginia on Saturday, the Big 12 is wide open. TCU plays Texas Tech at home this Saturday, then they’re on the road at West Virginia in a tough one,  and home against Kansas State. These next three weeks will determine if TCU is legitimate.

7. Florida State

Can’t leave them out. Survived Notre Dame, which has a good team and gave the ‘Noles all they wanted. They’re certainly in good shape, at this point, and that’s a major qualifier. But FSU has to go to Louisville, a week from this Thursday, Oct. 30th (6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET, ESPN), and they have to play a pretty decent UVA team the following Saturday week (Nov.8th) at home, then go to Miami (Nov.15th) . They then play Boston College and Florida at home before possibly playing in the ACC Championship game, Saturday, Dec. 8th, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. In the championship game, they could face Duke, a good team that will have some revenge on their mind after FSU ran it up against them last year in the ACC title game. Duke is good, and David Cutcliffe is one of the most underrated coaches in the game. Cutcliffe is an excellent offensive coach. He’s done an outstanding job at Duke. The Blue Devils are 6-1 with their only loss coming at Miami. Duke could give the Noles problems. But this goes back to my point that there is a ton of football left with a lot of pivotal games each and every week. So this is a totally fluid season. It’s week to week. Nothing is guaranteed, particularly for FSU, which is a team everybody is gunning for.

Peyton Manning

Wow, 22-0f-26 for 318 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-17 Broncos victory over the 49ers. He had a passer rating of 157.2. A perfect rating is 157.9. Amazing stuff. Peyton broke Brett Favre’s all time touchdown passing record of 508. Peyton came in with 506, and after throwing four, now has 510. Would love to see him get another Super Bowl or two to cement his legacy as the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. He certainly is the greatest regular season quarterback, but with another Super Bowl or two, if he wants to go a couple of more years, Peyton would be the all time greatest  in my opinion.  Broncos certainly looking like the best team in the NFL at this point. I picked the Saints over the Patriots in Super Bowl 49, so I’m not totally for Peyton and the Broncos, though I really am–kind of.