Cincinnati Makes Playoff Noise With 24-13 Win Over Irish

Notre Dame last played Cincinnati on October 20, 1900. They played in South Bend and the Irish came in a 28 point favorite and won 58-0. I guess it took the Bearcats 121 years to have the courage to try again, but it was well worth the wait. Saturday afternoon Cincinnati took a huge step towards being the first serious Group of Five contender for the CFP by beating Notre Dame 24-13. Although going undefeated in the American Conference will be a challenge for sure, the Bearcts are in a good position. Around the Nation: Wake Forest remained undefetaed at 5-0 with a 37-34 escape over Louisville. Iowa, Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan all remain undefeated. The Big 10 is shaping up to be a wide open very interesting race. Oklahoma State squeaked by a pesky Baylor team 24-14 to remain unbetaen along with arch rival Oklahoma, a 37-31 winner over Kansas State. Texas-San Antonio is very quitely putting together a confernce contending team at 5-0 after a 24-17 win over UNLV. Nevada surprised Boise State on the Broncos home blue turf 41-31. Out in the topsy turvy Pac 12 things remained, well, topsy turvy. Stanford defeated league leader Oregon 31-24 in overtime, diminishing the Pac 12's playoff hopes ( although ther is a lot of football left to play and one loss might not keep the league champion out of the mix). Surprising Oregon State, now 4-1 on the season beat Washington 27-24. Down in the mighty SEC Georgia and Alabama continue to dominate and pull away from the rest of the FBS as clearly being the best of the best. Georgia blasted upstart Arkansas 37-0 while the Tide was silencing Ole Miss 42-21. The Kentucky Wildcats scored the big upset of the week by hosting and holding off Florida for a 20-13 win. Kentucky is still undefeated at 5-0. Week 7 projections will be posted late Tuesday.

Opening weekend offers few surprises. Notre Dame travelling to Tallahassee next Sunday

Five games dotted the landscape for opening weekend with only one very mild upset, at least according to Las Vegas. Over hyped Nebraska fell on the road to Illinois 30-22. The Cornhuskers were a 7 point favorite in Vegas. The Billingsley projection was Illinois by 1. All other games were held on the West Coast. UCLA cruised by Hawaii 44-10, Fresno State crushed Connecticut 45-0, #15 San Jose State continued their winning ways with a 45-14 thrashing of Southern Utah and Texas-El Paso went on the road and soundly defeated New Mexico State 30-3. The Aggies were returning to play after sitting out the 2020 season. Next weekend finds a full slate of games ranging from UAB on Wednesday September 1 right on through Labor Day Monday's Louisville/Ole Miss game in Atlanta. Quite a few intriguing games come on week two including Thursday's Ohio State at Minnesota and Boise State at Central Florida followed by Friday's North Carolina at Virginia Tech. Saturday is loaded with high profile games including Clemson/Georgia in Charlotte, Alabama/Miami (Fla.) in Atlanta, Indiana at Iowa, Louisiana Lafayette at Texas and LSU at UCLA. Sunday night prime time finds Notre Dame at Florida State. Billingsley's projections will be posted on Tuesday.

Ohio State Makes Playoff Statement With 56-7 Destruction of Michigan State

For weeks the Buckeyes have been playing like National Title contenders and this week they removed all doubts with a completely dominating win over the Spartans 56-7. Only arch rival Michigan stands in the way of a spot in the Big 10 Championship game and we won't have long to wait. The 10-1 Wolverines, 59-18 winners over Maryland Saturday, host the high flying Buckeyes this upcoming Saturday morning at Noon ET.  Around the Nation: Clemson's 48-27 win over Wake Forest significantly tightened the ACC race. The Tigers are battling North Carolina State for the Atlantic Division crown while Pittsburgh is on top of the Coastal Division. Rivalry weekend, my favorite weekend of the year, is upcoming which means Clemson will face South Carolina Saturday. The Gamecocks were 21-17 surprise winners over Auburn this week. Billingsley's All Time Scores are online again so check out all the great series records under the Historical Data link on the CFRC Home page. Cincinnati quieted a few doubters themselves by destroying SMU 48-14. The Bearcats travel to East Carolina for a tricky game before facing a very good Houston team in the AAC Championship. A lethargic Oklahoma offense got a much needed boost from the Sooner defense in a 28-21 win at home over Iowa State. Bedlam is on the horizon and Oklahoma State did their part to make it a huge game in Stillwater between two 10-1 teams. The Cowboys traveled to Lubbock and shut out Texas Tech 23-0. The Longhorn program is reeling with a 6th straight loss after falling to West Virginia 31-23. Texas returns home to face Kansas State in the season finale. UTSA moved to 11-0 on the season with an amazing 34-31 come from behind win at home over UAB. Notre Dame, the seemingly forgotten playoff contender, moved to 10-1 by blasting Georgia Tech 55-0. Oregon saw their playoff hopes dwindle with a 38-7 shellacking at the hands of Utah. Now the Ducks must recover and fight the civil war with arch rival Oregon State, 24-10 winner over Arizona State late Saturday night. UCLA scored the most points ever in their series with cross town rival USC. The Bruins put up a whopping 62 points against the Trojan's 33.  Louisiana-Lafayette completely dominated a very good Liberty team 42-14, moving to 10-1 on the season. The majority of the SEC took a break from conference play this weekend and blasted much lesser competition, but Alabama and Arkansas put on quite a show in Tuscaloosa with the Razorbacks throwing a scare into the Crimson Tide before falling 42-35. Missouri surprised Florida with a two point conversion to nip the Gators 24-23. Watch for Billingsley's Projections to be posted late Tuesday, and don't forget to check out the Billingsley Historical Data Section from the Home Page for a totally new and improved look at Billingsley's Encyclopedia! 

Ohio State Tops Notre Dame 21-10

The first half belonged to Notre Dame but the Buckeyes dominated the second half and came away with a convincing 21-10 win in the Horseshoe. Although the Billingsley Report will not be posted till Tuesday, after Monday night's Clemson/Georgia Tech game, Ohio State will most certainly leap near the top of the rankings. Around the nation: Things started out with a bang Thursday night as the country was treated to the renewal of the Backyard Brawl and a Brawl it certainly turned out to be as Pittsburgh stormed back late in the 4th quarter to win 38-31. Saturday North Carolina nipped Appalachian State 63-61 in one of the more entertaining games I have seen in recent years while in a stark contrast Iowa held off South Dakota State 7-3 by scoring a field goal and two safeties. Houston held off Texas-San Antonio 37-35 in a game that saw the Roadrunners go the length of the field in 23 seconds and tie the game to send it into overtime. Penn State rallied late and scored with seconds left to beat Purdue 35-31. The Big 12 came thru the weekend smelling like a rose with a 9-1 record. Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will likely all remain in the Top 10. The Lincoln Riley era at USC started out with a roar as the Trojans obliterated hapless Rice 66-14. Georgia embarrassed visiting Oregon 49-3, but I suspect the Bulldogs will be embarrassing  a lot of teams this fall. Alabama looked flawless against Utah State 55-0 and Arkansas served notice to fellow SEC members that last year's winning record was no fluke. The Razorbacks took down Cincinnati 31-24. LSU/Florida State is on tap tonight with Clemson/ Georgia Tech wrapping up the long Labor Day football festivities Monday Night. Week 3 Projections should be posted by Wednesday. 

Notre Dame Blasts Navy To Open 2023 Season

The American College Football season began Saturday in Dublin, Ireland as the Fighting Irish dominated Navy 42-3. It was a light schedule with only 14 teams hitting the gridiron. In other notable games, FBS newcomer Jacksonville State nipped Texas-El Paso 17-14 while Massachusetts went on the road and upset New Mexico State 41-30. Vanderbilt and San Diego State started the season out with a win as the Commodores best Hawaii 35-28 and The Aztecs beat Ohio 20-13. USC beat San Jose State 56-28 and Louisiana Tech squeaked by Florida Int. 22-17.  The season starts in full force Thursday with games running through Monday, Labor Day night, including a much anticipated LSU/Florida State contest Sunday night. Projections will be posted Tuesday. 

Ohio State Shocks Notre Dame 17-14 on Late TD

Ohio State raced to a 10-0 lead at the half only to see the Irish fight back and forge ahead 14-10 late in the 4th quarter. With less than 3 minutes remaining Notre Dame had the lead and the ball, but the Irish could not make a first down to seal the win. Instead the Buckeyes created losses on two plays and forced Notre Dame to punt. The Buckeyes masterfully moved down field and scored a touchdown with 1 second left on the clock. The sellout home crowd was stunned. The game will be an instant classic and the win moved Ohio State to #1 in this week's Billingsley Report.  Around the Nation: Florida State traveled to Death Valley and came away with a 31-24 OT thriller over Clemson. North Carolina struggled with Pittsburgh early but pulled away for a 41-24 victory. Surprising Duke, now sitting at 4-0 blasted Connecticut 41-7. Penn State rolled over previously unbeaten Iowa 31-0. Kansas moved to 4-0 after topping BYU 38-27. Air Force and Fresno State remain unbeaten. The Cadets beat San Jose State 45-20 while the Bulldogs overwhelmed Kent State 53-10. The leaders in the Pac 12 are beginning to emerge as the top teams begin to play one another. Washington State hosted Oregon State and nipped the Beavers 38-35. Utah soared to a 14-0 lead and held on for a 14-7 win over UCLA. Oregon showed Colorado no mercy in a 42-6 shellacking of the Buffaloes. Alabama scored a big 24-10 win over previously unbeaten Ole Miss and LSU squeaked past Arkansas 34-31. Missouri played Memphis in Saint Louis in the battle of the Tigers with Missouri holding on for a 34-27 win. The projections will be posted Monday.