Baylor Surprises Sooners, Diminish Oklahoma's Playoff Hopes

A very well prepared Baylor team created a defensive masterpiece Saturday morning, holding the mighty Oklahoma offense to just 14 points in a 27-14 home win over previously undefeated Oklahoma. The Sooners still control their destiny in the Big 12 Conference race, but the loss all but shut the door on Oklahoma's shot at the College Football Playoff. The best the Sooners can hope for now is total chaos in the remaining few weeks of the season among the nations top teams.Around the Nation: The ACC's two top teams in the Atlantic Division squared off Saturday night with the Demon Deacons coming away with a thrilling 45-42 win over North Carolina State. Pittsburgh positioned itself well as the top team in the Coastal Division with a 30-23 win over North Carolina. Cincinnati remained unbeaten with a 45-28 win over South Florida. The Bearcats chances for a playoff spot increase with every win and a conference showdown at home with SMU is looming on the horizon Saturday. Ohio State shot down Purdue's giant killer dreams with a 59-31 win over the Boilermakers. The Buckeyes continue to dominate games like a true playoff contender ever since their loss to Oregon. Michigan continues to impress. The Wolverines went on the road and nipped Penn State 21-17. Texas fans are up in arms after a shocking 57-56 overtime loss to conference cellar dweller Kansas. The Longhorns have now dropped 5 games in a row, the longest losing streak since 1956, the year before Darrell Royal took over the reins in Austin. San Diego State took control of the MWC West Division with a 23-21 win over Nevada. Oregon enhanced their playoff hopes with a 38-24 win over Washington State. A huge game at Utah is upcoming this week. Down in the SEC, Tennessee held tough for a half, but Georgia proved to be the Nation's best team again after pulling away for a 41-17 win. Ole Miss dashed Texas A&M's conference title hopes with a 29-19 win over the Aggies. The loss all but handed the West Division crown to Alabama. Geez.....how about them Hogs! Arkansas is having quite a season. The Razorbacks traveled to Baton Rouge and beat LSU in overtime 16-13. Arkansas now stands 7-3 on the season with games against Alabama and Missouri remaining. Watch for Billingsley's Projections to post late 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! 

2022 Season Set To Open August 27

Although the first week of the season starts with a very abbreviated schedule, the opening weekend on August 27 is upon us. Highlighted by Nebraska and Northwestern squaring off in Dublin Ireland, the opening weekend shows a scant schedule of less than 15 games with only 7 between FBS versus FBS opponents. Labor Day weekend, week two on the schedule is the traditional opening weekend and offers a King's feast of highly anticipated games. Thursday September 1 kicks off the party with the renewal of an old rivalry between West Virginia hosting Pittsburgh. The series between these two rivals dates to 1895 with the Panthers holding a 61-40-3 lead. They have not met since the 2011 season. The fireworks kick off full force on Saturday September 3 as Cincinnati looks to extend their national prominence by travelling to SEC country to face Arkansas. I can hear the HOG CALL already reverberating through the Ozarks. Oregon and Georgia face off in Atlanta while Utah, the pre-season PAC 12 favorite, visits the Swamp to tackle Florida. In the prime time night game the most highly anticipated match finds Notre Dame travelling to the Horseshoe to battle Ohio State. These two college football king pins have only met 6 times, with the last two being in Bowl Games. The Fighting Irish won the first two way back in 1935 and 1936, with the Buckeyes taking the last 4. With both teams being highly ranked, Notre Dame #9 and Ohio State #8, the winner is likely to jump at or near the top of week 2's Billingsley Report due out the Tuesday after Labor Day. The Sunday night game finds Florida State at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge to face new LSU head coach Brian Kelly. The Monday night Labor Day game features Clemson at Georgia Tech. Needless to say the 2022 season should be an interesting one, full of upsets and surprises. Will someone be able to knock the SEC off their perennial perch? Perhaps Ohio State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Utah, or maybe even a rebuilt Oklahoma or upstart Texas? Hmmm…. maybe the hyped up USC? Time will tell. Let the games begin!     

Oklahoma Wins Battle of Big Reds

In the 1970's the game between Oklahoma and Nebraska was the nation's premier rivalry. I remember the 1971 "Game of the Century" like it was yesterday, #1 Nebraska at #2 Oklahoma in Norman, both teams undefeated, National Championship on the line. Oh how things have changed for the Huskers. Nebraska just hasn't found their groove since they bolted the Big 12 for the Big 10. Fresh off of firing Scott Frost Nebraska hosted an Oklahoma team that finally clicked on all cylinders en route to a 49-14 thrashing of the Cornhuskers.   Around the Nation: Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Michigan and Ohio State continued to establish themselves as the nation's elite by rolling over their competition, but a few more competitors are beginning to emerge. USC, Washington, and Penn State scored big wins over stiff competition Saturday. In the ACC Wake Forest nipped Liberty 37-36 while North Carolina State was bouncing Texas Tech 27-14. Florida State moved to 3-0 by topping Louisville 35-31. In the Big 10 Minnesota and Maryland remained undefeated by beating Colorado and SMU respectively. In the Big 12 Tulane shocked Kansas State 17-10, just when I thought the Wildcats might be ready to make a run for the Big 12 Championship. We will have the answer to that Saturday as Kansas State travels to Norman to take on the red hot Sooners. Kansas pulled off an upset shocker for the second week in a row. Last week it was West Virginia, this week it was Houston. The Jayhawks stand at 3-0 after beating the Cougars 48-30. Oregon State, Washington State, Washington and USC all remained undefeated out on the West Coast and Oregon looked good by beating BYU 41-20. Arkansas rallied late to beat Missouri State 38-27, while Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Tennessee blasted their lesser opponents. I'm looking forward to next weekend's Tennessee/ Florida match in Knoxville. I think we will be able to see whether the Tennessee program has really turned a corner or not. Week 5 projections will post Wednesday this week.  

Horned Frogs Boom Sooners 55-24.

TCU handed Oklahoma their worst regular season loss since the Longhorns embarrassed the Sooners on October 10, 1998 by the same 31 point margin of victory. Texas won 34-3. Brent Venables has a lot of work to do as the Big 12 is a very wide open race this year and the Longhorns are on deck for Oklahoma this coming Saturday. Yikes. Around the Nation: Clemson solidified their position as a playoff contender by downing a very good North Carolina State squad 30-20. Wake Forest rebounded with a nice road win over Florida State 31-21. Georgia Tech shocked heavily favored Pittsburgh 26-21. Purdue surprised Minnesota 20-10 leaving only 3 undefeated Big 10 teams, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Nebraska finally got some offense rolling, much to the delight of the home crowd. The Huskers upset Indiana 35-21. Oklahoma State looks like the cream of the Big 12 after whipping Baylor in Waco 36-25. Of course TCU and believe it or not Kansas might have something to say about that. The Jayhawks are 5-0 for the first time since 2007, the best year in Kansas history when they finished 12-1 and ranked #2 in the Billingsley Report after beating Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl. USC and UCLA remained unbeaten. The Trojans beat Arizona State 42-25 and the Bruins topped a very good Washington team 40-22. Missouri absolutely scared the daylights out of #1 Georgia. The Bulldogs rallied late and squeaked out a 26-22 win. Alabama cruised past the Hogs 49-26 but may have lost their QB in the process, and Lady Luck smiled on Ole Miss when the Wildcats turned over the ball on a late play in the game when it looked like Kentucky was headed for a wining score. The rakings will be posted later today after the conclusion of the Florida/ Eastern Washington game still in progress. 

From the Desk of Richard Billingsley

I started this website in 1997 and only one time in those 26 years have I posted a personal message. The first time came after the release of the book DEATH TO THE BCS in which I was referred to as an Oklahoma Hillbilly with no formal mathematical training who had no business being part of the BCS. That was too good not to respond to. Ever since I have laughingly called myself the Hillbilly Football Guru. Previously, in 2005, my rankings had been published in the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia as their official computer rankings right alongside the AP and Coaches Polls. In 2014 the prestigious PREDICTION TRACKER web site named The Billingsley Report as the BEST OVERALL Predictive System in America. I've always let my work speak for itself.  But, the time has come for another personal message. One that is not so easy to convey. In the offseason I was diagnosed with Parkinson's and it has been rather fast moving. I have lost partial use of my right hand and right leg and along with some shaking and loss of some ability to swallow has come a debilitating weakness and fatigue. It forced some major decisions to be made quickly. Reluctantly I sold my 3rd generation family home in Hugo, Oklahoma and moved to the Houston area in with family and closer proximity to medical care. The Billingsley family moved to Hugo in 1926. 97 years later, I was last in the line. I'm a blessed man and I thank God for my close knit family, my brother Dave, and my four Nephews Steve, Travis, Tony and Joe, all of whom live in the area, but It was a very emotional time. Part of me will always consider Hugo home.  The outstanding question remaining is how will this affect my work in football? My hope is that it will continue, but it will most certainly be delayed. Everything about my life is slower and more difficult. Previously my goal was to have my rankings posted by Noon on Sundays and Projections posted by Noon on Mondays. That will no longer be possible. I'm going to try to have rankings posted by 5pm Monday and projections following on Wednesday Noon. I'm hoping for the best but being realistic about the future. The Pre-Season rankings and the first week's abbreviated schedule of projections have just been posted. That's a good start but hardly reflective of a full week's schedule. It will be a week to week and perhaps day by day experience for me to fulfill my obligations.  In spite of the difficulties I'm excited and looking forward to the 2023 season. It should be a dandy. And for the Longhorns, Aggies etc.  my move could be a good omen. It seems that whatever state I live in a team from that state wins a National Championship. I was born in Oklahoma in 1951 and Bud Wilkinson won titles in 1955 and 56. I moved to Texas in 1963 and the Longhorns won the National Championship. I moved to Nashville in the 1990's and Tennessee won in 1998. I moved back to Oklahoma in 2000 and the Sooners won the title. What team will 2023 smile upon? Stay tuned!   

Sooners Edge Longhorns In Red River Rivalry

A confident proven Texas team ran into an Oklahoma team hell bent on proving last year's 49-0 humiliation was a fluke. The result was one of the greatest games played in series history. Every time Oklahoma gained momentum and pulled ahead Texas fought back, eventually taking the lead on a 47 yard field goal 30-27 with 1:17 remaining. But the Sooners were not to be denied traveling 75 yards to score the winning TD with 15 seconds remaining. The 6-0 Sooners jumped all the way to #8 in this week's Billingsley Report. With a long season ahead the loss did not take Texas out of playoff contention. The earlier season win over Alabama still factors heavily and a rematch with Oklahoma in a conference championship game is possible. Kansas might have something to say about that though as the Jayhawks rebounded nicely after their loss to Texas by smashing UCF 51-22. Kansas hosts Oklahoma in a few more weeks.  Around the Nation: North Carolina cruised to a 40-7 win over a good Syracuse team and Louisville stole the National stage Saturday night by shocking Notre Dame 33-20. Ohio State struggled early with undefeated Maryland but finally pulled away for a comfortable 37-17 win. Michigan destroyed Minnesota 52-10  and Nebraska finally got a Big 10 road win by beating Illinois 20-7. Maybe Matt Rhule is the right fit after all. Wyoming is making a beliver out of me after a 24-19 win over Fresno State. The Cowboys only loss is at Texas. USC hosted Arizona and was oh so lucky to come away victorious. The Trojans survived 43-41 in 3 OT. Georgia finally put together a solid game and demolished unbeaten Kentucky 51-13. Texas A&M hosted Alabama and fell short to the Crimson Tide 26-20. Projections post Monday. 

Kansas Surprises Oklahoma 38-33

The Sooner's hopes for an undefeated season and a shot at the college football playoffs evaporated in the cold misty rain in Lawrence, Kansas Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawks came to play football, jumping out to a 14-0 lead. The Sooners fought back and the game went back and forth with multiple lead changes, but Kansas took the lead with 55 seconds left and held on as Oklahoma furiously moved down field on what looked like might be another miracle win, only to see the ball overthrown in the end zone as time expired. Kansas broke an 18 game losing streak to the Sooners. The game is one of the greatest in Jayhawk history and sets Kansas up for a possible run at the Big 12 Title.  Around the Nation: Louisville dominated a good Duke team 23-0 and plants the Cardinals among the elite teams of the ACC with a 7-1 record. Ohio State traveled to Madison and came away with a 24-10 victory. The win solidified The Buckeyes #1 ranking in this week's Billingsley Report. Penn State survived a powerful upset bid by Indiana, finally securing a 33-24 win. Texas destroyed BYU 35-6 while Kansas State was dismantling Houston 41-0. Oklahoma State finally pulled away from Cincinnati for a 45-13 win. The Cowboys and Sooners meet in Stillwater for the last Bedlam Game next Saturday. The Ducks traveled to Salt Lake City and dominated Utah 35-6. Arizona scored a late TD to nip visiting Oregon State 27-24. Georgia beat Florida in their annual rivalry game in Jacksonville 43-20. Tennessee outlasted Kentucky in Lexington 33-27. This weeks projections will not post until Tuesday. 

Sooners Stun Alabama 24-3

Alabama rolled into the Palace on the Prairie with high hopes and a clear objective. Beat Oklahoma and Auburn and head to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game and the playoffs. Alabama was a 14 point favorite over the down trodden Sooners. Good game plan, but a funny thing happened on the way. The Tide ran across a buzz saw of very hungry, angry Sooners determined not to give up on their disappointing season. Much to the delight of an overflowing raucous crowd the Sooners played the best game of the season, and perhaps the best defensive game since beating Florida State 13-2 for the National Championship in 2000. Needless to say the win soothed a lot of heart ache for Oklahoma players and fans who have suffered through a disappointing debut season in the SEC.   It was a wild weekend of college football. Alabama was not the only team to suffer a surprising setback. Ole Miss headed to the Swamp with similar hopes only to fall to the Gators 24-17, and Texas A&M traveled to Auburn and came up just short, 43-41 in 4 overtimes. Now the Aggies return to College Station to prepare for the show down with arch rival Texas. Notre Dame walked all over previously unbeaten Army 49-14 to position themselves nicely in the eyes of the CFP committee. Ohio State dominated Indiana and leap frogged Texas for the #2 position in this week's Billingsley Report. Minnesota took Penn State to the wire, but the Nittany Lions prevailed 26-25. Much to the delight of the home crowd Nebraska became Bowl eligible with a 44-25 win over Wisconsin. The Big 12 is all up for grabs after Arizona State sneaked by BYU 28-23 and Colorado fell to a resurgent Kansas 37-21. Iowa State kept pace creating a 4 way tie for the conference lead. Oregon State shocked Washington State 41-38 to win the unofficial Pac 12 Championship with a 1-0 record.  We are headed into Rivalry Weekend. I approach it with great excitement and great sadness at the same time because it means the season is coming to a close. I'm just not ready for that! Of course we have the championship games, the bowl games and the playoffs to come, but every year it seems to go faster. This weeks projections post Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!