Welcome to Rocktober
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Old school football fans remember the Chevy Truck commercials on television in between breaks in the games from the 1980s. The commercials contained a sense of American Pride and toughness including farmers, construction workers and steelers across this once great land with Bob Segar’s “Like a Rock” playing in the background. These commercials to this day remind us of a more prideful time in America symbolized by a great song, commercial and the football it helped promote.
1992 Chevrolet Truck Commercial Like A Rock.mp4
Welcome to “Rocktober” College Football Fans! The time of year when you find out if the team you cheer for has the rock-solid character and build to compete for championships, or the desire to round up the year in search of rock-bottom in 2023.
AP Top 25
Slowly but surely the 2023 season has whittled down several pretenders into the contenders left in the AP Top 25 for one of the four coveted BCS playoff spots in the last year of The Final Four. It is hard to believe that the first year of the “playoff” began almost ten years ago in 2014. We all remember it like it was yesterday as Ohio State ran through Alabama and Oregon like Sherman through Atlanta to claim the very first BCS Playoff National Championship. Times have changed since then, both in this country and in college football, but one thing remains the same. Win games now in late October or start packing your bags for a bowl game that really does not matter anymore. Below are the big games this week within The AP Top 25 that have massive championship ramifications in 2023.
#7 Penn State +4.5 at #3 Ohio State – Easily the national game of the week in college football and one of the biggest of the season. ESPN Gameday will be there as all eyes will be glued to ABC at 11:00 AM CST to see if Penn State can finally get over the hump against either Ohio State or Michigan. The winner of this game has an inside track to the College Football Playoff while the loser will need serious help plus chaos at the end of the regular season to get their shot. Games like this are the perfect example of why, if there is a playoff at all, that it should be expanded. The losing team will join the top of the “best of one-loss rest" teams including Oregon and Texas. Most of those teams will be on the outside looking in come early December. Radio Free Auburn picked Penn State pre-season as one of their Final Four teams. “Ain’t no way The Nittany Lions let us down now!” Penn State wins here and upsets Ohio State 27-24.
#16 Duke +14.5 at #4 Florida State – Tuning back into ABC Saturday Night at 6:30 PM in Tallahassee, FL, FSU looks to continue dominating The ACC in 2023 rolling towards a possible National Championship run. Standing in their way is a solid Duke program that has already upset Clemson to begin the season. A loss here by Florida State would cause them to fall into the previously mentioned “best of the rest” one loss teams and a win for Duke would do the exact same thing. The Noles have been one of the hottest, if not hottest, teams in College Football this season. A win here and FSU should easily cruise the rest of the season with their only possible difficult matchups before The ACC Conference Championship being against in-state rivals Miami and Florida. Duke can only keep this game close if QB Riley Leonard, is 100% recovered from a high ankle sprain last week against NC State. It is tough to believe Duke will be able to handle FSU athletically on either side of the ball with FSU winning 38-20.
#17 Tennessee +8.5 at #11 Alabama – The “Third Saturday in October” kicks off in Bryant-Denny Stadium for the 106th meeting between Alabama and Tennessee in football on CBS at 2:30 CST. The Volunteers ended a 15-game losing streak last year at home against Alabama finally lighting up cigars while rocking Rocky Top for the first time since 2006. Yes, like Arkansas, it had been pre iPhone since Tennessee won the game. Last year’s version of the game was an offensive shootout with both teams scoring a combined 101 points and 1136 yards between the two teams. The fireworks should subside in 2023 with Tennessee ranked 8th in Total Offense in The SEC and Alabama following them up at #9 in the league. UT does run the ball well and only trails LSU in total rushing with Alabama landing at 7th in the SEC. A much-improved defense at Alabama since their exposure the second week of the year against Texas could be the difference here in the game. The only problem is the worst Alabama offensive line in Saban’s tenure going against a Tennessee defensive line that totals 24 sacks in 2023, which is second in the league. Nick Saban is now 1000-3 in revenge games, the homefield advantage will be real, and Alabama looks to jump on Tennessee early like they did Arkansas last week then hold on. Take The Tide to win 20-18.
#14 Utah +7 at #18 USC – The last time Utah lost to USC in football was in 2020. In the last three wins, The Utes have averaged 44 points per game while USC has averaged 31. Utah ended USC’s possible run at a National Championship unceremoniously in The Pac 12 Championship last year by absolutely shutting down The Trojans offense. Much like Notre Dame did to USC last week in South Bend. The difference this year is Utah QB Cam Rising still being injured and most likely not playing against The Trojans in the LA Coliseum. Despite Rising not playing, Utah sits at 5-1 after coming off a victory against Cal last week 34-14. Against power-five teams in college football this season, Utah has only allowed 13 points per game. Despite being 6-1 in 2023, USC has made a lot of hay off the likes of Arizona, Colorado and Stanford. In their first true test of the season at Notre Dame last week, The Trojans failed miserably. This Utah defense is even better than the 2022 version and should control USC like they did to end the season last year. Utah keeps this one lower than normal and wins 24-20.
https://www.secsports.com/article/38615090/week-8
It is a fairly light week within The SEC in Week 8. Outside of Alabama vs Tennessee, Ole Miss, General Kiffin, and The Johnny Rebs marching on Jordan-Hare Saturday Night in Auburn will be the biggest other story in the league. Other than an upset ending any Ole Miss run at a league championship game appearance, the game Saturday night has zero meaning in any rankings. The story here will be the off-the-field themes running between the two schools currently. Auburn Head Coach, Hugh Freeze, once coached at Ole Miss and then Auburn allegedly, depending on which side of the rivalry you sit on, choose Freeze over Kiffin for Head Coach at the end of last year. Both coaches have downplayed any rumblings of the off-the-field stories this week while trying to focus more on what will happen on the field. Notorious for expressing himself sometimes too much during game week on Twitter, Kiffin has been relatively quiet so far this week heading into The Auburn Game. That being said, it has not kept the local media from trying to stir the pot in regard to this game.
https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/2023/10/goodman-fire-lane-kiffin-if-he-loses-to-auburn.html
These things are interesting for media and fans to discuss heading into any game. Hey, this is what we do! None of the things in the article above, words on Twitter or anything typed in articles like this will have anything to do with the outcome of this game Saturday unless Lane Kiffin gets a little mental (like he did heading into Alabama every year and the last time he was in Jordan-Hare two years ago on a Halloween Saturday Night). I said this then, say it now, and still believe it completely, it looked like Lane Kiffin had seen a “black cat” before strutting out onto Pat Dye Field in 2021. Auburn won that game 31-20 and the maniacal Kiffin lost to of all people, Bryan Harsin.
18 Auburn vs #10 Ole Miss Highlights | College Football Week 9 | 2021 College Football Highlights
A very balanced Tiger offense led by QB Bo Nix shoved it down Ole Miss throats in that game and there is no doubt that the rowdy AU fans made a huge difference in the outcome of the game. In a recent Clarion-Ledger article, Kiffin states just that.
"I think that place ‒ I played in it here, I played in it at Alabama ‒ just sometimes it kind of has some magical things happen," Kiffin said. "They're always sold out. Fans seem to be in all the games from the beginning on. They seem to play better there, especially at night."
Auburn is most definitely a different animal at home and many a good team have rolled into Jordan-Hare at night in “Rocktober” only to leave battered and defeated. Just ask Urban Meyer 2006, “How does that JHS taste?”. Despite the evident and historic home field advantage, too many questions remain at Auburn right now inside the program. If you recognize any of the questions below, you read about several of them last week here at Radio Free Auburn before The LSU game.
Can AU run the ball consistently Saturday against Ole Miss?
Speaking of running, will the real Jarquez Hunter please stand up?
Will a playmaker finally step up at WR for Auburn?
Is Auburn man enough to keep Ole Miss from winning back-to-back games against them since 1952?
How healthy and fresh will Auburn be coming off the Beatdown in Baton Rouge?
Can Auburn sustain drives playing keep away from Lane Kiffin?
Can Auburn score TDs in the Red Zone as opposed to Field Goals?
Will Auburn be able to throw the ball for more than 100 yards in this game?
Can Auburn’s defense hold up four quarters against a potent Ole Miss offense?
Can Auburn contain Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart?
Ole Miss –6.5 at Auburn – The Tigers played the #1 offense in the SEC last week and host the #5 offense this week. Believe it or not, The Rebels are running the ball statistically better than throwing under Lane Kiffin this season. Could Ole Miss make the mistake of lining up, getting conservative, running the ball at Auburn and causing a lower scoring game? Jordan-Hare at night causes opposing coaches to occasionally lose their minds. Another question to ask about Auburn: Did the program hit “rock bottom” last week finally in Baton Rouge? The Tigers cannot afford another embarrassing loss in Hugh Freeze’s first year. If Auburn can get it together just once this season against a better opponent Saturday Night, the schedule lightens up tremendously over the next month before Alabama comes to town. There has been a lot of talk this week about seeing more of running QB Robby Ashford as opposed to more of whatever QB Payton Thorne. Unfortunately, the feeling is that the offense will change little as OC Phillip Montgomery continues to stay without pace to protect the thin Auburn defense. Ole Miss is just the better team right now with far more firepower on offense. Look for Kiffin to not make the same mistakes the last time he rolled into Jordan-Hare. Ole Miss 35, Auburn 20.
Miss State +5.5 at Arkansas – Take the pups to cover losing 28-27.
South Carolina +7 at Missouri – Hotter than Josey Wales’ pistols, take Mizzou 38-30.
Army +30.5 at LSU – Bayou Bengals looking to win, not get QB Jayden Daniels hurt and move onto the Bye Week before Nov. 4th trip to Tuscaloosa. Tigers win 48-20.
https://www.radiofreeauburn.com/merch
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*All above is for entertainment purposes only.