NCAA Football Takeaways Week 6

Thomas Snodgrass
Updated: Oct 10, 2023
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In football, an often overlooked component of winning a game is clock management. One team’s ability to focus on clock management can make or break a season.
Case in point: the Miami Hurricanes.
In Week 6, Miami held a 20-17 lead over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets with 33 seconds left on the clock.
A simple kneel down by the quarterback will wrap this game up for the undefeated Hurricanes.
The kneel down never comes.
The ball is handed off to Miami running back Don Chaney, who does something as scary as Lon Chaney, and FUMBLES THE BALL.
The ball is recovered by Georgia Tech, and the Yellow Jackets go 74 yards in 24 seconds and win the game 23-20.
Georgia Tech STUNS Miami on this 44 yard touchdown with one second left to hand the Canes their first loss of the season.
— BestOdds.com (@BestOddsBets) October 8, 2023
Miami could have kneeled the ball to end the game, instead handed it off and fumbled leading to this TD just four plays later 😱
pic.twitter.com/P2eq8LoA3J
The Hurricanes didn’t take the simple kneel when they should have.
The next time Miami kneels will be a kneel in prayer, praying for their shot at winning the ACC Conference Championship.
Who Is For Real?
After mentioning Lon Chaney, the man who starred in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, I wonder what’s going on with this Notre Dame Fighting Irish team?
Notre Dame is going to have to hunch their way back to a respectable season.
The then-No. 10 Fighting Irish were 6.5-point favorites over the No. 25 Louisville Cardinals last week, and lost 33-20.
Public bettors heavily backed Notre Dame at -6.5 on the spread.
NCAAF Week 6 Public Betting Preview:
— BetStats (@hottesthand) October 6, 2023
Notre Dame -6.5 at Louisville (Sat. 7:30pm EST)
92% of money (74% of tickets) on Notre Dame -6.5
61% of money (55% of tickets) on UNDER 53.5
The Fighting Irish’ offense was a massive disappointment.
Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman turned the ball over five times! Three interceptions and two lost fumbles.
Audric Estime and the Irish ground game also laid an egg, tallying just 44 yards on 28 attempts.
It’s very possible that Louisville is the real deal, surpassing Notre Dame in total yards and winning the turnover battle, five turnovers to one.
Other NCAA teams had a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde” Week 6.
Also, Lon Chaney did not play Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, that was either John Barrymore, Fredric March, or Spencer Tracy, depending on the film you have watched.
Anyway, the then-No. 3 Texas Longhorns dropped the Red River Rivalry against the Oklahoma Sooners last week, losing 34-30.
Longhorns’ quarterback Quinn Ewers turned the ball over three times, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble in the loss, putting a blemish on Texas’ undefeated record.
The Longhorns still have a 31.9 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff, the fifth-best percentage in the NCAA.
Only four teams are in the playoff this year, so Texas will need to find a way to squeeze in.
The best news for the Longhorns in Week 6 was that our own Malcolm Darnley nailed his prop plays on quarterback Quinn Ewers and running back Jonathan Brooks.

When scripting a game for prop betting purposes, I rarely take a QB and an RB on the same team to go OVER their totals. My personal strategy is to predict whether a team will run or pass the ball with great success. This week, I think Texas has a shot to do both.
Malcolm Darnley
@DarnleyMalcolm
You can read Malcolm’s analysis of the Red River Rivalry here.
Another undefeated team went down as then-No. 13 Washington State Cougars lost to the UCLA Bruins in a Pac-12 matchup.
Cougars’ quarterback Cameron Ward had become a sleeper to win the Heisman, but those hopes may have been dashed after his uninspiring performance against UCLA.
Ward completed just 18 of 38 passes for 192 yards and one touchdown pass to go along with two interceptions.
Ward’s best odds to win the Heisman Trophy were at +2000, but now sit at +7500 on Caesars Sportsbook.
The then-No. 9 USC Trojans survived a three-overtime scare to the Arizona Wildcats, 43-41.
It’s apparent that USC’s defense is going to be an issue this season, so quarterback Caleb Williams has no room for error.
Williams has to be nearly flawless in every outing if USC intends to win out and make the College Football Playoff.
In Week 6, Williams was not flawless, throwing for just 219 yards and a touchdown, but fighting for three rushing touchdowns.
Third overtime rules in NCAA Football dictate that teams must line up for a two-point conversion, and that’s the difference between the Trojans being 6-0 or a one-loss team, Arizona not picking up a two-point conversion.
USC decided to play defense at the right time.
Georgia Is Still The Top Dog
In a battle of SEC-unbeaten teams, the Georgia Bulldogs were still 14.5-point favorites to the Kentucky Wildcats in Week 6.
The Bulldogs beat the Wildcats, 51-13.
For Georgia, this game had a similar feel to last season’s National Championship game against the TCU Horned Frogs.
Kentucky was coming off a big win over Florida, Georgia was coming off a narrow win over Auburn.
Maybe this was the time for an SEC opponent to pounce on the Bulldogs.
More than 60% of public bets were backing the Wildcats to cover, so bettors thought that Kentucky would hang around.
Kentucky did not hang around as Georgia went up 14-0 in the first quarter and led 34-7 at halftime.
Carson Beck🎯 pic.twitter.com/zaXyneeCy1
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) October 9, 2023
Bulldogs’ quarterback Carson Beck vaporized the Wildcats’ defense, completing 28 of 35 passes for 389 yards and four touchdowns before he was ultimately benched for a job well done.
The Bulldogs are still No. 1 in the AP Poll, and rightfully so.
Bettors that believe Georgia will complete the three-peat and win the National Championship once again can find the best odds at +275 on BetRivers.
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