PRESS PICKS (Week 7): The good, bad and ugly of UCLA's upset of Penn State
STAFF REPORT
Time for a little “good, bad and ugly.”
And all of it can be taken from one game - UCLA’s upset win over Penn State.
It’s a result that may prove to be fatal to the Big 10 and it’s number of teams to make the playoffs. But we’ll get to that in a moment.
Start with the good. Or, make that fun. The celebration of the Bruins and their players and coaching staff was stupendous. In particular, we were allowed into the merriment of Rick Neuheisel (via social media) who was watching his son, Jerry, coach the Bruins offense to victory. And he did it in the CBS studios along with his colleagues, who celebrated with him.
It’s fun to see a parent honor a child when he or she has success but to revel in it in a public manner can sometimes be a bad look. But in this situation it worked perfectly and most moms and dads jumped in and celebrated too, more so for Rick than Jerry.
The bad? That’s easy. Penn State was the top-ranked team in the country in many preseason polls. You can look those up on any website.
The reason for the lofty ranking? Who knows. The coach, James Franklin, hadn’t changed. The Nittany Lions didn’t really show anything in the previous season that prompted the high accolades other than returning their starting quarterback. Otherwise, once one media outlet made the acclimation, others piled on and made them a premium pick.
Truth is this is not a national contender, and never was. No offense to the Bruins but they had yet to lead in a game, much less win one. That makes Penn State look even worse.
Could have been the travel. Could have been a blowback from the loss to Oregon in the previous week.
Whatever it was, it will have long affects on the Big 10 outcome and where the league stands in the playoff schemes.
Which leads to the “ugly.” That would be the Big 10 in general. Yes, upsets happen… in every league. But when the worst team beats one of the expected playoff contenders, it puts pressure on everyone else to “fall in line.”
Indiana is still a darling but two losses might push them out of the possibility of a playoff berth. Illinois lost to the Hoosiers by 53 points… also not a good look.
Ohio State and Oregon look to be heads and shoulders ahead of the rest of the league and with everybody else beating up each other, it could make for a slim number of teams to reach the playoffs from Big 10 land.
Add to the possibility of Penn State getting it together and beating Ohio State (the two play on Nov. 1). It might not topple the Buckeyes from a berth but it might knock the league down a notch.
Parity is not good in college football, at least from the Power 4 standpoint. If Michigan, Iowa or USC find a way to take out one of the big boys, that would make it worse. A two-loss champion looks more like the ACC than the SEC (even if the SEC has a two-loss team win the title).
It’s too early to figure out all of this. And more upsets are coming. But more of them in the Big 10 might limit the league to a couple of bids instead of the three from last year.
Yes, for our Midwest fans, that would be ugly.
2025 Standings (Last week)
1. Michael Butler 79-26 (12-3).752
2. Graham Dunn 73-32 (12-3) .695
Barry McKnight 73-32 (12-3) .695
4. Tim Gayle 72-33 (14-1) .686
6. Rick Hendrick 70-35 (13-2) .667
7. Doug Amos 69-36 (11-4) .657
Mike Peacock 69-36 (12-3) .657
8. Wesley Lyle 68-37 (12-3) .648
9. Rosie Langello 63-42 (12-3) .600
Lindsey Bonner 62-43 (11-4) .590
Michael Butler (WTLS 101.1&94.7 FM/1300 AM/Tallassee Times)
79-26 (12-3).752
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Elmore Co
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Oklahoma
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - USC
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Graham Dunn (River Region Sports/WTLS/Voice of Alabama State Hornets)
73-32 (12-3) .695
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Valley
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Oklahoma
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - USC
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Barry McKnight (Voice of Troy Trojans)
73-32 (12-3) .695
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Elmore Co
St. James at Cleburne County - Cleburne County
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Missouri
Georgia at Auburn - Auburn
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Texas
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - USC
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Tim Gayle (River Region Sports/Montgomery Independent)
72-33 (14-1) .686
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Elmore Co
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Jackson St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Oklahoma
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - USC
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Rick Hendrick (WXFS 95.1 The Fox/PA Montgomery Biscuits)
70-35 (13-2) .667
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Elmore Co
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Marbury
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Oklahoma
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - Michigan
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Mike Peacock (River Region Sports/ASU Hornets Radio-Color)
69-36 (12-3) .657
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Valley
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Oklahoma
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - Michigan
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Doug Amos (ESPN The Ticket)
58-32 (10-5) .644
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Elmore Co
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Auburn
Alabama St at Jackson St - Jackson St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Texas
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - USC
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Wesley Lyle (River Region Sports)
68-37 (12-3) .648
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Valley
St. James at Cleburne County - Cleburne Co
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Auburn
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Texas
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - USC
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Rosie Langello (Sports Director - WSFA Ch. 12)
63-42 (12-3) .600
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Valley
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Marbury
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Alabama St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Texas
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - Michigan
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St
Lindsey Bonner (Sports Director - WAKA Ch. 8)
62-43 (11-4) .590
Central-Phenix City at Carver - Central
Wetumpka at P. Julian (Thurs) - Wetumpka
Valley at Elmore County - Elmore Co
St. James at Cleburne County - St. James
Marbury at Sylacauga - Sylacauga
Alabama at Missouri - Alabama
Georgia at Auburn - Georgia
Alabama St at Jackson St - Jackson St
South Carolina at LSU - LSU
Oklahoma at Texas - Oklahoma
Tennessee at Arkansas - Tennessee
Florida at Texas A&M - Texas A&M
Indiana at Oregon - Oregon
Michigan at USC - Michigan
Ohio St at Illinois - Ohio St