Daily Dirt: Which top 10 team is the most interesting? Texas A&M? Indiana? Iowa State?

Daily Dirt for Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024

Mighty Ohio State and Texas are struggling … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,098 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Normally, we offer our college football rankings later in the week, but this time around there’s a new twist. We’re going with our top 10 the morning after Saturday’s big games. That way, those results are still fresh in all of our minds.

• 1. Oregon (8-0): The Ducks have two interesting games on the horizon — at Michigan on Saturday and at Wisconsin on Nov. 16. Outside of those two tests, there is not much standing between Oregon and the No. 1 seed heading into that much-anticipated inaugural 12-team playoff.
• 2. Georgia (6-1): Let’s start talking about it now — a potential Georgia vs. Texas A&M matchup in the SEC title game, not Georgia vs. Texas, not Georgia vs. Alabama or Georgia vs. Tennessee.
• 3. Ohio State (6-1): Buckeyes’ season is likely on the line Saturday at Penn State. After Saturday’s incredibly woeful performance against Nebraska, a loss versus the Nittany Lions might end the postseason hopes of the best team money could buy. A win, however, will recharge the national title talk.
• 4. Penn State (7-0): Here’s another team sitting in a precarious position. A victory over its old nemesis from Columbus will thrust Penn State into the serious conversation about a potential national championship, but a loss? It would likely send Penn State spiraling out of the top 10 at this point of the season. Penn State’s “boring” style of play — not my words — remains unpopular with various pollsters who seem to be looking for an excuse to knock the Nittany Lions out of contention.
• 5. Texas A&M (7-1): The Aggies are 5-0 in the SEC for the first time and might be on the threshold of ending a 26-year streak of not having won a conference title. That was an impressive beatdown of LSU in prime time Saturday.
• 6. Texas (7-1): What is transpiring in Austin? Here’s another program trending the wrong way. The Longhorns’ season might boil down to that Nov. 30 meeting at Texas A&M.
• 7. Indiana (8-0): OK, there are three unbeaten teams right now in the Big Ten, and the Hoosiers are one of them. Who saw that coming?
• 8. Miami, Fla. (8-0): Did you see those black uniforms? Ni-i-i-ice.
• 9. Iowa State (7-0): Here’s another club with an excellent shot at a 12-0 finish. The rest of the schedule has Texas Tech, Kansas, Cincinnati, Utah and Kansas State. No cupcakes there, but no daunting tasks.
• 10. Tennessee (6-1): All of a sudden the regular-season finale against in-state rival Vanderbilt looks incredibly interesting.

Team to watch: Clemson (6-1), which has won six straight and has Louisville, Virginia Tech, Pitt, The Citadel and South Carolina remaining. Nice scheduling, Dabo. The Citadel? Really?

Other schools on the proverbial bubble: LSU (6-2), Alabama (6-2), Notre Dame (7-1), Vanderbilt (5-3), BYU (8-0), Ole Miss (6-2), Boise State (6-1), Pitt (7-0), Colorado (6-2), Wisconsin (5-3).

2. Did you know (Part 167) …

• Pepsi Wild Cherries and Cream will soon be a real thing at your favorite supermarket. 
• Reese’s Filled Pretzels (with peanut butter) are coming in November.
• Del Monte will be offering whole-kernel Mexican Style Street Corn.
• DiGiorno is releasing a Thanksgiving Pizza, featuring gravy, turkey, green beans, onions and cranberries. Wow. Think I’ll stick with the mushroom and pepperoni.
• Peanut Butter Cream Pie (from Reese’s), Coconut Creme Pie (via Mounds), Chocolate Creme Pie (from Hershey’s) and a Toffee Apple Pie (from Heath) will soon be available.

3. The states with the highest obesity rates? The following percentages are the number of adults in each state considered to be obese:

• Gold medal: West Virginia, 41 percent.
• Silver medal: Louisiana, 40 percent.
• Bronze medal: Oklahoma, 40 percent.

FYI: Missouri is 16th at 36.4 percent, Illinois 29th at 33.4 percent. (Come on, Illinois. We can do better. Order another pizza, eat another bag of chips.)

Steve Thought O’ The Day
Orville Redenbacher has two new popcorn seasonings, one that’s probably very, very good … and one that likely is not. The two new seasonings are Kettle Corn (good) and Dill Pickle (bad). Why does every company now consider it mandatory to offer some sort of dill pickle product? Asking for a friend.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Ranking Ohio State No. 3? Seems pretty generous, but we all know Steve bleeds red and gray. (Did you know Ohio State cannot refer to the school colors as “scarlet and gray?” Now they call the colors “ruby and porpoise.”)