This will be short, because Week 7 in many ways “begins” the college football season for reasons you will easily appreciate. College football will finally kick into high gear, but Week 6 was yet another relatively quiet weekend among the top teams in the United States.

The more interesting developments came not from the elites, but from the vast collection of middle-tier teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

1 – Michigan Isn’t Fixed, But Iowa Was Worse

If you, as an Australian, stayed up late Friday night into early Saturday morning to watch Michigan and Iowa, accept my apologies as an American.

This was wretched stuff from the opening kickoff to the final gun.

Michigan’s offense was every bit as dreadful against Iowa as it was against Wisconsin. The Wolverines were hapless, outclassed, unimaginative, impotent, and not well-coached on offense… again.

At least their defense showed up… but the offense has always been the question mark and the stumbling block for the Wolverines under Jim Harbaugh. It hasn’t improved one bit since the end of last season. It might even have regressed.

Michigan will play tougher Big Ten teams down the line. This season will not get better.

Iowa, though, was somehow worse than Michigan, which does not augur well for the Hawkeyes when they play Wisconsin and Minnesota to contest the Big Ten West Division championship.

Iowa-Michigan was an eyesore.

2 – Washington is a much more successful Michigan… but that’s still a problem.

Washington has made New Year’s Six bowls in each of the past three seasons. Michigan has reached an NY6 bowl twice. Washington has won two conference championships in the past three years, Michigan none. Washington has made the College Football Playoff in the past three seasons. Michigan has not. Washington has reached the prestigious Rose Bowl in the past three seasons. Michigan has not.

Washington has been much more successful than Michigan over the past few years. Chris Petersen has lived up to expectations far, far more than Jim Harbaugh has.

Yet, one can’t ignore the point that Washington and Michigan have offenses which are far behind the curve. Good defensive coaches and coordinators eat this offense for breakfast. Stanford punched Washington in the mouth and held the Huskies to 13 points, one month after California limited Washington to one touchdown.

Washington overcame its offensive weaknesses last year to beat Utah, 10-3, in the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Huskies beat Utah 21-7 in an almost-as-ugly game a few months earlier.

The Huskies often win in spite of their offense… and they lose BECAUSE of their offense.

Petersen has to upgrade the offensive coordinator spot. Bush Hamdan currently holds that role. Washington doesn’t want to get stuck like Michigan and Harbaugh in 2020 and beyond. The 2019 season already looks like a waste in Seattle.

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3 – ACC insanity

Pittsburgh led Duke, 26-3, in the second half. Duke led 30-26 late before Pitt rallied for a 33-30 win.

Virginia Tech led Miami, 28-0. Miami rallied for a 35-35 tie, missed an extra point, and then lost as Virginia Tech scored late. The Hokies survived the Hurricanes, 42-35.

Louisville beat Boston College, 41-39, in a game with numerous lead changes.

The ACC was all sorts of fun in Week 6.

4 – Auburn is not elite

The Auburn Tigers were viewed by some – not all, but some – as the equal of LSU, Georgia and Alabama in the SEC after Week 5.

After Week 6: Nope. We can forget about Auburn.

Bo Nix was in over his head against an aggressive, focused Florida defense.

The Swamp is where the Gators live… and opponents don’t get out alive.

Auburn’s reputation didn’t get out of Gainesville intact. Next.

5 – UCF down, Cincinnati up

UCF’s unbeaten season was lost a few weeks ago against Pittsburgh. Now, UCF probably won’t even win its own division in the American Athletic Conference. Cincinnati has the inside track to the AAC East Division championship after hounding UCF’s offense on Friday night.

Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman should get a head coaching job at another school this December in the upcoming “coaching carousel,” when schools fire their coaches and look for the next batch of new hires.

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