Hutton & Withrow: Five Best Vibes in College Football and Penn State’s Path to the Playoff

It’s time for the best vibes across college football.

This is a culmination. This is not just a season-to-date list. Sometimes it could just be in the moment. It could be a big bounce back, and you’re going to see one giant bounce back for one of these teams in the top five best vibes.

So, who’s feeling the best in college football right now? Let’s get into the top five.

No. 1: The State of Mississippi

With all due respect to Southern Miss and its 1-2 start on the season, number one is the state of Mississippi.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State are feeling like they’re living good right now. Ole Miss, obviously, with the gigantic win in the game of the week, maybe the game of the year in the SEC on Saturday night, where they beat Lane Kiffin in his homecoming, and they’re feeling really good about things.

Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor is outstanding. Goes on the road and beats South Carolina.

Let’s Stop Speculating About Kamario Taylor Leaving Mississippi State

Now, let me nitpick here a little bit because this is starting to bother me. I’ve been seeing the tweets and videos of people just assuming that Kamario Taylor is done at Mississippi State after this year. The immediate talk is someone’s going to pay him $10 million to come be the guy for their team, right?

This is what bothers me at times about college football today, that we can’t just enjoy this guy who’s from the state, who’s at Mississippi State, who grew up a Mississippi State fan, who, when he went there, wanted to transform Mississippi State football. And all we’re talking about, instead of enjoying what he’s doing at Mississippi State, is starting to speculate if he’s going to go to LSU or Ohio State or wherever he’s going to go that’s going to pay him top dollar.

Let’s let that get there when there’s actually a reason to believe he’s leaving Mississippi State. If I’m guessing right now, if I’m putting money on it, I think Taylor’s going to stay at Mississippi State. I think they’ll come up with whatever they need to pay him to stay. And he’s going to be a multimillionaire in a year anyways, right? He’s got two years of college football. He’s going to enter that draft.

So, he’s going to spend those two years at Mississippi State. Let’s stop with all the speculation about a guy who’s a Mississippi guy, who’s at Mississippi State, that he’s automatically going to leave for some shinier, bigger program.

But we also understand where that thought comes from. We hate that people are talking about it already, but we all know where that’s coming from because we’ve seen it time and again, and we haven’t seen Mississippi State do it. You don’t think about the Bulldogs whenever it comes to NIL. You think about Ole Miss.

The other thing, too, is the perception that he’s going to leave. So, you wonder what he feels like and what the agents must be doing – begging, calling him up, whatever it might be – during the season. You’ve got all this mess going on behind the scenes now, and there’s pressure on him. He’s going to be getting all kinds of offers during the season.

That’s the other distracting factor that ultimately maybe factors in whenever you’re making the call because you’ve got family members they’re talking to. Again, we’re not saying his family’s telling him to leave, but in some cases, we’re sure that happens to players. You feel the pressure to take the bundle, take the bag, and Mississippi State isn’t known for handing out the bag.

We feel like he is a guy who will take a little bit less to stay at Mississippi State, a slight hometown discount from what he’s going to get paid elsewhere, to not have to leave, especially if this season continues to go well.

Big Games Ahead for Mississippi State

They’re going to get Alabama in Starkville coming up pretty soon. Also, Missouri is a huge game.

You want to talk about an underrated matchup? Austin Simmons, who’s been terrific, the transfer from Ole Miss to Missouri, going against Kamario Taylor. That’s a big-time game.

But you’re feeling great if you’re a Mississippi football fan right now with Ole Miss and Mississippi State and what’s going on there.

No. 2: Florida Gators

Is Florida back? We don’t know that they’re back. We don’t know that they’re a top-five SEC team this year, but we’ll tell you what, that was a cathartic moment for Jon Sumrall, who we know did not get along with John Cohen at Auburn, when the Gators went to the Plains and won on Saturday. Huge win for the Gators.

If you’re a Florida fan, you love the swagger of what you’ve seen from Sumrall at every turn, except maybe when he’s downplaying his own team going against Ole Miss when he finds out – and we’re sure he found out for the first time here, we doubt that’s the case – that his team was the betting favorite.

Sumrall’s response? “Who’s got us favored against these guys? Do they? There’s a lot of good drugs out there, huh?”

But based on the way we saw Trinidad Chambliss play, we’ll also say the exact same thought we had: Vegas knows. That was a very emotionally draining week and game for Ole Miss, and now they’re going to The Swamp to play this game. Very tough turnaround for Ole Miss.

Florida fans are feeling like they’ve got something going now with Sumrall, and they’ve got a big opportunity against a top-five team on Saturday.

No. 3: Kentucky Wildcats

Same thing as Florida. You feel like you got your guy with Will Stein.

Stein was telling his fans to get drunk and then get drunker in the stadium against Alabama by sneaking alcohol in and screaming obscenities at Alabama players. Kentucky fans are going to love that. The bourbon capital of the world, they’re going to love hearing about getting drunk and yelling at Alabama players.

Then they have a disappointing second half. They give up a ton of unanswered points. They lose after being in the game in the first half.

How do they respond? They go to College Station and just win wire-to-wire against Texas A&M. No fluke. They were the better football team start to finish. They had a better game plan.

Stein out-schemed Mike Elko after they didn’t finish against Bama. He made Elko’s defense – and Elko is known for defense – look bad at times. It looked like Kentucky just had a better plan in that game. Kentucky’s feeling great right now with Stein as its coach.

No. 4: West Virginia

It’s not just because “Country Roads” has gone everywhere. It’s infected every part of our life in sports because of the World Cup this past year and Team USA using it, and then everyone else wanted to use it. The college baseball run for West Virginia, the World Series, that’s where it started with everyone singing “Country Roads.”

People are singing “Country Roads” now because Rich Rodriguez picked up a gigantic win on Saturday in Charlotte against Virginia. West Virginia is 3-0 on the season.

Could West Virginia Start 8-0?

Going through their schedule, they’ve got Oklahoma State at home this week. They should win that game. They’ve got Iowa State on the road. Matt Campbell’s not there anymore. That’s a very winnable game.

Then they get Arizona and Cincinnati at home. Tough place to play in Morgantown. They go to TCU. This could set up – it’s a long way to go – where they could be 8-0 playing in Lubbock on Nov. 7.

That Big 12, we think, is wide open. Texas Tech may be the best, but they were what, a half-yard or less away from possibly losing to Houston on Friday night.

Maybe it’s Utah that’s the best in the Big 12. West Virginia still has to go to Utah to end the year, but the point being, West Virginia hasn’t been relevant in quite some time. They’ve got a chance for relevancy in the Big 12 this year if they continue to do what they did on Saturday, which was surprising to us.

They were a 10.5-point underdog against Virginia, and to win that way was an impressive feat for West Virginia.

No. 5: Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern just housed Colorado. They’re feeling great. They’re 2-0. By the way, why would you have a bye in Week 2 if you’re Northwestern?

They beat South Dakota State, if you remember. That was our big upset pick in the first week of the season with South Dakota State going to Northwestern. Northwestern wins that game, then has an immediate bye week the week after, and then plays Colorado this past weekend and beats them.

You’ve got Deion Sanders, Coach Prime, saying afterwards he had to chew guys out because they were laughing and joking around after getting beat so bad by Northwestern walking back to the locker room. He doesn’t understand how anyone could be that way, could be happy and be joking after a loss like that, which we love from Deion.

Northwestern Has Plenty to Feel Good About

You’ve got to love it if you’re Northwestern right now. They’re 2-0 on the season and a 21-point underdog at Indiana on Friday night. We don’t think Northwestern’s going to go to Indiana and win, but you’re feeling pretty good.

You’ve got a new stadium about to open. They’re going to open that stadium with their game against Penn State. If you’re Northwestern, you feel good about your young head football coach. You just beat Coach Prime and Colorado, who’s got a nice win over Georgia Tech already. You beat them bad.

Now you’re going to Indiana, and Curt Cignetti, the Darth Vader of the Big Ten and maybe college football right now, probably has plans for Northwestern.

But right now, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, you’re feeling good. You’re a top-five college football vibes team if you’re the Northwestern Wildcats. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Enjoy it right now.

Penn State’s Favorable Path to the College Football Playoff

Penn State right now is 3-0. That’s a different feel and a different vibe.

They’ve got Wisconsin coming up, and then they have that matchup against Northwestern. But that’s another example of a team that’s going to move up, or should. And you’ve got the coach now, and they haven’t played anybody.

Penn State beat Marshall 45-0, Temple 27-9, and Buffalo 55-13.

Where Are the Losses on Penn State’s Schedule?

They get a terrible Wisconsin team at home. They go to Northwestern. They get USC, who squeaked by Rutgers barely this past week, at home.

We can’t find two losses on their schedule. We definitely can’t find three losses.

Maybe they lose at Michigan. Maybe they lose at Washington, but they get Minnesota and Rutgers at home. This is going to be the easiest path to a College Football Playoff in Year 1 for Matt Campbell that we’ve ever seen. It’s a Notre Dame schedule this year. Notre Dame even has a hard time scheduling this weak, and they’re independent.

This, to us, is where the Big Ten has no bragging rights. This is impossible in the SEC. You cannot have a schedule where you don’t see at least three pitfalls on the schedule for every team in the SEC.

Penn State Is 10-2 at Worst

We don’t see any way Penn State loses three games this year. Not one.

They are 10-2 at worst.