1. Texas
2. Southern Cal
3. Louisiana State
4. Penn State
5. Virginia Tech
6. Ohio State
7. Miami (Florida)
8. Auburn
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. West Virginia
12. Georgia
13. UCLA
14. Alabama
15. TCU
16. Texas Tech
17. Georgia Tech
18. Iowa
19. Michigan
20. Louisville
21. Florida
22. Boston College
23. Oklahoma
24. Wisconsin
25. Fresno State
Not too many changes. I thought about dropping Texas behind USC for struggling with Texas A&M, but I'm willing to cut the Horns some slack because it was a rivalry game and A&M probably played their best game of the season on Friday. Plus, USC's close call against Fresno State doesn't look so good after the Bulldogs laid an egg against mighty Nevada. For the same reason, I docked Oregon because their one quality win took a hit with the result in...I'm too lazy to look up where the University of Nevada is located. I came close to dropping LSU behind Penn State for their tepid showing against Arkansas, but decided that it isn't worth the effort, since LSU will either prove their merit on Saturday night and solidify the #3 rankings or they'll lose and make the whole issue academic.
I gave Georgia and West Virginia slight bumps for good wins in rivalry games. Upon reflection, there isn't much separating West Virginia and Oregon. USC is a little better than Virginia Tech, but WVU was more competitive with the Hokies than Oregon was with the Trojans. WVU's win over Louisville is as good as any of Oregon's wins. The competition in the Pac Ten on a weekly basis is better than that of the Big East, but keep in mind that Oregon didn't play UCLA.
A couple other thoughts:
1. Remember when everyone was in love with the MAC in 2003 and claiming that the gap between it and the Big Ten was shrinking? The MAC title game this weekend pits 7-4 Northern Illinois and 6-5 Akron against one another. And that's my farewell to Thursday night football for the season?
2. And remember Ivan Maisel and others lamenting last year that they wished that college football would return to the old bowl system? How would the storylines be different this year if USC was preparing for Penn State in the Rose Bowl and Texas was preparing for Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl? Think there might be a little controversy if two teams demonstrated that they are clearly the cream of the crop in college football over a three-month regular season and then never got to play one another? For as much heat as the BCS takes, it's better than its predecessors.
3. You think that Florida might mention to recruits deciding between them and Florida State the following quote from Seminole wide receiver Fred Rouse about Urban Meyer:
"I can't believe that man recruited me as hard as he did, and I dissed him. I regret it now."
It has mystified me for some time that Florida State has continued to recruit excellent offensive players despite the fact that their offense hasn't been good since Mark Richt left. For instance, how did Antone Smith decide to head to Tallahassee when the Noles had spent the previous three years wasting Leon Washington and Lorenzo Booker? Does FSU really pay that well? Are FAMU girls really that hot?
4 comments:
Come on man, drop the trying to be objective mask. You know the DAWGS are better than Oregon W. Vir. and ND.
Wow, you must rate a 14-7 win over Georgia Tech after a two-game losing streak to be a really big deal. Georgia doesn't have a lot of quality scalps, not unlike Oregon and WVU, but they have fewer losses and to better opponents. As for Notre Dame, I rank them lower than most teams and it's based on a perception, having watched a number of their games, that they are a very good team. They certainly have a great offense.
Well, maybe Oregon's loss to USC and WVU's loss to VT are better losses than to Florida and Auburn, (taking into consideration Georgia was without their QB in one game and really got beat on one of those once in a season plays by Auburn) but, that could be certainly debated. Who else did they play? Maybe Georgia doesn't have a lot of "quality scalps" but do you really believe that Oregon and WVU would has (1) loss if they played Georgia's schedule? I think either of those teams would have (4) losses, Florida, GT, Auburn, S. Car.
Notre Dame does not impress me any! They beat a decent 7-4 Michigan team and played USC well and, I'm very sceptical about USC's defense. That's it. I'm sorry beating and struggling at time wiht Tenn., Stanford, BYU, Navy, Pittsburg, doesn't make me a believer. Not to mention giving up 44 pt.s and getting beat by a less than average MSU team.
GO DAWGS!
Satisfying for you and Mike Lupica so you can mostly ignore the regular season and then watch one exciting month of football, not unlike how most people treat college basketball.
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