COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKLY RANT
SAY NO TO PRESEASON POLLS!
This week is a perfect example of why we should do away with
all pre-season polls. And to be honest
we probably need new voters for these polls.
Voters that are not too stubborn to change their ballot week to
week. The polls are typically supposed
to show who the best teams are at that point in the season. In no way should your previous week’s ranking
reflect your current ranking. Your
preseason poll from 5 or 6 weeks ago should CERTINALY not impact how you are
currently ranking teams, you know after you have actually seen them play games
and all.
But unfortunately, it does.
And it happens way too often.
Let’s just look at this week’s rankings…
Alabama, the preseason #1 and still #1. Don’t get me wrong, Alabama is a great
football team, but what have they done this season to prove they deserve to be
#1. They beat a preseason #3 Florida
State team, that just got their 1st win of the season on Saturday,
narrowly beating Wake Forest. Alabama
also has non-conference wins against Colorado State and Fresno State. Those two teams are a combined 5-4 on the
season, with 2 of the 5 wins coming against FCS teams. They have also pounded Vanderbilt and Ole
Miss, by a combined total of 125-3 in conference play. But here’s the thing, those teams aren’t very
good!
Meanwhile Clemson, the defending National Champions, are
ranked behind Alabama, despite also being 5-0.
Their wins include 3 teams currently ranked inside the Top 17, two of
which came on the road. I’m not saying
that if Clemson and Alabama played this week that Clemson would beat Alabama,
but I am saying that they have done more to earnt he top spot in the rankings
to this point in the season.
Another good example is Georgia.
How is Penn State (#4) ranked one spot ahead of Georgia
(#5)? If anyone has watched these teams
both play this season, Georgia has done more to prove themselves than Penn
State. BUT Penn State was ranked #6 in
the preseason polls and Georgia was #15.
So obviously Georgia can’t be better than Penn State if they are both
undefeated. Forget the fact that Penn
State does not have one win over a ranked team.
The 5 wins they have are against teams that are a combined 8-11 against
FBS teams and 1 over those teams LOST to an FCS team (Georgia State lost to
Tennessee). Georgia has wins on the road
against Notre Dame and Tennessee, plus a dominating win over Mississippi
State. Mississippi State and Tennessee,
like the rest of the SEC are very suspect to this point, but Notre Dame is a
1-loss team, that loss coming from Georgia, IN South Bend. Notre Dame ranks 7th in the nation
with over 300 yards per game on the ground and 3rd in the nation
with 7.1 yards per carry. Georgia held
them to 55 yards on 37 carries (1.5 ypc).
Georgia also just held Tennessee
to just 142 yards of offense on Saturday, the lowest offensive output from the
Vols since before Peyton Manning was at Tennessee.
Again… I’m not saying that Georgia would beat Penn State,
but I’m saying that they have clearly been more impressive to this point in the
season than the Nittany Lions. (I
personally would love to see Saquon Barkley vs the Georgia D.)
WHAT ELSE I LEARNED
IN WEEK FIVE
*Butch Jones Will Not
Be At Tennessee Next Year. 41-0 at
home to a conference opponent? Yes
Georgia is a very good team, but that should not happen if you are Tennessee,
EVER! Last year it was a 59-10 pasting
by Alabama in Knoxville, and now this.
Jones was on the hotseat going into last week’s game. I am actually surprised a move wasn’t made on
Sunday to replace Jones with the Vols on a BYE this week. With schools like Texas A&M, and Nebraska
also liking to be shopping for a new head coach in the offseason, Tennessee
could have got a jump on the competition for the top candidates had they made a
move.
*Auburn Joins Top
Tier of SEC. Gus Malzahn finally is
getting the QB play from Jarrett Stidham that he had hoped. With that comes back to back games against
SEC opponents total 993 yards and 100 points.
Stidham has gone 26-33 for 482 and 3 scores with no interceptions in
those games. His efficient play at the
QB spot has opened up the dynamic and powerful running attack that the Tigers
have. Oh by the way, the Tiger defense
is really good too.
*LSU Is In A Tough
Spot. Nick Saban at Alabama has been
a thorn in the side of every coach in the SEC.
Expectations for every team in the conference is to compete with Saban
and Alabama. The problem is, he doesn’t
lose. No program has been affected by
Saban more than LSU, the school Saban won a National Championship with. The problem with LSU and their fanbase is
that they think these expectations are reasonable. Saban is winning at a rate at Alabama that
has never been done in the current landscape of college football. LSU should be in a slight re-build mode this
season. They have a new head coach and
offensive coordinator and they don’t have an SEC caliber QB on their
roster. That isn’t the fault of Ed
Orgeron. They aren’t set up to complete
with Alabama this season, but give him a year or two and maybe they will
be. PATIENCE… I know it’s tough for the
fanbases of the SEC, but you must have it.
WHAT I’M LOOKING
FORWARD TO IN WEEK SIX
*Teams Taking Care Of
Business. The schedule is not very
good this week. Of the 20 games in the
Top 25 on Saturday 16 of them have double digit point spread this week, and
that includes a matchup of ranked teams in WVU and TCU, where the Horned Frogs
are 13.5-point favorites at home. With
some bigger tests coming in the next two weeks, teams can’t afford to stumble
this week to lesser opponents.
*Winning With Backups. Michigan, Oregon and Notre Dame will all
have backup quarterbacks starting this week due to injuries to the
starters. Notre Dame should still roll
over UNC, even on the road as the Tar Hels are not very good. The Irish running game should be enough to
lead them to victory. Michigan plays a
down Michigan State team, but they are still a rival and we know anything can
happen in rivalry games. The last time
these two played at the Big House was when Michigan State won on a Walk-Off
Block Punt for a Touchdown. Oregon had
their top two QB’s hurt last week, so when they host #11 Washington State this
week it will be a true freshman taking the snaps. That is not a good match-up for the physical
and uber-aggressive Cougar defense.
A GAMBLING EYE
* Louisville (-4) @
NC State – Lamar Jackson has made his living making plays happen on the
fly. He may have to do that a bunch on
Thursday as he faces a stacked defensive line from NC State. The difference for me is the Louisville
defense and their inability to get off the field. NC State is 16th in the nation in
time of possession and they don’t turn the ball over. That means the play-making Jackson will be on
the sidelines with the rest of the Louisville offense for the majority of the game.
*Illinois (+18.5) @
Iowa – Illinois is awful. 18.5 is a
lot of points to give an offense that struggles the way that Iowa can at times,
but let me once again say that Illinois is AWFUL!
*Miami (-3.5) @ Florida
State – FSU has major issues protecting their quarterback this season. Miami has a fast and fierce defense that won’t
make things easy on the Noles FR signal caller.
This is a rivalry game and FSU has owned the Canes over the years in
this game. Some would say anything more
than a FG in either direction is too much for this rivalry. I disagree.
I don’t see FSU scoring much at all against the Miami defense and the
Hurricanes offense played their best game of the season last week on the road
at Duke.
*Air Force (+7.5) @
Navy – Air Force ranks 87th in the nation in Rush Defense giving
up almost 200 yards per game. Navy leads
the nation in Rush Offense running for 400 yards per game. You do the math
*Alabama (-27) @
Texas A&M – It is crazy to think that this line is this high, but the
way Alabama has come out of the gates this season vs SEC opponents, Vegas had
no other option. Texas A&M is not a
bad team, but Alabama is dominant. This
number is a fascinating one to me just simply because it is nearly unheard of
to see a team the caliber of Texas A&M get nearly 4 touchdowns at home.
*Michigan State (+10)
@ Michigan – We all know what happened the last time these two teams played
at The Big House. It’s just a good thing
that one of these coaches isn’t a Garde A ass that would hold grudges against a
rival. Oh wait… I don’t see Michigan
State scoring many points on this Michigan defense and even with a backup QB I
think Michigan scores in bunches to beat Sparty. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if a few late
scores happen just to make the margin of victory a little bigger either.
PLAYOFF PICKS
It is never too early to start projecting the playoff.
1. Clemson – 3 wins over teams ranked in the Top17 before
Oct 1. Only NC State (#24) is ranked
among the remaining games on the schedule.
2. Alabama – The SEC is garbage outside Bama, Georgia and
Auburn. Those would likely be the final
2 teams Alabama would have to beat before the CFB Playoff.
3. Georgia – The chances of 2 SEC teams making the playoff
is virtually none with how bad the conference is this season, but that doesn’t
mean that Georgia isn’t one of the 3 best teams in the country.
4. Penn State – This week begins a tough 3 game stretch for
Penn State. They go on the road for just
the 2nd time this season to Northwestern. The Wildcats are a much better team than Iowa
which nearly upset them on their last road trip. After Northwestern comes back-to-back games
against Michigan and Ohio State.
NEXT UP:
Washington
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma
TCU
Michigan
That is all this week.
Make sure the refrigerator is stocked, the spare remote-control
batteries are nearby and enjoy the games!
