PARITY IS ALIVE AND KICKING IN FOOTBALL

If you are anything like me, you are super-excited that football is back in full force, but this year, it seems like we have walked in to Uncle Wally’s Wacky Fun House and everything is up-side-down.

In the NFL, last year’s 8 division winners are a combined 5-10 (UPDATE AFTER THE SAINTS GAME TODAY) and there are currently more teams that made the playoffs last year that are 0-2 (Cowboys, Vikings) than 2-0 (Green Bay).

Kansas City is 2-0; they have not started the season with 2 wins since 2005. In fact, they have not won any of their first two games since that 2005 season. Houston is 2-0; the first time they started 2-0 since ‘07, when they then proceeded to lose 5 of the next 6 games they played on route to an 8-8 record. Tampa is 2-0, albeit against the Browns and the Panthers; something they have done only twice this decade and not at all since 2005. The Bears hit 2-0 this weekend, the first time they started that hot since their Super Bowl season in 2006. The Steelers are 2-0 for the 4th time in 6 years, 2 of which they went on to win the Super Bowl (‘05 & ‘08), so that is not much of a surprise except that they are winning with a 3rd string QB, and yesterday, with a QB who would not have made the team if Ben Roethlisberger were not suspended. Finally, Miami is 2-0 for the first time since Ace Ventura was looking for Snowflake. Well, it hasn’t been that long, but it was 2002, when Jay Fiedler and Ricky Williams were leading the way. By the way, NONE of these teams made the playoffs last year!

The college football season started not much differently from the NFL. Perennial powerhouses like Georgia and Virginia Tech already have 2 loses. Everybody’s PAC-10 darlings, the Washington Huskies, also already have 2 L’s, as do the 2-time defending Big East champs, Cincinnati Bearcats. Other top-tier programs are off to good starts record-wise, but not the typical dominant starts that their fan bases have grown accustomed to. Florida is 3-0, but has struggled mightily in all 3 wins against teams that the experts in Vegas picked the Gators to beat by a total of 66. Add that to the fact that their offense currently ranks 92nd out of 120 teams in total offense, and maybe we now know why Urban Meyer considered retiring after last season.

The Trojans of USC are 3-0, but have struggled against some teams they would have put away early in the “Pay Our Recruits With Cars and Houses” era of Pete Carroll. USC beat Virginia at home in week 2 in a game in which they had to recover an on-sides kick attempt to hold onto the victory. They beat UVA in Virginia 2 years ago 50-7. Then this week, the Men of Troy trailed Minnesota two different times in their game before getting the victory. That is the same Minnesota team that held only a 3-0 lead to 1-AA South Dakota State the week before in a 41-38 loss to the Coyotes.

Ohio State has had 3 big wins to start off, but only one of which was against a competent team in Miami. And if you are a Buckeye fan, you probably should be a little concerned that you didn’t beat the Canes by more. Miami scored 2 special teams touchdowns and held tOSU to 4 field goals when they had 1st and goal to go. If THE Ohio State is planning to get to the National Championship game, that won’t cut it in Arizona. Then again, are we really to expect tOSU to get inside the 10 yard line four times in a BCS Championship game?

Some other schools that can be added to the “Not-So-Hot Start” List…

(preseason AP Rankings)

#9 Iowa - Gave up 34 points to a good Arizona team, 27 in the first half. The Hawkeyes had not let up that many points in one game since September of 2007.

#10 Va Tech - The Jokies went from being a minute away from beating #3 Boise State in the opener to losing to #3 (in 1-AA) James Madison. Frank Beamer is now 1-18 vs Top 5 teams at Virginia Tech.

#15 Pitt - Lost on the road against a good Utah team; that is not why they make this list. They make it for being completely bland in play-calling on offense considering the weapons they have at hand. In two games, Dion Lewis has 102 yards on the ground in 35 carries. Lewis only had 3 games all last season in which he ran for under 102, and he has that total in 2 full games this season. They also completely ignored Jon Baldwin in their loss to Utah. In 20 snaps offensively in the red-zone in that game, they threw Baldwin’s direction ZERO times. Baldwin had an 8 inch height advantage over the Utah CB who was covering him that night.

#16 Georgia Tech - Lost to Kansas the week between Kansas losing to North Dakota State and Southern Mississippi; enough said.

#18 North Carolina - Starting 0-2 was not expected, but you have to credit UNC for scheduling 2 non-conference games against BCS conference teams and one conference game in their first 3, but also blame UNC for having 13 players suspended for various reasons.

#19 Penn State - The Fighting Joe Paterno’s have looked less than stellar on offense their first three games. Honestly, nobody expected them to beat Alabama, and with the way Penn State schedules, 2-1 is the way most figured they would start. Although true freshman QB Robert Bolden has shown glimpses of stardom, he has also struggled mightily against Youngstown State and Kent State (struggling @Alabama in your first college road game is expected and forgiven). The offense ranks 73rd in rushing, 74th in passing and 79th in total offense. Considering the competition, this has to be a concern in Happy Valley.

#20 Florida State - Although they looked good this week beating BYU soundly, that whooping they took in Norman, Oklahoma last week is tough to forget. FSU trailed 44-7 after 3 quarters and allowed nearly 500 yards of offense by the Sooners.


Not to worry, not all is wrong with the football world; the Detroit Lions are 0-2 for the third straight season.