College Football Top Ten Wrap Up 3

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Parity. That was the word we heard over and over in the 1990s. The concern was that Division I-A football was being dominated by a few schools who had an unfair advantage over their unfortunate brethren based on the exorbitant amount of scholarships they can offer, making the Haves two- and three-deep at most positions with A+ talent, while the Have Nots struggled to get by on table scraps. So the NCAA put on their Robin Hood hat and slashed scholarships, robbing the rich to feed the poor. Today only a handful of schools boast the amount of talent typically fielded year in and year out by college football’s Grand Old Programs.

I’ve come to realize after only a couple of weeks of writing this column that parity stinks. I’ve been critical, to the extreme in some cases, of many programs in the top ten. The reality of the situation is two-fold: First, that criticism is founded. Many of the teams in today’s top ten couldn’t hold a candle to the Oklahoma or Miami programs of the 1980s, the Florida State or Nebraska programs of the 1990s, or the Michigan or Notre Dame programs of the 1940s-1990s. Second, in today’s college football climate, many teams are “deserving” of top ten rankings, not because they are so very good, but because the playing field is so much more level.

There are certainly other factors to the decline of several once-powerful programs, such as coaching changes, philosophy changes, academic standards changes, or any number of other factors. The end result, however, is a hodgepodge of teams scrambling for upper-tier status, all of whom both belong and do not belong based on the criteria by which we judge them. Comparing them to programs from the 1950s-1990s, which to many was the Golden Age of college football, these here-today, gone-tomorrow programs are an affront. Maybe it makes the greater college football landscape that much more exciting for all of the 117 Div. I-A schools.

To me it makes for a boring collection of half teams, none of whom are as inspirational as the major programs of the past.

This week I’m much happier with our top ten teams, as many of them finally broke out of their early season malaise and put some thorough thumpings on over-matched opponents, rather than playing down to their level. Next week, we start in with some really good matchups, though. One more week of pansies and we’re on to The Show!

#1 – Southern California Trojans
Last Week: Washington State – win, 47-14. Once again, the Men of Troy produced another solid victory. USC was in cruise control most of this game, leading 27-7 at half and never really in jeopardy of a loss. We’ve got another month before we see any kind of real challenge on the USC schedule, with teams like Washington, Stanford, Arizona, and Notre Dame on tap for the next several games.
Coming Up: At Washington. Ty Willingham’s team is in the midst of a battering five-game stretch wherein they play five currently or recently ranked teams. The visiting Trojans should have no trouble posing yet another convincing win.

#2 – Louisiana State Tigers
Last Week: #16 South Carolina – win, 28-16. Really all this game did for me was to reaffirm that there’s no reason, yet, to bump LSU above USC. I would have no argument if the Bayou Bengals were #1 and the Trojans #2, but things are fine this way, too. South Carolina gave LSU a good game, and tested the Tigers more than any other opponent so far this year, but once again the co-favorite for the Mythical National Championship came through in fine form.
Coming Up: Tulane. The biggest challenge for the Tigers this week will be digging Green Wave players out of their cleats. This could be – should be – a swift and brutal game.

#3 – Oklahoma Sooners
Last Week: At Tulsa – win, 62-21. As expected, the Sooners jump back into the third spot in the polls after yet another convincing win, this time against a game but very overmatched Tulsa squad. It was 14-7 Oklahoma after the first quarter, 35-14 at half, and it got uglier and uglier as the night wore on.
Coming Up: At Colorado. This is the second of OU’s three straight road games, culminating in the Red River Shootout at Texas in two weeks.

#4 – Florida Gators
Last Week: At Mississippi – win, 30-24. The Gators suffered another crushing victory this week, beating Ole Miss by an uninspiring six points. The victory wasn’t glamorous enough to prevent Oklahoma overcoming that three-point deficit in the rankings and regaining #3, though. The problem for the Gators is one of youth – yes, they are loaded with talent across the board, but lacking big-time game experience, especially on defense, this team has yet to completely inspire the voters. Couple that with the electrifying play of the Sooners and you have yet another flip-flop in the rankings. All in all this was a good game, a good win on the road against a game opponent, and really didn’t do much to damage the Gators’ overall position.
Coming Up: Auburn. This has all the hallmarks of a classic “trap” game. Auburn has just finished crushing their latest opponent and appears to be entering this game on a roll, while Florida has to be looking ahead somewhat to their showdown the following week with #2 LSU… but even still, I have zero doubt that the Gators will not only win this game but do so going away.

#5 – West Virginia Mountaineers
Last Week: East Carolina – win, 48-7. This was the impressive roll-over that I thought voters had been looking for from this team, but despite the gaudy stat lines against a team that they were supposed to crush, the Mountaineers didn’t move up one iota from last week. They had 1,388 points in week three and they have 1,388 points this week. As mercurial as the voters have been this year, I find that more shocking than the revolving door Oklahoma and Florida have been sharing so far this year. Pat White rebounded from a lackluster performance last week to tally four touchdowns, and once again Super-Frosh Noel Devine got enough game time to make us giddy about his future.
Coming Up: At #18 South Florida. The Bulls are college football’s current Cinderella team, everyone’s favorite “new thing.” If West Virginia can go on the road and put up another dominating performance like they did this week against what is turning out to be a pretty game USF squad, they could considerably close the gap on the consensus top four.

#6 – California Golden Bears
Last Week: Arizona – win, 45-27. Don’t be fooled by the 27 points Cal gave up here – this game was over very, very early. Cal jumped out to a 28-3 first-quarter lead, and the rest of the game was pretty much mop-up. Yes, ‘Zona did put up 27 points on the Golden Bears, but this week I’m giving Cal a pass on those points – not all 20-something points are equal. These were “let’s get this game over with and focus on Oregon” points, nothing more. This game was over after about ten minutes, believe me.
Coming Up: The Showdown. Cal is the higher-ranked team here but the game is being played at Oregon, where Cal lost in overtime two years ago. I refuse to call this game. I think these teams are very evenly matched, and even though Oregon’s spread offense causes teams fits, Cal has seen this offense three times already this season. This ought to be a very good game.

#7 – Texas Longhorns
Last Week: Rice – win, 58-14. I was dead sick on Saturday, so even though I didn’t want to watch this game I ended up seeing significant portions because I didn’t have the energy to crawl away from my TV. This was an old-fashioned whoopin’, the kind that I’ve been looking for from Texas all season. All phases of the game were looking sharp for the Longhorns.
Coming Up: At Kansas State. Do not sleep on K-State. They have a good enough team to beat Texas if the Longhorns are looking past this game to their tangle with the Sooners. I suspect that Texas will win this game handily, especially after getting upset by these same Wildcats last year, but despite this week’s solid game, there’s still that lingering question about Texas that makes me think this could be a pretty competitive game.

#8 – Ohio State Buckeyes
Last Week: Northwestern – win, 58-7. This game was 45-0 at halftime, and the biggest question on my mind was, “How in the world did Northwestern hold the Buckeyes to a field goal on one of their drives?” Jim Tressel borrowed the keys to the woodshed this week and gave the Big 10’s biggest embarrassment a licking the likes of which they won’t soon forget. There’s no reason, other than sheer mercy, that OSU scored less than 70 points.
Coming Up: At Minnesota. The Baggy Dome has a fast track, so maybe that’ll allow the Golden Gophers to keep up with Todd Boeckman and Co. You have something to fear this week, Ohio State Fan – and its name is Boredom.

#9 – Wisconsin Badgers
Last Week: Iowa – win, 17-13. I have nothing against Wisconsin. The Badgers actually have many ties in football and volleyball (my two favorite college sports) to “my” team, the Nebraska Huskers. The two programs have a long history of intermarriage with coaches and philosophies, so it pains me – really it does – to have to continue to call this team out. But I am compelled to do so, because once again the Badgers had to gut out a victory over a very, very weak opponent. Iowa is bad. Really bad. Losing to Iowa State bad. So why, why, WHY was Iowa leading 10-7 at halftime, Wisconsin? What is that? There are serious questions about this Badger team, but they are NOT this bad. Is it motivation? Is it character? Is it coaching? Whatever it is, you either fix it this week or you’re done. Michigan State can score.
Coming Up: Michigan State Spartans. This is NOT Sparta – this is Madison. That’s the only reason I think Wisconsin survives this one. MSU has a long tradition of blowing big games, but I have confidence they’re beyond that after passing the Notre Dame test (I know it’s just Notre Dame, but you get my point). However, I think this may FINALLY be the week that Wisconsin wakes up and becomes the team we thought they’d be. I’m taking a risk picking the Badgers, I think.

#10 – Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Last Week: Idle. Talk about back-dooring your way into the top ten. Rutgers is the poster child of modern parity. Let’s see how long this fairytale lasts.
Coming Up: Maryland. The Terps are probably not going to provide much of a test for our newest member of the top ten. We may have to wait until next week against Cincinnati to see if Rutgers should be sticking around or making way for Oregon…

The Rest of the Ranked:
#11. Oregon – Here I was all ready to drink the Oregon kool-aid, but then they give up 28 points to Stanford in the second quarter alone. I’m ready to believe that was an aberration, Ducks. But that was weird.
#12. Boston College – I don’t know if Army is plucky or if BC is just faking here, but this game was far closer than I ever thought it would be. UMass and Bowling Green should provide easy pickings in the next two weeks.
#13. Clemson – The Tigers are officially the team least deserving of their rank, having risen to the lofty status of #13 despite playing four horrible teams, and winning all four games by uninspiring margins.
#14. Kentucky – I’ll admit that I didn’t think UK had a chance against Team McFadden. This win was gutty, and is forcing me to re-evaluate my take on the Wildcats.
#15. Georgia – Georgia lost – at home – to South Carolina. SC then loses a close game to the #2 team in the nation, again on the road. Tell me again how this team is ranked higher than South Carolina?
#16. South Carolina – That was a far better outcome than I though we’d see from your visit to LSU. In my heart you’re #15. Really.
#17. Virginia Tech – Talk about being victimized by playing a weak opponent. VA Tech should be higher than this… for sure higher than Georgia.
#18. South Florida – This is the week we find out whether Cinderella gets to stay at the ball. The fact that his is a home game could play a key role in what should be a pretty good game.
#19. Hawaii – Welcome to the 2007 version of Boise State.
#20. Missouri – With two weeks to prepare for Nebraska and a home game, there ought to be no way Missouri can lose that game. Why am I not confident? Oh yeah – Gary Pinkel.
#21. Penn State – Once, just once, Joe Pa should focus on recruiting some offensive stars to go along with his defense. Michigan’s defense is nothing special, but even they held PSU out of the end zone.
#22. Alabama – Nick Saban may have been better served spending more time with his team Saturday than with the ESPN Game Day crowd. That camera is awfully enticing, though.
#23. Arizona State – Dennis Erickson sighting! Welcome back to the show, coach.
#24. Cincinnati – This is the first time Cincinnati has been ranked since 1976, I believe. This is also the best start the Bearcats have had in over 50 years. Heady times, indeed.
#25. Nebraska – parity is not an excuse for poor play. That defense is atrocious. The Huskers are the epitome of the concept of “Not all wins are created equal.” Never has 3-1 looked so bad.

Heisman Hopefuls
Not quite yet. Nobody has really separated themselves from the pack at this point.

Hope you enjoyed the column. See you next week.

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