Lot of thoughts about College Football as it stands at the 1/2 way pole. Some teams better than I thought, some teams just about what I thought they would be, some surprises, and some teams that are turning it around.
The rankings are here but I'm not going to limit my thoughts here to the teams on them....
Surprises to the good:
Kansas St. - I thought they would be pretty good, but I didn't think they'd be top 5 good. They beat a very good OU team and destroyed Miami. Anyone think they're not going t beat WVU and UT? Could be a big season for the Wildcats.
Louisville - I still think they're underrated, probably should be a top 10 team. The fans of Louisville should enjoy it now because Charlie Strong is not going to be there for long as other teams will come calling.
Miss St. - Again, probably underrated. However, could play down to their ranking as the schedule starts to improve.
Ohio - That this 7-0 team is only ranked 25 in the AP is a crime. They beat Penn St. which seems to be better than everyone thought. Their exclusion from the USA Today Coaches Poll is my current biggest argument for the stupidity of that poll.
Ohio St. - This shouldn't have surprised me, because of Urban Meyer, but I didn't think he had the players for his system yet. They're not winning pretty, but they're winning.
Oregon St. - Didn't see this one coming at all.
Surprises to the bad:
Arkansas: Duh. Probably talking to Charlie Strong as we speak.
Va Tech - I thought, with the talent returning, that Va Tech was a sleeper candidate for the ACC title this year. Oops.
Texas - Probably should have seen this coming. Mack Brown has only been good when he's had strong defensive coordinators. Manny Diaz is not a strong defensive coordinator.
Auburn - I didn't think the Tigers would be good, mostly because I don't think Chizik is a good head coach, but I didn't think they'd be THIS bad. Probably looking for a new HC after the end of this season.
About where we thought they would be:
Alabama - Until someone can prove otherwise, this is the #1 team in all the land.
Oregon - Has the most speed of any team in major college football and a defense that's turning out to be pretty good this year.
Rice - There's never a year we don't think the Owls are going to be terrible. They're just more terrible than usual this year. It's time this university took a hard look as to whether or not it wants to continue playing major college football.
Turning it around:
Houston - After losing their first three games (and looking terrible while doing it) it seemed that the Cougars were in big trouble heading into the Rice game. Fortunately, Rice starting QB McHarge was injured and unable to play so the Cougars got their first win. Since then they've looked good against North Texas and UAB so there's progress. They could get a win against SMU this Saturday and then the schedule gets tougher. If they can sneak in a win against either UTEP, East Carolina or Tulsa they could go 8-4 and make it to a decent bowl game.
Michigan - The loss to Alabama didn't concern me, neither did the close win over Air Force, but the ND win exposed a team with a bad defense and a QB who should be playing WR. Now, into conference play, the Wolverines seem to have found their stride and just pasted a decent Illinois team. A win against Sparty this weekend puts them in the catbird seat for the conference championship game and a B(C)S bowl game. Go figure.
Oklahoma - 63-21 over Texas. Enough said. Probably not going to make it to the B(C)S championship game but could make it to a B(C)S game if they win out.
My Top 10 rankings:
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida
4. K-State
5. Notre Dame
6. Ohio State
7. Oregon State
8. LSU
9. Oklahoma
10. Louisville
