Week 6 in Review

If this last Saturday of football taught us anything it is that although parity is prevalent throughout college football, the top teams are there for a reason. Florida and Alabama both subdued possibly the toughest matchups they will face all year and set their seasons up for a matchup of undefeated teams in the SEC championship. Florida went into Baton Rouge and unmercifully beat LSU for the first time on Saturday night in years. The defense was the story line even after Tim Tebow started the game and played admirably. The 13-3 final score shows Florida is an all-around juggernaut that can beat a team any possible way.


Alabama continued its early dominance this season by jumping on Ole Miss early and often in their 22-3 win in Oxford, Miss. This game could have got ugly if not for the Rebel defense holding the Tide to 5 field goals. Houston Nutt could find no answers on offense, while Alabama moved the ball at will but could not find the end zone. Alabama continues to impress against good competition and with their toughest games left at home are well on their way to a second straight undefeated regular season. The rivalry game at Auburn to end the year stands out.

With nine teams yet to feel the sting of a loss this year and the BCS standings set to come out following this weekend’s action, I feel it is time for an initial ranking of the top 10 teams that I have seen thus far. This is by no means a list of the teams I feel will end up here at the end of the year, but a rankings showing the teams that have performed best up to this point.

1. Alabama – Wins over Virginia Tech, Arkansas, at Kentucky and Ole Miss shows they are for real and will be tough to beat. Saban has put the disappointing finish to last season behind this team. Look out.

2. Florida – Wins at Kentucky and LSU were impressive after the stinker vs. Tennessee. But Alabama has faced stiffer competition. With or without Tebow this team would be hard to beat.

3. Cincinnati – The Bearcats are also undefeated and can boast a huge conference road win at Rutgers, a big non-conference road win at Oregon State and a home win over a Fresno State team that could be very good. They play South Florida Thursday in an early battle of unbeaten Big East teams. A win here would further the Bearcats case.

4. Boise State – With the win over Oregon and tough road wins over Fresno State and Tulsa, the undefeated Broncos hold this spot. But like most voters I will probably drop them when the wins become less impressive and teams behind them beat good competition.

5. Texas – The Longhorns claim this spot by default. I have not been impressed at all with this team or Colt McCoy. They needed exceptional special teams play to beat Texas Tech and Colorado. A lot on the line vs. Oklahoma this week.

6. USC – Even with the loss to Washington, the Trojans have road wins over Ohio State and Cal, both teams thought to be in the upper echelon. The fact that USC was playing w/o their starting QB in the loss helps this ranking. They have work to do on offense, but the defense is still there and that means the Trojans will be in the end.

7. Iowa – The pollsters don’t give Kirk Ferentz and his Hawkeye team enough credit. They are the lone undefeated Big 10 team and beat Penn State in Happy Valley. They also can boast wins over Arizona and Michigan and although they have close wins over outmatched Northern Iowa and Arkansas State, a win is still a win and the Hawkeyes are unbeaten.

8. Virginia Tech – Although they have the loss to Bama and another close win over Nebraska, they did dominate Miami. A big one awaits the Hokies this week at Georgia Tech.

9. Miami – Yes the Hurricanes got blown out at VT but wins over FSU, GT and Oklahoma were impressive. They survived the hardest first month schedule in the country and now are positioned to make a run at the ACC if VT loses.

10. TCU – The Horned Frogs are another of the unbeatens and with wins at Virginia, at Clemson and at Air Force they claim this spot. They have difficult games vs. Utah and BYU left but could find themselves in the BCS by winning out. They would probably have a case over Boise State since the MWC is significantly better top to bottom than the WAC.

Just missing out for now are Oregon, Ohio State, Nebraska, Kansas and LSU. Oregon is working its way up after the opening loss to Boise. Ohio State has not beat anybody good and even with the oh-so-close single loss to USC does not make the grade. OSU needs to win on the road and beat a decent team convincingly to make the top 10 in my opinion, even though the BCS I’m sure will give them the benefit of the doubt. Nebraska is a fluke play away from being unbeaten and top 5. While Kansas is 5-0 behind a cup-cake early schedule, until they beat a good team they won’t crack these rankings. LSU has underachieved thus far, even with just the one loss, but will have the chances to get back to the top with a tough schedule going forward.

A lot will change this weekend and every Saturday left on the schedule. But my guess is those top 2 will stay the same until the first Saturday in December at the SEC Championship game.

Quick Notes from Week 6


Speaking of the Ohio State University, the final score over Wisconsin (31-13) looks convincing. But if you watched the game you saw the Badgers dominate on offense, compiling advantages of 22-8 in first downs and 368-164 in yards, more than doubling the offensive output of the Buckeyes. The difference was 3 return TDs by OSU, including two INTs for TDs and one kick return. The Buckeyes might be feeling good about things, but should not get too excited. They have no consistency on offense against the good defenses they have faced. And shutting out Toledo and Illinois does not show me anything on defense. With games at Penn State and Michigan and Iowa visiting Columbus, I expect OSU to lose two of those games and wouldn’t be surprised if they are upset in another. The thing about the Big 10 and all conferences except the Pac 10 is not all teams face each other every year. The Big 10 plays 8 conference games a year, skipping two opponents each season and takes the MAC to the woodshed every year . The Pac 10 is the only conference that plays a true conference schedule every year, 9 games against every other school. OSU has only 4 road games all year, all conference games, and until they beat a good team outside of the Big 10 I will refuse to believe this team is anything special and I wish the voters who count would see the same thing.

Saturday Lox Week 6 In Review

Premium Lox

Week 6: 2-1

Overall: 10-11

Winners:

Nebraska (-3): 27-12

This Thursday night game was played in a rain storm in Missouri as Nebraska exacted revenge for two straight beat downs by Missouri. The weather favored the home team for 3 quarters as Nebraska’s offense could not find any rhythm and Missouri got a TD on the final play of the half to lead 12-0 and feel in control of the game. But on 3rd and 8 early in the final period, Zac Lee threw a 54 yard TD pass for Nebraska and the whole game changed. Missouri threw INTs on consecutive drives and before the home crowd looked up the Cornhuskers had a 20-12 lead in a matter of minutes, finishing off the game later with another TD. The constant the entire night was the Nebraska defense led by DT Ndamukong Suh. He is the best football player I have seen all year, dominating from a position few in the college game can do. His final stat line read like this: 6 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 pass breakup and 1 interception (led to go ahead TD). The guy can do it all and with him in the middle of Bo Pelini’s defense the Cornhuskers feel they can go a long way toward erasing the Bill Callahan era in Lincoln. A long season awaits both these teams in a rugged Big 12 but with Oklahoma and Texas showing signs of mortality the Big 12 North can compete for the title this year.

West Virginia (-10): 34-13

The Mountaineers won this game through the air instead of the ground game preferred in past years. Syracuse had no answer for any of the weapons for West Virginia as Noel Devine ran well, but Jarrett Brown led the air attack to an easy win. West Virginia is not getting any national publicity while fellow Big East rival Cincinnati is top 10 and cruising. The Mountaineers have played well all year, just a trip up to Auburn in a game they gave away with interceptions. Watch out for this team the rest of the year as they have the talent to win the conference if they continue to play balanced on offense and solid on defense. I would love to see a WV – Cincinnati game to decide the conference.

Losers:

South Carolina (-9.5): 28-26

Steve Spurrier’s team barely escaped a motivated Kentucky team in this game, needing a two-point conversion stop to keep the lead late. Kentucky came off two tough losses to Florida and Alabama and I expected them to be flat after those games, but they played great even when their QB left the game with injury and almost pulled off a big road upset. South Carolina moved on though and with Spurrier’s best start since he took over have a chance at a special season. A big game awaits them in Tuscaloosa this week.

Regular Lox

Week 6: 0-3

Overall: 8-11-1

Losers:

Ole Miss (+6): 3-22

Alabama was too good on this day for the Rebels or any other teams for that matter. Ole Miss could not do anything on offense all game and while their defense held strong, holding Alabama to 5 field goals it was not meant to be. Trailing 9-0 near the end of the half, Mark Ingram broke a long TD run for the Tide’s only TD of the game but it was the nail in the coffin as Ole Miss could not do anything in the second half. Houston Nutt has lost the magic this team showed last year, obviously hurting with their best offensive lineman now playing on Sundays in Baltimore. They have not protected QB Jevan Snead all year and Alabama made it a miserable day each time he dropped back to pass. It could be a long season if their offense does not get it figured out in a hurry.

Georgia @ Tennessee (Under 46.5): 45-19

The Volunteer offense finally showed some life with a big day by QB Jonathan Crompton. I did not expect Tennessee to put up 45 points over 2 games, but they did it here against a very suspect Georgia defense. In fact Georgia needed a kickoff return and interception return for TDs to even stay in this game early. Without those big plays the under would have at least been in range but this was not to be as the Tennessee offense was too good for a Georgia defense that needs to step up if they are to compete. We’ll see how both these teams move forward in the SEC West, but don’t expect another 45 point performance from Lane Kiffin and company.

Arizona (-3): 33-36

File this game under “fluke” plays. With Arizona comfortably in control most of the second half and leading 33-21 late in the game Jake Locker led Washington on a TD drive to make it close. With two minutes left a quick screen pass to try to get a clinching first down and run out the clock ricocheted off an Arizona receiver’s foot and into a Husky defender who ran it back for a TD and the victory. Tucson will be talking about this for a long time to come as it appeared the ball hit the turf before bouncing back up. Unbelievably the play was upheld and the Huskies got another miraculous home win. Arizona though dominated the yardage and first downs, ending the game with advantages of 461-256 yards and 26-14 in first downs. Arizona would have been ranked if they pulled this out and in great position in the Pac 10 after a big road win over Oregon State earlier. As it is the Huskies got the victory and Arizona heads home deflated after a fluke loss that will have bettors screaming at referees for some time to come.

Upset Specials


Week 6: 1-1 (outright upsets)

Overall: 5-9 (outright upsets)

Indiana (+6) did not come to play in Virginia and were beaten soundly 47-7. Virginia is waking from the dead as usual under Al Groh, after a horrible start they have beat North Carolina and Indiana convincingly. If Al Groh could coach like this to start a season the Cavaliers would be a legitimate contender, but losing to William & Mary to open the season makes these wins a little less special.

Georgia Tech (+4) needed all the offense they got to beat Florida State after lightning delayed this game for hours. When they resumed play in the first half each team scored at will with FSU leading 35-28 at half. But GT stepped up their defense after halftime and put enough points on the board to beat Jimbo Fisher’s Seminoles 49-44, oops I mean Bobby Bowden. Nothing looks good in Tallahassee right now as FSU has its worst record since Bobby became coach. They will need several wins the rest of the way to make a bowl and if they don’t you have to figure Bowden will be gone one way or another.