Or...LSU is That Good

LSU should dominate South Carolina just as it has its other 3 opponents this season. This South Carolina team isn’t that different from Mississippi State or Virginia Tech. LSU has put up 44 plus points on 3 different teams this season so I don’t see any reason why the same shouldn’t happen here. People can say Virginia Tech is overrated and they probably are. People will try to say the same about South Carolina and they are also probably overrated, but it will be hard to justify saying every top 15 team LSU plays is overrated. At some point people will realize just how good this defense and offense are and that they make good teams look bad. Blowing out the #12 team 2 weeks after blowing out the #9 team should take ammunition away from USC diehards. People are saying that USC is #1 and LSU is #2 because they won on the road against a “good team.” Nebraska will continue to masquerade as a top 25 team until October 6th because they have a very weak schedule. After improving to 4-1 they will lose as many as 5 out of their next 6 with games against Missouri, Texas A &M, Texas, Kansas, and Kansas State with only A&M and Kansas State at home. Meanwhile, the Mississippi State Bulldogs will continue to win over people realizing how good they are when they improve to 3-1 after a win against Gardner Webb this weekend. They will have a chance against a demoralized South Carolina team next week. The following week they will defeat UAB in Starkville for homecoming. If they can beat South Carolina next week they would improve to 5-1 after the UAB victory and likely prove that LSU won against a decent opponent on the road. State will lose most of their remaining games. Their schedule after UAB? Tennessee, at West Virginia, at Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas in Little Rock, and Ole Miss. They will have a chance in these games and might finish a bowl team. My point is that by the end of the year, I think State and Nebraska have similar records and USC’s road victory is not so impressive. By that time LSU will have also had to prove themselves at Kentucky and at Alabama, not to mention #3 Florida and the other games you already know about. LSU will keep making teams appear “overrated” until the end of the season.

Another Test for Troy

Don’t sleep on Washington State. I’m not saying they will beat USC, but they have one hell of a quarterback in Alex Brink leading the Huskies 17th ranked passing attack against USC’s way overrated 99th ranked passing defense. WSU looked great in the first half against Wisconsin the first week of the season before the Badgers pulled away. USC only beat this team by 6 last year. As for the ridiculous opinions of some people who say John David Booty is a Heisman candidate consider his stats versus Brink’s:
Booty: 40-62, 64.5%, 350 yards, 5.6 yards per attempt, 5 TDs, 1 INT.
Brink: 81-110, 73.6% 947 yards, 8.6 yards per attempt, 10 TDs, 2 INTs.
I know Booty has played one less game, but come on – stop with the Heisman talk.

Please Georgia

Its hard for me to not think Alabama will absolutely beat Georgia this Saturday (believe me, I’m trying), however Alabama will be facing its first real defense. Alabama will not be able to run the ball on Georgia as well as it has its previous opponents. They will have to throw at some point. This has been difficult for John Parker Wilson this season, as he has thrown only 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Georgia’s offense has not been setting the world on fire, but might be good enough against Alabama’s non-existent defense to score more points than Bama. We’ll see, but I like the Tide in this one. One interesting note is that some players and coaches from Western Carolina, the only team to play both Bama and UGA, all said they expect the Dogs to win.

Watch Out For The Buckeyes

To me, Ohio State proved they should be taken seriously with a victory at Washington last week. Penn state is playing very well and should beat Michigan this week, but JoePa’s teams have a way of choking. Wisconsin looks plainly overrated and in a role recersal has a bad defense and throws the ball on offense. Ohio State’s schedule is not the easiest in the country with games at a Purdue team that is probably overrated, Michigan State, at Penn State, Wisconsin, and at Michigan (its still the biggest rivalry in college football), but the Buckeyes will likely be 5-0 when they head to Purdue in week 6. This should allow them to keep creeping closer to a top 5 that is for now well solidified.

Cats at the Hogs

Its funny to be talking about Kentucky at Arkansas a compelling matchup – in football. Kentucky comes to Fayet-naim to play an Arkansas team that has an equally horrific offense. This is basically a Pac 10 game in SEC clothing, but it should be fun to watch. 2 Heisman candidates take the field with McFadden actually being upgraded in the Heisman race after his magnificent performance at Alabama. Could the award be becoming relevant again? Not likely, but at least it has a chance. Do yourself a favor and watch what I consider the best game of the weekend. The last time these 2 played: 11/01/03: Arkansas 71, Kentucky 63.

Gerry Dinardo Did Bring Back the Magic (Or at Least Started To)

In one of the most intriguing matchups of the weekend, we find out if Indiana is the pseudo real deal against Illinois. If Indiana goes 4-0 it will be hard to keep them from bowling, with future games against Ball State and at Northwestern. They should have a chance against Minnesota and if they can pull this off or one surprise victory against another Big Ten team they would finished 7-5. Even if they finish 6-6 someone should invite Indiana to a bowl out of pity and obviously not for their rabid fan base.

College Football Quickies

If Texas A&M is worth a damn at all and will compete for the Big 12 title, they should be able to get by Miami with ease this weekend. They have beat up 2 cupcakes at home and squeaked by Fresno St. in triple overtime. A&M’s 16 ranking seems too high..

Oklahoma’s pass defense faces its first real test in Tulsa QB Paul Smith, not to be confused with legendary guitar maker Paul Reed Smith.

Florida is only favored by 21 over Ole Miss in Oxford this weekend. Perhaps that is because Ole Miss has won their last 2 meetings. Ole Miss’ quarterback for those games was some scrub by the name of Eli Manning.

Nebraska will take out their frustrations on Ball State this weekend. It won’t matter, Nebraska, the country has already forgotten about you.

Duke actually has a chance to win 2 in a row when it takes on a terrible Navy team. More surprising than this is that this game is televised.

BC will jump out to 4-0 after a win against Army this weekend. Buffy and Chaz are still deciding whether to go or take advantage of one of the last good sailing weekends. Where have you gone Mr. Inside? Mr. Outside? A lonely nation turns its eyes to you.

William and Mary travels to Blacksburg to create a tragedy of their own against Virginia Tech.

Remember how everyone was saying TCU was this year’s BCS buster? Well, so far it has been Air Force and they have a chance to get into the Top 25 with a win over BYU.

Michigan State gets its turn at embarrassing Notre Dame in South Bend this weekend. Does this year’s Notre Dame team remind anyone else of Aaron Rodgers draft day?

The Penn State at Michigan game shouldn’t be close, but it has been the last 2 years between these 2. That said, Penn State has looked impressive on offense against 3 pretty weak teams. It defense has also been stout. Michigan is also weak on defense and the offense should be shut down by the Penn State D. But…this is Penn State Michigan, so you never know.

South Carolina is not the 12th best team in the country

This article tells you why.

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/17/nobody-noticed-but-south-carolina-is-a-struggling-football-team/

USC

After watching the USC Nebraska game last night I was shocked to see how bad Nebraska's tackling was. Yes, USC is a very talented team, but the gapping holes in the line were a result of inferior D-lineman. I think as the year plays on, Nebraska will be exposed as overrated. They do not tackle like a top 25 team. I alos enjoyed Brent Musberger talking about how John David Booty should win the Heisman after throwing for an eyepopping 43 yards in the first half.

LSU is averaging

45.7 points per game and is averaging giving up 2.3 points per game. The defense is #1 in the country by 50 yards per game. Amazing.

Early Doucet

has a groin injury and that is why he was held out of the game. I thought it was just precautionary. Honestly it shouldn't matter against South Carolina if he doesn't play, but it will matter against Florida. LSU has more talented Wide Receivers than it can put on the field, but few are truly proven and SEC battle tested.

Noel Devine

If you didn't see Noel Devine in last night's WVU Maryland game, you missed an amazing performance by a future star. He is small, so it will be interesting to see if he can be superhuman against better teams, but America was introduced to him last night (or at least those people that don't follow recruiting. LSU could have had this guy (at one point they were #1 on his list), but the opinion shared by almost every school was that he was not going to qualify and he had some off the field issues. His stats last night: 5 rushes for 136 yards. You have to see the highlights. Some runs were just sick.

Did Anyone Else Notice Last Night

That West Virginia backup quarterback Markell Harrison looks exactly like Lil Wayne?

LSU is the best team in the country.

Virginia Tech at LSU

Virginia Tech is not a top 10 football team. They have a bad quarterback and bad offensive line. They have a good running back, but, again, a bad offensive line. Their defense is good, but not as good as everyone tries to pretend it is. LSU is the best football team in the country. You did not get to see Gary Crowton's offense last week because they didn't need it. You will this week and it should fair pretty well against a team that at times struggled with ECU. Everyone likes to point to Virginia Tech's tragedy as the reason for its struggles, but this isn't like what LSU dealt with after Katrina and Rita. After the hurricans, players were on a different schedules, a game was moved back, they had no off week, and they had dozens of people staying at their apartments. Way different. LSU rolls, 24-0.

My Pick For Games of Interest

A C in () means I think they will cover.

Nebraska (-8) at Wake Forest: Nebraska (C)

Miami at Oklahoma (-10.5): Oklahoma (C)

Alabama (-3.5) at Vanderbilt: This one is too close to call, but don't be surprised if Vandy pulls it out. Vandy returns 21 starters and the stadium will be full for Saban. This Vandy team is good enough to go bowling.

Boise State (-3) at Washington: Washington (C). I really think Ty Willingham may have the Huskies back to competitive.

Oregon at Michigan (-7): Oregon (C). I know everyone is saying Michigan will be focused, but they should always be focused and Oregon runs the same spread offense that App. State and The Ohio State University used to defeat it.

South Carolina at Georgia (-3.5): Georgia. Georgia finally looks like Georgia and is playing at home. Spurrier says he may have overrated this team. I think he is right.

Missouri (-5.5) at Ole Miss: Missouri. Missouri sure looked good last week.
I don't know if they will cover.

Notre Dame at Penn State (-17): Penn State and it won't be close.

BYU at UCLA: UCLA. Don't know if they will cover. These teams could both be really good.

TCU at Texas (-8.5): TCU (C).

Mississippi State (-6) at Tulane: Miss. St. (C) Everyone says how much Miss. State sucked last week. I think LSU is that good. I saw a Miss. St. team with a good offensive line, a good running back, and a good-as-advertised defense. They have definitely improved from last year.

South Florida at Auburn (-6.5): Auburn (C). Auburn struggled last week and will not be as good as you're used to, but they are good enough to beat a good South Florida team. South Florida's QB, Matt Grothe, is fun to watch.

My College Football Rankings

This is how I see it so far:

1.) LSU
2.) USC
3.) Oklahoma
4.) West Virginia
5.) Wisconsin
6.) Cal
7.) Louisville
8.) Florida
9.) Georgia
10.) Georgia Tech
11.) Texas
12.) Ohio State
13.) Nebraska
14.) UCLA
15.) Auburn
16.) Penn State
17.) Virginia Tech
18.) Rutgers
19.) Arkansas
20.) Tennessee
21.) Hawaii
22.) TCU
23.) Boston College
24.) Boise State
25.) Texas A & M

Week One College Football Wrap Up

It took me a while to do this because I was out of town at the game and had to do a lot of work when I got back, but here are my thoughts on the top ranked teams after this past weekend. I will use the Coaches Polls Numbers because these are the only ones that count.

1.) USC: This is not the same USC we have been watching for the last several years. Booty is not Leinhart or Palmer and this team didn't show they were SC when playing a very, very weak opponent. We will learn more about Nebraska when they go on the road at Wake Forest, but when they return they may have enough to beat the Trojans following SC's bye week.

2.) LSU: This might end up being the best defense of all time. Virginia Tech should not score against them.

3.) Florida: hard to tell much from such a weak opponent, but the Gators are rolling. Tebow will be great, its just a matter of when.

4.) West Virgina: they have a weak defense that may keep them out of New Orleans.

5.) Wisconsin was very impressive against what will prove to be a good Washington State team. The most amazing thing about this team is watching them actually throw the football.

6.) Oklahoma looked amazing. However, they have a freshman QB and it will eventually cause them a loss or 2. This is now my Big 12 favorite.

7.) Texas looked horrible. Colt McCoy threw 2 interceptions to a bad Sun Belt team. TCU will cover this week and may even beat the Longhorns.

8.) Louisville: no defense. Consider them out of the Big East and National Title races.

9.) Virginia Tech is way overrated and it will show this weekend.

10.) California is the real deal. They have SEC caliber speed and get USC at home this year. Look for them to beat the Trojans and possibly get to New Orleans.

11.) Ohio State: can't tell much after who they played.

12.) Georgia: Finally Georgia looks like Georgia. They will beat South Carolina and it will come down to the Cocktail party for SEC East superiority.

13.) Auburn is not good enough to challenege LSU for the SEC West crown, but Tubby will find a way to win 9. They always do.

14.) UCLA is very good, but I believe a little overhyped right now. This weekend will tell us a little about the Bruins as they play BYU.

15.) Penn State has an easy road in the Big 10 this year. They are also very good. They will find a way to screw this up, but not before blowing out Notre Dame.

16.) Rutgers might end up being better than Louisville and WVU because they have some idea of how to play defense.

17.) Nebraska: looking like the real deal. Tough test this weekend because they have to go to Winston Salem, but we will find out how good they are next week when they host SC.

18.) Arkansas: too early to tell.

19.) TCU: this team is very good. They will cover this weekend against Texas. If they win they will coast into a BCS bowl.

20.) Boise State: not the same team without their QB this year. If they beat Washington this weekend they will only lose once - to Hawaii.

21.) Georgia Tech: Yes, Notre Dame sucks, but GT is really that good.

22.) Hawaii: One of the most fun teams to watch. Colt Brennan just makes me laugh with how good he is. They will go undefeated.

23.) Texas A&M: too early to tell.

24.) Tennessee: I don't know why people think Tennessee is so bad after losing to one of the best teams in the country when 2 of Cal's score were defensive. I saw a better team than they fielded last year. They won't win the SEC East, but they will be good and could end up deciding the conference with how they play Georgia and Florida.

25.) Boston College: this team should compete with Georgia Tech for the ACC title.