Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sunday CFB Hangover Quickie

A few thoughts off yesterday's games:

*Call Boise's performance against Oregon State a wash as compared to TCU's. It certainly won't hurt (and I will be moving the Broncos up in my poll, because of the respect I have for OSU. I give TCU the credit; I will give Boise State the credit, too. And now we hit the multi-week stretch of Boise State dominance over some of the weakest comp in college football.

*So much for Texas' shot at a national title. Any loss is usually pretty fatal to BCS title-game hopes, but to get humiliated, by an unranked seeming lightweight, at home? Done.

(The Big 12 took a hit yesterday, with Oklahoma barely surviving a Cincy team that had disappointed this season. The best team in the Big 12: Nebraska.)

*Alabama's best win yet? When Alabama was down 20-7 on the road to a tough Arkansas team that looked like it had solved Bama's D, I still thought the Tide would win. And they proceeded to punish Arkansas into submission. The running game is so good.

*Trey Burton. He was already putting in a TD per game. On his 2nd, I said: Great. On his 3rd, I said: Wow. On his 4th, I jumped out of my chair. On his 5th, I shook my head. On his 6th, I launched "BurtonBlog.com." (Kidding, but don't discount Florida fans in hero withdrawal after 4 years of Tim Tebow now looking to create an idol myth around Burton.)

*Huge win for Auburn. There's no shame in winning close games over good teams. (And Auburn's win over Mississippi State now looks a lot more impressive than, say, Arkansas' win over Georgia.)

*That rule doesn't apply to Arizona, which got a huge W a week ago over Iowa but barely survived an ugly slugfest with Cal, which I wouldn't qualify as a "good" team. I was pretty high on Arizona after they beat Iowa, but this win will take them down a few notches in my poll.

(I also nicked Utah in my upcoming poll, because their season-opening win over Pitt now doesn't look nearly as impressive. A team's "resume" is a constantly evolving thing.)

*Get well, Denard!

*Mea culpa: I was very wrong about BC beating VT. Important style points for the Hokies (and Boise State). More: What was I thinking ranking Fresno State the past few weeks?

*Stanford is the real deal. The Cardinal gave Notre Dame a much tougher game than either Michigan or Michigan State. Next week's game at Oregon will be fascinating.

*More next week: Florida at Alabama, Texas-Oklahoma, Wisconsin-Michigan State.

*Early BlogPoll preview: Alabama-TCU as 1-2; Boise State jumps to No. 3; Oklahoma out of Top 10; Stanford into Top 10; USC and NC State making poll; Texas with pity No. 25 ranking.

-- D.S.

4 comments:

Michael W said...

Odds the Oregon/Stanford winner goes to the Rose Bowl? Oregon's at home, but Stanford is playing better, and neither look beatable by the rest of the Pac-10 right now.

JT said...

Don't know about any withdrawal. Quite a few of us are all heroed out after the last few years and are more happy with a team concept.

the bankrupt museum said...

would find it strange if you docked Arizona for Cal (who we really don't know how decent they are yet - maybe Nevada is better than all think?) but wouldn't take down Nebraska for beating South Dakota State 17-3 @ home (by comparison --> @Delaware 26, SD St. 3); yikes, I don't trust anyone in the Big 12 to not put up a dud in any given week. Btw, in all seriousness --> would you not rank MWC + WAC competition at least on par with Big East + ACC this year? Seeing teams in these conferences gradually creep up the top 25 when conference play starts is just going to make me cringe - awful awful conferences this year...

Steve Sprague said...

Good news about Denard is that he would have returned had it not been Bowling Green. Plus, Tate and Devin Gardner did quite well in his absence.

I hope people don't jump all over this, as Pat Forde did on Twitter, and blame Denard's injury on his size. It was a fluke fall in which he landed hard on his knee. Anyone who has played football has had one of those. Some hurt more than others, but it has nothing to do with how big you are.