I watched a lot of games over the weekend, so this week I'm including observations about some of the games and the players with this week's Blogpoll ballot.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Cal |
 1 |
| 2 | Oklahoma |
1 |
| 3 | Georgia |
 2 |
| 4 | Missouri |
2 |
| 5 | Florida |
1 |
| 6 | LSU |
1 |
| 7 | Wisconsin |
1 |
| 8 | Texas Tech |
1 |
| 9 | Texas |
1 |
| 10 | South Florida |
4 |
| 11 | Alabama | -- |
| 12 | Brigham Young |
4 |
| 13 | East Carolina | -- |
| 14 | Auburn |
1 |
| 15 | Penn State |
3 |
| 16 | Wake Forest |
3 |
| 17 | Ohio State |
12 |
| 18 | Clemson |
4 |
| 19 | Oregon |
6 |
| 20 | Kansas |
3 |
| 21 | Oklahoma State |
3 |
| 22 | Connecticut |
4 |
| 23 | California |
11 |
| 24 | Illinois |
4 |
| 25 | North Carolina |
1 |
Dropped Out: UCLA (#21), Georgia Tech (#23).
I thought about ranking Nebraska at #25, but North Carolina's pasting of Rutgers is more impressive than anything we've accomplished thus far this season. Beat Virginia Tech and maybe it'll be time for the Huskers to be ranked.
I dropped Georgia a bit because of their struggle with South Carolina. I'm not dropping Kansas very far despite their loss because what I saw in Friday night's loss was a darned good football team, USF just happened to beat them.
Does Texas Tech deserve to be #8 with Texas behind them?
Weekend Observations:
The best game of the weekend was Friday night’s Kansas - South Florida match up. Todd Reesing was phenomenal, but if there was one guy who stood out it was the Bulls’ DE George Selvie. He disrupted KU’s blocking so much it was a completely different game when he was in. He’s extremely quick off the ball and beat a couple double-teams, just amazing. KU’s Kerry Meier catches anything you throw near him - hasn’t he been around about eight years now?
Iowa State is much better than they were last year. I watched most of that game, switching back and forth between them and Mizzou. The Cyclones dominated the third quarter, but only came away with three points. Every time they got into the red zone, things came apart, and it wasn’t the players, the coaches weren’t getting the plays in on time. The result was delay of game penalties and wasted timeouts. On a first and goal, ISU ran a drive on second down, then the predictable fade to the corner on third. Their coaches owe their players an apology for that loss. ISU's quarterback Austen Arnaud is going to be another great Big 12 quarterback after he gets more experience.
Mizzou on the other hand was scary good. If you think USC is good you might want to take a look at Missouri’s offense. Chase Daniel was done midway through the third quarter and by then was 23-28 for 405 yards and four touchdowns. If this guy doesn’t win the Heisman, it’ll be because of injury. The good news for Husker fans is that the Tigers can be run on.
Oregon showed a lot of resolve coming back in their win at Purdue. The Boilermakers scored on their first four possessions then fell flat. Oregon's LeGarrette Blount wouldn't be stopped.
I thought that Notre Dame would beat Michigan because their defense was better, but I didn’t figure on Michigan’s defense being inept. Jimmy Clausen still throws a lot of balls as if he’s expecting divine intervention to direct a completion - if he’s become a better quarterback it’s not noticeable. Michigan spotted the Irish 14 points and didn’t wake up until the second quarter.
I only watched a bit of the Oklahoma game because I didn’t want to see Ty Willingham cry, just in case he’s capable.
The “Collision in the Coliseum” ended up being a boring, one-sided affair and now Ohio State can disappear from national relevance. It was a bad game, not just because USC so dominated the Buckeyes, but it was as if Ohio State walked into the place resigned to loss and then walked through the night. The pre-game media coverage othing else existed for a few days with the exception of Beanie Wells’ foot. In the end it’s almost as if they were happy to offer up the Buckeyes on a spit.
I switched back and forth between USC and the Wisconsin - Fresno State game which was much more interesting. I like watching Wisconsin, they’re old school and they know how to win ugly games. There’s not much fancy about them and that’s rather refreshing these days.
Iowa State is much better than they were last year. I watched most of that game, switching back and forth between them and Mizzou. The Cyclones dominated the third quarter, but only came away with three points. Every time they got into the red zone, things came apart, and it wasn’t the players, the coaches weren’t getting the plays in on time. The result was delay of game penalties and wasted timeouts. On a first and goal, ISU ran a drive on second down, then the predictable fade to the corner on third. Their coaches owe their players an apology for that loss. ISU's quarterback Austen Arnaud is going to be another great Big 12 quarterback after he gets more experience.
Mizzou on the other hand was scary good. If you think USC is good you might want to take a look at Missouri’s offense. Chase Daniel was done midway through the third quarter and by then was 23-28 for 405 yards and four touchdowns. If this guy doesn’t win the Heisman, it’ll be because of injury. The good news for Husker fans is that the Tigers can be run on.
Oregon showed a lot of resolve coming back in their win at Purdue. The Boilermakers scored on their first four possessions then fell flat. Oregon's LeGarrette Blount wouldn't be stopped.
I thought that Notre Dame would beat Michigan because their defense was better, but I didn’t figure on Michigan’s defense being inept. Jimmy Clausen still throws a lot of balls as if he’s expecting divine intervention to direct a completion - if he’s become a better quarterback it’s not noticeable. Michigan spotted the Irish 14 points and didn’t wake up until the second quarter.
I only watched a bit of the Oklahoma game because I didn’t want to see Ty Willingham cry, just in case he’s capable.
The “Collision in the Coliseum” ended up being a boring, one-sided affair and now Ohio State can disappear from national relevance. It was a bad game, not just because USC so dominated the Buckeyes, but it was as if Ohio State walked into the place resigned to loss and then walked through the night. The pre-game media coverage othing else existed for a few days with the exception of Beanie Wells’ foot. In the end it’s almost as if they were happy to offer up the Buckeyes on a spit.
I switched back and forth between USC and the Wisconsin - Fresno State game which was much more interesting. I like watching Wisconsin, they’re old school and they know how to win ugly games. There’s not much fancy about them and that’s rather refreshing these days.
The Virginia Tech - Georgia Tech game was replayed Sunday night on MASN (?) on my satellite provider, so I watched the first part of that too. The Hokies had difficulty with the option early on, a promising sign for the Huskers. Hokie freshman Tyrod Taylor is electric, making his first start against the Yellow Jackets.
It’s no wonder there’s little defense being played anywhere. The number of ticky-tack calls against defensive players over the weekend was disgusting. You so much as stare too hard at a quarterback in the pocket or a receiver and there’s a flag being thrown. I blame the NFL mentality that says high scoring games are more exciting. It sucks.
Somebody want to tell me if there’s a point to the Microsoft Bill Gates - Jerry Seinfeld commercials?
It’s no wonder there’s little defense being played anywhere. The number of ticky-tack calls against defensive players over the weekend was disgusting. You so much as stare too hard at a quarterback in the pocket or a receiver and there’s a flag being thrown. I blame the NFL mentality that says high scoring games are more exciting. It sucks.
Somebody want to tell me if there’s a point to the Microsoft Bill Gates - Jerry Seinfeld commercials?