If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
If you are having difficulty logging in, please REFRESH the page and clear your browser cache and try again.
If you still can't get logged in, please try using Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari to login. Also be sure you are using the latest version of your browser. Internet Explorer has not been updated in over seven years and will no longer work with the Forum software. Thanks
Oof. Well, even if that hurts PAC12 metrics, Oregon should have benefit of the doubt down the road for Playoff discussion. Assuming Ohio State doesn't collapse.
The Texas loss to Arkansas is somewhat surprising. SARK off to a shaky start.
...
I predict the top 10 to look like:
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
4. Oregon
5. Clemson
6. Iowa
7. Texas A&M
8. Ohio State
9. Cincinnati
10. Penn State
Dropping out of the top 10 are Notre Dame and Iowa State. If it was me, would rank Oregon #3 and Iowa #4 or #5. Give them some respect!
I predict the top 10 to look like:
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
4. Oregon
5. Clemson
6. Iowa
7. Texas A&M
8. Ohio State
9. Cincinnati
10. Penn State
1 and 2 I agree with. I'd still put Clemson right behind the Dawgs. The difference between them was a scoop and score.
The Top Ten(already starting to look a bit weird...)
1. Alabama. Next victim. Oh, if you're looking for a few chinks in the armor, you can find some-- the Tide are losing linebackers at an unsustainable(even for them) rate, they weren't sharp offensively early, they allowed an FCS team to score 14 points, etc. I'm guessing they show up in full force this week in The Swamp. A road game in Gainesville is never a easy thing, but it's tough seeing this Alabama team losing to a Florida team whose starting QB keeps throwing interceptions and whose best QB may be hurt. Of course, counting out a team for missing key players bit me last week. It could happen again. But I doubt it.
2. Georgia. Speaking of injured and backup QBs...does Georgia have a QB controversy? Are they a better offensive football team with Stetson Bennett? I think it's plausible. UAB's defense was supposed to be the strength of their team, and Bennett just shredded it. Granted, it's UAB, but this offensive explosion bodes very well for the Dawgs' future this season. I never thought I'd see them as thirty-one point favorites over South Carolina, but then, I never expected to see South Carolina starting a grad assistant at QB. What is it with SEC East QBs this year?
3. Oregon. I never thought they could pull off what they just pulled off, even before the injuries to Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe. I didn't think they had the defensive talent, particularly on the back end, and I didn't think they could be balanced enough on offense. They proved me wrong, and when you do that on the road against my #2 team, you get rewarded. Thing is, I'm still not convinced they're quite this good. They'll destroy Stony Brook this week, sure, but I could see them having some trouble fairly soon-- they go to Stanford, and later to UCLA and Utah. I don't think they run the table, but this may be one of those years where you can afford one bad day and still make the playoff.
4. Oklahoma. The Sooners proved absolutely nothing in dispatching Western Carolina 76-0. Can they prove something this week by dispatching Nebraska? They're 23 point favorites, last I checked. I'm pretty sure they'll win, but for some reason, I think the Cornhuskers cover in this one. OU's back end still has tackling issues, and a mobile QB like Martinez could give them some problems.
5. Texas A&M. OK, so here we come to an obvious ranking problem. I'm not surprised A&M struggled with Colorado-- I said in my preseason list that the trips to Boulder and Fayetteville would be tricky for this team. As always, I do not believe in dropping a team after a win. But the loss of Haynes King, and the struggles of his backup, Zach Calzada, make this ranking tough to defend right now. Fortunately for the Aggies, they get a bye week, and they need it to figure something out on offense, or Arkansas is taking them out in a couple of weeks.
6. Cincinnati. This season is setting up beautifully for them. Neither Indiana nor Notre Dame look to be the roadblocks they were supposed to be coming into this season, and the rest of the AAC doesn't look that imposing, either. Their toughest game might actually be the home tilt against UCF, unless Notre Dame improves mightily this week.
7. Penn State. The Nittany Lions had little trouble with Ball State. They figure to have considerably more trouble with Auburn this week. I may be overrating the Tigers right now, as they've beaten an FCS team and an FBS team that would struggle with much of the FCS. I may also be overrating the Lions. This is a good non-conference yardstick sort of game.
8. Iowa. Yes, they dominated a preseason top-ten team on the road, and that gets you points around here. But can they really keep winning playing Ferentzball like this? It's one thing to have a dominant defense, but there's a luck factor here that I'm not sure they can count on going forward, and they've got to get better QB play. They could stand to improve across the board on offense, actually, particularly in pass protection. This strikes me as the sort of Iowa team that cracks the top five and then somehow loses at Northwestern.
9. Ohio State. How does a team gain 624 yards, earn 32 first downs, only commit one turnover, and lose at home? I don't think Ohio State made as many mistakes as it may appear they did-- it was just one of those games where Ohio State paid full price for nearly every mistake. Every incompletion and penalty seemed to happen at a critical point. Thing is, I've seen Ohio State lose games like this at home before-- the one in 2014 to Virginia Tech leaps to mind, as that was a talented young QB's second start, too. The defense may be a problem all season, but again, this Big Ten slate may not have the team that can exploit them the way Oregon did. Right now, I think last Saturday was their one bad day this year. They've got a couple of weeks to experiment, as their next two games come against Akron and Tulsa.
10. Notre Dame. The trendy upset pick this week might well be Purdue over Notre Dame, as the Irish have been walking between the raindrops so far this season. It feels as if it's only a matter of time before this team gets drenched. Again, there's no dropping after a win here, and there's always the possibility that good Irish luck continues-- it's happened before for this program. But right now, this looks like a team in which a few parts (Hamilton, Mayer, etc.) are much better than the whole.
Next Ten: Clemson, Florida, Wisconsin, UCLA, Iowa State, Auburn, Arkansas, Arizona State, Ole Miss, Coastal Carolina
The pity is that Urban would absolutely kill at USC. I’m sure he has no plans to bolt from Jax, but Urban would absolutely have them winning at a +.800 mark.
"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln
THAT'S what finally gets USC to fire Helton? A week 2 loss to Stanford? Of all of the other opportunities USC had to fire Helton... Random...
It would be funny to see Urban Meyer pull a Bobby Petrino and bail on the NFL. Meyer's headaches did seem to magically disappear, but sure he could bring that up again as an excuse.
I'd imagine Luke Fickell is the top name on that list, as the guy who hired him at Cincinnati is the guy making the decisions now for USC. I don't know if Fickell's an LA guy, but I expect they'll try to convince him. I wouldn't rule Urban Meyer out, either-- there's all sorts of chatter out there already that he isn't long for the NFL.
The USC job must be a hell of a lot harder than it appears. It's like a coaching graveyard.
Also, I wonder what Kirk Ferenz would have done at a bigger program than Iowa. It may be the perfect match and anything higher aspirations turn into the peter principle, but I do wonder.
THAT'S what finally gets USC to fire Helton? A week 2 loss to Stanford? Of all of the other opportunities USC had to fire Helton... Random...
It would be funny to see Urban Meyer pull a Bobby Petrino and bail on the NFL. Meyer's headaches did seem to magically disappear, but sure he could bring that up again as an excuse.
Off the top of my head it's the earliest point in a season a coach at a major program has been fired. But he was on an extremely hot seat coming the year and Stanford got pretty well owned by K State the week before. USC's last bowl win was the Rose Bowl in early 2017, nearly 5 years ago now.
Last edited by Dr. Strangelove; September 13, 2021, 06:44 PM.
Tweet
Comment