Week 5

The Art of Laying an Egg

Just got back from the Panthers game...which was about as awful as Week 5 of college football. Five of the top 10 teams lost, all in upsets. This has paved the way for such perennial powerhouses as South Florida and Kentucky to be ranked WAY too high, the reason I hate the polls. Does anyone out there really think Kentucky is better than Oklahoma, or South Florida better than the Gators? Talent aside, these underdog teams are undefeated and have quality wins, something that quite a few major programs--who would probably win 7 out of 10 games against these higher ranked teams--can't say. They deserve, for now, to be ranked higher...but they are not the better teams.

I went 2-2 with my picks for the week since up-and-down Cal decided to have an up week and Clemson failed to beat a Georgia Tech team that they routed last year and has only gotten worse since then. My overall record stands at 12-5.

1. Oklahoma
Sam Bradford proved why its nearly impossible for most freshmen and sophomores to win the Heisman: inexperience. He threw two costly interceptions that cost his team the game. As with all young quarterbacks, Bradford needed this type of game so that he can learn from it and grow. Bradford will be a force in the NCAA for the next two or three years and will have the Sooners competing for a national championship each year he's there. This isn't to count the Sooners out this season yet, its looking more and more like the national championship will be a battle of one loss teams. USC will lose a game in the Pac 10, and LSU has a rigorous SEC schedule beginning with back-to-back weeks against Florida and Kentucky.

2. Florida
The good news for the Gators is an upset over #1 LSU in Week 6 would catapult them right back into the top 5. The bad news is they'd have to do it against a superior team, in Death Valley, after losing to a team that shouldn't have even posed a threat. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Gators fan (born and raised in Ft. Myers), but this isn't their year. Tim Tebow is a young quarterback--though he has more experience than most of his peers--and doesn't quite have the poise to lead a team to a national championship like Chris Leak had. Like Sam Bradford, Tebow will have this Gators team competing for a national title each year...but asking him to go into Death Valley against the #1 defense and #1 team in the country as a sophomore...well, it's just not likely. Hopefully he'll prove me wrong, but if I had to guess I'd say Florida is a two-loss team this season. Their young; watch out in 2008 once Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, and the entire defense have another year under their belts.

3. Texas
This is not a good football team. Colt McCoy is getting worse every week and the defense has more holes than a minefield. They'll lose another game at least, if not two or even three. Of course they'll go to a bowl, but not one as prestigious as the Longhorns are used to.

4. Rutgers
The Big East seems destined to keep on shooting itself in the foot. Louisville is fighting to even get to 6 wins and bowl eligibility, West Virginia and Rutgers go down in the same week, and suddenly South Florida is the team to beat. The Big East was supposed to have 3 national title contenders, and now it has 0. USF is a good team with momentum, but they'll lose steam eventually; they're just not talented enough to hang with the BCS powerhouses. Rutgers is still my favorite to win the conference, returning an experienced and very determined football team. Maryland is a good football squad back on the rise after a few down years, so this loss wasn't too horrible of an upset for the Scarlet Knights. I think Rutgers completes the Paper-Rock-Scissors game the Big East is playing and beats USF on October 18, possibly finishing 11-1. A one loss team from the Big East won't beat out a one loss team from the Pac-10 or SEC, though, and Rutgers' national championship aspirations have officially been snuffed out.

Heisman Race

1. Andre Woodson, QB Kentucky (1309 passing yards, 18 total TD's)
2. Darren McFadden, RB Arkansas (656 rushing yards, 7 total TD's)
3. Graham Harrell, QB Texas Tech (2,301 passing yards, 25 total TD's)
4. Steve Slaton, RB West Virginia (684 total yards, 10 total TD's)
5. Tim Tebow, QB Florida (1,730 total yards, 19 total TD's)

On the Bubble: Ray Rice, Curtis Painter

Golden Top 25

1. LSU
2. USC
3. Ohio State
4. California
5. Wisconsin
6. Boston College
7. South Florida
8. Florida
9. Oklahoma
10. Kentucky
11. Oregon
12. Georgia
13. Virginia Tech
14. Missouri
15. Rutgers
16. Purdue
17. Texas
18. South Carolina
19. Cincinnati
20. Arizona State
21. Hawaii
22. Clemson
23. Kansas State
24. Nebraska
25. UCLA