Ah, the adulation and attention are so exciting. The
approbation from the boosters, the fans, the students, the fellow
athletes and the media is unbelievable. You are unbeatable, unstoppable
and perhaps the greatest team ever assembled.
They tell you all
of this and they tell your opponent nothing. Your opponent is just
another walk through game. You are flying at 4-0, you are Southern
California, the team that has enjoyed 5 straight seasons of national
top-4 finishes, BCS bowl appearances and Pac 10 Conference titles.
You
are playing a 6-touchdown underdog, a team that lost 41-3 last week, a
team that you beat 42-0 last year, a team that finished with a lousy
1-11 record.
So No. 2-ranked Southern California loses Saturday
(10-6-07) to Stanford 24-23. Don't ya just love college football? The
excitement of college football makes pro football look boring. I am not
surprised that USC lost a game. The Trojans were lucky to get by
Washington a week earlier, winning by a field goal, 27-24, while making
a ton of penalties and turnovers. I am surprised that it was Stanford
that did it.
A team that is loaded with talent like USC will win
every time unless the talent is "at" the game but not "in" the game.
Talent simply has to show up every week or even a powerhouse like USC
gets embarrassed. The Trojans are now the new No. 10-ranked team in the
AP Top 25 Poll.
Louisiana State remained No. 1 by scoring 14
points in the final quarter to hold off No. 9-ranked Florida, last
year's national champion, 28-24. Florida led at the half 17-7. LSU is
6-0.
Unbeaten and No. 5-ranked Wisconsin, a team I have said all
year was overrated, finally proved it by losing to unranked Illinois
31-26 on the road.
Unbeaten and No. 8-ranked Kentucky, another team I have said is overrated, proved it by losing to No. 11 South Carolina, 38-23.
Unbeaten and No. 23-ranked Purdue, another team I have said is overrated, proved it by losing to No. 4-ranked Ohio State, 23-7.
Unbeaten and No. 6-ranked South Florida had more than its hands full in getting by Florida Atlantic 35-23.
Unbeaten
and No. 17-ranked Missouri put a major butt-whipping on No. 25-ranked
Nebraska, 41-6. I have been dumping on Nebraska as unworthy of any
ranking for weeks and finally the Cornhuskers have been booted out of
the Top 25 Poll. Amen. Unbeaten and unranked Kansas upended
No.24-ranked Kansas State 30-24 and the Jayhawks are now ranked No. 20.
Kansas is off to its first 5-0 start in 29 years.
No. 22-ranked Clemson lost to No. 15-ranked Virginia Tech 41-23 and fell out of the poll.
Unbeaten and No. 16-ranked Hawaii ripped over winless and hapless Utah State 52-37. Utah State is 0-6; Hawaii is 6-0.
Unbeaten
and No. 20-ranked Cincinnati upset No. 21 Rutgers on the road, 28-23.
Cincinnati is now 6-0 but faces a much tougher schedule as it travels
to Pittsburgh and South Florida and faces Connecticut and West Virginia
at home.
Three teams that I wished well and hoped would do well have now dropped in my estimation.
One
is Alabama with new Coach Nick Saban. Alabama went to 4-2 by getting by
Houston, 30-24, but that is not saying much. Apparently Saban does not
have much talent in Crimson Tide country. It will take him two more
seasons to put real winners in place. Another is Michigan State with
new Coach Mark Dantonio. The Spartans lost at home to Northwestern,
48-41, in overtime. Not a good sign for Dantonio. MSU lost last weekend
at Wisconsin to an overrated bunch of Badgers 37-34.
Spartan
players are going to have to learn how to win, and that is not easy
when you have a culture of choking and losing to even mediocre teams.
Dantonio, a great defensive coach, can score points but apparently has
very little defense when it matters. You cannot win in the Big 10
without great defense.
A third disappointment is Arizona State,
and the Sun Devils with new first-year Coach Dennis Erickson are still
unbeaten at 6-0. Ranked at No. 18, the Sun Devils just managed to get
by Washington State, 23-20, not a good showing given that the Cougars-a
team Erickson use to coach-have lost 4 of 6 games. The Cougars missed a
46-yard field goal with 12 seconds left that would have sent the game
into overtime.
Granted Arizona State was on the road, but it
needed to beat Washington State by at least three touchdowns to be
impressive and could not. Games like Texas-Oklahoma, Boston
College-Bowling Green and Georgia-Tennessee fail to interest me. Thank
goodness for my bottom feeders-Buffalo, Wyoming and UTEP.
God
Bless the Buffalo Bulls who polished off the Ohio Bobcats 31-10 for a
homecoming victory. Go Bulls! I would like to see Buffalo knock off
Toledo at home this weekend. Buffalo has been one of the lowest rated
teams in college football in recent years, and I am happy to see the
Bulls have some real success.
Get excited, Buffalo fans, the
Bulls actually have an offense! James Starks ran for a career-best 183
yards against Ohio. Maybe we should call him James "Scamper" Starks.
Hello, University of Buffalo, is anybody home?
Another team I
like is Wyoming because the Cowboys win at home. TCU found that out
again this week when the Cowboys rode them to a 24-21 victory. Wyoming
defensive end Mitch Unrein was tabbed as Mountain West Conference's
Defensive Player of the Week. I am convinced that if some ranked team
came into Cowboy country they just might leave a loser. Heck, Wyoming
is now 4-1 on the season. Go Cowboys!
Mike Price's Texas-El Paso
team edged by Tulsa in a typical high-scoring game, 48-47. UTEP climbed
to 4-2 and the Miners have just as good a chance as any team to win the
Conference USA title.
UTEP's redshirt freshman quarterback Trevor
Vittatoe was named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week after
throwing for 319 yards and 3 touchdowns against Tulsa. Mike Price
turned around UTEP football in a hurry. Football is not just
conversation in Texas, football is serious business in Texas.
Everything is large in Texas, including the UTEP victories. Go Miners!
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
Ed
Bagley's Blog Publishes Original Articles with Analysis and Commentary
on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and
Careers, and Internet Marketing. My intention is to inform, educate,
delight and motivate you the reader.
Read my articles on "How to
Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The
Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With
Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College
Football Season.Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html
Subscribe to this comment's feed