Triple Option Attack: Week Two Review

Time to review week two of the college football season.

Music to listen to: Fixed Income and What Does Your Soul Look Like (live) by DJ Shadow

When household names from last college football season like Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford and a variety of others left for the NFL, the concern was that this would be an underwhelming year because of the lack of star power. Sure players such as Terrelle Pryor of Ohio State, Kellen Moore of Boise State and even the reigning Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram of Alabama were coming back but would that be enough.

The beauty of college football in one aspect opposed to the National Football League is the emergence of young players that happens every two to three years. It has to happen because of the limit of time that a player can be at a school. Even the best can only play at a school for four years at the maximum.

This past week we saw emerging players come forward that we may be telling our children and grandchildren about the same way that I speak about Tommy Frazier or Charlie Ward with my nephews and nieces.

First, a quick review of my top-25 poll if your boy was given an Associated Press ballot with some thoughts thrown in on some squads:

1) Alabama: They are making things look easy. The gap between them and the rest of the nation is starting to take place. Imagine the Crimson Tide when it gets it best defensive lineman and Ingram back.

2) Ohio State: Typical workman-like effort against Miami.

3) Boise State: Loss of Virginia Tech hurts but not as much as people are thinking…get to that later.

4) Oregon: Underrated win at Tennessee.

5) TCU

6) Oklahoma: Offense isn’t at 2007-level but may get there by end of this season.

7) Texas: Need to see what they do against better competition.

8) Nebraska

9) Iowa: Beat a feisty Iowa State team easily last week. Shouldn’t be overlooked.

10) South Carolina: I try not to overvalue home victories but it’s the way that they are winning games, solid running attack, excellent defense, that has them as a top-ten team.

11) Wisconsin

12) Florida: Defense is salty but offense is sour. Better work that out before trip to Knoxville this week.

13) Utah

14) Auburn: Anytime you get a road win in the SEC, especially on a Thursday night in Starkville, respect has to be given.

15) Arkansas: A win at Georgia this Saturday will show me more about this team than outscoring two overmatched opponents at home so far this season.

16) Stanford: The Cardinal absolutely destroyed UCLA on the road last week. Half the nation probably didn’t see it but similar to South Carolina, their style of winning will make them a prime candidate to compete for the Pac-10.

17) Miami: Still not ready for primetime.

18) LSU: They’re at this ranking almost by default because they beat one decent team on a neutral field and an SEC opponent on the road, even if its lowly Vanderbilt (as an alum, it stinks to say that about my Commodores). Outside of that, very unimpressed with the Tigers.

19) Penn State: No shame of dropping that contest at Alabama with a freshman quarterback.

20) Michigan: Plenty to say about these guys, I’ll save it for below.

21) Arizona

22) Houston

23) West Virginia: Barley beating Marshall on the road and possibly being the top team of the Big East says little about the conference.

24) Houston

25) USC: You’re darn right I have the Trojans at #25. They barely got past Hawaii and I watched the majority of the Virginia game for selfish reasons. I think the Cavs are heading in the right direction but had no business being within two scores of USC. I see this being a three to four loss season for the Trojans.

OK, now that’s done, some general thoughts on the week that was…

-I did see Denard Robinson’s performance against Notre Dame against Michigan and was impressed like the rest of the nation. He has a chance to be an excellent player and is one of the most athletic position players, especially at quarterback, that I’ve ever seen in the Big Ten but we have to temper the accolades.

First, it was against a Notre Dame defense that has let other quarterbacks, even Michigan ones, look like All-Americas over the years. 502 total yards isn’t something to dismiss completely but even late year with Michigan’s Tate Forcier, many of us were ready to overanalyze a Wolverine’s performance in the annual contest.

-Along those same lines, Michigan and Notre Dame used to be a marquee matchup that got the attention of the nation. However, this past week, it was at best the fourth-most anticipated matchup of the week. The axis of college football interest to the SEC, Big 12, Pac-10, Boise State, some ACC teams and Ohio State has left that game on its own island.

-I saw a majority of the South Carolina and Georgia game as well. If Stephen Garcia can play the Greg McElroy role for the Gamecocks, you will see South Carolina make its first-ever appearance in the SEC title game in Atlanta.

South Carolina has the recipe to win a division in the SEC. It plays excellent defense, runs the ball well and for now have not turned it over. To win in the SEC, you have to do all of those things and Garcia controls the last factor. The past two years he’s done a bad job with it but if Garcia doesn’t throw interceptions, good things can happen to South Carolina because…

-Marcus Lattimore is the truth. He’s an excellent running back who has the ability to get tough yards. The Gamecocks better be careful with him because he can’t carry the ball for more than 35 times per game for the whole season. He’ll break down.

-The ACC has been the second-weakest BCS conference since the inception of the system years ago. That’s why last Saturday’s events don’t surprise me as much as it did the rest of the nation.

Miami and Florida State have been living off of past glory for years. Virginia Tech has shown a consistency in dropping contests that cost them chances at national championship hopes. Boston College’s best days were in the Big East. Georgia Tech, North Carolina and even Virginia have had moments but nothing on a long-term level nationally. The rest of the conference looks forward to basketball season.

Losing non-conference road games happen but when you’re inferior to your opponent from the start like Miami and Florida State were from the kickoff, that shouldn’t happen.

Georgia Tech’s loss to Kansas is also inexcusable but not as much as Virginia Tech to James Madison…

-There are some FCS teams such as Appalachian State, Villanova, UMASS, Montana, James Madison, William and Mary, Delaware and others that play excellent football and can definitely beat some FBS teams.

Virginia Tech still shouldn’t have lost last Saturday.

If you have national title or at least conference title aspirations like the Hokies had coming into this season, you can’t lose to James Madison. The excuse of Virginia Tech having a short week and expounding significant energy into the Boise State game doesn’t hold up to me.

-While Virginia Tech’s loss to James Madison may have hurt Boise State’s national title hopes, I don’t think it was as significant as you may think.

If Alabama and Ohio State win out, that’s your national title game. If one of those teams loses, they will still have a better resume than the Broncos. Than you have teams like Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas and some others lurking around. The Broncos are ranked #3 in the polls right now because many of those teams haven’t started conference play. Once these teams start getting conference wins, Boise is going to drop further down the polls, making the Virginia Tech win less significant over time anyway.

-Oregon put on one of the best second-half performances in a game that I’ve seen in a long time.

I don’t know if it was the rain, the lightening delay, traveling across several time zones to play a night game at an SEC stadium, but Oregon looked sluggish to start its contest against Tennessee. The Vols do deserve some credit for beginning the game well. However, you can just sense that the Ducks realized that they were the better team with more talent and began to dominate.

-Oergon’s LaMarcus James is going to New York for the Heisman presentation.

-If I was a USC Trojans fan, I would be very concerned with the state of my program. Not only is this current version of the team the weakest in years, programs such as Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and Arizona are primed to surpass you. I know that you can counter that with the fact that USC will always have talent despite the scholarship restrictions, but Lane Kiffin isn’t the one that you want leading the charge.

-Here are UCLA’s fist four games this year. The season started at Kansas State, home to Stanford, home to Houston and at Texas. A possible 0-4 start is not the right way to start the second season of the Rick Neuheisel-era.

-One of the under-the-radar scores from last week was Cal’s victory over Colorado, 52-7. The Bears will find a way to blow a winnable game later this season but either they will be a surprise contender for the Pac-10 or Colorado is that bad.

-Respect to South Dakota for winning at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are going to be looking for a new head coach this offseason in what will end up being one of the more enticing open positions in the country. Minnesota plays in a major city, in a major conference with a new stadium.

-Kentucky is going to beat another SEC team it shouldn’t this season. Randall Cobb may be the most versatile player in the conference. He caught a touchdown pass, threw a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a touchdown against Western Kentucky.

-LSU will lose to Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and maybe even Ole Miss this season if the Tigers don’t get improved quarterback play from Jordan Jefferson. It may be time to try Jarrett Lee.

Those are my thoughts. What about yours?