Triple Option Attack: Week Three Review

This past week in college football didn’t see any significant movement accept for the fact that we are starting to see a major divide between the top-five, maybe top-six teams and the rest. You can tentatively pencil in the Pac-10 champ, the SEC title game, the Big Ten champ, the Big 12 North Champ and we’re only in week three of the season.

These type of seasons are mixed because if we see Alabama vs. Ohio State in the BCS title game, that’s very predictable and boring. However, there may be potential battles for the rest of the conference titles and individual awards.

Next week, I’ll have my quarter-season report but let’s get to my top-25 ranking and other college football thoughts.

Music to listen to: Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk

1- Alabama: Its becoming clearer and clearer that Alabama is playing against itself and not the rest of the nation. However, the three-week stretch of visiting Arkansas, hosting Florida and South Carolina will test the Crimson Tide mettle. Everyone is talking about the Arkansas offense in this contest but I think you will see Alabama play ball control with the running attack that was so effective against Duke to keep the ball out of Ryan Mallet’s hands.

2- Boise State: I think the Broncos beating Virginia Tech on an East-coast neutral site was a more impressive win than Ohio State beating Miami at home. I think that Ohio State will ultimately prove to be the better team over the season but at this moment, I have to take Boise State. What the Broncos need to be worried about besides Oregon State this week is TCU and Utah having even better seasons then them with tougher schedules compared to Boise State, making voters lean towards other non-BCS squads before them.

3- Ohio State: I’m not impressed with the Buckeyes doing its annual beat down of the MAC. THREE MAC schools on your schedule, Ohio State? You’re better than that. Plus, a weaker Big 10 will not help the cause.

4- Oregon: The Ducks have been the most impressive team in the entire nation but the competition hasn’t been great. Arizona State may give Oregon a test on Saturday since the contest is in Tempe, Ariz.

5- TCU: Andy Staples of the other SI, Sports Illustrated, brought up a good point in his power rankings. Since TCU beat Oregon State earlier this season, people will be watching the OSU and Boise State contest as a barometer of how good TCU is as well. If the Beavers win, than this will make TCU look even better. Strange how you start rooting for teams across the country in different conferences. That’s college football for you.

6- Nebraska: The reason that this team has the potential to separate itself from the rest of the nation and be part of the “top-six” teams that are separating from the rest is Taylor Martinez. We know the Huskers can play defense but when you add the dual-threat quarterback, Nebraska may be a national-title contender.

7- Texas

8: Arizona- Big news in Tucson. Congrats for beating Iowa but don’t overlook Cal this Saturday.

9- Oklahoma

10- Wisconsin: Both Oklahoma and Wisconsin won close games at home this past week but I’m giving the nod to the Sooners for beating Florida State and Air Force, which is better than the Badgers best win of the year over Arizona State.

11- Arkansas: We know the Razorbacks can score but we had two questions coming into this season, the defense and road record. Arkansas answered both of those with the win at Georgia. The Razorbacks will probably still lose to Alabama but an upset this Saturday went from being impossible to surprising.

12- Florida: You know one of my rules, you have to respect a road conference win, no matter how bad the opponent is. Tennessee may not even have a winning record this year but are always tough at home. The Gators better start well against Kentucky this week or the Wildcats may provide the first big upset of the year in the SEC and no, Arkansas over Georgia doesn’t count.

13- South Carolina: All of our Gamecocks questions will be answered Saturday at Auburn.

14- Utah

15- Stanford: I’m bullish on the Cardinal and think that it will be Oregon’s toughest test of this season in the Pac-10. However, the best wins of the year are against UCLA and Wake Forest, two teams that may finish in the bottom half of their respective conferences. Cool black uniforms though.

16- Auburn: Exciting win over Clemson but they will need some more offensive balance to defeat South Carolina this week.

17- Iowa

18- LSU

19- Miami

20- Penn State: Interesting game against Temple this Saturday. Current Temple head coach, Al Golden, is a Penn State alum and even looks the part of a junior Joe Paterno with the white shirt and tie on the sidelines. Golden has also been rumored to be the top candidate to replace Paterno whenever he leaves Happy Valley. Are the Penn State faithful getting a look at their new head coach up close?

21- Oklahoma State

22- Georgia Tech

23- Southern California

24- West Virginia

25- Air Force: There are undefeated teams that can occupy this spot, which one would you want me to go with. Missouri needed a late score to beat San Diego State at home, Michigan State did beat Notre Dame at home but not much else, Michigan almost lost to UMASS, NC State hasn’t done much, you get the idea. The Falcons were very close to beating Oklahoma at home and have the talent to give TCU or Utah a run in the Mountain West.

General college football thoughts:

-If I hear one more person here in my state of residence, Georgia, call for Mark Richt’s firing, I’m going to get mad. You would think that Richt had had ten losing seasons and kicked a baby the way that Georgia fans are mad at him.

I’m old enough to remember the Jim Donnan era in Georgia and the one complaint that I heard from Bulldogs’ fans during that time was that the team had talent but didn’t win big games. How does nearly 90 wins over ten seasons, including two conference titles and a top-five poll finish sound?

My biggest issue is that all of these fans want Richt gone but who do you replace him with? Kirby Smart would be a lateral move. Will Muschamp isn’t leaving his sweet situation in Texas. Who’s the better option?

Plus, Georgia may win its next five games before facing Florida in Jacksonville. At that point, they can still beat the Gators and still have a 10-win season after all.

-To tell you the state of the ACC, the best team in the conference may still be Virginia Tech, who nearly lost again at home last week, this time to East Carolina.

-Much props to my alma mater, Vanderbilt, getting a big win for the program at Ole Miss, snapping a conference losing streak and getting head coach Robbie Caldwell his first-ever victory.

That being said, there is no reason for the Rebels to drop that contest. The Jeremiah Masoli experiment is working terribly for Ole Miss. Team chemistry may be most important in football than any other sport and bringing the distractions of Masoli to the program that late into the preseason was a bad move in retrospect. I don’t think Houston Nutt will get fired after this year but his room for error has decreased significantly.

Those are my thoughts, what about yours?