Time to review week six of the college football season.
Music to listen to: Blood on the Motorway by DJ Shadow
This is the first year that I’ve ever acted like an AP voter in the college football poll and while its been enjoyable, this is the difficult part of the season to start placing votes.
The toughest issue is where to place teams that have beaten each other. Do I place South Carolina ahead of Alabama even though the Crimson Tide have played a tougher schedule. What about Iowa and Arizona. I would say right now that the Hawkeyes are a better team but the Wildcats won their contest head to head earlier in the year. What about Oregon State? Played Boise State and TCU well but lost, just beat Arizona on the road but still has two losses. You get the idea.
So, here’s my top-25 and than my general thoughts.
1- Ohio State (6-0)
2- Oregon (6-0)
3- Alabama (5-1)
4- Boise St. (5-0)
5- TCU (6-0)
6- Auburn (6-0)
7- South Carolina (4-1)
8- Nebraska (5-0)
9- Oklahoma (5-0)
10- LSU (6-0)
11- Utah (5-0)
12- Arkansas (4-1)
13- Stanford (5-1)
14- Michigan State (6-0)
15- Arizona (4-1)
16- Iowa (4-1)
17- Florida State (5-1)
18- Nevada (6-0)
19- Oklahoma State (6-0)
20- Oregon State (3-2)
21- Florida (4-2)
22- Missouri (5-0)
23- Wisconsin (5-1)
24- Air Force (5-1)
25- West Virginia (4-1)
My thoughts:
-The toughest team to judge was South Carolina. It was a great win for the Gamecocks but I still won’t put them ahead of Alabama in my poll. That may not sound like it makes much sense because South Carolina did outplay the Crimson Tide on Saturday. However…
Alabama has wins over a top-15 team in Arkansas on the road, Florida and Penn State in the Big Ten. South Carolina’s wins are over Alabama, Georgia and Southern Miss, all at home. If you compare South Carolina’s win over Alabama and Alabama’s win over Arkansas on the road, that’s a push. If you compare Florida and Georgia, the Gators are the better team so advantage Alabama. Penn State is a better team than Southern Miss so advantage Alabama again. So if you compare bigger wins for the two squads, its advantage Alabama 2-0-1.
-That being said, I still think that Alabama may not even get revenge on the Gamecocks in the SEC title game because either squad may not make the contest. Alabama still has to deal with LSU and Auburn while South Carolina has to face Florida. I would say that the Gamecocks have a better chance of making their first-ever trip to the SEC title game this season.
-I know the next question is how can I have Alabama above some undefeated teams, especially the media darlings, Boise State.
Once again, Boise’s best win to date has been against an inconsistent Virginia Tech team (don’t give me a few wins in the weak ACC so far as vindicating the Hokies) and Oregon State. I actually like the Beavers and think OSU can still make some noise in the Pac-10 but Alabama is still a better team than Boise or TCU.
-I don’t like voters and fans alike seem to be prisoners to teams’ win and loss record. Not all teams are the same. If that’s the case, why isn’t Michigan State a top-10 team? Why isn’t Air Force cracking the top-20? What about some more love for Oklahoma State? The Cowboys are undefeated in a BCS conference. That win over Texas A&M wasn’t enough to make them a top-five team?
The hypocrites who use the “undefeated” argument for their voting criteria confuse me. They’ll tell me that I can’t vote Alabama over an undefeated team like say Oklahoma or TCU yet if I bring up the Spartans or Falcons like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, than the “better schedule” argument comes into play.
I’ve made my stand that records mean nothing to me and I put them in my voting this week to prove it.
My theories may be flawed but I look at my poll from the view of if these two teams played each other at this moment, who would win. I think that only Ohio State and Oregon would beat Alabama at this moment and the Crimson Tide would beat the rest of the nation, including South Carolina if they had a rematch.
– I tweeted on thesportsinquirer the following statement following the LSU and Florida contest:
“screw it, I’m going to not try to explain it or understand it and enjoy The Les Miles Experience.”
Yes, I have dubbed this The Les Miles Experience, similar to when I listen to Jimi Hendrix Experience. I try not to figure out how Jimi arranged his music, figured out the bass lines or even how he got those sounds to come out of his guitar. I just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I’ve reached this level with Les Miles. His in-game decisions are baffling but the man does have a 6-0 squad that has wins over West Virginia, Florida, Mississippi State, North Carolina and Vanderbilt, three of those away from home. Five wins over BCS conference schools is nothing to ignore.
What also shouldn’t be ignored is LSU’s defense which is good enough to win a national title. The offense is still offensive at times to watch but if they can get anything out of the quarterback position, don’t be surprised to see the Tigers in Atlanta for the SEC title game.
-The Heisman Trophy is now Terrelle Pryor’s to lose. He’s a known name in a glamour position for a high-profile team that will probably lose only one game, maybe two max.
-If Pryor slips up, look out for Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez. He’s shredding up defenses and Nebraska has a workable schedule. Martinez is in a similar position as Pryor.
-I haven’t forgotten about Denard Robinson at Michigan. He just had a reality check against Michigan State. He finally faced a defense that was competent to stop him and his Wolverine teammates didn’t step up to take the pressure off of him.
Robinson is still going to put up excellent numbers but he has several things working against him. The rest of Michigan’s offense, especially the running backs, haven’t help take the pressure off of him. Also, the Wolverines’ defense has struggled all season, which is going to cause some losses.
So, Robinson’s chances for winning the Heisman aren’t over but just got tougher.
-I’ve read some griping about Utah and TCU dropping in the polls by some media members. Trailing Iowa State isn’t the right way to get the voters attention Utah and TCU, I know that shutting out Wyoming was a nice win but compared to what your contemporaries are doing, that isn’t enough to keep a high ranking.
-Those sycophants who want to talk about how Miami will return to its glory and “it’s all about the U” need to fall back. Win a big conference home game and come back to me. In fact, make your conference’s title game and than we can at least have a conversation.
You have a great tradition and may be the premier NFL player factory out there but that doesn’t mean that you can stick your chest out like it’s the 1980’s again.
Absolutely a PATHETIC performance against Florida State on Saturday.
-I would be a hypocrite myself if I didn’t acknowledge Oregon’s game against the worst team in the Pac-10, Washington State. A team that has garnered some first-place votes shouldn’t struggle against the Cougars but a 43-23 road conference win is still a good win.
-Just for kicks and giggles, here’s how an onside kick shouldn’t be executed:
-I thought Lane Kiffin would last at least two years at USC but he may get fired after this one. The Trojans are going to finish 8th in the Pac-10 and that’s not a error.
-You know things are bad for your conference when it takes me this long to mention your conference in any way outside of being an opponent of LSU. It may be that type of year for the Big East.
-Good job going for two points when up 25 points with a little more than six minutes remaining in the contest, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema. That’s the type of sportsmanship that is missing in today’s college football. Furthermore, it was genius for you to say that “the chart” told you to go for the conversion. Classic.
-I was feeling the orange jerseys Florida.
Well, those are my thoughts, what about yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
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