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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Be Afraid (Happy Halloween) - Top 25 (9/30/11)

Well, a few Top 10 shakeouts that were "expected" and one surprise. Also, Wisconsin comes down to 2 Hail Mary's in their loss to Ohio State, and somehow my beloved Cornhuskers surprised even me in their domination of Michigan State. Boise State is sitting at home this week loving the havoc these conference rivals are wreaking on each other. Only 6 undefeated teams remain, and it was almost 5 by the end of Saturday. Can the chips finally fall their way?

Lets get to some answers...and maybe some more questions.
  1. Alabama - IDLE (see below for next week's matchup)
  2. LSU - IDLE (see above for next week's matchup)
  3. Stanford - Ugh, as much as I want to drop these guys, I swore that a bad-win is still a win, and I cannot justify lowering a school in my polls when they win. Especially when its a rival on the road. Andrew Lucky's stats were nearly identical with Matt Barkley, and many billed this as the best QB matchup of the year. In general, there was not much to be disappointed about in this battle.
  4. Boise State - Even though IDLE this week, I'm not ready to crown OkSt. as a top contender yet.
  5. Oregon - This game shouldn't have been as close as the score indicates. But Oregon is still a very good team, and with only 1 loss to LSU and the Stanford slip-up means they are my pick for the Pac-12 again. We'll know for sure when the Ducks face Stanford on November 12, but don't overlook Washington next week.
  6. Oklahoma State - This offense is amazing, but the defense looked pretty good too. RG3 wasn't able to put up his video game stats until the 4th quarter when the game was out of reach and the scrubs came in. Justin Blackmon has to start getting Heisman talk, because he accounted for 60% of the receiving yards for the Cowboys today. Opponents get tougher for OSU now as they get previously unbeaten Kansas State next week followed by a trip to Lubbock to face the Red Raiders.
  7. Oklahoma - Back on track by destroying undefeated K-State. To be fair, this was another team that was waaaaay overranked in the major polls. I had the Wildcats at 17 which is probably how far they will fall, but I digress. Landry Jones made up for the issues last week by tossing for 500 yards. 1st Oklahoma QB to accomplish that ever, and catapulting himself back to #1 on my Heisman board.
  8. Arkansas - The Razorbacks were either tied or losing for more than 50 minutes, finally taking the lead about halfway through the 4th quarter against a VERY underwhelming Vanderbilt team. And this one should have been headed for OT as well, but for a botched "chip shot" field goal from inside the 10 yard line with only seconds remaining. Between Arkansas and South Carolina, I'm not convinced the SEC is as strong outside my top 2 schools (Gamecocks had a sloppy win as well over Tennessee this week). We shall see next Saturday night Spurrier's squad comes to town.
  9. Virginia Tech - Aaaaand another school that looked awful in a conference matchup. The Hokies scored zero second half points and eked out a victory against NCAAB powerhouse Duke. But Duke is not known for football prowess. Again, this was a road-victory, and Va Tech only allowed 10 total points keeping their title as most-respected D in college football. They are now set to face the  Yellow Jackets who just took down previously-unbeaten Clemson.
  10. Nebraska - Oh lordy, I can't believe I'm putting the Huskers back in the top 10. But they did look really strong against Michigan State. Kirk Cousins was awful. The Huskers now share the top spot in the B1G Legends division and have the heads-up edge over MSU. Hopefully next week is a "breather" for the Huskers at home against Northwestern. The Wildcats did put up 59 this weekend against Indiana.
  11. Michigan
  12. South Carolina
  13. Clemson
  14. Penn State
  15. Houston
  16. Michigan State
  17. Wisconsin
  18. West Virginia
  19. Arizona State
  20. Kansas State
  21. Cincinnati
  22. Georgia
  23. Georgia Tech
  24. Texas
  25. Southern Miss (why not?)
The Heisman Race is now a 5-man race in my opinion. Sure, they may be some better talent and athletes, but anymore, you have to be on an elite team to win. Here are my 5 in alphabetical order:
  1. Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
  2. Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma
  3. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
  4. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
  5. Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama

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