Top 25

College Football

Top 25

1. Louisiana State, 11-0, 1
2. Alabama, 10-1, 3
3. Arkansas, 10-1, 6
4. Oklahoma State, 10-1, 2
5. Virginia Tech, 10-1, 8
6. Stanford, 10-1, 9
7. Michigan State, 9-2, 10
8. Kansas State, 9-2, 11
9. Wisconsin, 9-2, 12
10. Oregon, 9-2, 4
11. Oklahoma, 8-2, 5
12. Southern Cal, 9-2, 16
13. South Carolina, 9-2, 13
14. Georgia, 9-2, 14
15. Boise State, 10-1, 15
16. Houston, 11-0, 16
17. Michigan, 9-2, 19
18. Texas Christian, 9-2, 21
19. Clemson, 9-2, 7
20. Baylor, 7-3, 25
21. Nebraska, 8-3, 19
22. Penn State, 9-2, 23
23. Virginia, 8-3, NR
24. Notre Dame, 8-3, 24
25. Georgia Tech, 8-3, NR

OUT: Florida State (18), Southern Miss (22)

VOTES: Rutgers, Florida State, Auburn, Texas A&M, Texas, Utah, Iowa State, Wake Forest, Missouri, West Virginia, Wyoming, Iowa and BYU.

With LSU, Alabama and Arkansas from the SEC ranked in the top three spots in the AP and USA Today polls, it becomes only the second time in history team from one conference owned these spots. In the final poll of 1971, National Champion Nebraska was followed by Oklahoma and Colorado of the Big Eight Conference.

As an old Big Eight guy, I recognize it is tough to roll into Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, but with the tragic plane crash which took the life of OSU women's basketball coach, and an assistant, it was a expontnetially tasking for the Pokes. But Iowa State is improving, and the Clones were playing for bowl life, and upended the Aggies. Tough day for the OSU famliy, and our hearts got out to T Boone and Pokes people....Although I had been giving Stanford QB Andrew Luck a good look, I am back to my preseason thoughts on The Heisman Trophy, and if I had a votes, it goes to Robert Griffith III of Baylor, who almost single handily took out OU Saturday night, accounting for over 500 yards of offense and leading a last minute drive to win the game. RGIII for Heisman!!!!!... Clemson got bombed at NCSU, collapsing later in the year than we all thought....Southern Cal is playing very good football right now, but is not bowl eligible...Penn State got away from State College and got a football win, but perhaps mortal issues associated with the horrific scandal will not go away soon, if ever. The NCAA is now investigating institutional control, and the lack of control over the goings on is without question....Obviously, yet again, the ACC is full of mediocrity, while The Big East is just poor.

A trip to The Big House turned ugly early for Nebraska, as the Cornhuskers were embarrassed. Right out of the gate, the officials, who failed to spot a Michigan receiver push off a 'Husker defender, allowed Michigan to set up their first score. Nebraska could not let the officials upstage them during the day, so they went on to fumble two kickoffs, drop several passes and grab untold penalties. Even T-Magic had to fumble one away. The Big Red had no chance with all this ineptitude on display, and this comes back to coaching. Yes, the once proud offensive line is poor, but this can be coached around. It was not, and the result Saturday was an embarrassment for all those in Red. The expectations at Nebraska are to win, but if a victory cannot be achieved, the Big Red faithful expect the 'Huskers to execute with a high level of competitiveness and pride, which was not visible Saturday. The coaches need to get this cleaned up, for these kind of losses going forward are not going to, and should not be, tolerated. Meanwhile, new BIG rival Iowa is in town Friday, and the performance had better be improved.

It is obvious to anyone associated with the program that Florida State is going to not only have to defeat opponents on the field, but overcome what can only be concluded as negatively biased officiating. With ESPN's analyst Ed Cunningham calling an early holding call "mythical", last night's homecoming game with a rapidly improving Virginia would be no different. Apparently, the FSU coaching staff had no clue. Coach Jimbo Fisher was verbally hammering the zebras right out of the gate, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, the coaching staff did not call plays designed to take the officials out of it. The FSU play calling, particularly in the red zone, was pitiful. The Seminoles seemed to have no problem kicking field goals, rather than expanding the playbook to overcome a weak offensive line and scoring touchdowns. Everyone viewing the game could see, and feel, that the longer FSU could not get two scores ahead of UVA, and there were several opportunities, the longer the game was in jeopardy. UVA, who had been close to success all evening, put together a great late drive, putting FSU in a must score position leaving no room for error. FSU was taking making errors to a new level all night, with horrendous play calling, failed execution and numerous penalties, most self inflicted on this night. The coaches should have ran plays to put this game out of reach before it came down to having to have a flawless last minute drive to win it. EJ Manuel is not Robert Griffin III, in case anyone has noticed. At any rate, the last minute drive was filled with poor time management decisions and execution, leaving usually accurate kicker Dustin Hopkins to botch a 43 yard kick to win it. Credit UVA for hanging around and scoring late, but the Seminoles have not given one away like this in many a moon, and it all comes down to poor, and I mean very poor, coaching. Last I looked, there were no 5 star recruits in the Cavalier two deep, but the players are well coached and executed when it counted. With 5 star recruits everywhere, FSU could not execute at all when it counted. We expect Coach Fisher to correct these glaring issues promptly, for losses like the one last night will not be tolerated. This loss leaves a very bad taste in the mouths of the Seminole faithful, but a victory next week at arch rival Florida could take some of the sting away. But as bad as the Gators are, playing at the Swamp coupled with our inability to execute standing for the coin toss, much less scoring touchdowns, the odds feel bleak.