Top 25

College Football

Top 25

1.      Alabama, 5-0, 1
2.      Oregon, 6-0, 3
3.      South Carolina, 6-0, 6
4.      Florida, 5-0, 10
5.      Kansas State, 6-0, 7
6.      Notre Dame, 6-0, 9
7.      West Virginia, 6-0, 8
8.      Ohio State, 6-0, 12
9.      LSU, 5-1, 4
10.    Oregon State, 4-0, 16
11.    Texas, 4-1, 11
12.    Stanford, 4-1, 14
13.    Southern Cal, 4-1, 15
14.    Florida State, 5-1, 2
15.    Georgia, 5-1, 5
16.    Oklahoma, 3-1, 17
17.    Clemson, 5-1, 13
18.    Louisville, 5-0, 20
19.    Mississippi State, 5-0, 21
20.    Rutgers, 5-0, 22
21.    Cincinnati, 4-0, 25
22.    Texas A&M, 4-1, NR
23.    Baylor, 3-1, BR
24.    Michigan, 3-2, NR
25.    Michigan State, 4-2, NR

OUT:  Nebraska (19), Washington (24), Texas Christian (18)

VOTES:  Boise State, Ohio, Tennessee, Nebraska, Texas Christian, Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa State, North Carolina, Northwestern, North Carolina State, Penn State, Cal, UCLA and Duke.

Florida State, in a game eerily similar to a late home loss to Virginia last year, got out to a dominating lead, 16-0 at the half, only to sleepwalk the second half into getting beat at the last second after a series of miscues, penalties and lack of execution.  As Reece Davis of ESPN put it, the loss was inexplicable and inexcusable.  Oh it can be explained, by accurately placing blame where is serves to be placed; horrendous coaching by Jimbo Fisher.  While Fisher has done an exemplary job in several facets after assuming the head coaching position at FSU, he is a horrendous game day coach and gave this game away.  And yes, it is inexcusable. Therefore, I am putting Jimbo Fisher on notice. With the high level of talent we have at FSU, losing to a pedestrian team like NC State, and yes Virginia a year ago, is a pattern that cannot be tolerated.  NC State had 68 first half yards, including 20 in the first five plays of the game.  FSU stunk it up on offense in the second half, calling idiotic plays and failing to come close to utilizing the talent on the field.  EJ Manuel, who showed glimpses this season of improvement from years past, reverted to making poor decisions and failing to move the offense.  Defensively, crossing pattern after crossing pattern, many on 3rd and 4th and long, doomed the 'Noles who made no adjustments on what was obvious to everyone.  And finally, after suffering a blocked punt which led to a late touchdown for USF a week ago, this did not get taken care of in the week of practice and the Seminoles got one blocked again, at a crucial time late in the game.  These are inexcusable errors for a coaching staff and team thought to be among the elite.  It is their fault and they need to be held accountable.  One last note; Fisher needs to start giving Clint Trickett a bunch more playing time.

Nebraska, meanwhile, got crushed at Ohio State, assisting the Buckeyes at every chance turning the ball over deep inside their own territory, throwing pick sixes,fumbling and allowing punt returns for touchdowns.  Nebraska gave no consideration in taking care of the football.  Meanwhile, defensively, stop Braxton Miller and you beat Ohio State. Miller ran for 186, simply mind boggling for a team supposed to be coached by defensive gurus.  Pelini was recently quoted that "Contrary to what you guys think, I haven’t forgotten how to coach defense and how to stop the run ".  Forget about it.  That may have been true in the past, but nothing got stopped last night with Ohio State pouring on 63.  This was embarrassing, again, and something has to happen.  Pelini has won nine games each year at Nebraska, so firing a coach with that record seems not reasonable.  But getting your ass kicked on national television yelling at everyone on the sideline is getting old, and as The Omaha World Herald puts it, sad.  Nebraska, after the retirement announcement of Tom Osborne, has a new athletic director in Shawn Eichorst, who comes to NU after a short stint at Miami via Wisconsin. It should be noted things are not well at Miami, with the 'Canes playing home games in front of 25K and crushing looming sanctions coming from the NCAA.  It seems probable the transgressions down there took place before Eichorst's tenure; however, I am nowhere near convinced he is the right man for the job.  Given the consideration of a change at football coach which must be engaged, I find the entire situation most troubling.  Pelini says he can't put his finger on what is wrong, but I hope he figures it out.  I would start with attacking instead of reading on defense, and finding the discipline to limit the crushing penalties and protection of the football on offense, the latter a fundamental element of coaching, which is clearly failing.

While Florida State is not back, Florida may be, drowning LSU at the Swamp.  Amazing the issues LSU has, but Florida is gaining confidence and has a championship defense.  Look out!....Michigan pummeled Purdue, a team many had penciled in to the Big Ten title game....UCLA got bumped at Cal, and you wonder what happened to this team....Missouri suspended a handful of players for pot (what a bunch of idiots) and lost to Vanderbilt. Welcome to the SEC....I have never been an Urban Meyer fan, and that holds true today....A&M's loss to Florida looking better by the week....Arkansas gathered themselves and stomped Auburn on the plains...Miss State is undefeated but not that good.... South Carolina destroyed Georgia, and I did not see that coming, but the beat down was nothing but thorough....Clemson is an enigma.... West Virgina had plenty of O with Geno Smith directing and got enough defense to win at Texas while Oklahoma looked good in dismantling Texas Tech; time for the Red River War.....Duke thumped Virginia, and they are having their best season in moons....Teams Florida State has beaten have not looked good, which may have been a precursor to what happened at Raleigh....Sparty almost lost at Indiana... Notre Dame blasted the Hurricanes in honor of local friend Pete, who we lost this past week....Not sure how good Oregon State is, but Oregon is really good....UCF can run the table from here....USF was not into it, and got beat by Temple.