Top 25

College Football

Top 25

1.      Notre Dame, 12-0, 1
2.      Alabama, 11-1, 2
3.      Georgia, 11-1, 3
4.      Oregon, 11-1, 4
5.      Florida, 11-1,7
6.      Ohio State, 12-0, 5
7.      Texas A&M, 10-2, 10
8.      Kansas State, 10-1, 8
9.      Stanford, 10-2, 12
10.    Louisiana State, 10-2, 9
11.    South Carolina, 10-2, 14
12.    Oklahoma, 9-2, 13
13.    Nebraska, 10-2, 15
14.    Florida State, 10-2, 6
15.    Clemson, 10-2, 11
16.    Oregon State, 8-3, 16
17.    UCLA, 9-3, 17
18.    Michigan, 8-4, 20
19.    Northwestern, 9-3, 23
20.    Northern Illinois, 11-1, 25
21.    Oklahoma State, 7-4, 19
22.    Texas Christian, 7-4, NR
23.    Vanderbilt, 8-4, NR
24.    Texas, 8-3, 18
25.    Utah State, 10-2, NR

OUT: Louisville (19), Rutgers (22), and Mississippi State (24).

VOTES:  Louisville, Rutgers, Michigan State, Southern Cal, Cincinnati, Kent State, Arizona State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, San Jose State, Fresno State, Mississippi State, Baylor.

In a bone chilling windy and freezing day at Iowa City, Nebraska overcame an upstart Hawkeye squad to reach the Big Ten Title game next Saturday, against Wisconsin.  Inspirational and injured team leader Rex Burkhead returned with some very tough running to help the Big Red win, as throwing under the stiff and strong wind was limited.  DE Eric Martin had four sacks, and was extremely disruptive to the Iowa offense.  Unfortunately for the Big Red, starting center Justin Jackson and Baker Steinkuhler, playing the best of his career at defensive tackle, are apparently both our for the year with ankle and knee injuries respectively.  The losses at these critical positions will be hard to overcome.

The "trail of tears" along I-10 this morning, as one Luckydog pundit appropriately put it, followed a dismal performance by the Florida State Seminoles as arch rival Florida used dominance in the trenches to wear out and dump FSU at DOAK.  Most, including yours truly, expected a defensive struggle, but the Gators would have none of it, running the ball very effectively against the statistically strong Seminoles.  Behind a horrendous exhibition by fifth year senior quarterback EJ Manuel, the Seminoles were unable to match the Gators offensively.  Given the experience levels on offense of these teams, and the home field, one might have expected the Seminoles to be the team free from execution failures and turnovers.  On no.  FSU committed five turnovers, four by Manuel, who was coach Jimbo Fisher's prized recruit.  It would be tough to beat a middle of the road ACC team with five turnovers, much less an ascending and hungry Gators squad motivated by BCS aspirations.  The Gators exposed all the problems FSU possesses, but none were more glaring than the less than stellar quarterback play of Manuel.  Certainly, Manuel, who has looked brilliant at times and has had his moments, failed to execute in dramatic fashion Saturday.  I could see from my perch in the stands Manuel did not see many an open receivers, overthrew several and was dismal reading the the middle of the field, a problem we noted in our FSU preseason preview.  Although UF was running it right down our throat, the inability of the offense to perform left the defense gassed late in the game.  Of course, had Manuel directed a scoring drive instead of fumbling the ball way on a strong hit after FSU had somehow taken the lead, the outcome could have been different.  It was not, and while it is easy to blame EJ, it is the fault of the coaching staff for the play calling that placed FSU, and Manuel, in the position.  Is EJ far and away the best QB on our roster? If so, then certainly the coaching staff should have been coaching around the deficiencies, which they were not.  Amid the stinging loss to our arch rival, not to mention perhaps a serious injury to defensive end Cornellius "Tank" Carradine, there are significant issues.  Most importantly is the continued membership in the ACC; from financial, performance and stability standpoints.  Unfortunately, the coaching staff needs a look over as well, and without question, Jimbo needs to relinquish offensive coordinator duties. Having a veteran team like the 2012 Seminoles underachieve in such grand fashion is unacceptable.

In what has to be considered the most rapid penthouse to outhouse seen in many a moon, Gene Chizik has been terminated at Auburn.  The Tigers, just two years removed from a perfect season and national championship with Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton at the helm, were a horrendous 3-9 this season, winless in the SEC in a season the ended with a 49-0 pounding from arch rival Alabama in the Iron Bowl.  Alabama led 42-0 at the half.  In addition, the NCAA is in full scale investigation.  Troubled times on the plain no doubt.

Kentucky, Auburn, Tennessee and Arkansas are four SEC teams on the hunt for coaches...Vanderbilt is a decent football team, and proved that with a resounding win over Wake Forest, who had a very sub par season....Notre Dame stayed perfect, winning over USC at Los Angeles...After Georgia Tech got slapped silly by Georgia, Clemson culminated a descriptive day for the ACC by losing to South Carolina with the Tigers high powered offense stalled....Michigan State became bowl eligible, and is the best 6 win team in the country...The Big East makes the ACC look good, with both Louisville and Rutgers, fighting the conference crown, stumbling badly on Saturday...TCU dumped Texas on Thanksgiving night, and the Horns are nowhere near what they used to be...LSU held on to win at Arkansas, with Hog signal caller Tyler Wilson missing a wide open target in the end zone as time expired.....Tulsa, on the way to the CUSA title game, lost at SMU.....Penn State beat visiting Wisconsin, winning 8 games under new coach Bill O'Brien under all the negative distractions...A&M rolled Mizzou, looking more impressive by the week under Kevin Sumlin, and Johnny Football may just become the first freshman to win the Heisman....Stanford handled UCLA, and will play the Bruins again Friday night in the PAC 12 title game.  You have to like what David Shaw has going on at Stanford....Keith Price seems to have been regressing as quarterback for Washington, but threw perhaps the most boneheaded interception of his career in overtime to help hapless Wazzu defeat the Huskies....Okie State had two large leads at OU but lost 51-48 in overtime.  What has happened to the formerly highly regarded Sooner defensive unit.....Tom O"Brien has been let go at NC State.  Certainly, the win over FSU has lost some luster, but notwithstanding a 7-5 record this fall, the fallout over the treatment of former Pack signal caller Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin and is now at the helm of the Seattle Seahawks is what I think is the centerpiece of the issue, and rightfully so. If I were at Kentucky, I would immediately call O'Brien......Reports have Frank Spaziani out at Boston College and Danny Hope is out at Purdue as silly season among the coaching carousel is erupting.....Honoring the 2002 championship team at Ohio State, former coach Jim Tressel was given a standing ovation, while the undefeated Buckeyes are ineligible for BCS consideration due to NCAA sanctions under Tressel.  Go figure. Well, Ohio did go for Obama, so there you have it.

Two former All America defensive ends are now thriving as H-Back players in the NFL.  Zach Potter of Nebraska for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Bruce Miller of UCF for the San Francisco 49ers.