Top 25
1. Stanford, 2-0, 1
2. Alabama, 2-0, 2
3. Oregon, 3-0, 3
4. Clemson, 2-0, 4
5. Florida State, 2-0, 5
6. Ohio State, 3-0, 7
7. Georgia, 1-1, 8
8. Texas A&M, 2-1, 6
9. Louisiana State, 3-0, 10
10. Louisville, 3-0, 9
11. UCLA, 2-0, 15
12. South Carolina, 2-1, 11
13. Oklahoma State, 3-0, 12
14. Miami, 2-0, 14
15. Oklahoma, 3-0, 16
16. Northwestern, 3-0, 18
17. Florida, 1-1, 19
18. Washington, 2-0, 20
19. Mississippi, 3-0, 25
20. Baylor, 2-0, 22
21. Michigan, 3-0, 13
22. Notre Dame, 2-1, 23
23. Georgia Tech, 3-0, 24
24. Arizona State, 2-0, NR
25. Wisconsin, 2-1, 21
OUT: Nebraska (17)
VOTES: Nebraska, Texas Tech, North Carolina, UCF, Fresno State, Virginia Tech, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Northern Illinois.
NATIONAL ANALYSIS: Congrats to ESPN's Lee Corso, who called the UCF upset at Penn State, although many saw UCF had a good chance behind talented quarterback Blake Bortles....Although Washington beat Illinois, the Illini played well....Ole Miss throttled a crumbling Texas, where a coaching change appears imminent. ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for having this game on The Longhorn Network which led to nobody being able to see the game nationally. Texas caused all this realignment mess, by forming this network, so consider my please they got their ass kicked....Terry Bowden and Akron came within inches of pulling off a earth shattering upset at Michigan... Texas A&M fell at home to Alabama in a barn burner, but it was not the fault of Johnny Football, who threw for almost 500 while running for another 100. It was the highest rated afternoon CBS game in 23 years; deservedly so....Oregon throttled visiting Tennessee, giving the Vols their worst loss since the Wilson administration... Wisconsin was robbed by the officials, in what was a simply horrendous weekend for the Zebras....South Carolina dumped Vanderbilt, but did not see much domination by Jadeveon Clowney....Texas Tech disposed of Texas Christian, and their hire of Cliff Klingsbury was outstanding....Auburn got a big home victory over Mississippi State, who can now officially be designated as descending....Minnesota coach Jerry Kill suffered another seizure on Saturday, but he will be fine.
For those who may be new readers, we offer game analysis of the two teams we have allegiance with; Florida State and Nebraska, in the order their games were played over any given weekend.
NEBRASKA ANALYSIS:
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| Bo Pelini without answers /Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports |
As Hail Varsity so accurately described it; Passive Without the Aggressive. Most expected the talented, but very young, Nebraska defense to suffer yardage and points to the potent UCLA offense, but very few thought the Nebraska offense would ground itself down, producing only 21 points in yet another extremely discouraging loss. ESPN color analyst Chris Spielman made very cogent points regarding both Cornhusker units. The offense, with all the weapons, seemed content to toss short outside passes with runs sprinkled in. What was glaring in omission was the running of Taylor Martinez, who although throwing three touchdown passes, was pedestrian. Martinez posses great speed and agility, and while seeking a balanced attack not relying on Martinez to carry the day, disregarding what he can do with his feet is mind boggling. T-Magic performed no tricks, finishing with -13 yards rushing. Recall, he had a 92 yard touchdown run last year versus the Bruins. Perhaps Martinez has a foot injury limiting his abilities, (word has it he was walking with a boot post game) which was kept from public knowledge? Who knows, but even if so, nobody stepped up in his absence. Ameer Abdullah ran hard, but dropped the ball on the carpet at a critical moment if a comeback was in the cards on this day. Speilman, himself a Hall of Fame linebacker at every level, noted the front four on defense were not providing adequate pressure on the quarterback, placing pressure on the secondary. At times, the rush was decent, but as time went on they had real trouble fighting off the blocks, which is troublesome. New flash for DC Papuchis; blitz! Cornnation.com reports DE Randy Gregory said "Somebody's got to step up and be a leader, make plays, whether that's me, a DB, a quarterback, it doesn't matter. Somebody's got to step up and say something." Nobody did. In fact, the mood was deflated on the sideline, even with Nebraska up 21-3. You read that right; UCLA scored 38 unanswered points en route to this scorching, which is become all too commonplace. Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini correctly described the Huskers' second-half performance, across the board, as "horrendous." I agree, and sadly, the folks employed to correct the issue only seem to inform us what we already know. I am fond of this staff, but what transpired on Saturday is simply not acceptable. I am sadly repeating myself. Getting beat fighting like dogs in the boneyard is one thing, but lacking focus, passion, discipline and the mentality (mistakes, penalties and ball security) to give it for 60 minutes is characteristic of poor coaching, and quite simply, this is exactly where the blame for this destructive loss lies. Same 'ol issues, says Steven Sipple of The Lincoln Journal Star. 'Husker great Tommie "Tocuhdown" Frazier has had enough. This Nebraska football team is not void of talent, particularly offensively, and the B1G Ten Conference championship is still within reach. In fact, so is every goal if the stars line up. It will interesting to see how the Big Red responds to this loss. The coaching staff will have to correct the continual errors of basic football during the remainder of the season. There is a new AD in charge at UNL, who has no specific ties to Bo, so if this type of thing continues, a change will likely be in the forecast. ESPN is doing Gameday this weekend at two time defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State, where former 'Husker assistant Craig Bohl is head coach. Tom Shatel of the Omaha World Herald pretty much sums it up; "There are nine games left — five in a decisive November — for Pelini to change the conversation. But short of winning the Big Ten, what happened Saturday will be a stain that the sixth-year coach can't wash off."
FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS:
After weeks of fanfare after the brilliant debut of Jameis Winston on ESPN with FSU at Pitt on Labor Day night, the Seminoles opened at home in front of the faithful eager to get a personal eyeful of "Famous Jameis". Not surprisingly, Florida State came out sleepwalking against a Nevada outfit, although decimated by injuries on the offensive side, that came to win. Winston overthrew a receiver over the middle for his first career interception, and before long, FSU found itself behind 7-3. It was time to wake up. Behind a punishing ground game, Florida State took control of the game, and Winston collected himself and found his grove, tossing a pair of touchdown passes and leading FSU to a safe lead before giving way to the backups, who played well by the way. For the year, Winston is 40-45, with six aerial scores and two rushing touchdowns, with only one interception. Florida State has a deceptively strong running game, led on this day by Devonta Freeman and converted safety Karlos Williams, who bolted 65 yards for paydirt on his first carry. Both Freeman and Williams had over 100 yards. The defense is still finding itself; however, it is showing glimpses of a unit that may be smothering for opposing offenses. Among the many young players looking good is cornerback Jalen Ramsey. FSU will continue to work at consistency with many youngsters gaining valuable experience against Bethune Cookman on Saturday. The season will hinge on the trip to Clemson in a month with conference games with at Boston College and with Maryland in between.
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