The Color & Pageantry Top 25

College Football

Top 25

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

OUT: Michigan State (23)

VOTES:  Ole Miss, Michigan State, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Texas Christian, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Fresno State, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois.

Johnny Manziel returned to the field, but continued his antics outside of football in the form of taunting and jawing. I have always been a fan of the kid but the behavior is getting to be beyond excusable youthful exuberance....Florida was shaky on offense but shut down a decent offense in Toledo with frosh corner Vernon Hargreaves III looking like a future all star....Miami got off to a dusty start even with 10 offensive starters returning. They will meet the Gators in Miami at high noon on Saturday...All indications were USF made a great hire in Willie Taggart, but they got destroyed 53-21 by, not the Tampa Bay Bucs, but by McNeese State at RayJay in a beyond embarrassing loss....Washington pounded Boise State in eye opening fashion.....Alabama looked shaky on offense versus Va. Tech, but won 35-10.  The demise of the Hokies in recent years can be attributed the downward slide of their once top notch special teams, who gave up a punt and kickoff return touchdown in the game...Michigan State was smothering on defense, but the Spartan offense is weak....Ohio State was hot and cold in the opener, but Michigan trounced CMU.....Ole Miss won on the road outlasting Vandy in a great game and the youngsters at Ole Miss are impressive.... LSU looked strong in dismantling TCU....Oregon State got beat at home by Eastern Washington, while North Dakota State, the #1 FCS team, won at Kansas State. The Bison are coached by Craig Bohl, a former Nebraska assistant who will be in line for that job if Pelini continues to allow his defense to give up 600 ypg....Fresno outlasted Rutgers in OT.....Penn State got by upstart Syracuse....Clemson got a huge victory over visiting Georgia, but don't discount the Bulldogs just yet.....South Carolina buried UNC...Many thought the Louisiana schools would score some upsets, but OU shut out LA-Monroe and Arkansas stomped LA-Lafayette. Townson dumped UConn, another embarrassing opener... Texas State beat So. Miss and WKU beat Kentucky for the second year in a row....Northern Illinois beat Iowa in Iowa City, and one wonders why Kirk Ferentz is still employed up there... UCF looked strong blasting Akron....From pre-season top ten a year ago to barely getting by William & Mary, West Virginia is descending quickly....Northwestern wins a big one on the raod at Cal, who welcomes Ohio State in two weeks...Bowling Green pummeled Tulsa...NC State, Maryland and Cincinnati go big wins, while Virginia beat BYU... Louisville, behind QB Teddy Bridgewater, picked up where they left off in the Sugar Bowl blasting a good and veteran Ohio team under Frank Solich.

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:   

It seemed like a Halloween evening at Lincoln Saturday, as the Big Red escaped with a victory over Wyoming.  An extremely young defensive unit was expected to make plenty of errors, and that they did. Although pressure was applied, the 'Skers failed to gather a single sack against Cowboy QB Brad Smith, who was elusive with full command of the pocket.  However, although he is not to be confused with Dan Marino, Smith scorched a veteran secondary for over 300 yards.  Not a Cowboy strong suit, Wyoming also rushed for over 300 yards, giving them over 600 for the night, which has alarmingly become somewhat commonplace for the 'Huskers.  The game plan seemed horrible on the stop side, and it almost cost dearly.  On the plus side, some young players looked promising, including Valentine, Moss and Collins up front, and Banderas and Geery at linebacker.  In addition, Greg McMullen, who played few plays, looked good and Randy Gregory will be very good when he gets some reps under his belt.  LB David Santos seemed lost at times, with Banderas getting extended reps.  Three players thought to get time, Afalava, Anderson and Rose, did not play. The 'Huskers seek to employ a multiple defensive unit heavy on an experienced secondary, but the staff did not seem to shift schemes during the game, perhaps due to the Cowboy skill set.  Sounds great, but did we mention Wyoming totalled 600 yards? Needless to say, this will not get it, and I place the staff on probation. The offense, although scoring 37 points with 530 yards, looked lethargic and far from lethal, which is concerning considering the returning talent.  With the game on the line, the line failed to get a push on a pitiful play call and T-Magic was unable to get the FD with 1 yard to go to run the clock out.  This was a big fail, and while the line had their moments, the performance was usual, which is not great. The receivers, particularly Enuwa, did well but the tight end position was not an area of focus.  Ameer Abdullah did not "wow", but was solid.  Imani Cross made two early errors, then became a monster who did not want to be denied.  Terrell Newby, a true freshman, looked outstanding and is a future star.  I expected Martinez to have a pinball machine game, but although he threw 3 TD's, he was quite pedestrian.  Overall, Nebraska had a big lead but because the defense could not stop Wyoming, the coaching staff allowed the game to be in question in the final moments.  For fans expecting great things, and I was one of them, this game turned the stomach and the blame falls directly on the coaching staff, not the newcomer players.  The game next week against lowly Southern Miss (Brett Farve is not playing) will be quite telling.

FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS:   

The Jameis Winston legend? As Coach Bowden would say, "we were fixin to find out".  We did, and Winston was as advertised, playing exemplary football in his first career game.  The Pitt coaches had a good game plan, and caught the Seminoles off guard in the opening series, taking a 7-0 lead on a balanced drive.  Behind a touchdown on the road in front of a fired up crowd, unusual for the Panthers, was not ther preferred way for Winston to begin, but with calmness and poise resembling Seminole great Charlie Ward, Winston connected on his first 11 throws as FSU opened up an offensive onslaught.  Winston, "who has some things to work on" said smiling FSU head Jimbo Fisher, was 25-27 on the night , for 356 yards and four touchdowns passing, adding a rushing score to boot. Pitt is not Savannah State on the stoop side, returning 9 starters off a unit ranked in the top 20 in total defense a year ago, so what Winston was able to accomplish is stunning.  If he can progress game by game and stay healthy,  it seems certain he can take the Seminoles to levels not thought possible in the preseason, in part due to the stellar cast of playmakers he is surrounded with.  While a veteran line had some difficulties, the skill players were top notch.  The elite receiving core, led by Rashaad Greene, was dynamite.  Kelvin Benjamin looks grown up football wise to go with his physical gifts, and Kenny Shaw was strong.  Nick O'Leary was running loose all night, and got 3 TD's.  Defensively, there were some issues, most notably the inability to produce a stellar pass rush without benefit of blitzing.  Telvin Smith, as we anticipated, was everywhere, and while he had a few errors, LaMarcus Joyner made several big plays. Up front, the line play was good but inconsistent, which is not unexpected with the new scheme.  Jalen Ramsey, starting due to injury at corner, was very impressive and has honors potential.  Certainly, there are items to be worked on, but for FSU to blow out a decent team on the road with several new faces, new coaches and new defensive schemes, you have to give the Seminoles high marks.  Meanwhile, although it is only one game, with the nation taking notice, the brilliant performance Winston put on has given future opponents great cause for concern and got all Seminoles across the land in very high spirits.