Top 25
1. Florida State, 1-0, 1
2. Alabama, 1-0, 2
3. Auburn, 1-0, 3
4. Oklahoma, 1-0, 4
5. UCLA, 1-0, 5
6. Oregon, 1-0, 6
7. Michigan State, 1-0, 7
8. Georgia, 1-0, 10
9. Baylor, 1-0, 11
10. Stanford, 1-0, 12
11. Texas A&M, 1-0, 24
12. Louisiana State, 1-0, 13
13. Nebraska, 1-0, 14
14. Southern California, 1-0, 18
15. Ohio State, 1-0, 8
16. Ole Miss, 1-0, 15
17. Notre Dame, 1-0, 17
18. Kansas State, 1-0, 20
19. Oklahoma State, 0-1, NR
20. Wisconsin, 0-1, 19
21. Florida, 0-0, 21
22. South Carolina, 0-1, 9
23. Clemson, 0-1, 16
24. Mississippi State, 1-0, NR
25. Arizona State,. 1-0, NR
OUT: North Carolina, Washington and Iowa.
VOTES: North Carolina, Washington, Iowa, Michigan, Louisville, Missouri, Virginia Tech, Texas, Duke, Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Marshall, Miami, Minnesota, West Virginia, Texas Christian and Tennessee.
NATIONAL ANALYSIS
To break in the season in on the newly formed SEC Network, the youthful Texas Aggies, behind a dazzling performance by redshirt freshman quarterback Kenny Hill, blasted South Carolina in Columbia. The Gamecocks had no answers for the Aggie attack, an eye opener to be sure...Boise State played tough for a while, but faltered late as Ole Miss pulled away...Rutgers went out west to Seattle and upended Wazzu.....On Saturday, each of the top ranked teams with quality opponents struggled on the opening weekend. Alabama pulled away from West Virginia, who comported themselves well against the Crimson Tide, and make no mistake, although ranked second because nobody is better, this BAMA team is not as strong as recent Tide teams.....Auburn battled Arkansas before pulling away, and the Hogs look improved....OU bombed La Tech, but QB Trevor Kinght was not all that impressive.....UCLA struggled mightily at UVA, scoring three defensive touchdowns, and although UVA and their recent top 30 recruiting classes is much better than the experts think, the Bruins appear to have offensive issue centered up front....Oregon ran everywhere, but gave up some yards and points to a horrible team in South Dakota....Michigan State opened strong while Ohio State, who lost ground in the rankings primarily due to the preseason injury to QB Braxton Miller, was behind Navy in the third and although talented, is not anywhere near a title contender.....Georgia, seemingly unwilling to hand stellar RB Todd Gurley the ball (4 first half carries) erupted in the second half behind Gurley pulling away from Clemson with authority after a halftime tie...In the Swamp, thunderstorms, a persistent downpour and lightening strikes led officials to terminate the Gator game, which is ridiculous as they could have played it on Sunday....Most of the experts expected Fresno State to be a decent team, but Southern Cal demolished them at the Coliseum on a gorgeous day, and perhaps the Trojans are stout.....Northern Iowa gave Iowa all they could handle in Iowa City, and although it was expected in week one to have to issues, this was much to close for comfort for an Iowa team expected to be a challenger for the B1G Title....Northwestern was another B1G team expected to have good season, but they got punked at lowly Cal, which was no doubt surprised many...Over in Ireland at the Croke Classic, UCF found their starting QB in the third period and came back to lead Penn State late, but fell anyhow with a last second FG....North Carolina woke up after falling behind Liberty in the third, and this was not impressive for a team looking to take control in the ACC Coastal...Missouri won a tough one against South Dakota State, who has a punishing rushing attack...Texas looked good in the debut of coach Charlie Strong....Wisconsin ran all over LSU, but got tired, got limited QB play and lost their two top defensive tackles to injury, which allowed LSU late to punish the Badgers with an interior running game as LSU came back from a 24-7 deficit to win at Houston....UTSA, coached by Larry Coker, dominated Houston at Houston in a very impressive victory....Baylor romped SMU in the new confines, with George W. Bush and RGIII along for the coin toss....In what was expected to be a coin flip game, Tennessee blasted a decent Utah State team in Rocky Top, led on defense by an outstanding performance by All America linebacker AJ Johnson, who also was a bullet on the kickoff coverage team.....Louisville controlled Miami, who looked very weak on the offensive line, and the Cardinal appear to have potential.
NEBRASKA ANALYSIS
In the opening game at Lincoln, the Cornhuskers did not turn the ball over. This is a big takeaway, as the turnover bug has been a major thorn in the side for the Big Red under Coach Pelini, with turnovers in 26 straight games. Although team captain Kenny Bell volunteered to assume punt return duties only to fumble one out of bounds, ball protection was stellar. In aggregate, this was perhaps the best opening performance of the 'Huskers in the Pelini era. The Big Red ran a balanced attack offensively, scorching FAU for almost 800 yards of total offense. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong had his best performance in my view, distributing the ball with confidence to the weaponry the Big Red has. Ameer Abdullah was brilliant on this day running for about two and quarter averaging about ten yards per tote, and cleary established himself as an All America candidate. Both Imani Cross and Terrell Newby looked good as well. The big ugiles were crisp and looked to have cohesion. Jordan Westercamp stepped up, demonstrating what the comments from practice over the years have described. Demornay Pierson-El, a true freshman, looked like he has special qualities and could now assume punt return duties. Meanwhile, it is time for the alarm clock to go off for Jamal Turner. Kenny Bell got two catches and a long ball. It was a very strong performance for the offense to be sure. Defensively, on a down note, standout DE Randy Gregory left early in the first with a knee, and the severity of the injury, not considered severe at first glance, is not known. Greg McMullen played well, and it appears he may be ready for a breakthrough, and Jack Gangwish played well also. In the interior, Vincent Valentine and Maliek Collins were strong. Kevin Maurice played well when he got in as well. David Santos, Johs Banderas and Zaire Anderson each made some plays and looked good at linebacker. Trevor Roach made play when he got in. Byerson Cockrell was impressive in the secondary, which was stellar all day. Drew Brown drilled his only FG effort. Everything clicked on this day for the Big Red. Although this was FAU, who has Florida athletes that can run, Nebraska was expected to win easily on this day. Even so, this was a top performance, the best of the Pelini era, which can springboard the 'Huskers with confidence moving forward. This team can win the B1G, although the health of DE Gregory is key as the depth at that spot is not strong.
FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS
Although the Seminoles led start to finish in the Cowboys Kickoff Classic at Jerry's World in Dallas on their Dallas to Dallas tour, after building an uneasy 17-0 lead, they were fortunate to come away with the win. There were issues everywhere for the Seminoles. Offensively, Jameis Winston, although having some good throws and an excellent 28 yard touchdown run, was very average, seemingly unable to really find anyone other than standout wideout Rashaad Greene to throw to. Greene was beyond stellar, hauling in over 200 yards in completion yardage and posting an explosive touchdown run after a short pass which really helped at that juncture of the game. Karlos Williams was disappointing, and Mario Pender looked better, but their lack of performance was likely tied to the pitiful performance of the offensive line, a unit with four starters with over 20 start under their belt. While Oklahoma State was strong up front on the stop side, the o-line looked awful and the inability to run the football cost FSU dearly. Nothing came easy for the Seminoles on offense, helped in yardage totals by three long passes. The defense was not any better. Of course, FSU lost DC Jeremy Pruitt to Georgia, and Charles Kelly has taken over, but there is cause for concern. The Pokes are young on offense, and are potent; however, down the stretch FSU had great difficulty stopping Okie State. Mario Edwards had one good play, a huge 14 yard sack, but looked lethargic and perhaps should permanently move inside, although it is noted he played almost all snaps against the high tempo Cowboy attack. DE Chris Casher was held out due to academics, and Demarcus Walker played very well in his spot. Terrance Smith recorded some big plays, but his linebacking counterparts were invisible. Nate Andrews and Jalen Ramsey were everywhere, but got worn down and had cramping issues. PJ Williams made some plays at corner, including perhaps the defensive play of the night where he upended Cowboy quarterback JW Walsh, causing a fumble which Williams recovered. Roberto Aguayo is money at field goal efforts, but punting remains a huge negative. FSU was idiotic on kickoffs, and late in the game with the outcome in question, gave the Cowboys excellent field position a couple of different times. Oklahoma State appears to be much stronger than the experts thought, with #2 JUCO junior newcomer Tyreek Hill throwing up 278 all purpose yards and JW Walsh feeling it. However, the 'Noles looked like a team that have thoroughly read all the preseason magazines declaring them the strong favorite to repeat as National Champions, seemingly forgetting the hard work, discipline and desire it takes to become a champion. Perhaps the leadership of players from last year, most notably LaMarcus Joyner, are missed more than we realize. There is much work to do for the Seminoles to reach the levels of last years team, and the talent is there. Great teams find a way to win, and the Seminoles did that, but this type of performance will not cut it down the stretch. Practice Monday would be a good time to address some of these issues, and I hope offensive line Rick Trickett is in attendance, for the performance of that veteran group was not acceptable. FSU would fall from their #1 ranking, but those immediately behind them in the polls struggled as well.
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| FSU QB Jameis Winston/(Photo: Tony Gutierrez/AP) |
It is also worth noting the new uniforms looked awful, with the facemasks looking purple on my new 60 inch LG HDTV. The gold is not the same as we have previously worn as well. I thing whoever is responsible for these changes, which include the Seminole Head logo, should be fired immediately.
From ESPN's College Gameday, which I hope the FSU brass comprehended.
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