The Color & Pageantry Top 25

College Football

Top 25

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

OUT:  Oklahoma State and Mississippi State.

VOTES:  Louisville, Missouri, Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Duke, Mississippi State, Washington, Iowa, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Minnesota, Miami, West Virginia Marshall and Texas Christian.

NATIONAL ANALYSIS:

Many major teams are struggling mightily.  Not sure what is going on with UCLA, but they struggled again at home against Memphis, giving up 35 points, which will obviously not get it in the rugged PAC 12...Iowa needed two scores in the final three minutes to nip Ball State....Michigan State appeared ready to go for the win at Oregon after some early miscues scoring 24 second quarter points, but the Ducks got the offense firing and ran going way against Sparty at Eugene....Notre Dame looked marvelous in destroying Michigan, and seat under Brady Hoke is now boiling...Larry Coker has UTSA rising, and they almost took our Arizona....Pitt is off to a good start, while Wazzu is not....North Texas humiliated SMU...Purdue got clocked by Central Michigan...Iowa State, a week after getting thumped by North Dakota State, almost upset K-State...Southern Cal went to The Farm and took out Stanford, not an easily performed task, and the Trojans look real good....Miss. State could not easily escape UAB, while South Carolina did control East Carolina ahead of biggie vs. Georgia on Saturday...Northwestern is in free fall, and has been since the union nonsense arose shortly after getting dumped at home by Ohio State...Va. Tech came to Columbus and took out Ohio State with authority, looking mighty impressive while doing so...Ole Miss blasted Vanderbilt in Nashville, and it seems James Franklin got out just in time....BYU went to forty acres and sandblasted the Texas Longhorns, and it looks bad in Austin at the moment...North Carolina, expected to contend for the ACC Coastal Title, is as shaky a 2-0 as you can find, unless you check out Texas Tech or NC State....Oklahoma State, feeling salty after strong performance against FSU, did not overwhelm Missouri State as easily as expected... Kansas jumped all over SE Missouri State than held on to win 34-28... We will find out more this week.

NEBRASKA ANALYSIS:

Ameer Miss.  This was the extremely appropriate headline from the Lincoln Journal Star on Sunday, grabbed from a fan from their Twitter feed. With apologies to a heads up fumble recovery by guard Mike Moudy, senior tailback Ameer Abdullah practically won this game single handily, breaking umpteen tackles, spinning out of grasp of three defenders, scoring from 58 yards out to ice the game for Nebraska with :20 seconds remaining.



Icing the game against D-1AA McNeese State with :20 seconds remaining.  Ouch!

Although McNeese State is a highly regarded D-1AA team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were five touchdown favorites.  With the Big Red sleep walking, it became apparent somebody forgot to inform the Cowboys they were supposed to play dead.  On this cool, beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, McNeese State out coached and outplayed the 'Huskers in front of the Sea of Red. It was sad.

 

Nebraska had an opportunity from inside the Cowboy 10 to go up 21-7, but 'Husker quarterback Tommy Armstrong threw into double coverage at the goal line resulting in  a 98 yard pick six to allow McNeese State to tie the game.  Armstrong was erratic all day, and the play calling by OC Tim Beck was nothing short of atrocious.  Other offensive issues included the loss of two starting wide receivers, Kenny Bell with a groin and Jamal Turner, who seemed to be being force fed the ball early, with a ruptured achilles, and dismal play from a supposedly improved offensive line, who looked lethargic failing to generate any push and who was unable to adjust to the speed of the Cowboys slanting defensive front.  Armstrong, likely at the hands of OC Tim Beck, failed to take what the defense gave him, and missed on several long range passes with wide open receivers.  The amount of points left on the field needs a calculator.

 

 

Defensively, it was a perplexing afternoon.  McNeese State only gained 338 yards on the day, but from the stands it felt like 500.  The Cowboys drove 95 in the fourth for a field goal (after a one yard touchdown run was nullified by penalty), and if their backs were able to corral a steady flow of screen passes Nebraska failed all day to address, the yardage total for the Cowboys would have significantly bloated.  One of the reasons for optimism for Nebraska heading into the season was a perceived strength of the their defensive tackles.  Sadly, outside of just a few plays, they were virtually invisible.  Although Marcus Newby has moments and Greg McMullen played well at DE, and freshman Joshua Kalu looks special, McNeese State displayed a level of comfort on the line of scrimmage all day, which as pointed out by Steven M. Sipple of the LJS, turned to confidence.  Nebraska was not sure what to do, while McNeese State, no matter who was at the helm of their quarterback platoon, was eager to do what it could do.

 

While never behind in the ball game, Nebraska should feel fortunate to have won this game.  Nebraska bogged down on offense when it was needed most; in the second half. The Big Red generated just two first downs, a red alert of red alerts.  After McNeese State tied the game late in  the fourth, the Big Red posted a few three and outs. Imagine that, considering a historical perspective, and noting they were not facing the old vaunted defenses of the Miami Hurricanes.  It was McNeese State.

 

Ameer Abdullah's touchdown run after catch is among the best plays to win a game ever at Memorial Stadium to be sure.  The game was clearly on the line, and Abdullah came up huge.  Heisman huge.

 

The pessimist could infer that the Husker coaching staff is in over their heads, and that point can be well supported. An optimist may be thankful McNeese State exposed Big Red weaknesses and gave them a much needed wake up call.

 

Had Nebraska lost on Saturday, I would have called for the termination of the entire coaching staff.  We are in year six of the tenure of Bo Pelini, and the standards set forth for the Nebraska football program far exceed being involved in a game expiring tussle with McNeese State.

I remain hopeful that this team can break through, for I believe the talent is there.  But, my patience is thin, much more so after flying up from Florida to witness this debacle in person.  With a late night road contest at Fresno State on Saturday, a high risk low reward spot on the schedule, we will learn quite a bit. 

I know Ameer Abdullah will show up.

FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS:


Nick O'Leary

The Seminoles did what they had to do, winning in dominating fashion over The Citadel, scoring in seven of eight possession and finding opportunity to play quite a few young players.  TE Nick O'Leary had a big game, and it would seem he can be a huge weapon for FSU moving forward. Make a mental note as the Seminoles did not have a turnover in the game, with Dalvin Cook and some of the young receiving core getting much needed work. Coach Fisher noted the excellent play by DE Demarcus Walker vs. Oklahoma State continued, and he has the look of becoming a great player. Perhaps the biggest story coming out of the game was not what you would have expected. On social media, a member of The Citadel offensive lineman bragged about aiming to hurt members of the FSU defensive line, and they were successful as Eddie Goldman, Nile Lawrence-Stample and Justin Shanks all left the game with injury.  Outside of this being outside the lines of moral code within the athletic community, this may be potentially harmful to FSU, as a strong Clemson team comes to town in  couple of weeks.  Early indications are the players will be healed up by then, for which we are thankful. Meanwhile, The Citadel has suspended indefinitely the player involved, the right move indeed as protection of the integrity of the game must be protected.  It is noted, with the win over Citadel, FSU broke their record for the longest winning streak in school history at 18 games.  FSU has a bye week in advance of Clemson, a game the Seminoles must win to take control of the ACC Atlantic division.  Early returns suggest FSU is ready for the challenge.  In another note, the new home uniforms are far inferior to our uniforms we have worn in recent seasons, and most everyone in the stadium, as I am told, were not pleased.