The Color & Pageantry Top 25

College Football

Top 25

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

OUT: South Carolina (12) and Southern Cal (24).

VOTES: South Carolina, Southern Cal, Missouri, Florida, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, Arkansas, Miami, Louisville, NC State, Marshall and Iowa.

NATIONAL ANALYSIS

You have to give Arizona State some credit, as they fired it all cylinders against UCLA with a backup signal caller and has the Bruins gasping for air early, but Bruin QB Brett Hundley unleashed his own aerial attack and blasted the Sun Devils 62-27.....Oklahoma State scored a home victory over Texas Tech....Northwestern finally played up their potential and thoroughly outplayed Penn State in Happy Valley, and thankfully, we can put to bed all the Nittany Lion false hoopla and quit rhetorically elevating QB Christian Hackenburg into something he is not....LSU and Ole Miss cruised to easy wins, or did they, as they games looked more constested than the score may indicate, in preparation for big tilts next weekend....The woes at Michigan are significant, getting their ass kicked on the field and having empty seats in the Big House, which will likely spell the end of the Brady Hoke era....Kansas fired the first salvo, dumping Charlie Weiss after the Jayhawks failed to score in a home loss to Texas.  Not sure what happened to Weis, but his last two stints and Florida and Kansas have been awful....Much improved Kentucky under Mark Stoops got an SEC win...BC was living high off their stunning smashing of Southern Cal, but got beat at home Colorado State, which was a buzzkill to be sure....Yale upended Army in overtime....Terry Bowden's Akron Zips went to Pitt and stunned the Panthers in a shocker....Arkansas faded late, losing to the Texas Aggies in Jerry's World, but the Hogs are making good progress....With Todd Gurley resting through large portions of the game, Georgia outlasted an much improved Tennessee team between the hedges, with the Vols QB firing it all over the place even after having to sit out much of the third period due to a shoulder....Improved teams Colorado and Cal fought it out in OT at Berkley, with Cal coming out on top 59-56...Cincinnati had some moments, but got clobbered by Ohio State...Mizzou scored two late touchdowns and beat South Carolina....Clemson beat UNC, but gave up a lot of points in doing so.....The Miami Hurricanes beat Duke in a defensive struggle, but it was a good win for the Canes.  Next week has several strong contests.

FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS

It was another afternoon of horrors at Carter-Finley Stadium for the Florida State Seminoles.  Thankfully, this time however, the Seminoles got out of there with a win over a supercharged NC State Wolfpack.  Given the way the Wolfpack played, opening up a 24-7 first quarter lead and piling up 520 yards and 41 points.  The 24 first quarter points put up by NC State were the most the Seminoles had even given up in that quarter.  Errors by proven veterans, inclusive of a drop punt catch by Rashaad Greene and a late interception by Jameis Winston, proved most costly for FSU.  The up tempo played by NC State put the FSU defensive unit in peril, and on most occasions the defenders had great difficulty in making tackles, primarily against Wolfpack quarterback Jacoby Brissett, a transfer from the Gators.  Brissett looked like Ben Rothlesberger in this contest, one time eluding several tacklers,scrambling toward the sideline to throw back across the middle in traffic to find a receiver for a score.  In the first half, FSU was again getting whipped up front, and was unable to run the ball.  When you cannot run the ball on offense, and cannot stop to opposing team while on defense, is it any wonder you would find yourself behind. However, behind  Jameis Winston, the Seminoles continued to score points. As the game went on, the Seminoles became more effective running the ball and were starting to get some stops on defense.  Excellent play from two freshman, Lorenzo Featherston and Jacoby Pugh helped immensely as the Seminoles won the last three quarters 49-17.  It is hard to imagine sweating out a game when you score 56 points, but it was a rough afternoon indeed.  FSU remains top ranked, primarily because their top competitors are also flawed, but it will be short lived if issues with the defense and the offensive line are not taken care of.  A win is a win, and the school and ACC record 20 consecutive winning streak remains in tact.  At least for now.

NEBRASKA ANALYSIS

Nebraska, behind yet another spectacular performance by running back Ameer Abdullah, blasted upstart Illinois on Homecoming.  The Cornhuskers, sporting a one time Red Rising alternative uniform, which by any measure, were God awful, looked good on offense, gaining 624 total yards.  However, as good as Tommy Armstrong can be, not a long perfectly thrown bomb to Kenny Bell, he can toss mind boggling interceptions with the best of them.  His completion percentages remains poor, but his running skills are elusive and timely.  The Big Red will need better play from him if they are to present themselves for B1G Champions.  The defense has some poor moments, but also looked dominating at times.  The DL was strong, and DE Randy Gregory is nothing short of fierce.  Illinois can throw it, and the secondary looked shaky at times, but also came up with some big plays.  After some early success, the Illini got stuffed by the Blackshirts most often.  As ESPN notes, Ameer Abdullah has a streak of 17 games with at last 100 yards from scrimmage, the longest active streak in the FBS and fourth-longest streak for a running back in the last 10 seasons.  We will find out quite a bit as Nebraska travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan State next Saturday.  If Nebraska can protect the ball, I predict the Big Red will win rather easily.  That is a big if.