The Color & Pageantry Top 25

College Football

Top 25

1.     Florida State, 6-0, 1
2.     Mississippi State, 6-0, 4
3.     Mississippi, 6-0, 3
4.     Notre Dame, 5-0, 6
5.     Baylor, 6-0, 5
6.     Oregon, 5-1, 12
7.     Michigan State, 5-1, 8
8.     Georgia, 5-1, 14
9.     Auburn, 5-1, 27
10.   Alabama, 5-1, 7
11.   Texas Christian, 4-1, 9
12.   Oklahoma, 5-1, 11
13.   Kansas State, 5-1, 15
14.   Nebraska, 5-1, 20
15.   Oklahoma State, 5-1, 17
16.   Stanford, 4-2, 21
17.   Clemson, 4-2, 16
18.   Texas A&M, 5-2, 13
19.   Arizona State, 4-1, 22
20.   Arizona, 5-1, 10
21.   East Carolina, 4-1, 19
22.   Ohio State, 4-1. 23
23.   UCLA, 4-2. 18
24.   Washington, 5-1, NR
25.   Louisiana State, 5-2, NR

OUT: Georgia Tech and Missouri.

VOTES: Iowa, Kentucky, Southern Cal, Utah, West Virginia, Virginia, Louisville, Missouri, Minnesota, Marshall, Georgia Tech, Miami, Arkansas, Duke, Florida and Wisconsin.

NATIONAL ANALYSIS

UCF won a very physical contest in Orlando versus injury riddled BYU....Stanford methodically defeated Wazzu...Wisconsin beat Indiana but seems quite vulnerable....OU got beat by Texas everywhere but the scoreboard, winning the Red River War, and the overhang of Ebola in Dallas did not seem to have an impact on game attendance....Even with the indefinite suspension of Heisman candidate tailback Todd Gurley, Georgia blasted a seemingly hapless Mizzou, and the Dawgs look top five on some occasions....In front of about 20K, the Canes blasted Cincinnati....West Virginia, behind FSU transfer Clint Trcikett, continues to outscore most folks, with losses to Alabama and Oklahoma....Iowa finally got rolling offensively....Minnesota, with their only loss at TCU, won at Northwestern, who had been playing well, and moves to 5-1....Duke upended Ga. Tech, who looked like the ACC Coastal front runner.....UNC played quite well at Notre Dame, but lost due to poor defense.....BC bombed NC State at Raleigh, which was not expected....Clemson los frosh QB Deshaun Watson to broken finger, and held on to beat Louisville on a goal line stand in the last minute. ... Purdue, black and gold, used helmets with florescent yellow and played Michigan State much better than anyone expected at East Lansing....Baylor got a big win versus TCU, scoring 24 consecutive points to overcome a 21 point deficit, and while they think they are a playoff contender, they gave up 485 yards and 58 points to defensive minded TCU....Okie State avoided an upset at Kansas, with Tyreek Hill saving the day with 100 yard KO return.... Alabama barely got by an improving Arkansas, but looked poor doing so only gaining 61 yards rushing with the bevy of talent they have at running back....Michigan got a much needed W at home against overrated Christian Hackenburg and Penn State....ECU had trouble beating So. Florida...Ole Miss had no problems at College Station, as the Landsharks ran rampant and corralled the Aggies... Arizona, riding high after upsetting Oregon, could not hold serve at home, losing to the USC Trojans.  Winning the fourth period 13-0 was not enough. 

Among improving teams I have noticed this year include Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Syracuse and Memphis.  Ole Miss and Mississippi State have already arrived.  LSU is also gaining strength, and will start 2015 in the top ten.

NEBRASKA ANALYSIS

The Cornhuskers were idle this weekend, and play at Northwestern next Saturday.

FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS

Florida State is not playing like the top ranked team in the nation, but they are the big dog until someone knocks them down.  With Notre Dame coming to DOAK Saturday, we will learn more.

At an improved Syracuse, Florida State looked better offensively, establishing a decent running game behind Mario Pender and Dalvin Cook.  Both of these players are superior to Karlos Williams, a big back with blazing straightaway speed with little tackle breaking and yards after contact abilities.  Jameis Winston also utilized a slew of receivers, including veteran tight end Nick O'Leary and freshman Travis Rudolph.  The offensive line perhaps had their most cohesive game of the season, which was good with center Austin Barron having been lost for the season last week.  Jameis Winston was 30-36 for 317 yards, and was quite efficient. Defensively, the although there were some good individual plays by Eddie Goldman and Mario Edwards, Jr. the group seemed lethargic, lacking pressure from the edge.  Lorenzo Featherston is an emerging star, but as a group this area needs to step up quickly.  The defensive backs had their moments, particularly with Jalen Ramsey coming up with a big INT early, but the unit gave up way to many plays, even as though they appeared to have good positioning.  For FSU, their best football remains ahead of them.  One could make an easy case that FSU does not deserve the number one ranking, what with what is going on in Mississippi.  The case will be made one way or another next week.  We are fixin to find out.