The Color & Pageantry Top 25

College Football

Top 25

1.     Ohio State, 6-0, 1
2.     Louisiana State, 5-0, 2
3.     Texas Christian, 6-0, 3
4.     Baylor, 5-0, 4
5.     Florida, 6-0, 5
6.     Clemson, 5-0, 6
7.     Utah, 5-0, 7
8.     Texas A&M, 5-0, 9
9.     Michigan State, 6-0, 8
10.   Ole Miss, 5-1, 10
11.   Alabama, 5-1, 11
12.   Florida State, 5-0, 13
13.   Notre Dame, 5-1, 14
14.   Michigan, 5-1, 19
15.   Stanford, 4-1, 16
16.   Oklahoma State, 6-0, 21
17.   Iowa, 6-0, 22
18.   Duke, 5-1, 24
19.   Arizona State, 3-2, 25
20.   UCLA, 4-1, 20

21.   Mississippi State, 4-2, NR

22.   Houston, 5-0, NR
23.   Oklahoma, 4-1, 12
24.   Northwestern, 5-1, 15
25.   Boise State, 5-1, NR

OUT: Southern Cal (17), Georgia (18) and California (23)

VOTES: Toledo, Auburn, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Western Kentucky, Memphis, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona, Texas Tech, Temple, Washington, Brigham Young, West Virginia, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Southern Cal, Miami, North Carolina and Louisville.

NEBRASKA ANALYSIS

It was another afternoon of misery for Cornhusker nation on Saturday, as Nebraska fell to Wisconsin 23-21 on a last second field goal.  Nebraska has lost four games by 11 points, each with the opposing team scoring on essentially the last play from scrimmage. An argument could be made that the Big Red should be 6-0, but the reality is you are what your record says you area, and that is a mind boggling, and completely unacceptable, 2-4.  I won't get into the particulars of the game, for which Nebraska appeared at any junction poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  A pedestrian Wisconsin, whose vaunted running game was limping, found opportunity to throw for over 300 yards, and engineer two very late fourth quarter drives of 70+ yards to derail the Cornhuskers. Like many, I supported the parting of ways with former coach Bo Pelini. In addition, I have long admired Mike Riley, knowing he was a man of character who was accomplishing quite a bit at Oregon State, which has a minimal foot print in comparison to Nebraska. I never could have imagined what is taking place currently.  Some of the issues are not his fault.  It has been reported former DL coach Rick Kazenski, who interestingly enough remains unemployed in coaching, is in contact with current players and attempting to sabotage the current staff among his former players.  I don't know if this is true, but if it is, somebody needs to get in the face of this disgruntled and bitter man. And any players who harbor resentment for the current staff out of loyalty to the former staff need to pack their bags. Plenty is the fault of Riley.  His offensive coordinator, Danny Langsdorf, is failing miserably at play calling and it has now almost directly cost us two games.  As Damon Benning, a former Husker I-back and now 1620 The Zone talk show host, has often said, Nebraska needs to be able to run the ball when they need to, not just when they want to.  Well, who is our running back?  Newby does not seem to be the guy, Cross is fairly stated a fullback, which Janovich is.  Devine Ozigbo has gotten some work, and Mikale Wilbon is missing. On Saturday, Nebraska burned the redshirt of 4* recruit Jordan Stevenson to apparently return a few kickoffs, which is a complete mystery to most. Can he figure in? It is truly mind boggling. After starting the season strong, Tommy Armstrong has not only regressed from this year, but has fallen to depths not even seen last year.  He is passing well under 50% the last two games, that is not going to cut it.  The line is not blocking well, and when Armstrong goes back to pass in the pocket, he is under immediate duress. Given this, the play calling being exhibited are very poor.  Armstrong has some talents, some of which would lend themselves to some plays that appear to missing from the Big Red playbook.

Perhaps Langsdorf could put the following play Florida State ran into the playbook:

Did you see Trevone Boykin run a naked bootleg for 69 versus K-State?  Try that.

 
Langdorf looks very limited with respect to play calling, not utilizing player strengths, down and distance factors, failing to break tendencies and overall game management.  For once, let Armstrong use his legs, which would open the field up and cause pause on the pass rush. His skill set is not throwing out of the pocket, so change the QB if you are going to continue to call these ineffective plays. On defense, the defense did play better the last two weeks. However, significant problems remain.  The secondary players do not play the ball.  They could have picked off Wisconsin all night long if only the NU defenders turned to find the ball. Since they do not do that, they lose receivers and place themselves in position to make inadvertent contact with said receivers opening up the possibility to penalized. And boy howdy, does Nebraska get penalized, often after a big play. It is worth noting Nebraska got flagged for five players in the backfield, for like the third game in a row. Opponents are having entirely too much success converting third and long plays, due to base defenses being played. This is a mess, and now, given the ineptitude already exhibited, a bowl game is in question. Should Riley fail to get Nebraska into a bowl game; he should be terminated.

FLORIDA STATE ANALYSIS

Dalvin Cook/Florida State
photo/Fansided.com

It is a rivalry.  Miami came to Tallahassee with absolutely nothing to lose perhaps hoping to save the job of Al Golden. Dalvin Cook immediately hit paydirt, and FSU appeared ready to run Miami out of town on a rail, perhaps going up 21-3.  A potential TD catch was overturn, and FSU led 17-3.  You have to give the Hurricanes some credit, as they hung in.  FSU had trouble extending the margin, primarily due to the receivers falling to execute. Golson played very well, raising his game on this night, and his command, with no turnovers, was great, finishing 25-33 for 291 yards.  Thankfully, Cook was healthy enough to put on a clinic and almost took out the Canes by himself.  There is little doubt that Cook is the best back at FSU since Warrick Dunn, and he may even be better. The film rewind in my mind is gathering dust on Greg Allen, but man is Cook an elite player. At the end of the night, Cook finished with 222 yards on 22 carries, and pulled up a bit lame on a run he was loose for paydirt.  FSU was impacted early defensively by Trey Marshall being tossed for targeting (targeting is really getting out of hand), which made coaches adjust in the secondary.  LB Terrance Smith was out, and S Nate Andrews was hobbled, but Andrews had to come in and make do.  There were breakdowns.  FSU had trouble covering slot receivers, sometimes having safeties unable to keep up with backs and receivers. Miami QB Brad Kaaya hit some throws, and hit Stacy Coley on a touchdown out running FSU safety Tyler Hunter going away to take a 24-23 lead. But, Dalvin Cook took over again, and coupled with some nice plays by Golson, FSU added a touchdown on a 22 yard run by Cook to take a 29-24 lead.  The two point effort failed.  The Seminole defense stood tall, and now the Seminoles have won six in a row over the Hurricanes. Will Miami fold again?  We will see, but they do deserve some credit for hanging in.  It could have been 45-7. For the Seminoles, this was a major test, for Miami was a quality opponent which would require FSU to raise their level of play.  They did, with Fisher calling a very good game for the most part, and remain undefeated.  Louisville, a decent 2-3 team, will provide a test at DOAK, as it has the feel of a trap game with FSU at Ga. Tech the following week.