Week Five Storylines

A look at the Top 25, plus a look ahead and the weekend's biggest storylines and games.

Storylines
September 25, 2007

That dull weekend turned exciting on us. With Louisville’s stunning loss to Syracuse, Florida’s much closer than expected win over Ole Miss, Michigan’s upset of Penn State, Oklahoma State’s thriller over Texas Tech, and Georgia’s dramatic win over Alabama, the weekend that wasn’t supposed to be overly exciting gave every fan something to get fired up about.

Of course, that’s not everything. Kentucky’s climb towards the top of the polls is nearing completion. The Wildcats suddenly find themselves getting some publicity as a possible SEC champion, and rightfully so.

Let’s look towards the week ahead!

1) Pac Ten Showdowns. The Pac Ten this weekend will feature some gigantic games. California will head to Oregon in a game that will tell the nation a lot about who the prime contender to take down USC is going to be. Speaking of USC, they won’t exactly have an easy task when they go to Seattle to take on Jake Locker and the revitalized Huskies. UCLA may be a little down, but they are not out, and they head to Oregon State. Those two teams both desperately need wins to get their season’s going in the right direction. Those three games alone will make this weekend a special one for all Pac Ten fans, and fans of college football. It should be fun.

2) Florida Showcase. Three huge games are taking place in Florida this weekend. It all starts on Friday night, when South Florida will host West Virginia in the most important game in Bulls football history. They have proven very difficult to beat at home, and with the Mountaineers in the Top Five, this will be huge. Then on Saturday, Alabama takes on Florida State in Jacksonville. Florida State needs a win to get back into the nation’s mind as a football power. Alabama needs a win to recover from their crushing loss to Georgia last week. Finally, Auburn heads to Florida to take on the Gators in a revenge game for Florida. Auburn was the only team to beat Florida last year, and would love to do it again. The Tigers need the win to stay alive in the SEC title chase, while Florida needs to keep the momentum going towards next week’s showdown at LSU. Of course, there is also Miami’s home game with an improving Duke team, but that is clearly not in the class with the three huge games listed above. This ought to be fun in Florida.

3) Heisman Shot. Several Heisman frontrunners will play in either high profile games, or games against lesser opponents that they should explode on. John David Booty of USC will head to Washington in ABC’s primetime game. Steve Slaton and Pat White of West Virginia will play in Friday night’s much anticipated game against South Florida. Darren McFadden of Arkansas will take on North Texas’ awful defense. Colt Brennan (if healthy) will lead Hawaii against Idaho. Andre Woodson of Kentucky will battle Florida Atlantic. DeSean Jackson of California takes on Oregon in the biggest game of the weekend. Mike Hart of Michigan will go to Northwestern in what should be a huge numbers game for Hart. These are probably the eight frontrunners, with Sam Bradford of Oklahoma heading to Colorado in a tweener game. Those are the top nine right now probably, and all of them have games that could help sort out the Heisman race for one reason or the other this weekend.

GAMES TO WATCH

Each week, three games will be listed in this space. The point of this section is to give Joe the Average College Football Fan a list of games to watch that will help them to best argue at the end of the year who should be in the BCS bowl games, in particular the BCS National Championship Game, and who will win those games. You want to be a fan that knows what he’s talking about, so this section, if watched throughout the year, is meant to help make you the person who argues better than anyone else who should be in the BCS bowl games and who will win them. The number in parentheses represents the number of times the team has appeared in this section this year.

West Virginia (1) at South Florida (1) (8:00 ESPN2, Friday)- The Mountaineers feature the vaunted offense lead by Steve Slaton and Pat White, and have even thrown in Noel Devine these last couple of weeks to make things even more exciting. The problem has been perceived to be their defense. This may be true, but don’t tell East Carolina or Maryland, who just combined to score 21 points in their last two games against the Mountaineers. Yes, the Mountaineers defense has averaged allowing in those two wins 10.5 points, 214.5 total yards, 97.5 yards rushing, and 117 yards passing. That is an amazing turn. Is it realistic to expect that to continue? Maybe, maybe not. After all, Matt Grothe will present a much stiffer challenge to them than any player has the last two weeks. Grothe is the Bulls mobile quarterback that has been doing an excellent job so far this season, and could thrust himself into Heisman consideration with a win here. Of course, the Bulls play great defense. They will need to if they are going to slow down the Mountaineers. This game might just be for the Big East title when it is all said and done.

California (2) at Oregon (1) (3:30 ABC)- The Golden Bears have been dominant so far, and DeSean Jackson has been starting to insert himself into the Heisman race. He could use a huge game returning kicks in this one to remain in the discussion in this high-profile game. Nate Longshore has been tossing the ball all over the lot, and Justin Forsett is certainly running the ball well. The question mark about this team is on the defensive side of the ball. They have given up 27 or more points in three out of four games this year. Oregon can take advantage of that. The Ducks Dennis Dixon is on the outside looking in on the Heisman race, but a big game here would put him front and center on the stage. He can run and throw, making him one of the most exciting players in the country to watch. Jonathan Stewart runs the ball about as effectively as any running back in the country. Of course, they have not been just dominant on the defensive side of the ball. In other words, look for a lot of points and a whole lot of fun in this one.

Michigan State (1) at Wisconsin (1) (3:30 ABC)- This a battle of unbeatens in the Big Ten race. While the Badgers have been looking very average so far in wins over UNLV, The Citadel, and Iowa the last three weeks, they are finding ways to win. They are lead by Tyler Donovan at quarterback and PJ Hill at running back. Their defense is solid (if you take out the blip against The Citadel). This Badgers team is good enough to win any game they play in, but this is their toughest test of the year. Brian Hoyer has looked good at quarterback so far for the Spartans. Jehuu Caulrick and Javon Ringer have been running the ball quite effectively. Meanwhile, the defense hasn’t given up more than 18 points all year, and most of those 18 were in garbage time against UAB in the opener. The Spartans are playing well, but it is always tough to go into Camp Randall and come away with a win. Still, this one will go a long way towards shaping Big Ten pecking order.

QUICK HITTERS

--Is Louisville really that bad? One more question….if Louisville winds up 8-4 this year, have they become so infatuated with football that they would fire Steve Kragthorpe after just one year? And finally one more question…if they did that, and the Falcons don’t seem to be improving, would Bobby Petrino come back?

--Anyone paying attention should realize that Clemson and Boston College have been the two best teams in the ACC so far. They don’t play until November 17, but that could be one of the biggest games of the season, unless one of them chokes one off before then. (Clemson has to go to a struggling Georgia Tech this week…hmmmm….)

--Just so everyone knows, Illinois really is a threat to make some kind of run in the weak-ish Big Ten this year. They probably will not win the thing, but they can finish with a winning conference record.

MY RANKINGS

Below are my first rankings of the new season. I am ranking the teams based on how they have performed up until now, not based necessarily on where I think they will finish the season. The number in parentheses represents where I had the team ranked in the preseason, which was my prediction on where the teams would be at the end of the year. After the rankings are a few comments on the rankings.

1. USC 3-0 (1)
2. LSU 4-0 (9)
3. Oklahoma 4-0 (13)
4. Florida 4-0 (6)
5. West Virginia 4-0 (2)
6. California 4-0 (16)
7. Ohio State 4-0 (15)
8. Oregon 4-0 (--)
9. Boston College 4-0 (21)
10. South Florida 3-0 (10)
11. Kentucky 4-0 (--)
12. Rutgers 3-0 (25)
13. Clemson 4-0 (--)
14. Missouri 4-0 (--)
15. Texas 4-0 (8)
16. Purdue 4-0 (--)
17. Wisconsin 4-0 (3)
18. South Carolina 3-1 (24)
19. Georgia 3-1 (20)
20. Alabama 3-1 (--)
21. Arizona State 4-0 (--)
22. Cincinnati 4-0 (--)
23. Kansas 4-0 (--)
24. Michigan State 4-0 (--)
25. Miami, FL 3-1 (--)

DROPPED OUT (from the preseason): Virginia Tech (4), Penn State (5), Texas A&M (7), UCLA (11), Louisville (12), Hawaii (14), Tennessee (17), Michigan (18), Kansas State (19), Arkansas (22), Auburn (23).

--Michigan, Hawaii, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Florida State, Connecticut, Nebraska, and UCLA are among those right on the edge of being ranked.

--These rankings are far from set in stone, especially right now. As each week passes, especially for the next two or three, expect to see teams move wildly up (possibly even in a losing cause) and down (possibly even in a winning cause). That’s just the way the rankings are right now. And I think that’s the way they should be.

--USC edges out LSU and Oklahoma for the top spot right now because they appear to be the most complete team. The Trojans have a great offense and defense. There is reason to be concerned about LSU’s offense and Oklahoma’s defense. As those teams answer those questions potentially, this will certainly be re-evaluated every week.

--Why so low on Wisconsin and Texas? Let me ask you a question. If Vanderbilt had gone out and beaten Arkansas State by 8, trailed TCU 10-0 at halftime before winning by 21, and beaten by UCF by 4, before hammering an awful Rice team, would the Commodores possibly be any higher than where I have them? Then there is no reason for Texas to be. The same goes for Wisconsin. Win convincingly, you move up. Don’t, and you won’t.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to e-mail me at [e-mail]. Thanks for reading!