1) Penn State - Last night was the Big Ten apocalypse. On the one hand, the conference went 8-5. On the other hand, three of those wins were against FCS teams, and against Power 5 conferences, they went 0-3, with Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State all losing. Penn State looked like they were in a trouble for a while too, leading the Akron Zips 7-0 at halftime before pulling away for the 21-3 win. But if we can all agree on something, let’s agree on this: Christian Hackenberg is not a good quarterback.
2) USC - The Trojans have the best defense in the Pac-12. Sure, they needed a lot of luck in beating Stanford 13-10 and ending the Cardinal’s 17-game home winning streak, but they also accomplished a lot. There was the fourth down goal line stand in the first half, the forced fumble on the last drive of the game, and the fact that they held Stanford to 3.4 yards per rush. For comparison, here are their yards per rush for every game last year, all of which are more than 3.4:
Opponent
|
Yards Per Rush
|
Result
|
Washington State
|
6.0
|
W 55-17 (+38)
|
USC
|
6.0
|
L 17-20 (-3)
|
Army
|
5.8
|
W 34-20 (+14)
|
Oregon State
|
5.6
|
W 20-12 (+8)
|
Arizona State
|
5.5
|
W 38-14 (+24)
|
Michigan State
|
5.4
|
L 20-24 (-4)
|
California
|
5.3
|
W 63-13 (+50)
|
Notre Dame
|
5.1
|
W 27-20 (+7)
|
Arizona State
|
4.9
|
W 42-28 (+14)
|
Utah
|
4.9
|
L 21-27 (-6)
|
San Jose State
|
4.8
|
W 34-13 (+19)
|
Washington
|
4.4
|
W 31-28 (+3)
|
Oregon
|
4.2
|
W 26-20 (+6)
|
UCLA
|
3.8
|
W 24-10 (+14)
|
3) Texas A&M - The Aggies can afford to be on cruise control for a little while, as their next 3 opponents are Rice, SMU, and Arkansas. Things get real after that, though, as their schedule goes: at (28) Mississippi State, vs. (24) Mississippi, at (12) Alabama, vs. (35) Louisiana-Monroe, at (10) Auburn, vs. (13) Missouri, vs. (16) LSU. That is nasty.
4) Oregon - I was able to watch the first quarter of Oregon-Michigan State game, and left with the Ducks up 11-0, and looking great. I was going out to dinner with my wife and her family (sigh …. yes, some things are actually more important than Oregon football), and was distraught when I looked at my phone and saw that the Ducks were down 24-18 at the half, having allowed Michigan State to score on four consecutive drives in the second quarter. Then Oregon did something outstanding: Their defense came out and shut down the Spartans in the second half. After scoring on a field goal on the first drive of the third quarter, Michigan State’s drives went: Punt, punt, punt, turnover on downs, interception, end of game. During that time, the Ducks’ offense went: Touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown. Oregon’s defense is going to get tested a lot this season; if they respond like they did on Saturday, they will go far.
5) Georgia - Next week should be pretty dull in college football, with the only match between two top 25 AP teams being Georgia vs. South Carolina. If Georgia can get a win on the road, they will immediately be put in a place of power in the SEC East, thanks to the SEC's absurdist scheduling practices.
6) Virginia Tech - The lowlight of the Big Ten's day yesterday was Ohio State's 21-35 home loss to Virginia Tech. There was a lot of hand wringing over the injury to Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller, but why did anyone think the Buckeyes would go far with such a horrendous offensive line? With only one returning starter, Ohio State's o-line allowed freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett to be sacked seven times by the Hokies defense. Virginia Tech is home next week against East Carolina (who has had a really tough schedule) before they open ACC play against Georgia Tech. The Hokies only have one Top 25 AP team left on their schedule: #21 North Carolina.
7) Florida State - If there is one team that has a reserved seat in the Playoff, it's defending champion Florida State. However, I'm curious to see how the ACC as a conference will be perceived this year, and whether either the Seminoles can afford to lose a game and still make the Playoff, or if a non-FSU conference champion could get an invitation. Going in to this weekend, North Carolina was the second highest ranked ACC team at #21. We should assume that Virginia Tech will move up after their big win. But neither of those teams will play FSU during the regular season. Clemson and Louisville are both in the rankings, at 23 and 25, respectfully. Florida State will play the Tigers on September 20th, and the Cardinals on October 30th.
8) Iowa - Iowa's on this list because they beat MAC champion Ball State at home 17-13. They won't be here long.
9) Brigham Young
10) Auburn
11) Oklahoma
12) Alabama
13) Missouri
14) UCLA - UCLA stinks. Fortunately for them, they play Texas next week, who stinks even more. The Bruins will get tested the week after that, though, with a Thursday night game at Arizona State.
15) Washington
16) LSU
17) Northern Illinois
18) Arizona State
19) Duke
20) Notre Dame
21) Arizona
22) Nebraska
23) Minnesota
24) Mississippi
25) Oregon State
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