With week one of college football almost over, some things are very clear—crystal clear.
There are some very good football teams out there who deserve their lofty ranking.
There are also some teams who not only don't deserve their ranking or perceived status—they should be taken to the back shed and beaten to within an inch of their lives.
Virginia Tech
When you lose two kickers, a long snapper, and your two best punt/kick returners, and you rely on your special teams to make big plays and win games, the truth hurts.
Va Tech is overrated. Sean Glennon proved why Beamer went to the dual-QB system last year and will probably resort to it again this year, despite innuendo that Tyrod Taylor will be redshirted.
Verdict: Pretender
Ohio State
Sure, they played cupcake Youngstown State, and they limited the Pens to only five first downs. (Beanie Wells ran for 111 yards before injuring his foot in the third quarter, and hopefully it's not serious.)
Here's the thing though: The Buckeyes beat an FCS team by only 43 points—15 of which were on field goals. They get Ohio next week, and unless they beat the Bobcats by 50, they will be in serious trouble against the Trojans' D in two weeks.
Verdict: Pretender
Clemson
Nice job Bowden. Alabama just rolled over the Tigers and proved once again that the Tigers are really a bunch of pussycats.
The ACC looks very weak this year—Va Tech, NC State, Clemson, and Virginia all lost, while Maryland had to struggle to beat FCS team Delaware, who didn't have Joe Flacco at the controls. Clemson had to win this game due to their soft schedule, and they failed to live up to the expectations. Fire up Tommy Bowden's hot seat.
Verdict: Pretender
Penn State
Another cupcake for the Big Ten, but the Nits showed up and dinked 66 points on the hapless Chanticleers. While it doesn't prove how good the Nits really are, it does prove the QB situation has been resolved and Penn State has a productive offense. When you play cupcakes, you had better beat them bad. Penn State did just that.
Verdict: Contender
Oklahoma
Hanging 50 points in the first half—on what looked like a JV team who never learned tackling skills—is just what the Sooners needed to do to answer their critics—so far.
Bradford passed for 183 yards and two TDs before the Sooners put it in cruise control. It's hard to really say how good the Sooners are since they manage to erase all the regular season hype in BCS Bowl performances, but so far, so good.
Verdict: Contender
Florida
The Gators had to struggle a bit early in the game but got their chomp together and beat the Warriors, 56-10. The D played very well, and while Tim Tebow's stats were low, it was mainly due the running attack finally jelling.
241 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Saraswathi Siriginia 10 months ago
grt read LH, loved the piece
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Austin Thomas 10 months ago
I think the reason OSU put up only 43 points is because everyone was getting changed out every other drive, there wasnt much time to get stuff going and get into a rythym they will be better against Ohio
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Paul Sellers 10 months ago
Austin, you are correct....second write up from someone who did not watch the game and only saw the score. They were rotating in true freshman players in the first quarter. They played, Brwester, Shugarts, Posey, Pryor, and Lamar Thomas to name a few. The first two are offensive lineman.
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Tim Pollock 10 months ago
"The [Auburn] Tigers look solid in every unit, and suddenly, the West looks stronger than the East in the SEC."
Huh? Auburn passing stats: 13-27 for 85 yards--for the game. Offensive touchdowns in the first half: 0.
LSU looked great, but I don't think they passed the ball until the 2nd quarter (yes, I am exaggerating). Hatch was 7-14 for 77 yards.
I agree that GA should not be #1, but they went up 38-0. They looked sharp--great balance of pass and run. Calling them a pretender after that is probably a bit premature. If they keep losing starters to injuries, though...
One day you'll stop hating on the Cocks. One day...
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Tim-
They beat them 34-0, and their D was solid. Offense wins games, D wins championships. I was very impressed with them. Maybe we just look for different thing in teams?
As for LSU, they didn't need to pass. Their D stifled Edwards and gang. Hey, if you can win in a game by running the ball, you get major props by me. It shows a strong O-line, and the QB is protected.
And Georgia didn't look that great to me, but they are probably suffering from the pre-season hoopla-jitters of being #1. It's hard to take other opponents seriously when you are #1 and playing a cupcake.
Don't hate any team...on the contrary, would like to see the Cocks do well. But I do believe the Gamecocks get more positive press than they should due to their coach. (it's like Fla State- every year, they are mentioned in the top 25 it seems, due to Bowden.)
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Tim Pollock 10 months ago
Whoa!
"They beat them 34-0, and their D was solid. Offense wins games, D wins championships. I was very impressed with them. Maybe we just look for different thing in teams?"
Are you talking about South Carolina now? Oh snap! I don't think we look for different things at all...
Last time I checked you thought SC's 34-0 margin was less than impressive. Auburn does it, and they deserve the number 6 spot in the nation? Color me confused.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Tim-
I watched both games. South Carolina's O-Line did not look good. Neither did QB Beecher....4 INTs.
The fact that they played a bad NC State helped the score look good, but keep in mind, the score was 3-0 at half-time, and only when Wilson went down with a grade 3 concussion did the Gamecocks come to life.
Hope that explains my position. Leading a bad NC State 3-0 at halftime is not impressive, 17-0 is more impressive.
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Tim Pollock 10 months ago
Whoa!
17-0 on a 9 yard fumble recovery (aka "a gift") and punt return.
Say what you want about Beecher, but NC State's D is solid up front. They got gassed in the 4th; hence the huge holes for Mike Davis and wide open receivers for Smelley.
I think that "bad NC State team" is better than ULM. Just my take.
85 yards for the game! If Allen Iverson were here, he'd be saying, "We talkin bout practice, man!"
Agreed about the o-line, though. One starter has already been replaced. They simply have to get better.
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Mitch at sportschatplace.com 10 months ago
I noted the "!" after WVU, it looked to me that coach Rod would have liked to have had those guys against Utah yesterday. Oregon may be pretty good, they were still scoring late, got to love that.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Miami...yeah! LOL...WVU didn't look like a top ten team. I have a feeling the pollsters are going to be a little tougher this year in the rankings. Right now, they don't have them right.
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Ben Weixlmann 10 months ago
Lise-
"West Virginia. OK, I'll be the first to repeat this- the ACC champ will not go to the title game. This conference looks watered-down, and while the Mountaineers look to be the projected champ, it won't matter."
WVU is in the Big East not ACC! Nice article nonetheless!
Ben
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
UGH...thanks Ben. TYPO...will fix it.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Ok fixed it. At the end of the article I had them listed in the Big East, but for some reason in that graph I had them listed as ACC when it should have said ACC or Big East. Thanks for the heads up.
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Ben Weixlmann 10 months ago
You betcha! It also says "Big XXII" instead of "Big XII" :) Sorry, I know I'm the typo nazi.
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Shawn Collier 10 months ago
I'll agree with Austin, about OSU playing different guys every series. But the thing that bugged me the most was 4 trips in the red zone, 3 field goals and a fumble (albeit on Beanie's injury). FG's will not beat the Trojans.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Shawn-
Please see my more detailed response below. Five FGs and only 50% 3rd down conversions is NOT something a champion does in their first game. They did not impress. But here's the thing...USC and PSU played their scrubs as well, and still managed more points, and USC beat an ACC divisional champ (who lost some key players, but still, a heck of alot more competitive than the Penguins) ON THE ROAD.
The Bucks are in trouble. They need to vamp up their O next week.
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Ric A 10 months ago
Lisa you don't seem happy with Ohio State's 50% 3rd conversion efficiency as you have repeated mentioned that 50% is not a champion's trait then what do you make of the 3rd down efficiencies of these top teams
USC: 42%
LSU: 36%
Florida: 50%
Oklahoma: 46%
Georgia: 44%
I would like to remind you that 50% is not a bad conversion rate but I think it has been a year we witnessed any college football. I agree with you on FG stats though.
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Kristofer Green 10 months ago
Lisa-
Ohio State is a pretender because they only scored 43 against an FCS school? Yet LSU should be No. 1 because they scored 41 against FCS school. Ohio State also shut out their opponent, while LSU allowed 13 points, I think. I don't get it.
Ohio State rotated 4 deep through the entire game. All four running backs played (three in the first quarter), all three quarterbacks played (in the first half), the offensive and defensive lines both rotated 4 deep. I could go on and on.
Ohio State also didn't give anything away. They played with a very watered down playbook. Tressel is notorious for doing this. No reason to show anything you don't have to. Believe me, USC will not see the same formations and schemes Youngstown State saw.
Are you basing this assessment on the score alone? Or is it just wishful thinking? While it may be fun to see 70-0 scores, Jim Tressel isn't the type of coach or man to do that, especially against a team and University that he has a personal attactment to. Ohio State could have scored 70 in that game had they kept their first or second teamers in the whole game, but what is the point. 43-0 is a pretty solid win, even if it is only against a FCS school.
The Bucks got valuable and meaningful experience for back-ups. For a team that has as much experience at the starting positions as Ohio State, being able to rotate as liberally as OSU did is a luxury.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Kris-
Tressel isn't the type of coach to run up scores...true. However, running the ball against Penguins shouldn't be that hard to do, and they should have scored more points, and this is the problem I have with the Buckeyes.
Last year they beat the Pens, 38-6. Only two games did the Bucks score over 40 points, and most of their games were not very dynamic: for example, Minnesota, 30-7, Purdue, 23-7, Washington 33-14. There's a trend there. It shows a predictable, slow offense,and is why they haven't been able to beat faster, speedier teams.
Youngstown State has never scored a TD in any of the four games they played against BCS confeerence teams, so I wouldn't get too excited over the lack of scoring from the Pens.
Going 7 of 14 in third down conversions is not exactly scaring any BCS team right now, and FIFTEEN OF THOSE POINTS WERE FIELD GOALS. Scoring four TDs against an FCS team is not impressive, and getting stopped on third downs and have to settling for FGs is indicative of a pretender status.
Sorry! I was brutally honest in my assessment, don't hate me. They need to be able to hang 50+ points on Ohio or they are in deep doo-doo against USC in 2 weeks.
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Kristofer Green 10 months ago
No hate from me, Lisa. You're entitled to your opinion. I just disagree. Looking at just the final scores in the games you've listed isn't enough. OSU dominated each of those games. Sure they didn't hang half a hundred, but they didn't need to.
Like I said before, Jim Tressel isn't that type of coach. Sometimes I wish he was becasue I think it can be perceived as a lack of fire or that the team is "predictable and slow" as you say. But the truth of the matter is, Tressel does just enough to win the game on offense. He relies on the defense and special teams (which is always outstanding) to keep the opponents score low, so he doesn't need to score 50.
The Ohio State offense will be fine. I disagree that we need 50 against Ohio to somehow prove that we are capable of beating USC. USC will be seeing very little if any of OSUs 3rd and 4th team players and if you look closer at those field goals and 3rd down conversion stats, you'll see that it wasn't the first team that wasn't converting.
In fact, the entire OSU first team offense was on the field a grand total of two times. The beginning of the game (TD) and the first possession of the third quarter (which was the play Wells was injured on.) I don't like the "if" game, but if Wells hadn't fumbled (because of the injury) I'm pretty sure OSU wuld have scored another TD.
All in all, I think it's a little early in the season to be predicting who are contenders and pretenders. We'll see what happens the next couple of weeks.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Kris-
First, I hope Wells is OK. That would be a devastating loss. But when you say Tressel doesn't have to score a lot to prove they are the better team is a bit confusing. I agree with coaches not passing to run up the score.
However...when you have elite running backs and O-linemen, and the running game should take over in a rout, there still should be some more scores.
Did Tressel tell them to NOT try and get a first down? If so, then the Bucks get a hall pass. But when you are running the ball, and have to settle for five field goals against a team that has never scored a TD against ANY BCS team, there is something wrong.
The Buckeyes didn't need to score more TDs, but then again, they were stopped from doing just that. They did try to get more first downs, they did try to get to the end zone. Ask the players.
Running the ball isn't running up the score. You still have to put an offense out there. And my biggest point is that they were stopped on a lot of 3rd down conversions. By an FCS team.
Next week, I expect Tressel to light it up. They had better do just that, or they will have a heckuva time keeping up with the Trojans.
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Kristofer Green 10 months ago
The point I have been trying to make is that although OSU has elite O linemen and an elite running back, THEY ARE THE STARTERS. The the entire first team played together on 2 drives. Tressel played everyone on the roster that was elegible to play.
I can see that we are at an impasse here though. I respect your opinion and I relish having the rest of this season to prove that you were wrong about OSU :)
Losing Beanie would be a huge loss, but in my opinion it would by no means be catastrophic to OSU's season goals. Hopefully we won't have to see what happens without him. I'm hopeful that this is just another time where Ohio State is playing it close to the vest. They are notorious for not divulging specifics about injuries, unless it something serious where the player is going to miss significant time.
Thanks for having such a spirited debate with me.
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Nick The Only 10 months ago
Youngstown State has NEVER scored a TD on an FBS opponent, so point to their shut out as a reason for celebration is just ignorant.
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Kristofer Green 10 months ago
Thanks for pointing that out again Nick. I am aware.
I'm not sure where I came off as celebrating the shut out. I merely mentioned it. Once.
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Joe G 10 months ago
Ohio State beat the everloving snot out of a very good FCS team, and is being called a pretender? LSU didn't beat App State (also another very good FCS team) by as big a margin, and yet is a contender? Penn State turned in a performance similar to OSU's and is a contender? It's inconsistent. Ohio State was the only one of the three to shut out their opponents, and yet by your analysis, they are the weakest. I'm confused.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Joe-
They scored 4 TDs against an FCS team who has NEVER scored a TD against any BCS team it has ever played, and fifteen of their points were due to FIVE FGs. I'm not buying their contender status.
Penn State scored 66 points! How is that similar to 43? Their running backs scored more TDs than your entire offense.
PSU convert 9 of 11 3rd down conversions. They rushed for 7 TDs, 1 pass TD, and 1 special teams TD. NINE TDs vs the Buckeyes' 4 TDs. (The pass TD happened midway thru the second quarter, so he wasn't running up the score.) How is that even remotely similar to what the Bucks did?
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Joe G 10 months ago
Complete and utter dominance, that's how. OSU gave up negative rushing yardage. They easily would have scored more had Beanie Wells not gone down injured.
You also have to consider that OSU isn't built to put astronomical point totals on the board. Jim Tressel's teams win with defense first, and OSU turned in easily the best defensive performance of the three teams I mentioned earlier.
Terrell Pryor also adds a dynamic element to their offense that hasn't ever been a part of an OSU team. Wait until he gets acclimated to the college game. We could see a Chris Leak/Tim Tebow type QB tandem. I'm not an OSU fan by any stretch of the imagination (except when they play Michigan), but I can't figure out why a team who has been to two straight title games doesn't get any respect. That's like saying the Buffalo Bills sucked because they lost four straight Super Bowls. They still had the talent to get there, didn't they?
Your arguments were well-crafted, I just don't agree. But that's why they play the season, right? We'll find out how good OSU is in two weeks.
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Tom Grant 10 months ago
sorry Lisa but Tressel isn't going to run up the score against the school that gave him his first coaching job. Your drawing waaaay too much across the board for what is essentially a preseason week. I mean at this time last year Michigan was getting beat by an FCS school, by then end of that season they were schooling the defending national champs. OSU dominated Youngstown state, end of story who cares if it was by 43, 50 or 100!
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Gray Ghost 10 months ago
I don't know that I remember a #1 ranked team getting so little respect. The media trashes them so much I wonder why they were even ranked in the top 10 (and I noticed you dropped them from yours).
This was the first game against a team that traditionally plays good against the bigs boys. The Dawgs have got a lot to prove. Stafford is going to have to step up if they are going to do it.
They are 1-0 right now. If they falter I will be the first to admit it. I think they deserve their ranking and will justify it as the season rolls on. Good read Lisa. I always enjoy your point of view.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Gray-
I didn't trash them. I still think they are a very good team. BUT, and this is a huge but, they didn't look as good as LSU, Florida, Penn State and USC. That's all. Maybe they are one of those teams that starts out slow? They did last year.
I would like to see them improve their 3rd conversion percentage (44%), and first downs. (They only had two more first downs than their opponent.)
But there's something else that is disturbing: Georgia Southern had 33 minutes under time pf possession, while Georgia had 27 minutes, and Georgia Southern twice had opps to score on in the Bulldogs red zone, and failed.
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Gray Ghost 10 months ago
Lisa, I know you didn't trash them, I was mainly referring to some of the TV media that is already applauding their "inevitable" tumble from the top. We shall see.
We beat a Colt Brennan led Hawaii last year and many said it was because they weren't a good team anyway. Florida beats a less talented Hawaii team and "Wow! Did you see that balanced attack!"
Some of that is because of Tim Tebow, who is a genuinely great guy, and though I am a Georgia die-hard, I hope he gets all of the accolades that he deserves. He is a class act!
We Georgia fans have a little chip on our shoulders right now. It seems it's "Us against the world". Whether the DAWGS deserve #1 or not will be settled on the field. I do have some concerns about the schedule. We need to hit full stride quickly.
Anyhow, you got my POTD for writing an excellent article, even if you slighted my boys in Athens. :)
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Gray-
I understand your point of view. And if it makes you feel any better, I totally slammed USC last year when they lost to Stanford.
I am brutally honest, but here's the thing: most writers, sportscasters etc...are so wishy-washy in their analysis of teams. That way, if they are wrong, they don't have to eat crow.
Me? I put it out there, and if I'm wrong, I eat crow. (And it tastes awful, by the way.) It's how I roll. Nobody can ever say they don't know where I stand. :)
Thanks for the pick!
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Jim Neveau 10 months ago
Chatanooga State is not the FCS powerhouse that Youngstown State is. Penn State womping them all over the field isn't as impressive as you're cracking it up to be. That being said, I think that Ohio State is in a world of trouble if they can't get Beanie Wells back in time for their tilt with USC. If they can win that game, with or without Wells, they are the front runner to coast to the National Title game for a third straight year.
As for LSU, they are certainly a contender, if not for beating a great team in App State, then for playing under circumstances that most teams can't contemplate. With memories of Hurricane Katrina still fresh in everyone's mind, I don't know how they played such solid football with Gustave bearing down on the Gulf Coast.
Finally, how can you not have Georgia in your top 10, even though they returned most of their Sugar Bowl winning starters, but yet you have Penn State in the top 10, and all they've done in recent memory is consistently fail to win the big games, even at home?
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Penn State didn't play Chattanooga, Oklahoma did. PSU played Coastal Carolina. Does it really matter which 2A team you play? Unless they are the champs, most of them are fielding 1 star recruits.
Agree on LSU....they have a serious situation there and for them to have to play with gametime changes, a Cat 5 storm approaching and RP gone, I thought they showed great poise.
And I don't think they look like a top ten team. Sorry. Maybe next week against cream puff #2 they will look better. If so, I'll bump them up. Until ten, Alabama beat a better team and deserves to be ranked higher than Georgia....this week. It's how I roll. I don't buy into the pre-season rankings, and think they should be judged om what they did.
If preseason rankings were gone, and this was the first week of actual rankings, Georgia would NOT be #1. Just because the experts placed them there before they played doesn't mean it's accurate.
Oklahoma, PSU, USC, Florida and Alabama could all make a case for that spot based on this week's performances and NOT pre-conceived expectations. PSU beat an FCS team by spanking 66 points on them. Why should they be ranked behind Georgia?
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Jim Neveau 10 months ago
That was a foolish oversight on my part with mixing up who Penn State was playing. My bad. I guess the real test for Georgia before SEC play will be a trip to Sun Devil Stadium to face Arizona State.
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Darth Dawg 10 months ago
You're right Lisa. The Dawgs don't belong in the top 10 because their 3rd stringers can't hold GSU scoreless. I mean, if the 3rd stingers let GSU score then imagine how bad the 1st team is, you know?
Good point. I hadn't thought of rating teams by their players that get the least amount of playing time. Great idea!
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Darth-
They scored a TD on your first stringers in the third quarter. The other two came against the scrubs.
But here's something: USC's scrubs didn't allow a score, PSU allowed a FG, and Florida score 56 straight points before finally allowing ten points. Florida scored 56 straight points against an FBS team and the Dawgs against an FCS team?
10-0 in the first Q, and 24-0 by halftime. In the second half, the Bulldogs scored 21, and so did Georgia Southern. Sorry, that's not a #1 performance by any stretch.
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Darth Dawg 10 months ago
Lisa-
You said,
"But here's something: USC's scrubs didn't allow a score, PSU allowed a FG, and Florida score 56 straight points before finally allowing ten points."
Once again you're judging team based on their "Scrubs". Do you really judge teams that way?
I never said that the Dawgs should be number one. You, on the other hand, don't even think they should be in the top ten. What?! Once again, I see that winning big is the only way to win in your book. Even though it goes completely against what the last two years have shown us.
Lisa, if you're "Brutally Honest", why wouldn't you give the Dawgs credit for destroying the greatest Hawaii team of all time. Or didn't you see the "vaunted D". The gators stomped a horrible Hawaii team so they are amazing. And no, it doesn't matter to me if you trashed USC before. Once again, the true gator fan in you comes out :)
You don't have to perform like #1 every week to be the best team in America. But kicking Georgia out of the top ten?! Those stupid scrubs!
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Robert 10 months ago
Don't worry Darth, she says: "USC's scrubs didn't allow a score" and she's right. They're FIRST team did. I guess she just bases her opinions on 2nd and 3rd team D's...cuz, that's who's playing when the "real points" are scored.
Those stupid scrubs! How dare they ruin our title hopes!
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Nick Martin 10 months ago
Oregon at 9?
The Huskies had them 14-10 at the 3rd quarter.
If anything the Ducks should drop due to this game.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Nick, the Ducks' QB went out due to unknown reasons (Roper). I tend to give a team a slight break if their QB starter goes down.
But your stats are incorrect.....FYI....
all ten of the Huskies 10 points came in the second, and in fact, the Huskies never led the game. At the end of the third, it was 21-10 in favor of the Ducks, not 14-10 in favor of the Huskies.
Box score shows: Ducks' 14-0-7-23 vs Huskies' 0-10-0-0.
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Nick Martin 10 months ago
Lisa, I understand that. By the way Roper had a mild concussion.
But you are moving them from a consesuss 20-25th into the top 10.
Based on what I saw I don't think they deserved that kind of bump.
I was talking about the Huskies were only down 14-10 going into the 3rd.
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Nick Martin 10 months ago
P.S. what do you think about Arizona State
I mean, they only won 30-13 but they also benched some starters for the 2nd half.
your thoughts?
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Bryan Gonzalez 10 months ago
Really good article. Great read. I'm so happy to finally hear someone say that Ohio St is overhyped!! Penn St and Ohio St are the best in the Big 10 it looks like but that conference is soft right now. I'm curious as to what you think of the teams outside the BCS looking in. Such as BYU, Fresno St, and Utah.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
I wasn't impressed with BYU, but was extremely impressed with Utah, and I'm high on FSU, but we'll know about them tomorrow when they Rutgers.
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Kevin Paul 10 months ago
Solid post Lise. You see now.... I told you months ago that PSU was OK in the QB situation. It is one game though... but they don't just have one solid QB, but two.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Kev-
While PSU posted a solid game, they too, played a cupcake. But the good thing about cupcakes is that if you beat them bad, then it's all good. When you don't beat them bad, it is indicative of a team who doesn't have an explosive offense. Like Ohio State and Georgia.
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Kevin Paul 10 months ago
No doubt... though all in all, it's one game. We'll know more next week, and next week PSU doesn't have a cupcake, they play a Oregon State team that underachieved against Stanford. They're notoriously a slow starter though.
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Larry Sigurdson 10 months ago
Enjoyed your article Lisa. While I might quibble with your take on a team here or there, overall I think you've got it right about the rankings and much of the pre-season hype being just that.
It will be interesting to see how the season unfolds during the next few weeks and if the rankings shed the mythical leaders.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Thanks Larry-
Hey, I will probably be wrong on a couple of these, and I am sure there are those who hope I am. Georgia is on the fence....they started out kind of slow last year, and to me, it looks the same. There are at least four other teams who looked MUCH MUCH better than them- Florida, LSU and USC, and Oklahoma.
How anyone can say that Georgia looked like the #1 team compared to what those other 4 teams did is a bit mystifying. I don't have them in the top ten. :(
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Saraswathi Siriginia 10 months ago
killer piece Lisa, and I like the way you say that you may probably wrong with a couple or so some think - gutsy maan! you rock!
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Ben White 10 months ago
Thanks for the nice words about Auburn. I wish I could agree with all that you said. Defense, special teams, and the running game were top 10 caliber. But the passing game and wide receivers were bottom third in the nation bad. Some things need to improve before week 4 (LSU) for Auburn to be a legit contender.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Ben-
I liked the way they looked. The rotating QB thing was a bit weird...are they having problems adjusting to the offensive schemes?
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Ben White 10 months ago
Well, the running game looked prolific as ever. The passing game, however, left much to be desired. Dropped passes, missing open receivers, bad choices. Hopefully they will improve.
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Tom Blackwell 10 months ago
Stafford threw for a career high 275yards, Knowshon had 3 TD on 8 attempts, our 3rd string RB Caleb King had 95 yards rushing and our starting defense held Southern to 1 TD. I say Georgia looked pretty average. (sarcasm) When are you going to show us some love Lisa?
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Tom-
I love your fans! :P
But they did look average. Compare your starting D holding an FCS team to 1 TD while USC played an FBS divisional champ and held them to 7 points and scored 52 points on them. ON THE ROAD.
Is there really any comparison? If there were no preseason rankings, I can tell you this: USC, Oklahoma, PSU, Florida and LSU all looked better than Georgia and would have been ranked higher. Are you sure you aren't saying, "well, they are #1, so unless they lose, they should stay that way?"
I'll be honest with you...expect any of those 5 teams I mentioned to pick up more #1 votes tomorrow. Just watch.
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Bob Zen 10 months ago
Lisa, A few of things to note about Georgia. 1) We tend to play down to our competition. That is one reason why you won't generally see us blow out a lesser opponent. 2) Richt tends to call off the Dawgs and sit on a lead. Unfortunately that has cost us a game or two against the big boys over the years and I hope that Bobo doesn't do that if we're not playing directional U because it is hard to get that momentum back once you slow down. 3) Richt threw in a lot of scrubs and tried a lot of different things that you would not see in a normal game.
When you don't follow a conference or a team, these types of things are lost so I can see where the national voters and the 'talking head' won't understand that. I expect us to either drop from first or at a minimum receive fewer votes. The good news is the season isn't over until the last game is played and while Richt didn't have as impressive a win as did some of the other top 5, what he did was win and prepare guys that may need to come in to critical games and that may be the difference in a shot at the MNC. Outside of Owens, who will be missed, we didn't get too banged up and we got a chance to see Stafford and the new freshmen show their skills. I am very happy with what I saw in this game. I think Georgia's in for a good year. If luck goes our way, a great year.
On a side note, dropping from #1 isn't a bad thing for us IMHO, we play better when we mad.
Bob
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Bob-
Well you know what? You comments make the most sense so far! Great comments.
If it makes you feel any better, Arizona State didn't really look that great against Northern Arizona, either.
Being mad is good, I hear ya. Glad to hear that you expect to have some #1 votes dropped (I remember last year, USC was dropped due to a bye!) because I think that's a reality, and doesn't reflect how good the Dogs are, but rather rewarding some other teams who performed better. LSU is prrof you don't have to be #1 pre-season to kiss the crystal ball.
Beating Central Michigan soundly will get more respect...they are at least a MAC team...and then there's South Carolina! On the road.
Good luck to you and the Dawgs, and they are lucky to have a great fan like you.
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Rob Sansing 10 months ago
Girl, you sure can stir the pot!!!
I like where you have Auburn ranked, we must have looked better in California than we did in Alabama!! Note that Auburn's next opponent (Southern Miss) had 600 yards of total offense Saturday. We should find out more about Auburn's defense soon!!
And loud Auburn cheers to Alabama.(Oh, that hurt to say!!) They were impressive!!! Pound the ball & play defense. That's the way the SEC title has been won for 50 years!!
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
Your reasoning on a lot of these teams is very poor.
Ohio State is a pretender because they only won by 43. Last I checked, 43 was a lot. They play in a weak conference and are very good, contender.
You said UGA is a pretender because they allowed 21 points. You kidding me? I thought you were going to mention their hard schedule but you didn't. Georiga is better than LSU and you said LSU is a pretender.
Auburn didn't look good in every unit. Look at their passing stats. That is the biggest question they will have this year and less then 100 yds passing against a SEC team wont cut it.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Michael-
What does their hard, future schedule have to do with yesterday's performance? They played a cupcake yesterday. Now, beat a decent 1A team and I might change my mind. But as of yesterday, Georgia was not the #1 team in the nation. Not by a long shot.
I don't get this "they have a tough schedule" argument. So what? They haven't played any of those teams yet. Are you going to sit there and tell me after all the games yesterday, Georgia deserves to be ranked #1? FORGET THE PRESEASON RANKINGS- they are based on nothing...nobody had played a game yet when they came out.
There are teams that had better performances- heck, Bama should be ranked higher than Georgia based on yesterday's games. They beat a 9-4 ACC team, you beat nobody in 1A football.
OSU had to kick 5 FGs against an FCS team...FIVE! Yeah, they scored 4 TD's and the rest were FGs. Pretender. Sorry.
Let me get this straight...you are ripping Auburn, who beat an FBS team, albeit weak one, 34-0, but making a case for Georgia, who scored 11 more points than Auburn but allowed 21 points, against an FCS team? And my logic is poor?
Dude, you lost me. Right , beating a 2A team 45-21 is more impressive than beating a 1A team 34-0. A 24 point margin of victory over a 2A team is more impressive than a 34 point margin of victory over a 1A team? Gulp. Pass the kool-aid.
Tell you what, when the rankings come out, let me know if my logic differs from theirs.
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evan m 10 months ago
The longhorns looked great but they still belong behind WVU who is a pretender with an exclamation point? Where is the UT love? Are they at least an "on the fence"?
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
It obvious you didn't watch a lot of these games and you're just going of the highlights or what you read.
I watched the LSU game and Hatch looked good the first two drives going 4-5 passing. He ran the ball well too. But after that he went just 2-9 passing against a bad defense. He wasn't bad but he wasn't impressive either. I'm waiting to watch him play Auburn in a few weeks.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Michael-
I have access to all feeds. Wrong. I watched the games. I;m still waiting for you to explain to me why Georgia deserves to be #1 winning by 24 points over a 2A team, but Alabama and Auburn beat 1A teams by 24 and 34 points respectively, and don't deserve to be ranked higher than Georgia.
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J. Michael Morris 10 months ago
I tend to agree with this article but the rankings at the end....Georgia not in the top 10? Penn State proved nothing, even I can't beat a child.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
PSU won by 55 points...that's a killing.
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Sue M. 10 months ago
You Wrote:
Ohio State. Sure they played cupcake Youngstown State and they also limited the Pens to only five total first downs. Beanie Wells ran for 111 yards before injuring his foot in the third quarter, and hopefully it's not serious. Here's the thing though- the Buckeyes beat an FCS team by only 43 points? They get Ohio next week, and unless they beat the Bobcats by 50, they will be in serious trouble against the Trojans' D in two weeks. Verdict: Pretender.
Lisa-
Yeah, they played a cupcake team in Youngstown State, but I think that they have a good chance at beating Ohio by at least 50 points, if not more. Ohio State had a solid performance against Youngstown State. I was impressed by it all-- Beanie Wells, Pryor, Boeckman, Hartline, Maurice Wells, special teams, and their defense was phenomenal. I can't see Ohio State being in trouble if they don't beat Ohio by 50. Ohio State is LOADED. I believe they have 24 returning starters for offense and defense combined-you can't get more experienced than that. Even if Beanie Wells is out for a few weeks Ohio State should be able to get great play out of Maurice Wells, Brandon Saine, and others. They have a lot of weapons. We'll just have to see how it plays out. Ohio State shut out Youngstown State, so that says a lot about their defense. Beating a team by 70 points is impressive, but it's not what Jim Tressel or Ohio State is all about. Field Goals are still points the last time I checked. Ohio State's offense got their kinks worked out and everything adjusted in this first game, and it was the perfect situation to do so. How can you say that Ohio State needs to vamp up their O when they won 43-0? That seems like a solid performance to me. Ohio State has a lot of depth. You say D wins championships, and I happen to have the same philosophy as well. Ohio State has one of the best D's in the country, if not the best. Think about it.
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Nick The Only 10 months ago
1. You cannot have 24 returning starters on offense and defense combined. There are only 22 starters on offense and defense combined.
2. "Ohio State shut out Youngstown State, so that says a lot about their defense." NO. It says nothing. Youngstown State has NEVER scored a TD on an FBS opponent. So Ohio State just went par for the course. Nothing special.
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Sue M. 10 months ago
I don't agree with your top ten. West Virginia shouldn't be in the top ten, that's for sure. How can you have Penn State at #5 and have Ohio State as #7? I also find it quite interesting that you have LSU at #1, Oklahoma at #4, and Auburn at #6......
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Leanna-
Please post your top ten. The we'll debate it.
Also, if Ohio State has "a good chance at beating Ohio by at least 50 points, if not more", then they will get my respect. If they do it. Until then, I'm not impressed by a team that has a chance to go 11-1 due to a soft schedule.
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Colin Flosi 10 months ago
I don't agree with a lot of your reasoning. OSU only scored 43 on an FCS team, so they must be bad. Yet LSU scores the same amount, and they are contenders?
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Colin-
I didn't say they were bad...in fact, I think they are very good, but haven't proven top ten status yet. LSU beat a much better FCS team. And they had a last minute game time change, Hurricane Gutav etc...they looked better. They didn't have to settle for five FGs, did they?
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Colin Flosi 10 months ago
The 5 FG, eek, you are correct. I just don't think that either team had a good enough opportunity to show whether they were for real this week. I don't Think Tressel wanted to score too much and embarrass his former team though, that could have changed his gameplan drastically.
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Gil HHH 10 months ago
I've said it once and I'll say it again, USC will beat OSU by at least 14 points because they will be unable to throw the ball. USC's defense was soft yesterday and OSU has no idea what is coming their way. Aside from the USC and UF beatdown a lot of the top teams played FCS opponents to make a good judgement of the top ten teams.
I still think that in order to be viewed as a top team you need to win on the road and the only one to do that this weekend were Alabama (even though it was listed as neutral) and USC.
The ACC is a joke and I think Tommy Bowden needs to be fired unless he wins a BCS game against a top quality opponent.
I am not sold on PSU and OU b/c they played nobody and both teams have trouble playing on the road.
Aside from the Joey Harrington Oregon team that won the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon has not had a convincing win on the road aside from last year's UM win. I am not sold on Oregon because I see USC putting a beatdown on them this year at the coliseum and they played a very young Washington team at home.
Mizzou has no defense and their finesse offense does not play well against a physical defense (see last year's OU loses).
LSU played at home against an FCS opponent and I am not sold on their quarterback play because the QB will be required to lead them to victory and I don't think that will happen.
The wildcard team this weekend was Alabama because in a couple of weeks we will find out if they are for real or if Clemson was highly overrated. I don't think Alabama is getting its well deserved kudos because the blame is going to Clemson's choke reputation.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Gil-
Solid points, but OSU gets one more warm-up game than USC. SC has a bye. That can be bad. SC is 16-5 off of a bye- almost have of PC's losses have come off of a bye.
Bama is a mixed bag...was Clemson that bad or is Bama that good? I think the latter, but they definitely deserve to be in the top 15.
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Paul Peszko 10 months ago
West Virginia at #10 after giving up 21 points to Villanova? Lisa, they weren't playing them in basketball. It was a football game, remember? And you really must love the old guy to give PSU all that love. The Nits need to play Somebody and beat them before I hang a halo around Clark's head. Slide them into the #20 spot just vacated by Illinois and keep them ON THE FENCE until they beat a credible team.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Paul...LMAO. That was some funny stuff dude.
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Matt Madrid 10 months ago
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but are you smoking something crazy Lisa? Ohio State should be ranked #7 after this week? Come on be realistic.
How can you predict contender or pretender for any teams that didn't play a tough match up? I know Ohio State was shifting everyone in and out on offense including the use of 3 QB, 4 HB, and 5 WR before halftime...
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Matt-
Who should be ranked higher? A team that beat a 9-4 BCS team 34-10, or a team that beat an FCS team 43-10? Watch the pollsters make their adjustments...USC and Oklahoma will get more votes, OSU and Georgia will lose votes.
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Gil HHH 10 months ago
Lisa you make a good point about USC coming off a bye but most if not all of those loses were against PAC 10 teams. I think USC's bye weeks are different because the USC offense and USC defense play against one another and that is better than a warm up game ala OSU but we will find out in two weeks.
USC always gets fired up for big games and they have been almost flawless against Big Ten teams.
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
Lisa,
Who cares if UGA wins by 24 or 50 when playing a cupcake. As long as it isn't a close game the margin of victory is really irrelivant.
It's not like UGA went out there and played their hardest. If UGA wanted to win by 50 they could've. Hell, Moreno only had 8 carries. That should show you something. Georgia dominated when they were actually TRYING. Look at their scoring drives, they had 451 yards of offense on the 7 scoring drives. That's over 13 yds a play. They were up 38-0 in the 3rd quarter. I think everyone knew at that point who the supperior team was. Do the really have to pull a New England Patriots and run up the score for you not to rag on them?
This is week one Lisa, you can't say who deserves to be ahead of who right now in the polls. I'm a bama fan, and even though we dominated Clemson last night, I still think UGA deserves to be #1. Their defense is great, have a Heisman candidate at RB, and Stafford is a solid QB. Until they loose they deserve to be number 1.
I don't understand how you can say Hatch looked good. Considering he wasn't even playing a division 1 team he looked average at best. I was hoping against a bad team, Miles would allow him to gain some confidence and open up the offense for him in the game. He played average at best. A better assessment on how good he will do this year is after the Auburn game. Which is the first good team LSU will play this year.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Michael-
OK, your reasons dont make sense.
You have said, so far....
Georgia didn't score a lot because they didn't want to embarrass their players' former high school teammates on Georgia Southern.
"it's not like Georgia went out there and played their hardest."
First of all, coaches don't tell their players to hold back on intensity, and don't tell them to NOT try and get a first down. They DO tell them to try and make sustained drives to eat up clock if there's a rout. Georgia scored the same amount of TDs as Georgia Southern in the second half- the score was 21-21.
Yes, Georgia did go out there and play their hardest.
FACT: when you are a player, the guys you play against are faceless. Players don't hold off because they are friends etc...a lot of action is so fast, players don't take the time to check and see who's wearing what number. They have one thing on their agenda- TO EXECUTE THEIR ASSIGNMENT.
EVERY MONDAY, ALL PLAYERS ARE RATED ON THEIR PERFORMANCE BY THEIR COACHES. THEIR PLAY AND POSITION ON THE DEPTH CHART IS BASED ON THEIR PERFROMANCE. THEY ARE GIVEN A NUMBER, LIKE 60%, FOR EXAMPLE.
PLEASE DON'T PLAY DR. PHIL AND SIT THERE AND TELL ME THEY DON'T PLAY AS HARD BECAUSE THEY KNOW SOMEONE ON THE OTHER TEAM OR THEY HELD OFF BECAUSE OF THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION. (PLAY CALLING MAY GET VERY CONSERVATIVE BECAUSE OF A ROUT, BUT THE PLAYERS ARE JUST AS INTENSE WHEN IT COMES TO EXECUTION.)
You obviously have never played competitive sports.
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
Lisa wrote:
Who should be ranked higher? A team that beat a 9-4 BCS team 34-10, or a team that beat an FCS team 43-10? Watch the pollsters make their adjustments...USC and Oklahoma will get more votes, OSU and Georgia will lose votes.
--------------------
Your mind set is only on this week and that's the problem. How can you say UGA deserves to lose votes after the easily handled an inferrior team. They did exactly what they were suppose to. I gurantee you they wont lose any first place votes.
When the polls come out tomorrow the only major difference will be Clemson and Bama.
Matt said it perfectly, "How can you predict contender or pretender for any teams that didn't play a tough match up?"
None of the games were even close for those good teams playing cupcakes.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Michael-
How can I rank a team other than anything than what they did?
You want me to rank them due to future games? Are you kidding me?
You said, "Your mind set is only on this week and that's the problem." No that isn't a problem, it's what they should be evaluated on. That's the only solid analysis that we have to base them on, true?
They have played one game this week. What else should they be evaluated on? Their cheerleaders? Mascot? Please list your criteria.
And a few teams played good match-ups, sorry. USC, Bama,and Michigan to name three, and Rutgers-Fresno State tomorrow.
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Rob Sansing 10 months ago
I like your idea!!! Let's rank the cheerleaders!!! Woo-woo!!!
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Gerald Ball 10 months ago
Lisa:
Calling Oregon a contender is . I mean seriously, what has Oregon done to deserve that status? Their last major bowl berth was 2001. They haven't been a consistent 9 or 10 win team over any stretch of time. They do not consistently beat the best in conference or out of it. And they do not consistently bring in top 10 recruiting classes. Considering them alongside even Virginia Tech (0 - 4 in BCS games, but at least they have been there!), let alone the likes of USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and LSU. What is it about Oregon that makes anyone believe that they are capable of defeating a top 5 team in a bowl game? Even Mack Brown's Texas before they beat Oklahoma and won his two Rose Bowls, they had a lot of talent and had been winning 9 or 10 games a year and beating other talented highly ranked teams than Oklahoma for years, so they were due.
Oregon is not even on the level of Auburn ... overrated as actual contenders are concerned because Tuberville has only won one more SEC title than Vanderbilt in his tenure there. (Which, incidentally, is the same number of PAC - 10 titles that Belotti has.) But at least Auburn regularly deals defeats to the likes of Florida and LSU, and has a good bit of talent. So no, Oregon should not be considered a contender until they actually find themselves in the title game or very close to it.
Going back to Auburn: inexperienced QB, thin secondary, new offensive and defensive coordinators, and even their vaunted tailback factory not what it was in the past. Auburn is the type of program that will only make a run when they have upperclassmen at key positions, like that 2004 team that had juniors and seniors at QB, RB, WR, CB, and OL. Thus, if Auburn contends it will be 2010. Until then they will be doing good to finish higher than 3rd in the SEC West.
Apart from those, I agree with basically everything you said. My only minor issue is that with Louisville and Rutgers not what they were 2 years ago, West Virginia MAY come up with an undefeated regular season, especially if Pat White stays healthy and they get past South Florida. (Their giving up all those points to a bad team ... well defense was never WVU's strong suit ... they correctly put their best athletes on OFFENSE.)
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Paul Peszko 10 months ago
Hey, Gerald, you may be right about Oregon, but if Lisa is going to put Penn State at #5 just because they hung 66 on www.CoastalCarolina.com, then Oregon deserves to be #9 for shutting down Washington - a real university with actual classrooms and live instructors.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Gerald- Last year Oregon beat Michigan, previous year beat Oklahoma, and in 2003, beat Miss St and #3 Michigan.
FYI, the Ducks were pretty much set to go to the title game until Dennis Dixon blew out his knee when they were ranked #2.
Oregon also had the same record as Auburn last year.
OREGON BEAT SOUTH FLORIDA IN THE SUN BOWL 56-21 W/O THEIR STARTING QB.
DOES AUBURN REMEMBER SOUTH FLORIDA? THEY SHOULD, SOUTH FLORIDA BEAT THEM 26-23, AND I DON'T BELIEVE AUBURN WAS MISSING THEIR STARTING QB.
I do believe Oregon IS on the same level as Auburn.
:P
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Mark Smidt 10 months ago
Lets see, they have beat Michigan twice, Oklahoma, USC, South Florida (a team Auburn couldnt beat), ASU, Miss State. They finished number 2 in country a few years ago. Don't know what else to say.
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David Hedlind 10 months ago
Actually Oregon has been just as close to the title game as Auburn has..... wait my bad closer. in 2001 oregon was actually ranked #2 before being left out for Nebraska.
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Larry Sigurdson 10 months ago
Gerald,
I think you would do well for yourself if spent some time reviewing Oregon's history. It can be found at GoDucks.com.
You may be surprised to find that Oregon has one of the most consistent winning records in the PAC-10 and has been to more Bowl Games than USC. And speaking of USC, the Ducks beat USC last year 24-17.
It may be a good idea to keep in mind that before you post here, BR readers know their football.
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Carson Howell 10 months ago
Lisa-
Great article! Its a bummer your receiving this much grief, it's obvious that despite how wonderful you right and how understandable your logic is, you can't please everyone.But hey, that's sport analysis right?
Particularly enjoy when you replied:
"Please post your top ten. The we'll debate it."
You got a bit spicy there, I like it.
Furthermore, I feel you've been critiqued enough, so all i'll say is:
Kick out the Oregon Clucks
I feel you should swap the teams ranked 1st and 3rd!
Also, drop WV, they are pretending! Not a fan, but if you throw Bama in there instead, you'll feel better.Solid article
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Carson-
Thanks! Spice is my middle name!
I would have no problem swapping 1st and 3rd...the top three all can make a case for #1.
I have to give some love to the Big East, even though so far, they look like the Big 10.
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WVU Fan 10 months ago
Everyone keep dumping on WVU. This happens every year, and they continue to win big time bowls. You can't judge a team on an 1AA opponent. You know they are doing the minimum, and everyone is getting to play. They played a basic defense, and went about 4 deep on their roster. The next couple of weeks will show what kind of team they really have. Trust me, I was at the game. This was about half speed for WVU. They are definitely a top ten team and you will see as the season progresses.
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
Okay, look, you rank the team based on last year. Like who they have coming back, who they lost, how experienced are they, how good are the players they have, etc. All those factors should be considered this early in the season. That's what determines a teams ranking, i.e. preseason ranking. Now when we start getting deeper into the season, then yes, you are correct, base it on the game results.
Right now UGA has a better team Bama, LSU, Auburn, etc. I still don't understand your reasoning on why UGA win wasn't impressive.
If you are just basing it on week one then explain to me how LSU is your number one. They played a a division 2 team or whatever they are and won by 28 points.
On the other hand you penalize UGA for only beating a division 2 team (again, whatever they are) by 24 points.
Is it the 4 points that make the major difference? I would hope you answer to that question is no, or I wont be able to take your discussion seriously anymore. Which would be unfortunate because most of your articles are pretty interesting.
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Robert 10 months ago
Georgia NOT A TOP 10 TEAM? You're crazy.
Just for the sake of argument, let's just compare them with...ummm. USC.
Total yards: UGA-535 USC-558
Passing yards: UGA-323 USC-340
Rushing yards: UGA-212 USC-218
Third down conversions: UGA-4/9 44.4% USC-5/12 41.6%
Turnovers: UGA-1 USC-2
Total points: UGA-45 USC-52
I'll even throw this in there...Penalties: UGA 11/70yds USC 7/70yds
Hmmm...seems pretty equal to me. No? Need more convincing? Well...
Matthew Stafford: 13 for 21, career high 275 yds and 2 TDs, tossed a 61 yd TD pass, looked terrific.
Knowshon Moreno: 8 carries for 59 yds and 3 TD's, another career high(TD), caught 2 passes for 53yds (26.5yd avg), played less than a minute into the 3rd quarter.
Caleb King: 12 carries for 95yds, didn't touch a ball until the 3rd quarter.
You had a problem with the time of possession in GSU's favor:
Well: Georgia had scoring drives of: 5 plays-57 yds in 1:44 minutes, 4 plays-80 yds 1:39 min, 7 plays-80 yds 2:37 min, 2 plays 71 yds :46 sec, 4 plays-41 yds 1:28 min, and 8 plays-73 yds 3:47 min.
So, maybe that explains it? Georgia's longest scoring possession was 3 minutes and 47 seconds. Which came in the 4th quarter with "scrubs" in. Hmmm...
This is my favorite part: "The Bulldogs are ranked #1 in both polls, and frankly, don't deserve it. They "cruised" through their cupcake game against Georgia Southern, winning 45-21, but some questions remain." --- "cruised" is right.
And this: "the Bulldogs let an FCS team score a TD in the third quarter and two in the fourth. Sure two TDs were against the Dogs' scrubs, but the Dogs' scrubs are twice as good as Georgia Southern's first team." ---OH MY GOOOOD! An FCS team scored a TD! And TWO in the FOURTH! The SKY IS FALLING!
Oh yeah: "Moreover, eight Georgia Southern players were suspended from the game - two of them projected starters" ---What about all of those suspended Bulldogs? What about losing a dominant force on the D-line in the first quarter? What about missing a starting FB? and a starting LT?
1) Did Georgia put their foot on GSU's throats and run up the score like so many other programs would? NO.
2) Why would Georgia coaches run up the score on a team that has former teammates playing each other, with players who were recruited by each of the schools, and are from the same state? They shouldn't.
3) Did they play a lot of freshmen? Yes, 12.
4) Did the THIRD string QB play? Yes.
5) Did they win? Yes.
6) Were they impressive? I say, Yes.
You obviously didn't watch the game or look at the stats(you say you did.). Your Top-10 is bogus. I like the way you have Georgia as a "probable contender"...and yet, you leave them out of the Top-10. But, then you have West Virginia as a "pretender" and they're in the Top-10.
Wow. You must be drinking some serious Haterade. Take those blinders off. Maybe this helped convince you?
Your Top-10 is BOGUS!
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Robert-
You compared stats from USC's game vs Virginia and Ga's vs a 2A team? Playing at home vs the Trojans on the road? There is no comparison between the quality of opponents. None.
to answer some of your questions...Georgia didn''t score more pts because they didn't want to embarrass some of their players' former high school teammates? Are you kidding me? You actually believe that?
USC played all 3 QBs as well...and against a BCS conference team, none of their scrubs allowed a TD.
You played a 2A team....there is no comparison between Virginia and Georgia Southern, and Virginia isn't that great of a team.
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Robert 10 months ago
You just don't get it do you?
You call Virginia a BCS conference team, I call them a cupcake.
FYI: Georgia's former Defensive co-ordinator Erk Russell(1980 NC) made GSU the powerhouse that they were just a few years ago. They have won 6 National Championships. There are deep connections between the two down here, as you obviously don't know. GSU's coach, Chris Hatcher, was the coach at Valdosta State University in South Georgia when they went 76-12 under him and won the 2004 NCAA D-II Title. Not to mention, they beat App. St. last year.
Take those blinders off, Lisa. You're wrong.
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Darth Dawg 10 months ago
Nice job, Robert! Only those from Georgia can fully understand the connection between UGA and GSU. Some people just can't understand why a team wouldn't run up the score on every team they play. Or maybe they refuse to understand. I mean, look how bad USC ran the score up on Stanford last year...oh wait, they lost that game. My bad :)
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Gray Ghost 10 months ago
Wow. Talk about passionate debate! It is obvious that people feel so very loyal to their CFB team, and loyalty can sometimes blind us a bit to reality.
I don't think you get this kind of passion over NFL teams. I love this "What did you say about my team?!" mentality. That is what is great about CFB. I LOVE THIS TIME OF THE YEAR!!! I love the rivalries and I love the debates, and I love the fact that we circle the wagons around our respective teams.
Thanks for writing an article that engages our emotions! After a Saturday of sitting on our rumps watching football, we needed to get the old blood flowing.
I may not agree with you on everything, but I respect you for putting the cards on the table. Keep chopping wood and let the chips fall where they will! Thats why you are one of the best.
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Robert 10 months ago
I just wanted to make the point that there was A LOT more to that game than Sportscenter or College Gameday let on. It was just like, oh 45-21 Georgia wins. Meanwhile, USC is praised by everyone, and their stats look strikingly similar to UGA's. It just goes to show you how much control the media CAN have.
There's a lot of talented teams out there. I definately think mine is one of the best, and love to make my point. And I believe I did. I guess that is passion, huh. wow.
Go Dawgs! GATA!
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Gray Ghost 10 months ago
Robert,
Congrats!!!! You did it - you passionately defended the DAWGS! The point about Georgia not running the score up on GSU is very valid to those of us who grew up in the state. The good relations have existed between the 2 scholls since Erk Russell left Georgia to resurrect the GSU football program. No way Ritch was going trying to crush them.
We're going to be O:K.
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RT 10 months ago
Alabama will contend for the SEC West title this year. Mark it down. In ink.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
RT-
Hey, so far, they look for real. They just stomped Clemson, and CJ Spiller was not a factor due to Bama's D (except for that kick return). Nice!
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MJ Kasprzak 10 months ago
First, congrats on generating so many comments and getting the traffic!
I did find it puzzling that you have Ohio State a pretender (and my Badgers not even that!) and Penn State a contender, and I also think you are off in saying GA is a pretender--they won't finish #1 with that schedule, but they will be top ten.
However, unlike a lot of people who like to criticize someone for something they cannot do, I will acknowledge that I could not be as in-depth as you are and give you a huzzah for a detailed and credible analysis!
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
MJ-
Thanks for the kind words. But if Georgia "won't finish #1 with that schedule", then my pretender analysis is correct, no?
Your Badgers have a storm coming their way...the Fresno State Bulldogs. I will be interested to see how they play Rutgers tonight. If Rutgers loses, them Wisky may have their best game of the year against a non-Big Ten team.
The best of luck to Wisky...there are a lot of folks out here who hope a new champ emerges from the Big 10, just as I am sure ya'll hope a new one emerges from the Pac-10! :)
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Justin O'Neill 10 months ago
Lisa,
The Ohio State Youngstown State comments, don't totally disagree but you base your assessment on the fact they only won by 43. Probably need to take into account that Youngstown State is Tressel's former school, in fact the last school before he came to OSU. It has been widely known that he has not and will run up the score against his former school.
They could have hung 70 if they really wanted.
Justin
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Hi Justin-
here's the problem I see with Ohio State: their outcomes rarely differentiate between 1A and 2A teams. Last year, they averaged 31 points in offense, and gave up 13 points. Now, looking at some teams they beat, Akron 20-2, Youngstown, 38-6, Minne 30-7, Purdue 23-7, Kent State 48-3...do you see a trend?
Northwestern is the only team they have scored more than 50 points on in the last five years, and those two games were in the last two years. Coincidentally, those were the two years they went to the title game. And lost because they couldn't score more points than the other teams.
Why Tress doesn't start teaching them to scoring faster is beyond me. The Buckeyes are going to have to be able to score over 40 points if they want to beat USC, because USC is more than capable of scoring that on a BCS team. I haven't seen the Buckeyes look like they are capable of doing that against a BCS team, but that may change.
If I were Buckeye fan, I would be worried that the team I face in two weeks won 52-7 (and they didn't pour it on) AT VIRGINIA against a BCS divisional team, while my team beat a 2A team, 43-0.
I would also be worried that 15 of those 43 points came from 5 FGs.
I hope it's a good game, with neither side making mistakes, and everyone is healthy. Hey, I could be totally wrong in my asessment of the Buckeyes. We will find out on the 13th!
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Kristofer Green 10 months ago
Lisa,
Sorry to beat a dead horse but, last season USC averaged 32 points per game and gave up 16. Looking at some of the teams they beat Idaho 38-10, Washington 27-24, Arizona 20-13, Oregon State 24-3, UCLA 24-7.
Scoring faster isn't the issue. They scored on their first possession in almost every game last season. It doesn't seem to me anyway that is necessary to score 40 to be able to beat USC. Both Oregon and Stanford only scored 24 last season and beat them.
Virginia may be a Div. 1 opponent, but they are not Ohio State. USC will probably not face a tougher defense this season.
The only trend I see is that OSU allowed only 2 touchdowns in the games you've listed. And to be honest, the Minnesota touchdown was scored in garbage time against the second team.
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Raj Kamruddin 10 months ago
Wow! Ohio State a pretender. I agree there is a good chance they will lose to your Trojans, and they may be overated and the big ten may stink, But to call them a pretender because they didnt blow out a team by a wider margin?
Regardless...Still a fun read!
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Thanks Raj!
And good luck against SDSU...they almost lost to Cal Poly. OMG...you guys should whomp on them.
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Correy Retzloff 10 months ago
Lisa,
I have to be honest, I am quickly becoming a fan! You are a homer with USC but you do think outside the box as a College Football Fan should. More importantly we both agree that Ohio State is one of the most overrated teams in the country and they proved it again with that retarded score against a high school.
I agree with your top 10 except for Oregon, believe it or not I'm a Duck fanatic but we still have issues at QB regardless how good our D and running game is. I would put them around 12 and defininetly in the top 10 if we are 5-0 going into the USC game in October.
Keep up the good work.
GO DUCKS!
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Correy-
Thanks! I try to remain unbiased. The Trojans looked good, despite them being my team. And the Ducks looked very good. Jake Locker is a heckuva QB, and you kept him at bay.
Re- OSU. I think they are a very good team, don't get me wrong. But, and this is a big but, I was not impressed with their opener like I was with LSU's, OU's, Florida's, USC's and PSU's.
It could change next week, but after ONE WEEK, those were the best five performances.
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Doug Kraus 10 months ago
Good article Lisa. I'm not going to be another Buckeye to gripe about your comments about the team. I like most of what I saw. The took the game like a scrimmage and played almost everybody and worked the kinks out unlike LSU and USC (no disrespect intended towards two great programs) who clearly care more about the final score. You can argue whether or not Tressel's approach is a better way to go, but I like it. I'd rather get ready for the tough games than game the polls. If we are good enough to get to the NC then we'll get there. Beating Y St by 66 instead of 43 is hopefully irrelevant down the road.
I lost my burrito bet on the IL-MO game but I am happy to see MO exposed - or is IL that good????
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Gil HHH 10 months ago
I can't believe someone compared the stats between USC and UGA considering that USC played a BCS team on the road instead of FCS team at home. Did I miss something or are we viewing both divisions as equal?
I am a big USC fan but I can't think of any reason to drop UGA from the number one spot. I don't think they will make to the SEC championship because UGA will have trouble beating UT, UF and South Carolina but until they prove me wrong I think they are the number one team in the country.
Going back to last year I think the Rose Bowl did a disservice to college football fans by not having USC play UGA because that would have been a great game and probably better than the championship game instead both teams put a beat down on UH and Ill.
LSU is not the number one team because the QB issue is going to be a big problem when they start SEC play.
The only question in a couple of weeks will be if USC beats OSU by more than 14pts does USC get the number one ranking over UGA (my guess is yes) or if the OSU loss will be viewed more negatively on OSU thus not giving USC the number one ranking. There is still a lot of football to be played and the number one ranking is worthless at the moment.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Gil-
Of course the number one ranking is worthless at this point. But I think there are teams that should be #1 over Georgia.
Why should Georgia be #1? What did they do better than anyone else? Nothing. The fact remains that they were ranked #1 preseason and fans seem to think that, that ranking is legit due to educated guesses by pollsters.
How is it valid? They hadn't played anyone yet!
If there were no preseason rankings, based on all the performances you saw, who would you rank #1? That is what I was accomplishing here. Be honest...who played the best?
If you knew nothing about the pre-season hype, who impressed you the most? PSU, USC, OU, Florida and LSU to me, showed the strongest perfromances, and LSU, I believe, should retain #1 ranking until they are beat.
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ss 10 months ago
Lisa, great read. My fellow buckeyes have done a very good job pointing out why you’re mistaken about OSU so I won't rehash there many brilliant responses:) I understand that your criteria are heavily weighted to high scoring...coach Carroll has you trained very well. So if Tressle would have kept his first string in the game and thrown up two more touchdowns to make the score (OSU 57, YSU) you would have listed OSU as a contender, right? (be honest). Much like Carroll, JoPa has never shied away from putting points on the board and look where you put them...I think you would have had a better case if you didn’t put PSU over OSU which proves you are biased by high scoring. You do realize that we beat them by 20 points in happy valley last year and we essentially have the same team this year, right?
I guess SC automatically goes to the pretender list if OSU beats them. Oh yea...they get an extra week to rest and prepare for the Buckeye's so they have an excuse....that's what your excuse will be (the bye week), right?
Just giving you crap...keep up the writing, I love your articles.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
ss-
USC, PSU and OSU all played their scrubs, so not sure why you said So if Tressel would have kept his first string in the game...." Everybody played their scrubs!
This has nothing to do with huge scores...it has to do with a team's performance against a cupcake. Hey, if you're happy having to settle for five FGs against the Penguins, then great. I would be concerned.
As far as the game on the 13th, if SC loses, there is no excuse...the better team won. What will your excuse be? Playing on the road? Beanie out for the game? (If SC lost 2 TBs, we still could run our game well, and same with QB...I have total faith in our reserves).
I don't use excuses. The better team always wins. :)
I personally wish we had one more game to play before we play you, but oh well. If SC loses, they are a pretender, if OSU loses, then they are a pretender.
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Colin Flosi 10 months ago
Texas Tech dropped 80 against SHSU a few years back, 2006 TTU = Contender, woohoo. : D
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Lou Vozza 10 months ago
My congratulations to you for leaving OSU out of your top ten. They are the ultimate pretenders, I don't care if they go 11-0.
Here's a couple of comments from my blog over at TSN, where I am known as "noplayoffs" Please visit.
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/Noplayoffs
Florida - I watched this entire game. I'm not hearing the buzz we should in the media about the performances of the 3 running backs, James, Demps and Rainey. It's clear that the Percy Harvin/Tim Tebow show is over. This offense is now scary good. The injury risk to Tebow has been dramatically reduced and the team is no longer dependent on Harvn, who is injury prone. The next two games their suspect defense wll be tested. We will know by the end of the Tennessee game if Florida is a contender or a pretender. By the way, Tebow will have much less impressive stats this year, but watch him really come into his own as an intelligent field general. Enjoy it everyone, you are about to witness the spread offense run to perfection.
Georgia - The emergence of Alabama has a seismic impact on the SEC East because Georgia plays Alabama this year and Florida does not. What looked like a manageable home game for Georgia on Sept 27th now looms as one more major test in an already brutal schedule. This is the year Florida has to get it done. They don't play either Auburn or Alabama. They drew LSU at home and Florida State and Miami are still in down years. This is probably the easiest schedule Florida will have for years.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
D-
Solid points, that's why I have Florida winning the SEC. Schedule and a sick backfield. Just hope the secondary shows up. :)
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WVU Fan 10 months ago
I think week one is a little early to call WVU pretenders. I was at the game and I saw the things that are not aired on ESPN. They outgained the mountaineers because wvu did nothing on defense. WVU didn't even throw one blitz at Nova. Also Nova's QB was like Edwards from APPY State. He was very quick and could run around long enough for someone to get open. WVU could have scored 60, but do they really have to. The same thing happened last year, when Western Michigan piled up some yardage, and everyone dropped WVU in the polls. Just ask Oklahoma how good the Eers are.
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Dustin Rayner 10 months ago
I realize you ranked OU 4th, but I haven't heard much this year from the media or fanbase regarding their destiny this year.
They have a lot of talent and depth offensively between the tackles, and you know that Stoops always has plenty of speed on both sides of the ball. They seem to be a little more prepared in the secondary this year, one of their biggest weaknesses in years past.
If anything, this could finally be the year the Sooners can win a BCS bowl. Maybe not a national championship, but hey, winning a bowl game is something they need to turn into a habit. The reason things look hopeful this year is the lack of expectations.
Mizzou, Tech, and Kansas all have more expectations relative to their talent in the conference, and I believe that a Stoops team with less pressure can be more successful at season's end.
Your thoughts?
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Sue M. 10 months ago
Nick-
Thanks for making me aware that I had a typo.
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Josh Rosenberg 10 months ago
thankyou someone finnally agrees withme that LSU is a contender!
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Josh Rosenberg 10 months ago
I agree with everything except that the BIg East is a lot better than people think
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Sue M. 10 months ago
Lisa-
I've got one question for you. You have Penn State at #5, while you have Ohio State at #7. Are you saying that Penn State is better than Ohio State? I can't see Ohio State losing to Penn. I haven't even heard much about Penn. I've heard that Paterno is in denial about some issues.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
LEANNA-
No, I'm not saying they are better. I am saying after looking at the performances on Saturday, PSU had a better performance, more dominating performance than OSU. That's all. :)
I judged these teams strictly on performance, not pre-season hype, expectations or pre-season rankings.
If there were no pre-season rankings and the rankings were based strictly on performance, then any of the top five I listed could be #1. PSU had a better performance than OSU. OSU had to kick 5 Fgs to account for 15 of their 43 points.
Look at the bright side, only once has a #1 team gone wire to wire #1. I would rather be in the top ten than #1 preseason. :)
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BabyTate 10 months ago
So now you see why you can never trust Tommy Bowden.
I'll bet in high school he was the boy who asked you to the prom but didn't show up.
Another example of ghastly non-preparation by Tommy Bowden who not only can hoo-doo the administation at Clemson into keeping him but actually has 4 or 5 "fans" whom he can trick each year into supporting him on the basis of no blocking or bad referee calls!
Bowden is weak at coaching line play, overseeing the coaching of line play, and recruting of legitimate linemen.
Old saying: You can fool all the people half of the time and half of the people all the time but you can't fool all the people all of the time. That describes Tommy Bowden and his supporters.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Poor Bowden...I actually feel sorry for him. They can make a comeback by winning the ACC, but let's face it, neither an ACC or BE team will be playing for the title. Not going to happen.
I feel sorry for the Clemson fans...but am thrilled for the Bama fans. They are great fans and their high hopes, so far, are validated.
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David Kuykendall 10 months ago
heres the thing your article im sorry but it bites for aa number of reasons and here are a few.1 osu played useing only a few of their sets on noth sides of the ball as did most teams who played fcs teams.2 wvu played without reed williams and wes lyons they had 2nd a 3rd stringers playing most of the game for instance when morty ivy came in he had a fumble recovery a int for a td and they had a blocked punt.3 uga would be a bigger pretender than wvu or osu for they played one of the the worst fcs teams in the ncaa.4 texastech was not dominating their game until the 4th so do some research and write an revise.ps none of these teams except clemson and vt were useing their normal sets most of the drives had 3 diferent plays so in week 6 you wantto make another one of these be my guest but to have one week one and two is not the way to do it
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
david...thanks for the comments, but what those really are, are excuses. Hey, my team lost to Stanford last year. It was a bummer, and there was one major factor why we lost- Stanford was better that day. I don't care if Booty had a broken finger, we lost.
Please don't start laying on all the excuses...the BCS computers don't have any emotions when it comes to rankings, and can't buy excuses.
What difference does it make if they don't play all their sets? Who cares? The games' w-l is all that matters. Does anything else matter in polls? No. Oklahoma got screwed by the Pac-10 refs against Oregon a few years ago and lost due to a controversial no-call. Guess what? OU still dropped. That's life.
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
I can't believe we are actually arguing that a team like UGA doesn't deserve to be in the top 10 based soley on the fact that they only beat a FCS team by 24 points.
This is the dumbest argument i've ever heard.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Michael-
You are the one defending a 24 point margin of victory over a school that doesn't have one player higher than a 2 star, and most of them never got an offer from a 1A school. (I'm taking a stab here, but I would think that's being a little conciliatory)
If you are thrilled with a 24 point victory over Mary Poppins State, go celebrate.
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Robert 10 months ago
She's ignorant Michael. She doesn't look at numbers. She just watches Sportcenter and listens to Mark May and Lou Holtz. She doesn't have ANY valid points. She leaves UGA out of her top-10 because they played a D-II school, but she gives LSU credit for playing one. She gives Penn State and Ohio State credit for playing cupcakes, but not UGA. How can we win?
Hey Lisa? Did you not want to comment on the rest of MY points? What about those scoring drives of less than 2 minutes? What about all of OUR starters that were out of the game? What about Knowshon playing less than 1 minute into the second half? What about AJ Green having 2 big catches(1 TD) in his first college game? What about our FRESHMAN kicker that booted a 52-yarder on his first college kick? What about a RS FRESHMAN name Caleb King, who didn't even touch the ball in the first half, but ended the game with 95 yds on 11 carries? What about Stafford passing for 275yds/2 TD's on 22 passes? What about that shutout we were pitching until the starters that were out of the game?
Oh, that's right, you only want to compare "scrubs" giving up points. Even though USC's FIRST TEAM gave up their points.
That has got to be the most un-researced article you've ever posted. I should flag it as offensive.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Robert-
I watched the feeds on the games, not sportscenter, so nice try.
You want facts? PSU beat CC 66-10. You beat Georgia Southern 45-21. There is no question who had the most dominant game. Everybody played their scrubs...everybody. And by the way, you did give up a TD with your starters in.
As far as TOP, what? If you D can't hold GSU to 3 and out, then don't blame your quick offensive drives...blame your D. It doesn't matter that you had two minute drives...your D obviously had to be on the field a lot longer.
Here's what I don't get...I said Georgia is a very good team, but so far, they haven't impressed me. When you start playing a real team, I'll give you more props, but if you keep playing cupcakes, then at least smother them like PSU did. Or try to beat them badly when a hurrican has your family evacuated while you are on the field, or a new game time change.
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Kristofer Green 10 months ago
Read again. She gives Ohio State no credit for playing a cupcake. In fact, she insists winning 43-0 is somehow bad. I don't agree with her at all, but it is her opinion. She is entitled to it.
I do have to say, calling her ignorant, is what is ignorant. You may not agree with what she has to say about your team and I certainly don't, but she isn't ignorant. Far from it. Lisa is a very intelligent and much respected writer on this site. And though I don't agree with her in this instance, I have agrred with her on several others.
Just my 2 cents.
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Lisa Horne 10 months ago
Kris-
Thanks for the D. :)
Don't worry, usually fans who know someone is right argue by calling them names or making excuses. So far, they have done both.
OSU's victory was good, and if you notice, I didn't drop them out of the top 10. (The 5 FGs bother me). But I did with Georgia- they did not impress me at all.
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Robert 10 months ago
It's obvious that I'm not going to sway you.
So, how many points do they have to beat Central Michigan by to crack that top-10 of yours?
How many against South Carolina? Arizona State? or Auburn? or Florida?
PSU played Coastal Carolina. They had control of T.O.P., which you see as paramount, by less than a minute. PSU gave up 40 less yards on D than UGA. UGA didn't give up any points in the first half. PSU did.
I'm not taking anything away from PSU. At all. They did beat them bad. That's not my point.
My point is, you give them LSU and PSU kudos for playing teams that are in the same division as GSU. And because UGA's D gives up 14 points in the 4th quarter, with an emptying stadium and their "scrubs" in, you think that means they aren't a number 1 team, or a top 10 for that matter. The last time I checked, their number 1's looked solid. That is who will be on the field in big games.
In the real world. It's not about how many points your "scrubs" give up.
You say: "Georgia didn''t score more pts because they didn't want to embarrass some of their players' former high school teammates? Are you kidding me? You actually believe that?"
FYI: Georgia's former Defensive co-ordina