Ten Top Tens After Week Eight in College Football

Mitch Wilson

Oct 18, 2008

Top Ten Teams

1) Texas—Easy winner stays on top.

2) Penn State—Overcame more than just a deficit in a game yesterday.

TOP NEWS

3) Alabama—Looking for a place to fall down.

4) Oklahoma State—No one believes except them.

5) Boise State—If they could only play all of their games on the blue turf, they would never lose.

6) Utah—And Colorado State was playing pretty well coming in.

7) Texas Tech—I know their fans don't like me, but after yesterday, do they blame me for what I've said?

8) Tulsa—I was going to make them seventh in honor of the 77 they put up yesterday.

9) Oklahoma—Blew a cover on a last minute TD—never trailed but looked hung over.

10) USC—That loss may still be too much to overcome—OSU rematch in the Rose Bowl?

How My Ten Highest Rated Picks of the Week Did (Based on my new confidence rating system I used this week)

1) Texas (-4)—My newsletter called for a Big 12 style blowout and I believe that's what we saw. Win

2) Oregon State (-13 1/2)—My Part One leadoff game was money. Win

3) Troy (-7)—Did you guys know I'm a member of their team site? Win

4) FAU (+1/2)—I am perfect on the year in games involving Western Kentucky. Win

5) Arkansas (+9 1/2)—Almost too easy. Win

6) Georgia (-14 1/2)—Not the only kicker who cost me yesterday. Loss

7) Wake Forest (-1 1/2)—Does anyone know what we'll see from Maryland week to week? Loss

8) Illinois (-15)—For those playing at home, Indiana hasn't covered all season. Win

9) Air Force (-5)—I went from not touching to strong play—remind me to stick with my first impression. Loss

10) Northern Illinois (-9 1/2)—Holy Toledo, the Huskies kicked some butt. Win

Ten Things I Still Don't Understand

1) Bleacher Report Writer Rankings—Not that I care too much, but I'm the lowest ranked, highest ranked writer according to this system, and it isn't even close. Does anyone understand what that means?

2) Why refs can't spot the ball correctly—I thought this was the basics.

3) Why a fumble can't just be a fumble anymore—Maybe this is the part of the game that is too long.

4) Why Nick Saban isn't crucified more—The guy had 10 offseason arrests (that's a whole category in my weekly list if I wanted it to be) and a miserable graduation rate.

5) How Brent Musburger gets the featured game every week—Maybe they figure it's usually a blowout anyway, so people are going to be tuning out.

6) This whole FBS and FCS thing—I just know the BCS is a bunch of BS.

7) Why Game Plan isn't in HD—Charge a few extra bucks, I'm in. You had me at H.

8) How attendance records get broken every week—Do they set up a few folding chairs or something?

9) Offsetting Penalties—A guy flinching and a decapitation offset each other.

10) Celebration Rules—Talk about random: You can just flip the channels and see flag or no flag for the same thing.

Ten Guys Who Got it Done This Week

1) Sam Bradford—468 Yards, three TDs

2) David Johnson—434 Yards, five TDs

3) Colt McCoy—Three incompletions—we've been saying this almost every week.

4) Jevan Snead—Pure guts.

5) Juice Williams—A future NFL top five pick.

6) Tim Hiller—471 yards in the loss to their rival.

7) Knowshon Moreno—172 on the ground, all of them athletic plays.

8) Dennis Kennedy—277 yards rushing.

9) Austin Davis—461 yards and four TDs for the freshman.

10) Bernard Hopkins—Was a huge underdog against Kelly Pavlik.

Ten Things Announcers said Yesterday that Mitch will re-word in plain English

1) "Let them stay in it"—They got lazy, sloppy, and content.

2) "He's a load"—That guy is too fat.

3) "McCoy is wielding a scalpel"—The Missouri defense is really bad.

4) "I don't know the rules"—Gary Danielson should get a different job.

5) "Oh, I don't know about that"—I can't say what I want or I may lose this cushy gig.

6) "That's not reviewable"—A call so bad no one could have ever thought the scenario would come into play.

7) "He had all the time in the world"—Actually, every time I heard this the QB did have and still probably has all the time in the world.

8) "It's getting chippy out there"—Better call the cops—this may get ugly real soon.

9) "They came out ready to play"—We're about to see highlights of a blowout by a team that trailed.

10) "The Referees are having a discussion"—Might as well change the channel because this is going to take a while.

Ten Games That Surprised Me

1) Maryland 26, Wake Forest 0—Maryland may be the most up and down team ever.

2) Ohio State 45, Michigan State 7—Not the outcome, more the score.

3) TCU 32, BYU 7—This was just plain ugly.

4) Wisconsin 16, Iowa 38—I didn't think the Badgers were that bad, but they clearly are.

5) Tennessee 34, Mississippi State 3—I didn't think the Vols could score over 30 in an SEC game.

6) Pittsburgh 42, Navy 21—Thought it would be closer—called it a coin toss when someone asked me.

7) Miami 49, Duke 31—I'll take it.

8) Utah 49, Colorado State 16—I didn't pick this one, but there is nothing consistent going on out there.

9) Rutgers 12, UConn 10—Three missed field goals really cost the Huskies.

10) Boston College 28, Virginia Tech 23—I don't think BC wins three times in 10 games if they played that many.

Ten Things I'm Excited About

1) My new confidence rating system for my picks—10-3 against the spread in the games I rated the highest is a much better indicator than my overall record, though I'm not sure I can maintain that level.

2) My Free Game Picking Contest—I'm not sure how many people I'll have the first week, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

3) More Conference Games—Can you say "no more patsies"?

4) Halloween—Is there ever such a thing as "leftover" candy?

5) New Projects and Content for My Blog—I've been approached by several people for some really exciting joint ventures and some really good writers and game pickers as well. We're not going to recognize the place by this time next year.

6) Blocking and Tackling—Are there two better words in the English language?

7) For the election to be over—Let's get back to what the Fall is all about: College Football.

8) Bad Weather Games—Coming soon to a stadium near you.

9) National Signing Day—Less than four months away.

10) The one-year anniversary of me quitting smoking—I smoked for 28 years and quit cold turkey. Miracles happen.

Ten Topics I'm Done Discussing

1) Tommy Bowden—At least until he gets another gig.

2) The BR Writing Contest "Situation"—I had totally forgotten about the contest, but all of the people involved in the controversy are great writers who I vote for often.

3) The Election—Did I ever start?

4) Why I think Alabama is a filthy program—Maybe you guys should just Google "Alabama arrested players."

5) Chase Daniel for Heisman—I think he ended this drivel himself.

6) A College Football Playoff—It isn't going to happen anytime soon.

7) Why I hate the NFL—I'm thinking of giving them another shot. Can they just allow pass coverage for me?

8) Preseason Rankings—Is anyone going to write a comparison piece to the current rankings?

9) The Chicago Cubs—No longer lovable losers, now just losers.

10) People who send me hate mail—Thank you for reading my articles and watching my videos—I appreciate your comments.

Ten Strange Things I Saw On TV Yesterday

1) More Tipped Balls Caught—It's been like this all year.

2) Houston Nutt's Pincher Signal—Are we going to see a Rock Lobster video on YouTube from an SEC school?

3) Sarah Palin on SNL—How weird was that?

4) UGA Taking pictures with the Homecoming Queen—Uga was getting the better treatment.

5) Tay Cody on A Golf Cart—I think they should have used a Truck (Get well soon—like or hate the Tide, he's been one of the best players in the country this year and an absolute difference maker).

6) Idaho-Louisiana Tech—Nothing in particular, just that the game was on TV at all.

7) Mark Mangino running out with his team—I never thought he ran.

8) Oklahoma linemen breathing heavily—The hurry-up is tiring their own players out.

9) No Tommy Bowden on the sideline during a Clemson loss—It felt kind of empty.

10) All of the missed field goals—It used to seem so automatic.

Ten Games I'm Looking Forward To This Week

1) Penn State-Ohio State—A changing of the guard?

2) Texas-Oklahoma State—If either of these two runs the table, they've earned it.

3) LSU-Georgia—No, I'm not kidding. This is the schedule so far.

4) Texas Tech-Kansas—A real test for the Red Raiders.

5) USC-Arizona—All of the sudden real interesting.

6) Boise State-San Jose State—Don't kid yourself. This is one heck of a matchup.