Questions and Conclusions After Two Weeks of College Football

1.) USC- Hard to draw any conclusions after only one game, especially when that game is at home against Idaho. Next week at Nebraska will provide a good test but we really won’t know how good USC is until late October when they travel to Oregon. One thing is for sure- the PAC-10 is a legitimate conference this year. Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona State are all solid clubs. The rest of the league is crap but these days, half the conference being good is good enough. It’s no SEC but it will provide some amusing matchups.

I have a theory about the PAC-10 relative to USC- it’s called the cast-off theory. It’s like Collin Ferrell and his posse. Ferrell’s a vacuum for tail when they’re out at the clubs. Since Ferrell has only so many “scholarships”, his posse picks up the A-/B+ talent. USC is Collin Ferrell (except that USC puts their athletes up in nicer apartments) and Ferrell’s posse is the PAC-10.

2.) LSU- Their defense is for real; but we already knew that. Bo Pellini’s group has been dominant in two outings against two non-cupcake opponents- but they looked at least human when Virginia Tech brought in the scrambling Freshman quarterback. Human to a point- they still only allowed seven points. I’m still not sold on LSU’s offense (I know they’ve scored 93 points in two games, I’m talking about championship teams here). I question whether Matt Flynn can deliver a win on the road in the SEC- unfortunately, LSU only has four road games and the hardest one is either at Alabama or at Kentucky- not very frightening. Barring injuries, LSU’s got a clean pass to the SEC Championship game and a date with USC where they’ll finally be tested on the road.

3.) Florida- Can’t draw any conclusions here about Florida- wins over Western Kentucky and Troy tell us absolutely nothing. 31 points given up to Troy should raise some eyebrows but we’re going to chalk that up to “looking ahead to Tennessee” next week. Unless it happens again. October 6th at LSU will provide the real test for the Tebow Experience.

4.) West Virginia- Can’t draw conclusions here either- other then they won on the road which is always a good thing. 24 points and 23 points given up in successive outings are reason for concern- especially since they haven’t played a decent offense yet and will play defenses that will keep them under 35. At South Florida and at Rutgers will be phenomenal tests. The Big East has looked strong early on with key out of conference wins (Cincinnati and South Florida) but I’m not ready to call them a league yet. Sorry boys. Still not drinking the Kool-Aid; the packet’s in my shopping cart though.

5.) Wisconsin- Mixed results- a good opening win against a bad PAC-10 opponent but a very sketchy win on the road against a very bad UNLV team (only two wins each of the last two seasons). It took 11 points late to beat UNLV and the offense looked very vulnerable- QB Tyler Donovan was 14-26 for only 138 yards and it took P.J. Hill 20 carries to get 147 yards- not a bad night but he could have got that yardage in half the carries last season. I’ll believe Wisconsin is for real when the beat a quality opponent, which they won’t have a chance to do until October 13th at Penn State (I smell a white outttttt….).

A side note about the Big Ten- the conference is mediocre and the conference championship is wiiiiiiiiiide open. Wisconsin is very vulnerable; Anyone who knows what Michigan is going to do next is lying; Ohio State has got some pretty serious O-Line questions to get answered, and some new turnover issues to deal (with 5 against Akron yesterday); and I’m still not buying Penn State either. The Nit’s defense is outstanding, no doubt about that. The offense is still questionable- 131 yards passing against the swiss cheese secondary that is Notre Dame doesn’t cut it. Morelli still looks very Chad Henne-like at times. Austin Scott getting 118 yards is a positive sign- too bad it took him 28 carries to get that.

6.) Oklahoma- Based on their performance so far, they belong at #3 and maybe #2 in the country. They are by far the class of the Big 12. And I’m going to call it now- the Big 12 is average to below average this year. In fact, I might be ready to rank the Big East ahead of the Big 12 this year. We’ll know for sure after their first challenge October 6th at Texas. They’ve beaten two very bad teams soundly and haven’t raised any red flags yet. Before any of you try and defend the win over the Hurricanes, don’t. This ain’t your parole officer’s Hurricanes. That is a team in serious trouble. I call for an immediate round robin “Tournament of Crap” between Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, and Florida State. One word for you- “ratings”. You can thank me later TV execs.

7.) Texas- This team does not belong in the Top 10. Period. The Longhorns finally woke up in the fourth quarter yesterday putting on 24 points on the way to their 34-13 win over TCU but one good quarter can’t erase the previous seven quarters of bad football. Texas will hover in the Top 10 for a couple more weeks until their first test on October 6th when the Sooners come a-callin’.

8.) Louisville- This team does not belong in the Top 10 either. Giving up 42 points and 554 yards to Middle Tennessee State isn’t “dodging a bullet”, it’s “your defense is below average and you don’t belong in a BCS game. No questions on offense, 131 points scored in two games, except that those 131 points came against two D-IAA schools. Sorry- Cards- you gotta’ have a good offense and a good defense for me to call you good. I’m not impressed by single-faceted teams, because against good competition, single-faceted teams always lose. Always.

9.) Virginia Tech- After the blowout loss to LSU, they’ll fall out of the top ten so not much left for discussion here. Pretty good defense. Lots of questions on offense. Easy schedule the rest of the way save for a road game at Georgia Tech.

10.) Too soon to draw conclusions about Cal with a six point squeaker over 0-2 Colorado State yesterday. After giving up 458 yards and 28 points to Colorado State, there are some serious questions to be answered on defense. Thankfully for them, their offense will keep them in most games. The next test for them comes September 29th at Oregon, which at this early stage, I’m predicting they’ll lose.

Other news and notes from Saturday:

Disney has officially put Cinderella back in “the vault”. She’s gone. TCU is toast. Boise State is finished. Hawaii doesn’t play anyone of matter so sorry- they’re disqualified. I call for a moratorium on the use of Cinderella from all sportswriters this year. We’re gonna’ have to wait for March Madness to call up Geraldo Rivera and open the vault.

One of my favorite songs of all time is “The Battle of Who Could Care Less” by the Ben Folds Five. Well, I’m officially dubbing next week’s Notre Dame vs. Michigan matchup as “The Battle of Who Could Suck Less”. Trademarked.

Have you heard of NBC’s “Football Night in America”? Well I’m dubbing Thursday night to be “Big East Football Night in America”. Seriously. Big East students should go to classes on Saturday and take off on Thursday. That would make Wednesday the new Friday. Whatever, I’m sure they can figure it out.

It’s brilliant marketing on the Big East’s part; line up a schedule of Big East teams against patsies, highlight the matchups by putting them on Thursday night, and sub-consciously convince the general public that the Big East teams are special as a result of the blowouts. It appears to be working. I’m not complaining; I’ll take college football any day I can get it.

You’re welcome.