College Football Questions and Answers: Week 5

Just when you thought it was safe to turn the TV on again. Trojans? Crash and burn. Georgia between the hedges? Trimmed. Florida at the swamp? Capsized. The Badgers at the Big House? Housed. And oh yeah, Clemson lost again.

The first question I asked was “Is Alabama for real?” I’m not convinced they’re a National Championship contender just yet, but they’re awfully close. ‘Bama played a near flawless 1st half against Georgia rolling up a 31-0 halftime lead. Georgia looked helpless, both on offense and defense. Georgia made it look respectable in the second half but to get rolled like that at home poses as many questions for Georgia as it provides answers for the Crimson Tide.

Georgia was able to limit Alabama to 2.9 yards per carry rushing, but the fact that Alabama had 45 rushing attempts indicates the lop-sided nature of the affair. John Parker Wilson converted when necessary to keep drives alive. Wilson did what he needed to, going 13 of 16 for 205 yards, and most importantly no interceptions.

Highlights: (8) Alabama - (3) Georgia

Georgia gets a week off to lick their wounds and then has Tennessee, Vanderbilt (1st place SEC East), @ LSU, and Florida. Unfortunately, Knowshon Moreno might be out for a little bit. Good luck Bulldog fans.

Alabama has a much easier path in the near term with Kentucky, Ole Miss, @ Tennessee, and Arkansas State, before a road game at LSU. Each of those games leading up to LSU should be resounding wins, but will be a good test of the maturity of this Alabama team to see how they can deal with the bulls eye on their back.

The second question I posed was “Is Penn State for real?” Looks like it. They passed the first test by beating a quality opponent at home. Next up is to see if they can do the same on the road. They’re at Purdue and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks so we’ll see how they respond to that.

I also still have questions about their ability to run the ball against a good defense. Consider that of the I-A opponents they’ve played, the average ranking on rush D of those 4 is 92nd in the country (Oregon State- 72, Syracuse- 105, Temple- 97, Illinois- 94). The Defense is outstanding and as long as Daryll Clark continues to limit mistakes (only one interception), this team is headed for the Rose Bowl at a minimum.

Highlights: (22) Illinois - (12) PSU

In order for TCU to slow down Oklahoma I wrote that they needed to continue dominating the turnover margin and have success through the air. TCU went -4 on turnovers and had a 39% completion percentage through the air. Oklahoma 35 - TCU 10.

Highlights: (24) TCU - (2) Oklahoma

I questioned Michigan’s manhood. Specifically, I wrote:

Michigan stands at 1-2 with Wisconsin, Illinois, and Penn State in three of their next four games. A bad stretch and the Wolverines could be staring at a 2-5 record plus the likelihood of not going to a bowl game. Sitting home for the holidays would break a streak of 12 consecutive bowl games dating back to Lloyd Carr’s second year as head coach. It’s gut check time for Rich Rod and the Wolverines. They’ve got the defense to slow down Wisconsin, the question is can they avoid the turnovers that cost them the game against Notre Dame last week?

If you watched the game like I did you saw Michigan play perhaps the worst half of football in the long history of the winged helmet. In addition to falling into a 19-0 hole, the Wolverine offense turned the ball over 5 times and had a total of 21 yards of offense. The Wolverine D nutted up in the second half (and Wisconsin imploded) and the offense finally showed glimpses of what Rich Rod is coaching toward. Michigan still has enormous issues on offense, primarily a gaping void at quarterback (Threet is the best of the worst), but I believe halftime was their bottom and the rest of the season should so slight improvement.

Highlights: (9) Wisconsin - Michigan

Don’t look now but Tennessee is 1-3 following their 14-12 loss at Auburn. The offensive numbers for Tennessee are …..drum roll……offensive- 8 of 24 passing for 67 yards, 33 rushes for 124 yards. Credit a tough Auburn D for part of that, the rest goes to a Volunteer offense looking for people to volunteer as playmakers. Here’s a rational breakdown of the season to date numbers, but be forewarned- shield your children’s eyes.

I asked if Butch Davis and North Carolina would be successful in their return to Butch’s former employer, the U. They were not losing 28-24. The # 7 hurricane rush D limited North Carolina to 35 rushing yards on 33 attempts. You don’t need a calculator to figure out that’s about 1 yard per carry which won’t get it done against anyone, not even a bad but improving Hurricane squad.

I asked which UCLA team would show up at home against Fresno State- the one that beat Tennessee in week one, or the one that got blown out by BYU and Arizona. Neither showed up- but it’s clear that the Tennessee win means nothing and this Bruin team has a long way to go to end the LA football dynasty over there.

Finally I poked a little fun at LSU and Florida:

Which team will be more awesome in their beating of a team from Mississippi- Florida when they beat down ‘Ole Miss or LSU when they steal Mississippi State’s lunch money? It’s a trick question. By default, since both teams are in the SEC, and per NCAA regulation 2006.115A, the sum of its’ parts is greater than the whole, ergo ipso facto the awesomeness of the conference as a whole makes it very difficult to solve for the awesomeness of any one particular team. (check my math though)

Funny enough, Florida lost by 1 and LSU scraped by with a ten point win at home. SEC hacks will quickly point to the toughness of the conference as to the reason for both outcomes. All is not lost for Florida- it’s early enough that they can recover, but the problems in the secondary continue to rear their ugly head, and a blocked P.A.T. at home is inexcusable.

Looking at LSU though, are they really the 2nd best team in the country (as they are in the Harris and USA today polls)? A 5-point win over Auburn and a 10-point win over Mississippi State? Seriously? In a delightful bit of timing, LSU has a week off and then plays at Florida. Expect Florida to win that one and throw the polls into turmoil again.