College football 2007: 6 of top 25 teams lose and plummet, 4 more join top 25 poll
As predicted, no fewer than 6 AP Top 25 teams lost in the third week of college football, with two of them, Louisville and Nebraska, falling down the rankings and four others, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Arkansas, and Tennessee, falling out of the standings. poll. Life in big-time college football can be a little unsettling.
Four more—Alabama, Kentucky, South Florida, and Missouri—entered the Top 25 for the first time.
No. 9 Louisville is now at No. 18 after being beaten by Kentucky 40-34. Kentucky is now 3-0 and No. 21 after their win, the Wildcats’ first win against a top-10 team since 1977, 30 years ago. Louisville’s loss shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Cardinals defeated AA Murray State 73-10 (as they should have) and then gave up a whopping 42 points to Middle Tennessee before winning 58-42 (that’s a porous defense).
Louisville is still overrated. If you don’t believe it, check this out: Middle Tennessee was ranked 141st out of 119 Division 1-A schools by Sagarin before his game with Louisville. Good grievance, he talks about beating a lousy team. He makes you wonder, how good is Kentucky?
No. 14 Nebraska is now No. 24 after being dominated by USC in Cornhusker territory, 49-31. USC gained 313 rushing yards and held Nebraska to 31. USC remains No. 1 in every poll from here to parts unknown.
No. 15 Georgia Tech was defeated by No. 21 Boston College 24-10 and was left out of the poll.
No. 22 Tennessee was overwhelmed by No. 5 Florida 59-20 and dropped out of the poll.
Moving into the AP Top 25 this week was No. 16 Alabama, which edged out then-No. 16 Arkansas, 41-38, after twice blowing 21-point leads. It was a dramatic victory for the Crimson Tide, who went on defense and a last-minute drive culminating in a final game-winning 4-yard touchdown pass with 8 seconds remaining.
I’ve said keep your eyes peeled for Nick Saban, a quality coach in his first year at Alabama. Saban led LSU to the 2003 BCS National Championship while competing in the same SEC conference. Moving into the Top 25 was the No. 24 South Florida Bulls who were inactive this week after beating AA Elon 28-13 and defeating then-No. 17 Auburn on the road, 26-23, in overtime.
I’ve already crossed Alabama and South Florida off my list of teams that will be in the Top 25 before the season ends. Last week I predicted that Alabama, South Florida, Washington, the state of Arizona and the state of Michigan would make the AP Top 25.
Missouri beat Western Michigan 52-24 for its third straight win and moved to 25th in the poll. The Tigers also beat Illinois 40-34 and Ole Miss 38-25. After this weekend’s games, Sagarin ranked Illinois 63rd, Ole Miss 75th and Western Michigan 111th. I’ll let you know if Missouri is any good after you play and beat a team that worth beating. Washington, still unranked, led No. 10 Ohio State 7-3 at the half and had the momentum to upset for the second week in a row (the Huskies defeated No. 22 Boise State a week earlier).
Unfortunately, a 39-second stretch in the third quarter cost Washington dearly. First, the Buckeyes’ Brian Robiskie beat rookie cornerback Vonzell McDowell down the sideline for a 68-yard touchdown run.
Then another freshman, Curtis Shaw, fumbled on the ensuing kickoff return trying to get more yardage after the opening hit. Ohio State scored on the turnover, took a 17-7 lead, and ultimately won 33-14 in a game that was much closer than the score. I think Washington is still a team on the rise and will bounce back this week when the Pac 10 kicks off with a road game at UCLA. UCLA was ranked No. 11 before playing Utah over the weekend and getting kicked, 44-6, and falling out of the poll.
Arizona State, as yet unranked, won its third straight year by beating San Diego State 34-13 (no. 106). Freshman coach Dennis Erickson also outscored San Jose State 45-3 (ranked no. 147) and Colorado 33-14 (ranked no. 67). Arizona State begins its Pac 10 campaign this weekend at home against Oregon State.
Another first-year coach, Mark Dantonio at Michigan State, won his third straight game in hand-to-hand combat with Pittsburgh 17-13 (53rd rank). The Spartans led 14-7 at the half but, frankly, I was disappointed with his performance.
After watching Michigan State take a 42-0 Game 1 lead midway through the second quarter in a 55-18 blowout of 125th-ranked UAB, scoring touchdowns on its first 6 possessions, I expected more against Pittsburgh. They outscored Bowling Green 28-17 (ranked 65th) in a not-so-impressive performance, but they should have done more.
Pittsburgh brought some defense to the game. Remember that Panthers head coach Dave Wannstedt was an offensive tackle at Pitt and the former NFL head coach of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins, both known for their defensive teams. For Michigan State to stay on the rise, the Spartans needed to outscore Pitt by two touchdowns and to be impressive they needed to beat them by four touchdowns. It didn’t happen either.
MSU travels to Notre Dame on Saturday (09-22-07). The Irish are winless in 3 games and are currently one of the worst teams in the nation. They have yet to score an offensive touchdown this season, have allowed 23 sacks (46 teams didn’t allow 23 sacks all of last season), and rank last (119) in 3 categories among Division 1-A teams: career, total offense and scoring offense.
The Lord will have to help the state of Michigan more than Notre Dame if the Irish upset the Spartans. So who is rising impressively this week? Try Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks, from No. 17 to No. 12 as they evened AA South Carolina State 38-3; and the Oregon Ducks, from No. 19 to No. 13 by beating Fresno State 52-21.
So who is still seriously overrated? Try Texas number 7. The Longhorns outscored Arkansas State 21-13 (ranked No. 74) at home, defeated TCU 34-13 (ranked No. 39) at home, then just trailed UCF (University of Central Florida, ranked No. 64) 35 -32 on the way. Texas saw UCF score 32 points (is this defense?) and won by a field goal.
Another overrated team is No. 9 Wisconsin. Big wins for the undefeated 3-0 Badgers came against Washington State 42-21 (no. 48), UNLV 20-13 (no. 96), and AA The Citadel 45-31 (no. 129). They gave 31 points to an AA team that was going nowhere.
Wisconsin is going under, it’s just a matter of time. Soon, the Badgers will play Michigan State, No. 10 Penn State at Penn State, and No. 8 Ohio State at Ohio State. I want to see this ferocious Wisconsin offense against the Buckeye defense, ranked 3rd nationally in total defense and 5th in scoring defense.
For the record, No. 1 USC is currently ranked No. 41 in total defense and No. 45 in scoring defense. This helps explain why the Trojans handled Idaho 38-10 (ranked No. 116) and Nebraska, ranked No. 24, 49-31 (ranked No. 18). No. 2 LSU is ranked No. 1 in total defense and No. 1 in scoring defense. This helps explain why LSU has crushed Mississippi State 45-0 (ranked No. 46), then No. 9 Virginia Tech 48-7 (now ranked No. 31), and Middle Tennessee 44-0 (ranked No. 109). .
So what else is worth mentioning? Indiana, Connecticut, Purdue, Penn State, Texas A&M, Rutgers, Florida, Kansas, Arizona State and Hawaii have all gone 3-0 against cupcake teams or weak competition. The jury is out on these teams until they actually play a decent or worthy opponent.
In other results, the Duke Blue Devils ended their 22-game losing streak, the longest active in Division 1-A, by outscoring Northwestern 20-14. Florida International now has the longest losing streak at 14 after losing to Miami (FL) 23-9. Boise State hosted Wyoming and won 10, 24-14. Good for Wyoming, losing by just 10 in an away game home against the powerful and scoring Boise State Broncos.
Mike Price’s UTEP team was outclassed in the fourth quarter and lost to New Mexico State 29-24 to finish 1-2 on the year. It’s a real blessing that we’re going to be participating in the conference this weekend so that we can really start to access who’s going through it and who’s not.
AA games can be interesting at times (like Appalachian State’s 34-32 upset of Michigan at their Casa Grande), but it says little about a team. Now the nonsense is reduced to a trickle and we get down to business.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley