The McTop 25: October 5, 2008

Thoughts:

1. College football really is a love/hate relationship, isn’t it?
2. Vandy?!
3. Michigan is under .500. They were clearly lucky to beat Wisconsin.
4. How USC ever loses a game is beyond me.
5. Notre Dame?

The Top 25 for the week:

1. Oklahoma (5-0): Thy name is consistency. At least as much that has been shown this year. The Sooner schedule leaves a lot to be desired so far, but I’ve always had a belief that if you’re playing a weak schedule, you need to be TORCHING your opponents: 57-2, 52-26, 55-14, 35-10, 49-17. Check!
2. Alabama (6-0): The Tide is set up for a relatively direct route to fighting LSU for the SEC East title. It was Lil’ Nicky’s second year in Baton Rouge that he led the Tigers to the SEC title. Pattern? Oh wait; the Miami Dolphins sort of ruin that alleged pattern, huh?
3. Vanderbilt (5-0): With Georgia and Florida ahead on their SEC slate, I don’t expect the Commodores (I had to look that up, by the way) to win the SEC East. But with two wins over then-Top 25 teams already, you have to think they will certainly make a bowl game. They might be good for four or five more wins in 2008.
4. Utah (6-0): This is why SOS is so bogus. As Michigan continues to play its Big Ten schedule, it will just strengthen Utah’s SOS. Is that right? No. Yes, the Utes beat the Wolverines, but when Michigan plays all the bowl-bound teams in the Big Ten, it just over-inflates Utah’s SOS. Silly.
5. Penn State (6-0): Speaking of the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions are in control right now, but that was a lackluster win over Purdue. A win is a win, but PSU was blowing bad teams OUT, in Sooner fashion, prior to this weekend. Stay tuned ...
6. Texas (5-0): Like the Sooners, the Longhorns have been blowing teams out. Good sign. This should be an epic battle this weekend. Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, good ol’ fashioned gunslingin’ time.
7. Missouri (5-0): Two battles on unbeatens this upcoming weekend in the Big XII, as Mizzou will take on Oklahoma State. Then Missouri plays Texas after that. You have to like the way this plays out for Mizzou: they get the Cowboys at home, and then they get the Longhorns – who will be SORE, win or lose against Oklahoma. I know this storyline is stale, but are there three better QBs in the country than at the top of the Big XII?
8. Northwestern (5-0): You know, they really haven’t played a good team yet, but they are undefeated. The BCS wins are against Syracuse, Duke and Iowa. Their biggest win, MOV-wise, was against Southern Illinois. I am not sure what to make of them, and hosting Sparty isn’t going to tell us much, either. Stay tuned ...
9. LSU (4-0): Still not impressed. Two wins over SEC foes by a combined 15 points. The five-point win on the road against Auburn is more impressive than a ten-point win at home over Mississippi State. With games remaining against Florida, Georgia and Alabama, they have a rough road ahead. This upcoming game at The Swamp will tell us all we need to know about the defending B(C)S “champs”.
10. Texas Tech (5-0): They finally played a BCS team, and they won by 30 points. They are blowing teams out, too, for the most part. They also have two probable wins up next before they play four ranked teams in a row: Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Time will tell on this one.
11. Boise State (4-0): They have that nice win at Oregon, but the SOS is all down hill from here. Sagarin has them at #9, and the pollsters have them in the Top 20. It could be a dogfight between the Broncos and the MWC winner (if undefeated) for that solo non-BCS slot in the BCS. Heh.
12. BYU (5-0): The Pac-10 wins are nice, but they mean little in 2008. And like Utah, the more UCLA and Washington play, the higher the Cougs’ SOS will go. In the end, though, it comes down to that Utah game AND Boise State’s run through the WAC. Oh, the irony ...
13. Oklahoma State (5-0): They have two wins over BCS teams, so maybe they should be higher. But I think the Cowboys’ defense is about to be exposed as fraudulent.
14. Ball State (6-0): Sagarin has their SOS higher than LSU’s, which is just silly. See my comment above. Plus, they lost their star WR for life, so ...
15. Tulsa (5-0): They’re blowing teams out, too. But who cares? It’s Conference USA, and they haven’t even sniffed a BCS team this season. They do play at Arkansas on November 1, though.
16. USC (3-1): I have a feeling that if the Trojans finish 11-1, they’ll have a pretty good shot at the BCS title game. But as we know, the Trojans often lose interest in the bad teams on their schedule. And no team left on their schedule is currently ranked (although that may chance in time). Buyers beware, self-included.
17. Wake Forest (3-1): The only game Wake has scheduled against a currently ranked team is their last regular season game when they host Vandy. I bet they’re smoking mad they lost to Navy, for they could win out the rest of the way. And no way a one-loss ACC champ makes it to the title game, unless every other BCS conference has a two-loss champion.
18. Virginia Tech (5-1): Wins over Georgia Tech and North Carolina are going to look better as the season progresses, as the ACC is better than we might think. The Hokies have their next five against BC, FSU, Maryland, Miami-FL and Duke. I wouldn’t like that stretch if I was Virginia Tech.
19. Georgia Tech (4-1): We’re on an ACC run here. The Yellow Jackets can win their next three games (Gardner-Webb, though), and then we’ll speak more of them.
20. Georgia (4-1): Sure, they still control their own destiny in the SEC East, but they don’t look as good as the hype suggested. We may not know how good they are until that game at LSU on October 25, where both teams may be fighting for their BCS lives.
21. North Carolina (4-1): They host Notre Dame next, and since the Irish themselves are overrated, nothing will be learned about the Heels until they play BC, Georgia Tech and Maryland in consecutive weeks later on. But I would never bet against Butch Davis.
22. Ohio State (5-1): So I watched the second half of the game against Wisconsin, and this much I know is true: Terrelle Pryor is good, already. The schedule is favorable, too, for our favorite BCS punching bag. They get PSU and Michigan at home, and even though the game against Illinois is on the road, I feel there will be some payback involved for last year. We may seriously be looking at a BCS title game featuring USC and tOSU, and no one wants to see that (which means it won’t happen, since the BCS isn’t about determining a true champion; it’s about money and TV ratings!).
23. Florida (4-1): I do think Florida has a chance to run the table, too, and provided they can win the SEC title game (no easy assumption, considering), tOSU won’t be in the title game. I would pay to see USC and Florida fight it out, though.
24. California (4-1): There was a hierarchy here to maintain amongst four relatively even teams, due to H2H matchups. The Golden Bears came out on top, because I can’t rank a team that lost to Bowling Green.
25. Michigan State (5-1): I suspect our resident Sparties were on the verge of breaking shelves as MSU tried to give away another game that their opponent tried to hand to them first.

Also considered: Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Minnesota, Cincinnati, TCU, Kansas, Kentucky, South Florida, Boston College, Florida State, Arizona