Monday, October 24, 2016

College Football: At The Halfway point - What I got wrong. (A mid-season Top 25)

Besides thinking I would have enough time to do enough research to properly pick games that is.

1. The FIVE. This year's FIVE has been an unmitigated disaster.  As such, it's going on hiatus for the remainder of the year.  I MIGHT bring it back next year, but more likely I'll probably try something different.  Last week I was 0-5 FWIW.  Not that you expected anything different.

2. The UCLA Bruins. I honestly thought this would be UCLA's year. I thought they had enough talent, and that USC would be down, and they would finally win the PAC-12 South, the conference championship, and get a playoff berth.  Uh, yeah....no.  What I failed to take into full consideration was the utter incompetence of their head coach.

3. The USC Trojans. I wasn't surprised to see them lose early, but I am surprised that they have displayed the resiliency to come back strong.  As it stands now I like their chances in the PAC-12 South.

4. Houston. What I thought was a team that would go undefeated, and still miss the CFP, is a team that's now not even going to win it's division, much less the American conference and has some glaring holes on both the offensive line and in the defensive backfield.

5. Penn State. I'll be honest, I thought they would be bad.  And while they're not great, they're certainly not the mess that I thought they would be.  Kudos to James Franklin.

6. Ohio State. They need an O-line, badly.

7. Nebraska. It's appearing that I whiffed on some of the B1G teams.

8. Michigan State. I thought they would backslide a little, but not to this level.  My goodness. Still, it's Michigan week and this game is ALWAYS close.  As a Wolverine's fan I'm still worried about the trip to East Lansing.

9. Auburn. After their star running back was dismissed from the team in pre-season I thought they were done.  As it stands, they might be the 2nd best team in the SEC right now.

10. Texas aTm. I had them at 7-5. To be fair however, they could still get there.

11. Baylor. I thought that this personnel under Jim Grobe would be a nightmare. And while they've yet to play anyone significant they have looked much better than I thought.

12. TCU. I, and pretty much everyone else, didn't foresee them being THIS bad.

13. Tennessee. Another case where I liked the talent, but underestimated the awfulness of the coaching staff.

14. Texas. I thought this might be the year they turn it around. Not beating OU or anything but at least making a bowl game. That's in doubt now and it's possible that Charlie Strong is a fired coach who just hasn't been told yet.

15. Florida State. Jimbo, Jimbo. What happened?  All that talent and, so far, two absolute truckings to show for it.  Ugh.

16. NorthWestern. Is actually pretty good.  Who knew?

17. Minnesota. This team should be much better than it is, but they blew it on replacing Kill.

18. Game length. I, incorrectly, thought that CFB would take steps to shorten the games and make them more watchable.  Something needs to be done stat.

19. Targeting. I don't know what targeting is obviously, but neither do announcers, and the rule-makers themselves.  Because everyone seems to be ignoring 1/2 of the rule, especially when Alabama is involved.

20. Michigan. Yes, they're my team, but I seem to have underestimated them a little. This defense is really, really good.

21. The Big XII. I assumed they had competent leadership.  I was wrong.

22. Arizona State. Somewhat better than the tire-fire I thought they might be.

23. Arizona. I thought Rich-Rod would keep them from tire-fire status.  Wrong.

24. Eastern Michigan. I mean, NO ONE saw this coming right?

25. Alabama. Not that they would be good, but that they would be THIS good, and clearly the best team in the country right now. (and it's not close)

All of the above stated, I'm not willing to give Bama the title just yet. There's a LOT of football left to play.

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