Week 3 brought some upsets, some big wins, and some establishments of dominance going forward. Here are some things that I noticed.
1. Alabama is dominant. - I'm not going to jump on the media bandwagon and say "no one can beat them" because, of course they can be beaten. But to hang with them it's going to require a talented team with a brilliant game-plan executed perfectly. And some luck to boot. At this point the Crimson Tide are sitting at 3-0 and they're looking likely to be 8-0 when they head to Baton Rouge in November. The Aggies might put up a fight, but the game is in Tuscaloosa where 'Bama hasn't lost since the days of Johnny Football.
2. Georgia is pretty good too. - Last year both Alabama and Georgia made the College Football Playoff. This year it's not unthinkable that this could happen again. The Bulldogs have eclipsed 40 points in every game so far, and their high conceded is 17 against South Carolina. In reality the Bulldogs have two tough games remaining on their schedule, LSU and Auburn. Like Alabama they DO have to travel to Baton Rouge, which sets up nice for the Tigers.
3. HOW good is LSU? - In terms of "resume" there's an argument to be made that LSU should currently be the top team in the Country. They destroyed then top-ten ranked Miami and won a close one over still top-ten ranked Auburn, on the road. As mentioned previously, they have their two toughest remaining games at home. IF they survive that their hardest remaining test is Texas aTm on the road. This could be a special season for LSU.
4. Did Jimbo see this coming? - Florida State is BAD. And they are severely depleted in talent on the offensive side of the football. Coach Willie Taggert has a history of rebuilding programs, and it looks like he's going to need to do the same thing in Tallahassee. The question now is, Did Jimbo Fisher see this mess in the works and decide to jump-ship to aTm in advance. If so that should raise some warning flags for fans of the Aggies because it was he who oversaw the decline in talent at Florida State. Also, LOSE the turnover backpack. It's horrid and football karma dictates that you will stink until it goes away.
5. Who's going to be the Group of 5 New Year's Day team? - It was a bad day for Group of 5 favorites. Boise State, who I thought would be good, got humbled by a decent Oklahoma State team in Stillwater and Houston, who I also thought would be good, forgot how to play defense and got rolled by a pretty average Texas Tech team. If Houston head coach Major Applewhite isn't on the hot seat, he should be. Right now the leader in the chase to NY6 is UCF, but I would not count out North Texas. The Mean Green's humiliation of Arkansas (including the best punt run-back to date) was a signature win and the rest of their schedule is doable.
6. Bad weekend for the B1G. - We know this much, Ohio State is pretty good, possibly Penn State as well, but the rest of the conference is mediocre at best. And then there's Iowa, who never looks all that good but continues to win games, wave at the children's hospital and otherwise fly under the radar to 10 win seasons. Michigan is still not a dominant team. Nebraska is struggling under new coach Scott Frost and the rest of the conference is facing rough waters.
7. The Big XII appears to be better than we thought. - We knew Oklahoma would be good, but Oklahoma State and West Virginia might be up there as well. Texas bounced back well against an USC team that might not be good at all and after that it starts to get a little shaky. Kansas State is starting to show signs of life and Iowa State still looks poised to pull an upset or three. Baylor looks hopeless but we now live in a world where the Kansas Jayhawks are on a 2-game winning streak. TCU's reputation did take a pretty good hit however, although they did compete against the Urban Meyer-less Buckeyes.
8. What to make of Notre Dame? - They're 3-0, but they haven't looked like world beaters in two of the three games. Oddly enough, the one game where they did look impressive was against what is, on paper, the best team they played. Their next three games are a step up in competition, as they travel to Wake Forest before hosting a tough Stanford team and then traveling to Blacksburg to face a resurgent Virginia Tech squad. We're going to know exactly who they are after those three games.
9. Stanford might be the best team in the PAC-XII. - And it could not be all that close. We'll find out for sure over the next two weeks when they have tough back-to-back road tests against Oregon and Notre Dame. IF the Cardinal get through that the rest of the schedule is suddenly looking a LOT easier, and a possible path opens up to the CFP. Of course, the November game in Washington will be key. Still a long way to go.
10. The Desert Rug-Rats have taken care of business. - UNLV is now sitting at 2-1 and are looking at the toughest part of their schedule in the upcoming weeks, facing Arkansas State on the road, New Mexico at home, Utah State on the road and then Air Force comes to town. If the Rug Rats can go 2-2 in these games a bowl game berth will look very likely. Any better and it should almost be a certainty, and worse and it's an uphill climb.
And Finally.....
11. The CFP continues to ruin college football. - Outside of College GameDay on ESPN, there is no quality college football analysis on TV. Fox has spit the bit, relying on Clay Travis too much while CBS continues to fumble around in SEC land, NBC is a non-entity and much of what you read online is more focused on silliness, or too overly reliant on the CFP to provide much insight. It won't happen because of TV deals, but I really believe college football would be better off if the CFP was scrapped and we returned to the old bowl system. Including a return to the primacy of New Year's Day games. Free College Football!!
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