AP Top 25 College Football (for week 4)

Like every week at this time, the Associated Press releases their top 25 for college football. Here it is:

1. USC Trojans (43)
   
2. LSU Tigers (22)
   
3. Oklahoma Sooners (0)
   
4. Florida Gators (0)
   
5. West Virginia (0)
   
6. California Bears (0)
   
7. Texas Longhorns (0)
   
8. Ohio State Buckeyes (0)
   
9. Wisconsin Badgers (0)
   
10. Rutgers (0)
    
11. Oregon Ducks (0)
    
12. Boston College (0)
    
13. Clemson Tigers (0)
    
14. Kentucky Wildcats (0)
    
15. Georgia Bulldogs (0)
    
16. South Carolina Gamecocks (0)
    
17. Virginia Tech Hokies (0)
    
18. South Florida (0)
    
19. Hawaii (0)
    
20. Missouri (0)
    
21. Penn State (0)
    
22. Alabama Red Tide (0)
    
23. Arizona State (0)
    
24. Cincinnati (0)
    
25. Nebraska (0)
    

Well, there you go. The only suprises for me has to be that Nebraska stayed in the top 25, Cincinnati was entered into the mix, that Georgia was not moved up more after beating a good Alabama team and that Arizona State was entered in at #23. That's why I don't make the decisions for the AP.

NCAA Football Top 25 (after Week 4)

Again, I will do my version of the top 25 for NCAA Football Division I. So, after another crazy Saturday, I will go through the whole top 25 and work on my ranking skills:

1. USC Trojans (3-0 1-0)
   
2. LSU Tigers (4-0 2-0)
   
3. Oklahoma Sooners (4-0 0-0)
   
4. Florida Gators (4-0 2-0)
   
5. West Virginia (4-0 0-0)
   
6. California Bears (4-0 0-0)
   
7. Texas Longhorns (4-0 0-0)
   
8. Wisconsin Badgers (4-0 1-0)
   
9. Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0 1-0)
   
10. Oregon Ducks (4-0)
    
11. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-0)
    
12. Virginia Tech Hokies (3-1)
    
13. Boston College Eagles (4-0)
    
14. Georgia Bulldogs (3-1)
    
15. Clemson Tigers (4-0)
    
16. Hawaii Warriors (4-0) (Game Still In Progress)
    
17. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-1 1-1)
    
18. Penn State Nittany Lions (3-1 0-1)
    
19. UCLA Bruins (3-1)
    
20. South Florida (3-0)
    
21. Michigan State Spartans (4-0 0-0)
    
22. Kentucky Wildcats (4-0 1-0)
    
23. Missouri Tigers (4-0 0-0)
    
24. Miami (FL) (3-1 0-0)
    
25. Virginia Cavs (3-1 3-0)
    

There you go with the newest list! USC dominated Washington State, LSU beat a ranked opponent, Oklahoma scored 62 points, Florida had a little problem with Mississippi, WVU ran like crazy against East Carolina, the Cal Bears are playing very well, Texas has finally woken up and destroyed Rice, Wisconsin won by 4 points, Ohio State won by about 50 points at home, Oregon keeps on winning, Rutgers had the week off, Virginia Tech played well against William & Mary. Boston College is playing well, Georgia got a huge win in Alabama against the Red Tide in overtime, Clemson got an ok win, Hawaii was winning the last time I checked the score, South Carolina got a disappointing loss in Death Valley against LSU, Penn State also got a disappointing loss against 1-2 Michigan in the Big House, the Bruins got thumped last weekend when they were at #10 but I think they have turned it around, South Florida is the surprise of 2007, Michigan State thumped Notre Dame (which was not that hard this season), Kentucky got a big win against Arkansas, Missouri has not convinced me yet, but they just keep on winning, Miami (FL) thumped Texas A&M which was #20 at the time of the game and Virginia is at the top of the ACC right now by winning 3 conference games all ready.

The NCAA weekend in a paragraph. I will have the AP Top 25 tomorrow when it comes out and see how many I got right (more like how many I got wrong).

Enjoy,
Ryan

AP Top 25 (Week 4)

The NCAA Bowl division AP Top 25 was released today after an exciting Saturday of games...text came from Yahoo! Sports:

AP Top 25

1.  USC (46)
2.  LSU (19)
3.  Florida
4.  Oklahoma
5.  West Virginia
6.  California
7.  Texas
8.  Ohio State
9.  Wisconsin
10. Penn State
11. Rutgers
12. South Carolina
13. Oregon
14. Boston College
15. Clemson
16. Alabama
17. Virginia Tech
18. Louisville
19. Hawaii
20. Texas A&M
21. Kentucky
22. Georgia
23. South Florida
24. Nebraska
25. Missouri

Well, after looking at the polls for today from the Associated Press, I got 7 out of 25 correct and didn't see two or three coming.  I can see Alabama coming, but not all the way up to #16, I would have put them at about 20 or 19 and then make them show me that they can win on a consistent basis.  Kentucky at #21 is a little high for me, put them at about 24 or 25.  The rest looks good for me and after a big weekend, there is a lot that was changed and we have new teams into the top 25 like South Florida after upsetting Auburn when Auburn was undefeated.  Missouri was entered at #25 after beating Western Michigan at home 52-24.  Missouri's big test is against #24 Nebraska on Oct 6 and then @ Oklahoma on Oct 13.  Their ranking will be short lived.

My Football Top 25 (after week 3)

After every weekend of bowl division football, I am going to put down my top 25 based mostly just on my instinct and also statistics (Wins & losses and who they beat) and I will have who the team is playing next.  I hope you enjoy and put your input if you would like to.
Ryan

1. USC Trojans (2-0 0-0)

2. LSU Tigers (3-0 1-0)

3. Oklahoma Sooners (3-0 0-0)

4. Florida Gators (3-0 0-0)

5. West Virginia (3-0 0-0)

6. California Bears (3-0 0-0)

7. Wisconsin Badgers (3-0 0-0)

8. Texas Longhorns (3-0 0-0)

9. Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0 0-0)

10. Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0 0-0)

11. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-0 0-0)

12. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-0 1-0)

13. Louisville Cardinals (2-1 0-0)

14. Oregon Ducks (3-0)

15. Virginia Tech Hokies (2-1)

16. Boston College Eagles (3-0)

17. Clemson Tigers (3-0)

18. Georgia Bulldogs (2-1)

19. Hawaii Warriors (3-0)

20. Texas a&m Aggies (3-0)

21. Arkansas Razorbacks (2-1)

22. Nebraska Corn Huskers (2-1)

23. Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0)

24. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-1)

25. UCLA Bruins (2-1)

 

Ok, that is my top 25 for college football after the 3rd week and is up for controversy which is good.  I really liked Alabama this week and was disgusted with UCLA which is why they dropped from 11 to 25 this week.  Cal has been tearing it up against quality opponents.  I don't like how Texas has been playing yet...struggling against lower quality teams so far.  I hopefully will be doing this after every week and again this is all me.
Enjoy,
Ryan

Big Problems at Notre Dame

Image found on USA Today web site

To say that Notre Dame's head coach Charlie Weis is having trouble with his new Freshman starting quarterback Jimmy Claussen is being nice. The Fighting Irish started out the college football season 0-2 which is not good at all and then Charlie has a true freshman as his starting quarterback. The first start of Clausen's college career was against Pen State in Happy Valley in front of over 100,000 fans covered in white. Then, he got in a bus and went to Ann Arbor, Michigan to play in front of over 110,000 fans covered in blue and yellow.

At the beginning of the season every year, fans of Notre Dame and Michigan lick their chops at this weekend's game because both teams are usually in the top 25 in the polls and are undefeated, but this season was totally different. For the first time ever, both teams started the season 0-2 and Notre Dame's offense was hideous.

In the game against Michigan, the Fighting Irish put up a total of 86 yards compared to 379 for Michigan. The Irish were shut out once again losing 38-0. Chad Henne was out for the game with an injury so the Wolverines started a freshman Ryan Mallett, a 6 ft 6 inch 250 pounder who was 7/15 for 90 yards and 3 touchdowns. Mike Hart, the outstanding Michigan running back during this last week guaranteed a win against Notre Dame right after Michigan got destroyed by Oregon and he put his performance where his mouth was: 187 yard rushing in 35 attempts with 2 touchdowns and 14 yards receiving.

Before I go, I understand that it is not all the quarterbacks fault mostly because most of the offense line is completely new and that most of the starters (offense and defense) left after last season, but still this was a joke. I know Charlie Weis has worked hard but I used to love to watch Notre Dame win games against big opponents but now they are getting destroyed. It almost looks like they are in the playoff division playing teams in the bowl division.

Week in Review

OK, some big things happened this week in sports. One thing that is huge is in college football with Notre Dame and Michigan. Both starting 0-2 for the first time ever in their wonderful history. Notre Dame's offense is a big 0fer for the first 2 games without putting a single point on the board. They started with 3 quarterbacks and that was a big mistake and then appointed Jimmy Clausen as the single starter which was a good idea by Weis. I think if Notre Dame can take a single bad year Clausen will pull it together and be a wonderful quarterback not just in college but also in the NFL or CFL (or NFL Europe).

Michigan is a different story...Lloyd Carr is in a pressure wash and the only way to get out of it is to resign. Michigan won't fire Lloyd in the middle of the season because they would look bad, but everybody is pressuring Lloyd to resign as the head coach to make everybody's life much easier. The team started at #5 in the preseason polls when they were going to play Appalachian State (division II team). Everything was going to be easy for big Michigan against the Mountaineers but that did not happen. Michigan only lost the game by 2 points in the end but the score didn't show how bad the Wolverines played. The wolverines were outplayed and out-coached in the end and got destroyed. It was in my mind the biggest upset in the era of college football. There was outrage in Michigan and so after days of players and coaches addressing the pissed off fans they went up against the Oregon Ducks which just got off of a game in Oregon against Houston (W 48-27) and Oregon brought the offense that Michigan could not and still cannot defend: the spread offense. Oregon went into the "Big House" and destroyed the Wolverines just like the Mountaineers did a week ago. The Ducks piled 624 total yards against the vaunted Wolverines defense, 331 on the ground. The final score was 39-7 and the Michigan senior quarterback was injured during the game (Henne). Now, against Notre Dame Michigan will have a true freshman against the Notre Dame defense. The first time Notre Dame and Michigan have been both 0-2 starting a season in college football ever.

LSU has been dominating by shutting out Mississippi State 45-0 and destroying #9 Virginia Tech in Louisiana. I think LSU should be considered #1 in the polls just because how they have dominated the other teams they have played. I know #1 USC has only played one game because in week 2 they had a bye but still, USC had issues with Nevada at home.

In the NFL, we have a story that expanded very fast is the Patriots spying case which was resolved last night by the commissioner Roger Goodell. During the Patriots-Jets game in New York on Sunday during the game an individual was video taping the Jets coaches and sideline looking for signs and hand signals (stealing signals), the Jets head coach, which coached under the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick for a few years tipped off to the NFL that the Patriots were video taping the Jets sideline. The NFL took a video camera and tape with them and sent it to New York (it didn't have to go far) and looked at it. The NFL commissioner yesterday came down hard in the coach and organization for what they did. The New England head coach was fined the maximum the NFL can fine players/coaches $500,000, and the Patriots team has to pay $250,000. Also, the Patriots will lose a draft pick: if they make the playoffs this season they will lose a first round draft pick and if they don't make the playoffs their 2nd and 3rd round picks. I think that was a big penalty not just the money the team/coach has to pay at a total of 3/4 of a millions dollars in fines and to lose their picks for this next season is huge for "cheating" in the rule books for the NFL. Belichick said he misunderstood the rule, but I think that wasn't fully true, the guy is a genius and couldn't read a simple rule?

More names in the human growth hormone (HGH) era are coming out in the news from various sources. The first large one was Jason Giambi and now the feel good story of Rick Ankiel of the Saint Louis Cardinals is now tainted like everything else in MLB. Ankiel got HGH shipped to him from a Miami doctor who also is being indicted by the government. What's interesting about this story is that HGH was not banned in MLB until 2005 and Ankiel received and supposedly used the supplement in 2003-2004 during his rehab from surgery he had. Ankiel today told the St. Louis Dispatch that he talked to baseball officials to talk about HGH. Baseball's one feel good story this season that was going to take them away from steroids and hgh was destroyed by another big name that used the "juice" during the era of all eras.

Greg Oden (#1 pick by Portland Trail Blazers this season) went in and had micro-fracture surgery on his right knee and will likely be out this next season at least. LeBron James had surgery on his eye to improve his sight...LeBron James now having better sight is something that players on different teams are scared about. Boston Red Sox still have best record in MLB which is good and it looks like the Yankees will make it in as the Wild Card Spot but they have to play the LAA Angels which they have been outplayed and killed by playing the Angels in the past playoff series.

There was more that went on in the past week of sports, but from now on I will post at least once a day about big stories and my take on them.
Enjoy,
Ryan