Mid Season Report

MID SEASON Report
Time to review the start of the 2009 college football season. Unlike the polls, I decided to wait until we’ve had a chance to review the results before analyzing which teams and players are leading the way through the first 7 weeks of the season. Mind you, next week we may have a slightly different view based on the large number of season changing games coming up this weekend.

First up, my Top 5 (cause honestly, who cares about the rest…)
1. Alabama – played the tougher schedule based on their win over Virginia Tech to open the season. They look the most complete at this point, but their inability to move the ball down the field on the deep pass will be their undoing against better defenses. The win at Ole Miss last weekend may be a bit overrated, considering how fast everyone’s preseason darling in Oxford has fallen.

2. Florida – I’m not sold on Tim Tebow (more on that later) but at this point, they are still undefeated, have won the biggest test on the road of any team this year, and still have those 11 returning starters on defense from the National Champions from 2008. Honestly, who doesn’t want a Florida vs Alabama SEC Championship game?

3. Texas – The questions will be answered this month with games against OU,
Missouri, and Oklahoma State. If the Horns find a running game to match their improved defense, and figure out why Colt McCoy keeps turning the ball over, they should find themselves matched up nicely to play Nebraska in the Big 12 title game with a BCS Championship birth on the line.

4. Iowa - I hate the Big 10, we all know this. However, this is an undefeated team from a legitimate conference with wins over teams from other big conferences. Granted they tried to lose to some FCS (formerly I-AA) schools a few times, but until they lose, they belong here. Assume the 3 teams above them all lose and Iowa finishes undefeated. They deserve the spot in the title game.

5. Virginia Tech – The best one loss team out there. Why? Because their loss came to the #1 team. Other than that, don’t expect much from the Hokies. Going forward, I anticipate a loss somewhere. Their win over Miami looks pretty good for now.

There are some obvious omissions here. First of all – where is USC and Ohio State? Where they belong, out of the top 10. USC beat Ohio State in Columbus (by the way, whatever happened to Ohio State not losing at home after dark?) then went to Washington and laid an egg. Conclusion? Both of these teams just aren’t that good. If their names were Notre Dame or Iowa, they’d be lagging outside the top 25.

Second – where is Cincinnatti? There has been heavy talk about the Bearkats running the table, winning the Big East, and getting a National Championship shot. Two thoughts here: 1) Based on how the BCS works, if Cinci runs the table and everyone else loses once, they absolutely HAVE to be in the title game. The Big East is still a BCS conference, and if voters refuse to acknowledge their unblemished season with a birth, the BCS would surely fall. 2) If Cinci runs the table and makes it into the BCS title game, it would be the worst thing to happen to college football since the great Auburn hosing of 2003. Cinci plays in the Big East. The weakest conference out there! The Mountain West boasts better teams than the Big East. You can rest assured BCS Conference commissioners are cheering for a loss from every team in the Big East as the season moves along (as are the head honchos at ESPN and ABC who will carry the BCS games this year).