After four weeks of football,
what do we know? There still doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut
couple of teams headed to Glendale, Ariz., for the National
Championship game in January. More than half of the teams
in the coaches poll Top 10 have played weak schedules. In
fact, only Ohio State, USC, Florida, Michigan, and Auburn
have played opponents that have winning records, going 8-4,
9-7, 9-7, 8-6, and 8-8.
The other Top 10 teams
opponents’ all have sub-.500 records. Those teams that play
weaker schedules might have a vulnerability or two exposed
along the way causing them to drop a game that will take
them out of the hunt for that elusive national title. For
example, last weekend we learned that WVU is not as dominant
on the road as at home. Later in the season, WVU travel to
both Louisville and Pittsburgh, which are teams with better
talent on both sides of the ball compared to WVU’s last
opponent, East Carolina. The Mountaineers’ next game is on
the road against a not-so-easy Mississippi State team.
In the first weekend of the
season, we found out that California is not that great of a
road team either. Since that first game against Tennessee,
however, the Golden Bears have trounced their opponents by a
score of 133-54. Next up for Cal is a road game Reser
Stadium in Corvallis to face the fearful Oregon State
Beavers. This will be a real test for Jeff Tedford’s team
to see if they are able to win on the road and steak a claim
to the Pac-10 title and a possible berth in the Rose Bowl.
Virginia Tech is probably the
most vulnerable team in the coaches poll. The Hokies
offense is starting out slow each game this season so far
and is highly relying on the defense and special teams to
keep the games close. On Saturday, Georgia Tech visits
Blacksburg for the second straight year. Defensive guru Jon
Tenuta will have multiple schemes that the Hokies starting
QB Sean Glennon will have problems recognizing. In this
game on Saturday, look for a lot of delayed blitzes and
forced turnovers by the Yellow Jackets as they knock off a
Top 10 opponent.
One thing that surprised me
from the games I watched this past weekend were the number
of victories that were solidified by defensive interceptions
as the clock was ticking towards 0 in the fourth quarter.
Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and Washington each were in close
games until their defenses stepped up and shutdown their
opponents’ offenses that were driving down the field toward
victory. Could this be the second year since 1950 that a
defensive player wins the Heisman Trophy? (Charles Woodson
from Michigan won the trophy in 1997, but he played as a DB
and a WR that season.)
I was going to mention
something about Rutgers being 4-0 at this point, making it
into the Top 25 for the first time since 1976, and being two
games from a second year of bowl eligibility, but the media
are jumping all over the Scarlet Knights. I wonder why the
media are making such a stink about this Big East team when
Houston, Missouri, Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Purdue, TCU, and
Boise State are all unbeaten. Missouri, Purdue, and Texas
A&M will all play harder schedules than Rutgers and all have
4-0 records. It’s amazing that they are lower in the
rankings than Rutgers.
Dangles
In last week’s article, I
stated that Virginia's Al Groh might be experiencing his
penultimate coaching game, indicating this coming weekend’s
game against Duke would be his last. Later on during the
week I learned that Groh signed a contract extension last
year that guarantees him the balance of his contract if he’s
let go for “unjust reasons”. In the commonwealth of
Virginia, having a horrible, losing season is legally not
“just reason” for firing. Unless the University of Virginia
is willing to take on a huge debt, it’s likely their program
will remain in the doldrums until his contract expires in
the year 2010. That is such a shame for a once proud
program.
Also in last week’s article
all my picks were correct, except for the game between
California and Arizona State. The victor was picked
correctly, but the spread was off by a few touchdowns. I
figured that Arizona State would put up more of a defensive
front than they did. Cal is now on track for second place,
if not first, in the Pac-10. The game against USC on Nov.
18 could very well decide who wins the conference.
Perks
As
much as I disparage Notre Dame when ever I get the chance, I
do have to say that Brady Quinn is definitely hot! He might
not get the Heisman, but I’m sure he’ll get plenty of
accolades from readers of Outsports.
Related:
Week
3 recap
Week
2 recap
Week
1 recap
Our Top 25
Burning questions and hot players
