This Is My Top 25. There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine: Week 3
With another week coming in and another week past us (with a little time to digest it) we’re getting a much clearer picture of the college football picture. The Big Ten is officially on notice after their underwhelming performances from last weekend, while the Pac-12 and SEC are looking like the best of the best, with the Big 12 falling not far behind.
Oregon and Notre Dame remain the two teams that most impressed me over the weekend. Michigan State is far from a slouch, and even though they were playing on the road, what Oregon did to them was the next step in their ascension to championship contender. Being unable to play the physical ball that’s typically commonplace in the SEC and Big Ten was a knock on Oregon and their system, but they showed it can easily dispatch some of the more traditional powers.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame managed to absolutely confound a Michigan team that looked exciting the week prior. People might want to overreact and throw Devin Gardner to the bench, but the problems for the Wolverines go way deeper. Notre Dame, meanwhile, might have a legitimate Heisman candidate at quarterback, and though we’ve heard this storyline play out before, it doesn’t make it any less intriguing.
Onto the top 25:
The Terps still haven’t managed to crack the top 25 in anyone’s poll, but perhaps that will change with a victory over South Florida this week. Nah. They’re still going to need to go undefeated heading into Indiana to convince voters (including our site’s voters) that they’re a true threat. I’m pretty sure every voter remembers the premature ranking against Florida State and what transpired that game, so they’re going to be a little more cautious.
14 thoughts in 14 lines
Probably watching you a little more closely this weekend: Virginia Tech
Probably not watching you at all this weekend: Vanderbilt
Thought you were good, you were: Oregon
Thought you were bad, you weren’t as bad: Rutgers
Game you couldn’t get a ticket for: Penn State vs Rutgers (8:00 PM on BTN)
Game no one wants a ticket for: Portland State at Washington State
A little overrated: Georgia
A little underrated: TCU
Lamb for slaughter: Wyoming
Smells like an upset: West Virginia over Maryland
Best power conference: SEC
Worst power conference: AAC or Big Ten
No need to panic: Michigan State
Start freaking out: Texas
So many feels for you in week 3: Big Ten
The pervasive storyline heading into this weekend of football is easily the Big Ten’s credibility issue. I know one thing for certain: the Big Ten does have a problem in that it has no contenders yet for the CFB playoff after those awful losses last weekend. But social media (looking at you, Twitter) has caused some pretty serious knee-jerk overreactions to every single little thing, that there’s a tendency to write teams off early for no reason. Mainstream media members are guilty of it, too. One terrible weekend does not a season make.
What happened to perspective in college sports? Did the SEC have a problem when Clemson beat Georgia to start the season last year? Virginia Tech lost their first game against Alabama last year, too, and it’s historically one of the three best teams in the ACC every year. Teams lose early all the time, and to lambast Michigan State for getting beaten down in Eugene (and wipe out their season) seems a bit hyperbolic.
Florida State was the only team to go undefeated last year out of the power conferences; every other team slipped up along the way. It happens every single season. Sure, the Big Ten has absolutely had an issue right now, but considering the best team in the Big 12 has had two or more losses four out of the past five seasons, I think they’ll be alright. The ACC went from laughingstock of college football to “Hey, they’re actually decent now!” thanks to one Florida State season.
If you want to talk bigger issues moving forward in the Big Ten (like how badly the East division will cannibalize itself every year while the West is mired in mediocrity) then let’s talk about it. But don’t write off the conference this early. So many feels for you
College Football Haiku:
Is the power five
Fannie May and Freddie Mac;
too big to falter?