IT'S NOT QUITE AS GOOD AS IT SEEMS
Well played Notre Dame, well played. I can't stand the fact that you were getting more coverage than the Michigan State team that I thought had a chance to win the Big 10. So, I'm eating my words this morning and that's alright. Notre Dame's schedule gets much easier from here, they do have USC in South Bend on October 22, and at Stanford in the last game of the season. If Notre Dame can go 9-3 I would call that a HUGE step in the right direction for Brian Kelly, and after that display of pass coverage yesterday I would give them a solid chance to do so. Does it warrant as much coverage as OU, Bama, and Wisconsin? NO, but this is a much better team than I thought.
Florida is good, Florida is very, very good. We should have known, it's not like Urban Meyer left a bunch of chumps or Mountain West players in the program when he left, no, he just got top 5 recruiting class after top 5 class while coaching and now Willy boy Muschamp will have a legitimate shot at winning the East. Brantley still doesn't look quite like he was advertised coming out of high school, but Charlie Weiss is doing a great job with him. The Gators are only going to get better and with the caliber of athlete at DT, DE, and LB in Gainesville, Muschamp is loving the different blitz packages he can use to cause problems for the new QB's of the SEC. Beating a bad team with a good quarterback is not what I would call a signature victory for Muschamp, but it's a start, will Florida lose a few this year? yes, but will they be in games late with a chance to win? Absolutely, I can't imagine this team getting blown out, not with that defense.
Texas might have found their guy at QB, which is tough to understand given he's the guy the offense was built for starting 6 years ago. No doubt about this, they've found their running back! Malcolm Brown the true freshman is the real deal, quick, fast, explosive, and surprisingly difficult to bring down even though he hasn't had a full year in that really good Texas strength and conditioning program. If you're a RB recruit thinking about Texas this year, think again, Malcolm Brown will be holding that job down for awhile. Case McCoy is his older brother, Colt. He scrambles around, makes good throws, probably has a little bigger arm than Colt, but doesn't need a huge arm, he can extend plays and use his legs to pickup yards. Is the spread back in Austin? I sure hope so, college football is better when Texas is good and everyone can hate them for it. The Brown run game with McCoy to Shipley combination could bring that offense back from the grave, and if the defense can make some improvements they could potentially challenge for #2 in the Big 12/10.
Might as well say it, GOOD LUCK beating the Sooners this year. While I'm still not sure how overrated Florida State is, I think they're less overrated than I thought. They can really make plays on defense and EJ Manuel really impressed me while he was in. Obviously, like any NCAA QB with 3 games under his belt, he needs some time to realize where he can and can't throw the ball. Oklahoma, Landry Jones, Ryan Broyles, that incredible offensive line, and Dominique Whaley looked like a team on a mission to win a National Championship. I'm finding it hard to see the Sooners dropping a game on their remaining schedule, especially the way they played on the road in a very unfamiliar place.
IT'S NOT QUITE AS BAD AS IT SEEMS
Florida State, great job, great job EJ Manuel, great job defense, great job Jimbo Fisher. I didn't think you had a chance to hang with the Sooners like you did and if you get a couple of throws back the outcome could be very different. Florida State should win the ACC outright and win easily. Although, Miami and Virginia Tech are formidable foes, it's going to be tough to beat the Noles this year.
Michigan State still has a good chance to win the Legends Division, especially after I watched a very mediocre Nebraska team get punched in the mouth at the line of scrimmage and the Huskers (Martinez excluded) looked slow. Maybe Stevie boy has just done some serious recruiting at Washington, but I'm fairly certain Nebraska is not near as fast as I thought they were. So it's a Michigan State, Michigan, and Nebraska chase for the Legends Division title and while I'll still give the edge to Michigan State even after the egg they layed yesterday, I lost just as much respect for Nebraska.
I give Nebraska essentially no chance to go into Madison and get a W, that Badgers team just looks so, so good. Russell Wilson is quickly becoming one of my favorites for the Heisman this year. That running game is just punishing, and if that defensive secondary can hold up in East Lansing, I don't see how Wisconsin loses a game this year. I'll never say a trip into The Shoe is a guaranteed W, but the level of play we're accustomed to in Columbus is nowhere near the reality that exists this year.
Ohio State's offense IS what we know it to be, overrated and over compensated. After Miami's mediocre offense lit them up, it's hard to see the Buckeye's creating many storylines, well other than those related to ineligible players. The battle of the ineligibility bowl proves why cheaters never prosper, well actually the cheaters prospered but everyone else is going to face stiff consequences. Can you imagine being the Ohio State players? You'd have to be frustrated with your alumni base, I mean Come'on Ohio State alums!!! Miami players were partying with a millionaire criminal, partying on yachts with paid entertainment, paryting in high profile places with high profile people, and you had your prized players hanging out in a tattoo parlor. A tattoo parlor is the best you got? If I'm a Buckeye this morning I'm transferring to Miami!!! Why would I hang out in the cold, terrible town of Columbus Ohio when I could go to South Beach, hang out with "models," and party with millionaires? It's not like I have anything to do after Thanksgiving either way.
Speaking of "not as bad as it seems," the SEC looked terrible in Week 3. Auburn, who we knew going into this year would be in the bottom half of the West, finally looked like they were suppose to, inept. They got rocked by Clemson and the game wasn't quite as close as the score made it seem, Clemson should have won more decisively. South Carolina seemed completely disinterested in football yesterday and were lucky to get out with a W against Navy. They were coming off of an emotional win over Georgia and came home to Navy challenging the talented LB's of SC all night definitely qualifies as a trap game, and SC almost got trapped. Arkansas came out and just ROLLED over Troy early, but the defensive secondary looks incapable of stopping anyone. This defense was suppose to be better and I just don't think the improvement is going to be enough. Troy moved the ball with ease and the Hogs passing game looked terrible. The second half and final score should give Razorback fans reason to be concerned going into Tuscaloosa next week, after what I saw my first reaction was, "CRAP, Alabama is going to murder Arkansas." After watching the first half back again and realizing how difficult it must be for this Razorback team to play 6 halves of meaningless football just before a bigtime matchup with Bama, it's possible the Hogs got bored and came out disinterested in the second half. If that second half team shows up against Bama, it's going to get ugly, but if the first 5 halves of this season's team shows up, it's going to be a lot of fun to watch on CBS at 2:30 CT next Saturday.
Even after all the great football yesterday, the highlight was conference realignment. Pittsburgh and Syracuse in the ACC will mean a very, very good slate of basketball games. I can't wait to watch the basketball in the ACC when all this gets ironed out, especially if the ACC also adds UConn and Rutgers in the next few days, but if I'm Florida State, Virginia Tech, or Miami, do I want to stick around in a conference that is clearly showing they have no interest in increasing the caliber of the biggest money sport, football? Maybe, it'll be good to be the first 16 team conference, but if I'm a high profile football recruit thinking about Florida State or Virginia Tech I'm starting to realize the number of games NOT on television is increasing, not decreasing.
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