The game of the decade/century or whatever era you wish to call it, between Ohio State and Michigan proved to be anything but what it was supposed to be. While Ohio State prevailed 42-39. and will, undoubtedly hold on to the #1 spot, many things were left understated, and lots of things remain questionable after the game maybe moreso than before.
First, I would have bet the better part of my salary for the week, that this game would never have gone over 60 points. I expected more of a 31-21, or 35-17 game, but I’ll bet that almost no one would have taken an O/U of 80. Don’t get me wrong, this was a game between, clearly, the two best teams in America. In such game I tend to favor the team with the best defense, and usually will give that edge to win championships. However, both teams disappointed me from a defenseive standpoint. Henne passed for almost 300 yards and Troy Smith passed for a little over. To be honest, the defenses just weren’t there, and that worries me a bit. I came away with the feeling that we could play this game 10 times and each team would win 5, because neither really outshone the other.
In the meantime, USC came up big. They pulled their typical cat and mouse 1st half, and made their famous 2nd half adjustments and held Cal to less than 80 yards of total offense in the 2nd half and ZERO points to win their 32nd straight home field win 23-9. Florida, impressed NO one by beating Western Carolina 62-0, a score that upper tier Texas High Schools migh achieve against Western Carolina, pretty much. Arkansas won convincingly over a rather poor opponent and while they clinch the SEC West, win no extra style points in doing so.
Rutgers, seemingly now falling victim to the “Big-East Undefeated Curse” choked and lost to Cincinatti, so next week’s game against West Virginia will be just another game.
So with all that you may or may not be surprised at my rankings this week:
1. Ohio State (12-0) – Beat Michigan 42-39 . Next Week: Season Over.
2. Michigan (11-1) – Lost to Ohio State 42-39. Next Week : Season Over.
3. USC (9-1) – Beat California 23-9. Next week: Notre Dame at home.
4. Florida (10-1) – Beat W. Carolina 62-0. Next Week: At Fla State.
5. Notre Dame (10-1) – Beat Army 41-9. Next week: At USC.
6. Arkansas (10-1) Beat Miss State 28-14. Next Week: LSU at home.
7. Louisville (9-1) – Beat So Florida 31-8. Next Week: At Pittsburgh
8. W. Virginia (9-1) – Beat Pittsburgh 45-27. Next week: So Florida at home.
9. LSU (9-2) – Beat Ole Miss 23-20. Next week: At Arkansas.
10. Texas (9-2) – Idle Saturday. Next Week: Tex A&M at home
11. Auburn (10-2) – Beat Alabama 22-15. Next week: Season Over
12. Georgia Tech (8-2) – Beat Duke 49-21. Next Week: At Georgia..
13. Wisconsin (11-1) Beat IBuffalo 35-3. Next Week: Season Over.
14. Oklahoma (8-3) – Beat Baylor 38-10. Next week: At Oklahoma St.
15. Boise State (11-0) – Beat Utah St 49-10. Next Week: At Nevada.
16. Tennessee (8-3) – Beat Vanderbilt 39-10. Next week: Kentucky at home..
17. California (8-3) – Lost to USC 23-9. Next week: Stanford at home (Dec 2)
18. Rutgers (8-1) -Lost to Cincinatti 30-11 . Next Week: At West Virginia.
19. Virginia Tech (9-2) – Beat Wake Forest 27-6. Next Week: At Virginia at home.
20. Wake Forest (9-2) – Lost to Va Tech 27-6. Next Week: At Maryland.
21. Boston College (9-2) – Beat Maryland 38-16. Next Week: At Miami
22. Brigham Young (9-2) – Beat New Mexico 42-17. Next Week: At Utah.
23. Nebraska (8-3) – Idle. Next Week: Colorado at home
24. Maryland (8-3) – Lost to Boston College 38-16. Next Week: Wake Forest at home.
25. Clemson (8-3) – Idle. Next Week: So Carolina at home.
Most Impressive team(s): USC, West Virginia
Least impressive team(s): Rutgers, Wake Forest
