Week 5 was supposed to be another exciting week of top 10 games and the Red River Rivalry. Conference schedules started to be in full force, too. The top 10 games fizzled, but the conference play sizzled. Here are this week’s Monday Musings.
1. The SEC is officially down. The preview of the SEC championship game was a very lopsided 31-6 blowout. Georgia is 1-4. LSU is in contention for the title “worst 5-0 team.” Ole Miss lost to Jacksonville State. Tennessee squeaked past UAB in overtime. In a year that Alabama had to replace virtually its entire defense, they look to be tested only twice (Arkansas and Auburn), and that is with six conference teams having two weeks to prepare for the Crimson Tide.
2. The torch is officially passed. Tim Tebow was king of college football for the last three years. Everyone was star struck with the quarterback in Gainesville. He accumulated eye popping offensive stats. With Tebow off to the NFL, the torch has been passed to Denard Robinson. Get ready for a three year love fest with the sophomore quarterback in Ann Arbor. Robinson accounted for 5 TDs on Saturday as he passed for nearly 300 yards and ran for over 200 more. On the season he has a 179 pass efficiency rating and leads the nation in rushing (908 yards) by nearly 200 yards!
3. The worst 5-0 team. LSU makes a strong push for this title, but Northwestern definitely takes the cake. The Wildcats biggest win is 37-3 over Illinois State. The rest of the wins are one point over Minnesota (1-4), five points over Central Michigan (2-3), 17 points over Rice (1-4), and two points over Vanderbilt (1-3). Got a problem with this Northwestern? Well, you have a chance to show me something October 23 against Michigan State.
4. What is your favorite color? The Temple Owls love the color brown. With running back Bernard Pierce out with an ankle sprain, Matt Brown picked up the slack and carried 28 times for 226 yards and 4 TDs. Temple needed every yard to beat Army 42-35 and move to 4-1 on the year.
5. The warning light better be on. With the conference schedule swinging into full force, some top teams better have taken notice to what happened Saturday, or they will not be among the ranks of the unbeatens much longer. Ohio State struggled to beat Illinois. They better shape things up in Columbus before they face the likes of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. LSU barely escaped Tennessee in a game best described as a “comedy of errors.” Oklahoma, congratulations on finally beating Texas. It wasn’t pretty, but you did it. Now, get back to work so you don’t lose to a Big 12 North team.
6. Gutsiest call. Chip Kelly reached into the Sean Payton bag of tricks and used an onsides kick to get back in the game against Stanford. Down 21-10 early in the second quarter following a 29-yard TD pass by Darron Thomas, Oregon recovered an onsides kick and drove down to make it a four point game.
7. Hear come the Hokies and Beavers. We all knew that Virginia Tech and Oregon State were slow starting teams. Much to the satisfaction of Boise, Idaho, both teams are ramping up their speed. Virginia Tech is on a three game win streak after downing previously undefeated North Carolina State, 41-30. The Hokies are 2-0 and first in the Coastal division of the ACC. Oregon State got a solid win against Arizona State to move to 2-2, but isn’t that what we all expected? Remember those two losses are to top 5 teams. Oregon State is ready to play the spoiler role in the Pac-10 and if they play their cards right, they will find themselves in Pasadena.
8. The worst FBS team. While some teams have been astonishingly good and fun to watch, others have been atrociously bad and painful to watch. The sad part is deciding the worst college football team is harder than choosing the worst 5-0 team. In the end, the winner (or loser) is New Mexico. Whether it is Oregon or UNLV, New Mexico has not been competitive in any of their games.
9. Doomed to fail? After Gene Chizik was hired by Auburn, all the experts and pundits said Chizik was in a situation where it was impossible to succeed. He had a 5-19 record at Iowa State in two years. The public backlash was huge. Charles Barkley even got mixed up in it. Eighteen games, a 13-5 record, a top 10 ranking, a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, and the Chizik hire appears to have paid off.
10. No surprise this time. The last two years, Iowa has surprised everyone and knocked off an undefeated Penn State team. The Hawkeye’s 24-3 win over the Nittany Lions this weekend came as no surprise to anyone. Penn State is reloading on offense and Iowa is expected to push Ohio State for the Big Ten title.
For the results to last week's opinion poll, click here.
For the latest College Football Haven Top 25, click here.
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