Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1460 of 1503)

With the new AP and USA Today Top 25 polls posting over the weekend, it’s time to take a look at the top 10 in college football.

Newsflash – the two polls disagree on who is the second best team in the nation. While the AP likes Michigan in the #2 role, USA Today has tabbed USC. Both polls have Auburn back in the top 10, while the USA Today has dropkicked Florida all the way to #10.

Personally, I think the USA Today poll is ‘California Dreamin’ in having USC ranked #2. At least Michigan has rolled through its competition – the Trojans have escaped for three straight weeks. Plus, the Wolverines hammered Notre Dame on the road. Who has USC beaten? Nebraska at home? Please…

Here is how I see the Top 10:

1. Ohio State (7-0)
Stop Ted Ginn Jr. and you have Anthony Gonzalez to worry about. Stop Ginn and Gonzalez and you have tailback Antonio Pittman running up your back. Troy Smith’s accuracy is even better than his big-play potential on any given play. I think it’s staggering that he has a completion percentage of only 68.2 so far this season. It seems like the guy is completing passes at a 90 percent clip.

2. Michigan (7-0)
Sweet bastard, that Michigan-OSU game at the end of the year is shaping up to be a battle of epic proportions (at least in the sports world of course). I hear that these teams don’t care much for each other. Hopefully the fans of each school can get together before the game and decide who will bring the food and who will bring the beverages for tailgating purposes…good grief, if somebody doesn’t end up in a wheelchair before the start of the game, I’ll be shocked.

3. Texas (6-1)
The Long Horns have flat out crushed teams after losing to Ohio State earlier in the year. Redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter against Baylor and then came back in the second half and added three more to his total just for the fun of it. Texas is starting to get its defense back on track – the unit caused five turnovers and limited the Bears to just 30 yards on the ground.

4. USC (6-0)
The good: The Trojans are finding ways to win late in games. The bad: they’re still playing late in games that should have been over with heading into the fourth quarter. The ugly: USC turned the ball over twice and was penalized nine times for 94 yards against Arizona State last Saturday, prompting a Sun Devil comeback that fell just short.

5. West Virginia (6-0)
The great debate of ‘who have they played?’ rages on for West Virginia. But come on – the Mountaineers have a quarterback in Pat White who just rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 carries. Plus, they have a running back that is capable of putting up those same numbers (and has for that matter) in Steve Slaton. Winning is contagious and I bet if the WV defense could at least keep the stiffer opponents at bay – the combination of White and Slaton would win out against teams like Florida, Auburn and Tennessee.

6. Auburn (6-1)
What do you do with the SEC? Auburn beats LSU, but falls to Arkansas. Florida beats LSU and Tennessee, but losses to Auburn. Tennessee takes Georgia through the wood chipper but loses to Florida. Yikes. Great win for the Tigers against the Gators, even though the Auburn defense and special teams did all of the dirty work. QB Brandon Cox has gaudy numbers, but I can’t see this kid winning a game on his own. If he could, I bet we’re still talking about the Tigers ranked #2 right now.

7. Florida (6-1)
I did it again – I jinxed another team in my College Game of the Week. There has only been one program that has been able to go on to victory after I picked them to win in my game of the week and that is Ohio State (twice). Sorry Florida fans, I’ll take sole responsibility for the Auburn loss. The Gators now fall in line with Miami (FL), LSU (twice) and Michigan State in teams I’ve ruined seasons for (although MSU has done enough on its own to ruin its season). Somewhere, coaches around the nation are trying to get my phone number so I don’t butcher their team’s season as well.

8. Tennessee (5-1)
Tough crowd – the Vols fall a spot in the power rankings and didn’t even play on Saturday. I think Tennessee is a solid team, but I see them as the third best team in the SEC behind Auburn and Florida (hence the #8 ranking).

9. Louisville (6-0)
Wow, the two national polls have Louisville ranked at #6. I guess that 23-17 victory over the powerhouse that is Cincinnati has the voters seeing Cardinal red. I’ve defended Louisville being in the top 10 in my power rankings (sometimes even over tougher SEC opponents), but I won’t defend them like I do West Virginia.

10. Notre Dame (5-1)
I strongly tussled with putting Clemson here at number ten. But then that would mean that I think the Tigers are better than both California and Notre Dame and I don’t think they’re quite there yet. I think I’ll let either the Irish or Bears play themselves out of the top 10 spot or Clemson to play itself into #10…

Here are your college football players of the week.

Remember, if you feel that another player was worthy of higher honors than the two I chose, post the athlete and let me hear why you think he or they were more deserving.

Remember though, the two athletes I pick are usually going to be on a team that played somebody other than the nerds from the Revenge of the Nerds movie.

That’s just how I roll – here are your top performers of the week:

Offensive Player of the Week: Colt McCoy, QB Texas
RULE BREAK WARNING: Okay, so I’m about to break my own rule about selecting a player who didn’t play a tough opponent, but how many times during a season does a QB throw six touchdown passes? McCoy lit up Baylor for 275 yards passing and six touchdown tosses in a 63-31 victory over the Bears on Saturday. McCoy had three touchdown passes in the second quarter alone and broke James Brown’s school record for touchdown passes in a single game (Brown had five).

Defensive Player of the Week: Ramel Meekins, DE Rutgers
How about a small school hero making the player of the week honors? Meekins had 12 tackles, two sacks and three forced fumbles in a 34-0 shutout of Navy on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights remained undefeated on the season and are now 6-0 for the first time since 1976. Rutgers also held a Midshipmen team that had been averaging 351 yards on the ground, to just 161 total yards offensively. Meekins’ individual performance was amazing – the kid was like a one-man wrecking crew.