Category: College Football (Page 262 of 296)

Yes, I know Miami isn’t the powerhouse they once were and it’s only the second week of the season, but Oklahoma looks mighty impressive. Sam Bradford to Malcolm Kelly looks awfully pretty and you know Bob Stoops’ defense is always nasty.

As long as Texas doesn’t get tripped up like they almost did last week against Arkansas State, their match up with the Sooners on October 6 should be outstanding.

The updated college football polls are out and one team not included in the top 25 was the Michigan Wolverines. USC, LSU, West Virginia, Florida and Oklahoma fill out the top five.

Somebody asked me over the weekend how far Michigan would fall in the rankings, to which I answered, “If you have any faith in the voting system, then they should be completely excluded from the top 25…so in other words, they should be ranked somewhere around 18.”

Not that I’m going to go out of my way to back the college football pollsters, but nice job fellas – you got one thing right out of thousands of Bud Selig-type mess ups.

With all eyes on Michigan getting out coached, out schemed and out played by Appalachian State yesterday, another top ranked team who almost fell victim to the upset flew under the radar. Texas, who I chose to play LSU in the national championship game in my college football preview, had to hold off a fourth quarter comeback and an onside kick to defeat Arkansas State 21-13. Near upsets happen all the time and are seemingly popping up more than ever.

I’ll tell you what, these top dogs better start paying attention to the smaller schools. Not only are these games nice for the athletic department to make some money for the program, but if you win like Appalachian State did, you have a recruiting tool forever. “We just beat Michigan and it will be talked about as one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Want to be a part of that kid?” Long are the days where these schools just roll over and die – all these teams will now feel like they have a chance, which will force bigger schools to re-think their “tune-up” games.

If yesterday was any indication, it appears that these smaller schools aren’t messing around anymore.

Dear Michigan Wolverines football program:

If you continue to run the same offense you ran three decades ago, you give a Division 1-AA program a chance to defend you.

If you continue to refuse to learn how to stop a non-conventional offense, you give a Division 1-AA program a chance to score on you.

If you just assume that teams are going to be caught up in the hype of the “Big House” experience, you give a Division 1-AA program a chance to beat you.

Believe it or not Michigan, other programs across the nation use a spread offense. Other programs have mobile quarterbacks. So if you continue to play 1970-style football, more programs like Appalachian State are going to roll into your house and beat you like the Mountaineers did Saturday. Gone are the days where programs lie down at your mercy because you’re rated fifth in the nation. Update your schemes or risk falling even further behind your competition.