Deadspin
Dan Shanoff writes a weekly college football column for Deadspin. Email him to let him know what you think.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — I'm spending the week embedded in SEC country. That alone probably should have been enough for me to abandon last week's prediction that Virginia Tech would beat LSU in Baton Rouge, let alone my asinine (if admirable) preseason position that Virginia Tech would win the national title.
But I accept the reality: LSU is awesome. The Tigers' offense hung 48 points on what was arguably, coming into the season, the best defense in the country. (Adding insult to injury, LSU's D can now claim that "nation's best defense" title, too.)
Friends: That's your No. 1 team in the country.
Indulge me a brief rant about this week's AP and Coaches' Top 25: While LSU was busy obliterating a Top 10 team, USC was battling it out with that perennial strength-of-schedule booster: "Idle."
I was hoping that voters would see the lunacy of keeping USC at No. 1 ahead of No. 2 LSU simply because ... USC was there last week — and didn't lose. Alas, 2/3 of AP voters favored inertia over evidence.
If we go by our own eyes, rather than preseason bullshit, LSU is clearly the best team in the country. This week, and every week until another contender delivers a more impressive win. Just don't expect LSU to lose:
LSU's four toughest remaining games — South Carolina, Florida, Auburn and Arkansas — all come in Baton Rouge. (Compare that to USC, which still has to play AT Nebraska, AT Washington, AT Oregon, AT Cal and against intra-city rival UCLA.)
You don't have to be drinking the SEC Kool-Aid like me to have watched that game on Saturday night and to have seen just how ferocious —- how relentless — LSU is this season.
Merely two weeks into the season, we have our top contender. The pollsters can keep ranking USC ahead of the Tigers, but fans know what we have seen.
More from this weekend: (1) OK, so maybe TCU isn't this year's Boise State... (2) Then again: This year's Boise State isn't this year's Boise State either... (3) Given Washington at 2-0 versus Notre Dame at 0-2, ND couldn't possibly have been worse off with Willingham in Year 7 than Weis is in Year 3... (4) Is the best coach in college football South Florida's Jim Leavitt?... (5) Steve Spurrier could win at Georgia if he had Lee Corso as his QB playing with a baby arm.
This Week's Bandwagon: So who will be Michigan's next coach? It's funny to imagine Michigan fans last week saying, "Well, at least it can't get worse." But, amazingly, it did: The most lopsided loss by the team in multiple generations. So it's not "if" but "when" the team starts looking for a new head coach...
... Because we all sure as hell know it ain't gonna be Lloyd Carr for much longer. I'm not in the camp that he should be fired. He ought to do the right thing and just resign, giving defensive coordinator (and presumptive in-house candidate Ron English) a shot at salvaging the season.
Meanwhile, Michigan fans should root for alumnus Les Miles to win a title this season at LSU. With nothing left to prove there, Miles might just be persuaded to rebuild Michigan's broken program. Double-digit wins consistently out of the Big Ten is easier than in the SEC.
Other should-be Michigan coaching contenders:
1. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
2. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
3. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
More Ranking Ranting: I'm not quite sure why South Florida winning at a ranked Auburn or Washington solidly beating AP favorite Boise State wouldn't merit making the Top 25 this week. But, hey: A handful of voters took advantage of the new "App State" rule and had the Mountaineers in their Top 25. So there's that.
My BlogPoll ballot Top 10
1. LSU
Hard to see who can stop them.
2. USC
Good luck with that road schedule.
3. Rutgers
Rare contender with O/D balance.
4. Louisville
With that offense, who needs a D?
5. Oklahoma
Not quite as bullish as AP (No. 3)
6. West Virginia
Last week's No. 1. No D, either.
7. Florida
Can Tim Tebow play defense, too?
8. Texas
Considering I picked TCU...
9. Cal
Beat USC or bust.
10. Oregon
Don't penalize for Michigan's Hep-D.
Rising: South Carolina (14), Georgia Tech (15), Washington (22)
Check out the entire ballot here.
Looking Ahead to Next Week's Schedule:
Notre Dame (Unranked) at Michigan (UR): It's the first annual Schadenfreude Bowl, pitting two winless giants to see who sucks worse.
Pick: Who cares?
USC (1) at Nebraska (14): I know the Pac-10 schedule suddenly looks a hell of a lot tougher, but who else would LOVE to see USC lose NOW?
Pick: USC.
Boston College (UR) at Georgia Tech (15): Not sure how BC is still unranked by the AP, but winner of this could be the next ACC champs.
Pick: Georgia Tech.
Boston College (21) at Georgia Tech (15): Forget Virginia Tech: This game could be the de facto ACC Championship.
PIck: Georgia Tech
Tennessee (22) at Florida (5): See below. The Gators are overrated, and I say that as a Florida fan. Erik Ainge could skewer UF's porous D.
Pick: Florida.
Louisville (9) at Kentucky (UR): Showdown between the first two QBs taken in the 2008 NFL Draft: Brian Brohm and Andre Woodson.
Pick: Louisville.
Ohio State (10) at Washington: After last week's win over Boise State, all of a sudden, the Huskies look REALLY tough to beat in Seattle.
Pick: Washington.
Arkansas (16) at Alabama: Houston Nutt and Nick Saban should get to guest-host PTI. Not crazy to call this a must-win for Saban.
Pick: Arkansas.
The Bandwagoneer On the Road:
Apologies to everyone at the Florida-Troy tailgates who I didn't get a chance to see. I'll be at The Swamp again next week for Tennessee, this time hanging out with a couple of surprise college football "celebrities." More next week.
Send any comments, criticisms or questions to danshanoff-at-gmail-dot-com.
Comments
Rutgers at #3? Apologies to Metschick, but that's just crazy talk.
As for your college football celebrities, I really hope you scooped up Gino Toretta.
Bill Cowher to Michigan
asinine
It's spelled "assnine"
So the tailgate crashing went well? How much did you charge for photos?
Louisville at #4 is crazy. You can't give up that many points to Middle Freakin' Tennessee I don't care how good the offense is.
I hope Notre Dame saved the receipt for Charlie Weis.
Spurrier has only won at Georgia twice.
UT vs. UF. Pick: Meteor.
Kirk Ferentz isn't going anywhere.
It feels comfy again on the Blacksburg bandwagon.
I'm glad Saturday was just a repeat of five years ago when Tech had to pull Grant Noel for Bryan Randall after realizing they were doing shit with Glennon, and Jack just left town.
4. Bo Schembechler, pissed-off ghost
Miles is the dream candidate for Michigan, he'll appease all the old school tradition people by being a former Bo, Moeller and Carr assistant but he'll appease the win at all costs crowd by running a new better offense.
Ron English would do a great job, but he's unproven. Lloyd won't quit until the season ends, so he can get his bonus in. Which is good because interim coaches is how we ended up with Carr in the first place.
I thought when people left ESPN, they stopped making outrageous claims for attentions sake?
@Unsilent Majority: Well played, Mr. Untouchable.
@public enemy #1: The can't return Weis. The botched gastric-bypass surgery invalidated his warranty.
If Middle Tennessee State can light up Louisville's D, think about what Oklahoma, Frorida, Txas, Cal, et al. would do. I don't care about Louisville's offense; it's cliche, but defense wins championships.
Right now it's USC, LSU, and Oklahoma, mayyybe Florida, and then a BIG gap between the next tier (West Virginia, Cal, Rutgers, Texas, etc.)
LSU gets off easy this year because they don't have to face the powerhouse that is Vanderbilt!
Maybe Cam Newton and John Brantley can play DB. After all, Tebow is made of stone and he's our only skill position player not injured.
Matt Ryan needs to change his name to "Colt" so more people will care about him.
Rutgers at #3? Nah. I'd put GT and PSU in the top 10, and drop RU and U of O (not Top 10 yet).
LSU, USC, OU, WFV, UF, UT, Cal, GT, PSU, Louis
Re: The Weis bashing...
Uh, no they would not be better off with Willingham in year 7. Willingham didn't recruit for dick during his last two years in South Bend. Plus Weis didn't get to recruit his first year as he was still offensive coordinating the Patriots to another Super Bowl win.
So that's a three-year gap in talent. That's what Weis is dealing with.
Willingham with these players would be 0-3. I say that as someone who hates hoe Wilingham was let go, and man am I impressed with the job he's doing at Washington. But he was coach of the year in the Pac-10 2x at Stanford, so maybe he's just more of a Pac-10 guy. He wasn't getting it done in South Bend.
This year is going to be brutal in South Bend, but it will get better very, very quickly. So if you love to hate Notre Dame, soak it up this year because it won't last long.
Yeah, yeah... I know "dick joke."
@preciousroy: Well put. Also, it is incredibly difficult to replace someone as talented as Brady Quinn. Just ask the staff down at the Blue Oyster Bar.
@McCroskey: Incidentally, Michigan hasn't won a game since Bo kicked the bucket
I was kind of starting to like USF, aka Florida's Sloppy Seconds, until I noticed that their fans were all wearing mardi gras beads.
West Fucking Virgina t-shirts >>>> mardi gras beads.
@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus: So instead of Matty Ice, we could call him Colt 45?
@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus: Eh. I was at that game on Saturday. He wasn't spectacular by any means.
if (rutgers == 3) then
{
navy = 20;
buffalo = 24;
}
@Suss--: I need that in Python.
Va. Tech had the best defense in the country? Is this the same D that gave up 31 points to a suspect UGA offense last year?
VT seems to get a pass on the fact that, other than 2 trips to the Sugar Bowl (losing both), they've accomplished precious little. Yet, they are seemingly constantly ranked in the top 10 come the beginning of every season.
(Too soon?)
@Sh!tShow: Now there is a great idea
@preciousroy:
"So if you love to watch Notre Dame get blown out in the regular season rather than get blown out in bowl games, soak it up this year because it won't last long."
@The Gentleman Masher: Well I was going to say I wanted them to lose because if they somehow made the national championship game the entire tWWL world would spin out of control.
@The Gentleman Masher:
No different than Notre Dame always being ranked and getting bowl bids...it's reputation and name recognition.
That defense looked suspect against the ECU running game. VT may not finish the year ranked at all.
If Schiano didn't accept the head job at The U, there's no way he's leaving Rutgers for Michigan. Nice to see the Scarlet Knights at #3, with them and PSU ranked high, the northeast is well-represented.
No way Schiano's going to Michigan if he didn't bolt Rutgers for the U last spring. Nice to see the Scarlet Knights at #3, they're the only football team from North Jersey that has a win right now.
@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus:
Word up - though BC's defense is carrying them this year. 12 turnovers in two games = happy Superfans.
Also, Dan, I see BC at 21 and 19 in the AP poll / Coaches poll.
Rutgers # 3 is ludicrous. But I want to know what Shanoff knows about Corso's baby arm.
I'm just thrilled that Georgetown has the same record as Notre Dame and Michigan.
BC will be beating Georgia Tech. Tech hasn't faced an actual QB yet, and the Eagles' defense has been ballhawking.
I want to see UW beating OSU; I just can't call it yet. Five Pac-10 teams in the top 25 would certainly be a nice thing to see.
@VTBen: Oops i didn't mean to post twice like that. Shitty wireless connection...
@Signal to Noise: And BC has yet to face a real running back or defense.
It'll be a good game, regardless. One that we could see again in Jacksonville.
As an Auburn fan, can I call into the sports talk to get their opinion on Cox?
/and then snicker for 5 minutes
Right, Michigan's defense has been really terrible of late, unable to improve and/or adjust to the same offense four games in a row (you know, things that are normally associated with competent coaching), so give the head coaching job to the Defensive Coordinator. That DOES make sense.
Arkansas at Bama is way more of a must win for Nutt than it is Saban...
but then again, seeing Rutgers at #3 and Louisville at #4 was my cue to stop reading anyway
@MattMillenFanClub:
Cowher is not coming to UM. Also- considering that Ron English's defense has given up an average of 500ypg in the four-game losing streak, I don't really think he is a "presumptive" anything.
@83tilinfinity: I was about to say the same thing. Giving up 34+ points 4 games in a row is always a good argument for promotion.
asinine (if admirable)
Something that's admirable: Dying while shielding your students from a crazed gunman's bullets.
Something that's decidedly NOT admirable: Making a fucking MNC pick.
@preciousroy: You mean, those Willingham players that Weis took to 2 BCS Bowl Games?
You're right - they sucked.
Still room on the Bullsaw bandwagon, Daniel.
Or would that react violently with SEC Kool-Aid?
@BigTDog: But why the reputation for Va. Tech?
They really only had one great year (Vick's Freshman Year), and ever since then have been considered an elite program for some reason, despite falling flat on their face for 2-3 games a season.
@BigTenObsession: Don't apologize to me, I'm not the one who would rank them at #3.
(I love you, Dan.)
@Signal to Noise: This is the truth.
BC's run defense has allowed 58 yards rushing total this year. GTech's going to have to rely on their freshman QB through the air.
@Camp Tiger Claw: Saturday was Ryan's worst game since the 2004 debacle against Syracuse. Very uncharacteristic. Plus his recievers dropped about 8 or 9 passes.
@The Gentleman Masher: Those playes were from Willingham's first full class and are gone. What part of "last two seasons" were you unable to understand?
@Weed Against Speed: Once you open the cover, you've bought it.
@The Gentleman Masher:
Because they're always ranked high! -- duh
/sarcasm
i'm about as big of an LSU fan as they come and even i was blown away by what i saw on the field on saturday. bring on middle tennessee state!
You thought VT was going to win the national title? And which offensive line and QB did you think they were going to use for this magnificent feat.