The Shuffle certainly has an appropriate name this week, doesn’t it? Instead of doing the usual Saturday Shuffle tonight, I thought I’d devote tonight’s shuffle to all of the shuffling and shaking up that there’ll be in the upcoming polls thanks to an upset-filled week to cap September. Every college football season, there seems to be a week where things are just downright crazy.
Maybe we got that day out of the way this week, but if there are more of these to come, Oklahoma (if they’re crowned the new #1) better not get too settled in their new perch just yet, and neither should anyone else.
You should’ve known that things were going to be a little nutty when Oregon State knocked off USC on Thursday night, but that was just the beginning.
At the end of it all, with the dust finally clear, three of the top five teams went down, four of the top nine, and all told, seven top-25 teams were upset. If you’d like to throw in losses by TCU and Illinois, and it’s pretty easy to tell that the top 25 – and next week’s blogpoll for me – will look a whole heck of a lot different than it did a few days ago.
Of all of the upsets, the masses might look at USC and Florida’s losses as the most surprising, considering the opposition, and Georgia’s, considering the way that Alabama just dominated proceedings for the majority of the game, but look a little closer, and with the exception of just how convincingly the Tide won, those are all explainable and not so earth-shattering.
I felt good about Michigan’s chances to pull out the win against Wisconsin, and even though it took a half (and five more turnovers) for them to overcome their Notre Dame hangover and wake up, the Wolverines made a huge comeback, and that just may be the turning point in making their rebuilding/transitional season a little more than that.
Clemson blowing a 17-6 halftime lead and going down to Maryland? It’s a 60-minute game, Tigers, not 30. Cullen Harper hasn’t quite lived up to his preseason billing, much like his team hasn’t as a whole. After all that they did to regain a little respect after getting slapped in the mouth by Alabama in their opener, they went and undid it.
East Carolina’s loss to Houston? They escaped at Tulane, but the ground has collapsed under them in the last two weeks. Their offense really isn’t built for shootouts, which didn’t bode well for them with their defense allowing Houston’s high-powered offense to go for 621 yards.
Really, the most surprising one, at least in my opinion, is Wake Forest’s loss at home to Navy. Even with the Middies’ high-powered rushing attack, they had struggled against their best opponents (losses at Ball State and Duke), and Wake came into the game defending the run well. However, Navy did just what they needed to do to win, and it wasn’t by running for 450 yards (they ran for 315). They stopped the run, and forced Riley Skinner to do more than just be a game manager and be efficient like he is best suited to do, which resulted in four interceptions and six total turnovers for Wake – a big difference in a 24-17 loss.
On that note, the already-maligned ACC took a big hit, thanks to their ranked teams both going down to unranked teams at home. However, Virginia Tech has made a big resurgence since losing their opener to East Carolina, with Saturday’s win at Nebraska making it four straight wins and likely cementing a return to the top 25, and Maryland has fully atoned for losing at Middle Tennessee State with two wins over ranked teams in their last three games.
So where does everyone stand after this weekend?
The losses by USC, Georgia, and Florida certainly throw quite a wrench into the national title race – for the moment. It’s still very early, and there are so many matchups left. For example, LSU has to play Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, and Texas has Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Kansas.
In the end, Pete Carroll might not be feeling too hurt after Thursday night’s loss, because even though the Trojans will at least fall out of the top five, their fall shouldn’t be catastrophic considering the losses by the teams below them. If they can run the table and let the chips fall as they may above them, their chances of ending up in the national title game are still more than fair.
Alabama’s certainly a big winner with their very, very impressive win at Georgia, and the Crimson Tide should jump into the top five after a 41-30 win that was much more dominating than the final score indicates. I’ve been waiting to really be convinced about the Tide’s worth as a top-10 team and a potential national title contender, but I suppose I should be a believer now, eh?
Another really big winner is Penn State, who should move into the top 10 after a convincing win over Illinois, which is basically the icing on their cake this week, what with their win over Oregon State looking a lot prettier right now. Ohio State still might be considered the favorite in the Big Ten, especially now that they seem to be in sync under center, and they’ve got a healthy Beanie Wells back, but PSU is going to be the highest-ranked team from the Big Ten come next week, and they clearly look like the team best placed to challenge the Buckeyes for the conference title and maybe carry the flag for any national title hopes that the Big Ten might still harbor.
But, if anything, it almost helps if you didn’t play today, because Missouri and Texas Tech should both move up at least a couple of spots without having to do anything, and BYU should move into the top 10 by virtue of Wisconsin’s loss, and they could go a little higher, depending on how much USC and Florida get punished for their losses to unranked teams (and Georgia, for that matter, for getting whipped at home).
Slowly but surely, BYU is sneaking ever higher in the poll, and as much as it could irk those who don‘t care for the ‘little guy‘ getting some love, the Cougars could be inching into the contender conversation.
The most interesting note to take from the wild week is the fact that five of the seven upsets occurred at home (USC and Wisconsin were the only roadies). So much for home-field advantage, huh?
Looking ahead to next week, there are some interesting games ahead. Wisconsin-Ohio State and Vanderbilt-Auburn might be the headliners, but USC-Oregon should be a good one, and in the Big 12, Missouri (at Nebraska), Texas (at Colorado), and Texas Tech (at Kansas State) must be on upset alert.
You’ve got to college football, right? If you don’t, you’re certainly missing out, and if you do, I hope you‘re strapped in.
