The Underdog BITES!

In a season that continues to serve up the unexpected, both former #1 LSU and former #2 California lost – the first time since 1996 when #’s 1 & 2 lost on the same weekend. I’m guessing the bookies are having a tough season because the point spreads have been screwy too. Perhaps the 85 scholarship limit has finally caused parity to break out?

Not one of the conferences is dominant. The SEC is bad this year, the Pac 10 is looking bad, the ACC is horrible, the Big 12 looks soft, the Big East looks weak, and everyone knows the Big 10 is bad (though, I don’t think the B10 is any worse than the SEC or Pac 10 this year.) This year more than others it seems that talent levels have evened out and any team can beat another given the right circumstances (turnovers, home field, weather, etc.)

OSU Opponent Watch

• Youngstown State (5-2) – Played Southern Utah at home, won 23-22. Conclusion: Tougher than Expected Win
• Akron (3-4) – Played Temple at home, lost 20-24. Conclusion: Unexpected Loss
• Washington (2-4) – Played Arizona State on the road, lost 20-44. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Northwestern (4-3) – Played Minnesota at home, won 49-48 in 3OT. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Minnesota (1-6) – Played Northwestern on the road, lost 48-49 in 3OT. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Purdue (5-2) – Played Michigan on the road, lost 21-48. Conclusion: Unexpected Loss
• Kent State (3-4) – Played Ohio State on the road, lost 3-48. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Michigan State (5-2) – Played Indiana on the road, won 52-27. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Penn State (5-2) – Played Wisconsin at home, won 38-7. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Wisconsin (5-2) – Played Illinois on the road, lost 7-38. Conclusion: Devestating Loss
• Illinois (5-2) – Played Iowa on the road, lost 6-10. Conclusion: Devestating Loss
• Michigan (5-2) – Played Purdue at home, won 48-21. Conclusion: Unexpected Win

Buckeye opponent’s records after the seventh week, 48-35. After 4 weeks of conference play, Ohio State and Michigan have no losses and are in contention for the Big 10 championship. Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, and Illinois had devestating losses taking them out of contention. Penn State and Michigan State rebounded nicely from tough losses. Guess there’s some life in Iowa and Northwestern yet. What can you say about Minnesota? They’re still playing hard…The season is a long way from over and the next 5 weeks will be very interesting.

Quick Hits from Around College Football

And then there were seven… These are the undefeated survivors; give them credit for standing tall when others are losing games they should win: Arizona State, Boston College, Ohio State, Kansas, South Florida, Boston College, and Hawaii.

Aside from Ohio State and Hawaii, I can honestly say I wouldn’t have picked any of these teams to be undefeated rolling into week 8. The way the season has gone thus far, it wouldn’t surprise me to have zero unbeaten teams at the end of the season.

Projected BCS Top 5: Ohio State, South Florida, Boston College, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Game of the week? Kentucky 43, LSU 37. Runner up: Oregon State 31, California 28. The SEC and Pac 10 are good, right? Over-rated.

Mismatch of the week? Texas creamed Iowa State on the road, 56-3. This is how Texas was expected to play all season.

My Special Top 12 rankings: (Why Top 12? That’s where you need to be to get into BCS contention.)

1. Ohio State – Just missed the shutout, scored on defense, special teams, and offense in a blowout win over a bad Kent State team.
2. Boston College – Latest team to thump hapless Notre Dame, on the road.
3. South Florida – Blew out a decent UCF team.
4. Arizona State – Came on strong in the second half to beat an improving Washington team.
5. Oregon – Blew out the same Washington State team Arizona State slipped by 23-20 last week.
6. Oklahoma – Outscored a good Missouri team by 10 points.
7. West Virginia – Bye week.
8. South Carolina – Squeaked by a bad North Carolina team at home.
9. Kentucky – Beat an over-rated LSU team in 3OT.
10. LSU – Lost to the better team, Kentucky, on the road.
11. Kansas – Hammered a bad Baylor team.
12. Hawaii – Only being undefeated has them in this spot. Giving up 35 points to San Jose State is not good.

My Special Bottom 5 rankings: (Why bottom 5? If you finish there you should be relegated to I-AA)

1. Notre Dame – 1-6 this season. After a 1 week respite, the Domers return to the top of the list for doing less with more resources and visibility than any other program in the country.
2. Florida International – 0-6 this season. Bye week.
3. Utah State – 0-5 this season. Bye week.
4. Colorado State – 0-6 this season.
5. Marshall – 0-6 this season.

In the coming week I’ll post an Michigan State/OSU preview, a game review of Michigan State/OSU, and a Weekend Update Sports edition.