No big shakeup in polls
Posted: Sunday, October 26, 2008 8:00 AM
Immediately following this nomination of Minnesota safety Kyle Theret for “understatement of the season,” we’re back to wrap up Week 9 of the college football season.
After the surprising Golden Gophers improved to 7-1 with a 17-6 victory at Purdue on Saturday, Theret said: “It’s really different, especially from last year.”
You could say that. Minnesota was 1-11 last season.
Another tame one in the Top 10: What happened to those stormy Saturdays that we had come to love and expect? For the second week in a row, we won’t see any major moves in the top half of the polls. The two losses within the AP’s Top 10 were kept in house. No. 7 Oklahoma State lost at No. 1 Texas and No. 10 Ohio State got edged out by No. 3 Penn State. Texas Tech and Georgia, ranked at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, both made cases to move up in the polls. Even the Cowboys proved their merit in the 28-24 loss to the Longhorns. All three of those teams deserve to be rated higher than No. 6 USC, which was less than impressive in its pedestrian 17-10 victory at Arizona, but there isn’t much wiggle room at all this week.
Paterno in position: As if the rest of the table wasn’t set well enough, Penn State has a bye this week to prepare for its stretch run. Able to bask in the glow of Saturday’s 13-6 victory at Ohio State for a few extra days, the 9-0 Nittany Lions know that only Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State stand in the way of them finishing undefeated. That slate pales in comparison to what the frontrunners in the SEC and Big 12 will have to deal with for the remainder of the regular season and in their conference championship games. When Penn State takes the field in Iowa City on Nov. 8, there will be no more than two teams with less than two losses in the SEC and only one undefeated team left in the Big 12, giving Joe Paterno a healthy leg up on the rest of the competition in the race to get to Miami for the BCS title game.
Comeback Cavs: Here’s to hoping that my 401K bounces back as good as these guys. Virginia, after reaching a 52-week low following a 31-3 loss Duke, has won four in a row. The Cavaliers bear absolutely no resemblance to the squad that got crushed, 52-7, in their season opener versus USC and folded two weeks later during a 45-10 loss at UConn. The turnaround began with a 31-0 rout of Maryland, which is tied with Florida State for the league lead in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. On Saturday, Virginia polished off its second consecutive ranked foe, tracking down No. 18 Georgia Tech from behind, 24-17, in Atlanta. Al Groh’s stock could be headed to an all-time high if he maintains his current grip on sole possession of first place in the Coastal Division.
Contentious cocktail party: The two teams that dropped more than “half a hundred” on defending national champion LSU in October will get together on the first day of November to settle their own score. In what also will serve as an SEC track meet of sorts, the annual grudge match between Florida and Georgia in Jacksonville is virtually the SEC East championship game. The loser also gets left in the dust in the race for the national championship. The winner jets toward the top of the minds of the voters and processors of the computers that determine who gets to play in Miami on Jan. 8.
Just a thought: We’re not trying to jinx anybody here, but we just had a Dennis Dixon flashback. With Colt McCoy carrying so much of the load for Texas -- not only did he pass for a career-high 391 yards in Saturday’s win, he also led the Longhorns on the ground with 41 yards rushing on 10 carries -- doesn’t this remind you of the way Dixon was carrying the Oregon Ducks all by his lonesome and leading the race for the Heisman Trophy last November? Stay healthy Colt. Maybe mix in a few more handoffs.
