Buzz Meets Brutus

Top 25 and 3 Winners and Losers for Week 2

Top 25 (week 2)

1. LSU
2. Boise St
3. Alabama
4. Wisconsin
5. Oklahoma
6. Florida St
7. Stanford
8. Nebraska
9. Oklahoma St
10. South Carolina
11. Arkansas
12. Oregon
13. Texas A&M
14. Ohio State
15. Mich State
16. Virginia Tech
17. Arizona St
18. West Va
19. Florida
20. Baylor
21. Auburn
22. Maryland
23. Northwestern
24. Miss State
25. Penn State

Not much changed from last week.  Oregon is still the best 1 loss team in the country. Penn State and Miss State lost to quality opponents, but I still think they are top 25 teams.  We’ll learn a lot more about Miss State this week though.  Otherwise this is all just wild speculation as only a few teams have proven themselves (LSU, Boise, maybe OK St).
 
3 Winners:
 
Texas: They pulled one out and came back from a 13 point deficit against a good BYU team.  To say they struggled at QB is to put it gently.  The QB situation is probably causing Mack Brown night terrors but they may have found a solution in a familiar name, McCoy.  That would be Case McCoy, Colt’s younger brother.  He can toss it to Jaxon Shipley, Jordan’s younger brother.  And yes, in a made for Gameday story,they are roommates, keeping  the family tradition alive.
 
 

Oklahoma State: Remember on Thursday when Weeden to Blackmon looked like two buddies playing catch in the backyard?  Remember they were playing a decent Arizona team that many people picked as a Pac-12 darkhorse?  The Cowboys are good this year.

Auburn: Somehow they just keep winning.  Are they are a good team?  Who knows but the only thing that matters right now to the Auburn fans is that they keep winning and are now 1-0 in the SEC after defeating a hyped up Miss State squad.  Gene Chizik is now 9-0 in games decided by 4 points or less. (via Bruce Feldman #freebruce )

Honorary Mentions: Tennessee, Michigan

3 Losers

Notre Dame: What can I say?  The offense continued to turn the ball over and the defense decided not to show up in the last two minutes of the game.  At least Brian Kelly didn’t blow a gasket on national television again.  I can only imagine the hell he gave those players after the game.

Miss State: Thought you could steam roll Auburn and look forward to LSU?  Didn’t realize Gene Chizik had sold his soul to keep winning games without Cam Newton? Or was it just poor coaching that turned an opportunity to tie the game into a loss?  I know MSU is run first and runs a mean spread option but 8 seconds left on the goal line?  I’d at least try one throw.

Georgia: Georgia was clearly focused and hyped for this one.  They came out strong and generally outplayed South Carolina in every way possible except they lost.  Stephen Garcia looked hungover at times but Steve Spurrier dialed in enough trickery and the South Carolina defense did just enough to deliver a win.  The question now is not if they fire Richt but when.  The fan base is frothing at the mouth.  I almost feel bad for the guy… nah.  THWG!

Honorary Mentions: Iowa, Oregon State, football in the state of Indiana

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find Out What It Means To Me

In the past 3 seasons Oregon is 2-3 against ranked non-conference opponents beating Utah and Oklahoma State while losing to Boise State, Ohio State, and Auburn.

In the past 3 seasons Boise State is 6-1 against ranked non-conference opponents beating Utah, Virginia Tech, Oregon State, TCU, and Oregon (twice!) while losing to TCU by 1 point.

In that same period Boise State has played in 1 BCS bowl with a victory while Oregon has played in 2 with 2 losses.

2011 Preseason rankings had Oregon @ #3 and Boise State @ #5.

Saturday night both teams played at “neutral sites” against SEC opponents. Boise traveled to Atlanta to play Georgia while Oregon traveled to Dallas to play LSU. The Broncos won big and the Ducks lost big so let’s update:

In the past 3 seasons Oregon is 2-4 against ranked non-conference opponents beating Utah and Oklahoma State while losing to Boise State, Ohio State, Auburn, and LSU.

In the past 3 seasons Boise State is 7-1 against ranked non-conference opponents beating Georgia, Utah, Virginia Tech, Oregon State, TCU, and Oregon (twice!) while losing to TCU by 1 point.

I think it’s time the media start giving “SEC-like” credibility to Boise State and “Ohio State-like” credibility to Oregon. By this I mean that you almost never see the media pick an SEC school to lose a non-conference game (BSU was favored by 3 Saturday night against a Georgia team coming off a losing record) because they are that flippin’ good and almost always win. Likewise you’ll never hear the media call Ohio State a bad team but they’ll never get favored in a large non-conference game because the Buckeyes earned it by losing 3 straight BCS games and shitting the bed twice against USC. Both OSU and the SEC have earned their reputation and unless results prove otherwise, they deserve to hold that reputation.

A 0.875 winning percentage against ranked non-conference opponents needs to be respected more than a 0.333 winning percentage. How many times have you seen Boise’s coach on College Game day or in a Sports Center commercial? Chip Kelly will soon be a co-host at his rate. Oregon may have new uniforms every week to compliment their flashy and unique offensive scheme but they also don’t produce at the top 5 status they are given.

Go Broncos!

P.S.

This “neutral site” shit with Boise State has to go. According to Google Maps: Boise to Atlanta = 2,100 miles. Athens to Atlanta = 70 miles. Boise to DC = 2,300 miles, Blacksburg to DC = 300 miles. By way of analogy, the size of my dick is “neutral” compared to Ron Jeremy. Ladies feel free to email me. [Ladies, Dan can be contacted here. -Z]