By Chris Dyer (Dirty)
Alright guys it is time for “The Dirty Dozen” college football rankings to start back up. Unlike the media and the coach’s polls I like to wait until after the last weekend of September to try to even try to start ranking college football teams. There are so many things that can happen during the offseason and early season, with injuries, to even think about saying who the best football team in the country is. Some teams play tough schedules and some play sisters of the blind the first few weeks of the season. At least by the 4th or 5th week all teams have played at least 1-2 quality opponents.
I limit it to the top 12 as that realistically is all that have a chance to play in BCS bowls and have a shot at the BCS Championship at any time in the season for the most part. The top 25 is just the media’s way of pumping mediocre football teams and keep the money train going. They have to say we have the 23rd Ranked “Jacklegs” against the 17th ranked “Hobnobbers” live from “Who Cares University” so they can make fan bases happy and sell television ads. Bottom line is teams outside the top 12 most likely will not play in a BCS Bowl or even New Year’s Day games unless they are in a weak conference with a tie-in. Those teams are most likely to by playing on the “Smurf Turf” in Boise or many other cities that have inconsequential bowl games are were created by ESPN just for the revenue TV brings. It is a good thing for us gamblers though as we have more football to watch and bet on.
Well let’s not waste any more time and lets delve into who I think are the top 12 teams in the nation.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (4-0) – They are 4-0 and coming off of back to back national titles. The game against Texas A&M, who some considered the 2nd best team in the SEC, was not as close as the score. Alabama made stupid defensive mistakes every time they got up by a couple of TD’s to keep A&M drives going. Until they are beaten they will sit atop of the perch. In the SEC it is hard to play quality football every quarter of every game. That is a sign of a great team when you can win easily when not playing your best football.
2. Clemson Tigers (4-0) – Taj Boyd and Sammy Watkins have Clemson poised to play for their first national championship since Danny Ford won one in 1981. They beat the SEC’s 2nd best team, UGA, 38-35 in the opening game of the season at home and Florida State and South Carolina are their only games left that should be in the top 12 when they play them. They have FSU at home and travel to Columbia to play “The Ole Ball Coach’s” Gamecocks. They have a good enough defense to hold teams at bay and if Boyd and Watkins stay healthy they will be playing for the BCS Title. The only team that could throw a monkey wrench in these plans is FSU at home on October 19th.
3. Georgia Bulldogs (3-1) – They would be #1 on the list if they had beaten Clemson. No team in the nation can lay claim to playing a tougher schedule than UGA as they have opened the season by playing 3 teams ranked in the top 10 and to come out of it 3-1 is impressive. They could have beaten Clemson if not for a couple of costly plays and I think those teams are pretty equal. They have a great running game with Gurley leading the way and a Heisman Candidate in Aaron Murray who is less than 200 yards from being the SEC’s all-time passing leader. Playing in the SEC always has landmines but the toughest part of the schedule is over and Florida is the only team that should give them a scare the rest of the way.
4. LSU Tigers (4-1) – LSU’s only blemish was the instant classic that was played this past Saturday to the Georgia Bulldogs. They lost 44-41 and could have won this game. They have beaten a good TCU team on the road and a mediocre Auburn team at home. They have an offense now that is wide open with Zach Mettenberger at the helm and a new offensive coordinator. Gone are the days of LSU winning 9-6 and dominating teams by defense. The defense is still there against most opponents (the talent against top tier teams now on offense great D’s are going to give up points) and will shut them down. They still have Florida and Texas A&M on the docket both at home and will need a lot of help to play for the BCS Championship as they will been the Tide to lose twice to make it to Atlanta and the SEC Championship. Bright spot is they Could sneak into the National Title game in place of the loser of the SEC Championship game if they are ranked ahead of other contenders and either UGA or Alabama.
5. Stanford Cardinal (4-0) – They are this low on the list at this time because they have played zero strong teams and some average teams this early in the season. We don’t really know how strong they are. They have dominated each and every week and play a physical type of football but the key is how are they going to react when they are challenged and get punched in the mouth? We know they handled it in years past but each year is totally different. I think the first 4 teams on the list all could play each other 10 times and you could easily have 5-5 records in each match up as they are that close. Stanford could be that good but I can’t realistically say that right now. They just aren’t beating teams as bad as they should. Beating Army 34-20 and San Jose State 34-13 is not what you would expect. Arizona State and Stanford have always played each other tough. What will tell the tale on this version of the Cardinal will be how they handle Washington
UCLA and Oregon when they play? All games are at home and the Washington game is this Saturday.
6. Oregon Ducks (4-0) - Oregon sure does look impressive beating terrible teams like Nichols State, Virginia, California and Colorado and a Mediocre Tennessee team. That is the problem. They have played no one. Top teams are expected to win those game by 40+ points. They have the talent, but the main question for me is how will losing Chip Kelly matter when they finally play in a close game. That will happen in two weeks when they travel to Washington then maybe they will move up in the rankings.
7. Texas A&M (4-1) - This team is the 4th best team in the SEC just because they can’t stop anyone. They have one of the top offenses in the nation (so do Bama, UGA and LSU) but their defense doesn’t stack up to the rest. This past weekend I watched as they let the depleted Arkansas Razorbacks run roughshod over them and it was a 3 point game until midway thru the 4th quarter. Arkansas just made crucial unforced mistakes that turned the tide. Their D gave up 31 to Rice, 28 to Sam Houston State, and 33 to Arkansas and those teams have far from explosive offenses. They still have to go to Ole Miss then play Vandy at home and travel to LSU and Mizzou. Unless the defense improves a ton they may lose 2-3 of those games. They get 7 by default because their offense is so good and their schedule has been stronger than the others on the list.
8. Oklahoma Sooners (4-0) - Bob Stoops has his team back in the top 10 again and undefeated this year. They have played a decent schedule and they have beaten a good West Virginia team at home 16-7 and went on the road and beat a good Notre Dame team easily for the first time since 1956. They also manhandled La-Monroe and Tulsa. We will find more about the Sooners the next two weeks as they play TCU and Texas at home but the real test will come November 7th when the travel to Baylor. Will Stoops lose a game this year he is supposed to win like almost every year? Most likely and that will be the one.
9. Ohio State (5-0) - Urban Meyer has his team poised to go Undefeated again this year but the problem is the Big 11 is so weak and their out of conference schedule is god awful. Buffalo, San Diego State and Florida A&M. Are you kidding me? They struggled to beat the worst Wisconsin team in 20 years this past weekend and play a good Northwestern team on the road this weekend so we will find more out about them. If they make past the Wildcats then they shouldn’t be tested again until they play Michigan in “The Big House” to end the season. Braxton Miller and company can run up great stats against bad teams so let’s see what they do when they play someone.
10. Louisville Cardinals (4-0) - Teddy Bridgewater is a Heisman candidate and is putting up some gaudy stats but so far it is against terrible opponents except Kentucky. Charlie Strong has this team in a great position and they have the potential be undefeated at the end of the season. They should be when they play Cincinnati on the road to end the season. Can they crash the BCS party the year before they jump to the ACC?
11. Florida State Seminoles (4-0) - Jimbo Fisher has FSU looking like they did in their heyday under the coaching legend Bobby Bowden. They have been on the verge the last couple of years but injuries have derailed them. This is a very good team, the best team they have had in a decade at least. They have a great defense as usual and quality players at all key positions. The problem is they haven’t played anyone yet so we don’t know how strong they really are. They slapped Pitt around to open the season but Pitt is a bad football team and the schedule hasn’t gotten any better. October 19th at Clemson will let us know all we need to know about his edition of the Seminoles.
12. UCLA Bruins (3-0) – Jim Mora is doing at UCLA what no one has been able to do since Terry Donahue 20+ years ago. He is recruiting and he is winning. They have drilled a mediocre Nevada team and a good Nebraska team on the road. Their biggest test of the year though and will be the measuring stick of how far this team has come is at Stanford on October 19th and Oregon on October 26th. If they can split those games this team could crash the BCS party.
I will be back Next Monday with week 2 of “The Dirty Dozen”. Let me know what you think and let’s get some good discussion going on this.
“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings Week 1
