Official College Football Thread

[Buehrle>Wood]

AP Top 25

1. LSU (65) 6-0 1,625

2. California 5-0 1,538

3. Ohio State 6-0 1,511

4. Boston College 6-0 1,346

5. South Florida 5-0 1,339

6. Oklahoma 5-1 1,221

7. South Carolina 5-1 1,183

8. West Virginia 5-1 1,059

9. Oregon 4-1 1,047

10. USC 4-1 1,024

11. Missouri 5-0 966

12. Virginia Tech 5-1 910

13. Florida 4-2 822

14. Arizona State 6-0 752

15. Cincinnati 6-0 705

16. Hawaii 6-0 634

17. Kentucky 5-1 612

18. Illinois 5-1 595

19. Wisconsin 5-1 551

20. Kansas 5-0 336

21. Florida State 4-1 307

22. Auburn 4-2 248

23. Texas 4-2 136

24. Georgia 4-2 131

25. Tennessee 3-2 90

[WHarris1]

18.

[greasywheels121]

Woo, and IU's #29 in the AP poll now with 40 votes and #33 in the Coaches poll with 30 votes.

 

Remember when ESPN.com used to combine Indiana and Illinois into Illiana on the Bottom 10?

[Jimbo's Drinker]

holy cow...your 20th ranked kansas jayhawks....

[Buehrle>Wood]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm

 

How does one justify placing Wisconsin 4 spots ahead of Illinois?

[thedoctor]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm

 

How does one justify placing Wisconsin 4 spots ahead of Illinois?

 

probably just an anomaly and an example of illinois being ranked so low and wisky so high coming into the week. i wouldn't make too much of it, and it's not like it matters much.

 

anyhow, great win yesterday. i hope people start to give zook a bit of credit for his coaching as well. he is not and will never be a brilliant gameday tactician, but he's improved illinois in every single area since he took over as coach. that's worth noting, imo.

 

dangerous game next week. i realize how crappy iowa has been this year, but i am curious to see how this team reacts to success. it would be very easy for a team without much experience to take things for granted and go into iowa bigheaded. if they do that they'll lose.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

it looks like zook's running back coach, warriner is helping my jayhawks as well.

 

thanks illini

[bmags]

If the ball is within 10 feet of Coffman, he will find a way to catch it. Chase is just one hell of a college football player and I can't wait for him to get some more Heisman hype. I think 11th in the ESPN/USA Today and 12th in the AP, but I wouldn't be surprised to be in the top ten. Sweet night last night.

 

did you see the replay of the called out TD pass to coffman? I swore his foot was down, it would have been a ridiculous catch.

 

that wave last night was the weirdest thing. It was the only time I've ever had fun doing the wave though, partly due to 10 hours of tailgating and partly just for the part where everyone boo'd nebraska fans.

 

#11 in the nation holy crap.

[bmags]

holy cow...your 20th ranked kansas jayhawks....

 

it will certainly make it more fun to beat you.

[danman31]

11th is disappointing, but only because it means Mizzou has to win in Norman to be a top 10 team. The game is officially where Gameday is going and I'm trying to get tickets, that would be sick.

[Heads22]

How long til Mizzou gets Pinkel'd?

[Jenksismyhero]

First post since I watched the great, program changing win against Wisky on saturday. The game was in the same mold as the Penn st game (score pts and hope the defense doesn't break) but I'm so impressed with the job Zook has done in such a short period of time. This program literally was stocked full of 1 and 2 star players and he's made winners out of them in 2 years. Amazing. (and i'll gloat a little - i said if they run the option all the time they'd have success...glad Locksley read my post).

 

I think the sky is the limit for this team. I'm actually kind of annoyed about the national attention they've gotten so far. Lots of "suprising upset" talk. And lots of "ohio state is the only good team in the big ten." I'll give the the fact that osu is good, especially their defense, but have they really been tested so far? I think the game against washington was good, but illinois has now beaten penn st and wisconsin. I just don't see a defense that can stop mendenhall, juice and benn. Are they beatable? Absolutely. But come on, who had Purdue beat besides ND? And we are supposed to be amazed at osu nearly shutting them out?

 

It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks. I think if Illinois wins next week at iowa it'll set up a huge game at home against Michigan. It'll take a win over a mediocre Michigan team to get the national scene thinking that Illinois has a shot at the conference title and a bcs bowl.

[Rex Hudler]

He'd be a serious Heisman candidate if he had any media hype whatsoever.

 

Problem is he is not even the best RB in his conference.

 

[bmags]

How long til Mizzou gets Pinkel'd?

 

he's done alright this year. I just wish he'd develop an I-form. He does make some really weird decisions on gamedays

[Buehrle>Wood]

Problem is he is not even the best RB in his conference.

You think Hart's better? I don't know. He only has about 60 more total yards than Mendenhall, and that's with about 65 more rushing attempts. Mendenhall is averaging over a full yard per carry than Hart and has two more touchdowns than him.

 

I realize Mendenhall's rushing stats are skewed a little because they like to run 1 yard forward pitches to him, but he's certainly up there when discussing the best RBs in the country.

[Rex Hudler]

First post since I watched the great, program changing win against Wisky on saturday. The game was in the same mold as the Penn st game (score pts and hope the defense doesn't break) but I'm so impressed with the job Zook has done in such a short period of time. This program literally was stocked full of 1 and 2 star players and he's made winners out of them in 2 years. Amazing. (and i'll gloat a little - i said if they run the option all the time they'd have success...glad Locksley read my post).

 

I think the sky is the limit for this team. I'm actually kind of annoyed about the national attention they've gotten so far. Lots of "suprising upset" talk. And lots of "ohio state is the only good team in the big ten." I'll give the the fact that osu is good, especially their defense, but have they really been tested so far? I think the game against washington was good, but illinois has now beaten penn st and wisconsin. I just don't see a defense that can stop mendenhall, juice and benn. Are they beatable? Absolutely. But come on, who had Purdue beat besides ND? And we are supposed to be amazed at osu nearly shutting them out?

 

It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks. I think if Illinois wins next week at iowa it'll set up a huge game at home against Michigan. It'll take a win over a mediocre Michigan team to get the national scene thinking that Illinois has a shot at the conference title and a bcs bowl.

 

Michigan may or may not be a mediocre team at that point.

[whitesoxfan101]

Problem is he is not even the best RB in his conference.

 

Wrong, if Mendenhall got to carry the ball 50 times a game like Hart, he'd blow away his numbers, and as is, Mendehall's numbers are more than comparable to Hart's.

[danman31]

How long til Mizzou gets Pinkel'd?

Sadly, I could still see them losing 4 games without a major upset. I think they will lose @OU, they matchup poorly with A&M, and I've feared the games at K-State and Colorado more than the Nebraska game all year. I'd be pissed if they lost 4 games, but on paper each game individually wouldn't surprise me.

 

he's done alright this year. I just wish he'd develop an I-form. He does make some really weird decisions on gamedays

Yeah, no s***. Our goalline offense is a joke. There is no reason they shouldn't be able to pound it under center from inside the 5.

 

So I was bored and decided to make a poll based on who I think would win head-to-head. In other words, I wouldn't vote this way because this is a dumb way to vote IMO, but it might create some good discussion.

 

1. LSU

2. USC

3. OU

4. Ohio St.

5. Cal

6. Florida

7. Oregon

8. South Florida

9. BC

10. Michigan

11. Virginia Tech

12. West Virginia

13. Florida St.

14. Arizona St.

15. Wisconsin

16. Mizzou

17. Cincy

18. South Carolina

19. Auburn

20. Kentucky

21. Illinois

22. Kansas

23. Texas

24. Tennessee

25. Georgia

 

I honestly think Florida is still good enough to beat the top teams on occasion and beat the rest of the ranked teams most of the time. Michigan at 10 is probably a bit ridiculous, but Oregon is very good and Appy St. is not going to happen very often. I'm not completely sure about where I put Va. Tech and Arizona St. I like Florida State a lot. Their opening loss to Clemson was going to happen because the Tigers are at least capable of beating good teams (even if they have struggled since) and that crowd gave them the win. I thought about putting Auburn a couple spots higher, but I'm not sure about them yet. Another quality win and I'd probably move them near my top 10. Illinois is low because I think they are the same team as Wisconsin, but with less experience. I think if they had played in Madison the result would have been flipped. Looking at it now, I don't like how much difference I have between Wisky and U of I, they should be right next to each other probably.

[Rex Hudler]

Wrong, if Mendenhall got to carry the ball 50 times a game like Hart, he'd blow away his numbers, and as is, Mendehall's numbers are more than comparable to Hart's.

 

Mendenhall is very good. But he is no Mike Hart. Hart has proven himself over four years. There is only one other back I might argue is better and that is Darren McFadden. If Hart had breakaway speed, he'd be unstoppable. Mike Hart is the best in the Big Ten hands down.

[GoodAsGould]

Mendenhall is very good. But he is no Mike Hart. Hart has proven himself over four years. There is only one other back I might argue is better and that is Darren McFadden. If Hart had breakaway speed, he'd be unstoppable. Mike Hart is the best in the Big Ten hands down.

 

Right now Id have to agree Hart is better than Mendenhall, but the gap between the 2 has closed a lot. As for McFadden.... you dont even need to argue it he is a better player than Hart.... in college and will be in the pro's

[bmags]

our spread offense would easily destroy michigan.

[danman31]

our spread offense would easily destroy michigan.

Yeah and Mike Hart would run for 270+ yards.

[Brian]

our spread offense would easily destroy michigan.

 

I wouldn't doubt it. We always have problems with mobile QB's and spread offenses.

[Jenksismyhero]

Have I missed the last four years of college football? When did Mike Hart become the Reggie Bush of college football? He's a decent back with a ridiculous offensive line. Gee that must be tough.

 

Explain how Hart is better than Mendenhall. Mendenhall is probably stronger, more agile, and has break away speed. At the end of the year he's going to have better numbers than Hart, with 1/4 less carries.

[Brian]

Have I missed the last four years of college football? When did Mike Hart become the Reggie Bush of college football? He's a decent back with a ridiculous offensive line. Gee that must be tough.

 

Explain how Hart is better than Mendenhall. Mendenhall is probably stronger, more agile, and has break away speed. At the end of the year he's going to have better numbers than Hart, with 1/4 less carries.

 

Watching Hart the last 3+ years, he is a small guy who will take it at the biggest guy on the other team. He is tough to bring down and has explosive speed as well.

 

Every back needs a good offensive line.

 

When did Mendenhall become the leader for the Heisman with some people here? He is very good, but he is not even close to having the stats Mike Hart has put up in his career at Michigan.