Week 8 Musings/Random Thoughts

[armchairqb]

Kansas State, Florida and Oregon each gave me a reason to believe that they could also be #1.

If Spurrier's the "old ball coach", then Snyder is the "really old ball coach". Not surprised by the K State win; if they could beat Oklahoma on the road, they sure had a strong mathematical possibility to do so at Morgantown. I really enjoy the fact that Bill Snyder is doing a great job with the leftovers of the Big 12 recruiting class. That would be a great story if they won the whole thing.

Yeah, South Carolina turned it over in their territory three times, but the Gators turned them into TD's. And yeah, the Swamp is one tough place for an opponent to play. I figured they would be "exposed" by now, but as far as the regular season is concerned it appears that they won't. Florida, IMO, has the best offensive coordinator in FBS in Brent Pease, because he makes the best use of the talent available. If Florida is smart, they will restructure Pease's contract and make him the highest paid OC in FBS. I have a gut feeling that Pease is already on some short lists for head coaching jobs.

That Oregon-Arizona State game was not as close as the final score indicated. The Sun Devils haven't been chopped liver in 2012, but certainly were Thursday night. The Ducks in a road test, led the game 43-7 at the half.

[Vileborg]

We could use a 4 team playoff this year. I would add Notre Dame to the big 4 conversation but only until they head into Norman next Saturday. They have the potential to win but Oklahoma is rolling and at home.

Alabama has been class of the field all year. My predictor has had them as a touchdown favorite over the field all year.

Florida has been off the charts the last couple weeks and an impressive win over SC didn't deter their rise, Alabama -2.

Notre Dame hasn't looked like a top 5 team but the deceptive part has been their schedule. They've had the hardest schedule so far of the top five, Alabama -4.

Oregon, It's going to take the nations best defense to have a chance to stop them. Since Alabama has the nations best, Alabama -5.

Kansas St. has been proving more and more they belong and closing the gap on Alabama but only by microns, Alabama -7.

Hello Toledo or is that Holy Toledo. At least Northern Illinois is representing. I believe the lions have found their roar and my poll. Holy Flashes Batman.

[donovan]

My observations

Notre Dame may not be as good as their record and BYU may not be a bad as their record.

Boise State is a good ball team but without an unblemished record, nobody cares. Utah State is a good ball team and is back to where they will, and already have, been competitive in a Mountain West Conference. Boise State's leader in sacks didn't play Demarcus Lawrence. He was benched had to sit out. Lawrence broke an unspecified team rule, so Petersen put him on the pine.

Oregon may only be stopped by two or three defenses in the country, none of which are on the one and only true coastal line of the great country.

Oregon State, it was raining when it had not been, cold when I am too old for cold, will fight for every victory but can win. Against Utah they did not look stellar. Vaz as QB was good, stayed in the pocket well. Play calling was, could not figure it out. Offensive line play just OK and defensive line was better. They have this kid Crichton (SP) that was everywhere and in on almost every defensive play that was of note. Utah was not good, so they lost. Oregon State has to step it up. Storm Woods, great name and it is his real name, is a little dynamo running back. Great speed, but runs to daylight where he sees it, fun to watch.

[Eric]

I just can't bring myself to believe in Oregon State as a top 10 team. I think they got a boost from some early season wins that didn't turn out to be all that amazing (UCLA, Wisconsin, Arizona, BYU). All decent teams, no doubt, but I don't see a top 20 team in that whole bunch. Their resume is comparable to Louisville's, but Louisville isn't getting any benefit of the doubt.

The Beavers are definitely good. They play defense which gives them a leg up on 75% of college football off the bat. Sean Mannion has a lot to do with their success, but I think we'll learn a lot about them when they play Stanford and Oregon.

[Eric]

The one overtime game that will get all of the attention this week is TCU/TTU. But, there were two other overtime games that were pretty amazing. Western Kentucky / UL Monroe came down to OT on a last-minute Warhawk touchdown. UL Monroe went for two after scoring a touchdown and they won it on the conversion. San Diego State marched down the field during the last minute to kick a field goal to send it into OT. Nevada scored on the first possession, and SDSU responded with a touchdown and the conversion. Katz was knocked out of the game and they won it with their backup QB making the throw. Pretty remarkable stuff!

[Derek]

Kansas State has been a huge surprise.

I read where they are calling the QB "Optimus Klein".

[Vileborg]

There is the expectation that the best teams will blow out other teams and it's a two part formula of high powered offense and bone crunching defense. Oregon St.'s got the defense but the offense has not been impressive. All it takes is a 14 to 21 point swing in a game and I don't know if they would be able to recover. VT won a few conference titles with no offense but they didn't have Oregon in their conference.