| 16 October 2011
It’s interesting, because after looking at yesterday’s college football slate late earlier in the week, I determined it, “Oh my God, maybe I’ll actually spend time with my family Saturday.” The nickname wasn’t quite as catchy as “Rivalry week,” but given the slate of games (which could be described at best as “weak,” and at worst as “a disgrace to the sport of college football”), it seemed appropriate. For the first time in a long time on a Friday before a game, I thought to myself, “Hmm, didn’t my mom ask me to help re-shingle her roof a few weeks ago? Maybe I’ll give her a buzz.”
Interestingly though, yesterday was maybe the most important Saturday of the football season, and a title of “Separation Saturday,” would’ve been more appropriate than the one I instead gave it. Even with less than stellar competition across the board, we learned a whole heck of a lot, about a whole bunch of teams. The teams we thought were good, like LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State proved it, while the ones who we’d pegged as frauds (I’m looking at you Michigan, Illinois and Georgia Tech), proved that too. A few such as Clemson defied our expectations, thanks to their wild, come from behind, Sammy Watkins-fueled victory over Buzz Cut Randy Edsall and Maryland. Kansas State also got a tough road win in Lubbock, and a few more like Auburn and Texas A&M appear to be going in the right direction too. Some like Florida, are definitely going the wrong direction.
So what exactly did we learn Saturday?
After a day of watching football (and not shingling the roof), I emptied my notebook.
Here’s what I've got:
I’m Not Sure If Alabama Is The Best Team In College Football, But They’re Certainly The Most Dominant: For the sake of everyone, I won’t waste my time arguing the merits of whether Alabama or LSU is the “better,” football team. Really, having to choose one, is like Justin Timberlake deciding on a Friday night, “Do I want to grab a burger with Jessica Biel, or should I hit a movie with Scarlett Johansson?” In the end, who cares? It’s Scarlett and Jessica, Alabama and LSU, Les and Saban. Instead of being nitpicky, let’s just enjoy the ride, ok?
But while picking between them is basically asinine at this point, what I will say is this: I don’t know if Alabama is the better team, but they are the more dominant one.
As I explained earlier on Crystal Ball Run, LSU is a team that may not always be spectacular, but they are ruthlessly efficient, wearing on you, and overwhelming you, until you quit. In a lot of ways, they’re a boxer like Floyd Mayweather; they might not hit you with that one kill shot that sends you to the mat, and sends your mouth piece flying into the second row. But what they will do is just beat you will body shot after body shot, until you just want to quit. In a lot of ways, that might actually be worse than getting knocked out.
But Alabama? Well, if LSU is Floyd Mayweather, Alabama is Mike Tyson circa the late 1980’s. They not only come after you, but they come looking for blood. Every tackle is personal, every run from Trent Richardson like you said something mean about his momma. Not only does Alabama want to knock you down, beat you oblivion, and leave your face all puffy, but if you get up, they get a sick thrill in doing it to you again.
Obviously, Saturday was no exception, so really there isn’t a ton of need to get into it here; truthfully Ole Miss wasn’t just overmatched when they walked into the stadium Saturday, they were overmatched the day the schedule was released last spring. It was only heightened earlier this week, when four Ole Miss players- including three starters- were suspended for the game (As my buddy Rick, a huge Ole Miss, jokingly texted me, “The happiest man in Oxford right now might be Brandon Bolden. Instead of suspending him for the game, maybe his punishment should've been to actually play against Alabama.” Truer words have never been spoken).
Even without the four starters, Ole Miss never stood a chance, and if anything, it’s a credit to them that they showed up and fought as hard as they did. Quite frankly, the Rebels defense did a fairly decent job of bottling Trent Richardson early, and the seven points they scored on offense were seven more than I probably expected them to get all game.
Still, Alabama is just ferocious.
As a matter of fact, just to be sure that I actually witnessed what I thought I did on Saturday, the first thing I did this morning when I woke up was checked the box score of this game. The numbers say it all: Alabama finished with 645 yards of total offense, including 183 yards rushing. By comparison’s sake, Ole Miss finished with just 141, and that included a five play, 72-yard scoring drive to open the game. I’m not math major, but I’m pretty sure the numbers indicate the following:
1. Trent Richardson outgained Ole Miss by himself yesterday.
2. Half of Ole Miss’ total offense came on their opening drive.
Which is a testament to how good Alabama (especially their defense) truly is.
One more thought on Alabama, and then we’ll move on.
As I watched them yesterday, watched them pull away in the third, and the backups do even more damage from there, I couldn’t help but think about how much this team reminds me of Pete Carroll’s great USC teams of the last decade. Not so much in how they play, but in how they compete. The greatest tribute to those USC teams was that whenever their starters came out in a blowout, the backups played just as hard- if not harder- knowing that it would be their only chance to impress the coaching staff, and earn playing time going forward.
Well, I saw that same attribute from Alabama yesterday. Understand that it’s one thing to have a strong starting 22 that plays hard on every possession. But it’s quite another to have a roster of guys who does the same.
As I said, I don’t know if Alabama is the “best,” team in college football right now. They’re certainly the most dominant though.
(A couple more quick things. One, for my alternate take on LSU, please click here
Also, for those of you who missed Trent Richardson's monstrous, Heisman Trophy-ish run that capped another huge day from him, please, take two minutes and watch the video below. It's well worth your time).
I’m Still Weary Of Oklahoma State: Before I get to the bad on Oklahoma State, let me first get to the good: Their offense is about as efficient, explosive and downright scary as any in the country, and if anything, Saturday only exemplified that to me. If you watched that game closely, you know that it wasn’t just Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon who did the damage, but more so Joseph Randle, and a new name to me, Jeremy Smith, who were the difference. Smith in particular wasn’t just phenomenal, he was downright disgusting, finishing with 140 yards rushing on just seven carries.
Still, I’ve got to admit that I’m a little bit weary of the Pokes. It does seem to me like they’re a tiny bit susceptible on defense.
Entering this game Oklahoma State was ranked 103rd in the country in total defense, a number that the experts would cite as “misleading.” After all, in a bunch of their games, Oklahoma State got such big leads so early, that it often meant that their starters were quickly removed from games, and it was the backups who were giving up most of those yards.
But how does that explain Saturday, when it seemed like Texas was able to move the ball relatively easily against Oklahoma State? Looking at the stat sheet didn’t tell the whole story, since Texas “only” finished with 370 yards of total offense. However, what the stats don’t tell is that the Longhorns continued to move the ball against Oklahoma State, only to shoot themselves in the foot with bad turnovers at the worst possible times. In particular, Texas basically dominated up front, with Malcolm Brown going off for 135 yards on the ground, which is more than seven yards a pop.
So now my question becomes this: Will a bad defensive performance catch up to Oklahoma State once or twice before they play Oklahoma on the first weekend in December? Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
The truth is that I don’t care if you’re an SEC fan, ACC fan, like the Big Ten, Pac-12 or haven’t watched college football at all this year: The Big XII is the conference with the deepest quality of overall competition this season, even more so than the SEC. Beyond the top two, Texas A&M, Baylor, Kansas State, Texas and Missouri can all beat you on any given day.
So although I’m not saying that the Pokes will lose to one of those three teams left on their schedule (they’ve already beaten Texas A&M and Texas), just that it wouldn’t surprise me.
Be very wary Oklahoma State. There is a lot of football to be played between now and that showdown with Oklahoma.
Hail To The Victors: It’s not very often that I pick any of these games correctly, so when I do (as I always joke), I need to make sure and let everyone know. With that, I present you Exhibit A: Michigan-Michigan State, which went exactly how I expected it to.
On the micro-level, it was the worst case nightmare for Michigan, in the sense that they ran into the exact kind of team that we’ve suspected would give them trouble. Michigan State is a power-running team, and that’s exactly what they did Saturday, controlling the line of scrimmage, with running back Edwin Baker finishing the game with 167 yards. Of course the concern if you’re Michigan is that you’re only going to continue to face teams that play exactly like Michigan State all season long. Whether it’s Iowa in two weeks, or Nebraska and Ohio State down the road, there is a lot of smash-mouth, between the tackles, running in your future, and it’s hard to say whether the Wolverines have the personnel to match up.
Of course on the macro level, I thought that Chris Spielman brought up a really good point at the end of yesterday’s game. I don’t much like Spielman, but he hit the nail on the head when he said: “Michigan’s defense is certainly better than they were last year. I’m just not entirely sure their offense is.” Could not agree more.
Truthfully, watching this team, for all the strides on defense, they’ve undoubtedly regressed on the other side of the ball. There are of course tangible stats to prove this, such as Denard Robinson’s completion percentage, which is down under 54 percent this year, after topping out at 63 percent a season ago.
Of course there are the intangible things that you see too when watching Michigan. One, Robinson just doesn’t seem as comfortable in the pocket, and I find him overthrowing guys more often than he did a year ago. The running game doesn’t seem much in sync either, with Robinson’s 762 yards on the ground almost twice as much as anyone else on the team. Just to prove my point on this Michigan offense, can you name one player that you would say had a “good” game, besides Robinson yesterday? I can’t think of anyone.
Then there’s this: For all the “Brady Hoke is the greatest thing since sliced bread,” chatter we’ve heard over the first six weeks of the season, umm, wouldn’t Michigan have the same record if Rich Rodriguez were still in town? Sure the wins might’ve come a little differently, likely with a little more offense, and with defense being a bit more optional. Still, the fact remains that 6-1 would’ve been 6-1 no matter who was on the sideline right now.
Anyway, this part of the column isn’t meant to deride what Hoke’s done; if anything, he’s been excellent. At the same time, it might be time to pump the breaks on Michigan, just a tiny, little bit.
For as far as they’ve come, they’ve got plenty further to go.
Speaking Of The Big Ten…: Did anyone see the end of the Ohio State-Illinois game? If you didn’t, well, it very well may have been Ron Zook’s finest hour.
Understand that nobody- I mean nobody- thinks less of Ron Zook than I do. If anything, I’m pretty sure my mom’s adopted puppy, who runs into walls and eats his own…umm, well, you know, could coach just as effectively as the old Zooker does. The problem of course is that for my talk, all the cheap shots and bad jokes I’ve made at the guy’s expense through the years, through the first six games in 2011, Zook was actually coaching pretty well.
Until Saturday anyway.
Understand that it’s bad enough that at home, in a game in which Ohio State completed just one pass the entire game, Illinois still ended up losing. Again, despite the fact that Illinois entered the game 6-0, and Ohio State just 3-3.
Really though, it’s not just that they lost, but how they did it.
Trailing 17-7 with just over a minute to go, Illinois was facing a 4th and 2 on the Ohio State 17. It was a two possession game, and the obvious move would’ve been to kick the field goal, then hope to recover an onside kick, right? The decision was only made easier by the fact that Illinois’ kicker is 7 for 7 on field goals this season, including a make from 49 yards a few weeks ago (this field goal would’ve been what, 34 yards?). Forget “obvious,” it was the only move to make.
Well, unless you’re Ron Zook. Instead of taking what were basically assured points, he instead decided to go for it on fourth down. Nathan Scheelhaase dropped back in the pocket, and threw a wobbly duck that was nowhere near being completed. Ohio State got the ball back, and ended up holding on 17-7.
So with that, I want to thank Ron Zook. Thank you coach for proving me right once again, and proving that no matter the year, nor the opponent, nor who what program you’re coaching, you haven’t changed.
Coach Zooker, it’s good to have you back.
Some quick hitters:
Ohio State: Despite “Zook’s folly,” I’m not all surprised that Ohio State won this game, if only because I picked them to do just that in my column Friday. With Boom Herron back, and Carlos Hyde and Jordan Hall available, I expected Illinois to have trouble stopping the run, which is exactly what happened.
But with that, I just want to (without any sarcasm), congratulate Luke Fickell on the win. Yes these are tough times at Ohio State, and yes, a victory over Ron Zook is almost never a reason to celebrate. Still, the guy was dealt about as crappy of a hand as you can get, and through no fault his team is struggling.
Anyway, I don’t know if Fickell with coach in Columbus beyond this year. But if he doesn’t, I’m glad he got his one shining moment yesterday.
South Carolina: This is a weird analogy, but you know who South Carolina reminds me of this year? Last year’s West Virginia team.
Again, I know it’s weird, but if you’ll remember back to last year, West Virginia had one of the best defenses in college football (I believe they finished No. 2 in 
total defense overall) but their offense was so overwhelmingly bad that they had to practically be perfect on defense to stay in games. Which is exactly what’s going on at South Carolina right now. I don’t care that Stephen Garcia is in exile and Marcus Lattimore is hurt, but could you ever have imagined that South Carolina would be this bad on offense? Me neither.
Also, let me ask you this: We know that in some order, Alabama and LSU have the two best defenses in the country. Personally though, I think South Carolina is right behind those two. As I said on Twitter yesterday, the Gamecocks don’t have the depth of either of those teams, but 1-11, I think they’re just as good as either.
Oregon: Full-disclosure, I fell asleep a little after halftime of last night’s game (What can I say, I’m old, and it was a really long day. Sue me.). But regardless, for Oregon to get that win last night, without LaMichael James was impressive. I firmly believe Arizona State is one of the 15 best teams in the country.
And with that said, let me ask: Should they be ranked ahead of Stanford when the new poll comes out?
Now granted, I know that these two teams are set to play each other in a few weeks, so ultimately, it won’t matter. But for the sake of argument, when I fill out my ballot for Monday, I’m going to put Oregon ahead of the Cardinal. As the weeks go on, Oregon’s opening night loss is becoming more and more excusable, and really, I’m pretty sure that last night’s win over Arizona State was more impressive than anything the Cardinal has done to date.
Until Stanford plays, and beats someone that might actually make a bowl game, give me the Ducks.
Random Thought No. 1: As I toggled between the Maryland-Clemson (great win by the Tigers by the way) and Vanderbilt-Georgia games, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “How many Maryland fans wish they’d just held onto James Franklin, rather than letting him walk away to Vanderbilt?”
More than a few would be my guess.
Random Thought No. 2: As I watched the Oklahoma-Kansas game I thought of maybe the greatest hypothetical question in the history of hypothetical questions: Who is the most indispensable football player to their team in the state of Oklahoma this year? Landry Jones? Brandon Weeden? Justin Blackmon? Ryan Broyles?
Gun to my head, I think I’d actually take Weeden. Landry Jones is great, don’t get me wrong. As too are Broyles and Blackmon, but Weeden is the difference in his team’s successes and failures, literally. Did you know that when Dana Holgorsen left Stillwater this offseason, Weeden actually taught new offensive coordinator Todd Monken the offensive system?
Name me another quarterback in college football that’s done that recently?
Random Thought No. 3: As I toggled between Oklahoma-Kansas and Florida-Auburn last night, I couldn’t help but think to myself this: “Remember when Auburn fans (and most college football fans for that matter too) wanted Turner Gill to get the Auburn job, over Gene Chizik?”
Speaking of which…
Auburn: I continue to be amazed, overwhelmed and downright impressed Chizik. As I watched Auburn last night, I remembered thinking a lot of the same things I did when watching them last year: Nobody has his team more prepared to play week-in and week-out than this guy.
Honestly, I think that’s Chizik’s greatest strength.
Forget everything that Cam Newton and Nick Fairley did for this team last year, because if anything, I think that this year’s Auburn team is a better indicator of just how good of a coach Chizik is. Yes there are the two losses, but those two losses are to two of probably the 10 or so best teams in the country. But in every other game, four of which were decided by 11 points or less, Chizik’s team came out on top. Point being, that with talent being equal (or even somewhat equal for that matter), Auburn is almost a guaranteed win. They found a way to win at South Carolina, and against Mississippi State and last night as well.
Wrapping up, I thought that Auburn was probably a seven win football team coming into this year, and that’s actually what it’s looking like it’ll be.
However, it’s not the total number of wins, but how you get them. And few teams will be more impressive getting to seven (or eight) wins than the Tigers are.
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