Week 3 College Football Reflection

There were a lot of surprises this week in college football. Through these surprises a few things become a little clearer to me. The first thing is that Florida and Texas are not invincible. Both teams played at home against above average conference foes. In the earlier match-up Florida was supposed to completely dismantle Tennessee. I sure thought that was going to happen. The 30-point favorites managed to win by ten. The first thing that can be ruled out is if Florida was not "up" for this game. After all of Lane Kiffin's preseason comments about beating Florida, and wrongful allegations about a Urban Meyer recruiting violation, you would think Florida had the intention to run up the score on Tennessee. In Urban Meyer's post-game press conference he commented that he did not need to try to score more because Lane Kiffin wasn’t trying to win the game. He was referring to the fact that Tennessee wasn’t trying to throw the ball downfield in an attempt to strike quickly to erase the deficit quicker. Meyer then proceeded to discuss a recent flu epidemic that plagued his team. Lane Kiffin rebutted these comments in a sarcastic manner suggesting that Urban Meyer was making excuses for not routing Tennessee at home. I agree with Lane Kiffin. In defense of Tennessee running the ball...they had to run the ball! When Jonathon Crompton is given the chance to throw the ball down field he seems to turn it over more times then actually make an incompletion. Then on top of that they were perhaps up against the best defense in the nation. Throwing the ball would have been suicide. If Tennessee didn't run the ball, they would have lost by the 30 point spread. Instead they were actually able to score by running and cut the deficit to ten points with eight minutes left. So this is a strange comment by one of the best offensive minds in college football. He, if anyone, should know Tennessee could not afford to throw the ball downfield. The strategy was a beautiful move by Lane Kiffin. The only reason that Tennessee lost the game is Florida is just that much better than Tennessee. Ten points is the closest Tennessee could have gotten in that game. Then with the flu comments Urban Meyer sealed his fate. He was making excuses for not routing Tennessee. Maybe Urban Meyer should take a lesson from his star quarterback in not making excuses. Instead, admit Tennessee's defense played great and correct the mistakes you made in that game, because there were plenty of them. Urban Meyer should be glad they were able to get away with those mistakes and still win the game. It is easy to get fooled by one of the best defensive coordinators the NFL has ever had, Monte Kiffin. But, if Florida had come out with that sort of effort against a team like Alabama, the national title run would have been over before it started.

Perhaps USC showed their true colors on Saturday. They appear to have an average offense and a great defense. The defense is good enough to hold them in the top 15 for the rest of the year, but the offense is going to be a work in progress. Now maybe it’s not a coincidence that with the losses of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkasian, the offense had to take a dip. I don't think this is going to be a trend with USC though. They still have far too much skill position talent and a very special freshman QB in Matt Barkley. Those who are calling for the end of the USC dynasty are crazy. This is merely a speed bump season for USC. As far as this season goes though, I would not be surprised to see them lose to Cal and/or Notre Dame. It could be a rare year in which we see USC out of the BCS picture. That's a very weird thought.

Through the first three weeks of the season we are starting to see a revival of prestigious programs previously in a freefall. Miami has probably been the most impressive team at this point in the season. The Labor Day game with Florida State has now been proven to be the good game we thought it was. Given the eye test, the FSU-Miami game looked like a very well played game between two very good teams. It remained to be seen if it was just a game between two sub par defenses. Miami got their revenge on Georgia Tech from last year and completely shut their option attack down in the process. Jacory Harris and the offense looked just as good as week 1 in the process. After FSU's near loss to Jacksonville State it appeared that they may not have been as good as advertised against Miami. After Saturday night's beat down on BYU in Provo it turns out they are every bit as good and maybe even better. There are not many teams in the nation that can beat Florida State if they play like that the rest of the year. Christian Ponder looks like the real deal right there along with Harris. Suddenly, Tim Tebow has company in the state of Florida. With Alabama's reemergence last year, Tennessee under solid direction with Kiffin, Michigan looking up under Rich Rod, and Nebraska nearly knocking off Virginia Tech on the road, college football is looking a little more familiar again.

Here is my poll for the week using the same basis as last week...

1. Alabama
2. Miami (FL)
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. California
6. Boise State
7. LSU
8. Houston
9. Cincinnati
10. Ole Miss
11. Penn State
12. TCU
13. Florida State
14. Virginia Tech
15. Oklahoma
16. Washington
17. USC
18. Ohio State
19. Oklahoma State
20. BYU
21. Michigan
22. North Carolina
23. Kansas
24. Georgia
25. Nebraska