Ohio State has separated itself and so has Colorado, just in different ways. A tiny tailback is making a name for himself in tiny De Kalb, Ill., and Arizona State has gone from two great quarterbacks to no good ones.
The halfway point of the season passed Saturday, and more has been determined besides the Buckeyes being the best team in the land.
Here’s a look at college football at the halfway point while we look for a ticket to the next Rutgers game:
Best team: Ohio State. Every top team entering the season had an alleged Achilles’ heel. The Buckeyes’ “weakness,” their defense, is kicking every opponent to the curb. Only Iowa has scored more than one touchdown. Put James Laurinaitis on the list of great Buckeyes linebackers. Oh, and did we mention quarterback Troy Smith is the Heisman Trophy favorite?
Worst team: Temple. There are 119 Division I-A teams. The Sagarin rating lists Temple 198th, four spots behind I-AA Idaho State. Going into Thursday night’s resounding loss to Clemson, the Owls were ranked 118th in total offense (197.2 yards per game) and 114th in total defense (438.6) and lost in back-to-back weeks, 62-0. Alumnus Bill Cosby could still play for these guys.
Most surprising team: Arkansas. A coach on the hot seat starting a true freshman quarterback and picked fourth in the SEC West, the 4-1 Razorbacks are ranked 17th and in first place. Turns out quarterback Mitch Mustain is just a big-name decoy. Tailback Darren McFadden is averaging 110 yards a game.
Most disappointing team: Colorado. Yes, Gary Barnett didn’t leave Dan Hawkins much, but 0-6? Losing to Montana State? And didn’t Barnett win the division with a lot of these guys? Hawkins will get it done, but he’ll have to wipe off the rotten egg of the 2006 season.
Most underrated team: Boise State. OK, Oregon State stinks. Utah doesn’t. Yet after blowing out the Utes in front of a hostile Salt Lake City crowd, 36-3, the 20th-ranked Broncos didn’t move up one spot in the Harris poll. What I would give to watch quarterback Jared Zabransky and that improved defense against West Virginia on a neutral field.
Most overrated team: Georgia. It’s still ranked 16th? In what, the SEC? The 5-1 Dawgs are dogs. Mark Richt can’t find a quarterback, and Tennessee took the Bulldogs’ defense behind the hedges and beat it like a stray mutt.
Team to watch: California. The drubbing at Tennessee dropped the Golden Bears into the Pacific, but they’re back on shore and have topped 40 points five weeks in a row. Nate Longshore is Jeff Tedford’s latest quarterback find. On a neutral field, today, I would take No. 10 Cal (5-1) over No. 3 USC (5-0). They meet Nov. 18 in L.A.
Hottest coach: Greg Schiano, Rutgers. Three years ago, Rutgers English professor William Dowling pushed for dropping football. Today, No. 24 Rutgers (5-0) is ranked for the first time in 30 years and attendance average of 39,232 is an all-time high. Now Schiano is being mentioned to replace Larry Coker at Miami where Schiano was defensive coordinator in 1999-2000. Don’t count on it. Rutgers might be a better job.
Hottest coach’s seat: John L. Smith, Michigan State. If the president’s warning of win-or-else last winter wasn’t enough, blowing a 17-point lead to Notre Dame was. If Smith’s form holds, the 3-3 Spartans will fold tents and have Thanksgiving holidays booked by Halloween.
Best player: Garrett Wolfe, TB, Northern Illinois. Forget his Mid-American Conference competition. The 5-foot-7 bowling ball blitzed Ohio State for 291 yards total offense, including 171 on the ground, and is on pace for an NCAA-record 2,834 yards plus 26 touchdowns. Wonder who Smith of the Buckeyes would vote for.
Most disappointing player: Rudy Carpenter, QB, Arizona State. The nation’s top-rated passer from last year has dropped to 55th, and coach Dick Koetter has only true freshman Danny Sullivan behind him. In his past two games, Carpenter is 22-for-55 with five interceptions, and 3-2 ASU has lost by a combined 97-34. Maybe Koetter should have stuck with Sam Keller. It’s too late now. He’s loving life in Lincoln, Neb.
Most underrated player: Zac Taylor, QB, Nebraska. Quinn. Smith. Ainge. Leak. Longshore. Henne. Kolb. They’re all rated below Taylor, who’s third nationally and has quietly led Nebraska back to relevance. Throwing for 1,398 yards and 13 touchdowns with two interceptions should get some notice, shouldn’t it?
Most overrated player: Tom Zbikow- ski, S, Notre Dame. A player who hits this hard and with this much hype should have at least seven tackles a game and more than one pass broken up – and at least one interception. He may be a better boxer than football player, but it would help if the Irish developed a pass rush.
Best game: Notre Dame 40, Michigan State 37. Brady Quinn throws five TD passes as the Irish storm back in stormy East Lansing, Mich., from a 37-21 deficit with nine minutes left. Terrail Lambert’s 27-yard interception return won it and sent two programs in opposite directions.
Best play: Daniel Evans’ 34-yard touchdown pass to John Dunlap, North Carolina State. It came with five seconds left and upset No. 20 Boston College, 17-15. A Raleigh, N.C., native, Evans won the job the previous week. Said Dunlap, “When they called the play at the end of the game, I was telling myself: ‘I have to make this play, I have to make this play, I have to make this play, I have to make this play. I have to, for me, my teammates and my family.”‘
Expect Buckeyes, Trojans
The Bowl Championship Series’ first rankings will be announced Sunday, and barring upsets Saturday, expect Ohio State and Southern California to be 1-2.
Florida is second in The Associated Press poll and USC third, but it’s the reverse in the two polls the BCS uses: the USA Today coaches poll and the Harris poll. Florida also is third in the computers, with USC first and Ohio State second.
Florida will have to move up in the polls to overtake USC in the BCS ranking, which combines two polls and six computers. Florida trails USC by 49 points in USA Today and 22 in the Harris.
“That’s where Florida’s got to make up ground,” BCS analyst Jerry Palm of collegebcs.com said. “It could happen this week because they’re playing on the road against a top (11) team (Auburn) and SC is playing Whatsamata U (Arizona State). So if Florida goes into Auburn and puts up a big number and wins by three touchdowns, it could change (the voters’) minds.”
Palm doesn’t think Florida’s tough SEC schedule will eventually give it an edge over USC. Sagarin rates USC’s schedule to date second only to Stanford’s.
“The Pac-10 isn’t miles behind the SEC,” he said. “They are playing Oregon and Cal. In nonconference, Florida has Florida State but also Southern Mississippi, Central Florida and Western Carolina, which is I-AA. SC has Arkansas. It’s got Nebraska, which will probably win the Big 12 North, and Notre Dame.
“That’s a ridiculous nonconference schedule.”
ONE-EYED REFEREE
OFFICIAL THROWS FLAG AT BIG TEN
If any angry fan yelled at referee James Filson that he was half-blind, he didn’t respond. He knew it was true. The Big Ten referee officiated from 2000-04 with one eye after he lost the other when he stumbled and hit his eye on the corner of a table.
Turns out, he didn’t need it. He was so highly rated, he was assigned to the Miami-Florida State Orange Bowl in the 2003 season.
Unfortunately, he could use that eye now. The Big Ten fired him after Michigan coach Lloyd Carr called to inform it of Filson’s condition. Filson, 53, is suing under the federal disability act on the grounds he was unfairly dismissed. Big Ten officials say Filson was offered another position, which he declined.
According to the lawsuit, Filson informed his boss in the Big Ten, David Parry, of the accident, and he told Filson to work hard and overcome the disability. Filson found a prosthetic eye and nothing more was made of it. Then another league referee told Carr that “there were some major issues” about Filson and that it could be an embarrassment if news got out. Carr called Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.
Carr is upset he is being blamed for the firing.
“I made it very clear that I was calling for one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to pass the information that was given to me by a Big Ten official,” Carr said at the Big Ten media day in July. “I made it clear to Jim that I had no opinion.”
A jury trial is expected in the next few months.
