College Football Week 5: What 2 Watch 4

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With bye weeks looming for both of my teams this week, I thought I'd take a more expansive look at what's happening around the country this weekend, starting with College. I'll share any and all thoughts I have for this weekend's run of games. Quick note: It's going to be tough for any team to out-impress Nebraska's 17-3 victory over South Dakota St. last week. They completely dominated the Jackrabbits.

On to the games (teams ranked according to Dirkness Top 25):

11am- Kansas at Baylor- The Bears have been steady so far, blowing out three lesser teams and getting blown themselves by their big little brother, TCU. The Jayhawks have been anything but stable, somewhere between this guy and this guy. They tend to show up on even numbered weeks (beat GT, blow out NMSU) and fall flat on their face on odd numbered weeks (losses to NDSU and S-Miss). That's good news for lil' Baylor, who's Robert Griffin (III!) is rounding back into form after missing all of last year. KU might be set up for the future with a freshman quarterback and running back leading the way, but they ain't there yet. Predirktion: Baylor 27-17.

2:30- (22)Texas vs (8)Oklahoma- This game lost a lot of its luster after the Longhorns crapped the bed against UCLA (who had already lost to K-State and to Stanford 35-0). Oklahoma has three different one-score victories to their credit over mediocre teams (Utah St, Air Force, Cincinnati) coupled with a stomping of Florida St, who should prove to be the toughest of those teams. So is motivation the problem? Or did they just play over their heads that one game? Something tells me both of these teams are overrated in one of the worse Red River Shootouts we've seen in a while. If that's true, then the Big 12 is headed for a down season (good news for the Huskers!), its last in existence. I think Texas comes out fired up, but this game rarely produces upsets, which makes it a relatively overrated rivalry in my books, so I'm going chalk. Predirktion: Oklahoma 20-19.

7:00- (9)Florida at (2)Alabama- The Gators have improved every week after (literally) fumbling 15 snaps in its first game. That decision to cancel fall practice so the team could watch Tim Tebow preseason highlights may have backfired. Alabama expended a lot of energy in their comeback victory over Arkansas last week (and it doesn't get easier traveling to South Carolina next week). Will that play a factor? I say yes. Their defense looked vulnerable, and if Arkansas would've kept their foot on the gas they would have come away victorious. The Tide rolls with RB's Mark Ingram (averaging an astonishing 9.3 yards per carry) and Trent Richardson (7.6 ypc). The Gators counter with the 11th ranked rush defense in the country. Strength vs. strength. Florida has been looking forward to this game all offseason. They want to be the team to spoil Alabama's shot at a repeat, much like 'Bama did to them last season. Florida has to manufacture points to win which puts this game squarely on Urban Meyer's shoulders. I think he's been saving just enough. Predirktion: Florida 20-17.

7:00- (3)Stanford at (4)Oregon- Possibly the Dirkness Game of the Year. Regular season Dirkness-favorite Stanford travels to the renowned Autzen Stadium, home of preseason Dirkness-favorite Oregon.  The Mighty Ducks gave up 597 total yards to Arizona St. last week, and probably would've lost if they hadn't forced 7 turnovers, which solicited a demotion in the Dirkness 25. Meanwhile, Stanford is crushing opponents (on the road nonetheless) at an impressive, albeit nationally unknown, rate. If I were in charge, and the first rankings didn't come out until three weeks had been played, Stanford would be properly rated in the Top 5 right now. The other top storyline of this game is the rise of the Pac-10, with three Top 10 teams in my latest poll (most of any conference). The Cardinal are led by Andrew Luck, who has defaulted his way to the top of my Quarterback list (after Jake Locker and Ryan Mallett's failures- might just be his turn this week). This game should be a shootout with two of the Top 4 scoring offenses in the country (Oregon-1st, Stan-4th). The difference will be Jimmy Harbaugh's stout defense. This game is MUST SEE TV! Predirktion: Stanford 34-30.

His Dirkness

2010 College Football Top 25: Week 4

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Last week may have been the best Saturday yet of the young College Football season. I was absolutely glued to the television, flipping between four games at one point in the afternoon. A few thoughts on the games I was watching simultaneously....

UCLA/Texas~ The Longhorns are who I thought they were, consistently ranking them way below where the national polls had them (most overrated team last week). The belief that Colt McCoy would pass the torch to Garrett Gilbert (G.G.) Allin with little dropoff was silly. They better be prepared for the Ultimate Eff-You Sendoff Game come October 16th in Lincoln. Oh yea, and Oklahoma before that. Wave goodbye to that streak of 189 consecutive weeks ranked in the USA Today Top 25.

Stanford/Notre Dame~ Finally, the country is hopping on the Dirkness-led Dancing Tree bandwagon. They've been my most underrated team in the country the last two weeks running (make that three). They destroyed the UCLA team (that just beat Texas) 35-squat in Los Angeles. Jim Harbaugh joins Bo Pelini and Chip Kelly (Oregon) as the next generation of great head coaches. Will he stay at Stansbury though?

Kansas St/Central Florida~ The Wildcats pulled out the victory but struggled with the read option play ran by the mobile Golden Knight quarterback all day. Why is this important? Because T-Mobile and Nebraska come to town a week from Thursday (a game Dirkness will be attending thanks to my main mane, Bill). However, Daniel Thomas might find some room to run on the Blackshirts too (they're potential weakness). Should prove to be an interesting matchup that has me a little scared, mostly because the game is on a Thursday night.

Arkansas/Alabama~ The game of the year to this point. The emotion, the pageantry, the wet mattress left on the field by Ryan Mallett, the shiite talking, the continuous domination of College Football by dorky, white quarterbacks, and the overall impressiveness of Mark Ingram. Still amazes me how teams can let off the gas with leads in these kinds of games.

On to the rankings....

Dirkness' Top 25:

1. Ohio St. (4-0)
2. Alabama (4-0)
3. Stanford (4-0)
4. Oregon (4-0)
5. Boise St. (3-0)
6. Nebraska (4-0)
7. TCU (4-0)
8. Oklahoma (4-0)
9. Florida (4-0)
10. Arizona (4-0)
11. Auburn (4-0)
12. Iowa (3-1)
13. LSU (4-0)
14. Miami (2-1)
15. Arkansas (3-1)
16. Wisconsin (4-0)
17. Michigan (4-0)
18. Nevada (4-0)
19. North Carolina St. (4-0)
20. Utah (4-0)
21. South Carolina (3-1)
22. Texas (3-1)
23. Missouri (4-0)
24. Penn St. (3-1)
25. Florida St. (3-1)


New to the rankings: North Carolina St, Missouri, Penn St, Florida St
Dropped from the rankings: Fresno St, Oregon St, Georgia Tech, Temple

Biggest Rise: North Carolina St~6+ spots (unranked to 19)
Biggest Fall: Texas~12 spots (11 to 22)

Most Overrated Team (Dirkness/USA Today): Utah (20th/12th)
Most Underrated Team: Stanford (3 in a row)~10 spots (13th/3rd)

Top 25: Week 3

Top 25: Week 2

Top 25: Week 1

Top 25: Preseason

His dirkness

2010 College Football Top 25: Week 2

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That monster Saturday turned into a bit of a dud, which wasn't too surprising, given that the better team was the home team in most of the big games. The biggest deal to come out of it was Virginia Tech losing to James Madison (cheer up KU fans!), thus killing any virtual shot that Boise St. had at reaching the National Championship game (computer numbers will be abysmal). The only way they get in now is if they can finish the regular season ranked #1 in the country (and even that might not be enough). I believe they only get to that top spot if all BCS (minus the Big East) conference teams lose two games, which seems highly unlikely.

As always, I do not even look at my last week's rankings when making each week's new rankings. They are completely their own which cause a bunch of movement in the rankings. Here we go, comin' at ya....

Dirkness' Top 25:

1. Ohio St. (2-0)
2. Oregon (2-0)
3. Alabama (2-0)
4. Oklahoma (2-0)
5. Boise St. (1-0)
6. Iowa (2-0)
7. TCU (2-0)
8. Stanford (2-0)
9. Nebraska (2-0)
10. South Carolina (2-0)
11. Texas (2-0)
12. Wisconsin (2-0)
13. Michigan (2-0)
14. Florida (2-0)
15. Miami (1-1)
16. Arizona (2-0)
17. Oregon St. (1-1)
18. Houston (2-0)
19. Cal (2-0)
20. LSU (2-0)
21. Arkansas (2-0)
22. Clemson (2-0)
23. Texas A&M (2-0)
24. Utah (2-0)
25. Georgia (1-1)

(Also Receiving Votes: Auburn, Florida St., Missouri, James Madison, North Dakota St.)

Biggest Rise: Stanford~11 spots (19 to 8)
Biggest Fall: Virginia Tech~15+ spots (10 to off the face of the earth)
Most Overrated Team (comparing Dirkness rankings to USA Today): Auburn~10+ spots (15th/NR)
Most Underrated Team: Stanford~11 spots (19th/8th)

Go Dancing Trees!

H'Dirkness