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Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com has posted is “way too early” top 25 and already updated it. I am not going to recap the entire thing, but I have a few thoughts. If you want to see the entire list, check the link.

• Boise St. and TCU are all in the top 10. I think it’s a testament to those two teams that they are thought that highly of.
• Texas is back in the top 10. Losing a four-year starter at QB and still being in the top 10 is pretty amazing.
• Nebraska is #7. One of the more storied programs in history is making a comeback and they stand a good chance of getting to the Big 12 title game.
• Wisconsin squeaked their way into the top 10 at #9. I think this is high praise for the Badgers and Brett Bielma. I honestly would have bet Bielma would be fired before the start of 2012, but it’s not looking that way.
• Urban Meyer is probably one of the two best coaches in college football, but I think Florida is going to slip this year. I think they are ranked #10 out of respect.
• I think USC (#21) and Penn St. (#22) are both ranked too high. I am gleefully hoping Lane Kiffin runs USC into the ground.
• I find it interesting that Stanford is nowhere to be found. Only three Pac 10 teams made the cut, but they weren’t one of them.

I have a simple solution to the theory that the BCS system is flawed and that we need a playoff. Now let me preface this by saying:

1) There is no way this will ever happen.
2) I am sure there are some flaws I am missing, so feel free to help me out.

mgoblog had a very good post that got me thinking about something missing from the BCS. There aren’t enough inter conference games. According to that post, the Big Ten didn’t play an SEC school and only played one ACC school in non-conference games.

So my multi-phase approach is this…

First, in order to be eligible for any BCS bowl require all BCS conference schools to play at least 11 games against BCS conference opponents and require all non-BCS conference schools to play at least 4 games against BCS conference opponents. This does a multitude of things. First, it forces teams in weaker BCS conferences (ACC, *ahem* Big Ten) to beat schools in other BCS conferences as opposed to playing 4 cupcakes and rolling through an easy conference schedule. Second, it creates far more comparable resumes across conferences. So it’s more likely that Ohio St. and LSU would have common opponents so it would be easier to separate them in rankings. Thirdly, it forces these non-BCS “wannabes” to play 4 teams who have all played a ton of other BCS schools, again to make separately them more difficult. The caveat to this would be that anytime can opt out. For example, if Indiana doesn’t think they are going to compete they can opt to play some cupcakes and get some wins, but risk not being eligible for a BCS bowl game.

Second, the way these match-ups would be setup is more of a class system. What this means is that when Florida is scheduling it’s non-conference games, it has to schedule them against higher tier teams. So when they schedule a Pac 10 team, they would be more likely to get USC than Washington St. This keeps better schools from constantly piling on to weaker schools. Games could be scheduled two years in advance, so right now the games for 2011 would be scheduled and the “classes” would be based on the 2009 results. There would be some numbers to crunch to figure out how you would set the classes up, but you get the idea.

Big picture, you maintain the existing format of the season, no added games, no de-valuing of bowls or regular season games. Basically you find a way to make the BCS more efficient without making drastic changes to the current setup.

So lets talk pros and cons.

Pros

• No changes to the current structure of the season
• No extra games
• Bowls don’t change so this can happen immediately
• Much better regular season games
• No more Florida blowouts over Alaska A&M

Cons

• The FBS schools no longer get paydays to get a beating
• Complicated scheduling
• Non-conference rivalries would die on the vine
• BCS schools who “opted out” would draw ire from the fans.

The postseason for the 2009 college football season has turned into the wildest batch of coaching-related moving and shaking ever, and it’s not even over yet.

• Arguably the best coach in CFB quit the hottest job in the country at it’s peak…then he didn’t. (Urban Meyer)
• The guy who preceded him as the “best coach” with the hottest job went to the NFL, perhaps to beat NCAA sanctions from punishing him (Pete Carroll)
• The most famous football program in the land fired their coach despite the 10 year contract he signed a couple years ago (Charlie Weis) and replaced him with an undefeated coach before his BCS game (Brian Kelly)
• The 2nd most winningest coach in CFB history retired by beating the school he started at (Bobby Bowden)
• Three coaches who were hot names to move up in the world (Mike Leach, Mark Mangino and Jim Leavitt) fired/stepped down amongst allegations they abused played
• Two big name guys (Rich Brooks and Al Groh) moved on
• The 2004 AP coach of the year returned to the coaching ranks (Tommy Tuberville)
• One of the more arrogant coaches in the country, bailed on an SEC school after one year of trash talking to go to USC (Lane Kiffin)
• The son of a legendary coach finally got his BCS conference job (Skip Holtz)

The Tennessee job is yet to be filled, but a lot of big names have turned it down already. When you factor all of that in, it’s pretty crazy to think about everything that has happened coaching-wise this year. The names, the schools the unexpected firings/resignations, so crazy.

For those of you that don’t know, ESPN is celebrating their 30th anniversary with a series of 30 sports documentaries about a variety of sports people/events/etc. from the last 30 years. They are calling this project, 30 for 30. What is unique about it, is that every documentary is being done by a different filmmaker, so they all have a different perspective and style.

King’s Ransom by Peter Berg (screenplay/director Friday Night Lights)

The first one was about the trade that sent Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. As someone who essentially grew up in the 90s, I didn’t know much about Gretzky with the Oilers. I didn’t realize that he had won EIGHT straight MVP awards before being traded to the Kings. I always assumed he was a solid player who got traded and then became a megastar. In retrospect, it would have been the equivalent of the Bulls trading Michael Jordan after the first three titles. It’s really unbelievable looking back. The film as a whole was pretty solid. It gave some background on why they made the trade and the damage it did to the Oilers and their fans. It flowed pretty well and was overall solid. Since I didn’t know much about the event and Gretzky is so well known I liked it.

The Band that Wouldn’t Die by Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man, The Natural)

The second doc was about the Baltimore Colts marching band (you read that right) and the impact on them, and the impact they made, when the Colts moved to Indianapolis. I knew that the Colts were in Baltimore for a long time and I knew they famously moved in the middle of the night and left their fans in the lurch. The Colts marching band apparently found hard for over 10 years to bring football back to Baltimore and at least played a small role in them getting the Browns. I didn’t like this film as much. It focused to much on the band and not enough on the abrupt departure of the team. Plus it’s hard to feel bad for  these people when in the end they basically poached the Browns from their passionate fan base.

Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL by Mike Tollin (Radio)

This is by far my favorite so far. The United States Football League (USFL) was started in the 80s as a spring football league. I didn’t know much about it other than the fact that Herschel Walker was their marquee guy before he went to the NFL. I knew the league was a failure but I had no idea why. I also never realized that they lured 3 straight Heisman winners and they had Steve Young and Jim Kelly as budding stars before they became NFL Hall of Famers. The league was mostly in cities that didn’t have NFL teams and as I said played in the spring. They used a young ESPN to show games and the league was about having fun. Donald Trump, who was pretty much denied access to buy an NFL team, bought a USFL team. Before long, unsurprisingly, Trump tried to take over. He basically pushed the USFL to try and move to the fall in year 3 to directly compete with the NFL. Clearly the USFL had potential, but they weren’t at that level yet. Tollin did an amazing job including a great interview with Trump. When it was all said and done, everyone blamed Trump.

Muhammad and Larry by Albert Maysles

The best part about this one is that it was comprised mostly of an unfinished (?) documentary from the 80s about the Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes fight in 1980. After Ali lost to Leon Spinks a couple of years earlier, he retired. But Ali decided to come back and try to beat Holmes for the heavyweight title. Ali was already starting to have health problems and had no business fighting Holmes who was at the height of his game. Holmes used Ali as a punching bag (at least from the footage they showed) and at times Ali was just standing there. It seemed that the feeling was that this fight (and the training leading up to it) are largely responsible for Ali being in the state he is in. I don’t know that much about boxing, and definitely wish I had seen more of Ali’s fights, so it was hard to get a lot of context watching this, but it was still really good. The fact that most of it was actual documentary footage from the 80s is probably what makes it so good. You definitely get the feeling for why this was so significant of an event.

As a whole, the 30 for 30 documentaries have been good, but not great. The fact that they are being done by different filmmakers is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because if you don’t like one that doesn’t mean you won’t like others. But it also means that some of them end up being disappointing. I would still give it a try if you haven’t yet.

First…

As we continue to search for the best team in the country we continue to see unconvincing wins from the teams at the top. Florida didn’t put the game away against Mississippi St. until late. Bama needed two block field goals, including one as time expires, to hold off Tennessee. Texas, meanwhile won by 34 on the road against Mizzou. Boise St. won by 45  at Hawaii and Cincinnati rolled against Louisville. Then there was Iowa and USC who both struggled. So what does this all mean? It means we still know nothing…

And Ten…

1. Cincinnati’s win wasn’t signature but they just keep rolling. And they did it without their starting QB. We are now waiting for the West Virginia game on 11/13 to see if they can continue.
2. Georgia Tech (at Virginia), Pittsburgh (vs. USF) and Oklahoma St. (vs. Baylor) all held serve in games they should win. All three have one loss and OK St. has a big game next week against Texas.
3. Alabama narrowly escaped losing against Tennessee. A win is a win but Bama didn’t look great, at least on offense. Their defense looked pretty solid though. Mark Ingram failed to get to 100 yards rushing, so the flavor of the week in the Heisman race may have been just that. Terrance Cody is a lock to be a top 10 pick.
4. Speaking of which, I would have to think Jimmy Clausen is the favorite for the Heisman at this point. Boise St.’s Kellen Moore had a monster five TD game this week. He now has 21 TDs to just 2 INT but obviously not against the competition Clausen has faced.
5. TCU got a big win at BYU but still has to survive #18 Utah in November. But they are on track to crash the BCS
6. Oregon destroyed Washington and have won convincingly 4 games in a row. Their massive showdown against USC next week could decide the Pac 10.
7. Clemson eliminated Miami from the BCS title conversation with a big overtime win in Miami. It could go a long way towards eliminating Miami from the ACC title since now they need VaTech to lose.
8. All BCS conference races are still wide open. Florida can clinch the SEC east with a win over Georgia and a South Carolina loss, but everyone else has a ways to go.
9. Halloween night is going to be a monster. Two night games, Texas at OK St. and USC at Oregon will likely eliminate two teams from the BCS title race.
10. If you are willing to look ahead two weeks we are on the brink of a showdown between LSU and Alabama that will likely decide the SEC west. Both teams have byes next week. I think LSU is hanging in the weeds.

I am back after a one week layoff…

First…

Alabama cemented themselves as the best team in the country. I personally thought they did that with a convincing win against Virginia Tech in week 1. They have since won at Ole Miss and now at home against South Carolina. Their defense is solid, allowing under 10 points in four of their seven wins. They only have two road games left, the Iron Bowl at the end of the season being the only challenge. Winning against Tennessee and LSU in their next two games all best assures they will be 11-0 at that time. We are on our way to Florida vs. Alabama in a great SEC championship game.

And 10…

1. Notre Dame made a valiant effort to come back against USC (who almost choked away a 4th quarter 3 score lead) but I think they had some bad clock management that cost them at least 1 play at the end of the game. As much as it pains me to say it, Clausen is likely the front runner for the Heisman at this point.
2. Iowa won a tough one at Camp Randall and is now alone in 1st in the Big 10. Their showdown at Ohio St. in November suddenly looks huge. Iowa is hopefully going to get more respect after this week and should be in the top 10.
3. Texas/OU lived up to the hype this year. Oklahoma sure can play even without Sam Bradford. Texas’ offense looks very suspect right now. They don’t look like the #2 team in the country and I guarantee they don’t go undefeated.
4. Speaking of Bradford, he got re-injured himself on the 2nd drive of the game. He had all the makings of the #1 pick next April. I still think there is zero percent chance he returns next year but he will need to show he is healthy to still go number one.
5. Florida, like Texas, definitely looks vulnerable. Arkansas shut them down and if they had anything resembling a competent offense they would have beat the Gators. Florida should still cruise but the SEC championship is setting up to be epic.
6. Add Virginia Tech and Ohio St. to the list of top 10 teams who are mediocre. Ohio St. got rolled at Purdue (inexcusable) and VaTech loses to a solid Georgia Tech team in Atlanta. Both surely will fall out of the top 10, and Ohio St. could fall out of the top 15.
7. Boise St. was #5 last week in one poll and #6 in another. They barely escaped a loss at Tulsa. I think Cincinnati and USC could both leapfrog them this week. I would rank Cinci ahead of them for sure.
8. Speaking of Cincinnati, they won a tough one against undefeated South Florida on the road. They should be in the top 5 (behind Bama, Florida,  and Texas). They also only have two road games left (Syracuse and Pitt) but it all comes down to whether Tony Pike is healthy. They could easily run the table though.
9. Undefeated watch…7 teams remain. TCU should get challenged at BYU this week. Cincinnati and Iowa stand the best chance of going undefeated from BCS conferences. The SEC champ could be in that mix as well.
10. Not a great week coming up. The aforementioned TCU vs. BYU game might be the best because it will show us if TCU is for real. It’s unlikely to be televised though. Alabama vs. Tennessee could be ugly but I guess you never know. Iowa could get challenged on the road at night vs. Michigan St. And Texas goes primetime against Missouri where they could really use a blowout.

First…

I find myself often defending college football as the most exciting sport on a game to game basis. In my opinion, it’s weeks like these that re-enforce my theory. Michigan mounted a late 14 point comeback to force overtime again Michigan St. before losing. Georgia scored with about a minute to go, only to have LSU come back and score with 30 seconds left to win. Washington hit a FG with 3 minutes left, ND answered with a touchdown and Washington hit another field goal as time expired to force overtime. Meanwhile Oklahoma and Miami battled in a defensive third quarter for a nail-biting one point game. Basically at any point yesterday you had an exciting game going on. Unmatched in the sports world.

And ten…

1. I have been on the LSU bandwagon (and alone it seems) but they won in Georgia, which is not easy to do. It was a very  close game and they got some breaks at the right time (including two key late penalties). Their matchup against Florida this week is huge.
2. Unsurprisingly Houston and Michigan were both exposed on the road as being overrated 4-0 teams. The difference being Michigan did it in overtime against their underachieving rival, and Houston lost by 17 to a mediocre conference foe.
3. Alabama was the only top three team to play this week and held serve at Kentucky. I still think they might be the best of the three teams. A win at Ole Miss and a loss by Florida could be enough to get Bama to #1.
4. Cal has now been outscored 72-6 in the last two games and will likely need a miracle to be a factor in the Pac 10 race. This season is not looking good for the Bears.
5. Virginia Tech is quietly 4-1 (with their only loss to Bama). They are now #4 and their win against Miami looks very good. If they can survive Georgia Tech in two weeks they might have a smooth ride to the ACC title game.
6. Oregon has rebounded from the debacle at Boise St. by winning four straight. They are clicking at the right time and have four tough games in a row (@UCLA, @Wash, USC, @Stanford) that if they somehow escape unscathed could leave them in the discussion for the Championship game.
7. Scott Tolzien and Tate Forcier have been the two best QBs in the Big Ten this year if you go by quarterback rating (although I would say the eye test agrees). Interestingly enough, you have to go to numbers 6, 7 and 8 to find the preseason hype guys Pryor, Clark and Stanzi. Hats off to Juice Williams who has managed just 1 TD (to 4 interceptions) and is singlehandedly making sure Arrelious Benn’s draft stock doesn’t get a jolt.
8. Speaking of which (is it too early to draft about draft prospects?), my opinion is that Sam Bradford is the top player (injury or not) and there are plenty of teams in need of a QB. Since NFL teams haven’t learned not to draft QBs high I suspect Bradford will go #1. If you believe Mel Kiper ($) 5 of the top 7 guys are defensive players. I wondered if you could take a DT or DB in the top 5 and found that three of each had been taken in the top 5 this decade. I think Eric Berry will go in the top 5.
9. 13 undefeated teams remain, which means 4 fell this week (Michigan, Houston, UCLA, TAMU). LSU vs. Florida is only game featuring two of those teams this week, which means at most 12 will remain. Ironically there were 13 through week 5 last year.
10. This is a big week in the Big 10 as Iowa hosts Michigan at night and Wisconsin gets a big challenge in Columbus vs. Ohio St. Alabama goes to Ole Miss who will be out to spoil the Tide’s season. Auburn puts their surprise 5-0 record on the line at Arkansas. And of course the game of the week is LSU vs. Florida.

A busy week kept me from getting to this sooner. But here is what I got:

First…So the top teams just keep losing. It has seemed apparent for a while that there really aren’t any teams that have separated themselves. Jevan Snead looked terrible losing to South Carolina. Penn St. couldn’t handle the weather and lost at home at night. And Cal was destroyed by Oregon. I think Iowa is a better team than we thought and Oregon might be too, but in most cases it’s likely that those top 10 teams were overrated. Expect this trend to continue. Other than Florida, Bama and Texas there probably isn’t a team to worry about.

And Ten…

1. Tim Tebow getting hurt was the story of the week. In a way it showed that he is indeed human. Florida has a bye week this week which is nice for him to recover. LSU is after that. But Florida is a good team and if anyone can survive it’s them.
2. Boise St. destroyed MAC bottom feeder Bowling Green. But I said it last week, Boise St. just keeps winning. Their schedule is cake, and they should go undefeated.
3. USC was unimpressive in their “bounce back” game. They were favored by 46.5 points (!) and jumped out to a 20 point lead in the 1st quarter. They only scored 7 more points the rest of the game. I think USC is extremely overrated and I think will be exposed this week against Cal.
4. Miami took a dump against conference rival Virginia Tech. Everyone got on the “Canes are back” bandwagon a bit too fast. Meanwhile VaTech has wins against Miami and Nebraska and their only loss is to Bama who might be the best team in the country right now.
5. We are down to just 17 unbeatens after 11 fell last week. No two play eachother this week so we aren’t guaranteed to lose any this week. But I put the over/under at 2.5 for teams that go down this week. Best bets: LSU and Michigan.
6. Still no Heisman favorite has emerged. The fact that Jimmy Clausen is in the discussion makes me want to vomit. This is the kind of year where someone random will win it.
7. The Dan Hawkins Axe Watch continues this week at West Virginia. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what Colorado does. Hawkins’ son is the QB so they have to factor that in and it will be interesting to see how that works.
8. Conference play gets into full swing this week. As usual the SEC is the one to watch.
9. Games of the week 2A and 2B: Oklahoma at Miami and USC at Cal. Oklahoma is w/o Sam Bradford (officially now) and so this game takes an interesting turn. It’s must win for either team if they want to be in the hunt for the national title. Meanwhile USC and Cal play for what could be the top spot in the Pac 10.
10. Game of the Week 1: LSU and Georgia. Both of these teams look like they have serious holes. Winning at Georgia is not an easy task and they have shown signs of being decent here and there. This is LSU’s chance to prove they can play.

First…

This season has wackiness written all over it, or so I thought. By my count we have 28 undefeated teams after three weeks. I looked back to last year and after week three there were 31. I thought maybe there were just a lot fewer top tier teams, but in both cases about 50% of those teams entered week three in the Top 25. I guess it’s just that teams people talked about being MNC contenders (USC, VaTech, OU, Ohio St., OK St.) have losses, and teams like Miami, Cal, Cincinnati and Houston are in the top 20. There are four undefeated vs. undefeated matchups this week so we go into week 5 with at most 24 undefeated teams. Don’t get too excited though, all four of these games’ favorites should be big ones. But get excited for week 6. If the teams make it that far, you could see Florida vs. LSU and Alabama vs. Ole Miss in what should at a minimum go a big way towards weeding out the SEC.

And 10…

1. Miami sure looks for real so far. Two big wins to start the season, they get a big challenge this week against Virginia Tech. If they can pull out the win they are going to have a commanding lead in the Coastal Conference. If they can somehow follow that up with a win against Oklahoma, we could be talking about them as a MNC contender.
2. BYU laid an egg this week at home against FSU. They are done. More importantly my dark horse Heisman guy Max Hall is done too. His three picks give him 6 on the year already. With the craptacular opponents he has left, he has no shot to get back in the race.
3. Speaking of Heisman, as good as Tebow was, Jahvid Best was better rushing for 5 TDs against Minnesota. Best is a borderline top 10 pick right now, but if Cal is for real he is going to have a shot at the Heisman and being the first back taken next April.
4. It’s been said a million times but Lane Kiffin really did everything he could not to get blown out in Gainesville. I watched that entire game and he was regularly running on third and long just so that Crompton didn’t throw picks. I thought it was lame, but I guess he can play the moral victory card now.
5. Is it just me or is LSU flying under the radar right now? That win at Washington looks a lot better now. They also have IMO the best top to bottom group of WRs and RBs in the country (if you combined them into one). They have to play Georgia on the road this week then home against Florida with games at Bama and Ole Miss down the road. They have an amazingly tough schedule but because of that 2 losses and an SEC championship probably gets them back to the big game.
6. Boise St. has only lost 17 games this decade. Even with 3 more this year that would still only average two per year. I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I would be shocked if anyone else is close (Ohio St. is at 20 already, USC 23, I couldn’t think of who else would be there). At some point do they change conferences? I suspect the Pac 10 wouldn’t do it, because they are only a football school. But what about the Mountain West? They want to prove they are legit. It would give them 10 teams (conference championship anyone?) plus a stranglehold on potential BCS “busters” (Utah, BYU, TCU, Boise St.)
7. Safeties Taylor Mays (USC) and Eric Berry (Tennessee) sure look like perennial pro bowlers in the NFL. Per DraftHistory.com, the last time two safeties went in the Top 10 was the 2006 draft (Michael Huff and Donte Whitner) and that didn’t really pan out. I think someone in the 10-15 range is going to steal one of those guys. (Side note: Check out the 2006 draft. This could be one of the worst first rounds ever. It’s still early but there a massive number of busts. I think most teams would prefer the last 10 guys rather than the first 10).
8. As much as it pains me to say it, Ryan Mallet is looking like he may live up to the hype after all. The Michigan transfer had a 5 TD game against Georgia. He and Jimmy Clausen were supposed to go toe to toe for at least 3 years. Clausen is going to bolt for NFL bustdom after this year so it’s unlikely they will ever meet again. I bet Mallet goes on to have a better college career than Clausen.
9. My friends said there is no dominate conference right now, but I disagree. I will take it as far as saying there is a dominant division WITHIN a conference and that would be the SEC West. Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and and Auburn make up 4 of the 28 undefeated teams and three of those four are in the top 7.
10. Looking ahead to week 4, Ole Miss gets their first real challenge on the road, Thursday night, ESPN, at South Carolina. This has all the makings of a “trap” game. Cal has to go to Oregon which can be tricky. Miami gets another road challenge against conference rival Virginia Tech. And Houston (vs. Texas Tech) and Washington (at Stanford) both have the makings of “letdown” games after big wins.

This week’s post should be interesting since I saw most of the Michigan/ND game and that’s pretty much it. I will do my best though.

First…I have to start with my favorite team, so call me a homer if you must. Michigan didn’t play a great game. If I can find time to re-watch the game this week I am going to. But you have to give Tate Forcier an immense amount of credit. That last drive alone was just legendary. Freshman QB, in the Big House, against Notre Dame, avoids the pressure multiple times and gets the TD with 11 seconds left. Michigan’s offense has taken a big step and should be 4-0 when they going to East Lansing next month. Meanwhile Notre Dame suffers a big loss and Charlie Weis is staring down the barrel of a gun. My prediction was that 7-5 he is gone, 8-4 he might be. They have a tough 4 game stretch coming up where they can’t afford more than 1 loss.

And Ten…

1. Props to Ohio St. on taking a big dump. Only 5 second half points and Pryor went 11 for 25. I didn’t really see any of it so I guess I can’t be too critical. I already made my prediction though that Pryor is a couple of bad games away from pulling a Maurice Clarett.
2. Oklahoma St. can’t capitalize on their big win last week and lost at home to a CUSA team. This year could be as wacky as last year.
3. North Carolina looked extremely shaky on the road against UConn and got gifted that win. The hype might be too much.
4. Georgia’s loss to OK St. didn’t look good after OK St. lost at home to Houston. Then UGA barely escaped South Carolina at home. Georgia has some work to do.
5. I know it was a Div II team but Brian Kelly’s team destroyed SE MO St. 70-3. He really is going to have his pick of jobs next year. I think the Notre Dame job will be his if he wants it if Weis is fired.
6. Wisconsin needed two OTs to hold off Fresno St. at home. Wisconsin is 2-0 but hasn’t looked good doing it. I still think Bielma is on the hot seat but his schedule is stable enough that he should be OK this year.
7. My Heisman dark horse Max Hall had another big game. 71% with 638 yards in two games. But those 3 picks are interesting. He is on pace for about 18, which would be a career high for him. Their game against FSU next week will be a huge test.
8. Al Groh was already on the hot seat at Virginia, and the 0-2 start will not help. @UNC, GaTech, @Miami, VaTech make every other game must win to avoid a losing season. I think Groh is in trouble.
9. Dan Hawkins is in even worse shape. Hawkins also has been on the hot seat and lost at home to Colorado St. and then to MAC punching bag Toledo (giving up 54 in the process). Hawkins has must win next week at home against Wyoming (who hung with Texas for a bit) because after that it’s @WVU, @Texas, Kansas and @KState. If he loses next week he could start 0-7 which would likely lead to a mid-season firing.
10. Things start to get interesting next week. GaTech vs. Miami should separate someone as the favorite in the Big 10 (sorry VaTech I haven’t seen it from you yet). Tennessee and Texas Tech go to Florida and Texas respectively. Both of those road teams are down, but you never know. FSU gives BYU it’s 2nd challenge on the early season. Nebraska at VaTech might be the game of the day on Saturday (that is not a compliment).