Week 4 - Top 10

Week 4 and some newcomers to the Top 10.  And teams that have been kept out all season justify their exclusion (Texas and Oklahoma)

1. Alabama - A big rally, on the road, against a good Arkansas team.  The Tide keeps on rolling.
2. Ohio State - Hung 73 on Eastern Michigan, but gave up 20.  Holds on to the second spot, but Buckeyes are on notice.  And your schedule isn't that much better than Boise State's.
3. Boise State - Another game against a ranked opponent in front of a national audience and once again, the Broncos come through.  You can say their schedule is terrible, you can say their blue field is a joke.  You can't say they aren't a good football team.
4. Oregon - Drops a spot after beating Arizona State.  If the Sun Devils don't turn the ball over seven times, the Ducks lose this one.
5. TCU - Took longer than expected to get going against SMU, but the Horned Frogs beat them like they should have.
6. Stanford - Took out Notre Dame easily and sets up the big showdown with Oregon this weekend.

7. LSU - Another good win for the Tigers, defeating West Virginia.  The offense still seems a little suspect and there is always the Les Miles factor that can rise up at any time to cost a ball game, but the defense is looking great.
8. Nebraska - Struggled way too much with South Dakota State.  If they have those kind of problems in their Big-12 games, they'll lose a couple, but I think this was an abberration and they'll be fine.
9. Florida - Welcome, Gators!  Took you a while to get here but you finally stepped up and put a team away early instead of waiting until the fourth quarter.
10. Auburn - Impressive wins against Clemson and South Carolina gets the Tigers into the last spot in the list.  And with Alabama looming on their schedule, they have the chance to move way up.

On the outside looking in:

• South Carolina - Falls out of the top 10.  Same issues for the Gamecocks as their quarterbacks can't hold on to the ball in key situations.
• Oklahoma - Another win by the Sooners and another game of playing down to the competition.  With Texas' outstanding play so far this year, the Red River Shootout looks to be a snooze-fest (yes, Shootout, not Rivalry.  You don't get to change the name just because you want to be politically correct, especially in two states that like their guns).
• North Carolina State - Almost there, but want to see a little more defense from them and for them to close teams out.  Allowing too many fourth quarter points to make it interesting.  Quarterback Russell Wilson is going to start getting some national notice...he's been good for three years now.
• Utah - A win over Pitt and then three straight blowout victories.

An ugly weekend for the Big-10 as their Big-10 vs MAC Showdown weekend produced too many close games (Penn State, Illinois, Northwestern), two losses (Purdue and Minnesota) and a lot of non-competitive football.  The Big-10 commissioner needs to step in and stop this crap from continuing.

Texas' loss to UCLA couldn't happen to a nicer head coach.  Mack Brown's team is not very good this year and he got absolutely poleaxed by a Bruin team that threw for 27 yards.  I liked Mack when he was at North Carolina, but living in Austin seems to have made him a little bitch (which seems surprising since I've only heard good things about Austin).  His continual whining makes him seem like a porr loser and extremely non-likable (see how he got into the 2005 Rose Bowl game over Cal, see his current crusade to get Vince Young the Heisman Reggie Bush vacated, see him every year Texas has a loss or two and how his kids deserve a BCS game, see the way he votes for his team and Big-12 teams in the polls). 

And a correction to my Top 5 BBQ items to enjoy while watching college football:  #5 should have been Beef Brisket instead of chicken.  I must have had a beer or two too many when i started typing.  Fork-tender brisket with a good smoke ring and a beautiful BBQ bark is a slice of ecstasy for your mouth.