Top 25, Week Two

On the AP, and being jumped by Oklahoma

I don’t mind, too much, that the Sooners leaped ahead of the Mountaineers in this week’s AP poll. OU pounded Miami, who pounded Marshall, who got pounded by WVU. So, that makes sense.

Oh, wait. It doesn’t? Are you sure?

Marshall went to Miami, and got killed. Miami went to OU, and got killed. WVU went to Marshall, and… didn’t get killed. Sure, they weren’t great for an entire game, but… what do we really know about OU at this point?

It’s early. West Virginia’s defense doesn’t seem to have improved very much. But, I think there’s a risk in letting OU jump ahead of WVU when there’s so little to go on. Can Miami actually do anything on offense? That WVU didn’t do?

Short answer: no.

So, why would Miami have been any better against OU than WVU would be?

It’s arguable, of course, Miami would have rolled around useless for an entire half in Huntington, too.

Ah, whatever.

LSU

I would like to suggest that jumping from having five first place votes to twenty-five first place votes based on what I thought was a fairly predictable stomping of a very overrated, over-sympathized, under-talented Virginia Tech team.

Virginia Tech proved to everyone in week one that while they might be able to play some D, their offense was going to struggle against all comers. Even against Louisville.

The only surprise about VT’s loss to LSU was that anyone thought it deserved the hype that rang it in. VT was clearly not a top ten team, but had a top ten ranking because they (and Michigan) were overrated at the season’s start.

If I had found the matchup remotely interesting, I might have watched a down of the game. If I had, perhaps I’d have been aroused to full LSU lust. Instead, I was watching games whose results didn’t strike me as preordained (or were on an upset track).

I’ll grant that USC didn’t do much in week one to support their overwhelming number of top ranked votes. But they didn’t do anything yesterday to lose it.

On the USAToday, and being jumped by Florida

Ummm, you guys are kidding, right? They’ve played two games at home, against Western Kentucky and Troy State. Neither team would survive a half against Western Michigan. WTF?!

Whatever. You guys are clearly idiots.

Hawaii

Both polls are clinging to this idea that because the Warriors have one good player, they’re a Top 25 team. Their performance against Louisiana Tech yesterday should really have proven that, in fact, they’re just another overrated team with one college superstar, and really absolutely nothing else.

They could win the WAC with just that. But, I’m betting they won’t. As is the case with any conference, coaching generally wins the day. And I think we saw last season that Boise State has a superior coaching acumen to Hawaii, player (or players) be damned.