Thursday
Sep072006
CFR's Top Teams List: Week One
Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 12:55PM As always, this is a power ranking, not a predictor.
Additionally, it's based on one week of play and things will be pretty fluid until several weeks into the season.
- Ohio State---Not the world's strongest No. 1 ever, but put together a masterful first quarter against NIU before cruising. Troy Smith performed at a very high level for a first week of play.
- USC---A nearly flawless opening performance on the road against a motivated opponent. Forced five turnovers, ran the ball. New quarterback John David Booty is eerily accurate. Can stumble somewhere, but wow.
- Auburn---Wazzou hung tight for a while but Auburn blew past them with a steady dosage of Kenny Irons. Lots of new faces on defense deserve monitoring. Great fake punt call.
- Notre Dame---Survived a scare behind a gutty quarterback and good defensive play. That offense won't stay bottled up forever. Winning on a day they didn't have it shows moxie.
- Texas---Colt McCoy did what was needed and played relaxed in a softball tune-up against North Texas in a tune-up for the Ohio State game this weekend.
- Florida---The Gators were bogged down for a while but battled out of that and unleashed freshman phenom Percy Harvin into the world.
- Louisville---Michael Bush is gone but they played like they didn't need him, running crazy well after his injury. Gave up some huge plays to Kentucky, mostly to Keenan Burton who looks like a hell of a playmaker for the Wildcats.
- Oklahoma---Red zone turnovers did in what was a fairly productive offense. The defense missed a lot of tackles, which is troubling but given Oklahoma's propensity for defense I'll chalk that up to having an off night. No other team has Adrian Peterson, and Oklahoma let UAB know about it by riding him to victory in the second half.
- West Virginia---Had an easy time against in-state rival Marshall, with Steve Slaton rushing for over 200 yards.
- Georgia---The offense was pathetic, the third similar performance in as many efforts under quarterback Joe Tereshinski. Hard to tell much else given the nature of the opponent.
- Michigan---The offense will have to win with the run because Chad Henne is one shaky dude at QB. The defense looked excellent with its more aggressive approach. LaMarr Woodley was a sack machine, teaming with Shawn Crable as a terrible TFL twosome.
- Clemson---Will now play without star linebacker Anthony Waters. Offense caught fire after a slow start and should be among the best in school history. Hard to tell much else given that the opponent was Florida Atlantic.
- Alabama---Showed off a new passing game against game Hawai'i. Relaxed a bit after a lead to let the Warriors back into the game. Not their best effort but there are many more games to the season. Notable: star back Kenneth Darby was held in check, running for just 19 yards on 14 carries.
- LSU---Cruised against a cupcake. Highly touted frosh backs Charles Scott and Keiland Williams both logged a few carries, with Scott ripping off the Tigers' longest run of the day, a 19-yarder.
- Oregon---Throttled Stanford. Dennis Dixon is a great fit for that offense and they can sub in the erratic but accurate Brady Leaf when they need more of a pocket presence. Johnathan Stewart is among the nation's top backs and had a huge game running and on returns. Defense held a good offense to 10 points.
Lurking
Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Fresno State, UCLA, Arizona State, Nebraska, TCU, California, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, Iowa
Reader Comments (13)
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/boxscore?gid=200609020076
Both tied @ 19 yards.
Until proven otherwise my mind thinks they're the same Penn State team pre-Robinson as starting QB and nine thousand seniors everywhere else.
You need to stop trying so desperately to contradict the mainstream media on your picks, because, quite frankly, you look like an ass, sir.
Second, I've seen Morelli's arm. I've also heard he has a two cent head. Penn State has plenty of time to climb into these rankings, so take a chill pill.
Finally, I don't need to contradict the mainstream media, they do plenty of that themselves.
Everything I offer here is my own opinion and not for shock value, not to contradict anything. I don't have the care or energy to think up ways to be different, all I have is what I am and that's what you get here.
Better groups can arguably be found at Miami, Florida State, USC and Virginia Tech.
I wouldn't be so quick to talk up Penn State. I think they're going to eat it against ND tomorrow, although I'm certainly rooting for PSU. Should be a good early test for Morelli, although the ND defense isn't exactly great.
Penn State does have some good linebackers, no doubt. Not the best in the nation, but very good.
SC is a solid #2, and could very well end up there in both polls after this weekend, so it's not nearly as contradictory to the mainstream as you imply.
What the heck are they doing at 13?
More like 17-21 but not in the the Top 15.
The Hawaii game was deceptive. Alabama played a lot better with injuries, a vanilla scheme, etc. than one might think, but come on!
Alabama at #20, I'll accept that.
DJ HALL was suspended for the game. And Alabama had 4 red zone FGs against Glanville's cheaters...
The game resmbled a 40-10 game, Alabama went prevent in the 4th and allowed the clock to run out not after though Hawaii had gained about 150 yards and 2 TDs.
They still do not belong at #13....