Sully’s College Football Wrap Up Week 6

What We Learned: Focus is king, and a lack of it for even one night can halt the championship hopes of not just good teams, but great teams.  Florida State fell to a team they are much better than last night because, quite simply, Florida State was not ready to tackle the challenge so many thought, or even expected, they could.  Their defeat will no doubt change the landscape of the 2012 season, while also working to serve as a reminder of why Alabama is still king.  Nobody focuses like they do, because nobody else has Nick Saban.  Alabama is tough, fast, and more than anything, they are old school.  Oregon, however, is frenetic in pace, flashy, and innovative.  This will be the story of the college football season: The Old vs the New.  Oregon’s ascension to the national championship game seems more inevitable now than ever, but their final victory is yet limned with doubt amongst the minds of those watching.  This Alabama team is spectacular.  It is easy to talk about how great their offensive line is, and their running backs, too, but I’m not sure their QB gets the love he deserves.  AJ  McCarron is completing 73% of his passes, and has a 12-0 TD/Int ratio.  This kid is not another Parker-Wilson who is an effective game manager – he is capable of carrying his team if he has to.  McCarron is easily they best QB Saban has had during his time at Alabama, and in the end, that will show.

South Carolina Will Be a Player: 

Connor Shaw does not always play pretty games, but this kid is gritty.  He has hung tough for his team when they needed him to, and when he gets himself going South Carolina romps.  There really is not much to say about Lattimore than what has already been said (kid is a STUD), and Ace Sanders is as exciting as anyone in the country with the ball in his hands.  We don’t think they are quite as good as Alabama or Oregon are, but they are close.  On a night, who knows?

Florida is Good, but Still Unproven

Will Muschamp deserves a lot of credit for getting his team to improve in just one offseason the way that they have, but Florida needs to continue to win before we are ready to deem them a great team.  They beat a reeling, offensively challenged LSU team this past Saturday at home, and in doing so, they demonstrated not only that they are better than many, including myself, thought they were, but also that LSU is just not that spectacular this season.  There is something missing from this year’s LSU team that was there last season.  Despite that, the way Florida beat LSU was still extremely impressive, though there are still some concerns in relation to their play.  On one hand, Florida managed to beat LSU at their own game by just going at them with the running game, and eventually wearing them out.  Still, it should be noted Gilislee had 146 yards on 34 carries, which accounted for 63% of Florida’s entire offense yesterday, while Driskel passed for just 61 yards.  Sound familiar?  It should, because that is basically what LSU did last year, and in the end, that was not enough for them to win a championship.  Running the ball effectively, coupled with playing great defense is great, but balance is even better.

West Virginia is Good, not Great

Going in line with what was just talked about, doing one thing well is great, but not if doing that one thing well is at the expense of everything else.  For a proper illustration of how West Virgina stacks up against other teams, go check out our game simulator –> (http://sullyscollegefootballpage.com/Football_Stats/Matchup.cfm ).  There you will see that West Virginia stacks up favorably against only Kansas State and Oregon State of the AP Top 10.  In the other games, our simulator predicts defeat for them.  West Virginia is extremely fun to watch, but they are just not good enough defensively to win a championship.  Not even close.  Another BCS appearance this season is West Virginia’s best scenario.

Interesting Thing to Note:

For the First time ever, no Big Ten team is ranked in the coaches poll (Ohio State is ineligible for this poll, remember).  That is pretty staggering.  We have felt for weeks that the Big Ten was not very good, but we did not envision the league being this bad.

Our Knee Jerk Reaction:

While you all already know how we feel about Alabama, there are still other teams out there that are impressing us.  One such team is Notre Dame.  We think Kelly is finally starting to get it.  He is staying calm, and actually exercising great patience with his young, but talented QB, Everett Golson.  He needed to recognize this kid as being the future of his program, and when the cards were down on the table, he needed to let this kid play without destroying him. So far, so good.  Watch him on the sideline next week – he is doing a much better job of controlling his anger.

Last Season                                                                   This Season

Ohio State is also much better this year.  The young Braxton Miller is playing great, and while they are a step slow on defense, they are finding ways.  They are, after all, 6-0, which has to count for something.  Urban Meyer is doing a great job this season, and as he continues to bring in better talent into the program while Miller keeps getting better, Ohio State will continue to tread closer to being back to championship form.  In a couple years Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Michigan should be able to get themselves back into the national championship picture, but it is still important to remember that, at least for now, they are not.