Cal RB Jahvid Best (figuratively) and Florida QB Tim Tebow (literally) took it on the chin this past weekend in what proved to be a rough weekend for Heisman hopefuls.
Written by: D. Wash.
This is the part of the year where teams prove that they deserve their rankings. Some teams rose to the challenge, destroying their lesser opponents. Other teams faltered and lost because of it. This week, 8 teams ranked in the top 25 (4 of them ranked in the top 10) suffered losses. Another six teams needed 4th quarter heroics to maintain their rankings. This made for an exciting week in college football and could end in an interesting problem for the voters later in the year.
Penn State’s Title hopes ended by Iowa… Again
A “White Out” in Happy Valley is a spectacular thing to see. Imagine 100,000 football crazed, screaming Penn State fans all dressed in white, making the entire stadium look like a sea of white. Most visitors to Happy Valley would be intimidated by this, but Iowa Hawkeyes were not. The Hawkeyes stunned Penn State last year, when the Nittany Lions were on the road to the national title game, and many Penn State players vowed that it wouldn’t happen this year. Unfortunately for them, Iowa didn’t get that memo and proceeded to shut down PSU’s offense in the last 3 quarters. The Hawkeyes then scored 16 points in the fourth to get the victory and earn the greatest sound that any visiting team can get in a rivals stadium. Silence.
Cal Crushed on The Road
This was supposed to be the year that the Cal Bears go undefeated and win the Pac 10 outright. They have the most talented running back in the nation and very skilled receivers. Oregon, however, showed that Cal didn’t have the willpower to win on the road against a decent team. After scoring a field goal in the first quarter, the Bears were shut down by the Oregon Ducks and embarrassed. The Ducks scored 42 points on the Bears to turn what should’ve been an easy Cal victory into a blowout for Oregon. The Ducks totaled over 500 yards of offense, using an extremely balanced pass-run offense. Perhaps most impressively, the Ducks held Heisman candidate Jahvid Best to only 55 yards on the day. This loss end Cal’s hopes for perfection and national supremacy (and possibly Best’s Heisman hopes), but helps to revive an Oregon team that was beat on national TV in the season opener.
Tech puts Miami back in their place
Miami seemed to have it all going for them. They led college football in passing efficiency and had a possible Heisman candidate in sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris. Then they went to Virginia Tech and it all fell apart. The defense that stuffed the Georgia Tech running game was run all over by VT running back Ryan Williams and quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The usually good Jacory Harris threw an interception and lost a fumble. The rest of the Miami offense couldn’t get started. It was a beatdown. Virginia Tech won decisively and spoiled Miami’s season. The win also propels VT back into the top 10 and back into a very interesting BCS bowl picture.
Michigan, LSU, TCU, Houston, Kansas, and Georgia barely get wins
To remain ranked, you have to win your games and win impressively. While all of the teams did get wins, they didn’t win impressively over their unranked opponents. LSU needed a goal line stand to beat Mississippi State. Georgia, Michigan, and Houston needed points in the last few minutes to sneak away with wins. Kansas and TCU went into the fourth trailing lesser teams. While all of these teams maintained their unbeaten status (save Georgia who lost to Oklahoma State earlier in the year), none of them truly impressed the voters. If it wasn’t for losses of some teams above them, none of these teams would be moving up the polls. All of them need to tighten up their games if they expect to beat the more difficult teams on their schedules.
An Interesting Dilemma
It’s still quite early in the college football season, and yet a number of teams have suffered losses. The only teams that have looked like national championship teams are Florida, Texas, and Alabama. They have all crushed their opponents and earned respect from the voters. The same cannot be said for current #4 team LSU, #13 Iowa, #18 Kansas, or #22 Michigan (the other ranked unbeatens from major conferences). There are other unbeatens that the voters could put in a BCS bowl game if two of the top 3 teams were to falter, but they’re from conferences like the WAC, USA, or Big East. Very unsexy. This creates an issue for the voters. Should they allow teams that have shown issues or glaring weaknesses such as LSU and Iowa into BCS bowls? Or should they let solid one loss teams like USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech to get back into the discussion? Or will an undefeated team not from a major conference, such as Boise State, get a chance? If mayhem occurs in the top three, the voters may have to answer any or all of these questions, and I guarantee that they won’t agree.
Side Notes
-Tim Tebow suffered a concussion this week. He was coherent on Sunday and seemed fine, but this could affect his status for the LSU game on October 10th. I think Tebow will still play, a minor concussion is something that football players come back from all the time, but it may be something to keep your eye on. It was however, a vicious hit.
-With Best’s lackluster performance on Saturday, he may have to really step up his game these next few weeks to remain a realistic Heisman contender. At this point, it appears that its gonna be a battle between Mccoy and Tebow.
The Big Ten has 3 unbeaten teams, but not the ones that people may have been expecting at the beginning of the year. Nope, its not Ohio State, Michigan State, or Penn State who remain unbeaten. Rather, its Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Who woulda thunk?
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2 comments:
One Loss vs. Unbeaten
The problem with college football is this, its subjective. There's no playoff system where the best teams go at it and decided a champion. Rather, coaches vote to decide who deserves the shot at the national title game. Its a flawed system, but any system with 120 teams would have flaws in it. That said, the question that voters have to answer is whether a one loss team should ever be ranked higher than an undefeated one. My Opinion: Yes. An undefeated Boise State team (who's most impressive win this year if they do go unbeaten would be Oregon) is not as impressive as a one loss Virginia Tech, USC, Ohio State, or Oklahoma. Why? Simple. Those schools play in major conferences against major opponents. In college football its not just about wins, its about quality of the wins. No opponent that Boise State could face could ever match the gauntlet of Pac 10 opponents that USC would have to go through, or the deadly list of Big 12 schools that Oklahoma has lined up. Thats a bad break for Boise State, they may be the better team, but in college football its all about strength of schedule. If two teams from major conferences (such as Florida, Texas, Alabama, and LSU) go undefeated however, then all of this talk is irrelevant and the voters will have the easier choice of which undefeated is better (the October 10th matchup between Florida and LSU will eliminate one of them from contention).
Jahvid Best's Heisman Hopes
Despite his previous performances, including a 5 touchdown performance, the Oregon loss was crushing to Best's heisman hopes. Running Backs are already disadvantaged when it comes to the heisman race, so he needed a flawless season and big numbers in big games. Thats what heisman winners do. His number against Oregon were embarassing and not fit for an average running back. With Mccoy and Tebow having solid seasons, Best needs to have unbelievable games against USC, UCLA, and Oregon St. to redeem himself. He should also pray that Mccoy and Tebow slip up at some point. Kyle put it well by saying that "if you put a amazing QB against an amazing RB, 7-8/10 times the QB will win" the heisman. Sucks for Best, but the bias in the sport is that QBs are better players than RBs. I disagree, but I don't have a heisman vote.
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