HTR's Top 25: Week 1

Previous dubious assertions: HTR's Official Meaningless Preseason Top 25

All I can say is, as completely not fun as Saturday was, I'm still completely pumped at the fact that it is college football season. So many games, so little time. I would rather be in this position right now than tracking things like WHIP, WAR, and OPS. As hilarious as Adam Dunn's stat line is, that can only carry me for so long before I need to watch football. Well, here we are.

Remember, it's early, so this is non-scientific, not to mention mostly useless. Only the Michigan teams and Clemson played anybody of worth, so take this with an enormous grain of salt. There are probably 15-20 teams that could qualify for the 15-25 range in the rankings, but most of that will get settled before the end of September. 

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	LSU
3	USC
4	Oregon
5	West Virginia
6	Florida State
7	Georgia
8	South Carolina
9	Michigan State
10	Oklahoma
11	Clemson
12	Texas
13	Virginia Tech
14	Wisconsin
15	Nebraska
16	Arkansas
17	Oklahoma State
18	TCU
19	Michigan
20	Ohio State
21	Stanford
22	Missouri
23	Florida
24	Utah
25	Louisville

Out: Boise State, Kansas State 
Idle: TCU (come on, guys...taking a break already?)

• The week of meh. Unless your team's name rhymes with "Schmalabama Flimson Hide", odds are your team looked mediocre, whether in victory or defeat. Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, Arkansas, Texas (for a while), Oklahoma...these are teams that didn't exactly overwhelm in college football's opening weekend. Also, Michigan, but you know about that. It's still way too early to judge anybody in college football. 

• Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech: FREEEE FOOOTBALLLL. Last night's game was a bit of a snoozer for about 3.5 quarters before the fireworks near the end (no, I'm not talking about the actual fireworks that were shot off when VT kicked a field goal to tie as regulation time expired and another to win it in OT). I ranked this the top intra-divisional game for the Coastal, and it didn't disappoint. I just wish that it didn't have to basically end on a derpy Tevin Washington INT, but oh well. VT survives, and that's what counts. 

• The Big Ten is turrible. Nebraska thumped Southern Miss, Ohio State beat Miami (OH) with ease, and Michigan State gritted its way through a win against a revamped Boise State team. Other than that, the B1G had a pretty rough week. Minnesota took 3 overtimes to beat UNLV, Wisconsin and Iowa beat Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa by a combined six points, and Penn State fell against Ohio. On the bright side, Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue won, not to mention my soon-to-be-second-school Northwestern Wildcats, a tremendous victory that almost wasn't. KAIN COLTER FOR HEISMAN. Also on the bright side: Michigan is in the Big Ten. We play those teams. 

• Droll Tide. It's getting downright boring talking about how ridiculously good Alabama football is, but man...they're good. Good luck, SEC. Have fun with that. Alabama jumps up to #1 on my list, although LSU does look to be pretty formidable as well; LSU's tandem of defensive ends, Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery, has to be the best in the country. 

• Tier 2. After the first tier of teams--'Bama, LSU, and USC--Oregon and West Virginia are definitely at the top of the second group. Against Arkansas State and Marshall, the Ducks and Mountaineers scored 59 and 69 points, respectively. However, each did give up quite a bit on defense as well (34 points each). More often that not, however, these teams will be able to outscore the competition; this is the antithesis of Saban-ball. 

• Clemson not Clemson-ing. "Clemson still hasn't lost" was a frequent refrain here last season, and it might be that way again. Clemson has beaten Auburn for a second time in a row (dating back to last season's victory at home). Auburn QB Kiehl Frazier put up a stat line almost identical to Denard's, which is not a good thing. Clemson was without Sammy Watkins, mind you, but DeAndre Hopkins picked up the slack (13 rec., 113 yards, 1 TD). Auburn ran the ball relatively well, but Frazier couldn't do much through the air other than one 54-yard TD strike in the first quarter. Auburn is most likely looking at another mediocre season this year. In a conference stocked with talented running backs, giving up 231 yards to Clemson's Andre Ellington does not bode well for Auburn's run D against SEC West foes like LSU (Blue and Hilliard), Alabama (Lacy, Fowler, Yeldon, and Hart), and Arkansas (Davis). Scott Loeffler, Auburn OC/former John Navarre whisperer, also has his work cut out for him in that he, like Michigan, is working with offensive personnel recruited for an offense that isn't his own. 

• Something to make you feel slightly worse than you already do. In the first game of the post-RGIII era in Waco, a Nick Florence-led Baylor team walloped SMU, 59-24. Florence threw four touchdown passes, his last one being a 37-yard strike to...Darryl Stonum. Stonum only had 6 receiving touchdowns during his time in Ann Arbor; with Florence slinging it all over the place in Art Briles's offense, I wouldn't be surprised to see Stonum double his career TD total this season.