Tuesday, October 2, 2012

HTR's Top 25: Week 5

Previous dubious assertionsHTR's Official Meaningless Preseason Top 25Week 1Week 2Week 3, Week 4

Me during a bye week

Rank
Team
1
Alabama
2
Oregon
3
LSU
4
Florida State
5
Georgia 
6
West Virginia 
7
Texas
8
South Carolina
9
Notre Dame 
10
Florida 
11
Kansas State
12
Ohio State
13
USC
14
TCU
15
Oklahoma
16
Louisville 
17
Stanford
18
Mississippi State
19
Northwestern
20
Texas Tecch
21
Oregon State 
22
Rutgers
23
Nebraska
24
UCLA 
25
Washington 


Out: Michigan State, Boise State, Baylor
Idle: Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Kansas State, USC, Auburn, Mississippi State, probably some other teams that I'm forgetting about

  • GO U NORTHWESTERN. Okay, I'll spare you this week since I wrote a full post on Northwestern this past Saturday (!). However, Northwestern is undefeated. As far as Michigan's relevance to this goes, the collapse of NU's defense in the second half against the hapless Hoosiers should make Michigan fans feel a little bit better about this game. 
  • Texas Tech...plays defense? This is without a doubt one of the strangest happenings of the 2012 season. The Red Raiders are playing defense, well. Per Hinton, TTU leads the national in total defense and pass defense at this point in time. I don't even have anything witty to say about this. I'm honestly shocked that Tuberville was able to fashion some semblance of a defense in Lubbock, but apparently he has. Of course, the Big 12 will offer many opportunities for that defense to get shredded, particularly through the air. We'll see if this center can hold. 
  • One more "why couldn't we do that?" data point. Ole Miss held the Tide to 125 yards rushing at 3.7 yards per carry. In addition to Alabama's modest output against Western Kentucky, you have to wonder how Michigan was not able to contain Alabama's running game even a little bit. True, Alabama has one less bullet in the chamber given Jalston Fowler's season-ending injury, but still: how were Ole Miss and WKU, of all teams, able to do so much better than Michigan did? This is truly one of life's greatest mysteries. 
  • A brief note on WVU-Baylor. 2010 Michigan-Illinois, last season's Washington-Baylor bowl game, this WVU-Baylor game...all these games are stupid and should not be celebrated. Yes, I know that I'm being the stereotypical BIG TEN MAN that Shutdown Fullback satirizes, but that type of football just isn't appealing. Say what you will about the relative quality of Ohio State and Michigan State, but I was actually engaged in that game, unlike this glorified arena derby. 
  • Speaking of little defense...Texas and Georgia, teams occupying the "not Alabama but still ridiculously good" rung on the defensive hierarchy, both proved to be somewhat vulnerable this past week against Oklahoma State and Tennessee, respectively. I have to think that this was an outlier for both teams, but especially for Texas, who take on Oklahoma State 2.0 this Saturday (i.e. West Virginia). We shall find out if: a) Texas's defense is as good as previously thought and b) whether WVU's ridiculous offense works on the road, away from the scent of gunpowder and the Morgantown fog. 

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