Heismanpundit

Just another crazy weekend of college football…

—Obviously everyone is worried about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow after taking that vicious hit against Kentucky.  It’s ironic that this hit came when he was standing in the pocket since he is such a fearless runner and seemingly more likely to get hurt that way.  (ESPN’s Chris Low speculates on life without Tebow).  As one comment on this blog pointed out, will the legend of Tebow grow even larger if he comes back from this concussion and leads Florida to a win over LSU?  Could very well happen.

—What a tragedy to hear the news of the loss of Baylor quarterback Robert Griffen for the season due to an ACL injury.  It was a real treat watching him progress and now the Bears will probably be a mess for a while without him.  Tough break for a program on the rise.

—Speaking of bad accidents, just heard that USC tailback Stafon Johnson dropped a barbell on his throat during a weightlifting session. He was rushed to the ER for surgery.  Will keep everyone posted as I hear news.

—One week after beating USC, Washington (naturally) gets blown out by Stanford.  I wonder if Jim Harbaugh thinks Jake Locker is the best quarterback he’s ever gone up against…

—Sure, the loss to Virginia Tech was disappointing for Miami, but I’m not giving up on the Hurricanes yet.  A pounding rain, plus a blocked punt, some turnovers and uncharacteristic dropped passes made this game look worse than it actually was.  Give Tech all the credit in the world–the Hokies looked tough–but I still think Miami is better on a neutral field.

—I feel really comfortable with writing that Alabama is the nation’s best team right now.  The Tide’s shutdown of a very good Arkansas offense was impressive to say the least.  And it looks to me like Bama has enough playmakers on offense to score with some teams, thanks to Greg McElroy’s development (btw, I wrote on this blog over the summer that McElroy would be a significant upgrade over John Parker Wilson).  Look out for Trent Richardson, who is on his way to stardom.  I think this team can beat Florida if it gets to the SEC title game.

—It seems pretty clear to me that the SEC and Pac-10 are the nation’s two best conferences by a mile.  The SEC has Alabama, Florida as its national title contenders, with LSU, Auburn, Georgia and Ole Miss as pretty solid teams and up-and-comers Arkansas and South Carolina being fairly decent depending on the day.  Even Mississippi State looks to be a bit better, though Tennessee, Kentucky and Vandy appear to be this year’s doormats.  Meanwhile, the Pac-10 doesn’t look to have a real national title contender (yet), but USC is still an elite team, while Oregon, Cal, Stanford and UCLA look to be headed toward solid-to-very-good seasons.  Meanwhile, ASU looked good on the road against Georgia, Washington is much improved and you can never count out Oregon State after a slow start.   The only real doormat is Washington State and even the Cougars are much better than they were last season.

—LSU’s Chad Jones might’ve had three of the best highlights I’ve seen by a safety in quite a while.  First an amazing punt return, then a timely tipped pass in the end zone and finally a stuff on 4th down on a goal line sneak.  He’s probably the best safety in the country not named Berry or Mays.

—Maybe everyone was a bit hasty to condemn Oregon after its opening-game debacle against Boise State.  After all, the Broncos are a pretty good team and the Ducks only lost 19-8.  Since then, has any other team been as impressive against a better schedule? 

—All looks lost for Cal, but maybe there’s no better time to get a chance to play a vulnerable USC squad than right now.  The Trojans looked sloppy (again) in a lackluster home win over Washington State.  It’s not like USC is going to unveil a dynamic offense like Oregon runs.  The Trojans will play it close to the vest and try to grind it out, so the Bears have a good shot at staying in it and maybe winning this provided Kevin Riley doesn’t go in the tank (again).

—Fresno State’s slogan should be ‘lose anywhere against anyone at anytime’.

—The legend of Tate Forcier is growing after another comeback win.  This time, it was Indiana, but it was no less thrilling.  The Wolverines have some major issues on defense, though, and one gets the feeling that Forcier only has so much left in his bag of tricks.  However, if Michigan somehow gets by Michigan State and Iowa, this team might actually run the table.

—As for Indiana, my heart goes out to the Hoosier fan at the sports bar where I was watching the games.  He lived and died every moment of that thriller.   Must be tough being an Indiana football fan.

—Stanford, my surprise team in the Pac-10, would be 4-0 if not for a couple bad calls in a close loss at Wake Forest.  Everyone talks about Oregon and Cal as possibly dethroning USC for the Pac-10 title, but I like the Cardinal to mount the most serious challenge.

—There are always complaints about the rankings, but outside of the top three of Alabama, Texas and Florida, is there really much evidence to properly grade the teams?  Right now, it looks like there just aren’t many good teams out there.  A lot of teams could make the case to be ranked between #4 and #10.

—While rankings are tough, here are some teams I’d like to lump together:  USC, LSU, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida State.  These are all teams that really have a hard time playing to their talent levels.  You have to wonder how long some of these coaches can keep it up without changing their ways.

—My prediction for the Auburn quarterback position looks to be on track, thanks to Gus Malzahn.   Chris Todd’s stats after four games:  1,012 passing yards, 11 TDs, 1 int, 171 efficiency rating.

—Game I’m interested in this week:  Texas A&M vs. Arkansas at Arlington.  I want to see if Aggie QB Jerrod Johnson is for real.  He’s off to a good start so far–961 yards in three games, 9 TDs, and zero picks.  But the competition hasn’t exactly been stellar. 

—Amazing that Colt McCoy can be at an outstanding 71 percent completion percentage and still be underachieving compared to his percentage last season (an NCAA-record 77 percent).