Posted: 11/15/2009 by Bryce Wilson
While much of the college football world is zeroed in on the Southeastern Conference, Texas continues to pummel Big XII opponents. The Longhorns are destroying everyone in their path and have no apparent challenges remaining until the national title game.
The ‘Horns are sound in every phase of the game, and have the type of balance offensively that will give the stingy defenses at Florida and ‘Bama trouble. Texas can win with finesse and muscle, and its defense is hardly a slouch.
Though the Longhorns haven’t played the schedule of either the Gators or Tide – nor have they notched as many quality wins – right now they just seem like the nation’s best bunch. That’s why I have them No. 1.
- Texas
- Alabama
- Florida
- Texas Christian
- Cincinnati
- Georgia Tech
- Boise State
- Pittsburgh
- LSU
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Oklahoma State
- Stanford
- Iowa
- Penn State
- Virginia Tech
- Southern Cal
- Oregon State
- Clemson
- BYU
- Wisconsin
- Rutgers
- Utah
- North Carolina
- Ole Miss
- I seriously considered pushing Texas Christian – that’s TCU for you PC folks – ahead of Florida. The Gators keep winning, but they’ve been relatively uninspiring. TCU, on the other hand, has completely destroyed two teams in my poll (BYU and Utah) and beat another (Clemson) on the road. In the end, I chose to keep Florida where it is because its overall body of work is slightly better than the Frogs. But the Gators might want to pick up the pace.
- How do you score 63 on an in-state rival and drop a rung in the poll? That’s easy. When Georgia Tech completely embarrasses a team that would finish second in the Western Athletic Conference, that’s how. Besides, who would you pick in a fist fight, the Jackets or Broncos? Case closed.
- Will that Cincinnati-Pittsburgh match-up be the biggest in Big East history? Possibly, and that’s including the days when Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech called it home. Now just imagine how big this game would be had Pitt not lost at N.C. State. Too bad the NCAA doesn’t divvy out Mulligans.
- Texas might be the most complete team in the land, but Stanford is currently playing the best. The Cardinal’s play the past two weeks has been as good as anyone in the nation. Stanford easily is the highest ranked three-loss team in my poll, and is higher than some two-loss clubs.
- Where is Houston, you ask? I had the Cougars No. 8 last week, which was obviously way too high. They fell completely out of my ballot this week after a 37-32 loss at UCF. I admittedly have trouble ranking anyone that is second in its division in Conference USA. Several weeks ago we were wondering if Houston would play in a BCS bowl. Now the Cougars might not even get a spot in the C-USA title game.
- There are three newcomers to this week’s ballot – Rutgers, North Carolina, and Ole Miss. The Scarlet Knights were outstanding in their 31-0 victory over then-ranked South Florida and have losses only to Cincinnati and Pitt. Carolina jumped back onto my ballot after a three-week run that saw the Tar Heels defeat two ranked opponents, Virginia Tech and Miami. Ole Miss gave us a glimpse this week of what we thought it could be. Perhaps Rebels Coach Houston Nutt should give the rock to Dexter McCluster more often.
Denny O'Brien is a columnist for Bonesville.net and Pirates' Chest Magazine. You can read more of his work at http://www.bonesville.net. If you have a question or comment, you can e-mail him at denny.obrien@bonesville.net. You can also follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/thedob.