Let chaos reign

Week 4 of the college football season is in the books and it looks more and more like this will be another season of upheaval. This is great for college football and great for us fans that every week there seems to be some great game worth watching because you never know when the upsets will happen and this weekend was certainly filled with plenty of them.

To some degree this "chaos" is caused by too much credit being given where it isn't deserved. Let's take two cases in point -

One - Ole Miss - preseason ranked #8 in the AP and made it up to #4 before coming crashing down this week by losing to South Carolina. Now I'm not going to say that Ole Miss is a bad team but they never deserved this #8 ranking. They finished last season ranked #14 with a 9-4 record. They got their preseason ranking based on their win over Florida last year and the hype of Jevan Snead. In other words, their ranking was based on smoke and mirrors and no true results. They had trounced 1-AA Southeastern Louisiana (is the Waterboy on that team?) and Memphis (who might as well by 1-AA). Which means nothing. I'm not sure who was surprised by their loss but anyone who saw SC play against Georgia knew what the Gamecocks were capable of and had to know that Ole Miss was in trouble coming into this one. A ridiculous preseason ranking allowed this game to be considered an upset of a Top Five Team instead just a good game between two fairly even opponents.

Two - Miami (FL) - unranked in the preseason and made it up to #9 based on victories against Florida State and Georgia Tech before being physically dominated by Virginia Tech's defense this week and losing in Blacksburg. True, Miami had looked good for two weeks with good victories over FSU & GTech and despite the hype over Jacory Harris I wasn't ready to nominate him for the Heisman. These victories were given so much credit due to high expectations for their opponents (FSU was #18 when they played and GTech was #14), but in retrospect those opponents don't look quite so mighty. FSU has fallen out of the AP poll after a loss to South Florida and looked bad in beating 1-AA Jacksonville State two weeks prior and GTech just reentered the poll this week (at #25 mind you) by beating a suspect North Carolina team. Hardly the murderers row of opponents that people were making it out to be at the beginning of the year and certainly not the quality of opposition that deserves to bring a team from unranked to #9 in the nation. How did those wins vault them past Virginia Tech who had a tough first week loss to Alabama followed up by a destruction of Marshall and a good victory against a tough Nebraska team? I guess this is why they play the games, to expose the frauds and the inflated rankings that teams get based more on the jersey they wear (how many times this past week did we hear the question "Is the U back?" - VTech's answer is "NO!") than their play on the field.

Both of these cases prove a point. Perhaps we should be waiting until a few weeks into the season before allowing any polls to be created. I know they get people excited about their teams and their seasons but the fact is, these early polls are ludicrous. Rankings based on what someone did last year is inadequate. Even if a team has mostly the same personnel, there are always changes and just removing one person from playing on the field does not tell you the whole picture on what a difference that will make off the field for some of these kids. Let's play a few weeks and then base rankings on what was actually accomplished on the field, then we will have rankings on results and not on expectation. The other downside is it keeps teams down that deserve to be elevated.

Case in point - Houston. For the second straight week, Houston defeated a Big 12 opponent. Granted this time it was on their home field as opposed to their victory in Stillwater last week but that should not diminish what they accomplished. Houston has beaten Oklahoma State who is ranked #14 on the road and defeated a Texas Tech team that gave Texas all they could handle the week before. Yet somehow they are still ranked below Penn State (who has beaten no one of consequence) and even ranked below Oklahoma State in the coaches poll (if any coach can give me a good reason for this I would LOVE to hear it).

Houston was the only team to come in and actually win their "Prove-It" game. From Ole Miss and Miami as rehashed above, to Cal's embarrassment at Autzen, to Penn State losing to Iowa at home, to Washington following up their big victory over USC with a loss to Stanford, to North Carolina proving they aren't ready to be an ACC front runner. They all fell flat when they had their chance. Yet Houston does not get the respect they deserve for their accomplishment. For beating two teams that were unranked, Miami because #9 and people were talking national title. For beating a national title contender and another respectable opponent Houston gets #12 and "maybe" making the BCS. Next week, Houston has UTEP which should be an easy win for them but it still sits as a potential trap game considering they have another high-profile matchup with an SEC foe, Mississippi State, in two weeks. Maybe two more victories will put them where they belong.

So far, I am enjoying this season and all the exciting games and storylines which have unfolded. But let's take with a grain of salt the talk of "big upsets" when the teams falling were probably a little too high to begin with.

- On a side note, kudos to Frank Spaziani and the Eagles on their stirring victory against Wake Forrest this weekend. After the shame from the Clemson loss, you have to give the coaching staff and the players credit for pulling it together and getting a much needed victory.