The Mission Top 10, Wk VII

Now it starts to get interesting. Auburn was crushed last week by Arkansas, a team USC easily beat early in the year. West Virginia is a pretender and really has no business in the discussion, but we are stuck with them. If they were in the Big Ten, Pac 10, or SEC, they would already have a couple of losses. My friend Tom has posed a great question. If only Ohio State and Michigan remain undefeated when they play, aren't they really playing for the National Championship? It just gets better from here. Ohio St. (6-0) – Beat Bowling Green 35-7. Troy Smith finally used his legs for something. He hadn’t done that much and if that’s all that can be said, the coast is clear for awhile. It’s too bad Wisconsin isn’t on the schedule this season. This week: at Michigan St. (3-3). Michigan (6-0) – Beat Michigan St. 31-13. Mario Manningham is out against Penn St. That could be troublesome if the defense wasn’t playing so well. The Penn St. offense isn’t going to score enough to win even if the Michigan offense is a little off and only scores 21 points. This week: at Penn St. (4-2). Florida (6-0) – Beat LSU 23-10. The defense was impressive and the offense took advantage of its opportunities against a sloppy team. Tim Tebow looks great now, but next season when he is the only quarterback, he won’t be nearly this good. This week: at Auburn (5-1). USC (5-0) – Beat Washington 26-20. They need to stop tempting fate. Had the execution at the end been done well by Washington, they very well could have beaten USC. This week should see the offense score tons of points against a terrible defense. This week: Arizona St. (3-2). West Virginia (5-0) – Beat Mississippi St. 42-14. Ho-hum. Everyone awaits November 2 when West Virginia plays its first legit opponent. After that, the schedule, while still easy, is much more difficult than it is now. This week: Syracuse (3-3). Louisville (6-0) – Beat Middle Tennessee St. 44-17. The Cardinals looked bad in the first quarter until they woke up. Do that against Pittsburgh or Rutgers later this season, and Louisville gets tagged with an upset loss. This week: Cincinnati (3-3). Tennessee (5-1) – Beat Georgia 51-33. This is the best one-loss team by far. The offense is machine like right now and the defense is playing at a high level. Now they need to fix the coverage teams after giving up a punt and kickoff return touchdown in the same game. Put this team against Texas and they win easily. This week: Bye week. Texas (5-1) – Beat Oklahoma 28-10. After that easy win, the Longhorns are on the way to 11-1. They will beat Nebraska, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M and Missouri isn’t on the schedule until the Big 12 Title Game if both teams reach that game. This week: Baylor (3-3). Clemson (5-1) – Beat Wake Forest 27-17. The Clemson-Wake Forest tape should be frightening for ACC coaches to watch. Wake is a legitimate team and showed it for three quarters against a Clemson team that played decently. Then Clemson turned it up to another level that no ACC team appear capable of reaching this season. This week: Temple (0-6). Notre Dame (5-1) – Beat Stanford 31-10. This week’s bye week is going to be a tough as most of the rest of the schedule. After UCLA next week, it's the service academies and North Carolina before the trip to play USC. At worst, the Irish will be 9-2 but 10-1 is more likely. This week: Bye Week. On the cusp: Georgia Tech (5-1), Arkansas (4-1), Auburn (5-1), Cal (5-1), Missouri (6-0)