College Football - Kansas, Ohio State, Virginia Tech And Nebraska All Get Exposed As Frauds

Copyright 2009 Ed Bagley

Copyright 2009 Ed Bagley

Just when you thought some sense of stability might have returned to college football during the halfway point of the season, any semblance belies the truth that at least four more teams have become frauds in the national title chaseKansas, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Nebraska.

Kansas had raced to a perfect 5-0 start. Virginia Tech lost its opener, Ohio State lost its second game, and Nebraska lost its third game. All three had lost a game and won the rest to enter the sixth week with only a loss.

All four of these teams have now been drop-kicked out of the race for the national title, and the worst of the bunch is the Kansas Jayhawks who were not only drop-kicked but body slammed by an unranked, 1-4 Colorado team 34-30.

How could the Jayhawks, who were touted as one of the best offensive teams in the country, get beaten by Colorado when Kansas ranked 4th nationally in scoring offense?

The truth is that Kansas built its 5-0 record and statistics on a sand castle that got washed away on a trip to Boulder. The Jayhawks amassed their perfect mark with wins against 195th'ranked, 1-AA Northern Colorado (1-5), 116th-ranked UTEP (2-4), 64th-ranked Duke (3-3), 76th-ranked Southern Mississippi (3-3), and 80th-ranked Iowa State (3-3).

Kansas came into the game ranked 17th in the AP Top 25 Poll, but 29th by Sagarin and with a strength of schedule rated 129th among only 120 Division 1-A teams, meaning that Kansas' 5 victories came against teams that amounted to 1-AA competition. No wonder they were 5-0. Colorado came in with a strength of schedule (SOS) rating of 33rd among the 120 1-A teams.

Kansas plummeted to 24th in this week's AP Top 25 Poll and really should not be in any top 25 poll. After being exposed for what they are, the Jayhawks do not merit the honor. It would make about as much sense at putting Colorado in the top 25 for beating them. The message is: neither team is that good.

Second worst on this week's list of frauds is the 7th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, who seem to be over-rated and under-performed. The Buckeyes traveled to Purdue and lost 26-18 to a 2-5 Boilermaker team. Again, Purdue's SOS was 23rd and Ohio State's was 37th. No. 4-ranked Virginia Tech got beat by 19th-ranked Georgia Tech 28-23 on-the-road. These were two pretty good teams in a dogfight and the Yellow Jackets stung the Hoakies. Georgia Tech is now 6-1 and Virginia Tech 5-2.

No. 15 Nebraska got swamped at home by unranked Texas Tech 31-10. The Cornhuskers dropped to 4-2, and Red Raiders one-upped them by going to 5-2. If any of these four losers this week have not figured it out, here is a big clueno national title game in your future. Concentrate on trying to win your conference championship because it is the only one you are going to see.

So if some teams are now dropping in the top 25, who is on the move upward? Here are five unranked winning teams that are possibilities:

Pittsburgh (6-1) on-the-road over Rutgers 24-7, Central Michigan (6-1) on-the-road over Western Michigan 34-23, West Virginia (5-1) at home over Marshall 24-7, Idaho (6-1) over Hawaii 35-23, and Michigan State (4-3) at home over Northwestern 24-14. No matter how crummy you think these five teams may be, if they keep winning, each will end up in the top 25 before the season is outyou can go to the bank on it.

In the meantime, eight ranked teams won away games this week; topping the list was Cincinnati.

No. 8 Cincinnati (6-0) handed No. 21 South Florida its first loss of the season, 34-17. Cincinnati scored in each quarter, leaving South Florida to wonder what was happening.

No. 6 Southern California powered up and powered over No. 25 Notre Dame 34-27. No. 24 Utah ripped UNLV 35-15, No. 9 Miami (FL) won against in-state rival Central Florida 27-7, and Brigham Young outlasted San Diego State, 38-28, in a game in which each team scored at least a touchdown in all four quarters. And, oh ya, No. 6 Boise State (6-0) won another lame victory, this time over Tulsa 28-21.

No. 11 Iowa (7-0) was tied 10-10 against Wisconsin after three quarters and then won 20-10. No. 23 Houston was back on the offensive. After leading hapless Tulane 9-6 at the half, the Cougars exploded for 35 points in the second half to win 44-16.

No. 10 LSU and No. 16 Oregon were idle this week.

Six ranked teams once again discovered why there is no place like home to win again.

No. 3 Texas (6-0) used a 4th quarter field goal to get by No. 20 Oklahoma 16-13, No. 1 Florida (6-0) used a last second field goal to dispense with Arkansas 23-20, No. 14 Penn State shut out Minnesota 20-zip, No. 12 TCU (6-0) trashed Colorado State 44-6, No. 16 Oklahoma State topped Missouri 33-17, and No. 2 Alabama (7-0) eased by No. 22 South Carolina 20-6.

It was a good week to be Florida, Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, Boise State, Iowa and TCUall won, and all are the only unbeaten major teams left in the nation.

(Editor's Note: The rankings in this article are from the AP Top 25 Poll of sportswriters and sportscasters, and any ratings are from Jeff Sagarin.)

Copyright 2009 Ed Bagley

by: Ed Bagley

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