The big story of the day is that Indiana is absolutely for real. People thought that #3 Oregon was a legitimate contender for the national championship, but Indiana blew them away, 30-20. It was no fluke. The Hoosiers had more rushing yardage, more passing yardage, fewer turnovers, far more first downs (23 versus 14), more possession time, and they led at the end of every quarter. Indiana vaulted to #3 in the new poll.
On the other side of the standings, the computer’s bottom-rated FBS team, Kent State, had a helluva day. First of all, they came into the game as a betting favorite. (They were also favored by the computers because they played the second-worst FBS team and held the home field advantage.) They didn’t just cover the modest spread; they obliterated U Mass, 42-6, making Mass the lowest-rated FBS team. Kent State scored on the opening kickoff and never stopped. Maybe all the practice against the nation’s top teams is finally paying off.
The #6 Oklahoma Sooners suffered their first loss and dropped eight places. The damage was done by their arch-nemesis, Texas. As I mentioned last week, the voters were a bit harsh in dropping Texas completely from the national rankings while weaker Iowa State remained on the list.
Speaking of Iowa State, one of last week’s “overrated teams o’ the week,” they lost to struggling Colorado. That’s Colorado’s only conference win of the year. Iowa State has had its weakness exposed and can no longer be considered overrated.
Similarly, we can no longer say that Florida State is overrated. Sure, nothing has changed, but now everyone is aware of their problems. They dropped to 3-3 by losing to Pitt.
UCLA has suddenly turned into a completely different team from the sad sacks that started the season. They pulled off their second straight upset with a very convincing 38-13 road victory over Michigan State. It will still be difficult for them to climb to bowl eligibility because they play a ridiculously hard schedule that still includes Indiana, Ohio State and four other opponents with winning records.
It was a bad day for the state of Michigan in the Michigan-California match-up. While UCLA was stomping Michigan State in East Lansing, USC was across the country on their home turf, beating #15 Michigan.
It seems almost unbelievable that Penn State was thinking about a national championship just three weeks ago. Now it’s beginning to look like they might never win a conference game. They dropped to 0-3 in conference play with a loss to … Northwestern! It was yet another humiliation, as Penn State came into that game as a three-touchdown favorite.
#4 Ole Miss did pick up a W, but it was not an impressive one, given that they won by three when they were favored by 33 over Washington State.
Arizona State was ranked in the top 25 for some reason. You knew that wasn’t going to last long. They got destroyed by Utah, 42-10. Utah was unranked, but was a ten point favorite at home because the bookies were not fooled by Arizona State’s national ranking. That game lifted Utah into the top 25.
The rest of the week went approximately according to plan.
Overrated teams o’ the week
Within the top 15:
Georgia Tech: 20 places (computer 32nd place, AP poll 12th)
BYU: 18 places (33,15)
In the 16-25 group:
South Florida: 22 places (41,19)
Cincinnati: 16 places (40,24)
Memphis 14 places (36,22)
In the “just missed” 26-30 group:
Navy: 50 places (80,30)
UNLV: 41 places (70,29)
Five of the overrated teams have received votes because they are undefeated: Georgia Tech, BYU, Memphis, Navy, UNLV. In four of those cases, they are undefeated because they have played no significant teams, but Georgia Tech can boast a win over Clemson.
As a native Hoosier, I’m thrilled that IU is finally good at football, but terrified that Penn St no longer has a head football coach. Penn St just paid their current coach $49 million to go away, so I’m worried how much they’re going to offer IU’s coach, a Pennsylvania native, to bring the entire Hoosier team to Happy Valley next season. I sure hope Cuban’s check has enough zeroes on it to keep Cig happy in B-town.