Week 6 2008 Top 10

Top 10 Teams

1. Alabama
Why: Pretty simple here. At the time they played them, Bama beat 2 very highly ranked opponents. And they beat them on the road. Going into Clemson and into Georgia and coming out with wins is impressive. Beating both teams they way they did, is even more impressive. Nick Saban has recruited well and the Tide are a force to be reconed with for a long time.
Why Not: Clemson and Georgia were both highly overrated. Clemson should never have been ranked in the Top 25 and Georgia was very highly ranked due to their lambasting of a Hawaii team that should never have played in a BCS Bowl game, but was able to run the table in a mediocre WAC last year. They are very young in a lot of spots. Their youth could be exploited against very physically tough opponents.

2. Oklahoma
Why: The Sooners have shown dominance in every game they have played so far this season. Sam Bradford has a very high completion rate and they score quickly. Their high powered offense keeps other teams on the defensive and out of their offensive game plan. Their recruiting has been superb and Bob Stoops is one of the best coaches in the game.
Why Not: The combined record of their opponents is 8-10. Neither of the teams that have winning record have beaten anyone of consequence. In fact, both teams and Oklahoma have one or more D-II teams on their schedule. Both quality wins were at home.

3. Missouri
Why: Chase Daniel is a very accurate QB who runs their system very well. JMac is an outstanding player and will be very difficult for anyone to cover. This offense will be very hard to stop with its athelicism.
Why Not: Their only quality win is against an Illinois team that had a nice run last year but cannot hope to duplicate this year. They have not played a team with anything resembling a defense and so it is very difficult to gauge where they truly are.

4. Penn State
Why: They have dismantled every oppenent so far. They show flashes of brilliance on offense and have some very solid players on both sides of the ball. They show a relatively balanced offense which will keep teams guessing. They play with a fire that a lot of teams in the Big 10 seem to be lacking as of late.
Why Not: Every game worth talking about was played at home. The college stadium in the country. Their warm up was against Costal Carolina?! They have yet to face a team that is really on top of their game. They got Oregon State at home very early while they were still trying to figure out who they were.

5. USC
Why: Two words. Pete Carroll. Even with the most uncharactaristic loss I've seen in the Pete Carroll era (no real turnovers, poor tackling, giving up yards on the ground to an RB) USC has more talent than any other program in the country. You cannot discount the success they have had over the last 7 years. Couple that with the beating they placed on Ohio State (another team I'll talk about) they have looked spectacular.
Why Not: USC has shown a tendancy to come out flat against significantly inferior opponents. They have not shown the killer instinct that is prominent in the other major contenders. SC has not shown that they can run inferior teams out the door, but they play down to their level.

6. LSU
Why: They beat Auburn on the road. Anytime you can go into another guys place and win its a pretty awesome thing. But to beat Auburn at Auburn is saying something for your team. They have some very explosive players on offense and a steady running attack.
Why Not: Appy State. North Texas. They struggled to beat an unbelievable bad Miss State team. Auburn's offense is aweful right now. The teams they have beaten have looked very beatable and LSU didn't look that incredible against them. Les Miles is running out of Nick Saban's recruits. We'll see how he does over the next few seasons.

7. Texas
Why: Their spread-option offense is in full swing for the first time since VY. Colt McCoy is making good decisions and they have a lot of talent to go around on both sides of the ball. They attempt to stay balanced in their spread attack which gives them a lot of stability in the OL play.
Why Not: Every team they have beaten is downright bad. Combined records of 7-10. And Rice is the only team with a winning record. Look who they've beaten....

8. Ohio State
Why: Even though they lost to USC badly, they have a ton of talent on their team. With a healthy Chris Wells and a very special QB in Pryor, expect to see them run the table in the BIG 10. The more Pryor plays, the more confident he will be. They have tremendous balance on offense and their defense knows how to play. They just haven't played up to their potential yet.
Why Not: They have not won a game that did not give them fits at one point or another. The dismantling by USC hurts them badly. They didn't just get beat. They got hammered. It didn't seem like they could do anything right agains the Trojans.

9. BYU
Why: Max Hall is the real deal. He's an old school BYU type passer (Boscoe, Young, Sarkesian). He's a smart kid who makes very good decisions. Unga is a massive runner with quick feet. Pitta could be the best TE in the country. Great passing attack with a powerful runner makes the Cougars a dangerous team.
Why Not: Their oppenents all have losing records. Really bad losing records. They've played at home 3-4 games. Their defense has shown a tremendous amount of softness, but their offense powers teams out of their scheme. They lack depth and it may show itself if injuries occur, or late in the game against a scrappy oppenent.

10. Florida
Why: Tim Tebow. You cannot hold that kid down forever. Meyer is going to have to do some thinking about how he runs the ball, but when he does, this team has enough talent on offense to hurt people in the long run. Their defense is good enough to keep them in just about any game in the SEC which is not showing a lot of offensive fire power at the moment.
Why Not: They cannot run the ball. It is outside their scheme to get the ball into the hands of their RB's more than 20 times a game. They cannot manage the clock well by pounding the opposition into submission. Tebow cannot be the bulk of their offense and stay healthy enough to win out.