Week 3

The polls are normalizing. And a bit more, I'd say, than in recent years at the Week 3 mark. The pre-season "experts" are scratching their heads about Auburn and Bama and LSU and even BYU. It's good to see this shift before the heart of conference play begins.

We can thank mostly Ole Miss and Stanford for normalizing the polls. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep it up. Ole Miss should cruise for the next few weeks as they don't meet up with LSU until season's end. Bama and Georgia both have cupcake games this week and then meet up to further normalize the SEC.

I was at the BYU-UCLA game and what a great atmosphere and fun game to be at...even if BYU didn't pull out the Hail Mary miracle again. One less holding call or one better tackle and the game could have gone the other way - it was that close. And it was a wake-up call for UCLA and likely prepped them well as they head into conference play next week (you're welcome).

Week 2

The SEC took a lot of flak this past week for having 10 teams in the Top 25. I don't know what all the hullabaloo was about; they didn't vote themselves in and they're gonna play each other. But after Saturday it doesn't matter:

• Auburn, at home, won but looked bad in an OT win against Jacksonville State.
• Arkansas lost, at home, to Toledo (it was Toledo's opener).
• Missouri squeezed by Arkansas State.
• MSU lost to LSU.

Poll Analysis: OSU appears unstoppable at this point; UGA is ranked too high (they are not yet clicking and not dominant in their play); Oregon and Auburn dropped about right; Notre Dame and FSU won't last in the Top 10; BYU entered in a little high given their erratic (but fun) play; too early for Northwestern to enter in.

END - ZONE: "All hail the underdogs."
We all love the underdog. Whether it's your team or not we all love to see the Vegas odds proved wrong. Those renegade play calls, the ad lib playmakers, the come from behind, unexpected, unbelievable wins. So a toast to all who just somehow make it happen; who have just the right mix of talent, coaching, the risk gene and just a touch of Lady Luck. It may not last long, it may not happen week-in-and-week-out, but it did happen and that's a memory you (and fans) will savor your whole life. Enjoy! This final thought goes out to those who did just that this week:

• To Jacksonville State (from the FCS) who took then #6 Auburn to OT on their own turf. Auburn will feel that sting for a long time and it surely marred their ranking.
• To Toledo, for humbling Bielema and the Arkansas run game.
• To Arkansas State for hanging with Missouri until the end.
• And of course to BYU...again. For the second straight week they entered as the underdog but walked out the spoiler. The defense kept BYU in the game (three interceptions) but they were not looking like a winner...until the last minute. Bring on the Bruins, or whoever for that matter. Who can compete with that?

Juergens brings home the go ahead ball.

"All hail the underdogs
All hail the new kids
All hail the outlaws
Spielbergs and Kubriks

It's our time to make a move
It's our time to make amends
It's our time to break the rules
Let's begin...

And I said hey
Hey, hey, hey
Living like we're renegades..."
(~X Ambassadors)

Week 1

Regardless of the outcome of BYU, Georgia or anyone else this year, this will be one of my most exciting years for three reasons: (1) season BYU tickets, (2) tickets in hand for the BYU-UCLA game in the Rose Bowl, and (3) I'm going to the World's Largest Cocktail Party on Halloween.

Pre-Season Polls
You gotta love 'em because they wet our appetite for the upcoming season. But IMHO we should do away with them. Just start ranking after Week #1. It will likely be about the same but there is always the inevitable Week #1 upset that would shake it up just a little.

The Coaches Poll (my go to) said THIS. The AP and SI followed closely, the differences not even worth mentioning. And remember, there are only two types of pre-season rankings: wrong or lucky. Nonetheless, my 2015 predictions are:

• Ohio State will not repeat, even though there is every reason to believe they will (and they looked more dominant and ready than any other team I saw).
• BYU will do better than the 8-5 seasons they've had for 3-years in a row.
• Georgia will fall short in a big game...again (but I hope not).
• The SEC will prove its prominence over the PAC-12 (who self-proclaimed themselves better).
• Baylor or TCU will get their revenge for being left out of the 2014 playoffs.
• Oklahoma might be the sleeper team that missed all the summer hype.

After Further Review...

• Over the summer the PAC-12 decided to claim themselves the best conference in college football. Hmmm...maybe you should re-think that. UW lost to Boise, WSU lost to Portland State (FCS), Stanford lost to Northwestern and Colorado lost to Hawaii. And most telling: #15 ASU lost to un-ranked TA&M. Overall: PAC -12: 7-5, SEC: 10-1 
• The BIG 10 didn't do much better with five of their teams going down. The strength-of-schedule may be a hindrance to the reigning champs come voting time.
• Taysom Hill learned passing accuracy over the summer. Well done (even if it doesn't matter now). BYU fans are sad to see Taysom go but relieved at the seamless transition to the back-up QB (Tanner Mangum).
• Although the returning starters for UGA looked impressive (as expected) there is still plenty of work to do before notching Ws over Vandy and the Ol' Ball Coach over the next two weeks.

END-ZONE
The BYU Mangum-to-Mathews Miracle at Memorial was the highlight of the day. BYU goes into the game as the underdog, missing suspended players, no sure RB, lost two key defensive players and then thier QB, 1-second left, a back-up QB fresh off his mission, a throw, into the wind, a prayer, a catch, a call, a hug, game over. What a great game with a final stunner. "Hail yes!" per the Salt Lake Tribune.

Pay-for-Play or Not?

• Just a well written summary of the Pay-for-Play issue. Click HERE.

Bowl and Final Comments

Teams that made a statement and likely won themselves a high pre-season rank shown in BOLD.

Utah 45, CSU 38
The Utes played like they wish they'd played all season. Taking calculated risks and having some consistency at QB makes a difference.

Memphis 45, BYU 38 (2OT)
This game was originally billed as a defensive game...bad call. The Cougars had their chance down their stretch (as in other games) but couldn't pull off a good defensive stance when it mattered most. And both teams should be ashamed of ending it with an all out brawl. Great game, lots of back-and-forth, too many bloodied noses at the end. (That will cost both teams in August).

Georgia 37, Louisville 14
The Dawgs came into the game without its long time OC Mike Bobo and by half-time had lost its starting QB and top receiver. But Nick Chubb was still in the game and that's all that mattered. Chubb alone rushed for 260+ yards against the nations #2 rush defense and the back-up QB got a good warm-up for 2015.

Boise State 38, Arizona 30
This was a surprise and just shows that BSU preps better than most any team out there. BSU started the year slow but this kicked off 2015 in style. We all might have been surprised but I bet they weren't.

TCU 42, Ole Miss 3
I figured that TCU and Baylor both would be out to make a statement about not gettign into the playoffs. And TCU did just that against the landsharks of Mississippi. (Baylor, however, did not fare so well).

Oregon 59, FSU 20
Yes - the PAC-12 made their statement game doing what no other team has done in 29 FSU games. Florida State just fell apart in the 3rd against a much-improved Oregon defense and Oregon never looked back And most of the FSU team refusing to congratulate the other team - shameful, just shameful.

Ohio State 42, Alabama 35
OSU showed everyone that it can play with the big boys...and maybe showed up that the big boys from the SEC-West aren't quite as big as we all thought.

Tennesee 45, Iowa 28
This team played more true freshman than any other FBS team. The view for the next couple of years might look pretty good from Rocky Top.

SEC
There is an SEC bias and will be for years to come. When I picked my Bowl Mania teams I sided with the SEC on most games...only to be fooled. Even the ranked, talked-up, mighty SEC-West teams could not pull off bowl wins (LSU, Bama, Ole Miss and MSU all lost). These are the teams that a few months ago many were saying should be the playoff teams! Nice to finally see some parity in college football. For the first time since 2005 the championship game does not have SEC representation. And both teams are from north of the Mason-Dixon Line, too!

The Grand CFP Finale: Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
Though I was not surprised the OSU won given their commanding performance in the Sugar Bowl, I was surprised that Oregon did not do better. Granted, they did not have all their key players but we all know that depth wins championships - and OSU had depth. How does one solve the upcoming QB controversy already brewing in Columbus? And kudos to the young RB. Jones and Elliot were quite the 1-2 punch. And Meyer and his staff needed only one series from Oregon to figure them out. I thought they might wear out by the 4th but they remained poised and confident throughout. That was one thing I noticed in their win over Bama as well - they never seemed worried. I doubted OSU from the start of the season and boy was I wrong. And they look positioned to do it all over again.

You've heard my rants about Meyer over the years but even I cannot debate his coaching skills. One of my more common rants is that he tends to run up the score and he did not hesitate to do so in this case. I'm not the only one who thinks that doing such is a crime - read HERE.

And a few laughs to end the season:

Jimmy Kimmels ESPN mean tweets are hilarious - click HERE.

And a couple of last laughs about the antics of Jameis Winston:

• Click HERE for the "Five Will Survive" video.
• Click HERE for the Jimbo threat during the playoff game.

Until next season...