Red Card Top 25- It’s back baby!
Red Card Nation: It’s baaaaacccckkkkkkk! The return of college football to our minds and hearts also means the return of the Red Card Top 25. If you remember, allllll the way back to January of this year when the final Red Card Top 10 came out, I said that I wanted to expand this weekly post to a Top 25 because of the all of the parity in college football, so that is exactly what I did. Now, since this blog previews every other sport, why didn’t I do a preview of this season? I hate preseason rankings in college football because there is no way to accurately pick who is going to be good, bad or terrible until you see them play (ex. Auburn against Utah St). So now that games have been played it is time to unveil the brand new Red Card Top 25, along with Heisman contenders, the games to watch this week, and finally, some RED CARDS to be delivered to those who are deserving.
Away we go!
- LSU. Holy crap. Is there anything left of Oregon after that beating?
- Alabama. Could be #1 if not for LSU’s dominance against a Top 5 opponent.
- Oklahoma. OU’s defense needs to match its offense if they are to challenge for a National Title.
- Florida State. Defense? Check.
- Boise State. The Broncos did exactly what everyone has come to expect: beat a big-time school on the road. They deserve this ranking.
- Stanford. 2 words: Andrew Luck
- Wisconsin. While their offense is a juggernaut, their defense needs help. Russell Wilson is Heisman-ready at QB.
- Texas A&M. A midst all the controversy with the Aggies moving to the SEC, they took care of business on the field against SMU.
- South Carolina. The class of the SEC East.
- Virginia Tech. This team has all the right parts to put together an ACC, and maybe, National Title run.
- Oklahoma State. The new Offensive Explosion.
- Oregon. Beaten like they stole something doesnt quite cover it. The Ducks need some physicality to compliment their speed, or they will not beat Stanford to win the Pac 12.
- Arkansas. They looked the part in week 1, but lets not forget that they play in the toughest division in college football, the SEC West.
- Mississippi State. Another SEC West squad. The Bulldogs bring a different style than the other teams in this division. They could be tricky.
- Ohio State. They looked OK against Akron, but not special.
- Michigan State. The Spartans revered defense was uncharacteristically sloppy in week 1. They will need to button it up to challenge in the BIG Legends division.
- Nebraska. The Defense was inconsistent, which for Bo Pelini is not going to cut it. The offense? Sigh……
- West Virginia. 2 words: team speed.
- Baylor. Big win over TCU in week 1 for the Bears. Start the Robert Griffin III for Heisman campaign now.
- Florida. Dont expect the Gators to hit their stride for awhile.
- Texas. While they had a decent win against Rice, nothing about Texas has been impressive since 2009.
- Arizona State. This could be the sleeper team in the Pac 12.
- South Florida. What a great win for coach Skip Holtz returning to his alma mater. He may be returning there again soon….as head coach.
- Maryland. Danny O’Brien is an impressive QB and will take Maryland far this year.
- TCU. 1 word: OUCH.
Here are my way-too-early Heisman Contenders:
RGIII Heisman'd TCU's National Title hopes.
- Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford. The cream of the talent crop this year. This man possesses abilities that haven’t been seen since John Elway played at Stanford. If Stanford wins the Pac 12 this year- Luck wins the Heisman.
- Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor. How long have we all waited for RGIII to have an incredible performance/win like he did against TCU last Friday? Since the Texas game last year. Griffin was dominant against a pretty good TCU defense.
- Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma. Jones has all of the tools around him to have an incredible, Sam Bradford-esque year. He needs to cut down on some bad throws for that to happen though.
Other contenders: Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State; James White, RB, Wisconsin; Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin; Alshon Jeffery, WR, South Carolina; Robert Woods, WR, USC
Here are the games to watch this week:
- Arizona at #9 Oklahoma State: Holy offense Batman! This game has all the makings of a classic shootout without much of a semblance of defense on the field. Arizona brings back QB Nick Foles, who hopes to shed the memories from the terrible performance that the Wildcats put in against the very same Oklahoma State team in the Alamo Bowl last season. Oklahoma State can score 63 points without blinking. With QB Brandon Weeden and WR Justin Blackmon connecting for scores, Arizona should have a tough time keeping up. Prediction: Oklahoma State 48-31. Confidence: 7.
- #23 Missouri at Arizona State: Oh boy does this have the makings of an upset written all over it. Missouri absolutely struggled against a a pretty weak Miami of Ohio team at home in week 1. QB James Franklin did not do his best Blaine Gabbert impression as he struggled to find receivers. Arizona State on the other hand comes into this season with pretty high expectations and a lot of very talented skill players. Sun Devil Stadium should be a pretty hostile environment for Missouri to get back on track in, so look for ASU to take advantage of early mistakes and win comfortably. Prediction: ASU 35-17. Confidence: 7.
- #12 South Carolina at Georgia: This may be the deemed the SEC East Championship game, and its only week 2! South Carolina comes into this game as the overwhelming favorite to win the division with QB Stephen Garcia, RB Marcus Lattimore and WR Alshon Jeffery, not to mention a very talented defense. Georgia, to a lot of prognosticators, was seen as the one true challenge to South Carolina in the East, so this game could be “it” for Mark Richt as far as being a real contender. It could also mean the end of his tenure at Georgia with a loss, which would be ashame. After a tough loss to Boise St., look for the ‘dogs to make a strong statement against South Carolina. Prediction: Georgia 34-31 (OT). Confidence: 4.
- Notre Dame at Michigan: While this game means has absolutely no National Title implications, it is still important. Why? Because Michigan has finally joined the 1980′s and is playing its first EVER night game at The Big House. Both teams will be wearing pretty cool throwback uniforms to commemorate the occasion as well. On the field, this game could be ugly. Notre Dame looked absolutely terrible in a home loss to South Florida last weekend. Although with Tommy Rees at QB, the Irish looked a little more effective on offense. Michigan got rained out in the 3rd quarter last weekend against Western Michigan, but the Wolverine D looked pretty suspect for most of the game. This is honestly a coin-flip decision, so Ill go with the Wolverines at home, under the lights. Prediction: Michigan 31-30. Confidence: 2.
Under the Lights.
Finally, there are a couple of RED cards that need to be shown to certain coaches, teams, individuals.
- Oregon State lost their first game of the year…….to SACRAMENTO STATE, at HOME. Mike Reilly is truly one of the best coaches in college football today, but that is almost a fireable offense. RED CARD.
- Oh hey Auburn, nice 4 point victory over Utah St, at home. Oh wait, you had to score 14 points in the last 2 minutes to barely win after being dominated for 58 minutes by a team that went 4-8 last year? RED CARD.
- To Big XII (9) Commissioner Dan Beebe: RED CARD. You made your bed, enjoy the long, slow process of laying in it.
- To Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly: wow. You come out and proclaim that you hope Senior QB Dayne Crist is the starter for the whole season after impressing in fall camp, only to replace him at halftime in the first game. RED CARD.
- I think Robert Griffin III just threw for another touchdown on TCU’s pass defense. RED CARD.
- By the way, I loved Maryland’s crazy uniforms.
Creative.
I don’t like Alabama over OU mainly because Alabama has no quarterback. Florida state is overrated and I definitely don’t think they are a top 5 team, I’d put them closer to 10. I’m reserving judgment about Stanford until they play a real school. I know Andrew Luck will be the #1 overall draft pick next year but I don’t know how badly the departure of Harbaugh will hurt them.
Other than that I can’t say too much, hard to make any real solid judgments about teams after only 1 week
To Big XII (9) Commissioner Dan Beebe: RED CARD. You made your bed, enjoy the long, slow process of laying in it.
yesssssssssssssss
John, you’re right- this was tough. We don’t know a lot about teams until October because non-conference schedules dictate for a team to not give much away before they face their conference teams. But for now, Im happy with the list.
Boise ahead of Florida State, Oklahoma ahead of Alabama, and Nebraska just a tad higher (although I’m not sure where or over who… Just feel they are better than that, so never mind).
LOVE Maryland’s uniforms. I like how they matched the field to the uniforms, or vice versa, I thought that was classy. People can complain about all these new uniforms all they want; I really enjoy seeing something different. Although I would never want Nebraska to drastically change anything about their uniform, something cool like this every once-in-a-while would be sweet.
Robert Woods and Alshon Jeffery – OUT
Marcus Lattimore and Justin Blackmon – IN on the Heisman voting. Woods nor Jeffery are better than Blackmon. Woods still has a year I think before he will be considered even close to a Heisman contender being at USC. Their offense is way too inconsistant sometimes. I can see him getting some points in KR though. Jeffery has the potential to be a darkhouse along with Weeden.
Boise has the better win at this point, sure Eric. But if those teams played each other right now I think FSU comes out ahead, so thats why I ranked them a little higher. I almost dropped Nebraska completely from the Top 25 after that embarrassing performance. They wont jump anyone unless they curb-stomp Washington.
James: After week 1, Woods and Jeffery in; Blackmon and Lattimore out. Woods and Jeffery were more impressive. Period.
Nothing about Texas has been impressive since 2009???!!!!!!!!
Yep, Robin. Unfortunately (fortunately) the truth. SBI.
I completely agree with Nebraska’s ranking. 15th is probably where I’d peg them. The run game has to be better and Martinez has to make his throws. I’m already tired of him tucking it too early. I know, his WRs didn’t help him much that game. All the other rankings are looking good. I’d say its probably still too early to get a true feel. I’d prefer polls not get released until about Week 3 actually.