9/9/07

2007 Top 20 Performers v.1

Ranking teams by what they've done, not by what we think they can do...

1. LSU
Crushed what was supposed to be a good Va Tech and did just as well against what is supposed to be a weak conference opponent Miss State. 93-7 scoring edge so far.

2. Cal
2-0. Cruised by Tennessee. Things a bit closer than expected with Colorado State this week.

3. South Carolina
2-0. Beat Georgia in Athens.

4. South Florida
2-0. Beat Auburn in their house.

5. Oklahoma
Demolished Miami as easily as they demolished North Texas. Scoring edge thus far: 130-23.

6. Texas
Knocked down what should be a good TCU, but a mundane win against Arkansas State.

7. Washington
Downed Boise State and blasted Syracuse. Asked and answered every question put to them thus far.

8. Oregon
Cruised easily by Houston and then bombed the rubble to bouncing on the road in Ann Arbor.

9. Georgia Tech
Pounded Notre Dame almost as easily as they wiped out Samford. No tough questions posed to them yet, but resoundingly correct answers to what has already been asked.

10. Boston College
Two nice conference wins already over defending champ Wake Forest and NC State.

11. UCLA
Nice win over BYU, convincing win over Stanford.

12. Penn State
Two blowouts already, one against Notre Dame.

13. Clemson
Convincing win over Florida State, blowout of Louisiana-Monroe.

14. Rutgers
Convincing win against what may yet turn out to be a good Navy team. Blowout of Buffalo

15. Cincinnati
No touchdowns scored yet against these guys, including a blowout of Oregon State.

16. Florida
Defending national champs haven't played anybody worth a pulse yet, but the scores reveal nothing surprising.

17. West Virginia
Two convincing wins over non-BCS teams that may yet turn out to be some of the better teams in their conferences: Western Michigan and Marshall.

18. Arizona State
Two convincing win over San Jose State (a 9-4 team last year) and Colorado.

19. Nebraska
Narrowly beat defending ACC champ Wake Forest and blasted Nevada.

20. Ohio State
A bit closer against Akron than would be expected. An appropriate smashing of Youngstown State.

Why some others didn't make it...

Southern Cal
The pollsters' top team has done nothing so far except win safely against Idaho. Next week at Nebraska will be their resume builder.

Wisconsin
Lots of question marks is all we see so far. Consensus #7 in the nation has just finished a nailbiter against UNLV and otherwise has only a solid win against Washington State. Next up: The Citadel. Not much will be known about the Badgers for a while yet.

Louisville
Do these guys play defense? Everybody's #9 got into a highly revealing 100-pt shootout with seemingly mediocre Middle Tennessee State. Hasn't played any other Div 1-A opposition.

Texas A&M
Needed overtime to beat Fresno. No other Div 1-A opposition.










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