The Andrew Extravaganza

Saturday's best game was between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Bama OC Major Applewhite called a brilliant series of plays and QB John Parker Wilson executed the offense perfectly to mount a late fourth quarter touchdown drive that tied things at 20 with 1:09 left. Georgia got the ball back and had a chance to win in regulation, but they missed a long field goal attempt as time expired. Alabama got the ball first in overtime and was held three-and-out, settling for a field goal. As Georgia prepared to take the ball needing 3 to tie or a touchdown to win, ESPN play-by-play guy Mike Patrick chimed in with some incredibly bad filler chatter (watch the YouTube clip). I love Todd Blackledge's reaction; he went as far as any on air guy will go toward throwing his partner under the bus. Also, Matthew Stafford's throw was a thing of beauty, though it's not easy to tell from the grainy YouTube footage.



Before I get to my Top 25 Poll and this week's Power Ratings, let me mention the success of my Power Ratings in predicting games last week. Last week's predictions went a solid 33-15 straight up and an equally solid 27-20-1 against the spread. My Thursday entry will have the system's predictions for this week's games.

Here is my Top 25 for this week:

Rank	Power Rank	Team	Record	Last Week	Upcoming (Power Rank)
1	1	LSU Tigers	4-0	28-16 Win over South Carolina	At Tulane(111). This one will be ugly.
2	2	Oklahoma Sooners	4-0	62-21 Win at Tulsa	At Colorado(69). The Sooners will roll, but if they get caught looking ahead to next week's Red River Shootout it could be closer than it ought to be.
3	5	USC Trojans	3-0	47-14 Win over Washington St.	At Washington(48). The Trojans are one of the few PAC-10 teams that play strong defense consistently, they should win comfortably.
4	4	Florida Gators	4-0	30-24 Win at Ole Miss	Auburn(23). Auburn is having a down year, so this game has lost a lot of its pre-season luster; still, my computer rankings view the Tigers favorably.
5	6	West Virginia Mountaineers	4-0	48-7 Win over East Carolina	At South Florida(22). This will be the first solid challenge for both teams. A win here and the Mountaineers will roll to 7-0 before Rutgers poses the next (potential) challenge. This game will be featured in my Thursday entry.
6	9	California Golden Bears	4-0	45-27 Win over Arizona	At Oregon(3). Two very potent offenses will clash in Eugene, Oregon; I'll post my thoughts on this one in my Thursday entry.
7	7	Boston College Eagles	4-0	37-17 Win over Army	Massachusetts. After they struggled mightily against a weak Army team, a division I-AA sacrificial lamb is just what the doctor ordered.
8	10	Ohio State Buckeyes	4-0	58-7 Win over Northwestern	At Minnesota(85). Minnesota will put up a fight, maybe keep it close for a half, but the Buckeyes should win easily in the end.
9	3	Oregon Ducks	4-0	55-31 Win at Stanford	California(9). Two very potent offenses will clash in Eugene, Oregon; I'll post my thoughts on this one in my Thursday entry.
10	11	Texas Longhorns	4-0	58-14 Win over Rice	Kansas State(62). Texas has been tested in surprisingly close early season games. Against Rice they finally poured it on somebody. The Longhorns will want revenge after last year's loss to the Wildcats, so looking ahead to OU shouldn't be a problem.
11	20	Clemson Tigers	4-0	42-20 Win at North Carolina St.	At Georgia Tech(51). This is the kind of game that good Clemson of the past would typically lose; despite being much better than Georgia Tech, a loss would not surprise me at all.
12	12	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	4-0	59-0 Win over Norfolk St.	Maryland(76). I have no idea how good or bad this team really is, they just haven't played anyone with a pulse. #12 is their ceiling until they impress me.
13	24	Wisconsin Badgers	4-0	17-13 Win over Iowa	Michigan State(13). The Badgers haven't blown anyone out yet this season; they're looking more and more like a second tier Big 11 team every week.
14	22	South Florida Bulls	3-0	37-10 Win over North Carolina	West Virginia(6). Check my entry on Thursday to get my thoughts on this match-up.
15	8	Arizona State Sun Devils	4-0	44-32 Win over Oregon State	At Stanford(81). Expect an outcome similar to their last game, a shootout victory.
16	14	Kentucky Wildcats	4-0	42-29 Win over Arkansas	Florida Atlantic(75). After a surprising start, they get a much easier opponent before jumping back into the SEC schedule.
17	26	Penn State Nittany Lions	3-1	9-14 Loss at Michigan	At Illinois(30). Illinois appears to be on the upswing and their spread offense should challenge Penn State's traditional style of play.
18	35	Nebraska Cornhuskers	3-1	41-40 Win over Ball State	Iowa State(107). A close call against Ball State almost saddled the Cornhuskers with two consecutive losses. They need to focus or a bad Iowa State team might be able to hang around long enough for an upset.
19	37	Georgia Bulldogs	3-1	26-23 Win at Alabama	Ole Miss(82). Both teams come off emotional nail-biters of games. Georgia is the better team and should prevail.
20	15	Cincinnati Bearcats	4-0	40-14 Win over Marshall	At San Diego State(92). Like Rutgers, this is an enigmatic Big East team. They've dropped the hammer on some cream puff non-conference foes, but they've yet to be challenged. San Diego State should lose, so look to an October 6th showdown with Rutgers to see if they're for real.
21	13	Michigan State	4-0	31-14 Win at Notre Dame	At Wisconsin(24). This spot could be held by Purdue or Illinois, the other teams in the third tier of Big 11 teams. The Spartans win the spot because they gave Notre Dame their first ever 0-4 start.
22	33	Hawaii Warriors	4-0	66-10 Win over Charleston Southern	At Idaho(104). This team has one of the most prolific passing attacks in NCAA history. They also have one of the weakest schedules in NCAA history.
23	16	Kansas Jayhawks	4-0	55-3 Win over Florida International	No Game. The Power Ratings like the Jayhawks so they get the last Big XII spot. Check out this great YouTube clip of Head Coach Mark Mangino ripping one of his guys for getting a celebration penalty after a nice punt return touchdown.
24	25	Alabama Crimson Tide	3-1	23-26 Loss to Georgia	Florida State(18) in Jacksonville, Florida. Saban has these guys playing above their talent levels and OC Major Applewhite continues to shine, maybe the second best team in the SEC West. Against Florida State, it should be a hard fought game.
25	18	Florida State Seminoles	2-1	No Game	Alabama(25) in Jacksonville, Florida. I'm not sold on the Seminoles, but they always have talent. Virginia Tech or Miami could have easily been picked at the #25 spot instead.

Dropped Out:
#15 South Carolina
#18 Louisville
#19 Georgia Tech
#23 Texas A&M
#24 Air Force


And here is my computer generated set of Power Ratings for this week: