Offensive Juggernaut?
I won’t say that Ron Zook would have beat Tennessee, but would his offense have been any worse that Meyer’s? Zook wasn’t a stellar coach, but in 2004 the Gators never scored less than 20 in games he coached.
The first real test of Meyer’s offense against a talented SEC defense was a complete failure. Total offense of 247 yards with 68 yards rushing is pathetic. No one in a Gator uniform could run the ball. Furthermore, Florida only had two drives that went for more than 7 plays or 16 yards, and Tennessee dropped two easy interceptions.
Meyer’s offense also looked relatively vanilla for most of the game. Maybe it needs time, but most likely his tomfoolery won’t work against quality defenses. Poor Chris Leak won’t be able to handle the beating even if it does.
How good or how bad is the Big Ten?
With 5 teams ranked in the top 25 and another 4 teams undefeated, is the Big Ten really good or really bad?
Minnesota 3-0 Impressive wins against unimpressive competition
Wisconsin 3-0 Inconsistent on offense and defense. Many questions
MSU (17) 3-0 Consistent offense. Defined by win over ND
Penn State 3-0 South Florida, Cincinnati, and Central Michigan
Indiana 3-0 Only wins 1 or 2 more
Purdue (11) 2-0 “Strong� defense gave up 24 to both Arizona and Akron
Iowa (21) 2-1 Over-rated from the start
Michigan (14) 2-1 Will finish strong
Northwestern 2-1 They’ll lose a lot of games
Illinois 2-1 Wow, 3 points over Rutgers
Ohio State (8) 2-1 By far the best team in the Big Ten
Neither. The Big Ten will end up with 5 teams in the top 25, all of those undefeated teams will finish with a couple of losses. Purdue, the darling of the media gave up 24 points to Akron in addition to the 24 it gave up to Arizona. Akron is a team that a good defense shuts out and Arizona isn’t exactly USC. Despite missing Ohio State and Michigan, Purdue will lose a couple of games.
Ohio State still has a shot if the other top teams finish with a loss. Their early season loss to Texas won’t look that bad.
How bad is the Big 12?
I’ve said for a while that the Big 12 is the worst of the 5 BCS conferences (remember the Big East doesn’t count). OU, who sports the worst record in the conference, is still probably the 2nd or 3rd best team overall. Texas will have no excuses for not making to the Rose bowl. Texas Tech has jumped into the top 25 with wins over Florida International and Sam Houston State. Are you kidding me? The only explanation is that no one can rationalize not having at least three Big 12 teams in the top 25, and its tough to argue that any of the others deserve votes either. I can’t get excited about any team in the North though I feel that Nebraska will pull out the title there.
In the South, we know Baylor is bad despite its 3 – 0 record. Ok. State is bad, and Texas is good. So far OU and A&M are disappointments, but they’ll finish up 2nd and 3rd in the South with Tech a close 4th.
This is a bad conference only deserving one or two spots in the top 25.
