College Football rankings

I've put off the serious article for another day or two. No internet at home is a problem.

Notre Dame is ranked #12. That seems a bit high, but not too bad. I wonder what it will look like when the polls are released that take into account their whooping from Michigan.

What was that?

No, you must be mistaken.

I guess not.

So, as it turns out, that is their ranking after being absolutely destroyed. In South Bend.

The Notre Dame mystique continues. If I were to rank a team that highly, it would be because I believed they were better than the teams ranked immediately behind them. That is clearly not the case for Notre Dame. Does anyone really believe that the USC game last year was their typical performance? It was not. It was actually their best game of the year. (Second best was the BYU game.) How many teams with winning records did they actually beat? One. Michigan, who was a not-too-impressive 7-5. A better example was the Fiesta Bowl, in which they were steamrolled by Ohio State. This year, they will be creamed by USC in L.A. They will almost certainly also lose to Tennessee. I'd also be surprised if they didn't drop at least one more game. And yet, there they are at #12. And Brady Quinn is being talked about as the first pick of the draft. Memo to NFL GMs: If a guy is not even the best player on an unspectacular team, don't pick him first in the draft. (Is there any way to send this back in time for the Houston Texans? No? Darn.)

Anyway, not too many certain classic games this week--there will be a team that threatens to win a game they shouldn't, but those are tough to predict. Best bet for a good game: Notre Dame at Michigan State. As outlined above, Notre Dame is not as good as advertised, and last week's game may have given them a certain dose of self-doubt that may make them even more vulnerable in a game against a solid, but unspectacular opponent. Arizona State vs. Cal is also likely to be a good one, if it's available in your area.