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College Football 2009 Mid-Season Season Report BCS Rancings Rivalry Weekend Games Analysis Commentary
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NO LAST CALL!
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: PARTY GUIDES: BAR GUIDES: The best team(s), BCS rankings, top conference(s) looking ahead to Rivalry Weeks.
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The
2009 College Football Season
We are past the excitement of opening weekend, had the out-of-conference marquee matchups, went through "the grind" of the mid-season and now are poised for the November "Rivalry Week" games. So what have we learned about college football, circa 2009, the teams, the conferences, the rankings and the BCS? This is PubClub.com's Mid-Season Report. Be sure and come back for continual updates throughout the season. THE TEAMS They talk about parity in the NFL but it really seems to be more so in college football. Florida, everyone's walk-away winner preseason #1 and the National Championship, can't seem to get out of first gear. The Gators have been more Ford Tarus than Ferrari. Just when it looked like Alabama was ready to separate itself from the crowd, the Crimson Tide has back-to-back "survival games" against South Carolina and Tennessee. Only until it thrashed Missouri – a team that has shown little signs of life – Texas and Colt McCoy have struggled like a bum steer. USC? The West Coast juggernaut won at Ohio State, then turned around and flopped against a weak Pac-10 team. Again. Ohio State? After losing in the Horseshoe to the Trojans, they were embarrassed by Purdue. Purdue!? Penn State? The Lions were whipped on both sides of the line of scrimmage against Iowa which, ironically, is undefeated but seems to play to the level of its competition. LSU? A struggling QB and offense could do nothing against Florida. So what IS the best team in America? Well, that's why they play the regular season! At the end, the cream will rise to the crop. Kudos to the smaller teams, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State, but until they take the Fresno State approach and play several big-name non-conference games they will be, and deserve to be, outside looking in at the others. That being said, the best of the bunch are the Horned Frogs because of their defense (but remember, they were fortunate to escape against Clemson). THE BCS So far, so good. There's still tons of "what if" scenarios, and that's what makes college football have the best regular season in any sport. By comparisons, what are people talking about now in the NFL? A few undefeated teams and a number of pathetic teams (and Brett Favre) but mainly it's just mid-season yakking. Nothing about the post-season yet. Those talking college football are already trying to set the conference championship and BCS title game matchups. By the way humans – and not computers – should be used to rank the teams. THE CONFERENCES
While it's not as strong as it's been in the recent past, the #1 conference in college football remains the SEC. For the SEC has not one, but two and potentially three national championship contenders. And the "second tier" of teams possess strong, well-coached defenses, which is producing those 22-3 and 17-3 scores. These are Ole Miss, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and, even to a degree, Mississippi State. And there's enough talent on Georgia to make any opponent pay attention to the Dogs. The second-best conference is hard to figure. The Big 12 has Texas and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma is without Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford but the Sooners have one heck of a defense. Below that, though, it's really weak. The Pac-10 has USC (of course) but too many are giving too much credit to Oregon. Sure, the Ducks appear to have recovered from their opening-game disaster against Boise but that is more of a reflection of how weak the rest of the Pac-10 is, instead of any prowess of the Ducks. The biggest issue with the Pac-10 – and why it should never be mentioned as the "best conference" is the number of breathers the league presents its upper-tier teams: Washington State, Washington (the USC upset was due more to the Trojans' lack of attention than the Huskies' ability), UCLA (after a promising start the bottom has fallen out of the Bruins), Cal, Arizona State, Stanford, Arizona... There's no week-in/week-out beating USC or Oregon has to face, like the SEC. Iowa has been a surprise in the Big 10 and there is Ohio State, but it's impossible to overlook the Buckeyes' loss Purdue. Penn State is undeserving of any national accolades simply because of its joke of a non-conference schedule. The Big East sports Cincinnati and Pitt seems finally to be able to see its way under Dave Wannstedt, but West Virginia continues to struggle, South Florida can't stand success and Rutgers is almost back to being, well, Rutgers. The ACC started out with a potential power in Virginia Tech. The Hokies showed toughness in the opening-season loss to Alabama but then turned into same 'ol Virginia Tech (when right on the verge of huge success it loses) against Georgia Tech. Miami is still growing and GT well, the Jackets are one-dimensional and a good SEC-caliber defense would rip them apart. Notre Dame? The offense is certainly better but Charlie Weis still doesn't have it figured out.
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Commentary by Kevin Wilkerson, an AP-award winning former sports writer
who now pens prose
for 
