F
Fox Sports- Stewart
Itās beginning to feel a lot like 2007.
I never thought Iād see a more a volatile season than the one that ended with two-loss LSU winning the BCS National Championship, but here we are, just a week into October, and nearly every popular preseason playoff pick has already suffered a loss (save Florida State and Auburn). On Saturday, AP No. 3 Alabama (at Ole Miss), No. 4 Oklahoma (at TCU), No. 6 Texas A&M (at Mississippi State) and No. 8 UCLA (vs. Utah) joined Thursday night victim No. 2 Oregon on a historic weekend upset list. Never before have five of the top eight lost in the same week.
One can only imagine how much more carnage will occur before the selection committee meets for the first time in three weeks.
And thatās the thing. Were this a year ago, the consequences of those teamsā losses would be potentially fatal for their national championship hopes. If you didnāt go undefeated, you put your fate at the mercy of the football gods. Some years thereād be room for a one-loss team ā usually when Alabama was one of them ā but some years there were not. Either you went undefeated or you started counting computer points.
But weāre now in the four-team playoff era, where virtually every power conference team in the county essentially gets one mulligan. There will be one-loss teams in the playoff. Thatās a certainty. And the way this seasonās shaping up, there may even be a two-loss entrant. There is no equivalent of 2013 Florida State out there crushing everything in its path. Parity reigns, so much so that I wouldnāt be surprised if most of this weekās victims wind up back in the discussion.
But theyāre going to have to fix some issues first.
Upstart TCU, which looks completely different than any previous Gary Patterson team with its new Air Raid-style offense, proved the Sooners mortal. Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight ā whose day started with so much promise ā had a nightmare day (14-of-35 with two interceptions, one of them a pick-six). Coordinator Mike Stoopsā defense struggled. And yet, at the end of the day, a four-point conference road loss is not exactly shameful.
Similarly, Alabamaās previously torrid offense certainly proved mortal against Ole Miss, but even then, their 23-17 loss at Ole Miss came down to a remarkable interception of a last-second Blake Sims pass in the end zone. Thereās going to be a lot more games like that in the stacked SEC West.
The two teams Iād truly be concerned about are Oregon and UCLA. Unlike the others, they lost at home, one to anArizona team that needed a Hail Mary to win its previous game, the other to a Utah team that fell to Washington State. Both have severe problems on their offensive lines. And yet they could both still end up winning their respective Pac-12 divisions. Itās looking like that kind of year.
But donāt listen to me. I didnāt correctly pick any of this weekās upsets. Iām no Katy Perry.
SI's Stewart MandelāContinue reading...
I never thought Iād see a more a volatile season than the one that ended with two-loss LSU winning the BCS National Championship, but here we are, just a week into October, and nearly every popular preseason playoff pick has already suffered a loss (save Florida State and Auburn). On Saturday, AP No. 3 Alabama (at Ole Miss), No. 4 Oklahoma (at TCU), No. 6 Texas A&M (at Mississippi State) and No. 8 UCLA (vs. Utah) joined Thursday night victim No. 2 Oregon on a historic weekend upset list. Never before have five of the top eight lost in the same week.
One can only imagine how much more carnage will occur before the selection committee meets for the first time in three weeks.
And thatās the thing. Were this a year ago, the consequences of those teamsā losses would be potentially fatal for their national championship hopes. If you didnāt go undefeated, you put your fate at the mercy of the football gods. Some years thereād be room for a one-loss team ā usually when Alabama was one of them ā but some years there were not. Either you went undefeated or you started counting computer points.
But weāre now in the four-team playoff era, where virtually every power conference team in the county essentially gets one mulligan. There will be one-loss teams in the playoff. Thatās a certainty. And the way this seasonās shaping up, there may even be a two-loss entrant. There is no equivalent of 2013 Florida State out there crushing everything in its path. Parity reigns, so much so that I wouldnāt be surprised if most of this weekās victims wind up back in the discussion.
But theyāre going to have to fix some issues first.
Upstart TCU, which looks completely different than any previous Gary Patterson team with its new Air Raid-style offense, proved the Sooners mortal. Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight ā whose day started with so much promise ā had a nightmare day (14-of-35 with two interceptions, one of them a pick-six). Coordinator Mike Stoopsā defense struggled. And yet, at the end of the day, a four-point conference road loss is not exactly shameful.
Similarly, Alabamaās previously torrid offense certainly proved mortal against Ole Miss, but even then, their 23-17 loss at Ole Miss came down to a remarkable interception of a last-second Blake Sims pass in the end zone. Thereās going to be a lot more games like that in the stacked SEC West.
The two teams Iād truly be concerned about are Oregon and UCLA. Unlike the others, they lost at home, one to anArizona team that needed a Hail Mary to win its previous game, the other to a Utah team that fell to Washington State. Both have severe problems on their offensive lines. And yet they could both still end up winning their respective Pac-12 divisions. Itās looking like that kind of year.
But donāt listen to me. I didnāt correctly pick any of this weekās upsets. Iām no Katy Perry.
SI's Stewart MandelāContinue reading...
