1. Alabama is still a national title contender.
Believe it or not, this team only had 10 returning starters from last year. Despite that, Alabama forced three turnovers and held Michigan’s high-powered offense to 269 yards. Michigan was playing without its starting RB, but the fact that Alabama held Michigan to 69 rushing yards is very impressive. On offense, Bama picked up where they left off. A.J. McCarron threw for 199 yards, two TDs and no INTS. Even though Trent Richardson left for the NFL over the summer, the running game is still clicking too. T.J. Yeldon ran for 111 yards on 11 carries and Jalston Fowler added 67 yards on eight carries. Alabama is definitely still in the mix for the National Championship.
2. Oklahoma’s offense isn’t what was advertised.
Oklahoma came into this season ranked in the top-5 and had a QB who was considered a Heisman contender. Everyone was expecting a blowout when Oklahoma went against UTEP, a small school few people have heard of. Did you know UTEP stood for the University of Texas El Paso? I will further prove my point by stating that the bettors in Vegas had Oklahoma winning by 30 points. Instead, Oklahoma found itself only up 10-7 at the start of the fourth quarter and had to score twice to put the game away 24-7. Last year, Oklahoma’s conference rivals couldn’t hold it under 30 points, especially not a Conference-USA team that went 5-7 last year. Oklahoma was only held to 24 points or lower twice in 2011 and it happened against teams ranked in the top-5 both times.
That being said, QB Landry Jones didn’t have a terrible game. He threw for 222 yards, two TDs and no INTs. Oklahoma RB Damien Williams ran for 104 yards on nine carries. The offense seemed to have trouble waking up and was actually efficient in the 4th quarter. Oklahoma will have a chance to redeem itself when it plays FCS foe Florida A&M this weekend.
3. Florida State’s schedule is the weakest of all of the contenders.
At the beginning of the year, FSU only had three ranked teams on its schedule, which wouldn’t have been so bad if any of them were ranked in the top-10. FSU needs Virginia Tech and Florida to play very well and maintain a high ranking until FSU plays them. Clemson looks very good and is already ranked twelfth in the nation. Clemson could be in the top-10 by the time it plays FSU, which is in three weeks. Unfortunately for FSU, it is the other two ranked teams that don’t look so good.
Florida is not expected to do well and it plays in the SEC, which is always a tough conference. Florida won’t play FSU until the last game of the season and it isn’t crazy to believe that Florida may not be ranked by then, especially with the inconsistency of the offense in its 27-14 victory over Bowling Green. Virginia Tech also leaves question marks, because it plays Clemson before FSU. Clemson is clearly better than Virginia Tech and that loss could leave VT unranked when they face FSU. This point is exemplified further by VT needing to go to overtime to beat an unranked Georgia Tech squad 20-17 in its first game. Florida State can control its own destiny if it wins out, though.
4. West Virginia and Oregon need to play better defense if they want a National Championship.
BCS bowls can be won with just offense, but it is very rare for a national title to be won without a good defense. Oregon and West Virginia are both teams respected annually for their amazing offenses but plagued by defenses that give up yards and points. West Virginia had the entire nation in awe after scoring 64 points against Marshall, but everyone seemed to miss the fact that Marshall scored 34 points and racked up 545 yards. If Marshall can do that to West Virginia, what could Alabama or USC do?
Oregon’s defense was equally as bad in letting Arkansas State, a Sun Belt conference school, score 34 points and gain 530 yards. People will try to point to the fact that Oregon was winning 50-10 at halftime and say they relaxed and put in their second-string defenders, but that doesn’t change anything. Oregon’s second string should be able to hold a weak team like Arkansas State to less points than that. Those players will be replacing the starters when they get tired or injured. Oregon should be deeper in defensive talent. West Virginia and Oregon will both have to get much better at defense to make a real run for the national title.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments.
-Marty F. Nemec
Marty F. Nemec 
FSU desperately needs someone else in the ACC to step it up. I’m hoping that Miami breaks through the rankings. They have to play a few ranked teams (notably ND) before they get to us. If they’re undefeated when we play them, that could significantly work in our favor.
Miami and even South Florida have chances of being ranked and those would help enormously. It really stinks that the deal with playing West Virginia in Week 2 fell through and FSU got stuck playing Savannah State instead. It would have made a whole world of difference in the strength of schedule.
I think Oregon was taking it easy in the second half of the game..with that comfortable of a lead…I would too. And knowing you can just score easily can.
I agree. Oregon obviously took the starters out, but those second-string players should be trying to make a name for themselves by breaking up pass plays and getting turnovers. If “taking it easy” was the reason the second-string defense got steamrolled, maybe Chip Kelley needs to get in their faces and change the motivation of the team. I’m sure the Oregon starters didn’t want to see their hard work in holding Arkansas State to 10 points disappear in the second half while they were on the bench.
Very good point, if Bennett believed he deserved the starting position and was mad enough to threaten to transfer, i think they should of played just a good as the first stringers, either they DID take it easy, or Oregon is in trouble in a year or two and sucks on depth (which they do). I think when conference play starts we will see the real Mariota and company. but that is not saying much in the Pac-12 conference.
I am very excited very excited for Washington and LSU game though.
Washington squeaked by San Diego State 21-12, but it could be good. USC actually is in worse shape than Oregon. USC doesn’t have depth because of the loss of scholarships and the bowl ban. Oregon’s second-unit underperformed, but there is talent there. Those players just didn’t step up. I don’t believe USC has the talent to perform on a high level outside of their starters. This could lead to some very juicy drama in the Pac-12 if people start getting hurt. Oregon will be fine. It will be about their starters versus USC’s starters.