The opening weekend of the final college football season of the decade (or
century or whatever) proved a few things which, as it happens, are proved
at the beginning of every season.
Preseason rankings mean about as much as Iowa straw polls, August is too
early to start the season and the term “Pac-10 defenses” is an
oxymoron.
The latter fact, substantiated on various occasions by the hapless UCLA
Bruins a year ago, was certainly, if needlessly, validated by the Arizona
Wildcats on Saturday against Penn State.
Arizona’s woeful showing — Could the Wildcats have beaten anyone with that
performance? — was mistaken as proof of the all-conquering Nittany Lions’
superiority.
Of course, Penn State must now be ranked No. 1. Anything less would be a
travesty.
And just for good measure, LaVar Arrington for the Heisman.
All this blather before September. Please.
The truth of the matter is that the polls are meaningless at this point in
the season. Their purpose is to excite student bodies, motivate
lower-ranked opponents and give Beano Cook a reason to get up in the
morning.
With the advent of the BCS, which thankfully doesn’t begin ranking teams
until — get this — autumn, the polls really don’t mean much at all right
now.
Need more proof? Look no further than UT.
No, not Tennessee, but the University of Texas. Ranked 16th, the Longhorns
rolled into Saturday night’s opener against underdog North Carolina State.
They were at home. Here was their chance to get a jump on the competition
by notching a win in August.
In the event, the pathetic Longhorns couldn’t even get a punt off — they
had three blocked in a 23-20 loss. Without the departed Ricky Williams, the
Longhorns couldn’t run the ball either.
No. 16? Are you kidding?
For the large part, the football played this past weekend was little better
than high-level high school ball.
Penn State looked pretty good, but looks can be deceiving when your
opponent is as overmatched as Arizona was.
The Nittany Lions’ defense looked great, but can Kevin Thompson really lead
his team to a national title?
That remains to be seen.
At any rate, these teams could have all benefited from another week of
practice. Notre Dame struggled at home against Kansas and No. 1 Florida
State was outplayed for a half by Louisiana Tech.
The Seminoles ended up routing the Bulldogs, but the so-called experts were
ready to drop FSU from its lofty perch and replace it with the Nittany
Lions, the flavor of the minute.
The same thing will happen each week from now until January. College
football, now more than ever, has become a war of attrition.
Along with facing what is in essence a season-long playoff to get to the
national title game, teams find themselves at the mercy of the voters, the
so-called experts and, most ludicrous of all, computers.
It’s a brave new world in college football. Tennessee found out all about
it during last season’s run to the national title.
But when the Vols take the field Saturday against Wyoming, they will be
under pressure like never before to produce a dominating effort.
If they don’t rout the Cowboys, the talking heads will call for the Vols’,
er, heads on a platter while at the same time championing the cause of,
say, Florida, which just happened to beat Central Michigan 85-7 the same
day.
A win is no longer just a win. For the next four months, we will hear all
about the merits of this team and that team and why it should be No.
1.
In the end, things will work themselves out. In the interim, there’s all to
play for.
