"Just a Bit Outside" is brought to you by:
YOU!
Now is your chance to sponsor the column. Our previous sponsor paid for more than three months of sponsorship fees in the first two weeks of signing up. That can be you! Contact @BlakeSkaggs if you want that kind of successful promotion for your business. Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity!
===========================================================================
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…”
No, I was not visited by a raven, but I have been definitely pondering about this year’s Texas Longhorn football team and I am weary after the loss in Dallas last Saturday.
The one thing that keeps coming back to my mind is a quote from the head coach, Steve Sarkisian following the win over Alabama … but I think is just as applicable after the loss to OU.
“That one game isn’t going to define our season,” Sarkisian said. “Championship teams continue to improve as the season goes on, and we’ve got goals and aspirations of being champions this year.”
I keep thinking about this quote and I keep wondering; is Texas improving as the season goes on and are they a championship team? The truth is, I don’t know the answer to either question (hence the weariness).
There are some obvious, glaring problems with this team. Problems that weren’t just exposed in Dallas but have been around all year (and have not gotten better). Specifically, the red zone offense.
“Quite frankly, that is probably the biggest deciding factor in the game (OU),” said Sarkisian. Our ability to move the ball wasn’t in question, but our ability to put the ball in the endzone was.”
Texas had three trips into the red zone last Saturday and came away with three points.
That it was an issue against OU shouldn’t be a surprise. The red zone offense has been a problem for this team all year.
Texas currently sits tied for 65th in the country in red zone offense. They’ve had 24 trips into the red zone, scored 11 touchdowns and 9 field goals.
Of course, when it comes to criticisms of red zone problems, Sark has heard it all before.
This was Sark’s response when asked about the red zone struggles against OU last week.
“It sucked,” Sarkisian said.
This is what Sarkisian said following the win over Alabama earlier this season.
“We still missed a couple of opportunities in the red area where we had chances to score, which is somewhere we definitely need to improve.”
This is what Sark was saying following the loss to TCU last year.
“We sure didn't capitalize on some of the opportunities we had. It's easy to point out the two red area opportunities we had, but there were opportunities early in the game that we just didn't take advantage of.”
There are also these two headlines from the San Antonio Express-News:
Sep. 13, 2022
Oct. 4, 2021
Then there was this headline from a Bill Connelly story while he was covering the Atlanta Falcons in 2018.
You don’t have to be a puzzle master (if such a thing exists) to see the pattern.
I’m a big fan of Sarkisian-led offenses. I think he is one of the best at moving the ball up and down the field. But for whatever reason, when it comes to the red zone, he gets bogged down.
Some offenses bog down because they’re spread out so much they have an issue pounding the rock when they need to. That’s not the case with Sarkisian’s offense. The Texas offense is built to be a run-first unit capable of getting a yard or two even in obvious run down situations.
Which of course, leads us to OU’s goal line stand where the Horns ran similar plays for three straight downs before going with a quick out to wide receiver Xavier Worthy who was expected to catch it and use his 172 pound frame to muscle it into the end zone.
It was not the best sequence of play calls, something even Sark admitted during his weekly presser on Monday.
“Call it stubborn, whatever it was,” Sarkisian said. “I went back to the first down call on third down and obviously, it was not effective enough. I’d love for us to execute it a little bit better than we did.
“Quite frankly, if I could do it all over again, I would have changed the third down call. I may have ran what I ran on fourth down on third down. I probably would have done that on third down and gone to something a little bit different on fourth down.”
Again, if we look at history, we can see there is a tendency to do that … to get “stubborn” and call the same plays, yielding the same results.
Look, I’m not trying to pick on Sarkisian here. I respect the man, I respect the coach. I still think he is the right man to lead this program. But if championship teams get better as the season progresses, then it needs to start with him getting better at this one area which is clearly a weakness.
Of course, Sark says that’s exactly what he and his staff are working on during the bye week. He says they have already watched watched every red zone snap this year and are “drilling down” on how to make it better.
“I feel very comfortable in the fact that we’ll have a good plan in the second half of the season for the players because like I told the staff, we’re moving the ball too well offensively right now not to have more points on the board,” Sarkisian said Monday.
MID-TERM REPORT CARD...
COACHING: B
The staff had the players ready to go when they got to Alabama and pulled off a signature win. The letdown in Dallas though definitely cannot be ignored (especially if you just got through reading about how Sarkisian knew about some of this team’s issues but still wasn’t able to correct them ahead of OU). If this team figures it out and the Horns run the table, this B could be an A by the end of the year.
QUARTERBACK: A-
Quinn Ewers has improved so much as a leader, passer and even a runner that it is hard to criticize his play so far. Had he not just had a game with three turnovers, it’s possible this would be an A+.
It’s been refreshing to see Ewers not just playing better, but appearing to have more fun on the football field too. The confidence and joy he’s playing with right now is impressive.
RUNNING BACKS: A
I was laughed at in the spring when I wrote that the Texas run game could be just as good this year as it was last year, even though they would be without Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson.
So far, this year’s team isn’t quite up to last year’s level, but it’s not far off. Through the first six games, UT is averaging 4.8 yards per carry in 2023. In 2022, the Horns averaged 5.2 ypc for the entire season.
But clearly, Jonathon Brooks has become a breakout star. Brooks is second in the entire country in rushing yards, compiling 726 yards on 106 carries, good for a 6.7 ypc.
This grade would be an A+ if not for the goal line stand against OU. Perhaps that’s just too much recency bias on my part, but it’s my grade so there you go.
WIDE RECEIVERS: A
Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Jordan Whittington and the rest have lived up to their billing. The only real critique I have is that the run blocking (especially from Mitchell) needs to be better.
TIGHT ENDS: A+
Ja’Tavion Sanders is as good as you’ll find at tight end. He can run just about every route, has good hands and blocks well too. Gunnar Helm may not be the first round NFL draft caliber of player that Sanders is, but he’s a damn good tight end in his own right and a very good complement to Sanders.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B+
Frankly, if I’m being honest, I’ve been a little disappointed in the offensive line play. They have given up far too many sacks this season. Some of that was due to communication issues as DJ Campbell was adjusting to being a starter. That issue reared its ugly head again against OU as Connor Robertson stepped in when starting center Jake Majors left the game with an injury.
This line can and should be playing much better and I’m including Kelvin Banks in this as well. He’s been going through somewhat of a sophomore slump. Of course, Banks’ sophomore slump still puts him at a very high level.
On the plus side, Christian Jones has continued to show that last season’s emergence was no fluke. And, the light bulb has come on for DJ Campbell who is starting to look like the elite player that his recruiting status pegged him to be.
DEFENSE LINE: A
The defensive tackles alone are playing at an A+ level. T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy are flat out stars. What drags this grade down is the ends are not producing enough pressure off the edges. We need to see more from Barryn Sorrell and Ethan Burke.
LINEBACKERS: A
It turns out, Jaylan Ford was not a one-hit wonder, Anthony Hill is every bit the players we all hoped he would be, and David Gbenda is proving that you can never write a player off. He is playing some damn good football in his senior season.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: C+
I came into this season saying I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the DB’s this year. In truth, I still don’t quite know what Texas has in this group.
There has been some good flashes during the season but also some real letdowns. The Horns currently sit 47th in the country allowing 211 yards per game and they’ve allowed far too many deep balls to be completed.
How the safety’s could be playing a different coverage than the corner backs on the game winning touchdown pass against OU is mind boggling.
In short, this unit needs to improve a lot if Texas is going to be a championship team.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C-
Special teams were a strength last season and Jeff Banks is regarded as one of the best special teams coordinators in the country. But there have been far too many mental mistakes. Muffed punts, roughing the kicker penalties and missed field goals have cost the team.
Xavier Worthy is a tremendous wide receiver, but he is a work in progress as a returner. Heading into OU, people were questioning Sarkisian about whether he would replace Bert Auburn as the kicker. And Texas ranks 117th in kick returns.
The C- has been earned, they need to do better.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW …
As Texas embarks on its last season in the Big 12, I’m keeping track of questionable calls against the Horns in every game officiated by a Big 12 crew.
OU VS. TEXAS
Referee: David Alvarez
Umpire: Stuart Schake
Linesman: Rick Smith
Line judge: Mark Estermyer
Back judge: Terrance Jones
Field judge: Joseph Martinez
Side judge: Brendon Barnes
Center judge: Abram Anaya
Replay Official: Richard Brown
:00 into the game: Right off the bat, the referees miss a facemask by OU against Texas during the return of the opening kickoff of the game.
13:52 left in the 3rd quarter: Oklahoma right guard McKade Mettauer absolutely mauls Byron Murphy and nearly takes him to the ground, but not penalty is called.
4:45 left in the 4th quarter: Xavier Worthy goes deep and Quinn Ewers places the ball perfectly for what should have been an explosive play late in the game. However, OU’s DB, Woodi Washington, breaks it up thanks to some very early contact on the play … still no call. As my boy @NashTalksTexas pointed out, that was Ewers’ only miss of the second half. This was also the drive in which UT had to settle for a field goal leaving 1:17 left on the clock for OU to work with. What a shame.
Despite these egregious calls, I maintain that over the course of six games, I have not seen any evidence that “the fix” is in against UT with Big 12 refs. I do see some bad officiating coming from the Big 12 crews, but you all should be used to that. What’s more, there’s going to be more poor officiating in the SEC as well.
############################################
KANSAS VS. TEXAS
Referee: Kevin Boitmann
Umpire: Apollo Martin
Linesman: Eric Carmouche
Line judge: David Young
Back judge: Joel Wetzel
Field judge: Edward Vinzant
Side judge: Eric Hartman
Center judge: Stacy Hardin
Replay Official: Donald Kapral
No questionable calls.
############################################
TEXAS VS. BAYLOR
BIG 12 CREW:
Referee: Derek Anderson
Umpire: Michael Henderson
Linesman: Doug Moore
Line judge: Quentin Givens
Back judge: Daniel Young
Field judge: Gabriel DeLeon
Side judge: Mark Graves
Center judge: Brian Alos
Replay Official: Marcus Marsden
9:20 in the third quarter, a questionable holding call.
############################################
WYOMING VS. TEXAS
BIG 12 CREW:
Referee: Kevin Mar
Line Judge: Bret Bascue
Umpire: Marlow Fitzgerald
Back Judge: Lyndon Nixon
Linesman: Bradford Edwards
Field Judge: Randy Smith
############################################
RICE VS. TEXAS
BIG 12 CREW:
Referee: Tutashinda Salaam
Line Judge: Kelly Deterding
Side Judge: Eric Hartman
Umpire: Bill Bishop
Back Judge: Christopher Alston
Linesman: Matt Burks
Field Judge: Rich Almeroth
THE GALEY POLL …
Screw the AP and the Coaches poll … the ONLY poll that matters is the Galey poll. This is my official/unofficial ranking of college teams following week one games.
THOUGHTS ON MY POLL: (and yes, I hear it … )
Every single one of you who slammed me for keeping Georgia at number one last week, where are you?
All Georgia did was go out and demolish an undefeated and ranked SEC opponent and reminded everyone that they’re still a good team. Will the Dawgs remain undefeated until the playoffs? Who knows, but that’s a pretty soft schedule so I wouldn’t bet against them.
I dropped Texas to ninth, just behind Oklahoma. I still believe Texas is the better team, but they’ll likely get their chance to prove it on the field during the Big 12 Championship game in December.
USC drops even though they remain undefeated (for now). They have just struggled far too much against inferior opponents to justify keeping them in the top ten. The Trojans defense is just awful. They may have enough offensively to beat Notre Dame this week, but I don’t see them surviving conference play for the rest of the season.
Honestly, everyone below USC is just a jumbled mess. You can make an argument to move any of them up or move any of them down.
I’ve had James Madison sitting at 24 for the past couple of weeks because their schedule sets them up to possibly be the only undefeated Group of 5 team by the end of the season. However, I don’t believe the Dukes are truly one of the best teams in the country so I’m not moving them up, just holding them in place until they lose.
Welcome to the top 25 of the Galey poll Wyoming! The Cowboys haven’t lost a game since visiting Austin and Harrison Waylee (who broke off the 62 yard touchdown run against Texas, is among the leading rushers in the country.
TWEETS OF INTEREST ...
Texas fans are going to enjoy cheering for Arch Manning for years to come.
#############################
Unfortunately, you don’t have much longer to enjoy this big fella.
#############################
Texas’s parting gift to the soon-to-be former Big 12 foes? How about a crap-load of sold out stadiums? You’re welcome.
#############################
Is this really the best you can do to simulate rain in LA?
#############################
I do love me some playoff baseball. Bring on the Astros!
YOU!
Now is your chance to sponsor the column. Our previous sponsor paid for more than three months of sponsorship fees in the first two weeks of signing up. That can be you! Contact @BlakeSkaggs if you want that kind of successful promotion for your business. Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity!
===========================================================================
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…”
No, I was not visited by a raven, but I have been definitely pondering about this year’s Texas Longhorn football team and I am weary after the loss in Dallas last Saturday.
The one thing that keeps coming back to my mind is a quote from the head coach, Steve Sarkisian following the win over Alabama … but I think is just as applicable after the loss to OU.
“That one game isn’t going to define our season,” Sarkisian said. “Championship teams continue to improve as the season goes on, and we’ve got goals and aspirations of being champions this year.”
I keep thinking about this quote and I keep wondering; is Texas improving as the season goes on and are they a championship team? The truth is, I don’t know the answer to either question (hence the weariness).
There are some obvious, glaring problems with this team. Problems that weren’t just exposed in Dallas but have been around all year (and have not gotten better). Specifically, the red zone offense.
“Quite frankly, that is probably the biggest deciding factor in the game (OU),” said Sarkisian. Our ability to move the ball wasn’t in question, but our ability to put the ball in the endzone was.”
Texas had three trips into the red zone last Saturday and came away with three points.
That it was an issue against OU shouldn’t be a surprise. The red zone offense has been a problem for this team all year.
Texas currently sits tied for 65th in the country in red zone offense. They’ve had 24 trips into the red zone, scored 11 touchdowns and 9 field goals.
Of course, when it comes to criticisms of red zone problems, Sark has heard it all before.
This was Sark’s response when asked about the red zone struggles against OU last week.
“It sucked,” Sarkisian said.
This is what Sarkisian said following the win over Alabama earlier this season.
“We still missed a couple of opportunities in the red area where we had chances to score, which is somewhere we definitely need to improve.”
This is what Sark was saying following the loss to TCU last year.
“We sure didn't capitalize on some of the opportunities we had. It's easy to point out the two red area opportunities we had, but there were opportunities early in the game that we just didn't take advantage of.”
There are also these two headlines from the San Antonio Express-News:
Sep. 13, 2022
Oct. 4, 2021
Then there was this headline from a Bill Connelly story while he was covering the Atlanta Falcons in 2018.
You don’t have to be a puzzle master (if such a thing exists) to see the pattern.
I’m a big fan of Sarkisian-led offenses. I think he is one of the best at moving the ball up and down the field. But for whatever reason, when it comes to the red zone, he gets bogged down.
Some offenses bog down because they’re spread out so much they have an issue pounding the rock when they need to. That’s not the case with Sarkisian’s offense. The Texas offense is built to be a run-first unit capable of getting a yard or two even in obvious run down situations.
Which of course, leads us to OU’s goal line stand where the Horns ran similar plays for three straight downs before going with a quick out to wide receiver Xavier Worthy who was expected to catch it and use his 172 pound frame to muscle it into the end zone.
It was not the best sequence of play calls, something even Sark admitted during his weekly presser on Monday.
“Call it stubborn, whatever it was,” Sarkisian said. “I went back to the first down call on third down and obviously, it was not effective enough. I’d love for us to execute it a little bit better than we did.
“Quite frankly, if I could do it all over again, I would have changed the third down call. I may have ran what I ran on fourth down on third down. I probably would have done that on third down and gone to something a little bit different on fourth down.”
Again, if we look at history, we can see there is a tendency to do that … to get “stubborn” and call the same plays, yielding the same results.
Look, I’m not trying to pick on Sarkisian here. I respect the man, I respect the coach. I still think he is the right man to lead this program. But if championship teams get better as the season progresses, then it needs to start with him getting better at this one area which is clearly a weakness.
Of course, Sark says that’s exactly what he and his staff are working on during the bye week. He says they have already watched watched every red zone snap this year and are “drilling down” on how to make it better.
“I feel very comfortable in the fact that we’ll have a good plan in the second half of the season for the players because like I told the staff, we’re moving the ball too well offensively right now not to have more points on the board,” Sarkisian said Monday.
MID-TERM REPORT CARD...
COACHING: B
The staff had the players ready to go when they got to Alabama and pulled off a signature win. The letdown in Dallas though definitely cannot be ignored (especially if you just got through reading about how Sarkisian knew about some of this team’s issues but still wasn’t able to correct them ahead of OU). If this team figures it out and the Horns run the table, this B could be an A by the end of the year.
QUARTERBACK: A-
Quinn Ewers has improved so much as a leader, passer and even a runner that it is hard to criticize his play so far. Had he not just had a game with three turnovers, it’s possible this would be an A+.
It’s been refreshing to see Ewers not just playing better, but appearing to have more fun on the football field too. The confidence and joy he’s playing with right now is impressive.
RUNNING BACKS: A
I was laughed at in the spring when I wrote that the Texas run game could be just as good this year as it was last year, even though they would be without Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson.
So far, this year’s team isn’t quite up to last year’s level, but it’s not far off. Through the first six games, UT is averaging 4.8 yards per carry in 2023. In 2022, the Horns averaged 5.2 ypc for the entire season.
But clearly, Jonathon Brooks has become a breakout star. Brooks is second in the entire country in rushing yards, compiling 726 yards on 106 carries, good for a 6.7 ypc.
This grade would be an A+ if not for the goal line stand against OU. Perhaps that’s just too much recency bias on my part, but it’s my grade so there you go.
WIDE RECEIVERS: A
Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Jordan Whittington and the rest have lived up to their billing. The only real critique I have is that the run blocking (especially from Mitchell) needs to be better.
TIGHT ENDS: A+
Ja’Tavion Sanders is as good as you’ll find at tight end. He can run just about every route, has good hands and blocks well too. Gunnar Helm may not be the first round NFL draft caliber of player that Sanders is, but he’s a damn good tight end in his own right and a very good complement to Sanders.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B+
Frankly, if I’m being honest, I’ve been a little disappointed in the offensive line play. They have given up far too many sacks this season. Some of that was due to communication issues as DJ Campbell was adjusting to being a starter. That issue reared its ugly head again against OU as Connor Robertson stepped in when starting center Jake Majors left the game with an injury.
This line can and should be playing much better and I’m including Kelvin Banks in this as well. He’s been going through somewhat of a sophomore slump. Of course, Banks’ sophomore slump still puts him at a very high level.
On the plus side, Christian Jones has continued to show that last season’s emergence was no fluke. And, the light bulb has come on for DJ Campbell who is starting to look like the elite player that his recruiting status pegged him to be.
DEFENSE LINE: A
The defensive tackles alone are playing at an A+ level. T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy are flat out stars. What drags this grade down is the ends are not producing enough pressure off the edges. We need to see more from Barryn Sorrell and Ethan Burke.
LINEBACKERS: A
It turns out, Jaylan Ford was not a one-hit wonder, Anthony Hill is every bit the players we all hoped he would be, and David Gbenda is proving that you can never write a player off. He is playing some damn good football in his senior season.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: C+
I came into this season saying I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the DB’s this year. In truth, I still don’t quite know what Texas has in this group.
There has been some good flashes during the season but also some real letdowns. The Horns currently sit 47th in the country allowing 211 yards per game and they’ve allowed far too many deep balls to be completed.
How the safety’s could be playing a different coverage than the corner backs on the game winning touchdown pass against OU is mind boggling.
In short, this unit needs to improve a lot if Texas is going to be a championship team.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C-
Special teams were a strength last season and Jeff Banks is regarded as one of the best special teams coordinators in the country. But there have been far too many mental mistakes. Muffed punts, roughing the kicker penalties and missed field goals have cost the team.
Xavier Worthy is a tremendous wide receiver, but he is a work in progress as a returner. Heading into OU, people were questioning Sarkisian about whether he would replace Bert Auburn as the kicker. And Texas ranks 117th in kick returns.
The C- has been earned, they need to do better.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW …
As Texas embarks on its last season in the Big 12, I’m keeping track of questionable calls against the Horns in every game officiated by a Big 12 crew.
OU VS. TEXAS
Referee: David Alvarez
Umpire: Stuart Schake
Linesman: Rick Smith
Line judge: Mark Estermyer
Back judge: Terrance Jones
Field judge: Joseph Martinez
Side judge: Brendon Barnes
Center judge: Abram Anaya
Replay Official: Richard Brown
:00 into the game: Right off the bat, the referees miss a facemask by OU against Texas during the return of the opening kickoff of the game.
13:52 left in the 3rd quarter: Oklahoma right guard McKade Mettauer absolutely mauls Byron Murphy and nearly takes him to the ground, but not penalty is called.
4:45 left in the 4th quarter: Xavier Worthy goes deep and Quinn Ewers places the ball perfectly for what should have been an explosive play late in the game. However, OU’s DB, Woodi Washington, breaks it up thanks to some very early contact on the play … still no call. As my boy @NashTalksTexas pointed out, that was Ewers’ only miss of the second half. This was also the drive in which UT had to settle for a field goal leaving 1:17 left on the clock for OU to work with. What a shame.
Despite these egregious calls, I maintain that over the course of six games, I have not seen any evidence that “the fix” is in against UT with Big 12 refs. I do see some bad officiating coming from the Big 12 crews, but you all should be used to that. What’s more, there’s going to be more poor officiating in the SEC as well.
############################################
KANSAS VS. TEXAS
Referee: Kevin Boitmann
Umpire: Apollo Martin
Linesman: Eric Carmouche
Line judge: David Young
Back judge: Joel Wetzel
Field judge: Edward Vinzant
Side judge: Eric Hartman
Center judge: Stacy Hardin
Replay Official: Donald Kapral
No questionable calls.
############################################
TEXAS VS. BAYLOR
BIG 12 CREW:
Referee: Derek Anderson
Umpire: Michael Henderson
Linesman: Doug Moore
Line judge: Quentin Givens
Back judge: Daniel Young
Field judge: Gabriel DeLeon
Side judge: Mark Graves
Center judge: Brian Alos
Replay Official: Marcus Marsden
9:20 in the third quarter, a questionable holding call.
############################################
WYOMING VS. TEXAS
BIG 12 CREW:
Referee: Kevin Mar
Line Judge: Bret Bascue
Umpire: Marlow Fitzgerald
Back Judge: Lyndon Nixon
Linesman: Bradford Edwards
Field Judge: Randy Smith
- 7:27 left in the 2nd quarter: Refs fail to call pass interference during a pass to Ja’Tavion Sanders.
- 4:44 left in the 3rd quarter: Refs call pass interference against Texas despite the ball appearing to be uncatchable.
- 2:11 left in the 3rd quarter: The head linesman, Bradford Edwards is standing on the 8 yard line when the Wyoming quarterback runs out of bounds at about the 11 yard line. Edwards is then run over and stands up and marks the ball at the 8 … the exact spot he was standing when Svoboda ran out of bounds yards ahead of him. You can chalk this up to the fact that Edwards was run over in the process, but the Side Judge was standing right there as well and did not correct the mistake.
############################################
RICE VS. TEXAS
BIG 12 CREW:
Referee: Tutashinda Salaam
Line Judge: Kelly Deterding
Side Judge: Eric Hartman
Umpire: Bill Bishop
Back Judge: Christopher Alston
Linesman: Matt Burks
Field Judge: Rich Almeroth
- At 7:37 mark in the first quarter, the crew blows a replay review calling a X. Worthy catch a drop, despite the fact the ball never hit the ground.
- 4:45 in the first quarter: missed pass interference call
- 2:30 left in the third quarter, another missed pass interference call … on the same side of the field
THE GALEY POLL …
Screw the AP and the Coaches poll … the ONLY poll that matters is the Galey poll. This is my official/unofficial ranking of college teams following week one games.
| RANK | TEAM | PREVIOUS |
| 1 | GEORGIA | 1 |
| 2 | WASHINGTON | 3 |
| 3 | FLORIDA STATE | 4 |
| 4 | OHIO STATE | 5 |
| 5 | MICHIGAN | 6 |
| 6 | PENN STATE | 7 |
| 7 | OREGON | 8 |
| 8 | OKLAHOMA | 12 |
| 9 | TEXAS | 2 |
| 10 | ALABAMA | 11 |
| 11 | USC | 9 |
| 12 | NORTH CAROLINA | 14 |
| 13 | LOUISVILLE | 23 |
| 14 | DUKE | 20 |
| 15 | OREGON STATE | 17 |
| 16 | UCLA | UNRANKED |
| 17 | WASHINGTON STATE | 15 |
| 18 | OLE MISS | 22 |
| 19 | UTAH | 19 |
| 20 | KANSAS | UNRANKED |
| 21 | KENTUCKY | 18 |
| 22 | NOTRE DAME | 10 |
| 23 | TENNESSEE | 14 |
| 24 | JAMES MADISON | 24 |
| 25 | WYOMING | UNRANKED |
THOUGHTS ON MY POLL: (and yes, I hear it … )
Every single one of you who slammed me for keeping Georgia at number one last week, where are you?
All Georgia did was go out and demolish an undefeated and ranked SEC opponent and reminded everyone that they’re still a good team. Will the Dawgs remain undefeated until the playoffs? Who knows, but that’s a pretty soft schedule so I wouldn’t bet against them.
I dropped Texas to ninth, just behind Oklahoma. I still believe Texas is the better team, but they’ll likely get their chance to prove it on the field during the Big 12 Championship game in December.
USC drops even though they remain undefeated (for now). They have just struggled far too much against inferior opponents to justify keeping them in the top ten. The Trojans defense is just awful. They may have enough offensively to beat Notre Dame this week, but I don’t see them surviving conference play for the rest of the season.
Honestly, everyone below USC is just a jumbled mess. You can make an argument to move any of them up or move any of them down.
I’ve had James Madison sitting at 24 for the past couple of weeks because their schedule sets them up to possibly be the only undefeated Group of 5 team by the end of the season. However, I don’t believe the Dukes are truly one of the best teams in the country so I’m not moving them up, just holding them in place until they lose.
Welcome to the top 25 of the Galey poll Wyoming! The Cowboys haven’t lost a game since visiting Austin and Harrison Waylee (who broke off the 62 yard touchdown run against Texas, is among the leading rushers in the country.
TWEETS OF INTEREST ...
Texas fans are going to enjoy cheering for Arch Manning for years to come.
#############################
Unfortunately, you don’t have much longer to enjoy this big fella.
#############################
Texas’s parting gift to the soon-to-be former Big 12 foes? How about a crap-load of sold out stadiums? You’re welcome.
#############################
Is this really the best you can do to simulate rain in LA?
#############################
I do love me some playoff baseball. Bring on the Astros!
Last edited:
