“Nobody knows nothin’.”
Never has this been more true than this September. Three of the top six teams in the AP poll went down to defeat this weekend, all to unranked opponents. The number of ranked teams upset in the month is greater than I can remember, and the inconsistency is all over the place. The only thing you can count on is that there will be fear and loathing and gnashing of teeth in Florida, as Tim Tebow is being held overnight with symptoms of concussion after leaving the stadium in the back of an ambulance halfway through the 3rd quarter in Lexington.
Right now, I think you have to say that Alabama is probably the top team in the country, passing Texas based on the fact that the Longhorns haven’t played anyone worth mentioning (a win over Virginia Tech utterly trumps a win over the TTs at this point) and passing Florida based on the fact that if Tim Tebow isn’t there, that team doesn’t go. The biggest question mark in the SEC is “what happens when an offense built around one player loses that player?” If there’s not another five-star prep option QB waiting in the wings, Florida may hit a bump.
As for the Commodores, well, if you can’t get well against Rice you may not ever get well. But it’s not a conference win, and 0-2 in the SEC is not promising with the kinds of threats on the horizon (the aforementioned Florida, a Georgia team with a knack for the great escape, a South Carolina squad that just knocked off #4). However, next week is home against Ole Miss, a team that was inexplicably overrated coming into the year and got exposed by a South Carolina defense that hasn’t contained Vanderbilt the last two seasons. A win over the Rebs would go a long way toward putting Team Commodore back on the straight and narrow.
For the first time in a long time, I find that I can watch games all Saturday, doesn’t matter who’s on, there’s something worth seeing. And that is a very pleasant development.