Week 4 thoughts

As I've said before this season, this season does not feature too many great teams. I'm against saying all these teams in the top 10 that are losing are frauds. They just did not deserve the ranking they had in the first place. I really thought California would have done better against Oregon, but before the season I had a hard time deciding between California and Oregon for the league title. USC is not the USC everyone knows this year and that should have been expected after heavy personnel losses. Penn State was very overrated evidenced by a struggling offense against cupcakes, but the problem is that everyone else is so average that someone has to occupy those top 10 spots. Kansas is ranked in the top 10 in my poll, while barely the top 20 in the national polls, but who's to really say where they should be until they lose.

In college football this year more than any before winning is all that matters. Quality points are more a thing of the past. Look at the number of undefeated teams left. It's decreasing faster than ever. LSU and Boise State will fall soon, they are good teams, but they are not great. They are a result of average football season in terms of quality football and in time they will fall too. Florida has yet to look dominant and do not have the receivers they need to be a great team, but the team they have could be good enough to win in a year like this. More than ever this season, an under the radar team can come out of nowhere and challenge not just for a BCS berth, but a National Championship berth. I honestly do not expect an undefeated team at the end of the season. Florida has a dangerous game against LSU coming up, I believe Texas is going to fall victim to an Oklahoma team that is quietly making a comeback in the rankings, Iowa has always struggled against Ohio State, Cincinnati should slip up somewhere, and Alabama will probably have to play Florida in the SEC Championship game. The BCS may see the biggest controversy it has ever seen at the end of this season. The national champion could end up with 2 losses in the same way LSU won two years ago, if teams do not step it up a notch.

Top Performers
1. Eric Norwood, South Carolina
Norwood is one of the most consistent players in the country. Through four games, he has recorded a sack in every game, twice racking up a pair. He has 27 tackles, 6 sacks, and an INT through 4 games and should be up for all the national awards and All American consideration. Norwood was instrumental in South Carolina's win over Ole Miss. Norwood had 10 tackles and 2 sacks in the win and was giving the Ole Miss offense problems all night. Granted Ole Miss was one of those team overrated as a result of the average year, South Carolina played an outstanding game defensively and their leader was at the heart of the performance.

2. Jeremiah Masoli, Oregon
Masoli did not play typical Masoli running football. California held the athletic quarterback to a mere 21 yards on the ground, but what he did through the air gave no reason for Oregon to force Masoli to run the ball. Masoli has struggled all season in the passing game and after an abysmal start to the season, Masoli finally showed up and on a big stage at that. He threw for an incredible 21/25 253 yards and 3 TDs with no picks. That's an 84% completion percentage for a guy that hit 4/16 last week and struggled to get above 50% in the first two games of the season. Oregon fans may have once thought the season was lost, but with Masoli back on track and the locker room cancer (Blount) behind them, Oregon may have righted ship and compete for the Pac-10 crown.

3. Broderick Binns, Iowa
The young defensive end is emerging as one of the conference's best and stepped up on the national stage for the Hawkeyes. The sophomore had 8 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble as he gave Darryl Clark and the Penn State offensive line fits all night. Not only should the credit be given to Binns, but the entire Iowa defense. They gave the offensive line fits all night, the linebackers, particulary Angerer played well in coverage and against the run and the secondary didn't give Penn State much of a chance with the exception of the first play of the game to Chaz Powell. This unit will keep Iowa in every game it plays this season and could have them competing for a Big Ten title.

4. Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech
Darren Evans who? Evans may have a hard time getting playing time next season. A season ago Evans was known for his big performances, not his consistency. Mr. Williams is the king of consistency right now and is really making a mark in this Tech offense. With Taylor still developing at quarterback, Williams has stepped up as the playmaker and this week it was a fast, physical Miami defense that was the victim. He rushed for 150 yards and 2 TDs in the pouring rain as Tech dismantled an upbeat Miami team. Williams has almost 500 yards to go along with 8 TDs in his first 4 games as the feature back, and has gone over 100 in every performance except against a stellar Alabama defense. He also has 120 yards in the receiving game.

5. Toby Gerhart, Stanford
A week after the Washington defense stuffed the USC offense, Gerhart goes off for 200 yards on the Huskies. Gerhart is not a flashy back, but he's a gritty guy that is very tough to bring down. Stanford is flying under the radar right now. Yes, they lost to a worse Wake Forest team and have not played a tough schedule, but play a very big game to the program against UCLA next week. Stanford is a team on the rise and Andrew Luck should be a very good quarterback for this team in time. It would be a tough thing, but this Stanford team could very possibly be 7-1 heading into their bye week, before one of the toughest four game stretches in the country to close the season.

The underrated team - Purdue
Purdue is a weak 1-3 right now and the loss to Northern Illinois stings, but this team has got to be the best team with 3 losses in the country. They were a made extra point from taking a rejuvenated Oregon team into overtime a couple of weeks ago and almost beat Notre Dame Saturday only to fall short on a late Irish drive. Danny Hope has given Boilermaker fans hope for the future with a very underappreciated back in Ralph Bolden. Bolden is only a sophomore and could be the player that starts the Big 10's revival. The revival of the Big Ten is not going to be in the elite teams, but in the lower to middle tier teams that can help the conference's bowl record.

The overrated team - LSU
LSU is vastly overrated right now. The team has struggled all season. The team has struggled to get their first team all conference back going in Charles Scott and the team is letting average teams like Washington and Mississippi State take them to the brink of defeat. LSU can prove its worth in the coming weeks with a huge game against a Florida team that features a questionable Tim Tebow and a depleted receiving corps. That game is sandwiched with Georgia and Auburn in a defining three game stretch for the SEC West team.

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