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Upon reaching the halfway point of this college football season there are a few things that no one expected, few teams who have lived up to expectations, and the season has shown how fast commonly held perceptions can change in the blink of an eye.
Ageism is no longer cool. Joe Paterno proves that as he has his mojo going in a major way with the Nittany Lions. In his 58th year at Penn State, the Lions are 7-0 and ranked 3rd in the country. This comes after a few tough years in Happy Valley, when Paterno was essentially being pushed out of his job because of his team's poor performances and the fact that he is 81 years old. All the talk of when is Joe Pa going to leave PSU has ceased and the Lions in their classic uniforms that have not changed one iota since the 1950's and are legitimate contenders for the national title.
The ACC is not as terrible as it looked at the first of the season. I'm not saying that they are the dominant conference in the country by any means, what I am saying is that this young conference in terms of talent is better than the scores indicated at the beginning of this year. Georgia Tech and its option attack is a very formidable opponent and has a shot to win the conference. Florida State which started slow is gaining momentum with its stingy, tough and downright nasty defense and offense that is getting better with every game. Miami has lost some tough games this year but has a wealth of talent and is already on the way to having one of the top recruiting classes for the second straight year. Look for the Hurricanes to be very tough in the coming year. Virginia Tech is also improving after pulling the "shirt" off of Tyrod Taylor and making him the starter for Frank Beamer's Hokies. Duke has had an impressive year for Duke and now is at least a valid threat for the rest of this year. Butch Davis has North Carolina pointed in the right direction as well with the Tar Heels already having beaten Notre Dame and Miami this year. Losing Brandon Tate for the year with a torn ACL and MCL is a tough blow but the Heels have the talent to get though the rest of the year in decent condition.
All this talk of the ACC leads us to the biggest disappointment of the year, the Clemson Tigers. Tommy Bowden, the former coach of the Tigers, committed the biggest sin a college coach can commit, which is not winning with an abundant wealth of talent for a number of years. Clemson started the year ranked # 9 in the country with perhaps the best backfield duo in the country James Davis and C.J. Spiller. The Tigers lost to Alabama, in a game where Clemson was physically manhandled. The tigers followed up that weak performance with a loss to Maryland at home and a loss to Wake Forest on the road was the "straw that broke the camels back" and Bowden stepped down leaving Clemson's season in further disarray.
The two biggest surprises of the season to this point are probably Penn State and Oklahoma State. In a season where the top five teams lose on a regular basis these two teams are kicking ass and taking names. Both the Pokes and Lions are running the spread offense to perfection and Oklahoma State has seemingly solved age-old problem of running the ball effectively out of the spread offense besides West Virginia, and is leading the country in this category. The Lions, led by Derrick Williams, are beating teams soundly with great offense and a tough defense, which is a hard combination to beat.
The Big 12 has pulled even as the best conference in football after showing great depth the last few weekends. The SEC, which has had some teams slip in their last few games still demands respect. Cannibalism within these two conferences has led to some teams falling away from the conference title chase such as the Auburn Tigers and Oklahoma State looks to be the next victim.
These are the most pertinent developments of the current season, I have left some out and I'm sure they will be addressed in the coming weeks. I look forward to seeing how this season plays out and I am sure you are too.
Sincerely,
Claude
