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NCAA College Football 2006 Week 4 Top 25
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DTMagazine Home NCAA Top 25 Pre-season Rankings
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NCAA College Football Top 25 - Week 4
Rick Gagliano | 9/25/06
Through games of Sept. 23
--- Week 4 Notes below ---
The number of undefeated Division 1-A schools in college football shrunk to 19 this week, and, surprisingly, teams without losses were distributed unequally among the major conferences. The Big 10 boasted four - Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue and Iowa - while the SEC nearly matched that number with Florida, Auburn and Georgia. West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers all boast 4-0 records though none of the Big East teams have played a single conference game.
The Big 12, ACC and PAC-10 came in with 2 apiece and some of them unlikely candidates: Missouri and Texas A&M in the Big 12; Virginia Tech, and stunningly, Wake Forest in the ACC; and, as expected, USC and Oregon out West.
In smaller conferences, TCU and Boise State each have not suffered a loss. Houston is the only team in Conference-USA with an unblemished record.
There will be at least one less after this week as unbeaten Iowa travels to play Ohio State, and, as the season grinds through conference schedules in October and November, most of those unbeatens will lose at least one game. There's simply no dominant team or teams this year and picking a national champion may be much trickier than it has been in years past.
Of teams already with a loss but still looking at a high ranking, LSU and Texas both steamrolled opponents last week, Notre Dame won a game it should have lost, to Michigan State, and Florida State seems to have gotten its game together along with fellow ACC participant, Clemson, who put up a 52-7 pasting on North Carolina.
If that wasn't bad enough for the troubled 1-3 Tar Heels, after a bye this week, they travel south to play Miami next weekend.
The biggest upset of the weekend had to be the 17-15 win by North Carolina State over Boston College. The Wolfpack entered the game looking woeful, after back-to-back losses to Akron and Southern Miss and a 1-2 record, but they grounded the 3-0 Eagles and threw the ACC into even more of a jumbled mess.
The Wolfpack win was not without precedent, however. Just last season, they stood at 3-4 before handing Florida State a 20-15 whipping. They ended the season with a respectable 7-5 record and are on the same track this year.
If you're looking for teams that can coast through an easy schedule and get into a BCS game, the Fighting Irish may provide just the ticket, though they've looked horribly disorganized on both offense and defense in each of their last two games.
Should Notre Dame get back on track this week as they host unbeaten Purdue, the remainder of the schedule includes an inordinate share of creampuffs. Home games are against Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina and Army. Their road schedule takes them to Navy, Air Force and, in the last regular season game, USC. That November 25 game could be an important thriller, or, depending on how both teams fare in the interim, nothing more than a minor bowl placement event. In any case, outside of that game, there's not much between the Irish and a Top 10 ranking. There aren't any Big East, SEC or Big 12 teams in there, which might just be a subtle tip-off about which really are the power conferences.
Speaking of power conferences, how good are the 4-0 Missouri Tigers and how far can they go in the Big 12?
With QB Brad Smith graduating after last season, the offense was put into the hands of Chase Daniel and four of Smith's five leading receivers from 2005. Of course, Smith was not going to be easy to replace, having thrown for 2304 yards and run for another 1301 last year, but Daniel thus far has stepped nicely into the starting role. He's already thrown for over 1000 yards and 9 TD passes against only 2 INTs. Not nearly the runner Smith was, he is capable, though throwing is his first option. He has only tallied 131 yards rushing on 42 carries thus far.
The Tigers have won all of their games handily, with the closest outcome a 27-17 win at New Mexico. Conference play begins this week, and they get to host a winless and hungry Colorado team. After that, they have consecutive road games at Texas Tech and Texas A&M and after that home games with Kansas State and Oklahoma, a road game at Nebraska a bye week, then at Iowa State and home to Kansas to close out the season.
That's a pretty brutal schedule, but if they can weather the trip to Texas and the Oklahoma/Nebraska pairing with just a couple of losses, the Mizzou could find themselves in the Big 12 championship game. What looms largest is that Nebraska game, as the Cornhuskers are the only real challenge to Missouri in the North Division.
Both Nebraska and Missouri have a legitimate shot for a major bowl appearance. Offensively, Nebraska is ranked 6th at 472.5 yards per game; Missouri is right there in 8th place at 471 ypg. The surprise stat of the week is that the #1 defense in the country - as measured by yards allowed per game - is Missouri, at 175.3. Nebraska ranks 21st at 257.8, and one of their games was at USC, a team with stature well beyond anything the Tigers have faced this season.
The Tigers thumped Nebraska last season at home, 41-24, but this year's game in Lincoln should be hotly contested. Circle November 4 on the Big 12 calendar for that one. As for how good and how far the Missou can go, the sky seems to be the limit right now.
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