The BCS is out and there has been a little change in the rankings.  The top spot is still held by Alabama who narrowly escaped with a win own in Baton Rouge.  Les Miles almost pulled the upset as the Tigers eventually lost in overtime.  Number two is still occupied by a surprising Texas Tech team bent on playing for a national championship.  They killed an OK State team that was supposed to make a game out of it.  They didn’t.  Then we get to number three Texas, which takes over for the missing Penn State team that lost a heart breaker to an unranked Iowa team.  They fall all the way down to the ninth spot.  Florida moves up a spot to number four with an easy win over Vandy.  Oklahoma rounds out the top five and with just a couple weeks to go, anything can happen.

After three weeks, the college football season is just heating up.  No big surprises in the rankings.  With USC, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Missouri at the top of the list.  There were some upsets this weekend.  #21 West Virginia got pounded by Colorado.  This loss should officially knock them out of the top 25 for the year, with little hope of climbing back up.  They just aren’t very good.  Florida and Georgia both with, with Florida putting a whupping on Tennessee.  Alabama keeps rolling along, with a couple more wins like the butt kicking they put on Arkansas, they should be in the top 5 soon.  South Florida and Wake Forest remain undefeated, both winning on the road.  Wake Forest’s win at Florida being just a little more impressive.  I think it might be time for Bobby to retire down there in the panhandle.  There were no huge upsets or any real surprises this weekend, just a solid bunch of games that make me hungry for bowl season.

For my money, I think that college football is better than the NFL.  First of all, it’s way more exciting.  From the tailgating to the painted up fans, it blows the NFL out of the water.  You can’t have the excitement and rivalry that you have in the college game in the pros.  There just isn’t enough history and enthusiasm.  Even new rivalries like The University of South Florida playing cross state rivals The University of Central Florida is hyped up so much, you might as well be watching the Super Bowl.  And these two teams have only played three or four times in the last eight years.  It can’t be matched.  These kids playing and watching in the stands live and die by their respective schools.  It is more than a game to them and you can feel it in the stands.  Sure, as a Buccaneers fan, I can’t stand certain teams, like the Panthers and the Giants and pretty much the entire NFC North division, but it’s not even close to how much a West Virginia fan hates Pitt.  Not even close.  I mean, thiose fans in Morgontown light couches on fire for pete’s sake.  COUCHES!  that’s not normal or sane.  It’s fandom.

It was an exciting second week in college football.  We had some good upsets and some close calls, with some exciting finishes.  Although the excitement is always better if you team wins.  I think the best upset, and it has something to do with my dislike of one of the teams involved, was East Carolina destroying West Virginia.  Final score ECU 24, WV 3.  It was the first time that West Virginia was held without a touchdown since they were killed by Miami in 2001,45-3.  ECU dominated every aspect of the game and they deserved to win. They might start calling Lou Holtz, Skip’s dad instead of referring to Skip as Lou’s son before all is said and done this season.  Especially if they keep playing the way they are playing.  #17 ranked South Florida escaped a near upset in overtime against Central Florida.  The cross state rivalry went into overtime before USF finally put the Knights away.  Central Florida played as if it were a bowl game and proved once again, in college football, if you take the other team too lightly, there’s no telling what can happen.  #20 Wake Forest also had a scare against un-ranked Ole Miss.  Having to kick a 41 yd field goal with only 3 seconds to go for a close 30-28 win.  It was exciting and a good finish, and proof that the SEC can be beaten by the ACC.  At least once in a while.

It was a lot closer than it should have been, but the Hurricanes played like a team possessed for the first three quarters.  The Gators started off fast with a 14 yd touchdown pass from Tim Tebow to Aaron Hernandez early in the first quarter, but then Miami’s defense stepped it up.  I thought it was the mid-eighties again.  I was having flashbacks to the glory years.  But, they couldn’t sustain the punishing defense for the whole game.  You knew it was only a matter of time before Tebow and Percy would get it together and put the game away.  Percy had a 2 yd TD run in the fourth and Tebow followed with another TD pass a few minutes later.  Miami had no chance of making a comeback.  The Gators defense would not allow it.   But the Gators have to pick it up and play better in all aspects of the game, they will have some true tests soon, having to play Tennessee, Arkansas and LSU in the next four weeks.  If they can get through these games with W’s, then they will definitely be worthy of their #5 ranking, and possibly even a higher one.  I need to see a few more games before I can say that I might see another National Championship ahead.  But, with Tebow on route to another Heisman, why not another championship or two.