The Top 25
Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! OK, I don't even really know exactly what that means but I couldn't have been more wrong in my remarks about the preseason Top 25. First, nearly every ranked team took care of business in their opener. Second, I questioned USC getting two first place votes because of all they lost to graduation and the NFL, then they go out and play like champs. Third, I questioned the wisdom of putting Tennessee in the Top 25. The Volunteers responded by taking down #9 Cal by a comfortable margin.
I even implied that Phil Fulmer looks dumb. Well, that's still true but since Fulmer and I are practically twins, it's really more of a self-deprecating remark anyway. And boy did USC and Tennessee make me look dumb.
So rather than take on the AP, I'll take a peek at the Sagarin rankings which (prior to the Miami-FSU game) have USC ranked #1 and Texas ranked #2. Seeing the Trojans unload on an Arkansas team with 18 returning starters in Fayetteville and the Longhorns pound North Texas gives me great pause. Granted, neither Arkansas (who was 4-7 a year ago) nor North Texas (2-9 in 2005) are world-beaters. But seeing so many teams struggle this weekend against weak competition leads me to believe that any win is a good win. So as well as the Huskers have played, I harbor no allusions that the Huskers are going to be facing anything less than great teams.
One other Sagarin note is that the "Predictor" rankings (Sagarin creates more than one set of rankings but his "Predictor rankings" he believes are the most predictive) place the Huskers as the #11 team in the nation. They also put the Huskers as a 32-point favorite over Nicholls State this week.
So I guess that means we can look for a Husker victory in the neighborhood of 42-10. But if I'm wrong, don't blame me. It's Sagarin's fault this time.
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