Stanford Football – RIVALS RUNDOWN

Our Week 5 Top 25 Update!!!

September 22, 2013September 22, 2013 benchwarmer42Leave a comment

Here is our Top 25 Ranking for Week 5 of the College Football Season. Week four was a lackluster week of games in college football, which would leave one to believe we’d have little movement in our Top 25 Rankings… it’s kinda true. So our top teams went unchanged but after watching some of the performances by our next 15 we had to do a little housecleaning to make sure that everyone is where they belong. We saw Michigan continue to drop after what was a dominating performance against Notre Dame two weeks ago, while they have won both games since, neither wins have impressed us enough for them to maintain and if it wasn’t for the Notre Dame game, they would be with Maryland and Texas Tech as questionable unbeatens. Speaking of Maryland, if you have followed our blog or rankings, you’ll know that we called this and that we have started the unofficial campaign for CJ Brown’s Heisman candidacy. Other notables, was our Sun Devils getting thumped by what looked like an NFL team in Stanford. The silver lining was that the Devils fought till the end and came within a 4th down of having a chance to pull within 11 points with 4 minutes still left. Either way, they drop out of the top 25, again because of the performance. A top 25 team should be competitive within the rankings, sans Alabama and Oregon (maybe Stanford, we’ll see). Side note, keep you eye on UCF, the Knights might still be one of the better teams that no one is talking about. Also Washington and Baylor could both be considered outside contenders in their respective conferences to win! While we’re sharing random thoughts, how about Utah, they beat their instate Rivals Utah St and BYU to Own the State but a slip vs Oregon St who lost to Eastern Washington, keeps them off of the National Radar and ours. We’ll Utah, let’s see what you can do against the Pac12 South! Big game this week that we are personally stoked about and might get some play, Maryland and Florida State. Check back this week as we will have our Rivals Rundown Rewind and games to look forward to this weekend. Enjoy your NFL Sunday Funday! Update: We missed Texas Tech as the 25th ranked team when we originally published, so we had a couple of moves made to 25-30 and out…

RIVALS RUNDOWN TOP 25 WEEK 5


Current Rank	Previous Week	Team
1	1	Alabama Crimson Tide,	3-0
2	2	Oregon Ducks,	3-0
3	3	Clemson Tigers	3-0
4	4	Ohio State Buckeyes	4-0
5	5	Louisville Cardinals	4-0
6	6	Florida State Seminoles	3-0
7	7	Oklahoma State Cowboys	3-0
8	8	LSU Tigers	4-0
9	9	Georgia Bulldogs	2-1
10	13	Texas A&M Aggies	3-1
11	11	Stanford Cardinal	3-0
12	15	Baylor Bears	3-0
13	13	UCLA Bruins	3-0
14	14	Miami Hurricanes	3-0
15	17	Oklahoma Sooners	3-0
16	16	Washington Huskies	3-0
17	21	Ole Miss Rebels	3-0
18	18	Fresno State Bulldogs	3-0
19	19	Florida Gators	2-1
20	20	South Carolina	2-1
21	25	Northwestern	4-0
22	24	Wisconsin Badgers	3-1
23	12	Michigan Wolverines	4-0
24	Unranked	Notre Dame	3-1
25	30	Texas Tech Red Raiders	4-0
Next 5-
26	28	Boise State Broncos	2-2
27	Unranked	UCF Knights	3-0
28	26	Michigan State Spartans	3-1
29	Unranked	Maryland Terrapins	4-0
30	27	Nebraska Cornhuskers	3-1

Out-
	23	Arizona State Sun Devils	2-1
	29	Northern Ill Huskies	3-0

(stats via espn.com; photo sbnation.com)

Our @PAC12 2013 Preseason Top5* Rundown

August 28, 2013August 28, 2013 benchwarmer42Leave a comment

2013 Pac 12 Conference Preseason Top 5* Rundown

The PAC 12 has quickly risen to the second toughest conference in all of BCS Football. The diehards of every conference, well at least the major ones, will make an argument for their conference supremacy, so we here at the Rivals Rundown, will make the argument that the PAC 12 is the toughest conference top to bottom…ok not really, but the PAC is clearly the number 2 conference behind the SEC and here is why, welcome to our PAC 12 Conference Top5* Rundown:

1. Oregon Ducks11-1 (PAC 12 Champions) (North Champions)

No real surprise here to us although it might be to some, considering 7 out of 16 major preseason publications have Stanford winning the PAC 12. We here at the R&R see it a little different, with the fact that Oregon or Stanford both would’ve been a better show in the National Championship game last year, the only real difference this year, revenge. Oregon will be like an unstoppable rocket heading directly for Stanford with only a trap game on the road to Washington standing in their way. That’s right, we’re ignoring road games against UCLA and Virginia, seeing Washington as the only team that could trip Oregon before the Stanford showdown. Oregon is loaded with 9 returners on offense and 7 returners on defense, with tons of top recruits ready to be plugged into the Ducks system. We don’t think that Oregon can survive a complete year undefeated but we will be cheering for them if it comes down the stretch and they are the PAC’s best chance to represent in the National Title Game.

2. USC Trojans 10-3 (South Champions)

If you look around, everyone loves Stanford at this spot, we don’t but we also don’t love USC. We just think that they are too talented and have too easy of a schedule not to finish 10-3. Anything less then 10-3, with the roster they have, with a schedule bypassing Oregon and Washington from the north, and home games of Stanford and UCLA, Coach Kiffin better do the right thing and just quit if they can’t reach double digits. Look for a September match-up with Arizona St. to let everyone know who is in the driver seat for the South Title. (Secretly we will be cheering for this pick to be wrong and for the Sun Devils to win the South, the PAC 12 and the National Championship…but we do that every year!!!)

3. Oregon State Beavers 9-3

Sometimes preseason rankings make no sense to us, this is the case with the national media’s treatment of Oregon St. So, last year the Beavers weren’t on anyone’s preseason radar to have the type of season they produced. They had solid wins against Wisconsin, UCLA, BYU, Arizona St, and suffered two of their four losses (including the bowl game to Texas) to Stanford and Oregon…this year the Beavers have a non-conference schedule featuring Eastern Washington, Hawaii, and SDSU, they get Stanford, USC and Washington all at home…yet everyone has them on the outside looking in. Well, not us here at the Rundown, we like the Beavers to have a chance to ruin Oregon’s BCS title game hopes on the last game of the regular season thus giving Oregon St. a shot at the PAC 12 Title. Now, let’s clarify one thing, we are picking Oregon but we’re taking Oregon St over Stanford.

3. Stanford Cardinal 9-3

The Cardinal have posted double digit season for the past three years, since then, the Coach who got them there is now coaching in Super Bowls, the QB who got them there had one of the best rookie seasons in NFL history and yet the Cardinal is now being talked about as a “reload” type of program and 2013 is the year they can prove it… we don’t think so. The 2013 campaign to us looks a lot like a season that will be successful for Shaw and the Cardinal but not up to the level of the last three. We like the chances for USC and Oregon St to take back wins against the Cardinal as well as Oregon, that leads us to drop the Cardinal to this position, although we think they are a better overall team than Oregon St, we like the Beavers in the head to head game.

4. Arizona State Sun Devils 9-3

(Homer Alert) So yes, ASU is our home team here at the Rundown but being fair we think some of the preseason hype surrounding the Devils right now needs to calm down just a little bit. The Devils need to get through one of the toughest stretches in all of college football, in-fact, we challenge you to find one tougher then Wisconsin, Stanford, USC, and Notre Dame. If the Sun Devils get through that 2-2 it’s a win and with Oregon St and Washington at home, we like the Devils to make it to December with a chance to play for the PAC 12 Title. (Now, our hearts say the Devils are going undefeated and I better get tickets and book a trip to the National Championship game…but that’s what I want every year)

5. Washington Huskies 8-4 & UCLA Bruins 8-4

Before we get ahead of ourselves and cover every team in the PAC 12 that could have a winning season, we are going to lump these two programs together, maybe we should’ve done that with the Ducks and Cardinal. Anyways, Washington and UCLA both are on the verge of bringing their programs back to national relevance, if that happens, then the PAC 12 will have an argument that they are the second best conference in college football. We will call these two teams, our sleepers for the 2013 season, now we know that a lot of people are talking about UCLA winning the South but we need more proof, this year would be it. UCLA is facing a revenge schedule, meaning, last year UCLA got wins against Nebraska, USC and ASU, we don’t see that happening two years in a row. For the Huskies, they will break in a brand new stadium on opening day against, Boise St, if they can take that game, which might be a blow out for the Huskies (not kidding here) then look out for them to go 4-0 riding a ton of confidence into Stanford, Oregon, and Arizona St. Those three games will determine if the Huskies are back. And that’s why UCLA and Washington are our sleepers.

Our @MountainWest 2013 Preseason Top 5 Teams

August 24, 2013 benchwarmer42Leave a comment

2013 Mountain West Conference Top 5 Rundown

If there was ever a conference that couldn’t wait for the off-season to end and football begin, it’s the Mountain West. For a conference at times looked like it could fold, the Mountain West gathered it’s pieces, hit the delete button on some network called the “Mountain” and instead signed a huge (ok, nice or big) deal with ESPN, where it’s Cinderella, Boise State will be featured for all of their games. The deal will also allow the rest of the league to shine in multiple other games that will be shown throughout the season but enough talk about football, let’s talk TV, wait strike that, reverse it. Ok, so the storyline in the Mountain West for 2013 is can Boise State maintain it’s dominance and win the inaugural Championship Game or can Fresno State, finally, after years of preseason love, win the big games and take it’s talents to the BCS? Man, we really want to bet on Fresno but oh, #@&%* here’s the Rundown!!!

1. Fresno State 11-1

We hate this pick! There we said it, we hate this pick! Why? Fresno State has broken our hearts too many years when we thought they were going to return to being a Top 25 team every year and trade wins against Boise State like a good rival, instead they never did. Now, here we sit, with another Carr going into his senior season for the Bulldogs, we might have a different coach but we have a team, stacked of seniors, starters, playmakers. We have a team that lost to Tulsa by one point, they’re only other losses, to Oregon and Boise State, this year Fresno has no Oregon, now they have Colorado and they get Boise State at home. This might seem dramatic but their whole season is going to ride on a home game against Rutgers, if they win that opener, and they go into their game against Boise at 3-0, Fresno could have a special season, maybe undefeated. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, as we said early we hate the pick but all of our research says it’s the year. Urggh, we already want to take it back. PS, don’t be surprised if this season turns magical that Carr ends up in the Heisman talk…

2. Boise State 11-1

Ok, we really don’t want to say anything here other then, if Boise had the kind of returners that Fresno State had, we would be calling for a BCS return, instead we see Boise having a Boise year, winning all of their games but 1 and being shut out of a major bowl. They either lose one in the regular season or the Championship game but they will lose a game. Now, why is Fresno State ahead, because, we think that Boise might get the best of them during the regular season, but we see Fresno coming back and winning the Championship Game, giving them the outright title. Now, the team, has leadership all over the field on offense but the defense needs to learn and we don’t know if they will be together early enough. We like everything about Boise, they have built a program that plugs pieces into it’s system and then they go this Boise team will have to wait another year or two until they return to BCS not because they don’t belong because only one team from the Mountain West can make a major bowl and to do that they have to go undefeated. If we respected this conference, at the end of the year, if Boise sits with one loss and Fresno sits with one loss, they would both deserve a shot at any other one loss team in the country and we always like our money on the team with a chip on it’s shoulder.

3. Utah State Aggies 8-4

The Mountain West has a big drop off for the 2013 season after the first two teams, after Boise and Fresno, we have a couple of teams that overachieved in 2012 that are going to have a tough run if they want to match the win totals of the previous season. That group begins with Utah State. The Aggies last year came within 5 points of a perfect 13-0 season, one that led to it’s coach leaving for an opportunity at Wisconsin (one of the teams they lost to, pretty impressive statement). Now, in 2013 Utah State finds themselves in a new conference that features games against Boise State and Air Force rather then UTSA and Texas St. One thing we really like a bout Utah State is the offensive line, the line returns all of it’s starters and the QB, this fact could lead Utah St to a major upset against Boise St or USC but for now we like the Aggies to have a solid year, and maybe with some luck 9 regular season wins and 10 with a bowl victory.

4. San Diego State Aztecs 8-4

If you were to ask most college football fans how many wins the Aztecs had each of the last three season, we doubt that any of them would know that they have gone, 9,8,9 and that they had a share of the conference title for 2012. Moving towards the 2013 season, coach Rocky Long, has his players ready to compete with enough starters on both sides of the ball returning, San Deigo State might not win the conference but they should be able to keep the trend of having at least 8 wins a year. The Aztecs return a total of 16 starters but will have to solidify the right side of the offensive line to make sure that QB Dingwell has the time needed to run Bob Toledo’s offense. With tough game against Ohio State and Oregon State in weeks two and three, SDSU will have to stay healthy and learn from those teams so they can be ready for league play. If we had to pick a team other then Fresno to play in the title game and then to win in a huge upset against Boise, we like the idea of SDSU crashing the Bronco’s party in back to back years but that’s just crazy talk.

5. San Jose State Spartans 7-5

San Jose State, like SDSU and Utah St, overachieved last year, sometimes if happens when a perfect storm of experience, coaching, schedule and luck all come together for a program. The Spartens, had a schedule that featured only tough games against Stanford and Utah St with good games against BYU and LaTech. This year those same games are Stanford, Minnesota and Utah State, then we will add SDSU, Navy, and then Fresno State. San Jose State will have a winning season, just not a double digit one like last year.