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All-Conference
Steven M. Sipple: Will NU crack final Top 25?
Tuesday, Jan 06, 2009 - 12:15:29 am CST
Two questions to ponder regarding college football polls:
1. Does Nebraska deserve a Top 25 ranking?
2. Does unbeaten Utah deserve a No. 1 ranking?
Some teams contending with Nebraska for spots at bottom of final football Top 25:
Let’s begin at the bottom of the ballot.
The short answer is yes, Nebraska earned a Top 25 ranking by winning six of its last seven games, including the last four. The 9-4 Huskers’ best arguments are their superb finish, top-15 offense and vastly improved defense.
That said, competition is stiff at the bottom of the ballot. So there’s no guarantee Big Red will crack the final polls. Stay tuned.
As an Associated Press voter, I agonize over the final five spots on the ballot because, well, it’s basically a crapshoot. You search for definitive answers that really aren’t there.
If I’m reading voters’ minds right — dangerous, I know — Nebraska essentially is in contention for the final few spots with a slew of teams, including Missouri (10-4), Brigham Young (10-3), Oregon State (9-4), Michigan State (9-4), Iowa (9-4), Pittsburgh (9-4), Florida State (9-4), West Virginia (9-4), California (9-4) and Rutgers (8-5).
Forget it, Ball State (12-1). Your nonconference schedule was lousy and the MAC is in a down cycle.
Bottom line, I tentatively have Nebraska ranked No. 24 on my still-developing final ballot, due right after the BCS national title game. My final five spots likely will go something like this: Michigan State at No. 21, followed by Iowa, Missouri, NU and Florida State.
I’m guessing voters will weigh Nebraska’s late-season surge against blowout losses to Missouri (52-17) and Oklahoma (62-28) on national television.
As someone who watched the Huskers intently each week, I appreciated the team’s resiliency — the type of factor that tends to elude voters in other regions. Regional vagaries in part define the polls.
Nebraska’s defense improved steadily, culminating with an impressive Gator Bowl victory against Clemson in which the Tigers were held to 210 total yards.
“I thought we did a good job of hanging in there,” Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said Monday. “We persevered well. Our defense did a really good job of holding things down. They couldn’t run the ball on us. Of course, we had bad field position for much of the game, so it made it hard for our defense and offense. But we beat a very good defensive team, and a team that had some good skill players on offense.”
Nebraska’s improvement on defense over last season has been in some ways remarkable. To wit: NU finished 112th nationally in total defense in 2007, allowing 476.8 yards per game, but surrendered 349.8 yards this season. That improvement is particularly impressive when you consider Big Red’s personnel on defense in 2007 was on par with or perhaps better than this season’s personnel.
My, what good coaching can do ...
“(Big 12) offenses stole the show this year and were the focal point of most media attention,” Osborne said. “But it still comes down to this: If you play better defense than your opponents, it gives you a real advantage.”
It might even get you in the final Top 25.
As for Utah, at least 100 e-mails have poured in from Utes fans imploring me (and other AP voters, I presume) to push Utah to the top spot in the wake of its decisive win against Alabama. I’m not averse to crowning two national champions — an AP champ and BCS titlist.
Make no mistake, Utah (13-0) tempts me. But it says here it would be unfair to give the Utes the nod at No. 1 before the BCS title game is played. And to be perfectly honest, Oklahoma and Florida would have to play a mistake-marred game for me to strongly consider pushing Utah to the top.
But, hey, the Utes did give pollsters something to ponder — more ammunition for a playoff, if nothing else — as if the bottom of the ballot weren’t challenging enough.
Bottom pushers
# Iowa (9-4): Hawkeyes won their final four games, including triumphs against then-No. 3 Penn State and South Carolina in Outback Bowl.
# Florida State (9-4): Seminoles were only 3-3 down the stretch, but came up huge in Citrus Bowl (42-13 against Wisconsin).
# Brigham Young (10-3): Lost its last two games, including a Las Vegas Bowl setback to an 8-5 Arizona outfit.
# Pitt (9-4): Panthers hurt by two bad defeats - a 3-0 loss (yes, 3-0) to Oregon State in Sun Bowl and an inexplicable loss to 6-6 Bowling Green.
# Boston College (9-5): Dropped its last two games, to Virginia Tech and 7-6 Vanderbilt.
# West Virginia (9-4): Early season loss at Colorado haunts Mountaineers.
# California (9-4): Won its last three games, including against Miami in Emerald Bowl.
# Rutgers (8-5): Closed with seven-game winning streak after 1-5 start that included losses to 7-6 Fresno State and 8-5 Navy.
# Ball State (12-1): Hurt by bad loss to Buffalo (42-24) and a weak nonconference schedule (Navy, Indiana, Northeastern, Western Kentucky).
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