So Oregon is still number one, Auburn is still number two. Missouri jumps up big time with their home win over OU, a better win than Boise, TCU, or Michigan State right now. Sparty is next with their earlier win over Wisconsin. Then the undefeated trio of TCU, Boise, and Utah. The TCU v Utah winner is poised to be ranked ahead of Boise.

Wisconsin with wins over Iowa and Ohio State is the best one loss team in the country. Lost to undefeated Sparty.

I don't understand all the Bama love, their best win is over Arkansas. Their previous wins over UF and Penn State mean nothing since those teams are flat out awful. Zona and LSU both lost close games. Bama and Stanford both lost big on the road, but Stanford lost to Oregon, Bama to a 2 loss South Carolina team. OU's win over FSU keeps them ahead of the other one loss teams.

Iowa is the best 2 loss team in the country.

Congrats to Baylor for being ranked for the first time Grant Teaff was coaching the Bears.

And congrats to Texas for guaranteeing that I may be able to keep the Horns unranked the rest of the year.

Tilting at Windmills Ballot - Week 9

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oregon Ducks	--
2	Auburn Tigers	--
3	Missouri Tigers	10
4	Michigan St. Spartans	1
5	TCU Horned Frogs	1
6	Boise St. Broncos	-2
7	Utah Utes	1
8	Wisconsin Badgers	3
9	Arizona Wildcats	7
10	LSU Tigers	-3
11	Stanford Cardinal	-2
12	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
13	Oklahoma Sooners	-10
14	Nebraska Cornhuskers	3
15	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
16	Florida St. Seminoles	3
17	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	-3
18	Iowa Hawkeyes	-8
19	Arkansas Razorbacks	5
20	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
21	Virginia Tech Hokies	--
22	Baylor Bears	--
23	Miami Hurricanes	--
24	USC Trojans	-2
25	Michigan Wolverines	--
Dropouts: West Virginia Mountaineers, Kansas St. Wildcats, Texas Longhorns

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Missouri Recap

This won't be pretty.

What worked?

• Roy Finch - What a shame that Roy got injured in preseason so he's missed so much practice and game reps. OU's not had a chance to fine tune Finch/Murray playing together for full effectiveness.
• Passing Game for 2 quarters -  If OU had executed in the red zone correctly, OU would have been up 28-10 or even 28-7 at half with massive momentum and perhaps a dead home crowd. Landry did a good job mixing up his throws and using all his weapons,  had 250 yards passing.

What Sucked?

• Our pass rush or complete inability to get pressure on Gabbert. Venables didn't mix things up at all. Very little blitzing or zone blitzing, our front four got very little pressure. Taylor looked gimpy at best. Alexander looked like he had no burst off the line. Macon did nothing, and our young DTs got little pressure and got worked in the running game.  Beal can only do such much with the attention he is receiving.
• Our safety play. Jefferson looked like a lost freshman, had to happen sometime. The real mystery is why Nelson and Carter were so ineffective when Missouri passed in the field of the field. They didn't get their hands on one  pass all day. Carter's launching himself at the Missouri TE after playing awful coverage, gave Missouri 50 yards of field position. Nelson did strip Egnew on one play, but was consistently beat by Jackson again and again.
• Our kickoff game. O'Hara cost OU 7 points with a terrible kickoff to star the game. It was like a horrible replay of 2008 again.  Even after that, O'Hara had two more suck ass kicks giving away 20 yards of field position each time. Just dreadful
• FG kicking. It's time to end any and all chances given to Jimmy Stevens. He's as unreliable  a kicker as there is college football. This 3 year circus fiasco is all on Bob Stoops. It's only cost us key points in about 7 losses the last 3 years.
• Landry's 4^th QTR. Trailing 26-21 and needing to reclaim the lead, Landry's first pass is picked off. Even after that, OU is still only trailing 29-21, but Landry proceeds to go 0 for 7 in passing. In crunch time while trailing Landry just bombed.

What else is going wrong?

• Landry made two horrible decisions (both hideously timed play calls) among 30 or so good to great passes. In addition, when it counted in the 4^th QTR Landry was horrible. I honestly don't know what to think about Landry's progress or ceiling.  The INTs were killers, 10 points in a 9 point game. OU could have taken a two score lead on Missouri and perhaps applied some pressure to the Tigers who never really pressed all game. Can OU's current scheme being managed by a good but not great QB?  It all runs through the QB in crunch time due to good defenses ability to stop our running game. Can Landry ever get that big time win on the road (for all his accolades Sam only had one game like that over OSU in 2008)? There appear to be two firm Landry camps at this point. One, Landry is steadily improving under Heupel's guidance and with improved weapons and blocking, Landry can be a conference championship caliber QB.  Two, Landry just doesn't have it, and is always going to choke in the 4^th QTR in a big game. I'm hoping Camp 1 is right because. Save for a major injury, Bob's never benched a QB with seniority, and Landry as a sophmore has never played so badly that benching him has ever made sense. Benching Landry in 2009 was just silly, this year you could argue at least that Drew Allen could come into the game. Camp 2 is going to be further frustrated by never seeing Allen or Bell in practice or in scrimmages to have any idea what we have at QB behind Landry.
• WR depth is becoming a problem. OU clearly missed Dejuan Miller with the way the Tigers were bracketing Broyles. In addition, the injury to Broyles really hurt his ability to cut and accelerate on those bubble screens, also Broyles probably catches that TD instead of OU missing the FG, and Ryan had a number of catches where he probably gets more RAC yards. Caleb hasn't played a meaningful snap until Missouri for obvious reasons.  Kenney made some nice catches but he doesn't present the physical matchup problem that Miller can create. Trey Franks is strictly a slot WR right now.  Jaz Reynolds being deep in Bob's doghouse is not helping at all. OU may need to use Finch and Murray in more two back sets to get as many playmakers on the field as possible.

Issues to consider?

• Does OU need to recruit/sign a JUCO DE/DT?  OU has a wave of highly recruited young players at both positions and players who have made some players this year. But the Missouri game highlighted that none of those players are there yet. Do you gamble that they become impact players next year or do you go find some insurance/competition.
• Both Baylor and OSU present similar type passing games (with better running games) as Missouri.  I'm already having nightmares of Justin Blackmon going "Rashaun Woods" on our secondary. And Griffin is able to buy time before throwing deep downfield. What changes do you make defensively to make more plays against these types of passing attacks? Ronnell Lewis should be back for both games to give OU another pass rush option. None of the LB groupings were very effective against Missouri (Ibiloye and Lewis maybe) I'm not sure OU has many options in the secondary but I'd probably find some way to get Colvin, Fleming, and Hurst on the field together and pray that Nelson/Carter find some way to play better.

One last comment.

I had compared this year to 2006 in terms of what might happen to OU. Instead it's starting to look like 2002. Number one ranked team drops a road game, defense gives up big plays and offense led by a limited QB (Nate Hybl) is unable to respond in the 4^th QTR to regain momentum for OU.  OU still managed to win the Big 12 that year, and ironically that was OU's last BCS bowl win. OU needs OSU to pick up some losses reducing their momentum for that late scheduled game. Baylor game as well suddenly takes on far more importance.

ISU Game Recap

What was Awesome?

Pretty much everything but Tress Way's punting (is he hurt?). A dominant performance by OU against an ISU team that did nothing on offense to make it easy for OU (no turnovers, few penalties, huge punt game from Matt Fish Sticks), and OU was finally able to empty the bench again.

Other thoughts on OU

How ridiculous is OU's depth and talent at RB? Finch looks as advertised by the OU coaches, and Clay after a drop looked great running the ball in his extended opportunity. Despite the obvious comparisons to Q, Finch to me seems to have faster acceleration and perhaps more homerun speed. It's going to be fun to see how he compares against a great Sooner RB.

The return of DE Frank Alexander was great to see. Alexander basically got called out in Bob's news conference earlier in the week. Apparently that was all the motivation Alexander needed as he looked like the impact DE Sooner fans have been expecting.  In addition, it was also nice to see reps for RJ Washington at DE. Too many Sooner fans are quick to write off guys like RJ, sometimes patience is needed. OU's going to need those two players to step up in 2011 after Beal leaves to provide a real pass rush.

It might have been ISU, but OU seemed to be getting more plays from DT in a healthier Adrian Taylor, Stacey McGee (who ISU couldn't block without holding), and Jamarkus McFarland. If that trend continues, the Sooner D could be very good.

Now Demarco Murray is certainly breaking Steve Owens record in a different era of football, 12 to 14 game seasons, much higher scoring. One thing to consider though is that Murray scored 58 TDs while sharing time with Chris Brown for 3 seasons and Allen Patrick for one season. During those 3 seasons, Brown and Patrick scored over 44 TDs. Owens never had to share the ball with anyone to that degree. Murray's total, while sharing time with two other RBs, is a pretty amazing accomplishment.

Again, it was ISU, but it was hard to tell if that was Sam Bradford or Landry Jones quarterbacking OU. 89% completion stats are just absurd. Landry may not be ever be as good as Sam (and that appears to be NFL franchise QB good which sets the bar impossibly high), but he's improving this year and take advantage of all the weapons OU has available.

Other thoughts on football from Saturday

What a colossal choke job by the AggieHuskers on Saturday. At home, with all the momentum and a mentally shaky whorn team coming into town, the AggieHuskers laid a massive egg. Horrible game plan by NU on offense, and NU's D had to be prepared for some QB running game from UT. Add in the terrible game from the pitch fork like hands of the NU WRs, and you have a crushing loss for the AggieHuskers.

Jerrod Johnson, preseason All Big 12 QB? Johnson in the two games that I have watched, looks just awful. Bleeding turnovers against OSU, or incapable of completing passes against Missouri, you have to wonder when Sherman will bench him. Speaking of ATM, their home performance against Missouri makes you wonder why anyone continues to talk about the home field advantage of Kyle Field. Anyone can walk in there and beat the Aggies.

For the last 3 years all we've heard is about SEC quality defenses. Well when Auburn versus Arkansas is 44-43 heading into the 4^th quarter, you have to ditch all conversation about SEC defenses this year. That's a Pig team that only scored 24 on a terrible ATM defense last week. In addition, you have South Carolina and Kentucky in a 31-28 shootout.  Now, SEC defense do appear to get one huge break this year, that's playing Urban Meyer and the inept UF defense. UF has now lost two games at home to LSU and Miss State. OU fell off last year due to injuries and inexperience, but OU didn't drop two games at home. Brantley for all the hype looks terrible and UF has no playmakers at all.

If I had a Heisman vote, right now it's going to Cam Newton at Auburn. He's almost single handedly beating teams. If the Heisman is about value to the team, Newton is the most valuable player in the nation. Auburn probably has 3 losses without him.

So Oregon is number one for the second week in a row. Oregon's offense is probably the best in the nation, they have an OU 2008 look to their offensive attack.

Auburn or OU was a tough call. Auburn right now is winning the tie, but if OU beats Missouri then I may change up those slots. Everything else is by the numbers. LSU can vault up with over Auburn. Sparty won't be able to move up even with a road win over Northwestern. Utah is lurking behind TCU and Boise State.

Ranking the one loss teams. Stanford lost to Oregon in Eugene, game was much closer than the score. Iowa at Arizona early in the year is also a very good loss. Wisconsin's win over Ohio State and they lost to undefeated Sparty. Tide lost by two tds to South Carolina who now has two losses.

Missouri and Okie State haven't played a ranked team, yet alone beat one. Beat NU or OU and they will get to move up. Nebraska tumbles due to losing at home to a two loss Texas team. All the teams above them lost on the road.

Last five in the poll is really hard, every team is flawed, every team has reasons for not being ranked, but someone has to fill the last five. It's definitely the highest  what have you done lately influenced part of the poll.

Tilting at Windmills Ballot - Week 8

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oregon Ducks	--
2	Auburn Tigers	4
3	Oklahoma Sooners	2
4	Boise St. Broncos	--
5	Michigan St. Spartans	6
6	TCU Horned Frogs	-3
7	LSU Tigers	1
8	Utah Utes	2
9	Stanford Cardinal	5
10	Iowa Hawkeyes	3
11	Wisconsin Badgers	6
12	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
13	Missouri Tigers	6
14	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	9
15	Ohio St. Buckeyes	-13
16	Arizona Wildcats	2
17	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-10
18	West Virginia Mountaineers	6
19	Florida St. Seminoles	3
20	South Carolina Gamecocks	-11
21	Virginia Tech Hokies	--
22	USC Trojans	--
23	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
24	Arkansas Razorbacks	-9
25	Texas Longhorns	--
Dropouts: Nevada Wolf Pack, Michigan Wolverines, Air Force Falcons, Oregon St. Beavers

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With all due respect to the upcoming ISU game, at 5-0 it seems like as good a time as any to do a mid season review based on some items from the preseason outlook

1. How is the OL playing?

I'm not implying the OL is up to the gold standard of the 2008 OL, but it's been doing a solid job providing both passing blocking and run blocking. The Sooners have been leaving some points on the field, but it's not been the fault of the OL directly.  OL Penalties are down, key drive killing penalties are way down from the OL. OU's averaging over 30 points a game, a total that would have been good enough to win all but one game last year. In particular, OU is doing a great job on 3^rd and short and finishing drives in the red zone.  OU is not settling for red zone fgs this year, a key reason behind the losses of 2009. Those data points are very much in support of an improved OL.  OU has pretty good depth with 3 tackles, 4 guards, and two centers.  There's still a lot of potential for improvement, but compared to last year it's night and day. In addition, OU has only burned one redshirt (Bronson Irwin) off their great OL class.

2. What's Landry's ceiling?

Last year Landry was about a 5-6. Landry got off to a rough start with the USU game, and then played his best game versus FSU by a wide margin. The biggest signs of improvement have been the games against Cincinnati and UT, road win and a win against an elite secondary (UT's front seven may be suspect, but their back 5 is top ten in college football). Landry showed signed signs of reading coverages, stepping up in the pocket, and testing defenses downfield. The improved play by Dejuan Miller and the progression of Kenny Stills has given Landry 3 WRs that he now trusts. Landry is never going to be Sam Bradford, but right now it's not hard to imagine him as a conference championship QB caliber player.

3. Impact of the Cali 3

Well the only real negative in this item was the injury to Brennan Clay which has stalled his development to a degree. Tony Jefferson looks like he will be a 4 year starter impact player for the Sooners on defense. He looks every bit the top 10 player in the nation he was ranked at one point early before his senior year. Kenny Stills is the second best WR on the team, and led OU in WR yardage versus Texas.  If Ryan Broyles were to leave early, OU can relax knowing that they have their go to WR already on campus. UT is still searching for one guy, meanwhile OU has two.

4. Has a kicker been found? Not really, but it hasn't mattered as much. And key points have been added via the FG game. O'Hara looked solid early before getting hurt, and since that injury opportunity Stevens is kicking the best attempts of his OU career. Still OU's offense is leaving points on the field when they are in the opponents 25 to 35 yard area. OU is getting into 3^rd and long situations and instead of nimbling for yardage for FGs, OU is trying to go for the full amount. Somewhere in Bob's, Kevin Wilson's, and Landry's mind they know that 47 yard FGs are just not going to be kicked to many meaningful percentage.

5. Does OU have a TE weapon again? It's nowhere near where OU was with Jermaine Gresham, but OU has red zone TDs from Millard, Hanna, and Ratteree.  The situation is vastly improved over last year. Hanna has been banged up some, but looks close to putting it all together at TE. In fact, Hanna has been solid enough that we haven't seen much of Austin Haywood at all. Hopefully OU can redshirt Austin.

6. How badly does OU miss Gerald McCoy? It's hard to over estimate how much OU misses McCoy and a healthy Taylor (Taylor's been barely 70% for most of the season). Beal's sack totals are down, and he's constantly being held. OU's no longer getting the automatic one holding call due to Gerald McCoy. Is McCoy the difference in the 4^th Qtr problems? Well his interior pass rush was huge weapon against teams trying to pass their way back into the game. It's not hard to imagine Gerald's pressure and sacks stalling some of those successful drives. The AFA game would have been 48-0 if McCoy and Taylor were manning the middle. Still, OU's been getting solid play from young DTs Stacey McGee (looking very McCoy like on some tackles for loss) and Daniel Noble. McFarland is struggling a bit to make an impact, and Adrian Taylor is gamely helping OU at 70%. Fortunately, Lewis is playing LB at a high level, and the newcomers in the back 7 are playing pretty well. Tom Wort just had his best game in a Sooner uniform against Texas by a wide margin. Jefferson is a star, Hurst as well (more on that).  Fleming before getting hurt was playing CB at an elite level. In fact, save for Wort's missed tackles the biggest breakdowns have been with Quinton Carter (Cinci game, UT game) who despite some huge INTs is having an average year.

7.  Is 2010 looking like 2006?

Well OU is 5-0, instead of 3-2 and now holds the critical tiebreaker over UT in the Big 12 South, so that is different. However, OU does appear to be on a collision course with Nebraska for the Big 12 Title and in theory could play Boise in a bowl game if they win that title. OU's key obstacles  to that destiny are once again at Columbia (Missouri just like 2006 looking for that big win over UT/OU), and at College Station and Stillwater. So the second half of the season could look pretty similar.

Other thoughts

1. A truly great freshman class.

Daniel Noble/Trey Millard/Aaron Colvin/Corey Nelson/Trey Franks/Kenny Stills/Tony Jefferson/

That's just who has already made an impact with Clay and Finch possibly getting their chances in the second half.

Right now, the recruiting class has 4 starters (Millard/Jefferson/Stills/Colvin). Texas was supposed to have an awesome recruiting class but if you are a longhorn fan it has to worry you that of the five best true freshman in the Cotton Bowl

1. Millard
2. Jeffcoat
3. Jefferson
4. Stills
5. Colvin

Only 1 is a Horn. (Mike Davis was hurt, so the Horns might have 2. OU fans will counter that our freshman RBs are just waiting to make an impact due to our great RB depth. Whereas the Horns have no RBs)

2. The second coming of Derrick Strait

Demontre Hurst. Hurst isn't the biggest Sooner DB, but neither was Derrick Strait. All I know is that Hurst is pretty much locking down his WR and playing a great CB position for OU. Hurt, Fleming, Javon Harris, and Aaron Colvin seem to be pieces for OU's secondary next year. Hurst like Corey Nelson was a signing day defection, and you have to be glad that the OU coaching staff did not give up recruiting this kid. What a steal, and what a loss for OSU.

3. OL development plan bearing fruit.

Currently OU is playing about 7 to 8 kids at OL. Now there has been some rumblings about OU playing five guys and focusing there. However, it appears to be working, and there's a sense of competition and depth on the OL that OU didn't have last year. Back in 2006/2007 OU played 7 OL guys (Branndon Braxton and Brandon Walker), so it's worked before. In addition, OU has been able to redshirt Austin Woods, Adam Shead, Darryl Williams, and Tyrus Thompson. So OU will go into spring with 7 experienced players in Jarvis Jones, Stephenson, Evans, Habern, Good, Ikard, Irwin, while developing the next wave of the OL. OU seems ready to break the cycle of having to start freshman at center every 4 years (Habern- sophomore, Ikard - redshirt fr, Woods - freshman). The only real issue is lack of depth behind Jones and Stephenson at OT. Josh Aladenoye right now is the only other non redshirting OT, so a JUCO OT could be a key piece in preparing for Jones/Stephenson departures.

4. OU has a very young, very talented football team.

I've already talked about the recruiting class, but when you start adding up the redshirt freshman and sophomores also making a huge contribution, it's easy to see that OU with a veteran QB returning is poised for a successful run. What's missing?

• Proven pass rushing outside threat (a healthy Frank Alexander would help here as would RJ Washington fulfilling his vast potential. However, it could be Ronnell Lewis after a year learning the position)
• Difference maker at DT  (Noble, McFarland, McGee?)

There maybe players on the roster or on the way for those spots, but right now replacing Jeremy Beal and Adrian Taylor look like the biggest issues for future Sooner rosters.

So Oregon is our new number one, Why? Offensively they are a juggernaut and their win over Stanford is the best win by anyone in the top five. Ohio State can blame their sleep walking effort against the Fighting and about to be fired Ron Zooks for being number two. Beat Wisconsin and things might change. Also that Miami win is looking less and less impressive.

In the Boise v TCU matchup, I think the Frogs are the better team right now due to the better defense. However, both teams are in danger of losing their spots to undefeated teams in the Big 12 and Sec.

Why the big Bama drop? South Carolina dominated Bama for significant stretches, this was a not a case of a number one team having a turnover meltdown and losing a game they should have won. Bama got beat in all phases of the game. Losing 35-21 while allowing your opponent to complete 85% of their passes isn't getting upset, it's getting beat. So they have to be ranked behind South Carolina. And right now all the zero loss teams ahead of Bama have solid resumes.

Some very random thoughts on OU v UT

Normally you can see all kinds of matchups being projected from various web sites.

The real problem with that is that these teams walk into the Cotton Bowl with serious gaps that make predictions almost impossible.

Liabilities:

• UT cannot run the ball at all and doesn't have a reliable feature back
• Gilbert is struggling to get the passing game going and no one among the UT WRs has established themselves as the go to WR.
• UT is having major issues protecting the football the last two games
• UT's defense got absolutely shredded by an average UCLA running attack
• UT's offense resembles FSU far more than any other OU opponent

• OU's running game is struggling at times, but does have good RB talent with Murray and Madu (OU has been good so far on 3^rd and short and running in the red zone)
• OU's defense has only played 3 sustained qtrs of assignment sound football.
• OU's defense has given up big plays on the ground and in the air.
• Field goal kicking game is still a kick to kick adventure

Strengths:

Now I could kick around all kinds of discussion on these liabilities but the game will be decided by the strength on strength matchup. (Unless one team suffers a major breakdown in special teams or there's a huge disparity in the turnover battle. Right now OU comes into Dallas ahead in the turnover ratio department, and Landry Jones has been doing a much better job protecting the football)

• OU can throw the ball effectively

• UT can defend the pass effectively (based primarily on the Tech game)

OU will be the best passing attack that UT has seen by a wide margin, and UT will be best secondary that OU has seen.

This game will be decided by this matchup.  As much as Sooner fans have dreams of just lining up and smashing the Horns based on the UCLA game, UT will scheme to stop the run. Sell out might be a better description. Now everyone raves about Muschamp's defense but he has not really stopped OU's passing game in 3 games.  Even last year, Landry Jones was able to move the ball at times through the air.  OU unfortunately settled for FGs (2), missed a FG, and fumbled a ball on 4 drives inside the UT 30 last year. Those missed opportunities cost OU dearly.

OU comes into this year's game with a more complete passing attack than last year by a pretty large margin (with the only elite offensive player for either team). This is the main reason why I think that OU will win this game.

Players to Watch (ignoring Landry and Gilbert)

Ryan Broyles:  He's really the number reason why I think that OU wins the game. No one yet has been able to stop him to any meaningful degree. Through 4 games, he's the best WR in the country

Aaron Williams:  UT fans like to argue that he's the best CB in the country. Well he's going to get to prove his fans right by covering Broyles. The more help he needs, the more gaps appear in UT's coverage

Jeremy Beal: OU's best defender has not been getting his regular allotment of sacks. He's ready for a big game, and Gilbert is the least mobile QB target that OU will have faced.

Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat:  You have to pressure Landry Jones to stop the OU passing game and the young Horn DEs are the key to that strategy. If they are contained, then Landry will have time to find his WRs.

Demontre Hurst: Through 4 games, it's almost like teams have stopped throwing in Hurst's direction.  "Hurst Island" might be an exaggeration, but you figure UT will have to attack Hurst and fellow CB Fleming if they cannot get their running game going.

Kenny Stills/Dejuan Miller: I think that UT will try and sell out to stop OU's running game, knowing that if OU can run the ball then this game is over.  This will leave holes in their pass defense. UT must also roll additional coverage on Broyles. This will leave open space for Stills and Miller to make plays with single coverage. Stills and Miller have been improving week over week and Stills in particular could be due for his national coming out party.

Mike Davis: Davis is banged up which is bad news for the Horns because he's close to being that go to WR that the Horns badly need. Gilbert does not have the same safety blanket like Jones has right now.

Kirkendoll/DJ Monroe/Marquise Goodwin: If Davis can provide an outside threat, it's going to be up to someone from the Horns WR corps to be a threat at the slot position. Cincinnati's biggest successes through the air came via DJ Woods from the slot position.  Jermicheal Finley torched OU in 2007, and then Shipley in 2008. Shipley played outside last year and OU shut him down.  Slot WRs/TEs have been the bane of Venables' defenses in recent years.

Trey Millard: Millard is the only complete player in the TE/H-Back mold for either team. He's a load blocking in the run game, and is dangerous in the passing game. Millard's versatility has restored OU's no huddle ability to run or pass. Millard getting into space could cause huge problems for UT LBs and give Landry a key check down option on 3^rd downs.

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Tilting at Windmills Ballot - Week 5

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oregon Ducks	--
3	TCU Horned Frogs	1
4	Ohio St. Buckeyes	-1
5	Boise St. Broncos	--
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
7	Oklahoma Sooners	--
8	Stanford Cardinal	5
9	Auburn Tigers	5
10	Arizona Wildcats	--
11	USC Trojans	8
12	LSU Tigers	8
13	Michigan Wolverines	-1
14	Utah Utes	3
15	Florida Gators	1
16	Wisconsin Badgers	-1
17	N.C. State Wolfpack	8
18	Michigan St. Spartans	3
19	South Carolina Gamecocks	-8
20	Arkansas Razorbacks	-11
21	Miami Hurricanes	--
22	Iowa Hawkeyes	-4
23	Texas Longhorns	-15
24	Missouri Tigers	--
25	Clemson Tigers	--
Dropouts: Oregon St. Beavers, Penn St. Nittany Lions, West Virginia Mountaineers

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So no major changes at the top, save for Iowa falling after that close loss in the desert. Of course, if Iowa falls, then Arizona must climb.

I see no real difference between the 3 Big 12 teams, and by mid October those teams voters will have head to head comparisons to better judge who is the top Big 12 team. UT's win over Texas Tech in Lubbock improving Texas resume, and NU's demolition of the Huskies is reminiscent of OU's 2008 trip to Seattle. OU still has the best win, but their struggles with AFA are worrying (at least until we see AFA play TCU/Utah).

Pac 10 might be the best conference in America with Oregon, Arizona, Stanford (Andrew Luck is the best pro QB prospect in college football), and Oregon State.

How far the gap is between Bama and the rest of the SEC will be clearer after their game with Arkansas. Bama is right now the only SEC team firing on both sides of the ball.

Tilting at Windmills Ballot - Week 4

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oregon Ducks	1
3	Ohio St. Buckeyes	-1
4	TCU Horned Frogs	--
5	Boise St. Broncos	2
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	7
7	Oklahoma Sooners	-2
8	Texas Longhorns	7
9	Arkansas Razorbacks	12
10	Arizona Wildcats	12
11	South Carolina Gamecocks	-2
12	Michigan Wolverines	-4
13	Stanford Cardinal	-2
14	Auburn Tigers	6
15	Wisconsin Badgers	-3
16	Florida Gators	--
17	Utah Utes	--
18	Iowa Hawkeyes	-12
19	USC Trojans	4
20	LSU Tigers	-6
21	Michigan St. Spartans	3
22	Oregon St. Beavers	--
23	Penn St. Nittany Lions	-5
24	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
25	N.C. State Wolfpack	--
Dropouts: California Golden Bears, Air Force Falcons, Miami Hurricanes

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Air Force Recap

The Good

Demarco Murray - 3 TDs and Demarco is stalking the all time touchdown record in OU history of OU great Steve Owens. Demarco did a good job running the ball again, and is always a threat in the passing game. He's having a good senior. Also, had a very nice kickoff return to start the game.

Kenny Stills - Clutch 3^rd down catch to seal the game. Great RAC plays during the game. Stills was also open down field quite a bit if Landry could have found him (more on that later). Stills is close to the breakout game where his star status is established.

Ryan Broyles - Just hand him the Bilnetikoff already.

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