2019 Couch Power 10, Week 2
Welcome back! Boy, this young college football season has a lot of promise. And I'm not just talking about North Carolina's stunning 2-0 season. Though I am mostly talking about that.
LSU made it two weeks out of two that the primetime, College Gameday game was a thrilling win for the SEC West. After Auburn's last-second upset of Oregon last week, LSU re-asserted their dominance in both the "2nd Best in SEC West" Race and the "2nd Best 'Tigers'" Race behind a back-and-forth affair in Austin that ultimately culminated in a big win over #9 Texas.
In the only other matchup between ranked teams, Clemson made sure it was a rough day for the Lone Star State, cruising against #15 Texas A&M. Elsewhere, 4 ranked teams were upset, Michigan came thisclose to losing to Army, Florida State almost lost to Louisiana-Monroe, and Tennessee DID lose to BYU. This is fun.
Just a reminder, as you are preparing to clutch your pearls at some seriously surprising this is not a definitive ranking on how good the teams are, or on who I think will be/deserves to be in the playoff at the end of the year. Rather, it's more of a "What if preseason rankings and bigwig bias didn't predetermine the top teams" kind of thing, an ideal ranking of the country's teams based on what they've proved on the field.
1a. Clemson
1b. Alabama
That being said, the Saban-Dabo Rule dictates that until Clemson and Alabama lose and/or give us reeeeeeeeally good reason to drop them from the joint top spot, we're keeping them here. Why? Because drawing from every year since 2014, we're working off the assumption that it doesn't really matter how these teams look during the regular season. Alabama and Clemson will make the playoff, and one of them will win the title. Clemson has the slight inside lane by virtue of being the defending champs, and they may be tough to unseat, considering they now have what is likely their toughest regular season test in their rearview mirror.
3. LSU
Last week I wrote that LSU's performance in their blowout of Georgia Southern might put the vaunted SEC West on notice. Well, if they weren't on notice before, they certainly are now. It's not just the fact that the Tigers won a big game against a highly-ranked opponent, because they teased us with that a couple times last year. It's the fact that, to go with their usual deep supply of intimidating beefy defensive lineman, they've got an exciting offense with a, dare I say, competent quarterback for what feels like the first time since the Matt Flynn days. They might just be good enough to beat everyone on their schedule not named Alabama.
4. Auburn
Auburn once again started slow in a sluggish win over Tulane. We'll take it easy on them for two reasons. One, Tulane is not the punchline of the team they used to be. Secondly, the Tigers are still just one week removed from the 2nd best win of anyone in the country.
5. USC
No JT Daniels? No problem. After the Trojans lost their starting quarterback in their season-opening win over Fresno State, many assumed their Pac-12 aspirations were lost. Now, in a seemingly wide open conference (more on that in a minute), USC may be pegged as divisional or even conference champion favorites, thanks to a rousing victory over favored Stanford. New QB Keldon Slovis had a debut to remember.
6. Maryland
Full disclosure: I recently moved to Maryland. That's not really pertinent, other than to say that when local papers talked about the Terps' 79-0 season-opening win, I raised an eyebrow, even though the competition was FCS school Howard U. But then Maryland followed that performance up with a 63-point romp against ranked Syracuse, and suffice it to say, both my eyebrows were raised up quite a ways. Was the Syracuse hype premature? Probably. But is new coach Mike Locksley turning things around at Maryland faster than expected? Early indications are Yes.
7. California
Yes, Cal. Yes, the program that hasn't been ranked since DeSean Jackson and Jahvid Best played there.* (*Don't fact check me on that. But it has to be at least close to true, right?) The Golden Bears have been steadily improving under third-year coach Justin Wilcox, and this season might hold breakout potential. For the second straight year, the Cal defense stifled a ranked Washington team to earn the upset. This year, they did so on the road and in both teams' Pac-12 opener. With Stanford going down to USC as well, and Oregon looking vulnerable in that 2nd half vs. Auburn... look out, Pac-12 North!
8. Ohio State
Look, I'm not here to say that Florida Atlantic and Cincinnati is a season-opening gauntlet. But two FBS programs, the latter of which is supposed to actually have a very good year, don't make for the worst competition, either. And sheesh, the Buckeyes-- more specifically, Justin Fields --look good.
9. Wisconsin
In a similar vein to their Big Ten counterparts Ohio State, the Badgers have opened up with two wins over two FBS schools. That's not all, they've shut both teams out. That's not all, one week after dropping 49 on South Florida, they dropped 61 on Central Michigan. For those of you that didn't nearly bomb Pre-Calculus como yo, that's 110-0 through two games. That's not all that shabby.
10. North Carolina
Hear me out! HEAR ME OUT!! This isn't just an emotional reaction to the Tar Heels' newfound success, somehow equalling their 2018 win total through two games. Nor is it a reaction to them defying ESPN's statistical projection of Carolina having <9% chance of starting 2-0. Objectively, a pair of comeback wins over South Carolina and Miami is one of the more impressive starts to the season, no? I'm not being irrational here, am I?
Just missed: Utah, Colorado, Boise State, Penn State, UCF, Freshman Dime-Droppa Sam Howell