The HLS Totally Non-Homer Top 25 - Week 5: Does It Really Matter After 1 and 2?

We were tempted to throw Duke in here just because, after 1 and 2, can it really be said that any of the remaining 23 are playing “exceptional football?” Can you really look at any other teams and say, with great confidence that they’d beat the 94 other teams not getting ranked (so long as they avoid committing 16 penalties)? I can’t.

Here’s what I’d like to do:

LSU
Southern Cal
Everybody Else

But I can’t, so…

LSU
Southern Cal
Ohio State
BC
Wisconsin
Cal
Kentucky
South Florida
Florida
Georgia
Oregon
Hawaii
Arizona State
Cincinnati
Clemson
Virginia
Oklahoma
VaTech
West Virginia
Texas
Missouri
South Carolina
Purdue
Nebraska
Michigan State

Notes: Essentially #s 3-25 are ranked based on record alone, which is lame because any one of these teams could be indicted for fraud once you take a glimpse at their schedules. Most if not all of these so called “elite” teams have already managed 2-3 cupcake games. Debates about causation versus correlation are sure to follow.

Having South Florida anywhere in a top 10 should be reason for disconnection from the internets. We just don’t know what the heck else to do. “They stand among the top of the Big East! They deserve it!” some will cry. But that’s not actually true. UConn is atop the Big East right now, with a 5-0 overall record and a 1-0 league record. So that logic doesn’t really hold. Why isn’t UConn in our top 25? Because we ran out of room. Yes, South Florida is playing good ball. They beat a “top team” in West Virginia in an excellent display of “how to score only 21 points even when your opponent turns the ball over 6 times.” Wow. Impressive. Hey, maybe you could go beat the crap out of a dead karate master for your next trick.

Last weekend really ruined any groundwork that the first 4 weeks of the season laid. We’re pretty much back to square one at this point, and we’ll just have to wait and see what the next month brings before anyone could truly say who belongs in the top 25.

This is what happens when all of the conferences start playing well or they all start tossing around in a pool of mediocrity. We’re left nearly directionless.

I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that Purdue doesn’t belong in there, but they are 5-0, so…