RED HOT
Michigan State Football
After a week three ""Instant Classic"" left the Fighting Irish in shambles and Spartan head coach Mark Dantonio in the hospital, the Michigan State football program has looked like one of the hottest teams in the country. They are coming off signature conference wins against ranked opponents and look poised to shake up the BCS standings with a Big Ten schedule that avoids No. 1 Ohio State.
Consistent play and gutsy calls have been the theme of this year's Spartans' program. An aggressive overtime call at Notre Dame, a nail-biter against Wisconsin and the thrashing they gave Michigan at the Big House have Michigan State ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 11 in the Coaches' Top -25.
The Spartans still have to visit Northwestern, Iowa and Penn State this season, but are paced by a balanced offense led by junior quarterback Kirk Cousins and a plethora of running backs. The face of the Spartans' program, All-American candidate senior linebacker Greg Jones, leads a defense that already has nine picks, three more than it recorded all of last year.
LSU Tigers
For some reason the Tigers keep finding ways to win. LSU is ranked ninth in both the Coaches and the AP Polls and have won their last three games by a combined 12 points. After a critical 16-14 victory over Tennessee in week five, head coach Les Miles took some heat for his decision-making toward the end of the game. He was able to quiet those same critics the next week in LSU's huge victory over rival Florida in what is being called the Tigers' best overall performance of the young season.
LSU running back Stevan Ridley is carrying the offense, averaging 106.7 yards per game, good for second in the SEC. LSU's defense is ranked fifth nationally and remains at the top of the SEC in sacks and forced turnovers.
Michigan QB Denard Robinson
If you are looking for a human highlight reel with all-around skill and talent, look no further than Ann Arbor's Superman, sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson. Shoelace, a nickname given to him due to his preference of velcro over laces, has been the Wolverines' savior this year after getting minimal reps last season while backing up to sophomore quarterback Tate Forcier. Shoelace has resurrected the Wolverines in victories against UMass, Notre Dame and Indiana, all of which would have been losses to mediocre teams had Robinson not been in the picture.
Shoelace ranks second nationally in total offense and rushing and is credited with the top three offensive performances in school history. Up until last weekend, he was ranked first in the nation in overall rushing. The scariest stat to date is Shoelace's 161.4 passer rating, which is good for 12th in the nation. This has to keep defensive coordinators up at night, as Robinson now has added a passing game to open up his already- explosive running attack.
ICE COLD
Tim Brewster
The Gopher head coach has been making national headlines as of late—not because he is doing a good job with his program, but because of his thoughts on a certain two point conversion by a certain opposing head coach. During last week's battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema made the questionable call to try for two with a huge lead and the victory already in the bag.
Following the game, Bielema and Brewster exchanged one of the least-friendly handshakes to date.Brewster proceeded to rip Bielema during the post-game press conference for a two-point conversion call that wasn't even successful.
Brewster is now taking national heat as many feel he is attempting to take attention away from his team's below-average performance and his lousy coaching.
USC Football
These past two weeks have been very revealing as far as the Southern California program goes. Back-to-back losses to Pac-10 foes Washington and Stanford have exposed USC's true colors, on defense particularly. The Trojans were unable to get defensive stops late in both games and did not show the passion they exhibited during the first four games of the season.
With only 70 scholarship players on the team, there is a definite lack of depth on both sides of the ball, which is scary when you consider that they have yet to play Oregon, Oregon State and Arizona. Things are not looking good for a USC squad that is now labeled as a middle-of-the-pack conference team that has nothing to look forward to after they were suspended from postseason play. The question then remains, how will USC find the motivation to go out and fight the second half of the season with all of these odds stacked up against them?
Preseason Polls
Preseason polls are like your girlfriend's opinion on the car you're planning to buy: They are nice to know and at times can be helpful in guiding you, but in retrospect they really don't matter. This year's preseason polls are no different, as many of the actual polls have much disparity from the initial ones released, which leaves the question of the significance of a preseason poll in the first place.
Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson currently sits atop the Heisman Watch List after never even appearing on the preseason poll. Not far behind Robinson on the Watch List is another player who was surprisingly absent from the Preseason Poll, Oregon running back LaMichael James. In all, only two of the 10 players named to the Preseason Heisman List still remain in the running.
The preseason Top 25 is no exception, as that poll also has no validity. South Carolina, who knocked off then-No. 1 Alabama last Saturday, was never mentioned in the preseason top 25, along with Michigan State and Nevada. On the flip side, Pittsburgh—who has two wins this season—Penn State who was dumped by Illinois last week— and Virginia Tech—who lost to an FCS team in week two— were all able to somehow make a cameo in the preseason poll.
