Monday, September 04, 2006

BlogPoll Roundtable #2

The second Roundtable of the year is up over at The Ciskie Blog. Thank you to Bruce for hosting this edition. Let's get to it:

1. What team best met your overall expectations of them in their opener?

This is probably a tie between Auburn, LSU, Clemson and Texas Tech. All four rolled over D-1A opponents. Auburn and LSU were both in my top five last week and they each beat a quality team (Washington State and U-La-La). Clemson and Texas Tech both defeated D-1A bottom feeders (FAU and SMU). All four results were about where I would have expected them to be. If I had to pick one, it would be Auburn and their potent running game.

2. What team jumped off the map and surprised you the most? (Bonus points to anyone who can make an argument for someone besides Tennessee.)

Baylor's defense really surprised me. They looked pretty good against TCU, especially early in the game. This spot has to go to Oregon though. I'm pretty big on the idea that Stanford, with a senior QB and a head coach settling in, could upset some Pac-10 powers as the season progresses. Oregon absolutely rolled over the Cardinal and the Ducks with a running game are kind of scary.

3. What team best moved themselves into a position to surprisingly contend for a national title?

I didn't think much of USC in the preseason, so their big win over Arkansas moves them into the contender column in my book, but I don't think that this was terribly surprising to the rest of the nation. So few teams played quality opposition this week that its hard to say that somebody really jumped out. After beating FAU is Clemson a contender? What about VT rolling over Northeastern? I think that I'll go with Florida. Southern Miss is usually tough and Chris Leak had a great game (21-30, 248, 3-1). I could see Florida going places.

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