dday@gymble.UUCP (Dennis Doubleday) (10/03/85)
In article <13000026@uiucdcs> ekblaw@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU writes: > Speakingg of the top ten, I caught the AP tabulation yesterday. They >have very good taste, as they placed Iowa on top. I never could figure why >Auburn was ranked so high, and guess they finally convinced the pollsters that >they didn't deserve it. I honestly expected Oklahoma to fall farther than it >did, due to their rather pathetic performance on Saturday (they barely beat >a non-ranked team!). Oh, well, that can't be helped. You should realize that rankings at this point in the season have very little meaning. I agree that Iowa deserves to be ranked #1 and Michigan #2 at this point based on their performances thus far. However, I think the case for picking Oklahoma #3 is as solid as for any other team. It is simply immaterial that Minnesota was unranked when they played Oklahoma. It is a demonstrable fact that a program which has not had a good season in some time will have a difficult time making the top 20 in the early going (unless it's Notre Dame!). Minnesota was 2-0 going into the game. Now, these two victories were admittedly against lesser opponents, but they were very convincing. They avoided being blown out by Oklahoma. It may turn out that Minnesota has a very good team this season. We just don't have enough information yet to know for sure. I also take exception to your characterization of that game. I saw it, and the final score was quite deceptive. Oklahoma had some difficulty getting its offense untracked, which is not surprising in the first game of the season. But they were really awe-inspiring defensively. I believe Minnesota gained about half as many yards as Oklahoma and had an 18-6 deficit in first downs (12-0 at the half). Minnesota's only score came after an Oklahoma punt returner fumbled on about the 15 yard line. They weren't even close to scoring any other time in the game! I concede that 13-7 is not an impressive score, but I saw a lot of things that made me think that Oklahoma is going to be an outstanding team this year. The only real question mark is whether their sophomore quarterback has enough experience to lead them effectively. Dennis Doubleday Univ. of Maryland