[Cobra Mgr]

Some thoughts after week 7.............

......Whoosier had Indiana as Ohio State's toughest competition for the Big T1e8n title? Buckeyes final 6 includes Wisky, Penn St, Purdue, UCLA Rutgers & the Big Game. Indy finishes w/Mich St, UCLA, MD, Penn St, Wisky & Purdue. There is a very real possibility both will enter the T1e8n Title game unbeaten. And remember where that game will be played....Indianapolis, less than an hour from Bloomington's campus.

.....Biggest problem for Indiana is becoming the hunted instead of the hunter. I've seen too many times a program comes out of nowhere to rise in the rankings & isn't used to being the game circled on the opponent's calendar. You have to think Penn St will view that game as a chance to salvage something from this disaster of a season. And don't sleep on UCLA, who seem to have vastly improved after making a coaching change..........

......Sticking to the T1e8n, a quiet story is brewing in N'Western. The Wildcats looked like a zero of a program coming off a hazing scandal. But they are a surprising 4-2 & only one loss in conference. Just making a bowl would be a huge accomplishment.......

......Staying in the T1e8n, who thought Wisky, Mich St & Penn St would all be 0-3 & in the cellar of the conference? Bunking w/Purdue & Rutgers? The Badgers are in serious danger of going o-fer in the league. They have already mentioned Indy & Ohio St. But also Oregon, 5-1 Washington, previously ranked Illinois & on the road vs rival Minnesota.........

......Anyone know how long it has been since Nebraska was ranked this far into the year?...........

......Deion Sanders is a good college coach. He brought the Buffs up to respectability. He makes his kids accountable to each other & the school. And fights thru his health problems in order to report to work each day. I don't know why his detractors won't see thru the brashness and acknowledge he is a good leader of young men by deed, mouth & example. If anybody else ran a program like he does, they would be heaping high praise on the dude........

....Who thought @ this point FSU would not have a single ACC win after they had decisively beaten Bama?.............

.........Auburn is running a gauntlet. 0-3 in the SEC. But those 3 losses are to current #4 Tx A&M, #9 Georgia & #14 Oklahoma. The matchups w/ranked teams continues w/#16 Mizzo. That is 4 straight weeks vs teams a combined 22-3. And Auburn's 3 losses were by a combined 23 points. So they are probably better than their record indicates..........

......11 in the coaches poll thought dook should be ranked........Why???...........

.....Wisconsin, Oklahoma St & UNC are the only Power 4 schools yet to reach 100 pts...........

......Carolina went w/Belichek, but they had to know in this day & age of football, quick fixes are not possible if you don't have roster retention. So patience is needed. But Belichek also has to recognize he is in the entertainment business. So while he may not be into tap dancing in front of cameras, people aren't going to pay to see a bad, boring product. Swallow your pride and get creative w/the offense........

.......How many times has Utah & BYU both came into their contest ranked? Can't be many...........

......What is Brian Griese doing now?...........

......Huge game for Lane Kiffin next week. Ole Miss goes to visit Georgia. Mississippi has been trying to run the steps to sit w/the SEC's big dogs on the porch for a while now. I know he has Oklahoma afterward, but this is his opportunity to squarely make Ole Miss a front runner to reach the SEC title game.....

......I've always thought Lane was overrated. But I will give him "credit" for how his job hopping helped his career. "Hot" name coaches often fizzle out after awhile. Because fan bases & boosters don't tolerate losing seasons or even just the wrong kind of loss. They have $ to throw away & don't mind spending $50M to hasten a departure. That was Franklin's buyout. And he got that from Penn St because he was the "hot" name.

Kiffin being quick to go place to place allowed him to remain as the "it" coach until he actually got some skills for the job. He didn't overstay his welcome. He found a place that had some patience & was just happy, for a time, to be relevant. He would not have gotten that @ Tennessee or USC. Thus, he probably would never have had another chance to lead a major Power 4 program..........

.....Good weekend for me sports wise. Hurricanes won twice. Panthers beat the Cowboys. And UNC managed not to lose to the bye...........