4 Highly-Ranked Teams (2 Unbeaten) Win
Is anyone surprised that 4 ranked Georgia Bulldogs football teams - 3 of them very highly ranked - won their games by a combined total of 12 points this week? You should not be surprised that No. 1-ranked Oregon, 3rd-ranked TCU, 7th-ranked Stanford and 21st-ranked Nevada struggled mightily before finally prevailing.
The reason why is simple - these 4 ranked teams only have a combined 5 wins against other currently ranked teams. In other words, their combined won-loss record is 39-2 BUT they have not played a lot of competitive teams.
With the season winding down, they are now positioned against better competition and look a lot more vulnerable.
Take top-ranked Oregon. The Ducks were ranked 1st in the nation in scoring offense (54+ points per game) and total offense (567+ ypg) and 13th in scoring defense (17+ ppg) before they ran into California. The Bears who were not ranked in any top poll except Sagarin, which rated California - a 5-4 team that has played the 7th toughest schedule in the country - as the 24th best team.
Oregon eventually won this game 15-13 (a 2-point margin), but could just as easily have lost it as a 24-yard Bear field goal late in the game was called back on an illegal motion penalty by the kicker, who missed the 29-yard attempt on this second try. A successful kick would have given California a 16-15 lead they might have held.
The Ducks scored 58 offensive touchdowns in their first 9 nine games and managed 1 against California while registering their lowest point total in 10 years.
Can Oregon be beat? Despite Georgia Bulldogs the hype, of course the Ducks (10-0) can be beat, and still must face Arizona and Oregon State in the state's Civil War Game, a historically nasty game at best.
You could argue that Oregon was lucky to win, and a lot of fans, players and coaches would agree with you.
The 3rd-ranked TCU Horned Frogs were ranked 1st in scoring defense (8+ ppg) and total defense (215+ ypg), and 8th in scoring offense (41+ ppg) and total offense (492+ ypg) before they ran into the unranked San Diego State Aztecs.
TCU's impressive statistics were primarily because they had played weak teams all year. Even last week's 47-7 dismantling of then unbeaten 6th-ranked Utah looked far less impressive after Utah (now 8-2) was upset this week by a hapless 4-5 Notre Dame team, 28-3.
Is Utah any good? Are you kidding? The Utes unbeaten ride though the season was a fluke at best and a fraud at worst. Utah fell from 6th in the Georgia Bulldogs rankings to 15th last week to 25th this week. What's next, a Utah loss to San Diego State this coming week?