All Aboard the TCU Bandwagon!: College Football Update

After watching three blowout games in primetime, I think it's as good a time as any to ask "What's the state of the NFL?" Is it better or worse than it was a year ago? how about five years? Thirty? Unless we're talking about the state of fantasy football, I'd say the NFL is much worse off than any season since the replacement players of 1987. There is no clear front-runner team, only obvious cellar-dwellars like Oakland, Jacksonville, and Tampa Bay, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice will both be eligible to play before the end of the season due to the clumsiness of an overmatched commissioner, and nobody will ever get close to Emmitt Smith's career rushing record again as long as QB's are consistently throwing 45 touchdowns and 5,000 yards. None of the career stat records mean anything anymore unlike literally every other sport and that's the most tragic of losses in this era.

Now, onto happier discussions!...

My College Football Ranks (and only mine)

Tim Heitman - USA TODAY Sports
Trevone Boykin is the engine of the TCU hype-train.

#1. TCU - Previously, TCU was only known for their defense but that has changed with QB Trevone Boykin and the most underrated offensive line in college. Every one of their wins has been dominant and their one loss was a 58-61 heartbreaker to Baylor (another very good team). This weekend's 41-20 obliteration of Bill Snyder's Kansas State team was a statement game. The statement being: You really think Alabama's offense is better than ours? Watch this... Gary Patterson deserves NFL coaching offers with the incredible job he's done with this team.

#2. Mississippi State - UT-Martin? Really? Ok, but could you not give up any points... Wait, you gave up 16 to UT-Martin? I don't know what to think about that other than nothing positive. Mississippi State loses their 1-seed based on not making sure the University of Tennessee-Martin ceased to exist after this game.

#3. Florida State - Point shaving rumors, crab legs, rape allegations. Jameis Winston has two months left to stay out of trouble, can he please just stay out of the limelight for 60 days?

#4. Oregon - They would've won even if Utah's WR Kaelin Clay didn't drop it at the 1.

#5. Alabama - Some people like good defensive games, some people hate good defensive games. Everybody hates bad football games and the Crimson Tide's overtime win over LSU was just plain awful football. Mississippi State could severely damage their playoff hopes this week.

#6. Arizona State - Head coach Todd Graham needs to make sure this team doesn't nearly blow 32-point leads like they almost did this Saturday. Notre Dame should've never been back in the game at any point after the first quarter. The good news is the Sun Devils still won 55-31 and put it away in the fourth but, I have trouble trusting this team to ever be this high in the ranks again this year.

#7. Baylor - This team will be higher next week thanks to a week off and they've earned it with a 48-14 second-half shutout of the Oklahoma Sooners. The running game is back after losing Lache Seastrunk to the NFL in the off-season.

#8. Ohio State - There's a new dilemma in Columbus as J.T. Barrett is nearly performing at the same level as injured QB Braxton Miller and both QB's will be back next season. This week's win over Michigan State was huge but, can they take down the red-hot Minnesota Golden Gophers?

#9. Auburn - They did just barely lose to Texas A&M (38-41) but, a loss in the SEC is hard to come back from and Auburn still has to face Georgia (Now featuring Todd Gurley!) and Alabama.

#10. Ole Miss - The defense was impressive but, it's hard now to look impressive versus Presbyterian. 48-0 means nothing when you face a nothing team thus, improving their ranking by one spot.

#11. Michigan State - I'm still not a believer in Connor Cook and the defense seriously blew their 37-49 loss to Ohio State. If both sides are suddenly an issue, the Spartans aren't going to end the year in the top 20.

#12. Nebraska - This week's showdown versus Wisconsin will define the Cornhuskers' defense. We already know that they don't have a Quarterback and Ameer Abdullah is a Heisman-level runner, now it's time for everybody else to step up.

#13. Marshall - Strength of schedule, shmength of shmedule. This team is fun, undefeated, and we'll never know how good they are until the committee takes them semi-seriously.

#14. Kansas State - Their second loss was a gloomy reminder that QB Jake Waters just isn't a great quarterback. Also, the defense doesn't seem to show up in big games. As long as Tyler Lockett is around, this team will irritate opponents even though there are no other threats on this roster.

#15. UCLA - No matter how many losses and bad games UCLA has, Brett Hundley just keeps them hanging around.

#16. Arizona - Colorado was an easy opponent that Arizona never really put the dagger in but, they still won and Rich Rodriguez's comeback season continues at home against the Washington Huskies.

#17. Duke - Do people hate Duke football the same way they hate Duke basketball? Is Duke football a feel-good, Cinderella story? Will they ever get the respect they've earned this season? Nobody knows the answers to any of these questions. Thank god they have three games left to figure out the answers on this mesmerizing team.

#18. Georgia - Todd Gurley is back and they scored 63 points on Kentucky last week. Watch out, rest of SEC.

#19. Notre Dame - Everett Golson's 3-week turnover-less streak was a fun ride. Turn out the lights, the party's over.

#20. Clemson - They'll figure out a way to Clemson away a game yet this season but for now, they're barely getting by and are a top 20 team... I guess?

#21. Wisconsin - Wisconsin is quite similar to Nebraska although, their defense is already defined as a very nice unit with many sharp players. If they lose, Wisconsin is done in the Top 25.

#22. Georgia Tech - The offense seems to be rolling on all cylinders but, games against Clemson and Georgia will likely destroy this team's bowl game hopes.

#23. Oklahoma - Trevor Knight's injury doesn't appear to be serious so, Oklahoma should be back at 100% after a crushing loss to Baylor.

#24. Colorado State - Nobody else is deserving of being ranked so, why not the 9-1 Rams?

#25. Minnesota - Remember the scene from the first Kill Bill with the crazy 88's? Nothing was getting between Uma Thurman killing Lucy Liu. Minnesota is Uma and Iowa was Lucy Liu. I found myself in as much disbelief watching that game as I did Kill Bill. They are killing off all of their rivals and Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are next in line. It's going to be great rivalry football coming up.

My Heisman Ballot

Russ Isabella - USA TODAY Sports
My against-the-grain Heisman choice in a week when everyone loves Dak Prescott

#1. QB Marcus Mariota (Oregon) - 67.1%-2,780-29 TD-2 INT, 524 Rushing yards-8 TD's
#2. QB Dak Prescott (Mississippi State) - 60.9%-2,222-18 TD-7 INT, 779 Rushing yards-11 TD's
#3. RB Melvin Gordon III (Wisconsin) - 1,501 Rushing yards-7.6 YPC-19 TD's
#4. RB Ameer Abdullah (Nebraska) - 1,250 Rushing yards-6.7 YPC-17 TD's
#5. QB Trevone Boykin (TCU) - 58%-2,691-23 TD-4 INT, 546 Rushing yards-7 TD's

Good luck to your teams and please NFL, have some entertaining prime-time games this weekend!