J3C College Football Top 25 (after week three)

“They’re who we thought they were”.   Or, you know, maybe not.

Surprise, non-surprises, and some that were supposedly surprises but maybe really weren’t.  Those are the tales of the most recent college football weekend.

Alabama, Oklahoma, Washington, and Penn State were among the teams that provided little in the way of drama.  Just another day at the office … USC, on the other hand, left folks scratching their heads suddenly, as did Michigan (but only for a half) … There’s certainly no shortage of surprise (outside of Starkville) for the way Mississippi State demolished LSU … the difference was far less dramatic for Stanford but I’m not sure the current state of the Cardinal overall isn’t more surprising than an LSU underachievement …  Not sure Auburn isn’t on the verge of being one of 2017’s biggest disappointments, yesterday’s struggles were a decidedly not-good look … And then there are the “surprises” that really weren’t surprising to me at all, starting with Clemson’s domination of Louisville.   My feelings on how overrated both ‘ville and their star have been are not a secret … I’m less surprised to find out that UCLA doesn’t belong in the Top 25 (hey, look who wasn’t in mine last week in the first place) … I’m only a little surprised by Vandy over K-State, maybe more than a little but not truly shocked either …

And I’m not at all shocked that Tennessee found a way to appear dramatically undercoached AND undertalented at too many positions … nor that Ole Miss wilted on the road, as their star QB showed his bad side, and not for the first time … as a fan I’m honestly just relieved that Georgia Tech ended up with an unexpected weekend off.

With every week, we learn more about who is, who isn’t, and who never was.  So here’s the new JonsThreeCents College Football Top 25.     (last week’s J3C ranking follows their name)

1. Alabama (1)
2. Oklahoma (2)
3. Clemson (4)
4. USC (4)
5. Washington (6)
6. Penn State (7)
7. Oklahoma State (8)
8. Michigan (7)
9. Ohio State (9)
10. Wisconsin (10)
11. Florida State (11)
12. Virginia Tech (13)
13. Georgia (14)
14. Miami (15)
15. Mississippi State (Un)
16. TCU (Un)
17. Auburn (16)
18. Washington State (20)
19. Utah (22)
20. Colorado (21)
21. South Florida (22)
22. West Virginia (24)
23. Oregon (25)
24. LSU (12)
25.  Louisville (18)

Dropped:  Kansas State (17), Stanford (19)

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Ready To Rock (weekly playlists)

Four songs debut with the update of my weekly Top 40 on Spotify.  Like always, it’s the best of today’s rock hits with all the non-rockin’, pseudo-rock alternacrap removed, replaced with more deserving songs.

Missing songs this week:
Sound of the Saints – Chaotic Resemblance

New to the Spotify list this week:
Beneath The Riverbed – Sons Of Texas, Superhero – Falling In Reverse, The Impossible – Random Hero, Light Me Up – Kobra & The Lotus

Dropping off the Spotify list this week:
Song #3 – Stone Sour, Back To The River – Pretty Reckless, Back To Me – Of Mice & Men, House Of Glass – Screaming For Silence

For the larger (nearly 200 songs) YouTube version there’s over a half dozen adds including a great cover by Primal Fear, new songs from Powerman 5000 and Hell In The Club, and more.    You can find it at this link 

J3C College Football Top 25 (after week two)

Given several of the big name matchups, you’d think it would make for a busy week of changes in my poll.

You’d be wrong.

Alabama dispatched another opponent with ease, no change needed there … I already had Oklahoma right on Ohio State’s heels, so the “upset” win wasn’t really that big an upset in my eyes … USC notches a nice enough win over a ranked opponent but they aren’t passing the other teams ahead of them on the basis of it … Clemson did about what I’d have expected, except with less offense, that isn’t going to shuffle things … Georgia beat a somewhat overrated team on the road, it’s a nice win with a first-time starter at QB but it isn’t perception changing either … Auburn and Stanford were ranked teams that lost but not in a fashion that calls for major downgrades … Four of my Top 25 teams didn’t play due to weather cancellations … when all is said & done, I’m not sure there was anything here that stands out as a big surprise, leading to a week that had more potential impact on paper than in reality.

For my personal interests, both GT and Ole Miss started slow before pulling away from overmatched opponents while Tennessee avoided the slow start and did what any P5 team should do against the same opponent.   Certainly beats losing but I had more fun watching young friends do well in a D-III game if you want to know the truth.

With minimal changes, here’s the least JonsThreeCents College Football Top 25.     (last week’s J3C ranking follows their name)

1. Alabama (1)
2. Oklahoma (3)
3. USC (4)
4. Clemson (5)
5. Washington (6)
6. Penn State (7)
7. Michigan (8)
8. Oklahoma State (9)
9. Ohio State (2)
10. Wisconsin (10)
11. Florida State (11)
12. LSU (12)
13.  Virginia Tech (17)
14. Georgia (16)
15. Miami (15)
16. Auburn (12)
17. Kansas State (18)
18. Louisville (19)
19. Stanford (14)
20. Washington State (20)
21. Colorado (23)
22. Utah (21)
23. South Florida (22)
24. West Virginia (24)
25. Oregon (Un)

Dropped:  Florida (25)

Ready To Rock (weekly playlists)

There’s two new arrivals (and two songs re-entering) included in my latest weekly Top 40 on Spotify.  Like always, it’s the best of today’s rock hits with all the non-rockin’, pseudo-rock alternacrap removed, replaced with more deserving songs.

Missing songs this week:
Sound of the Saints – Chaotic Resemblance

New to the Spotify list this week:
Livin Free- The Wild (re-entry), Let Go – Set For The Fall, Heart From Your Hate – Trivium, Notorious – Adelitas Way (re-entry)

Dropping off the Spotify list this week:
The Violence – Rise Against, Baby – Royal Republic, Live Again – Torndown, Here Until Forever – In Flames

For the larger (nearly 200 songs) YouTube version there’s nearly a dozen adds including the aforementioned Trivium, Falling In Reverse, Almost Kings, Pink Cream 69, and more.    You can find it at this link 

J3C College Football Poll (after week one)

Well it was certainly … eventful.

The first week of the college football season began by matching up my top two teams in the pre-season poll, hard to get more of a litmus test than that I suppose.  While the outcome might not be much of a shock, the devastating injury suffered by FSU’s star quarterback certainly was.  Not sure you could get a more impactful event in the opening week, unfortunately it’s the worst kind of impact … Ohio State looked rather pedestrian for a half, then flipped a switch and did that thing they seem to do … USC seemed to take a lesson from the team above them and did something similar, except perhaps against a better team … Michigan may have exposed the alleged improvements in Florida’s offense as a mirage … UCLA managed the second largest second half comeback in NCAA history, yet somehow Kevin Sumlin is still employed by Texas A&M … Georgia suffered an injury loss at quarterback while beating up but I’m not sure many teams were better positioned to handle the situation … And then there’s the Tennessee-Georgia Tech “thing”.  For the Vols there was resilience shown on offense while concerns have to remain about a defense that’s been pushed around a lot in their past half dozen games.  For the Jackets the bright spot of a record-breaking performance by a new QB was eclipsed by the nausea-inducing “kicking” (if you can even call it that), the inability to make defensive adjustments, the inability to avoid turnovers.  After such a major collapse it’s hard to avoid fearing that the word “inability” will be one that is associated with the team frequently this season.

Regardless, we have to start somewhere, so it’s time to unveil the 2017 Preseason edition of JonsThreeCents College Football Top 25.     (last week’s J3C follows their name)

1. Alabama (1)
2. Ohio State (3)
3. Oklahoma (5)
4. USC (4)
5. Clemson (7)
6. Washington (6)
7. Penn State (8)
8. Michigan (9)
9. Oklahoma State (10)
10. Wisconsin (11)
11. Florida State (2)
12. Auburn (12)
13. LSU (13)
14. Stanford (14)
15. Miami (15)
16. Georgia (17)
17. Virginia Tech (20)
18. Kansas State (18)
19. Louisville (19)
20. Washington State (23)
21. Utah (25)
22. South Florida (22)
23. Colorado (Un)
24. West Virginia (21)
25. Florida (15)

 Dropped:  Texas (24) 

J3C College Football Poll (2017 pre-season)

You hear that?  Listen … hear it?  I believe I know that sound.

Yes, for the eighth consecutive season,  my weekly College Football Top 25 returns.   Same as the years before it’s “part art, part science, part instinct …  my eyeball of the overall.”  It’s a combination of how I perceive teams’ ability, their performance, and their relative positioning in light of both.

The science part, especially in the first poll of the season, is surely an inexact thing.  How else could I have had nine teams in the first poll of 2016 be missing from the final poll after the bowls?

My hunch for the upcoming season is that it will look an awful lot like last season.   Only three teams ranked here finished last season outside my Top 25, the top eleven are the same except for a different order.

Seven teams continue to appear in each & every preseason poll I’ve released, two of those  have also been in all seven of the previous year-end ranking.  Not entirely coincidentally I suppose, that pair starts my year in the top two spots.  Two of this year’s initial list (South Florida & Washington State) are ranked in week zero for the first time since I started doing these lists.

All of this seems to match up with my general feelings about college football over the past few years, namely that there are only a precious few teams that are truly elite with a sizable bundle all clumped up in the next tier.  Sportswriters and coaches polls certainly seem to match my impression, between their pre-season polls they had at least one Top 25 vote for 62 different teams.  That’s just short of half of all Division I teams that somebody thought was “Top 25 caliber”.

Sadly for me, none of the teams where I have a significant rooting interest have inspired much hope for me for the year ahead.  Georgia Tech listed four quarterbacks on their initial depth chart which may be twice as bad as what has been said about teams that have two QBs, Tennessee may or may not have a QB but injuries are mounting even before the season begins, and I fear that the on-field outcomes for Ole Miss may be on par with their off-season dumpster fires.

Regardless, we have to start somewhere, so it’s time to unveil the 2017 Preseason edition of JonsThreeCents College Football Top 25.     (final 2016 J3C ranking follows their name)

1. Alabama (2)
2. FSU (6)
3. Ohio State (8)
4. USC (3)
5. Oklahoma (5)
6. Washington (4)
7. Clemson (1)
8. Penn State (7)
9. Michigan (10)
10. Oklahoma State (11)
11. Wisconsin (9)
12. Auburn (25)
13. LSU (13)
14. Stanford (12)
15. Florida (15)
16. Miami (20)
17. Georgia (Un)
18. Kansas State (24)
19. Louisville (22)
20. Virginia Tech (14)
21. West Virginia (18)
22. South Florida (19)
23. Washington State (Un)
24. Texas (Un)
25. Utah (21)

Ready To Rock (weekly playlists)

A little calmer after a crazy busy last week, but still two new arrivals (and a re-entry) in my latest weekly Top 40 on Spotify, .  Like always, it’s the best of today’s rock hits with all the non-rockin’, pseudo-rock alternacrap removed, replaced with more deserving songs.

Missing songs this week:
Sound of the Saints – Chaotic Resemblance

New to the Spotify list this week:
Nocturnal – Vyces (re-entry), House of Cards – Manafest, House of Glass – Screaming For Silence

Dropping off the Spotify list this week:
Sick Of Me – Beartooth, Black Cadillac – Shinedown, Downfall – Kirra

For the larger (nearly 200 songs) YouTube version there’s over a half dozen adds including brand new music from P.O.D., the latest single from Sons of Texas, a fine return from Babylon A.D., and more.    You can find it at this link