http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/sto...mp;sportCat=ncf</p> Here is Pat Forde's take </p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p><h2 class="subhead">Fantastic Four</h2> At this early point, a quartet of teams have surged to the forefront and established themselves as the early vanguard of college football. The Dash puts them in a pecking order:</p> 1. USC Trojans Why the Trojans are No. 1: They're the only one of the four to beat a ranked team on the road -- and they did it convincingly, in a stadium that can still shake with the best of them.</p> What they're doing best: Dominating up front, on both sides of the ball. USC is sixth nationally in rushing offense and ninth in rushing defense, winning the game at the line of scrimmage. Stat: Not a single Trojan ranks in the national top 30 in any of the NCAA's major statistical categories. And it doesn't matter at all. Chinks in the armor: The passing game has been unspectacular so far, but it certainly hasn't hurt the Trojans. You have to figure John David Booty will be ready to take over a game if called upon. First real test: Might not be until USC visits Oregon Oct. 27.</p> 2. LSU Tigers Why the Tigers are No. 2: Combined score through three games is 137-7 -- and it took a replay review to determine that even the one touchdown allowed really was a touchdown. And the competition has at least been decent.</p> What they're doing best: LSU's defense has been insane. It leads the nation in total defense by more than 50 yards per game over the second-best unit, and in points allowed by three per game. Stat: Opponents have run the ball 91 times at the LSU defense. Only five of those carries have gone for 10 or more yards. Only one has gone for more than 12. That's speed, pursuit and gang tackling. Chinks in the armor: Is backup quarterback Ryan Perrilloux too good for the team's good? He's 27 of 33 for 403 yards and six touchdowns in relief of highly capable starter Matt Flynn. Any chance of a quarterback controversy here if Flynn struggles? (The Dash is, admittedly, grasping for a weakness.) First real test: Florida comes to town Oct. 6 for what could be the biggest regular-season game of the year nationwide.</p> 3. Florida Gators Why the Gators are No. 3: The offense is even more powerful and diverse than the version that won the national title last season. And the defense and special teams each chipped in touchdowns in the annihilation of Tennessee.</p> What they're doing best: Florida is running the spread offense to near perfection, hitting defenses from all angles. In classic UrbanBall fashion, 60 percent of the Gators' rushing attempts are by non-running backs. Stat: How's this for efficiency? The Gators are scoring a point for every 9.4 yards of offense. Steve Spurrier's 1996 national champs, which hold the school record for scoring, averaged a point for every 11 yards. Chinks in the armor: The secondary is young and susceptible to giving up a lot of yards and completions. And the defensive front hasn't generated enough consistent pressure. First true test: At LSU Oct. 6. Gators lost last time they were there, in 2005.</p> 4. Oklahoma Sooners Why the Sooners are No. 4: They've crushed three teams, but how good are those three? Combined record for Utah State, Miami and North Texas is 2-6, and the Hurricanes' two victories came against teams currently 0-3.</p> What they're doing best: The offensive balance is impressive: The Sooners rank 13th nationally in rushing offense and 12th in passing offense. Five backs are doing the damage on the ground and Oklahoma has thrown one touchdown pass for every 7.4 attempts. (Wideout Malcolm Kelly has 14 receptions and seven TDs.) Stat: Oklahoma's leaders in rushing (DeMarco Murray), passing (Sam Bradford), sacks (Auston English) and tackles for loss (Ryan Reynolds) did not play a down in 2006. Chinks in the armor: The Sooners are nothing special so far punting the ball and returning punts. That's about it. First real test: Red River Shootout Oct. 6 against Texas. Oklahoma has lost two straight in that rivalry for the first time since 1998-99.</p> </p><h2 class="subhead">Fraudulent Four</h2> And here are four schools not named Notre Dame that have sabotaged their fans' preseason optimism: </p> UCLA. The Dash foolishly ignored Karl Dorrell's past precedent, which screamed that his team would mail in at least one lame performance against an unranked team. (See: Stanford loss 2003, Washington State loss 2004, Arizona loss 2005, Washington loss 2006.) The Dash's faith in a veteran Bruins' team was rewarded with a 44-6 quit job against wounded, winless Utah. Pathetic.</p> Florida State. The Seminoles have converted just 10 of 44 third downs into first downs. That's 22.7 percent. That's terrible. That's worse than Notre Dame (24.4 percent) and all but four other I-A teams. How much money did they pay Jimbo Fisher to fix the offense?</p> Oklahoma State. Losing the opener by three touchdowns to Georgia was not good. Losing last week by 18 to Troy -- after falling behind by 31 -- was much worse. Not to say that Mike Gundy's record is built on a pile of straw or anything, but seven of his 12 victories as coach of the Cowboys are against I-AA or Sun Belt teams. (After what Troy did to the Pokes, OSU had better stick to scheduling the bottom half of the Sun Belt in the future.) </p> Auburn. Nobody in America has more giveaways than the Tigers' dozen. The only team to equal that number is Minnesota, which at least has a pair of decent excuses: It's playing a true freshman quarterback and has a rookie head coach. The Tigers, with senior quarterback Brandon Cox and veteran coach Tommy Tuberville? No excuse.</p> </div></p> Do you agree</p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p>
Yeah.</p> </p> Auburn is playing without their RB though, and they've always been a running football team. </p> </p> Brandon Cox leading the team = no good.</p>
