Reactions To A Full Weekend of Football

I watched a lot of football this past weekend. From the Giants/Redskins game until the Broncos/Raiders game last night I watched 20+ hours of pro and college football.

And here are some thoughts on college football after this past weekend:

• Ohio State is NOT championship material. They played terribly without Beanie Wells and they will NOT beat USC this weekend. And I think they are in trouble against Wisconsin and Penn State as well.
• Oklahoma is a good team. Championship material? Maybe...maybe not.
• Florida has potential but they better start playing a full 60 minutes or they are going to find themselves losing multiple games.
  
• East Carolina has beaten two teams that probably shouldn't have been ranked where they were. VT has been overrated for years and WVU lost some good players and a decent coach this year. They were impressive wins for ECU but should they be ranked in the top 15? I don't think so. Not until they win some tough games on the road. If they run the table in Conf USA than we can talk.
• *homer pick* Penn State looks good. While they haven't really played anyone yet (and won't for another few weeks) the team looks to be gaining confidence all the time and the offensive line is dominating. The Big Ten isn't very strong this year and I think they can win it.
• The refs at the BYU/Washington game got the call right. The NCAA rules committee got the call wrong. The rules are what they are and the officials called the penalty based on the rules. Nothing they can do. The NCAA has these rules that are ridiculous and allow for no emotion in the games. They need to rewrite the rule to allow a little bit of emotion.

Now let's look around the NFL divisions:

• The AFC East is wide open after the loss of Brady. The Jets and Pats are still the favorites but watch out for the Bills.
• The Steelers should win the AFC North by 5 or 6 games. The Browns will be lucky to finish 8-8 with that defense and the Ravens and Bengals could be fighting for the # 1 pick in the draft.
• The AFC South looks as though it is a 3 team race. I still think the Colts will pull it out but their defense looks a lot like it did 2 years ago when they couldn't stop the run.
  
• The Broncos and Chargers are going to be fighting for the AFC West all season. The Chiefs and Raiders are on par with the Ravens and Bengals and won't be a challenge. I think the Denver offense could be on of the best in the league if they stay on the field.
• The Redskins are still at least a year away from competing in the best division in the NFL. The Eagles looked very good on Sunday, as did the Cowboys. The Giants looked good but not great on Thursday, although they really didn't need to do much.
• The Packers should win the NFC North this year. The Vikings will not win unless they get a quarterback. The Bears looked good against the Colts but I don't think Forte is as good as his first wake would indicate. And the Lions.......what can you say.......terrible.
• The NFC South could be even better this season. I think the Falcons are a year or two away but they are headed in the right direction but the other three teams can all win the division.
• The NFC West is easily the worst division in the league and will be lucky to have a team more than 1 game over .500 at the end of the season and each team could be picking #1 overall come April.

I will be back later this week with a fantasy preview and a look at some of the top games of the weekend.