Major Disapointments

Through week 6 there are some teams who have not lived up the the expectations that were set upon them before the season started. Here are the teams that have made my list:

Clemson

People should have learned their lesson that Clemson never lives up to the hype. This was supposed to be the year that Clemson changed all that and finally won an ACC title. There was even some talk that Clemson could be a dark horse for the national championship. These hopes were basically dashed when they were crushed by Alabama 34-10. In this game CJ Spiller and James Davis, arguably the best running back tandem in the nation, were held to 0 yards! After winning their next three games, Clemson lost to Maryland giving them 2 losses on the season and their first ACC loss. Cullen Harper, whom many felt was becoming one of the best quarterbacks, has thrown only 3 touchdown passes compared to 5 interceptions.

Clemson may still have a shot at an ACC title if they are able to beat Wake Forest tonight and win the rest of their league games. If they cant do that, the season will be a complete failure.

Auburn

With a new offensive coordinator and a brand new offensive scheme in place, this was supposed to be the year that Auburn finally had a good offense to go along with their stingy defense. Things haven't worked out quite that way. Auburn's defense has been great but their offense has been horrific. They mustered to score a measly 3 points against Mississippi State, 14 against Tennessee and after last weekends loss to Vanderbilt, in which they only scored 13 points, they fired new offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. Not the dream season Auburn fans hoped of. Auburn will likely go back to their old ways of playing smash-mouth football. With Georgia, Alabama and West Virginia still on the schedule, Auburn may finish the season with 5 losses.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin has been on the verge of winning the Big 10 for 4 years now and it just hasn't happened. Wisconsin has been unable to just take that next step. This year, similar to the last couple of years, was supposed to be the year that Wisconsin finally wins a big conference game and wins the Big Ten. Things were looking good up to a couple of weeks ago when they suffered an upset to Michigan. Then, the next weekend they played Ohio State. They lost. Once again. The same story, new year for Badger fans. Another year in which Wisconsin will be playing in a middle-tier bowl. The only hopes of winning the Big Ten is hoping that Illinois, Ohio State and Penn State suffer major collapses. With the unlikely-hood of that happening, Wisconsin will likely be playing in another Capitol One Bowl.

Fresno State

This is not too much of a disappointment because they are a non-BCS team but Fresno State was the second most probable team to bust the BCS. The loss to Wisconsin in the second week was not all that bad but losing to a depleted Hawaii team, at home, was shocking. The Bulldogs can still have a good season, but they must win the rest of their games which includes a game against Boise State played on the "smurf turf".

The season hasn't just been full of disappointments however. Here are a few surprises this season:

Ball State making the top 25.

Alabama starting the season 6-0 with wins against Clemson and Georgia.

East Carolina's shocking upset of Virginia Tech and then following that off with another upset of West Virginia. Last year they lost by a combined score of 65-14 to both teams.

The best team in Tennessee is... Vanderbilt! The Commodores have started the season 5-0 with wins over Auburn and South Carolina.

Oregon State's major upset of supposedly invincible USC.

5 Big 12 teams are undefeated!

Photos courtesy of Google.

Making it Work: Getting the Most out of what you got

In college football there are the traditional powerhouses that seem to have everything, large fan base, gigantic stadiums and blue chipper after blue chipper. Most of these teams come from the "loaded" states when it comes to recruiting. Some examples would be Florida, Texas, USC and Ohio State just to name a few.

But what about the teams that don't have the sufficient funds to travel the country and recruit these so called "blue chippers". How do these teams compete with the "big boys"? It's simple, they make the most out of what they got. These teams take the old saying "Work beats talent unless talent works" to heart. These teams cleverly develop gameplans and schemes and develop the little talent they have until they have a team that is mentally and physically strong enough to compete with the best. So getting into it, here are the teams that I picked in no particular order:

Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers seem to always put a team that is able to compete with the best. They always find themselves near the top of the Big 10 at the end of the season. Wisconsin fields a team made up of mostly average players who excel in team roles and therefore are able to win as many games as they do. Over the last four years, the Badgers have won a "cool" 40 games. Not bad for a team who had only 7 four or five star recruits from 2002-2007 according to Scout.com. By the way, PJ Hill was only a 2 star prospect coming out of high school, now he is a Heisman candidate. This year, the Badgers return 19 starters and this is probably there best chance of finally playing in a BCS game.

Check out this sick video of Wisconsin's Jump Around.

BYU Cougars

BYU has found themselves a big advantage over other football programs. Most of their players have gone on two year Mormon missions and come back with the same eligibility. For example, if they recruited a 19 year old freshman and he decided to go on a Mormon mission, he would come back in two years as a 21 year old freshman and could therefore still be playing for BYU when he is 25. This maturity has proven to be effective on the gridiron. BYU, over the last three seasons have won 28 games with three bowl invitations and 2 conference titles. How can a Mormon school from Utah be able to compete with the rest of the Mountain West let alone be able to compete the way BYU does against BCS schools? According to Bronco Mendenhall, some of his starters for the past few seasons were 0 star prospects meaning that they shouldn't have been recruited. Period. The BYU recruiting staff must view game film of these guys and dissect it really well or BYU has just gotten lucky with all of these "hidden gems"

West Virginia Mountaineers

When watching West Virginia play, I get the impression that they are one of the college football powerhouses that bring in blue chipper time and time again. Such is not the case. From 2002-2007 the Mountaineers have brought in only 3 five star prospects according to Scout.com: Noel Devine, Durrell Robinson and Jason Gwaltney. I have only heard of one of those players. No one would think that over the past five seasons, the Mountaineers could win 49 games, 4 conference titles and appear in 4 BCS Bowls. The Mountaineers playing style suits their player's strengths. Take Pat White for instance, a 2 star prospect coming out of high school with no big expectations quickly became a Heisman contender by his junior year. That's what I call getting the most out of your players.

Photos courtesy of Flickr and Google