NCAA Football Report (Week 4)
The NCAA is constantly changing as once great teams begin to fall and new teams begin to take their place.
Those great teams rarely fall for long though as great programs know how to find their way back.
It is never and easy thing to do for a program that begins to lose as it can spiral into a long period of coming up short.
Still at some point many will find their way back to the national stage and although they may not win a championship they will be recognized as a strong team.
That has been seen once again after Week 5 in the NCAA with two teams making their way back to the rankings for the first time since 2013.
These aren’t just regular teams either as they were teams that once sat on top of the NCAA football world.
Teams that were considered some of the best programs in the nation.
But they faltered and saw plenty of issues with their teams put them out of the national conversation.
These are the type of programs that nobody can keep down for too long as they will always find their way back, to the chagrin of their long-time rivals.
The Florida Gators were once one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA under the leadership of Urban Meyer.
They were the beginning of the rule of the SEC in college football’s BCA Championship.
In 2007 the Gators won the BCS National Championship and began the run of eight straight SEC champions.
The Gators took another championship in 2009 and were constantly in the hunt for a spot in the National Championship.
Then Urban Meyer left the school after the 2010 season when they finished the season unranked and he needed a to take a break due to health and family concerns.
The program was in a new spot as they had not finished outside of the top 25 since 1989. Will Muschamp took over the program and had to bring it back to the rankings.
He did exactly that bringing them into the top 5 in 2012 but failing to continue that progression.
This year Jim McElwain took over the team and attempted to return the program to the glory that it once knew.
In Week 5 he took the first real step towards that as he has brought the Gators back to the top 25 for the first time since 2013.
They haven’t had a particularly tough season yet beating New Mexico State, Eastern Carolina, and Kentucky but this week their win against Tennessee put them over the edge.
They will have some work to do if they want to stay in the top 25 and if they want to move up but the first step towards Florida returning to a great program has started.
They were joined this week by the Michigan Wolverines who also found the top 25 for the first time since 2013.
The Wolverines are the winningest program in all of the NCAA and have a total of 11 national championships.
They have been fighting for the top spot long before some colleges even had programs.
Still since the BCS era they have yet to win a National Championship and more recently have been kept out of the top 25.
Whether it be a bad loss to a bad team or just an entire season the Wolverines have struggled to find the success that has defined them.
Then came Jim Harbaugh and a renewed sense of hope.
Harbaugh had brought Stanford into the limelight and after a successful stint in the NFL he was set to return to his alma mater and take over the program that he had led to plenty of success as a quarterback.
So far he has put them on the right track even after an opening week loss to Utah.
The Wolverines recovered from that loss and beat Oregon State, UNLV, and this week beat their first ranked team in #2 BYU.
The Wolverines seem to be on their way back taking over the 22nd spot in the latest AP Poll.
They, much like Florida, have a long road to travel before they can be considered ready for the playoff but the addition of Harbaugh has given hope to the Maze and Blue faithful.
It wasn’t too long for these teams to sit out of the top 25 but even a season is long for some of the biggest programs in the country.
Now they are both attempting to come back and getting ranked after Week 5 is a strong start.
Key Scores:
Michigan Wolverines 31 – 0 BYU Cougars #22
– The Cougars had a great start to the year with one of the toughest schedules in the NCAA and for that they had moved up the rankings but a loss in Week 4 saw them fall and another loss to the Wolverines has ended their great start to the season
Duke Blue Devils 34 – 20 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets #20
– The Yellow Jackets are constantly one of the toughest teams to prepare for but the Fighting Irish solved the issues and this week the Blue Devils followed the pattern to push the Jackets out of the rankings
#3 TCU Horned Frogs 55 – 52 Texas Tech Red Raiders
– The Horned Frogs are in a position they are not used to as they rank among the best teams in the league and they almost crumbled under the pressure against the Red Raiders pulling through by a field goal and paying for the close call by falling to fourth in the rankings
#18 Utah Utes 62 – 20 Oregon Ducks #13
– It was the biggest upset of the week as the Ducks fell to the Utes in a game that ended up pushing the Ducks out of the rankings for the first time in 2009 while pushing the Utes into contention after a good start to their year
Next Week:
#13 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. #6 Georgia Bulldogs (Saturday October 3rd; 3:30 pm ET)
– The Crimson Tide are not having the season they expected but their playoff hopes are still alive and will gain some new life if they can shut down Nick Chubb and the Bulldogs as a loss is sure to end the hopes for the Tide
#3 Ole Miss Rebels vs. #25 Florida Gators (Saturday October 3rd; 7:00 pm ET)
– The Gators are happy to finally be back in the top 25 but they will start the rough road of attempting to stay there by playing Ole Miss who hopes to keep their top four ranking and avoid a collapse
#21 Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. #14 Texas A&M Aggies (Saturday October 3rd; 7:30 pm ET)
– The Bulldogs are once again having a good season and they want to continue that as they head into their toughest part of the schedule with the Aggies up next who are trying themselves stop move into the top 10
#6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs #12 Clemson Tigers (Saturday October 3rd; 8:00 pm ET)
– The Fighting Irish have fought through plenty of key injuries this year and they hope to continue doing so in their toughest test so far as they take on the Tigers looking to move closer to a top four spot in the rankings
The Sport Addiction 