CFB Rankings: I Don’t Like Florida State

Phil Sears / AP
Phil Sears / AP

I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like Florida State. They are supposed to be the antidote to the SEC supremacy that has generated so much antipathy towards football fans outside of the South.

Perhaps it’s because of quarterback Jameis Winston. During Florida State’s media day back in August, he was asked by a reporter about his potential of becoming like Johnny Manziel. I believe the reporter phrased it as “Manziel Disease.” Winston replied, “If I ever get Manziel disease, I want all of you to smack me in the head with your microphones.”

That did not sit well with me as someone who has proclaimed my love for Johnny Football.

Manziel was the pirate helming a Texas A&M team in its first year in the SEC. He was the swashbuckling renegade ready to expose and rebel against the machine that is the NCAA. He wasn’t going to play by the long held non-written rules of decorum.

He was Johnny Football sent on this earth to play football and have fun. He rode that all the way to a Heisman Trophy, the first freshman ever to win the award.

So I saw Winston’s remarks as reactionary, a move to go back to the tradition, the boring, the safety of the NCAA.

Not helping his case is the constant blare of the “Tomahawk Chop”, the relative weakness of the ACC and how soft their non-conference schedule is. Nevada and Bethune-Cookman, a FCS school, were dispatched by a 116-13 margin. Idaho comes up on Nov. 23 with their only non-conference challenge Florida at the end of the month finishing out their regular season schedule.

I guess the Seminoles are for real. They beat then-No.3 ranked Clemson 51-14 at Death Valley two weeks ago, and on Saturday they knocked out No. 7 Miami 41-14. So this is a really good team.

Hell, they might just be able to beat Alabama in a BCS Championship Game.

But at this point, I’d much rather see Nick Saban lift up another Coaches’ Trophy in January.

Here’s this week’s AP poll and below is my top 10.

Rank Last Week School Record AP Rank Comments
1 1 Alabama 8-0, 5-0 SEC 1 They took the week off to get ready for their big SEC West showdown against LSU. Get ready for the hype machine to go on overdrive starting… now!
2 2 Florida State 8-0, 6-0 ACC 3 You see my comments above. It’s hard to believe despite my not liking them, I think they’re better than Oregon by most of the AP voters.
3 3 Oregon 8-0, 5-0 Pac-12 2 This week will be fun. Oregon goes down to Stanford for what will ostensibly be the Pac-12 title.
4 4 Ohio State 9-0, 5-0 Big Ten 4 Excuse me if my panties don’t froth up over a 56-0 win over Purdue. What does it say about the level of competition when Cal scored the most points against the Buckeyes?
5 5 Auburn 8-1, 4-1 SEC 7 It must have been nice for Gus Malzahn to get his revenge over Arkansas. For Alabama haters, get behind Auburn. They’re probably the best hope to dethrone the Tide when they host the Iron Bowl at the end of the month.
6 7 Stanford 7-1, 5-1 Pac-12 6 Did everyone take a bye before this coming showdown week?
7 Baylor 7-0, 4-0 Big 12 5 Fuck Baylor. I hope all of the gay people go up to the student body president’s apartment and fuck fuck fuck until the they can’t fuck no more.
8 6 Missouri 8-1, 4-1 SEC 9 That loss to South Carolina last week was costly. The Cocks have only one more conference game (against Florida), the Tigers have three. So if South Carolina wins next week and Mizzou loses one more game, South Carolina wins the SEC East.
9 Clemson 8-1, 6-1 ACC 8 I have nothing to say about this team.
10 Oklahoma 7-1, 4-1 Big 12 12 We’ll know more about the Sooners when they face off against Baylor on Thursday. But I couldn’t put two-loss Texas A&M or LSU up here despite the temptation.