Oklahoma Sooners Football: Sooners 16th in Both Polls (and Other Observations)

The Oklahoma Sooners are ranked No. 16 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, both of which were released Sunday. The Sooners looked halfway decent on Saturday (although half of the game was against terrible quarterback Joe Hubener), but they were primarily the beneficiary of teams losing ahead of them. That’s pretty much how OU will climb the rest of the season, unless they absolutely demolish Baylor or West Virginia. Anyway, these two polls don’t actually matter, but they’re a decent gauge of public opinion. Having said that, here are some other observations on the meaningless polls.

• No one is brave enough to join 1930s Manhattan Michigan Man by voting the Wolverines No. 1 in the AP Poll (and it’s gonna stay that way until Bama decides to be human again), but AP voters are clearly starting to come around to them. Michigan hopped Clemson in the poll after the Tigers got very, very lucky against NC State. I’m of the opinion that Clemson’s gonna go down at FSU later this month. The Seminoles are far from perfect, but Derwin James could be back in the secondary by then. Also, Clemson typically doesn’t perform well in Tallanasty.
• Nebraska proved me wrong this Saturday by defeating the Fightin’ Kevin Wilsons, and the Huskers are now No. 8/9 in the polls. They should win again next week against Purdue, but they then travel to Madison and Columbus in back-to-back weeks. Mike Riley’s doing a good job this year, but the Huskers will be exposed in the near future.
• Baylor moved up to No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 8 in the Coaches Poll, while the Mountaineers are up to 12 and 13. To be perfectly honest, Baylor has no business being ranked ahead of West Virginia at this point. Baylor has one decent win over Oklahoma State, but WVU is starting to rack up solid wins on almost a weekly basis. The Big 12 currently has three teams in the top 25, though Oklahoma State is lurking at 28/29.
• The Sooners are now ranked third among two-loss teams after Ole Miss was conquered by the Hogs. That’s probably fair. Wisconsin (10th in both polls) has looked tough in every game they’ve played this year, and (FSU 13th in AP, 15th in Coaches) has better wins than OU has to this point.
• Western Michigan sits at No. 20 in both polls with a 7-0 record. I’ll admit, I had to do some research on these guys. It turns out they have wins at Northwestern, Illinois and Central Michigan (the team that won in Stillwater, kind of). Quarterback Zach Terrell has completed 70% of his passes this season and hasn’t thrown an interception. The Broncos wont be tested again until they face the Toledo Rockets at the end of the season, so they have a very decent chance to win out. If Houston loses to Louisville (they will) and Boise State loses a game (much less likely), we’ll be watching this team in an New Year’s Six bowl.