There is one word that can describe the beginning of every college football season: expectations. Every year, for most teams expectations are high, but for a few others, nothing much is expected.
Since the Associated Press preseason Top 25 rankings came out, nine of the original top 25 teams have proceeded to drop out from the rankings, including the likes of Maryland, Marshall and also Louisville. However, the dismal performances of these teams opened spots up to surprise teams like Iowa, Bowling Green and Notre Dame.
It is important to remember that the season is still young and with the nature of the BCS rankings, anything can happen for the postseason.
Here is a look, thus far, at a two of the most disappointing and also underrated teams of this 2002 season.
Florida Gators
The Florida Gators, under new Head Coach Ron Zook, came into the season with huge expectations and surprisingly find themselves out of the top 25 for the first time in quite some time. Although stacked with talent, starting with senior quarterback Rex Grossman, the Gators have lost consecutive conference games for the first time in 10 years.
A lot of the blame may be placed on Grossman; however, the fact of the matter is that the offensive scheme drawn up thus far this season has been unproductive. Far more trick plays have also been used in the new Zook era, fake field goals, attempted halfback passes and direct handoffs to wide receivers, compared to that of the Steve Spurrier regime.
But do not count out the Gators too fast. There is no doubt that Grossman, a Heisman candidate, will overcome is horrendous interceptions total from the past few weeks, and lead his team back near the top of the leader board in the SEC. Regardless of how their record finishes, the Fiesta Bowl is not looking promising for the Gators.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
The preseason's 10th ranked team in the nation, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have slowly begun to rebound from a very dismal start to the 2002 season. After two blowout losses at the hands of Penn State and Iowa State, the team received a huge gut check and had to answer a lot of question of how good the team really was, especially since they were knocked out of the Top 25 rankings for the first time since 1981.
The ineffective quarterback play of junior Jammal Lord plus all the inconsistencies with the defense totaled up to great disappointment in corn land. The team could not gain yards and worst of all could not stop the opposing team from gaining yards'a recipe for disaster.
Nebraska has traditionally dominated the Big 12 conference unfortunately a conference title is not looking too bright in the future for the Cornhuskers. But beware, the season is still young, and there are a lot of games ahead for Head Coach Frank Solich's team to make a solid bowl game.
Air Force Falcons
The football team representing the Air Force has become one of the best stories of this season. The nation's top rushing team has surprised people from all walks of the nation by not only their complete dominations of Navy and also BYU, but more impressively carrying a perfect record (6-0 overall, 3-0 Mountain West) and a No. 18 ranking into their weekend showdown with the No. 7 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
Off to their best start since the 1997 season (starting 7-0), Air Force is dominating offensively and defensively. Junior quarterback Chance Harridge has been nearly unstoppable for the Falcons on offense as he has racked up 615 yards on the ground and scored a nation high 15 touchdowns. In three of their six victories this season, their defense has also held the opposition to less than 10 points.
However the most important reason for success can be attributed to consistency. Credit the coaching staff and players for maintaining solid play on both sides of the ball in each game thus far this year.
This weekend marks a huge match up between two longtime rivals and will surely not disappoint.
Iowa State
The No. 9 ranked Iowa State Cyclones are somewhere they have very little familiarity with and that is a top the Big 12 conference. The Cyclones (6-1, 3-0 Big 12) are off to their best start since winning their first seven games in 1938 and are 3-0 in league play for the first time since 1949. Winning their last six games, the Cyclones have conference victories over Kansas, Nebraska and Texas Tech. However, their true test comes ahead.
Lead by senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Seneca Wallace, Iowa State is poised to tackle on their tough schedule and prevail as the Big 12's biggest and baddest. Upcoming games against No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 8 Texas will be great tests for this up and rising program.
Although Wallace is the standout player on the team, the Cyclones are getting equal and solid contributions from all over the field. Most impressive of the team is their luxury of having four excellent wide receivers that have all caught for over 340 yards this season.
The following weeks will tell whether Iowa State is very undermined team or just one that has gotten lucky thus far this season.
