Home School Fans Episode 6: Week 4 - The Other Four Teams

    According to current polls, the James Madison Dukes are better than the Power Five programs of Indiana and Virginia, not to mention fast-dropping Fresno State. This may be true.

    James Madison smashed Texas State, 40-13, and will face the Arkansas State Red Wolves, who have moved up 7 spots to 93 in the CBS rankings, after handling Louisiana-Monroe in impressive fashion. JMU, now at 36th nationally, looks to keep on blowing up the competition. Yes, obviously better than the bottom 31, as I had suggested or advocated from the beginning.

    Fresno State is still ranked ahead of the Hoosiers and the Cavaliers at 75, with a 1-3 record and the most recent loss to UConn 19-14. Wait. What? UConn? No way! UConn is UCan't! FSU is not better than IU and UVA, I am thinking. I do think that the Bulldogs are better than losing to the Huskies of the Constitution State. Up next, they have a newly resurgent Boise State, who found their offense after getting clipped by UTEP and having their offensive coordinator fired mid-week. BSU was down, but maybe they have their mojo back, as usual. They are ranked at 77, 3-2 record.

    It is weird that BYU is ranked 19 and Notre Dame as high as 42/43 in this poll, but we know that they are close in talent and ability. Vegas only has a 3.5 point difference between them.

    So, the rankings may not be that indicative of the results. In the case of BYU, who knows? I think that they could peak at their best, because their worst was on display against Oregon three weeks ago.

    Indiana played Nebraska tough the first half, with some crazy fumbles and blocked punts leading to scores on both sides, but the second half was lackluster for IU; the Cornhuskers won 35-21, taking advantage of IU doldrums. IU dropped 9 spots to 81, and now face top 4 Michigan this Saturday at noon. It might be ugly, but we never know. Could the defense come up with some inspired play? We shall see. The Wolverines just dropped the d-boom on Iowa (who is not known for scoring), and is rated 4th in the nation. In Bloomington. Could be scary. Or could be a miracle. Indiana is definitely missing its top two receivers, Matthews and Camper. That might have been the difference in Lincoln. They both can catch for 100 yards and multiple TDs, which was not there last weekend.

    Virginia is now ranked 89th after getting punked by Duke (yeah, Duke!), 38-17. The Wahoos have Lousiville next. I am thinking the Cards will get them, despite they not having a great season so far.

    Prognosis:

    JMU is going to have a fine season and get a good bowl, somehow. Any bowl would be great for the first time FBS team. Check that, maybe they are not allowed to bowl yet? Either way, really good season.

    IU will struggle to get 3 more wins and be bowl eligible. Maryland? Rutgers? Michigan State? Purdue? Like most years.

    Virginia and Fresno State both will struggle to be good enough, too.

    This weekend will determine for some, how good they will be. A loss to UM is not the end of hope for IU, but FSU and UVA could certainly use some big wins against decent programs. JMU should keep going.

    Yeah. Moving on.