TERRY MOSHER
Now that the dust has settled on college football with the exception of the national championship game between unbeaten Alabama and Clemson, which is a repeat of last year’s title game that Alabama won 45-40, I have reshuffled my rankings of the teams.
Let me say first that when I was covering Washington football for the Kitsap Sun, which I did for nearly 30 years, I used to be a poll voter along with a vote on the Heisman so I had a pretty good handle on what was going on in the college scene. I have not backed off that. I still keep up with what is going on and feel I have some expertise.
Having said that, I will offer this: Like life itself, the game of college football has changed a lot since when I started covering it for the local paper. The game is much more explosive and players are bigger, stronger, quicker and more skilled, probably because of all the football camps that have sprung up over these past few decades that allow kids who are interested to gain valuable knowledge and skills.
Also, we are in an informational age where a person can see just about anything, including football games all over the country. That was not the case when I was a poll voter. Now there is no reason why you or anybody for that matter could not vote on a poll with some sort of accuracy. All you need is a smart phone and the time to investigate teams.
So here’s the way I look at it now. Alabama is still No. 1 until Clemson can prove it can beat the Tide. And maybe the Tigers can. They have the passer in Deshaun Watson who could threaten that solid Alabama secondary. The six-foot-three Watson, a junior, has thrown for 4,173 yards and 38 touchdowns (17 interceptions) while leading Clemson to a 13-1 record (its loss was 43-42 to Pittsburgh). He also has rushed for 672 yards.
However, I favor Alabama in the championship game because of the Tide’s incredible defense. But who knows? Last year the Tide had to withstand a furious Clemson rally to win.
So here is my up-to-date top 10 rankings:
- USC
- Penn State
- Clemson
- Washington
- Oklahoma
- LSU
- Florida State
- Oklahoma State
- Virginia Tech
You will notice that I left off Ohio State and Michigan. Those are good teams, but after watching the bowls I concluded that the Big-10 was not as strong as I had thought going into the bowl season.
Penn State I like because it can score points as it proved against a good USC team in the Rose Bowl game. The Nittany Lions have one of the best running backs nobody knows about in Saquon Barkley. The 5-11, 223-pound sophomore is amazing. He rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns against USC and 1,496 for the season.
I put Washington ahead of Oklahoma, LSU and Florida State, although I think they are all real close. The Huskies defense was awesome against Alabama. A bad pass by quarterback Jake Browning that was returned for a touchdown and a crucial fumble by John Ross that led to an Alabama field goal and allowing a long TD run by Bo Scarbrough were the only real blemishes on a solid football game by the Huskies against Alabama.
Washington will be good again next season, but I do believe that Browning is going to have to be taught to scramble better because he, for me, is slow avoiding good defensive pressure. If he can be effective throwing the ball while scrambling –think Russell Wilson – Browning could be much better next season.
As for why I got USC second, that is simple. The Trojans played as well as anybody in college football after starting out the season 1-3 with losses to Alabama on a neutral field and on the road to Stanford and Utah.
Their turnaround began in their fourth game when Sam Darnold replaced Skyline’s Max Browne at quarterback. The Trojans lost that Utah game, but none since and it’s my opinion that Darnold is so good he could start in the NFL right now even though he’s still a freshman.
By the way, Browne has since transferred to Pittsburgh. The 6-5 Browne, a redshirt junior, can play immediately at Pitt because he already has his degree from USC.
Browne threw for 12,951 yards and 146 touchdowns at Skyline where he led the school to three straight 4A state title games, winning the last two, and was named the 2011 Gatorade Player of the Year in Washington State.
Ok, that’s it for today. I need to go to urgent care in Silverdale to see what is going on with me and then I’m coming home and see if I can get Mary to play a couple games of Cribbage or Pinoche.
That reminds me, did I ever tell you that I used to go with friends to Cap Hansen’s Tavern in Bellingham when I was going to Western Washington and for $1 could purchase an incredible Reuben sandwich with a small bag of chips and a schooner of beer and sit there for an hour or so and play Cribbage. It was a great diversion from studies at Western, and those Reuben’s were really incredible.
And I use to hang around Pike’s Tavern in Ferndale and watch the retired farmers from the Ferndale Flats play Pinochle. I did that off-and-on for two years before I thought I was schooled enough in the card game to play it.
Once I began to play for a quarter a game and 10 cents a set, I had my recreational money while going to Western because I was really good at Pinochle.
That always reminds me of the three-days during one of those years in the 1960s when I couldn’t lose at anything – ship, captain crew with dice, at the pinball machines or in Pinochle. Those three days I made $56, which was a lot of money for a college kid back in those days.
That streak of luck, and that is what it was, was such that one night I convinced three of my buddies of it by telling them I could play the pinball machine by shooting all five balls as quick as possible and then step back and watch as the balls would land in holes that would make me a winner.
Sure enough, the five balls lined up five-in-a-row and I won 64 dimes (machines paid off back then) and I had not touched the machine.
That same time frame I one day while paying Pinochle and got a hand that was perfect. I can’t remember just how much I melded, but it was a lot. And I took all the tricks. It was like taking candy from a baby.
But all good things must end and they did the next day. I was again playing Pinochle and I got the worst hand I ever had. It was a combination of a bunch of nines and 10s and jacks. I immediately knew the fun times were over and stopped playing Pinochle and ship, captain, crew and the pinball machine for a week until those bad luck days passed.
Ok, I’m really done now.
Be well pal
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.