After another loss to a top 5 team, fans of Buckeye nation are finally realizing that Jim Tressel needs to change something at Ohio State. The Bucks have become one of the most hated programs in the country because they’ve failed to show up in multiple big games over the last 3 seasons. But what is worse? Not being able to beat good teams or not being able to beat bad teams. Pete Carroll is known as one of the top 2 coaches in college football and led the program of the decade to titles in 2003 and 2004. But since losing to Texas in the BCS Championship game in 2005, the Trojans have been beaten by huge underdogs every season. They lost to Oregon State (33-31) and UCLA (13-9) in 2006, they fell to Stanford (24-23) and Oregon (24-17) in 2007, they tripped up at Oregon State (27-21) last season and of course at Washington last week. When will Pete Carroll begin to be questioned nationally? Does blowing out Penn State in the Rose Bowl give him a pass to lose to a 30 point underdog? Ohio State fans have Tressel on the hot seat despite all his success. Don’t Trojans fans have the same expectations for Carroll? Something is wrong with the Florida Gators.

We picked Florida to repeat as national champions, but after watching a couple games, they aren’t going to roll to the title like everyone thinks they are. They haven’t opened up the offense yet and I think it’s because they can’t consistently protect Tim Tebow when he drops back to pass. Tennessee sacked Tebow 3 times and forced an interception on just 22 pass attempts. Florida has been very mediocre this year and with LSU, Georgia, Florida State and probably Alabama in the SEC title game, the Gators will not go undefeated in 2009.

That leads me to my next observation. The Alabama Crimson Tide has just as good a chance as anybody of winning the national championship. Florida and Texas still have a good shot, but keep an eye on Bama. Greg McElory is much better than people realize, plus when you add a great running game with the return of WR Julio Jones, Nick Saban’s group has all the pieces to make a run.

 The AP poll is a joke. They overact way too much and this week is a perfect example. Miami (#9) is ranked way too high and so is Cincinnati (#14) and Washington (#24). Sure the Huskies beat USC last week, but they were out gained by Idaho the week before. Washington will lose at least 3 more games this season. Besides winning at Oregon State last week against an over-rated Beavers squad, Cincy beat Rutgers and hung 70 on SE Missouri State (FYI. SE Missouri hung 72 on Quincy the week before). They don’t deserve to be in the top 15. Miami will lose the next two weeks so they’ll be irrelevant by the end of the October. By the way, Ohio State shouldn't have dropped 2 spots after beating a decent Toledo team 38-0.

College Football Picks of the Week (4-4-1 this year, 20-9-1 last year)

Texas A&M -14 vs UAB

Notre Dame -7 vs Purdue

Penn State -10 vs Iowa

 NFL Picks of the Week (3-3 this year)

Tennessee +3 vs N.Y. Jets

New Orleans -7 vs Buffalo

Indianapolis +2 vs Arizona

For the first time, I’m slightly worried about Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo. The guy is 28-13 as a starter, but still takes as much unfair criticism as any player in the NFL. My cause for concern comes from the way he struggled against New York on Sunday Night. In the past, Romo’s bad decisions came when he had to deal with a pass rush or blitzers coming free. Last week’s turnovers came when he had good protection from the offensive line. He was hardly pressured at all, yet he still turned the ball over 3 times. Just to repeat, I’m only slightly worried.