Ranked or not, some teams need to pretending

This past weekend of college football revealed to the nation that there are a lot of fakers in the rankings. The list of imposters include last week's 14th-ranked team, Michigan, and possibly the biggest sham of all, the Tennessee Volunteers, who went into their game against Florida ranked fourth in the country. Two teams from the Wac-10, 22nd-ranked UCLA and 11th-ranked USC, also join the list of posers.

While Michigan started its season off with a bang, defeating Washington in dramatic fashion with a last second field goal from kicker Phillip Brabbs and blowing out state rival Western Michigan, subsequent games leave doubts about the National Championship dreams of the Wolverines. A heart-breaking loss, like the defeat Michigan suffered to the Irish of Notre Dame, can not only push down a team in the rankings, but also deflate the heart and spirit of a squad.

Last Saturday, the Wolverines were expected to stomp a mud hole into the Utah Utes, but barely escaped with a victory. The 2-2 Utes made a strong showing for the Mountain West Conference, which boasts the 25th-ranked Colorado State Rams as its marquee name.

Utah, which has not had a primetime player since Jamal Anderson, traveled to Michigan with realistic dreams of keeping the contest close. With only dreams to keep Utah hopeful, they did the unthinkable and managed to never be down by more than ten points at any given point of the contest. Michigan scored ten unanswered points in the first half before its offense was stifled in the second half by a pesky Ute defense.

Much of the offensive struggles can be placed on the shoulders of quarterback John Navarre, who misfired on many passes down the home stretch against Notre Dame last week, and only tossed for 186 yards against Utah. While Navarre did not throw an interception, he also did not connect on a touchdown, placing much of the offensive weight on running back Chris Perry (26-91). While the Utes defense was putting in work, the offense was getting worked. Quarterback Lance Rice passed for 208 yards, but had two interceptions.

The second interception was rather unfortunate for Utah. After the team scored its first and only touchdown on a pass from Rice, the Utes had a legitimate shot of knocking off the 14th-ranked team in the country. With a minute left and Utah driving, Michigan defensive back, Julius Curry intercepted Rice, ending Utah's threat and game 10-7. Although Michigan did win, they proved could-be fakers due to the heavy Big-10 competition they have yet to face.

The previously fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers faced its first true challenge of the season in a game against the perennial SEC power, the Florida Gators. The Gators entered the game ranked tenth after losing to defending champion Miami Hurricanes in its second game.

The Gators opposed the Volunteers, who have played a softer out-of-conference schedule than the two-ply toilet paper that should be in every dorm bathroom. With victories over Wyoming and Middle Tennessee State, it is no wonder Florida dropped a deuce on the state of Tennessee, stunning the Volunteers 30-13. The loss should tell coach Phil Fulmer that a team has to play against worthy competition to prepare for a game with such important national implications.

Rushing was not a key to the game as neither squad reached 100 yards as a team, but the passing game told it all. Florida quarterback Rex Grossman tossed his frustration from previous games onto the hearts of the Tennessee defense. Grossman passed for 324 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Before the Vols knew it, they were down 24-0 at halftime, a defecit that proved insurmountable. To the team's credit, quarterback Casey Clausen threw for 285 yards with no interceptions. Tennessee controlled the clock, but lacked the big play potential that Florida displayed.

Tennessee wraps up its out-of-conference schedule with the ever-dangerous Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University. Not only is Rutgers the laughing stock of the Big East, its most popular football alumnus, quarterback Mike McMahon, was recently was benched by the winless Detroit Lions in favor of Joey "Heisman" Harrington.

Looking down the Pac-10 standings, with Oregon and Oregon State as the conference's only undefeated squads, it appears as if every team is good because no team has more than one loss. Well, my friends, looks can be deceiving. After California muscled up last week to defeat Michigan State, the conference took two losses from its LA teams.

UCLA and USC choked, just like the Dodgers in the second half of the major league baseball season, dropping huge conference-building games. Although USC demolished Colorado on national television two weekends ago, the Trojans are still fighting for respect. With victories over the Big-12's Colorado and Kansas State, the Pac-10 would have taken a giant step towards proving it is a better conference. As Ernest Byner did in an AFC championship game against the Denver Broncos, the Pac-10 dropped the ball.

UCLA earned a spot in the top 25 just to get manhandled by an underachieving Colorado Buffalo squad. The Buffalo exacted perfect revenge on the city of Los Angeles in making up for a blowout loss against USC by wiping the field with the Bruins. Colorado running back Chris Brown carried the offense for injured quarterback Craig Ochs by rushing for 188 yards on 26 carries. UCLA showed the ill effects of losing last season's running back DeShaun Foster to the NFL's Carolina Panthers by tallying a net total of 62 rushing yards as opposed to the Buff's 325.

Meanwhile in Manhattan, Kansas, the Cougars proved once again that they are a forced to be reckoned with. While Kansas State had played a Twinkie schedule until the USC match-up, its average margin of victory (54.33 points) could not be overlooked. For this reason, the battle was of two ranked teams with the lower of the two, K-State pulling out a thrilling 27-20 victory over the then-11th-ranked Trojans.

The Cougars held a 27-6 lead three seconds into the fourth quarter. Even a late barrage of 14 points by the Trojans was not enough to earn them a victory. Kansas State improved to 4-0 with some experts believing they have a legitimate shot at the Big-12 title. Meanwhile, USC dropped to 2-1, but still remains ranked