Michigan State the Contender, Florida the Pretender and the B.C.S.

We are six weeks into the college football season and already there have been surprises. One week after dominating Florida, Alabama and McElroy lose their first game since the 2008 season. Boise State is undefeated, but so is fellow WAC member Nevada. Penn State, Texas and USC are all unranked. The Heisman race is being controlled by quarterbacks.

Wait, that last one always happens.

Michigan State is a Contender

(Yahoo! Sports)

One of the biggest match-ups of Week 6 was the 5-0 Michigan State Spartans invading the Big House to take on the 5-0 Michigan Wolverines with Denard Robinson at the helm. The result - a 34-17 battering at the hands of the Spartans.

This may be a surprise to a lot of people who haven't been watching MSU. Being a Michigan fan, that is hard to admit. They have looked as solid as any team in the nation so far this year. They had three fluff games in the first four weeks that they were able to control and the fourth was a game against Notre Dame that came down to a fake field goal in overtime.

Now some people may look at the Nortre Dame game, a team that is 3-3, and they think if State was a contender, they would have beat them easier. Well, sometimes a great team doesn't always play great and an okay team plays better than expected. The fact that MSU was able to close out the close game with an excellent play call by Coach Dantonio says volumes about this team.

Then there was Wisconsin. Wisconsin was ranked 11th in the nation and undefeated. They had a Heisman hopeful in their running back and were picked to win. State shut down John Clay and won by double digits, 34-24.

So their first away game of the season was against the Wolverines. Michigan was ranked 18th in the nation and undefeated. They had a Heisman front runner in their quarterback and were picked to win.

Sound familiar?

Yep, State won, easily, 34-17. They shut down Robinson on the ground and forced him to throw 3 INTs. The running game did what they have done all year, pound it out.

MSU doesn't face Ohio State this year and their hardest game left is a game at Iowa. Iowa's defense is strong, no question. But, if MSU keeps playing the way they have the first six weeks, they could run the table and worst case, share the Big Ten title with Ohio State and earn themselves a BCS Bowl Game.

DRob is Not a Pretender, and Still a Contender

(Yahoo! Sports)

On the other side of the ball, Michigan's star quarterback, Denard Robinson, was not his usual superhuman self. But, different people look at this game in a different ways.

Here is how I look at it. DRob still put up 215 yards through the air and 86 on the ground. He still had two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground. And he still was The Michigan Offense.

What was different in this game? The 3 INTs. Yes, that hurts. Not doubt. And if you watched the game or go back and look at the throws, they weren't good. But, the problem was that Denard was trying to do too much. He was forcing the balls in there. He is a sophomore in his first year as a starter and against his first tough defense. If Rich Rod and the QB coach saw what I did, and I really hope they did, they will work with him on this.

So where does this leave him in the Heisman race? Still very much in it, just not the runaway winner. In a year where no players are stepping up like Tim Tebow of 2007 or Mark Ingram of 2009, DRob is the most electrifying player on the field anywhere in the country. He has over 1,200 yards passing and just under 1,000 yards rushing. And, like I said before, he is The Michigan Offense. While Tate Forcier and Devan Gardner are good QBs, the team would not be the same with out DRob. 

That is the stuff that Heisman winners are made of. Now if he throws 3 INTs in the rest of the six regular season games and they lose all six, then he has no chance. But, if he realizes what he did wrong, gets back to what works and keeps his stats up, he has as good of a chance as anybody in the Heisman race.

Oh My, Florida is a Pretender

(Yahoo! Sports)

Did the experts watch Florida's first four games of the season? And if they did, did they watch the same games I did?

The way that they talked up the Florida Gators before their Week 5 game against Alabama, I really hope something was wrong with their viewings of the Gators.

This is not a championship team!

I like to think of this team as similar to the Michigan Wolverines. While the Wolverines are all offense and no defense, the Gators are all defense and no offense. In their opening game against Miami (OH), Miami was into the game into the fourth quarter, and not because of the defense. They only allowed 12 points. The offense, now led by John Brantley, had only 212 yards of offense, the same as Miami. Against Tennessee, the offense had over 300 yards of offense, but were only by 7 points to a poor team with six minutes left. 

If I had to guess, I would think the experts looked at their last game against Kentucky. ATH Trey Burton  had six touchdowns and again the defense stepped up. But, still, the team had not looked impressive on offense at any point during the season.

Before the Alabama - Florida game, many experts on ESPN's College Gameday picked Florida for the upset. One of my friends did to. I turned to him and told him that no way, no how was Florida was going to win. In fact, it would be a blowout by Alabama.

Low and behold, Alabama dominated 31-6, and that is only because they put it into cruise control in the second half. Alabama caused four turnovers, of which 2 INTs by Brantley. They only allowed 79 yards on the ground. Alabama did what I thought - dominated a poor offense.

Then game LSU game, and again most experts picked Florida to win. And while Florida was still in the game up until it was over, they were out gained on offense 385 - 243.

Florida may only lose one more game this season, and that is to a South Carolina team that just beat the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide. A 9-3 season isn't bad, but when you look at why they win five out of six, it's because the SEC East is weak. Very weak. If Florida was in the SEC West, they would lose to Auburn and Arkansas too. Florida may get by South Carolina and when the East, but have no doubt, they will not win the SEC. It won't even be close.

One Quick Note on.... The BCS

The first BCS rankings will come out this Sunday after all Week 7 games are complete. Boise State is predicted to be the number one team at this moment, while Ohio State is predicted to be 5th.

Don't let that fool you. Let Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama, etc. get farther into their conference schedule and the numbers will change.

Not to say that Boise doesn't deserve it, because I think they do, but their schedule is weaker. They better hope Nevada stays undefeated for their match-up.

Agree with the things I said? Disagree? Let me and everyone else know! Comment below and keep following.