Lessons in unpredictability

The college football season is at the halfway point of its season and as November nears, the games will become even more important for those teams still atop the polls. Only three teams from college football's biggest conferences remain undefeated and two of those, Miami and Virginia Tech, still have to play one another Nov. 1.\nOklahoma, Miami and Virginia Tech top both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll with Miami taking just a handful of first place votes from the so far dominant Oklahoma Sooners. The initial Bowl Championship Series standings were revealed last night looking relatively similar to the other weekly polls, but over the years the initial BCS standings have meant little come early December when the final standings decide who will play for the national championship.\nSince the BCS' inception in 1998, only four of the 10 teams released in the top two spots of the BCS in mid-October remained in one of the top two slots at the end of the season. Over the last five years, there have been an average of nearly six undefeated teams per season on the first week the BCS has been released, but we have yet to see more than two undefeateds at the end of the season. This year's number of three undefeateds at the initial release are the fewest in the BCS' six-year history and with the Miami at Virginia Tech game still looming, it assures us of no more than two undefeated teams come December once again.\nI'm predicting Oklahoma to continue to roll onto the Sugar Bowl Jan. 3, and Virginia Tech to upset Miami in Blacksburg, Va. But Tech has to go on the road to rival West Virginia tomorrow and better not be looking ahead to the Hurricanes Nov. 1, or else the Mountaineers could pull the upset. Virginia Tech also still has to visit in-state arch rival Virginia in the final game of their regular season Nov. 29.\nThe lack of unbeaten teams this year can be attributed to the high inconsistency among college football and particularly college athletes we typically see on a game-by-game basis. College athletics often times provide the most intriguing and exciting games we see during the sports year. College athletes have everything to win, including a championship, becoming a legend to all their school's fans, or a future big time contract at the professional level, while they often have nothing to lose when they are on the field. We are usually fortunate enough to avoid the egos of high paid athletes in the college ranks which helps to make the games and players all the more appealing.\nBut as we have seen in college football this season, inconsistency is prevalent week in and week out. Florida and Oregon are two of the best examples of inconsistent play this season. Oregon beat then-No.3 Michigan 31-27 and the following week was crushed by No. 21 Washington State 55-16. While the Cougars are a very solid team, and now up to No. 6 in the country, no team should have beaten Oregon this badly at home. Oregon has gone on to lose to a solid Utah team and then was trampled by Pac-10 rival and 4-3 Arizona State 59-14.\nMeanwhile, Florida led then-No. 3 Miami by 23 points only to blow the lead and lose 38-33. It went on to lose to both Tennessee and Mississippi at home in 'The Swamp,' before beating two top-15 teams in LSU and Arkansas on the road. Next week, Florida hosts No. 4 Georgia and in the last week of the season the team plays No. 6 Florida State, but most importantly for Florida is which Gator squad will show up to play.\nInconsistency is abound in all college athletics and for good reason. College athletes are far less experienced than their professional counterparts and have multiple other concerns in their lives when they are in college. Rigorous practices squeezed in around classes and tests, not to mention it is the first time many of these athletes have been away from home and have to worry about food and laundry, making for unreliable performance on the field.\nIt is this unpredictability which makes college athletics so captivating and will keep fans on the edge of their seats for the rest of the college football season.