Roundtable: Dissecting the top-3

On this week’s conference call, the Legends discussed the rationale for ranking Florida, Alabama and Texas in the No. 1 – No. 3 spots. RC Slocum broke down Texas and others chimed in on the LSU-Florida game. Terry Donahue is one of the voters who likes Alabama in the top spot.

Slocum: Texas is winning every week and you have to give them some credit for that, but they’re just inconsistent.  Early on (in the season) I thought they weren’t playing very well on defense and I worried about their special teams. But the other day they won the game on special teams and defense. So, we’ll find out this week.  They’re playing Oklahoma in the biggest test they’ve had.  It appears to me that Colt McCoy is turning the ball over.  He’s playing like he did the year before last — just kind of an average guy.  Last year he was the difference in their team.  This year he’s had a less than spectacular start.

I don’t think Texas has the defense — ranking these teams I had Texas at No. 3. They don’t have a defense like Florida and Alabama, I don’t think they can run the ball like Florida and Alabama.

Donahue: The best teams I’ve seen so far are Florida and Alabama.  I’ve done (color commentary) Alabama twice and Alabama is a team to me with no apparent weaknesses.  They’ve got a whole lot of athleticism everywhere around their football team.  Their offensive line is very good, maybe not as good as Florida’s, but certainly good.  They’ve got a whole group of running backs they can throw at you.  The quarterback is better than I ever thought he would be after watching him in the opening game against Virginia Tech.  Greg McElroy is really playing well for them.  He’s good with the ball.

Florida’s offensive line is the most impressive line I’ve seen in a lot of years.  I’d have to go back to some of the great lines, you know, over the years to see a better one than Florida’s offensive line.  So those are the two best teams I’ve seen.

Slocum: I’m kind of curious about the LSU game.  I was impressed with LSU’s speed and everything and I’m curious about in the poll if you play Alabama who we all have as number two and you get beat 13-3, I don’t know why you drop so far.  You know, you play a team ranked ahead of them and you think the team ahead of them should win and they won by a fairly close margin so I didn’t mark them down much.  I think LSU is one of the better teams around.

Don James: Well, one thing is they didn’t play that well out here in Washington, you know.  They played a very average football team and struggled to win.  That was just the opener and we all know how openers are so we all know how openers are.

Bill Mallory: I think the big question with LSU is their offense.  I’m still not sure how good of an offense they really are.

Vince Dooley: I think the quarterback (Jordan Jefferson) is still inexperienced and that’s a problem with them.  I think they have great athletes and they’ve won a lot of close games which is part of winning I guess.  Despite the fact that they got beat 13-3 I thought Florida was a much, much stronger football team.  Everything was going for LSU in the ball game, but Florida still played well.

Slocum: When you play the No. 1 team in the nation and lose 13-3, you probably played pretty well.  They’re a one-loss team now, and I compare them to other one-loss teams.  Southern Cal lost to a Washington team that’s not very good.  So USC with one loss compared to losing to the No. 1 team in college football, I didn’t mark them down as far.

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