National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
MORE FACT OR FICTION: Arkansas, Rondale Moore, USC leadership
1. Texas is not ready for prime time.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. A close loss to a top-five team from the SEC is not indicative of anything despite what Texas haters may think. Yes, the Longhorns fell short against LSU and struggled on defense, but the talent is certainly there to give Oklahoma all it can handle in the Big 12 and even make a playoff run if things go perfectly. Texas is a year away from winning the Big 12, but the Longhorns are showing great improvement and are a national player.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. This speaks more to how much I like LSU this season because I think the Tigers are a legitimate playoff contender. After watching all the top teams in the country, I would rank Texas seventh in the country right now ahead of Notre Dame, Auburn, Florida, Michigan and Utah. The Longhorns have one of the best quarterbacks in the country, some talented receivers and a defense that is really good despite giving up lots of points in a shootout this past weekend. Playoff contender this year? Probably not. But coach Tom Herman has Texas going in the right direction.
2. Two ranked teams will fall this weekend.
Farrell’s take: FACT. There aren’t a ton of great matchups between ranked teams this week, but there are some tough games. Virginia could lose to Florida State (believe it or not), USC could lose to BYU, Iowa could lose to Iowa State and so on. We will see quite a few upsets this weekend actually.
Gorney’s take: FACT. This is one of those weekends where there aren’t a lot of great matchups but it could get really tricky for a lot of teams to make things interesting on the national scene. USC could lose at BYU. Houston is a team that could win a shootout with Washington State. Maryland/Temple might even get interesting. I also think Iowa/Iowa State, Arizona State/Michigan State and Florida State/Virginia are ones to watch. One thing we know: College football is never boring so upsets are going to happen.
3. Joe Burrow is a legit Heisman contender.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. Okay I know he put up monster numbers against Texas but I’m not buying into the Joe Burrow hype yet. He has plenty of weapons to work with and the new offense seems like a great fit, but I don’t see Burrow being a guy who can go wire-to-wire and have a great year. He’ll have to prove me wrong. Once he loses a bit of confidence, he slips back a bit.
Gorney’s take: FACT. Do I think Burrow is going to win the Heisman? No. But through two games he has 158 more passing yards and three more passing TDs than Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, far better numbers than Ohio State’s Justin Fields and he outdueled Texas’ Sam Ehlinger on the national stage. LSU’s offense is for real, the Tigers look comfortable running it and Burrow has a lot of poise and skill to be special this season. The schedule is favorable for a few more weeks where Burrow could pad his stats even more, but then it gets really rough, so we’ll see what he’s made of through a brutal SEC schedule.
