Jim Harbaugh

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — I would love to transform this into a participation ribbon column and mention all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision programs.

A ribbon to Alabama coach Nick Saban for scheduling nonconference games against teams ranked No. 51, No. 156 and No. 87 — with No. 224 (mighty Western Carolina) waiting with chocolate and roses on Nov. 23, the week before the Crimson Tide visit Auburn.

Dear Lord Saban: I enjoy your Aflac commercial, but you’re scheduling as if you don’t have job insurance.

A certificate for Chip Kelly, whose UCLA team finally looked like a Chip Kelly team while scoring 50 points in the second half and rallying to win at Washington State.

A lapel pin (but a seat facing the wall) to Mike Leach because his Washington State team scored 63 points and lost that game to the previously winless Bruins. A disdain for defense is precisely the reason Leach always finds a way to finish short of the goal.

I could go on. But I don’t have ribbons for everybody. Just the Top Five — and Bottom Five. 

Top Five

1. Louisiana State (4-0) — We’re a quarter of the way through the season, and the Tigers’ win at Texas ranks No. 1 on the list of most impressive victories. The Tigers went to Vanderbilt and won by 28. Georgia won in Nashville by 24. The Tigers lead the nation in points per game at 57.8. This is not Les Miles’ LSU.

2. Auburn (4-0) — The Tigers are in an elite club of teams with two wins over ranked opponents (Oregon and Texas A&M), and neither game was played at home. Of course, four more top 10 teams await on the schedule.

3. Clemson (4-0) — The Tigers better hope that Texas A&M rallies and remains in the Top 25, because the Aggies figure to be the only ranked team on Dabo Swinney’s schedule because of a soggy Atlantic Coast Conference.

4. Georgia (4-0) — The Bulldogs’ win over Notre Dame didn’t reach the expectations of Las Vegas, but it’s still more impressive than Ohio State beating Cincinnati and Indiana or Oklahoma handling UCLA and Houston.

5. Appalachian State (3-0) — The talent Scott Satterfield collected in Boone, North Carolina, was legit, and nobody was shocked when the Mountaineers won at The State University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, even though they were outgained by 84 yards.

Bottom Five

5. The State newspaper (0-2) — Talk about fumbling — twice. After placing a wildly insensitive headline about quarterback Ryan Hilinski over its story about South Carolina’s loss at Missouri on Saturday, the newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, fumbled a second time with a meek apology about the headline.

South Carolina officials refused to accept the apology, and I don’t blame them. The flip headline was a terrible attempt at humor, and mental illness is not something to joke about in a sports story.

4. Kash Daniel (0-1) — Somebody important did not agree with the defense that Daniel, the Kentucky linebacker, offered for his behavior in the pile against Florida, especially after video surfaced that appeared to show Daniel twisting the ankle of Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. Daniel said it was not a twist or an attempt to injure an opponent.

Either the SEC office or UK coach Mark Stoops did not agree. Props to Stoops, who sat Daniel for the first quarter and one series in the second quarter at Mississippi State. Without Daniel, Kentucky fell behind 14-3 and lost 28-13. Trask, meanwhile, led Florida to 34-3 win over Tennessee.

After the game, Stoops made his point that Kentucky players will respect the game and their opponents — and maybe Daniel learned that he made a mistake that he could have quickly fixed with an apology.

3. Central Florida (3-1) — A week after UCF finally earned some national credibility by squashing Stanford, the Knights returned to the world of Power Five wannabes with a loss to Pittsburgh. It’s back to playing UConn, East Carolina and Tulane.

2. Tennessee (1-3) — Remember that mighty Georgia State team that beat the Vols in Week 1? Well, Georgia State has lost its last two games to Western Michigan (57-10) and Texas State (37-34). Not only is Tennessee 1-3, the Vols play two of their next three against Georgia and Alabama after a week off.

1. Jim Harbaugh (2-1) — It isn’t simply the spring practice trips to Rome or the shots at the way other schools recruit or the multiple millionaire assistant coaches at Michigan or the refusal to release his depth chart or the other things that Harbaugh does to lead the Big Ten in wacky behavior.

It’s this: Michigan got wildly outplayed and out-toughed by Army and Wisconsin — and if you listen to the recruiting gurus the Black Knights and the Badgers don’t have any players the Wolverines were eager to recruit.

So what’s the problem?

Copyright 2019 WDRB media. All rights reserved.