You Want a Playoff?

I'll give you a playoff. Here's a quick look at the top 8 teams in the BCS right now and guess what? They will all play a game against one of the other top 8 teams before the season's end.

I know it's not the same, but it's as close as we're going to get for a long time. So let's just play along for one second.

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. USC
4. Florida
5. Notre Dame
6. Rutgers
7. Arkansas
8. W. Virginia

Michigan will visit Ohio State this weekend.
USC gets Notre Dame next weekend (after getting Cal this weekend).
Florida will (most likely) face Arkansas in the SEC title game in 2 weeks.
And W. Virginia will get Rutgers next week.

There's your stinking playoff. More on the BCS below.

TEXAS LONGHORNS:
OK, so I'm not going to talk a whole lot about the Horns this week. This team needs time to regroup and we all know the concerns going into the next game with the Aggies. The only thing I will say is that this off week could not have come at a better time - this might be the healthiest this team has been all year. If they are, I'm very confident that they will dismantle the aggies. BUT, and this is a big "but" with these guys sometimes, they simply have to show up ready to play. I promise you the Aggies will.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at a few match-ups this weekend. I'm not sure, but I think Ohio State and Michigan are playing this weekend, but I can't find any commentary on this game anywhere :)

Michigan (11-0) at Ohio State (11-0):
Well, it's the moment we've all been waiting for - and be "we" I mean every single jackass at espn. More on those shenanigans below. That aside, this is obviously a big game and has implications to the rest of the country - any #1 vs. #2 game is going to, right?

Anyway, this is a very interesting match-up as these teams seem very similar to me in a lot of ways. Both have played almost identical schedules - 1 key road win early in the year (OSU at Texas and Michigan at Notre Dame) and both went through a very mediocre Big 10 conference with ease. Yes, there were close games, but did you really think either team would lose those close games? I'll give the edge to Michigan here as they beat a VERY good 10-1 Wisconsin team whereas Ohio State did not get the Badgers this year - lucky for them.

In looking at personnel, the similarities are still there. Both teams have experienced QBs who can make the big throws, both have athletic WRs who can be counted on in the clutch and both have pretty good running games - Michigan actually has a tremendous running game whereas OSU's is pretty good. You will hear a lot about Troy Smith's "big playmaking ability", but this is not really relevant this year. Yes, he's capable, but he's been predominately a passer this year (less than 200 total yards rushing this year). Troy Smith does have the edge over Michigan, having won all 3 times he's played against them so far, but let's not forget that Henne has had pretty good numbers in those losses. He's capable of putting up a big game against these Buckeyes.

I think when you look at Michigan's offense against the Buckeye defense, that's where you'll see the biggest advantage for the Wolverines. For starters, their offensive line is giving up less than a sack per game on average. That bodes very well for the Wolverines as the OSU doesn't have the strongest pass rush in the world. If they want to get pressure on Henne they'll have to rely on blitzes. That will open it up for quick read slant passes to the receivers or dump-off passes to Mike Hart - something Michigan is very proficient at doing.

You may have forgotten about a kid by the name of Mario Manningham as he's been injured and out for a few games for Michigan. This is their undisputed #1 receiver and a fine one at that. Look for OSU to focus early on not giving up the big play to Mario - in which case Michigan will chip away with the running game and short passes to open up the big play. Manningham is a game-changing player and may prove to be the difference maker here. And with so much attention on him, it will open things up for Arrington and Breaston as well. And finally, OSU's defense has a tendency to go into the tank against the run - this would be a good game to NOT do that as Hart is one of the nation's most consistent runners. If he gets over 100 yards, it will be hard for OSU to win.

On the flip side, Troy Smith is no slouch - he can pass the ball with tremendous accuracy. Us Horns fans know all too well what he's capable of as a passer. The OSU receiving corps will be tough for the Michigan secondary. UM has one of the bets cover corners in the country in Leon Hall - unfortunately they've only got one of those. SIDEBAR FOR HORNS FANS: A cover corner is a cornerback (or defensive back) who can actually run with and cover receivers as they run their passing routes. It's a foreign concept to us, I know.

So back to the Michigan secondary - they've got some players in this area, but in order for them to be successful, the defensive front will have to get pressure on Smith. Although he's fast, quick and elusive, he's nearly as accurate of a passer when he's on the run. The good news for Michigan fans is I think they rank in the to 2 or 3 in sacks this year. Some will argue that OSU has a slight advantage in the passing game (I totally disagree), but the running game is where OSU will run into some struggles. Michigan is the best defense against the rush in the country - and one of the top 3 overall defenses in the country. The other good news for Michigan is if the front 7 can maintain their pressure and keep the running game in check there will be no need for the safeties to cheat up and help out - leaving them to focus on pass coverage.

One quick special teams note for Michigan - don't kick it to Ginn. Don't even give him a chance to break a big one. If either team does break one, that could be the difference in the game. Kick it out of bounds (punts I mean).

In the end, these teams are almost identical. I'm shocked at how many of the talking heads are picking OSU so quickly here. They could play this game 10 times and I think it might be a 5-5 tie. According to Vegas, the line is 6.5 - THAT IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!! I would bet the house on Michigan there - even if they lose, I don't think it's by more than a few points. I know Tressel and the Buckeyes have had Michigan's number the past 4 or 5 years AND they're playing in the Shoe, but I think Lloyd Carr gets his revenge this year. Michigan in an "upset":
Michigan - 31
OSU - 27

Cal (8-2) at USC (8-1):
This one doesn't quite have the intrigue we were all expecting a few short weeks ago - thank you Cal. But, this is a big game nonetheless as it's got major Pac 10 implications - the winner will take the conference title. Although USC has looked especially good the past couple of games it's come against Stanford (like a high school team) and Oregon (pretty good, but overrated). And I think it's fair to chalk up the Cal loss to looking ahead to this game. The most interesting thing here is that this game will represent the strongest opponent either team has faced. Yes, Cal played at Tennessee which is a nice road game, but we saw how that turned out. BUT, to be fair, it was the first game of the year and they are a totally different team right now. USC had some impressive wins over Arkansas and Nebraska - although like Cal, the Arkansas team is a MUCH different team now and we all know how good Nebraska really is (not very).

I'm going with Cal here as I think they want this game more and they have something to prove. They're coming off of a loss so there's the extra added motivation there to come out and make a statement. This Cal offense will absolutely give USC's defense fits and look for a couple of big plays of 25+ yards in this one. USC on the other hand has a talented team and is more than capable of spanking the Bears this year (again), but I'm going with fate in this one.
Cal - 34
USC - 31

Two Other Notable Games:
The Iron Bowl - Auburn at Alabama. This is a rivalry game and as the cliché goes, "throw all the records out the window." You can do that, but I think Auburn still wins this game. They've got problem areas and can have a let down with the best of them, but Alabama is just bad right now - they're in some turmoil that they need to work themselves out of. Auburn takes this one.

Maryland at Boston College - ACC implications here. Both teams are 8-2 and looking for their spot in the ACC championship game. Maryland follows this game up with a visit to Wake Forest so they MUST stay focused here. BC is 6-0 at home this year and look for this one to be a close game and a grudge match with the Eagles pulling it out and moving to 7-0 at home.

MEMO TO…
ESPN. Did you really mean to call this Saturday "Judgment Day"? What ass clown stood up and said, "hey, we should call this Judgment Day because it's a big game and the winner will go to the title game. Yea, Judgment Day." Furthermore, I'd like to know what idiot said, "Great idea! Let's run with it."

Please, in the future, if you insist and creating idiotic titles for specific Saturdays throughout the year that feature good games, please at least try and make it halfway creative. I mean Judgment Day. My gosh.

And another thing, I hit on this a few weeks back, but it's not necessary to have a ticker constantly running on the bottom of the screen counting down to kickoff. First off, if it's Thursday evening, I don't need a reminder that the "big game" is just under 50 hours away. It's college football, it's on Saturdays and I know when this game is because you promo it a thousand times an hour.

And finally, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but after OSU and Michigan play, teams like Arkansas, Florida and USC will have 3 more games. This is not the end of the college football year - not by a long shot. And yes, I know that the winner will go to the championship game, but the real story and excitement is who will be that other team. Let's try and NOT put all of your eggs in one basket, you're going to miss some good football.

ANOTHER MEMO TO…
The Big 10. Do you realize that the winner of the OSU/Michigan game will go 7 weeks before they play the national title game? 7 WEEKS!!! Here's a thought, how about going to pick up another team (it would not be hard and you know it) and have a conference championship game. The Big 10 has the lamest in-conference scheduling and process for choosing champs and runner ups. Here's one for you - in the event that Michigan beats OSU, how do you determine who gets second place? Wisconsin will have 1 loss as will OSU, but they won't have played each other. Hmmm…

Assuming the Big 10 runner up gets an at large big to the Rose Bowl (and they will), Wisconsin would go. Why you ask? Because to settle things like this, Big 10 rules state that the team that has gone the longest without going to the Rose Bowl (or a BCS bowl) gets the nod. So Wisconsin will go ahead of OSU. Is that the best you can come up with???

SO WHO ELSE SHOULD GO TO THE TITLE GAME?
This is what you call throwing fuel on a fire. By that I mean my contributing to this worn out debate. But hey, it's fun, right?

Let's look at a couple of assumptions:
- Assuming USC wins out
- Assuming Florida/Arkansas win out and face each other in the conference championship
- Assuming Rutgers wins out

Who should go? Well, this may not be the more popular vote right now, but here goes. I think Rutgers HAS to go. Are they the sexy choice? No way. Are the best team? I'm not sure, maybe not. BUT, they will have won all of their games including wins over Louisville, Pitt and W. Virginia. People continue to dog the Big East, but I'll make this claim right now - top to bottom, the Big East may be better than the Big 10 and the Big 12. Again, that's top to bottom, not talking about best teams in the conference. And no, it's not the same as Boise State winning out - they play in tier 2 conference. And if one more person tries to work in the "Boise State beat Oregon State who beat USC so BSU should go to this/that bowl" I'm going to puke. Oregon State is a bad team who came together to play a complete game on 1 Saturday. That's college football. That's why it's so hard to go undefeated each year. Outside of Rutgers, it's a toss up. USC's schedule, should they win out, is tough to argue with. But, even with that schedule, the SEC conference winner is VERY hard to argue with, especially Florida.

But what about a rematch you ask? No way this will happen. Human voters will not allow it to happen (which is a whole other story of what's wrong with college football). And they shouldn't. I can't imagine anyone wanting to see this rematch for the title game and think it's good for the game. It's not and it would further diminish the importance of winning your conference in this BCS era. I give this zero chance of happening.

SWITCHING GEARS…TO COLLEGE HOOPS:
OUCH! Heartbreaker game for the Texas basketball team last night. But, the good news about basketball is we actually have a system that works. And in that system, it's GOOD to play games like this to get you prepared. And, we're not feeling all down like this just threw a wrench into our season. Ahhh, college basketball, it's a nice, warm feeling.

Anyway, in case you haven't really noticed yet, this team is very young. You probably haven't recognized one name out there other than AJ Abrams. I'll tell you this too, this is a wicked talented team - the quickness and athleticism they've got is unreal. What they are lacking is experience, chemistry and the ability to know how to win - that's a big deal in this game.

Last night's game showed a lot though. If you let this team run on you, forgetaboutit - they looked like those run-n-gun UNLV teams of the 90s at times last night. But on the flip side, their half-court offense was stale and predictable, pretty much centering around cranking up three pointers as the shot clock was winding down. Kevin Durant needs to take his game into the paint. When he was wildly throwing up 3s, MSU was able to rebound and get settled into their half-court offense. When Durant took it inside, he got to the line or opened it up for easy buckets by teammates. This kid is really unbelievable and even better - he makes his free throws! That's very unusual for Texas teams to be even half-way decent from the charity stripe.

I predict that this team will have a not-so-stellar record heading into conference play, but that they come together, learn their roles and play with chemistry in Big 12 play. This team has the potential to shock some teams this year. They've certainly got the talent and coaching to do so.

And one more note. If you haven't noticed, Florida hasn't skipped a beat from last year. They look very good and very polished. Horford and Noah will be the lion's share of the pub this year, but Corey Brewer is spectacular.

Recovery Period

Recovery Period: That's the theme for many college football fans this week. It's time for teams to regroup and get their groove back heading into the last couple of weeks of the season.

Before I jump into my agenda here, want to respond to a couple of comments from Saturday's posts.

Jeavan Sneed - The Great Scapegoat?
I think not. I don't believe I implied this in my Saturday's post, I did not intent do if I did, but the Texas loss had very little to do with Jeavan Sneed's performance. You simply can't throw a freshman into a game like that (believe it or not he's a year younger than Mr. McCoy), tell him that the defense is going to crap out for the game and expect a whole hell of a lot. It's simply not realistic. Backup freshman QBs just don't come in and take games over like that on the road - at least not very often.

You may or may not remember this, but of the 17 or so missed passes, almost half were dropped by the receivers. In one offensive series, the ball was thrown to the tight end on 3 straight plays - he dropped 2 of them and caught one for 2 yards. Everyone was dropping passes. And the other half of those plays Sneed just overthrew his target. What's the point? The point is in both of those instances, he was making the right reads. He picked up on the open receivers, they just couldn't convert.

Bottom line is I believe that McCoy NOT being in there had more to do with this game than Sneed being in there, if that makes sense. And yes, I do believe that had McCoy played the whole game Texas would have won. If only the refs would have called TD the first two times the Horns punched it in the end zone - pathetic officiating.

So Who Is The Real #3 Team Now?
I think there are 2 here - Arkansas and USC. But, you have to give the edge to USC because they have the head-to-head victory. But, is there anyone who believes that if these 2 teams played right now, the outcome would be the same? I think USC might still edge them, but maybe not and it would be damn close (I think).

The bigger thing to consider is that both of these teams have a couple of VERY lose-able games coming up - especially this weekend where Cal visits USC and in two weeks when LSU visits Arkansas. I still contend that Notre Dame is going to get destroyed by USC regardless of what happens to Cal. Is there a team out there that has benefitted more from these big losses than ND? I talked about Texas potentiall falling ass backwards into the championship game, these guys may do the free fall of the ages if they happen to sneak in.

Bottom line here is that although it seems quite obvious now, we still actually have quite a bit of football to play. This thing could shake out in a whole slew of ways - we shall see. All I know is that the Horns have a good amount of work to do before securing a BCS game, but there is no question that they are out of the title hunt - just in case you were still clinging to some wishful thinking.

So Who Really Needs This Game More: Aggies or Horns?
If you would have told me coming into this season (or even a couple of weeks ago) that the Texas/Aggie game would help determine the Big 12 South I would have laughed in your face. Rrrriiiiight. So who really does need this game more?

Is it the Aggies who have continuously over-achieved all year long only to have their hearts ripped out on 2 consecutive weeks, losing by a point each of those weeks? Or is it the Longhorns who came out and got absolutely humiliated on, what turned out to be, the most important night of their year? It's a tough one.

The question here is what are the Aggies really playing for at this point? I know, they want to play in the best bowl they can so that matters, but that rarely motivates teams who are looking to go from the Houston Bowl to the Holiday Bowl. Are they playing for their coach? I don't know the answer to that. Does Fran's career come down to this game? It might. His record against the top teams in the Big 12 is terrible - he REALLY needs one. He's lost to Nebraska, Tech, Oklahoma and now he faces Texas. The funny thing is, he should have won all 3 of those games. That's what makes you question Fran right there. Losing games he's supposed to win - hell, he pretty much had victories in the bag.

Texas on the other hand has some wounded pride. Or at least they should! When healthy, I still contend that this Texas team is a top 7 team. I'm not ready to bury them yet b/c they lost a game by 3 on the road where the starting QB was knocked out on the first drive. You would hope that they have a feeling that they need to play to prove something to themselves and to the country. Historically, Texas will turn around after a loss and take it out on the next couple of opponents - especially after losing games they had no business losing.

If Texas ends up not making it to the Fiesta Bowl it will be solely on them for that failure. This team has had lapses like this in the past, but they are too good to completely cave at this point. I think Texas makes a statement game against the Aggies. It's still 2 weeks off, we don't know Colt's status (although sounds like he should be fine) and anything can happen between now and then, but I'm going to go with Texas winning here. It may not be a blowout, this game rarely is, but look for Texas to play a solid game and come out with a win. The Big 12 Championship game is a whole other story and I'm not even thinking about that right now.

MEMO TO...
Texas Fans - Settle down! I'm shocked at how many people out there refuse to understand how devastating losing a starting QB can be. Yes, it sucks they lost. Yes, the game was played very poorly by Texas (especially the defense). And yes, they should have won the game even without Colt. But, they didn't. And guess what? They're still probably going to go to exact same bowl they would have gone to had they won the game so please, calm down.

Texas is still a very good team - and a team that is most certainly better than their #13 BCS ranking (behind Boise State is a joke). Kansas State simply played with more energy and emotion whereas Texas just seemed shell shocked - especially when Colt left. Tell me if you really think Kstate would be within 2 touchdowns if these teams played 3 more times. But guess what, they lost and they don't get make-ups. Get over it and PLEASE stop it with the whole "this is typical Mack Brown stuff." Do you have any idea how hard it is to win all of your games in any given season? Furthermore, do you know how hard it is to win, or even play for, a national title 2 consecutive years? That's why it almost never happens. Teams like USC are anomalies. Conferences will be up one year and down the next. If anyone had paid more attention to Kansas State and what they've done this year (and who they've played), this might not be as big of a shocker as it seems. And for those of you who keep asking, "I just don't see how this can happen." It can and does happen. Look at USC losing to Oregon State. Look at Florida who should have lost to S. Carolina and damn-near lost to Vanderbilt. Look at Cal. Look at Auburn. It happens every year.

They've got 2 weeks to regroup and get healthy (I think the injuries this team has dealt with this year has been downplayed than any other team's injuries) and then close out the season at home against a big rival on national TV. They will bounce back and as I said, probably go to the same bowl they would have gone to anyway.

AROUND THE NFL:
- Yet again I took one on the chin in my NFL pool. Man I suck at picking against the spread.

- So it would appear we're on an every-other-week type of schedule with the Bears. Nice win last night - the NFC championship will probably go through Soldier field this year.

- The one great thing about the NFL is that even with Indy taking an off week against the Bills, that win continues to help them. If this were the BCS they would be knocked down a spot or two (unless they were USC).

- The bright spot in the Bengals monumental collapse was Carson Palmer - VERY impressive numbers; 31-42 for 440 yards and 3 TDs

- What in the world happen to the Atlanta Falcons? I feel like we ask this same question every single year about this time.

- For some reason I'm just dying to see how the Saints end up this year - they are quite the enigma.

- Dallas fans: Tony Romo is still pretty darn good. He looks like he's having fun in there which is a good thing for Big D.

- I'm not sure if TO leads the league in dropped passes or not, but he's got to be darn close. Jones should dock him $10K for every dropped pass. That would seem excessive if you didn't know how much money he made. It's a lot.

- Marvin Lewis will be out as Bengals coach this year - he's a superb D-coordinator, but I don't think he's got head coach chops.

- Vince Young had his best performance of his young career on Sunday as the Titans lost a heartbreaker to the Ravens. Anyone who saw that game got a glimpse of what VY will be doing week and week out in a couple of short years. The kid simply knows how to make plays.

- Speaking of the Titans - it was nice to see VY make a quick dump off pass to old Texas teammate Bo Scaife that led to a 13-yard touchdown. Nice play Bo.

- Reggie Bush with another game-turning fumble. If you haven't put this together yet let me open your eyes to something: Because the national media has chosen to forget about the aclolades they showered on Bush before the season, I'm going to remind all of you every week how average of an NFL player he is right now. He'll get better, no question, but as of today, he's as mediocre as an NFL player can be.

- 4 more touchdowns for Tomlinson. I'm not sure there's a better player in the league right now.

- Will Joe Gibbs please, for the love of God, give Jason Campbell a chance at QB??? You're playing for NOTHING right now.

- Here's something that may sound crazy - I think the Houston Texans are slowly chipping away at goodness. Or is it that they just have the Jags' number? I think Kubiak is making this team better. Andre Johnson is superb and Carr is a very solid QB. This team may be ready to take the next step - which for them may resemble getting to .500.

- Uh-oh, looks like the Dolphins are starting to pull a "last year" - winning some impressive games when it matters the least.

CRASH!!!

That sound you hear is a huge wrench being thrown into the national title picture. Tell me Horns fans, how nervous were you going into the game after the upsets/near upsets from the day? The good news is you don’t have to worry about the national title hunt any longer. Let’s take a look at things by conference.

THE BIG 12

Texas:
I’ve got one very bit of good news here – there is without a doubt, absolutely positively no question who our starting QB is and will be. Much like the Tech game, Texas simply looked uninspired, and unprepared and frankly like they didn’t really care about this game. There was literally not one bright spot of this game. If you’re thinking run defense, think about the last series when everyone in the world knew Kstate was going to run the ball to try and kill the clock – and you give up a first down??? Pathetic. Here are a few more highlights:
• First and foremost – SOMEONE MAKE A PLAY!!! There was not one single player on either side of the ball that stepped up in this game. Not one. The play from the entire team was nothing less than pathetic.
• Simply put, Texas’ secondary is absolutely terrible. There was no sense of pride there whatsoever. And by the way, I had my rant on Aaron Ross and how he should be a heisman finalist this year given the weak field – I deleted it. He got absolutely torched last night and he missed a definite TD as an interception went right through his hands in the first quarter – much like our receivers
• Both lines for Texas should be humiliated today – especially the offensive line. Our o-line outweighs the Wildcats’ d-line by about 4 pounds on average and they got pushed around all night long.
• Someone might want to teach Jeavan Sneed how to step outside of the pocket – he’s a great athlete, but a terrible pocket passer. He was lost out there.
• There is no doubt that Colt McCoy is the best player on this team. This team utterly went into the tank after he left the game. I don’t want to say they gave up, but they certainly did not play with any pride or enthusiasm. I mean NO ONE!
• Between our receivers dropping balls (countless dropped balls) and Jeavan “I have the strongest arm in the world, but no sense of touch” Snead completely missing wide open receivers our offense never had a chance.
• Memo to running backs: HOLD ON TO THE F’ING BALL!!!! Jamaal Charles will never take a handoff again in his career without me holding my breath.
• And you know I wasn’t going to let the coaching staff off the hook. I’ll ask the same question I seem to ask every year with this crew – when are we going to see improvements in our most glaring areas of weakness? Specifically, we STILL fumble the ball way too much, our secondary is still one of the worst in college and our offensive game plan is all over the map, at times abandoning schemes that we know will work. Oh, and how about an adjustment at half Chizik?

The one very VERY small bright spot I saw in this game came on a very nice trick play call where the QB pitched the ball to Charles who then pitched it to Shipley coming the other way. Of course our offensive line caved in and the defense got into the back field to break up the play – Shipley made an absolutely incredible move to leap over the diving defensive lineman and then fired a rocket down field to a wide open Limas Sweed … who proceeded to drop the ball that hit him squarely in the hands.

You simply can’t have lapses like this given our system of college football, you just can’t. If we had a playoff though, this would knock Texas from a #3 or 4 seed to a #6 or 7 seed. I can dream can’t I?

Texas A&M:
I mean, are you kidding me aggie fans? Are you absolutely kidding me? Let me say this, neither one of these teams are that good – between this and the Texas game there’s no doubt whatsoever that the Big 12 is questionable at best this year.

How do you lose that game? I even turned the damn channel once they got the interception with under 2 minutes to play. Field to ice it? Blocked. Defense on last drive? Frozen. I was very surprised because after halftime it seemed old Gary Darnell had figured out the Nebraska offense and essentially shut them down. Taylor was holding on to the ball WAAAY too long in this game, especially throughout the third and fourth quarters. His line did a great job all day long, but you can’t sit and wait for 6 or 7 seconds, get rid of the ball or run!

I wonder what this does to the psyche of this team. Two games in a row, and at home, where you seemingly give the game away on the last play. And how excited are the aggies to be heading into Austin to play an embarrassed Texas team looking to exact revenge? This could get ugly. If McCoy is out for this game though, I’m almost handing it to the aggies right now.

Big kudos to Stephen McGee who played one hell of a game. He even looked pretty darn good passing the ball too. He’ll be a solid QB during his tenure.

Oklahoma:
I’m not big on self-promotion, but this is exactly what I thought would happen. Tech putting up lower-than-normal stats while the Sooners ran up and down on the raiders. And the thing is, yet again, the Red Raiders were winning this game by 2 or 3 touchdowns at one point. The sad thing for Tech here is they had 1 turnover to Oklahoma’s 4. That’s tough.

OU continues to roll and as I said a few weeks ago, I think they win out easy. And look out Sooners, if the Horns fall to the aggies which looks quite possible, you’re up to play Nebraska.

Baylor:
Is there a player who is more important to their team than Shawn Bell, QB of Baylor??? Since his season-ending injury a few weeks ago, Baylor has been outscored 121-45. They’re still just that close. Losing Bell was a very tough break.

SEC

Tennessee:
Much like the horns, any outside shot these guys had at the big game is gone. Boy did they get manhandled or what? McFadden kept the chains moving and continued to expose the Vols’ porous run defense. And so much for Crompton coming up big. Whoops! Who called those Vols to pull the upset???

Arkansas:
This is the best team in the SEC right now. Talk to me after next Saturday’s trip to Baton Rouge, but these guys are good. And with Florida playing very shaky ball right now, don’t be surprised to see Arkansas be the next LSU of a few years ago – on no one’s radar, but blows through the year to win a title.

Florida:
I know they play in the heralded SEC, but squeaking out games against bottom feeders such as Vandy and South Carolina isn’t necessarily “impressive”. They’ve got a loss looming, I just don’t know if it’s at FSU or in the title game to the Hogs – maybe both!

Auburn:
So long, farewell…

PAC 10

USC:
Cal’s loss may shake this up just a bit, but I think these guys are in the driver’s seat right now. With their schedule remaining, they may have the inside track to take on the loser of Michigan/OSU next Saturday. They’re still looking good. I still think they’ll have their hands full with Cal next week as well.

Cal:
OUCH!

The bad thing about all of these losses is that it seems to support a potential rematch of Michigan/OSU for the title game – assuming one doesn’t blow out the other.