It’s
a good thing a couple games were played prior to Saturday this week.
I’m not sure my heart could have handled all of that action in one day.
This week’s poll has some huge shakeups and even after all of this
great football has been played will we still be wondering about a
playoff system? Here are some points to consider when deciding who
should be involved.
If only the conference champions get in, where does that leave Kansas
(11-1) Georgia (10-2) or Arizona State who could finish 10-2 and lose
the Pac-10 if USC beats UCLA? What about Florida (9-3) who is playing
pretty well right now? Assuming we just took the champs here is how it
might look, including teams from outside the BCS. The rankings will be
based on the favorite winning each conference.
#1 Missouri/Oklahoma winner (Big XII)
#2 West Virginia (Big East)
#3 Ohio State (Big Ten)
#4 USC (Pac-10) if they beat UCLA
#5 LSU/Tennessee winner (SEC)
#6 Boston College/Virginia Tech winner (ACC)
#7 Hawaii (WAC)
#8 BYU (Mt. West)
#9 Troy (Sun Belt)
#10 MAC winner
#11 Conference USA winner
This could lead to some interesting games. Missouri vs. Hawaii and USC
vs. LSU would certainly spark interest in the quarterfinals. West
Virginia might be an underdog against the USC/LSU winner while Ohio
State could quiet their doubters by shutting down Missouri’s offense in
the other semifinal. In the end I would take USC over Missouri to end
this tournament as I see these teams right now. However, should
Oklahoma get in they could make some noise. Virginia Tech might also
make things interesting with their defense and special teams.
There will be more playoff talk in the coming weeks, but here is all
you need to know about why the BCS doesn’t work. What happens if
Pittsburgh upsets West Virginia and Oklahoma beats Missouri? Georgia
gets into the national title game after not winning their division of
the SEC East? Kansas is making their argument after they failed to win
the Big XII North? This won’t happen because the Panthers have no bite,
but the possibility should give the BCS folks pause. Georgia could
finish #3 in the BCS standings with Kansas #4 and neither reached their
conference championship game. Something is wrong with that picture.
Last week’s ranking in ( )’s. NR = not ranked. W = watch list. (AP,
USA, Harris, BCS)
#1
(4) West Virginia (10-1): With the national title game in their
sights they played like a team on the mission. They annihilated
Connecticut in essentially the Big East championship, going right
through them with 517 yards rushing. It took the Huskies 11 games to
give up 157 points. The Mountaineers put up 66 even after shutting down
Pat White early. Their lone loss was to 9-3 South Florida so a win over
Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl puts them in the BCS championship.
Guess what? They deserve it. This offense is special. (2, 1, 2, 2)
#2
(6) Missouri (11-1): Chase Daniel made his case for the Heisman
by going 40/49 for 363 yards and 3 touchdowns to seal the Big XII North
title. He was only sacked once and didn’t turn it over. Both teams
started slow on offense, a natural reaction to the nerves of a big
game, but after 3 unsuccessful drives on each side Missouri caught
fire. They went 78 and 92 yards for touchdowns. Meanwhile the defense
had an interception, and then forced two field goal attempts. Both
missed the mark and allowed the Tigers to gain control of the game.
Their second half possessions covered 40, 69, 44 and 49 yards with all
of them ending in scores before a three and out as they failed to run
out the clock. It felt like they were always going to have an answer to
whatever Kansas did. Now it’s a rematch with Oklahoma with a spot in
the BCS title game certainly on the line. (1, 2, 1, 1)
#3
(5) Hawaii (11-0): The Warriors proved themselves worthy of a
BCS bid by dumping Boise State to win the WAC title outright for the
first time ever. Their offense was awesome. Six times they drove 67+
yards for touchdowns. Then in the fourth quarter they moved the ball 43
and 63 yards while chewing up a combined 11:14 off the game clock to
seal the victory. The icing was showing how classy they can be sitting
on the ball instead of punching in a meaningless touchdown at the end.
It might be the WAC, but the Broncos have a top 25 defense nationally
even after facing some of these wide open offenses. They next face
Washington in a dangerous trap since there could be a letdown. (11, 10,
10, 12)
#4
(1) Kansas (11-1): Reesing simply wasn’t up to matching shots
with Daniel. They drove the ball at least 35 yards on 8 consecutive
possessions, but two ended with interceptions and two with missed field
goals. That was the difference in a tough 36-28 loss. With a little
better running game Kansas probably beats Missouri. McAnderson came in
with 1,009 rushing yards on a season and 15 touchdowns but carried the
ball just 14 times for 41 yards. There was no shame in this loss and
they certainly weren’t exposed as the frauds many people have
considered them all year. Now their task is to show well in the BCS or
everyone will forget their great season. (7, 5, 6, 5)
#5
(7) Georgia (10-2): It must have been hard for them to focus
knowing their SEC title hopes were being played out elsewhere. In the
end Kentucky couldn’t close the deal on their behalf, but the Bulldogs
secured a spot in the BCS by beating rival Georgia Tech. They were far
from dominant though. On offense they were only 4/13 on third down and
really needed the 3-1 turnover advantage to win this game. I don’t
blame them for being sluggish under these circumstances, on the road
against a rival while another team is deciding their fate. This is
probably the best team never to be considered a true threat to reach
the BCS title game. Now it would take Oklahoma beating Missouri and
Pittsburgh beating West Virginia for them to get in. (4, 4, 4, 4)
#6
(12) USC (9-2): This was the team everyone expected to see this
season. Their offense was unstoppable pretty much all night. On 9 of 12
possessions they either drove the ball 50+ yards or scored. Defensively
they allowed no drives over 29 yards after Arizona State gave it over
on downs following a 42 yards march in their first possession of the
second quarter. Their only shortcoming might have been a lackluster
running game, but Booty made up for it with 375 yards passing and 4
touchdowns. A win over UCLA gives them a shocking comeback to win the
Pac-10 title. Even if they backed in with the Dixon injury this is a
team no one would want to draw in a playoff. (8, 9, 9, 8)
#7
(10) Ohio State (11-1): I might have been a bit harsh with my
ranking of them last week, but the Big Ten just isn’t very good. They
are coasting their way towards the national championship game again as
everyone else struggles with late season upsets. If they wind up facing
West Virginia the outcome could be similar to what happened last year
against Florida unless their defense is as good as it has looked
against Big Ten competition. (3, 3, 3, 3)
#8
(13) Oklahoma (10-2): They left absolutely no doubt in their
49-17 win over rival Oklahoma State. Their first half drives covered
50, 58, 68 and 87 yards for touchdowns. Four more times they marched
50+ yards and this one was never in doubt. This is one of many teams
knocked out of the national title hunt that would be dangerous in a
playoff. Their 9/12 showing on third down proves just how important it
is for them to have Bradford in there at quarterback. We will find out
if they are back in rhythm when they face a surging Missouri team in
the Big XII title game. The Tigers are definitely better than they were
when Oklahoma beat them 41-31 in Norman. (9, 8, 8, 9)
#9
(2) LSU (10-2): They now have two losses to teams who are a
combined 12-8 against outside competition. This was a tough one to
stomach having allowed 384 yards rushing. Some of it came in the
overtimes, but a 7.2 yard rushing average for the Razorbacks? Dorsey
not being 100% is no excuse for this performance against an opponent
regularly lining up without a quarterback. I said last week they should
be worried and now the national title hopes are out the window. A
win over Tennessee would salvage a Sugar Bowl, but if Hawaii is the
opponent does it put a damper on the end of their season? (5, 7, 5, 7)
#10
(3) Arizona State (9-2): This was not a good effort with a
Pac-10 title and possible national championship game berth staring them
in the face. Their offense opened fairly well. Following an empty first
drive they went 74 (TD) 60 (FG) and 42 (downs) yards to keep themselves
in the game. After that it was over for them on offense. They had no
more drives over 29 yards. Meanwhile USC was marching up and down the
field all day. Only three times they held the Trojans under 35 yards on
a possession all night. Next up is rival Arizona who is trying to
become bowl eligible. (13, 13, 13, 13)
#11
(9) Boston College (10-2): I know there was nothing on the
line, but they were sluggish against a Hurricane team who had lost by a
cumulative 92-14 against the Virginia schools following a loss to N.C.
State. They should have overwhelmed this team on their home field.
Instead it was tied up early in the fourth quarter. Thankfully they
responded to adversity immediately with two touchdown drives. The first
took only two plays while the second took four. Now they need to beat
Virginia Tech in what is certain to be a different game now that poor
weather is out of the equation. (12, 12, 12, 11)
#12
(11) Virginia Tech (10-2): With the roll this team is on it
might be time to chalk up their 48-7 loss to LSU as a bad day at the
office. They were on the road in hostile territory for one, and people
tend to forget this team had to deal with unspeakable tragedy on their
campus earlier this year. Against rival Virginia their defense ensured
a rematch with Boston College in the ACC title game. The Hokies allowed
just 240 total yards, forced two turnovers and recorded 6 sacks. Once
they had the lead it was over. Out of Virginia’s final 8 drives only
their 28 yard touchdown march following a turnover covered more than 18
yards. (6, 5, 7, 6)
#13
(15) Florida (9-3): The Gators are pushing Tim Tebow for the
Heisman and it showed. It will take a lot for him to win as a sophomore
with 3 losses, but the numbers are staggering. In this one the team
piled up 30 first downs and 540 total yards while pounding Florida
State 45-12. Tebow accounted for 348 of those yards and 5 touchdowns.
On two out of three plays he either passed the ball or ran it. Florida
had 7 scoring drives of 57+ yards with only two punts. Their defense
held the Seminoles without a touchdown and just 287 total yards. Their
loss at Georgia deprives us of what would have been a great rematch
with LSU. Instead there is talk of a (yawn) bowl game against Illinois.
Wake me up when that rout is over if it happens. (10, 11, 11, 10)
#14
(8) Oregon (8-3): It must have made Dennis Dixon ill to watch
the quarterbacks lining up for his team against UCLA. Three backups
combined to go 11/39 for 105 yards with 3 interceptions and 5 sacks. As
poorly as their handicapped offense played, the defense played with a
ton of heart. They held the Bruins to 2/17 on third down and didn’t
give up a drive over 17 yards until after halftime. In all there were
22 punts, and Oregon might have had a chance if not for the 4-2
disadvantage in turnovers. The Bruins “drove” -5, 15 and 6 yards for
their field goals. Their touchdown march went for only 31. At this
point disaster waits for them because I believe Oregon State beats them
in the Civil War and who could they beat in a bowl with this
quarterback situation? (18, 20, 19, 17)
#15
(14) Clemson (9-3): It was a tight game which is to be expected
when two teams meet who don’t like each other. The Tigers got the
better of the action on offense, but were forced into kicking field
goals five times, making three including the one that counted to win
it. Davis and Spiller helped them control the action with a combined 39
rushes for 208 yards. Their success on the ground led to them having
five of the six longest possessions in the game. South Carolina was
sent off the field in 1:45 or less on 6 of their 11 possessions. As
much as it seemed like they were the better team this was not their
best performance. (16, 17, 18, 16)
#16
(17) Tennessee (9-3): Does anyone even remember the Volunteers
led Kentucky 31-14 in the closing moments of the third quarter? This
was an epic battle that had everything. A division title on the line,
bowl implications, blocked kicks, key penalties, 13 touchdown passes, 6
turnovers and a couple of yards decided it all. I can’t even begin to
break this one down other than to say Tennessee made one more play.
They also had all six sacks in a game that was about as even as it
gets. This team recovered nicely from three road blowouts to win four
straight at home and now this huge road win. Can they score an upset of
wounded LSU to steal the SEC title? (14, 15, 15, 14)
#17
(20) Cincinnati (9-3): They opened up and finished strong, but
in the middle it was a pretty ugly showing against a dismal opponent in
Syracuse. The middle quarters ended 28-28 with the ‘Cuse driving 75,
67, 78 and 77 yards for touchdowns. The Bearcats sputtered on offense
at times despite finishing with a gaudy 549 total yards. Mainly they
had trouble finishing drives. Eight times they marched 49+ yards, but
twice failed to score and missed a field goal on a separate drive of 20
yards. They also made Andrew Robinson look like he was playing
Louisville again with 416 yards passing and 3 touchdowns, albeit while
sacking him an amazing 11 times. An uninspired effort was to be
expected after losing their shot at the Big East title last week. (20,
24, 21, 23)
#18
(16) Virginia (9-3): Offensively they just couldn’t keep up
with Virginia Tech. Still, they were in the game until the fourth
quarter. Sewell is not exactly Tebow with 145 total yards on 39 plays
rushing and passing. Brandon Ore hammed away at their defense with 31
rushes for 145 yards while the Hokie passers combined to 17/25 for 300
yards. One victory for them was forcing four field goals including 3
following drives of 64, 60 and 58 yards. They were just not ready for a
game this big down the stretch, but this was a great season for
Virginia football. (22, 21, 23, 22)
#19
(22) BYU (9-2): Defense ruled the day in their 17-10 win over
Utah. This game would have been well in hand if not for two first
quarter miscues in enemy territory. First they fumbled at the Utah 25
and then missed field goal. Two drives totaling 125 yards went for
naught. In the meantime their defense was dominant in the opening three
quarters giving up a total of 92 yards on 39 plays and allowing just a
field goal. They wore down during a wild 15 play, 69 yard march for a
Utah touchdown that drained 7:11 off the clock to give up the lead
before the offense bailed them out. Max Hall had a poor day passing the
football. He finished 17/40 yet delivered the key blow with a 49 yard
passing play on the winning drive. The Mountain West title is theirs
and only a makeup game at San Diego State (4-6) stands in their way of
a perfect conference record. (21, 19, 20, 19)
#20
(24) Illinois (9-3): Last week I pondered how this team might
regret losing to Iowa which cost them the Big Ten title and a trip to
the Rose Bowl. How about their opener against Missouri? Trailing 40-34
they had driven to the 22 before an interception at the 1 sealed the
win for the Tigers. These guys are not far from being an 11-1 team and
have six wins by 11+ points on the season. (15, 14, 14, 15)
#21
(21) Connecticut (9-3): It was rather obvious this team wasn’t
ready to play such a huge game against a team like West Virginia. Their
defense was shredded for 624 total yards and an average of 9.6 yards
per play. They hung pretty tough in the first half, but were totally
run over in the second half when West Virginia drove at least 49 yards
on all of their drives save the one when they ran out the clock.
Connecticut had nowhere close to the offensive firepower to match that.
Still, they have had a nice season and will finish second in a good
conference. (28, 28, 29, 26)
#22
(23) South Florida (9-3): After trailing at the half they
gained control in the third quarter at Pittsburgh and held on for a
48-37 win that really wasn’t that close. The Panthers were stifled on
six straight possessions after taking the 14-7 lead, totaling 31 yards
on 19 plays. Grothe had a very mediocre day at quarterback. He was
17/23 passing, but for only 159 yards. His 80 yard touchdown run came
on a day when he finished with 70 yards on 12 carries interestingly
enough. Still, this was a break through season for a young program and
they rebounded from their losing streak. (25, 27, 25, 21)
#23
(19) Boise State (10-2): Their defense had no answer to Colt
Brennan. The record setting quarterback burned them for 494 yards on
40/53 (75.5%) passing and 5 touchdowns. Early on things looked good
when they chewed up 8:19 off the clock on their opening possession, but
it ended with an interception. After another long drive (5:28) gave
them a 14-13 lead in the second quarter the offense went into a bit of
hibernation. They had one more march of 50 yards (4:17) for a touchdown
to take their final lead at 27-26, but this is what they needed to do
all game long against a team like Hawaii. (24, 23, 22, 25)
#24
(26) Wisconsin (9-3): At home this was a great team. Fortunately
for them they spent seven weeks there, going 7-0. On the road it was a
different story. They sputtered past UNLV 20-13 and the Running Rebels
finished 2-10. They lost three of four Big Ten road games, beating only
bottom feeding Minnesota (0-8, 1-11) 41-34. On one hand they can still
win 10 games. On the other, this could have been a 6-6 team if a few
balls had bounced against them. We’ll see what happens in their bowl
game on a neutral field. (19, 16, 16, 18)
#25
(25) Auburn (8-4): With 52-50 and 50-48 multiple overtime scores
in the SEC this week it is nice to know this game could provide the
familiar defensive struggle. They combined to convert 5/28 on third
down with the quarterbacks completing 24/48 for an even 50%. Somehow
there were only 10 punts. The longest Alabama drive was 53 yards for
their only touchdown while Auburn didn’t march over 44 yards after
their 65 yard touchdown jaunt on their first possession. There isn’t
much else to say other than that neither of these teams gave up and for
a sixth straight time Auburn has bragging rights. (23, 21, 24, 24)
#26
(18) Texas (9-3): This team was finally exposed for having a
weak defense and limited offense. They converted just 2/11 on third
down against a Texas A&M defense that has been lit up for 82 points
over the past two weeks. Offensively they drove 80 and 73 yards for
touchdowns in a failed rally. Prior to doing that against a prevent
defense they had just 209 total yards. McGee torched them for 362 yards
passing. His previous high was 247 set last week. He had 3 touchdown
passes, also a season best and just his second game with more than one
all year. The BCS is now out of the picture and fans should be glad
they didn’t have to deal with Missouri or Kansas because it would have
been ugly. (17, 18, 17, 20)
#27
(29) Oregon State (7-4): This team has been playing about as
well as anyone in the conference over the past two months. Now they can
secure at least a third place finish by beating quarterback challenged
Oregon in the finale. Blowout losses to Cincinnati and UCLA were the
product of multiple turnovers, but when you look at the big picture the
Beavers can finish 3-4 against bowl eligible teams with a win over the
Ducks. They were quietly a pretty good team in the Pac-10. (33, 34, 33,
33)
#28
(NR) Arkansas (8-4): This team is probably a better quarterback
away from being 11-1 and in the national title hunt. They lose SEC
games by 3, 3 and 2 points earlier this season. Turning around two of
those would haven give them a shot at the only team to blow them away,
Tennessee, in the SEC title game. This week’s wild victory over LSU was
a product of their offense shaking off a sluggish start to really take
it to a tough defense. After opening with drives of 6, 3, 8 and 13
yards they put up touchdown marches of 70, 80, 83 and 72 yards in
regulation. They scored touchdowns on all three possessions in the
overtimes, taking 7, 2 and 6 plays to do so before punching in the
crucial two point play. McFadden might not win the Heisman, but he is
the best offensive player in next year’s NFL draft. (26, 25, 26, 27)
#29
(28) Texas Tech (8-4): Ultimately this team didn’t have enough
defense to make noise in a Big XII conference dominated by the
Kansas/Missouri storyline all year. The Tigers destroyed them 41-10 and
were one of seven teams to score 24+ points against them. They were 3-4
in those games. The upset of Oklahoma was great and they can certainly
finish strong with a bowl win, but even if they do no one will remember
their 9-4 finish because of what happened in the North. (27, 26, 27, 28)
#30
(NR) Troy (8-3): The Sun Belt will never be confused with the
SEC and these guys will never be confused with SEC, but this version of
the Trojans stood up fairly well against BCS teams this year. Three
times they went to the SEC and scored 26, 31 and 34 points in those
losses. Yeah, they gave up 149 but I wonder how this team might have
performed against lesser teams from the conference after losing to
pretty good ones (Georgia, Florida, Arkansas). How about at home where
they whooped Oklahoma State 41-23? I tend to think hosting maybe South
Carolina, Alabama or Mississippi State on their field this team would
have won. I’d also love to see them earn a spot in a playoff. Beating
Florida Atlantic next week will complete an undefeated conference
season. (34, 38, 36, 37)
Dropped
Out:
#27 Kentucky (31, NR, 31, NR)
#30 Utah (NR, NR, NR, NR)
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