The Reitmeyer Rant College Football Playoff
Every year around this time people are discussing the possibility of having a playoff for college football, so instead of just discussing the matter, I decided create a system and forecast the games. Here we go.
This would be a 16-team playoff, played in four geographical regions, similar to the NCAA Tournament. Teams would be seeded 1-16, with the top 4 seeds determining their geographical regions. Here are some guidelines that I created for the selection and seeding process.
*There would be 8 automatic bids given to the winners of each of these conferences: ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Big East, Mountain West, PAC-10, SEC and WAC. That would fill out half of you field. The other 8 spots would be at large spots.
*Any school that finishes the season in the Top 10 and wins their conference and their conference is not one of the eight automatic qualifying conferences gets an automatic at-large spot.
*The at-large spots, as well as seeding go based on your average result in the human polls (AP and coaches). If there is a tie, the team with the best win (win versus the highest ranked team) is selected. If neither team have a win versus a ranked opponent, or they share a same opponent then the team with the most overall wins is selected.
*No more than 3 schools per conference is allowed to make the tournament.
*If a school is a Top 4 seed, then they cannot play another conference foe until the semi-finals.
As for where these games would be played, that is a little tricky, but I think I came up with a pretty good solution.
*All 1st round games would be played at the home venue of the top seeds. These games would be played on the 3rd Saturday in December.
*All 2nd round games would be played at a predetermined location depending on your geographical region. The 4 regions would be EAST, WEST, SOUTH, MIDWEST. These games would be played on the 4th Saturday in December.
*I have come up with 38 different venues in these regions that you could host these games.
EAST REGION: Gillette Stadium in Boston, Fed-Ex Field in Washington, The New Meadowlands in NJ, Lincoln Financial in Philadelphia, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
WEST REGION: Rose Bowl in Pasadena, LA Coliseum in Los Angeles, The Sun Bowl in El Paso, Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix, Qwest Field in Seattle, Candlestick in San Francisco, Invesco Filed in Denver, Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
SOUTH REGION: Back of America Stadium in Charlotte, Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Landshark Stadium in Miami, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, LP Field in Nashville, Superdome in New Orleans, The Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Reliant Stadium in Houston
MIDWEST REGION: Soldier Field in Chicago, Ford Field in Detroit, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Cowboy Stadium in Dallas, Texas Stadium in Austin, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, HHH Dome in Minnesota, Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
In the selections I tried to use stadiums that are big enough to hold such an event and in cities that are also able to host that many visitors. As you can see, most of these are in NFL stadiums, but some bigger college venues were also selected. There would be no rule against playing in your home city or even home stadium. Tickets sales would be sold 50-50, so even with a home field advantage, the fan bases should even out.
*3rd round/semi-final games would go back to the home site of the top remaining seeds. These games would be played on the 5th Saturday of December or the 1st Saturday of January.
*4th round/championship game would be played in a previously determined warm weather site.
This is what the seeding would look like this season.
1. Alabama (SEC Champion)
2. Texas (Big XII Champion)
3. TCU (Mountain West Champion)
4. Cincinnati (Big East Champion)
5. Florida (at-large)
6. Boise State (WAC Champion)
7. Oregon (PAC-10 Champion)
8. Ohio State (Big Ten Champion)
9. Georgia Tech (ACC Champion)
10. Penn State (at-large)
11. Iowa (at-large)
12. Virginia Tech (at-large)
13. LSU (at-large)
14. Miami (at-large)
15. BYU (at-large)
16. Pitt (at-large)
This would be the schedule and match-ups for the playoff under this format this season.
SOUTH REGION, Regional Final played in Atlanta, GA
Games played on Saturday Dec 19th
16. Pitt @ 1. Alabama
9. Georgia Tech @ 8. Ohio State
MIDWEST REGION, Regional Final played in Dallas, TX
Games played on Saturday Dec 19th
15. BYU @ 2. Texas
10. Penn State @ 7. Oregon
WEST REGION, Regional Final played in Phoenix, AZ
Games played on Saturday Dec 19th
14. Miami @ 3. TCU
11. Iowa @ 6. Boise State
EAST REGION, Regional Final played Boston, MA
Games played on Saturday Dec 19th
13. LSU @ 4. Cincinnati
12. Virginia Tech @ 5. Florida
Regional final games would be played on Saturday December 26th at a neutral site.
National Semi-final games would be played on Saturday January 2nd at the home field on the top two remaining seeds. There would be re-seeding for the national semi-finals.
The National Championship would be played on the Monday after the first week of the NFL playoffs, in this case it would be Monday January 11th.
Three reasons that the universities claim not to want a playoff at the D1 level are:
1. LENGTH OF SEASON. Well this format does extend the season by 4 whole days. With the recent addition of the extra BCS National Championship game the season already runs through the entire first week on January, what is an extra 3-4 days?
2. TRAVEL. Well fans already travel for bowl games and the universities count on them to do so, but this format gives you 2 games on a home field and 1 game on a geographically regional site. So you could technically go to all 4 games without much more travel then you would for say a conference championship game and a bowl game.
3. TOO MANY GAMES. This is the biggest joke of them all. 90% of these games would be played while the kids are on winter break first of all, and secondly if it is okay to do it at every other level why wouldn’t it work at the top level? The student athletes in the other levels are all doing it and those kids are true student athletes. Those players will most likely need their degree for job opportunities after graduation. There are more D1 players that will make it to the NFL than all the other levels combined, yet these kids need to be in class more? Their education is more important than the kid who will need his degree for a job after college?
Stay tuned for the results of the 1st round of The Reitmeyer Rant Playoff.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK 2009
The BCS was been built with the six “power conferences” in mind, the ACC, Big XII, Big East, Big Ten, PAC-10 and the SEC. All of these conferences have developed their own style over the years as well. The ACC is the conference that wants to be a football conference but is and always will be a basketball first conference. The Big XII plays their games as if they are shoot-outs in the old mid-west, which is very fitting considering their geographical location. The Big East is the redheaded stepchild of the group, always underappreciated and can never do enough to get the attention it feels it deserves (as it shows in the picture, that is what comes up when I search "Big East Football Coaches" on Google). The Big Ten is about history, about playing the old-school style of football, 3 yards and a cloud of dust. The PAC-10 is like the Hollywood of college football. All the pretty boys and beautiful co-eds are in the PAC-10. And the SEC is all about speed, and everyone knows speed kills (or in this case, speed wins championships).
The great thing about each one of these conferences is that none of them try to be something they are not. They keep to their roots and may make subtle changes every once and a while, but nothing to drastic (unless you look at the ACC trying to become a football conference and raiding the Big East as drastic, I just think of it as stupid.) However, there is one conference that this does not work for, the Big Ten.
The Big Ten no doubt has some great football tradition to it. They have great programs that play in front of some of the largest crowds in the nation each and every Saturday, in some of the largest and historic venues in the country. Every game they play seems to be a rivalry game (except for those in which that Penn State plays in). Heck they have 12 different “trophy games” in which the winning team gets a trophy and keeps it for the year until it is once again up for grabs the following season. And that doesn’t even include the Michigan-Ohio State game since there is no trophy in that game. There is no problems with embracing a schools, a programs or a teams history, but it becomes a problem when you let that history hold you back. That is what is taking place in the Big Ten.
This week is the final week of the college football season and 5 BCS conference a conference championship game is being played. Two of those (the Big East and the PAC-10) happened do to a luck in the scheduling, while the other three (ACC, Big XII, and SEC) is an annual scheduled event. The lone conference not partaking? The Big Ten. They haven’t been playing football for the past two weeks. So while every other conference gets to show off their best teams on national television, the Big Ten teams sit at home studying for finals. While the other five conferences keep playing games into December each season, the Big Ten will have its conference champion not play a game for 40 days before their bowl. See it is “tradition” that the Big Ten does not play any conference games after Thanksgiving. It has also become tradition that the Big Ten fails miserably in bowl games after these long lay-offs (8-11 all-time in BCS bowls and 32-39 in all bowl games vs BCS opponents since the BCS began in 1998).
Here is a schedule of all the conference championship games that will be played this weekend, beginning tonight.
THURSDAY DEC 3-
PAC-10
Oregon State @ Oregon
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4-
MAC (yes even the MAC and C-USA are ahead of the Big Ten in this regard!)
Ohio vs Central Michigan
SATURDAY DECMEBR 5-
BIG EAST
Cincinnati @ Pitt
CONFERENCE USA
Houston @ East Carolina
SEC
Florida vs Alabama
BIG XII
Nebraska vs Texas
ACC
Clemson vs Georgia Tech
While all these championship games are being played Big Ten fans will take part in another time honored tradition in the Midwest, hunting!
The great thing about each one of these conferences is that none of them try to be something they are not. They keep to their roots and may make subtle changes every once and a while, but nothing to drastic (unless you look at the ACC trying to become a football conference and raiding the Big East as drastic, I just think of it as stupid.) However, there is one conference that this does not work for, the Big Ten.
The Big Ten no doubt has some great football tradition to it. They have great programs that play in front of some of the largest crowds in the nation each and every Saturday, in some of the largest and historic venues in the country. Every game they play seems to be a rivalry game (except for those in which that Penn State plays in). Heck they have 12 different “trophy games” in which the winning team gets a trophy and keeps it for the year until it is once again up for grabs the following season. And that doesn’t even include the Michigan-Ohio State game since there is no trophy in that game. There is no problems with embracing a schools, a programs or a teams history, but it becomes a problem when you let that history hold you back. That is what is taking place in the Big Ten.
This week is the final week of the college football season and 5 BCS conference a conference championship game is being played. Two of those (the Big East and the PAC-10) happened do to a luck in the scheduling, while the other three (ACC, Big XII, and SEC) is an annual scheduled event. The lone conference not partaking? The Big Ten. They haven’t been playing football for the past two weeks. So while every other conference gets to show off their best teams on national television, the Big Ten teams sit at home studying for finals. While the other five conferences keep playing games into December each season, the Big Ten will have its conference champion not play a game for 40 days before their bowl. See it is “tradition” that the Big Ten does not play any conference games after Thanksgiving. It has also become tradition that the Big Ten fails miserably in bowl games after these long lay-offs (8-11 all-time in BCS bowls and 32-39 in all bowl games vs BCS opponents since the BCS began in 1998).
Here is a schedule of all the conference championship games that will be played this weekend, beginning tonight.
THURSDAY DEC 3-
PAC-10
Oregon State @ Oregon
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4-
MAC (yes even the MAC and C-USA are ahead of the Big Ten in this regard!)
Ohio vs Central Michigan
SATURDAY DECMEBR 5-
BIG EAST
Cincinnati @ Pitt
CONFERENCE USA
Houston @ East Carolina
SEC
Florida vs Alabama
BIG XII
Nebraska vs Texas
ACC
Clemson vs Georgia Tech
While all these championship games are being played Big Ten fans will take part in another time honored tradition in the Midwest, hunting!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
T3R WEEK 5
Sorry for the delay this week, I have been regretting recruiting my son to play quarterback for my team.
#1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (11-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 51-0 win vs Kansas
NEXT GAME: Thursday @ Texas A&M
The Longhorns looked very solid against Kansas and now focus on a heated instate rival, the A&M Aggies. This is always a tough game, and the Aggies have actually won 2 of the past 3. Texas doesn’t need this weeks game to win the Big XII, but they do need to win it if they want to play in the National Title game.
#2 FLORIDA GATORS (11-0, 8-0)
LAST WEEK: 62-3 vs Florida International
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Florida State
When I was growing up this was the best rivalry in football. It was Bowden vs Spurrier and almost always had national title implications for both teams. That has not happened in a long time. Florida has won 5 straight in this rivalry and like Texas needs this win to stay in the National Title hunt.
#3 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (10-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-0 vs Tennessee-Chattanooga
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Auburn
The Iron Bowl is a huge game in the state of Alabama. Auburn has a very good offense and could create some problems for the Tide if they can control the tempo of the game. There is nothing Tiger fans would like more than to be able to knock Bama from the National Title game. Of all the top teams playing rivalry games this week, I think this is the best possibility of an upset.
#4 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT GAME: Fri vs Illinois
This is a tune-up for the Bearcats before the Big East Championship game in Pittsburgh on December 5th. Although, losing to Illinois would completely dash any outside chances the Bearcats have at playing in the National Title game.
#5 TCU HORNED FROGS (11-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-10 win @ Wyoming
NEXT GAME: Sat vs New Mexico
TCU is completely destroying their opponents. The good news is that the Horned Frogs should be able to continue that and get style points by maybe putting up 100 on New Mexico (I’m dead serious that they could do that!). The bad news is that New Mexico is one of, if not THE worst team in D-1 football and even a huge win will hurt the Frogs in the computer rankings.
#6 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (10-1, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Georgia
You have got to love the name of this rivalry game, by far the best and my favorite, Clean Old Fashioned Hate! What better way to describe a rivalry? Every rivalry game wants to say that, but this one actually does.
#7 PITT PANTHERS (9-1, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT GAME: Fri @ WVU
The last time Pitt traveled to Morgantown for the Backyard Brawl (also a good rivalry name, although I may be a bit biased) the Panthers pulled of a stunning 13-9 upset that knocked WVU from the national title game (which they probably would have own against Ohio State) and started the downfall of their program (RichRod leaving). This year the Mountaineers get a chance to play spoiler to the Panthers great season.
#8 OREGON DUCKS (9-2, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: 44-41 2OT win @ Arizona
NEXT GAME: Thursday Dec 3rd vs #11 Oregon State
The Ducks won, but really struggled at times against the Wildcats. Regardless, a win is all they needed and after pulling off a great 4th quarter comeback they got the “W” in OT. Now they will play Oregon State in the Civil War for a spot in the Rose Bowl.
#9 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (10-2, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: 21-10 win @ Michigan
NEXT GAME: Rose Bowl
Michigan outplayed the Buckeyes in almost every phase of the game, but shot themselves in the foot repeatedly at terrible times in the game and even worse spots on the field. Ohio State forced and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a defensive TD and picked of Michigan at least two other times as the Wolverines were marching down field and in the Red Zone. A win is a win, but The Vest and crew will have to play better than that if they want to snap their BCS losing streak.
#10 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (11-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 52-21 win @ Utah State
NEXT GAME: Fri vs Nevada
UPSET ALERT!!!!!! Nevada is good! The bad thing about this game is that it is being played on the Smurf Turf in Boise. Expect lots of scoring and lots of offense. Nevada leads the nation in rushing with an NCAA record before 3 players rushing for over 1000 in a season. They also have a terrible pass defense, and Boise has one of the top passing attacks in the country. The last time these two teams played in Boise it was a 69-67 final in 4 OT’s.
#11 OREGON STATE (8-3, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 42-10 win @ Washington State
NEXT GAME: Thursday Dec 3rd @ #8 Oregon
The Beavers are peaking at the right time. With wins against Stanford and Cal under their belts already and winners of 4 straight and 6 of 7 (only loss was a 6 point loss @ USC) they are the hottest team in the Pac-10. It all comes down to one game on December 3rd against the rival Ducks for bragging rights and a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl.
#12 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (9-2, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 31-28 win vs Colorado
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Oklahoma
This is first time in a long time that the Bedlam game has meant more to the Cowboys than the Sooners, but a win this weekend and the Cowboys could find themselves in the Fiesta Bowl as an at-large team.
#13 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (8-3, 5-3)
LAST WEEK: 34-28 win @ Stanford
NEXT GAME: Sat Dec 5th @ Washington
It was the first time in years since the Big Game actually meant something and both teams entered the game with 7+ wins. Cal dominated play in this one for the last three quarters of the game and have got to be kicking themselves for the way they played in that two week span earlier in the season when they lost to USC and Oregon by a combined 72-6. If that had not happened, Cal would be headed to the Rose Bowl.
#14 CLEMSON TIGERS (8-3, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 34-21 win vs Virginia
NEXT GAME: Sat @ South Carolina
This has once again become a heated rivalry, which got even hotter last year when both team started swinging fists. Clemson just needs to avoid injuries in any extra curricular activities because they have an ACC title game to play for a spot in the Orange Bowl the following week.
#15 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (10-2, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 42-14 win @ Michigan State
NEXT GAME: BOWL GAME
Penn State once again beat all the bad to average teams on their schedule and will once again go to a very nice bowl. Penn State is holding out hope for an at-large BCS bowl, which is about 50-50 at this point. Unfortunately for the Lions they won’t being playing one of those bad to average teams in a BCS bowl if they make it.
#16 MISSISSIPPI REBELS (8-3, 4-3)
LAST WEEK: 25-23 win vs LSU
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Mississippi State
This is the place the Rebels expected to be all season, but some early season struggles slowed them down. Now that Ole Miss has their offense playing at a high level and would certainly not be a team I would want to face in a bowl game.
#17 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (8-3, 4-3)
LAST WEEK: 31-13 win @ Boston College
NEXT GAME: Sat @ NC State
The tale of two seasons continues. The Tar Heels have losses to Virginia and Florida State, but wins over Miami, and Virginia Tech and Boston College on the road.
#18 NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (8-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 17-3 win vs Kansas State
NEXT GAME: Fri @ Colorado
The Nebraska black shirt defense is back and playing some dominant football. They have the style of physical defense that could give Texas a tough time in the Big XII Title game next week, but first they will have to deal with rival Colorado to close out the regular season.
#19 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (8-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 38-10 win vs NC STATE
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Virginia
The Hokies were a big disappointment this season and still find themselves ranked in the top 20 as the regular season comes to a close. The defense, which was supposed to be a strong point didn’t show up in big games and the offense, which was suspected to struggle, did. Both of the Hokie conference losses were very winnable games and would have turned their season around if they would have won them.
#20 ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS (7-4, 3-4)
LAST WEEK: 42-21 win vs Mississippi State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ LSU
Quick who is the best QB in the SEC? Nope, it is not Tim Tebow! It is Ryan Mallet, the former Michigan Wolverine. After a very shaky start Mallet and the Arkansas offense looks very good and will be a force in bowl season.
#1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (11-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 51-0 win vs Kansas
NEXT GAME: Thursday @ Texas A&M
The Longhorns looked very solid against Kansas and now focus on a heated instate rival, the A&M Aggies. This is always a tough game, and the Aggies have actually won 2 of the past 3. Texas doesn’t need this weeks game to win the Big XII, but they do need to win it if they want to play in the National Title game.
#2 FLORIDA GATORS (11-0, 8-0)
LAST WEEK: 62-3 vs Florida International
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Florida State
When I was growing up this was the best rivalry in football. It was Bowden vs Spurrier and almost always had national title implications for both teams. That has not happened in a long time. Florida has won 5 straight in this rivalry and like Texas needs this win to stay in the National Title hunt.
#3 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (10-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-0 vs Tennessee-Chattanooga
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Auburn
The Iron Bowl is a huge game in the state of Alabama. Auburn has a very good offense and could create some problems for the Tide if they can control the tempo of the game. There is nothing Tiger fans would like more than to be able to knock Bama from the National Title game. Of all the top teams playing rivalry games this week, I think this is the best possibility of an upset.
#4 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT GAME: Fri vs Illinois
This is a tune-up for the Bearcats before the Big East Championship game in Pittsburgh on December 5th. Although, losing to Illinois would completely dash any outside chances the Bearcats have at playing in the National Title game.
#5 TCU HORNED FROGS (11-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-10 win @ Wyoming
NEXT GAME: Sat vs New Mexico
TCU is completely destroying their opponents. The good news is that the Horned Frogs should be able to continue that and get style points by maybe putting up 100 on New Mexico (I’m dead serious that they could do that!). The bad news is that New Mexico is one of, if not THE worst team in D-1 football and even a huge win will hurt the Frogs in the computer rankings.
#6 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (10-1, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Georgia
You have got to love the name of this rivalry game, by far the best and my favorite, Clean Old Fashioned Hate! What better way to describe a rivalry? Every rivalry game wants to say that, but this one actually does.
#7 PITT PANTHERS (9-1, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT GAME: Fri @ WVU
The last time Pitt traveled to Morgantown for the Backyard Brawl (also a good rivalry name, although I may be a bit biased) the Panthers pulled of a stunning 13-9 upset that knocked WVU from the national title game (which they probably would have own against Ohio State) and started the downfall of their program (RichRod leaving). This year the Mountaineers get a chance to play spoiler to the Panthers great season.
#8 OREGON DUCKS (9-2, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: 44-41 2OT win @ Arizona
NEXT GAME: Thursday Dec 3rd vs #11 Oregon State
The Ducks won, but really struggled at times against the Wildcats. Regardless, a win is all they needed and after pulling off a great 4th quarter comeback they got the “W” in OT. Now they will play Oregon State in the Civil War for a spot in the Rose Bowl.
#9 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (10-2, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: 21-10 win @ Michigan
NEXT GAME: Rose Bowl
Michigan outplayed the Buckeyes in almost every phase of the game, but shot themselves in the foot repeatedly at terrible times in the game and even worse spots on the field. Ohio State forced and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a defensive TD and picked of Michigan at least two other times as the Wolverines were marching down field and in the Red Zone. A win is a win, but The Vest and crew will have to play better than that if they want to snap their BCS losing streak.
#10 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (11-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 52-21 win @ Utah State
NEXT GAME: Fri vs Nevada
UPSET ALERT!!!!!! Nevada is good! The bad thing about this game is that it is being played on the Smurf Turf in Boise. Expect lots of scoring and lots of offense. Nevada leads the nation in rushing with an NCAA record before 3 players rushing for over 1000 in a season. They also have a terrible pass defense, and Boise has one of the top passing attacks in the country. The last time these two teams played in Boise it was a 69-67 final in 4 OT’s.
#11 OREGON STATE (8-3, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 42-10 win @ Washington State
NEXT GAME: Thursday Dec 3rd @ #8 Oregon
The Beavers are peaking at the right time. With wins against Stanford and Cal under their belts already and winners of 4 straight and 6 of 7 (only loss was a 6 point loss @ USC) they are the hottest team in the Pac-10. It all comes down to one game on December 3rd against the rival Ducks for bragging rights and a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl.
#12 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (9-2, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 31-28 win vs Colorado
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Oklahoma
This is first time in a long time that the Bedlam game has meant more to the Cowboys than the Sooners, but a win this weekend and the Cowboys could find themselves in the Fiesta Bowl as an at-large team.
#13 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (8-3, 5-3)
LAST WEEK: 34-28 win @ Stanford
NEXT GAME: Sat Dec 5th @ Washington
It was the first time in years since the Big Game actually meant something and both teams entered the game with 7+ wins. Cal dominated play in this one for the last three quarters of the game and have got to be kicking themselves for the way they played in that two week span earlier in the season when they lost to USC and Oregon by a combined 72-6. If that had not happened, Cal would be headed to the Rose Bowl.
#14 CLEMSON TIGERS (8-3, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 34-21 win vs Virginia
NEXT GAME: Sat @ South Carolina
This has once again become a heated rivalry, which got even hotter last year when both team started swinging fists. Clemson just needs to avoid injuries in any extra curricular activities because they have an ACC title game to play for a spot in the Orange Bowl the following week.
#15 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (10-2, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 42-14 win @ Michigan State
NEXT GAME: BOWL GAME
Penn State once again beat all the bad to average teams on their schedule and will once again go to a very nice bowl. Penn State is holding out hope for an at-large BCS bowl, which is about 50-50 at this point. Unfortunately for the Lions they won’t being playing one of those bad to average teams in a BCS bowl if they make it.
#16 MISSISSIPPI REBELS (8-3, 4-3)
LAST WEEK: 25-23 win vs LSU
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Mississippi State
This is the place the Rebels expected to be all season, but some early season struggles slowed them down. Now that Ole Miss has their offense playing at a high level and would certainly not be a team I would want to face in a bowl game.
#17 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (8-3, 4-3)
LAST WEEK: 31-13 win @ Boston College
NEXT GAME: Sat @ NC State
The tale of two seasons continues. The Tar Heels have losses to Virginia and Florida State, but wins over Miami, and Virginia Tech and Boston College on the road.
#18 NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (8-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 17-3 win vs Kansas State
NEXT GAME: Fri @ Colorado
The Nebraska black shirt defense is back and playing some dominant football. They have the style of physical defense that could give Texas a tough time in the Big XII Title game next week, but first they will have to deal with rival Colorado to close out the regular season.
#19 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (8-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 38-10 win vs NC STATE
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Virginia
The Hokies were a big disappointment this season and still find themselves ranked in the top 20 as the regular season comes to a close. The defense, which was supposed to be a strong point didn’t show up in big games and the offense, which was suspected to struggle, did. Both of the Hokie conference losses were very winnable games and would have turned their season around if they would have won them.
#20 ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS (7-4, 3-4)
LAST WEEK: 42-21 win vs Mississippi State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ LSU
Quick who is the best QB in the SEC? Nope, it is not Tim Tebow! It is Ryan Mallet, the former Michigan Wolverine. After a very shaky start Mallet and the Arkansas offense looks very good and will be a force in bowl season.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
RANDOM RANTING
NOTRE DAME TO JOIN A CONFERENCE FOR FOOTBALL?
Much has been made over the years about Notre Dame’s affiliation with the Big East conference. In 1995, the conference allowed Notre Dame to join in all sports but football leaving them as an independent. Since that time rumors have swirled that the Big Ten would like to get Notre Dame to be its 12th team (they would probably still go by the Big Ten even with 12 teams considering all they did when Penn State joined was change the design of the logo). There has also been a strong push from Big East fans and schools to force them to join the conference in football, or to get rid of them altogether. Big East fans need to worry no more. After last Saturdays home loss to UCONN, Notre Dame officials have been told by the Big East that they are not welcome into their conference for football in fear it would hurt the conferences national perception. If you recall Temple was kicked out of the Big East in football because they could not compete at a high enough level, which seems to be the case with the Irish as well. Over the past two seasons, Notre Dame is 0-4 versus Big East teams with three of those losses coming in South Bend. Big East teams have been scheduling games recently with the Irish to try to get easy wins to help their win total in efforts to become bowl eligible. Here is a look at Big East teams with Notre Dame on
their schedule trying to get easy wins:
Pitt – home and home series every year through 2015
South Florida – plays at Notre Dame in 2011
UCONN – plays 6 times in seven years between 2011 and 2017
Syracuse – plays 4 straight years in a home and home series between 2014 and 2017
Rutgers has also been trying to schedule a game in the 2011 season to be played at Yankee Stadium with the Irish.
All told, this would be 18 wins for the Big East against Notre Dame in the coming years.
Not all is bad for Irish fans though, Temple is currently 7-0 in conference play and in first place in the MAC East, I’m sure if you ask nicely the MAC would find room for you somewhere in the MAC West division.
4th AND 2
I didn’t get to put my two cents worth last week about the bonehead call made by Bill Belichick, so I will do it now, and it is really simple. HE IS NOT A GREAT COACH!
I know this will shock everyone that someone would even have the gull to utter such a phrase, but lets look at things a little closer before we put him on the Mount Rushmore of NFL Coaches. Belichick was blessed with the luck of having Tom Brady fall into his hands as a compensatory pick in the 6th round (drafted #199 overall) in 2000. Tom Brady is without a doubt a fantastic QB. He is top 3 in the NFL now and that might not be high enough. But let’s see what Billy did before this Joe Montana of this generation showed up on his doorstep.
Bill Belichick is currently in his 15th season as an NFL head coach. His
career record in regular season play is 145-89. His record in the playoffs is 15-4. His record without Tom Brady as his starting QB is 51-62. Err..what?! Yes, EXACTLY! He has had two winning seasons as a head coach without Tom Brady leading the show. In his 7 years as a head coach with Tom Brady under center he has had winning seasons in all seven, in the 7 without him he has 2. He had an overall record as the Cleveland head coach (how many people forgot he coached in Cleveland?) of 36-44 in five seasons with one winning season before being fired after the 1995 season. It is also not like he had this great insight to make Brady his starting QB, he started him by default after Drew Bledsoe was bleeding internally after a hit in the 2001 season. Brady took a team that was 0-2 and they finished 11-5.
Now, let us look at the Bill Belichick coaching tree. Normally you can tell how good of a coach someone was by the success of his or her understudies. Nine coaches learned under Belichick and went on to become head coaches elsewhere. Here are their coaching numbers:
NFL COACHES:
Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Browns, 2005-08, 24-40
Al Groh, NY Jets, 2000, 9-7
Josh McDaniels, 2009, 6-4
Eric Mangini, NY Jets and Cleveland Browns, 2006-2009, 24-34
Nick Saban, Miami Dolphins, 2005-06, 15-17
Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions, 2009, 2-8
NCAA COACHES:
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, 1999-2009, 80-53
Al Groh, Virginia, 2001-2009, 59-52
Pat Hill, Fresno State, 1997-2009, 92-61
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame, 2005-2009, 35-26
Nick Saban, Michigan State, LSU, Alabama, 112-48-1
Of the NFL coaches not one had a winning record that coached more than a season and only two fo the six are still with their original job and those guys are both new this season. In college, he has done much better. All of these coaches have winning records and are still currently employed (both Al Groh and Charlie Weis are rumored to be fired after this season.)
So, maybe that bonehead 4th and 2 call wasn’t that much of a surprise. Tom Brady executed it, and put the throw on the money, but it just was not enough. Maybe is was just a bad play call by a bad head coach.
KINGS OF KENTUCKY
Can we please stop the National Title talk for the Kentucky Men’s Basketball team?! First of all, what is all this talk based on anyway? The fact that they where .500 in conference play last year and did not make the NCAA tournament? Or maybe it is the way the team played in their tough loss to Notre Dame in the third round of the NIT last year. Or it could be that they return their leading scored, Jodie Meeks who averaged 23.7 ppg, oh wait, he is not on this team!
So what is it that makes this team so improved? Is it the coach? Yes, John Calipari is a fantastic coach and a great recruiter, but he has never won ANYTHING in his coaching career. Is it the fact that they brought in a ton of young talent, yeah that probably does not hurt much either, but let’s be honest, this team needed a buzzer beater to beat Miami OH in the second game of the season. They are 4-0 against bad competition and struggled in three of the four games to put the teams away. That same Miami team lost to Towson by 11, Louisiana Tech by 8 and New Mexico by 25.
I’m sure given a couple of shady recruiting classes, Calipari will have Kentucky playing in Final Fours, but can we all settle down on already saving a spot for them this year in Indianapolis this year?
IF YOU AIN’T RUBBING YOU AIN’T RACING
Okay, I do not watch NASCAR. I am sorry, watching a bunch of men making left turns for 3+ hours just does not do it for me. However, I am aware of what goes on i
n the sporting world and all week all anyone was talking about was Jimmie Johnson winning his unprecedented 4th straight Cup Championship. All he had to do was finish 25th or better to hold off 50-year old Mark Martin. So here is my question, why did not someone on Mark Martin’s team put Johnson into the wall on the first lap of the race? Is it an unwritten rule in NASCAR that you do not wreck each other? I see guys fighting with each other for that exact reason every Sunday on SportsCenter. Maybe I am a dirty sport. Maybe I do not appreciate the sportsmanship of racing. But maybe these guys just are not as competitive as I would hope they would be. You are talking a championship for your sport being on the line, you don’t think other sports have guys doing whatever it takes to win titles? Come on guys a title is on the line, you should being laying it all on the line too!
Much has been made over the years about Notre Dame’s affiliation with the Big East conference. In 1995, the conference allowed Notre Dame to join in all sports but football leaving them as an independent. Since that time rumors have swirled that the Big Ten would like to get Notre Dame to be its 12th team (they would probably still go by the Big Ten even with 12 teams considering all they did when Penn State joined was change the design of the logo). There has also been a strong push from Big East fans and schools to force them to join the conference in football, or to get rid of them altogether. Big East fans need to worry no more. After last Saturdays home loss to UCONN, Notre Dame officials have been told by the Big East that they are not welcome into their conference for football in fear it would hurt the conferences national perception. If you recall Temple was kicked out of the Big East in football because they could not compete at a high enough level, which seems to be the case with the Irish as well. Over the past two seasons, Notre Dame is 0-4 versus Big East teams with three of those losses coming in South Bend. Big East teams have been scheduling games recently with the Irish to try to get easy wins to help their win total in efforts to become bowl eligible. Here is a look at Big East teams with Notre Dame on
their schedule trying to get easy wins:Pitt – home and home series every year through 2015
South Florida – plays at Notre Dame in 2011
UCONN – plays 6 times in seven years between 2011 and 2017
Syracuse – plays 4 straight years in a home and home series between 2014 and 2017
Rutgers has also been trying to schedule a game in the 2011 season to be played at Yankee Stadium with the Irish.
All told, this would be 18 wins for the Big East against Notre Dame in the coming years.
Not all is bad for Irish fans though, Temple is currently 7-0 in conference play and in first place in the MAC East, I’m sure if you ask nicely the MAC would find room for you somewhere in the MAC West division.4th AND 2
I didn’t get to put my two cents worth last week about the bonehead call made by Bill Belichick, so I will do it now, and it is really simple. HE IS NOT A GREAT COACH!
I know this will shock everyone that someone would even have the gull to utter such a phrase, but lets look at things a little closer before we put him on the Mount Rushmore of NFL Coaches. Belichick was blessed with the luck of having Tom Brady fall into his hands as a compensatory pick in the 6th round (drafted #199 overall) in 2000. Tom Brady is without a doubt a fantastic QB. He is top 3 in the NFL now and that might not be high enough. But let’s see what Billy did before this Joe Montana of this generation showed up on his doorstep.Bill Belichick is currently in his 15th season as an NFL head coach. His
career record in regular season play is 145-89. His record in the playoffs is 15-4. His record without Tom Brady as his starting QB is 51-62. Err..what?! Yes, EXACTLY! He has had two winning seasons as a head coach without Tom Brady leading the show. In his 7 years as a head coach with Tom Brady under center he has had winning seasons in all seven, in the 7 without him he has 2. He had an overall record as the Cleveland head coach (how many people forgot he coached in Cleveland?) of 36-44 in five seasons with one winning season before being fired after the 1995 season. It is also not like he had this great insight to make Brady his starting QB, he started him by default after Drew Bledsoe was bleeding internally after a hit in the 2001 season. Brady took a team that was 0-2 and they finished 11-5.Now, let us look at the Bill Belichick coaching tree. Normally you can tell how good of a coach someone was by the success of his or her understudies. Nine coaches learned under Belichick and went on to become head coaches elsewhere. Here are their coaching numbers:
NFL COACHES:
Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Browns, 2005-08, 24-40
Al Groh, NY Jets, 2000, 9-7
Josh McDaniels, 2009, 6-4
Eric Mangini, NY Jets and Cleveland Browns, 2006-2009, 24-34
Nick Saban, Miami Dolphins, 2005-06, 15-17
Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions, 2009, 2-8
NCAA COACHES:
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, 1999-2009, 80-53
Al Groh, Virginia, 2001-2009, 59-52
Pat Hill, Fresno State, 1997-2009, 92-61
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame, 2005-2009, 35-26
Nick Saban, Michigan State, LSU, Alabama, 112-48-1
Of the NFL coaches not one had a winning record that coached more than a season and only two fo the six are still with their original job and those guys are both new this season. In college, he has done much better. All of these coaches have winning records and are still currently employed (both Al Groh and Charlie Weis are rumored to be fired after this season.)
So, maybe that bonehead 4th and 2 call wasn’t that much of a surprise. Tom Brady executed it, and put the throw on the money, but it just was not enough. Maybe is was just a bad play call by a bad head coach.
KINGS OF KENTUCKY
Can we please stop the National Title talk for the Kentucky Men’s Basketball team?! First of all, what is all this talk based on anyway? The fact that they where .500 in conference play last year and did not make the NCAA tournament? Or maybe it is the way the team played in their tough loss to Notre Dame in the third round of the NIT last year. Or it could be that they return their leading scored, Jodie Meeks who averaged 23.7 ppg, oh wait, he is not on this team!
So what is it that makes this team so improved? Is it the coach? Yes, John Calipari is a fantastic coach and a great recruiter, but he has never won ANYTHING in his coaching career. Is it the fact that they brought in a ton of young talent, yeah that probably does not hurt much either, but let’s be honest, this team needed a buzzer beater to beat Miami OH in the second game of the season. They are 4-0 against bad competition and struggled in three of the four games to put the teams away. That same Miami team lost to Towson by 11, Louisiana Tech by 8 and New Mexico by 25.I’m sure given a couple of shady recruiting classes, Calipari will have Kentucky playing in Final Fours, but can we all settle down on already saving a spot for them this year in Indianapolis this year?
IF YOU AIN’T RUBBING YOU AIN’T RACING
Okay, I do not watch NASCAR. I am sorry, watching a bunch of men making left turns for 3+ hours just does not do it for me. However, I am aware of what goes on i
n the sporting world and all week all anyone was talking about was Jimmie Johnson winning his unprecedented 4th straight Cup Championship. All he had to do was finish 25th or better to hold off 50-year old Mark Martin. So here is my question, why did not someone on Mark Martin’s team put Johnson into the wall on the first lap of the race? Is it an unwritten rule in NASCAR that you do not wreck each other? I see guys fighting with each other for that exact reason every Sunday on SportsCenter. Maybe I am a dirty sport. Maybe I do not appreciate the sportsmanship of racing. But maybe these guys just are not as competitive as I would hope they would be. You are talking a championship for your sport being on the line, you don’t think other sports have guys doing whatever it takes to win titles? Come on guys a title is on the line, you should being laying it all on the line too!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
T3R WEEK 4
Sorry for the delay this week, I have been enjoying the Florida sun way too much!
#1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 47-14 win @ Baylor
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Kansas
To steal a line from the great movie, Finding Nemo, the Longhorns have to, “just keep swimming.” With their final two opponents being Kansas and Texas A&M before beating up on some terrible team from the Big XII North as long as the Longhorns just keep their head above water they will be in the national title game versus the Bama-Florida winner in the SEC championship game.
#2 FLORIDA GATORS (10-0, 8-0)
LAST WEEK: 24-14 win @ South Carolina
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Florida International
Count me as one that thought the South Carolina game could have been a stumbling block for the Gators. They didn’t win impressively but they got the job done. Hey when you play in the SEC and have won 20 in a row, that is all that matters, just get the “W” and the Gators keep doing that.
#3 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (10-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 31-3 win @ Mississippi State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Tenn-Chattanooga
Add Tennessee Chattanooga to the list of cupcakes on the Alabama non-conference schedule. The Tide hits the bakery before finishing the season with rival Auburn, then Florida in the SEC title game, followed by a BCS game. The Bama fans are hoping that BCS game is in California for a national title, not the Sugar Bowl.
#4 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 24-21 win vs WVU
NEXT GAME: Fri Nov 27th vs Illinois
This is two straight weeks in which the Bearcats were unable to put their opponent away in the 4th quarter, and this from a team that had been winning their games at the mid-point in the season by an average of four touchdowns. A week off, then a game Cincy should have no problem with against Illinois, they the showdown with Pitt for the River City Rivalry Trophy, oh yeah, and a BCS bid.
#5 TCU HORNED FROGS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 55-28 win vs Utah
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Wyoming
11 weeks down and TCU is still undefeated, and they have now beat their toughest competition. The much hyped game against Utah turned out to be a old fashioned butt-whooping by the Horned Frogs. TCU has done everything asked of them so far and they have done it with authority. A sign at GameDay last week read, “TCU, Texas State champs!” I wish we wouldn’t have to wait until their BCS bowl to really see how good this team is. How about TCU plays Texas instead of some schmo from the Big XII North on Dec 5th?!
#6 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (10-1, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: 49-10 win @ Duke
NEXT GAME: Sat Nov 28th vs Georgia
The Yellow Jackets have clinched the Coastal division of the ACC and await either Clemson (whom they have already beat this season) or Boston College in Tampa for the ACC Championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
#7 PITT PANTHERS (9-1, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 27-22 win vs Notre Dame
NEXT GAME: Fri Nov. 27th @ WVU
Pitt really outplayed Notre Dame in pretty much every aspect of the game and beat the Irish worse than the score indicated, but that could be a problem. Pitt needs to put teams away. With games against WVU and Cincinnati ahead the Panthers must get a killer instinct that they haven’t shown yet this season.
#8 OREGON DUCKS (8-2, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 44-21 win vs Arizona State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ #20 Arizona
The Ducks are currently the leader in the Pac-10, but they still have to play Arizona this week, and Oregon State in the “Civil War” to close the season. Either of those two teams or Stanford, who already beat the Ducks, could still win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl if the Ducks slip up.
#9 LSU TIGERS (8-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-16 win vs La Tech
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Mississippi
I want to believe that this team is a top ten team, but their offense is showing me nothing. This week will be a big test to see how good this team really is when they travel to Oxford for a tough test.
#10 STANFORD CARDINAL (7-3, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 55-21 win @ Southern Cal
NEXT GAME: Sat vs #19 Cal
You might wonder how a three loss team makes my top ten, the answer is simple, go for 2 against USC with 7 minutes to go in the 4th quarter when you hold a 27-point lead! Jim Harbaugh gets major props for that! Let’s not forget that the Trees are playing as well as any team in the nation right now and have put up 50 points in back to back weeks, both against Top 10 teams.
#11 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (9-2, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 27-24 OT win vs Iowa
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Michigan
Beating a beat-up and overrated Iowa team by only 3 points in overtime on your home field is not the best way to make a good impression, but the win clinched the Buckeyes first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1996.
#12 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (10-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 63-25 win vs Iadho
NEXT GAME: Fri @ Utah State
Yawn! Boise State ran up the score on another joke of an opponent. Guess what, they will do it again this week too.
#13 WISCONSIN BADGERS (8-2, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 45-24 win vs Michigan
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Northwestern
The Badgers were just the next in a recent long line of opponents to embarrass the Wolverines in Big Ten play the past two seasons. Wisconsin has quietly set itself up for a nice New Years Day bowl as possibly the top non-BCS draw out of the conference.
#14 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (8-2, 5-1)
LAST WEEK: 24-17 win vs Texas Tech
NEXT GAME: Thurs vs Colorado
The Cowboys have proven themselves as the second best team in the Big XII this season, unfortunately for them that doesn’t get you very much this season. Most seasons you would get a BCS bowl birth, but with the conference having a down year, it looks like the Cowboys could be headed for the Cotton Bowl this season.
#15 CLEMSON TIGERS (7-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 43-23 win @ NC State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Virginia
Last season the Tigers started 3-4 before getting hot down the stretch and this season they started 2-3 before winning 5 straight. One more win this week will place Clemson in Tampa to face Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game.
#16 OREGON STATE (7-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 48-21 win vs Washington
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Washington State
The Beavers owe a thank you to the Pac-10 schedule makers. They essentially get a bye week in playing Washington State before taking on Oregon in a game that could be for the Pac-10 title.
#17 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (9-2, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 31-20 win vs Indiana
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Michigan State
The way the Nits played in the first half you would have thought that their season went down the drain after losing to Ohio State. They must have forgot that the all-important Land Grant Trophy Game versus Michigan State was still remaining on the schedule.
#18 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (7-3, 3-3)
LAST WEEK: 33-24 win vs Miami
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Boston College
Two bad home losses turned this season for the Tar Heels. Losses at home to Virginia and Florida State took this team from a contender in the ACC to a middle of the road bowl game somewhere in the last week of December.
#19 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (7-3, 4-3)
LAST WEEK: 24-16 win vs Arizona
NEXT GAME: Sat @ # 10 Stanford
Cal has looked really good in their wins and really bad in their losses, last week they looked really good and sneak into the top 20. The Bears will need to look really good again this week versus Stanford or it will be a short stay.
#20 ARIZONA WILDCATS (6-3, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-16 loss @ Cal
NEXT GAME: Sat vs #8 Oregon
Five teams from the Pac-10 make it into the Rant Rankings this week. Half of the conference finds itself in the top 20 in the nation. Are they the best conference or the conference with the most parity?
#1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 47-14 win @ Baylor
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Kansas
To steal a line from the great movie, Finding Nemo, the Longhorns have to, “just keep swimming.” With their final two opponents being Kansas and Texas A&M before beating up on some terrible team from the Big XII North as long as the Longhorns just keep their head above water they will be in the national title game versus the Bama-Florida winner in the SEC championship game.
#2 FLORIDA GATORS (10-0, 8-0)
LAST WEEK: 24-14 win @ South Carolina
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Florida International
Count me as one that thought the South Carolina game could have been a stumbling block for the Gators. They didn’t win impressively but they got the job done. Hey when you play in the SEC and have won 20 in a row, that is all that matters, just get the “W” and the Gators keep doing that.
#3 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (10-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 31-3 win @ Mississippi State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Tenn-Chattanooga
Add Tennessee Chattanooga to the list of cupcakes on the Alabama non-conference schedule. The Tide hits the bakery before finishing the season with rival Auburn, then Florida in the SEC title game, followed by a BCS game. The Bama fans are hoping that BCS game is in California for a national title, not the Sugar Bowl.
#4 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 24-21 win vs WVU
NEXT GAME: Fri Nov 27th vs Illinois
This is two straight weeks in which the Bearcats were unable to put their opponent away in the 4th quarter, and this from a team that had been winning their games at the mid-point in the season by an average of four touchdowns. A week off, then a game Cincy should have no problem with against Illinois, they the showdown with Pitt for the River City Rivalry Trophy, oh yeah, and a BCS bid.
#5 TCU HORNED FROGS (10-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 55-28 win vs Utah
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Wyoming
11 weeks down and TCU is still undefeated, and they have now beat their toughest competition. The much hyped game against Utah turned out to be a old fashioned butt-whooping by the Horned Frogs. TCU has done everything asked of them so far and they have done it with authority. A sign at GameDay last week read, “TCU, Texas State champs!” I wish we wouldn’t have to wait until their BCS bowl to really see how good this team is. How about TCU plays Texas instead of some schmo from the Big XII North on Dec 5th?!
#6 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (10-1, 7-1)
LAST WEEK: 49-10 win @ Duke
NEXT GAME: Sat Nov 28th vs Georgia
The Yellow Jackets have clinched the Coastal division of the ACC and await either Clemson (whom they have already beat this season) or Boston College in Tampa for the ACC Championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
#7 PITT PANTHERS (9-1, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 27-22 win vs Notre Dame
NEXT GAME: Fri Nov. 27th @ WVU
Pitt really outplayed Notre Dame in pretty much every aspect of the game and beat the Irish worse than the score indicated, but that could be a problem. Pitt needs to put teams away. With games against WVU and Cincinnati ahead the Panthers must get a killer instinct that they haven’t shown yet this season.
#8 OREGON DUCKS (8-2, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 44-21 win vs Arizona State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ #20 Arizona
The Ducks are currently the leader in the Pac-10, but they still have to play Arizona this week, and Oregon State in the “Civil War” to close the season. Either of those two teams or Stanford, who already beat the Ducks, could still win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl if the Ducks slip up.
#9 LSU TIGERS (8-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-16 win vs La Tech
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Mississippi
I want to believe that this team is a top ten team, but their offense is showing me nothing. This week will be a big test to see how good this team really is when they travel to Oxford for a tough test.
#10 STANFORD CARDINAL (7-3, 6-2)
LAST WEEK: 55-21 win @ Southern Cal
NEXT GAME: Sat vs #19 Cal
You might wonder how a three loss team makes my top ten, the answer is simple, go for 2 against USC with 7 minutes to go in the 4th quarter when you hold a 27-point lead! Jim Harbaugh gets major props for that! Let’s not forget that the Trees are playing as well as any team in the nation right now and have put up 50 points in back to back weeks, both against Top 10 teams.
#11 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (9-2, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 27-24 OT win vs Iowa
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Michigan
Beating a beat-up and overrated Iowa team by only 3 points in overtime on your home field is not the best way to make a good impression, but the win clinched the Buckeyes first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1996.
#12 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (10-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 63-25 win vs Iadho
NEXT GAME: Fri @ Utah State
Yawn! Boise State ran up the score on another joke of an opponent. Guess what, they will do it again this week too.
#13 WISCONSIN BADGERS (8-2, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 45-24 win vs Michigan
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Northwestern
The Badgers were just the next in a recent long line of opponents to embarrass the Wolverines in Big Ten play the past two seasons. Wisconsin has quietly set itself up for a nice New Years Day bowl as possibly the top non-BCS draw out of the conference.
#14 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (8-2, 5-1)
LAST WEEK: 24-17 win vs Texas Tech
NEXT GAME: Thurs vs Colorado
The Cowboys have proven themselves as the second best team in the Big XII this season, unfortunately for them that doesn’t get you very much this season. Most seasons you would get a BCS bowl birth, but with the conference having a down year, it looks like the Cowboys could be headed for the Cotton Bowl this season.
#15 CLEMSON TIGERS (7-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 43-23 win @ NC State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Virginia
Last season the Tigers started 3-4 before getting hot down the stretch and this season they started 2-3 before winning 5 straight. One more win this week will place Clemson in Tampa to face Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game.
#16 OREGON STATE (7-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 48-21 win vs Washington
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Washington State
The Beavers owe a thank you to the Pac-10 schedule makers. They essentially get a bye week in playing Washington State before taking on Oregon in a game that could be for the Pac-10 title.
#17 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (9-2, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 31-20 win vs Indiana
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Michigan State
The way the Nits played in the first half you would have thought that their season went down the drain after losing to Ohio State. They must have forgot that the all-important Land Grant Trophy Game versus Michigan State was still remaining on the schedule.
#18 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (7-3, 3-3)
LAST WEEK: 33-24 win vs Miami
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Boston College
Two bad home losses turned this season for the Tar Heels. Losses at home to Virginia and Florida State took this team from a contender in the ACC to a middle of the road bowl game somewhere in the last week of December.
#19 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (7-3, 4-3)
LAST WEEK: 24-16 win vs Arizona
NEXT GAME: Sat @ # 10 Stanford
Cal has looked really good in their wins and really bad in their losses, last week they looked really good and sneak into the top 20. The Bears will need to look really good again this week versus Stanford or it will be a short stay.
#20 ARIZONA WILDCATS (6-3, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-16 loss @ Cal
NEXT GAME: Sat vs #8 Oregon
Five teams from the Pac-10 make it into the Rant Rankings this week. Half of the conference finds itself in the top 20 in the nation. Are they the best conference or the conference with the most parity?
Friday, November 13, 2009
RANDOM RANTING
VOLUNTEERED ROBBERY
As many people have heard, three Tennessee football players were arrested and charged in part with an armed robbery that occurred around 2:00 early Thursday morning at an off-campus gas station. That is not the story. That is no big deal. It is the SEC, Lane Kiffin will probably suspend them for the National Anthem.
The story is about one of the victims, Corey Zickefoose. This man had a gun stuck in his face during the robbery, but thinks the robbers should get off easy. Here is what he has to say, "I think they should still be able to play football, regardless. Tennessee is my place. It's my football team." When asked if he believed this despite having a gun pointed in his face by one of the robbers he added, "Yeah, it's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes,"
You have got to check this guy out!
Lane Kiffin and Vols need to hook this kids up with some season tickets!
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
While watching the Sunday Sports Showdown last Sunday on KDKA-TV and I heard a very interesting stat about Penn State football given by Paul Zeise. The stat was that Penn State is just 5-20 against Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan in the past 10 years. This stunned me, and it was followed up with the fact that they are just 5-10 in non-conference games vs BCS records that finished with a winning record in that same span. So, Penn State is just 10-30 against good competition over the last 10 years. That got me thinking, and researching, to find other surprising numbers that people may not be aware of regarding some of the top profile teams in the country.
I tried to choose 1 or 2 schools from each of the 6 BCS conferences, here is what I found out.
FLORIDA:
A lot is always made about teams and how they schedule their non-conference portion of their schedule. Somehow, it seems to be overlooked each year that Florida does play road non-conference games, and the ones they do play, they don’t have to travel very far to get to. The Gators have not played a non-conference game outside the state of Florida in 18 seasons. The last time Florida went on the road to play a non-conference game was September 21, 1991 and they lost in the Carrier Dome to Syracuse 38-21.
ALABAMA:
To be the best you have to beat the best, sometimes at least. Alabama, since 2000 is just 4-21 against teams that finished the season with double digit wins including losing the final two games of the season last year to Utah and Florida, both of whom finished with 13 wins on the season.
LSU:
Not as bad as Alabama against winning teams but LSU isn’t beating many powerhouses either, in conference play at least. Over the past 20 years the Tigers are just 7-31 against fellow SEC teams that went on to win 10+ games that season.
GEORGIA:
What’s the old saying, “It’s not a rivalry unless both teams win.” Well apparently Georgia is running short on rivals. If you would ask a Bulldog fan to name their two biggest rivals, they would probably say Florida and Tennessee. In the past 20 years Georgia has won only 10 of the 40 games played against those schools.
OHIO STATE:
Going from the SEC to the Big Ten this seems like the best transition to make, Ohio State has not beaten a team from the SEC since September of 1988. That is right, it has been 21 seasons since the Buckeyes have beaten a school from the SEC. The win occurred September 24, 1988 in a 36-33 win over LSU. That is also the Buckeyes only win versus a SEC team.
MICHIGAN:
The Wolverines haven’t fared much better against their rivals than Georgia. Michigan is 2-8 the past 10 games against Notre Dame and Ohio State and in the past 23 seasons, they have swept their rivals just four times.
NOTRE DAME:
As we all know Notre Dame is pretty much just like any other school in college football, the mystique is gone, although they would never want you to know that. Look at some of these numbers regarding whom Notre Dame plays (and beats). In the past 10 years, Notre Dame has won 69 games; only 26 of those wins came against teams with winning records. The average record of those 69 opponents was 5-6. The Irish have lost 8 straight games to teams with 10+ wins and are just 5-21 in the past 10 seasons against 10-win teams. In the past three seasons, they are 0-6 vs ranked teams and 3-16 against teams with winning records.
CINCINNATI:
Cincinnati is new to this winning thing, so these number may not surprised you, but for a team that is in the Top 5 they are pretty interesting. In the past 10 years Cincinnati is 3-12 against non-conference BCS opponents. Two of those three wins have come against Oregon State over the past three seasons.
PITT:
Being a Pitt fan is difficult; they seem to always lose at least one game every year to an inferior opponent. Well maybe it seems that way because it is 100% true. Pitt has lost at least one game for the past 9 seasons to a team that finished with a losing record. That streak looks like it will stay in tact as the Panthers only loss this season was against 4-5 NC State.
WEST VIRGINIA:
What is the toughest place to play in the Big East? West Virginia. WRONG! A crazy misconception is that playing in Morgantown tough. A hostile environment, yes, but a tough place to win, you may want to reconsider. WVU has lost at least 1 home game every year since 1994. In that span they have lost 13 home games in the last half of the season, when the wins are the most important. So far this season the Mountaineers are 6-0 at home with just one game remaining. WVU hosts Pitt Nov 27th, the last time they hosted the Panthers, Pitt knocked them out of the National Championship game upsetting the #2 Mountaineers in the final game of the regular season.
VIRGINIA TECH:
This one might be a stretch and maybe a little misleading because VT has been so good recently. Of the Hokies last 12 losses, 10 of them came from teams that had a worse record then them.
TEXAS:
The Longhorns and Oklahoma have pretty much been the class of the Big XII since the conference started in 1996. Since that time, Texas has a losing record to only two Big XII foes. One is Oklahoma, who is 6-5 versus the Longhorns. The other is Kansas State. That’s right the Kansas State Wildcats are the 2nd most successful team against Texas since the inception of the Big XII conference. K-State is 4-2 against the Longhorns.
OKLAHOMA:
Sooner fans get on Bob Stoops for not winning the big bowl games, but let’s not stop with just bowl games. Stoops has struggled against every team that is not in the Big XII. Since 2003, the Bob Stoops led Sooners have lost just 19 games. 9 of those games have come against Big XII opponents in 58 games. However, in just 32 nonconference games the Sooners have lost 10 times.
Enjoy your great weekend of college football!
As many people have heard, three Tennessee football players were arrested and charged in part with an armed robbery that occurred around 2:00 early Thursday morning at an off-campus gas station. That is not the story. That is no big deal. It is the SEC, Lane Kiffin will probably suspend them for the National Anthem.
The story is about one of the victims, Corey Zickefoose. This man had a gun stuck in his face during the robbery, but thinks the robbers should get off easy. Here is what he has to say, "I think they should still be able to play football, regardless. Tennessee is my place. It's my football team." When asked if he believed this despite having a gun pointed in his face by one of the robbers he added, "Yeah, it's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes,"
You have got to check this guy out!
Lane Kiffin and Vols need to hook this kids up with some season tickets!
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
While watching the Sunday Sports Showdown last Sunday on KDKA-TV and I heard a very interesting stat about Penn State football given by Paul Zeise. The stat was that Penn State is just 5-20 against Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan in the past 10 years. This stunned me, and it was followed up with the fact that they are just 5-10 in non-conference games vs BCS records that finished with a winning record in that same span. So, Penn State is just 10-30 against good competition over the last 10 years. That got me thinking, and researching, to find other surprising numbers that people may not be aware of regarding some of the top profile teams in the country.
I tried to choose 1 or 2 schools from each of the 6 BCS conferences, here is what I found out.
FLORIDA:
A lot is always made about teams and how they schedule their non-conference portion of their schedule. Somehow, it seems to be overlooked each year that Florida does play road non-conference games, and the ones they do play, they don’t have to travel very far to get to. The Gators have not played a non-conference game outside the state of Florida in 18 seasons. The last time Florida went on the road to play a non-conference game was September 21, 1991 and they lost in the Carrier Dome to Syracuse 38-21.
ALABAMA:
To be the best you have to beat the best, sometimes at least. Alabama, since 2000 is just 4-21 against teams that finished the season with double digit wins including losing the final two games of the season last year to Utah and Florida, both of whom finished with 13 wins on the season.
LSU:
Not as bad as Alabama against winning teams but LSU isn’t beating many powerhouses either, in conference play at least. Over the past 20 years the Tigers are just 7-31 against fellow SEC teams that went on to win 10+ games that season.
GEORGIA:
What’s the old saying, “It’s not a rivalry unless both teams win.” Well apparently Georgia is running short on rivals. If you would ask a Bulldog fan to name their two biggest rivals, they would probably say Florida and Tennessee. In the past 20 years Georgia has won only 10 of the 40 games played against those schools.
OHIO STATE:
Going from the SEC to the Big Ten this seems like the best transition to make, Ohio State has not beaten a team from the SEC since September of 1988. That is right, it has been 21 seasons since the Buckeyes have beaten a school from the SEC. The win occurred September 24, 1988 in a 36-33 win over LSU. That is also the Buckeyes only win versus a SEC team.
MICHIGAN:
The Wolverines haven’t fared much better against their rivals than Georgia. Michigan is 2-8 the past 10 games against Notre Dame and Ohio State and in the past 23 seasons, they have swept their rivals just four times.
NOTRE DAME:
As we all know Notre Dame is pretty much just like any other school in college football, the mystique is gone, although they would never want you to know that. Look at some of these numbers regarding whom Notre Dame plays (and beats). In the past 10 years, Notre Dame has won 69 games; only 26 of those wins came against teams with winning records. The average record of those 69 opponents was 5-6. The Irish have lost 8 straight games to teams with 10+ wins and are just 5-21 in the past 10 seasons against 10-win teams. In the past three seasons, they are 0-6 vs ranked teams and 3-16 against teams with winning records.
CINCINNATI:
Cincinnati is new to this winning thing, so these number may not surprised you, but for a team that is in the Top 5 they are pretty interesting. In the past 10 years Cincinnati is 3-12 against non-conference BCS opponents. Two of those three wins have come against Oregon State over the past three seasons.
PITT:
Being a Pitt fan is difficult; they seem to always lose at least one game every year to an inferior opponent. Well maybe it seems that way because it is 100% true. Pitt has lost at least one game for the past 9 seasons to a team that finished with a losing record. That streak looks like it will stay in tact as the Panthers only loss this season was against 4-5 NC State.
WEST VIRGINIA:
What is the toughest place to play in the Big East? West Virginia. WRONG! A crazy misconception is that playing in Morgantown tough. A hostile environment, yes, but a tough place to win, you may want to reconsider. WVU has lost at least 1 home game every year since 1994. In that span they have lost 13 home games in the last half of the season, when the wins are the most important. So far this season the Mountaineers are 6-0 at home with just one game remaining. WVU hosts Pitt Nov 27th, the last time they hosted the Panthers, Pitt knocked them out of the National Championship game upsetting the #2 Mountaineers in the final game of the regular season.
VIRGINIA TECH:
This one might be a stretch and maybe a little misleading because VT has been so good recently. Of the Hokies last 12 losses, 10 of them came from teams that had a worse record then them.
TEXAS:
The Longhorns and Oklahoma have pretty much been the class of the Big XII since the conference started in 1996. Since that time, Texas has a losing record to only two Big XII foes. One is Oklahoma, who is 6-5 versus the Longhorns. The other is Kansas State. That’s right the Kansas State Wildcats are the 2nd most successful team against Texas since the inception of the Big XII conference. K-State is 4-2 against the Longhorns.
OKLAHOMA:
Sooner fans get on Bob Stoops for not winning the big bowl games, but let’s not stop with just bowl games. Stoops has struggled against every team that is not in the Big XII. Since 2003, the Bob Stoops led Sooners have lost just 19 games. 9 of those games have come against Big XII opponents in 58 games. However, in just 32 nonconference games the Sooners have lost 10 times.
Enjoy your great weekend of college football!
T3R WEEK 3
Sorry for the delay this week, I spent most of the week trying to track down a Nutcracker shirt from the white-out to give to Terrelle Pryor.
#1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (9-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 35-3 win vs UCF
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Baylor
Texas can pretty much sleep walk their way to the national title game at this point. The remaining schedule consists of Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M. Those three teams are a combined 4-11 in conference play so far this year and they would have to lose 2 of those 3 to not make it to the BIG XII Title game. Then they will go up against one of the jokes from the Big XII South (maybe the worst division of any conference in the history of college football). So I’m saying it now, Texas has already stamped their ticket to Pasadena and will be playing for the national title.
#2 FLORIDA GATORS (9-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 27-3 win vs Vanderbilt
NEXT GAME: Sat @ South Carolina
I am starting to wonder if Florida has just being toying with the college football world this season. Everyone doubted them and they started to lose points in the rankings and then they came out and smashed Georgia in a rivalry game. This week could be interesting though. If the offense really is struggling, SC is not the team you want to have to face. The Gamecocks have a very stingy defense and could be a tough road environment if it is close in the fourth quarter.
#3 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (9-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 25-14 win vs #7 LSU
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Mississippi State
By beating LSU last week, Alabama has clinched a re-match with Florida (who also clinched last week) in the SEC Title game. Alabama should be able to stay unbeaten until that game with only contests against Mississippi State, Chattanooga and Auburn remaining on their regular season slate.
#4 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (9-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 47-45 win vs UCONN
NEXT GAME: Fri vs WVU
The Bearcats survived a scare against a pesky UCONN team. Cincinnati now has two more conference games remaining against the other top teams in the Big East. If the Bearcats win Friday, it makes the Dec 5th match-up with Pitt the unofficial title game for the Big East conference, regardless how either teams fares in their games until then.
#5 TCU HORNED FROGS (9-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 55-12 win @ San Diego State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Utah
Ten weeks down and TCU is still undefeated! If you are a fan of the BCS-buster then you love this. If you are not, you should be pulling big-time for the Utes this week in Fort Worth. Utah is the only team remaining on TCU’s cake schedule that stands a chance at beating them and knocking them out of BCS consideration.
#6 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (9-1, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 30-27 OT win vs Wake Forest
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Duke
The Yellow Jackets escaped last week with a win against a poor Wake Forest team. GT needs to be on its game this week against a much-improved Duke team that is fighting to get bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. If Georgia Tech wins, they clinch the ACC Coastal division. A loss puts the ball in Miami’s court and the Yellow Jackets would have to hope for a Canes loss in the final weeks of the season.
#7 LSU TIGERS (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-15 loss @ #3 Alabama
NEXT GAME: Sat vs La Tech
How does a team move up after losing? They play well. The LSU defense played well enough to win that game last week, and minus one terrible call and review by the SEC officiating, they could have won that game. LSU has lost twice this season. Once to Florida and once to Alabama, that is not too bad!
#8 PITT PANTHERS (8-1, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: win 37-10 vs Syracuse
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Notre Dame
Pitt has survived the easy part of their schedule and now has a tough 3-game stretch to close it out. The Pitt secondary should face a stern challenge against Jimmy Clausen and the Irish, but the next two games are what really matter as they push towards their first outright Big East title.
#9 OREGON DUCKS (7-2, 5-1)
LAST WEEK: 51-42 loss @ #16 Stanford
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Arizona State
How do you take the air out of a program after a huge win? Go out and lay an egg the next game out. The Ducks did that exact thing. After coming off arguably the biggest win in school history Oregon got down early and never recovered against Stanford.
#10 SOUTHERN CAL TROJANS (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 14-9 win @ Arizona State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Stanford
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the college football world have to be the USC offense. They were held under 20 two games earlier this year, then ran 5 straight games scoring 27+, and in the past 2 weeks they have scored a total of three touchdowns.
#11 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (8-2, 5-1)
LAST WEEK: 24-7 win @ #18 Penn State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Iowa
Well I was hoping for a 40 point win and a career day for Pryor last week, I guess I will settle for a 17-point win and seeing an empty Beaver Stadium as the time ticked off the clock in the 4th quarter. If last week was the Big Ten semi-final for the Buckeyes, that would make this week the Championship game. Looks like the Ohio State University will be going back to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1996.
#12 ARIZONA WILDCATS (6-2, 4-1)
LAST WEEK: 48-7 win vs Washington State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ California
Mike Stoops FINALLY has his team in place to reach expectations that were set when he took over in Tucson, but he still has a tough road ahead of him. The Wildcats still have this week vs Cal, then they host 1st place Oregon before going on the road to rival Arizona State and finishing at USC. Can it be done? Yes, but it certainly won’t be easy.
#13 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (9-0, 4-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-35 win @ La Tech
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Idaho
59-2 on the Smurf Turf this decade is all you need to know about this match-up. Idaho is not a bad team and if this were a road game for Boise State, it would pose a challenge, that being said the Broncos will roll to a very unimpressive 10-0.
#14 WISCONSIN BADGERS (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 31-28 win @ Indiana
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Michigan
John Clay and his power running game for the Badgers versus a hit-or-miss Michigan team who has had trouble stopping anyone on the defensive side of the ball. Wisconsin has quietly played itself into a battle for 2nd place in the Big Ten.
#15 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (7-2, 4-1)
LAST WEEK: 34-8 win @ Iowa State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Texas Tech
Oklahoma State has two bad losses, but I really do feel that they could play with anyone in the country outside of the top 3 teams. The loss to Houston is still a bad loss despite what the Cougars have done since. And the Texas game was a bad loss simply due to the margin of defeat, you can’t be ashamed losing to the Longhorns, it was just how it happened, at home none the less.
#16 STANFORD CARDINAL (6-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 51-42 win vs #9 Oregon
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Southern Cal
The Trees had a big win last week on the road to get into the rankings this week, now they need to do it again on the road to stay in the rankings. If they do upset the Trojans, not only will they stay in the rankings but also they will vault right into the Pac-10 race for the Rose Bowl.
#17 MIAMI HURRICANES (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 52-17 win vs Virginia
NEXT GAME: Sat @ North Carolina
The Canes are an OT loss against Clemson from being in first place in the Coastal Division of the ACC. They are not out of it however, with two games to play in conference and the head-to-head tiebreaker over 1st place GT, the Canes still have a lot to play for. This week won’t be easy though, they have never won in Chapel Hill.
#18 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (8-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-7 loss vs #11 Ohio State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Indiana
What happened to the home field advantage that Penn State used to have with 110K crazy loud fans? Last week was the second time they lost at Beaver Stadium this season, and most of the fans left before the game was even over. Indiana won’t be as easy as many Nits think this week. The Hoosiers have lost their last three games and are just 1-5 in conference but they just haven’t finished well. In those five conference losses, they have held leads late in the 4th quarter or lost by one possession in four of them.
#19 HOUSTON COUGARS (8-1, 4-1)
LAST WEEK: 46-45 win @ Tulsa
NEXT GAME: Sat @ UCF
Tulsa had a lot of hype coming into the season for their high-powered offense, but they haven’t really produced much. They were 4-5 coming into this game and got smacked by Oklahoma 45-0. This game should not have been close. The Cougars escaped thanks to a 51-yard FG by a freshman as time expired capping a 9-point rally in the final 21 seconds of play. You can’t struggle to win two straight weeks against bad competition and expect to climb in the rankings.
#20 CLEMSON TIGERS (6-3, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 40-24 win vs Florida State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ NC State
Clemson started the season 2-3, including a terrible lost at Maryland, but since has won four straight and currently lead the ACC Atlantic division.
#1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (9-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 35-3 win vs UCF
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Baylor
Texas can pretty much sleep walk their way to the national title game at this point. The remaining schedule consists of Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M. Those three teams are a combined 4-11 in conference play so far this year and they would have to lose 2 of those 3 to not make it to the BIG XII Title game. Then they will go up against one of the jokes from the Big XII South (maybe the worst division of any conference in the history of college football). So I’m saying it now, Texas has already stamped their ticket to Pasadena and will be playing for the national title.
#2 FLORIDA GATORS (9-0, 7-0)
LAST WEEK: 27-3 win vs Vanderbilt
NEXT GAME: Sat @ South Carolina
I am starting to wonder if Florida has just being toying with the college football world this season. Everyone doubted them and they started to lose points in the rankings and then they came out and smashed Georgia in a rivalry game. This week could be interesting though. If the offense really is struggling, SC is not the team you want to have to face. The Gamecocks have a very stingy defense and could be a tough road environment if it is close in the fourth quarter.
#3 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (9-0, 6-0)
LAST WEEK: 25-14 win vs #7 LSU
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Mississippi State
By beating LSU last week, Alabama has clinched a re-match with Florida (who also clinched last week) in the SEC Title game. Alabama should be able to stay unbeaten until that game with only contests against Mississippi State, Chattanooga and Auburn remaining on their regular season slate.
#4 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (9-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 47-45 win vs UCONN
NEXT GAME: Fri vs WVU
The Bearcats survived a scare against a pesky UCONN team. Cincinnati now has two more conference games remaining against the other top teams in the Big East. If the Bearcats win Friday, it makes the Dec 5th match-up with Pitt the unofficial title game for the Big East conference, regardless how either teams fares in their games until then.
#5 TCU HORNED FROGS (9-0, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: 55-12 win @ San Diego State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Utah
Ten weeks down and TCU is still undefeated! If you are a fan of the BCS-buster then you love this. If you are not, you should be pulling big-time for the Utes this week in Fort Worth. Utah is the only team remaining on TCU’s cake schedule that stands a chance at beating them and knocking them out of BCS consideration.
#6 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (9-1, 6-1)
LAST WEEK: 30-27 OT win vs Wake Forest
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Duke
The Yellow Jackets escaped last week with a win against a poor Wake Forest team. GT needs to be on its game this week against a much-improved Duke team that is fighting to get bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. If Georgia Tech wins, they clinch the ACC Coastal division. A loss puts the ball in Miami’s court and the Yellow Jackets would have to hope for a Canes loss in the final weeks of the season.
#7 LSU TIGERS (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-15 loss @ #3 Alabama
NEXT GAME: Sat vs La Tech
How does a team move up after losing? They play well. The LSU defense played well enough to win that game last week, and minus one terrible call and review by the SEC officiating, they could have won that game. LSU has lost twice this season. Once to Florida and once to Alabama, that is not too bad!
#8 PITT PANTHERS (8-1, 5-0)
LAST WEEK: win 37-10 vs Syracuse
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Notre Dame
Pitt has survived the easy part of their schedule and now has a tough 3-game stretch to close it out. The Pitt secondary should face a stern challenge against Jimmy Clausen and the Irish, but the next two games are what really matter as they push towards their first outright Big East title.
#9 OREGON DUCKS (7-2, 5-1)
LAST WEEK: 51-42 loss @ #16 Stanford
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Arizona State
How do you take the air out of a program after a huge win? Go out and lay an egg the next game out. The Ducks did that exact thing. After coming off arguably the biggest win in school history Oregon got down early and never recovered against Stanford.
#10 SOUTHERN CAL TROJANS (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 14-9 win @ Arizona State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Stanford
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the college football world have to be the USC offense. They were held under 20 two games earlier this year, then ran 5 straight games scoring 27+, and in the past 2 weeks they have scored a total of three touchdowns.
#11 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (8-2, 5-1)
LAST WEEK: 24-7 win @ #18 Penn State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Iowa
Well I was hoping for a 40 point win and a career day for Pryor last week, I guess I will settle for a 17-point win and seeing an empty Beaver Stadium as the time ticked off the clock in the 4th quarter. If last week was the Big Ten semi-final for the Buckeyes, that would make this week the Championship game. Looks like the Ohio State University will be going back to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1996.
#12 ARIZONA WILDCATS (6-2, 4-1)
LAST WEEK: 48-7 win vs Washington State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ California
Mike Stoops FINALLY has his team in place to reach expectations that were set when he took over in Tucson, but he still has a tough road ahead of him. The Wildcats still have this week vs Cal, then they host 1st place Oregon before going on the road to rival Arizona State and finishing at USC. Can it be done? Yes, but it certainly won’t be easy.
#13 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (9-0, 4-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-35 win @ La Tech
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Idaho
59-2 on the Smurf Turf this decade is all you need to know about this match-up. Idaho is not a bad team and if this were a road game for Boise State, it would pose a challenge, that being said the Broncos will roll to a very unimpressive 10-0.
#14 WISCONSIN BADGERS (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 31-28 win @ Indiana
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Michigan
John Clay and his power running game for the Badgers versus a hit-or-miss Michigan team who has had trouble stopping anyone on the defensive side of the ball. Wisconsin has quietly played itself into a battle for 2nd place in the Big Ten.
#15 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (7-2, 4-1)
LAST WEEK: 34-8 win @ Iowa State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Texas Tech
Oklahoma State has two bad losses, but I really do feel that they could play with anyone in the country outside of the top 3 teams. The loss to Houston is still a bad loss despite what the Cougars have done since. And the Texas game was a bad loss simply due to the margin of defeat, you can’t be ashamed losing to the Longhorns, it was just how it happened, at home none the less.
#16 STANFORD CARDINAL (6-3, 5-2)
LAST WEEK: 51-42 win vs #9 Oregon
NEXT GAME: Sat @ Southern Cal
The Trees had a big win last week on the road to get into the rankings this week, now they need to do it again on the road to stay in the rankings. If they do upset the Trojans, not only will they stay in the rankings but also they will vault right into the Pac-10 race for the Rose Bowl.
#17 MIAMI HURRICANES (7-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 52-17 win vs Virginia
NEXT GAME: Sat @ North Carolina
The Canes are an OT loss against Clemson from being in first place in the Coastal Division of the ACC. They are not out of it however, with two games to play in conference and the head-to-head tiebreaker over 1st place GT, the Canes still have a lot to play for. This week won’t be easy though, they have never won in Chapel Hill.
#18 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (8-2, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 24-7 loss vs #11 Ohio State
NEXT GAME: Sat vs Indiana
What happened to the home field advantage that Penn State used to have with 110K crazy loud fans? Last week was the second time they lost at Beaver Stadium this season, and most of the fans left before the game was even over. Indiana won’t be as easy as many Nits think this week. The Hoosiers have lost their last three games and are just 1-5 in conference but they just haven’t finished well. In those five conference losses, they have held leads late in the 4th quarter or lost by one possession in four of them.
#19 HOUSTON COUGARS (8-1, 4-1)
LAST WEEK: 46-45 win @ Tulsa
NEXT GAME: Sat @ UCF
Tulsa had a lot of hype coming into the season for their high-powered offense, but they haven’t really produced much. They were 4-5 coming into this game and got smacked by Oklahoma 45-0. This game should not have been close. The Cougars escaped thanks to a 51-yard FG by a freshman as time expired capping a 9-point rally in the final 21 seconds of play. You can’t struggle to win two straight weeks against bad competition and expect to climb in the rankings.
#20 CLEMSON TIGERS (6-3, 4-2)
LAST WEEK: 40-24 win vs Florida State
NEXT GAME: Sat @ NC State
Clemson started the season 2-3, including a terrible lost at Maryland, but since has won four straight and currently lead the ACC Atlantic division.
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