2009 College Football Regular Season Recap

Much like Chinese food, the 2009 college football season initially had me satisfied, but as we reach the end of the regular season, I find myself empty and wanting more. Perhaps we have been spoiled the past few years by an abundance of memorable moments and games:, the Crabtree catch against Texas, an epic Heisman race, Appalachian State upsetting Michigan, countless last second/overtime decisions involving LSU,  Charlie Weis tearing an ACL while standing on the sidelines.
 
Ten years from now, what will we remember about the 2009 regular season? Due to the outcomes, we won’t remember how Texas A&M and Auburn ALMOST shook up the BCS picture during rivalry week. We’ll simply remember that Florida, Alabama and Texas all ran the table and went into the conference title games undefeated. Looking back, I honestly cannot think of a defining moment for the season. One can only hope that something so incredible will happen during the postseason which casts a shadow on the dull regular season.
 
Perhaps one reason for the season being a little less exciting than usual was poor play of from a lot of teams who typically in the national championship picture. Oklahoma, Florida State, Michigan, and USC all had disappointing seasons. Even some of the teams you expect to compete for their conference, such as Tennessee, Miami and LSU, also didn’t necessarily perform as expect. A few of the preseason top 25 teams had major letdowns early in the year. Ole Miss, USC and Oklahoma never did play like top ten teams, yet all three were in the top eight to begin the year. But you already know how I feel about preseason polls, so I won’t climb back on that soap box.
 
The Heisman race this year was one of the least interesting in the past decade. We began the year with two Heisman winners returning which is unheard of. Also returning was Colt McCoy who had a ridiculously high completion percentage and gaudy stats worthy of the trophy last year as well. It was almost a foregone conclusion that Tebow, Bradford or McCoy were going to win the Heisman in 2009. But then Bradford got banged up, Tebow started distributing the ball to teammates more often, and McCoy decided to put up mediocre numbers instead of the eye popping stats from last year. There were a handful of running backs, and a few other skill position players, who made a decent claim for the award as well. But there just wasn’t any one player who you could watch week in and out and say ____ is simply the best college football player every single game. Nobody stepped up and stood out. The Heisman race mirrored the rest of the season: mediocrity and forgettable moments.
 
But it wasn’t all bad- it was still college football, after all. The postseason could totally redeem the less than stellar regular season for all we know. We won’t be returning two Heisman trophy winners next season, that much is safe to say.
 
Recap of my SEC predictions:
 
The SEC played out almost exactly as I predicted, from a standings aspect at least, records were a little off and I swapped UGA/UT and Arkansas/Ole Miss in standings. Overall, I feel like I had a pretty good grasp of the conference before the year started. Here is a recap:
 
EAST:
 Florida
Actual: 12-0 (8-0) 1st Place
Predicted: 11-1 (7-1) 1st Place
Tennessee
Actual: 7-5 (4-4) 2nd Place
Predicted: 6-6 (3-5) 3rd Place
UGA
Actual: 7-5 (4-4) 3rd Place
Predicted: 7-5 (5-3) 2nd Place
South Carolina
Actual: 7-5 (3-5) 4th Place
Predicted: 6-6 (2-6) 4th Place
Kentucky
Actual: 7-5 (3-5) 5th Place
Predicted: 4-8 (1-7) 5th Place
Vanderbilt 4-8
Actual: 2-10 (0-8) 6th Place
Predicted: (1-7) 6th Place
 
WEST:
Alabama
Actual: 12-0 (8-0) 1st Place
Predicted: 10-2 (7-1) 1st Place
LSU
Actual: 9-3 (5-3) 2nd Place
Predicted: 10-2 (6-2) 2nd Place
Ole Miss
Actual: 8-4 (3-5) 3rd Place
Predicted: 9-3 (5-3) 4th Place
Arkansas
Actual: 7-5 (3-5) 4th Place
Predicted: 8-4 (5-3) 3rd Place
Auburn
Actual: 7-5 (3-5) 5th Place
Predicted: 6-6 (3-5) 5th Place
Miss St.
Actual: 5-7 (3-5) 6th Place
Predicted: 4-8 (1-7) 6th Place
 
 
I already have a good feeling how things are going to shake out next year in the Southeastern Conference, but you might just have to wait until August before you find out. Next year promises to be a little more exciting across the country than this year. There are some high impact guys who are going to be freshmen in the fall and I think a few of them could make some serious noise in the SEC.
 
Tired of reading about my predictions? Welp, here is one more batch before the bowl game pick ‘em extravaganza (winners in caps): 
 
Oregon State @ OREGON
CINCINNATI @ Pittsburgh
WEST VIRGINIA @ Rutgers
Arizona @ USC
FLORIDA vs. Alabama
TEXAS vs. Nebraska
CLEMSON vs. Georgia Tech

College Football: Week 13

Polls, conference championship games, and the BCS: not quite the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, but these are the devices that get us where we are going in the world of college football. Whether you are thankful for them or not, their sails have caught wind and there is no turning back now.

As we enter rivalry week, and the final weekend of the regular season, it is pretty clear what needs to happen for each team to arrive at their destination. Only three teams control their fate to play for the BCS National Championship: Florida, Alabama and Texas. The rest of the contenders must win their games and hope for a miracle at the top. There will certainly be a lot of people pulling for FSU, Auburn and Texas A&M this weekend, particularly in Cincinnati, Boise and Forth Worth.

Rivalry week is great. We get to watch more heated, competitive games this week than the past three weeks combined (maybe more). You can throw out records, postseason implications and recruiting class rankings this week. This is a player’s week, a week where the game is personal, a week where a loss leaves a sour taste in your mouth for an entire year. To the winner goes bragging rights for 365 days, and to the loser: the humility of arguing that “there’s always next year.” This is the week where a coach can save his job with a single win, even if the rest of the year has been disappointing. This is the week that is circled on calendars as soon as the schedule comes out. It’s a week where statements are made, recruiting battles are won, and the will and determination of the two teams is tested until the final whistle. This is must see TV for college football fans.

And now it’s the time where I normally talk about how Charlie Weis should be fired. But this week I think enough other people have said it, so I’ll spare you. I feel vindicated. If only most athletic departments had the same insight. If they did, maybe LSU’s staff would have made sure that Les Miles knows that you can’t take timeouts to the grave with you and that maybe someone should make sure that Les knows how to manage the clock at the end of a game. Nah, he’s got a national championship on his resume, he’ll be fine. Whoops. What was Les thinking, letting 17 seconds run off the clock before calling timeout. Most of the time you can’t blame a loss on a single event or coaching decision (with the exception of the rare 4th and 2 on your town 28 yard line incident). But this loss is hard to pin on anyone except for the mad hatter. At least Miles manned up to his mistake and shouldered the blame for the loss. Good thing that LSU was already out of the SEC race or this could have been grounds for a firing in Baton Rouge.



There really is an awesome slate of games this weekend. I am going to try my hardest to watch them all, unless Auburn gets massacred by Alabama on Friday and I have such a bad taste in my mouth for football that I can’t stomach any more. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen. You’re hoping for me, right? Here come the picks (winners in bold):




Texas @ Texas A&M
Pittsburgh @ West Virginia
Oklahoma State @ Oklahoma
Miami @ South Florida
Virginia Tech @ Virginia
Arizona @ Arizona State
Boston College @ Maryland
Missouri @ Kansas
Utah @ BYU
Notre Dame @ Stanford
UCLA @ USC

Alabama @ Auburn
Clemson @ South Carolina
Mississippi @ Mississippi State
Florida State @ Florida
Arkansas @ LSU
Tennessee @ Kentucky
Georgia @ Georgia Tech

Crazy thought for the weekend

Kansas State plays Nebraska Saturday. The winner goes on to play Texas in the Big-12 Title Game.

However, if Kansas State loses they will not be bowl eligible because they played two D-1AA schools and only have five eligible wins going into this weekend.

Let's get this straight: two more wins and Kansas State plays in a BCS bowl, but a loss on Saturday eliminates them from any postseason?

Yeah, this BcS thing is working out just fine.

Quick Thought During Lunch...

If you are a head coach in football, and your name begins with "MANGIN" and ends with I or O, you will lose your job this year.

If it ends with an A, well that's just hilarious.

Top Five Resons Why Brady Quinn is a Tool

As if you didn't already know that Brady Quinn is awful, here are the top five reasons why I think he's a tool:
 
1. He is second cousins with Brad from Home Improvement (Zachary Ty Bryan). Honestly, does anyone like Brad? Mark was probably the least likeable of the three brothers just because his entire role was based on sympathy, except for that short period of time when he turned goth, but Brad was definitely a tool. Brady Quinn exerts many of the same qualities as Brad Taylor: stupid hair, unwarranted cockiness, and also they both seem underachieve with the ladies. Did Brad ever bring home a hot chick on that show? Nope- a few that were decent, but the star of the soccer team should be doing way better. I don’t even need to mention Brady Quinn’s girlfriend that we had to see for 8 straight hours on the day that Quinn was drafted. You could do better Brady, if you weren’t a tool.
 
2. Myoplex Commercials- probably the most annoying line ever “Now I’m Done!” Do I really need to say anything else about this? A commercial that was tailor made for, and by, tools.
 
3. He is a Terrible NFL Quarterback: career stats- 52% completion, 3 TDs, 7 picks, QB rating of 58. He can’t beat out Derek Anderson (who is completing only 42% of his passes for 2 TDs and 9 picks this yer) for the starting job on a consistent basis. His team never won anything impressive during college and he certainly won’t win anything during his professional career with numbers like that. Maybe spend less time on making awful commercials and more time working on your game. Also, spend less time doing things like this:
 
4. The Taunting Incident at a Cleveland Gay Bar: Politics aside, this just wreaks of being a tool. If you don’t like a particular group of people, just stay away from them. Don’t show up at a bar where you know they will be and start taking out your frustration about being a terrible quarterback out them. That’s what the practice squad is for. Sorry, that’s what the practice squad should be for, but you are so bad that you probably eve make them look good.
 
5. The Chop Block on Terrell Suggs: Dear Brady Quinn, I know your team is 1-8 and you’ve scored less touchdowns than the Baltimore Ravens defense. I understand that you drink your Myoplex and you’re so jacked up during a game that you want to hit someone, which you typically have plenty of chances to do since you throw so many interceptions. But you can’t dive at people’s knees like a little punk! Especially when the NFL goes to extreme lengths to protect quarterbacks, a guy like Quinn better be very careful when trying to deliver a hit on an opponent. What does he do? He dives for the knees and delivers a dirty chop block. Congratulations on injuring Terrell Suggs and most likely ending his season, along with any hope the Ravens had of making the playoffs. Your tool-ness has become full circle.
 
Brad Taylor would be proud.

College Football: Week 12

As we approach the final stretch of the 2009-10 college football season, I find myself ready for the conclusion that we’ve all been anticipating for a while now. How long have we known that the winner of the SEC Championship Game will be playing Texas for the national championship? Alabama claimed the #3 spot in the rankings during week 3 and hasn’t looked back. Talk about an anti-climactic ending. The real drama will deal with the outsiders: Boise State, TCU and Cincinnati. How will these teams be rewarded for phenomenal seasons? Their reward will be a bag of cash and a thank-you note from the BCS but those teams will still feel empty, especially if they win their bowl game and remain undefeated.

But for those who stand a chance to win this popularity contest, there is still work to be done. Florida and Bama both eat cupcakes this week before playing their rivals next week. Florida will host Florida State and Alabama travels to Auburn. Both teams essentially have a bye this week, except for the scout team guys who will likely get in a good workout. Texas hosts Kansas this week before traveling to Texas A&M to finish the regular season. A Big-12 championship matchup, most likely against Nebraska, won’t be a walk in the park, but the ‘horns should have no trouble making it to the BCS National Championship Game.

I can’t remember a year where the Heisman race was less interesting than 2009. The current top three (according to ESPN’s expert poll) are all running backs: Mark Ingram (the odds-on favorite), Toby Gerhart, and C.J. Spiller. Tebow, McCoy, and Kellen Moore (all quarterbacks) are the next three on the list. I can’t recall the last time that a QB wasn’t in the top three. I’m guessing ESPN’s “expert opinions” will not reflect those of the Heisman committee. The presentation will feature at least one quarterback, if not both McCoy and Tebow.

I’ll go ahead and officially state that Dion Lewis will win the Heisman trophy one day. It might not be next year, but he will win it before he heads to the league- take that one to the bank. Here is a good place to randomly insert: Charlie Weis should be fired and forced to return the money he’s stolen from Notre Dame. Ahhhh, I feel better now- that’s my mandatory Weis knock for the day.

This is a boring week for most schools who are gearing up for rivalry week. Again, not too much to get excited about when looking at the schedule. Ohio State and Michigan is normally interesting, but it couldn’t be much more meaningless than it this year with Michigan in the can and Ohio State already clinching a berth in the Rose Bowl. Oklahoma at Texas Tech would be phenomenal if it were 2008, but it’s a snoozer in 2009. If you were going off the preseason rankings, LSU @ Ole Miss would be a national championship caliber game. Who would have thought that the rankings were way off….. anyone?

Well there must be some good college hoops this weekend, right? You can watch Radford at Duke, or Rider at Kentucky! Ok, maybe this just isn’t the best Saturday for sports. But hey, next week is Thanksgiving and you will most certainly get to see a ton of good football, so hang in there. Until then, do whatever you can to avoid the movie theaters where there is sure to be hundreds of teenage girls in line to see some vampire movie. Bring on turkey day!

Arbitrary picks for the week (winner in bold):


Ohio State @ Michigan
Minnesota @ Iowa
Maryland @ FSU
Oklahoma @ Texas Tech
Penn State @ Mich State
California @ Stanford
Kansas @ Texas
Oregon @ Arizona

Chattanooga @ Alabama
Mississippi State @ Arkansas
Florida International @ Florida
LSU @ Ole Miss
Vandy @ Tennessee
Kentucky @ UGA

Random thoughts on a Monday

There is an old proverb about karma that states “before you begin on the journey of revenge, dig two graves.” I sure hope Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh bought two shovels for his Saturday night victory against USC. Harbaugh made the call to go for a two-point conversion when the Cardinal were up 48-21 with 6:47 left in the fourth quarter. That can’t be good karma, especially against a program like USC who is typically dominant over the Pac-10. I’m sure the Trojans will remember that moment when Stanford week rolls around in 2010.
 
Switching gears towards teams that have no conference to dominate or be dominated by: have we finally reached the end of the road for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame?! I think the Irish’s 27-22 loss at Pittsburg may have sealed the fate of Mr. Weis (or as my diehard ND fan friend Andrew calls him, “front-butt”). After continually recruiting the top talent in the nation and squandering countless opportunities for should-have wins, the Irish better come up with the cash to pay off Weis’ contract and move in a positive direction. I know Notre Dame has been bad under Chuck, but here is a crazy fact I just learned this week: under Weis, the Irish haven’t beaten a team that finished the season with less than four losses. In laments terms: they haven’t beat a team that anyone would consider “good.”
 
How awesome was the Florida/South Carolina game? Although it was an extremely cheesy way to do so, I thought it was cool that the Gamecocks wore uniforms to honor the troops. Instead of wearing their names on the back of their jerseys, the Cocks put inspirational words associated with the military on the back of their uniforms. For example, South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia’s jersey said “Service” instead of Garcia. It provided four hours worth of witty jokes about the words on the back of their uniforms, like this one before the opening kickoff:
 
My friend Tony (Gator fan): “I can’t wait until we see Courage run out of bounds to avoid a big hit.” He then made faked a Constanza-like exit for another laugh and then actually pulled a Costanza-like exit later on which really confused us.
 
I kept waiting for Garcia to throw a pick so I could yell “TREASON!”, but it never happened while we were watching. How many households were making the exact same jokes during those four hours? Has to be in the millions.
 
Only two weeks left of college football- it has gone by crazy fast this year. I hope you are ready for some rambling, un-objective opinions on random things like movie reviews and top 10 reasons why I hate the Beastie Boys. I’m going to try to start posting several times per week, so try to keep up. Be sure you didn’t miss my BCS hate piece below.
 
Off to the Hawks game (best record in the NBA- hell must be freezing tonight), and then watching the Ravens play the Brows on the lowest rated Monday Night Football game of the season. Holler back.

Wise Words from Billboards

“It's all about the Benjamins baby
Now, what y'all wanna do?
It's all about the Benjamins baby
Wanna be ballers, shot-callers
It's all about the Benjamins baby”

-Puff Daddy (P.Diddy/Diddy/Sean Combs)

Puff Daddy probably had no idea how relevant his hit single would be to the world of college football when he wrote the above lyrics. The shot callers of college football clearly only care about one thing: the Benjamins (AKA “money” for you old timers). While this fact is hardly breaking news, it is becoming harder and harder to swallow as we continue to see injustice year after year in college football. We cannot simply point fingers at the BCS and claim that all problems would be solved by its elimination. We have to fight for a reform of the sport in several aspects, including the postseason/bowl process.

BCS:

Since its inception in 1998, the BCS has continually produced controversial results. Whether leaving out undefeated teams or including eventual champions with multiple losses, there has not been a single year where at least one team did not have a legitimate gripe about how the BCS Bowl Games were chosen. Smaller schools have no chance of making it to the national championship game.

Demonstrated Exclusivity:

In 11 years, there have only been 11 teams to appear in the BCS National Championship Game: Oklahoma (4), Ohio State (3), Florida State (3), Florida (2), LSU (2), USC (2), Miami (2), Texas (1), Tennessee (1), Nebraska (1), and Virginia Tech (1). There has never been a team play in the national championship game that was not one of the six conferences that are affiliated with the BCS. In fact, of the 94 total BCS Bowl bids that have been handed out to date, only four teams who were not affiliated made an appearance (excluding the 3 appearances from Notre Dame who receives an automatic BCS bid by finishing in the top eight).

Statistics alert: 4.25% of the teams who have played in these bowls were not conference affiliates. That number is astounding. There are 66 schools in the BCS conferences receiving 95.75% of the bids which equates to 7.66 bids out of the 8 per year. That leaves .34 bids per year for the 54 at large teams.

What does this mean in terms of whole numbers?

It means that only one team which is not affiliated with the BCS will make a BCS Bowl Game roughly every 3 years.

Of course that is speaking from a numbers standpoint only, since parity has become more and more widespread since 1998. It looks as though there will be at least one non-BCS team in the bowl games this year. But that just shows the extreme bias that BCS inflicts on college football.

As if it weren’t bad enough to exclude 45% of the teams that play D-1A football from competing in the cherished post-season competition, the BCS has also had several instances of screwing teams that are affiliated with the conference. I couldn’t possibly discuss all of miscues caused by the BCS over the years, but for a complete listing, as well as how they affected the system, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCS_controversies

The system doesn’t work for its affiliates or for the outsiders. So who exactly does it work for? The BCS is a money making machine for the conference affiliates, but not the specific teams in those conferences. It benefits the television networks who get to air these over-hyped, meaningless (all but one) games. It does financially reward the teams who are selected to participate, but I’ve already demonstrated how exclusive the selection process is. In a nutshell, the BCS is a system which benefits very few and harms the vast majority of schools, fans, players and teams. But the people calling the shots see nothing but dollar signs as they select the same teams over and over again to compete for their highly coveted awards.

Now that I’ve made clear the inadequacies of the post season system in college football, it is time to consider other flaws which are harming the sport.

Preseason Rankings:

As early as June or July, college football fans rush to newsstands across the nation to pick up a copy of their favorite season preview magazine, sometimes as early as 3 months before the season begins. Gaming fans pre-order their copy of the yearly college football video game weeks in advance and stand in line at midnight of its release. ESPN runs is programming specials during the middle of summer, while no students are on campus, predicting how each conference will play out. Media days are held across the nation so that reporters can interview players on their thoughts and predictions.

What do all of these events have in common? They are fueled by arbitrary preseason rankings. The magazines can’t be sold without the opinion of the expert writers as to who should be ranked #1 before a minute of college football is even played. The talking heads on ESPN have to dissect the rankings. The video games have to have a hierarchy to tell which teams should be better than others: all based on undignified predictions.

Before the season begins, certain teams are given an unfair advantage through their preseason ranking. Think about the end result: in December, the BCS committee has to decide between several undefeated, one loss, or two loss teams. How do they pick who gets in and who misses out? Rankings! And how did these teams arrive at their rank at the end of the year? Either they climbed from the bottom and fought an uphill battle all year, or they rode the free ride of their high preseason ranking. Guess which team is more likely to get picked, even if both have teams have the same record and strength of schedule? You guessed it- the team with the higher preseason ranking.

Why not just wait until the third or fourth week and then decide which teams are actually playing the best instead of guessing and then having to stick with those predictions until they make you look stupid? Money, that’s why! The pundits have to have something to talk about on their shows, the magazines and video games have to have something to sell, and the BCS needs to kick start its agenda months before preseason camp has even begun. Preseason rankings are simply the match which lights the BCS fire.

Weak Schedules

Why play 12 games if you are going to fill the schedule with teams like Charleston Southern or Louisana Monroe (sorry, Bama)? No one is excited to see Tim Tebow destroy a D-1AA team for one half and then watch the second and third teamers continue to dominate. With the occasional exception, wins are a foregone conclusion in those types of games. Yet, teams like Ole Miss schedule two D-1AA opponents this year. Fans aren’t excited, TV networks aren’t excited, and the schools aren’t impressing the BCS- so why do it? Ticket revenue and money spent traveling, that’s why. The money is important to the towns, the schools and the programs.

The broken system currently employed by college football is ruining one of the country’s greatest sports. The game day experience across college campuses is unmatched in any other sport. My love for college football will always be strong, but the ongoing injustice that we see on a yearly basis is causing it to waver. Simply steps can be taken to right the wrongs. But who will step forward and lead the charge for change? It certainly won’t be anyone affiliated with the BCS, and the reason is simple:

“It's all about the Benjamins baby”

College Football: Week 11

The sports gods continue to curse me: Alabama has secured a spot in the SEC Championship Game and controls its own fate to play in the national title game as well. The Tide may very well have the #1 contender for the Heisman trophy, as well, in running back Mark Ingram.

Let’s recap:

-Steelers win the Superbowl

-Yankees win the series, Phillies win the NL

-Bama wins the SEC West

-My fantasy football team just above the cellar

-Ravens are just about out of the playoff picture

…..yep, that’s about the worst year I could have hoped for when it comes to sports. I think I am going to sacrifice a lamb or have some other ritual this weekend to ensure that the evil Tide doesn’t win the national championship (bama fans: don’t hate- this is actually very, very good that I’m rooting against your team).

But it’s not about me. It is about the sport- what’s good for the sport. Maybe that is why the SEC has its officials blow calls on a weekly basis in favor of the conference’s undefeated teams. But I digress….

If I were voting for the Heisman, Case Keenum would be my guy. His 71% completion percentage, and 3,815 yards, 28 TDs to 5 interceptions are eye popping. He has overachieved by leading a mediocre Houston team to 8-1, including a road win at then #5 Oklahoma State and against SEC foe Mississippi State. If the Cougars win out, he deserves the award more than anyone. But the system just isn’t fair and objective, so this won’t happen. If he had the exact same stats and record at a big name school, it’d be in the bag already.

I’ve been talking about it this all season, and it has almost reached full circle: Rich Rodriguez and Charlie Weis better have those resumes updated. I predict that one of them will be fired before national signing day in February, if not both. Rich Rod managed to weasel in a huge buyout clause into his contract, even after Michigan paid over $2 million to buy out his old contract at West Virginia. Red Flags anyone?

Auburn and Georgia both have a lot at stake this weekend. The Tigers and the Dawgs have been mediocre in league play, and both teams will have a very tough time defeating their rivals in Alabama and Georgia Tech, respectively. A win this weekend would put Auburn at 8-3, surpassing most people’s expectations during what is supposed to be a rebuilding year. It would be disastrous for UGA to drop to 5-6. Mark Richt is in for a long offseason as it is; a loss this weekend will inevitably bring out thousands of Chicken Littles in Athens.

Here's what I'm thinking this week (winners in bold):

West Virginia @ Cincinnati

Michigan @ Wisconsin

South Dakota @ Minnesota

VA Tech @ Maryland

Stanford @ USC

Iowa @ Ohio State

Miami @ UNC

Utah @ TCU

Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh

Arizona @ California

Florida @ South Carolina

Kentucky @ Vandy

Tennessee @ Ole Miss

Alabama @ Miss State

Louisiana Tech @ LSU

Auburn @ Georgia

Troy @ Arkansas

College Football: Week 10

Hang in there, Oregon: at this point last year, the Florida Gators were ranked #8 in the BCS standings before going on the win the national championship. So should the currently ranked #8 Ducks feel encouraged by that fact? Probably not. Boise State, the only team who beat Oregon and a team that remains undefeated, is ahead of the Ducks in the BCS poll. It would be a tough sell for Oregon to jump an undefeated Boise team under any scenario since we’ve already seen the Broncos defeat the Ducks. Speaking of the BCS….

My new #1 argument for why preseason rankings are worthless: Ole Miss is in danger of not making a bowl game. The same Ole Miss who was ranked in the top ten before the year began. Under the current NCAA rules, a team must win at least six games to be bowl eligible. Ole Miss currently has five wins with remaining games against Northern Arizona, Tennessee, LSU, and a road trip Mississippi State. Here’s the catch: you can only count one win against D1-AA competition toward bowl eligibility. That means this weekend’s matchup against Northern Arizona is meaningless for the Rebs, which means that Ole Miss will have to win at least one out of the Vols, LSU and Miss State. While this is a very attainable goal, it seems like the wheels have come off in Oxford. The players and fan base are deflated after a beating in Auburn this past weekend. Tennessee is red hot, LSU can play very well when they want to, and the Egg Bowl is in Starkville this year- never discount a team in a rivalry game.

More to come on my growing hatred for the system very soon. But for now, on to other current events.

This is a big week for the Alabama Crimson Tide when LSU travels to Tuscaloosa for one of the biggest games of the year in the SEC. Both teams, although faint for LSU, have national championship aspirations. A win this week would vault either team closer to that goal while a loss would all but eliminate either of them for contention. The winner of this game is likely to appear in the SEC Championship Game in December to face Florida with a BCS bid on the line.

The game is also loaded with personal history for Alabama head coach Nick Saban who formerly coached LSU to a national championship before jumping ship for a short lived NFL career. Tiger fans are still bitter about how Saban treated the situation as well as some comments that he has made along the way. LSU would love nothing more than to stick it to Saban and the Tide and ruin their perfect season. They have the defense to pull it off, but can the LSU offense outplay a stingy Tide defense that has held opponents to 20 points or less in seven of eight games, including single digits in four of those wins? It will be an extremely tough task for Les Miles offense this Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

There really isn’t a whole lot to get excited about this weekend other than the marquee SEC matchup. We have Ohio State visiting Penn State- that is about as good as it gets this weekend. We are at the point in the season where teams either have byes or cupcakes on the schedule to gear up for rivalry week and other big time conference matchups. Fortunately, we at least those have two games with national relevance.

In coaching news, the seat that had previously cooled for Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez is starting to catch on fire now. Losing to an inept Illinois team is inexcusable for a program like Michigan. Rich Rod better have his sales pitch ready and come out hitting hard early next season or the sun may be setting on the Rich Rod era in Ann Arbor. Despite his best efforts to butcher every game, Charlie Weis’ team is playing pretty well with two losses so far. I guess having a potential Heisman candidate can make any coach look good (hey, even Joe Cain made James Caan seem like a good coach).

Random thought of the week: Minnesota probably won’t win another game this year without stud wideout Eric Decker. Out for the rest of the year with an ankle injury, Decker’s college football career is most likely over. Decker will have to choose between a pro baseball or football career. I think he could be a solid possession guy in the NFL, but depending how he heals up and what kind of numbers he shows if he makes it to the combine, I have a feeling he might lean toward baseball. He has taken a beating while being the only option on the Gopher offense for the past few years.

I hope no one has been keeping score on my predictions. I haven’t really been putting much time into researching them and it is really showing with some of the picks. But again subjecting myself to more embarrassment and criticism, here are my picks for the week (winners in bold) :

Week 10:

Purdue @ Michigan

Illinois @ Minnesota

Navy @ Notre Dame

Oregon @ Stanford

Ohio State @ Penn State

FSU @ Clemson

UConn @ Cincinnati

SEC GAMES:

South Carolina @ Arkansas

Tennessee Tech @ UGA

Eastern Kentucky @ Kentucky

Furman @ Auburn

LSU @ Alabama

Memphis @ Tennessee

Vandy @ Florida

Northern Arizona @ Mississippi

Good to be a home team in the SEC this week. Hopefully I just gave Alabama the kiss of death.