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