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Posted on 11/02/2006 3:06:56 PM PST by MikefromOhio
Weekend Nine brought one of the “Big 3” down. USC went into Corvallis, Oregon with their BCS destiny in their hands. Had they won out, they were assured of playing for the mythical National Championship. Unfortunately for USC, the Oregon State Beavers had other ideas. After getting out to a 33-10 lead, Oregon St. survived a ferocious comeback attempt by John David Booty to hold on. The loss by USC opened the door for yet another unbeaten team to hold destiny in the palm of their hand. West Virginia takes the spotlight this weekend in the Thursday Night Showdown with Louisville.
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This game will easily be the toughest game that either team has experienced this year. West Virginia features a devastating running game headed by RB Steve Slaton. While you may not know the name now, as a sophomore, he still has time to make a name for himself in college. Louisville features a tough dependable Quarterback in Brian Brohm. 5 weeks after having surgery on a ligament in his throwing hand, Brohm is back guiding the Cardinal offense with the efficiency that was predicted early on this year. The winner of this game has the inside track to the BCS National Title game. The loser is still in the BCS hunt, but can’t afford another slip up.
Louisville is a good team, but West Virginia is the class of the Big East. Slaton and QB Pat White will show why their running game is one of the best in the nation. This won’t be a blowout, but I think that by the end of the game, everyone will know exactly who is the top dog in the Big East race.
(1) Ohio State (-24) at Illinois
Ohio State 45 – Illinois 6
Ball St. at (2) Michigan (-33.5)
Michigan 34 – Ball St. 3
Oklahoma St. at (4) Texas (-18)
Texas 38 – Oklahoma St. 27
Arkansas St. at (6) Auburn (-30)
Auburn 37 - Arkansas St. 3
(7) Florida (-17) at Vanderbilt
Florida 35 – Vandy 10
(13) LSU (-3.5) at (8) Tennessee 
LSU 21 – Tennessee 17
(9) USC (-28) at Stanford
USC 37 – Stanford 10
UCLA at (10) Cal (-17)
Cal 42 – UCLA 21
North Carolina at (11) Notre Dame (-24.5)
ND 38 – North Carolina 7
(12) Arkansas (-2.5) at South Carolina
Arkansas 24 – South Carolina 17
Fresno St. 21 at (14) Boise State 45 from Wednesday
(15) Rutgers BYE
(16) Boston College (-3.5) at (22) Wake Forest
BC 30 – Wake 24
Penn State at (17) Wisconsin (-7)
Wisconsin 25 – Penn State 22
(18) Oklahoma (-2) at (21) Texas A&M
Oklahoma 45 – Texas A&M 28
Maryland at (19) Clemson (-20)
Clemson 32 – Maryland 24
(20) Georgia Tech (-5) at N.C. State
Georgia Tech 38 – NC State 16
(23) Virginia Tech (-2.5) at Miami
VT 23 – Miami 17
(24) Oregon (-16.5) at Washington
Oregon 32 – Washington 28
Arizona at (25) Washington State (-16)
A&M is entering a tough stretch of their schedule. After putting away Baylor late, they enter a brutal stretch in the Big XII where they will face Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas in consecutive weeks.
Oklahoma 45 – Texas A&M 28
Memphis is one of the worst teams in D-1A this year. Southern Miss tends to play down to its competition, but I think they will win this game easily.
Southern Miss 38 – Memphis 13
Major conferences don’t usually play on Tuesday nights. That said Tuesday night games are great exposure for the MAC. Northern Illinois should be the favorite in this game. Can Garrett Wolfe look like the guy who was on pace for nearly 4000 yards on the ground? That’s the key here.
Northern Illinois 32 – Toledo 28
Colt Brennan of Hawaii had 6 more TD's today, bringing his total this season to 39. Also the nation's top-rated passer, while the fraud Brady Quinn isn't even in the top 20. The Heisman is a complete joke if Quinn is invited to New York but not Brennan.
Of all the Top 10 teams that played this Saturday, Texas had the most impressive win:
#1 OSU 17, Illinois 10 (vs Big 11 bottom-feeder)
#2 Michigan 34, Ball St. 26 (vs 3-7 MAC school)
#4 Texas 36, OSU 10 (vs 5-4 Big XII team)
#6 Auburn 27, Arkansas St. 0 (vs Sun Belt? um, yeah)
#7 Florida 25, Vanderbilt 19 (vs SEC bottom-feeder)
#8 Tennessee 24, LSU 28 (buh bye)
#9 USC 42, Stanford 0 (vs winless Cardinal)
Texas beat a credible opponent by a top-10 like margin and nobody else this Saturday can say that.
5 hours ago I wouldn't have made this claim, but the way the Texas D shutdown the high-powered OK St. passing offense, I'd say that Texas and USC are the 2 teams (in no particular order) to complete the top 4. Auburn and Florida seem a step below, Louisville and Wisconsin could very well be better than them.
I don't have a problem with Louisville going to the mythical NC game if they win out, but if a 1-loss team gets in, based on how things are right now it should be either USC or Texas. Still a ways to go, however.
Obviously Texas will jump WV in the BCS, and probably Auburn (stength of schedule revision after this week when the difference was tiny last week), so they probably be at #5 in the BCS tomorrow afternoon. Florida still has S. Carolina (who has a shot at an upset if they learn from tonight's game and bench their not-too-bright starter), at Florida State, and the SEC title game. Louisville still has at Rutgers and at Pittsburgh. So Texas still has a shot if they win out and the Pac10 winner doesn't jump them. But Texas has to win out.
I agree with that. Its sad that Hawaii isnt getting the kudos it should. Hawaii is something to watch.
LOL, stupid Aggies put 12 men on defense on the 4th and inches, and still couldn't stop OU!
So if Bama if beats Auburn and LSU beats Arkansas, who wins the 3-way tie-breaker?
I expected us to score 10 to 20 more points, but would have been shocked to see an upset.
Congrats. McCoy's having a great year, and Mack deserves the success for being a class act. Maybe you'll pull for us against Stoops in a couple of weeks.
Hey, whoever put that Daniels booger link up there is upsetting my neigboring DFW suburb folks in Colleville. GROSS!
OK I think looking at from LSU side we got have Ark lose one and then we got to beat them at our mutual last game. I think AUburn just has too lose one more too. HEre are rules
A. TWO-TEAM TIE
1. Head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.
2. Records of the tied teams within the division.
3. Head-to-head competition vs. the team within the division with the best overall record (divisional and non-divisional) Conference record and proceeding through the division. Multiple ties within the division will be broken from first to last.
4. Overall record vs. all common non-divisional opponents.
5. Combined record vs. all common non-divisional teams.
6. Record vs. common non-divisional team with the best overall Conference (divisional and non-divisional) record and proceeding through other common non-divisional teams based on their order of finish within their division.
7. The tied team with the highest ranking in the Bowl Championship Series Standings following the last weekend of regular-season games shall be the divisional representative in the SEC Championship Game.
B. THREE (OR MORE) TEAM TIE
1. (Once the tie has been reduced to two teams, go to the two-team tie-breaker format.)
2. Combined head-to-head record among the tied teams.
3. Record of the tied teams within the division.
4. Head-to-head competition vs. the team within the division with the best overall (divisional and non-divisional) Conference record and proceeding through the division. Multiple ties within the division will be broken from first to last.
5. Overall record vs. non-division teams.
6. Combined record vs. all common non-divisional teams.
7. Record vs. common non-divisional team with the best overall Conference (divisional and non-divisional) record and proceeding through other common non-divisional teams based on their order of finish within their division.
8. The tied team with the highest ranking in the Bowl Championship Series Standings following the last weekend of regular-season games shall be the divisional representative in the SEC Championship Game, unless the second of the tied teams is ranked within five-or-fewer places of the highest ranked tied team. In this case, the head-to-head results of the top two ranked tied teams shall determine the representative in the SEC Championship Game.
But will the pundits say a 2 loss SEC team deserves a shot at the crown over a 0 loss big east team?
Wow, looks more like the 12th Dork.
God bless the good and decent Aggies, but sometimes they just make me shake my head.
In previous years I might have argued that!
WV spanking Georgia last year was an eye opener. Just shows what a total joke college football and the mythical nat'l championship are without a playoff.
Even though Ohio State's offense didn't do much today, their defense came to play.
They were due for a clunker, as every team will inevitably have throughout the season. Michigan has had 4 of them. The great teams learn to win even when they aren't at their best, which is my OSU and Michigan will go into November 18th undefeated.
Seven points is seven points. Zero second half points is etc. I am looking forward to November 18, where we'll see two teams meet, neither of which is invulnerable. Go Blue!
All this talk about OSU and Michigan having a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl if their game is close I think is wishful thinking.
"But will the pundits say a 2 loss SEC team deserves a shot at the crown over a 0 loss big east team?"
It's generally not the pundits, it's usually just SEC fans who don't really pay close and intellectually honest attention to the football played in other parts of the country.
Regarding a player insuring himself, it happens all the time. The NCAA has its own program, where a football player (also basketball or baseball) who can make the case that he has a likelihood of being drafted in the first couple rounds of the next (or a future) draft can insure themselves against injury with the NCAA fronting the money for premiums. Then, the player pays back the premiums after he signs with the pros.
USC's Matt Leinart took out a large policy a year ago, independent of the NCAA program, with his parents paying the premiums. Lots of guys do it.
Ya... should be the Rainbow Warriors as #1, eh?
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