- Boise State - The plastering of Hawaii this weekend was every bit as impressive as TCU's throttling of Utah. Hawaii came in on a roll, their top ranked passing offense was completely shut down by the Broncos defense and Boise State's offense had their way with the Warriors. Kellen Moore threw for over 500 yards in a little over three quarters.
- Oregon - They fall back a spot after a lackluster first half against Washington. But like they've done all year, they made the adjustments at halftime and got over 50 again. The Ducks are the 1A team this week.
- TCU - That was an absolute "red-headed stepchild taken out behind the woodshed" beating of Utah this past Saturday (ironically led by the red-headed QB Andy Dalton). The defense has now allowed 23 points in the last 6 games and no one has scored mre than 7 against them in that stretch. They move ahead of Auburn because...
- Auburn - Played Chattanooga and gave up 24 points to them. That's unacceptable. If you hold Boise State and TCU to the "must destroy the lesser opponent" standards, when you drop down to take on a Div-IAA opponent, that means you have to do it on offense and defense. And I have a sneaky feeling that Georgia is going to ruin Auburn's season before Alabama gets the chance.
- Stanford - The Cardinal are the big mover this week, moving from 9th to 5th. Stanford crushed a good Arizona team, but because the East Coast goes to sleep as soon as their 7pm EST games end, they don't get to see the best one-loss team in the country. Other than the loss to Oregon and the last-second victory over USC, no one has been closer than ten points.
- Wisconsin - A slow start against Purdue, but they got moving in the second half and beat the Boilermakers soundly.
- LSU - And who is that lurking around, racking up win after win in scratch-your-head fashion? It's the other Tigers in the SEC West. LSU needs some help, but they have the chance to sneak into the SEC Title game and maybe even the BCS Championship.
- Nebraska - Fortunate to escape with a win over Iowa State this past weekend, they'll demolish Kansas this weekend, and if QB Taylor Martinez is 100% healthy, look for them to win by 45 or more.
- Oklahoma State - I wanted to put them in the 8th slot after their rout of a pretty good Baylor team, but I can't rank a team ahead of a team they lost to when they have identical records. Cornhuskers 51, Cowboys 41. Nebraksa #8, Oklahoma State #9.
- Michigan State - Took care of business against Minnesota and are still in position to finish 11-1 and go to the Rose Bowl, but will need some help from Wisconsin's opponents.
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| Even I think I'm nuts! |
- Utah - You can't get run out of your own building in the first quarter like that. The Utes weren't even competitive in the game against TCU and hopefully for them, this doesn't lead to a crash and burn finish to the season. Utah! Don't feel sorry for yourself and go out there this weekend and crush Notre Dame.
- Ohio State - I still keep asking...who have they played? There schedule is no better than TCU or Boise State's.
- Alabama - You're done. Thankfully, I won't have to listen to Nick Saban pleading his case about his great one-loss defending National Champ should have the opportunity to defend it's title. As they always say when they won't give the fans the playoff we want, "Every game in the regular season matters. IT is the playoff." With two losses, you're out.
Wow. Who would have guessed that after they're home loss to Baylor that Texas would be even worse at Kansas State? (Oh, yeah. I did, picking the Wildcats to win outright as underdogs.) Kansas State beat the mighty Longhorns 39-14 with a grand total of 9 passing yards on four attempts. They had no passing yards through the first 2 1/2 quarters. And a Mack Brown staff couldn't figure out what play K-State Coach Bill Snyder might be calling next and maybe load up for it? This game was even uglier than it looked, with Texas being down 39-0 at one point and Longhorn QB Garrett Gilbert's five interceptions, including 3 straight passes.
Navy. Where the hell did that come from? You take out Notre Dame easily then have a letdown the following week and let Duke beat you. You then keep it close with East Carolina for the first 29 minutes of a 21-21 tie before going off like the 16-inch guns on the battleship USS Missouri and outscoring the Pirates 55-14 the rest of the way, setting a school scoring record with 76 points. Who says the triple-option can't work in today's college football?
Illinois' triple-overtime 67-65 loss to Michigan was entertaining, but Wolverine fans have to wonder if their team can stop anybody.
Impressive hurdling by Arizona State running back Cameron Marshall in the Sun Devils loss to USC.
There was no way Colorado Coach Dan Hawkins was going to keep his job at the end of this year, but blowing a 45-17 lead with 11 minutes left, to Kansas, one of the worst teams in football this year, just brought the end about that much faster. Think he wishes he was still coaching Boise State?
Fortunately for co-Big 12 North member Missouri, Colorado got the headlines as the biggest meltdown in the conference. Missouri had a 17-3 lead on Texas Tech with under a minute to play in the first half. The Tigers decided that was enough points for the day and ended up losing 24-17
Finally, congratulations to Joe Paterno on his 400th victory. He's the one who hooked me on the Nittany Lions and college football so many years ago, and for that, I'm eternally grateful.
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