Week 11 Top 10 and Thoughts

Everyone in my Top 10 won last week, but there's a little shake up near the top.

1. Boise State - The Broncos have done everything they've been asked to do this year.  They traveled all the way across the country to take on Virginia Tech in a virtual home game for the Hokies and beat them.  They beat Oregon State by more than TCU beat the Beavers.  They have destroyed every other team on their schedule, just like they were supposed to.  There have been no close games, no scares, no struggling to get by a lesser team.  They play offense, defense and special teams.  They're my number one.
2. Auburn - The Tigers jump from #4 to #2 with the big win over Georgia, with all the distractions surrounding the program and Cam Newton.  Auburn at this point is "all in" with Newton and hoping the NCAA drags their feet like they always do when it comes to these kind of things and that they get their shot at winning a National Title.  Who cares if they take it away in two years or 5 years?  On the field, they'll be considered the champions. 
3. Oregon - The Ducks take a tumble in the polls and while some might see it as a great way of getting by a team when they didn't have their "A-Game", Oregon was exposed by Cal.  And the Bears aren't that good.  Oregon never got things going and only scored one offensive touchdown after rolling everyone else.  The Ducks need to get back to business or Arizona or Oregon State will knock them off (and doesn't it happen every year that Oregon blows a game they shouldn't?).
4. TCU - San Diego State is better than people think (and are a bad call away in the last minute from beating Missouri and being 8-2).  But the Horned Frogs need to do what Boise State does and beat the teams they are supposed to beat by a lot. 
5. Stanford - Still the best one-loss team in the country but the gap narrowed a bit this past weekend with the close win over Arizona State.
6. Wisconsin - 83.  Let that sink in for a second.  83 points against a Big 10 team.  Admit it people, the Big 10 isn't that good, and I'm a Big 10 fan.  Still, the Badgers are a pretty good team and a Wisconsin vs Stanford Rose Bowl would be a great slobber-knocker of a game.
7. LSU - The Tigers beat another late SEC out of conference cream puff.  These games just hurt your cause, SEC fan.  Yeah, you have all these teams winning 7+ games and put 9 teams in bowl games, but when you play four cupcakes out of conference and don't travel more than 400 miles for any game and don't go above the Mason-Dixon line once the weather turns cold and all you have to do is win two conference games to be bowl eligible...well, really, how good is your conference?
8. Nebraska - Hold their ground, just barely over Oklahoma State, but they did beat the Cowboys head-to-head.
9. Oklahoma State - The victory over Texas would have meant a lot more if it was achieved in the last four or five years when the Longhorns were good, but OSU is still a dangerous team that will probably get matched up against a team in a bowl game that can actually play defense and get beaten.
10. Michigan State - Had a bye week last week.  Have another bye this week (though they do have to scrimmage against Purdue).

Thoughts on Week 10:

Okay, Auburn.  You're obviously putting all your chips in on Cam Newton and either hoping there's just a bunch of smoke and no real fire or you're hoping that the NCAA moves as quickly as they usually do in these cases and you'll get the invite to the BCS Championship Game and get your National Championship.  In the event that the Tigers do go to the BCS title game and then are found guilty of paying Mr. Newton to come play for them, I think a great penalty for Auburn (and the SEC, because you're dirty in this too) would be to have to pay back all of the money that the school received from the BCS appearance...and all the money that was given to the other teams in the conference because of the appearance would also have to be paid back by those schools as well.  There is no reason they should be able to keep that money, since it was illegally attained.  Pay it back and give it to the team and conference that was next in line to go.

It gets cold on the plains.

Continuing on Auburn and Cam Newton...If Cam's father was shopping his son's services around to the highest bidder, and Auburn ended up paying for a player, the NCAA has no choice but to drop the guillotine and give the Tigers the "death penalty".  This isn't Reggie Bush's parents getting money, a car and a house for his parents for future earnings.  This is a university paying a player to come to their school to play football.  I'm in favor of the athletes getting paid; they generate millions of dollars for the school.  But it's currently against the rules, and an example needs to be made.  Auburn's program would need to be killed and everyone has to go...from the athletic director to the head coach to the assistants to the waterboys.  NCAA...either you're serious about these violations or you're not.

On a positive note, congratulations to Army, Air Force and Navy for all becoming bowl-eligible in the same year for the first time ever.  Also, congratulations to South Carolina for winning their first ever SEC East Championship; which really doesn't mean anything, unless you're a long-suffering Gamecocks fan.  And for that particular older gentleman that I met outside the stadium before that heartbreaking loss to Kentucky, who travels with his wife and another couple around the southeast to cheer on the Gamecocks, I hope you are able to get tickets to Atlanta and get to celebrate an SEC Championship.

That's all for now.  And at this time of year, be thankful for the MAC...allowing their to be college football from Tuesday through Saturday each week.