November 21, 2010
Well this morning I thought today would be, not a boring, but not the best day of college football. I heard the Penn State at FedEx field today was great, I should have gone and could have just spent the whole day on the Western Shore. But instead I rested up, watched a bunch of games, and then went to my first ever Maryland football game tonight.
The Maryland game was awesome. Great campus (which I already knew), great stadium, great friends, great game. I almost became somewhat of a Maryland fan today and that would have been tragic haha. But the main reason I went tonight was to see Florida State play in-person. And after the game, I was able to meet Florida State QB Christian Ponder, CB Greg Reid, and head coach Jimbo Fisher. It was an awesome experience. The final score was FSU 30, Maryland 16 but it was actually a lot closer, the Terps had a chance to tie the game with 50 seconds left before Danny O'Brien threw a pick in the endzone that ended up being a pick six. After the game, Jimbo Fisher threw his hat into the crowd and it landed five feet to my left. Oh so close.
I was rooting for Florida State because I love Ponder and I picked them to win the game anyway, but I'll tell you what, those Seminoles fans are nasty people. They do travel well, I'll give them that. Way too many people from Florida there tonight but all they wanna do is talk trash and start fights. The fans were so bad I kind of wanted Maryland to win so they would shut up. But anyway, it's funny how all those Florida State fans hating on Maryland tonight will be the biggest Maryland fans next Saturday. Maryland hosts North Carolina State and the Terps have to win that game for Florida State to clinch the ACC Atlantic Division.
So after today things are clearing up in the BCS Picture. As I just mentioned, Maryland eliminated itself from the ACC Title Race and contention for the Orange Bowl. There was an Orange Bowl rep at the game tonight by the way, I think I walked past him. But earlier today North Carolina lost at home to North Carolina State which eliminated the Tar Heels from Orange Bowl contention. Virginia Tech took care of business to clinch the ACC Coastal and the ACC Atlantic now belongs to NC State, who holds the tiebreaker over Florida State. For the Seminoles to win the Division, NC State must lose at Maryland next week, so for right now, count Florida State out of the picture. See how easily three teams can be eliminated from one race in the same day?
Going to the Big East Conference, Pittsburgh won a big game on the road in Tampa against South Florida. That effectively eliminated South Florida from a potential Orange Bowl berth. Pittsburgh and South Florida were the only two teams that controlled their own destiny in the Big East coming into today. Now that South Florida is out of it, it's just between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. If Pitt wins against the Mountaineers next week, they're in. If not then watch out for Connecticut who holds the tiebreaker over Pitt and West Virginia, but again Pitt just has to win and they're in. If they lose to West Virginia, Connecticut is in.
Now we go to the conference where nothing was cleared up today and that was in the Big Ten. Ohio State was supposed to lose to Iowa today, that didn't happen as they squeaked out a 20-17 win in Iowa City. Michigan State got taken to the brinks by Purdue but made a comeback to win. Wisconsin smoked Michigan. So the three-way tie in the Big Ten holds with Wisconsin essentially in control with the BCS Standings. Michigan State still has a dangerous game at Penn State to watch out for, but even if the Spartans win or lose, Wisconsin has the edge as long as Ohio State is in the three-way tie. If Ohio State were to lose against Michigan, then Michigan State controls their own destiny.
Speaking of three-way ties, we all remember the three-way tie in the Big 12 in 2008 when my Texas Longhorns got screwed over, right? Well no one is talking about it, but there's about to be another potential three-way tie in the Big 12 South Division and for that to happen, my Texas Longhorns will have to, and likely will, lose on Thanksgiving night to Texas A&M. If the Aggies win, the three-way tie will be between Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M. That's assuming Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State, which I think is a no-brainer, same thing with Alabama beating Auburn next week, it's bound to happen, mark it down. But anyway, Oklahoma State controls their own destiny, they beat Oklahoma and they're in the Big 12 Championship playing for the Fiesta Bowl. If the Cowboys lose, then the tie-breaker will likely go to Oklahoma if the situation goes as follows, that Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State who beat Texas A&M who beat Oklahoma. But again it goes down to the highest ranked team in the BCS Standings which without a doubt will be Oklahoma unless it loses, but if they lose there's no three-way tie so no one cares.
Other teams that were virtually eliminated from the BCS today were LSU and Nebraska. Nebraska lost 9-6 to Texas A&M while LSU won unimpressively 43-36 over Ole Miss. That all but eliminates LSU as a one-loss national championship contender and maybe from the BCS completely, but they still have to travel to face Arkansas too and I don't think they win that game, so again as early as next week, the picture will almost be set in stone.
With my upset picks today, Iowa let me down, Rutgers got blown out, and despite 528 passing yards from Ryan Lindley, San Diego State lost 38-34 to Utah after Lindley also threw three picks. So the Iowa over Ohio State, Rutgers over Cincinnati, and San Diego State over Utah picks didn't exactly go down but the ones I did get good were Oregon State over USC, Southern Miss over Houston, and Connecticut over Syracuse. Speaking of upsets though, how about Rice beating East Carolina 62-38 today? I know the Pirates don't play defense, but still, they played Rice...
Anyway, Look who's bowl eligible today, it's the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame after their win in Yankee Stadium over Army. Oh, by the way there's no rule that prevents the BCS from taking a 6-6 team Notre Dame team as an at-large team. Just putting that out there, haha. Didn't Brian Kelly say he was going to take Notre Dame to a BCS Bowl his first year?
And speaking of playing football in baseball stadiums, that game in Wrigley Field today between Illinois and Northwestern was great. It was such a classic. For those of you didn't know they only used the West Endzone for safety concerns with the east end zone being too close to the outfield wall. But the east end zone got a little action anyway with a Northwestern pick six, and it was just great watching them move the ball to the west end zone for the extra point attempt. I don't know, I was probably the only one fascinated by it all but I was just so entertained with the fact that they were only using one endzone. It truly was a classic. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the second half of the game because I hit the road to go to College Park for the Maryland game.
So I'm home for Thanksgiving Break from Penn State so without my setup I suffered a little bit today haha. By the way I hate stupid little Eastern Shore internet "companies" that don't provide espn3.com where I live. Bay Broadband that I have at home sucks, no espn3.com, but I have Big Ten Network at home. But for greater access I went out to my dad's store with both my computers so I had the one TV at the store and the two computers on espn3, and Jeff Lowe introduced me to atdhe.net. So I was short a TV today, but no big deal, the only problem was for the Ohio State-Iowa game and the Wrigley Field Classic where both were only one TV at the same time so I was going back and forth. But again, I'm being like a real pollster today and voting based on some boxscores, because I honestly didn't get to watch a lot of these games today.
But normally, I use the Eye Test since I see a lot. More people need to use the Eye Test.
And I've been getting a lot of heat for my number one team and Boise State has been my number one team for the last three weeks. Remember this is just me and it doesn't count for anything, I can take the harsh criticisms but it's becoming a waste of my time. Just accept it as it is. Consider my rankings as one of the AP, Harris, or Coaches' ballots. Boise State is receiving quite a few first place votes, just consider my rankings one of them. That is all.
Last Week's Rankings
Next week, for some of these schools is the final regular season game, next week holds every big game, every big decision, every monumental moment, it is all coming on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And of course this is the biggest weekend in college football so a lot of the top matchups have been spread out between Friday and Saturday so I will specify for you what games are on what days, and of course the annual Thanksgiving night game between Texas and Texas A&M.
My College Football Top 25
(x) = last week's ranking.
* = must-watch game
1. Boise State 10-0 (1)
Beat Fresno State 51-0
Next: Friday at Nevada 10:15pm on ESPN*
2. Oregon 10-0 (2)
Next: Friday vs. Arizona 7:00pm on ESPN*
3. Auburn 11-0 (3)
Next: Friday at Alabama 2:30pm on CBS*
4. TCU 11-0 (4)
Next: Saturday at New Mexico 4:00pm on Versus
5. Wisconsin 10-1 (5)
Beat Michigan 48-28
Next: Saturday vs. Northwestern 3:30pm on ABC
6. Stanford 10-1 (9)
Beat California 48-14
Next: Saturday vs.Oregon State 7:30pm on Versus
7. Ohio State 10-1 (8)
Beat Iowa 20-17
Next: Saturday vs. Michigan 12:00 on ABC or espn3*
8. LSU 10-1 (7)
Beat Ole Miss 43-36
Next: Saturday at Arkansas 3:30pm on CBS*
9. Alabama 9-2 (10)
Beat Georgia State 63-7
Next: Friday vs. Auburn 2:30pm on CBS*
10. Oklahoma 9-2 (13)
Beat Baylor 53-24
Next: Saturday at Oklahoma State 8pm on ABC
11. Arkansas 9-2 (11)
Beat Mississippi State 38-31 in double overtime
Next: Saturday vs. LSU 3:30pm on CBS*
12. Michigan State 10-1 (12)
Beat Purdue 35-31
Next: Saturday at Penn State 12pm on ESPN*
13. Oklahoma State 10-1 (14)
Beat Kansas 48-14
Next: Saturday vs. Oklahoma 8pm on ABC*
14. Nebraska 9-2 (6)
Lost 9-6 to Texas A&M
Next: Friday vs. Colorado 3:30 on ABC
15. South Carolina 8-3 (15)
Beat Troy 69-24
Next: Saturday at Clemson 7:00pm on ESPN2*
16. Missouri 9-2 (16)
Beat Iowa State 14-0
Next: Saturday vs. Kansas 12:30pm on FSN
17. Texas A&M 8-3 (18)
Beat Nebraska 9-6
Next: Thursday at Texas 8pm on ESPN*
18. Virginia Tech 9-2 (17)
Beat Miami 31-17
Next: Saturday vs. Virginia TBA
19. Florida State 8-3 (22)
Beat Maryland 30-16
Next: Saturday vs. Florida 3:30 on ABC or espn3*
20. Arizona 7-3 (24)
Next: Friday at Oregon 7:00pm on ESPN*
21. Iowa 7-4 (20)
Lost 20-17 to Ohio State
Next: Saturday vs. Minnesota TBA
22. North Carolina State 8-3 (NR)
Beat North Carolina 29-25
Next: Saturday at Maryland 3:30pm on ESPN2*
23. Nevada 10-1 (21)
Beat New Mexico State 52-6
Next: Friday vs. Boise State 10:15pm on ESPN*
24. Utah 9-2 (25)
Beat San Diego State 38-34
Next: Saturday vs. BYU 3:30pm on CBS College
25. Northern Illinois 9-2 (NR)
Beat Ball State 59-21
Next: Saturday at Eastern Michigan
Dropped: USC, Miami
Bubble: West Virginia, Southern Miss, Pittsburgh, Florida, Mississippi State, Navy
I was a little bit reluctant to bring Northern Illinois into the rankings, but I did the same for Central Michigan last year. Northern Illinois hasn't really beaten anyone but Temple and Minnesota, but had very close games with Illinois and Iowa State. San Diego State is the better non-AQ team, but with them losing this week, despite the situation, it was tough to put the Aztecs ahead of the Huskies.
I'm still looking for consistency from West Virginia before I can make them a Top 25 team again. And Pittsburgh is a Top 15 team on paper, but again those losses jump out at you but they finally got a road win today. West Virginia and Pitt play in the "Backyard Brawl" next week, the winner gets in the rankings.
Wow I am already so pumped for next weekend in college football. Everything is on the line.
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