New Top 25

November 28, 2010

This was supposed to be the biggest weekend in all of college football. It didn't disappoint. It didn't have the huge shockers we all wanted to see, but one of the biggest shockers of the new decade made up for a lot of the excitement. For some teams, it's over. For the other teams, they have BCS bids still to play for. For others, it's just wait for Selection Sunday to get a confirmation on what bowl game they're going to.

You'll see my new rankings at the bottom of this post. If Stanford finishes in the Top 4 of the BCS, they receive an automatic BCS-bowl bid, BUT if TCU does not make the national championship game, then Stanford will be in the BCS Bowl but not the Rose Bowl because the Rose Bowl will be Wisconsin vs. TCU.

So anyway, TCU Wisconsin or Stanford. I think all three have a claim to the No. 3 spot in the country. If Auburn loses the SEC Championship Game, I think a one-loss Auburn has the best one-loss claim but again they would have to with the biggest no-no in the BCS, a late-season loss. The later you lose, the more that hurts you. Unfair, but end of story. But I don't know if TCU is a lock to move up to No. 2. I still think Boise is better than TCU. I would have to go with Wisconsin to play Oregon even though that's a mismatch. A reason why it won't be Stanford vs. Oregon even though Stanford will be the highest rated one-loss team is because as interesting as it would be, the BCS won't put that Stanford-Oregon rematch for the national title, because not only is it for the national championship, that's a de facto Pac-10 championship game and the Pac-10 was not the best conference in the country.

Wisconsin locked up a three-way share of the 2010 Big Ten Conference Championship today with a 70-23 win over Northwestern. Ohio State and Michigan State receive a part of the share, but Wisconsin gets the Rose Bowl bid by winning the three-way tiebreaker. Unless there's a shocker in the BCS Standings to be revealed tomorrow and Ohio State somehow jumps Wisconsin, the Badgers are going to the Rose Bowl. I have a feeling after putting 70 on Northwestern, the Badgers aren't dropping on anyone's ballot. It's all about making a statement which Northern Illinois also did against Eastern Michigan today. The Huskies are upset that no one wants give them a Top 25 ranking. It's okay Northern Illinois, I gave it to you last week and I'll give it you again.

So the big shocker was Boise State going down on Friday night. What an epic game. In overtime. One guy, two missed field goals, one monumental loss. That's Kyle Brotzman, Boise State senior kicker. I have to say, he'd missed a field goal in every game but one I watched this year so I knew he was due to miss one, either that he wasn't going to. Well I remember, 1:24 am standard eastern time, 11 seconds on the clock left for Boise with the ball, Kellen Moore drops back, deep pass to Titus Young and next came my Facebook status: "OOOOOOOOOO WHAT A CATCH BY TITUS YOUNG." Then Boise got the timeout with one second left on the clock, game tied at 31. Brotzman comes out for a 26-yard field goal to win the game from straight away, yes straight away. We know Brotzman misses from the left hash every time, but this was from straight away. My mom came upstairs to see what the noise was about, and I told her that Brotzman was probably going to miss this field goal. Cough cough, he missed it. Wide right. He thought he was kicking from the left hash. Then in overtime, Boise with a field goal to take the lead from 29-yards out, Brotzman pulls it left. Nevada goes on to wint he game with a field goal of their own and Boise's national championship, BCS bowl, everything dreams were over, just like that. They went from the Rose Bowl to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in a matter of seconds. Wow. I was going to drop Boise State to #3 in my rankings before the loss anyway with the performance they put on, but they couldn't put Nevada away and when you let good teams hang around, they win.
Credit to Coach Chris Peterson, he's much too classy of a guy to call that timeout to "ice the kicker" and after the game: "One play can win the game, but one play doesn't lose it." He's right you know, although Brotzman is the most hated man in Boise, Idaho right now, it wasn't just him that lost the game. It was a team effort. Goodnight Boise State. The Bus ride was fun while it lasted.
With all that said, I know the rankings are hurting, but I still think Boise State beats TCU head-to-head.

If the season ended today, it looks like this (through my projections anyway):
National Championship Game: Oregon vs. Auburn
Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. TCU
Sugar Bowl: Arkansas vs. Stanford
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Connecticut
Orange Bowl: Ohio State vs. Virginia Tech
My actual Bowl Projections will be posted shortly. But yeah, the season doesn't end today, for teams playing in conference championship games or finishing up their regular seasons, there's still one more week for a lot to change. Auburn could lose, Oregon could lose. You never know.

Teams that made a statement this weekend: Florida State and West Virginia.

With the Maryland win over NC State, the Florida State Seminoles win the ACC Atlantic Division and will face Virginia Tech next week. In the Big Ten I already mentioned Wisconsin wins that three-way tiebreaker; in the Big 12 the three-way tiebreaker will likely go to Oklahoma; and in the Big East there's still one more week to go for Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Connecticut, but right now Connecticut holds the three-way tiebreaker lead there. A Connecticut loss next week and West Virginia wins the Big East; a UConn and WVU loss, Pittsburgh wins, but Pittsburgh needs the most help. If UConn beats South Florida on the road, they're in the Fiesta Bowl.

Speaking of South Florida, a big win over Miami in overtime today which caused Miami to fire head coach Randy Shannon and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple. Whipple made the tough call earlier in the year when Jacory Harris got hurt against Virginia to bench his own son as the backup in favor of true freshman Stephen Morris who burned his redshirt with AJ Highsmith being out for the year, too. With all that loaded talent, Shannon didn't meet the expectations of Miami in his four years there even though he got a four year contract extension before the season. Going 28-22 in four years wasn't good enough and I remember three years ago when Harris was a freshman and he had Robert Marve and all we talked about was that young Miami team that should compete for championships in three or four years. Well, those freshmen are juniors and seniors now and they underachieved under Shannon and it cost him his job.

I want to go back and review my upset picks for a minute. Lets see...SMU over East Carolina, Maryland over NC State, Florida State over Florida, Auburn over Alabama, Oklahoma over Oklahoma State, Arkansas over LSU. Check.
Penn State, Ole Miss, Syracuse and BYU let me down in upset picks...BYU had its game-winning field goal attempt blocked by Utah. I still don't think Utah is any good, but they're going to keep on moving in the rankings.

So with upsets being the topic for this segment, kudos to Chris McKeown for going Notre Dame over USC. I really like Mitch Mustain and had too much faith in him taking over for the injured Matt Barkley at QB for USC and he struggled. Notre Dame won a big one. Also to Anthony Alduino and Matt Murphy for going Nevada over Boise State.
I just still can't get those 7 dropped passes out of my head for Boise State. Five of those drops were in crucial spots. It was just very uncharacteristics mistakes by Boise Friday night, but every great team has a bad day but they find a way to win. Boise State is a great football team, they found a way to win on Friday with that deep ball to Titus Young, but Kyle Brotzman blew it. They honestly did find a way to win. I don't care what you say about this Boise football team they will still take down anyone in the country. I'm only being fair in my rankings going with the overall body of work rather than who I think can beat who, otherwise I would still have Boise State at #2 at the lowest.

So much more I could say about all the games. I'd rather not talk about the Texas loss to Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night. Anything else I'm free to share my opinions on.

I was with my great friends tonight on my last night home so I missed the Bedlam game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State but it was a shootout as expected, and as expected, Oklahoma State does not have a defense. I have not been impressed at all, but I'm pretty impressed with that offense.

My College Football Top 25 after Week 13
(x) = previous ranking
1. Auburn 12-0 (3)
Beat Alabama 28-27
Next: SEC Championship game vs. South Carolina
2. Oregon 11-0 (2)
Beat Arizona 48-29
Next: at Oregon State
3. Wisconsin 11-1 (5)
Beat Northwestern 70-23
4. TCU 12-0 (4)
Beat New Mexico 66-17
5. Stanford 11-1 (6)
Beat Oregon State 38-0
6. Ohio State 11-1 (7)
Beat Michigan 37-7
7. Arkansas 10-2 (11)
Beat LSU 31-23
8. Boise State 10-1 (1)
Lost to Nevada 34-31 in overtime
9. Alabama 9-3 (9)
Lost 28-27 to Auburn
10. Michigan State 11-1 (12)
Beat Penn State 28-22
11. Oklahoma 10-2 (10)
Beat Oklahoma State 47-41
Next: Big 12 Championship Game vs. Nebraska
12. Nebraska 10-2 (14)
Beat Colorado 45-17
Next: Big 12 Championship Game vs. Oklahoma
13. LSU 10-2 (8)
Lost 31-23 to Arkansas
14. South Carolina 9-3 (15)
Beat Clemson 29-7
15. Florida State 9-3 (19)
Beat Florida 31-7
Next: ACC Championship Game vs. Virginia Tech
16. Missouri 10-2 (16)
Beat Kansas 35-7
17. Virginia Tech 10-2 (18)
Beat Virginia 37-7
Next: ACC Championship Game vs. Florida State
18. Nevada 11-1 (23)
Beat Boise State 34-31 in overtime
19. Oklahoma State 10-2 (13)
Lost 47-41 to Oklahoma
20. Texas A&M 9-3 (17)
Beat Texas 24-17
21. Utah 10-2 (24)
Beat BYU 17-16
22. West Virginia 8-3 (NR)
Beat Pittsburgh 35-10
23. Arizona 7-4 (20)
Lost 48-29 to Oregon
24. Mississippi State 8-4 (NR)
Beat Ole Miss 31-23
25. Northern Illinois 10-2 (25)
Beat Eastern Michigan 71-3
Dropped: Iowa (21), North Carolina State (23)