November 8, 2009
At the bottom of this post, find the first release of my current Top 10 for the Heisman Trophy.
It's about time Iowa lost, though one can argue that Iowa would have come back to win if QB Ricky Stanzi didn't sprain his ankle in the 2nd quarter. Iowa was never ranked very highly in the human polls but the computers still love them and despite plummeting to 15 in most human polls, Iowa remains at No. 10 in the BCS ahead of No. 11 Ohio State making next week's showdown a 10 vs. 11 matchup. Iowa needed a win or an Ohio State loss to all but clinch a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, but how about the fact that they got neither a win nor an Ohio State loss. Next Saturday's Iowa-Ohio State game now sets up as a virtual Big Ten Conference Championship Game with a BCS bid on the line.
Florida took care of business against Vanderbilt to remain atop of all the polls and the BCS. Texas struggled early against lowly Central Florida but then scored 35 unanswered points and again showed off that dominant defense. Alabama survived against LSU to win 24-15 and with that win (thanks to strength of schedule in the computers), the Crimson Tide have regained the No. 2 spot in the BCS Standings and dropped Texas back to No. 3 even though Texas remains at No. 2 in all the human polls. Alabama also clinched a date with Florida in the SEC Championship Game in which either Florida or Alabama will lose so if Texas wins out, they can book their trip to the national championship game against the winner of the SEC.
Now, the injuries mounted up for LSU against Alabama and watching that game, I think LSU upsets the Tide if not for those injuries. But both Florida and Alabama have tough games ahead at South Carolina and at Mississippi State. I mention this because look at who's No. 4 now in the BCS. TCU has emerged. If Florida and Alabama were both to lose, is it possible that TCU, a non-BCS school, could get into the national championship game and have a Texas showdown in Pasadena? I also have TCU as the 4th best team in the country and I have to say they deserve a chance. But let's not forget that TCU has perhaps their toughest game of the year next Saturday against 16th-ranked Utah that could clinch the Mountain West Conference.
Now, with Iowa now out of the unbeaten class, the Top 6 are the six remaining unbeatens and among them, Boise State and Cincinnati had to survive 4th quarter rallies from the opposing teams.
And there's a lot of shuffling in my rankings after 3 top ten teams lost Saturday and the biggest thing I have a problem with is Georgia Tech. They defeated Wake Forest in overtime and I am still not convinced they are a Top Ten team but they're ranked there almost by default. With their remaining schedule until the ACC Championship Game, it's likely the Yellow Jackets stay in the Top Ten barring any major upset of them.
The game of the week by far was Houston's 46-45 win over Tulsa. Tulsa was seeking the C-USA upset of the Cougars and had an 45-37 lead in the final minute before Houston QB and Heisman candidate Case Keenum led his team as always down the field quickly for a touchdown with 21 seconds left, but Houston needed the 2 point conversion to tie and did not get it. Tulsa began to celebrate thinking they had a 45-43 win, but Houston recovered the onside kick and with 20 seconds and one timeout, Keenum took his team down the field again to give freshman kicker Matthew Hogan (whose career long was 34 yards) a chance with 2 seconds left to make the 51 yard field goal and he got it. That was the most dramatic ending to a game I've seen in a few weeks and that 4th quarter convinced me that Keenum really does deserve the Heisman Trophy. Will he really win it? Probably not because of the politics involved, but if the voters were watching the game (which they probably weren't), or watching Keenum all season in the big wins over Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, and Texas Tech, they'd know that Keenum is big time, but instead they only look at the box scores and label Keenum as a "system quarterback" with inflated statistics.
By the way, I think I should note that I have dropped Oklahoma from my rankings for the first time this week. Landry Jones through all those interceptions and they lost 10-3 to Nebraska, they dropped out of the BCS and the human polls, and it's not good for Texas since every game Oklahoma and Kansas loses, hurts Texas's own strength of schedule even though the Sooners and Jayhawks are very good teams, but I still think Oklahoma is really good. I had them ranked 16 last week, but it's time to get them out of the top 25. They're just having a horrible season along with Kansas. The entire Big 12 seems to be down this year except Texas.
MY TOP 25
1. Florida (1)
Beat Vanderbilt 27-3
Next: at South Carolina
2. Texas (2)
Beat Central Florida 35-3
Next: at Baylor
3. Alabama (3)
Beat LSU 24-15
Next: at Mississippi State
4. TCU (4)
Beat San Diego State 55-12
Next: vs. No. 16 Utah
5. Boise State (5)
Beat Louisiana Tech 45-35
Next: at Idaho
6. Cincinnati (6)
Beat UConn 47-45
Next: vs. No. 25 West Virginia
7. LSU (9)
Lost 24-15 to Alabama
Next: vs. Louisiana Tech
8. Georgia Tech (10)
Beat Wake Forest 30-27 in Overtime
Next: at Duke
9. USC (12)
Beat Arizona State 14-9
Next: vs. Stanford
10. Ohio State (13)
Beat Penn State 24-7
Next: vs. No. 10 Iowa
11. Pittsburgh (17)
Beat Syracuse 37-10
Next: vs. Notre Dame
12. Houston (15)
Beat Tulsa 46-45
Next: at Central Florida
13. Miami (14)
Beat Virginia 52-17
Next: at North Carolina
14. Oregon (6)
Lost 51-42 to Stanford
Next: vs. Arizona State
15. Iowa (7)
Lost 17-10 to Northwestern
Next: at No. 11 Ohio State
16. Arizona (19)
Beat Washington State 48-7
Next: at California
17. Utah (18)
Beat New Mexico 45-14
Next: at No. 4 TCU
18. Oklahoma State (24)
Beat Iowa State 34-8
Next: vs. Texas Tech
19. Virginia Tech (20)
Beat East Carolina 16-3
Next: at Maryland
20. Penn State (11)
Lost 24-7 to Ohio State
Next: vs. Indiana
21. Texas Tech (23)
Bye Week
Next: at No. 19 Oklahoma State
22. Wisconsin (NR)
Beat Indiana 31-28
Next: vs. Michigan
23. Clemson (NR)
Beat Florida State 40-24
Next: at North Carolina State
24. BYU (NR)
Beat Wyoming 52-0
Next: at New Mexico
25. Oregon State (NR)
Beat California 31-14
Next: vs. Washington
Dropped:
Oklahoma (16)
Notre Dame (22)
California (21)
Rutgers (25)
Current BCS Standings
(x) = last week
1. Florida (1)
2. Alabama (3)
3. Texas (2)
4. TCU (6)
5. Cincinnati (5)
6. Boise State (7)
7. Georgia Tech (10)
8. LSU (9)
9. USC (12)
10. Iowa (4)
11. Ohio State (16)
12. Pittsburgh (13)
13. Oregon (8)
14. Miami (17)
15. Houston (15)
16. Utah (14)
17. Arizona (18)
18. Penn State (11)
19. Oklahoma State (19)
20. Wisconsin (21)
21. Virginia Tech (23)
22. BYU (NR)
23. Oregon State (NR)
24. South Florida (25)
25. West Virginia (NR)
Dropped:
California (20)
Notre Dame (22)
Oklahoma (24)
BCS National Championship Game
January 7, 2010 in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
(Footnote: Texas is undefeated in the Rose Bowl)
The Race for the Heisman Trophy
1. Case Keenum, Jr., QB, Houston
2. Colt McCoy, Sr., QB, Texas
3. Mark Ingram, So., RB, Alabama
4. Tim Tebow, Sr., QB, Florida
5. Jimmy Clausen, Jr., QB, Notre Dame
6. CJ Spiller, Sr., RB, Clemson
7. Jordan Shipley, Sr., WR, Texas
8. Kellen Moore, So., QB, Boise State
9. Ryan Mathews, Jr., RB, Fresno State
10. Dion Lewis, Fr., RB, Pittsburgh
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