Whew!!!!  I really just did not not know what we were going to do.  I mean, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma were all tied at the top of the Big 12 South with a legitimate shot at a BCS title game, but only one could go to the Big 12 Championship Game.

Of course, we look to our wise sages for answers, and they helped us make a decision.  Coaches from as far away as California and New England decided that Oklahoma’s throttling of two top twelve teams two weeks in a row was worthy to put them in front of Texas and Texas Tech.  Longhorn fans are fuming.  What happened to 45 to 35 (Texas’ score over Oklahoma if you didn’t know)?  What happened to to 39 to 33 (Tech over UT)?  It’s madness I tell you!  Madness!  Only it is November not March.

Oh well, what’s done is done.  It will be Oklahoma vs. Missouri (again) for the Big 12 title.  Of course, if Chase Daniel has some magic left and Mizzou upsets Oklahoma, well, I guess Texas gets to go to the BCS title game.  Who needs a playoff (tongue in cheek!), this is just fine!

BCS Standings

1. Alabama 12-0
2. Oklahoma 11-1
3. Texas 11-1
4. Florida 11-1
5. USC 10-1
6. Utah 12-0
7. Texas Tech 11-1
8. Penn State 11-1
9. Boise State 12-0
10. Ohio State 10-2

AP Standings

1. Alabama (62) 12-0
2. Florida (3) 11-1
3. Texas 11-1
4. Oklahoma 11-1
5. USC 10-1
6. Penn State 11-1
7. Utah 12-0
8. Texas Tech 11-1
9. Boise State 12-0
10. Ohio State 10-2

The Networks billed Saturday as “Revenge Saturday” because several teams had a chance to evenge losses from last year.  But no one seems to be shining briter than Florida right now.  It seems like everyone that plays them is turning out to be Gaitor Bait.  Since losing to Ole Miss at home in September, Florida has won 38-7 (Arkansas), 51-21 (LSU), 63-5 (Kentucky), 49-10 (Georgia), 42-14 (Vanderbilt), and 56-6 (South Carolina).  Is there anyone in the country hotter than the Gators right now.  The defense is only giving up an average of 10.5 points a game during that stretch while the offense is scoring 49.8333 per game.

Alabama continues to roll setting up a show down in the SEC Title game for the right to play the Big 12 South winner.  Alabama took care of business against Mississppi State.  The Tide isn’t flash.  The just control the clock running the ball, play great defense led by a mamoth Defensive Tackle in the middle and do a great job with special teams.

Next week is a big showdown in Norman, OK between Oklahoma and Texas Tech.  The Red Raiders beat Oklahoma last year, so OU will be shooting for revenge.  If OU gets Texas Tech, that puts the Big 12 South in to a three way tie.  The Sooners will be tied with Texas Tech and Texas.  How will this mess get straigthened out?  Oklahoma State will beat Oklahoma in Stillwater the following week, sending Texas Tech to the Big 12 Title game.  If Tech knocks off Mizzou there, they will play the winner of Alabama and Florida in the BCS Championship Game.  It should be fun to watch.

Utah rolled over San Diego State setting up a showdown with BYU this week in the traditional “Holy War.”  If Utah wins that game in Salt Lake City (Utah plays both TCU and BYU at home this year), then the Utes should be a lock to make a BCS Bowl.  It would be a nice prize for the Mountain West Conference as they were spectacular in out of conference play, especially against the Pac 10.

Kudos. . . .  . Congratulations to the Texas Tech Red Raiders for their thrilling victory over the Texas Longhorns.  Most are saying that this win is the biggest win in Tech’s history.  Texas, of course, was ranked number one and Tech number five, six or seven depending on your poll of choice.  The Double T Nation was euphoric with the Raider win and stormed the field.  I even got a “guns up” symbol from a friend at church.  Ironically, this week, I was reading about another upset of Texas in Lubbock (2002) in the new book Rose Bowl Dreams by Adam Jones.  I hope Adam doesn’t think that I caused his Longhorns to lose.  Great win for Mike Leach and Texas Tech.  They did by stopping the run and running the ball, among other things.

BCS Busted. . . . . Another potential BCS Buster went down on Saturday.  I like to point this out because it was my Arkansas Razorbacks that knocked off the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in Fayetteville, AR.  That was probably another win that fans didn’t expect to get, but I know it was a tough blow to the Tulsa fans.  Maybe next year, huh?

Thursday night thunder. . . . . . . All year, upsets have happened on Thursday night.  TCU has been a part one of them.  This Thursday night, TCU fans hopes it will happen again as the Horned Frogs travel to Salt Lake City, UT to take on the Utah Utes.  As it stands, Utah has the best chance of being a BCS buster.  The Utes are undefeated, and if they win out, will have beaten three top 25 ranked teams.  But, TCU and its fans are doing some dreaming of their own.  The Frogs have only played one bad quarter in a loss at Oklahoma while upsetting BYU a couple of weeks ago and routing Wyoming and UNLV in consecutive games.  Beat Utah on the road, and beat Air Force a couple of weeks later, TCU will be 11-1 with its only loss at Oklahoma and wins over two ranked teams.

Gator High. . . . . . The Florida Gators may be the hottest team in Football.  The Gators have made LSU, Kentucky and Georgia look silly in consecutive weeks.  The Gator offense has averaged 55 points against those three teams.  The defense has only given up 15 total points in the past two weeks.  When I did my most recent top ten update, I ranked Florida ahead of the other one-loss teams.  Now you know why.

Rankings

AP Top 10

1. Alabama (46)
2. Texas Tech (12)
3. Penn State (6)
4. Florida (1)
5. Texas
6. Oklahoma
7. USC
8. Oklahoma State
9. Boise State
10. Utah

Coaches Top 25

1. Alabama (40)
2. Penn State (14)
3. Texas Tech (6)
4. Oklahoma (1)
5. Florida
6. USC
7. Texas
8. Oklahoma State
9. Utah
10. Boise State

Once again, the supposedly best game of the night was a blow out with Texas beating Missouri 56-31.  The Texas Longhorns have shown they are one of the best teams in the country, and Colt McCoy is on fire as a QB.  He has just become extremely explosive as the QB for the Longhorns.  Ohio State has put itself back in the national picture with a 45-7 thumping of previously unbeaten Michigan State.  Ole Miss scared Alabama, mostly with a great second half performance against an uninspired Tide (in the second half that is).  The BCS darlings, the BYU Cougars, got thumped in Fort Worth by TCU, 32-7.  Michigan made its game with Penn State in Happy Valley interesting until the third quarter.  However, it was mostly teams taking care of business this week.  BYU was the only top ten team to lose.  Here are the new polls.

AP Top Ten

1. Texas (65) 7-0 1,625
2. Alabama 7-0 1,543
3. Penn State 8-0 1,506
4. Oklahoma 6-1 1,358
5. Florida 5-1 1,307
6. USC 5-1 1,292
7. Oklahoma State 7-0 1,252
8. Texas Tech 7-0 1,194
9. Georgia 6-1 1,117
10. Ohio State 7-1 1,053

USA Today

1. Texas (58) 7-0 1,522
2. Alabama (1) 7-0 1,436
3. Penn State (2) 8-0 1,413
4. USC 5-1 1,264
5. Oklahoma 6-1 1,218
6. Texas Tech 7-0 1,210
7. Florida 5-1 1,184
8. Oklahoma State 7-0 1,083
9. Georgia 6-1 1,067
10. Ohio State 7-1 995

polls courtesy of ESPN.com

CFTT Top Ten

1.  Oklahoma, 6-1
The Sooners bounced back from their loss to Texas with a solid win over Kansas.   Next, the Sooners look to win the Kansas State championship as they travel to Manhattan to play Kansas State.

2.  Alabama, 7-0
The young players still have trouble with focus, but then again, who doesn’t.  The can play uninspired and mistake proned football sometimes.  And, then, they can be very dominate.  DT Terrency Cody went down with an knee injury, and the Tide hopes that he does only miss a couple of weeks.  Next up, at Tennessee.

3.  Missouri, 5-2
The Tigers failed to bounce back from the their loss to Oklahoma State, and now, they are danger of not winning the Big 12 North.  Next, Mizzou  hosts Colorado.

4.  LSU, 5-1
The Tigers bounced back from being drilled at Gainesville against Florida by getting a scrappy win at South Caronlina.  The Tigers get Georgia at home next.

5. Texas, 7-0
The Horns have two impressive wins in a row including one after becoming ranked number one.  Next, the Longhorns get the red hot Oklahoma State Cowboys at home.

6.  Penn State, 8-0
Penn State just keeps winning, and they make it look impressive.  Next up for the Lions, the Horseshoe and Ohio State.

7.  USC, 5-1
The Trojans have bounced back from the letdown against Oregon State with impressive wins over Oregon and Washington State.  USC is making a case for getting back into the national picture.  The Trojans play at Arizona next.

8.  Texas Tech, 7-0
The Red Raiders took the Aggies’ best shot at Kyle Field and pulled away with a comfortable win.  Next, the Raiders travel to Lawrence to play the Kansas Jayhawks.

9.  Georgia,  6-1
The ‘Dawgs continue to play their game and they are heading for a big show down with LSU in Death Valley.

10.  BYU, 6-1
The Cougars ran into a buzz-saw in Fort Worth as the Horned Frogs held BYU to 297 total yards of offense and only 7 points.  They get UNLV  to try right their ship and sail into their show down with Utah.

The CFTT Top Ten will be updated after next week.

I would like to thank LSU and Wisconsin for failing to show up for their games this weekend which allowed me to focus my time Saturday night on the Oklahoma State vs. Missouri game and a real exciting game from Conway, AR featuring the Bears of the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) vs. the Sam Houston State Bearkats and Rhett Bomar.  I don’t usually talk about teams from the Football Championship Subdivision, but it was fun to watch UCA and Sam Houston go at it until the end.  Most people know about Rhett Bomar, but UCA’s QB is Nathan Brown and he is setting records in Arkansas.

Whoo Pig Sooie. . . . I don’t really get to talk about Arkansas unless their relevant, and this year, they’re not.  However, they put an exclamation mark on the end of the Auburn week.  The Hogs upset the Tigers, and fired offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was probably sitting at home laughing.  The Hogs out-did everything statistically and survived their turnovers to pull out the win for the second time in a row on “The Plains.”  Coach Bobby Petrino’s team looks like they might be improving.

BCS Busted. . . . . Just a few weeks ago, we were talking about East Carolina as a possible BCS Buster team.  They had won two in a row over ranked teams including Virginia Tech.  After a 3-0 start, the Pirates have now lost 3 in a row including Saturday’s loss to Virginia.  Yes, the same Virginia who loss at home to USC 52-7, but now has won back-to-back games.

Lions and Gators and Horns, Oh MY! . . . . . . By far the most impressive teams this weekend were the Texas Longhorns, who are now ranked number 1, the Florida Gators, and the Penn State Nittany Lions.  Texas beat Oklahoma, who looked unbeatable thus far, 45-35 in Dallas.  The Gators found their offense and ripped LSU in “the Swamp” 51-21, and Penn State made it look easy at Camp Randall beating Wisconsin 48-7.

Sic’em Bears. . . . . . . Congrats to Baylor for winning their first conference game in two years.  Coach Art Briles has his team playing well, and they may win more than one game this year.  If you haven’t had a chance, take a chance to watch Freshman QB Robert Griffin play.  Griffin has 9 TD passes on the year with 0 INT’s.   Next up for Baylor, the best team in Oklahoma (?).

To be honest, I didn’t see a whole lot of games yesterday as I spent several hours at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, TX to watch the TCU Horned Frogs play the San Diego State Aztecs from the press box.  I did a write up on the game for Pegasus News which you can see here.  I did catch some games and scores before and after the game.  I will forgo my Looking Ahead segment to be included in the Wednesday Preview as my Games to Watch.

Terrelle Pryor
As Ohio State was giving Wisconsin all they could handle in Camp Randall, it looked as if Senior QB Allan Evridge had saved the day for the Badgers.  The sideline reporter for ABC was even remarking about the difference of leadership on the sidelines between the two QB’s.  It seems that Evridge was being a vocal leader and getting his team pumped up while Pryor sat on the sideline quietly isolated from his team because he was too young to command respect from his team.  After a late TD by Wisconsin to put the Badgers up 17-13, Pryor calmly stepped on the field with 6:31 left in the game and marched his team down the field on 12 plays for 80 yards completing throw after throw to keep the drive alive until the Buckeyes got in the endzone on a Vince Young like TD by Pryor.  Next, with 1:08 to go, Evridge began the drive for Wisconsin before throwing an interception with 53 seconds left.  If his team didn’t respect him before, the Buckeys have no excuse not to respect him now.  Pryor looked like the Senior.

Dandy Vandy
The Commodores are 5-0 and in charge in the SEC East.  Can they win their division and plan a trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game?  That remains to be seen, but Vandy is getting turnovers and playing great defense.  Some have made a lot out of Vandy’s lack of productivity, but the only stats that count are the offensive and defensive scoring.

Yellow Jacket Balance
All people could talk about when Paul Johnson took over at Georgia Tech was the triple option and a stellar ground game.  Could the Jackets compete in a BCS Conference running an “ancient” offense?  The box score shows that Georgia Tech was balanced this week against Duke.  They ran the ball for 224 yards and they passed the ball for 230 yards.  That’s right, Georgia Tech passed the ball for 230 yards on 9 passes.  To the same guy!  That’s balance.

Offensive Oklahoma
No, I am not offended by Oklahoma, necessarily.  But you just might find the best offenses in the country in the Sooner state.  Oklahoma, the Sooners that is, average 49.6 points per game, Oklahoma State averages 52.6 points per game and Tulsa averages 56.4 points per game.  That is an average of 52.866 points per game for the three teams.  There are more points scored in Oklahoma games than in a Presidential Debate.

Top Ten
This is the completion of week 6 which means my top ten will be updated within a couple days.  There should be some significant changes, but I guess Oklahoma will become number one though there is a real good argument for Alabama to be number one.

It’s all about upsets in week five of college football.  It all started on Thursday night in Corvallis, OR where the unranked Beavers of Oregon State shocked the world again as they beat the number one ranked USC Trojans.  Not to be outdone, unranked Ole Miss upset 4th ranked Florida in Gainesville at the Swamp.  And on it goes.  The Houston Cougars upset 23rd ranked East Carolina.  The Michigan Wolverines made a valiant come-back to upset 9th ranked Wisconsin.  Navy beat 16th ranked Wake Forest, Maryland got 20th ranked Clemson, and the Alabama Crimson Tide (9th ranked) upended the 3rd ranked Georgia Bulldogs.  Is that enough for us?  There will probably be more to come this year.  Few teams look unbeatable.  Most have stumbled and played sloppy.  Teams can’t do that anymore as the parody is prominent.

I did watch the Oklahoma-TCU game and I was very impressed with the Sooners.  The Horned Frogs held OU to 25 yard rushing, therefore, Sam Bradford dropped back and threw the ball over the coverage for a total of 411 yards passing.  Broken plays cost TCU along with penalties.  TCU was able to do what no other team has been able to do against OU this year and that was slow down the attack.  They held Oklahoma to almost 20 points below their average, but TCU’s offense just wasn’t explosive enough to stay with OU.  As they Sooners get into Big 12 Conference play, they will face far more explosive offenses.  They will need that ground game to keep offenses of teams like Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State’s off the field.  Otherwise, they might be in for several shootouts.  Nevertheless, I now put Sam Bradford at the top of my Heisman Trophy list.  He was just plain impressive.  He was knocked down, sacked and hurried all day, but he delivered.

Looking Ahead

Oregon State vs. Utah
Fresh off their upset victory over USC, the Beavers travel to Salt Lake City to face the Utes.  Utah is undefeated, but less impressive than I expected at this point.  Can the Beavers parlay their win over USC into a successful season?

Oregon vs. USC
Oregon is is 4-1 with its only loss coming to Boise State.  USC is coming off of their upset loss to Oregon State.  Oregon State showed that a shifty, small back can help keep the chains and the clock moving against USC.  Can the Ducks follow that recipe to a win in LA?  Or does upset simply refer to what the Trojans will be when they step on the field?

Auburn vs. Vanderbilt
The Commodores, yes Vanderbilt, is on top of the SEC East standings.  They play an Auburn team that has shown very little on offense in their transition to a spread by new Offensive Coordinator Tony Franklin.  Well, Vanderbilt does it pretty well, and maybe they can give the Tigers a few tips, after the game.  Vandy averages a full touchdown more a game than Auburn, and they are gunning for an historic year.  Oh, and the game is in Nashville, and both teams are ranked.

Missouri vs. Nebraska
The Cornhuskers had a chance to be ranked this week.  All they had to do was beat an improving Virginia Tech at home on national TV, run their record to 4-0, and await their showdown with Mizzou.  Well, it didn’t work out as planned.  Tyrod Taylor gave Nebraska fits, and Tech got the quality win on the road.  Now Mizzou comes to town, and I am sure Chase Daniel was watching that game.

You really begin to figure things out after about 4 weeks of football.  What we are learning is that there seems to be a clear cut top tier of college football this year.  USC, Florida, Oklahoma and Georiga all have impressive wins over quality programs.  Georgia and Florida’s road gets a lot tougher as they have entered conference play in the SEC.  Oklahoma has to take on TCU this Saturday in Norman, and the Sooner fans recall rather well the upset the Frogs handed them in 2005.  The Frogs have won two in a row in Norman (1996 and 2005), but neither Sooner team was as good as this one.  That being said, this game is between two ranked teams as TCU debuted in the Top 25 at number 24 in the AP and 23 in the USA Today.

The Clash of Mother Nature’s Wrath

Trine vs. Defiance

This is Mike and Mike in the Morning’s pick for the small college football game of the week.  Quarterback Eric Watt passed for 265 yard and 3 touchdown passes as Trine whipped Defiance 42-14.  Trine broke open a close game in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns.

Looking Ahead

Alabama vs. Georgia
The Tide passed their first road test smoking pork on Saturday, and they get a crack at a bona fide top ten football team.  The ‘Dawgs rolled over Arizona State in prime time Saturday night, and now they are cranked up and ready for the SEC and the Eastern Division title.

Illinois vs. Penn State
Is Penn State for real?  Their offense has been off the chart scoring and gaining yards against mediocre teams.  Of course, the Illini haven’t had top level competition either.  This is a chance for one of these two teams to make a step toward filling the possible void left by Ohio State.

TCU vs. Oklahoma
As I mentioned above, the Frogs are now ranked so this makes this game a top 25 match-up.  The Frogs defense has been dominant holding teams to 183 yards per game, but the teams they have played aren’t anywhere near the caliber of the Sooners.  That being said, the Sooners haven’t seen a defense like TCU’s yet either.  And, TCU’s offense does what the coaches want it to do; they hold the ball for 37 minutes a game which is among the tops in the country.  They get smart quarterback play, they use multiple backs, they have good young receivers, and Aaron Brown has returned to the field giving the Frogs a big play threat at any time.

Three weeks make a huge difference in college football.  By now, we know a little more about teams.  And, it helps when teams play inter-conference games.  It helps fans and experts alike measure teams against teams in other conferences and conferences as a whole against other conferences.  Therefore, the Pac 10 vs. the Mountain West Showdown this weekend goes a long way in evaluating the teams and the conferences.  After the MWC swept the Pac 10 in those games, fans might cry out to give their champion an automatic bid to a BCS Bowl game.  The Mountain West has fared well this year against other teams, but the “sweep” was astonishing.  Most pundits were predicting a 2-2 record for the MWC in this week’s match-ups.  TCU and BYU were favorites, but who would have thought that New Mexico would beat Arizona, and even more, UNLV would upset Arizona State in overtime in Tempe?  It is still a long year, and teams come out and play flat often.  There will always be games when a good team, a great one even, will squeak by against a much weaker team.

Battle for the Butter

Stony Brook vs. Maine
Dubbed by Mike and Mike in the Morning as the Battle for the Butter, these two played on Saturday with Maine picking up the win 28-13 behind 4 touchdown passes by Black Bear QB Adam Farkes.  Stony Brook had 4 turnovers, however, they held the ball almost 3 minutes longer.  It didn’t matter as Maine out-gained Stony Brook in total yardage 316 to 271.  The win puts Maine at 2-1 for the season.

Looking Ahead

Alabama who has looked pretty impressive this year including their 34-10 whipping of Clemson in their first game travels to play at Arkansas who is probably the worst 2-0 team in the country.  This game in intriguing because it is the first time this year that the Tide’s young Freshmen will travel to a hostile environment to play.  In spite of how good they are, and they are really good, these Freshmen will struggle at some point with mistakes.  While the game against Clemson was considered a road game, it was played in the Georgia Dome where the Tide had plenty of fans of their own.  In Fayetteville, it won’t be that way.  The Hogs also have some talented Freshmen of their own playing.  They have struggled early, but when the Razorbacks needed the scores, they made the plays.  With the Tide going to play in Athens against Georgia next week, this is a huge trap game.  Arkansas’ defense is not very good, but they have the weapons on offense that, if they avoid the mistakes, might keep them in the game.  And when that happens, well, you know what can happen.

Arizona State hosts Georgia.  Neither team looked particularly good Saturday, but Georgia won.  The ‘Dawg win was on the road at South Carolina, so Georgia has experienced its first road test.  The Sun Devils have not left the state of Arizona.  They have also experienced adversity, but they failed to overcome it losing at home to UNLV in overtime.  This is only the beginning of a tough stretch as Arizona State plays four straight ranked teams (Georgia, Cal, USC, Oregon) although Cal will not be ranked after losing to Maryland.  They have to travel to USC to take what should be a major beat-down.

Auburn hosts LSU.  If you like smash-mouth defenses, then this game is for you.  Auburn knocked off Mississippi State 3-2 on Saturday while LSU squeaked by North Texas 41-3.  LSU is not as explosive as last year, Auburn is still trying to find a rhythm offensively.