College Football Saturday: Penn State's Over The Hump Edition
A brief recap of all the action with our usual thoughtful and sensitive commentary:
Texas hangs on against a game Oklahoma State team. The Big 12 is no Lilliputian conference this year and the Horns have a difficult challenge next week, hooking up with Texas Tech who clobbered Kansas. That and Florida vs. Georgia are the games of the week next week. If the Horns get by the Red Raiders, the only potential problem could be a November 15th matchup with Kansas, but I seriously doubt it. Oklahoma State will redeem themselves against Iowa State next weekend.- Alabama played its' most complete game last night against rival Tennessee, who made mistake after mistake and looked like a team coached by a man who may soon be unemployed. Phil Fulmer is a genuinely nice man who has made Tennessee an elite program that may have peaked under his care. In any case, Nick Satan has his team firing on all cylinders, but in the SEC it's still a tough road to hoe. Bama needs to guard against a let down and injury next weekend against Arkansas State before it's huge November 8th showdown in Death Valley.
- Penn State's defense was impressive against Ohio State and marked JoPa's first win at the horseshoe. It was a typical, Big Ten smash mouth game that wasn't settled until a Penn State pick in the end zone with :27 left on the clock. After a bye week, it's Indiana, Iowa and Michigan State, the Spartans being the only potential speed bump. Since the Big Ten does not have a championship game, Penn State may be the first team who is a mortal lock for a BCS game. The bigger question is, if JoPa guides the Nittany Lions to a championship, does he limp (eh, sorry) walk away?
- Oklahoma is really good, but thanks to their loss to Texas, they may be out of the BCS picture unless they beat both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State at the end of November. That may be even too tall an order for Sam Bradford and Co., but if they play like they did yesterday, it's possible.
- Just when you thought USC was back, they play a tight game in Tucson and almost shoot themselves in the foot again. The biggest winner might be Arizona coach Mike Stoops who may get to come back next year after the way his team played last night.
- Now the SEC gets interesting. Florida and Georgia are heading for a big collision next weekend for control of the SEC East. Florida did it by absolutely killing Kentucky. Georgia did it by embarrassing LSU. LSU may have the last laugh though. If the Tigers, who at this moment won't be defending their title can manage to beat Alabama on November 8th and Auburn can beat Alabama, then LSU would represent the west in the SEC title game and still be alive for at least a BCS bid with a win there. Not likely with this LSU squad, but I'm just saying.
- TCU is in a good place right now to make a decent bowl game.
- Louisville scores their biggest win of the Steve Kragthorpe era over USF. Louisville still needs to take out Syracuse, Cincy and Pitt before they can focus on league leader West Virginia. South Florida has pretty much the same opponents, just add UConn. Bottom line is neither of these teams should pack for a BCS bowl. The Big East is a terrible football conference this year.
- It's great when you can roll over the weak sisters, but Mizzou should call us when they can beat the big boys. Actually, they have a chance at revenge in the Big 12 Championship game if they can beat Kansas on November 29th.
- Looks like the pieces have fallen out of place again, eh Wanny? Pittsburgh not only gets beat by an underachieving Rutgers team, they get killed. When will America discover what Bear fans have known for years: Wanny is a fraud!
- Al Groh should legally change his name to Lazarus. After being on the hot seat, Groh has done a masterful job reviving his Virginia team as evidenced by yesterday's win over Georgia Tech. Honestly, the ACC is a putrid place to play football this year which is why you might see a lot of coaching turnover. After all, you have to really stink not to win this conference.
- Ball State, huh? Mac Football. Feel the power. Oh wait, there is none. Ball State's got a big game against Northern Illinois next week and then Central Michigan on November 19th. The MAC is one of those "if a tree falls in the forest and nobody gives a damn does it matter?" conferences.
- It's too bad Florida State isn't in the national championship hunt. The ultimate national championship game could be 80 something JoPa against 70 something Bobby Bowden with the loser forced into retirement. The networks would love it and have it sponsored by AARP and those scooter deals you hear about at 3am in the morning. The Noles will go top 20 after this win.
- Notre Dame may have cracked the Top 25 with this win. Ty Willingham is so done at Washington it's not funny.
- Duke wins the battle of the brainy kids. For Vandy, this may kill their bowl chances even though they need only one more win to become bowl eligible. Still left on the schedule for them are Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wake Forest. The irony would kick in if the beat UT to go to a bowl game. I think they beat Kentucky and make it.
- A local shout out to Bucky, who finally beat someone. Finally. I hear San Antonio is nice in mid December.
- Dogs rule!.
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