The Week That Was in College Football
Question of the week
Who should OU fans cheer for tonight when Virginia Tech hosts Boston College? The obvious answer seems BC. But maybe not. The 7-0 Eagles are No. 2 in the BCS; 6-1 Virginia Tech is No. 8 in the BCS. The Sooners are sixth in the BCS.
If BC loses to the Hokies, they almost surely would fall below OU. But Virginia Tech almost certainly would rise above OU. So it could come down to this: Who is more likely to lose after Thursday, Boston College or Virginia Tech? Let’s look at the schedules.
BC: Florida State, at Maryland, at Clemson, Miami. I’d say all winnable, all losable.
V-Tech: at Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami, at Virginia. Wild, isn’t it, how similar are those schedules. Both host Florida State and Miami; both have two interesting road games. That
Virginia game is a bear; the Cavaliers are 7-1, but they’ve been scraping by.
Here’s my suggestion. Cheer for Boston College. In times like these, where who knows how the rankings will end up, the goal is to get two losses on every team and remove all doubt. If Virginia Tech beats Boston College, they still both could lose. If BC wins this one, I don’t see them losing two more.
TEN BIG WINNERS FROM WEEK 8
10. Oklahoma State: Cowboys kept alive Big 12 South title hopes with rousing 41-39 win over Kansas State.
9. Michigan: Wolverines, given up for dead eight days into September, have won six straight and still could make the Rose Bowl after a 27-17 win at
Illinois.
8. Sonny Lubick: Venerable Colorado State coach ended a 13-game losing streak with 48-23 win at UNLV.
7. Temple: Kicked out of the Big East, the Owls might have found a home in the Mid-American Conference, a reputable league of upstarts. Temple beat Miami-Ohio 24-17 to raise its record to 3-2 in the MAC.
6. Kansas: Jayhawks won another Big 12 road game, 19-14 at Colorado, and now we’ve got to get serious about 7-0 KU running the table.
5. Rutgers: Scarlet Knights popped South Florida 30-27, signaling again that Greg Schiano has put together a solid program at the University of New Jersey.
4. Tim Tebow: The Florida sophomore won a quarterback derby royale in a 45-37 victory over Kentucky. UK stud Andre Woodson completed 35 of 50 for 415 yards and five touchdowns. But Tebow completed 18 of 26 for 256 yards and four TDs, ran 78 yards on 20 carries, and solidified himself as the Heisman favorite.
3. UCLA: Don’t look now, but the Bruins are 4-0 in the Pac-10 after a 30-21 victory over California. UCLA has proven it’s not a powerhouse, not with a blowout loss to Utah and being Notre Dame’s only victim. But staying in Pac-10 contention into November is a solid feat.
2. Jonathan Stewart: The Oregon junior looks like a big-time pro prospect — we saw him excel against the Sooners a year ago — and showed it Saturday against Washington, rushing for 251 of Oregon’s school-record 465 yards.
1. North Dakota State: Coach Craig Bohl was a big winner, too, after a 27-21 victory over Minnesota that will elevate Bohl into consideration for the job at Nebraska, his alma mater. But North Dakota State, which left the comfort of NCAA Division II to compete in I-AA, made a big name for itself and thrilled more than 30,000 of its fans who made the trip to Minneapolis. This will rank as one of the 10 biggest moments in North Dakota sports history.
ZANY ZEBRAS
Big East commissioner Mike Transghese this week called the University of Louisville, saying officials erred in allowing a Connecticut touchdown on a punt return. Seems UConn’s Larry Taylor waved his right hand above his head, appearing to make a fair catch signal, then caught the ball and ran 74 yards for a touchdown.
Connecticut won 21-17, and Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe was livid at the non-call. I didn’t see the play. But that’s just horrible officiating. This wasn’t holding or a bang-bang pass interference. This was a signal made in the open, not in a split-second situation. And still the officials couldn’t get it right.
College football officiating is mostly terrible. First off, there are too many convoluted rules, and these weekend zebras can’t possibly stay on top of every situation. Also, not enough leagues are like the Big East and publicize transgressions; the Big 12, for instance, operates in virtual secrecy on its officiating errors. Better to come clean and let the public know how the sport is dealing with its arbiters.
A play in the Jacksonville-Indianapolis game Monday night showed the vast difference between college and NFL officiating. A Jacksonville runner went up the middle, was tackled just shy of the end zone, then scooted across the goal line. The umpire stepped right in, without looking for help from either of his side officials, and pointed at the ground, indicating no touchdown.That’s exactly what was needed in the 2005 OU-Texas Tech game, when Tech’s Taurean Henderson was ruled to have scored on the last play of the game, but by the sideline official who waited several seconds to make the call, by which time Henderson had crawled well into the end zone.
At Lubbock that day, the Big 12 crew needed an umpire who would stick his nose into the act. In Jacksonville this week, the NFL had an umpire willing to do just that.
SWEET 16
This could be the season we have a two-loss team in the Big Bowl. It almost happened in 2001, when 10-2 Colorado finished fourth in the BCS. Only 16 teams in Division I-A have fewer than two losses, and we’ve still got a Saturday left in October, much less the nail spikes of November.
We can throw out 7-0 Hawaii and 6-1 Boise State. The Rainbows could make the BCS, but they’re not making the BCS title game. So that gets us down to 14 teams still eligible to beat two losses:
Boston College 7-0: Likely record, 11-2. As you saw earlier, lots of tossup games, plus we didn’t even count a potential ACC title game. BC is leading the Atlantic Division.
Virginia 7-1: Likely record, 10-2. Can the Cavaliers keep skating by? They’ve won their last three games by four points total and they’ve won five of their last six by five points or less.
Virginia Tech 6-1: Likely record, 10-3. I saw Virginia Tech try to keep up with LSU in September; I can’t believe the Hokies have improved enough to be national-title contenders.
UConn 6-1: Likely record, 8-4. The biggest fraud on this list. Connecticut’s victims include Duke, Maine, Temple, Pitt and Akron. Only Louisville was a good win, and that was referee-tainted.
South Florida 6-1: Likely record, 11-1. The Bulls have road games left at UConn, Syracuse and Pitt. Don’t discount USF to be back in the Big Bowl.
West Virginia 6-1: Likely record, 11-1. Mountaineers play at Rutgers and Cincinnati. I don’t see them losing again.
LSU 7-1: Likely record, 11-2. Only one tough regular-season game left, but it’s a holy war — at
Alabama and former coach Nick Saban. Then there would be an SEC title game matchup against perhaps Florida, which should have won in the Bayou a few weeks ago.
Arizona State 7-0: Likely record, 9-3. Sun Devils have avoided the top four teams in the Pac-10. That changes beginning Saturday, against Cal. Then comes at Oregon, at UCLA, USC and finally a breather in
Arizona.
Oregon 6-1: Likely record, 10-2. The Ducks get USC and Arizona State at home this week and next. If they go 2-0, watch out. The schedule lightens up after that.
USC 6-1: Likely record, 9-3. The Trojans have a brutal path to New Orleans. At Oregon, home to Oregon State, at California, at Arizona State, home to UCLA, which don’t forget is unbeaten in the Pac-10. If USC goes 11-1, they deserve the No. 1 seed in America.
Ohio State 8-0: Likely record, 11-1. Buckeyes don’t have an easy game left. They hosted Michigan State last week and won 24-17. Every team left is better than the Spartans. At Penn State, home to Wisconsin, home to Illinois, at Michigan.
Kansas 7-0: Likely record, 10-2. I don’t like the Jayhawks. Nothing personal, I just think they’ve scheduled themselves to success. But you know what? They could win out. Their toughest game left is Missouri on a neutral-field in Kansas City. Next toughest is at Stillwater.
Missouri 6-1: Likely record, 11-2. I think Mizzou wins out, if the Tigers can get past Kansas State in Manhattan. How about this showdown — OU vs. Missouri in a Big 12 title game that is a virtual national semifinal? It could happen.
Oklahoma 7-1: Likely record, 12-1. The Sooners have a breeze until they get to Lubbock. It won’t be easy to win at Texas Tech, but OU always defends the Red Raiders well.
So, if my likely records pan out, here’s your final BCS rankings:
1. Ohio State. 2. Oklahoma. 3. West Virginia. 4. South Florida. All of which means two things:
* Watch out for Florida. If the Gators win out, they would be 11-2, as SEC champs and victories over LSU, Kentucky, Florida State, Tennessee and South Carolina.
* The Big 12 title game would be a great blessing to OU (or Missouri, or even Kansas). Rip it all you want, but the game can help a team as often as hurt it. This year is a perfect example. The Sooners need all the good games they can get on their schedule.
GOOD EATS
I’ve got to start paying more attention. We used the drive-through at the Stillwater Arby’s about midnight Saturday, and there were two lanes to order in, which merged into one to go past the windows.
It’s all marketing. It doesn’t speed up the process; in fact, it slows it down, because the guy in the window has to ask which order is yours. It’s all a way to make you think the line isn’t as long as it really is. But as long as I get plenty of Arby’s sauce, I won’t complain too much.
TEN BIG LOSERS FROM WEEK 8
10. Oklahoma: Style points count when the BCS is this crazy, and OU’s 17-7 squeaker over Iowa State cost the Sooners some in the human polls as well as the computers.
9. Cincinnati: The Bearcats had a chance to go deep into Big East contention, but a 24-17 loss at woeful Pitt brought Cincy back to reality.
8. Texas Tech: The Red Raiders have laid a lot of road eggs, but fewer bigger than a 41-10 loss at Missouri. Until Tech starts playing better away from Lubbock, it won’t be a Big 12 South contender.
7. Tulsa: After looking strong for awhile in a loss to OU, the Hurricane had visions of going 11-1. But losses to UTEP and Central Florida have Tulsa scrambling just to get a Conference USA bowl berth.
6. Gary Patterson: The luster is off the TCU coach, who has produced three 11-win seasons in the last four years. After a loss to Utah, the Horned Frogs are 4-4.
5. Bobby Bowden: Hard to believe, but the Florida State-Miami game was an afterthought on the national scale. Sort of like OU-Texas in the mid-90s. Florida State’s 37-29 loss to Miami — how did those two teams score so many points? — left Bowden at 370 coaching victories and susceptible to Joe Paterno, who is at 369 and gaining.
4. Phil Bennett: The ex-OU defensive coordinator is dead man walking at SMU, especially after a 41-34 overtime loss to hapless Tulane. SMU now is 1-6, and no one believes Bennett can save his job.
3. South Carolina: The Gamecocks were a little bit of a fraud at No. 6 in the nation, but the clock shouldn’t have struck midnight at home against Vanderbilt. The Commodores not only won, they dominated.
2. Phil Fulmer: The Tennessee coach always wins more than enough to keep his job, but a 41-17 loss to Alabama can’t make the Vol Nation happy.
1. South Florida: The Bulls are likely to win out, which makes their 30-27 loss at Rutgers sting all the more.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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