Is it a bad thing that Darren McFadden goes off for 323 yards and a TD and isn’t even the biggest news in the SEC? Thanks to LSU having another classic game, LSU/Alabama stole the show. This makes something like 4 or 5 great games that LSU has had already – Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Alabama (you may want to include VA Tech in this list; that game was impressive but not great to me). Considering we’ll get to see LSU / Arkansas to close the season, that could be very exciting. I’m looking forward to it – and I’m now scared as hell of Arkansas again. Oh, I forgot to mention that Felix Jones went for 160+ and 4 TDs. Good god. And Tennessee’s “rush D” (I can’t actually call it a rush D) gets to be on the wrong side of highlights next week, too. Thank god the Arkansas D isn’t any good. Still, that Arkansas win basically eliminates South Carolina from both the rankings and SEC East title contention. Also eliminated from SEC East contention: Vandy, who finally lost their 4th SEC game. I’m not counting anyone else out of it yet. Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia all rolled, and Kentucky was on a bye. In the SEC West, Arkansas’s still kind of in it with 3 losses, Auburn won, and LSU holds the trump card (obviously). Alabama’s loss against LSU kind of seals it for them. I think that Arkansas still gets Auburn and LSU, so if they can clean sweep and get a bit of luck, they may have a shot. MSU and Ole Miss have both been toasted, but as I said before, MSU is at least a decent team.
Getting out of the southeast, BC’s national title dreams are basically over, unfortunately. I kind of liked the Golden Eagles this season; the horseshoe that was up their ass last year wasn’t there anymore (it’s chosen to migrate to Virginia), and Matt Ryan’s performance last week was clutch. However, this week he did the Eagles in – his last INT was a telegraphed pass that the LB (whose name slips my mind at the moment) made a great play on. It was a good run for the Eagles, who still have a shot at 12-1 going into the bowl season, although at this point 11-2 looks more likely. It’s a shame for the ACC too, who finally had an opportunity to get some legitimacy.
Speaking of legitimacy, the Big East is quietly turning into the poor man’s SEC. Typical doormat UConn has two solid wins in the last two weeks (which may finally equalize their luck-filled wins over Louisville and Temple) and is leading the conference. West Virginia’s playing the Florida role, with an early loss but …hey, they’re back in the top 10 and rolling. Cincinnati, South Florida, and Rutgers are solid mid-to-upper level teams (think Auburn, Tennessee, and …let’s say Alabama as comparisons, although not in that order and not in style, either – just as a guideline). Louisville’s in the Arkansas role of high-powered offense and low-powered defense, and Pitt and Syracuse serve as the Vandy/Ole Miss combo. Is it even the #3 BCS league? Probably not – I think at this point it’s still SEC, Pac-10, Big 12 in the top three spots, but the Big East isn’t that far behind.
The Big 12 is quietly fielding three potential national title contenders. Think about it: Kansas is undefeated, but may have to go through Missouri and Oklahoma to get to the title game. Missouri will probably get a return game against the Sooners if they win out, and Oklahoma is sitting pretty in the BCS rankings (they’ll likely be 4th in the latest poll). The worst-case scenario for the Big 12 is a trifecta hammer; Missouri beats Kansas and loses again to Oklahoma, who won’t get the SOS benefit against Missouri, having beaten them twice. (This is assuming none of those teams lose to anyone else.) The BCS best-case is probably Oklahoma winning over Kansas, but the best-case long term impact would be Kansas running the table. I’m not totally sold they’d get into the BCS championship game – they’re probably behind a 1-loss LSU and Oregon teams – but it’d fuel at worst a hell of a lot of controversy.
Speaking of Oregon, they had a statement win at home against Arizona St. Don’t be fooled by the 35-32 final score; they were in command the entire game. They’ve played the other big three teams in the Pac-10 and gone 2-1 (with a close loss against Cal); all they have to do at this point is hold serve and hope LSU loses. I’m not sure they jump LSU otherwise – unless, of course, they already have. USC rebounded nicely this week with a solid win over Oregon St., but their goose is cooked at this point. If they can beat ASU then they’re probably still going to be remembered as a solid team, but that’s also a big if given their current level of play. They have the talent, but the results are lacking.
Meanwhile, Ohio State keeps rolling. Apparently Wisconsin was a good team at one point, but they sure didn’t look like one yesterday. To some degree I still think they’re #1 by default, but there hasn’t been a team that’s winning more convincingly over the last couple of weeks. Of course, is that because of their level of play or the level of opposing talent? It’s a combination; I don’t think Wisconsin and Penn St. are anything other than 4-4 fodder in the SEC or Pac-10 this season, but Ohio State also hasn’t made it close. They’ve grown into their ranking, and they may actually get tested by a team that lost to a 1-AA team at home. Of course, Michigan is also looking worlds better than they did early in the season with clunkers against App State and Oregon, but …they could still win the Big 10. The hell?
As for my rankings – yes, I have them, although you wouldn’t know based on previous performance– they shake out something like this:
1 – Ohio State
2 – LSU
3 – Oregon
4 – Kansas
5 – Oklahoma
6 – West Virginia
7 – Missouri
8 – Boston College
9 – UConn
10 – Hawai’i
11 – Arizona State
12 – Texas
13 – Michigan
14 - Auburn
15 – Georgia
16 – Alabama
17 – USC
18 – Virginia
19 – Cal
20 – Boise State
21 – Florida
22 – Cincinnati
23 – Tennessee
24 – Clemson
25 – UCF
I’ll be honest here; I have a pretty solid top 6 and then anything beyond that is a mess. I suppose Missouri is 7th, and I still think BC is Top 10 material. I have to rank UConn in the top 10 after their last two weeks and their solid conference profile. Arizona State and below … I have no idea. I don’t think Georgia is actually the 14th best team in the country – but then again, I don’t think Michigan is the 13th best either, and Texas still has a 20-point home loss on their profile coupled with a semi-gifted road win. However, I can’t think of anyone better than either of those two teams who isn’t ranked. I think I moved Alabama up after a loss, which rarely happens. I can’t respect Virginia yet – win a good game convincingly and we’ll talk. If I could, I’d rank ASU at 11 and then put 7 teams 17th and the rest 25th. Wait, I can do that.
1 – Ohio State
2 – LSU
3 – Oregon
4 – Kansas
5 – Oklahoma
6 – West Virginia
7 – Missouri
8 – Boston College
9 – UConn
10 – Hawai’i
11 – Arizona State
17 – Texas
17 – Michigan
17 - Auburn
17 – Georgia
17 – Alabama
17 – USC
17 – Virginia
25 – Cal
25 – Boise State
25 – Florida
25 – Cincinnati
25 – Tenneseee
25 – Clemson
25 – UCF
Much better. I don’t feel so bad about that Top 25. Looking back at it, I’m surprised at the number of Big 12 teams in the top ..er, 17, but of those teams, only two of them have played each other, and the ranking hierarchy is maintained between those teams. They only have 5 losses between them, so they should be ranked that high. However, it’s as much a function of talent as much as it is avoiding the other good teams – by and large – so far. The SEC teams seem ranked right; I can’t tell the difference between Georgia, Alabama, and Auburn most weeks and Florida and Tennessee are kind of similar, even though their head-to-head doesn’t bear that out. Tennessee controlling its own destiny is the equalizer there. USC is a cut below the big dogs in the Pac-10 with Cal being a notch below them at the moment.
