Sunday, November 26, 2006

Strange Things Happen

The BCS and a few conferences came into focus this weekend, as a few unexpected things happened.

In our part of the country, the Fightin’ Texas Aggies went into Austin and shocked the Texas Longhorns, 12-7. Hindsight is always 20-20, but what was Mack Brown doing when he allowed Colt McCoy to come back from injury this soon? Colt had easily his worst game of the year, throwing three interceptions, and having to be carted off the field with 20 seconds left in the game, after aggravating his shoulder injury. I like Colt, and wish he didn’t play for that school in Austin. In my opinion, Mack set him up for failure by letting him come back so soon. On the other sideline, Dennis Franchione more than saved his job, and the Aggies delivered a win on which they can build a program. The Ags are going to be hard to deal with in years to come.

That result set up Saturday in Stillwater, where Oklahoma needed a win in the Bedlam series against Oklahoma State in order to win the Big 12 South and advance to the Big XII Championship Game next week in Kansas City. The Sooners got 156 yards rushing and a touchdown from Allen Patrick, and 74 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Chris Brown, to get past the Cowboys, 27-21. The Sooners have survived the ineligibility of a starting quarterback and offensive lineman, a botched call which cost them an early game at Oregon, and the loss of all-everything running back Adrian Peterson to win the South division and to be one step from a BCS bowl. Bob Stoops has done the best coaching job of his tenure at Oklahoma.

Elsewhere, USC pounded Notre Dame, 44-24, to make their case for #2 in the BCS rankings, and a spot opposite Ohio State in the BCS National Championship Game. Notre Dame is vastly overrated, and has been the beneficiary of some good luck (Michigan State’s collapse) and good scheduling (name teams in down cycles such as North Carolina and Stanford, and the three service academies). It is my hope that the rumor comes true, and the Fiesta Bowl allows the Big 12 champion to play Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and that Notre Dame would go to Glendale to play Boise State. I would love to see Boise cream Notre Dame.

LSU helped their BCS at-large chances, by going to Little Rock and defeating Arkansas, 31-26. The Hogs’ 10-game winning streak came to an end. Arkansas can still advance to the Sugar Bowl with a win over Florida in the SEC Championship Game.

West Virginia blew their BCS chances with a 24-19 loss at home to South Florida. The Mountaineers are now reduced to being spoilers, as they face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights this week. Rutgers can win the Big East with a win in Morgantown.

The ACC has turned upside down, as Florida State and Miami are barely qualifying for bowls, and Wake Forest is playing Georgia Tech for the conference championship. In the Big 12, this would be like Texas Tech playing Kansas for the conference championship. In the SEC, it would be like South Carolina going against Ole Miss for a conference championship. Hell hasn’t frozen over on Tobacco Road, but it is basketball season there. It was weird to see Wake Forest play Maryland in a meaningful football game. That is usually reserved for basketball.

More comments, projections, and rankings to come later….

1 comment:

One Hundred Yards said...

Seeing as you are from Texas, would you happen who is the girl at [1]?

Thanks in advance.

[1] http://onehundredyards.blogspot.com/2006/11/whos-that-girl-part-4.html