Yesterday brought clarity out of chaos in this college football season. When all the dust fell, only three undefeated teams remain; Oklahoma State, LSU and Houston. Only Okie State and LSU with a chance to play for the BCS title, with Houston simply being Case Keenum’s vehicle to a higher draft spot in the 2012 NFL draft. The logjam has shifted to the one-loss teams, of which there are plenty, eight of them rounding out the Top Ten in the AP Poll released today.
Those one-loss teams aren’t exactly fighting for scraps, either. Oklahoma (9-1) still has it’s sights set on Bedlam with Okie State looming large at the end of the year. LSU faces Arkansas (9-1) on Thanksgiving weekend. VaTech and Clemson each have a shot to improve their chances at an outside shot at the BCS title game, if the chips fall just right. Outside of those teams, the only other with a realistic shot at the title game are Oregon and Alabama, which would be perfect for fans of rematches.
Outside of the always-shifting Top 10, Penn State lost to Nebraska at home in the first game post-Paterno and post-Sandusky scandal. It was an odd scene in Happy Valley and a sloppy first half wasn’t much of a shock at all. The Nittany Lions showed fight in the second half, but came up just short on Senior Day.
Here’s what I think we learned yesterday:
- Oregon has Stanford’s number/Stanford is entirely out of the title race. The Ducks were dominant on both sides of the ball and the game wasn’t as close as the 53-30 score indicates. With a solid showing over the next few weeks, they could work their way back into title contention, as weird as that sounds.
- From the “you have to be kidding me” files- Wazzu’s true freshman QB, Connor Halliday, torched the Sun Devils for nearly 500 yards in snowy, rainy Pullman, Washington as the Cougs won their second PAC-12 game of the year, 37-27. Could it be that Paul Wulff is finally turning things around?
- Notre Dame could win the ACC, if they belonged there. They housed a second straight ACC team last night, beating Maryland 45-24. Hapless Boston College is up next, with a wounded Stanford team waiting to close out the season.
- Case Keenum laughs at your pass defense, Conference USA.
- Boise State needs to find a lock-down kicker soon, or just go for two every time. The 36-35 loss to TCU was their second in two seasons decided by a missed field goal. Ouch.
- After their second shootout in as many weeks, Kansas State has shown that they’re not just a plodding team that is easily taken down by high-scoring offenses. Oh yeah, Colin Klein is pretty good, too.
- The Munchie Legeaux era at Cincinnati is going to at least be a lot of fun to talk about. Get well soon, Zach Collaros.
- Baylor is very lucky to have Robert Griffin III when facing such big-time opponents as…Kansas?
