Koo’s Corner

Another great weekend in the books. Below are 10 takeaways from week 9 as well as some other bits of knowledge picked up this weekend.

1- Those who say there is nothing sweeter then revenge don’t know what they are talking about. Michigan State pulled away from Michigan late to spank the Wolverines 35-21. Michigan falls to 2-6 on the season, so Rich Rodriguez felt the pressure to finally sign his lucrative contract as the Wolverines crash and burn to a bowless and embarrassing year.

Last year in another hotly tested contested game, Michigan players made some very disparaging comments about Michigan State. Below is Michigan State’s coach getting all hot and bothered about those comments. He must of enjoyed Saturday’s revenge win. Put me down as saying, that if Jim Tressel was to ever go anywhere, that I would have Dantonio on the top of my list as a replacement. The guy hates Michigan and has Buckeye roots…nuff said.

2- The way the ACC and the Big East are playing, its plausible that one conference or even both could finish the year with no teams ranked. Currently the Big East has USF ranked at 23 with Uconn, West Virginia, Pitt and Louisville lurking. Most of those “top” tier Big East teams still have to play each other. Those games and a bad bowl season could cripple the conference’s national perception.

For the ACC, FSU seems to be the only team immune to losing in the Top 25 as Georgia Tech follow Virginia Tech, Wake Forrest on their way out of the top 25. I think its still a long-shot this conference has no top 25 teams at the end of the year but with FSU taking on Florida and a tough docket for Maryland and Georgia Tech coming up, this could be another pretty tough year for the conference.

The fact that Miami vs. FSU has sunken to where it is now coupled with the fact that Virginia Tech seems to be slipping into medicocrity has set the tone for the short term outlook of the ACC.

3- Penn State is legit. OSU played them for 50 minutes dead even, but in the end the team who made less mistakes came away with the victory. OSU has a bright future with 2 great back to back recruiting classes but you got to feel that James Lauirinitis, Malcolm Jenkins, and Marcus Freeman and other Seniors are pretty bummed they couldn’t leave OSU with a national championship considering the team has been in the top 10 pretty much their entire careers.

OSU being a true contender in 09 really boils down to if Chris Wells will stay in 2009. Without him, I see the Bucks being a top 10 team but not a top 5 team.

4-  Oklahoma State put up more of a fight then I thought they would against Texas. Got my first extensive look at the Cowboys Kendall Hunter who looked pretty darn good to me. Undersized for sure, but in the right NFL system he could be a beast.

I am thoroughly enjoying the high scoring showdowns of the Big 12 South between the Big 4 of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma. Told you that Big 12 was going to be awesome this year.

5- With Missouri rounding back into form, I wouldn’t put it past them to throw the BCS a huge curveball by knocking off the Big 12 south winner in the conference championship game. The game will be in their back yard too.

Also don’t think that the party is over with the Big 12 after this year. Zach Robinson, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, and Todd Reesing all return next year. I also think June Jones is really grooming Robert Griffin (freshmen qb 9td’s no picks) to be next great one in the Big 12.

Is there any doubt this conference is just going to roll over teams come bowl season?

6- How about Tim Brewster for coach of the year? The Gophers are ranked at 7-1 and may find themselves in the top 15 going into bowl season. Quite the turnaround for a team that was 1-11 last year including losses to Bowling Green, Florida Atlantic, and North Dakota State. Quite an impressive turnaround.

7- Speaking of the Big 10, the conference is really in somewhat in a era of disarray. Have Michigan and Wisconsin ever been this bad? Joe Tiller is gone next year and IMO I think you’ll see Joe Paterno move on next year. The fact he wasn’t even in the locker room at halftime really symbolizes how far along the assistant coaches have come at that program.

Nobody really knows what Zook has going at Illinois and who knows how look Farentz can tread water at Iowa.

With that in mind, you seem to have the Dantonio era taking root in East Lansing, Brewster building up respectability in Minnesota, and some progress being made at Northwestern.

With a lot of national media attention on program consistency, it may be awhile before the Big Ten really settles into a state of balance.

8- Sheesh things are really ugly in Washington. The Sonics have left, the Mariners are one of the worst run teams in baseball, the Seahawks are imploding and do not have an optimistic future with the current talent in place, and then there are their 2 college teams.

The Huskies are 0-7 this year and seem to be getting worse as the year goes on. I got even money if Tyrone even makes it to the end of the year.

On the other side of the state Washington State is 1-7, but that win was not against a D1 team. The Cougars have given 63+ points an amazing 4 times. The most amazing stat would be in their 7 losses their closest game was a 28-3 loss to UCLA. …. I feel like my JV team could have a chance against these guys.

9-  Two games under the radar that intrigue me are Cal vs. Oregon and Notre Dame vs. Pitt. Both games are somewhat default Top 25 play in games. All 4 of these programs are somewhat in transitional modes so it will be interesting to see if any of these teams can make a loud statement of things to come.

10-  Finally a look at the BCS picture.

IMO only 9 teams have a legitimate shot at the BCS. You can pretty much now write Alabama in pen in the SEC Championship game agaisnt the winner of Georgia va Florida. We’ll see this list cut down next week to at least 8 with either Georgia or Florida losing. Texas is now 1/2 way their gauntlet of a schedule.

Texas Tech is now the only other undefeated Big 12 team (besides Texas) but has their work cut out as Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State now loom on the schedule. They have to win two out of three of those games including a win against Texas to really have any shot. A Texas win next week pretty much makes Oklahoma State and Texas Tech last year’s Kansas. One of those teams may finish with one loss (not if the Sooners have anything to say about it), but they just don’t have the pedigree and traction with voters to leapfrog any other 1 loss teams.

Penn State at this point although number 3 in the country, probably is the most likely to make it to the title game. Shananaginz seem likely to occur for either Texas or Bama or maybe even both.

The Sooners to me are just a roadblock and buffer to keep out USC of the title game who really doesn’t belong to be there. The Sooners if they win out are more deserving.

Man if there was a playoff system with the teams above….. I would just be totally enthralled.

Other weekend notes

- Johnny Drama is a cock block. Poor Turtle.

- Mila Kunis is a babe (never knew she was the voice of Meg on Family guy). Her stock is way up after watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Mila Koo would not a great name too.

Today, college football fans got their first installment of BCS rankings. Below are the rankings with subsequent analysis of BCS contenders likelihood going forward for a title berth.

Let’s start at the Top.

Texas is no doubt the number one team in the country at this point. The good news is that they will not likely face a tougher task then Oklahoma the rest of this year. However there are still 4 games in which they may be susceptible to an upset.

The next two weeks close out the Big 12 Gauntlet portion of their schedule with games against top ten teams Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. Both teams are prolific on offense and will likely put up a big number on the Longhorns. However its very likely both games will yield similar results as the past two shootouts against Missouri and Oklahoma. I envision a 14+ point win against Oklahoma State and a closer game against Tech.

The Longhorns would also have tough late season challenges going on the road to face a very experienced Kansas team as well as a Big 12 championship game which would likely be a rematch game against either Kansas or Missouri.

The good news is that Texas would likely be at the head of the 1 loss line if anything were to happen to them in those 4 games. However if somehow they failed to make their conference championship game (Oklahoma State or Texas Tech could keep them out with an upset win), then the Longhorns will have to break through the stigma of playing for a national title without being a the conference champion.

Alabama who has been less impressive and consistent as Texas also has their work cut out for them. A road trip to Knoxville might be tougher than imagined this upcoming weekend. The biggest date left on the calendar is a road trip to face a pretty gritty LSU team in Death Valley. A home finale showdown vs Auburn also looms and while a victory is likely, a rivalry game of this nature thrives off opportunities to play spoiler.

The biggest showdown would be the SEC Championship game which will likely be against the winner of the World’s Biggest Cocktail Party (Florida vs Georgia). Beating Tebow will be a tough challenge as would be beating Georgia twice in one year in the state of Georgia! In my opinion their is only room for one SEC team in a title game and it can’t be Alabama unless they win the conference. With that in mind Georgia and Florida are playing a elimination game in Jacksonville.

The team with the least bumpy road to the title game would be Penn State. With the prestige of the Big 10 down and a poor out of conference showings across the board,  this upcoming game against the Buckeyes is most likely for the conference championship as well as a potential shot to earn a berth in the title game.

After the Buckeyes its pretty tame with games against Michigan State and Iowa being mild hurdles in the way. IMO, we’ll know if Penn State is in the national title game in a week. Keep in mind that if USC wins out, Penn State has the advantage of destroying Oregon State while the Trojans logged a loss.

Oklahoma is in a holding pattern at number 4. Right now there has only been 1 showdown between the Big 12 South’s quartet of offensive juggernauts. The Sooners need a scenario where there is a complicated tie with Texas, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech or two out of those three teams. Essentially Oklahoma needs either Tech,  Okie State to beat Texas, and then needs to beat both of those opponents.

This scenario may allow them to get the Big 12 championship game against Kansas or Missouri. Its also not impossible to believe that if the Sooners and the Longhorns both win out, that the country gets a in conference rematch against Texas for an epic title game.  The Sooners would need to look really good against Tech and Okie State and would need Penn State and Bama to falter which is very possible.

USC is just chilling at number 5 with a very very manageable schedule ahead of them. No title conference game and no games against ranked teams on the docket at this point in time. However as we have come to learn, the Trojans are not immune to random losses in conference games. I give the Trojans a 66% chance on winning out and a 30% chance of playing in the title game. The win against the Buckeyes gives them a nice head to head win if the Buckeyes are able to climb the ranks after a Penn State win. However looking at the schedule and the BCS rankings, it will be very hard for USC to leap frog Oklahoma, so the Trojans definitely need some help and should be rooting for the Buckeyes on Saturday.

Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are 6th and 8th and have a shot to make some noise. However both teams imo will fall out of the running as they both have to take on Texas and Oklahoma in the coming weeks as well as play each other. Tech’s schedule is below and if they are in the BCS top 10 in a month from now, kudos to them.

Both teams will not get the Texas/Oklahoma love if they don’t win the conference so both their futures lie in forging some big time upsets and beating each other.

Georgia, Florida, and LSU all lurk at 7th, 10th, and 13th. Georgia actually plays LSU and FLorida the next 2 weeks.

LSU has to deal with Georgia and Alabama and will likely fade away. Florida has the Bulldogs and then a pretty calm schedule until Florida State.

The bottom line in the SEC is that Georgia or Florida will play Alabama or LSU in the SEC Championship game. I doubt LSU can hang all season long so you are looking at a 3 way race between Bama, Georgia, and Florida. As long as the winner of that title game has 0 or 1 loss, I think you will see them in the championship game.

My Buckeyes at number nine need to take care of business against Penn State and then can start dreaming. Road games to Northwestern and Illinois would remain on the calender as well as a probable beat down of Michigan, but most likely a Buckeye win would put them in the BCS top 5 by the time the played their next game against Northwestern.

The biggest keys for the Bucks would obviously be a Penn State win, and losses to Oklahoma and USC. With the in conference carnage about to take place in the SEC in the Big 12, its very possible the Buckeyes could sneak into the title game again but Oklahoma and USC are the 2 prominent teams in line in front of them that may end up winning out.

There are some other teams lurking, but imo these are your contenders.

All that being said here is some handicapping of who will be in the title game

Big 12-

Texas: 38%, Oklahoma: 23%, Oklahoma State: 2%,  Texas Tech: 3%

SEC-

Alabama: 25%, Florida: 15%, Georgia: 10%, LSU:1%

Pac 10-

USC: 30%

Big Ten-

Penn State: 32%, Ohio State: 20%

Others-

1% (Utah, Boise State)

Below are some sporadic thoughts on some of the more interesting things going on in the world of sports.

-The Houston Rockets have won 22 games in a row. Today they extended that streak to 22 by beating the highly touted Lakers. Their next game is at first place Boston which is sure to grab some attention away from the upcoming NCAA tournament. The most impressive thing about the streak is that the latter part of it was accomplished without fellow Chinese Icon Yao Ming who is out for the season with a foot injury.

-Before the brackets were announced, I had my Final 4 as Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina and was contemplating Georgetown and Texas for the other slot.

This has been probably my longest stretch at Bucknuts without an article. I have a couple of things in the works but am pretty focused on a magazine article I am writing for Bucknuts the Magazine focusing on the NFL transition for Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzales, Antonio Pittman, and Troy Smith.

I actually conducted an interview with 2006 Heisman winner Troy Smith who was gracious enough to give me 20 minutes of his time. Lots of good stuff that I am working into my article (Smith indicates he is the starter in Madden 2009 next year) . I am hoping to speak with the other 3 former Buckeyes as well.

Moving on here are some random thoughts.

-I cannot wait for this weeken’s showdown of #1 Memphis and #2 Tennessee. I heavily advocated that these two teams were undervalued in my pre season rankings article where I predicted Memphis might be headed to a cake walk season in addition to giving abnormally high ranking for Tennessee. I actually picked Tennessee to win it all in our staff predictions article.

“Ben Koo: Call me crazy but I think the Volunteers have the best mix of talent, experience, coaching, and tenacity to bring home the championship.”

Saturday’s game will be a high scoring, hotly contested, fast paced in state showdown pitting the country’s most talented team against the country’s best team suited for tournament play. Should be awesome.

- Kelvin Sampson will be fired. He can’t dance his way out of this. Too much evidence against him + a track record of documented cheating. ESPN.COM had a poll on Sampson’s fate and despite their being 4 different options, all 50 states has 0ver 50% of voters opting to fire Sampson. Incredibly Indiana was one of the states most in favor of letting him go. Indiana is too classy of a institution to tolerate his BS. (Interesting side note, my final school decision came down to osu or IU. Phew! that was a close one)

- Speaking of Indiana basketball, I have to say that watching Eric Gordon has been awesome. Time will tell if the NBA High School rule is a good thing, but I really think its been successful thus far. Seeing guys like Oden, Durant, Conley Jr, Mayo, Gordon, Beasly, Love, and Rose get one year under the belts at the collegiate level before going pro is good thing for all parties involved. NBA teams get a better feel for who they are drafting. NBA fans are more familiar with the leagues newest additions thanks to a year at the collegiate level. College programs are able to catch lightening in a bottle and are capable of making unexpected runs in the tourney.