You might not have the steadfast commitment that I do when it comes to college football. In fact its probably healthier mentally and physically that you don’t.
Regardless here is a crash course on what you missed in week eleven.
– Let’s start at the top. Penn State let Iowa lurk around all game and then failed to put the game out of reach in the 4th quarter. The Nittany Lions saw their national championship aspirations go down the tube as Iowa overcame a 23-14 deficit to win 24-23 with a game winning field goal in the end. The conditions were borderline and Iowa played a hell of game, but at the end of the day Daryll Clark is the guy you have to pin a lot of this on.
His stat line of 9/23 with one pick and 86 yards is lackluster at best, but the real killer is that his 2 turnovers led to 10 Hawkeye points. 3 drives ending in field goals also sticks out. Farentz is now officially of the hot list for a coaching change.
– The Alabama game was weird… Bama completely outplayed LSU, yet points wise it was a stalemate that forced overtime. Bama never seemed in peril danger, but should have had this game well in hand sometime in the 4th quarter. LSU’s 4 interceptions seemed to be wiped out by 3 inconveniently timed turnovers, 2 field goal misses, and consistent offensive miscues on key plays.
– I really like the blend of non cookie cutter coaches in the SEC with Meyer, Richt, Miles, and Saban. With Auburn and Tennesee looking to get new coaches, some good hires there could make for a very intriguing SEC over the next decade.
– A lot of people like to say that Chris Wells resembles Jamal Lewis….While that’s not the worst comparison out there, I project LSU’s Chad Scott very closely to Jamal Lewis. Wells is closer to maybe Brandon Jacobs, but is more explosive at the second level.
– Texas Tech took Oklahoma State out of the Big 12 South picture. Tech as well as Oklahoma both now have a week off before colliding in what is likely to be a pretty epic game. No kickoff time is set, but look for this to be the premier ABC prime-time game.
– While Texas, Tech, Alabama, Florida, and USC all continue to make noise on the national scene, I am not fully convinced Oklahoma is not the best team in the country. I won’t crown them that but if you take out the second half of the game against Texas, no team has had been as consistently awesome.
The trouble is that Texas did beat them and Tech beat Texas, which makes the upcoming Tech vs. Sooners game that much more intriguing.
– Can you imagine the fun if there was a 4 team playoff that started with Texas vs. Florida and Oklahoma or Tech vs. Alabama? O man….
– I made a prediction in an earlier Bucknuts article that number one ranked Georgia would not even make BCS bowl this year which seems to be coming to fruition. However, I must admit I really enjoy watching them play and saw two great “Pontiac Game Changing Plays” with Strafford’s scramble and touchdown pass that was eerily similar in nature to the 49er’s famous catch play. Also Kentucky was close to answering the score in the final moments before a ridiculously athletic interception that iced the game by a D lineman.
– A year ago some were predicting a budding powerhouse was taking root at Illinois. At 5-5 with a pretty ugly loss today to Western Michigan, I have to say that at this point I got to go with Mark Dantonio and the Spartans to have more staying power as a top 25 program.
– What would LSU’s record be if they had Ryan Perriloux at qb? Tough schedule being one of the few teams to play Georgia, Florida, and Bama.
– Regardless that Missouri has slipped a bit, I am still foreshadowing some potential late season BCS drama as they will be on the flip side as last year trying to play spoiler in what will be a virtual home game in Kansas City. For the second year in a row its possible that a conference championship game will keep the up and coming Big 12 from having a team in the championship game although I think we could see a non conference champion from the Big 12 get the invite over USC.
– This Heisman race is getting very interesting. The 5 guys below are not separated by much. Javon Ringer will need a huge game against PSU and Chase Daniels would have to have a career game in the Big 12 Championship game to crack this top 5.
Colt McCoy
Sam Bradford
Tim Tebow
Graham Harrel
Michael Crabtree
– Out of the crowded one loss teams (Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, and USC) all played well but you got to think USC lost some ground as they failed to wow/make a statement in the eyes of the voters.
– The Apple Cup will likely be both team’s only chance for a D1 win this year. It’s seriously a catastrophic anomaly how these two teams got so horrible so quickly. Does not reflect well on high school football in the Pacific Northwest.
– 3 can’t miss pro prospects = Crabtree, Malcolm Jenkins, Julio Jones
Good value includes future draft guys = Derek Williams, Glenn Coffee, Dezmon Briscoe, Kendall Hunter, Kory Sheets, Riley Skinner, Rennie Curran, Mohamed Massaquoi,
– Butch Davis has to be climbing AD’s lists who are hiring. Would have to think he is likely on a new campus in the next 100 days.
That’s it for this Saturday. Looking at next week’s schedule, its a pretty tame slate of games compared to what else we have seen in October and coming up later in November.
