Week 10 Recap and 3 Games

Wow, what a week in college football.  Sadly, it only lasts for another couple of weeks, then it’s bowl season.  Teams are jockeying for bowl selection positioning.  After some truly baffling upsets (i.e. Oregon and Iowa), and huge meltdown in “Happy Valley”, the bowl picture is not only getting more convoluted, but more crowded.  Thus…

THREE THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

1.  As I did last week for the Gators. congrats to  The University of Alabama, for clinching the SEC Championship Game Berth against Florida.  LSU can still hope for an Alabama collapse and claim a share of the SEC West title, but the trip to Atlanta goes to the Crimson Tide.  Even though, McElroy had a game that could be described as good, bad, and ugly (more good though), there were a lot of points left on the table by Alabama.  At least 14 by my count, and if you take away the 2 points Alabama gave LSU via the safety this game could have been a blowout.  Credit to the Tigers, but the Tide was just physically too much for LSU.

2.  Wow, Iowa loses, their BCS dreams go up in smoke….(some 2 hrs. later)….Iowa can still get to Pasadena!  Thanks to a combination of Terrelle Pryor’s play and Penn State’s meltdown, the Big Ten gets a championship game of some sorts.  Though not for the conference though (some scenarios still have Wisconsin and Penn State sharing the title) but this game between Iowa and Ohio State will be for the Rose Bowl berth, due to both teams having all tiebreakers over everyone else.  So in a span of 6 hours Iowa went from undefeated to defeated (and looking forward to San Antonio or Orlando) to still having a shot at the Rose Bowl.

3.  Michigan if you are looking for a coach, go look in your past media guides and films of games of years past.  There you will find one of your own Jim Harbaugh, the feisty coach of the Stanford Cardinal.  He is everything that the Wolverines need, he was an All-American QB during the Bo Schembechler era in the mid 80s.  He beat USC for goodness sakes, as a 42 point underdog in L.A..  You haven’t beaten USC since 1989.  If you want to can Rich Rodriguez, don’t make it complicated hire one of your own.

3 GAMES TO WATCH

BIGGEST GAME

#10 Iowa at #11 Ohio State – Saturday, November 14 – ABC – 3:30 pm EST

This isn’t the biggest game because it is for the Rose Bowl berth, but it has huge ramifications for the BCS, namely Boise State.  If Iowa wins against Ohio State, I think it would put the Buckeyes behind the #14 slot in the BCS, because it would be their third loss of the season.  This is kinda like the Alabama/Florida matchup last year.  Where Iowa was battle tested and ranked higher, but is not the better team in respect to Ohio State.  I think this game will follow that lead, I think Iowa will keep it close for awhile, but the Buckeyes will just have too much in the end.  Ohio State, believe it or not folks will be smelling Roses in January.

OHIO STATE 35  IOWA 17

MOST INTRIGUING GAME

#16 Utah at #4 TCU – Saturday, November 14 – CBS College Sports – 7:30 pm EST

This is an odd game because if you look at Utah’s schedule, a win here plus a win in Provo, could put Utah in the BCS picture again.  But for these two teams its about first winning the Mountain West Conference.   I think this will be a fantastic game, both teams are good football teams, this is the hurdle TCU will have to face before playing lowly Wyoming and New Mexico to finish out the season.  So TCU will bring a championship mentality to this game.  Utah will be tough, but home field and a BCS lock on the line for the Horned Frogs, I like TCU in this game.

TCU 27  Utah 21

USPET ALERT

#24 South Florida at Rutgers – Thursday, November 12 – ESPN – 7:30 pm EST

I have no idea why South Florida is ranked, the only ranked victory they have is against #18 Florida St.  The same Florida St., that is an utter mess.  I just don’t have a lot of faith in South Florida going on the road, where last time the Bulls went on the road to Piscataway lost as the #2 team in the nation.  I think history repeats itself.

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