Three of the top five and four of the top seven teams were stunned over the past two days. We're now left with BCS madness. Let's look at what went down this weekend. Oklahoma State was shocked by Iowa State and this didn't come as a huge surprise to me. Oklahoma State was a pretender all along and it was only a matter of time before their offense didn't come through like it always has been this year.
The next upset took place in Eugene, Oregon. When is the last time Oregon lost at home? I can't remember, but Matt Barkley and co. dominated most of that game and staved off a late comeback by Oregon to grab the win. Oregon is all but out of the BCS National Title talk and USC showed that they are for real. On a side note, Matt Barkley played so well that some debate has taken place at least in my mind that he might actually be better than Andrew Luck.
The final upset of the night took place in Waco, Texas where RGIII outscored Landry Jones, Blake Bell and Oklahoma to give Oklahoma their second loss and eliminate their chances of going to the BCS Title Game.
So where do we stand now? LSU is obviously number 1, Alabama moves up to 2 and now who is number 3? Arkansas? Arkansas is a very good team, but to be number 3 at this point means things really are out of whack. Arkansas was dismantled by Alabama earlier this year and they have barely beaten teams like Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. Arkansas is good, but they shouldn't be this close to the BCS National Title conversation. After the top 3 SEC teams, who is 4th now? With number 4 Oregon losing, number 5 Oklahoma losing, number 6 Arkansas moving up to 3, number 7 Clemson losing, it leaves Virginia Tech as the most suitable team to be number 4. Is Virginia Tech really the 4th best team in the nation? They were destroyed by Clemson at home in their only loss and they have scraped by teams such as East Carolina, North Carolina and Duke for god sakes. I'll try to sort out the mess, here are my rankings for the top 20 heading into next week.
1 LSU 11-0
2 Alabama 10-1
3 Arkansas 10-1
4 Oklahoma State 10-1
5 Virginia Tech 10-1
6 Oregon 9-2
7 Stanford 10-1
8 Oklahoma 8-2
9 Houston 11-0
10 Boise State 9-1
11 South Carolina 9-2
12 Kansas State 9-2
13 Georgia 9-2
14 Michigan State 9-2
15 Michigan 9-2
16 Baylor 7-3
17 Wisconsin 9-2
18 Clemson 9-2
19 TCU 9-2
20 Penn State 9-2
Now lets talk about the Heisman race. Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State is done after their loss to Iowa State. LaMichael James is out after Oregon lost their second game as he was a non-factor. There is also no hope for Landry Jones, as he was outmatched by Robert Griffin III. So who is still alive in the race? (in no particular order)
Robert Griffin III, QB Baylor
Trent Richardson, RB Alabama
Andrew Luck, QB Stanford
Case Keenum, QB Houston
In my opinion, you can only make a case for two of these guys to win. Robert Griffin III, even though his team is only 7-3, has been the most outstanding and most exciting player in college football this year. Without him, Baylor is 3-7 not 7-3. He has had Heisman performances and has had produced highlight reel plays all year. The other candidate who deserves a chance to win is Trent Richardson. He has been a workhorse back all year for the Tide, and even though they lost to LSU, Richardson still had a gritty, workmanlike game. As of now, you have to give the award to Griffin. Similar to the way Tim Tebow won the Heisman, Griffin has been the most exciting player most of the year and in what should be a pretty close race, Griffin edges Richardson for the Heisman if he finishes strong. Here is the way I would fill out my ballot.
1 Robert Griffin III, QB Baylor
2 Trent Richardson, RB Alabama
3 Kellen Moore, QB Boise State - It's not his fault that their field goal kickers can't get it done. Kellen Moore has been one of the greatest quarterbacks in college football history and it is a shame he won't win it this year because given the fact that Boise has a weak defense, Moore must lead Boise State each week and put up high point totals every week.
4 Andrew Luck, QB Stanford - Luck should not be given any first place votes. He didn't perform well in Stanford's biggest game and in fact, he really hasn't had that impressive of a season for what he is hyped up to be. He seems to go 20-30, throw for 230 yards, throw 2 touchdowns and throw a pick in each game. Yeah, it's very good and he should get some second, third and fourth place votes for Heisman, but no one should be giving Luck first place votes.
5 Case Keenum, QB Houston - You can't take much away from the year he has had, I don't care if their schedule has been weak, he deserves some credit.
Now, here are my predictions for the rest of the way in College Football.
Week 13
- LSU beats Arkansas at home 24-16, heading into the SEC Championship with a 12-0 record
- Houston is upset at Tulsa to ruin hopes of an undefeated season
- Alabama beats Auburn in the Iron Bowl to finish the season 11-1 as they await their BCS fate
- South Carolina beats Clemson in the Battle for South Carolina
- Georgia defeats Georgia Tech to head into the SEC Championship at 10-2
- Michigan blows out Ohio State 32-16 to end losing streak to OSU
- Wisconsin dismantles Penn State 31-10 to finish 10-2
Week 14
- Oklahoma State bounces back and beats Oklahoma to win the Big 12
- Virginia Tech runs past Clemson to win the ACC
- Wisconsin extracts revenge and beats Michigan State to win the Big Ten
- Oregon blows out UCLA to win Pac-12
- LSU edges past Georgia 26-17 to win SEC and head to BCS National Title game
BCS Bowl Predictions
Rose
Oregon v.s. Wisconsin
Oregon 48-31
Fiesta
Oklahoma State v.s. Michigan
Oklahoma State 41-24
Sugar
Stanford v.s. Boise State
Boise State 38-34
Orange
Rutgers v.s. Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech 27-17
BCS National Title Game
LSU v.s. Alabama
Alabama 20-16
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