Sorry this is late (unsurprising) and short (incredibly surprising) but real life does, unbelievably, occasionally have to take priority over the blog. Guess that bumps me down a notch on the loyalty scale, eh? So without further ado, rambling on the week that was:
#1 and #2 in trouble? What was this, a flashback to 2007? The Oregon Ducks escaped on what can only adequately be described as a technicality (Oregon fans, remember, build your effigy flammable, but not too flammable. It should be a slow burn) and Auburn, well, they struggled, and it's anyone's guess as to why.
Yeah, I know, it seems "obvious" that it was the "pressure" on Cam Newton, but I have a hard time buying it. You'd be a fool to deny that there's a psychological aspect to any sport (football included) but if Newton's activities really were illegal (innocent until proven guilty, kids, like it or not) then he had to be playing under the pressure of getting caught all season. I think we should attribute this less to Newton's off the field indiscretions, and more towards the fact that Auburn struggles when they play teams with halfway decent defenses. Yeah, the Tigers are undefeated, but all of their close games except for one (Kentucky) have come against teams in the Top 40 in scoring defense. Auburn is a Big 12 school in the SEC: They score points in bundles, but they have a paper thin defense. Something will have to give next week against Alabama, and for the sanctity of college football, I kinda hope it's the Tigers' undefeated season.
In analogy news, James Madison : Boise State :: Notre Dame : TCU. Seriously, Utah, what the heck?
Speaking of TCU, they too skated by the San Diego State Aztecs. That's much more damaging for the Horned Frogs, because voters are, generally speaking, ignorant. They'll cut down TCU for narrowly defeating their mediocre competition, but Oregon narrowly nips Cal and stays #1. I will put money that if the Boise State/Nevada game is close (it probably won't be), Boise will lose points in the BCS standings. Despite the fact that Nevada beat Cal who nearly beat Oregon! Know what? Let's just skip the pretense right now. If Oregon and Auburn each lose late in the season, I'm calling an LSU vs. Wisconsin final. And then I will personally lead the mob that marches on NCAA Headquarters.
Boise State hammered Idaho back on Friday. Good to know that Western Carolina/App State isn't the only obscure, one-sided rivalry with one media darling and one punching bag.
LSU played in-state "rival" UL-Monroe and beat them 51-0. Props to LSU for only having one loss this late in the season, but I'm still convinced that this team is 4 or 5 unlucky breaks away from being 4-6. And they're about 2 lucky breaks away from being the undefeated frontrunners for the national title. Isn't having a sport with an arbitrary and outdated championship system fun?
I will only mention Wisconsin's hammering of Indiana briefly: Sure, it was wrong, but the Oregon team that I like to praise has delivered similar beatings to multiple teams this season, so I can't be a total hypocrite and hammer the Badgers. Allow me to say, though, that Bucky Badger is a stupid looking mascot. There. Take that, Wisconsin!
Texas is in last place in their division. Look, we all expected a little fall, but this is absurd!
Southern Cal defeated Arizona. Congrats, Coach Kiffin! You've now ruined 3 teams' seasons!
Baylor has, once again, remembered who they were. That is to say, Baylor.
Virginia Tech avenged (I guess) last year's loss to North Carolina. They still have to beat Miami or UVa to wrap up a spot in the ACC Championship. As to the other division of the ACC? Ugh...hard to figure out.
I do, however, have a suggestion for a new conference motto: "The ACC: At least we're not the Big East." What do you think? Catchy?
Quick shout out to the Southern Miss players who were badly wounded in a bar shooting on Saturday night. No, they shouldn't have been there, but they also didn't deserve to get shot.
That's all for the week. I promise next week will: A) not be so short and B) not end on such a downer. Until then...take care!
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