BCS Beef

A few things became clear this college football weekend. Penn State is as good as dead after scratching and clawing to lose at home to Iowa this week. This loss gives the top one loss teams in the BCS (Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, USC) a new lease on life.

Texas Tech, after a great home stand versus Texas and OSU, is a bona-fide threat to win the National Championship. Graham Harrell and the Techies are simply nasty on offense and having Michael Crabtree to pitch the ball to does not hurt. The Red Raider defense is pretty stout too, holding teams in the gangster laden Big 12 South below their usual outputs. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, is good but not ready for top-tier warfare. OSU was tabbed as a team that was a year away at the beginning of this year and this seems to be the case, even thought they have performed admirably this year.

Seemingly every team in the ACC still has a chance to make it to the conference championship game, including the David Cutcliffe led Duke Blue Devils. There is a three-way logjam at the top of both divisions. UNC, Miami, and Virginia Tech are tied atop the Coastal Division and Wake Forest, Maryland and FSU are tied for the lead in the Atlantic Division.

Utah, Boise State and Ball State, even without Dante Love, are digging in to make a push for multiple BCS Buster action. Utah's only threat this year is their annual in-state battle with BYU. Conversely, Boise State only has to beat Fresno State at home in thier last game to reach perfection. Ball State looks to be the only lock to go undefeated among the three as they face cupcakes in Miami (OH), Central Michigan and Western Michigan in order enters their name in the BCS conversation.

Speaking of Utah, quarterback Brian Johnson has broken most of the records that Alex Smith set at Utah. The then-rising Urban Meyer recruited Johnson, a Baytown, Texas native, to Utah. He's a four-year starter, but those four years were loaded with injuries, including a season where he suffered an ACL tear last year. Johnson has bounced back from the injury to lead the Utes to the brink of an undefeated season and is in my opinion one of the most overlooked quarterbacks in the country.

Lastly, Florida and Alabama have guaranteed themselves a spot in Atlanta for the SEC championship. Both locked up their divisions this week as Florida blasted the Vanderbilt Family of Brains and Braun Bubbas by 35 and Alabama used one of its nine lives with the help of former walk-on Rashad Johnson's three interceptions, one for a touchdown and another in OT, to beat LSU in Death Valley. The SEC championship will be a good game and I still believe that Florida is the hottest team in the country and both teams have their fate as far as the SEC and BCS firmly in their hands. Lastly, after watching Washington and Syracuse stink it up all season, whom do you think would win between the two?

Sincerely,


Cataract Clayborne