By Mark Walters
Did anyone see last week’s Thursday night game on ESPN? It was No. 21 West Virginia at Colorado. It went into overtime, and after West Virginia’s kicker Pat McAfee missed his 23-yard attempt, CU’s Aric Goodman stepped up to the tee, 25 yards from the post and nailed it to defeat the Mountaineers 17-14 and start the Buffs at 3-0 for the first time in four years. The Big XII is strong this year, sure, but watch out for Colorado.
The Buffs travel to Florida State this weekend, then get No. 7 Texas at home, before going to Lawrence, KS to take on the No. 18 Jayhawks. Freshman RB Darrell Scott only has one touchdown and 128 yards thus far, but he leads a young and hungry CU team that got shafted this week by being “Others Receiving Votes” in both the AP and USA Today Polls.
After a loss to North Carolina State, mid major and football Cinderella East Carolina dropped eight spots to No. 23. Penn State moved up to 12 from 16 after rolling over Temple, and Auburn of course fell since losing to LSU in an incredible SEC matchup.
How ’bout that SEC?
The question is this: Is there enough room at the top for all of them? I’m not sure, because if an SEC team doesn’t make it to December undefeated, the Southeastern Conference will likely not be represented in the BCS Title game at all.
As it stands, Georgia is 3, Florida 4, and LSU 5. Alabama is 8, Auburn 15, and Vanderbilt-no, don’t sleep on the Commodores-is 21. Alabama goes between the hedges this weekend in Athens, a game that I can’t predict. Ok, I like ‘Bama for the upset special. Ugh, that was tough.
Tennessee is at Auburn, Mississippi State is at LSU, Mississippi is at Florida, and Arkansas travels to Austin to take on the Horns.
The only potential upset in this bunch is Tennessee over Auburn, who could be drained after an emotional loss in the Tiger Bowl to LSU-again, that was a great game.
In the Big Ten, No. Penn State hosts No. 22 Illinois in primetime, a marquee Big Ten matchup that could go a long way to determining who will likely go to the Rose Bowl.
Editor’s note: Let’s be honest, we all know an undefeated Big Ten team couldn’t leap Oklahoma, USC, Florida, or whoever might be No. 2 come the end of the season to go to the BCS Championship game. To be honest, a one-loss SEC team could be stronger than an undefeated Big Ten team.
Regardless of that political banter about the rankings, I think Penn State will take the Illini in Happy Valley, but if they shouldn’t, expect a slew of loses from Paterno’s squad. Lose one and they’re prone to losing more.
Elsewhere across the Rust Belt, Minnesota is at No. 14 Ohio State, Northwestern is at Iowa, No. 9 Wisconsin is at the Big House, Purdue stays in-state at Notre Dame, and Michigan State heads to Indiana.
To make sense of that, Iowa just lost a heart-breaker to Pittsburgh 21-20, a game Pitt Head Coach Dave Wannstedt claimed was huge for his program.
Sure Northwestern is unbeaten, but they’ve played Syracuse and Duke. C’mon, Hawkeyes get back their swagger as they trounce the Wildcats.
Notre Dame is better than it was last year, but still not good. Michigan State-who just killed the Irish-is running all over opponents with senior running back Javon Ringer.
He’s got 11 TDs and 699 yards through four games. Those are some numbers. That means I like the Spartans over the Hoosiers and Boilermakers over the Irish.
As for everything else, I was right by putting Oregon on the upset alert last week, so some props please. Boise State beat the Ducks 37-32 despite giving up 19 points in the fourth quarter.
It was the Broncos’ first road win against a BCS-conference school ever. Freshman QB Kellen Moore threw for 386 yards and three TDs. AKA, watch out for the Broncos.
I’m gonna go ahead and put No. 2 Oklahoma on the upset alert this week, since I’m on a roll after calling CU over WVU and Boise State over Oregon. Yeah, that’s right, I’m calling No. 24 Texas Christian over the Sooners. Gotta be bold. No. 25 Fresno State should beat UCLA, and No. 1 USC will beat Oregon State. (I hope I’m wrong with that one.)
A team no one’s talking about is Nebraska, who is 3-0 and hosting Virginia Tech this weekend. Neither are ranked, but it’s a must win for the Corn Huskers if they want to be able to compete in the Big XII.
Some intra-state games to keep an eye on if you’re bored, Marshall at West Virginia, Cincinnati at Akron, Nevada at UNLV, New Mexico at New Mexico State, and Maryland at No. 20 Clemson. That last one was a joke.
I think this has been my longest column to date. Either way, I’m outta here. Go State!