We’ve been anticipating this one all season: #1 LSU vs #2 Alabama. Some are calling it the game of the century. We’re not quite ready to jump on that bandwagon… yet. It’s LSU’s speed vs. Alabama’s power in the no name QB showdown. Who would you rather have to coach one game: Nick Saban or Les Miles? Speaking of Miles, would the Mad Hatter succeed at the next level as an NFL coach? Nick Saban sure as heck didn’t.  Plus, whose #3?  Does it matter?  Does the media’s love affair with Andrew Luck have any chance to affect Oklahoma State? Cue the debate.

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SCOTT JACOBS

The clock is ticking, the nation is watching, and sports fans (more specifically college football fans) at home and abroad are waiting impatiently in the background.  Like the new movie 30 Minutes or Less, Texas A&M is Jessie Eisenberg.  Unlike the movie, they may hold the detonator to their own explosive.  Because the Aggies have the power to truly blow up college football as we know it, if they take their maroon and white to the SEC.

Forget the fact that the SEC would then have two teams with eerily similar colors (paging Mississippi State), the Aggies have the chance to deface the traditional conferences as we know it.  If the Aggies bolt for the SEC as many are expected them to, it will create the type of domino effect that we expected last summer and didn’t get.  It will be the first domino in conference craziness free-for-all.

If you thought the Big 12 was standing on a broken leg and walking in a cast, A&M’s departure would literally paralyze it.  The vultures are ready to circle.  The Pac 12 waits in the wings.  Last year it nabbed Colorado while offering 5 other Big 12 members (including Texas) the chance to form a super conference.  Texas stayed put and got in bed with ESPN to create the football network that will ultimately undo college sports as we know it: the Longhorn Network.  The Big 12 rejoiced, but secretly the wheels were already put in motion for a brutal breakup.  A&M was jealous of the linchpin Longhorns, and despite agreeing to the pact, they soon wanted no part of it.

So here we are.  Again.  On the brink of College Football Apocalypse Now.

Shivering in the corner are schools like Iowa State, Kansas, and Baylor.  If A&M bolts, it could be the thread that officially undoes the entire conference.  And from there, well, college schools would basically become free agents, open to the highest bidder.

FSU has been rumored to be flirting with the SEC as well.  If they leave the SEC will have 14 schools (assuming A&M bolts). Many believe that FSU holds the strings to a suddenly shaky ACC, which could quickly be a sinking ship itself if FSU bolts and schools like Clemson, Virginia Tech, and others join it.  Sure there could be resentment from that school in Gainesville and the one in Columbia, but at this pointeveryone seems fair game in the unfair system of college (pro) sports.

The roulette wheel is spinning and A&M is the ball. No one knows what will happen of the conferences that we’ve become so accustomed to if both the Aggies and then the Noles leave for the SEC.  It very likely will lead to a feeding frenzy with the Big10 picking at the Big12 and Big East, and the ACC picking from the Big East and Conference USA, and the Pac12 devouring a few more schools from the Big 12.  From there the Mountain West could be at risk, and well, who the heck knows.

Rivalries will be lost, resentment will echo from coast to coast, and many schools will be left in the cold.  As for the BCS, well whose to say there will be one if all this happens.  Super Conferences will take shape leading to conference heavy schedules and then what happens to quality-non conference games? Do those go by the wayside?  What about bowl games?  Does the Super Conferences form a Super League leading to the end of the NCAA?

It’s all hazy right now because this is un-chartered water that we briefly got to put our toe in last year. In 2010 only Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Boise State along with TCU switched conferences.  In 2011 we’re looking at a seismic shift.

Texas A&M of all schools is the card-holder.  Sure, the don’t care what their selfish move does to college sports.  It’s not like they didn’t know what Texas was planning.  O wait, they did?  ESPN’s commitment to the burnt orange created this whole mess, but it’s not even just about them.

Nope, greed runs college sports now.  It just might ruin them as we know it too.  Which is ironic, because the NCAA is so big about emphasizing the amateur aspect. But they’re not fooling anyone, because the stench of green can be smelt from Florida to Texas to California and everywhere and anywhere in between.

If you believe that this is just amateur sports we’re talking about, then I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. Behind the scenes or in front of the camera, it’s going down, and this toxicity of big TV deals, conference networks, and money grabs is going to haunt college sports for a long time.

Schools and conferences are just too busy rolling around in their money pits to see it.

Photo: AP

MITCH BLATT

After the Alabama Crimson Tide lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks in their third straight game against top twenty opponents, the question of the day was, “Where will Alabama be ranked?”

Well, now that question is settled. The new polls are out and Alabama is #8 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. The question is funny, because in fact, neither ranking matters. The question itself is irrelevant.

We know that a lot of the teams ahead of Alabama will lose, and some of those teams (four top 10 teams come from the SEC right now) will face off against each other. There is scientific proof that a number of those teams will lose. Oklahoma (#6, AP) and Nebraska (#5) will face each other in the Big 12 Championship assuming they remain undefeated in regular season play.  Auburn, Alabama, LSU, and South Carolina (spots 7-10 respectively) will continue to face their tough SEC schedules and only one will emerge as the South Eastern Conference champion. Essentially one of those teams–assuming that team has only one loss at the end of the year–will be in the position that Alabama is in now: an SEC team with one loss.

If a team finishes the regular season undefeated in a BCS conference, they essentially earn their right to play for a national championship. Though their have been some omissions. Ohio State and Oregon are in the drivers seat right now after Alabama lost their pole position. An undefeated Pac-10 champ would certainly earn the right ahead of a one-loss SEC champ in Alabama.

But the whole question of Alabama ignores the two remaining undefeated SEC teams: LSU and Auburn. Both undefeated and if either of them finishes the season perfect in the SEC, of course they should (and probably would) make the National Title Game ahead of Oregon.

Non BCS hopefuls Boise State, TCU, and, quite likely, Utah, will end the season undefeated, but a team like Boise State whose best strength-of-schedule match-up (Virginia Tech) lost to James Madison isn’t playing the same game as Alabama, which faced Arkansas, Florida, and South Carolina back-to-back-to-back and still has LSU and Auburn left.

To put the SEC in perspective, whichever team wins the SEC, considering Alabama, LSU, Auburn and South Carolina are the contenders, will have played at least two of each other during the regular season and again in the championship.

Photo: Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

Monster Saturday (week 2) was supposed to be the most unbelievable week of the season, but it didn’t live up to the hype.  Instead it was this weekend’s slate of games which delivered breath-taking finishes, the number 1 team going down, and 5 ranked teams falling by the wayside.  In the history books, heretofore, October 9th, 2010 will simply be referred to as Epic Saturday.  Here we go.

> Another wild, wild finish for LSU.  Man, the Tigers have got to be the most uncomfortable 6-0 team in the nation.  But I’ll say this: 6-0 is 6-0, and sometimes going the old school Ohio State way (winning in heart-pounding fashion) seems to be the way this Tigers team is going to play this year.  Maybe the Tigers aren’t a top 10 team, maybe they are.  But after a crazy finish at home versus the Vols, Les Miles pushed all the right buttons against Florida.  Down 29-26 with under a minute left, LSU appeared ready to kick what would have been a game-tying 53 yard field goal when they shifted gears and faked the kick.

Holder Derek Helton took the snap and tossed it over his shoulder, taking a charitable bounce right to Josh Jasper, who coraled it and barreled forward for a first down.  The play was so close that it took an extended review to try to determine if it was a forward pass (which would have made it incomplete) but the call stood, and the following play, QB Jarrett Lee threw an absolute strike to Terrence Toliver, who raced down the field to the 2 yard line.  Two plays later, on a perfect throw that only his receiver could catch, Lee hit Toliver again, this time with just 6 seconds left to cement the shocking win.

Florida’s shock was presented best when ESPN’s cameras caught a UF fan who looked frozen.  And just like that, the Gators, who going into last week’s tussle with Alabama were 31-2 in their last 33 or something like that, have lost 2 in a row.  The last time UF lost twice in a row?  How about October 6, 2007 when UF lost to– you guessed it– the LSU Tigers.

> With their pulsating win LSU stays right in the thick of the SEC West race, which appears to be the superior division in the SEC in 2010.  The West is wide open with Alabama’s loss (we’ll get to that shortly) and look at the standings with each team’s rank going into the game of the top 4:

SEC West (AP Rankings)

12. LSU                 4-0    6-0
8. Auburn       3-0    6-0
1. Alabama          2-1     5-1
11. Arkansas       1-1     4-1

Four teams are ranked in the top 12, which is pretty amazing, and with Arkansas’ win, LSU’s win, and Auburn getting a game winning kick to beat Kentucky, it appears that the SEC West– yes the West– has a legit shot to have 4 teams in the top 10 next week.

> As for the East: finally, finally South Carolina actually wins a big game.  They controlled the clock, won with a balanced attack, and put pressure on Greg McElroy, who I’ll say it now, has got to have a better internal clock in his head.  McElroy who hadn’t lost since middle school, had quality numbers, but took a ton of sacks, many which he could have just as easily threw the ball away.  Marcus Lattimore had a fabulous game, scoring 3 times, and the Cocks shut down Alabama’s vaunted running game.  Alabama’s defense, which lost so many stud players to the NFL last year, did not play well, and it was clear after this one that even a team as good as Alabama, can’t handle playing a top 20 team each week with the opposition always having a week to prepare.

> And say this about Steve Spurrier, he gone done did it.  The Ole Ball Coach finally has that signature program defining win.  South Carolina has been stuck in the shadows of the SEC’s elite for years since Spurrier’s arrival (leading the Gamecocks to always open on ESPN Thursday night just to get some exposure) but with this win, South Carolina now has everyone’s attention.  But c’mon security guards, how do you not let the fans rush the field after beating the number 1 team in the land?  That’s just mean.

> Number 9 Arizona went down, but it wasn’t that big of a shock.  The Wildcats barely beat Iowa with a bunch of non-offensive touchdowns and have been notoriously fickle from week to week for years.  A week after barely beating Cal in an ugly 10-9 win, Arizona oddly moved up 5 spots into the top 10.  And while I think that Arizona has a good team, they don’t have a top 10 team just yet.  Oregon State came into Arizona Stadium and just outplayed the Cats.  After getting a crack at both TCU and Boise State, Oregon State finally beat a top 10 team, and that team was Zona.  It seems like the Beavers are now ready to make their ‘five games into the season run.’  Seriously, OSU gets off to these type of mediocre starts like every year it seems, and then wakes up to become a formidable team.  See for yourself:

Oregon State’s starts and final record since 2006

2009: started 2-2, finished 8-4
2008: started 2-3, finished 8-4
2007: started 2-3, finished 8-4
2006: started 2-3, finished 8-4

See, Oregon State is good for at least 8 wins every year.  It just takes them 4-5 games to wake up.  All that bodes well for Boise State and TCU who need the Beavers to bounce back from another mediocre first month to finish in the top 20, and boost their strength of schedule, which is, to say a word, weak.

> Guess whose back?  F-L-O-R-I-D-A- S-T-A-T-E!  The 23rd ranked Seminoles thumped number 13 Miami 45-17, winning by 4 scores at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.  This wasn’t just a beat-down, it was a statement.  FSU which had their swagger rocked by Oklahoma in week 2 (the same week Miami had theirs dumped in a loss at The Shoe) regained it in South Florida, racing out to a 21-0 lead en route to the huge blowout win.  In a series that has been tremendously tight in the last few years FSU beat Miami by 28, their biggest win over Miami since 1997, when FSU crushed the Canes 47-0.  That Noles team finished 11-1 (8-0 in the ACC) and beat Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. This year’s Seminoles team just might be good enough to run the table themselves.  And for the first time 2000, FSU may just have the goods to finish in the top 10.

> The ACC looks like FSU’s for the taking, but before we hand the Seminoles the conference crown, circle their Thursday Night date at NC State as a must watch.  The Wolfpack pounded lifeless Boston College 44-17, and at 4-1 look like the Seminoles only competition for the ACC Coastal.  I fully expect FSU to jump 8-10 spots in this week’s rankings, and after beating BC (which I fully expect the Noles to do) it’s off to Raleigh in a game that has “trap” written all over it.  Just remember: you heard it here first.  That game should be a dandy.

> A week ago I was ready to hand Denard Robinson the Heisman.  Like Reggie Bush, I’m taking it back.  Robinson was manhandled against Michigan State, which played a stellar game at the Big House, shredding apart Michigan’s pathetic defense.  The Wolverines have too many holes in their D to win enough games for Robinson, and when the game got away from Michigan and they were in comeback mode Robinson was no longer effective as a straight up passer.  Meanwhile the Spartans look great, and a shout out to Major Hester, who put off a procedure to watch the game at home.  Mark Dantonio coached the game from the press box after having a mild-heart attack just a few weeks earlier and has got to be so inspired by the way his team is playing.  At 6-0 Michigan State is already bowl eligible, and don’t look now but they don’t play Ohio State this year.  In fact, their only game against a ranked team from here on out is Iowa on October 30.  With Illinois and Northwestern the only two games before that big date, I fully expect Sparty to be 8-0 heading into what could be a huge showdown at the Hawkeyes house. What a great story that would be for MSU, which won just 6 games last year before barely squeaking into a bowl game.

> The Sunshine State shakeup continues.  With FSU demolishing Miami, and UF falling for a second week in a row, it appears that when the new rankings come out, FSU will be the top team in the state of Florida.  That used to be commonplace, but in the last few years with the success that the Gators have had and the fall from grace for FSU, its a big deal for Jimbo Fisher’s team, which had fallen on tough times in the last few years under legendary coach Bobby Bowden.  So what’s been the difference?  Well, besides the NFL raiding Florida for Tim Tebow and other premier players, FSU has a big-time defense again.  Sans a nightmare outing against the Sooners, FSU has held their opponent to 17 points or less every game this year. In 2009 when FSU had one of the worst defenses in the nation FSU allowed 17 points or less in just 2 games (one a loss to USF, and the other in an ugly win over Jacksonville State).  Give much of the credit to new Defensive Coordinator Mark Stoops, who I interviewed this past week.  That candid conversation with the coach will be up on the site sometime this week.

> So now, what becomes of the Top 20?  It’s going to be an interesting discussion for pollsters where to put Alabama, and whether to move teams like Auburn up after their shaky win over lowly Kentucky.  That said, here’s my prediction for the top 20 tomorrow.  Bear in mind this is not my personal rankings, just my opinion of what they’ll be, based on trends from years past.

Predicted Top 20 (AP)

01. Ohio State (The poll historically loves them, they get the edge)
02. Oregon (The scoring machine moves up to number 2 after stifling Cougs)
03. Boise State
04. TCU
05. Oklahoma (Win over FSU looks even better, Sooners could be best team in college football)
06. Nebraska (Thumped K-State on Thursday, weak schedule could hurt them down the line)
07. Alabama (Bama shouldn’t be a top 5 team and the two Big12 powers in 2010, Oklahoma and Nebraska are both still undefeated.  Hence they land here)
08. Auburn (Escape from Kentucky puts them below Tide.  I don’t see Utah jumping them)
09. LSU (Wild win in Gainesville propels Tigers over Utes, West rival Hogs)
10. Utah (Utes keep winning, but that win over Pitt no longer holds any value)
11. South Carolina (Program defining win over Bama, but can SEC really sport four top 10 teams?)
12. Michigan State (Win in Ann Arbor vaults them up 6 spots)
13. Iowa
14. Florida State (National TV Primetime win over Canes lands Noles where Canes once were)
15. Arkansas (Unimpressive neutral site win over Texas A&M drops Hogs a few spots)
16. Stanford (USC win not what it once was)
17. Wisconsin (Big-time test looms next week with Buckeyes coming to Madison)
18. Nevada
19. Florida (Gators have 2 losses, no matter how close the LSU game was)
20. Oklahoma State

Thoughts?

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

On Monday Texas stayed put.

And on Tuesday the sports world will alas be quiet. The tectonic plates that seemed ready to shift college football’s current state into flux has stopped moving. College sports are still again.

In the end, Nebraska, Boise State, and Colorado moved. Not half of college football.

It was surprising news from a story that grew legs a few weeks ago and seemed ready to forever alter college sports. The Pac 10 and Larry Scott were prepared to change the game. They had Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State all ready to jump aboard the superconference express freight. They appeared ready to leave their other conference rivals in a crumbling demeaning mess.

The apocalypse was coming. Tuesday was the day.

And then, like a hurricane forecast gone terribly awry, the storm ready to break up the 14 year old Big 12 turned around and headed back out to sea, to die a simple, irrelevant death.

College football was prepared for the worst. Instead they got a light breeze. A few trees down, but ultimately nothing that’s irreplaceable.

Finally after a tenuous and strange weekend of constant rumors and approaching inevitability, the storm clouds are gone. Bright sunny skies ahead.

The Big 12 or as they should be called now, Texas+9, is alive and kicking, an unbelievable turn of events for a conference that had already seemed to dig its grave. But Nebraska and Colorado bolting for new conferences didn’t turn out to be the deathblow that everyone projected it to be. Because what Texas wants, Texas gets. The Horns wanted to remain the cash cow of the conference, and their minions within the Big 12 conference once again happily obliged.

They’re dancing in Lawrence, KS where the Jayhawks once looked to be one of the odd teams out. They’re breathing a sigh of relief in Columbia, MO where the Tigers played their Big 10 hand wrong, but didn’t ultimately get burned. They’re relaxing in Waco, TX where Baylor’s people were ready to take the bolting bunch to the courts. In Ames, Iowa State can sit down once again. Same for the Wildcats of Kansas State.

All those programs were outsiders looking in, according to the PAC Plan that never ceased to be. And those schools are today’s biggest winners. Did we mention they get double the revenue they were making? Talk about win-freaking-win!

Texas didn’t stay out of pity. The Horns will once again be the Big 12’s puppeteer with the other 9 schools being its puppets. But with Texas in the fold, the conference is a gold mine of opportunity. And Texas can start it’s own network. Why people want an all UT Network is beyond me, but apparently it would bring in $3-5 million a year which is simply amazing. Oklahoma and Texas A&M (which had been flirting with the SEC) will stay put and cash in big-time. The Big 12’s revenue system will continue to be uneven, but even as the rich get richer, the little guys will still do pretty darn well.

And about those natural rivalries that over the weekend I cited were going to be really awkward after the Big 12 dissolved. Well, scratch that. Kansas and Missouri, you were made for each other.

Texas A&M had thought of jumping ship to the SEC, but no formal invitation was ever actually handed to them. Once Texas said no, the Aggies were more than happy to stay along too.

So in the end, the Cornhuskers were the biggest school to move, and they made the most geographical sense anyways. The Big 12 loses a football title game, but if they really want another one, I’m sure they can lasso in a pair of new schools. The Big 10 will probably stay put now, at 12.

If you’re scoring at home, basically the Big 10 made a trade with the Big 12 for Nebraska, so they could change names. But that would just make this mess more confusing. Addition by subtraction? Big 10 title game in 2011. No such event for the Big 12.

The Big East now looks to be on steady ground, which means that Notre Dame will most likely stay put too. With the Pac 10 stuck to 11 or 12, and the Big 10 at 12, the SEC has no reason to raid the ACC of its schools, which means that Conference USA is safe too.

In the end it wasn’t Nebraska or Colorado that held the cards. It was Texas.

On Monday the Horns got what they wanted, mainly well, whatever it was that they wanted.

And just like that, the storm is gone.

Photo: Reuters

SCOTT JACOBS

As sports fans we love to chat.  Debate.  Scream till our throats run dry. But often times we get a little too caught up in the speculation.  We let the fantasy world take hold above the real one.  What could be becomes more important than what is.  That’s the reason why LeBron’s impending Free Agency is making more waves than the prize he desires most, the NBA Finals.

Lakers-Celtics?  Paleasseee.  That is so 1980’s.  Why live in the past, when one can immerse themselves in the future, and consistently live there. That’s what our sporting public has become.  Star gazers… to the future.

Screw the present.  The scenarios that lay the groundwork for the future of sports always seems to provoke far more interest to sports fans nowadays.  It’s why I sit here at this very moment in time talking about… the future.

And what a future it could be in college football, if some of the big BCS conferences decide to devour themselves whole.  The Pac 16?  The Big 10 + 4?  I had no idea that John and Kate plus 8 was getting it’s own football spinoff.

There has never been more anticipation and more chaos in a college football offseason than this one.  Instead of a free agency frenzy like the NBA is set to endure, college football is looking at shakeup that could leave could numerous schools free agents to be desired by other blood thirsty alliances.

Conferences big, and not so big, are all exploring what could be, forced to take ‘what is’ off the table.  Reactive has been replaced by proactive.  It’s beginning to feel like the NFL Draft.  You’ll have the guys you want on your big board, but be prepared if some other guy comes and swoops them up. Have a backup plan.  Or two.  Or ten.

In the center of this giant cluster is the Big 12, which is being virtually attacked from every which angle by hungry piranas from both the West and the Midwest.  We say virtually nicely, because even though nothing has officially happened, the behind the scenes work is probably mind-blowing.  The big prize is Texas, the cash cow of the west, and they appear to be up for grabs.  If the Pac 10 and Big 10 get their way, the only thing left of the once mighty Big 12 could be skin and bones.

Lawsuits could abound, and a frenzy could ensue.   The SEC could combat it by ripping the ACC and Big East to shreds, leaving us with three super-human larger than life conglomerates.  I mean conferences.

I mean hey, we’ve already conglomarized the living crap out of TV, movie,  radio, books, and music, what’s adding sports to the list?

I don’t like it.

I don’t like it one bit.

Fun to talk about, eerie to picture.

Can you picture Texas, Oklahoma, and USC in the same coalition?  I mean conference.  It just seems, too much.

What is this, survival of the fittest?

“Hey kids, the way to get ahead in life is to shred everyone to pieces.  Yay!”

Great message to send.

This just seems forced.  Like something that has to be done now that we’re a decade into the 21st century.  The ACC brought this concept to light back in the middle 2000’s, when they raided the Big East for Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College.  But guess what?  It didn’t work.  The ACC has been an afterthought in football since, and a blip on the TV screen too.

The current situation is a bit different, but the landscape of big time college sports is looking at a seismic change potentially.  Is that even a good thing?  Is change for the sake of change going to truly make college sports better for the future?

These are the questions these big time school presidents need to ponder as they contemplate gutting entire conferences, leaving the remains to lesser conferences.

College football is going to be different.  Just how different remains to be seen.

Feature: Getty

The Crimson Tide are on a crash course to the SEC Title game if they continue their winning ways, but lately they’ve been losing style points with voters for some ugly wins. Still, they control their destiny if they run the table. It won’t be easy. Standing in their way this week are the LSU Tigers, their second top 10 foe of the season (the Tide beat up Va. Tech in the opening week). Can they do it? With a loss to LSU, the Tide not only will be eliminated from national championship contention, they’ll lose control of the SEC West.

So Tim Brown who ya got in this crucial SEC West showdown? The envelope please!

SCOTT JACOBS

Texas started the day. Oklahoma State just about finished it, and somewhere in between the titans (s0-called that is) of college football’s top five fell like the troops fighting against the 300 men of Sparta. O, this wasn’t a big Hollywood blockbuster, but boy did it feel like one. Number one, number three, and number four all fell, and all fell hard, and in that 24hour time period, a whole heapload of stuff changed in the road to the BCS Championship.

The Big 12 is loaded
From five to one, o it can be done. After the Longhorns impressive win over previously unbeaten and number one Oklahoma in a thrilling Red River Shootout (that lived up to its name) the Longhorns jumped from good team that hadn’t really been challenged, to potentially elite team ready to compete for a national championship. In a game that had it all, including come back after comeback, bizarre penalties (including one of the best acting jobs ever by a punter), gutsy calls (like Oklahoma faking a punt on 4th and 6 and only getting 5), and brilliant quarterback play (Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford threw for five TD’s and lost!), the dust settled, and Texas emerged victoriously 45-35, dethroning the Sooners at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Colt McCoy was clutch, and stood toe to toe with Bradford, and in doing so, proved he might be good enough to lead this Longhorns team to a championship. But first things first: the Longhorns have to survive a brutal Big 12. Next week, they get Missouri (also knocked from the ranks of the unbeatens by surprising Oklahoma State) and that will be a huge game, that doesn’t even have implications within their own division. Just how good is the Big 12?

Going into the day Oklahoma was number one, Missouri was number three, Texas was fifth, Texas Tech was seventh, Kansas was 16th, and Oklahoma State was 17th. That’s half the conference in the top 20! So while people are all ready to crown the SEC as the superior conference in college football, maybe those pundits should take another look. The Big 12 is loaded!

Oklahoma will probably drop to 7th or 8th, Mizzou is likely to fall to around 10th, Texas Tech will most likely move into the top five (even after their nailbiter over Nebraska in OT), Kansas will move up after pushing aside Colorado, and how about Oklahoma State! The Cowboys are 6-0, already bowl eligible, and they have a huge program building win after stunning Missouri on the road 28-23.

I remember reading a story a few years ago that Rick Reilly wrote about how T. Boone Pickens, a filthy rich alumni, was flooding the football program with huge donations. The number, $163 million, was considered controversial at first, because people felt it could have been best served going to academic departments. Well, that money went to new facilities, and state of the art equipment, and lookie now- the Cowboys are looking good. I should note that while wins quiet issues, the money probably would have been served best elsewhere going to a department that needed it. But for Oklahoma State they’re now back on the map.

With Oklahoma State’s resurgence came a stunning fall from grace for Missouri, which was coasting along in it’s bid for number one. Chase Daniel went 27-31 in the second half, but three of those were interceptions, including a bad forced throw that was picked late in the game, sealing the deal. Now, the Tigers have to rebound against potential number one Texas (we’ll get to that in a moment) at Austin. Remember, the Tigers didn’t have to play the Horns last year, and so next week should be really interesting. Going into the nightcap, Missouri fans foresaw a top five clash once again, but the only smash they felt tonight was the pain of their national title hopes crashing and burning.

This just in: No chance of LSU repeating in 2008
51-21. LSU went into the Swamp, and got mutilated on Saturday Night. They fell behind 20-0 , made it a game early in the third with a touchdown which made it 20-14, and then the Gators just ran the Tigers out of Gainesville. A full on bullying display by the number 11 Gators not only ruined LSU’s previously unbeaten season, but it also ended any chance they had of getting back to the national title game. When you lose a game, voters look at how you lost. Was it a close game, did you blow a big lead, were you just downright embarassed? Chalk LSU’s status to that last one. In the meantime, the Gators turned a lot of heads on Saturday with their 30 point thrashing, but they really just knocked out a team I said was over-rated a few weeks ago. It’s a great win, especially over a top five team, but c’mon! The Tigers don’t have a quarterback right now, and their offense has been inept. I said a few weeks ago that one Tigers team (In the LSU-Auburn game) would beat the other, and then a few weeks later the other Tigers team would get exposed. LSU beat Auburn, and today got destroyed by Florida. The Gators add a nice bounce back win to their resume after that debacle two weeks ago against Ole Miss.

So who’s number one?
Number two Alabama was off this week, but at 6-0 they have a case.

Number five Texas made the biggest statement of the day, taking down number one Oklahoma, and making numerous comebacks to do it, including one from 21-10.

Number six Penn State slaughtered the free falling Wisconsin Badgers 48-7 at Camp Randall to improve to an impressive 7-0.

Number seven Texas Tech just snuck by Nebraska 37-31 in overtime, and they’re now they’re 6-0.

So who’s number one?

Here’s my rankings after a wild weekend:

1. Texas- their win was impressive enough, coupled with three top five teams falling and Alabama not playing to claim number one.  But there’s no rest for the Longhorns who have Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech back to back to back.  Wow, is that a brutal upcoming three game stretch!
2. Alabama- they didn’t lose, they didn’t win. They stay where they are for now.
3. Penn State-Joe Pa’s still got it, and the Lions look like legit championship contenders.
4. USC- Guess who’s creeping back into the picture: USC. After they throttled the Sun Devils 28-0 they jump Texas Tech.
5. Texas Tech- the Red Raiders top five? After a shaky win over the Huskers at home, they find themselves here because practically everyone else lost.
6. Oklahoma- That Texas game was really close most of the way. This team is still very, very good.
7. BYU- Forget BCS busters. The way this season is playing out, could the Cougars (6-0) contend for a championship?
8. Florida- their obliteration of LSU merits their spot here. But LSU is over-rated I tell ya.
9. Georgia- Not an amazing win over the Vols, but sufficient enough.
10. Oklahoma State- It’s the way they beat Mizzou, with defense, that impressed me the most.

What do you think?