Shootout In The Indian Territoty, OU 47 OSU 41

BCS decides who plays Nebraska for the Big 12 Championship.

Great game.

They will pick OU over OSU simply because they want one more OU/NU matchup before the Big 12 is re-formed.

Similar quandary in the WAC

in which Boise State, Nevada and Hawai'i are all 6-1 in league play, and the one losses for each team are spread each amongst the others. Hence, the tie-breakers are all tied up, and it is left to the fictional BCS rankings. Three-way ties are now the rule rather than the exception in several conferences. Good luck to the BCS in sorting this out. Ya gotta love this game.

Shootout In The Indian Territory, OU 47 OSU 41

Yes Paul. OU will jump ahead of OSU today in the polls and they will play Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship game. We now have four 10-2 teams in the Big 12 so there is nearly zero chance of any of them now reaching the National Championship game.

I hated to see my Pokes go down in flames but look forward to the final game possibly between OU and Nebraska. Since Nebraska is leaving us after this year then the rivalry between OU and Nebraska will have to rely on bowl games from here on out.

Texas A&M is also tied but they are really down in the polls compared to OU or OSU and even though it was a big win for them to defeat Texas it's not likely for them to get much of a boost. The Texas record this year will just not help TAMU much.

My Pokes season is now done but at 10-2 then I'm not disappointed at all. Our only losses came to Nebraska and OU so we still had a very solid season. I hope we play LSU and get a shot at Les Smiles in our bowl game this year. LSU lost yesterday so we have comparable records and have both played several ranked teams. I think it would be a good match up and a popular choice among fans.

Let's Talk Parity Within The Football Conferences, Big 10/11

Big Ten, 11 teams squeezed in tight.
At the top of the conference are:

1/ Wisconsin 7-1/11-1
2/ Ohio State 7-1/11-1
3/ Michigan State 7-1/11-1

The BCS will sort it out per the status quo, moving them up from 7, 8 & 10.
Next comes the quagmire:

Iowa 4-4/7-5
Penn State 4-4/7-5
Illinois 4-4/6-5 (7-5 next week after Fresno State)

All the above suffered 4 losses to their big brothers plus picked up an additional loss from Arizona, Alabama or Missouri. There was no slack in the competition. That is a huge jump from 7-1 to the next place at 4-4 in a conference where anyteam can and sometimes does beat anyteam.

Last comes 2 more bowl eligible teams, both suffering 5 losses to their brothers.

Michigan 3-5/7-5
Northwestern 3-5/7-5

Eight out of 11 teams bowl eligible.

Paul in PA

Let's Talk Parity Within The Football Conferences, Big 12

1N/ Nebraska 6-2/10-2
2N/ Missouri 6-2/10-2

1S/ Oklahoma 6-2/10-2
2S/ Oklahoma State 6-2/10-2
3S/ Texas A&M 6-2/9-3 (that extra loss thanks to Arkansas 10-2)

Plus Kansas State, Baylor and Texas Tech bowl eligible at 7-5.

Eight out of 12 teams bowl eligible.

Was Texas 5-7 that bad or did parity just rise up and gave a lot of little kicks in the butt at the same time.

Paul in PA

Big 12/10

Very similar story

Four teams at 10-2, one at 9-3 and 3 more at 7-5 for 8 out of 12 bowl eligible. Three of the remaining four were 5-7, needing only one game to have changed results to be bowl eligible.

Let's Talk Parity Within The Football Conferences, WAC ?

Hawaii 7-1/9-3
Nevada 6-1/11-1
Boise State 6-1/10-1

Fresno State 5-3/7-4

Only 4 of 9 bowl eligible and the 5 little sisters are a combined 17-41 (0.293).

Sorry you cannot use the word parity within this conference or from this conference to any other conference.

I expect 10-1 Boise State to even fall behind all the 11-1 teams and even behind several of the the seven 10-2 teams as the underdog lovers leave the building. Some will throw extra support to TCU but most will just look at the facts and say, "Was it all just smoke and mirrors?"

Boise State gets to start over from scratch next year and does anybody have a solid idea what the Mountain West will look like next year?

All I know is the Big 10/12 will be even tougher.

Paul in PA

By The Way, I Think Auburn Moves To # 1 This Week

The win over Alabama is worth some bonus points.

If not next weeks win over South Carolina in the SEC championship will overshadow an Oregon win over Oregon State 5-6.

Paul in PA

Let's Talk Parity Within The Football Conferences, Big 12

Texas had a ton of talent and some really high recruits but they just failed to find the magic this year. At OSU we have Blackmon and at OU they have Broyles. Sparks that can make the team special. That little bit extra to put you over the top when the competition is close.

Texas just did not have anyone step up this year to fill the shoes of McCoy or Vince. They had the talent but just not the chemistry or something. A solid team but just not a team that could rise when they needed to rise.

In the Big 12 we always say "We eat our own"... If you can run the gauntlet in the Big 12 or the SEC then you are having more than a special year.

I did not leave out the other conferences on purpose but we just see a lot more of the SEC and Big 12 than the other ones so I can't see if they have this same feast on each other. I expect they do though.

By The Way, I Think Auburn Moves To # 1 This Week

Auburn was most impressive. They did not fold and came back and destroyed Bama in the second half. Bama is not a team that will lay down so it was even more impressive. Auburn imposed their will and won that one on talent and teamwork and sheer will.

Big thumbs up on that game for them from me.

Let's Talk Parity, Miami Fires Head Coach

Miami fired head coach Randy Shannon 28-22, but the big blow was a loss yesterday to the University of South Florida, one of the new moving up football teams. Parity is come in from the bottom also.

South Florida, Louisville, Cincinatti and Connecticut in the Big East are just a few of the football programs that have worked hard to step it up a few notches in the last few years. Florida is rich with them including University of Central Florida (#1 in Conference USA, East), Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt) and Florida International University (#1 Sun Belt).

I believe the NCAA will have to add a new Mid Major Championship Subdivision to adequately honor these new and many older legacy teams on the field.

I do not see a Big Time National Championship playoff though as it would be just too much interference with education.

Paul in PA

Let's Talk Parity Within The Football Conferences, SEC

Well, at least the SEC West

Auburn 8-0/12-0

Arkansas 6-2/10-2
LSU 6-2/10-2

Alabama 5-3/9-3

Mississippi State 4-4/8-4

All loses came at the hands of SEC brothers. 5 of 6 teams solidly bowl eligible.

In the SEC East, things are not so even

South Carolina 5-3/9-3, at least even with the #4 team in the West.

Florida 4-4/7-5

Georgia 3-5/6-6
Tennesee 3-5/6-6
Kentucky 2-5/6-6

5 of 6 teams bowl eligible but 3 are not really worthy.

Paul in PA

Is It Really A Conference Championshhip ?

When the second and third best teams are excluded.

Big 12, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, all 6-2/10-2, only 2 get to play.

SEC, South Carolina 5-3/9-3 gets to play Auburn 8-0/12-0, while LSU and Arkansas at 6-2/10-2 get to watch.

I can see the same future in the Big 10/12 or the Pac 12 next year.

Paul in PA

Coaches Poll Out

Coaches Top 25
Rk Team Points

1 Oregon (46) 11-0 1459
2 Auburn (10) 12-0 1419
3 TCU (3) 12-0 1343
4 Wisconsin 11-1 1282
5 Stanford 11-1 1233
6 Ohio State 11-1 1213
7 Michigan State 11-1 1083
8 Arkansas 10-2 1012
9 Oklahoma 10-2 943
10 Boise State 10-1 869
11 Virginia Tech 10-2 843
12 LSU 10-2 796
13 Nebraska 10-2 773
14 Missouri 10-2 666
15 Oklahoma State 10-2 661
16 South Carolina 9-3 626
17 Nevada 11-1 621
18 Texas A&M 9-3 503
19 Alabama 9-3 501
20 Florida State 9-3 353
21 Utah 10-2 291
22 Mississippi State 8-4 223
23 Northern Illinois 10-2 130
24 West Virginia 8-3 110
25 UCF 9-3 62

And a big poll welcome to Northern Illinois (MAC West) and The University of Central Florida (Conference USA East). Congratulations.

BTW, nobody commentented and I just notcied I spelt Territory wrong last night.

Paul in PA

Coaches Poll Out

Numbers 21-25 have no business being listed. I would move Nevada up another notch or two.

Not doing any better today

"BTW, nobody commentented and I just notcied I spelt Territory wrong last night."

AP Poll Out

1 Oregon (36) 1475
2 Auburn (23) 1456
3 TCU (1) 1383
4 Wisconsin 1289
5 Stanford 1283
6 Ohio State 1184
7 Michigan State 1098
8 Arkansas 1094
9 Boise State 908
10 Oklahoma 886
11 LSU 856
12 Virginia Tech 761
13 Nebraska 740
14 Nevada 736
15 Missouri 691
16 Oklahoma State 599
17 Alabama 597
18 South Carolina 591
19 Texas A&M 582
20 Florida State 356
21 Utah 249
22 Mississippi State 224
23 West Virginia 147
24 Northern Illinois 130
25 Hawaii 43

Can anyone remember if Hawaii has been in the Top 25 before, if not a big welcome to them.

Paul in PA

AP Poll Out 2 years ago

Hawaii was undefeated just a few years ago and played in the sugar Bowl against GA and got rocked. The game was over in the first few minutes. Everyone saw the mismatch and Ga.took it easy on them and It was still a rout.
It was the year that LSU took care of Ohio state in the BCS championship game. Just 2 years ago.