Just when I thought I had things figured out

As of last week I thought I was finally getting a handle on this season. It seemed there were 5-7 really good teams and then it was a crapshoot after that. That theory has been shot completely to hell. Oklahoma, Florida, Rutgers, Texas and West Virginia all lost this weekend.

The most surprising one for me was Oklahoma. As recently as yesterday while watching the game I told some friends I thought they would win the national championship. They still could, but it is definitely less likely after yesterday's loss to Colorado. It seems every year since 2001 the Sooners have lost a game which they should have won handily. I actually turned yesterday's game off when OU was up 24-10 in the 4th quarter. When I checked the scores later I couldn't believe it. I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, since Colorado actually outplayed Oklahoma. They are no longer my top contender, but I'm still keeping an eye on them, especially with the Texas game coming up next week.

The Horns must have had an eye on the Sooners as well, because they looked terrible against Kansas State. They lost 41-21 and were thoroughly outplayed. To add injury to insult, Colt McCoy suffered a mild concussion. They probably need a win against OU next week just to keep hopes of a BCS bowl alive. The Big 12 is relatively week this year so they need to win the few statement games they have and next week is definitely one of them.

With Oklahoma losing, my new favorite to win the national championship is....................................South Florida. Okay, so maybe that decision was made by my heart and not my head (if it was the other way around I'd probably pick LSU), but they turned in by far the most impressive performance of the week. Granted, Pat White was hurt for some of the game, but their back-up Jarrett Brown is no slouch. Even when White was in the game, the USF defense contained WVU in a way that no one has since, well, last year's game between the two. If the Bulls can win out, I'd assume they would either be the only unbeaten or one of two which would get them into the National Championship game. Think about that for a second, South Florida, playing for the Nat'l Championship. Yea, I can't believe it either. They still need to get through Rutgers, Louisville and Cincinnati. If they're going to do it, their defense will lead them there. I honestly think Cincinnati-USF could determine the Big East. Cinci has one of the best defenses in the country. They get their first big test next week against Rutgers.

The least surprising upset for me this weekend was Auburn over Florida. I apparently wasn't the only one, Florida's had underlying problems all year. Auburn's two losses this year were both tight, to South Florida by 3 and Mississippi State by 5. While the Miss St. loss is tough to swallow, USF has showed they are for real. Also, Auburn handed KSU they're only loss and we saw what KSU did to Texas. On top of that, I've believed all season that Florida is overrated. I don't think Tebow has the weapons around him for them to continue outscoring teams and they're defense is going to allow other teams to score some points. Just a hunch, but I could see them losing by 20-30 points next week at LSU, at night. That is such a tough place to play and something Tebow's never experienced before. I could be completely wrong and Florida will probably win because I said that, but it definitely wouldn't surprise me to see them get handily beaten by the Tigers.

The best game of yesterday was Oregon-California. Cal came out with the win in the final seconds when a player for the Ducks fumbled the ball through the endzone while going in for what would have been the tying score. I'd like to comment more on this game, but for some reason it wasn't a national game and it wasn't on ABC in New York, instead we got Rutgers-Maryland. That was a good game, but come on, Oregon-Cal was the marquee game of the day. Cal is going to move up, probably to 3rd with Oklahoma, Florida and WVU all losing in front of them.

And now for your moment of zen. Notre Dame is still incredibly, amazingly bad. They missed the extra points after their first two touchdowns yesterday. That was after falling behind by 20 plus points to Purdue, which isn't very good in its own right. I'm really rooting for a winless season, that would be awesome. Especially after Charlie Weis just got a 10-year contract extension last year. Their season is going so poorly that apparently yesterday's loss was a step in the right direction. I wonder if they're out of contention for a BCS bowl yet.

Until next time....