40 Acres Sports

Our Thoughts

Brian – USC loses and all sorts of BCS hell breaks loose. It was a much more entertaining scene to watch without a dog in the fight, I’m sure I’d be going nuts right now if I was a Michigan fan. I think the voters got it right though, Michigan didn’t play well enough this year to earn a rematch with Ohio State. I think last year’s top 5 teams might all be better than any team this year.

Matt – Man, something about seeing USC lose just warms the heart doesn’t it? And can you imagine if the refs don’t blow the call in the Oklahoma/Oregon game? Oklahoma could have been right there in the National Championship hunt with Michigan and Florida. Oh well, I guess that’s what they get for being Sooners.

I know it may be just a little crazy to have LSU #2, but I just feel they are playing like the second best team in the nation right now. I think they would give Ohio State a much better game than Florida and probably even Michigan.

Related Links

• Last week’s rankings
• AP Top 25
• USA Today Coaches Top 25
• Master Coaches Survey

Sounds like it could happen, but it just doesn’t seem like a good fit. Leach should stay in Texas.

Looks like the Colts disagree with what Merril Hoge was saying.

Merril Hoge may be the most delusional person that I have ever seen. His hate for Vince Young has been taken to a whole new level today with his latest rant on ESPN. It’s hard to put into words how idiotic he sounds, so just check out the video. There is a transcript of what he said after the jump.

Thanks to TexasOwnzYou from Hornfans for the video.

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BCS National Championship – #1 Ohio State v. #2 Florida
January 8, 2007 – 8:00 PM ET

Urban Meyer’s pleading to the pollsters worked in his favor and Florida sneaks their way into the BCS National Championship game. It’s almost unfortunate that USC choked, because it would have been nice to see them lose two National Championships in a row.

Rose Bowl – #3 Michigan v. #5 USC
January 1, 2007 – 5:00 PM ET

I would hate to play Michigan right now. Needless to say they will be a little upset about being left out of the big game and will be ready to prove to the world they should have been there. If Florida barely wins and MIchigan blows out USC, could we be looking at a split National Champion?

Fiesta Bowl – #10 Oklahoma v. #8 Boise State
January 1, 2007 – 8:30 PM ET

Is anyone even going to watch this game? The only upside to Texas not winning the Big 12 is that we don’t have to play a BCS bowl against Boise State.

Update: Want to see the video of the winning touchdown? Check it out here.

Orange Bowl – #6 Louisville v. #14 Wake Forest
January 2, 2007 – 8:00 PM ET

Another pretty un-interesting match-up in the Orange Bowl. Big East versus the ACC? Come on now, might as well be the MAC versus the Sun-Belt Conference.

Sugar Bowl – #4 LSU v. #11 Notre Dame
January 3, 2007 – 8:00 PM ET

This is probably the bowl game that I am most looking forward to watching. I can’t wait to Notre Dame get demolished by LSU. Notre Dame holds the title of being the only team more over-hyped than USC. LSU has been playing some inspired football lately, and the game being in New Orleans will sure make it electric.

It was pretty funny last year in the Rose Bowl when a USC Song Girl cheered when Vince Young scored his two point conversion. But to do it again this year against your biggest rival (UCLA) is just classic.

You would think that they would have taken enough flack from it last year to learn their lesson. Apparently not. Thanks to The Michigan Zone for the video.

Texas (9-3) will be playing Iowa (6-6) in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Decemeber 30. I had been hoping for a spot in the Gator Bowl, but I think Wake Forest winning along with West Virginia kind of put a damper on that scenario.

The Houston Chronicle said it best:

Less than a month ago, the Longhorns were in position for a third straight Bowl Championship Series appearance. Those hopes disappeared when consecutive losses to Kansas State and Texas A&M to end the regular-season cost the Longhorns a chance to play for the Big 12 title and the league’s automatic BCS bid.

As a fan, it will be tough to get excited for a match-up against Iowa, I just hope it won’t be that hard for the players. As bad as the season as ended, it would be tough to handle a loss to [tag]Iowa[/tag]. Hopefully because the game is in San Antonio there will be a lot of Longhorn support. I know I will probably be there.

More to come on the Texas/Iowa match-up later.

Well, it’s official folks. USC has just completed one of the biggest choke jobs in college football history. With their spot secure in the BCS Championship game, they fail to beat the lowly UCLA Bruins as 14 point favorites. And as bad as I was feeling with Texas football, this surely brightens my college football season.

The big question now is what will ESPN do for the next month without being able to hype USC? Will they shut down? Will they still go ahead and rank this season’s team against the greatest of all-time? Or will they just focus on the New Orleans Saints and Reggie Bush? Who knows, but it sure feels good to be able to watch SportsCenter again.

Update: It looks like HD Buttercup in West L.A. will be giving away a lot of free furniture. They promised that if you spent at least $2,000 on furniture before kick-off and UCLA wins, everything is free. Bet they weren’t counting on it coming true. Ha.

Well after the Texas loss to Aggy, it almost felt like the college football season was over. But… there are actually some good football games this weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing the Arkansas/Florida match-up to see if Florida can shake up the BCS Championship picture. Rutgers is playing West Virginia in a match-up that looked interesting a few weeks ago but now just seems kind of boring.

Nebraska is playing Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship, both of whom Texas beat earlier in the season. Doesn’t that just make you sick?

Here’s our picks for the games this weekend:

Related Links

• Last week’s winners
• SI.com Top 25 Scoreboard
• SI.com Big 12 Scoreboard

Our Thoughts

Brian – Not too much action in the Heisman race this week. If Brady Quinn had a huge game and upset USC all by himself he could’ve at least made this a decent discussion. Darren McFadden doesn’t have a chance to win this year but he’s certainly put his name at the top of any 2007 preseason lists.

Matt – If Troy Smith didn’t have such an outstanding year, Darren McFadden would have had a chance to win the Heisman. McFadden has been carrying Arkansas lately and is just putting up some incredible numbers. I moved Brady Quinn down with his loss to USC (0-4 by the way) and moved Colt Brennan into the #4 spot. Brennan has already thrown for 51 touchdowns and has a chance to break the all-time record. Ridiculous!

Related Links

• Last week’s poll
• ESPN Experts Poll