The latest BCS rankings are out and despite the gains by [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] in the two human polls, Texas has taken advantage of the the [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] loss and moved up two spots to number two in the rankings. The computer polls are the reason the Horns are hanging on now but since the Sooners play a ranked team this week it may take an impressive Thanksgiving Day win to remind voters that the Horns actually beat the Sooners when they matched up in October.
Check out the top 10 below:
| Rank | Team | BCS Average |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 0.987 |
| 2 | Texas | 0.920 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 0.912 |
| 4 | Florida | 0.875 |
| 5 | USC | 0.797 |
| 6 | Utah | 0.785 |
| 7 | Texas Tech | 0.778 |
| 8 | Penn St. | 0.752 |
| 9 | Boise St. | 0.658 |
| 10 | Ohio St. | 0.620 |
Texas Tech obviously crossed the end zone
Well besides that game there really isn’t much to watch this Saturday. I guess that just gives more time to warm-up before the big game at night. And just FYI, I did go 3-0 last weekend against the spread, and plan to this weekend also.
Michigan at #10 Ohio State (-21) – 12:00 PM EST on ABC. I guess if you wake up early enough and have nothing else to do, this is the game to watch. With Michigan losing 8 games this year (first time ever by the way) and Ohio State in the #10 spot, you would think this would be an easy win for OSU. But in this kind of game anything can and usually happens. Ohio State doesn’t have the offense to cover a 21 point spread against Michigan, and this could be the game to save Coach Rodriguez’s job. Now I don’t really expect Michigan win, but it wouldn’t surprise me, and I think they easily stay inside the points. Take Michigan.
#15 Michigan State at #8 Penn State (-15.5) – 3:30 PM EST on ABC. A win for Penn State here and they are in the Rose Bowl. This could also be Coach Pat’s last year in Happy Valley, so you know the players are fired up. Michigan State has lost 10 straight games against ranked opponents. The weather looks rough up north, which means the running game takes on more importance. With Michigan State’s already weak passing game, I expect Penn State to load up on the run and prevent Javon Ringer from having a big game. This one will be over in the first half. Take Penn State.
#2 Texas Tech at #5 Oklahoma (-7) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. The game every Texas fan will be watching. If Texas Tech wins they are automatically in the Big 12 Championship. If Oklahoma wins, they will have to also beat Oklahoma State and stay ahead of Texas in the BCS to play in the championship. Lots of pressure in this one. Texas Tech always pulls a “Tech” and implodes on themselves for at least one game. And this year will be no different. Oklahoma has been averaging 47 points in the first half in their last 4 games. When playing an offense like Tech, it can never be over in the first quarter, but this one could start getting ugly early. Take OU in this one.
An interesting note on the spread. It is holding steady at 7 even though you will see the juice rising all the way up to +110 at some places. That means there is obviously a lot of public money coming in on Tech, but there is some reason the bookies are holding that number. To me that seems odd and just another reason to take OU.
SI.com writer Stewart Mandel has written up his predictions for all the BCS and non-BCS bowls and has the Horns headed to the Fiesta Bowl. He’s predicting [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] will win out and make it to the BCS title game. The Red Raiders winning out would make football hell freeze over but is actually the clearest path for the Horns to make it into a BCS game. Mandel’s BCS and Big 12 predictions are below:
BCS Bowls
Orange: Maryland (ACC champ) vs. Cincinnati (Big East champ)
Rose: Penn State (Big Ten champ) vs. USC (Pac-10 champ)
Sugar: Alabama (BCS at-large) vs. Utah (BCS at-large)
Fiesta: Texas (BCS at-large) vs. Ohio State (BCS at-large)
BCS Championship: Texas Tech (BCS No. 1) vs. Florida (BCS No. 2)
Big 12 non-BCS Bowls
Alamo: Missouri (Big 12 No. 4) vs. Northwestern (Big Ten No. 4)
Holiday: Oregon State (Pac-10 No. 2) vs. Oklahoma State (Big 12 No. 3)
Toilet: Michigan (Big 10 No. 9) vs. Texas A&M (Big 12 No. 11)
Sun: Arizona (Pac-10 No. 3) vs. Nebraska (Big 12 No. 5)
Insight: Minnesota (Big Ten No. 6) vs. Kansas (Big 12 No. 6)
Cotton: Oklahoma (Big 12 No. 2) vs. LSU (SEC)
Thanks to a (joyous) [tag]Penn State[/tag] loss the Longhorns have moved up another spot in the latest BCS rankings released Sunday. Thanks to that loss and human voters seeing the error of their ways, Texas is third ahead of [tag]Florida[/tag] and more importantly [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]. The Horns dropped big from number one after their loss to [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] but moved back passed those teams this week in both the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Poll.
Texas’ ranking against the Sooners is huge on the chance their is a three-way tie between those two teams and the Red Raiders for the Big 12 South. In that scenario the division winner will be determined by which team has the highest BCS ranking. If the Horns end up winning out and in the Big 12 Championship, a win over the North’s representative would likely mean a shot at the whole enchilada.
The BCS top 10 rankings are listed below:
| BCS | Harris Poll | USA Today | Comp. Rankings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BCS Avg | Prvs | RK | Pts | % | RK | Pts | % | Avg | % | |
| 1 | Alabama | .9814 | 1 | 1 | 2808 | .9853 | 1 | 1508 | .9889 | 2 | .970 |
| 2 | Texas Tech | .9715 | 2 | 2 | 2768 | .9712 | 2 | 1469 | .9633 | 1 | .980 |
| 3 | Texas | .8798 | 4 | 4 | 2471 | .8670 | 5 | 1300 | .8525 | 3 | .920 |
| 4 | Florida | .8640 | 5 | 3 | 2531 | .8881 | 3 | 1348 | .8839 | T-5 | .820 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | .8444 | 6 | 5 | 2427 | .8516 | 4 | 1314 | .8616 | T-5 | .820 |
| 6 | USC | .7896 | 7 | 6 | 2329 | .8172 | 6 | 1268 | .8315 | 8 | .720 |
| 7 | Utah | .7692 | 8 | 8 | 2034 | .7137 | 7 | 1104 | .7239 | 4 | .870 |
| 8 | Penn State | .6839 | 3 | 7 | 2073 | .7274 | 8 | 1074 | .7043 | 10 | .620 |
| 9 | Boise State | .6783 | 10 | 9 | 1940 | .6807 | 9 | 1028 | .6741 | 9 | .680 |
| 10 | Georgia | .6156 | 13 | 12 | 1581 | .5547 | 12 | 842 | .5521 | 7 | .740 |
Related: View the full BCS rankings
Texas’ loss to last week to [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] didn’t knock them completely out of the national title race but it certainly shook things up. Texas fans spent the next 72 hours crunching numbers and running scenarios that could result in the Longhorns still making it to the title game. That may make math and stats nerds happy but its just another sign of just how ridiculous the NCAA Division I FBS not having a playoff really is.
ESPN’s Pat Forde makes a(nother) strong case for a playoff in college football:
No less a voice than Barack Obama’s called on Monday night for a playoff in college football. To which The Dash says hallelujah, it’s time for some pressure on the ossified system from the top down. Once upon a time, the Tide wooed Butch Davis to be their coach. The first round of The Dash’s eight-team playoff would shape up as follows today: Top seed and SEC champion Alabama versus eighth-seeded ACC titlist [tag]North Carolina[/tag] in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The backstory would make this interesting, since the Crimson Tide were interested in current Tar Heels.
The first round of The Dash’s eight-team playoff would shape up as follows today:
Top seed and SEC champion [tag]Alabama[/tag] versus eighth-seeded ACC titlist [tag]North Carolina[/tag] in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The backstory would make this interesting, since the Crimson Tide were interested in current Tar Heels coach Butch Davis as far back as 2000, when he was the coach at Miami. That was before Mike Price, before Dennis Franchione and before Mike Shula. Then Bama got it right — royal-flush right — with Nick Saban.
Second seed and Big Ten champion [tag]Penn State[/tag] versus seventh-seeded Big East winner [tag]West Virginia[/tag] in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. Just for fun they could award the old Lambert Trophy for the best school in the East to the winner.
Third seed and Big 12 champion [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] versus sixth-seeded Pacific-10 champ USC in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Would anyone enjoy seeing the Red Raiders’ O (first nationally in passing offense, second in total offense, third in scoring) against the Trojans’ D (first nationally in pass defense, first in total defense, first in scoring defense)?
Fourth seed at-large selection Texas versus fifth seed at-large selection [tag]Florida[/tag] in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] and Tim Tebow on the same field might be a little fun.
(Dash apologies to [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] and Utah for being the best teams left out. Y’all can console each other in, say, the Alamo Bowl.)
After that: semifinals at the Orange and Fiesta Bowls. National title in the Rose Bowl. Championship trophy presented by Dashette Irina Shayk.
Decide for yourself whether that playoff would generate any interest. After you’ve thought it over for five seconds, call the president of your favorite university and scream into the phone that you want a playoff. Do not stop screaming until you are out of breath or they have hung up on you — and then redial and scream again.
Maybe it will come to pass by the time Tebow’s kids are in college.
Or maybe it happens a little faster depending on Tuesday’s election results.
Just imagine adding the Texas Rose Bowl win over USC, plus the brutal four game stretch the team just finished, plus even more on the line than ever before. How fun would that be?
The Longhorns lost the battle to [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] on Saturday but they still haven’t lost the war. The new BCS rankings were revealed tonight and Texas fell only to number four, behind [tag]Alabama[/tag], [tag]Penn State[/tag], and Texas Tech who moved all the way up to number two. The Horns still have a every good chance to end up back in the top two and headed to the national title game.
All the Horns need is for two teams ahead of them to go down, and with the remaining schedules ahead for both Tech and Alabama that is a distinct possibility. Texas fans need to be rooting hard for [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] and [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] the next few weeks and for [tag]LSU[/tag] this week against Alabama. The team needs to take care of business during the final weeks of the season for any of this to matter, but fans will be doing a lot of scoreboard watching.
The BCS top 10 rankings are listed below:
| BCS | Harris Poll | USA Today | Comp. Rankings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BCS Avg | Prvs | RK | Pts | % | RK | Pts | % | Avg | % | |
| 1 | Alabama | .9747 | 2 | 1 | 2798 | .9818 | 1 | 1498 | .9823 | T-1 | .960 |
| 2 | Texas Tech | .9372 | 7 | 3 | 2644 | .9277 | 3 | 1409 | .9239 | T-1 | .960 |
| 3 | Penn State | .9286 | 3 | 2 | 2689 | .9435 | 2 | 1437 | .9423 | 4 | .900 |
| 4 | Texas | .8531 | 1 | 6 | 2322 | .8147 | 7 | 1227 | .8046 | 3 | .940 |
| 5 | Florida | .8268 | 8 | 4 | 2391 | .8389 | 5 | 1268 | .8315 | 5 | .810 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | .8220 | 4 | 5 | 2366 | .8302 | 4 | 1290 | .8459 | 9 | .790 |
| 7 | USC | .7551 | 5 | 7 | 2273 | .7975 | 6 | 1232 | .8079 | 10 | .660 |
| 8 | Utah | .6972 | 10 | 9 | 1864 | .6540 | 9 | 1018 | .6675 | 7 | .770 |
| 9 | Oklahoma State | .6660 | 9 | 8 | 2021 | .7091 | 8 | 1066 | .6990 | 11 | .590 |
| 10 | Boise State | .6529 | 11 | 10 | 1797 | .6305 | 10 | 958 | .6282 | 8 | .700 |
Related: View the full BCS rankings
The new BCS standings are out and the Longhorns remain easily atop the list. A close game against [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] had no effect on either the human or computer polls that make up the rankings. Texas is number one in every computer poll and holds nearly every first place vote in both the Harris and USA Today Coaches poll.
All the team has to do is take care of business and it appears there’s no way any other team could jump them in the rankings. One indicator of how much both the humans and robots love the Longhorns are the rankings of both OSU and [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] even after losses to Texas. After the loss this weekend the Cowboys only fell one spot in the Harris Poll and two in the USA Today poll. This might mean the Horns could lose a game and still be around number three in the BCS. Let’s hope we don’t find out.
Check out the top ten in the latest BCS rankings below:
| Harris Poll | USA Today | Computer Rankings | BCS | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | RK | Pts | % | RK | Pts | % | % | Comp avg | BCS Avg | Prvs | |||
| 1 | Texas | 1 | 2839 | .9961 | 1 | 1522 | .9980 | 1.000 | 1 | .9981 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Alabama | 2 | 2696 | .9460 | 2 | 1439 | .9436 | .960 | 2 | .9499 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Penn State | 3 | 2650 | .9298 | 3 | 1414 | .9272 | .920 | 3 | .9257 | 3 | ||
| 4 | Oklahoma | 4 | 2370 | .8316 | 4 | 1265 | .8295 | .820 | T-4 | .8270 | 4 | ||
| 5 | USC | 7 | 2255 | .7912 | 6 | 1228 | .8052 | .750 | 6 | .7822 | 5 | ||
| 6 | Georgia | 8 | 2124 | .7453 | 8 | 1137 | .7456 | .820 | T-4 | .7703 | 7 | ||
| 7 | Texas Tech | 5 | 2286 | .8021 | 5 | 1246 | .8170 | .610 | T-10 | .7431 | 8 | ||
| 8 | Florida | 6 | 2258 | .7923 | 7 | 1199 | .7862 | .610 | T-10 | .7295 | 10 | ||
| 9 | Oklahoma State | 9 | 1871 | .6565 | 10 | 972 | .6374 | .730 | T-7 | .6746 | 6 | ||
| 10 | Utah | 10 | 1802 | .6323 | 9 | 987 | .6472 | .730 | T-7 | .6362 | 11 | ||
Related: View the full BCS rankings
Not sure any weekend will be able to top the match-ups we saw on Saturday, but there are plenty of good games to watch tomorrow. You get to start your day off with an early SEC battle with #22 Vanderbilt playing at #10 Georgia. Then you get a nice afternoon game with #16 Kansas playing at #4 Oklahoma. After that I suggest you take a quick nap and then it will be time for #1 Texas to take on #11 Mizzou in the marquee match-up of the day. Gameday will be in Austin, as will I.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the big games. FYI, I went 3-1 last weekend against the spread (for around the 5th straight weekend). Hopefully some of you are making some money with me.
#22 Vanderbilt at #10 Georgia (-15) – 12:30 PM EST on ESPN Gameplan. How will Vanderbilt respond to their first loss of the season? I’ll tell you how, they will get destroyed by Georgia in Athens. Let’s just take a quick look at the numbers here. Georgia is averaging 440 yards in total offense and Vanderbilt is only averaging 262.5 yards. Georgia is averaging 280.8 yards passing and Vanderbilt is only averaging 102.7 yards. This has blow-out written all over it.
#16 Kansas at #4 Oklahoma (-20) – 3:30 PM EST on ABC. Talk about a line jump, this game was set to open at 14 and was immediately bumped up to 20. Seems like a big number to me. Oklahoma’s best defensive player Ryan Reynolds is out for the season and their defense is fresh off allowing 438 yards to Texas. Kansas’ 7th ranked passing offense should keep them in the game. I don’t expect Kansas to win, but I think they can hang in there and not lose by 3 touchdowns.
#12 Ohio State at #20 Michigan State (+3.5) – 3:30 PM EST on ABC. I guess you won’t really be able to watch this game since the OU game will be on, but this one could get interesting. Ohio State should be on high upset alert as Michigan State has been on a roll winning their last 6 games. You may know by now I am a big advocate of the run game, and that is where Michigan State excels with Javon Ringer already racking up over 1100 yards. And just so you know since Pryor took over the quarterback duties from Boeckman, the Buckeyes have had the 10th worst passing offense averaging 128 yards per game. I am liking Michigan State here, money-line.
#11 Missouri at #1 Texas (-5) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. I remember reading Hornfans last week and noticing most people seemed pretty level headed in that it would take a great game to beat OU. Now if you read Hornfans you will see a lot of people talking about how we will dominate Mizzou and how we will be all over Chase Daniel, etc, etc. This scares me a little. Missouri is a tough team and they don’t average 555 yards (383 yards passing) for nothing. And then you have the fact that Texas just gave up 5 passing touchdowns and you can see where my concern is. With all of that said I think Texas will be up for this game and ready to defend their #1 ranking. Home field advantage is the key here.
Good interview up on Dan Patrick’s site with Dan and [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. Colt talks about beating OU, being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and of course the SI cover jinx. Click play to listen to the eight minute interview below:
OU Sucks!
My favorite play of the game was easily the Quan Cosby block where he laid out #11. And my least favorite had to be the horrible penalty call when we supposedly “ran into” the punter. That punter has been watching too much soccer because that was some serious flopping.
So now Texas is 6-0 and #1 in the nation. No more relaxing, the target is on our backs. But enough of that, let’s see how each position fared against OU:
Quarterback – Overall Grade: A-
Even though [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]’s stats don’t really show he had a great game, I felt his leadership and calmness was the key to victory against OU. Colt finished with 28/35 passing, 277 yards, and 1 touchdown. The most important stat Colt put up Saturday was zero turnovers. Colt simply didn’t make any mistakes. Colt definitely put himself into the thick of the Heisman race with this victory, and I think it is about time. Sam Bradford may have had better numbers, but I would take Colt any day.
John Chiles actually got some early playing time, probably trying to catch OU off-guard, but it was to no avail. Chiles did absolutely nothing and continues to disappoint.
Running Backs – Overall Grade: A-
[tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] got the start again Saturday, and I think he proved why. He ended up with 127 yards on only 15 carries, including a long 62 yard run which sealed the game for Texas. And even though [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] only got 3 carries, he made the most of them scoring touchdowns on each one. He has proved he is a great goal line runner, and he and Ogbonnaya are proving to be a lethal 1-2 punch. In our most important game of the year so far, [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] ended up with only 1 carry for -2 yards. I think it is safe to say the coaches know who to give the ball to now.
Wide Receivers – Overall Grade: A
I didn’t think Texas could win this game with only 2 receivers, but the combo of [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] and [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] was just too much for the Oklahoma secondary. Shipley seemed like he was open on every play and made some key first downs. He finished with 11 catches, 112 yards, and 1 touchdown. Cosby was all over the place too adding 9 catches and 122 yards. Cosby may be a little undersized, but he probably has some of the best hands in the Big 12 and always seems to make big plays. The rest of the receivers combined for 4 catches and 16 yards.
Defense – Overall Grade: B+
Even though I think the defense played great, I do have to dock them for allowing 5 passing touchdowns. The greatest part of the defense on Saturday is that I actually noticed our safeties, and in a good way. [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] seemed to always be around for the tackle, and [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] ended up with two interceptions. Both young safeties seem to be coming around and I can’t wait to see how much more they can improve before Missouri. And [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] was simply ridiculous. He led the team with 16 tackles, 13 of them solo. Didn’t you notice every time OU ran the ball they seemed to go nowhere? Yeah, that was “Muck”. [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] showed again that he is scary athletic. Kindle flies around the field with reckless abandon, and the combo off him and [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] coming off the edges is just too much for most teams to handle.
Special Teams – Overall Grade: A
The A mainly comes from Jordan Shipley’s 96 yards kickoff return in the 2nd quarter. Texas was down 14-3 at that point and it looked like it could be a blow-out. I think that play single handedly kept Texas in the game and was the spark to get the team going. [tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag] added 3 field goals and looks like he is a kicker that we can rely on in tough situations.
Overall Grade: A-
How can you not be pleased after that game. Even after the referees giving OU a free touchdown, Texas still prevailed. Now Texas faces the pressure of being #1, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. They only have #11 Missouri, #8 Oklahoma State, @#7 Texas Tech, and @#16 Kansas. And did you realize the Big 12 Conference South Division has 4 teams in the top 8? That has to be a first.
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