40 Acres Sports

There were several of teams off last week in the conference but there was still a lot of movement in the power rankings. Losses by Colorado and Nebraska and a shaky home win by Texas A&M sent all those teams down a bit. Meanwhile Oklahoma State continues to win in impressive fashion. The Cowboys are undefeated and putting up big offensive numbers so have moved up three spots to number five. Conference play starts Saturday so things should be much clearer in next week’s rankings.

Check out this week’s Big 12 power rankings below:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   The Sooners jumped to a huge first quarter lead against [tag]TCU[/tag] and then just road that through the end of the game. QB Sam Bradford threw for a ton of yards but had by far his least accurate performance of the season. More troubling for OU is the complete ineffectiveness of the running game. They tried to force the issue but manage to only rush for an abysmal 25 yards on 36 carries.

2. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 2

   Bye week. The Tigers face Nebraska this weekend to open Big 12 play.

3. Texas

   
   LW: 3

   Another week and another 52 – 10 win for the Longhorns, this time over SEC rival [tag]Arkansas[/tag]. The Texas offense has been impressive all season but for the first time all season the defense was dominant. The front seven was able to sack the Razorbacks’ QBs seven times and the Horns are now top five nationally with 16 sacks on the season. Texas faces Colorado Saturday at 6pm on FSN.

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   Bye week. Red Raiders open Big 12 play against Kansas State.

5. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   Okie Lite put another 50 spot on the scoreboard this past weekend against Troy. The Trojans aren’t exactly a national power but [tag]Ohio State[/tag] struggled to get past them while the Cowboys racked up 612 total yards. They host the Aggies Saturday at 7pm.

6. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   Bye week. KU opens conference play with a virtual bye against Iowa State.

7. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   Colorado didn’t show up well in a surprisingly thorough loss to [tag]Florida State[/tag]. QB and coach’s son Cody Hawkins was inaccurate and inefficient and the running game didn’t do enough to pick him up. The FSU offense wasn’t much better but thanks to terrible kick coverage was able to play with a short field on several possessions. The Buffaloes face the Longhorns Saturday.

8. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   Nebraska fans may be disappointed in a home loss to [tag]Virginia Tech[/tag] but Bo Pelini’s team fought hard till the end and almost came back and won it. This week Nebraska has a tough one when they host #4 Missouri.

9. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

   
   LW: 10

   Bye week. Next up are the number one ranked Sooners.

10. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

    
    LW: 9

    Another shaky week for the Wildcats, barely beating a 1 – 3 Louisiana-Lafayette team in Manhattan. QB Josh Freeman and the offense again looked solid but the defense looked like swiss cheese. The Ragin’ Cajuns ran all over them to the tune of 335 total rushing yards in the game. Not good. Up this week is Texas Tech.

11. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    Bye week. This week the Cyclones face off against Kansas.

12. Texas A&M

    
    LW: 11

    Just how bad are the Aggies? Army wasn’t just winless but they were winless against mediocre competion, and at Kyle Field the A&M needed a fourth down stop to escape with a win. Their match-up with Oklahoma State Saturday night will be an interesting one to watch (but not actually watch because it’s embarrasingly not being televised).

Talk about a crazy weekend in college football. Three of the top four teams go down in upsets, with unbeatable #1 of all-time USC losing to an unranked Oregon State team.

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   

   The clear #1 in the nation after other teams in the Top 5 seemed scared to win. The Texas game in two weeks looks bigger than ever.

2. [tag]Alabama[/tag]

   

   Maybe even more of a butt-kicking than the USC/Ohio State, Alabama got out to a 31-0 lead at Georgia. I think this was a combination of Alabama having a solid team and Georgia being ridiculously over-hyped.

3. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   

   Good time to have a bye week. Their schedule gets tough now as they open Big 12 play.

4. [tag]LSU[/tag]

   

   LSU didn’t look all that impressive in their win against Mississippi State. They will need to improve their quarterback play if they want to continue to win in the SEC.

5. [tag]Texas[/tag]

   

   Talk about slaughtering the pig against Arkansas. The Texas defense finally showed up and held them to only 3 points for most of the game.

6. [tag]South Florida[/tag]

   

   The class of the Big East continues to look good. Now they start conference play, so we will see if they can keep it up.

7. [tag]Auburn[/tag]

   

   They don’t win pretty, but their defense can keep them in any game. If they actually had a good quarterback they would probably be #2 in the nation.

8. [tag]BYU[/tag]

   

   BYU in the Top 10? Just doesn’t seem right somehow but they are playing great football right now. Two shutouts in a row will usually give a team some confidence.

9. [tag]Penn State[/tag]

   

   I hesitate to put a Big 10 team so far up in the rankings because they will soon get smashed by some other crappy Big 10 team. Will this happen to Penn State? No doubt.

10. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

    

    Not sure what to say about Tech except that they probably won’t last much longer with no losses. In fact, they will probably lose to Kansas State.

11. [tag]USC[/tag]

    

    On cue, USC has their one “bare-minimum” game of the season and somehow loses to Oregon State. Now they can cruise for the rest of the season with their easy Pac-10 schedule.

12. [tag]Georgia[/tag]

    

    Not really surprised that they lost to Alabama, more surprised about how they lost. Down 31-0 at the half at home? I knew they were over-rated, just didn’t know it was that bad.

13. [tag]Florida[/tag]

    

    Rounding out the upsets this weekend is Florida. If Tim Tebow was an actual quarterback and could throw the ball, maybe they wouldn’t lose to a mediocre Ole Miss.

14. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

    

    Bye week

15. [tag]Utah[/tag]

    

    Utah continues to sneak up the polls relatively quietly. Now they have to play the vaunted Oregon State Beavers.

16. [tag]Vanderbilt[/tag]

    

    With Georgia and Florida losing, Vanderbilt now leads the SEC East. If they beat Auburn this weekend is it time for them to start thinking national championship? Ha.

17. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    

    The Big 12 is absolutely stacked this year. Oklahoma State’s offense can hang with anyone. Too bad they play @Missouri, @Texas, and @Texas Tech.

18. [tag]Boise State[/tag]

    

    Bye week

19. [tag]Ohio State[/tag]

    

    Not sure that a 13 point win over Minnesota is very impressive, but a win is a win. Terrelle Pryor looks like a legit college quarterback. I bet they are wishing he played more against USC.

20. [tag]Oregon[/tag]

    

    Hard to get a read on just how good or bad the Pac-10 is. My guess is that Oregon will be dropping soon as they play USC this weekend.

21. [tag]Virginia Tech[/tag]

    

    Man, Virginia Tech has an incredibly weak schedule this season. If they didn’t lose to East Carolina they would easily be in the Top 10.

22. [tag]Wisconsin[/tag]

    

    The Big 10 is just awful and I think Wisconsin proves that. Not sure how a Top 10 team loses to a horrible Michigan team. Oh yeah, it’s the crappy Big 10.

23. [tag]Maryland[/tag]

    

    Maryland actually looks like they have a good team this year. The ACC is wide open right now and Maryland should be near the top at the end.

24. [tag]Fresno State[/tag]

    

    Pretty impressive win at UCLA.

25. [tag]Connecticut[/tag]

    

    Impresive win at Louisville. They will be tested in next two games of three straight road games. If they can make it through that, they will be looking good.

Thanks to upsets losses by USC, [tag]Georgia[/tag], and [tag]Florida[/tag] the Longhorns have vaulted into the top five of both the AP and USA Today Coaches polls. [tag]Alabama[/tag] flew past the Horns after their win over the UGA but the easy win over [tag]Arkansas[/tag] was enough to move Texas up to spots to the number five ranking. Texas is relatively comfortably ahead of [tag]Penn State[/tag] in both polls, but rankings this week don’t matter much as Texas will prove itself over the next three weeks when they face [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] and [tag]Missouri[/tag] in consecutive games.

Check out this week’s rankings or view the top 10s below:

	AP Top 25		USA Today Poll
1	Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599		Oklahoma (57) 4-0 1,520
2	Alabama (21) 5-0 1,565		LSU (1) 4-0 1,399
3	LSU 4-0 1,466		Missouri 4-0 1,398
4	Missouri (1) 4-0 1,453		Alabama (2) 5-0 1,350
5	Texas 4-0 1,362		Texas (1) 4-0 1,310
6	Penn State 5-0 1,252		Penn State 5-0 1,146
7	Texas Tech 4-0 1,105		Brigham Young 4-0 1,054
8	Brigham Young 4-0 1,098		Texas Tech 4-0 1,047
9	USC 2-1 1,087		USC 2-1 990
10	South Florida 5-0 1,035		Georgia 4-1 888

Wow, talk about a shake-up in the national college football scene as USC goes down last night to unranked Oregon State. Now suddenly this weekend’s games take on much more importance as teams vie to grab the #1 spot. Oklahoma takes on a tough TCU team, Georgia and Alabama showdown in the SEC, and Penn St and Illinois match-up in the Big 10. This should be a great weekend for college football.

Let’s see what is going on this Saturday. Remember, I did go 3-1 last weekend against the spread.

Arkansas at #7 Texas (-27) – 3:30 PM EST on ABC. When these two teams were first scheduled to meet, both were sitting at 2-0. Now things look a bit different with Texas coasting to victory against Rice and Arkansas getting blown out at home against Alabama. The Texas Longhorns are huge favorites for the 4th straight week, and deservedly so. Texas is averaging 48.7 points per game (6th in nation) and should easily score in the 50’s again at home against a weak Arkansas defense. The only potential for trouble is the Arkansas passing game against the young Texas secondary. Lucky Casey Dick is prone to making some mistakes. This one should be another easy cover with the Longhorns winning by 35.

#24 TCU at #2 Oklahoma (-18) – 7:00 PM EST on FCSA. With USC losing, Oklahoma now has the opportunity to make a statement to becoming the #1 team in the nation. There is no way Oklahoma overlooks this game since TCU has managed to beat them in Norman twice in a row. So far this season Oklahoma is destroying teams by an average margin of 35.3 points per game and this Saturday will be no different. TCU’s defense has been impressive, but I doubt they have ever seen an offense like they will face this weekend. This might be the easiest cover of the weekend with Oklahoma winning by 30+.

#8 Alabama at #3 Georgia (-7) – 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. Probably the game to watch this weekend. Alabama looks like they are going to be a legit SEC contender and Georgia is still trying to prove they belong at the top. Georgia will be wearing the cool black uniforms trying their best to look like a high school football team. If you like tough, physical football, this game is for you. Both teams boast impressive running games and stout defenses. This game will probably be one of those typical 14-10 SEC games. But in this one I think Alabama comes out the winner with their running game and offensive line. So take Alabama money-line on this one.

#22 Illinois at #12 Penn St (-16) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. I don’t normally care about or watch Big 10 match-ups, but I am interested in seeing how Penn St looks against Illinois. Penn St is scoring 52.7 points per game, and probably won’t be stopped Saturday. Take them to cover. Here is something to think about. Penn St demolished Oregon St. Oregon St dominated USC. USC killed Ohio St. I still haven’t figured out what that means about Ohio St and the Big 10, but on first thought I would lean towards the Pac-10 and Big 10 sucking.

No movement at the top but the teams in the bottom half of the rankings are starting to drop games. Last weekend Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, and Iowa State all had losses. The most impressive team last week may have been the Colorado Buffaloes, who if they keep the running game going might be able lay claim to be the best team not named Missouri in the Big 12 North.

Check out this week’s Big 12 power rankings below:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   Off week before facing number 24 [tag]TCU[/tag] this weekend.

2. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 2

   Tigers made a lot of mistakes and let lowly Buffalo hang in there for a long time. Chase Daniel’s career day eventually allowed them to pull away in the second half. The Tigers are off this week in prep for Big 12 play.

3. Texas

   
   LW: 3

   The Horns clobbered an overmatched [tag]Rice[/tag] squad with another near perfect performance from [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. The defense wasn’t great but may have turned a corner when they put up an epic goalline stand. This week Texas hosts former SWC rival [tag]Arkansas[/tag] in their last non-conference outing.

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   The Red Raiders put on a good ol’ thumping of Division 1AA UMass. They have off this week but their real season will finally begin when they stop playing Pop Warner teams and start playing Big 12 foes.

5. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   Impressive overall performance for the Buffs on national television against top 25 ranked West Virginia. He might not get the pub his fellow freshman running back does but the miniature Rodney Stewart looked lightning quick while rushing for 166 yards. Next up is another tough one against Florida State.

6. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   Bye week for Nebraska before they face Virgina Tech this Saturday.

7. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   Not exactly impressive but the win over Sam Houston State was never in doubt either. Former car detailer and OU quarterback Rhett Bomar threw for 340 yds but was also picked off three times. Kansas is off this week.

8. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

   
   LW: 9

   Oklahoma State was off last week. This week they get Troy State.

9. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   First real opponent of the season and Kansas State didn’t look good against a Louisville team that isn’t of the caliber of recent years. It was only a nine point loss but the Wildcats never stood a chance. Up this week is Louisiana-Lafayette.

10. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

    
    LW: 11

    UConn isn’t some chump team and the Bears played them very tough on the road. Losses like this would be wins at home and might lead to future wins from freshman QB Robert Griffin. Baylor has an off weekend to prepare to attempt a huge upset of OU on October 4th.

11. Texas A&M

    
    LW: 12

    Aggies got blown out of the water by the Miami Hurricanes and it could have been much worse. If they had wanted to the Hurricanes could have ran off tackle every play for 300 yards and never attempted a pass. This week they host Army.

12. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

    
    LW: 10

    I thought head coach Gene Chizik might have turned things in the right direction in Ames but maybe not. Iowa State has now lost 13 straight road games and unless they beat Baylor in a few weeks they might not win one away from home this season either. The Cyclones have a much needed bye this Saturday.

Outside of [tag]Kansas[/tag] against South Florida not an exciting week of games in the [tag]Big 12[/tag]. None of the top six teams moved but losses by KU and [tag]Iowa State[/tag] means some movement in the bottom half of the rankings.

Check out this week’s Big 12 power rankings below:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   Another week, another dominating win. The defense gave up a little more this week though, especially through the air as Washington QB Jake Locker passed for 249 yards. OU QB Sam Bradford was nearly perfect in the win, passing 304 yards and 5 TDs on 18 of 21 attempts.

2. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 2

   The best offensive performance of the season by the Tigers. Chase Daniels passed for 405 yards and four TDs as the offense put up 69 points against Nevada. The backup quarterbacks added 114 more yards for a whopping total of 519 yards through the air. Up this week is another easy one against Buffalo.

3. Texas

   
   LW: 3

   Unexpected bye week thanks to Hurricane Ike. Next up the Horns face Rice in what should be a gimme.

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   The Red Raiders defense picked off five passes from SMU’s Bo Levi Mitchell and the offense had nearly 700 total yards. Tech is going to give up yards, but if they can become a big play defense that creates turnovers that might make them a legit Big 12 title contender. This week on their gauntlet of a non-conference schedle is Division 1AA UMass.

5. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   Colorado had last week off before a nationally televised Thursday night game against West Virginia.

6. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   Off last weekend in preparation for an mid-week game against Louisville.

7. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   A solid win over a New Mexico State team playing their first game of the season. The Huskers jumped out early and stayed up throughout. The defense wasn’t dominant but didn’t allow any long scoring drives. This week they face their first half decent test against Virginia Tech.

8. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   The Jayhawks fell in a close one on the road against South Florida. They were up at halftime but were completely dominated in the third quarter as they coughed up the lead. KU won’t be a contender in the North unless they can run the ball better and do a better job defending the pass. This week they face Sam Houston State.

9. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

   
   LW: 10

   Not exactly a game that tells us much about the Cowboys but the rushing offense did impress. Against Missouri State three different players topped 100 yards on the ground and the team averaged eight yards per carry. They’re off this week.

10. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

    
    LW: 9

    They didn’t get blown out against rival [tag]Iowa[/tag] but the Cyclones’ offense couldn’t put the ball in the end zone. They actually outgained the Hawkeyes 325 to 244 but turned the ball over three times and gave up a long punt return for a TD. Head coach [tag]Gene Chizik[/tag] has them headed in the right direction but I’m not sure he’ll be around long enough to reach the destination. This week: UNLV.

11. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    I love me some Robert Griffin. After throwing the ball in his first start, against Washington State the Baylor quarterback ran all over the place. He rushed 11 times for 217 yards, which is nearly 20 yards per carry. This week the Bears face UConn on Friday night.

12. Texas A&M

    
    LW: 11

    No game as the Aggies get two weeks to prepare (to get blown out) for the Miami Hurricanes.

My Top 8 remains unchanged this week as a few teams didn’t play and the rest won easily. The story of the weekend was the Cremation in the Coliseum – USC’s dismantling of the over-hyped Ohio State. Ohio State has pretty much become a joke, getting shallacked whenever they play on the big stage. I am starting to think if I should allow any teams in the Big 10 in the Top 25 at all? Hmm….

Agree or disagree? Please let us know in the comments.

1. [tag]USC[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   Was there really anyone surprised in their thrashing of Ohio State? USC looks unbeatable right now but they usually suck-up one game during the regular season, so we will see.

2. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 2

   Offense, offense, offense. Oklahoma probably won’t score less than 40 points all season long. Right now Oklahoma and USC are separating themselves from the rest of the teams in college football.

3. [tag]Florida[/tag]

   
   LW: 3

   Bye week

4. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   Chase Daniel has the offense rolling right now, though it does help when you play a high school team like Nevada. And 6 catches, 172 yards, and 3 touchdowns for Maclin? Ridiculous.

5. [tag]LSU[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   LSU finally got to play a game and just toyed with UNT. Not really fair. Let’s see how they do against their first real test, Auburn.

6. [tag]Texas[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   Game against Arkansas postponed.

7. [tag]Georgia[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   This team is so overrated it is ridiculous. But since they still haven’t lost, I will wait for them to lose so I can drop them down. That will likely happen in two weeks against Alabama.

8. [tag]Alabama[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   Alabama’s balanced offensive attack looks impressive. Not much to dislike with this team. They have a pretty good shot to do goods things in the SEC West.

9. [tag]South Florida[/tag]

   
   LW: 19

   What a game Friday night against Kansas. Big lead changes both ways and South Florida pulls out the crazy victory. Now hopefully they won’t have a letdown after this big win.

10. [tag]Wisconsin[/tag]

    
    LW: 15

    Wisconsin just continues their boring football that wins games. But hey, whatever works.

11. [tag]Auburn[/tag]

    
    LW: 9

    3-2 victory against Mississippi State? Are you serious? Their defense is great, but they will have to actually score touchdowns to beat LSU.

12. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

    
    LW: 13

    Their offense looks good so far, but hard not to against the caliber of opponents they have been playing. I guess we will have to wait until Big 12 play to see how they really are.

13. [tag]BYU[/tag]

    
    LW: 17

    Absolutely smoked UCLA. 7 passing touchdowns will usually get it done. Might have to start paying attention to this team.

14. [tag]Wake Forest[/tag]

    
    LW: 18

    Bye week

15. [tag]East Carolina[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    Barely sneaked by a weak Tulane team. Maybe they aren’t as good as we thought. They will need some more convincing wins if they want to challenge for the Top 10.

16. [tag]Oregon[/tag]

    
    LW: 16

    Probably should have lost to Purdue, but their impressive rushing attack led the charge in their comeback win against Purdue. Blount had 132 yards on 12 carries. Not a bad average.

17. [tag]Penn State[/tag]

    
    LW: 21

    Penn State racked up 560 total yards and held Syracuse to 159 yards. We will have to see how they face adversity, because so far they have breezed through this season.

18. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

    
    LW: 11

    Heartbreaking loss against a good South Florida team. I bet Reesing is wanting that one poor throw back late in the 4th quarter. Kansas is still a good football team that will probably climb back up in the rankings.

19. [tag]Ohio State[/tag]

    
    LW: 10

    Now can we please stop thinking Ohio State is any good? Lately anytime they are the national stage they get blown out. Needless to say they will not be playing for the national championship this year.

20. [tag]Vanderbilt[/tag]

    
    LW: 23

    Another solid win against Rice. SEC teams better not overlook this Vanderbilt team. They might be the surprise of the SEC East this year.

21. [tag]Utah[/tag]

    
    LW: 25

    Utah is starting to play like they did in their 2004 unbeaten season. Though their big win against Michigan isn’t looking as impressive as it did in the beginning of the season.

22. [tag]Florida State[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    Lots of first timers making an appearance in my Top 25, and FSU is the first. They have a real test upcoming against Wake Forest, so we will see how long they stay here.

23. [tag]TCU[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    TCU has started their season off with 3 impressive win, including a 31-14 win against Pac-10 Stanford. They virtually have no passing game, but their stable of running backs is impressive.

24. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    Oklahoma State is chugging along basically unnoticed so far this season. Unfortunately for them they have an extremely tough schedule this year. But for now things are looking good.

25. [tag]West Virginia[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    Even though they didn’t play, I am giving them another shot in the Top 25. They need to win convincingly if they want to stay here.

The latest top 25 polls are out and the Longhorns have moved up a spot without playing a game. They’re now number seven thanks to USC drubbing [tag]Ohio State[/tag] back to the Stone Age (and a #13 ranking). The Trojans certainly looked like a national title contender as did the Oklahoma Sooners in a lopsided victory over a Pac 10 opponent.

Check out this week’s rankings or view the top 10s below:

	AP Top 25		USA Today Poll
1	USC (61) 2-0 1,596		USC (57) 2-0 1,518
2	Oklahoma 3-0 1,485		Oklahoma (1) 3-0 1,423
3	Georgia (2) 3-0 1,437		Georgia (2) 3-0 1,393
4	Florida (1) 2-0 1,414		Florida (1) 2-0 1,335
5	Missouri 3-0 1,389		Missouri 3-0 1,294
6	LSU 2-0 1,274		LSU 2-0 1,233
7	Texas 2-0 1,140		Texas 2-0 1,128
8	Wisconsin 3-0 1,076		Wisconsin 3-0 1,027
9	Alabama 3-0 982		Auburn 3-0 955
10	Auburn 3-0 958		Texas Tech 3-0 887

Like most people, I have been waiting for this weekend for some time because we get to see two of the top teams in the nation square off during the regular season, #1 USC vs. #5 Ohio State. There is almost as much hype for this game as the National Championship. Unfortunately some of that excitement has diminished for me since it has been reported that Chris “Beanie” Wells will not play this Saturday against USC.

And now that we know Texas vs. Arkansas is postponed, we have to find something else to watch. Let’s see what is going on this weekend. (P.S. I went 2-0-1 last weekend with my picks)

Michigan at Notre Dame (+1) – 3:43 PM EST on NBC. Some of the luster of this game has worn off since both programs seem to be struggling. Even so, NBC’s broadcast of this game in HD looks great, and it will be good fun seeing Notre Dame get embarrassed at home. Notre Dame should have lost last weekend, and I just can’t see anyway they can pull off that same miracle against Michigan. I’m not a huge fan of Rich Rodriguez, but I seem them winning easily this weekend.

#3 Oklahoma at Washington (+20) – 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. I’m pretty curious to see how Washington responds to getting screwed last weekend against BYU. It will probably either be extremely good, or extremely bad. I am going to go with the latter. Oklahoma’s offense continues to improve and their young wide receivers are absolutely torching the opponents’ secondary. Oklahoma is averaging 55 points per game, Washington 19. You can do the math here. Expect Oklahoma to win by 30.

#5 Ohio State at #1 USC (-11) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. Like I said, this game isn’t as exciting since Ohio State isn’t bringing all of their weapons, but this will still probably be the biggest game in college football this year. So far this year USC has been more impressive than we thought, and Ohio State has been not nearly been as good as we expected. Without Chris Wells I don’t see them able to get the running game going against USC’s strong defense, which in turn puts more pressure on QB Todd Boeckman and freshman QB Terrelle Pryor. Boeckman is coming off one of the worst games of his career. Things are probably only going to get worse. And Pryor will most likely be a big-time quarterback soon in college football, but now is not that time.

USC on the other hand has a “stable” of 6 running backs on their team, probably all of whom would start on most teams in the country. Does 6 sound like a little too many? Yeah, sure does, but 5 of the 6 scored touchdowns against Virginia in their season opener. Talk about depth. Bottomline, Ohio State has no shot in this game and will probably lose by 20. Take USC here.

After a second week of games the [tag]Big 12[/tag] pecking order is starting to clear up just a little. The conference won all 12 games last weekend but not every team played well. Even in victory, several teams (including Texas) were outgained by their opponents. There’s some shuffling in the rankings this week, including near the top as Mizzou hopped ahead of Texas.

Check out this week’s conference power rankings below:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   The Sooners looked nearly as good as in week one, this time against a much better opponent. It was close at halftime and for a while in the third quarter but QB Sam Bradford led a 24-0 run to put the game away. They face a Washington team this week who got screwed Saturday and might not be up for another top 25 opponent.

2. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 3

   After playing a tough opponent last week Mizzou had a virtual bye this week against Southeast Missouri State. The Tigers rolled to a 48-0 lead by halftime but did give up 334 yards. The FCS Redhawks put together three long, sustained drives in the first half but came away with no points. After two games the defense has to worry Tigers fans at least a little.

3. Texas

   
   LW: 2

   After two straight weeks of pass defense resembling 2007 the Longhorns drop behind Missouri this week. There’s time for the secondary to improve and I still have faith in [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag], but for now the Horns just aren’t playing as well as the Tigers. Texas is off this week after the Arkansas game was postponed.

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   Another win but another troubling game for Tech fans. The Red Raiders were outgained 488 to 421 by Nevada and QB Graham Harrell completed only 41% of his passes and threw two interceptions. I looked for a team to move ahead of them but despite the struggles no other Big 12 team really has earned this spot either.

5. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   The Buffaloes barely survived a scare at home versus Eastern Washington. They were down by 14 at halftime and down by a touchdown with only two minutes left in the fourth quarter. They scored with two minutes left and then less than 30 seconds later picked off a pass for the gamewinning score. Big game hosting West Virginia this week.

6. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   A big blowout win for the Wildcats against FCS Montana State. I’m not sure exactly what they’ve proved in the first two weeks but both games have been incredibly easy for KSU. QB Josh Freeman was again impressive.

7. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   KU jumps Nebraska after a shutout win. The defense shut down the Louisiana Tech offense and QB Todd Reesing threw for a career high 412 yards. The Jayhawks get their first test of the season this coming Saturday when they face #19 South Florida on the road.

8. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   As is a common theme this week in the conference, the Cornhuskers were underwhelming in a win and were outgained by their opponent. The score is deceiving but Nebraska was only up 14-12 in the fourth quarter before returning a kickoff for a touchdown and opening up the game.

9. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

   
   LW: 9

   Another week and another solid win for the Cyclones as they made the most of turnovers and big plays. Iowa State had five scoring drives less than 25 yards, including three under 10 yards. Rivalry game up this week against [tag]Iowa[/tag] is their first real test.

10. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    
    LW: 10

    Wide receiver Dez Bryant put up incredible numbers in a big shootout against Houston. He had nine catches, 236 yards, and three touchdowns and RB Kendall Hunter chipped in 210 yards rushing as Okie State put 56 on the board. The Cowboys have a couple of “easy” games before starting Big 12 play in October.

11. Texas A&M

    
    LW: 11

    There’s definitely a quarterback controversy brewing in College Station. After Stephen McGee went down with an injury sophomore Jerrod Johnson filled in and tossed three touchdown passes. It got sketchy for a while against New Mexico in the fourth quarter but they held on. The Aggies may be in for a world of hurt against Miami this week.

12. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    Coach Art Briles gets his first win as Baylor coach as true freshman QB Robert Griffin looked great in his first career start. Griffin completed 79% of his passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns against Northwestern State. He also rushed for 42 yards and another score. I’m feeling a big win coming this weekend against Washington State.

Last week’s rankings