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ProspectOn a Saturday where many games lack the "big game" feel the BCS top 25 saw seven teams lose and several more in close-calls. Excluding personal rooting interests, those who love college football got a chance to sit back on the first November Saturday and enjoy some amazing college football games. The 11AM kickoffs saw an unbeaten lose, the 2:30 games saw the SEC West decided and the late ones saw more "closer than the experts think" games than most see all year.
There were two big storylines yesterday, a day of upsets that leads to the BCS shakeup and the SEC's two big issues.
BCS confusion and speculation, just another Sunday...
Everyone has their Sunday rituals; go to Church (or however you choose to practice your faith), last minute tweaks to your fantasy roster, etc. For college football fans, unfortunately, it's all about the BCS. The bain of all our existence, well except for a few crazy folks.
The BCS standings for this week won't be released for another five hours (give or take), so all we can do is speculate. Here's what we know:
- The AP poll has been released and the Top 10 is as follow:
- Florida (39) 9-0
- Texas (10) 9-0
- Alabama (11) 9-0
- TCU 9-0
- Cincinnati 9-0
- Boise State 9-0
- Georgia Tech 9-0
- Pittsburgh 8-1
- LSU 7-2
- Ohio State 8-2
- The USA Today Poll's Top 10:
- Florida (48)
- Texas (4)
- Alabama (7)
- TCU
- Cincinnati
- Boise State
- Georgia Tech
- Ohio State
- Pittsburgh
- USC 7-2
- The AP poll has no effect on the BCS, but does work for prognosticating.
- It didn't take long for USC to get back in the Top 10, did it?
Will the BCS finally be prove to work, at least by it's apologists? I've always believed that the minute a TCU, Boise State, etc. team makes the game, the BCS won't be tweaked again, it will be proven flawless and the arguments will be done.
So what happens if Florida loses to Florida State (the only conceivable possible loss left for the Gators in my opinion), Alabama gets tripped by a schizophrenic Auburn team in the Iron Bowl or someone sneaks a loss from Texas? Who goes to Pasadena then? I think all three top teams are safe and we will have an SEC/Big 12 championship again this year, but if the craziness of this weekend continues through the month, who knows... I'll get back to you in a week.
The Southeastern Conference...
An SEC referee had accidentally collided with a player, fallen and injured his knee.
On his way back from the doctor's surgery after the match, he met one of the players from the game.
"You all right ref? You don't look so good. Bad news from the doc?"
"Yes it is. He says I can't Referee."
"Oh. Seen you in action has he . . .?"
It isn't good when you have to suspend an entire officiating crew for bad calls in two games, it's even worse when your entire conference is a laughing stock. That's the position the SEC is in. The conference has easily become the punchline for all jokes concerning referees. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive got so sick of the coaches openly criticizing his conference's referees, he instituted an NFL-esque gag order on them. But the criticism isn't the problem, it's what they are criticizing or what others have chose not to criticize.
Let's look at the big 3 complaints in the last month
LSU/UGA 10/3/09 "Excessive Celebration penalty"
Florida/Arkansas 10/17/09 "Personal foul penalty"
LSU/Alabama 11/7/09 "Incomplete pass call"
I don't think I have to tell you how dumb, how excessive and how redundant this conversation is getting. I'm tired of complaining about them, you're tired of hearing it. Something needs to be done, quickly, otherwise the SEC will quickly become the most powerful and shady conference in college football.
The second issue here is we still have a month of football and the SEC race is done. That doesn't look good, no one will care about the SEC for a month.
Conclusion: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly...
The Good
Barring some ridiculous upset, the SEC will have a representative in the big game.
The Bad
Lots of injuries occurred yesterday:
- LSU got hit with the injury bug all game and lost their starting RB, Charles Scott, for the season with a broken collarbone. Scott, a senior has now likely played his last LSU game. The severity of Jordan Jefferson's ankle injury and the others is unknown.
- Iowa's Mr. Fourth Quarter, QB Ricky Stanzi, injured his ankle in Iowa's lost to Northwestern yesterday. Stanzi, while not a prolific quarterback was known for his fourth quarter comebacks all season. The Hawkeyes were 8-0 prior to yesterday's loss.
The Ugly
A scary scene occurred in the Oregon State-California game. Cal's TB, Jahvid Best suffered a severe concussion, but luckily wasn't paralyzed. If you had seen the event live, however, you would have never believed he had been so lucky. As Best tried to leap over Oregon State safety Cameron Collins and Tim Clark to get into the end zone, Collins tried to tackle him. Best basically helicoptered into the air and came down rather awkwardly, landing on his head and neck. The crowd immediately gasped and then fell silent. He was taken off the field on a stretcher after not moving. It was later reported that Best had begun moving his extremities and had only suffered a severe concussion.
Closing arguments
Sit back and enjoy the show college football fans, I got a feeling, it's going to be an interesting November.