On Saturday night, Musberger went on and on about how we narrowly missed BCS chaos this weekend with Texas ekeing out a 1 point victory over Nebraska. Remind me again how we missed BCS chaos? We are left with 5 unbeaten teams ... 3 from BCS conferences. Closure? I think not.
We weren't impressed with Texas' escape from Jerry World and knock Texas down to #5 this week. TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State all jump the Longhorns. While Texas is playing for the BCS National Championship, you have to think that TCU, Cincinnati and even Boise State did more than the Longhorns this year to at least be part of the conversation for the BCSNCG.
TCU beat the ACC runner-up as well as taking its two closest Mountain West Conference rivals to the woodshed. Cincinnati beat the Pac-10 runner-up (Oregon State) and two ranked opponents on the road in the Big East. Boise State defeated the Pac-10 champions on the blue turf.
Texas? Barely beats a Sam Bradford-less Oklahoma team, barely beats the Big 12 North Champ, and one signature win was a 41-14 beatdown of a Dez Bryant-less Oklahoma State squad. When you schedule two C-USA teams, a bad MWC team and a team from the Sun Belt, you need a few quality wins in conference to boost strength of schedule, and we just don't see a very strong resume from Texas this year.
The rest of the ballot is a mess with the bottom falling out fairly quickly (from 19-20 on). Not sure what to make of the Pac-10 this year with Arizona, Oregon State and Stanford all bunched together in the middle of our ballot. Even though they have a win over a ranked Ohio State team, 4 losses in the Pac-10 (including two at home) is enough to drop USC out of our ballot this week.
Comments/suggestions?
 |
||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
| 1 | Alabama (13-0) | -- |
| 2 | TCU (12-0) |
 2 |
| 3 | Cincinnati (12-0) |
2 |
| 4 | Boise State (13-0) |
2 |
| 5 | Texas (13-0) |
 2 |
| 6 | Oregon (10-2) |
1 |
| 7 | Florida (12-1) |
5 |
| 8 | Georgia Tech (11-2) |
4 |
| 9 | Virginia Tech (9-3) | -- |
| 10 | Ohio State (10-2) |
2 |
| 11 | Iowa (10-2) |
1 |
| 12 | Penn State (10-2) |
1 |
| 13 | Miami (Florida) (9-3) |
1 |
| 14 | Arizona (8-4) |
12 |
| 15 | Oregon State (8-4) |
1 |
| 16 | Stanford (8-4) |
3 |
| 17 | Nebraska (9-4) |
2 |
| 18 | LSU (9-3) | -- |
| 19 | Brigham Young (10-2) |
1 |
| 20 | West Virginia (9-3) |
2 |
| 21 | Central Michigan (11-2) | -- |
| 22 | Northwestern (8-4) |
4 |
| 23 | Clemson (8-5) |
2 |
| 24 | California (8-4) |
7 |
| 25 | Mississippi (8-4) |
1 |
For your reference, here is last week's ballot.
Dropped Out: Southern Cal (#15), Pittsburgh (#23), Houston (#24).
Welcome (Back): Arizona (#14), Northwestern (#22), Mississippi (#25).
Also Considered: Southern Cal (8-4), Wisconsin (9-3), Pittsburgh (9-3), Boston College (8-4), Auburn (7-5), Oklahoma (7-5)
Teams We Disagree On The Most: LSU (7.07), West Virginia (5.66), Miami (Fla.) (4.95)
Teams We Agree On: Alabama (#1), Virginia Tech (#9), Iowa (#11), Oregon State (#15)
By Conference: Pac-10 5, ACC 4, Big Ten 4, SEC 4, Big 12 2, Big East 2, Mountain West 2, MAC 1, WAC 1
Games Brian Watched:
Oregon State at Oregon
Central Michigan vs. Ohio (MAC Championship)
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
West Virginia at Rutgers
East Carolina vs. Houston (C-USA Championship)
Alabama vs. Florida (SEC Championship)
Georgia Tech vs. Clemson (ACC Championship)
Fresno State at Illinois (50%)
Arizona at USC (50%)
California at Washington (50%)
Texas vs. Nebraska (Big 12 Championship) (50%)
Wisconsin at Hawaii (25%)
Games Jeff Watched:
Georgia Tech vs. Clemson (ACC Championship) (in-person)
Alabama vs. Florida (SEC Championship) (50%)
Oregon State at Oregon (50%)
West Virginia at Rutgers (25%)
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (25%)