The first weekend in December is Championship Week in college football and more importantly is the week where everything is decided. All the remaining uncrowned conference champions were crowned and all the bowl games were announced. Going into the week the only two stories in the college football world centered on the Big-12 and SEC title games and for completely different reasons: Florida/Bama was talked about in a heated and anticipatory manner with game of the year hype, Oklahoma/Missouri had the “should Texas be here instead?” question cloud any pre-game hype for the game itself. And despite the fact that these were the two stories in the college football world, the week itself was full of stories because, like the last month or so, it was a week full of big games. USC and UCLA played a harder hitting game than usual with USC again spanking the Bruins, Navy shutout Army in devastating fashion, East Carolina narrowly beat Tulsa despite an insane amount of turnovers from Tulsa for the Conference USA title, and Notre Dame did make it to a bowl game. Oh and in the pro football world Plaxico Burress shot himself with that story unfolding throughout the week as well as the Cowboys blowing it against Pittsburgh and the Titans, Giants, and Cardinals all clinching their divisions. Again, despite the focus being otherwise, this was far more than a two-story week in football.

Tebow wills Gators to SEC title, national title berth

To many college football fans, myself included, this was the main-event this past weekend.

Tim Tebow provided another example of why he will go down as one of the great college football players of all time and possibly the best quarterback to ever play college football this past weekend. With Percy Harvin watching from the sidelines and gainst the top-ranked team in the country, Tebow helped the Florida Gators to their second BCS title game in the last three years with a 31-20 win over Alabama for the SEC title.

Tebow’s statistics portray another typical Tebow outing: 14/22 for 216 yards and three touchdowns passing, 17 carries for 57 yards rushing. But what made this performance stand out was the raw, unfiltered emotion that Tebow showed on the field Saturday. In front of a national T.V. audience with a conference title and national title berth on the line, Tebow was as raw as it got never wavering from his intensity until the final clock read zeros and the Gators were once again SEC champions. The image that I, and many like me, took away from this game was Tebow charging the kickoff team and pumping them up after Tebow had thrown the game-clinching touchdown. Why was Tebow still so intense with the game seemingly in the bag? There was still 2:50 left to play.

Despite Tebow shining the brightest once again, it was not as if this was another Florida slaughter. For three and a half quarters, John Parker Wilson went stride for stride with Tebow and kept Alabama in a game that they lead 10-7 at halftime. Parker finished 12/25 for 187 yards through the air, another decent Parker performance. Sadly, something more than decent was needed.

Glen Coffee’s power and ability at the running back position provided The Tide with their offensive spark throughout this game as Coffee’s 18-yard touchdown run let Florida know that it wasn’t going to be an easy day and Coffee coming through again and again on third down or any short yardage situation kept that notion fresh in the minds of the Gators.

Coffee finished with 112 yards on 21 carries.

Tide receiver Julio Jones had a breakthrough performance in front of a national audience as the freshman caught five passes (all of them big) for 124 yards on the day.

In the end, this was SEC football at its best: hard hitting, a good air and ground balance, and two big name high ranked teams providing a game that lived up to the hype. For around fifty-five minutes, this game was dead even with neither side giving up an inch as The Tide simply ran out of gas first. All of the Ali/Frazier metaphors made by announcers throughout the game were not only necessary, but also dead on.

Sooners erase all doubt with fifth straight 60-point performance and Big-12 title

It was no surprise that Oklahoma dominated or even scored sixty once again in clubbing Missouri for the Big-12 title.

In fact the only real surprise during this game was Bob Stoops maintaining the same attitude on the sidelines—that of a coach who apparently forced himself to believe that the game was 0-0 throughout—long after the game had been clinched.

The game didn’t take too long to be clinched as Sam Bradford may have clinched himself the Heisman Trophy with another spectacular outing. Bradford went 34/49 for 384 yards and two touchdowns through the air. And while this wasn’t the same performance that we have become accustomed to seeing out of Bradford—he didn’t account for four or five scores in this one—it’s because he didn’t need to have that kind of night.

When DeMarco Murray went down after the opening kickoff, Oklahoma lost a member of its one-two punch in the backfield. So what did they do? They went to the sidelines and got another man to fill in and make a new one-two punch.

Mossis Madu came off the bench and had the game of his life running for 114 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns, two of them coming in the final quarter.

Chris Brown had another big night scoring three times as well while rushing for 122 yards on 27 carries.

Juaquin Iglesias had another (this is seeming like a repeating record isn’t it) big night with 125 yards on nine catches and caught both of Bradford’s touchdown passes. While Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree will win receiver of the year honors and Dez Bryant has more highlight reel worthy grabs, I think it would be quite unfair to dismiss Iglesias’ terrific season and importance to the Sooner team with Bradford and Brown picking up the majority of the headlines.

And like all, but Colt McCoy that came before him, Chase Daniel fought a futile battle against the Oklahoma defense. Despite going 27/43 for 255 yards and three scores, his two interceptions (both of which turned into Oklahoma touchdowns) told more than anything else he could’ve done would.

With the 62 points, the Sooners became the first team in college football history to score sixty or more points in five consecutive games. They also passed Hawaii in 2006 for the highest scoring total for a regular season in college football history.

Buffalo ends Ball St.’s unbeaten season and takes MAC title

Turner Gill has coached himself into a bowl game.

The University of Buffalo was not known for much of anything outside of education before Gill came along as football coach and even then expectations were low at best. However, with an 8-5 record, a bowl berth, giving a previously unbeaten conference powerhouse their first loss, and now a conference title, Gill seems poised to win coach of the year honors after his Bulls shocked Ball St. 42-24 for the MAC title last Friday.

Five turnovers including four fumbles did in Ball St. on this night as their reliable and fruitful offense could never get into a groove long enough to do anything before another turnover would occur. More harmful to Ball St. was the fact that their five turnovers resulted in 28 points for Buffalo.

Two of Buffalo’s four touchdowns off of turnovers were on fumble returns in the third quarter that turned a close game into a blowout in progress. Mike Newton and Sherrod Lott returned Ball St. fumbles 92 and 74 yards respectively for touchdowns in the third quarter. The touchdowns came on consecutive Ball St. possessions, consecutive possessions that were in scoring range both times. Ball St. led 17-14 before the first fumble and wouldn’t score again until they were down 35-17 with less than five minutes to play in the game.

Virginia Tech uses defense to overpower Boston College for ACC Title

Same teams, same result. That was the story as Virginia Tech beat Boston College for the second year in a row in the ACC title game and like last year, they did it with their defense.

Orion Martin’s fumble return touchdown in the fourth quarter clinched the Hokies’ second straight trip to the Orange Bowl as the Hokies hit harder on defense and forced Boston College to commit more mistakes as the turnover battle was basically equal (4-3 with Boston College committing more). The Hokies forced B.C. to go only 3/15 on third down and 0/2 on fourth down during the game and stayed fresh as B.C. only held the ball for just over 24 minutes in the game.

Darren Evans helped the run and defense approach pay dividends on offense as he gave the Hokies momentum going into the fourth with a ten-yard touchdown run late in the third that made the score 24-7 Hokies.

Evans finished with 114 yards on 31 carries to go with his touchdown.

Despite out gaining the Hokies, B.C.’s offense simply never got going as they gained many yards, but never the big ones as their twelve missed third downs will attest to that fact as well as only scoring one touchdown on the game—a Rich Gunnell 16-yard touchdown grab before halftime.

The Eagles’ offense was one-dimensional with quarterback Dominique Davis going 17/43 passing for 263 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Twenty-six incompletions explained the effects that the Hokie defense had on Davis and the rest of the B.C. offense in this one.

Boston College rushed for only 45 yards as a team.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I do believe that the bowl selection committees got things right this year, and that goes for the BCS as well. Florida/Oklahoma is simply the best national title game that could be made and would pit the teams that are most deserving of the top two rankings. Oklahoma put any doubts to rest with their manhandling of Missouri Saturday, as I do believe the Sooners would beat Texas if these two had met in November instead of October. Florida on the other hand showcased poise under pressure in a game—a big game one team favored and hyped overwhelming against another—that has seen upsets more regularly the last few years in college football than any other two-year period in its history. These two were destined for this meeting since the beginning of November and I couldn’t be happier that it has come to fruition. I have a giddiness and anticipation for this game that I haven’t felt for a national title game since the infamous Oklahoma/USC 2005 Orange Bowl. With the rest of the bowl games taken into consideration, this looks to be a better than normal year on paper with that being attributed to the fact that so many smaller schools in smaller conferences have had noteworthy seasons. Rice, BYU, TCU, East Carolina, Houston, Tulsa, Boise St. all have had extremely good seasons and the games that have come out of that carry with them expectations and anticipation that these bowl games don’t normally get. All in all, this is a bowl season that may reinvigorate my love for the entire bowl season as the last few years—while seeing their share of great games—have been spent almost in an apprehensive countdown mode to December 31st when things really kick off. Not this year, this year I’ll be on my couch for the long hall, I promise.

The decision was made after Tuberville met with Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs for the second time in as many days on Wednesday.

The decision was first reported by the Birmingham (Ala.) News on Wednesday.

The Tigers finished 5-7 this season, losing to rival Alabama 36-0 in the Iron Bowl on Saturday. It was the Tigers’ worst loss to the Crimson Tide since a 38-0 defeat in 1962.

In the four seasons prior to 2008, Tuberville guided the Tigers to 42 victories and an 82.4-percent winning percentage. His 2004 team finished 13-0 and won the SEC championship, but was left out of the BCS Championship game.

The Tigers had won five of their previous six bowl games, including an overtime victory over Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

Under the terms of Tuberville’s contract, Auburn will owe him $3 million in the next 30 days and an additional $3 million within one year.

Credit: ESPN

Thanksgiving weekend has gone through an interesting evolution over the years as far as the football element is concerned. It used to be one or two pro football games and a college game involving Nebraska against Oklahoma or Colorado would take place on Thanksgiving Day and the weekend would be similar to any other weekend in November with rivalry games sprinkled around. Then it became Mississippi/Mississippi St. or Pitt/West Virginia on Thanksgiving night to go with two pro games involving the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions respectively. Now, you get a third pro game thanks to the NFL’s deal with the NFL network as well as the one college game, but the day after Thanksgiving has become just as vital as the weekend in the football world. That Friday usually involves the same grouping of rivalry games—Colorado/Nebraska, Texas/Texas A&M, LSU/Arkansas—as well as a variety of other games involving teams from coast-to-coast, and usually the majority of the games have big implications on conference and national levels. The weekend has now become an extension of the preceding Rivalry Week because there are rivalry games that are traditionally on that Saturday, but in recent years any rivalry game that didn’t get scheduled for Rivalry Week is penciled in for Thanksgiving weekend. It is a proverbial smorgasbord for football fans that ends up leaving their football needs as well as their bellies thoroughly stuffed.

Oklahoma offense scores touchdowns on six consecutive possessions to beat Oklahoma St., win Big-12 South

The controversy came after the beating as a 61-41 win for the Oklahoma Sooners over in-state rival Oklahoma St. propelled the Sooners past Texas to the #2 spot in the BCS standings and thus giving the Sooners a birth in the Big-12 title game due to a three-way tie between Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech in the Big-12 South.

Sam Bradford answered Colt McCoy with a breathtaking performance of his own accounting for five touchdowns for the sixth time this season throwing for four and rushing for one. Bradford went 30/44 through the air for 370 yards on the game.

Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray were once again a potent one-two punch in the backfield for the Sooners as the two combined for 171 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Brown gained 98 and scored twice while Murray ran for 73 and scored once.

Bradford had a one-two punch to throw to in this game in the form of Jermaine Gresham and Juaquin Iglesias. Gresham caught nine passes for 158 yards and two scores, Iglesias scored once while catching eight passes for 86 yards.

Oklahoma St. quarterback Zac Robinson kept the game competitive for more than three quarters due to one of his best performances of the season going 17/26 for 254 yards and three touchdowns all the while enabling the Cowboys to keep up the pace with Oklahoma’s offense.

Cowboy receiver Dez Bryant did have the best game of his season finally coming through for his team in a big game. Bryant scored twice, his only two touchdowns against a ranked team this year, including a two-point conversion (both great, leaping catches). Bryant ended the game with six catches for 91 yards.

The game itself was a back-and-forth offensive shootout until Perrish Cox’s 90-yard kickoff return for the Cowboys made the game 44-41 Oklahoma with around half of the final quarter to play. At that point the Sooner defense finally stiffened and Bradford continued to roll, all the way to Kansas City.

Ducks run all over Oregon St. spoiling their Rose Bowl dreams

While it’s never a one-man show in a team sport, Oregon St. running back Jacquizz Rodgers was sorely needed as his team’s 65-38 loss to in-state rival Oregon may have cost the Beavers a Rose Bowl berth.

Rodgers did not play due to a shoulder injury suffered last week against Arizona.

Despite the fact that their running proved to be the force that won them the game, the Ducks scoring was spread across the board as their 11 scores were divided into three field goals, three rushing touchdowns, three passing touchdowns, and two interception return touchdowns.

Walter Thurmond III’s 40-yard return in the second quarter took any momentum away from the Beavers going into halftime, Spencer Paysinger’s 70-yard return finished off the day’s scoring.

The Ducks rushed for 385 yards as a team with the bulk of that coming from running backs Jeremiah Johnson and LeGarrette Blount. Johnson rushed for 219 yards on 17 carries and scored on an 83-yard touchdown run. Blount gained 112 yards on 17 carries and scored on a 9-yard touchdown run.

Duck quarterback Jeremiah Masoli used the opportunity to play spoiler to have a command performance rushing for 53 yards on 12 carries while going 11/17 through the air for 274 yards and three passing touchdowns.

McCoy spanks Aggies on Turkey Day

The only time there was really any doubt in this one was right before kickoff. Because after the ball went into play for the first time, the Aggies didn’t have a shot and Colt McCoy and the Texas Longhorns made quick and easy work of their Thanksgiving weekend rivals to the tune of 49-9.

This was the first time the teams had met on Thanksgiving night since 1992 as they had played the day after Thanksgiving in all the years since.

Colt McCoy made his pitch for the Heisman Trophy loud and clear in this one with a performance that will be savored by Longhorn fans as well as in the state of Texas for years to come mostly because it took place on Thanksgiving night.

McCoy went 23/38 for 311 yards and two touchdowns through the air while also rushing for two touchdowns going for 49 yards on 11 carries on the ground. McCoy was responsible for the Longhorns’ first four touchdowns scoring on thrilling runs of 14 and 16 yards in the first and third quarter respectively while throwing his two touchdown passes in the second quarter leaving no doubt in his mind whether he was the best quarterback and best player in college football.

Cody Johnson picked up right where McCoy left off rushing for two touchdowns in the final quarter while making a lot out of a little rushing for 102 yards on only eight carries.

Backup quarterback John Chiles scored the Longhorns’ final touchdown on a two-yard run late.

Iron Bowl no contest as Crimson Tide shouts out Auburn

While it wasn’t as flashy or brutal as some of Alabama’s other games this year (close or a plain slaughter), it did the trick as the Crimson Tide rolled into the SEC title game with a 36-point shutout in their most important regular season game.

John Parker Wilson didn’t have to do much in this one as going only 8/16 for 144 and throwing only one touchdown proved to be enough. Especially since his substitute Greg McElroy added a 34-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter after the game was already decided and Wilson had called it a day.

The Tide’s defense was the real star on this day as they completely dismantled the Tigers holding them to only 170 total yards. The Tigers were only able to amass 8 first downs and 57 yards on the ground in the game. Auburn didn’t help themselves by committing three turnovers and going 4/14 on third downs.

The Tide’s 234 rushing yards—a great deal of those in the final quarter—was the icing on the cake of a slaughter that combined with a great defensive performance and a good enough performance from their team leader to create an Iron Bowl win for the ages down in Tuscaloosa.

Gators dominate Florida St. for fifth straight win over in-state foe

While it’s unlikely Tim Tebow will win a second consecutive Heisman Trophy, he’s going to make the vote a close one.

Tebow once again tore through another top-25 foe with in-state rival and 20th-ranked Florida St. as this week’s victim. The defending Heisman winner went 12/21 through the air for 185 yards and three scores while rushing for 80 yards and a touchdown. Tebow also had the image of the weekend and probably the year at Florida, as at one point during the game it appeared that blood had stained a good amount of his jersey and was still running down the right side of his face. Whether it was blood or not is irrelevant as the look on Tebow’s face combined with the red “fluid” was all people needed to see to know what this player is like on the field.

Percy Harvin’s day was cut short by a sprained ankle he suffered in the second quarter thanks to Harvin’s inability to get footing on the rain-soaked field on this particular play. It was a problem that plagued both teams—Florida St. more than Florida—on this day.

The Gators ran for 317 yards as a team, the most rushing yards the Seminoles have given up in thirteen years.

Pitt wins Backyard Brawl in final minute, gives Cincinnati Big East title

It was another well balanced, defensive, and even football game between Pitt and West Virginia. Unlike last year’s, Pitt didn’t need Pat White to be injured to be competitive, but like last year’s game, Pitt won.

With Pitt’s win, Cincinnati won the Big East title and a berth in a BCS bowl game, most likely the Orange Bowl.

Both team’s quarterbacks had similar days through the air with Pitt quarterback Bill Stull going 12/23 for 156 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions while Mountaineer quarterback Pat White went 15/28 for 143 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Both teams had seven receivers catch at least one pass and five men run the ball at least one time.

The teams were separated by only 33 yards in rushing yards, 13 in passing yards, and 46 in total yards while having five penalties apiece (16 more penalty yards for West Virginia), and Pitt committed three turnovers to West Virginia’s two.

Pitt only held the ball for 3:28 longer than West Virginia in the game.

In the end, it was a few little things that helped Pitt. While Pitt only went 3/9 on third downs, West Virginia went a more damaging 3/14 on third downs. While Pitt made more mistakes by committing more turnovers and missing a fourth down like West Virginia did, their mistakes came early, and most importantly Pitt gave West Virginia less than fifty seconds to go nearly the length of the field and with the way the game had been played throughout, it just wasn’t going to happen.

Yellow Jackets run all over Georgia for first win over in-state rival since 1999

The last time Georgia Tech was able to be Georgia in their yearly meeting it was a shootout and the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s history at 51-48 Yellow Jackets. This year’s meeting was just as much a shootout at 45-42 with the Yellow Jackets once again on top.

The Yellow Jackets rushing game against completely overpowered an opponent to the tune of 409 yards on the ground for Tech, the second straight game they have rushed for at least 400 yards as a team. Again, the Yellow Jackets let their opponent know exactly what they were going to do attempting only six passes as a team (with only one completion) against 56 rushing attempts as a team.

A 26-point third quarter broke the game wide open for Tech, who trailed 28-12 at half, but wouldn’t trail again once they took their first lead of the game in that quarter.

Jonathan Dwyer scored twice in the third on runs of 60 and 23 yards. He would finish with 144 yards on 20 carries.

Roddy Jones also scored a touchdown in the third quarter on an 8-yard run; he would run in another touchdown, this one from 54 yards, in the fourth to seal the win. Jones finished with an amazing 214 yards on only 13 carries, averaging 16.5 yards a carry.

Like just about every loss Georgia has had this year, Bulldog quarterback Matthew Stafford has been let down by his teammates on defense after having a great day. Stafford threw five touchdown passes on 24/39 through the air for 407 yards. Still it wasn’t enough. Stafford threw touchdown passes in all but the third quarter including three second quarter touchdown throws that built the Bulldogs’ twelve point halftime lead.

Again, it was Mohamed Massaquoi who caught the bulk of Stafford’s passes pulling in 13 in this one for 180 yards. Massaquoi caught three of Stafford’s five touchdown passes, all three coming in the second quarter as the two dominated the Georgia Tech defense the same way the Tech running game would dominate Georgia’s D in the second half.

Even Knowshon Moreno had a great outing with 168 total yards (94 rushing, 74 receiving) and a touchdown.

FINAL THOUGHTS
While the week did have its share of interesting side stories—Notre Dame playing worse than usual, more offense on the field than food on people’s plates, the Plaxico Buress drama—it’s all about the Texas/Oklahoma situation when all is said and done. While everyone is pitching their theories about how it should be handled, all of these theories are based around which team that person wants to see in, not what is right for the conference. Mike Leach wants a graduation rate—something that makes no sense here and has nothing to do with football—because Texas Tech is far and above the top school of the three involved here, Mac Brown wants the head-to-head meeting to be the only factor because Texas beat Oklahoma albeit in a neutral location, but they still beat them. And Bob Stoops has no theory because his team is going to Kansas City to play for the Big-12 title and a spot in the national title game. So who’s right? Nobody. The current system the Big-12 had in place for this scenario—the highest BCS ranking—only takes into account the team’s progress through the weeks the BCS rankings are in place (they don’t come out until mid-way through the season). Mac Brown’s theory doesn’t make sense because it only involves one game (and only two of the teams that were tied) leaving Texas Tech out of the equation, not to mention the fact that Oklahoma beat the team Texas didn’t and Texas Tech beat the team that Oklahoma didn’t. In the end Brent Musburger, the man announcing the Oklahoma/Oklahoma St. game Saturday night, may have had the best solution and probably the only solution that is the fairest in the event of a three-way tie where a simple head-to-head tie breaker doesn’t work: point differential against common conference opponents. All three of these teams have played at least one common opponent within their conference schedule this year and they showed the point differential numbers and in the end Oklahoma was at the top. For that reason, above all others, Oklahoma is the right team to be playing Missouri for the Big-12 title this coming weekend.

Oklahoma — not Texas — is headed to the Big 12 championship game with an inside track to the national title game by moving ahead of the Longhorns in the BCS standings Sunday.

Texas’ victory against the Sooners in October wasn’t enough to give the Longhorns the advantage in a three-way tie between the Red River rivals and Texas Tech atop the Big 12 South. And that’s sure to leave many in Austin dismayed.

The Big 12 had to use its fifth tiebreaker, best BCS rating, to determine which team will play North winner Missouri on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.

The Sooners (11-1), who lost to Texas 45-35 in October, barely edged the Longhorns. Oklahoma has a .9351 BCS average. Texas’ BCS average is .9223.

Oklahoma was a point ahead of Texas in the USA Today coaches’ poll and six points behind the Longhorns in the Harris Interactive. The computer ratings preferred the Sooners and that made the difference.

“They don’t have agendas, they don’t have loyalties, they don’t have opinions. They don’t have all the bias that everyone else does,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “And if you say no one else does, then I don’t think you’re really being truthful.”

So the Longhorns will be watching two teams they beat play for the conference title, rooting for Missouri.

Oklahoma is second in the BCS standings behind unbeaten Alabama. Texas is third and Florida is fourth.

The winner of the Southeastern Conference championship game between the Crimson Tide and Gators is virtually guaranteed a spot in the BCS national title game on Jan. 8 in Miami.

Oklahoma would earn the other spot by beating Missouri. If the Sooners lose, it could open the door for Texas to go to the national title game, despite not playing for its conference championship.

If voters are squeamish about letting a team that didn’t win its conference play for a national championship, maybe Southern California could get a shot at the SEC champ in South Florida.

The Trojans are fifth in the BCS standings with a game to go at rival UCLA.

The Sooners were behind Texas last week in the BCS standings by a tiny margin. The Sooners actually led the Longhorns in the polls, but a week ago the computers had Texas ahead of Oklahoma.

After the Sooners’ 61-41 victory Saturday night against Oklahoma State — 14th in the latest standings — and the Longhorns’ 49-9 win over lowly Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night, the polls tightened but the computers flipped.

The strength of the Big 12 South led to this new BCS controversy, with the top three teams in the conference each finishing 11-1.

After beating Oklahoma and jumping to No. 1 in the polls, Texas (11-1) lost at Texas Tech 39-33 on Nov. 1. The Red Raiders (11-1), No. 2 at the time, then lost at Oklahoma 65-21 on Nov. 22.

The lopsided loss dropped Texas Tech way back. The Red Raiders were seventh in Sunday’s standings.

After beating Texas Tech, Stoops touted his team publicly. But later in the week, Stoops passed on a chance make another pitch to poll voters and said the politicking that’s become a part of the BCS was making more coaches favor a major college playoff.

“I don’t think anyone’s been comfortable with this,” said Stoops, who declined an opportunity to be interviewed on ESPN during the Texas-Texas A&M game. “All parts for the last couple or three weeks, it’s been aggravating more than anything.”

Texas coach Mack Brown, maybe sensing that his team was in danger of losing its spot, did his best to campaign for the ‘Horns without slighting the Sooners in several national television and radio interviews last week. Brown did a telephone interview with ABC’s announcers during the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State broadcast.

Brown has stopped short of supporting a playoff, saying only that the BCS is flawed.

Brown also lamented the Big 12’s tiebreaker system, which removed the head-to-head element. In the SEC, a similar three-way division tie would be settled by eliminating the lowest rated team in the BCS standings, then reverting back to head-to-head results between the remaining teams.

But ultimately, the Longhorns’ victory against Oklahoma couldn’t trump the Sooners’ surge over the past two months.

Oklahoma has scored at least 60 points in its past four games, and has won its past five games by at least 20 points each.

Though it’s not as if Texas has been struggling down the stretch. The Longhorns’ only loss came on a Graham Harrell-to-Michael Crabtree touchdown pass with 1 second left in the game. That was also the fourth of four consecutive games for the Longhorns against teams ranked in the top 11 of the AP poll.

Since losing to the Red Raiders, Texas has won three games by a combined score of 129-37.

Credit: Associated Press

Lane Kiffin has reportedly been picked to replace Phillip Fulmer as the head coach at Tennessee. The announcement will most likely come next week as the university doesn’t want anything to distract from “Phillip Fulmer Appreciation Day” this Saturday.

May favorite stat from this change over is this; Fulmer has been at UT for 35 years. Lane Kiffin is only 33-years-old. That’s right, Kiffin wasn’t born until 2 years after Fulmer got to Tennessee as a player.

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Kiffin was 5-15 in a year and a half with the Oakland Raiders before being fired earlier this season by team owner Al Davis.

Kiffin, the youngest head coach in NFL history when he was hired by the Raiders, earned $2 million per year in Oakland. His salary at Tennessee is expected to exceed that.

One of the big draws with Kiffin was the staff that he’ll potentially be able to put together. He’s talked with his father, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, about joining him at Tennessee. The elder Kiffin is considered one of the foremost defensive minds in football.

Kiffin will become only the fifth head coach at Tennessee in the last 45 years. He had stints as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at USC and shared play-calling duties with quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian during his two-year run as offensive coordinator with the Trojans in 2005 and 2006.

Credit: ESPN.com

The second to last week of November has always been reserved as the week for those games that hold a special place in the hearts of fans whose teams are involved: rivalry games. The games that bring out the hatred and passion in players and fans alike whether they’re at the stadium participating or at home watching, these games incite emotion no matter who’s playing or what the stakes are. Most of the time there are trophies to go along with the bragging rights, and plenty of times there are national title and bowl game implications. This week saw a healthy mix of both.

Bradford puts on another show stealer as Sooners run rampant on Harrell, Red Raiders

The anticipated showdown between Heisman hopefuls Graham Harrell of Texas Tech and Sam Bradford of Oklahoma turned into a showcase for the Sooners as a team and a night where the Red Raiders may have lost everything.

Bradford threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns on 14/19 passing having to do relatively little to ensure a Sooner victory.

Bradford was aided on offense by the two-man running attack of Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray who combined for 233 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, ensuring that the Sooners’ offensive effectiveness was not on the shoulders of Bradford alone.

Murray rushed for 125 yards on 18 carries scoring twice, both on one-yard runs, in the first half.

Brown would rush for 103 yards on 21 carries scoring three times on carries of 3, 4, and 2 yards respectively.

The Sooner defense was really the group deserving of the most praise on this night as the Sooners’ offensive explosion was half of the hype for this game; the Sooner defense prevented the other half from ever getting a foot in the door of this game: the Texas Tech offense.

The Sooners forced three Tech turnovers, scoring 21 points off of those; they also forced Tech to go 1/11 on third down and 3/6 on fourth down scoring 14 points off of those three missed fourth downs.

More importantly, the Sooner defense kept Graham Harrell off his game sacking him three times (he had been sacked only five times the whole season before this game), forcing him to throw an interception, and both Tech turnovers via fumble came off of passes from Harrell that were fumbled away by the receivers who caught the throws.

Despite all of this, Harrell still threw for 361 yards on 33/55 and three touchdowns.

However, the turnovers and missed fourth downs and poor tackling throughout the night became crushing blow after crushing blow that Tech crumbled under quickly and the proverbial avalanche didn’t stop until the time read all zeros after sixty minutes of play.

Buckeyes win another against the team from up North

This one was exactly what everyone though it would be.

The Buckeyes’ fifth straight win over the Wolverines (a rivalry record) was definitely the easiest of the five and probably the easiest win for the Buckeyes in this series since the famous 1968 game that saw Woody Hayes go for two with a five touchdown lead.

Beanie Wells was a big reason that the game wasn’t close as his first quarter 59-yard touchdown run set the pace for the rest of the day. The Buckeyes would rush for 232 yards as a team with 134 coming from Wells.

Buckeye running back Daniel Herron picked up the slack left by Wells, who didn’t play a lot of the second half, by rushing for two second half touchdowns, one from 49 that blew the game wide open and again from two yards.

Terrell Pryor was only able to dazzle through the air in his first outing against the Wolverines as he was sacked a number of times and did not run the ball very much. However he went 5/13 through the air for 120 yards and two touchdowns to go with one interception; a little went a long way for Pryor on this day. Pryor’s two touchdown passes were 53 and eight yards respectively combining for more than half of Pryor’s yards through the air.

The Wolverines’ only score came on a Brandon Minor one-yard plunge on fourth and goal from the one after three rushes from Minor failed to net the necessary yard. Minor set up the touchdown with a 32-yard run. He finished with 67 yards on 14 carries.

Utes clinch Mountain West, eligibility for BCS bowl game with win over BYU

The Utes had control of this one for the majority of the game and were able to finish it when it came time to do so.

With the 48-24 win, their first against BYU since 2005, the Utes completed a perfect 12-0 season and won the Mountain West conference, both firsts since 2004. And that year they went to a BCS bowl game trashing Pittsburgh in that year’s Fiesta Bowl. This year, Arizona could be their BCS destination as well.

Brian Johnson played the game of his life going 30/36 for 303 yards and four touchdowns, two of those coming in the fourth quarter to help seal the win. Johnson would add 28 yards rushing as well.

Three Ute receivers caught at least five passes in this one with Jereme Brooks catching five for 49 yards, Brent Casteel caught six for 60 yards and two touchdowns, and Freddie Brown caught eight for 97 yards.

David Reed would add four catches for 60 yards and a touchdown to cap the day of big Ute receiving performances.

The Cougars offense had to settle with an effective rushing day as running back Harvey Unga and quarterback Max Hall provided the bulk of the team’s 214 rushing yards; Harvey gained 116 and Hall gained 42. Unga scored two touchdowns while Hall would reach the end zone on an 11-yard run to make game 27-24 after three.

Despite the fact that BYU ended up with more total yards than the Utes, only controlled the ball for seven minutes less than Utah did, and the third and fourth down conversions were virtually identical, it was the Cougars six turnovers that did them in.

Cougar quarterback Max Hall became the biggest victim of the Utes’ defense’s big day as five of the six Cougar turnovers came on interceptions thrown by Hall making the beating he received at the hands of the TCU defense earlier in the year seem tame by comparison. Not only because this held the conference title in the balance, but because it was a rivalry game making it all the more the stakes all the more important and the results all the more painful.

White runs wilds on Louisville, breaks conference and NCAA records

While West Virginia has had their ups and downs this season, Pat White had stayed his usual dynamic self on the football field. The Mountaineers’ 35-21 win over Louisville in what has become a new rivalry with the battles between White and Brian Brohm was another example of White’s excellence.

White broke Donovan McNabb’s Big East record for most touchdowns responsible for as he threw for two and rushed for three on this day. White also broke the NCAA record for rushing yards by a quarterback as his career yardage on the ground stands at 4,292 at the end of this one.

After a first half that saw the Mountaineers miss a 21-yard field goal, have a touchdown overturned and on the next play have a touchdown rightly overturned, Pat White went berserk.

White ran for two of his three touchdowns in the third quarter and also connected with Dorrell Jalloh for a 28-yard touchdown turning a 7-7 halftime tie into a 28-14 Mountaineer lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

White would throw a 25-yard touchdown to Jock Sanders in the fourth quarter and ran for a 66-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

On the day, White went 6/11 for 122 yards through the air and ran for 200 yards on 21 carries.

Noel Devine contributed on the ground for the Mountaineers as well. Despite not getting into the end-zone (his “touchdown run” was overturned rightly at the end of the first half) Devine ran for 154 yards on thirteen carries.

Wolfpack eliminate North Carolina from ACC title chase

With a spot in the ACC title game on the line for the Tar Heels, NC State took it upon themselves to play spoiler in this in-state rivalry with a dominating 41-10 win.

A three touchdown third quarter, including two in a fourteen second span, sealed the game for the Wolfpack giving them a 31-10 lead after three. Jamelle Eugene ran in a touchdown from one yard, Andre Brown ran in a touchdown from two yards, and after North Carolina fumbled away the ensuing kickoff Owen Spencer caught a 21-yard touchdown for the Wolfpack.

Eugene would add another touchdown in the fourth while rushing for 56 yards on 12 carries for the game.

Brown would finish with 81 yards on 20 carries to go with his third quarter score.

For the Tar Heels, it was a day full of mistakes ending with six turnovers, three on fumbles and three interceptions from two quarterbacks. Starting QB T.J. Yates threw one interception and backup Cameron Sexton threw two.

The Wolfpack defense was also able to manhandle the Tar Heels forcing them to go only 3/11 on third downs, rush for only 56 yards as a team (to NC State’s 187 team rushing yards), but most importantly allow the Tar Heels to hold onto the ball for only 21:54 of the game. The Wolfpack controlled it for 38:06.

FINAL THOUGHTS
While the week was all about the rivalries being renewed, there were other events that made the weekend more entertaining then the slaughter after slaughter that the rivalry games gave the football world. The Wisconsin Badgers barely dodged their version of Appalachian St. beating Cal-Poly 36-35 in overtime thanks to a missed extra point in overtime and a missed extra point during regulation that helped send the game to overtime. Joe Paterno is going back to the Rose Bowl for the first time in fourteen seasons as his Nittany Lions left nothing to chance after losing out on a national title opportunity with a 49-18 spanking of Michigan St., a team that will have to settle on Orlando or Tampa as a bowl destination, but will likely be playing January 1 as well. Two rematches—Falcons/Panthers and Patriots/Dolphins—were the exact opposite of their earlier renditions with both being all out shootouts with Atlanta and New England getting revenge wins. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens both returned to old form with games that reminded people that they are still Randy Moss and Terrell Owens as both gained over 100 receiving yards in the same week for the first time in over a year. Plus, Adam Vinatieri added another notch into his “Mr. Clutch” belt with a 51-yard field goal at the final gun to lift the Colts past San Diego in a very interesting week beyond the main attraction. Oh and that Brett Favre guy helped the Jets give the Titans their first loss of the season in a rout from start to finish.

No. 1 vs. No. 2, a month before the BCS national championship game is played.

The Gators moved up to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday, a spot behind the top-ranked Crimson Tide.

In the USA Today coaches’ poll, which is a factor in the BCS standings, Oklahoma is No. 2, followed by Florida at No. 3 and Texas at No. 4.

If Florida can win its regular-season finale at Florida State, and Alabama can do the same against Auburn, the SEC will sport the first 1 vs. 2 matchup in a conference title game — with the winner likely off to another 1-2 game in Miami for the BCS championship.

Meanwhile, in the Big 12, Oklahoma moved up two spots to No. 3, barely slipping past Big 12 rival and No. 4 Texas after the Sooners’ resounding 65-21 victory against Texas Tech on Saturday night.

The Red Raiders tumbled five spots to No. 7 after their first loss of the season.

Southern California moved up one spot to No. 5 and Penn State got a bump to No. 6.

Alabama, the only remaining unbeaten team from the six BCS conferences, received 63 of a possible 65 first-place votes and 1,622 points from the AP’s media panel. Florida received the other first-place votes and 1,512 points.

The Tide and the Gators are the 17th set of conference rivals to hold the top two spots in the poll.

The last time it happened was the end of last season, when LSU and Georgia, also of the SEC, did it.

Ohio State and Michigan from the Big Ten were the last conference rivals to do it during the regular season. The Buckeyes and Wolverines were Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, for six weeks in 2006.

In the latest poll, Oklahoma (10-1) received 1,486 points and Texas (10-1) had 1,482, even though the Longhorns handed the Sooners their only loss of the season, 45-35 in October at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Texas’ only loss was to Texas Tech (10-1), 39-33 on a last-second touchdown in Lubbock.

Unbeaten Utah was No. 8 after finishing off its regular season and virtually locked up a Bowl Championship Series with a 48-24 victory over rival BYU.

No. 9 Boise State also stayed unbeaten, but will likely be shut out of the BCS because of Utah.

Ohio State rounds out the top 10.

No. 11 Oklahoma State gets another shot to turn the national championship race upside down Saturday. The Cowboys host Oklahoma. Oklahoma State is already 0-2 against the Big 12’s Big Three, having lost at Texas and Texas Tech.

No. 12 Missouri gives the Big 12 five of the first 12 teams in the poll. The Tigers have already locked up the North Division and will play the team that emerges as the champ of the South in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 6 in Kansas City, Mo.

Georgia is No. 13, followed by TCU and Ball State, the fourth major college football unbeaten team.

No. 16 Cincinnati is a victory away from locking up its first Big East title and BCS berth. The Bearcats host Syracuse on Saturday.

No. 17 Oregon State can also secure a BCS bid and the Pac-10’s Rose Bowl berth with a victory in its finale. The Beavers host No. 19 Oregon.

No. 18 Georgia Tech is still in the running for a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, but needs Virginia Tech to lose to Virginia for that to happen.

BYU and Boston College are tied at No. 20. BC can advance to the ACC title game by beating Maryland.

Michigan State slipped five spots to No. 22 after losing 49-18 to Penn State.

Florida State, which has bounced in and out of the poll much of the season, is back in at No. 23.

No. 24 Northwestern and No. 25 Mississippi are in the ranking for the first time this season.

Dropping out this week were North Carolina, Maryland, Miami, Pittsburgh and defending national champion LSU.

Credit: Associated Press

ESPN and the BCS announced the deal on Tuesday. It includes exclusive television, radio, digital, international and marketing rights for the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls. ESPN already had the rights to the Rose Bowl from an earlier agreement.

ESPN is currently available in 98 million American homes. The current BCS deal with Fox Sports expires after the 2010 games.

This means the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls, plus the National Championship Game, will be televised in prime time each January. The schedule has not been released. There will also be a BCS show on ESPN every Sunday to unveil the current rankings.

The games will also be carried on ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes Radio. Digital Media rights include operation of the official BCS Web site and the opportunity to simulcast the games online at ESPN360.com and on ESPN Mobile TV for mobile devices.

ESPN International will distribute and televise the BCS matchups around the world through networks and syndication, including on the re-branded ESPN America in Europe (known as NASN until Feb. 2009). In addition, ESPN has the right to televise BCS games on ESPN Deportes, the U.S. Spanish-language sports network.

“The BCS will thrive on ESPN,” ESPN president George Bodenheimer said. “Our slogan is ‘College Football Lives Here’ and the BCS will now top college football’s best regular-season and studio coverage, the sport’s top awards shows, Bowl Week and other national championships all carried on our family of networks. This is a proud day for ESPN and an exceptional day for this great sport and its passionate fans.”

“We are tremendously pleased to reach an agreement with ESPN and feel that the BCS games from 2011-14 will be in good hands,” said BCS commissioner John Swofford, who is also the commissioner of the ACC. “With the continued growth of technology and the depth of coverage that ESPN gives to the college football fan on all its platforms during the regular season, this postseason partnership is a natural fit.”

Credit: ESPN

For one of the few weeks of this football season, there wasn’t a truckload of upsets or close calls or shootouts. The week appeared to be tame by the standards of excitement and entertainment set so far this year. However, hidden below all of this was the reality that the teams most in the spotlight were consistent this week and refused to let the wave of unexpected events and miracle plays and scores enter into their outings. That and the Big-12 stopped its implosion for one week at least.

Graham Harrell runs wild again throwing six touchdowns to down Oklahoma St.

Another nationally televised primetime game, another big performance from Graham Harrell. By now you could say it’s clockwork, and you’d probably be right.

Harrell tore through another defense that had done its job up until a meeting with the Red Raiders, as Oklahoma St. would be the latest team to feeling Harrell’s wrath. Harrell threw 40/50 for 456 yards and six touchdowns making the Red Raiders’ 56-20 win over the Cowboys seem as easy as it was.

Michael Crabtree was one in a line of Red Raider receivers to have a big night, but his was the biggest. Crabtree caught eight passes for 89 yards with three of those catches being for touchdowns. His last two came in the third quarter putting the final nails in the Cowboys’ coffin.

The Red Raiders’ secondary should be credited with halting the breakthrough performance of Cowboy receiver Dez Bryant before it got started. Bryant’s statistics virtually matched Crabtree’s going into this game, as did he résumé for big plays. However Bryant would be another victim of the Cowboy’s beating only catching four passes, gaining 86 yards off of them, and not catching a touchdown in the game.

The extent of the beating that Tech dished out Saturday night was evident by Red Raider backup quarterback Taylor Potts coming in for a drive and going 5/5 for 60 yards on the drive, which ended in Potts hooking up with Shannon Woods for a 16-yard touchdown with 2:31 to play.

Sam Bradford scores five in dominating win over Aggies

Sam Bradford being responsible for five touchdowns in a game has been something almost expected this season as opposed to being a fantastic game.

Bradford was responsible for five touchdowns—four passing, one rushing this time—for the fifth time this season as Oklahoma blasted Texas A&M away 66-28. Bradford ended the day 22/33 passing for 320 yards to go with his scoring passes. Bradford ran for a 15-yard touchdown to start the game’s scoring.

Bradford’s touchdown passes went to DeMarco Murray (14-0 Sooners), Matt Clapp (28-0 Sooners), Ryan Broyles (45-14 Sooners), and Juaquin Iglesias (59-21 Sooners).

Bradford’s big day overshadowed the big day of Sooner running back Chris Brown. Brown helped keep the Sooner offensive assault on the relentless side by rushing for 117 and three touchdowns. Brown scored a touchdown in each of the first three quarters of the game, his scores coming from 22, 5, and 28 yards.

DeMarco Murray had a dual-duty big day offensively rushing for 123 yards on seven attempts to go with his 63 yards receiving on seven catches, a total of 186 yards on fourteen touches (an average of around 13.3 yards a touch).

Wilson, Coffee lead Crimson Tide to overtime win in coach Sabin’s Baton Rouge return

Despite the top-ranked Crimson Tide’s defense getting the job done when it needed to, Alabama’s overtime win over LSU this past weekend was a three-man show. Those three were quarterback John Parker Wilson, running back Glen Coffee, and receiver Julio Jones.

Wilson himself scored the first and last scores of the game, both on quarterback sneaks; the first put the Tide up 7-0 early and the final was the game-winner in overtime to lift the Tide from a potential upset loss to a win that propels them into the SEC Championship game. Wilson ended the game with 215 yards passing on only 15/31 and no touchdown throws. It was an off day for Wilson’s arm, but his legs provided the necessary boost for his team.

The win clinched the SEC West for Alabama and made the proverbial heavyweight title fight against Florida official for the Georgia Dome championship weekend.

Jones rushed for 126 yards on 26 carries keeping Alabama in a game where LSU had ’Bama right where they wanted them most of the way. Jones’ three-yard touchdown broke the game’s halftime tie giving ’Bama a 21-14 lead and was their final score of regulation.

Jones was the big playmaker at receiver for the Tide catching seven of Parker’s fifteen completed passes for 128 of Parker’s 215 yards through the air.

Defense and special teams told the tale of this game as a combined seven turnovers (3 for The Tide, 4 for LSU) plagued both offenses from ever getting into the groove.

Rashad Johnson returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown to tie the game 14-14 at halftime for Alabama as well as intercepting a pass in overtime to be the unsung hero of this game for the Tide.

LSU would get a break as ’Bama was poised to win the game in regulation with a short field-goal, but that kick would be blocked mainly because of how low it was kicked, and the game went to overtime as a result.

Giants win again as they and Eagles shoot it out in wild Sunday night meeting

As two teams who rarely score a lot of points against each other, the fact that they put 67 points on the board Sunday night was more impressive than the Giants’ 36-31 win.

As is the case in Eagles/Giants games, the two quarterbacks were on display—this time more for good than bad.

Donovan McNabb went 17/36 for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Also, McNabb lead the Eagles in rushing for the game with 35 yards on the ground.

Eli Manning fared better by getting the W, but didn’t quite match up statistically going 17/31 for 191 yards and two scores.

The first half saw the majority of the game’s scoring as the teams combined for 37 points. Manning would throw both of his scores in the first half to go along with two John Carney field goals for the Giants. Manning threw one of his touchdowns with the other Eagle first half scores coming on a Desean Jackson touchdown run and a David Akers field goal as time expired in the half.

McNabb threw touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters with Hank Baskett and Kevin Curtis respectively making the grabs.

On this night it was Brandon Jacobs who was the real hero for New York. Jacobs scored both of the Giants’ second half touchdowns while rushing 126 yards on 22 carries for the game.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This past week seemed to be the eye of the usual November storm. While Penn St. did go down, there were no other big upsets during the week, as even Utah was able to escape against TCU. This week was one where the traditional players strutted their stuff and the ones just making their way into the show kept things going; Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, the New England Patriots, the Tennessee Titans, all of these teams showed this week why they are in the positions they are in with performances that ranged from dominating to valiant. Most had no trouble vanquishing their foes while others had to tough it out and did. Such is the setting for the final weeks of the college football season and this final seven weeks of the NFL season: a mix of raw talent and the mental capacity to go where others have fallen. Some will, most won’t and in the end we should see the same kind of crazy end to the calendar year that the sport of football provides year in and year out.

Penn State’s loss to Iowa on Saturday left the Crimson Tide and Red Raiders as the only unbeaten teams in the BCS conferences, making it easy to sort out the all-important first two places in the BCS standings this week.

First-place Alabama (.981 average) was No. 1 in both the Harris and USA Today coaches’ polls. Second-place Texas Tech (.972) was a solid second in both polls and first in the computer rankings. The computers have Alabama No. 2.

Texas (.879) was third, followed closely by Florida (.864) and Oklahoma (.844).

Sixth-place Southern California (.789) still needs a lot of help to reach the BCS national championship game on Jan. 8 in Miami. Penn State (.683) dropped all the way from third to eighth behind unbeaten Utah (.769).

Alabama and Texas Tech are still on course to meet in the BCS national title game if they stay unbeaten, though the Crimson Tide knows now that its road will go through Atlanta.

The Tide clinched the SEC West and a spot in the league title game against Florida in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 6. The game could turn into a de-facto national semifinal, with the winner earning a spot in the championship game.

The computer rankings are helping Texas stay at the top of the one-loss pack. The Longhorns are fourth in the Harris poll, close behind Florida, and fifth in the coaches’ poll, not far behind both Florida and Oklahoma, which Texas beat last month.

But the computer ratings prefer Texas and Utah over both Florida and Oklahoma.

In two weeks, Oklahoma hosts Texas Tech in the latest Big 12 game with huge national title implications.

If the Sooners win, they’ll create a three-way tie for first in the Big 12 South. If the Sooners, Longhorns and Red Raiders finish deadlocked, the tiebreaker to determine who plays in the Big 12 championship game in Kansas City on Dec. 6 is best BCS average.

Utah is positioned for its second BCS bid in five seasons if it can stay unbeaten. The Utes from the Mountain West Conference need to finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings to earn an automatic bid to one of the five major bowls.

Unbeaten Boise State from the Western Athletic Conference is in ninth place and also trying to reach the BCS for the second time. The Broncos not only need to stay unbeaten, they need to pass Utah in the BCS standings to get an automatic bid.

Credit: Associated Press