College Football Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous college football thoughts and observations.

Most people will focus on Auburn freshman kicker Wes Byrum's kick(s) in the final seconds to beat Florida as the key moment in the Auburn victory over Florida. I think the key moment of the game was the running into the punter penalty on Auburn's first drive. Florida had stuffed Auburn's offense and would have had both great field position and great momentum to start the game. Instead Auburn was able to turn that running into the punter penalty into a drive that made it 7-0 and changed the complexion of the game completely... Last week people were wondering what was going to happen when the season ended with 3 or 4 unbeaten teams. This week we don't have to wonder that anymore... I'd hate to be Washington State next week. My guess is that Oregon takes out all their frustration for losing yesterday on the Cougars... Colorado coach Dan Hawkins was telling his players all week that they were going to beat Oklahoma. He could have saved me (and many other people) a lot of money if he told me too... It didn't take too long for the Big East to start looking shaky. First Louisville loses to Syracuse, then West Virginia loses to Southern Florida and now Rutgers loses to a Maryland team that is considered to be a lower tier ACC team. The Big East could easily be won by either the University of Southern Florida or Cincinnati. Who could have seen that coming?... Notre Dame and Clemson should both make recruiting a top kicker their highest priority... With Texas and Oklahoma both losing - that makes Kansas and the vastly underrated Missouri the only two undefeated teams in the Big 12... Six of the teams ranked above #12 Boston College in the AP Top 25 poll lost. That should put the 5-0 Eagles in the top 8 in most rankings. Within two weeks they should be in the top 5. I love Boston College but this is all the evidence people should need that the poll system doesn't work. Boston College is not among the top 5 teams in the country yet if they go undefeated they could get into the Championship game. It is not beyond the realm of possibility. Also if Boston College does go undefeated and is not invited to the Championship game then just as big a stink could be made. If the goal of the system is to crown the true champion then it clearly doesn't work. If the goal of the system is to generate as much controversy as possible then I guess its working just fine... Yale is going to run all over Harvard when they play the big game... Ohio State handled Washington much easier than USC did. If LSU didn't have so many first half problems against Tulane then this could have been the week USC was knocked from the top spot... I'm old enough to remember when Syracuse used to play close games but lose to the University of Miami (FL). Now they are playing close games but losing to the University of Miami (OH). The alumni must be pumped...