Rivalry week in college football had a profound
effect on the BCS National Championship Game contenders. For openers,
three teams-Missouri, West Virginia and Hawaii-did it right by winning
super important games.
No. 3-ranked Missouri (11-1) stopped No.
2-ranked Kansas' (11-1) unbeaten streak at 11 by beating the Jayhawks
36-28 in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate.
Missouri led at the half 14-0 and let Kansas back into the game by
giving up 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter, thinking the game was really
over.
No matter, I have carped all season long about the weak
schedule Kansas played to run up its 11 wins and now am vindicated when
they showed poorly against first-class competition.
Kansas
entered the game rated 101st in strength of schedule among 119 Division
1A schools and left the game rated 90th after playing No. 3-ranked
Missouri. The Jayhawks, who are BCS bowl bound somewhere, simply got
found out.
The Missouri Tigers are now the Big 12 North champs
and headed for a showdown with No. 10-ranked South champs Oklahoma for
the Big 12 title. Missouri's only loss this year was to Oklahoma in an
away game, 41-31, after Missouri allowed the Sooners 18 straight 4th
quarter points.
Missouri has not won a Big 12 conference title in
38 years. Should they win they will undoubtedly play in the BCS
National Championship Game.
Missouri's junior quarterback Chase
Daniel, whose hero is legendary Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre
(pronounced Farve), is everything he is cracked up to be and then some.
Daniel
was unstoppable against Kansas, going 40 for 49 for 361 yards with 3
touchdowns and no interceptions and now has 4,029 total yards, breaking
his own school record.
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel has
insiders here in Washington buzzing as Pinkel was part of Don James'
successful Husky teams. Pinkel was the Receivers Coach from 1979 to
1983 and the Offensive Coordinator from 1984 to 1990. Pinkel coached
many famous Washington players, including Chris Chandler, Mark Brunell,
Billy Joe Hobert, Lincoln Kennedy, Greg Lewis, Hugh Millen, Steve
Pelleur, Kevin Gogan and Ed Cunningham.
Don James is the heart
and soul of Washington football, a two-time National Coach of the Year
who won a national championship in 1991, went to 6 Rose Bowls, won an
Orange Bowl title, and was 10-5 in 15 bowl appearances in 18 years as
head coach. James is the Dawgfather and has the ring to kiss from the
1991 national championship to prove it.
No. 4-ranked West
Virginia (10-1) took care of business by coming down like a ton of
bricks on No. 20-ranked Connecticut (9-3), 66-21, scoring 7 touchdowns
on the Connecticut Huskies.
No. 14-ranked Hawaii, the only
Division 1A team left unbeaten at 11-0, outlasted No. 17-ranked Boise
State (10-2), 39-27, to capture the Mountain West title with a perfect
8-0 record.
I have also carped all season long about Hawaii's
cupcake schedule and now have seen that the Boise State Broncos, who
played another cupcake schedule, are not that good either. I watched a
good part of the Hawaii-Boise State match-up and think the Warrior's
senior quarterback Colt Brennan could play on much better 1A teams.
Four other Top 25 teams lost when they had an opportunity to win and advance.
No.
1-ranked LSU (10-2) blew it big time by letting Arkansas (8-4) beat
them 50-48 in overtime. So much for the Tigers national championship
game hopes.
No. 7-ranked Arizona State (9-2) was slapped around by No. 11-ranked USC (9-2), 44-24.
No.
9-ranked Oregon (8-3) was shut out by UCLA (6-5), 16-0, and is now
folding faster than a cheap K-Mart deck chair since the Ducks lost
their superstar quarterback and offensive leader Dennis Dixon with a
torn ACL.
No. 13-ranked Texas (9-3) was upended by Texas A&M (7-5), 38-30, in its rivalry.
Fourteen
teams did exactly what they were expected to do: win against their
in-state rival without having any measurable affect on the BCS title
game:
No. 6-ranked Georgia (10-2) put down Georgia Tech (7-5),
31-17, to gain bragging rights but will not play for the SEC
championship. Georgia tied Tennessee for the West Conference title at
6-2 but lost to Tennessee 35-14 so Tennessee advances to the SEC title
game against LSU.
No. 8-ranked Virginia Tech (10-2) outscored No. 16-ranked Virginia (9-3) 10-0 in the last quarter to erase the Cavaliers, 33-21.
No.
10-ranked Oklahoma (10-2) slammed Oklahoma State 49-17 to win the Big
12 South title at 6-2 and will face Missouri in the Big 12 title game.
No. 12-ranked Florida (9-3) bombed Florida State (7-5), 45-12.
No. 21-ranked Clemson (9-3) barely nipped South Carolina (6-6) 23-21.
No.
23-ranked Brigham Young (9-2) was behind 3-0 at the half but rebounded
to beat Utah (8-4), 17-10, and clinch the Mountain West championship
with a perfect 7-0 record.
No. 25-ranked Auburn (8-4) stung
Alabama (6-6), 17-10. The Crimson Tide's $4 million coach, Nick Saban,
was wondering what happened in his first year debut as the highest paid
coach in college football. Alabama fans know what happened, and they
are not happy campers.
Bowling Green (8-4) whipped Toledo 37-10.
Mississippi State (7-5) beat Mississippi by a field goal, 17-14.
Florida Atlantic (6-5) outran Florida International (0-11), 55-23.
Louisiana-Monroe (6-6) beat Louisiana-Lafayette 17-11.
Ohio (6-6) outlasted Miami of Ohio 38-29.
Washington State (5-7) outscored Washington 14-7 in the last quarter to beat the Huskies 42-35.
North Carolina (4-8) won in overtime against Duke (1-11), 20-14.
By
Sunday night (11-25-07) the new BCS Standings had Missouri 1st, West
Virginia 2nd, Ohio State 3rd, Georgia 4th, Kansas 5th and Virginia Tech
6th. Nothing else much matters. If you are wondering, Hawaii is 12th in
the BCS Standings. The regular seasons are over for Ohio State,
Georgia, Kansas and Virginia Tech.
If the BCS National
Championship were played today, Missouri and West Virginia would vie
for the title, but there is unfinished business. Missouri will have to
beat Oklahoma for the Big 12 title, and West Virginia will have to beat
Pittsburgh or all bets are off.
Hawaii must remain 12th in the
BCS Standings and beat Washington to qualify for 1 of the 5 BCS bowl
games. The unbeaten Warriors can forget about playing in the national
championship game until they start playing much better competition.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
Ed
Bagley's Blog Publishes Original Articles with Analysis and Commentary
on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and
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Read my articles on "How to
Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The
Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With
Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College
Football Season.
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