With everything on the line for a shot at the BCS National Championship, 3 of the top 4 college teams in the nation (Florida, Texas and Oklahoma) made their case in action from Week 14 of College Football.
The two big questions were: 1) Would Florida win big and protect its No. 4 BCS ranking? and 2) Would a resounding win by No. 3-ranked Oklahoma lift the Sooners over No. 2-ranked Texas and move them to a Big 12 Championship game with Missouri?
Texas, which had beaten Oklahoma 45-35 earlier in the season at a neutral site, outscored the unranked 4-8 Texas A&M Aggies 4-8 at home to set the table. Undefeated Alabama then recorded its 12th straight home win by defeating unranked Auburn 36-0 to retain its No. 1 seed and possible date in the National Championship game. Florida did the same on the road by defeating No. 23 (per AP) Florida 45-15.
Finally, it was showtime on Saturday night and Oklahoma hit the road and acted on cue, defeating No. 11-ranked Oklahoma State 61-41. Last week, Oklahoma defeated then No. 2 Texas Tech 65-21. Saturday’s win over his in-state rival was his fourth consecutive 60+ point win. The Sooners’ Sam Bradford completed 30 of 44 passes for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns and then added another touchdown on a 1-yard run.
Oklahoma needed to make up a minuscule eight-thousandth of a point to Texas in the BCS standings to earn a spot against Missouri. When the new BCS standings were released Sunday afternoon, Oklahoma was ecstatic, overtaking Texas to claim the No. 2 spot with No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Florida.
And now begins the final drama of Week 15. No. 1 Alabama travels to Gainesville to face No. 2 Florida Gators for the SEC Championship (AP Top 25 Poll rankings), and No. 19 Missouri travels to Norman to challenge No. 4 Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship.
The Oklahoma-Missouri matchup took a lot of damage as Missouri suffered a pathetic loss to unranked Kansas, 40-37, over the weekend, leaving the Tigers with a 9-3 record and looking really pitiful next to Texas. 11-1 of the South Division. 11-1 Texas Tech and 9-3 Oklahoma State, all top teams that wanted to be in the Big 12 matchup.
If Florida beats Alabama and Oklahoma beats Missouri, as most pundits believe it will, then Florida would face Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship Game. If Alabama beats Florida and Oklahoma beats Missouri, then it would be Alabama and Oklahoma. If Florida or Alabama wins and Missouri beats Oklahoma, then Texas would face Florida or Alabama.
The regular season is now over for AP No. 3 Texas, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Utah, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 14 TCU, No. 19 Brigham Young (BYU), No. 20 Northwestern and No. 21 State of Michigan. All of these teams will play in a bowl game somewhere.
Other AP Top 25 teams to win this weekend included No. 5 Southern California at home over Notre Dame 38-3, No. 7 Texas Tech at home over Baylor 35-28, No. 9 Boise State at home over Fresno State 61-10, No. 15 Ball State at home over Western Michigan 45-22, and No. 16 Cincinnati at home over Syracuse 30-10.
No. 18 Georgia Tech on the road defeating its in-state rival No. 13 Georgia 45-42 in a barn burn, No. 19 Oregon on the road over No. 17 Oregon State, 65-38, taking out the Beavers from a possible Rose Bowl appearance, No. 20 Boston College at home over Maryland 28-21, and No. 25 Mississippi at home excluding in-state rival Mississippi State, 45-0.
Other games that caught my eye were Pittsburgh beating West Virginia 19-15 to give the Panthers their eighth win of the season, Buffalo unnecessarily losing to Kent State 24-21, Eastern Michigan (3-9) beating Central Michigan (8-4), 56-52 in a dismal display of defense, Arkansas outscoring LSU 31-30, Rice working hard to get past Houston 56-42 in another embarrassing display of poor defense on both sides, and 6-6 Florida Atlantic beating Florida International 4-7 in overtime, 57-50, in a game where no defense was played.
Other big games this Saturday include No. 18 Boston College traveling to Virginia Tech unranked with the Atlantic Coast winner earning the title as an automatic bid for a BCS game. No. 8 Penn State, the Big Ten champion, appears headed to the BCS Rose Bowl.
East Carolina and Tulsa will square off for the Conference USA title. Undefeated No. 12 Ball State (12-0) faces Buffalo for the Mid-American Championship. No. 7 Utah won the Mountain West Championship and will likely earn a BCS bowl spot. No. 5 Southern Cal needs to beat UCLA to clinch a Pac 10 title and an automatic BCS bowl bid for the seventh straight year.
Elsewhere, Arkansas State and Troy battle for the Sun Belt title, and unbeaten No. 9 Boise State (12-0) has already won the Western Athletic Championship but likely won’t get a BCS bowl offer.
Following Saturday’s action, bowl officials will move like a hot knife through butter to determine bowl deals and set the stage for Bowl Mania over the holidays to cap this year’s college football season. year.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley