By Jeremy Sickel
Sweet
1. Houston Cougars – As the big boys fall, the Cougars rise. It is looking very much like they will get a BCS Bowl bid assuming they continue to take care of business as they should. The extra game with their conference championship should give them enough boost to get past most of the big conference 1-loss teams when all is said and done.
2. Arkansas – The Razorbacks weren’t supposed to be here, especially after star running back Knile Davis went down with an injury earlier in the year, but they have shown they belong by winning big against the cupcakes on their schedule and chugging through a very tough SEC schedule. They control their own destiny in the National Title discussion and that all begins Friday against #1 LSU.
3. USC – Matt Barkley is the real deal, and if USC wasn’t banned from postseason play this year they would be planted squarely in the BCS discussion. They are the hottest team in the Pac-10 right now and Barkley is building up steam for his Heisman run and a possible high pick in next year’s NFL draft.
4. LSU – There hasn’t been a more dominant team in college football this year and their closest game was a defensive struggle at Alabama. If they stay the course they will have a rematch with the Crimson Tide in the National Championship game, but they have tough games ahead of them starting with Arkansas this Friday, and Georgia in the SEC championship game.
5. Fans – We haven’t witnessed a weekend full of upsets like this before, and other than LSU, there are tons of teams that deserve the BCS chatter. What more could we ask for as fans than to see this much great football?
Sour
1. Oklahoma State – I hate to come off as insensitive after the tragic deja-vu moment that the University experienced this past week, but it was impossible for them to go out and lose to the Cyclones yesterday and they did it. Not acceptable!
2. Oklahoma – Not a very good weekend for football in the Sooner State. We all know that Baylor is a tough team led by RG3, but Oklahoma was playing well and needed this win heading into a bye week and a colossal matchup with in-state rival Oklahoma State. Even with both teams losing, the Big 12 Conference’s BCS automatic berth is still at stake so the Sooners need to regroup quickly.
3. Florida – Have to keep the Gators on this list. They did win, but they gave up 32 points to Furman in Gainesville. Furman, Really?
4. Illinois – The Fighting Illini have done it. They have completed my “Florida Part Deux” prediction by losing their 5th straight game after starting the season 6-0. I hate to give myself credit, but forecasting a 5-game slide is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.
5. Clemson – I wanted to put Oregon here, but the Ducks did put up a fight against a good team in USC. Clemson has struggled lately and it all culminated with a very bad loss at NC State. The Tigers do have a great win, handing Virginia Tech their only loss on the year, but they are in trouble of finishing a promising season on a 2-game slide with a game at South Carolina next week before possibly facing the Hokies again in the ACC Championship game, this time with a BCS bowl bid on the line.
Contact Jeremy at jeremy@popflyboys.com and follow him on Twitter @kcpopflyboy
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