NCAA College Football: Week Nine Review

Trojan Woes:

The Southern California stranglehold on the PAC-10 is over. USC are nowhere near as good as we thought they were. I might have been sipping at the Kool Aid and wearing the rose-coloured glasses (how sadly ironic!!), but they are right off now. The Trojans were hopelessly outclassed by a VERY good Oregon Ducks team. If you ask me, the Ducks are right back in the mix for a National Championship berth. I'd have that at 4 or 5 in my BCS Rankings, if I were the one issuing said rankings. Matt Barkley played pretty well for a team that was basically bad. The defense will get another year older and another year wiser. The Trojans will be back, but it was a Quack Attack in Eugene tonight. The Trojans problems in Oregon continue. They haven't won in that state since 2005.

BCS Puzzlers:

Speaking of BCS Rankings, I'd also have Texas jump ahead of Alabama. The Tide were idle this week and Texas just put a nice Texas-sized smack down on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater, OK. Colt McCoy seems to be back on track, after a shaky effort two weeks prior in the Red River Rivarly game vs. Oklahoma in Dallas. Regardless of where they are placed now, you figure that Texas will win the Big 12 and slip into the National Championship Game in Pasadena as the #2 ranked team, following either Florida or Alabama losing in the SEC title game.

One team who needs to drop a few positions is Iowa. Sure, they're undefeated at the moment, but the fact of the matter is that they are not a consistent football team. They fall behind and have to rely on rallies to get them back into the lead. They trailed Indiana by 24 points at one stage today and Ricky Stanzi threw 5 INTs in the game. He was horrible and for the most part, Iowa were outplayed by a not-very-good Indiana team. Those are not good stats for a team who have National Championship Game aspirations. We'll learn a lot about the Hawkeyes before the season is out. Their game Ohio State will be mighty interesting!!

On the rise: the TCU Horned Frogs. They do nothing but keep winning and although the Mountain West isn't a BCS conference, there are more good teams in there than in some BCS conferences (Hello, Big Ten). They'll be in a battle royale with the Boise State Broncos for the at-large BCS bowl game berth this January, and as long as the Broncos keep riding in on the coat tails of their first up victory vs. Oregon, we're assured at least some sort of controversy when the final BCS standings are released in early December. And we'll say it again, as we say it every single year, that there should be a playoff system in college football - and we'll also say that this is no way to decide a national championship at this level. And nothing will happen for another year.

Halloween SEC Showdown:

Well, the old Halloween Saturday showdown in Jacksonville between the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs has been won and done for another year. It's been an interesting series these past few years. There was the 'Dawgs' famous rushing the field after a TD two years ago. Apparently that got up the nose of Urban Meyer and the Gators, because last year, late in the midst of a Gator 49-10 rout of Georgia (the worst loss in the history of Georgia under Mark Richt) because he called two TDs late during that game to preserve the clock and try to score some more points. So you KNEW something had to go down this year. It happened early, with Georgia running out in black helmets and pants for the first time ever.

It was supposed to be a spark. Mark Richt thought that maybe it was a way to get his team going. There were some who thought that the Bulldogs had some sort of a shot after we all saw a sloppy Florida effort over the last couple of weeks. The showdown became a letdown. There's a stat line that shows where the 'Dawgs have lost 16 of the last 19 against Florida. Make that 17 of the last 20. The Bulldogs were horribly out-matched today, losing to Tebow and the Gators 41-17. Not quite as bad as last year, but pretty bad just the same. Hasn't been a good year for Georgia. Imagine what Georgia Tech might do to these guys?

Oh, and just for something different, because we haven't had a Gator record being broken in...well, probably at least a week, Tim Tebow passed Herschel Walker for the lead all-time with his 50th rushing TD. Add into that a completion percent of over 65%, more than 2000 yards rushing and you've got a sure-fire first round College Football Hall of Fame candidate. No doubt about it. The Gators roll on, can improve a little more, and can think about Alabama in the SEC Championship Game this time next month. 'Bama have LSU next Saturday. Can't wait for that!

Rolling Along Nicely:

Under the radar at #15 are the Houston Tigers out of Conference USA. You've heard me talk about these guys before. They beat highly-fancied Big 12 opponents Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. The Cowpokes were ranked #5 before that loss. Houston keep running up the wins, the scores and - hopefully, if the Heisman Trophy voters have any sense at all - ballot points for college football's most prestigious and important individual accolade. They won a barn burner vs. Southern Miss by 50-43, breaking a 43-43 tie with a last-minute TD drive.

Which brings me to...

Kitch's Player of the Week:

Sorry, Jeremiah Masoli (and a dozen other Oregon players), but none of you get the nod this week, despite a lights-out effort vs. USC. The winner...well, he wants this award more than he wants the Heisman Trophy does Houston's record-setting QB Case Keenum whose performance against Southern Miss went like this: 43/53 for 559 yards and 5 TDs. Throw in ten rushing yards and you've got a stand-out candidate for Kitch's Player of the Week.