Week 11 Postlude

It was an exciting, if largely formulaic weekend where, once again, some the most exciting things that happened were the things that almost happened, but didn't. No offense to Miami or Houston, but they have been on the periphery the last couple of weeks, so their losses were not as earth-shaking as they had been earlier in the season. Yes, they were big upsets and very surprising, but they were snowed under by comparison to some other results. USC on the other hand.... well, we'll get to that soon.

And I appreciate Purdue and Illinois immediately making a liar out of me by losing games to put themselves out of bowl eligibility. Thanks a lot... jerks.

TCU over Utah

There's not much that I can really add to the accolades already being heaped on the Horned Frogs. That was domination with a capital Y. They are decidedly in the national-title hunt right now, though they need some serious help from Texas A&M or whoever the heck will win the Big XII North. The SEC is not entirely out of the woods either, but they still have two horses in the race with some relatively light work ahead for both of them.

By the way, are you familiar with the sparkly paint that, for some reason, people used to put all over their speedboats? Can you think of why I might be bringing this up?

Cincinnati over West Virginia

The funny thing about the current situation is that Cincinnati is actually in a BCS conference and they are not as sexy as TCU. But I have my concerns about Cincinnati right now, and none of them revolve around voting. Honestly, even in the first half, West Virginia did not look like they wanted to be playing in that game. On top of that, Noel Devine was gimpy. And Cincinnati still only squeaked out a win. The Bearcats get a week off to rest and refresh themselves, then they have a pretty tough end to their season. Illinois is still dangerous (though usually only to themselves) and Pittsburgh is looming. It does not get any easier in the Queen City.

Boise State over Idaho

Yes, I know it was a stupid pick, but I shot my mouth off about an undefeated team going down, so I had to pick somebody. If my past results are any indication, I'd guess that I was a week early on my prediction. Not necessarily for Boise State, but for somebody.

Ohio State over Iowa

Um.... Ohio State won that game, didn't they? I mean, they beat Iowa, right? And clinched a Rose Bowl berth in the process, right? So why is everyone so down on Ohio State? No, they aren't national title material right now, but Jim Tressel managed to shepherd Ohio State to a Big Ten title with a team that seemed to have a different starting offensive line every week, lost both of its first two tailbacks to injuries during the year, and was working with several new defensive starters that nobody had ever heard of prior to this year. And he managed to do this while teaching his sophomore quarterback how to become a better pocket passer, while covering for the fact that he has an injured ankle, which meant that he could throw the ball pretty well when he couldn't be the running quarterback everyone else wants him to be. Meanwhile, Ohio State won a game in which almost everything that could go wrong in the fourth quarter did go wrong in the fourth quarter. I've seen a lot of teams fold up when momentum suddenly swings the other way; Ohio State was resilient enough to bounce back when all the breaks were going against them, and they didn't make a bad situation worse by trying to do too much. Call it boring, call it conservative, but call Ohio State the 2009 Big Ten champions.

With that said, Kyle Vandenberg was awesome in that game. If not for all the drops by his receivers, Iowa most definitely could have won this game. In fact, even with all the drops, Iowa still had a chance to win this game. I think having a week to get mentally adjusted to being the starter paid a lot of dividends for the freshman. He has a cannon for an arm, and it is a very accurate cannon. If he can develop some touch on his passes, and if Iowa can get such consistently good line play for the next few years, he will make quite a legend for himself.

Stanford over USC

Well color me surprised, I did not see that coming. I suppose I might have considered changing my pick in this game had I known earlier that Damian Williams was out, but I rather doubt it. And even if I did, I would not have guessed such an unholy beatdown. Stanford played classic power football and it worked better than anyone could have expected. USC is losing steam this season, which is not good for a team that relies so much on emotion. Emotion can be good when you are fired up. Emotion-driven teams are in big trouble when they get frustrated.

By the way, can anyone explain the current situation in the Pac-10? I know Oregon controls their own destiny, but Stanford, Arizona, and Oregon State are still playing Duck Hunt, with Arizona and Oregon State awaiting their turn with the plastic pistol. If someone can put together a flow chart, I'd appreciate it. It's going to be a fun, if confusing, next couple of weeks out on the Left Coast.

Oregon over Arizona State

In retrospect, maybe Dennis Erickson should have stayed at Idaho.

Pittsburgh over Notre Dame

I've got nothing to add to this game that hasn't already been said. Notre Dame has been tantalizingly close in several big games, yet they just keep losing. Weis is right on the edge of unemployment, with a couple of not-so-gimme games coming up. I'm guessing that every Notre Dame fan out there is ready to send him packing, and I can't blame them right now. If he loses another game, then I won't protest if he gets canned. But if he wins out, I think he has earned the right to give it one more year. Meanwhile, it seems that Dave Wannstedt is finally, finally, finally living up to the promise everyone saw in him for so many years; I'm happy for the guy. But now is not the time for happy thoughts, because he's still got the most important part of the season coming up, and he hasn't won diddly yet.