Fourth and inches…(week of Nov. 29, 2008)

By Todd Erickson  |   Wednesday, November 26, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

College Football
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Just when the Mountain West Conference was gaining some serious cred, three of its head coaches are being replaced…New Mexico’s Rocky Long stepped down on his own, citing that he thought the Lobo program needed a new direction. Wyoming gave Joe Glenn the boot after six years and San Diego State dismissed Chuck Long after his third season.

There’s a long list of potential replacements rumored to be interested in the three openings, including John L. Smith, Steve Sarkisian, Terry Bowden, Dwayne Walker, Dennis Green, Glen Mason, Lane Kiffin, Steve Marriucci and Jaime Hill to name a few.

Anyone see BYU’s Max Hall down in Vegas this week? The junior QB set a school record for most turnovers in a game with six—five interceptions and one fumble—in the Cougars’ loss to Utah last weekend. Four of Hall’s turnovers were quickly converted into 28 points by the Utes.

And the award for biggest BCS whiner goes to? Right now, it’s a tie between USC’s Pete Carroll and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops. Both of their respective programs still have a shot at the national championship game, but they’ve been busy working the media, claiming that a playoff would be the sure cure for the equations being spit out by the BCS computers. In reality, not a peep would be uttered by either coach had the Trojans taken care of business against Oregon State and if Oklahoma lassoed the Longhorns in Dallas several weeks ago.

BCS busters still standing: Utah claimed the prize plum bowl for non-BCS teams with its victory over instate rival Brigham Young last weekend. Ball State wrapped up its regular season undefeated, but it still needs to get by Buffalo in the MAC title game in next week. Boise State will wrap up an undefeated regular season when it rolls over Fresno State on its puke-blue smurf turf this Saturday.

Heisman Thermometer: Reclaimed Heisman Hot: Sam Bradford, Oklahoma. Burnt Orange Hot: Colt McCoy, Texas. Hangin’ in there Hot: Tim Tebow, Florida. Substantially cooled off: Graham Harrell, Texas Tech.

Conference Power Meter: 1. Big XII. 2. SEC. 3. Big Ten. 4. MWC 5. Pac-10 6. ACC. 7. Big East. 8. C-USA. 9. WAC. 10. Sun Belt.

Top games this weekend and why:
West Virginia at Pittsburgh. Neither team has a shot at the Big East title—unless Syracuse upsets Cincy. Still, a win improves the bowl situation for either team.
Colorado at Nebraska. Border and conference rivals. Colorado needs a win to become bowl-eligible and Nebraska needs the win to get a better bowl invite.
No. 19 Oregon at No. 17 Oregon State. The Beavers can end a 44-year Rose Bowl drought with a win over the hated Ducks.
No. 18 Georgia Tech at No. 13 Georgia. Battle for state bragging rights and better bowl game invitations.
Kansas at No. l2 Missouri. Big XII Conference rivalry and Kansas is looking for payback from last year. The Tigers could get caught looking ahead to the Big XII title game next week against Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech.
South Carolina at Clemson. Bitter instate rivalry will be clawing and scratching each other to claim state bragging rights.
Houston at Rice. Battle for supremacy in Houston. And there’s something on the line with the C-USA as both are deadlocked in first place with 6-1 conference records.
Maryland at No. 20 Boston College. Both teams still looking to mix up the ACC race even more than they have already.
Auburn at No. 1 Alabama. Some call this the best rivalry in college football. We’ll find out this weekend.
**Co-Game of the Week** No. 2 Florida at No. 23 Florida State. This one’s got a lot of appeal just to see if the Gators can continue to roll over another opponent. The Seminoles’ defense is ranked No. 20 in the nation.
**Co-Game of the Week** No. 3 Oklahoma at No. 11 Oklahoma State. A shot at the Big XII title game and the national championship is at stake for the Sooners. Oh yeah, and state bragging rights.

Upset Specials: I choked last week, going 0 for 3. This week we’ll live dangerously again with Pitt over West Virginia, Florida State over Florida, and Oklahoma State over Oklahoma.

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About Todd Erickson

Todd Erickson is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and pens the RealFootball365 Top 25 college football power rankings and "Fourth and inches..." weekly columns from August thru January. He is currently working on the second edition of Road to the Rose Bowl ...
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