RF365 Sweet Sixteen - week of Oct 29 2009

By Todd Erickson  |   Saturday, October 31, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Six more weekends to go and it’s time to shed some dead Top 25 weight and shift focus to the Sweet 16 from now on. You can take it to the bank that the SEC champ will be playing in Pasadena on January 7 for the national title. If Texas remains unbeaten, they’ll be the other contender. If the Longhorns falter along the way, then it’ll be Iowa if they keep their record unblemished. A slip-up by the Hawkeyes and you’re looking at USC, if they can run the table the rest of the season. So there you have it: Florida or Alabama vs Texas/Iowa/USC in the BCS National Championship.

1. FLORIDA GATORS/SEC (7-0). The Gators continue to disappoint, perhaps only because our expectations are so huge. They handled Mississippi State on the road, 29-19, but not without protestation about the SEC officials—again—from the opposing head coach. Guess who got fined by Mike Slive? Next up: The Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville this weekend.
2. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE/SEC (8-0). Alabama struggled to squeak out a 12-10 victory over a Tennessee team that is playing with a lot of heart these days. Despite their 3-4 record, the Vols looked impressive, holding the Tide to just 256 total yards. ‘Bama has a week off to get their offense back on track for LSU on Nov 7.
3. TEXAS LONGHORNS/Big 12 (7-0). Colt McCoy (26-31, 269 yards, 3 TDs, 1 int.) had a decent game—not a great one—but it was enough to combine with a smothering defense to take care of the Missouri Tigers, 41-7. If the Longhorns are to fall at all in the regular season it will happen on the road Saturday night against Oklahoma State.
4. USC TROJANS/Pac-10 (6-1). Another close margin win for the Trojans (42-36 over Oregon State) who could’ve been looking ahead to their road game in Eugene against the O Ducks this Saturday night. The winner is in the driver’s seat to win the Pac-10 and the 2010 Rose Bowl Game berth.
5. CINCINNATI BEARCATS/Big East (7-0). Cincy pounded the hapless Louisville Cardinals, 41-10 and travel to Syracuse to take on the Orangemen of Syracuse. After this weekend, the Bearcats finish with four strong tests.
6. TEXAS CHRISTIAN HORNED FROGS/MWC (7-0). The Frogs looked mighty good last weekend in Provo, nailing the turnover prone Cougars, 38-7. I would venture to say that this TCU squad can hang with any top 10 team in the country. But they won’t be tested this week when UNLV comes to Fort Worth.
7. IOWA HAWKEYES/Big Ten (8-0). The Hawkeyes posted another ugly win—this time it was a last second comeback over Michigan State in East Lansing. You have to give Iowa credit. They’ve knocked off Penn State, Wisconsin and now Michigan State on the road this year. Their biggest Big Ten road test is in two week at Ohio State. Until then, they’ll have to get by Indiana at home without the help of starting running back, Adam Robinson.
8. GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS/ACC (7-1). The Yellow Jackets followed up their big win over Virginia Tech with a road victory at Virginia, 34-9. Next up: Another road game, but this one’s out of conference vs Vanderbilt.
9. LSU TIGERS/SEC (5-1). The Tigers mauled the SEC’s other Tigers , 31-10, and made it look easy at the same time. They’ll get a breather against Tulane on Saturday night.
10. PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS/Big Ten (7-1). JoePa's boys looked mighty impressive in their 35-10 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor last Saturday. This next one is a classic trap game with Ohio State looming on Nov 7. The Lions are heading to Chicago, well, actually Evanston, to take on a tough little bunch of Wildcats, as in Northwestern.
11. BOISE STATE BRONCOS/WAC (7-0). The Broncos schedule just isn’t helping them when it comes to ranking against the other top teams in the country. They crushed 2-5 Hawaii last weekend, 54-9, and now they get kick 1-5 San Jose State all over their ugly, puke blue, should-be-banned-by-the-NCAA, smurf-turf this weekend. Wake me up when the bloodbath is over.
12. OREGON DUCKS/Pac-10 (6-1). The Quacks surprised me last weekend and instead of choking in Seattle, they actually thwomped the Huskies, 43-19. Look out for all the Oregon crazies who will be locked inside Autzen Prison—er, Stadium—this weekend to stage an uprising against the USC Trojans, guardians of the Pac-10 title for the past seven years.
13. OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS/Big 12 (6-1). The Cowboys knocked off Baylor on the road last weekend, 34-7, and then learned they’ll have to do battle this weekend with Texas sans the services of All-American wide receiver, Dez Bryant.
14. PITTSBURGH PANTHERS/Big East (7-1). Pitt mauled South Florida last weekend in Big East conference action, 41-14. They have the week off before taking on Syracuse on Nov 7. It's going to be fun to watch them knock helmets with Notre Dame in a couple weeks.
15. UTAH UTES/MWC (6-1). Utah struggled mightily against a very tough Air Force Falcon team, pulling out a 23-16 win in the waning minutes of the game. They’ll take on an improving Wyoming Cowboy squad at home this weekend.
16. Tie - HOUSTON COUGARS/C-USA (5-1). Houston took care of instate rival Southern Methodist, 38-15, and host a stout Southern Mississippi team this weekend in C-USA action. Cougar QB Case Keenum is averaging 390 yards passing per game and has 20 TD passes against only 4 interception on the year.
16. Tie - ARIZONA WILDCATS/Pac-10 (5-2). Were it not for a really fluke play a few weeks ago, the Wildcats wouldn’t have lost at Washington (give a lot of credit to the Huskies for battling hard and winning it by tooth, fang, claw and replay official) … seriously, this Arizona team should have but one loss, a 27-17 defeat at undefeated Iowa earlier this season. They knocked off UCLA last week, 27-13, and have a bye week before hosting Washington State on Nov 7. Then their schedule gets vicious as they finish at Cal, at home against Oregon, at hated rival ASU, and finally, at USC. What nobody dares talk about, ‘cuz it hasn’t happened in the 33 years since they joined the Pac-10 from the original Western Athletic Conference, is that Arizona still has a shot at the Rose Bowl Game. They control their own destiny. Imagine that. There’s still a lot of college football to be played, folks.
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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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