RF365 Sweet Sixteen - week of Nov 7 2009

By Todd Erickson  |   Saturday, November 07, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Last week’s biggest shocker signaled the end of the reign of Troy in the Pac-10 Conference. But, look out Oregon. Arizona is anxious to do some shock and awe of their own in November. The biggest game of the week is LSU at Alabama. Both teams control their own destiny and the pathway is clear to the national title game for whichever squad can win their division and the SEC championship game. Another game you won’t want to miss is Ohio State at Penn State. Jim Tressel has never lost to a Big Ten opponent two years in a row, but pulling out a win in Happy Valley ain’t gonna be easy.

1. FLORIDA GATORS/SEC (8-0). Florida manhandled the Georgia Bulldogs, 41-17. Urban Meyer complained about the officiating and got slapped with a $30k fine. Just another routine day in the SEC. Gators entertain Vandy this weekend.
2. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE/SEC (8-0). Coming off a bye week, ‘Bama has had plenty of time to rest and rejigger their offensive attack for the visiting Bayou Bengals this weekend.
3. TEXAS LONGHORNS/Big 12 (8-0). Well, the Longhorns finally came up with their most impressive win of the season—on the road over Oklahoma State, 41-14. They’ll shift gears for a non-conference tilt against Central Florida this weekend.
4. CINCINNATI BEARCATS/Big East (8-0). The Bearcats took care of business at Syracuse, 28-7, and they’ll host Connecticut this Saturday. QB Tony Pike might be back at the helm since he’s been cleared to practice this week.
5. TEXAS CHRISTIAN HORNED FROGS/MWC (8-0). TCU breezed past Nevada Las Vegas 41-0 in MWC action. They head to San Diego this weekend to take on an Aztec squad that is improving every week.
6. IOWA HAWKEYES/Big Ten (9-0). The Hawkeyes are hands down the luckiest college football team this season. That said, luck comes to those who are prepared to take advantage of situations and that’s what Iowa did last week. Trailing 21-7 in the third quarter with Indiana threatening to score again, Tyler Sash intercepted the pinball inspired pigskin and returned it 86 yards for the score. The Hawkeyes went on to win the game 45-24. They host a dangerous Northwestern team on Sat.
7. GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS/ACC (8-1). The Yellow Jackets took care of business at Vanderbilt, 56-31, rolling up 404 yards rushing in the process. The get Wake Forest at home this weekend. It will be the first time the teams have met in three years.
8. LSU TIGERS/SEC (7-1). The Tigers tuned up for Alabama by knocking out Tulane, 42-0, last weekend. LSU controls their own destiny and they can make it to the national title game if they continue to win.
9. PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS/Big Ten (8-1). The Nittany Lions went to Northwestern and defeated a feisty Wildcat bunch, 34-13. This weekend is huge for Penn State as Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State arrive with plans on getting revenge for last year’s loss in Columbus.
10. OREGON DUCKS/Pac-10 (6-1). The Quacks devastated and dominated USC last weekend, 47-20. The Rose Bowl awaits them if they run the table thru the rest of the Pac-10 in November. They fly south to Palo Alto to take on the Stanford Cardinal.
11. BOISE STATE BRONCOS/WAC (8-0). The Broncos smashed the hapless 1-6 San Jose State Spartans, 45-7. Up next, another beat down of a WAC opponent, Louisiana Tech
12. USC TROJANS/Pac-10 (6-2). Who would have dreamed USC would get walloped by 27 points last week at Oregon? Pete Carroll and his boys are gonna get really nasty this weekend at Arizona State. Pity the Sun Devils.
13. PITTSBURGH PANTHERS/Big East (7-1). Pitt had the week off and will host Syracuse this weekend.
14. UTAH UTES/MWC (7-1). Utah struggled again for the second week in a row, this time against Wyoming. You can attribute that to a greatly improved Cowboy team that has been giving a lot of their opponents fits this season. New Mexico comes to Salt Lake this weekend. Hide your ponytails.
15. HOUSTON COUGARS/C-USA (7-1). Houston won in a shootout over Southern Mississippi team last weekend, 50-43, thanks to Case Keenum’s 559 yards passing and 5 TD tosses. Expect another high scoring affair at Tulsa on Saturday.
16. ARIZONA WILDCATS/Pac-10 (5-2). Can they do it? Arizona has a five-game march to the Rose Bowl ahead of them. The easiest step is the first one with Washington State this weekend. Then it gets brutal, as they’ll travel to Cal, host Oregon, and finish up on the road vs bitter rival ASU and then at Southern Cal.
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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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