Final Word for College Football Week 11

A few close calls for the big teams, but a sunny week in the land of college football. Unless, of course, you go to USC where it is a severe weather warning with a tornado watch and 45+ mph sustained winds.

(1) Florida was two fingertip drops in the endzone from Riley Cooper (and 3 missed FGs) from making their win over South Carolina a blowout. What the haters will take away is another "close" win for the Gators who are supposedly fatally flawed on offense while the fans of the Gators will see this as a defensive pillaging. Yes, the Cocks put up 14 points in the first half, but the second half was a complete unplugging of the Carolina offense. 31 TOTAL yards given up to a Steve Spurrier offense. I had never seen Captain Spurrier look as depressed as he did after Garcia's game clinched INT.

(2) Alabama made short work of Mississippi State. 'Bama kind of stumbled out of the gate but the sound of inevitability drowned out even the loudest of cowbells in Starkville (how are those not illegal?). In the end, Mark Ingram went for 149 yards on only 19 carries. Though I don't see the Heisman in his future, I do see an explosive NFL career.

At halftime (3) Texas was up 40-0 at Baylor. Though this is no shock to anyone in the Western Hemisphere, it should be pointed out that Texas doesn't even have to try for the rest of the season to get to the national championship game. It begs the question "Will Colt McCoy be benched to keep him healthy?" The reason this is worth asking is because he is in the Heisman hunt. It would be terrible to see him hurt against Texas A&M in a game they will win by 70 with or without him.

(4) TCU jacked up (16) Utah. This game was never close as the freshman QB for Utah looked scared and bad all day. After a talk with Iroquois, we can almost guarantee TCU in the Sugar Bowl against the loser of the UF/Alabama game.

On Friday, (5) Cincinnati dodged West Virginia's upset bid. Really, WVU scored late to make this closer, but they halted Cincy's offense in an efficient manner. Cincinnati now has Pitt left (with Illinois before them) in the de-facto Big East Championship. That game will be the first game in the Big East with any meaning without a team named West Virginia, Miami or Virginia Tech in about 20 years (or so).

The Rest of the Top 25:

(6) Boise State ripped in state rival Idaho apart. They put up 42 in the first half alone and after a talk with Iroquois can guarantee a Fiesta Bowl bid against either an ACC or Big East team.

(7) Georgia Tech started slow, but eventually overwhelmed Duke. ACC Coastal champs for the Jackets... perhaps a rematch with Clemson?

(8) LSU got all they could handle with Louisiana Tech. La Tech last week held Boise State close but lost and this week went into the 4th quarter down 17-13... props to them.

Stanford (as a staffer on this humble site said they would) beat (9) USC in the Coliseum. No, they didn't just "beat" them, they ruined USC. Absolutely ruined them. 55-21 is the most points USC has given up at home since 1966 and the worst home loss since then as well.

(11) Ohio State beat (10) Iowa in overtime. In OT, Iowa had the ball first. 3 plays later it was 4th and 26 and Iowa out of FG range. The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch Sponsored by Matthew McConaughey's Acting Career will remain at "Styx" (the band). It will not be upgraded thanks to play that could only be described as "50% percentile."

(12) Pittsburgh may have landed the deathblow to Charlie Weis's tenure at Notre Dame. They almost blew it and a questionable fumble call sealed it, but the Wannstache finally won a big game that they NEEDED to win.

(13) Oregon decimated Arizona State's defense all day to lead to a large victory. Barring a loss on the way out to Oregon State, Oregon is probably smelling roses and Ohio State.

North Carolina handed (14) Miami a loss for the second year in a row in this year's installment of the Butch Davis Bowl. Four INTs of Jacory Harris was the clincher.

UCF ended (15) Houston's almost-fantasy season in Orlando, the city of fantasies and talking mice. Case Keenum still put up large numbers but had 3 INTs.

California nipped (17) which effectively ended Arizona's dark horse bid for the Rose Bowl.

(18) Penn State was the victim of another Indiana blown lead.

(19) Oklahoma State had a shockingly low scoring win over Texas Tech. At the beginning of the season, one with knowledge of these teams would have predicted that it would have been raining points in Stillwater. Yet it was a 24-17 win for the Cowboys.

(20) WisCANsin was the first to officially say good night to Michigan's bowl chances this year. Michigan needs a win against Ohio State to get bowl eligible... which won't happen.

(21) Virginia Tech obliterated Maryland who is just plain awful.

(22) BYU had a bit of a scare against winless New Mexico. 24-19 was about 50 points closer than most expected this game to go.

(23) Oregon State killed Washington's bowl hopes with a resounding victory in Corvallis. The Beavers are still in the Rose Bowl hunt and it requires a win over Oregon in the upcoming Civil War.

Rutgers forced (24) USF into playing one of the worst games of offensive football in recent years.

The rest of what matters:
The CJ Spiller show continued as Clemson smoked NC State. Florida State beat Wake Forest to stay bowl eligible. Boston College beat Virginia in a sleeper. Mizzou beat Kansas State to muddy the Big XII North picture even more. Iowa State is now bowl eligible after nudging Colorado. Nebraska's defense made it clear that they are back in a shut down of Kansas. Oklahoma's offense showed up 2 months late in a crushing of Texas A&M. Louisville beat Syracuse in a game that set offensive football back 86 years. Minnesota edged South Dakota State proving once and for all that South Dakota does, in fact, have schools. Northwestern survived a late flurry by Illinois. Michigan State won a shootout over Purdue to get bowl eligible. UCLA flattened Washington State... but that's kind of the style these days. Dexter McCluster went bananas against the recently armed and dangerous Tennessee defense for an Ole Miss win. Kentucky = Bowl Eligible... Vandy = terrible. Georgia snuck by Auburn. Finally, Arkansas routed Troy.