The unthinkable has happened, the #’s 1 & 2 teams lost this weekend, Missouri and West Virginia spit the bit allowing Ohio State and ???? to meet for the national championship in New Orleans this January. I’ll provide my prediction of who it will be as well as wrapping up the other BCS bowls below. As a consequence of this weekend’s games, Tim Tebow of Florida will win the Heisman trophy in a landslide. I think Dennis Dixon should have won, just look at what happened to Oregon without him… Hawaii pull out a win over Washington to head to the BCS.
OSU Opponent Watch
- Youngstown State (7-4) – Season complete.
- Akron (4-8) – Season complete.
- Washington (4-8) – Played Hawaii away, lost 28-35. Conclusion: Expected Loss.
- Northwestern (6-6) – Season complete.
- Minnesota (1-11) – Season complete.
- Purdue (7-5) – Season complete. Next: Bowl TBD.
- Kent State (3-9) – Season complete.
- Michigan State (7-5) – Season complete. Next: Bowl TBD.
- Penn State (8-4) – Season complete. Next: Alamo Bowl 12/29/07.
- Wisconsin (9-3) – Season complete. Next: Outback Bowl 1/1/08.
- Illinois (9-3) – Season complete. Next: Bowl TBD.
- Michigan (8-4) – Season complete. Next: Bowl TBD.
Buckeye opponent’s records after the 13th week, 73-71. Ohio State is playing in the championship game. Illinois could move up to the Rose Bowl as a replacement for the Buckeyes, but Georgia is a more likely selection particularly with the Hawaii win.
Quick Hits from Around College Football
Hawaii is the lone perfect team left having come from behind to nip Washington. Florida International ruined its perfect zero win season beating North Texas to go on a 1 game win streak.
Projected BCS Top 5: Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, and Kansas. This is how it will shake out, but Oklahoma is the best 2 loss team and deserves the shot at the title.
Games of the week? Oregon State beat Oregon 38-31 in 2 OTs.
Mismatch of the week? Army sunk Navy 38-3.
My Special Top 12 rankings: (Why Top 12? That’s where you need to be to get into BCS contention.)
- Ohio State – Season complete.
- Kansas – Season complete.
- Oklahoma – Beat Missouri.
- USC – Beat UCLA.
- Georgia – Season complete.
- Virginia Tech – Beat Boston College.
- Illinois – Season complete.
- Arizona State – Beat Arizona.
- Wisconsin – Season complete.
- LSU – Beat Tennessee.
- West Virginia – Lost to Pittsburgh.
- Hawaii – Beat Washington.
My Special Bottom 5 rankings: (Why bottom 5? If you finish there you should be relegated to I-AA)
- Florida International – 1-11 Beat North Texas.
- Idaho – 1-11. Season complete.
- Southern Methodist – 1-11 Season complete.
- Mississippi – 3-9 Season complete.
- Minnesota – 1-11 Season complete.
This is what the BCS Bowl matchups ought to be:
- Rose Bowl – USC vs. Illinois
- Sugar Bowl – LSU vs. Hawaii
- Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
- Fiesta Bowl – Kansas vs. Georgia
- Rose Bowl – Ohio State vs. Oklahoma
This is what the BCS Bowl matchups will likely be:
- Rose Bowl – USC vs. Illinois
- Sugar Bowl – Georgia vs. Hawaii
- Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
- Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Arizona State
- Rose Bowl – Ohio State vs. LSU
In the coming weeks I’ll post a Conference Strength Report and Bowl Preview.
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LOL… of course, fan of The Ohio State University would not predict an SEC opponent in BCS matchup. L-S-U equals L-O-S-S. Oklahoma would provide closer game that I would rate virtual tossup.
OSU should prove its dominance and drop its all Ohio creampuff trifecta non-Big 12 schedule. If they can’t join SEC, at least schedule Ole Miss, Miss. State and Vandy as non-conference foes. Then, OSU could claim that they are as good as ANY SEC team. LOL!
Being big dog in dog-with-no-bite conference hurts OSU when bowl season arrives. In a few hours we will all know who is going where in bowl landscape.
Well Dylbert, this comment doesn’t reflect well on your reading comprehension. You’ll note that I predict LSU will be the opponent, I’m of the opinion LSU shouldn’t be the opponent due to its general sucky play (the last impressive game the Tigers played was Virginia Tech.)
Visit after the Championship game and we’ll see just how much you have to say then…SEC overconfidence is expected. After the Tigers lose their 3rd game, I’ll be curious to hear your excuses.
“Visit after the Championship game and we’ll see just how much you have to say then…SEC overconfidence is expected. After the Tigers lose their 3rd game, I’ll be curious to hear your excuses.”
If were talking about overconfidence lets turn the clock back…about 365 days.
Its clear that your logic has shallow roots in history.
Justin, Right now, on a neutral field, the Buckeyes would beat LSU by 3 scores. After some bumps and bruises heal for them, the game might be more interesting.
The Tigers are a team that have given up 31 points a game in their last 5 games to the murderer’s row of (tongue and cheek in case sarcasm is lost on you) of:
Auburn 8-4 (Non conf schedule K State, USF, NM State)
Alabama 6-6 (NCS: W Carolina, Houston, FSU, LA Monroe)
Louisana Tech 5-7
Mississippi 3-9 (NCS: Memphis, Missouri, LA Tech, NW State)
Arkansas 8-4 (NCS: Troy, N Texas, Chattanooga, FL Intl.)
Tennessee 9-4 (NCS: Cal, S Miss, Ark St, LA Lafayette)
Even with this schedule, LSU is 3 plays away from being a 7-5 team. Go ahead and think what you will, in fact, I love it that the next 5 weeks will be filled with “LSU will beat the Buckeyes 45-10” type articles.
This year is not the same as last year.
LOL… waiting for BCS announcement right now!
Facts is facts — Mike & Justin. LSU is 11-2 not 7-5. SEC plays, as documented by many sources, in the toughest football conference in America. Sagarin ratings confirm that fact again in 2007.
Get out Big Ten excuse machine — haven’t played game in X days — being annual No. 1 excuse. Hey, LSU will wear purple jerseys and game will be over by halftime. I’ll save you a seat on Bourbon Street bar so you can cry in your beer!
3 plays away from 7-5, 2 plays away from 13-0.
When I referred to last year I was speaking to overconfidence. But if you wish to talk about stats your right this year isn’t the same as last because Ohio actually won a game against a decent opponents.
Ohio has won almost(if not exactly) 0 games against decent opponents this year.
I commented about Ohio originally yet you countered and only spoke about LSU.
Lastn year Ohio State had some merit and began to act like the game was already won.
This year theres substantially less reason to believe that the bucks do deserve to be #1 yet you’ve already predicted a 3 score spread.
Both of the teams won their respective conferences, and maybe both teams are overconfident. The difference I see between the two is that one’s confidence comes from a season of battle scars and the other is happy as can be licking the icing off the cupcake they were handed as a season this year.
You guys are persistent, I’ll say that. And, you’re not posting anonymously, so props for that.
Dylbert, appreciate the offer for a saved seat – unfortunately I can’t make to the Big Easy, sweet though that would be. If OSU loses, you’ll get no excuses here (you can see my comments post Florida debacle for evidence of that.)
Re: SEC toughest conference in football, the facts don’t support it. The league is 7-7 against adult competition. The Big 10 is 9-4. It’s perception and a hangover from last year that colors the national opinion. That’s ok, it’ll get settled on the field.
Justin, fair comment that 2 plays away from 13-0. But the way I see it, 3 plays for wins 2 plays for losses means that LSU is -1… Last year, OSU was fat, dumb, and happy having read and believed their press. Don’t expect you’ll see the same this year.
On a 3 score spread, that’s today – as the team gets a little healthier, who knows? Come on, even the most ardent SEC fan has to admit LSU has been playing badly for at least the last 5 games. Talent is the only thing keeping them in the discussion – that and the fact that a bunch of “experts” predicted LSU would be good – they’ve been wrong about everything else this season, so LSU is their last hope!
LSU played exactly one more tough game than OSU, that was against Virginia Tech (which coincidentally was the last good game LSU played.) OSU scheduled Washington when they were good, who knew they’d spit the bit? Next year is USC in LA. Youngstown St was an abomination and I wish they hadn’t scheduled that team. But it’s no worse than Tulane or LA Tech.
Let’s see what plays out, I hope it’s a good game.