New Number One

The last time I saw an undefeated Notre Dame this late in the season was 1989 and that game (Miami) was a disaster.  Saturday, however, was a special day and I enjoyed it enough that some of those demons were exorcised. Some.
But let's not focus on the negative.  The day was a celebration of a senior class that fought through some bad times to reach as a high a level as possible.  One of the reasons that some very successful coaches do well early in their tenure--Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer winning national titles in year two of their reigns at OU and Florida--is that the inherited players are very hungry and will do what is needed to win.  Players like center Braxston Cave, tight end Tyler Eifert, defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, safety Zeke Motta and, of course, linebacker Manti Te'o, among others, epitomize this for the Irish.  Win two more game and these players and the rest of the senior class go out as champions.
As for the game itself the Irish were motivated to make a statement.  After three possessions they had a 21-0 lead and the ballgame was just about over.  And so all of the Notre Dame fans in attendance enjoyed a three-hour salute to the program, punctuated by Te'o triumphant 4th Q departure.
We all left with a smile.  Little did we know that more good news was to come.  My friend Tim and I ended up--after many bookstore purchases--in the Legends sports bar located near the stadium.  By the end of the evening we were leading the "Beat SC" cheers as both Kansas State and Oregon fell prey to the upset bug.  The Irish would return to their rightful place atop the polls for the first time since I was thin and had a decent amount of hair.
There is plenty more football to play and fortunes change dramatically by the week.  Saturday was a good day to be a Notre Dame fan.  Will we say the same about next Saturday?

Today's Picks

In beautiful Bluffton, Indiana en route to South Bend for the Notre Dame-Wake Forest game.  It is senior day and the festivities should be special because of the undefeated season and everyone's need to say farewell to the seniors--especially Manti.
More about that later.  As for picks:
Stanford +20.5
KSU -13
ND -24
UCLA +3.5
Rutgers +6
Michigan +1
Mississippi +19
Enjoy

Pac 12 Update

The Pac-12 is fairly new to the post-season conference championship game, with last year being the first one held, but it has very neatly presented us with a semifinal round of sorts this weekend. Oregon can wrap up the North title with a win over Stanford, while the Cardinal will be in the driver's seat should they pull off the upset.  Meanwhile traditional rivals USC and UCLA square off for the south crown.  Oregon has much more than a division crown riding on its game but does seem to have Stanford's number of late with wins by 23 last year (despite trailing by 7 at half) and 21 in 2010. Then again, the Ducks have had everyone's number out West having won 25 of 26 conference games since beginning of 2010 season (their one loss was by 3).  I expect Oregon to win a close one with Stanford having the advanatge of a better schedule to date and a healthier set of lines.
As for the battle for LA, it is good to see that game have meaning again.  USC has to turn their season around so the game should be a blast.  Bruins by a FG.

ACC Update

The first broadside this season against the BCS from a college football coach is the dominant story in the ACC.  Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher is mad that his Seminoles are 10th in the BCS standings despite sitting at 9-1 on the season.  Three two-loss SEC teams sit directly in front of FSU and if we include the three one-loss SEC teams directly in front of them, the BCS considers Florida State as no better than the seventh best team if we combined the two conferences.  That is ridiculous.  But the Noles are a victim of their schedule which includes a good win against Clemson and, well, that's it.  Fisher knows this but hides behind the infamous "eye test" saying that anyone can see that his team is better than some of those ranked higher.  But what exactly does that mean?  These dopey eye tests have aided SEC teams for a decade now and it is ironic that someone is trying to use it against the SEC.  But eyes can lie--the eye test said that Alabama was better than Texas A&M.  Until the game began.  Fortunately for Fisher he still has one more game to change the way his team is perceived and that is when the Noles host Florida on 11/24.  Win that game and you make you point.  Ditto Clemson hosting South Carolina on the same day.  The ACC has been awfully quiet since September but can make a lot of noise on that day (Georgia Tech also plays Georgia and Wake butts head with Vandy on that day).
As for the ACC race Florida State should have no problem clinching the Atlantic this weekend when playing Maryland.  The Coastal is more confusing and probably will not be decided this weekend since Miami is playing out of conference.  Duke traveling to Atlanta is the game of the week and the Yellow Jackets should win to put pressure on Miami to beat Duke the following weekend.  The other game to watch is North Carolina State traveling to Clemson.
To repeat, the ACC is not getting any respect but can change that--to a degree--with a big day next weekend.

BCS Blues

In the current BCS standings we have another school atop the human polls that does not lead the computers and BCS in Oregon.  The Ducks are rightfully being punished by the machines for playing outside BCS conferences in September, although Arkansas State and Fresno State are fine clubs.  They also have had an unbalanced conference schedule as five of their seven conference wins have come against Pac-12 schools sporting losing conference records.  And so we will know a lot more about the Ducks in December after they have played Stanford, Oregon State and, should they get there, the conference title game.  Until then we can just marvel at their team speed while trying to remember the last time a national champion surrendered 51 points in a regular season game.
Kansas State is in the enviable position as the top-ranked team in the BCS standings.  The longer the season goes, however, the worse their schedule looks as not one of their out-of-conference opponents has a winning record and many of the Big 12 opponents they have beaten are tanking (West Virginia) or slowly drifting toward ho-hum status (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State).  The more we look at the Cats' body of work the more we grow bored.  Fortunately Texas woke up from its mid-season slumber and provides a nice final game opponent--assuming they beat TCU on Thanksgiving.
Notre Dame sits in first place in the computer rankings but third in the overall BCS rankings thanks to a weaker showing in the human polls.  The computers are attracted to an Irish schedule that eschews non BCS teams except for major independents while not punishing ND for too many close wins.  But, and this is the key, the voters have too many stumbling blocks to overcome when voting for Notre Dame.  The Irish do not have any conference affiliation, of course, and therefore do not get fellow conference coaches/writers voting them up.  The Irish were not over-ranked in preseason--for a change--and that costs them now as they have had to play catch-up.  Finally the Irish are not liked by some for the NBC contract, for being perceived as holier-than-thou and, well, for being able to do it the right way when others cannot--and some resent them enough to under-vote them.  By not beating Boston College by 50 points the Irish have allowed doubters and haters to label them unworthy.
Here is the biggest problem facing the big three undefeated teams.  Not one of them play a team from the SEC.  So the myth of SEC superiority--and they do occupy BCS slots four through nine--remains true despite less-than-spectacular results.  After all, how could Oregon, KSU and ND survive playing the SEC?  Please.  Georgia has wins against Buffalo, Missouri, Florida Atlantic, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi and Auburn and a blowout loss to South Carolina.  They still play Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech.  I am fairly certain that any of the big three undefeated teams would do just as well, if not better, than Georgia against that schedule.  But, of course, if any of the three teams lose one of their remaining games they will fall behind the Bulldogs--only because Georgia plays in the SEC.  I can do this will other SEC teams too.  And it is ridiculous.
It will take a few years for the SEC boost to go away and it will only happen if other schools win national titles and win head-to-head games.  That, of course, is difficult as the SEC rarely schedules any team with a chance to beat them.  So it will be up to bowl opponents this year and in the near future to prove that the SEC is not far superior to everyone else.

What We Learned Yesterday

Yesterday confirmed what we already knew about this season.  College football remains the greatest sport around and the SEC is overrated.  Nobody knew who Johnny Manziel was three months ago and there he was outclassing Alabama last night.  Sure A&M is now part of the SEC but the same cannot be said of Louisiana-Lafayette.  And wasn't the SEC too powerful for a Big 12 team to come in and improve?  Meanwhile out west Oregon continued to lose guys to injury but never stopped scoring in routing Cal.  Kansas State won another game with toughness, while Notre Dame did little to impress voters who remember the Irish struggles a lot more than the good moments.
But let's get back to the SEC as voters have made it painfully clear that if either Georgia or Alabama win out they will be the next in line should two of the remaining three unbeatens lose.  No one else need apply even if another one-loss team has a better resume. With so much football remaining the pressure is on the top three.
Meanwhile, let's hear it for Kent State who is ranked for the first time since the 1973 squad (coached by Don James and featuring NFL picks Gerald Tinker on offense and Jack Lambert pacing the D).  Beat Bowling Green Saturday and a ticket to the MAC championship will be punched.

Early Games

My god you have to feel for Northwestern, which just lost another close one they led late as Michigan won in OT. This really could have been a special year for the Cats.  At 7-3 they will now have to regroup before playing MSU.
Meanwhile Syracuse enjoyed their biggest win of the season as they easily knocked Louisville out of the ranks of the unbeatens, 45-26.  At 5-5 the Orange need to stay focused despite the huge win to secure bowl eligibility.
I did not see anything but the game-winning TD pass but that was a nice win for a Virginia team that had moderate hopes for this season.  Hopefully they can build on the excitement.
Then there is the upset in the Ivy League as UPenn grabbed first place by itself with a 30-21 win over Harvard.  Enjoy the big win but do not give the gained advantage away by blowing it at Cornell next weekend.
As for Florida, well the SEC is overrated.  Enough said.