End of an Era?

"Folks, this is why we love college football. It's unbelievable." Those were the words of ESPN/ABC commentator Brent Musburger and truer words have never been spoken. It was another wild week in college football that will be marked by one wild moment.

Tuesday night, Thursday night and Friday night each featured an upset as Arkansas State beat Florida International, UAB shocked Central Florida and Syracuse dismantled 15th-ranked West Virginia.

The upsets continued into Saturday with No. 23 Illinois going down to Purdue, No. 22 Georgia Tech being stuffed by Miami and the big one, No. 6 Wisconsin losing on a Hail Mary as time expired to No. 16 Michigan State on what the Spartans call "The Rocket Play".

Michigan State and Wisconsin went back and forth in the second half in what could be a preview of the Big Ten Conference Championship Game, but for right now, Penn State is on collision course with Michigan State. Yes, Penn State currently leads the Leaders Division with a one-game lead over Wisconsin after today's games.

If Michigan State's Keith Nichol wouldn't have crossed the goal line, the Spartans and Wisconsin would have headed to overtime. Another game was on the fringe of overtime and nobody watched. Buffalo went toe-to-toe with Northern Illinois and scored what would have been the game-tying touchdown in the final seconds but the missed extra point by Peter Fardon failed to send the game to overtime and the Huskies got the win.

Then there's Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Sooners that like to choke every year. All they needed to do was win and play for a national championship. Tonight, the Sooners lost at home to Texas Tech who got off to a hot start and never looked back. With Tech's passing attack carving up Oklahoma, the Bedlam vs. Oklahoma State has its hype raised up a lot more. Oklahoma State will have a chance to double Texas Tech's passing production, but Oklahoma will have a chance to prevent Oklahoma State from playing for a national championship and turn the BCS into a mess again.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Arkansas overcame a 17-0 deficit to Ole Miss to survive 29-24 while Alabama turned a 6-6 game at halftime against Tennessee into a 37-6 rout. Oklahoma State survived its trip to Columbia, Missouri using four turnovers (three interceptions by James Franklin) to pass the road test.

Boise State pulled away late from Air Force in a 37-26 win. I don't put too much stock into this performance by Boise's defense because seeing the triple-option offense of Air Force for the first time with no bye week is tough for any defense. Boise did a good job of playing bend but don't break defense. Air Force is a very physical football team too and Boise showed its physicality with tough running by Doug Martin. Boise State is just as physical as any team in the country. The only question with Boise in the national picture is if they have the speed to keep up with LSU and Alabama. Nothing is a guarantee yet for the Broncos yet with two big games against TCU and San Diego State on the road still left in the Mountain West schedule.

No LaMichael James? No Darron Thomas? No problem for the Oregon Ducks. Bryan Bennett and Kenjon Barner stepped right in to beat Colorado 49-2 following coach Chip Kelly's "next man in" philosophy.

What happened to the Big East? West Virginia should be bowl eligible by now but instead was picked apart in the Carrier Dome by Syracuse Friday night. Syracuse provided a formula to beat West Virginia, which was to add a lot of pressure on Geno Smith and then send your tight end over the middle and throw to him. Another Big East favorite by some experts, South Florida, dropped to 0-3 in conference play by losing a shootout to Cincinnati today. Cincinnati in Butch Jones' second year now leads the Big East at 6-1 and is the only bowl eligible Big East team at this point.

With week eight of the season completed, other teams joining Cincinnati in turning bowl eligible today are Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Arkansas, Southern Miss and BYU.

Some upsets that got overlooked are North Carolina State over Virginia, UTEP over Colorado State, Bowling Green over Temple, Southern Miss over SMU and Western Kentucky, with 206 rushing yards from Bobby Rainey, beating Louisiana-Lafayette.

I went 5-4 in my Upset Picks this week getting Ball State, Miami, NC State, California and USC right while getting Kansas, Duke, Tulane, and Fresno State wrong.

Records fell today as well with Houston quarterback Case Keenum becoming the NCAA's all-time leader in offensive yards and East Carolina quarterback Dominique Davis setting the NCAA record with 26 straight completions by going 26-of-26 in the first half.

Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore tied former-Texas quarterback Colt McCoy for the most wins all-time by a player with 45 and Penn State coach Joe Paterno tied former-Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson for the most wins in Division I Football history with 408.

And then there was the End of an Era. Howard Schnellenberger, the coach that built Miami into a power house and current coach of Florida Atlantic, announced before the season that 2011 would be his last. However, there will be no last hurrah for Coach Schnellenberger as his FAU Owls lost today to Middle Tennessee to fall to 0-7. The Owls had to win six straight to end the season to become bowl eligible and have a chance to send Schnellenberger out with a postseason win. Sadly, it won't happen and Schnellenberger's last time on the sideline in a college football game will be Dec. 3 vs. Louisiana-Monroe.


My New Top After Week 8
(x) = last week's ranking
1. LSU (1) - beat Auburn 45-10; Next: at Alabama (Nov. 5)
2. Alabama (2) - beat Tennessee 37-6; Next: vs. LSU (Nov. 5)
3. Stanford (7) - beat Washington 65-21; Next: at USC
4. Oklahoma State (6) - beat Missouri 45-24; Next: vs. Baylor
5. Clemson (8) - beat North Carolina 59-38; Next: at Georgia Tech
6. Boise State (4) - beat Air Force 37-26; Next: at UNLV (Nov. 5)
7. Oregon (9) - beat Colorado 45-2; Next: vs. Washington State
8. Arkansas (10) - beat Ole Miss 29-24; Next: at Vanderbilt
9. Oklahoma (3) - lost to Texas Tech; Next: at Kansas State
10. Michigan State (15) - beat Wisconsin 37-31; Next: at Nebraska
11. Wisconsin (5) - lost to Michigan State; Next: at Ohio State
12. Nebraska (12) - beat Minnesota 41-14; Next: vs. Michigan State
13. Virginia Tech (13) - beat Boston College 30-14; Next: at Duke
14. South Carolina (14) - off week; Next: at Tennessee
15. Texas A&M (16) - beat Iowa State 33-17; Next: vs. Missouri
16. Arizona State (22) - off week; Next: vs. Colorado
17. Kansas State (18) - beat Kansas 59-21; Next: vs. Oklahoma
18. Penn State (NR) - beat Northwestern 34-24; Next: vs. Illinois
19. USC (NR) - beat Notre Dame 31-17; Next: vs. Stanford
20. Michigan (19) - off week; Next: vs. Purdue
21. Georgia (21) - off week; Next: vs. Florida
22. West Virginia (11) - lost to Syracuse; Next: at Rutgers
23. Texas (25) - off week; Next: vs. Kansas
24. Houston (NR) - beat Marshall 63-28; Next: vs. Rice (Thursday)
25. Cincinnati (NR) - beat South Florida 37-34; Next: at Pittsburgh (Nov. 5)
Out: Notre Dame (17), Auburn (20), Washington (23), Georgia Tech (24)
Bubble: Southern Miss, Texas Tech, Florida State, TCU, BYU, Iowa, Wake Forest

Quick Glance at Week 9's Big Games
BYU at TCU (Friday)
Saturday:
Michigan State at Nebraska - the winner likely gets the Big Ten Legends Division crown
Illinois at Penn State - can Penn State keep a hold on the Big Ten Leaders Division?
Missouri at Texas A&M - two really good offenses and two pretty good defenses
Baylor at Oklahoma State - Robert Griffin gets more time to shine, will he take advantage of it and shake up the BCS?
Georgia vs. Florida - the world's largest cocktail party. Gators must rebound. The winner of this game can still take the SEC East.
SMU at Tulsa - SMU needs the win to stay in the Conference USA race
South Carolina at Tennessee - This might be the only game South Carolina wins for the rest of the season...if they win. The bye week should help.
Wisconsin at Ohio State - Ohio State should be ready coming off the bye week. Will Wisconsin be ready?
Clemson at Georgia Tech - Clemson doesn't get a bye week to prepare for the triple-option. That always spells danger.
Stanford at USC - How good is Stanford? The Cardinal have yet to be tested with Washington being the only win against a team with a winning record.

Additional upset alerts to...
Virginia Tech - at Duke
Maryland - vs. Boston College
West Virginia - at Rutgers
Washington - vs. Arizona

My BCS Update:
Had Wisconsin beat Michigan State, it likely would have jumped Boise State for the No. 5 spot in the BCS Standings. But Wisconsin lost, and so did No. 3 Oklahoma while Boise State sits at No. 5. No. 4 Oklahoma State still has room to lose and undefeated Stanford has tough games against USC and Oregon and maybe a Pac-12 Championship Game left to play. And of course, LSU and Alabama, one will eliminate the other. Boise State has a legitimate shot to finish No. 2 in the BCS Standings for a right to play the SEC Champion.



No. 1 LSU at No. 2 ALABAMA COMING TO A TV NEAR YOU ON NOV. 5, 2011.