Welcome to the meat grinder portion of your conference schedule. It is weeks like this that reminds us why the BCS teams get so much credit for playing in those conferences. When someone knows your schemes and personnel inside and out, things get a wee bit tougher. You don't believe me? Just ask Alabama, Florida State, OU, South Carolina, Miami, and Nebraska.
Some of those teams were able to hang on, and some were not. You are not going to surprise these teams that know you, it really comes down to execution and talent advantage.
Because of that familiarity, the teams that lose these match ups won't take as big a hit for these losses as they might have for losses earlier in the year.
There were a few teams who managed to make statements though. Who stepped up in these tough match ups and said, "Hey, we are not messing around.".
-K-State came out and dominated Texas. I realize that Texas is not as daunting an opponent as they have been in recent years, but Texas was never in this game. The Wildcats took the air out of the ball with their backup QB in. However, when that QB was a Wideout last year, that's not all that bad a thing. Texas could not force the Wildcats to throw the ball, and the Cats defense had 5 interceptions. The Cats are not a top 10 team, but they are on their way back and they will hit you in the mouth.
-Arkansas needed a statement win, and beating the Gamecocks counts. It was the usual Arkansas offensive output, it being no great surprise that this explosive offense got it going early and often. The surprise continues to be the upswing on the performance of the Hogs defense over the past few weeks. Giving up 295 yards of offense is not an incredible performance, but a couple of picks to give their offense a couple more possessions is big. If they can do that, they are going to win more often than not.
-TCU is the class of the MWC. Utah hadn't played anyone since Pittsburgh early in the season so we didn't know how much of their flash was substance. Well, it turns out, not much. Now mind you, they are a good team, just not top 10 good.
Annnnnd, now for this week's rankings. There were a whole lot of moves and couple of teams clawing their way back into the rankings after being away for a few weeks.
1. Oregon: Until someone beats them.
2. Boise State: Boise will be rooting for Alabama because Auburn running the table is the only way I see them comint out of the #2 spot. You can say what you want about their level competition. This team has athletes that are serious matchup issues.
3. Auburn: They are good, and they are starting to look like a team of destiny. That said, you aren't the team of destiny until you win.
4. TCU: WOW. This team is for real. Top to bottom, this might be the most balanced in the country.
5. Arkansas: The Hogs are rolling right now, and their offense can run with anyone.
6. Wisconsin: They just hit you in the mouth, over and over and over and over and over and......yeah, you'd give in too.
7. Stanford: Andrew Luck is the man. Ok, so maybe not since Cam Newton is hanging around, but Luck is a future franchise QB and Stanford is solid around him.
8. Nebraska: A win is a win, but they moved down after squeaking by an average Iowa State team.
9. Ohio State: They could easily be in the national championship conversation, but they seem to playing their best ball in years with the pressure off.
10. Iowa: Ferentz can coach.
11. LSU: The Mad Hatter strikes again. The guy is crazy, but he can recruit and his teams play hard.
12. Alabama: The SEC is tough, huh boys.
13. Oklahoma State: Top 3 offense in the country along with Oregon and Arkansas. They'd be higher, but you can't outpoint everyone.
14. South Carolina: Arkansas is a buzz saw right now and they cut right though the GameCocks.
15. Michigan State: Another hard nosed Big 10 team hanging around for a nice pay day
16. Missouri: A tough conference loss, but Missouri is solid and can beat anyone on a good day.
17. Va. Tech: They just keep climbing back up the polls don't they?
18. OU: Landry Jones should be worried about his job
19. Arizona: They are handling their business in the desert this year.
20. Utah: Can they get back up off the canvas?
21. USC: A tough win against ASU was still a conference win. This is Barkley's team, but the next couple years will be interesting.
22. Mississippi State: Finally, someone knocked Kentucky out of the rankings.
23. Nevada: Big time offense. They are waiting on Boise.
24. Florida State: Been a tough couple weeks for the Noles. Their defense needs to find its way back.
25. Baylor: This is the best Bayor team you have ever seen......well it would be is you would watch their games.
26. Kansas State: They DOMINATED the Longhorns, on the ground. Seriously, 39 points with 9 yards passing?
27. Michigan: They need a Defense, but they sure can score the ball.
28. NC State: This team is improving, but they are still awful young.
29. Florida: This might be the best defense in the country. They problem is, the Gators need every bit of it.
30. Texas A&M: The Aggiest are showing a little something.
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