Raphielle Johnson's Blog

The final weekend of the regular season is just about in the books, with the one game in progress (Cincinnati @ Hawaii) being a seemingly meaningless football game. In the words of ESPN's Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friends". Turns out that two of the key competitors for slots in the BCS National Championship Game, Oklahoma and Florida, owns wins over each team. The Gators blew out Hawaii in their season opener while the Sooners took out the Big East champs a couple of weeks later in September.

The final weekend of the regular season is finally here, with a few teams still looking to lock up bowl berths while others are playing for either improved bowl standing or a conference title. For those who won't be going bowling this season, the games this weekend offer a chance to finish the year on a good note and build positive momentum heading into 2009. Here's the schedule for this weekend.

Thursday 7:30 PM ET Louisville at Rutgers on ESPN

Championship Saturday is just about here, offering college football teams across the country a final chance to decide their own destiny. Three BCS conferences will stage title tilts on Saturday, with two having a direct impact on the national title race. The other will decide the host school in the FedEx Orange Bowl on New Year's Night. Saturday is also a good time to have a second television available in the evening, with Oscar De La Hoya taking on Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas (I'd advise you to pool your money amongst friends to handle the absurd $54.99 fee). Enjoy!

We're just about finished with the first month of the season in the metropolitan area, and it's become quite obvious who the best team in the area is right now. Seton Hall has gotten off to a 6-1 start, which includes a pair of gutty comebacks in Puerto Rico to finish third in that in-season tournament. Jeremy Hazell has shown himself to be one of the most explosive scorers in the Big East; what has come in his sophomore campaign (23.3 ppg; tops in the Big East) is a level of consistency that wasn't always present last season.

Unless you've had absolutely no access to any form of media (TV, radio, internet, newspaper, etc.), you know that yesterday's installment of the BCS standings placed Oklahoma ahead of Texas. With those two being tied along with Texas Tech atop the Big 12 South with 7-1 records that was the determining factor in sending the Sooners to take on Missouri in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. But wait: didn't Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35 back on Ocotber 11th? Yes they did, so when you take that into consideration you may wonder what's up with the BCS and the Big 12's tiebreaker system.

While there's finally some clarity in the ACC, the Big 12 South is as muddled as ever with a three-way tie for the top spot. Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech all end their regular season with 7-1 league records, and which one will represent the division in the Big 12 Championship Game next week won't be known until the updated BCS standings come out tomorrow.

Friday gave viewers some interesting displays in how not to play football, topped off by UCLA QB Kevin Craft's play in the Bruins visit to Arizona State. Three interceptions, all of which were of the pick-six variety, and as I write this there are still nine minutes left in the game. Oh, not to mention a fumble of his that was also run back for a score.

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to you all and I hope you're spending time with the ones you love and care about. Just one game on the slate for tonight, with Texas A&M heading to Austin to take on the rival Longhorns (8 PM EST on ESPN). Texas needs a win to have any shot at representing the South Division in next Saturday's Big 12 Championship Game, and the result (along with margin of victory) could very well have an impact on who goes should there be a three-way tie.

The undefeated Ball State Cardinals still have a bit of business to take care of in their regular season finale. Brady Hoke's team still hasn't clinched a spot in the MAC Championship Game, which would come with a victory over Western Michigan tonight in Muncie (7 PM ESPN2). The winner heads to Detroit on December 5th, while the loser would be at the mercy of the powers that be in regards to team selection for bowl games.

Heading into this Saturday it seemed like the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were well on their way to a seventh victory and a berth in either the Gator or Sun Bowl. All they had to do was beat Syracuse, playing for a recently dismissed head coach in Greg Robinson and dead last in the Big East. But while the Orange haven't played particularly well this season, you can't accuse this team of quitting. What ensued was one of the more stunning results of the day, with Syracuse stunning the Irish 24-23 on a late touchdown pass. Where do the Irish go from here?