College Football

That's the question that needed to be asked in light of the selections made public on Sunday night. You may be asking yourself why I'd wait a full day and then some to post this. Sometimes you need time to calm down after watching such a mockery of sports take place. Two schools from non-AQ conferences are involved but instead of finding a way to give Boise State and TCU a shot at a team from an automatic qualifying conference they will play...each other.

Saturday's resultes provided a little clarity to various conference races. Texas will play Nebraska for the Big 12 crown as a result of their wins while the same goes for Clemson and Georgia Tech in the ACC. In fact, the Tigers were in the ACC Championship Game before they even kicked off against Virginia due to North Carolina's win at Boston College.

No upsets this weekend so there were no changes in the Top 8 of the BCS standings. There are three "lines" to pay attention to in the rankings. The top three, separated from the rest of the country from the first day of fall practices, are essentially left to fight amongst themselves for the two spots in the BCS Championship Game. Close to three hundreths of a point separates each of those teams and with Florida and Alabama meeting in the SEC Championship Game on December 5th one of those two will not be in Pasadena for the season's ultimate game. 

As a member of the FWAA (Football Writers Association of America) I get to fill out a ballot for the organization's All-America Team that will be announced in early December. Figured it would be good to post my ballots on here, opening myself up to ruthless criticism. Enjoy, and the offensive ballot will be here next week.

The latest BCS standings are as follows:

Halloween was a rather light Saturday on the schedule in regards to showdowns but we nearly had our fireworks thanks to #4 Iowa, who took awhile to wake up for their 11 AM (local) start against Indiana. The Hoosiers got out to a 21-7 halftime lead and looked to be well on their way to a remarkable upset (keep in mind that Indiana lost 47-7 at Virginia earlier this season) halfway through the third quarter with another Hawkeye turnover giving them the ball in the red zone.

12:00 PM ET Indiana at No. 4 Iowa
The Hawkeyes aren't going to be a "style points" kind of team; the key for Kirk Ferentz's team is to simply win games. That's how you end up with the nation's second-longest win streak, and the loss of leading rusher Adam Robinson just serves as one more source of motivation for Iowa. They may not impress in regards to the margin of victory, especially if Hoosier defensive ends Greg Middleton and Jammie Kirlew get to Ricky Stanzi with regularity, but the Hawkeyes will lean on a stout defense to remain undefeated.

Both football games on the schedule before Saturday seem to have the following theme: conference title contender taking on an opponent that's disappointed to this point in the season. North Carolina (4-3, 0-3 ACC) has been hurt by injuries on the offensive line and in the backfield, resulting in the ACC's second-worst offense. But can T.J. Yates and company challenge #13 Virginia Tech (5-2, 3-1) in Blacksburg?

No football on Wednesday night (Game 1 of the World Series) but there is a game on Tuesday, with East Carolina (4-3, 3-1) hitting the road to take on Memphis (2-5, 1-3) at 8 PM on ESPN2. The Pirates, who are looking to defend their Conference USA title, got off to a slow start this season with losses to West Virginia and North Carolina but they've won three of their last four games.