News Archive

I am making changes to the bowl projection page as I hear things, so keep an eye on that. Most of the assignments will now have to wait for the BCS though.

I think most people can grasp the concept that the two best teams in the country could be in the same division of the same league. I think it becomes a lot harder to sell that though if neither team actually won the league. So, if that happens, voters might rethink things and start looking for non-Alabama options.

The primary one would be Oklahoma St, if it wins Bedlam for a change. Virginia Tech could be a choice also, but the ACC doesn't get quite the same level of respect. Stanford is no different than Alabama - didn't win division, let alone conference. The Cowboys' current problem is that they are mired behind both Virginia Tech and Stanford in the polls.

And, I suppose, some might favor Georgia, the winner of the Almighty SEC. They would have to be willing to accept the Boise St loss. In 2001, Colorado was voted ahead of Nebraska in the final regular season poll despite an extra loss from non-conference play to Fresno St.

That could open the door for TCU, which is 18th this week. The Frogs, like Michigan, would have to move up two spots to be in position to automatically qualify. That's kind of iffy, but they might.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Cincinnati 21; Notre Dame 18; Arkansas State 13; Florida State 10; BYU; Missouri 8; Georgia Tech 5; Texas A&M 4; Auburn; Louisville; Virginia 2; Tulsa 1;

Last week, I finished 21-2, with another hit on my upset special. I'm now 90-45 overall, 4-10 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Game	Trophy/Name	Palm Reading
Virginia Tech 23 Clemson 3	ACC Title	In the first installment of what I like to call "Payback is a Mildly Bad Word," the Hokies exact revenge on the flailing Tigers.
*Baylor 45 Texas 42		RG3 ends his Baylor career with a flourish, and some more big numbers, against what is a pretty decent Texas defense.
*Oklahoma St 48 Oklahoma 31	Bedlam Big 12 Title	The de facto conference title game features Brandon Weedon and the explosive Cowboy offense against the slightly less explosive Sooners, which haven't been quite the same since the loss of all-American WR Ryan Broyles.
West Virginia 35 *South Florida 13, Thr	Big East title?	BJ Daniels remains questionable for the Bulls. They'll need him if they are going to pull this upset. The Big East is rooting hard for WVU. It would be nice for the league to have its highest rated team represent it in the BCS.
*Cincinnati 24 Connecticut 20	Big East title?	A Bearcats win, combined with a WVU win on Thursday, puts the Mountaineers in the BCS. If West Virginia loses and Cinci wins, the Bearcats go. If Cincinnati loses, we get 7-5 Louisville.
Wisconsin 42 Michigan St 24	Stagg Trophy	Payback is a Mildly Bad Word, Part 2. MSU won on a Hail Mary pass the first time, but the Badgers have been the best team in the league this season. They are 30 seconds from playing for a spot in the BCS title game.
*Oregon 70 UCLA 0, Fri	Pac-12 Title	Maybe UCLA will show up, but why bother? Oregon will name the score. UCLA will go to a bowl.
LSU 30 *Georgia 10	SEC Title	LSU does what LSU is supposed to do and saves us a lot of drama. And saves me some sleep.
*Houston 67 Southern Miss 38	C-USA Title	Houston will finally finish the job, finish undefeated, and give us an entertaining BCS game against somebody. Case Keenum makes his final, um, case for a trip to NYC.
BYU 35 *Hawaii 21		Hawaii needs this win to finish 7-6 and go to its bowl. Nobody is riding (surfing?) in with a waiver to save the Warriors. They miss QB Bryant Moniz though.
*Northern Illinois 65 Ohio 63, Fri	MAC Daddy	It's only fitting the MAC title game have the kind of score we've seen lately in some of those games. NIU's basketball team would be jealous.
Upset of the Week
Iowa St 41 *Kansas St 40 (-10)		ISU hasn't upset anyone for a couple weeks, so they're due.

This Week in the BCS

November 28

Also, I guess I better get the coaching carousel fired up. Rob Ianello is out at Akron after just two years. Sheesh, even Akron has no patience.

November 27, 9:30 PM

November 27, 6:30 PM

QB Aaron Murray threw four touchdown passes in Georgia's 31-17 win over Georgia Tech.

Trent Richardson made his final statement in the Heisman chase with 203 yards rushing in Alabama's 42-14 win over Auburn.

Mississippi St won the Egg Bowl 31-3 over Ole Miss. After the game, the Rebels fired Houston Nutt again. Yes, I know, that's not the first time I used that line. It will be the last though. That was, in fact, Nutt's final game as the Ole Miss coach.

Kentucky ended a 26-game losing streak to Tennessee with a 10-7 win, despite passing for only 15 yards in the game. Tennessee will miss a bowl as a result.

Florida only gave up 95 yards of offense to Florida St, but lost anyway 21-7. The Noles converted two interceptions into touchdown drives totaling 24 yards, then the defense returned a third pick for a score on its own.

Lots of coaches are getting fired today and will later this week, but Al Golden signed a four-year extension at Miami. The Canes celebrated with a 24-17 loss to BC.

Mizzou beat Kansas 24-10 in final Border War, and also the final game for KU coach Turner Gill. He was fired on Sunday.

No RG3? No problem. Griffin suffered a concussion in the first half, but Baylor cruised to a 66-42 win over Texas Tech. Terrence Ganaway carried the ball 42 times for 246 yards and two scores. It was the Bears first win over Texas Tech as a member of the Big 12. Last week, Baylor picked up its first win ever over Oklahoma.

Wisconsin left no doubt who the best of the Leaders are. Montee Ball ran for 156 yards and four more touchdowns in a 45-7 rout of Penn St. The Badgers will face Michigan St, a 31-17 winner over Northwestern, for the inaugural B1G title next week.

Rex Burkhead had 160 yards rushing and a touchdown in Nebraska's 20-7 win over Iowa. Nebraska is likely headed to the Cap One bowl.

The Ron Zook era in Champaign came to a screeching halt after a 27-7 loss at Minnesota. Zook got the hook today.

Purdue is bowl eligible for the first time since 2007 with a 33-25 win at Indiana. IU was the only AQ-conference school this year to go winless against I-A opposition.

For good measure, Arizona St lost also, 47-38 to Cal, meaning UCLA won the division outright. At least among eligible teams.

Speaking of eligible, UCLA won't be bowl-eligible if it loses to Oregon, so it's Rose Bowl or nothing for the Bruins.

Oregon treated archrival Oregon St rather uncivilly in a 49-21 whipping, which sent the Ducks into the Pac-12 title game as the North champion.

Andrew Luck had four TD passes in Stanford's 28-14 win over Notre Dame. Luck is still the Heisman favorite, although players like Ball, Richardson, Griffin, Keenum and Barkley will get support as well.

Washington won the Apple Cup 38-21 over Washington St. Wazzu coach Paul Wulff is among those rumored to be on the chopping block.

The Bearcats win the league with a win and West Viringia loss at South Florida

West Virginia sacked Tino Sunseri 10 times and came from behind for a 21-20 win in the final Backyard Brawl for the foreseeable future.

Larry Porter was fired at Memphis after the Golden Eagles drilled the Tigers 44-7.

Northern Illinois clinched the MAC West and will host Ohio for the MAC title after a 18-12 win over EMU.

La Tech won its first ever WAC title 44-0 over New Mexico St, and accepted a Poinsettia Bowl bid after the game.

FAU picked up its first win of the season - the last team to do so this year - with a 38-35 win over UAB.

November 27, 4:30 PM

November 27, 1:30 PM

Also, Virginia Tech's lead over Stanford is almost gone. Oklahoma St made up ground on both of those two as well. Alabama's lead over the Hokies is 120 points, or an average of two spots. That means that Va Tech is more like fourth than third.

November 27, 10:30 AM

November 27, 8:30 AM

I do expect to see a Big East team in this week's rankings. West Virginia, and maybe Cincinnati, will move up. It may turn out that neither wins the league. Louisville will if Connecticut beats the Bearcats next week.

I am working on bowl projections next, so more to come.

Top 25/Awards

November 27

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Stanford	11	Oklahoma	16	Michigan	21	West Virginia
2	Alabama	7	Boise St	12	USC	17	Kansas St	22	Clemson
3	Oklahoma St	8	Virginia Tech	13	Michigan St	18	Nebraska	23	Penn St
4	Houston	9	Arkansas	14	Wisconsin	19	TCU	24	Texas
5	Oregon	10	Georgia	15	South Carolina	20	Baylor	25	Virginia

Top 25/Awards

Palm Readings

November 23

If Arkansas beats LSU and Alabama beats Auburn, you have the dreaded, everyone-beat-everyone-else, three-way tie atop the SEC West. In this case, that would be decided by eliminating the lowest-rated team in the BCS standings and then using head-to-head for the others.

Typical voting patterns would indicate LSU finishing third. That would send Bama to the title game. I could also see a case for the Tide finishing third, which would favor Arkansas.

I don't see much of a case for Arkansas being third unless they win on something of a fluke. Or if the ESPN drumbeat for that outcome, which has been going on all week, influences voters. ESPN clearly wants to televise an LSU-Alabama rematch, and their commentary reflects that.

If Georgia wins the SEC (and we'll assume a win over Georgia Tech as well), things could really get messed up. I'm sure once again, ESPN would campaign to keep LSU-Alabama as 1-2, but voters normally would move Georgia way up the rankings - maybe even have them as the top-rated team in the entire league. Voters would probably have the Bulldogs ahead of whichever team the beat in that game.

In 2001, two-loss Colorado was the highest-rated Big 12 team in the polls, ahead of one-loss Nebraska. Nebraska played for the title anyway because the polls didn't carry as much weight in the formula back then. Quiz - who was the #2 team in the polls at the end of that season?

In any event, a loss by LSU in either game could open the door for perhaps Oklahoma St. Much less likely Virginia Tech. The Cowboys would probably need some serious style points against the Sooners on Dec 3 though to encourage voters to move them back up ahead of the Hokies and Stanford.

Voters could change their mind and go with OSU over Bama anyway like they did in 2006, just to avoid a rematch, but that seems less likely this time than it did back then.

Bob Davie was announced last week as the new coach at New Mexico. He'll have quite a task rebuilding that program, but it can be done.

Urban Meyer to Ohio St rumors have been in overdrive this week. That can't be helping the team prepare for Michigan.

It was announced this week that former Penn St coach Joe Paterno has a treatable form of lung cancer. His prognosis is good, but at his age, every problem is magnified.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Virginia 20; Auburn, Southern Miss, West Virginia 19; Arkansas State 14; Rutgers 9; Florida 8; Texas, Texas A&M 7; Cincinnati, Northern Illinois 2; Florida State, Toledo 1;

Last week, I finished 5-7, but actually hit on my upset special. I'm now 69-43 overall, 3-10 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Game	Trophy/Name	Palm Reading
Georgia 28 *Georgia Tech 24	Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate	This is my favorite rivalry name. Georgia needs to make sure it's not caught looking ahead to next week. The Yellow Jackets have scuffled lately, although they are the team that sent Clemson into its slide.
*North Carolina 24 Duke 20	Victory Bell	With the exception of the Miami game, Duke has been pretty tough recently. Still losing, but tough. UNC should get a battle, but be able to ring the bell at the end.
Virginia Tech 27 *Virginia 24	Commonwealth Cup	There is a little bit more at stake here than the cup. The ACC - hold on, looking it up - Coastal division title is on the line. Mike London has done a great job turning around UVa in short order, but I like the Hokies today.
Missouri 49 Kansas 11	Border War Lamar Hunt Trophy	Shouldn't be much of a war this year. Kansas hasn't got a lot going for it. You have to wonder if this is the end of the Turner Gill era at KU.
*Texas A&M 41 Texas 35, Thr	Lone Star Showdown	The Aggies have firepower and home field advantage. If they had a better defense, this would be a blowout.
Purdue 35 *Indiana 17	Old Oaken Bucket	With a loss, Indiana would become the first Big Ten team since Illinois in 2003 to go winless vs I-A. Purdue is looking to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2007.
*Nebraska 31 Iowa 21, Fri	Heroes Game Trophy	Brand new rivalry. Brand new trophy. The Huskers can lock up a spot in the Capital One bowl with a win. Iowa hasn't been good on the road, although they looked better in a win at Purdue last week.
*Michigan 41 Ohio St 10	The Game	Michigan has seven years of frustration to take out on the Buckeyes and the means to do it. The Wolverines could land in the BCS with a win. Who would have ever thunk that?
*Wisconsin 34 Penn St 13	Leaders Division Title	Penn State has gotten by on defense and just enough offense. They won't have nearly enough against the Badgers though. A PSU win guarantees the Nittany Lions no lower than the Gator in the Big Ten bowl pecking order.
*West Virginia 30 Pitt 21, Fri	Backyard Brawl	It's been a struggle this year for both of these teams, but they are part of the five-way pileup at the top of the Big East standings, so a lot is on the line. Expect it to be a real, um, brawl.
Houston 48 *Tulsa 47, Fri	C-USA West	Houston deservedly gets all the attention in C-USA, but Tulsa is 8-3 with losses only to both Oklahoma schools and Boise St. Tulsa wasn't especially competitive in those losses, but they are playing with confidence now. Houston needs to bring its best effort.
Air Force 38 *Colorado St 14	Ram-Falcon Trophy	Did you know they played for this trophy? Have you ever heard of it? Me either. CSU is brutal. Falcons will cruise.
*Oregon 45 Oregon St 18	Civil War Platypus Trophy	There won't be anything civil about what Oregon does to the Beavers. OSU just doesn't have the players to keep up.
*USC 42 UCLA 10	Victory Bell	Ah, another victory bell. The winner also wins the Pac-12 South division, although USC wouldn't be recognized as such. UCLA can still get to the Pac-12 title game with a loss, but would need help.
*Stanford 35 Notre Dame 30	Legends Trophy	Yes, this too is a trophy game. Seems like every ND game is a trophy game. The Irish have the bad, er, fortune to be playing on what is Andrew Luck's final home game for the Cardinal. This game should be something of a shootout.
*Washington 28 Washington St 27	Apple Cup	Washington never really found its rhythm this year, but they're still a little better than Wazzu and at home.
Alabama 20 *Auburn 17	Iron Bowl	Also played for the James E. Foy V-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy. Whatever that is. I assume the winner of the game and not the team that displays the best sportsmanship (along with character and work ethic) gets the trophy. I realize Auburn's defense is a little suspect, but a three-touchdown line? wow. Bama should get more of a fight from the Tigers than that.
Florida St 27 *Florida 21	Sunshine Showdown	Even though he's back and playing, Florida hasn't played well since QB John Brantley got hurt. Florida St had been on a roll until last week's home loss to Virginia.
*LSU 17 Arkansas 10, Fri	Golden Boot	Arkansas' offense is prolific, but so is the Tiger defense. Good pitching beats good hitting. Tigers win another low-scoring affair.
Tennessee 23 *Kentucky 19	discontinued	They used to play for a Beer Barrel, but that was discontinued after a DUI involving some Kentucky players years ago. Neither team is particularly good, but Tennessee is better, and enough so to win on the road. The Vols need to win to become bowl eligible.
*Mississippi St 30 Ole Miss 23	Egg Bowl	The Houston Nutt era comes to a fitting end. It was a disappointing year for MSU also, but at least it will end on a high note.
*South Carolina 21 Clemson 20	Hardee's Trophy	The Battle of the Palmetto State added a trophy! Thickburgers for everyone! Clemson is stumbling down the stretch of the season. Even though USC-East isn't the same without Marcus Lattimore, they're still fighting.
Upset of the Week
*Minnesota 24 Illinois 20(-7)		Minnesota has been feisty here at the end of the season, while Illinois seems to be playing out the string.

November 20

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Boise St	11	Oklahoma	16	Kansas St	21	Nebraska
2	Alabama	7	Oregon	12	Michigan St	17	Michigan	22	Baylor
3	Arkansas	8	Stanford	13	USC	18	Clemson	23	Georgia Tech
4	Oklahoma St	9	Virginia Tech	14	Wisconsin	19	Penn St	24	Notre Dame
5	Houston	10	Georgia	15	South Carolina	20	TCU	25	Virginia

This Week in the BCS

November 20, 7:30 PM

Boise St is up to seventh with no realistic shot of playing in a BCS game. The highest rated team ever left out was #3 Kansas St in 1998, thus the Kansas St rule that automatically qualifies an AQ non-champion rated 3rd or 4th. Since then, three teams ranked 5th have been left out, most recently Oregon in 2005.

Undefeated Houston is now eighth and still in control of the non-AQ spot in the BCS. The current projection is that they would take on Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. If that happens, a basketball score is likely to break out.

November 20, 3:30 PM

If Penn St wins the league, the Rose has to take them. If the Nits win the division, but lose the CCG, they cannot fall below the Gator. There is a one-win rule that affects the Cap 1 and (conditionally) Outback bowls, but not beyond that, so if PSU loses next week, it could fall all the way out.

One of the lower bowls on the list, say the ones in Texas or Detroit, may decide to take a flyer on them anyway because they may feel they won't get too many chances at Penn St, but at the moment, that is not what I'm hearing.

November 20, 11:30 AM

I changed the Harris projection to reflect the reaction the coaches had to this week's action.

November 20, 9 AM

I fell pretty good about the top three being the SEC West trio. After that? How far will Oregon fall? How far will Oklahoma St fall? I think the voters will be better to Oregon because they'll treat Stanford as a little bit of a floor. I do have Stanford ahead, but not far.

Oklahoma St is still going to be a very strong computer team, and if the Cowboys don't take too bad of a beating in the polls this week, they can't be ruled out of the BCS title hunt.

That reminds me - my bowl projections are up too. I do have OSU winning Bedlam, but still not making the title game. I believe that voters will no longer think they have a good option except for an LSU-Alabama rematch if my projections play out.

That means a Sugar Bowl without an SEC team. I have Michigan-Houston there. Also, Stanford would again automatically qualify as an at-large team.

What a mess. More later.

November 19

Oklahoma St went down at Iowa St 37-31 in double OT, turning the BCS upside down once again.

A little history lesson is in order. First, that's the biggest late-season upset since 2007, when #1 and #2 each lost on each of the last two weeks of the season. Pitt beat West Virginia on that final weekend, and the Panthers' DC was none other than Iowa St coach Paul Rhodes.

That year also, LSU jumped from #7 to #2 on the final day after winning the SEC title. They moved past #1 and #2, which lost, #4 Georgia and #5 Kansas, which didn't play that day because they didn't win divisions in their leagues, and #6 Virginia Tech, which won the ACC that day, but it wasn't enough to keep its thin lead over LSU from disappearing.

That bodes well for Oklahoma St still, which can still win the highest rated league by beating Oklahoma on the final day, while #2 Alabama sits at home. The problem is, #3 Oregon may also win a league that day. However, Oregon is a rematch for LSU, and if voters truly don't want a rematch, the Bedlam winner will still be their best choice to avoid that. OSU's loss last night though may make voters decide that the Bedlam winner isn't a good enough choice to avoid a rematch.

We'll see. Saturday hasn't even started yet. All of that may be moot in 12 hours or so.

Palm Readings

November 16

And that is a problem for the team this season. You have people calling for the team to cancel the rest of its season. That is overkill and solves nothing. Penn St will be a distraction wherever it goes, but it's not fair to the team or its opponents to cancel games. That won't help a single victim.

But, the bowl season is a different animal. After the Nebraska game last week, interim school president Rod Erickson said, "if our student-athletes have earned the right to play in postseason play, they should certainly be allowed to do so."

I don't disagree with that in principle, but good luck finding a bowl that wants them. Penn St, which is one of the top five bowl draws, is toxic to the bowls this year. Nobody wants that story to be the story of their bowl. Bowls also have the other team to consider. That teams' coaches, players, whatnot will be asked a litany of uncomfortable questions about Penn St, Joe Paterno, etc.

One bowl rep told me, "You don't want to have Good Morning America trucks sitting outside your stadium covering breaking news on this story during your week."

So, while I show the Nits in the Pizza Bowl, I may be overestimating where they land.

Or - I may be underestimating. They could win the league. The Rose Bowl can't say no. Or, they could win the division, and league bowl selection rules would protect them from falling below the Gator. If they don't win the division, they might stay home entirely.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Cincinnati 31; Georgia Tech 28; Baylor 26; Texas A&M 17; West Virginia 12; Tulsa 11; Missouri 8; Arkansas State 4; Auburn; Rutgers; Virginia 1;

Last week, I finished 8-3, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 64-36 overall, 2-10 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

*Florida St 31 Virginia 21		The Hoos control their own destiny for the division title. They have been one of the pleasant surprises this season, but probably aren't quite ready to win at Tallahassee.
Oklahoma 41 *Baylor 35		The Sooners will get tested for sure, but Baylor's defense will probably let them down.
*Rugters 24 Cincinnati 21		I'm just not sure I'm on board with Cincinnati (despite my bowl projection) without Zach Collaros.
Wisconsin 38 *Illinois 10		The Badgers will eventually beat down the Illini defense. Ron Zook's seat gets hotter each week.
*Michigan 20 Nebraska 17		Denard Robinson says he'll play with his injured wrist. I don't feel as good about this pick if he's limited. The BCS is out of the picture for the loser.
*Ohio St 14 Penn St 3		I wonder if it'll be nice for the PSU football team to be away from campus for a while. The Buckeyes have been pretty tough at home.
*Arizona St 45 Arizona 17	Territorial Cup	Arizona St needs to keep winning and get help to win the Pac-12 South. Arizona just can't wait for this miserable season to end.
*Oregon 48 USC 34		USC has the athletes to hang with the Ducks for a while (but no Robert Woods). Oregon will wear them down in the second half. The Ducks need to guard against a letdown after last week's big win.
*Stanford 42 Cal 14	The Axe	The Big Game is a big chance for Stanford to take out some frustration. Cal is overmatched and shouldn't be in this one for too long.
Vanderbilt 23 *Tennessee 10		Vandy has only won this matchup once in the last 27 tries (2005). Maybe that's why this is one of the few rivalry games with no name or trophy.
*Nevada 41 Louisiana Tech 30		Nevada clinches at least a share of the WAC championship with a win over the Bulldogs, who have been pretty feisty this year. They are coming off a win at Ole Miss.
Upset of the Week
Kansas St 45 *Texas 44 (-7)		Surprised to see KSU as the underdog here. Collin Klein has the Wildcat offense running at a very high level right now.

This Week in the BCS

November 13, 11:30 PM

#10 Boise St can only watch and hope because you have to be a conference champion to qualify and the Broncos are looking up at #19 TCU in the Mountain West.

#11 Houston controls its own destiny, but history seems to indicate the Cougars will somehow mess it up. They do have a tough game left at Tulsa, plus the C-USA title game (if they qualify) against #20 Southern Miss.

If the Golden Eagles run the table, knocking off previously-undefeated Houston in the process, then the spot is a battle between them and the Frogs. Would beating Houston be enough to push USM over TCU in the BCS standings? Maybe.

Also, the non-AQ team has to finish in the top 12 (unlikely for USM and TCU) or in the top 16 and ahead of one AQ conference champ. With the Big East self-destructing again this year, top 16 should do. Neither TCU or Southern Miss is there yet, but I figure they will be if they win out.

Southern Miss in the BCS. Think about that possiblity. Who had that at the beginning of the year?

After the game, Illinois LB Tulon Henry was shot in the hand, ending his season, but luckily nothing worse. Henry was one of three people shot at an off-campus party. Henry had been sent there to get some younger teammates to leave.

November 13, 7:30 PM

The Harris poll wasn't that much different than the coaches. Stanford only fell to 7th, while Virginia Tech was 9th. It was the opposite in the coaches' poll.

Boise St is the highest ranked non-AQ team still, but Houston, Southern Miss and TCU all have a better chance to qualify for the BCS becasuse they can still win their respective conferences. Only one would automatically qualify, of course, and Houston has the advantage there.

Speaking of Houston, the Cougars are new to the BCS portion of this week's bowl projections, which are now up.

I have Penn St pretty low on the Big Ten pecking order. Bowls may shy away from the Lions and their story this season. The Big Ten has a one-win rule, so Penn St can only fall so far.

It looks more and more like the Bedlam game is a play-in for the BCS title game. I believe that if Oklahoma wins, voters will jump the Sooners past Alabama and Oregon (if they are still there) and into the championship game to avoid a rematch for LSU.

Michigan is finally out of my BCS bowl picture, but not because I expect them to lose. Instead, I expect the Fiesta to go with the allure of Andrew Luck (and higher ranking of Stanford) over the massive throng of Michigan fans. The Fiesta is the only bowl that would ever consider passing up the hundreds of thousands that follow the Wolverines for the hundreds that support Stanford.

I feel pretty good about our chances of having enough eligible teams again this year. I'm up to 73 in my projection.

November 13, 1:30 PM

November 13, 8:30 AM

I have Stanford 9th and Boise 12th. Note that Boise cannot automatically qualify now unless TCU loses. Houston too. The spot for a non-AQ team specifies that it goes to a conference champion, and TCU now has a one-game lead in the Mountain West.

Top 25/Awards

November 13

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Arkansas	11	Virginia Tech	16	Wisconsin	21	Notre Dame
2	Oklahoma St	7	Clemson	12	Georgia	17	USC	22	Southern Miss
3	Alabama	8	Stanford	13	Michigan St	18	South Carolina	23	Georgia Tech
4	Oklahoma	9	Boise St	14	Houston	19	Michigan	24	Penn St
5	Oregon	10	Kansas St	15	TCU	20	Nebraska	25	Florida St

Palm Readings

November 9

Also, legendary head coach Joe Paterno, whose name is on the trophy that will be awarded to the Big Ten champion, retired effective at the end of the season earlier today. The Board of Trustees accepted his retirement and told him he could begin his retirement, again, Surma said, "effective immediately." Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been named the interim coach and will coach the team against Nebraska.

Both of those moves absolutely had to happen, and it's refreshing to see some actual leadership on the Penn St campus, even though it was late arriving.

Assistant Mike McQueary, the eyewitness to Jerry Sandusky's disgusting act, is still on the staff. Everyone up the food chain that his report was related to is now out of a job.

The US Board of Education is also investigating the university's handling of this matter.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Auburn 36; Texas A&M 30; Florida State 22; Notre Dame 20; Arizona State 16; Missouri 11; Baylor 9; Tulsa 5; North Carolina State 3; Arkansas State 2; Ohio State 1;

Last week, I finished 6-4, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 56-33 overall, 2-9 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

*Clemson 38 Wake Forest 17	This is the battle for control of the Atlantic division. The Tigers bounce back from their first loss of the season.
Virginia Tech 24 *Georgia Tech 20, Thr	A little extra time to prepare for the Yellow Jackets helps the Hokies squeak by.
Oklahoma St 56 *Texas Tech 42	Can Texas Tech do it again? Anyone with their offense always has a puncher's chance, but not this time.
West Virginia 35 *Cincinnati 24	The Bearcats control their own destiny in the Big East with a game to spare. This is that game. The league is really hoping I'm wrong.
Michigan 24 *Illinois 14	Illinois has lost three in a row after a 6-0 start. Maybe the bye week will jump start its moribund offense, but I doubt it.
Michigan St 31 *Iowa 30	Iowa has been better at home than away this year, but last year, MSU went to Iowa City and embarrassed itself. Sparty gets redemption this week.
Nebraska 21 *Penn St 10	I don't know what to expect from this game. Who knows where the PSU players' heads are? I feel bad for the seniors for the dark cloud hovering over their final home game.
*Boise St 38 TCU 28	Last call for beating the Broncos! Nobody? TCU is good, but not good enough to win on the smurf turf.
*Stanford 45 Oregon 32	Did you know that Stanford is good at running the ball and stopping the run? You combine that with a QB like Andrew Luck and you're tough to beat.
*Georgia 34 Auburn 27	Auburn's defense has show the occasional flash of brilliance, like against South Carolina. It'll need that kind of effort again to beat Georgia.
Upset of the Week
UCLA 23 *Utah 20 (-7)	UCLA is doing it with smoke and mirrors. I'm not sure how long they can keep it up, but maybe another week or two.

Top 25/Awards

November 6

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Oklahoma	11	Virginia Tech	16	Penn St	21	Michigan
2	Stanford	7	Oregon	12	Michigan St	17	Wisconsin	22	Nebraska
3	Oklahoma St	8	Arkansas	13	Georgia	18	South Carolina	23	Southern Miss
4	Boise St	9	Clemson	14	USC	19	Cincinnati	24	Texas
5	Alabama	10	Kansas St	15	Houston	20	Georgia Tech	25	Auburn

Palm Readings

November 2

Last year, these two played basketball games with scores of 64-54 and 64-64 (in regulation).

On Wednesday, NIU suspended freshman LB Jamaal Bass one game for plowing over a Toledo band member as the team took the field Tuesday night.

West Virginia has filed suit to get out of the Big East and join the Big 12 by next season. The Big East intends to hold them to the 27 months notice and keep the Mountaineers until the 2014 season.

The Big East meanwhile has reportedly invited Boise St, Air Force and Navy as football only members, and Houston, SMU and UCF as all-sports members. Expect the last three to jump in quickly. It might be slower for the other three.

When West Virginia goes, the Big East will be looking to replace them as well. Temple seems to be the most likely candidate.

Missouri still has not officially moved on to the SEC.

If the Mountain West loses AFA and Boise, look for them to call up a couple more schools from the minors - er, the WAC.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: TCU 27; Texas A&M, Washington 23; West Virginia 22; Florida State 21; Auburn 14; Missouri 9; Notre Dame 7; Texas Tech 3; Tulsa 2; Toledo 1;

Last week, I finished 6-2, including 1-1 on my upset specials. I'm now 50-29 overall, 2-8 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

*Oklahoma 52 Texas A&M 24	One of the nation's worst pass defenses facing Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles. ouch.
*Oklahoma St 56 Kansas St 35	Kansas St got exposed by the Sooners last week. The Wildcats may have a few more good moments against OSU, but won't threaten.
Cincinnati 24 *Pitt 13	With Ray Graham, I probably would have picked the Panthers. They might still do it anyway, but Cinci is on a pretty good roll.
Michigan 38 *Iowa 28	Iowa might be the worst 5-3 team in the country. They are 5-0 at home though, but none of those wins were impressive in any sense.
Oregon 45 *Washington 31	Washington's defense has to be shuddering at having to take on Oregon just two weeks after giving up 65 to Stanford without Andrew Luck doing much more than handing off.
TCU 37 *Wyoming 17	Believe it or not, this is a battle for first in the Mountain West. Hard to think the Cowboys have much of a chance, but I would have said that about them last week at San Diego St too.
Arizona St 41 *UCLA 20	A win here would really take a lot of the heat off of Rick Neuheisel's seat. His team still controls its own destiny in the Pac 12. They just don't seem to have the horses to hang with ASU.
*Alabama 20 LSU 14	I think the Tide's defense is more consistent and they have the best offensive player on the field in Trent Richardson. What will they do though if LSU takes him away? The only thing about this game that would surprise would be if it's high scoring.
*Arkansas 27 South Carolina 21	The Hogs haven't overwhelmed the last couple weeks, but are better at home. Without Marcus Lattimore, there is a lot more pressure on the Gamecocks' pretty good defense to be better than pretty good.
Upset of the Week
*East Carolina 31 Southern Miss 30 (-8)	The battle for first place in the C-USA East division. Pirate QB Dominque Davis is a tough guy to get a handle on.

This Week in the BCS

October 31, 8:00 AM

Massey's ratings are out, so this week's chart is complete. The conference ratings are also posted now.

October 30, 11:00 PM

October 30, 9:00 PM

The big losers: Clemson fell to 11th (not too bad), Kansas St 14th, Michigan St 17th and Wisconsin 20th.

Oklahoma is in the best position among one-loss teams at the moment despite trailing Oregon in the polls. Oregon may gain enough computer ground to close that gap, and maybe even put the Ducks' poll strength into play. Oregon will never catch Oklahoma in the computers though, so it is important for the Ducks to keep putting up big numbers to protect that poll position.

Of course, next week, either LSU or Alabama will join that battle.

October 30, 5:00 PM

October 30, 3:00 PM

Oklahoma St also expanded its lead on Stanford in this poll, but only by six points.

Oregon is the top rated one-loss team in the polls, but Oklahoma is so much stronger in the computers that the Sooners will be the highest-rated one-loss team overall.

Nebraska is the top-rated Big Ten team after its 24-e waxing of Michigan St. Rex Burkhead ran for 130 yards and three scores for the Huskers despite some late-game cramping.

If things were decided today though, Penn St would be the league champ. The Nits are the last undefeated team in league play at 5-0 after a thrilling (yes, I'm being sarcastic) 10-7 win in the snow over Illinois. The tough part of the schedule is ahead for PSU though - Nebraska, @Ohio St, @Wisconsin. They will be in first place at least one more week though. They are taking next week off so they can watch LSU and Alabama.

October 30, 1:30 PM

Stanford, which needed triple OT to stave off USC, is still ahead of Oklahoma St for third, but the Cardinal's 26-point lead was shaved to just nine.

Andrew Luck threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns to his own team, but it was the one that he threw to USC that almost doomed the Cardinal. That gave the Trojans the lead with just over 3 minutes left, but Luck bounced back and led his team on a game-tying touchdown drive to force the OT.

The Cowboys throttled Baylor 59-24 in an offensive shootout where the Bears brought only blanks. They had 622 yards of total offense, more than the 601 put up by OSU, but they turned it over five times and were stopped twice more on downs. Baylor didn't get a touchdown until the fourth quarter, when it was already 49-3.

Top 25/Awards

October 30

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

OK, let me start out by saying absolutely no character or work ethic was shown on this play. Arkansas' Marquel Wade just about decapitated Vanderbilt PR Jonathan Krause, who was attempting to make a fair catch. Wade plowed right through him well before the ball arrived, then celebrated like an idiot. The officials correctly ejected him from that game. I hope the SEC ejects him from at least another one.

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Oklahoma	11	Kansas St	16	Houston	21	Washington
2	Alabama	7	Oregon	12	Michigan	17	Penn St	22	Cincinnati
3	Stanford	8	Arkansas	13	Nebraska	18	Georgia	23	Georgia Tech
4	Oklahoma St	9	Clemson	14	Virginia Tech	19	Arizona St	24	West Virginia
5	Boise St	10	South Carolina	15	USC	20	Michigan St	25	Wisconsin

Palm Readings

October 25

Missouri's departure to the SEC is no longer imminent, but still appears to be inevitable. It's gotten to the point that the Big 12 is reportedly looking for a replacement. You'll see versions of the word "reportedly" a lot.

On Tuesday, it was reported West Virginia had been accepted as Mizzou's replacement. On Wednesday, that was backtracked and Louisville stepped into the picture as a possible replacement as well. By this evening, there was even some talk both schools would be invited.

Oh, did I mention that US Senators are chiming in too? Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is supposedly lobbying Big 12 officials on Louisville's behalf and West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller is whining about it and threatening to investigate, um, something. He's not happy, and that's the point.

Meanwhile, the Big East is reportedly working hard to grab Boise St. It was reported tonight that the Broncos have contacted the Big West to see about placing their non-football teams there. That's right, Boise St could be in both the Big East and Big West. Oh, and also the Pac 12, where its wrestling program competes.

Boise St is the key to the league growing back to 12 teams and keeping its AQ status beyond 2013. Air Force, Navy, Houston, SMU and UCF are also waiting on Boise St. If the league then has to replace Louisville or West Virginia, Temple is considered a candidate, as is - and this shows the level of desperation the league may be reaching - Memphis.

One thing that ended up being debunked was the concept of what Dan Wetzel called Conference WTF, which would have seen what was left of the Big East join the C-USA/Mountain West merger.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Southern Miss 31; West Virginia 16; TCU 15; Auburn, Baylor 11; Florida State, Syracuse 9; Washington 8; Missouri 7; Notre Dame 3; Georgia Tech, Illinois 2; Miami-Florida 1

Last week, I finished 4-2, including my first hit on my upset special. I'm now 44-27 overall, 1-7 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Oklahoma 45 *Kansas St 21	Kansas St picked a bad week to schedule the Sooners. They figure to be pretty angry after last week. If the Wildcats win they one - they're for real.
*Oklahoma St 48 Baylor 45	RG3 vs Brandon Weedon. Must see TV.
*Nebraska 20 Michigan St 14	Who put the Spartans' schedule together? Michigan at home, Wisconsin at home, at Nebraska. yikes. It'll be hard to keep it going three straight weeks.
Wisconsin 27 *Ohio St 13	The Badgers face another tough defense this week, but the Buckeyes' offense is quite a bit less prolific.
Stanford 31 *USC 21	Stanford may be as tough to defend as anybody. USC was flying under the radar until its win over Notre Dame last week. This will be a really good test for the Cardinal.
Georgia 24 Florida 20	I love the World's Largest Cocktail Party. It looks like John Brantley returns for the Gators this week, but how effective will he be?
Upset of the Week
*Rutgers 34 West Virginia 31 (-7)	Eric LeGrand inspires his teammates to do something, well, grand.
*Georgia Tech 35 Clemson 34 (-6)	This looked like a big game two weeks ago. It may still be, but only if the Yellow Jackets can stop the bleeding and surprise the Tigers.

This Week in the BCS

October 23, 9:30 PM

Oklahoma St is in the best position to play the SEC winner for the title. They have a very slight edge over Stanford in the polls, but a huge lead in the computers, which will probably shrink some, but Stanford will never catch OSU.

Boise St and Clemson, both of which are ahead of Stanford at the moment, need the Cardinal and Cowboys to get beat.

Oklahoma fell to 8th, and Wisconsin all the way down to 15th. The Sooners and Oregon are in the best position for a one-loss team to play for the title.

Everybody is foaming at the mouth about a LSU/Alabama rematch. I won't sit here and say it absolutely won't happen, but I believe the only way it does is if there is no other reasonable choice.

Voters in 2006 showed us that they didn't prefer a rematch. Florida was a good, reasonable choice over Michigan, so the Gators were chosen. I think if you have an undefeated Boise St, or maybe even a one-loss Oklahoma, that team could get in ahead of the Bama-LSU loser. And I don't think it matters how good of a game the first one is.

At this point, we should probably be focused more on the 6-undefeated-team scenario. We'll have time to talk about the rematch later.

October 23, 6:30 PM

The Pac 12 newbies, Colorado and Utah (a 34-10 loser to Cal) are a combined 0-8. The good news is they play each other eventually.

The disaster for the league came on Friday, when its highest-ranked team, West Virginia got smoked by Syracuse. Also that evening, Rutgers picked up its second loss of the season at Louisville.

October 23, 4:30 PM

The top three in the current projection chart are secure. The next three, Boise St, Clemson and Stanford could change if the computers that are out like Stanford more than I suspect.

The next four teams, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas St and Arkansas, are within .023 of each other, so again, computer variance could shake up that order.

October 23, 1:30 PM

BYU clinched the first bowl berth of the season. By becoming eligible, the Cougars qualify for the Armed Forces Bowl.

More to come.

October 23, 11:30 AM

Stanford was twice as close to Boise as I predicted, but Clemson was also twice as close to Stanford. The result is that the current projection has Clemson at #5, squeezed between Boise St and Stanford. We'll see how the Harris poll impacts that in a few hours.

Southern Miss makes an appearance at #25, and the Big East's only representative is Cincinnati at #23.

Michigan St jumped up to #10 on the strength of its win over Wisconsin. Texas Tech joins the poll at #22.

October 23, 8:30 AM

Also, and I barely consider this an upset, Wisconsin lost at Michigan St 37-31 after a Hail Mary pass as time expired was batted into the hands of MSU WR Drew Nichol at the one, and he was just able to get the ball across the plane as two Badger defenders tried to keep him out. The initial call on the field was no touchdown, but replay overturned it.

Look for Stanford to make the biggest move up near the top of the standings. The Cardinal whipped Washington 65-21. I guess that 21-point line wasn't as bad as I thought.

Top 25/Awards

October 23

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Clemson	11	Oklahoma	16	Michigan	21	Georgia
2	Alabama	7	Oregon	12	Wisconsin	17	Nebraska	22	Arizona St
3	Stanford	8	Kansas St	13	South Carolina	18	Houston	23	Texas A&M
4	Oklahoma St	9	Arkansas	14	Virginia Tech	19	Texas Tech	24	Washington
5	Boise St	10	Michigan St	15	USC	20	Penn St	25	Cincinnati

Palm Readings

October 18

I still am not sure Mizzou has the votes to get in, but maybe they do. In any event, the Big 12 is working on contingency plans.

The Big East is not waiting for anyone and moving ahead. The league announced earlier this week that it would up its exit fee from $5M to $10M as soon as one more school agrees to become a member.

Reportedly, a higher exit fee was a concern for Air Force, Navy and Boise St.

There was also a report earlier in the week that Houston had received an invitation, but the league denied that.

As we continue to lear, rumors about this stuff are rarely true. If it doesn't come directly from the mouth of someone in charge, there's a good chance it's wrong.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Notre Dame 52; Southern California 44; Georgia 42; Texas 41; SMU 23; Cincinnati, Missouri, Rutgers 16; UL Lafayette 15; TCU 11; Florida State 6; Tulsa 5; UCLA 3; Baylor 1;

Last week, I finished 5-3, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 40-25 overall, 0-7 on the upset picks, so I'm due to hit one of those. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

*Clemson 35 North Carolina 21	The Tigers have a difficult stretch of games coming up that include at Georgia Tech and at South Carolina, so it's important for them to take care of business at home.
Oklahoma St 45 *Missouri 35	This should be a tougher game for the Cowboys. Mizzou has struggled on the road, but hasn't lost at home yet. Expect a lot of points, but more for OSU.
Wisconsin 30 *Michigan St 20	The Badgers will play in their first hostile environment all season. MSU has the defense to pull this off, but will they come down from the high of the win over Michigan and be focused again?
*Stanford 41 Washington 34	Is Stanford really a three-touchdown favorite? Washington is pretty capable offensively too, and while the Huskies don't have Andrew Luck, Keith Price is no slouch.
*LSU 27 Auburn 10	No Honey Badger, no problem. LSU should still be able to hold Auburn's offense in check.
Upset of the Week
USC 28 *Notre Dame 27 (-8 1/2)	USC's defense is really going to be tested. The Irish seem to have cured their turnover bug from earlier in the season. Look for a relapse against the Trojans.

This Week in the BCS

October 17, 7:30 AM

October 16, 9:30 PM

They may get it going in time for next year. It might take until 2013. Either way, the new association will petition the BCS for an automatic berth. As we have discussed here before, that is unrealistic. The Mountain West on its own doesnt' qualify. Adding C-USA, which is a lower rated league, won't help.

October 16, 7:30 PM

October 16, 5:30 PM

Top 25/Awards

October 16

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

However, in the TD that put Hawaii in front, San Jose St blocked the PAT attempt and Duke Ihanacho limped it back for a defensive two-point conversion. Ihenacho came up lame (cramping) at his own 40, but Hawaii's effort to catch him was even more lame. San Jose also blocked a Hawaii FG attempt later in the half, but made up for it by missing one of their own.

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Stanford	11	Arkansas	16	Virginia Tech	21	Washington
2	Oklahoma	7	Oklahoma St	12	Michigan St	17	West Virginia	22	Arizona St
3	Alabama	8	Clemson	13	Michigan	18	USC	23	Notre Dame
4	Wisconsin	9	Oregon	14	Nebraska	19	Illinois	24	Georgia
5	Boise St	10	Kansas St	15	South Carolina	20	Houston	25	Georgia Tech

Palm Readings

October 11

TCU has made its move to the Big 12 official. That is probably the biggest win-win in this recent round of realignment, with Nebraska to the Big Ten a close second.

Missouri is still exploring its options. Presumably, that means waiting for the SEC to give them the green light.

Meanwhile, Big 12 consultant/commissioner Chuck Neinas says the league will be at ten teams next year, no matter what Mizzou does, and that the league has not given the school a deadline for a decision. There is no consensus as to whether to try to go to 12 teams.

The Big East is in full-out scramble mode. The league presidents seemingly meet once a week. Air Force, Navy, Temple (football only for those three), UCF, East Carolina, and lately, Boise St are all rumored to be on the league's radar. My favorite line about Boise State being on this list, and I'm sorry I don't remember who said it, was "Boise St isn't even in eastern Idaho."

CBSSports.com also reported that the league decided recently not to increase its exit fees, and is considering legal action against Pitt and Syracuse.

At least Connecticut has stopped openly groveling to the ACC for the time being.

San Diego St is now openly coveting a spot in the Big 12. I wonder if Craig Thompson has placed a call to Karl Benson for advice on what to do when your conference members are looking to escape and/or being targeted right and left.

A report in the Denver Post this week said Air Force turned down overtures from the Big 12, preferring to be open to the Big East.

And finally, the piece of resistance in this whole conference realignment thing. The single most delusional performance in the history of athletic directorship comes courtesy of Memphis AD RC Johnson.

"We want to try to get ourselves in the best possible place," Johnson said. "Ultimately we would like to be in the SEC. That's where we think we belong geographically. We think we deserve to be."

SEC commissioner Mike Slive issued a statement later that day that said, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Seriously?"

OK, I made that bit up, but I'm not making the rest of it up.

I mean, you gotta dream big, I guess (although, he doesn't appear to be dreaming B1G), but it's one thing to dream big and another to say it on TV. The Big East doesn't even want them.

In order to deflect attention away from that story, he attacked a beat writer from The State about a story he wrote seven months ago and told him to get out of the press conference or it was over. He didn't leave, so Spurrier ended it. Steve is already a candidate for the character and work ethic award this week.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Apparently a Harris voter snuck into our mix. UL Lafayette got a vote here too.

Others Receiving votes: Georgia 37; North Carolina 33; Penn State 30; Florida 28; Auburn 22; Washington 20; Southern California 15; Cincinnati 13; TCU 10; Texas Tech 9; Missouri, Tennessee 5; Rutgers, Wake Forest 3; UL Lafayette 1;

Last week, I finished 6-2, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 35-22 overall, 0-6 on the upset picks, so I'm due to hit one of those. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Virginia Tech 24 *Wake Forest 10	Wake is off to a great start in the league at 3-0, but may be without leading rusher Josh Harris.
Oklahoma St 41 *Texas 21	I think I read somewhere that Mack Brown is undefeated the week after a loss to Oklahoma. I expect that streak to get broken. The Cowboys' defense may not score like Oklahoma's did, but their offense can make up for that.
*Texas Tech 35 Kansas St 24	The Wildcats are undefeated and one of the feel-good stories of the season so far. Texas Tech has too much firepower for them this week though.
*Illinois 27 Ohio St 14	You know how some teams are on upset alert? Ohio St is on "wheels falling off the season" alert. This is a tough game to pick though. The Buckeyes are more potent with Braxton Miller at QB, but as I write this, it's unknown if he can play and how effective he can be if he does. They may not score 14 with Bauserman. They might pull the upset with Miller.
*Michigan St 28 Michigan 27	Sparty is always ready when big brother comes to town, and has the defense to slow down Denard Robinson. This is easily the game of the week.
*Oregon 45 Arizona St 35	Should be a fun game at Autzen with plenty of offense to go around. The Ducks have more weapons though, even without LaMichael James.
*Auburn 30 Florida 20	The Gators certainly won't be facing a top-rated defense this week, for a change, but they still don't have Brantley back, and they will miss him.
Upset of the Week
Baylor 31 *Texas A&M 28 (-8)	RG3 gets back in the Heisman race by pulling this upset on the road.

This Week in the BCS

October 10

October 9

The Harris and coaches' polls differ quite a bit, which is very unusual for this time of year. Teams 4-7 are also in a different order in each poll. At least everyone agrees that Clemson is #8. In fact teams 8-12 are the same.

Someone in the Harris poll gave UL Lafayette a couple of points. They are 5-1, so I suppose we've seen worse votes in this poll before.

Anderson-Hester isn't out yet, but if that rating doesn't change the overall computer order of the top three teams, then each of them will be first, second and third in one of the three BCS components.

The drive started on the Bulldogs own three-yard-line. After picking up four first downs, Georgia was in field goal range at the Tennessee 23. However, the Bulldogs were flagged for holding on first down. That was followed by a one-yard loss on a running play. Then, the flags flew with a fury. Holding. Holding. Holding declined so a personal foul could be accepted. Suddenly, it's second-and-56 for the Bulldogs back at their own 31. That was followed by another one-yard loss and a one-yard gain, leaving fourth-and-56. The punt didn't even reach the first down marker. And the piece of resistance? Georgia committed another personal foul on the punt return.

If Georgia had loss, that drive would have been a mortal lock for the Character and Work Ethic award.

Tennessee lost more than the game. QB Tyler Bray went out of the game in the fourth quarter with what turned out to be a broken thumb. He's expected to miss a month.

This was also the first game where the new taunting rule wiped out a touchdown. Surprisingly, it was LSU's punter who committed the foul, on a fake punt that he ad-libbed. As he was headed for the end zone, he turned a little toward the Florida defenders chasing him and spread out his arms, and that gesture got him the flag. Under any interpretation of the rule, that's a bit cheap. It ended up being a four-point penalty as LSU then settled for a field goal.

Kentucky's quarterbacks demonstrated incredible character and work ethic. They completed four passes - to each team. They were a combined 4-26 for all of 16 yards and four interceptions.

Top 25/Awards

October 9

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

Dishonorable mention to Ohio St WR DeVier Posey. Did he learn nothing from the tattoo brouhaha? Apparently not, because the NCAA suspended him five more games for the old phantom summer job scam. Ohio St AD Gene Smith said the penalty was "harsh" considering his previous five-game suspension. I think it's lenient considering he still doesn't get it.

Boom Herron, who was also caught up in the ink spill, got an additional one-game vacation for his part in this one too.

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Stanford	11	Arkansas	16	Arizona St	21	Houston
2	Oklahoma	7	Oklahoma St	12	Illinois	17	South Carolina	22	USC
3	Alabama	8	Clemson	13	Georgia Tech	18	West Virginia	23	Notre Dame
4	Wisconsin	9	Oregon	14	Nebraska	19	Virginia Tech	24	Michigan St
5	Boise St	10	Michigan	15	Kansas St	20	Baylor	25	Georgia

Palm Readings

October 4

"You only get seven opportunities a year, what's so hard about it?" Holgorsen said. "Is it too cold? It wasn't too cold for our players. So why did we have 20,000 less people than we had last week (vs LSU)."

"The funny part about it is we were all talking two weeks ago about how much of a difference the fans and crowd make to LSU," Holgorsen said. "Well, LSU played well in front of 62,000 of our people and they turned around went home and played a 1-4 Kentucky team at noon and had 95,000 people. All I heard was how much this meant to everybody across the state of West Virginia and this was the NFL team here in town and we're going to be there to support you. Having 40,000 people at a game isn't doing that."

We'll see if UConn is a better draw this week.

"Jones said we never change," Patterson said. "I think June Jones is 1-8 against TCU since he was at Hawaii. I don't think he's changed that much either. ... I don't go there." Except for just going there, of course.

Patterson says he's done playing nice also. "We're going to go on about our business, but they're not going to get the same help anymore - not about a ballgame, not about conferences, not about anybody. They're getting no help from Gary Patterson, period," Patterson said.

Ohio St suspended RB Boom Herron, WR DeVier Posey and OL Marcus Hall for the Nebraska game this week because they accepted too much money for too little work at summer jobs. Herron and Posey have yet to play this season because they were also part of the tattoo parlor scandal and served five-game suspensions for that.

Ohio St AD Gene Smith reiterated that there isn't a "systemic" problem with compliance there. This is the third, maybe fourth time, since December we've been told there is no systemic problem at Ohio St. If you have to say it that often, then you have a systemic problem.

Thankfully, we have OSU president E. Gordon Gee to keep us amused. He said that, "we are the poster child for compliance." I think I just wet myself laughing.

My friend and CBS colleague Dennis Dodd tweeted that if OSU is the poster child for compliance, "it's a wanted poster."

And finally, we have our weekly conference realignment story. This week, Missouri's board of curators gave the school president permission to deal with conference issues. This is the same thing that happened at Texas A&M before it left for the SEC, and at Oklahoma, before it left for...oh, wait, the Sooners are still around.

So, Mizzou plans to "explore our options." That shouldn't take to long. I don't think there are any. Many assume that the school is headed for the SEC. Maybe so, but I'm not buying it. The rhetoric from SEC folks is much more negative than when A&M was trying to find itself. I could be wrong, but I think Missouri will find out fast its only friends are where they currently live, in the Big 12.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Baylor 20; Tennessee 17; USC, Washington 16; Iowa State, Michigan State 9; Wyoming 7; North Carolina, San Diego State 5; Texas A&M 4; Rutgers 2;

Last week, I finished 4-5, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 29-20 overall, 0-5 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Pick	Palm Reading
Oklahoma 38 Texas 20	Texas just doesn't have the weapons or experience to hang with the Sooners this year.
Michigan 45 *Northwestern 28	These two often play exciting games, but the Cats defense is sorely lacking. Denard Robinson should have another big day.
*Nebraska 24 Ohio St 10	Nebraska is pretty angry about what happened last week. Ohio St is still trying to find a quarterback. The search should last another week.
Iowa 27 Penn St 17	Like Ohio St, Penn St has two quarterbacks, but neither is any good. That makes it tough to score on just about anyone.
*Oregon 42 Cal 21, Thr	Cal gave the Ducks a real scare last year, but Oregon will be ready this team. Cal isn't as good as it was last year.
*Arkansas 34 Auburn 14	If Auburn can bring the same defense it brought to South Carolina, they have a chance. I think one game is not a trend though.
*LSU 35 Florida 13	Florida has Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps, but nobody to get them the ball. John Brantley will miss this game after being injured against Alabama. That'll be like blood in the water to LSU>
Upset of the Week
Minnesota 35 *Purdue 31 (-10)	Purdue looked flat and pathetic with an extra week to prepare for Notre Dame. Coach Danny Hope keeps hanging his hat on Caleb TerBush at QB when it's obvious to nearly everyone else that the offense moves better with Robert Marve.

This Week in the BCS

October 4

October 2

For the second week in a row, Texas A&M snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. This time, they blew an 18-point lead to Arkansas in Dallas and lost 42-38.

Kansas scored the first 20 points of the game against Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders stormed back to win 45-34 to remain undefeated.

Dan Persa returned at quarterback for Northwestern and threw 4 TD passes, but Illinois still beat the Cats 38-35. AJ Jenkins was a player of the week candidate with 12 catches for 268 yards and three scores. NU blew 18-point second half lead.

In a rare moment of competence, Memphis started out with a 17-0 lead on Middle Tenn St, but the Blue Raiders came back to win 38-31.

SMU blew a 17-point second half lead, but bounced back to beat TCU 40-33 in OT. It was just the second win for SMU over a ranked opponent since it received the death penalty.

Navy came back from 18 down in the fourth quarter to tie the game, but lost in OT when they were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after scoring a touchdown. That forced the extra point attempt back 15 yards, and Air Force blocked it. AFA scored and converted their PAT after that to end the game.

Washington State scored twice in the last three minutes to erase a 10-point deficit and beat Colorado 31-27.

They are still #1 in the one that counts, the coaches poll, but they fell to third in the AP.

Alabama snuck past LSU for #2 after the Tide smacked Florida 38-10. Trent Richardson ran for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Gator QB John Brantley was knocked out of the game with a knee injury in the second quarter.

I realize Wisconsin is operating at a high level right now, but Nebraska's black shirts got pantsed by the Badgers in a 48-17 loss. Russell Wilson threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and Montee Ball ran for 151 and four scores, as Wisconsin just shredded the Huskers. The Badgers are now up to 5th in the coaches poll, one point behind Stanford.

Speaking of Stanford, Andrew Luck threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns, and also had a spectacular one-handed catch as a receiver on a trick play, in the Cardinal's 45-19 win over UCLA.

OK. I believe in Clemson now. It's hard not to be impressed with a 23-3 win at Virginia Tech. It was the first time since 1995 that the Hokies didn't score a TD at home. The coaches believe too - the Tigers are now 8th.

The Gamecocks were supposed to wear their special Wounded Warrior unis against Auburn, but the refs made them change after warmups because they could not read the numbers.

After TCU lost to SMU this week, the Frogs went from ranked to having no votes at all in either poll. The only MWC team besides Boise receiving any voter love right now is Air Force. TCU was supposed to be Boise's other marquee game (after Georgia). It's not looking that way at the moment.

This week, besides the TCU loss, San Jose St snapped a 16-game road losing streak with a 38-31 win at Colorado St. Also, New Mexico lost to NM St 48-24. The league is lucky AFA escaped against Navy.

UNLV and New Mexico are two of the five worst teams in I-A. Colorado St is easily in the bottom 20. This is what is holding the league back. C-USA has a better record against AQ conference schools (MWC is only 2-8), and the Mountain West is the only league that has suffered two losses to I-AA teams.

There are still some non-conference games left, but other than Air Force at Notre Dame this week, none really give the league a chance to make a positive impression.

Top 25/Awards

October 2

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Stanford	11	Arkansas	16	Florida	21	West Virginia
2	Oklahoma	7	Oklahoma St	12	Illinois	17	Kansas St	22	Baylor
3	Alabama	8	Clemson	13	Texas	18	Auburn	23	Virginia Tech
4	Wisconsin	9	Oregon	14	Georgia Tech	19	South Carolina	24	Houston
5	Boise St	10	Michigan	15	Nebraska	20	Arizona St	25	USC

Palm Readings

September 28

“The specter of the past couple weeks of conference realignment has not been a healthy thing. The world’s convinced…that all this is about money. I didn’t read many of us stepping up and saying that this will work really well for student-athletes...It was all about the deal."

Pot, meet kettle.

Also, Mike Slive is making noise about getting the two-team limit per conference for BCS games revoked. That rule exists to help spread the money around more evenly, and repealing it would only help the SEC and Big Ten, which far and away have the most desirable teams for bowl games.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Houston 36; Iowa State 32; Kansas State 23; Southern California 19; Michigan State 15; Auburn, Texas Tech 9; Tennessee 7; Miami-Florida 4; Mississippi State, North Carolina 3; Florida Intl, Notre Dame, Wyoming 2; Penn State, Vanderbilt 1;

Last week, I finished 7-2, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 25-15 overall, 0-4 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Pick	Palm Reading
*Virginia Tech 24 Clemson 14	I'm not buying Clemson until they show me. I feel like I get fooled by them every year.
Baylor 41 *Kansas St 34	Robert Griffin III might be the top guy on a lot of Heisman ballots if they were cast this week. We said that about Denard Robinson last year, and then he got into conference play, and things went south. Griffin should be up to the task in this one.
Texas 31 *Iowa St 17	The Cyclones are in some pretty high cotton. Texas finally has solved its quarterback issues, and looked very efficient last time out at UCLA.
*Texas A&M 27 Arkansas 20	The Aggies get their first SEC game the week they officially got welcomed into the league. I look for the Aggies defense to bounce back this week after getting torched by Brandon Weedon last week.
Michigan St 21 *Ohio St 10	The Buckeyes just aren't settled enough at QB yet. Braxton Miller will get his second start after beating Colorado a week ago. Spartan QB Kirk Cousins is the veteran and his experience will be the difference.
*Wisconsin 31 Nebraska 30	Welcome to the Big Ten, Cornhuskers! Here's a ticket to the Mad House. NC State transfer Russell Wilson has given the Badgers a dimension at QB they have never had before, and they are clicking on all cylinders. Nebraska is winning, but unimpressively so far. This could be a preview of the first ever Big Ten title game.
Alabama 20 *Florida 15	The Gators have a schedule of opportunity. Alabama this week, at LSU next. They won't be back at The Swamp again until November, so this is a key game for them. Unfortunately, Alabama is an entirely different class of team than they have seen so far.
*Navy 30 Air Force 27	This is game one in the Commander in Chief trophy series. Navy held the hardware seven straight years until Air Force took it from them last season. The Falcons are still looking for their first win over I-A opposition.
Upset of the Week
Northwestern 31 *Illinois 28 (-8)	The Wildcats get Persa Strong this week! QB Dan Persa returns to the lineup, and will spark them to a victory.

This Week in the BCS

September 26

September 25

Voters in both polls were impressed, but much more so in the AP, which vaulted the Tigers past Oklahoma to #1. Remember though, the AP doesn't count in the end. The coaches brought LSU a lot closer to #1 Oklahoma and dead even with SEC mate Alabama.

Virginia lost at home to Southern Miss. Maryland got drilled by Temple. Even newcomers Pitt and Syracuse lost, at least if you ask Toledo. The Rockets have asked Syracuse to vacate its win, which is described below. That ain't gonna happen.

The bottom of the Big Ten continues to underwhelm. Minnesota lost at home to North Dakota St 37-24. That occurred before coach Jerry Kill's new set of seizures - I'm not necessarily suggesting cause-effect.

Indiana lost at North Texas 24-21. After spotting the Mean Green a 24-0 lead, the Hoosiers tried to come back, but it wasn't enough. It was North Texas' first win over an AQ school since beating Baylor in 2003.

Top 25/Awards

September 25

Player of the Week

Honorable mention to Temple RB Bernard Pierce, who ran for 149 yards and a school-record five touchdowns in the Owls' 38-7 pounding of Maryland.

Character and Work Ethic Award

To add insult to injury, despite a very clear replay showing the ball passing in front of the post, the replay official let the call stand.

This mistake gave Syracuse a late 30-27 lead instead of 29-27. Toledo then drove down and tied the game with a field goal as time expired. That should have been the game-winner, but instead, sent the game to OT, where Syracuse won 33-30.

The Big East issued a statement after the game that said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Boy, did we screw that up! Sorry!! We really hope that doesn't happen again."

Toledo also issued a statement, and again, I'm paraphrasing, that said, "You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister!!"

According to a report from Albuquerque TV station KOB, moments before Locksley's team's game with Sam Houston St, Joshua Butts, 19, was arrested for aggravated DWI, minor possession of alcohol, reckless driving and driving without a license after nearly hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk. This was bad news for Locksley because Butts claimed to be a recruit and was driving Locksley's car.

A few hours later, his team lost to Sam Houston St 48-45 in OT. The Bearkats were flagged after the game for piling on.

Locksley, who is in his third season as the Lobos' coach, has had other issues. Before he ever coached a game, a former football administrative assistant named him in a complaint to the EEOC because of age discrimination and sexual harassment. He sued her for defamation of character a few months later. Everything was eventually settled out of court.

You have to wonder how much longer Locksley will be the coach at New Mexico. In two-plus seasons, he has two wins and two significant legal issues. That's not the kind of win-to-legal-problems ratio that most universities look for in a head coach.

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Stanford	11	Florida	16	Baylor	21	Georgia Tech
2	Oklahoma	7	South Carolina	12	Oregon	17	South Florida	22	West Virginia
3	Boise St	8	Oklahoma St	13	Michigan	18	Texas A&M	23	Texas
4	Alabama	9	Nebraska	14	Arkansas	19	Illinois	24	Houston
5	Wisconsin	10	Virginia Tech	15	Clemson	20	Arizona St	25	TCU

Palm Readings

September 21

For now. "For now" is implied in every decision conferences/schools make. For example - Texas A&M is moving to the SEC. For now. With Oklahoma being rebuffed - the Pac 12 statement came just hours after Oklahoma saw the writing on the wall and issued its own statement that it intends to work on reforming the Big 12, beginning with the replacement of commissioner Dan Beebe - there are reportedly some behind-the-scenes conversations trying to convince A&M to return to the Big 12.

Reports late tonight say that Beebe will be replaced, likely tomorrow, with former Big 8 commissioner Chuck Neinas taking over on an interim basis.

Also, with the Big East scrambling, you have to question whether TCU will still come over, or stay in the Mountain West. Reports late tonight say TCU is sticking with the Big East. Um, for now.

Speaking of the Big East, the league is making an effort to add Navy and Air Force as football-only replacements for Pitt and Syracuse. The nice thing about that, if it happens, is that the Big East adds a couple of nice programs without damaging another major conference.

I think the Armageddon scenarios are on hold. For now. The Big East has to do something, and the Texas A&M/SEC/Big 12 issue still needs resolution, which could end up forcing another move, but it looks like the massive wave of changes is on hold.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Houston, North Carolina 20; Miami-Florida 17; California 16; Auburn, Michigan State 13; Missouri, UCF, Utah 11; Iowa State 6; Tennessee 4; Vanderbilt 3; Florida Intl, Mississippi State 2; Arizona State, Wyoming 1;

Last week, I finished 4-7, including a miss on my upset special. Might as well pick names out of a helmet. I'm now 18-13 overall, 0-3 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Pick	Palm Reading
*Clemson 17 Florida St 14	EJ Manuel is iffy for FSU this week, and you have to wonder if the Noles can bounce back emotionally from the Oklahoma game. I think not having Manuel is a bigger problem.
*Oklahoma 31 Missouri 17	The Sooners also have to worry about the post-big game let down, but they get the home crowd to boost them up. Missouri is certainly capable of challenging OU.
*Texas A&M 35 Oklahoma St 31	I'm picking the home team in a toss up game. Both teams are very potent offensively, so it should be a fun game to watch. It's the first time since 1975 that Kyle Field has hosted two top ten teams.
LSU 27 *West Virginia 10	It's a theme every week - the Tigers have too much defense to lose this game. Nice performance by Jarrett Lee last week as well.
Notre Dame 31 *Pitt 30	The Irish got on the right track last week against MSU. Pitt was in the news for all the wrong reasons. They'll put up a fight at home, but come up short.
*Ariz St 34 USC 29	This is a battle of two pretty good quarterbacks in Ostweiler and Barkley. Arizona St let one get away last week at Illinois. They'll get this one at home.
*Alabama 24 Arkansas 14	With AJ McCarron settled into the quarterback position and solid running game, Alabama may be poised for another national title run. Arkansas is good enough to derail that, but probably not in Tuscaloosa.
*South Carolina 42 Vandy 17	A battle of 3-0 teams, but one will get exposed this week. Nice start for the Commodores though - one they might parlay into a bowl game.
Upset of the Week
San Diego St 42 *Michigan 38 (-11)	Michigan's defense has been susceptible at times, and SDSU could be able to take advantage. The Wolverines cannot afford to let down against anyone.

This Week in the BCS

September 19

September 18

This is the first time in this recent flurry of moves that a league has added teams that will help basketball more that it does football.

The Big East will be down to seven football teams after this move, so it's safe to assume that the league will be looking to replace Pitt and Syracuse. Most likely, they'll target some of the less desirable Big 12 teams (meaning not Texas or Oklahoma).

For example, there's a rumor that the creation of the Pac 16 is imminent. They say Texas and the league have figured out a compromise to account for the Longhorn Network. Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St would join the Longhorns in the move.

However, several (believed to be a majority) Pac 12 presidents are said to quite happy with the current configuration and not at all interested in expanding further. Certainly, you have to believe Colorado doesn't want to see Texas again after leaving the Big 12, in part, to get away from them. Larry Scott may not be able to sell this one.

It is possible that nothing more happens. It is possible that only Texas A&M leaves the Big 12, to be joined in the SEC by someone like West Virginia, and that things stop there. It's also possible that we could have Armageddon, which sees the end of the Big 12 and the overhaul of the Big East. One thing I feel pretty confident that we won't see - further expansion in the Big Ten. If we're going to four 16-team super conferences, the Big Ten won't be one of them.

Stay tuned.

Top 25/Awards

September 18

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	Oklahoma	6	Stanford	11	Nebraska	16	West Virginia	21	Illinois
2	LSU	7	Florida St	12	Virginia Tech	17	South Florida	22	Texas
3	Boise St	8	South Carolina	13	Oregon	18	Florida	23	USC
4	Alabama	9	Texas A&M	14	Arkansas	19	Baylor	24	Houston
5	Wisconsin	10	Oklahoma St	15	Michigan	20	TCU	25	FIU

Palm Readings

September 15

September 14

Stay tuned.

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: TCU 49; Maryland 33; California, UCF 32; Tennessee 31; Houston 30; Florida Intl 22; Northwestern 15; North Carolina, Vanderbilt 13; Iowa State 12; Syracuse 9; Mississippi State 6; Missouri 5; Notre Dame, Virginia, Washington 5; Georgia Tech 3; Clemson, Utah 2; Illinois, Kentucky, Pittsburgh 1.

Last week, I finished 7-3, including a miss on my upset special. I'm now 14-6 overall, 0-2 on the upset picks. My upset special is a team that I am picking to win outright that is at least a TD underdog.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Pick	Palm Reading
Oklahoma 28 *Florida St 20	I don't really think of September games as BCS elimination games, but surely the loser is in trouble and will need help to get back into the chase. Sooner QB Landry Jones lit up the Noles last year. He probably won't have it quite as easy this time, but he'll be the reason the Sooners win.
Ohio St 21 *Miami 17	Is Vegas taking bets on whether there will be more points than ineligible players? Miami has had an extra week to prepare and returns QB Jacory Harris to the lineup. The Buckeyes may have been looking ahead some when they struggled with Toledo last week.
Auburn 41 *Clemson 31	Shouldn't expect to see much D in this game. Might be a battle of Tigers, but they're mostly toothless.
*Maryland 27 West Virginia 21	The Terps looked pretty good against Miami. Well, I mean they played well. They looked like crap. Nonetheless, I think they have a chance to do some damage in the ACC. West Virginia can't afford to take the first half off like it did last week.
Arizona St 31 *Illinois 30	I flipped the cosmic coin and it came up Sun Devils. If they don't self-destruct - ASU never met a penalty it wouldn't commit - they have the weapons to take down the Illini.
*Nebraska 24 Washington 19	The Huskers weren't particularly sharp against Fresno St last week. Washington has had some struggles too. NU stuck it to Washington in the regular season last year, but yawned its way through a rematch in the Holiday Bowl. It's the regular season again.
Stanford 37 *Arizona 14	I wonder if the seat under Wildcat coach Mike Stoops is getting a little warm. Arizona is really banged up on defense, plus stud WR Juron Criner may not be ready to go yet after an emergency appendectomy last week.
LSU 21 *Mississippi St 10, Thr	I like the LSU defense a lot, and a really good defense makes winning on the road so much easier. Tough turnaround for the Bulldogs, having to face the Tigers just five days after playing at Auburn.
Michigan St 32 *Notre Dame 25	The Spartans tend to have Notre Dame's number. That's all the Irish need, because their number has been coming up snake eyes so far this season. The most self-destructive team in the country needs to play a whole lot better to beat Sparty.
*BYU 35 Utah 31	For the first time, this great rivalry is a non-conference game. Both teams are pretty good, although neither is great, and both are coming off heartbreaking losses. BYU has been running the ball more than we're used to seeing. This might be the time to open it up some.
Upset of the Week
Tennessee 35 *Florida 32 (-9 1/2)	Both teams have shown a lot of offense so far against relatively hapless opponents, although I'd say the Vols' first two foes were less hapless. I think Vol QB Tyler Bray is a guy we'll be talking about a lot before his days at UT are done.

This Week in the BCS

September 13

September 11

Mississippi St fell eight spots to 25th. Missouri and Penn St dropped out completely.

Denard Robinson did it to the Irish again. Of course, the Irish did it to themselves too (noted below), but Robinson had 338 yards passing (only 11 completions in 24 tries) with four touchdowns and three picks. He also had 94 yards rushing and a score. Three of the passing touchdowns, the rushing one, and one of the interceptions came in the final quarter.

It was the most exciting finish to a game I ever saw that did not involve my own team.

Purdue's All-American K Carson Wiggs lined up for a chip-shot FG to win, but it was blocked and the Boilers fell to Rice 24-22.

Indiana scored touchdowns off of three straight turnovers to take an 8-point lead over Virginia. The Cavs tied it up late, and with about a minute and a half left, Cam Johnson sacked Edwin Wright-Baker and took the ball out of his hands while he did it. That set up Virginia for an easy game-winning FG as time expired.

Ball St fumbled the opening kickoff and USF returned it for a score just eight seconds into the game - the fastest score ever for the Bulls. The train never stopped after that as USF cruised to a 37-7 win. Before the game, the school honored former AD Lee Roy Selmon, who passed away last week of a stroke.

Top 25/Awards

September 11

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	Oklahoma	6	Stanford	11	Nebraska	16	West Virginia	21	TCU
2	LSU	7	Florida St	12	Virginia Tech	17	South Florida	22	Maryland
3	Boise St	8	South Carolina	13	Oregon	18	Michigan St	23	Arizona St
4	Alabama	9	Texas A&M	14	Arkansas	19	Baylor	24	Texas
5	Wisconsin	10	Oklahoma St	15	Michigan	20	Florida	25	Houston

Palm Readings

September 7th

The SEC presidents voted unanimously to invite TAMU to the league, but with one condition. They wanted a waiver from the Big 12 and its members that it would not sue the SEC because of the move. So far, Baylor and Iowa St are refusing to waive their rights. Stay tuned.

If A&M ends up in the SEC, the league will be looking to acquire a 14th team. The ones at the top of the rumored lists are Missouri and West Virginia.

What a coup that would be for Mizzou if it ends up in the SEC! After enduring a very public humiliation when it threw itself at the Big Ten, only to be rejected, to land in the SEC would be the ultimate in face-saves.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Pick	Palm Reading
*Oklahoma St 34 Arizona 20, Thr	Could this be a conference game someday soon? Maybe, but for now, the Cowboys are taking on another Stoops, and they should have a little easier time with Mike's team.
*Arizona St 20 Missouri 17, Fri	James Franklin wasn't particularly sharp for Mizzou in his debut as the Tigers QB against Miami-Ohio. He'll have to step it up if the Tigers will have a chance to take down the Sun Devils.
*Wisconsin 47 Oregon St 11	The Beavers are coming off a home loss to Sacramento St and now they have to travel to the Madhouse? Yikes. Bucky should cruise.
Alabama 31 *Penn St 17	Both teams are still experimenting at QB, but Alabama has better athletes and while the Nits may put up a fight, Bama should be able to pull away for a comfortable win.
Iowa 35 *Iowa St 14	The state will be riveted to see who will win the first-ever Battle for the Interim Trophy that Replaced the Widely-Ridiculed Precious Moments Figurine. Iowa St is reserving the right to sue if Iowa wins.
*Texas 28 BYU 24	This should be a little stiffer test than BYU face last week at Ole Miss. Maybe this is a future battle of independents? It won't be easy for Texas, but they should prevail.
South Carolina 27 *Georgia 14	Some say this is a big game for Mark Richt in terms of his job. I can't imagine him being fired mid-season, but it is big because they don't want to fall into an 0-2 hole.
Mississippi St 35 *Auburn 20	If this game were in a month or so, when the young Tigers have grown up a little bit, I'd pick them, but MSU is more ready for a game like this right now.
*Michigan 32 Notre Dame 25	The Irish are still figuring out the QB position and how to hold onto the ball. Denard Robinson had a big game against ND last year, and I expect more of the same this week.
Upset of the Week
Northern Illinois 30 *Kansas 23 (-6 1/2)	The Huskies have a pretty potent offense, and Kansas gave up 24 to McNeese St last week.

This Week in the BCS

September 6

Actually, several games were delayed or truncated by lightning. Michigan's win over Western Michigan, and West Virginia's victory were shortened after lengthy lightning delays. Iowa, Notre Dame and Tennessee also had lightning delayed games. Eastern Michigan moved its game from Saturday to Sunday to avoid the storms. And as I mentioned earlier, Connecticut's game with Fordham was delayed because of hurricane Irene.

Oregon St lost to Sacramento St 29-28 in OT after the Hornets converted a two-point play in the first overtime. OSU lost despite freshman RB Malcolm Agnew rushing for 223 yards and three touchdowns.

Duke K Will Snyderwine missed FG attempts of 28 and 60 yards in the final two minutes in the Blue Devils' 23-21 loss to Richmond. It's the third time Richmond has won at Duke in the last six years. Time for the Blue Devils to find another patsy.

Iowa St, Kansas St, Washington, Wyoming also got serious scares from I-AA teams, and UTEP needed OT to beat Stony Brook.

Top 25/Awards

September 6

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	Oklahoma	6	Stanford	11	Virginia Tech	16	West Virginia	21	BYU
2	LSU	7	Florida St	12	Oregon	17	South Florida	22	TCU
3	Boise St	8	Texas A&M	13	Oklahoma St	18	Mississippi St	23	Iowa
4	Alabama	9	Nebraska	14	Michigan	19	Michigan St	24	Maryland
5	Wisconsin	10	South Carolina	15	Arkansas	20	Baylor	25	Georgia

Palm Readings

August 31

That's great news for the Sun Belt, where A&M figures to dominate!

I'm just joshing you, of course. They're going to the SEC, where they will be an awkward 13th wheel until the league scrounges up someone else.

* - home team. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Pick	Palm Reading
*Syracuse 24 Wake Forest 17, Thr	This is one of the few BCS vs BCS games on the docket this week. The Orange are looking to build momentum after a winning season last year. Wake is trying to get their mojo back after two straight losing campaigns.
TCU 20 *Baylor 17, Fri	TCU is rebuilding a bit, but you can always count on their defense to be stout. They'll have their hands full with Robert Griffin III. Casey Paschall takes over for Andy Dalton at QB for the Frogs.
Northwestern 27 *BC 21	I don't know if NU will be Persa Strong for this one or not. QB Dan Persa is recovering from an injury to his Achilles tendon and may not be ready to go.
*Houston 41 UCLA 31	Case Keenum returns to the Cougars lineup for what seems like his 15th year at QB, so Houston's offense is ready for takeoff.
*ND 21 USF 20	Skip Holtz will coach on the opposite sideline from the one his Dad used to roam. He'll need a big day from BJ Daniels if the Bulls are going to pull the upset.
BYU 28 *Ole Miss 25	BYU starts its life as an independent with Jake Heaps at QB. The Rebels' QB situation is a little shakier, so look for them to try to win it on the ground.
LSU 17 Oregon 14	LSU has to deal with some suspensions, most notably QB Jordan Jefferson, but it's hard to pick against an good SEC defense.
Boise St 35 Georgia 24	The Broncos' national championship hopes ride on this game - and the Bulldogs going on to a good season after losing here. Kellen Moore has a chance to get his Heisman campaign off ot a good start.
*Maryland 24 Miami 10, Mon	Who knows what to expect from the Hurricanes as scandal contines to swirl around their program? The guess here is - not much.
Upset of the Week
Fresno St 20 *Cal 17 (-9 1/2)	The Bulldogs are usually good for one upset a season against one of the big boys.

Bowl Projections

August 24

The pick that will probably cause the most emails questioning my sanity is Michigan in the BCS. They are my pick for a surprise team this year. The thing about the Wolverines the last few years is that talent wasn't the problem. That talent is now being coached, and maybe they're really a year away from competing for a BCS spot, but we'll see.

One more poll note: It could be shaping up to be a rough year in the Big East again. Only West Virginia cracked either top 25, and only Pitt and USF even received votes in one of the polls.

Polls Out

August 22

The top four teams are the same in each poll, despite #1 Oklahoma losing a key player, LB Travis Lewis, for at least the first month of the season. The next three teams in the each poll are the same, but in a different order, and the vote totals are pretty close.

There isn't any significant dissent until you get to Georgia, which is 19th in the AP poll, but 23rd in the coaches' poll.

The AP had West Virginia and USC in their top 25. The coaches went with Texas, which was 26th in the AP poll, and Penn St. The coaches cannot vote for USC.

I posted a preseason ratings chart. The AP is a placeholder for the Harris poll until it is published, typically the week before the first official BCS. I remove USC from the AP rankings and estimate what the vote totals would be without them. The Trojans are the only team this season that is not bowl-eligible. So far.

Coming up later this week, I'll post the list of coaches voting this year, and my preseason bowl projections.

Coaching Carousel

July 30

School	Old Coach	New Coach
Arkansas St	Steve Roberts	Hugh Freeze
Ball St	Stan Parrish	Pete Lembo
Colorado	Dan Hawkins	Jon Embree
Connecticut	Randy Edsall	Paul Pasqualoni
Florida	Urban Meyer	Will Muschamp
Indiana	Bill Lynch	Kevin Wilson
Kent St	Doug Martin	Darrell Hazell
Maryland	Ralph Friedgen	Randy Edsall
Miami-FL	Randy Shannon	Al Golden
Miami-OH	Mike Haywood	Don Treadwell
Michigan	Rich Rodriguez	Brady Hoke
Minnesota	Tim Brewster	Jerry Kill
North Carolina	Butch Davis	Everett Withers (interim)
North Texas	Todd Dodge	Dan McCarney
Northern Illinois	Jerry Kill	Dave Doeren
Ohio St	Jim Tressel	Luke Fickell (interim)
Pitt	Dave Wannstedt	Mike Haywood
Pitt	Mike Haywood	Todd Graham
San Diego St	Brady Hoke	Rocky Long
Stanford	Jim Harbaugh	David Shaw
Temple	Al Golden	Steve Addazio
Tulsa	Todd Graham	Bill Blankenship
UL Lafayette	Rickey Bustle	Mark Hudspeth
Vanderbilt	Robbie Caldwell	James Franklin
West Virginia	Bill Stewart	Dana Holgorsen
School	Old Coach	Rumored Candidates