Playoffs versus Polls - Week Six
Listen to these numbers: the Baylor Bears scored 63 points and only turned the ball over once. Their quarterback, Nick Florence, threw for 581 yards and five touchdowns. Terrance Williams caught 17 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns. Oh yeah, and Baylor lost.
The show that Geno Smith and West Virginia put on this past Saturday won Mr. Smith the Heisman Trophy. His numbers on the season are epically great: 1728 passing yards, completing 83.4% of his passes, with a 10.23 yards per attempt average and 20 touchdowns with ZERO interceptions; there is not even a clear second option to win the award right now. The problem for the Mountaineers though, is that this Baylor game made it seem highly unlikely WVU could win the Big 12 conference. Baylor players were running wide open all game long. Running out the clock before halftime, Lanear Sampson caught a pass from Florence and just decided to trot 67 yards for a game-tying touchdown. With road games at Texas and at Texas Tech, followed by home games against Kansas State and TCU, West Virginia’s October schedule is brutal. They may come out of it with two or three losses. Geno Smith will still be the front runner for the famous bronze statue but his squad will be long gone from National Championship conversations.
The real hope for the conference resides in Manhattan, Kansas. With a suddenly impressive-looking dismantling of the Miami Hurricanes earlier in the year, Kansas State is set up nicely to take the conference crown. Having already knocked off Oklahoma, on the road no less, their game against WVU on October 20 should be for first place. And having already shown a much stouter defense than their conference brethren (currently top 25 in the nation in points allowed), Colin Klein may yield the Heisman to Geno Smith but he will surely prefer the Big 12 title anyway.
Saturday’s Oregon game will be step one to see if all that really even matters. If the Ducks win out, including beating #23 Washington this weekend, no Big 12 school will hop them. There is still a long way to go but Oregon’s defense in recent weeks should make them giddier than anything their powerful offense has been putting forth.
A couple other top five teams face ranked opponents this Saturday. Even though Alabama has the week off, the rest of the SEC will be battling. LSU, after a few less-than-stellar outings, will be traveling to Florida to face the 10th ranked Gators. This should be a great test to determine who is for real. Many still doubt Florida’s stature and results have been spotty for the Tigers.
Speaking of whose for real, #5 Georgia faces #6 South Carolina in what could be a winner-takes-the-SEC-East-and-the-right-to-lose-to-Alabama-in-the-SEC-Championship-Game game. (Sorry for that.) But that’s not all that is on the line October 6. One of the best slates of games in a while will also see Notre Dame try to stymie the Miami Hurricane, and Ohio State continues their march towards 2011 USC territory. Is there any doubt the Buckeyes are the best team in the Big 10 at this point? See you in 2013 Urban.
All of the great matchups will actually help to settle what would be a cloudy playoff picture. With Alabama and Oregon holding firm for the BCS title game, the Big 12 and SEC would both still have a number of competitors for the final two spots while Notre Dame needs to take care of a talented team at home if they hoped to reach the top four by year’s end.
AOTM Predicted BCS Top Two:
(1) Alabama vs. (2) Oregon
AOTM Predicted Playoff Top Four:
(1) Alabama vs. (4) Kansas State; (2) Oregon vs. (3) Notre Dame
Week 6 Football - What to Watch For
