Week 11

Cal, you need a better kicker. Oregon, where was this 70-point performance you had everyone anticipating? Did you switch offenses with Wisconsin?? Sure looked that way. Iowa, I'm not sure how you did it, but you have managed to officially become the most overrated team of this season. Now, some may argue Texas was more overrated - and preseason/early season I'd agree, but for Iowa to be #13 and deserve to lose to an Indiana team that lost by 63 points to usually half-asleep Wisconsin and then lose (yet again) to Northwestern... Iowa has become the most overrated team of the season. They never deserved a ranking higher than 20. Not at ANY point this season. Don't get me wrong though - Ohio State is still incredibly overrated, and I hope Iowa's overratedness will lure Ohio State into a false confidence, and I hope Iowa will beat Ohio State like Penn State should have. Pittsburgh...you have the easiest road to a BCS bowl game. How did you lose to UConn? Louisville should have beaten USF. Missouri was able to regroup, but it will not matter. Nebraska is one game away from clinching the Big 12 North after its win over Kansas. Go big red! Utah clearly doesn't deserve to be ranked. I think my high school football team could beat Notre Shame. Alabama's game didn't surprise me at all. Texas lost yet again. They went from undeservedly being in the national championship game in January to soon-to-be-not-bowl-eligible this year. And to make me smile, Colt McCoy fell apart in overtime against gang green. J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets! I needed to see that win yesterday after the pathetic performances by my home team Rutgers and my alma mater Florida. I stated last week what the Gators needed to do to win that game. I begged Addazio to prove me wrong with what I predicted he would actually do. Unfortunately, I was right. ATTENTION FLORIDA COACHING STAFF: John Brantley does not have what it takes to be a quarterback in the SEC. END OF STORY. As a Gator fan, I am so tired of seeing coaches play favorites with sub-par players simply because of their good behavior. Honestly, if you're gonna play one criminal, you may as well play them all. Just put the best players on the field! Put Moody and Brantley on the bench, and win some games!

As for the BCS this week...I once again ask: What is the point? Boise State is obviously better than TCU. San Diego State should have won that game. Dalton and crew got lucky. And Auburn is clearly the best team in the country with a very tough schedule. Cam Newton should be a shoe-in for the Heisman. He is obviously the best player in the country, and definitely the most valuable to his team. How can you compare Oregon's schedule to any SEC West schedule? Answer: You can't. Playing Washington without the team's best player and actually struggling through the first half...beating 5-4 (now 5-5) Cal by 2 points because Cal missed a field goal...and out of conference: a win over 4-6 Tennessee (where they were tied at the half), 1-9 New Mexico, and 3-8 Portland State. Okay. Auburn's out of conference schedule with wins over 6-4 Chattanooga, 4-6 Arkansas State, 5-5 Clemson, and 4-6 Louisiana-Monroe may not be much better - but I would argue that it is better. When you look at Auburn's conference schedule, though, there is absolutely no comparison. Games against #12 South Carolina, # 6 LSU, #12 Arkansas and a game coming up against defending national champion, #11 Alabama in Tuscaloosa the day after Thanksgiving. One home game vs. #9 Stanford and a game at never-should-have-been-ranked, ineligible-for-post-season, #24 USC prove nothing. No one can clearly explain to me why Arizona is ranked, but I'd almost like to see the #22 Wildcats win this weekend. In Liz's poll, this week's top 4 are 1) Auburn 2) Oregon 3) Boise State 4) TCU. The AP got it right with Boise State jumping TCU. After Utah lost to awful Notre Dame, the hype from TCU's performance last weekend should have calmed down. But this isn't the first time the BCS got it wrong. Not even the first time they underrated Auburn. My real question is...who is the genius watching TCU struggle against SDSU who gave them a first place vote this week in the AP Poll?

On to week 12 predictions...Alabama has an easy one Thursday night. I'm more interested in seeing Washington beat UCLA. Go Huskies! Would LOVE to see Fresno State beat Boise State. But on the smurf turf, I've learned to pick the Broncos. I still believe Hawaii will beat Boise State next year in Hawaii. Wisconsin may be tested this week. Michigan can be tough at home. But I will pick the badgers after they scored more points in football against Indiana than I think their basketball team will score all season. Oklahoma State will get by Kansas no problem. Michigan State will continue to be overrated after they beat Purdue. Florida WILL beat Appalachian State. They will NOT have a Michigan moment. LSU will beat Ole Miss. I'm cheering for the hawkeyes, and I expect the buckeyes to struggle, but I also expect the refs will be paid off. If Oregon loses or Auburn loses, I fully expect Ohio State to suddenly be the highest ranked one-loss team. If a one-loss team gets into the national championship, it will be Ohio State. Due purely to bias. They are most certainly not the best one-loss team even now, and I hope they lose to both Iowa and Michigan.

Speaking of Ohio State...The Gators have their first basketball test tomorrow night (6pm ET, ESPN) against the Buckeyes. The game is in Gainesville. As usual, Ohio State is overrated. I can say this without knowing whether or not they're actually good just because Ohio State is ALWAYS overrated. My only question is: Is Florida good this year? Florida finally shed the worst player in its history, gained a few good prospects, and suddenly went from unranked to #11/#9 in preseason rankings. Mind you, this all happened with the subtraction of Dan Werner, and the addition of people voters have not yet seen play in a college environment. Ohio State is #4/#5. No matter the outcome of this game, Florida will forever own Ohio State. But still, I am begging the Gators not to screw this up. Gator fans are disappointed by the football team, and a win over Ohio State would surely remind Gator fans of better times (ie: a 41-14 national championship victory in football or an 84-75 national championship victory in basketball...) The last time Ohio State played Florida in basketball in Gainesville, the Gators won 86-60. And in anticipation of the national championship football game that had already been set between the 2 schools, the crowd chanted "overrated" and "just like football." It was December 23, 2006. I remember it like it was yesterday. But I digress. I am very excited for the basketball tip-off marathon as a whole, because those who know me well know I will watch college basketball no matter who the participating teams may be. Yesterday I watched Chicago State vs DePaul.

Five basketball games I am most excited for this week: Ohio State at Florida (obviously), Virginia Tech at Kansas State (think the Wildcats will have a great season), Butler at Louisville, Maryland at Pitt and Wisconsin at UNLV. You may ask why "ranked vs. ranked" Illinois vs. Texas didn't make my list....but I'd just tell you that big ten basketball bores me to sleep (watch the aforementioned Wisconsin game and you'll see what I mean) and that I have no interest in Texas based on pre-season hype. Last year they were overrated because they were living off football hype. We'll see if they can make a name for themselves this year, but I believe the Big 12 will be dominated by Kansas and Kansas State this year. Rutgers Lady Knights had a rough start against two great opponents from the west coast, but hopefully they will gain confidence Thursday with a win over Princeton and have a great season. The Rutgers men did not fair so well against the Princeton Tigers. I don't expect as much from Mike Rice as I did from Ray Rice, though. Hopefully they can beat Fairfield tonight. Huskers play Arkansas Pine-Bluff tonight. Lady Huskers had an impressive opening game against Vermont. Looking forward to wins this week over Miami and St. Mary's.

GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Scarlet Knights!!! Go Huskers!!!