My NCAA Football Letter - Week 9

October 30, 2009

Week 8:

2 seconds!  At least the BCS recognizes the Big Ten as an actual league though.

Week 9:

This week includes possibly the worst match-up of the season and HUGE Pac-10 and Big12 games.

First off, in case you missed it, VT lost to UNC On Thursday.  GT is now a definite bid for the bowl games and unless something really wacky happens, that will be in the Orange Bowl.

Games to watch:

IN@(4)Iowa:  Iowa has been  sneaking by all these games, but they still get the win.  One of these days…but probably not this one.
Noon on ESPN

Western Kentucky@North Texas:  The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are 0-7.  The North Texas Mean Green are 1-6. This game is gonna be epic!
4:15 on local channels and ESPN360.

(12)PSU@NW:  Once again, we cannot just assume an easy win here.  If you remember last week, NW was down 28-3 halfway through the 2nd and ending up winning the game 29-28.  What an incredible comeback from a team that just refused to give up.  Penn State outclasses NW in almost every way, but we cannot take these games lightly, and we especially cannot be looking forward the big one next week.
4:30pm on ESPN

(3)TX@(14)OKST:  This game is actually HUGE because of the implications that many do not realize.  OKST is 3-0 in the Big12 South conference, the SAME as TX.  That means, if OKST wins this, not only does it knock Texas out of the Title game, but could also knock TX out of the BCS bowl games.  That is correct, if OKST wins today, TX may not even be playing in a 2010 game.  On the flip side, if TX wins, this is their last real game of the season and they will more than likely play in the Title game.
8pm on ABC (regional)

(5)USC@(10)OR:  If the Ducks win this one, then they have dramatically increased their chances of making it to the Rose Bowl.   This game is not the be-all-end-all for the league because both Oregon and USC have to play Arizona, who has the worst (or the best if they win) schedule in the country for the last 4 weeks of conference play.  An Oregon win today means if they beat Arizona on 11/21 then they are going to the Rose Bowl.  If USC wins today, then Oregon has to lose to Arizona and USC has to defeat Arizona for them to go to the Rose Bowl.  No matter who wins, if Arizona wins out the rest of their season, they will probably be getting the Rose Bowl bid.  This is an exciting year for the normally boring conference.
8pm on ABC (regional)

We Are!
Josh