This is the first year that I've truly understood what some college football experts mean when they say the whole year is a playoff. As it looks right now, no team will be undefeated at years end. Why do I love college football? Saturday was the No. 1 reason. Great games, exciting plays and every emotion.
Kentucky players celebrate their win over LSU on Saturday.
On Saturday, Louisiana State, one team everybody thought looked invincible, was beaten 43-37 in three overtimes by Kentucky. Also, No. 2 California, with backup redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Riley leading the Bears down the field in the final minute, let the clock run out inside the ten yard line and lost to Oregon State 31-28. Down by 3 with 15 seconds left and no timeouts, Riley scampered around and took off for the endzone, but was tackled and the clock run out.
Cal coach Jeff Tedford was expecting overtime, but instead left with a loss in regulation.
With Cincinnati losing to Louisville, four teams remain undefeated. Ohio State who ran roughshod over Kent State 48-3, Boston College is 7-0 after beating Notre Dame 27-14, South Florida who had a bye (or beat Central Florida 64-12....same thing) and Arizona State. The Sun Devils are ranked No. 14 and have no chance of jumping over a bunch of one-loss teams (i.e. Rutgers of last year when they were undefeated until late in the season). ASU beat Washington 44-20.
I don't believe any of these undefeated teams can stay unbeaten for the rest of the year. Ohio State plays Michigan State next weekend but Michigan waits in a couple of weeks and with a young quarterback, the Buckeyes will struggle to run the table in the Big 10. Boston College looks good, but the Eagles take on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg next Thursday night in a nationally televised game on ESPN. Doubtful the Eagles will walk out of there with a win. South Florida travels to Rutgers this Thursday and will not be undefeated on Friday. Arizona State? They will not get through the rest of the Pac-10. Cal, USC, UCLA, etc, etc, etc.
What happens in the national championship? Get ready for the one loss game. Oklahoma vs LSU would be my guess right now. LSU obviously will have to run the table from here on out in the SEC and rise back up the rankings after last night's loss. Oklahoma, who last night beat Missouri in Norman, have already beaten Texas and will walk through the Big 12.
I'm all for a playoff in college football, but now I understand that we have a playoff already to a certain extent. Teams are playing their way into a BCS game (Boston College, Ohio State, Oklahoma) and playing their way out (Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame...well, the Irish will probably still get a BCS bid even if they go 1-11).
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