I'm Back!

Sadly real life got in the way the past couple of weeks, responsibility isn't everything its cracked up to be. But now I'm back, and I'll be here to get you through the rest of the college football season.

November.... the time when the pretenders fade away and the real title contenders step up to claim their destiny.

Only one week into November, and pretenders are dropping left and right. Yesterday, Iowa, the King of Pretenders lost at home to Northwestern. Not only does the loss drop Iowa out of the National Title conversation (if you were talking about them in the first place), but now Iowa may drop all the way out of the BCS.

Another pretender, Oregon, had a let down after their big win against ESPN's favorite pretender, USC. Oregon got blasted yesterday by Stanford, and now the PAC 10 is an absolute mess. What is the 5th tie breaker in the PAC 10? Maybe the tie breaker is that if USC is tied with anyone, USC wins because they are USC... if that isn't the tie breaker, then they should look into it.

Thankfully, we have a clear picture to the National Title game. As it should be, the SEC Championship game will be a national semifinal, with either Florida or Alabama advancing to play Big 12 Champion Texas. Throughout the year, these three teams have been the best, and two of them are going to play for the title. Texas has the benefit of not playing a good team for the next three weeks, and having to play the likes of Nebraska or some other also-ran from the Big 12 North in the Big 12 title game.

On a quick local note, Georgia took care of business yesterday against Tennessee Tech. Just like 2006, when the Dawgs finished the season by beating 3 ranked teams, Georgia needs to finish strong this season. The game against Auburn this Saturday is everything. Win against Auburn, beat Kentucky, and get revenge against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Go to the Chick-fil-A Bowl and play Miami. Nothing wrong with that ending, lets just hope it goes that way.

Now for the fun stuff. Here are bowl projections for the BCS and Capital One Bowl with some explanation.

Capital One Bowl:
LSU v. Iowa

This would be a rematch of a very exciting Capital One Bowl from 2005. LSU lost on a last second Hail Mary from Iowa. This could also be Penn State from the Big 10.

Orange Bowl:
Georgia Tech v. Cincinnati

Tech should win the ACC title game against a weak opponent from the ACC Coastal or is it the Atlantic... who knows, who cares, Tech wins and goes to their first BCS game in school history. They should be meeting and undefeated Cincinnati team in Miami. A win by the Jackets in the Orange Bowl and Tech could be looking at a Top 5 finish, and Paul Johnson will have the Jacket nation talking National Championship in 2010.

Sugar Bowl:
Florida v. TCU

So here's the thing. I think Alabama will beat Florida in the SEC title game. Obviously it would only make sense for Sugar Bowl to replace Bama with Florida. The problem is that going into Saturday, Notre Dame, Penn State, and USC were battling for at large bids into the BCS. Notre Dame and Penn State both lost on Saturday and Oregon lost which would put USC into the Rose Bowl. By default, at this point, you have to let TCU into the BCS. There just aren't any other teams.

Rose Bowl:
USC v. Ohio State

Jim Tressel has never been to the Rose Bowl at Ohio State. He has played in 3 National Title games, but never a Rose Bowl. USC plays in the Rose Bowl every year that they don't play for the National Title. Even though this would be a rematch from earlier in the season, when USC beat Ohio State, this is a classic Rose Bowl matchup, and there won't be any other game on at 4 in the afternoon on New Year's Day, so people will watch it.

Fiesta Bowl:
Boise State v. Oregon

Boise will make it to the BCS, TCU going to the Sugar is the reach. I searched for another team to play in this game other than Oregon, but unless I'm going crazy, there isn't one. The Ducks would travels well, and will share the PAC 10 title with USC. The only reason this game might not happen, is that it would also be a rematch from the first week of the season. I just can't figure out who else could go here.

BCS National Title Game:
Alabama v. Texas

This game would feature two great teams and two of college footballs greatest programs. Bama is probably the most consistent team in football and Texas is dynamic on offense and defense. I would expect this game to be very close and very low scoring.

Obviously, there is still a lot of football to be played, but as of now, this is where we stand. Have a great week!