How hard is it to go undefeated? Ask any of the last three teams who were ranked #1 in the AP poll or BCS standings. Alabama lost at South Carolina, then Ohio State lost at Wisconsin, and now Oklahoma lost at Missouri. Each of these teams lost by two possessions and each were on the road against a ranked team. Just like last week, the lower-ranked home team returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. But Oklahoma scored on their first possession and the game was mostly back and forth until the fourth quarter when Missouri scored 16 straight points. The differences in this game were ball control and efficiency. Missouri had the ball almost twice as long as Oklahoma (38:26 compared to 21:34) and 7.3 yards per pass compared to Oklahoma's 6.1. Both teams had a few turnovers, but the biggest seemed to be when Zaviar Gooden picked off Landry Jones in the fourth quarter. Missouri had just taken the lead back, going up 26-21. The first play of Oklahoma's next drive was picked off and Missouri scored 10 straight points, securing their lead for good.
BYU gets a celebration penalty after holding off Wyoming on their final drive to win by 5 points. That is a sign of how far the program has fallen this year.
Cam Newton should be the leading candidate for the Heisman now, if he wasn't already. He ripped a top-10 run defense apart. LSU was letting up just 83 yards per game on the ground, and Newton almost tripled that by himself. Auburn totaled a massive 440 yards on the ground. The defense also played pretty well, but they were also playing against a bad offense. Auburn is looking like a #1 team on offense, but not on defense or special teams. But you do have to give some credit to the defense. On LSU's first 5 second half drives, they had a total of one first down. But through that same span, LSU won the field position battle every drive. Auburn would get near midfield, stall, punt and LSU's special teams were getting big returns to nearly midfield each time. Then LSU would punt and pin Auburn deep in their own territory. But before that field position battle, this play is what Heisman voters will be looking at a lot.
The guy is just incredible, I can't say enough about him. He looks like the quarterback that could lead Auburn to a national championship game. Auburn is now the only undefeated team in the SEC and should remain that way until November 26 when they play at Alabama which will be a huge game.
I don't have a lot of time, but here are some short things worth mentioning.
Give it up to Wisconsin for pulling out the win on the road with the game winning touchdown with only 1:06 on the clock. Impressive win at Iowa while only managing 3.7 yards per carry against that tough defense.
Taylor Martinez, wow. I'd be interested to see when the last time was that a Nebraska quarterback passed for 5 touchdowns. That's a stat I will be looking up. Good job by the defense, too, only letting Brandon Weeden complete half of his passes (he's completing 66% on the year).
Baylor will be going bowling for the first time since 1994, I believe. Good job Bears. Robert Griffin III is having a great year, and had a big day against Kansas State with over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns. Lots to talk about in the Big 12 this year, surprisingly.
Hawaii's offense is better than I thought. Not that Utah State is great or anything, but Hawaii is usually much worse away from the island and they won 45-7 in Logan.
Alabama's looking pretty hot right now. I think they still have a legitimate shot at the national championship if there are no unbeaten BCS teams and they win out.
Who keeps replacing the Texas football team? They've lost 3 of their last 4. The lone win was at Nebraska. The 3 losses were all at home and include Iowa State and UCLA. They hadn't lost 3 straight home games in over a decade.
The end of the season is shaping up to be pretty exciting. Auburn's looking like the front runner for the championship but they still play at Alabama. Boise State won't make the championship unless Auburn and Oregon both lose (and probably Michigan State and both TCU and Utah too) because of strength of schedule. If Michigan State wins at Iowa this weekend, they'll probably be the only undefeated team in the Big 10 (who saw that coming??). Unless a ton of teams lose, the only current one-loss team I see with a shot at the championship is Alabama.
My pick right now for the championship: Oregon vs Alabama. As much as I want to say Auburn here, their defense just isn't good enough and they play at Alabama. Their only shot is if they step up their defense. I think Alabama will run the table, Michigan State will lose at Iowa, and Alabama will overtake all non-BCS teams (and 0 or 1-loss Missouri).
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