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Four thoughts for the college football weekend ahead ...
1. Role reversal
If the fact that Syracuse is currently very much a part of the 2010 BCS Bowl conversation while Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, and USC are not wasn't enough evidence to convince you that his college football season’s been unlike any other before it, the fact that unranked Texas is hosting ranked Baylor this weekend just might do the job.
Baylor enters Saturday’s clash in Austin with a surprising lead in its division and a Top 25 ranking for the first time since 1993. Iowa State, meanwhile, beat the Longhorns for the first time ever last weekend, knocking Texas out of the Top 25 for the second time this season.
Baylor looks to break a 12-game skid against Texas that dates back to 1997.
Though Baylor’s long been known as the Big 12 South’s perennial doormat, you might not realize just how bad they’ve been over the past decade and a half without seeing the numbers. Consider these nuggets:
• In the 14 years of Big 12 division play, Baylor’s finished in last place or tied for last place 13 times.
• With one more win this season, they’ll have more victories (4) in Big 12 play than they’ve ever had since joining the conference.
• The Bears haven’t been bowl eligible since 1995.
• Baylor had a 30-game Big 12 losing streak in one stretch and was 14-98 in league play from 1996 to 2009.
• The last time the Bears were ranked in consecutive weeks was 1991. For the record, Milli Vanilli won "Best New Artist" at the Grammy Awards in 1991.
Rub your eyes a bit and pinch yourself if you must, but yes, at 3-1 in the conference, Baylor’s currently a half-game in front of both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
And though the Heisman Trophy may appear to be a one-horse race at the moment, Cam Newton could have some company from a quarterback down in Waco by the end of this weekend. Robert Griffin III leads the Big 12 in offense, while his Bears are the fifth-ranked offensive unit (602.5 yards per game) in the nation. Griffin III had a career-high 404 yards in last Saturday’s thrilling 47-42 victory over Kansas State and has accounted for 24 of Baylor’s 30 touchdowns.
With games against Texas, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma still ahead on the schedule, Griffin could make some serious Heisman noise with a string of victories. Knock off the Longhorns, Cowboys and Sooners? If he does that, Baylor could be right in the thick of the BCS hunt. Though he tends to deflect any compliments and re-direct them to his teammates, it'll be on Griffin's shoulders from here on out.
"He gives us the opportunity to beat everyone we play; he's that dynamic," Baylor coach Art Briles said this week. "He's smart, he soaks everything in and he has a level of talent not many players can match."
For Griffin, this season’s success comes a year later than many in Waco had originally hoped. Starting as a true freshman in 2008, Griffin rocked the Big 12 with 28 touchdown scores and lots of late-game heroics. With Heisman buzz and summer bowl hopes leading up to his sophomore year, Griffin went down with a season-ending knee injury in Baylor’s third game. The buzz fizzled; any bowl or Heisman hopes went up in smoke. The Bears finished 1-7 in the conference. Yet again.
A year later, however, Griffin’s got the Bears on track for a bowl berth and maybe even more.
Baby steps, first, though.
Let’s see him first take down Texas in Austin this weekend before we put him in the same breath as Mr. Newton.
Or Baylor in the same breath as Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
2. You’ll have to wait another month, Mr. Izzo
Though they appeared to still be picking out the crust in their eyes at the start of last Saturday’s 11 a.m. ET kickoff vs. Northwestern, the unbeaten Michigan State Spartans woke up in time to escape a mid-October scare from the Wildcats in Evanston. It was the first game Michigan State had played outside of the state of Michigan all season. It showed.
The Spartans won’t have the luxury of taking a quarter off Saturday in Iowa City.
Michigan State's surprising start is college football’s feel-good story of the year. Coming off a 6-7 season and a spring in which 15 players were dismissed for disciplinary action, Michigan State didn’t receive a single preseason Top 25 vote. Fast-forward two months and the Spartans are 8-0 for the first time since 1966 and on track to go to their first Rose Bowl since 1987. Saturday’s trip to Iowa City, though, will be no walk in the park. When these two play, it never is.
From 1982-90, the Hawkeyes and Spartans played nine straight games that were decided by no more than six points. The Spartans won by three points over the Hawkeyes in 2008 and fell in double overtime in 2007 at Iowa City. Last year, Iowa kept an undefeated season alive by winning a 15-13 thriller in East Lansing. Saturday's game has similiar implications for Michigan State this year as it did for Iowa in 2009.
"It will have an impact on us for the rest of the season, good or bad," senior linebacker Greg Jones said Tuesday.
Michigan State’s path to the BCS National Championship Game is a bit more obstructed than Oregon or Auburn’s, but one would have to assume an undefeated Big Ten champion would finish higher in the BCS rankings than an unbeaten TCU, Boise State or Utah. No non-BCS conference unbeaten has ever finished in the top two of the BCS standings, let alone in the top two over an unbeaten BCS conference squad.
As for the current Nos. 1 and 2, Auburn’s still going to have to beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl and then the SEC East champion before securing a BCS bowl berth. Oregon, of course, has a road test at USC this weekend and tough road trips to Berkeley and Corvallis up ahead.
The Spartans? If — and yes, it’s a big if — they can get past Iowa in Iowa State this weekend, it’s three winnable games against Minnesota, Purdue, and underwhelming Penn State.
Sports fans in East Lansing are used to thinking about college basketball come Nov. 1. With a win on Saturday, any talk of the Final Four will be put on the back-burner for the time being.
A BCS National Championship — as unlikely as that might have sounded two months ago — will be the conversation topic of choice, instead.
3. A Cocktail Party’s still a Cocktail Party, regardless of the guests’ shoddy appearance
OK, so maybe a national title is not on the line. And, no, it’s not exactly Tebow vs. Stafford. But if you’re a college football fan, you’ve still got a place in your heart for the World’s Largest Cocktail Party, or whatever they’re calling it this year. I don’t care about the records or what disdain you might have for Steve Addazzio’s play-calling, Georgia-Florida is still Georgia-Florida.
Florida’s won 17 of 20 against Georgia, but the two teams are going in completely opposite directions. Florida’s in the midst of its first three-game losing streak since 1999, while Georgia has bounced back from an ugly 0-3 start in the SEC to win its last three conference games in convincing fashion.
Amazingly enough, Florida — despite its miserable October — still controls its own destiny in the SEC East. With wins over Georgia, Vanderbilt and South Carolina, the Gators can punch their ticket to the Dec. 4 title game at the Georgia Dome.
Georgia, too, is still very much alive in the beleaguered SEC East. If the Dawgs win out and South Carolina loses twice more, Georgia can somehow find itself playing in the SEC Championship Game just two months after losing to Big 12 doormat Colorado and falling to 1-4 on the year. In truth, Georgia can actually lose its final game of the season to SEC West opponent Auburn, and still make it to Atlanta.
For the first time in 31 years, neither team is nationally ranked for this game. But with a division title still very much on the line, there’s more than enough at stake to expect a classic. If the SEC Championship Game isn’t enough for motivation, the fine folks from both the Chik-Fil-A Bowl and the Gator Bowl will be on hand in Jacksonville, as well.
“If we could get this victory, it opens the door for us to get to Atlanta,” Georgia coach Mark Richt told reporters this week. “Just knowing that going into the ball game is an exciting thing for our players and coaches and I’m sure our fan base, too. I’m just thankful we’ve gotten to this game and there is true meaning for us in the Eastern Division race.”
“If we’re mathematically out of it, it’s tougher to motivate,” Richt added. “Even when we were 0-3 in the league, it was not mathematically impossible, and I was personally keeping my hopes the whole time. I wasn’t talking much about it. I was just trying to win a game when we were sitting there at 0-3 in the league. But as we began to win and other teams began to lose, it was apparent that there was a chance.”
Georgia’s red hot and Florida’s ice cold. Both teams are unranked and have been, at times, unwatchable. None of that will matter once the ball is kicked off on Saturday.
4. The best defensive tackle you’ve never heard of
Though you’re likely unfamiliar with his name now, come April, you’ll no doubt be hearing about Kenrick Ellis in NFL Draft conversations.
The Jamaican-born Ellis redshirted his freshman year under Steve Spurrier at South Carolina, only to run into trouble down in Columbia. After a promising 2007 season where he played a contributing role coming off the bench, Ellis had a trouble-laden spring. He was suspended for the first three games of the 2008 season and ultimately dismissed from the squad for multiple violations of team policy.
Out of options at the Division-1 level, Ellis transferred to I-AA Hampton prior to the ‘08 season. After a productive sophomore year, he burst on to the scene in ’09, earning first-team All-MEAC honors with 15 tackles for a loss. Now a senior, he’s straight-up dominating the line of scrimmage every Saturday for the 5-2 Pirates. This isn’t some rags-to-riches, feel-good story. It’s a story about a man-beast dominating inferior opponents.
The 6-foot-5, 310-pound Ellis leads Hampton in tackles, tackles for a loss and sacks, and had a game-high 11 tackles in last Saturday’s 10-7 loss at South Carolina State. I’ve seen film of Ellis this season and it’s like watching an NFL player mix it up with the junior varsity. You know those NFL “Play 60” commercials where Mario Williams and A.J. Hawk scoop up the toddlers and throw them on their backs? That’s Ellis in these MEAC games.
OK, so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But write the name down now: Kenrick Ellis.
His spotty past will haunt him in April, for sure. But his game tapes will speak volumes.
Hampton plays Old Dominion this weekend. I don’t expect you to watch, but at least check the game summary. I’m certain it’ll be well worth the Google search Sunday morning.
Schrager BCS bowl projections through Week 8
BCS National Championship Game: Alabama vs. Oregon
Rose Bowl: Michigan State vs. Boise State
Fiesta Bowl: Nebraska vs. TCU
Sugar Bowl: Auburn vs. Wisconsin
Orange Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Virginia Tech
Schrager’s Heisman ballot through eight weeks:
1. Cameron Newton, QB, Auburn
2. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
3. Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor
