.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
So, Texas Tech, huh?
Oklahoma entered Saturday night's clash with the visiting Red Raiders as winners of 39 straight games at home, the nation's longest such streak, and as healthy 29-point favorites in Las Vegas sports books. With Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles serving as the nation's most prolific quarterback/receiver duo and an average margin of victory of 30 points over the season's first six games, it was awfully easy to write off Tommy Tuberville's squad.
Yet, sure enough, after an hour-and-a-half rain delay and a series of now-shameful Saturday evening tweets in which I questioned ABC's decision to air a surefire Oklahoma blowout win instead of Stanford-Washington on the East Coast, the Red Raiders delivered the upset of the weekend and just Bob Stoops' third career loss at Owen Field.
The lesson, as always? Never take any game for granted in college football.
Last week, I boldly proclaimed that only four games on the remainder of the 2011 college football schedule actually mattered in terms of the BCS National Championship Game. Seven days later, I can tell you with even more confidence that I was dead wrong. You can't play with crystal balls in college football. The second you try, they get shattered.
Despite being listed as 33-point underdogs, Air Force hung with Boise State for four quarters on Saturday, too. Ole Miss should have beaten Arkansas. Michigan State gave Wisconsin its first loss of the season.
The cream is certainly rising to the top in college football and it appears as though there are seven teams -- LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Clemson, Kansas State, and Boise State -- that are still alive for BCS National Championship Game bids.
But I'm far more interested in that second tier of teams; the squads that can and will play spoiler roles from here on out. With Halloween a few days away, there are the four second-tier teams that the top teams should be very, very afraid of.
They are:
1. Arkansas (6-1 overall) (2-1 in SEC)
All season long, it's been perceived as a two-horse race in the SEC West, but there's a third squad more than capable of not only playing the spoiler role in LSU and 'Bama's dream seasons, but winning the division and representing the SEC West in Atlanta's SEC Championship Game in December, as well. Arkansas is no joke.
With LSU and 'Bama set to square off on Nov. 5, there will be a lot of comparisons to the Michigan-Ohio State game in 2006 and talk of how the meeting will serve as the "real" national championship game this season. Bobby Petrino's Hogs are just fine with all that. Though they lost to Alabama on Sept. 24, the No. 10 ranked Razorbacks can still win the division with two Alabama losses (presumably to LSU in that Nov. 5 game and at Auburn in the Iron Bowl) and an Arkansas victory over the Tigers in their annual Thanksgiving weekend clash on Nov. 25.
Arkansas has done something few top 10 teams have had to do this season — come from behind to steal games they probably shouldn't have won. First, they came back from an early 20-point deficit vs. Texas A&M to win a wild 42-38 shootout in Dallas back on Oct. 1. Then, on Saturday, they rallied from an early 17-0 hole in Oxford to topple Ole Miss 29-24. After failing to score a point and being forced to punt on the team's first three drives, Arkansas scored 29 points and punted just once more in their final nine offensive drives of the game. Besides an obvious ability to come back with their backs against the wall away from home, Arkansas also boasts the league's top passing offense and the rare offensive talent at the skill positions that could actually get through LSU's seemingly impenetrable defense. Surely you remember the Peyton Hillis-Felix Jones-Darren McFadden team upsetting No. 1 LSU in triple OT back in 2007's Battle for the Golden Boot. That one is still talked about in Fayetteville with beaming pride. This Arkansas squad — built differently, but just as dangerous — could master the same sort of upset on national TV.
Everyone's talking about the Tide and the Tigers. Don't sleep on Arkansas. If they keep winning, get a little help from some "friends" playing 'Bama, and then knock off LSU, it could be Mr. Petrino's boys -- not Mr. Saban's or Mr. Miles' — representing not only the SEC West in Atlanta, but the conference in the BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans.
2. USC (6-1 in overall, 3-1 in Pac-10)
There's something awfully frightening about a talented team playing a fearless brand of football and winning games despite knowing its not going to play in any postseason games. Though many pundits wrote the Trojans off after their embarrassing 43-22 loss at Arizona State as a team with "nothing to gain" in 2011, they've proven that they're just the opposite — a team that's darn scary because they have nothing to lose.
Lane Kiffin, a guy I probably went a little bit overboard in calling a "rat" when he left Knoxville for Los Angeles, coached a masterful game Saturday night in South Bend. It's not the first stellar game he's coached this season and it probably won't be the last. Despite sanctions, scrutiny, and that early season loss to the Sun Devils, USC has picked it up of late and has become a defensive-minded bully of a squad the past few weeks. Not only can the Trojans squash Andrew Luck and Stanford's BCS dreams next Saturday, but they can very well do the same to surging Oregon come Nov. 19 in Eugene.
Again, everyone's talking about Stanford and Oregon in the Pac-12 this year, but it's the Trojans who could end up being the dragon slayers. The Monte Kiffin-led defense held a high-flying Notre Dame offense to just 267 yards of offense and 10 points on Saturday night and forced five turnovers in a 30-9 blowout of California in San Francisco the Thursday night before. With two gritty road wins in a row under their belts, a quarterback who's quietly having a Heisman-type season of his own, and a national TV audience tuning in — don't be shocked if USC gives the much-ballyhooed Cardinal a heck of a fight on Saturday.
Nothing to gain? Fine. Sure. Whatever. USC's damn scary because they've got nothing to lose.
3. South Carolina (6-1 overall, 3-1 in SEC)
This wasn't how the Gamecocks' season was supposed to go. Being forced to come from behind to beat East Carolina? No. Having to scrape out three-point victories at Georgia and vs. Navy? No. A bad home loss to Auburn on national TV? Get out of here. But sure enough, here we are, heading into November, and the Gamecocks — preseason darlings for just about every national college football writer in the country — are 6-1 and atop the SEC East.
Though their BCS National Championship chances are minimal, South Carolina still can play the spoiler role twice more this season, and earn a BCS bowl bid in the process. Everyone's on the Clemson bandwagon, but the fifth-ranked Tigers aren't going anywhere beyond the ACC's annual trip to the Orange Bowl if they can't get past South Carolina in Columbia on Nov. 26. And that SEC West champion? Whether it's LSU, Alabama, or Arkansas, they'll have to get past the SEC East champion before booking hotels on Bourbon Street for the BCS National Championship Game.
And yes, I know Stephen Garcia was dismissed from the program. And of course I'm aware that Marcus Lattimore suffered a season-ending injury last week against Mississippi State. But for all their headlines and highlights, Garcia and Lattimore weren't all this team had to offer. The defense leads the nation in takeaways with 24, is 19th in the nation in scoring defense, and second in passing defense. There's a ton of talent on the roster, too. Donning my NFL draftnik cap, I can tell you that Lattimore's not the only future NFL player on the roster. Cornerback Stephen Gilmore, defensive lineman Devin Taylor, freshman Jadeveon Clowney, and offensive tackle Brandon Shell are all surefire future first or second day draft picks, too. That talent, alone, will always give the Gamecocks a shot at a major upset.
For the second straight year, Florida and Tennessee are having down years and the Gamecocks have already beaten Georgia. The SEC East is theirs to win.
Once they wrap that up, there's rival Clemson and the mighty SEC West champs up ahead. We shouldn't sleep on South Carolina in either of those games.
4. TCU (5-2 overall, 3-0 in MWC)
No one's talking about TCU (outside of realignment conversations) but they're quietly 3-0 in conference play and atop the Mountain West Conference standings. We're used to the Horned Frogs playing Boise State in bowl games — they played in back-to-back years in '09 and '10 — but this year the two teams will square off Saturday, Nov. 12 in Boise, this time with a conference title likely on the line.
If any team left on Boise State's schedule is going to topple the Broncos from the ranks of the unbeaten, it's the Horned Frogs. Quarterback Casey Pachall seems to be emerging from Andy Dalton's shadow, TCU is fresh off the biggest scoring output in school history, and the defense is finally clicking. A week before their 69-0 whalloping of New Mexico, Gary Peterson's young squad won its 19th consecutive conference win on the road against a very talented San Diego State squad. Eighth in the nation in scoring and 35th overall in defense, the Horned Frogs are a two-point loss at Baylor and a shocking OT loss to SMU away from being unbeaten, themselves.
We're not used to seeing TCU as underdogs in MWC conference games, but that's just what they'll be on Nov. 12 in Boise. Don't be shocked if they pull the "upset" and ruin Boise's BCS dreams.
