Winners
Oregon
I’ve been
hard on the Ducks so far this year, mostly because of the scheduled they’d
faced up to Saturday. Oregon’s win at
Washington was a big statement for the Ducks and showed me that this team is
the best team on the West Coast and arguably the best in the nation. Oregon’s success offensively is obvious but
it’s the defense that impressed me Saturday and could be the difference between
playing for the Pac-12 and potentially a BCS Title birth or not.
Mack Brown & Texas
Let’s face
it- few teams/coaches circle the wagons quite like Mack Brown and the Texas
Longhorns. Let’s not forget, the
Longhorns were in an almost identical situation last season, sitting at 4-2 and
coming off a blowout loss to Oklahoma.
Questions were popping up about Brown and his future and all seemed loss
for Texas. All they did was win five of
their last seven games, including a 31-27 win over Oregon State in the Valero
Alamo Bowl. As of today, the Longhorns
are 4-2 (3-0 in the Big 12) and coming off a sound win over Oklahoma. If history tells us anything, it is not to
count out Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns.
The SEC
With a
record eight teams in the AP and my top 25 this week the conference looks
strong than ever. Maybe that will quite all the people saying that the Pac-12
is better this season. I think all along everyone knew that the SEC was better
it is just now proving itself. There are still some things to be settled within
the conference, but it looks great so far.
Upset Teams
Utah took
down No. 5 Stanford, No. 25 Missouri took down No. 7 Georgia, Texas took down
No. 12 Oklahoma and Penn State took down No. 18 Michigan. Every year we have a
weekend with some major upsets, this seems like an early week for some major
shakeups, but that is what happened. Utah is an up and coming team in the
Pac-12 and looks like it is ready to start competing in the conference.
Missouri is in the same boat as it looks like it is ready to make some noise in
the SEC. Texas is still 4-2 and 3-0 in the Big 12 and still has its conference title
aspirations alive. Penn State need a big win over a ranked team to keep things
going in the right direction in Happy Valley. Good on’ya Penn State.
Losers
Stanford
For all the
talk about Stanford this season, we have yet to see them play a full game the
way they’re supposed to be capable of playing.
Saturday, they didn’t just not play a whole game, they missed the boat
completely against Utah. That loss comes
after a huge test against Washington, were the Cardinal were outgained by
nearly 200 yards. Stanford is a solid
team but they’re far from the juggernaut we might have thought.
Georgia
I feel bad
kicking the Dawgs when they’re down but their loss at home against Missouri
seemed like the culmination of injury after injury they’ve suffered so
far. Georgia battled hard and should be
commended for their effort but with the depleted roster and three road games in
the next four weeks, things are looking down for the Dawgs.
Ohio State
How can a
team that didn’t play this week lose?
Well, their two (and only) marquee opponents lost this weekend and given
the already laughable strength of schedule and relative mediocrity atop the
B1G, Bucky is going to need some serious help to get into the BCS Championship
assuming they go undefeated. With
Michigan dropping for the ranks of the unbeatens with a loss to Penn State and
Northwestern getting dominated by Wisconsin, the Buckeye’s schedule now only
features on victory over a previously ranked Northwestern team. The Buckeyes
desperately need someone else in this conference to get hot.
The Pac-12
With losses
by Stanford to unranked-Utah and Washington (although it was to Oregon) the
Pac-12 does not look as strong as it did a couple weeks ago. Now I am not selling either team, I am just
selling the conference strength as a whole. I think this is one of the better conferences in
the country, but no way is it better than the SEC right now. 
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