College sports chicanery

Texas Tech fired Pat Knight. Why does Texas Tech basketball suck? Knight recommended Billy Gillispie. Is Lubbock dry?

****
The NCAA ruled Perry Jones ineligible. Baylor was then beat by Oklahoma in the Big XII tournament. Baylor's pissed at the timing. Remember: It is well noted that Baylor basketball is diiirrrrrrttttttyyyyyy.

****
Texas A&M, Oklahoma and SMU were named three of the most corrupt colleges in the nation.

****
SMU basketball put itself on probation for two years and imposed recruiting restrictions for texting parents of recruits. More than 100, or so they say. It's one thing to cheat. It's another to cheat and be awful. The Mustangs finished 17-14 this year. In Matt Doherty's tenure, they're 64-89 and 25-53 in conference.

An early bowl round-up

Poking along

Before we get to our January college bowl games, we should take a brief look at the games of local or regional interest that have already taken place. Again, if you don't like the 800 bowl games being played, don't watch them.

Army 16, SMU 14
You almost feel bad for Kyle Padron and the Mustangs. They kill the awful Army team and lose by two, mostly, due to Padron's fumble that was returned for a touchdown and two interceptions. But give Army a little credit. They don't have much, but they had zero penalties and did not turn the ball over. June Jones is 1-1 at SMU in bowl games.

Syracuse 36, Kansas State 34
No doubt the best bowl game to date. Tons of offense, no turnovers and a lot of lead changes in the second half. Naturally, it's overshadowed by a shitty official's call: A bunk overcelebration call on K-State that forced them to try a two-point conversion from the 18-yard-line. It failed and the Wildcats were sunk. Football needs to get the celebration bullshit straightened out, quick. If we're worried about gamesmanship and whatnot, Cam Newton's ineligible.

Oklahoma State 36, Arizona 10
The definition of "cruising." Arizona never had a shot, even at 14-7. The Pokes needed Kendall Hunter for just 10 carries and you ain't beating anyone allowing five sacks and three interceptions. A really fine season for Oklahoma State. No shame in 11 wins. Just to note: Mike Gundy's the second-best coach in the Big XII and Justin Blackmon's a top 10 pick in the NFL Draft.

Washington 19, Nebraska 7
It's insane that Nebraska's offense isn't good already. Or good enough to score 21 points. The Cornhuskers should not be losing to Texas A&M 9-7 nor to Washington 19-7. With all those athletes and you can't score? Insane! By the way, Jake Locker's a first-round pick? Give me Chris Polk.

Iowa 27, Missouri 24
I was mildly shocked to see Mizzou's Blaine Gabbert as a potential top five quarterback in the NFL draft. On cue, it was a Gabbert TAINT that shot the Tigers in the foot against the Hawkeyes.

Illinois 38, Baylor 14
As Robert Griffin goes ... Illinois made Baylor one-dimensional and I don't care how bad or good your opponent is, that'll get you beat a lot of times. Baylor probably turned back into a pumpkin six weeks ago. By the way, it makes the Big XII 1-4 in bowl games and 0-2 against the Big Ten. No wonder Nebraska's leaving.

Bowl cut

Gig 'em

What's fascinating about all the pundits putting down the current college football bowl scene is that even though there are around 40 games, there's no way anyone watches all of them.

Especially the talking heads in the media. So why bitch about it? What does it matter? As my father said once, if you don't like it, don't watch it. Actually, he never said that. But it's something he would say.

If you don't pay a bowl game any attention, what's the point in hating it?

Although, I do have one gripe about the current bowl system. It's not that there's 25 or so meaningless smaller bowl games being played in mid-December with 6-6 teams.

It's that the second-tier bowl games have dropped off significantly in terms of their importance and position in the college football scheme.

Everyone pays attention to the crappy bowl games and the BCS bowl games. Ignored are the Cotton Bowl, Citrus Bowl, Holiday Bowl and these other bowls that have been around for a long while, were almost always played on New Year's Day and always had really good teams going.

Now, they can't play on New Year's Day because of the influx of crappy bowls and their role in terms of hosting good teams is eliminated due to the BCS bowls.

To bowl games of regional significance:

Insight Bowl
Missouri vs. Iowa
A really good game. Two ranked teams that played well in the season that incurred several hiccups that derailed their BCS hopes. Also, their proximity to each other should be interesting. What do you do with two midwest universities? Send them to Arizona, of course.

Texas Bowl
Illinois vs. Baylor
I don't think Illinois is any good and I think the Bears don't know any better. Illinois plays zero defense and has lost to any team of significance this year.

Alamo Bowl
Oklahoma State vs. Arizona
Talk about spitting the bit. Arizona was riding high until four straight conference losses. Meanwhile, OSU's looking for win No. 11 and potentially a pretty high pre-season ranking should they wind up around the top 10 this year.

Armed Forces Bowl
Army vs. SMU
Of all the talk of schools losing money having to pay for travel, SMU must feel pretty good. What's the big difference between the Armed Forced Bowl and the Honolulu Bowl? Nil. Why not save the money, play at home and enjoy a holidays in the continuous 48?

Pinstripe Bowl
Kansas State vs. Syracuse
New York Yankees. Get it? K-State as disappointing of a team as you'll find and I hope they lose by 20.

Holiday Bowl
Nebraska vs. Washington
I give a little credit to Washington. They could've packed it in after getting nailed by Oregon and Stanford. Instead, they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and beat Cal, Washington State and UCLA to end the season and finish 6-6. Meanwhile, Nebraska crapped the bed against Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma to wind up here. Mixed with the Pelini Brothers Fight and Anger Club, it's been a bad year for the Huskers.

TicketCity Bowl
Northwestern vs. Texas Tech
The new Cotton Bowl game at the old Cotton Bowl. And what a turd in the toilet this is!

Rose Bowl
Wisconsin vs. TCU
A really, really good game. Nothing against this. The black-and-blue badgers from the Big Ten against the upstart Horned Frogs, on the verge of going to the Big East. The Frogs are 5-4 in bowl games under Gary Patterson. But since moving to the Mountain West and entering their prime, they've won four of five, which included last year's loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. A big test for TCU if they want favor in pre-season rankings.

Fiesta Bowl
Connecticut vs. Oklahoma
Connecticut is a team that was shut out by Louisville before rolling off five straight against the best of the Big East and taking the conference. I feel like OU should win by five or more touchdowns.

Cotton Bowl
LSU vs. Texas A&M
I don't know how good a game this is as much as it's an interesting match-up for us locally. We've longed for the Aggies to right the ship. They have. Now I can't help but feel they're going to get their ass whipped by the seasoned LSU team that plays as good a defense as you'll find in the country. Again, A&M's proved they can win as evidenced in their 9-6 win over Nebraska.

Bell tolls for college football

Big XII champs, while it lasts

Why were all the big games Saturday played so early? Wouldn't have Auburn-South Carolina or the Oregon-Oregon State game have been great in primetime?

Granted, I enjoyed Oklahoma-Nebraska, but it felt like most of the college football was done by 2 p.m. I like having my sports Saturday spread out.

That's why NFL is king. You've got a Thursday game to whet the appettite. Sunday morning pre-game rolls around. Iron out that fantasy roster. Get set for noon games. Eat lunch. Enjoy second half of noon games. Right when you think all is over, hell, there's the 3 p.m. games.

By 5 p.m. you're kinda drowsy. Get a pick-me-up and roll through until 60 Minutes. Then by 7:20 p.m., you're refueled and ready for another three hours of football.

Saturday, all was essentially done by 5 p.m. and the one night game of note wasn't worth getting one's panties in a bunch.

Games:

Oklahoma 23, Nebraska 20
Does Bob Stoops get enough credit in this world or does he get just enough? The Sooners were cooked last year and they didn't look altogether great this year, but Stoops helped steer the ship through the choppiest of waters, won the important games and took another Big XII title. The Sooners are wildly impressive and it's really hard to imagine them putting together a year like Texas had.

As for Nebraska, always a bridesmaid. They had the conference by the balls if they'd just kept it all together. They couldn't. They lost the important games. The coaches lost their cool and now they're going to the Big Ten with its tail between it's legs. A loser. They leave the Big XII a loser and I think that speaks volumes for that program. I think Bo Pelini's done a hell of a job in Lincoln, but he still hasn't gotten over that hump and it doesn't get any easier next season. In fact, it gets tougher. No more Iowa State and Colorado to beat up on. From week to week, it's a beast on the schedule.

I don't think the Cornhuskers are winning until Taylor Martinez relies more on his arm than his legs.

UCF 17, SMU 7
Again, SMU goes as far as Kyle Padron takes them. He's a sophomore and is going to get better. His improvement from last year to this year is phenomenal and is a big factor in their successful season. SMU is not on UCF's level, which is an odd thing to say because I don't consider UCF as having a "level" the same way Oregon or TCU have a "level." However, I would literally be shocked if SMU didn't win the Conference USA title in a year.

SMU, champs; A&M, riding high

Horny

Thanksgiving has scattered our college football weekend.

What we know and then what we don't know.

Texas A&M 24, Texas 17
Sucks that A&M finally beat Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech in the same season and, yet, they'll not win the Big XII South. All thanks to that loss to Oklahoma State and I'm pretty sure that if Ryan Tannehill were quarterbacking that game, they would've won. Anyway, Texas is awful.

SMU 45, East Carolina 38
Kyle Padron had one of those games. Almost perfect. No interceptions. Three touchdowns. SMU is missing out on eight- and nine-win seasons because Padron can't do this on a regular basis. Nonetheless, he did it today and it got them into the Conference USA title game next week. Then again, Padron's a sophomore. SMU's got another two years for days like today.

Nebraska 45, Colorado 17
No word is Bo Pelini screamed at any players or if his dipshit brother tackled a cameraman.

Oklahoma (9-2, 5-2) vs. Oklahoma State (10-1, 6-1)
You get the feeling the tides haven't shifted enough for OSU. I'm rooting for the Pokes, but Oklahoma is not going to go quietly in the Big XII South. However, the Cowboys are good and OU is particularly awful on the road and a night game to get the OSU fans lubed up is not going to be pretty.

TCU (11-0, 7-0) vs. New Mexico (1-10, 1-6)
Gary Patterson said he'll be pleased even if his Horned Frogs beat New Mexico by a point. Bullshit. TCU needs to beat the shit out of New Mexico. They need to run up the score and make a statement because they can't afford a one-point win with Boise State nipping at their heels.

Missouri (9-2, 5-2) vs. Kansas (3-8, 1-6)
Mizzou playing for 10 wins and maybe a notch up in the polls and a virtual tie in the Big XII North (although Nebraska has the tiebreaker). Kansas playing to not be Kansas.

Kansas State (6-5, 3-5) vs. North Texas (3-8, 3-5)
The finale for Fouts Field up in Denton as they'll open their new digs next season. K-State's lost four of five and has not looked good.

Houston (5-6, 3-4) vs. Texas Tech (6-5, 3-5)
Winning in Lubbock at night is tough enough. A banged-up Cougars team will find it even tougher. Raiders somehow wind up with seven wins.

Parity, for what it's worth

Kendall Hunter, poke

Say what you will about "parity" or the idea that in any given season or game, the perceived worst team could win.

"Parity" sucks for just the minority -- fans of perennial good teams. We assume. However, "parity" isn't something that typically exists in college football and, yet, it's made the 2010 season 100 times more enjoyable.

Is it "parity" that Auburn and Oregon are undefeated and vying for a national title? Certianly not. Both are pretty good football programs that have been ranked and decent enough for years.

Is it parity that Texas, USC and Florida are all down? Most will tell you "Yes!" and those will be sycophants or fans of those programs. But I refuse to acknowledge that there's a flaw in the system of winning and losing because Texas can't win a game at home.

The fact is, a team not from Texas or Oklahoma will not win the Big XII title this year. Probably. I give Oklahoma a 20 percent chance of winning the conference. Still, how fun has Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Baylor been? Moreso, how great has it been seeing programs like Texas, Florida and USC fall on their ass?

Remember, it wasn't that long ago that OU, UT, USC and others were so-so programs until Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, Pete Carroll and other coaches came in during the 2000s. Thirty years ago, we never thought Florida State or Miami would be fighting for a dumb bowl game.

Parity rules. Thank goodness.

Texas A&M 9, Nebraska 6
Over the past 15 years, the Aggies undeniably would've have lost this game. A ridiculously tight game that Aggie teams have lost over and over again. The best sign is that Ryan Tannehill didn't commit any turnovers allowing Nebraska any undue opportunities with the ball. A fantastic win for the Aggies in front of the entire country after barely getting any televised games over the past six years.

Oklahoma State 48, Kansas 14
The Cowboys set up next week's humdinger against OU. Reel off 38 straight points against the hapless Jayhawks, who are praying for the season to be over.

Missouri 14, Iowa State 0
With the win and a Nebraska loss, Mizzou won the Big XII North. They'll get win No. 10 next week against Kansas. Based on points, Mizzou has the seventh-ranked defense in the nation.

Oklahoma 53, Baylor 24
I guess OU's road woes and Baylor's perfection at home didn't matter. The Bears, as we've learned, were a bit overhyped. Not ready for the big show.

SMU 31, Marshall 17
For the second straight year, SMU is bowl eligible with their sixth win and with a win next week, take the Conference USA title. This wasn't nearly as close as it seems. SMU was up 24-0 by half. Zach Line rushed for 202 yards. Kyle Padron is on the brink of being very good.

Colorado 44, Kansas State 36
The Buffs have won two straight and scored 78 points in that stretch in the post-Hawkins era. Cody Hawkins looks like an All-Conference stud and Rodney Stewart nearly hit 200 yards rushing. An unlikely win against Nebraska next week makes them bowl eligible after starting 0-5 in conference.

Texas 51, Florida Atlantic 17
I doubt the Longhorwns took a trash win against directional Florida school very seriously. But I believe the Longhorns will be better next year. They should take these games and try to get better. Find a year to run the ball. Shore up the defense. Get Garrett Gilbert some confidence.

Texas Tech 64, Weber State 21
Texas Tech should pick on someone their own size.

Lousiana-Monroe 49, UNT 37
UNT's scored 128 points in the last foru games. Lance Dunbar went for another 134. Playing better. A little defense in the fourth quarter wins this one.

SFA 36, Northwestern State 13
Chief Caddo stays in Nacogdoches. The win also gives the Lumberjacks their first outright Southland Conference championship in 20 years.

Flying coach

Norman trim

The Big XII recently lost a coach -- Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins. However, I don't think it should be truly reflective of the coaches in the conference.

There are the big dogs, Mack Brown and Bob Stoops.

Turner Gill, frankly, has turned water into wine in his first year in Lawrence winning three games with the Jayhawks. Two veterans Mike Sherman and Art Briles have taken two dormant (that's being kind) programs and turned them into ranked winners.

Two names -- Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State and Gary Pinkel in Missouri -- has passed the test. They've built up their programs, turned them into top 10 teams, weathered the drafts and turnover and are still top 10 teams.

If there are any big programs looking to make a change at coach, I would bet Gundy and Pinkel will be in the talks.

Nebraska (9-1, 5-1) vs. Texas A&M (7-3, 4-2)
Do you think Nebraska's regretting that loss to Texas at home? Cripes. That looks awful now. And it's basically keeping them out of the national championship after shitting the bed against an awful (absolutely awful!) Texas team. They've since scored 133 points in four games.

Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2) vs. Baylor (7-4, 4-3)
OU is not invincible. Outside of their losses, they barely beat Air Force, Cincinnati and Utah State. Baylor is 4-0 at home.

Oklahoma State (9-1, 1-5) vs. Kansas (3-7, 1-5)
Is enough credit given to Mike Gundy? Seems like -- even with all his players going to the NFL -- he puts out a nine- or 10-win team. Also, it's a borderline miracle that Kansas beat Georgia Tech at the beginning of the year. No matter how ordinary Ga Tech looks.

Missouri (8-2, 4-2) at Iowa State (5-6, 3-4)
Those wins over San Diego State and Texas A&M are looking much better today.

Marshall (4-6, 3-3) vs SMU (5-5, 4-2)
SMU still has a shot at the conference title. I don't know how good or bad SMU is. Hopefully the week off gave them some time for thought.

Kansas State (6-4, 3-4) vs. Colorado (4-6, 1-5)
K-State's has a brilliant running game (200 yards a game), and good enough to beat the underlings of the conference, but can't beat anyone of substance. Bill Snyder needs himself a signature win. Against Colorado isn't it.

Florida Atlantic (4-5, 3-3) vs. Texas (4-6, 2-5)
Texas can't lose their fifth in Austin and fifth in a row overall, can they? Florida Atlantic's a good team to get back in the saddle with. To put them in perspective, they lost to the University of North Texas. They're that bad.

Weber State (6-4, 5-3) vs. Texas Tech (5-5, 3-5)
A team like Tech can't completely sleepwalk through Weber State, a team that'll score some points on you. I doubt there's a team in the nation (including most junior varsity squads) that Tech can't sleepwalk against.

Northwestern State (5-5, 4-2) vs. SFA (8-2, 5-1)
The battle for Chief Caddo!

UNT (3-7, 3-4) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (4-6, 3-3)
Big game for UNT. A shot at .500 in conference play.

Making heads nor tails

TCU, still digging

If the Big XII is a baby, it just got dropped on its head.

An insane day.

TCU 47, Utah 7
Thanks for playing, Utah. TCU took the sixth-ranked team in the nation at their own field and whipped their ass. Frankly, TCU could have been playing Wyoming or Idaho State. Considering what happened elsewhere in college football, I would daresay that -- should the TCU win out -- this win would guarantee them the No. 3 spot in the land. An Auburn or Oregon loss puts them in the title game.

I do think the nation is noticing now. I think the defense impresses most of all. They held Utah to 198 total yards. The Utes had 54 rushing yards. No one's beating TCU with that output. The Frog offense is just too good. TCU is a special team. They'll get to show it on a huge stage soon enough.

Oklahoma State 55, Baylor 28
The Pokes were up 24-0 before the Bears woke up. Then, 34-0 before the Bears could get up off the ground. That "thud" you heard were the Bears falling flat on their face in a gigantic game and the "swoosh" was the Cowboys taking full control of the Big XII South. The Cowboys piled up 724 total yards. Of those, 172 went to Justin Blackmon, who is a stud's stud. This game showed that if Baylor is going to play with the big boys, defense is the most important thing. The Bears would've traded their one Robert Griffin for an Earl Thomas, Ndamukong Suh, Michael Griffin, Brian Orakpo and a couple of the guys from the Wrecking Crew.

Texas A&M 33, Oklahoma 19
I hope everyone took A&M and the points. Simply put, A&M controlled the front on both sides of the ball. They ran the ball really well -- with DeSoto's Cyrus Gray -- and OU couldn't run if they wanted to. Landry Jones was sacked three times and it was ball game. Mike Sherman needed a signature win and he's got one. Meanwhile, OU has to be at a loss. I think they expected to be playing for the South against Oklahoma State. Now, they'll be looking forward to the Holiday Bowl. Ryan Tannehill wasn't awful, but he wasn't very good either. Didn't matter. Aggies ran the ball wherever they wanted.

Texas Tech 24, Missouri 17
Home teams in the Big XII went 5-1 this week. No matter what, it's tough to play on the Llano Estacado at night. Ask the Longhorns of a couple of years ago. Ask the Tigers right now. The Sooners' dreams were smashed along with the Tigers'. Tech threw the kitchen sink at Mizzou and they played stellar pass defense. The usually good Blaine Gabbert was awful going 13-32 for 98 yards. When someone playing that poorly is throwing a pass for the win with four minutes in the game, you might as well concede.

Kansas State 39, Texas 14
Don't let the trash-time points fool you, this was a rout like Texas hasn't seen in a good, long while. Still, this wasn't some methodical victory for K-State. They weren't very good, although they ran the ball at will. The Wildcats scored five touchdowns. For their touchdown drives, the Wildcats took 15 plays for 124 yards. So, on average, the Wildcats took three plays and 24 yards. Thanks to five Garrett Gilbert interceptions, K-State started drives within the Texas 20-yard-line. K-State didn't win it; Texas gave it to them.

Kansas 52, Colorado 45
This game is getting buried. That's a shame. Colorado was up 45-17 at the start of the fourth quarter. Naturally, they allowed 35 unanswered points to Turner Gill's Jayhawks for a win. Damndest thing I never saw. Despite 10 penalties, Kansas went 11-16 on third-down conversions. It's remarkable that the Jayhawks had enough time to comeback. One touchdown came on a fumble return. The other four scoring drives took no longer than three minutes and 39 seconds. We need a funeral for Dan Hawkins' coaching career in Boulder. Is he still employed?

Nebraska 31, Iowa State 30
If you thought the week was already crazy, it was almost completely off the hook. Nebraska was up 24-10 starting the fourth quarter. They gave up 14 unanswered and the Cyclones took Nebraska to overtime. Instead of taking it to a second overtime, Iowa State opted for the two-point conversion at home and it failed. Gusty. Nebraska officially in control in the Big XII. Although, the hold is tenuous.

UTEP 28, SMU 14
SMU's put up some stinkers this season. This is one of them. Mustangs have to win this game against the Miners. No turnovers, but 10 penalties broke the Mustangs' backs and the offense was sleepwalking and have been the last four or so weeks. Disappointing.

Troy 41, North Texas 35
Riley Dodge has never looked so good and if UNT has an ounce of A) luck or B) defense, they have six wins this season.

SFA 48, Nicholls State 13
More like it. SFA shakes off some ugly starts and whips up on Nicholls State.

Big game weekend

ISU can get cute, too

Why I love college football, reason No. 435:

Every week -- especially after week six -- there are a ton of great games and match-ups to the point that you think it won't get any better.

Then, the next week, it gets better. Mainly because teams' fortunes and rankings change. Anybody playing Auburn at the beginning of the season never thought it'd be huge. Now, they play Alabama, LSU or Florida and it's a huge game.

Same with Oregon, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Utah and others. Nobody considered these teams as being important or nearly as important as they are now. For the last three weeks, it's huge game after huge game.

If college football is broke, I'd hate to see it fixed.

The match-ups:

TCU (9-0, 5-0) vs. Utah (8-0, 5-0)
Playoff? Who needs a playoff? It's week 10 and both these teams are playing, essentially, for their seasons. A win catapults one of these teams probably into the top three. They are in the national championship talk. This is as big of a game as there will be this season in any sport.

Baylor (7-2, 4-1) vs. Oklahoma State (7-1, 3-1)
Huge. Gigantic. Monstrous game for both teams. They're essentially playing for the Big XII South. A spot in the Big XII title game. Big road game and test for the Bears. A win puts them in top 15 and Robert Griffin directly in the Heisman talk. Both have Oklahoma looming.

Colorado (3-5, 0-4) vs. Kansas (2-6, 0-4)
Someone will come out with a conference win. The loser will retreat to the wilderness in shame. Worst game of the week. They all can't be good.

Nebraska (7-1, 3-1) vs. Iowa State (5-4, 3-2)
Make sense of Iowa State and I'll tell you who wins this game. They lost by 41 and 52 to Utah and Oklahoma, respectively, then beat Texas in Austin. The Cyclones might lose by 40. Or win by 14.

Missouri (7-1, 3-1) vs. Texas Tech (4-4, 2-4)
A trap game for the Tigers. At Tech at night coming off the disappointment against Nebraska. At best, Tech is frisky. Sometimes frisky is all you got.

Texas (4-4, 2-3) vs. Kansas State (5-3, 2-3)
Texas is awesome on the road (3-1). When's the last time Texas had allowed more touchdowns than they scored?

Oklahoma (7-1, 3-1) vs. Texas A&M (5-3, 2-2)
Welcome to college football Ryan Tannehill. You don't get Texas Tech every week. OU wins by 21.

SMU (5-4, 4-1) vs. UTEP (5-4, 4-2)
SMU is coming off their thrilling win over Tulsa. Meanwhile, UTEP's lost three straight and are utterly ordinary.

Troy (4-3, 3-1) vs. North Texas (2-6, 2-3)
It's odd seeing UNT at 2-3 in conference. As if they were average and not the worst team in the nation. The Mean Green are 0-4 at home with two 1-point losses.

SFA (6-2, 3-1) vs. Nicholls State (2-6, 1-3)
SFA must bounce back. Giving up a huge fourth quarter in a loss to Texas State ain't going to cut it. Should feast on Nicholls State, but they haven't played well in three games.

Tiger, Bears and Aggies -- oh my

Bob Griffin

It was stumbling block week. Did the Big XII become irrelevent?

Nebraska 31, Missouri 17
Answer: Yes. Mizzou was the Big XII's only national championship contender being the last undefeated team until they rolled into Lincoln and Nebraska played like the world beater that we thought they were. Mizzou never had a shot. Nebraska went up 24-0 as the Cornhuskers had touchdown plays of 66, 40 and 73 in the first 13 minutes of the stinkin' game. Midway through, the Tigers' body language completely changed and they were TKO'd. There was three quarters left to go, but the game was over. On the first three drives of the game, Nebraska had one offensive play and 66 yards. The Tigers had eight offensive plays and -1 yards.

The story, however, was Roy Helu Jr. Twenty-eight carries and 303 yards. Averaged 11 yards per carry. Stupendous. Then the Blackshirts. Held Blaine Gabbert to 19-42 passing with six sacks and one interception. Men vs. boys.

Baylor 30, Texas 22
We have a new king in the Big XII South. The perfect description of Texas is that they're a field goal team playing a touchdown game. If you need a field goal, Garrett Gilbert can get you that field goal. Unfortunately, Baylor is a touchdown team with a touchdown maker -- Robert Griffin. The dude was responsible for three touchdowns and Jay Finley rushed for 116 yards. The Bears beat the Longhorns' asses in Austin. First since 1991 in Austin and the first time Baylor's beaten Texas at all since 1996.

TCU 48, UNLV 6
Seems like TCU barely tried. And won by 42. TCU's allowed a mere 16 points in October. Outscored opponents 189-16. Incredible.

SMU 31, Tulane 17
With the season on the brink, the Mustangs woke up. Down 17-3 and looking lethargic, the Mustangs scored 28 unanswered at the end of the third and the whole of the fourth to take the game. SMU needed that. They were on the brink of getting out of the Conference USA race and possibly out of bowl eligibility. Should easily get to eight wins now.

Oklahoma 43, Colorado 10
Again, if Cody Hawkins is your quarterback, you are going to lose. OU is varsity; Colorado, junior high.

Texas A&M 45, Texas Tech 27
The Ryan Tannehill era is off to a 1-0 start. The new quarterback went 36-50 for 449 yards and four touchdowns. It's his team now. Mike Sherman probably bought himself another year.

Oklahoma State 24, Kansas State 14
Oklahoma State forced K-State into three interceptions in three straight possession in the second half down 21 points, and that was the game. K-State can clearly beat up the small guys, but can't keep up with a decent team.

Iowa State 28, Kansas 16
It says a lot when Iowa State is significantly better than you.

UNT 33, Western Kentucky 6
UNT ... dominated? Riley Dodge came back just in time not to save his daddy's job and Lance Dunbar rushed for 215 and three touchdowns. If UNT wants to fasttrack back to respectibility, they run the ball and learn to run the ball very efficiently.

Texas State 27, SFA 24
Twenty-seven unanswered points in the fourth quarter to overcome a 24-0 deficit? I'd like to thank the SFA defense, special teams and running game for showing up. Not really.

Gutcheck time

Husker

It's getting to the meat-and-potatoes time of the year. This is when pretenders fade after eight weeks of grueling football, getting beat to all hell. There is where the road gets tough.

It's also when good teams from around the nation play their best and assert themselves as the best team in the land.

For us locals, we have a couple of teams of this nature. Some are just seeking a win or two (UNT), others are fighting for respect (SMU), others want to be spoilers (Nebraska) and some want to dance (Mizzou, TCU).

Tomorrow starts the coolest couple of weeks of college sports.

Missouri (8-0, 4-0) vs. Nebraska (6-1, 2-1)
OK. This is it for the Tigers. Don't want to look too far ahead, but the Cornhuskers are the Tigers' last big hurdle toward a perfect season and, probably, major talk for a championship game in January, February or June ... whenever they play that thing. Mizzou's had a very weird schedule. Six of their first seven were at home. Tomorrow in Lincoln starts four of the last five on the road.

Texas Tech (4-3, 2-3) vs. Texas A&M (4-3, 1-2)
Tech really cares about this game. A&M doesn't. It's why Tech wins. A&M also is apparently rolling with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback, the heir apparent over Jerrod Johnson. It's amazing that the Aggies didn't win more with Johnson. Not that he's Vince Young or anything, but he's good enough, right? It's at College Station where A&M hasn't beaten anyone of substance since George H.W. Bush was president.

TCU (8-0, 4-0) vs. UNLV (1-6, 1-2)
Frogs roll.

Baylor (6-2, 3-1) vs. Texas (4-3, 2-2)
I have a sick feeling in my stomach for the lil' Bears. They'll roll into Austin all hot to trot and then get slammed by a "who cares?" Texas team just because they can when they want. All hoping that Baylor takes it to them and puts a ... gulp ... stranglehold on the Big XII South.

Oklahoma State (6-1, 2-1) vs. Kansas State (5-2, 2-2)
Upset alert. K-State is at home against a Poke team that had its air let out of its balloon at home against Nebraska. K-State would love to play spoiler and get bowl eligible. Plus, Wildcats can run the ball. OSU's playing with out star, stud receiver Justin Blackmon.

Texas State (3-4, 0-3) vs. SFA (6-1, 3-0)
Throw the record books out whenever the Fightin' Raccoons come to Nacogdoches. Speaking of, I went to the local Rally House Texas only to discover they sold these Texas State salt shakers (honestly, I don't know what the fuck they were). I asked if they had any SFA stuff. "No." But they had Texas State? They said they'd gotten them by accident. Bullshit Raccoons.

Colorado (3-4, 0-3) vs. Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1)
Isn't Colorado in the Pac-10 yet?

SMU (4-4, 3-1) vs. Tulane (3-4, 1-2)
SMU doesn't lose three straight in conference especially to a bad Tulane team, does it? Mettle will be checked.

Kansas (2-5, 0-3) vs. Iowa State (4-4, 2-2)
Wonder if playing such a tough schedule helped Iowa State beat Texas. They've already played Iowa, Oklahoma, Utah, Kansas State and Texas Tech. Beat Texas. Now they have Mizzou and Nebraska. that must build some moxy with that team.

UNT (1-6, 1-3) vs. Western Kentucky (1-2, 1-6)
Somebody's got to win. I'd bet Western Kentucky as they've played Nebraska, Indiana, Kentucky and South Florida. Much tougher competition.

The shakedown, 2.0

Might as well jump

If the landscape of Big XII football was shattered two weeks ago, this week it was swept up, glued back together and rebroken. The house was set on fire. The ashes were dumped in the Grand fuckin' Canyon.

To the collapse:

Missouri 36, Oklahoma 27
I don't know what's bigger: The disappointment for the Sooners or the credence it'll give the undefeated Tigers. For OU, it was probably going to happen sooner or later. They'd surfed through some tough games early. Sooner or later they were going to get theirs. It came in Columbia, Ms. Turnovers killed the Sooners. Three, two in the Missouri red zone. Then the missed field goal.

Missouri, on the other hand, were quite efficient. Blaine Gabbert was like a surgeon out there, reminiscent of Chase Daniel: 30-42, 322 yards, 0 sacks, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions. That'll get you a win most of the time, even against the best teams. What are the chances that No. 3 Oklahoma is ranked higher than No. 18 Missouri on Sunday? Oklahoma's gonna have to drop hard or Mizzou's gonna have to jump big.

Nebraska 51, Oklahoma State 41
I thought Oklahoma State actually neglected Kendall Hunter. I know he got 20-something carries, but I didn't think it was enough. I thought they could've gone to him much more. I think he panicked. A huge game at home and another Mike Gundy OSU team comes up short. I'm starting to notice a trend.

Iowa State 28, Texas 21
Holy crap. One week you're in Lincoln beating the top-five Cornhuskers. The next week you're losing to Iowa State in Austin. Texas is so ordinary.

TCU 38, Air Force 17
Well, TCU's now allowed 20 points in the month of October. Slackers.

Houston 45, SMU 10
Bad, bad day for the Mustangs. They got their assed whipped by the fourth-string Houston quarterback. Shitloads of mistakes and just poor play.

Baylor 47, Kansas State 42
Baylor is now bowl eligible after a really nice win on the road. I believe it's the first time they'll play in the post-season since 1994 and the first time to be in the AP poll

Texas Tech 27, Colorado 24
In the who cares bowl, Tech wins. As long as Cody Hawkins gets a majority of the snaps, the Buffs will suck.

Texas A&M 45, Kansas 10
Would Mike Sherman be fired had the Aggies lost to Kansas? Should the Aggies go ahead and hire Mike Leach? Greatest idea ever?

SFA 31, Sam Houston State 28
A close one at Reliant Stadium in Houston to a seemingly large crowd. SFA takes care of business, but for a second straight week they don't win by 70. What's wrong with this team?

Todd Dodge: In memoriam

Yum. Call me.

Two local college football coaches made new this week for all the wrong reasons.

The University of North Texas fired head football coach Todd Dodge after three and a half years. His record -- 6-37 -- is shocking to see. You knew they'd struggled, but that record leaves me slackjawed.

Dodge was brought in to win. The days of Darryl Dickey's heyday were done after that New Orleans bowl. I think the evolution to the spread hurt them, as North Texas was noted for its stud running backs. They never evolved.

Dodge was supposed to turn the tide and he didn't. They stunk. They were bad. Dodge's tenure at North Texas is no different than when Steve Spurrier or Nick Saban went to the NFL. It's a different game, a different world. Dodge was overmatched. It's disappointing that Dodge did not respond to the Dallas Morning News reporter to give some kind of response. It sucks, but he's a local hero.

I think any high school would kill to have him.

****
In other news, TCU head coach Gary Patterson was put under the microscope after it came out that he berated a team doctor for disallowing Ed Wesley, the star running back, from re-entering the game after being knocked.

Two things: 1) This berating was caught on camera and 2) being so callous about concussions these days ain't cool.

Apparently, it happened during the SMU game --one that was surprisingly close -- and Wesley was out and the doctor, Dr. Sam Haraldson, wasn't letting him back in.

TV cameras caught the yelling, but this week Dr. Haraldson was interviewed on a website and he detailed the controversy.

The doctor's come out now and said it was a misunderstanding. Patterson's done the same.

The thing is, the university can't fire the doctor, even if they really wanted to. It also brings to light the reality that coaches could give a shit about concussions. They'll say the right thing in front of the cameras, but they want their guys out there and if that means lying to a doctor, then so be it.

****
The games:

Oklahoma (6-0, 2-0) vs. Missouri (6-0, 2-0)
Interesting game. At night, in Columbia. ABC's game of the week. The Sooners are good, but Mizzou's under the radar. They're 18th in the nation despite an undefeated record. They've beat San Diego State, Illinois, Texas A&M and Colorado. OK. That's not as impressive as it would appear ... in 1994. Still, four solid wins. They've allowed seven total touchdowns. They've allowed more than 20 points just once. A big challenge for Mizzou. They get on the map with a win.

Nebraska (5-1, 1-1) vs. Oklahoma State (6-0, 2-0)
The Cornhuskers showed their ass last week against Texas. That offense is too one-sided to be effective against a good defense. Oklahoma State doesn't have a good defense. Mistakes cost Nebraska more than anything against Texas. If they turn the ball over some more, they'll lose to Oklahoma State in Stillwater. They need to be near perfect.

Air Force (5-2, 3-1) vs. TCU (6-0, 2-0)
TCU's allowed a field goal. TCU defense punishes one-dimensional offenses. Especially at home.

Kansas State (5-1, 2-1) vs. Baylor (5-2, 2-1)
Baylor (and K-State, for that matter) becomes bowl eligible with a win. This will be a good test for both. I think it's common knowledge that neither are as good as their records indicate, but both could beat a good team on a good day.

Texas Tech (3-3, 1-3) vs. Colorado (3-3, 0-2)
The Buffs are at home where they've beaten Georgia and Hawaii. Still, they can't stop anyone and they can't score. A big game for both schools if they're seeking a bowl berth.

Texas A&M (3-3, 0-2) vs. Kansas (2-4, 0-2)
In theory, A&M is the better team. Kansas is frisky, at best. A&M is not a total disaster, at best. What an awful game. A&M has to win or Mike Sherman might be jobless in College Station.

Houston (3-3, 2-1) vs. SMU (4-3, 3-0)
Houston -- no matter if my dad is the starting quarterback -- scares me. Even on the road with no Case Keenum. SMU's lost to every good team they've played. Need a win at home.

Iowa State (3-4, 1-2) vs. Texas (4-2, 2-1)
A "down" year for Texas is better than any "up" year for Iowa State.

SFA (5-1, 2-0) vs. Sam Houston State (4-2, 2-0)
Rivalry game on the road for the Lumberjacks. A week after struggling against Central Arkansas, SFA's gonna have to bring it against the other good team in the Southland Conference.

The shakedown begins

Plano's Rex Burkhead, posing for the school yearbook

This Saturday was a good day for those who:

1. Would love to see a Boise State-TCU championship game, or;

2. The BCS world gain a bit more credence as a "season long" tournament.

Three top 10 teams and two top 5 teams bit the dust today. For the second straight week, the No. 1 team in the national fell (Ohio State).

It's good news for those non-BCS teams like Boise State and TCU, but it's much better news for the BCS teams who are currently undefeated and who weren't ranked high enough to get their just due, like Oklahoma, Michigan State and Auburn.

Unfortunately, those teams have to keep playing top 25 talent every weekend, whilst TCU and Boise State get directional schools every week.

Texas 20, Nebraska 13
Holy shit. What a bizarre game. First off, when's the last time a Texas team completed just four passes and rushed 46 times?

Then there was the upset. I thought Nebraska was going to kill Texas since it was in Lincoln, due to last year's controversial last-second Big XII championship game and because Nebraska's BCS hopes rode on it. If those factors were going to motivate Nebraska, it didn't seem like it worked. Mistakes allowed Texas to start possessions three times in Nebraska territory. That meant 13 points. Texas could barely do anything otherwise.

Then the drops. It was confounding. I think there were seven when it was all said and done. At least two would've been touchdowns without a doubt. Texas wasn't all that great, but Nebraska was absolutely awful.

By the way, road teams went 5-1 this week in the Big XII.

TCU 31, BYU 3
The Horned Frogs have allowed three points in 12 quarters. How'd BYU get so bad so quickly? Bad recruiting?

Oklahoma State 34, Texas Tech 17
The Cowboys are better than we think. Not top 10 good, but top 15 for sure. They can score at will through any means necessary. Today, they even decided to play a little D. A nice road win.

Missouri 30, Texas A&M 9
OK, I'm giving up on the Aggies. They stink. I gave them the benefit of the doubt the last year and a half and it is pretty evident that they are not going to win and probably not going to win with Mike Sherman around. Mizzou went up 23-0 in College Station. The Aggies are a joke.

Baylor 31, Colorado 25
A nice win for the Bears. On the road to Boulder is nothing to sneeze at if you're Baylor. Bears controlled the game with 306 yards rushing. Bears now sit at 5-2.

Oklahoma 52, Iowa State 0
On the day when two teams in front of them in the rankings lost, the Sooners turned in their best game in three years.

Navy 28, SMU 21
Last year, SMU lost games like these. We chalked it up to inexperience. We thought by 2010, the Mustangs would learn to win these games. They haven't. They've lost to Tech and, now, Navy, by a touchdown each. They haven't learned to win these type of games.

SFA 30, Central Arkansas 7
Caught this game on the TV set. SFA looked awful. I catch the one game where they're not throwing it at will for 500 yards a game. What looked worse? Apparently the Central Arkansas cheerleaders. Yikes!

Florida International 34, UNT 10
There's not a bigger snakebit team in college football today than the Mean Green.

A paying agent

Boomer? I hardly know her!

The sports world is all atwitter with the Sports Illustrated story about the former agent that chronicled his tenure paying college athletes, including a number of high-profile players in the 1990s up through the 2000s.

Unless you're the dumbest human being in the world, this is no surprise. We just assume players are getting gifts and money. We assume their parents' rent is being paid. We assume there are cars, women, trips and more girls.

Deep in our naive hearts we'd like to think that amateur sports are really amateurs. It's not true. We know it. Why are we fighting it? These kids use sports to get escape the 'hoods and ghettos. Rich boosters use them to win games. If they can get some cash, why would it stop them? Wouldn't we do the same thing?

The games:

Kansas State 59, Kansas 7
The Wildcats scored three points in the first quarter. Then they reeled off seven straight touchodowns. It was 31-0 by halftime. K-State's 5-1, but their only good win is against UCLA. And we don't know how good a win that is.

Texas (3-2, 1-1) vs. Nebraska (5-0, 1-0)
The Cornhuskers have a lot to play for. A national championship, of course. It'll be their last shot at Texas until they move to the Big 10. And the Cornhuskers' adminstrators made it no secret that they disliked Texas when the reconferencing took place over the spring. A down Texas. A good Nebraska. In Lincoln. Whatever the line is, take Nebraska to cover.

BYU (2-4, 1-1) vs. TCU (6-0, 2-0)
BYU's really bad. A team in turmoil in middle of a season in which their coach was fired. TCU's going to kick their ass.

Missouri (5-0, 1-0) vs. Texas A&M (3-2, 0-2)
A possibly good game. Probably 100 points scored. Missouri's good. But you don't stroll into College Station and expect to win. If Jerrod Johnson can find a way to not turn over the ball, the Aggies have a chance at the huge upset.

Oklahoma State (5-0, 1-0) vs. Texas Tech (3-2, 1-2)
The Cowboys might score 70 if it was in Lubbock. They'll score 50 and win the game.

SMU (4-2, 3-0) vs. Navy (3-2)
I think SMU can win this game. It's a toughie. On the road against a Navy team that pretty much runs on every play. Navy's not as bad as their record.

Baylor (4-2, 1-1) vs. Colorado (3-2, 0-1)
Colorado (or the Colorado of the 1990s) was a huge player in the SI story mentioned above. Baylor should rebound quite handily following their mildly disappointing showing against Tech.

Iowa State (3-3, 1-1) vs. Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0)
Oklahoma wins by 28 points. At least.

Central Arkansas (3-2, 0-1) vs. SFA (4-1, 1-0)
Ho-hum. SFA rolls. Jeremy Moses throws for 400 yards and the Jacks get win No. 5.

Florida International (1-4, 1-0) vs. North Texas (1-5, 1-2)
Another big shot for North Texas to get win No. 2. Chances are running out quickly.