Whew!

9:50 pm - Whew! A weird end to Oregon's 15-13 win over California; I have never seen the Ducks play to grind out the clock before. But they won, nevertheless, and continue to "control their own destiny." I'm watching the Versus TV postgame show, and the commentator has just said "Cal's defense really stuck it to them tonight." Excuse me? The Ducks won. That's all that matters right now.

The top teams all survive - Oregon, Auburn, and TCU all faced tough challenges tonight, and all three of them trailed at some point during their games. But all three of them won, and most likely will remain 1-2-3 in the BCS tomorrow night. Oregon still has to play Arizona and Oregon State (the best 4-5 team in the country) and Auburn has to play at Alabama and then against South Carolina in the SEC Championship. Neither are guaranteed to win out. And if they don't, both TCU and Boise State will be waiting in the wings.

SEC Championship set - It will be the Auburn Tigers against the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina will be playing for their first ever SEC championship, and congratulations to them. Auburn still has to win at Alabama, but if they do, then they will be playing for the BCS championship game. However, for the first time in years, the SEC champ will not automatically get an invite to the NC game.

Who wants to win the Big East? -Nobody. Despite their loss this week to UConn, 5-4 Pittsburgh still remains in the driver's seat for the Big East championship, which carries with it an automatic BCS birth, most likely this year to the Fiesta Bowl, against the eventual Big 12 champion which, let's say, will be Nebraska. Then again, there are four Big East teams with only 2 losses: Syracuse, South Florida, Connecticut and West Virginia. The whole conference may be decided on Nov. 26, when West Virginia plays at Pitt, but the bottom line is this: Some more deserving team, such as Boise State or Stanford, is going to be shut out of the BCS in lieu of a 9-3 or 8-4 Big East champ.

My tentative 25 -

1) Oregon
2) Auburn
3) Boise State
4) TCU
5) Wisconsin
6) Stanford
7) LSU
8) Ohio State
9) Nebraska
10) Michigan State
11) Oklahoma State
12) Alabama
13) Oklahoma
14) Arkansas
15) Missouri
16) Virginia Tech
17) USC
18) South Carolina
19) Arizona
20) Utah
21) Iowa
22) Nevada
23) Syracuse
24) Texas A&M
25) North Carolina State