Whim and Fancy

The previous post isn't really based on anything, except for my own whim and fancy. As a Ducks' fan, I have been hesitant to say that they will play for the NC; my mantra all along has been "Play for the Rose Bowl." But you can't deny that they've been looking really good the last three weeks, and will play for the NC if they win out. Their last three games are at Cal, vs. Arizona, and at Oregon State. Also, with Arizona losing to Stanford and OSU losing to UCLA this weekend, the Ducks can now lose a game and still clinch the Rose Bowl. Not that I believe they will, but it's still nice to know.

It's sad that no one got to watch last night's TCU-Utah game last night. Everyone knew that Utah was a good team, and they got crushed 47-7 at home by TCU. This game, along with LSU's win over Alabama, pretty much assures us that no 1-loss AQ team (i.e., Oregon, Auburn, LSU, Nebraska, Ohio State) will be able to beat out an undefeated Horned Frogs team. Unfortunately, this pretty much guarantees that Boise State will be locked out of the BCS game once again, as I doubt that anyone would be able to stomach two non-AQ teams in the championship game.

Oregon is the AP's #1 team. But I bet that Vegas would put them as underdogs against Auburn, TCU, and Boise State. It's very likely that the Ducks' spread offense would struggle against a defense as fast as TCU's.

It'll be interesting to see which conferences will be able to fill all of their bowl games and which ones won't. The SEC has an obscene 10 bowl spots for its 12 teams. (assuming that they get a spot in BCS game.) This would mean that Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Georgia will need to find a way to win down the stretch in order to become bowl eligible. Ole Miss probably has the toughest job, needing to win 2 out of 3 against Tennessee, LSU, and Mississippi St. The Pac-10 may also struggle to fill its six bowl spots because of USC's bowl ban. UCLA and Arizona State both need to win 2 out of 3 to become bowl eligible; I give it to UCLA, with games left against Washington, ASU, and then 'SC in the Rose Bowl.

I've got Air Force, Army , and Navy all going to bowl games this year. Has that ever happened before? Also, I have Texas and Notre Dame being left out. That probably won't happen, though, as most bowl games would pick them over more deserving teams because of their huge fan bases.