Last weekend, Louisville was poised to win the rest of its games and finish third in the BCS standings. The debate raged over whether an undefeated Big East team should be ranked above a one-loss team from one of the other six major conferences (the answer, in my opinion, is no; see my last article for an explanation). When Rutgers beat the Cardinals Thursday night, a crowd of one-loss’ers and the undefeated Scarlet Knights all looked like they had a chance at reaching the title game. How would the BCS successfully rank this many good teams? The system everyone loves to hate looked like it was going to reach a new low of confusion.

Then, the unthinkable happened: three of the teams in the top ten of the BCS standings lost to unranked opponents.

First, Auburn was dominated at home by Georgia, whose 37-15 romp of the Tigers was a perfect storm of sorts. Stafford displayed confidence at quarterback, while Cox completed as many passes to Bulldogs as he did to Tigers (four to each group, out of twelve attempts). Auburn’s defense, which my friend Kyle compared to a block of Swiss cheese, was finally exposed as hideous. Punter Kody Bliss had a serious off-day. Wide receiver Courtney Taylor led the Tigers in rushing with 51 yards. “It isn’t good when your wide receiver is your leading rusher,” said tailback Brad Lester. Agreed.

Later in the day, California fell at Arizona, 20-24. The Bears outproduced the Wildcats 356-262, but three California turnovers and two fourth-down conversions by Arizona made the upset possible. I never thought California was all that amazing, but to see them fall like this is a bit surprising. Perhaps there is more parity in the Pac-10 than SEC fans like myself give it credit for. (What am I thinking? Of course not.) At Kansas State, another Wildcats team upset Texas. On the Longhorns’ first drive, star freshman quarterback Colt McCoy was injured underneath a pile of players. Unfortunately for Texas, the Longhorns’ defense couldn’t slow down the Wildcats enough for the offense to outscore them.

Georgia Tech scraped by UNC to clinch the Atlantic Division title. Auburn lost. Virginia Tech and Florida are struggling.

Only Michigan and Ohio State are rolling right now. Can we just go ahead and let them play a best 2 of 3 for the national title? Man.

Well, I watched Tech take apart the Elon Fightin’ Wes Durhams Phoenix earlier tonight. It’s nice having a point guard again.

That said, I hear they have some college kids tossing an oblate spheroid on TV this weekend, so let’s get to it.

As always, time are eastern and coverage reflects game show on our cable network at GT. You mileage may vary (i.e., pretty sure Alabama is getting a different 3:30 ABC game).

Noon:

• Georgia Tech @ UNC (affiliate list): A Tech win here clinches a spot in the ACC title game and will mark the first time Tech has won more than 7 games in the Chan Gailey era. I’m moderately excited about this.
• Minnesota @ Michigan St. (ESPNU): I just don’t really have anything funny to say about John L. Smith anymore.
• Wisconsin @ Iowa (ESPN): If things fall a certain way, Wisconsin could be looking at a BCS bid. Iowa’s pretty much boned in that department though, and I’ll leave it to Ehren to tell you why. 😉
• Cincinnati @ West Virginia (ESPN2): WVU looks to stay alive in the Big East race. Have to always like WVU at home, even if it is a day game.

12:30:

• Georgia @ Auburn (affiliate list): AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….I’m sorry, that’s me every time I remember Georgia’s record against Vandy and Kentucky this year (0-2). When was the last time The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry was played on LF/JP Sports?
  Also, here’s a trivia question for you: Auburn has played Georgia 109 times. It has played only two other teams more than 80 teams, having played one 86 times and the other 82 times. Without looking it up (obviously), who were they? (Answer in the comments.)
• Baylor @ Oklahoma St. (FSN): Why?

2:00: Colorado St. @ Utah (Versus): Why am I listing this? Beats me. Utah looks to maintain it’s shot at going to a bowl again. Or something.

3:30:

• Miami @ Maryland (ABC): Will Miami be able to get up for this game? Or will they be fired up? They can still salvage their season and knock UMD out of contention in the Atlantic. But The Fridge seems to have recaptured some of the old magic…this game won’t be middling. It’ll be a blowout for UMD or a really tight game.
• South Carolina @ Florida (CBS): The Visor steps into the Swamp again. Unfortunately for him, he is going to be on the USC sideline. UF rolls.
• Kent St. @ VPI (EPSNU): Tin soldiers and Beamer’s comin’…
  Sorry, that was probably in bad taste. Nonetheless, VPI rolls.
• Michigan @ Indiana (ESPN): A trap game if there ever was one. Indiana has looked decent at times this season. Michigan is essentially playing for the national title next week. But the maize and gold need to remember it’s one at a time.

7:00:

• Duke @ BC (ESPNU): People say ESPNU broadcasts games that wouldn’t ordinarily be televised. Sometimes I wonder if that’s really a good thing.
• Tennessee @ Arkansas (ESPN2): How was this not the 7:45 ESPN game? Lunacy. Auburn fans will be cheering like hell for Tennessee and LSU over the next few weeks. If Arkansas wins, they have the SEC West pretty much wrapped up. Since it’s @Ark, I like them.

7:45: Alabama @ LSU (ESPN): Once again, how was this the 7:45 game and the UT@Ark game the 7:00 game? Alabama sucks, and doesn’t stand a chance down in the craziness that is Baton Rouge on gameday. Geaux Tigers!

8:00: Wake Forest @ FSU (ABC): Ordinarily, this would look like an easy game for the ‘Noles. Ordinarily. The ACC is just tops-turvy this year – usually UMD vs. UM and FSU vs. WF are expected to decided in favor of the teams from Florida…..

10:15: Oregon @ USC (FSN): If Oregon beats USC here, they give Cal a 2 game lead in the Pac-10, nearly clinching a Rose Bowl bid for the Bears.

Here’s Chris Fowler praying that I wouldn’t expose ESPN’s defense of the Big East as unreasonable. Nice try, Chris.

Even if Rutgers had a halfway respectable schedule, I seriously doubt they could muscle their way to second place of the undefeated/one-loss heap. Texas A&M doesn’t have the defense to stop Texas in Austin, and the Longhorns won’t lose to the Big 12 North champion, either. Florida, Arkansas, and Auburn are in a weird SEC triangle that will produce at least one one-loss team. Since those four teams are all above Rutgers in the BCS standings, even a decisive victory at West Virginia couldn’t put the Knights into the title game. And I didn’t even mention the possibility of an Ohio State/Michigan rematch.

They haven’t been as dominant in the ACC, but the departure of Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College left the Big East with nothing more than a few posers and a bunch of nobodies. If you look at their records, Rutgers, Louisville, and West Virginia don’t look so great after all.

With the Rutgers win tonight, here’s the lo-down:

Assume UF continues to run the table. Their current strength in the computers will keep them up and put them in the title game.

Assume the following auto-bids and at-large selection by the Rose:
Rose: USC/Cal winner vs. Michigan/OSU loser
Fiesta: Texas
Orange: ACC winner
Sugar: 2 at-large slots

The Sugar loses the #2 team (UF) to the title game, so they get the first two picks (they already had the first pick after the title-game compensation). Boise State (if they win out) and the Big East winner must be picked by someone. However, the Sugar would have a chance to match up Auburn and Notre Dame for the first time.

So the Orange gets the next pick. They take the Big East winner, and then the Fiesta gets stuck with Boise St.

There’s a chance Notre Dame losing again would knock them out of the top 14, but I have my doubts about that.