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.

Just an FYI, I updated the bowl predictions already. I’d elaborate on them, but, eh, a few days have already passed. Just know, Hawaii accepted their bid to the Hawaii Bowl and Navy will go to Charlotte for the Car Care Bowl.

That said, I’d like to take a minute to step back from our football discussion.

Ismail Mohammed – still the man

Yup, that’s right folks, Georgia Tech’s basketball season begins this Friday against Elon. It won’t be broadcast, but I’ll be there – a great start to a hopefully great weekend.

In case you didn’t know (which I doubt, considering the places this is linked to), Tech has a lot of lofty expectation this year. I’ve been told that our new PG, Javaris Crittendon, is the real deal (as in, he passes to people and doesn’t turn the ball over all the time). Thad Young is, of course, also the real deal and we’ll be lucky to have him after this season. The upside of being so young last year is that several of those guys are back this year, giving us what is now one of the most experienced squads in the conference.

I’m not sure what to expect, but it’s sure a heck of a lot better than 11-17. I’ll have a report Friday night as I put up the TV Guide.

Well kids, I’m in Nashville this weekend and will probably miss most of today’s games. But just for my readers (all two of you), here’s this week’s line up as though I were on Georgia Tech’s campus:

Noon:

• Missouri @ Nebraska (ABC): Winner gets to lose to Texas in the Big 12 title game!
• UVA @ FSU (local ACC): Honestly, FSU has only gotten worse this season, while UVA has gotten better. Still, though, I’ve seen no evidence that UVA’s quarterback can complete a pass to anyone, or that any of his receivers can catch a pass. So I like FSU here.
• Ball St. @ UMich (ESPNU): I can’t come up with anything that explains why this game is being televised anywhere besides ESPN’s deal with the Big Ten.
• Maryland @ Clemson (ESPN2): UMD needs a win in Death Valley to stay alive in their division’s race. The odds of them getting said win, however, do not seem high.
• Baylor @ Texas Tech (FSN): Baylor’s halfway decent again this year, thus continuing to cement their status as the Vandy of the Big 12 instead of the Duke of the Big 12.

12:30 – Florida @ Vanderbilt (local SEC): Go ‘Dores, but UF rolls.

2:30 – UNC @ ND (NBC): Notre Dame seeks to go 2-0 against the ACC this year….

3:30:

• Washington @ Oregon (TBS): Washington needs the win to try to get to a bowl, but the Ducks need it to stay alive in the Pac-10.
• LSU @ Tennessee (CBS): Game of the week right here, or it would be, if anything was actually riding on it. A LSU win here gives Florida some breathing room in the East, and a UT win gives LSU 3 conference losses.
• Purdue @ Michigan St (ESPNU): Well, since John L. Smith has already been fired, you can’t really watch him try to get fired anymore. Can MSU rally behind their soon-to-be-departed coach? I wouldn’t bet on it.
• Ohio St. @ Illinois (ESPN2): The non-hit parade continues! Can’t OSU and Michigan just play and get it done with? Sheesh.
• Kansas St. @ Colorado (FSN): Why?!? In a way, I picked a good weekend to not watch games.

7:00:

• Oklahoma St. @ Texas (TBS): Man, TBS had a full-slate of games today! Too bad they all suck.
• Georgia Tech @ NC State (ESPNU): Well, I’d watch this if I could, but oh well. I’m somewhat nervous about this – NCSU needs to win in order to have a chance at a bowl game, and I think the best thing Tech could do is sweep their last four games. Hopefully GT is focused and comes out ready to play after the huge win against Miami last week. If GT can win this game….yeah.
• Boston College @ Wake Forest (ESPN2): Probably the game with the most conference champion implications of the day. Yes, that’s right folks, BC@WFU is probably the most important game of the day. (Don’t worry, I also struggle with this notion.) Provided UMD loses to FSU, the winner of this game is in the ACC Atlantic driver’s seat. I have to like BC here – Wake Forest is a good team, but they just have played anyone at all except for Clemson. (In fairness, WFU played Clemson a heck of a lot closer than we did. But they still lost.)
• USC @ Stanford (FSN): OH GOD WHY!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Stanford isn’t just bad, they’re horrible. The closest they’ve come this year was a 1 point loss to San Jose St. They haven’t been within a touchdown of any of their other opponents. Is USC down? Sure. But Stanford is beyond down. Duke could probably beat them by a couple of scores, though of course Duke lost to a DI-AA team. Still, though, someone should figure out a way to those teams to play each other….

7:45 – Arkansas @ South Carolina (ESPN): Well, Auburn desperately wants a USC victory here, which could set up a course for Arkansas to lose to either Tennessee, LSU, or both. However, Arkansas only has 1 other road game after this- @Miss. St.

8:00 – VPI @ Miami (ABC): Well, this game isn’t nearly as big of a deal as it used to be. I don’t know who to go for here – unless both teams lose, a loss doesn’t really help Tech since we beat both of them. Miami has the best chance to lose again after this, so I guess if they win it helps. Oh well.

That’s all I got folks. It’s unlikely the bowl predictions will be posted this weekend – I’d guess Tuesday at the earliest. Later.

Bunting got the axe. We all figured Amato might be next, but then we got this out of East Lansing:

With three games remaining in another disappointing season, Michigan State has decided that John L. Smith will not return to coach the 2007 season.

Giving up 46 unanswered points to Indiana probably wasn’t good for the ole job security.

Sometime next week I may ave a more substantive post than this (two projects, going to be out of town this weekend, woo-woo). For now, though, my thoughts on the current state of the ACC were summed up by this conversation with a friend of mine, talking about the Maryland-FSU game:

Me: UMD’s only conference loss is to us
Me: they win and they’re right up there with WFU and BC
Him: RIGHT *UP THERE*
Him: With WAKE FOREST
Him: ACC FOOTBALL