UTSA started playing football in 2011. This year they are in the failing WAC and will move next year into the Conference USA. Yes that's right a team with no tradition at all has found a home outside the WAC while the University of Idaho has found none. Still while the Vandals sit at 0-5, the Roadrunners sit at 5-0. I find this to be a wonderful story and I'm pulling for UTSA to hold on to win the WAC. It would be a fitting end to the WAC to have their final champion be a team that was only in it for one year and had only been playing football for two years. The WAC has been around since 1962. That's 50 years of tradition that will disappear overnight, but that is the current trend in conference realignment and the mess that is Division I football today. You only need to look at games like UNC 66, Idaho 0 to realize that we have too many teams trying to play at the top level of the sport, simply because the money is so enticing.
Well that's enough of my soapbox and so I'll move on to talking about the week. In many ways the West Virginia, Baylor game and the Texas, Oklahoma State game hurt the Big 12 standings. No one now takes any of these teams very seriously as a national contender and so the dominance of the Pac 12 and SEC has continued to grow. Florida State is now the big question mark in the mix, with Notre Dame looming as a potential spoiler for it all. If Notre Dame could manage to win out they would be an intriguing pick for the BCS title game, so we'll have to start following Notre Dame much closer.
LSU had another disappointing win and so they continue to slip in people's eyes but they will have a chance to prove themselves this upcoming weekend. Ohio State beat Michigan State, and though no one is expecting anything at this point from any Big 10 team, it has to be upsetting if you're a fan of any other Big 10 school, that Urban Meyer is so quickly getting Ohio State at the top of the Conference.
This coming week has some big games so let's take a look at the ones I'll be most interested in watching.
Arkansas (1-4) at Auburn (1-3)
These two teams are both really struggling and I have a feeling that whichever team loses this game may not have a coach afterwards. I know that Auburn won a national title fairly recently, but I can't imagine there is much patience at Auburn for losing and especially if they were to lose to an Arkansas team that seems to be completely collapsing.
Northwestern (5-0) at Penn State (3-2)
With Ohio State ineligible to play in bowl games, Northwestern may have a great shot to win the reeling Big 10. They will need to win this game on the road against a Penn State team which could very easily be 5-0.
LSU (5-0) at Florida (4-0)
This will be a very interesting game. A lot of people are losing faith in LSU and no one has faith in Florida. The only a win in this game will help either team in the standings if it is a complete blowout.
Oklahoma (2-1) at Texas Tech (4-0)
It's hard to believe but Oklahoma has only played three games so far. Amazing they are already out of it and only three games into their season. Texas Tech meanwhile is 4-0 and took last week off to prepare for this game. A win here will set the Big 12 up for an interesting top end.
Washington State (2-3) at Oregon State (3-0)
WSU is scoring more and more points every week as Mike Leach gets things ramped up and I'm really pulling for the Beavers to go undefeated for the big end of the year game with Oregon. So this will be an interesting one to watch.
Georgia (5-0) at South Carolina (5-0)
One of these teams will walk away with a huge win. I work with a guy who grew up in Georgia and is a Georgia grad. He's sweating this one.
West Virginia (4-0) at Texas (4-0)
Not only is this the Unofficial College Football Championship title game, but it's also going to set up the top team in the Big 12. This should be a very interesting game.
Miami (Florida) (4-1) at Notre Dame (4-0)
Back in the day this was a bitter rivalry. Now no one is quite sure what to make of Miami or Notre Dame. The winner here will definitely get a boost.
Nebraska (4-1) at Ohio State (5-0)
Can Ohio State knock off Michigan State and Nebraska in back to back weeks we'll see.
Washington (3-1) at Oregon (5-0)
Washington just pulled off an upset over Stanford, so everyone will be watching to see how well the Ducks can handle them.
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