Bowl Schedule Set With Baylor and TCU on the Outside Looking in

The Bowl schedule for the 2014-2015 college season is set. Although Big 12 teams TCU and Baylor finished #5 and #6 respectively and cannot win the National Championship, they will be in the "Top 6" Bowl Games.

Ohio State jumped over both the Horned Frogs and the Bears with their resounding 59-0 win over the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big 10 Championship. The Big 12 does not have a conference championship which some have said forced the CFP Committee to choose the Buckeyes.

Here is the Bowl Schedule for this year.

TCU Crushes Iowa State 55-3

Trevone Boykin threw for 460 yards and 4 touchdowns on a 30 for 41 passing afternoon. Aaron Green carried the ball 13 times for the Horned Frogs for 104 yards and a TD as TCU thumped the Iowa State Cyclones 55-3 on Saturday.

Unless Baylor does likewise to Kansas State or FSU manhandles Georgia Tech, TCU should maintain the #3 position in the CFP rankings.

Held to just a 17-3 halftime lead, TCU scored 31 unanswered points in the third quarter to put the game away.

Read the ESPN Recap here.

ESPN Says SEC No Longer Exceptional

Ivan Maisel, of ESPN, tries to make a point in an article he has written, that the SEC is no longer exceptional. I beg to differ with Mr. Maisel and would say in support of the SEC that his opinion is a bit premature.

Ivan had this to say in his article. "The best running backs in the FBS play in the Big Ten. The best quarterbacks are in the Pac-12. So are the best defensive linemen. The ACC skunked you 4-0 this past Saturday. The Big 12 is the only conference with a chance of putting two teams in the playoff."

To his point that the best running backs are in the Big 10, I would point out that only three teams in the Big 10 are good, meaning that the seven teams not named Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin have defenses that are built to Big 10 standards, big and slow. The Big 10 running backs would have trouble with the offensive lines and linebackers of the SEC, recruited for speed.

The best quarterbacks, according to Ivan, are in the Pac-12. Marcus Mariota, my choice for the Heisman, is the best quarterback in the nation but the 11 other quarterbacks in the league have shown themselves to be inconsistent. The SEC quarterbacks are competent and are coached in ball control to minimize turnovers.

The ACC did take 4 of 4 from the SEC this week; but, The #3 team in the country barely beat a Florida team who's coach already knows he won't be back next year given a second consecutive bad season and #16 Georgia Tech beat a #9 Georgia, playing without an unfairly targeted Todd Gurley, in a long standing in state rivalry.

The SEC has never been about flashy QBs. It is about crushing, swarming defenses and punishing ground games. The Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn was a bitter in state rivalry as was Georgia/Georgia Tech, Florida/Florida State, South Carolina/Clemson and Mississippi State/Ole Miss. Name a conference with so many conference rivalries and in state rivalries where the entire college football nation will stop and watch.

Alabama will beat #17 Missouri in the SEC Championship game and remain #1. They will play either TCU or Baylor, from a league, The Big 12, who doesn't have a championship game. One of these teams will make it to #4. By the way the head-to-head between these two teams was a really close 61-58. The Big 12 is all about defense, right? #2 Oregon will beat #3 FSU and Alabama will beat Oregon. The swarming defense of Alabama, and sufficient time to prepare for the Ducks offense will give Alabama another National Championship and the 8th consecutive championship for the SEC.

If you care to read a good, but wrong headed, article by Ivan Maisel by all means do and let me know what you think.

NCAA Football Coaches Would Prefer 8 Team Playoff

Coaches from 103 of the 128 FBS schools voiced their opinion in an ESPN poll about the College Playoff system. 44% of those coaches would prefer an 8 team playoff system while 29% were okay with the playoff system now and 17 % wanted to expand to a 16 team playoff.

The coaches who want to expand to 8 teams would like to see the Conference Champions from the Power 5 conferences, (ACC, Big 12, Big 10, SEC and Pac 12) automatically in and the next 3 highest ranking schools make it.

An 8 team playoff would make more sense. Just this week Jeff Long, said that the difference between #4 and #7 teams was very narrow. An additional game for the playoffs might mean that conferences would play one less season game which might mean less of the "easy" non conference schedules that some conferences are accused of scheduling. It could also mean a conference championship game for the big 12 to eliminate Co-Champions as we are likely to have with Baylor/TCU this year.

All-in-all it will come down to the money. Given enough money even ESPN, which is in the first year of a 12 year deal for the current system, might consider an 8 team playoff.

CFP Rankings Have Alabama #1

The CFP ranking is out for the week of November 18th and Alabama, by virtue of their win over previously #1 Mississippi State, vaulted from #5 last week to the top spot this week, leapfrogging idle Oregon and an FSU team that had to stage a second half comeback again over an unranked opponent.

Mississippi State dropped three spots to #4 while last week's #4, TCU, fell one spot to #5 with a narrow victory over unranked Kansas. Ohio State jumped over idle Baylor to claim the 6th spot. The Big 12, doesn't have a conference championship game. The CFP Commission is tasked with using conference championship winners as tie breakers in the final rankings. TCU and Baylor are both expected to finish 11-1 on the year and be named Co-Champions of the Big 12.

Oregon and FSU should win their respective championships and should Mississippi State lose in the SEC Championship game, Ohio State could be the fourth place team in the final rankings. Of course, Ohio State must win the Big 10 Championship game or TCU/Baylor would be the favorite to finish fourth in the final CFP rankings to be issued on December 7th.

Selection Committee chairman Jeff Long said "the differences between teams four through seven are narrow, very narrow."

#5 Alabama Outlasts #1 Mississippi State 25-20

Alabama beat Mississippi State on Saturday 25-20 to make a strong statement to the CFP Committee for a berth in the top 4 finalists in this years 4 team playoff for the National Championship.

Dak Prescott, quarterback of Mississippi State was 27 of 48 passing for 290 yards and 2 TDs but threw 3 interceptions. Mississippi State also suffered a safety during the game.

Nick Perry, Landon Collins and Cyrus Jones all intercepted the potential Heisman Trophy finalist Prescott.

With this win and TCU's close win over unranked Kansas, the Crimson Tide should be in the top four of the CFP rankings on Tuesday. If FSU beats Miami tonight they should jump ahead of idle #2 Oregon with Alabama #3 and Mississippi State #4.

Read the box score and ESPN recap here

TCU Wins Itself Out of Contention For a CFP Playoff Spot

TCU beat the unranked University of Kansas Jayhawks 34-30 on Saturday. The Horned Frogs did not look like the #4 team in the country as they had to come from behind from a 13-10 deficit at halftime to narrowly beat the 3-7 Jayhawks.

Trevone Boykin was 26 for 36 passing for 330 yards and a TD with 1 INT. Michael Cummings threw 19 completions in 37 attempts for 332 yards and 2 TDs with 1 INT for Kansas.

Aaron Green carried the ball 19 times for TCU with 2 touchdowns and Cameron Echols-Luper returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown and the difference in this game.

Corey Avery had a rushing touchdown for the 3-7 Jayhawks.

Read the ESPN box score and recap here.

Shakeup in CFP Rankings

Mississippi State held on to the #1 position in the CFP rankings for the NCAA college football playoffs this week.

Oregon jumped FSU for the second position and TCU Horned Frogged, I mean leap frogged Alabama for #4 in the rankings. I feel Mississippi State should have been punished more for scheduling UT-Martin this late in the season but facing Alabama may be their comeupance later this month. But I also feel FSU has played poorly against opponents they should have beaten handily and should not be in the top 4.

Oregon has dominated the Pac 12 this year and will face an Arizona team in the Championship game that will either solidify their position or remove them from contention. Florida State, with a close win over Notre Dame and a lackluster performance over Louisville, doesn't deserve a top four ranking but is one of two teams that remain undefeated this year. Alabama should be in the top 4 with FSU about 5 or 6.

TCU must win out to remain in the 4th spot. Alabama, with games against Auburn and Mississippi State and the SEC championship game could well be a top 4 team while Mississippi State could drop out of the top four.

Read the ESPN article here and let me know what you think.

Football Rankings Change After Saturday's Game

The football rankings have changed pretty dramatically following this week's games. Mississippi State took on UT-Martin in a gimme game and Florida State had no trouble in their game against Virginia as they beat the Cavaliers 34-20. FSU's biggest test may come against a resurgent Florida team on the 29th of Nvember.

Auburn dropped to 9th after their loss to Texas A&M. TCU climbed to #6 with their win over Kansas State, Arizona State moves up to 7th with their decisive victory over Notre Dame and Ohio State climbed to #8 with a convincing win over Michigan State.

Read the AP article here.

1st CFB Playoff Rankings Released

Controversy here we come! Probably not with the #1 and #2 in the rankings but from there down look out.

#1 Mississippi State and #2 Florida State are the two undefeated teams left. Right now they deserve their ranking.

One would think that Ole Miss would have fallen farther than 4th with the loss to LSU.

"Head to head is important, but it's not the only factor, obviously," Playoff selection committee chairman Jeff Long said.

"We're still early in this process," Long added.

#3 Auburn and #4 Ole Miss would be in if this was selection week. Oregon comes in at #5 followed by Alabama, TCU, Michigan State, Kansas State and Notre Dame at #10.

ESPN has the story here.

Graham Watson editor of drsaturday for Yahoo.com sees the rankings in a slightly different light here.

TCU Pummels Texas Tech 82-27

The Horned Frogs of TCU had their way with the Red Raiders of Texas Tech on Saturday. Quarterback Trevone Boykin threw 7 touchdown passes while amassing 433 yards through the air before leaving in the 3rd quarter.

Some records were set in the game. While some fell short.

For TCU, Most points in a game 82, Most touchdown passes thrown in a game 7, Most touchdowns in a game 10.

For Texas Tech, Most points allowed in a game 82.

The 109 points scored falls 27 points shy of the record by Division 1 schools. In 2007, Navy beat North Texas State 74-62 for the record of 136 points.

The 82 points by TCU doesn't best the record 100 points scored by the University of Houston against Tulsa in 1968.

TCU scored 10 touchdowns and 4 field goals on 785 yards of offense running 86 plays from scrimmage for an average of 9.12 yards per play. TCU did have to punt twice though.

Two running backs for TCU, Aaron Green and Trevorris Johnson rushed for more than 100 yards and Deante Gray had 165 yards receiving on 4 catches with 2 touchdowns.

#4 Oklahoma Drops Big 12 Contest to #25 TCU 37-33

In a mistake filled game by both teams, The Horned Frogs of TCU managed to outlast the Sooners in an exciting game. The score of 37-33 is not really indicative of the frustration both coaches must have felt.

Trevor Knight for the Sooners connected on just 14 of 35 passes for 309 yards and a TD but he threw 2 INTs. Sterling Shepard caught 7 of those passes for 215 yards and a TD. His Td pass went for 75 yards. Samaje Perine led Oklahoma in rushing with 25 carries for 87 tards and 3 TDs.

The TCU quarterback, Trevone Boykin connected on 20 of 38 passes for 318 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT.   He also ran the ball 22 times for 75 yards. BJ Catalon had 11 carries for 48 yards and a TD for the Horned Frogs

Read the ESPN story here