Just when we thought we knew something about college football this year, last week came along and blew those assumptions up. Good for Boise State. Bad for our picks.
Let's take a journey yonder after the jump for a look at last week's results and winner of free Baja Fresh.
In which I go on a short diatribe about the Big XII
Could last week's Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State game sum up the Big XII any better? Here we had an obviously subpar Oklahoma team coming off a waxing by Texas Tech being a double-digit favorite over a then-No. 12 Oklahoma State team. I had to do a double take when I saw the line. I did not think Oklahoma State was good, but surely they could stay within 10 points of this Oklahoma team. Nope. Not even close.
So, where does this leave the Big XII? Aside from an undefeated (and largely untested) Texas team, not much. Nebraska has been a nice surprise this year, and I fully expect a close Big XII championship game for the first time in years if Suh can put pressure on McCoy.
For Texas, this year has pretty much been a perfect storm. They started the season ranked #2 and rode the reputation of the Big XII without actually having to be tested by it. Personally, I would love to see Nebraska pull off an upset this weekend for two reasons. First, I think TCU is the best team in the country, and I would love to see them play the SEC champion. TCU is better than Utah was last year, and I can't say the same for Florida and Alabama. Secondly, in a perfect world, I would love to see the BCS pick Boise State over a Big 10 team. If something crazy like Texas and Cincinnati losing this week happened, Boise State could rise up to #3 in the BCS standings and I would love to the see the BCS higher ups have to address that. A #3 Boise State team being passed over for a BCS game would definitely be fodder for the next round of congressional hearings on the BCS.
About that triple option attack
It's not looking so potent now, is it? Georgia came in as well prepared as I remember seeing them in the Mark Richt era. Needless to say, I did not see this coming. The Dawgs out Georgia-Teched Georgia Tech by racking up 339 rushing yards and controlling the game. This was clear from the first drive when Georgia marched down the field in 10 plays going 74 yards without a single pass attempt.
Meanwhile, Georgia's much maligned defense was able to hold Tech to a paltry 205 rushing yards. For the lucky team that ends up drawing Georgia Tech in a bowl game, they were given a blueprint on how to slow down the offense. It was very similar to Boise State's approach versus Nevada. Georgia plugged the middle and forced anything outside lateral by playing very aggressive. I do love watching a well executed option offense such as Georgia Tech's, but it made me feel slightly better if Boise State ends up drawing Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Perfection?
One thing we have yet to see this year in the Pick 'Em contest is that perfect week. When everything falls your way and the stars align. Well, we didn't have it this week, but we had the second best thing.
TitanBronco has the dubious distinction of the first person to get every single pick wrong. The entry was prefaced with this:
I hope I do really bad this week...
And so he did. I was quite impressed. At least his tiebreaker guess of 73 was close.
Winner
No, we did not have an outright winner this week. We had another tie. This time between joe bob priddy, Kevan Lee, Dr. Jrig and MooreWalksOnWater all getting 5 games correct this week.
The tiebreaker came down to Dr. Jrig's guess of 70. Congratulations on all your successes and the free Baja Fresh meal.