2007 College Football – Week 14 – Now It Becomes Crystal Clear – No No 1 Team
Both No. 1-ranked Missouri and No. 2-ranked West Virginia had to go and lose on the final weekend of this year’s college football regular season, prompting the Allstate National Championship Game. BCS became a game of dice in which No. 3-ranked Ohio won the state and No. 5-ranked LSU.
If Missouri had beaten Oklahoma for the Big 12 championship, and if West Virginia had beaten Pittsburgh, they would be playing in the BCS National Championship Game. Instead, it will be Ohio State (11-1) and LSU (11-2) for all the marbles. LSU will be the first two-loss team to play for the national title since the inception of the BCS in 1998.
9-ranked Oklahoma (11-2), which beat Missouri 41-31 earlier in the season, humiliated Missouri again with 3 touchdowns, 38-17, to end the Tigers’ national title hopes. By winning again, the Sooners earned the Big 12 championship and a berth in the BCS bowl game. They will face West Virginia (10-2) in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
West Virginia lost to Pittsburgh (5-7) 13-9 at home in a defensive battle. It was a sad end to the Mountaineers’ regular season. The Mountaineers continue to fume over winning more games than any other team in major college football without winning a national title.
Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt, a Pitt graduate who played tackle for the Panthers, was the defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and also the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins. He has made Pitt a tough opponent despite a 16-19 record since he took over in 2005.
LSU helped their case tremendously by pulling Tennessee back 21-14 and winning the SEC championship. Staying the course, the Tigers find themselves playing for their second national championship in 5 years. LSU won the title in 2003 by beating Oklahoma 21-14.
The LSU Tigers also benefited by losing their only two losses to Louisville and Arkansas in triple overtime. They could have just as easily been 12-0 as Hawaii.
Ohio State, which was inactive this weekend after beating Michigan 14-3 for the Big 10 title a week earlier, just sat patiently and watched as Missouri and West Virginia blew their chances.
Ranked No. 6 Virginia Tech (11-2) defeated Boston College 30-16 to win the Atlantic Coast championship and a berth in the BCS bowl game in the FedEx Orange Bowl against Kansas (11-1).
Southern California (10-2), ranked No. 8, defeated UCLA 24-7 to win an unprecedented sixth straight Pac 10 championship. The Trojans were ranked No. 1 at the start of the season, but suffered a stunning 24-23 loss to 41-point underdog Stanford and were then beaten by Oregon 24-17 to knock them out of contention for the No. national title.
Don’t feel too bad for Southern Cal, though, as the win earns them a BCS bowl game appearance in the Rose Bowl against Illinois (9-3). It also marks the Trojans’ sixth consecutive BCS bowl berth and 32nd Rose Bowl appearance, commonly referred to as the “granddaddy of all bowl games.”
11th-ranked Hawaii finished its season with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to edge Washington 35-28 and finished as the only unbeaten Division 1A team in the country to go 12-0.
In winning, Hawaii, the outright champions of the Western Athletic Conference, earned a berth in the BCS bowl game in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against Georgia (10-2).
Washington took a quick 21-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game on 3 Hawaii turnovers, but the Warriors proved their mettle by coming from behind with the strong and accurate arm of senior Colt Brennan, who went 42 of 50. passing for 442 yards, 5 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Brennan, who should be playing on Sundays in the NFL, notched a school-record 20 consecutive completions against the pathetic Husky secondary that ranks 99th out of 119 Division 1A schools in both Pass Defense and Pass Efficiency Defense. . Brennan has thrown for 4,174 yards and 38 touchdowns this season.
Here’s some well-deserved love for Hawaii: The Warriors may have played a weak schedule (ranked 137th out of 119 Division 1A teams), and the Washington Huskies may have played the toughest schedule in the nation (ranked 1 nationally), but Hawaii beat out Washington. directly up 35-28 and is the better team. Point, that’s all.
And more Hawaiian love: Like it or not, the Warriors have won a national-best 13 straight games and 22 of their last 23 games. They have a chance to make it to 14 straight wins and continue the streak by beating Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Two teams that were passed over for BCS bowl games were Missouri (11-2) and Arizona State (10-2), each of which could have received a bid.
The true winner of that elusive last-place among BCS 5 bowl games went to Illinois (9-3), which lost to Missouri, Iowa and Michigan during the regular season. Illinois’ pick shouldn’t be a mystery when you know Illinois went 2-10 last year and 9-3 this year. Give head coach Ron Zook credit for the incredible turnaround the Fighting Illini underwent.
Perhaps even more important to advertisers is that Illinois is in the third-largest metropolitan market in the country (9 million people) and its opponent, Southern Cal, is in the second-largest metropolitan market in the country (12.3 million people). ). These markets dwarf the largest market in Arizona (13th with 4 million) and the largest market in Missouri (18th with 2.7 million). It’s about people and money and where they are for advertisers.
Arizona State beat out-state rival Arizona 20-17, but the win wasn’t impressive, not that it mattered. The Sun Devils could have beaten them by 4 touchdowns and the result probably would have been the same: no BCS spot for Arizona State. Both Arizona and Missouri State will play in bowl games, but not the BCS Top 5 with big payouts.
Here’s a full list of this year’s bowl lineup; all game times are listed in EST.
2007-08 College Football Bowling Schedule
December 20 – Thursday
Utah (8-4) vs. Navy (8-4) at Poinsettia Bowl — ESPN, 9 p.m.
December 21 – Friday
Florida Atlantic (7-5) vs. Memphis (7-5) at the New Orleans Bowl – ESPN2, 8 pm
December 22 – Saturday
Cincinnati (9-3) vs. Southern Mississippi at the Papajohns.com Bowl – ESPN2, 1 p.m.
New Mexico (8-4) vs. Nevada (6-6) at the New Mexico Bowl – ESPN, 4:30 p.m.
Brigham Young (10-2) vs. UCLA (6-6) at Las Vegas Bowl – ESPN, 8 p.m.
December 23 – Sunday
East Carolina (7-5) vs. Boise State (10-2) at the Hawaii Bowl – ESPN, 8 p.m.
December 26 – Wednesday
Purdue (7-5) vs. Central Michigan (8-5) at the Motor City Bowl – ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
December 27 – Thursday
Texas (9-3) vs. Arizona State (10-2) at Holiday Bowl – ESPN, 8 p.m.
December 28 – Friday
Michigan State (7-5) vs. Boston College (10-3) at the Champs Sports Bowl – ESPN, 5 p.m.
Houston (8-4) vs. TCU (7-5) at the Texas Bowl – NFL Network, 8 p.m.
Oregon State (8-4) vs. Maryland (6-6) at the Emerald Bowl – ESPN, 8:30 p.m.
December 29 – Saturday
Wake Forest (8-4) vs. Connecticut (9-3) at Meineke Car Care Bowl – ESPN, 1 p.m.
Central Florida (10-3) vs. Mississippi State (7-5) at Liberty Bowl – ESPN, 4:30 p.m.
Texas A&M (7-5) vs. Penn State (8-4) at the Alamo Bowl – ESPN, 8 p.m.
December 30 – Sunday
Alabama (6-6) vs. Colorado (6-6) at the Independence Bowl – ESPN, 8 pm
December 31 – Monday – New Year’s Eve
Air Force (9-3) vs. California (6-6) in the Armed Forces Bowl – ESPN, 12:30 p.m.
Oregon (8-4) vs. South Florida (9-3) at the Sun Bowl – CBS, 2 pm
Georgia Tech (7-5) vs. Fresno State (8-4) at Humanitarian Bowl – ESPN, 2 pm
Kentucky (7-5) vs. Florida State (7-5) at Music City Bowl – ESPN, 4 pm
Indiana (7-5) vs. Oklahoma State (6-6) at the Insight Bowl – NFL Network, 5:30 p.m.
Auburn (8-4) vs. Clemson (9-3) at Chick-fil-A Bowl – ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 1 – Tuesday – New Years Day
Wisconsin (9-3) vs. Tennessee (9-4) at Outback Bowl – ESPN, 11 am
Missouri (11-2) vs. Arkansas (8-4) at Cotton Bowl vs. Fox, 11:30 a.m.
Virginia (9-3) vs. Texas Tech (8-4) at Gator Bowl — CBS, 1 p.m.
Michigan (8-4) vs. Florida (9-3) at the Capital One Bowl – ABC, 1 pm
Illinois (9-3) vs. Southern California (10-2) in the Rose Bowl (a BCS Bowl game) – ABC, 5 p.m.
Hawaii (12-0) vs. Georgia (10-2) in the Sugar Bowl (a BCS Bowl game) – Fox, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 2 – Wednesday
Oklahoma (11-2) vs. West Virginia (10-2) at the Fiesta Bowl (a BCS Bowl game) – Fox, 8 p.m.
Jan. 3 – Thursday
Virginia Tech (11-2) vs. Kansas (11-1) in the Orange Bowl (a BCS Bowl game) – Fox, 8 p.m.
Jan. 5 – Saturday
Rutgers (7-5) vs. Ball State (7-5) at the International Bowl in Toronto, Canada – ESPN, noon.
Jan. 6 – Sunday
Tulsa (9-4) vs. Bowling Green (8-4) at the GMAC Bowl – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Jan. 7 – Monday
Ohio State (11-1) vs. LSU (11-2) in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans – Fox, 8 p.m.
Note: ESPN dominates the broadcast of bowling games. ESPN will carry 21 of the 32 bowl games, Fox 5 and ABC, CBS and NFL Network 2 each.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley