West Virginia’s run as the best story in college football came to a messy end this week when the Mountaineers fell by 35 points to a tough Texas Tech squad. The most interesting part of this defeat wasn’t the manner in which the Red Raiders dominated from the second quarter onward, nor was it the way Geno Smith couldn’t get anything going (275 yards and a touchdown), it was the fact that this was the first time West Virginia looked this inept.Everything that caused this particular meltdown had been a problem throughout (read: mostly defense), and yet, the Mountaineers won on a consistent basis anyway. Against better teams, no less. What does that tell us? It tells us that this wasn’t a case of Smith and his boys being overrated; this was just their time to lose, plain and simple.
WVU-Texas Tech was one of the two major Big 12-related stories we came away with after this weekend. The other one, undoubtedly, was the way Oklahoma systematically destroyed Texas. Mind you, at one point this year, the Longhorns looked like a sleeper squad that could surprise a lot of people as the year progressed. But then they lost to West Virginia last week and, apparently, they have decided to completely regress now. David Ash threw two picks; the running game couldn’t get anything going; the defense was porous. This was just an embarrassing effort by Texas, any which way you want to look at it.
Over in the SEC: LSU clearly earned the biggest win of the weekend when they took down South Carolina at home. The Tigers, of course, were coming off a tough loss against Florida – and the Gamecocks have been very iffy on the road this season. That said, this was still an impressive victory for Les Miles and Co., and a heartbreaking loss for South Carolina. With Florida on the agenda this week (on the road), South Carolina better get it together quickly before this team’s title hopes completely dissipate.
USC beat Washington on Saturday; however, seeing as Stanford fell to Notre Dame, you can’t help but feel as though the Trojans are fighting a losing battle right now. Oregon State continued to quietly handle business – this time with a nifty little 18-point victory over BYU. This squad’s next legitimate game comes on Nov. 10 versus Stanford.
Ohio State continues to run the Big Ten, but it doesn’t matter because the Buckeyes can’t play in a BCS game this year. With a win against Michigan State this weekend, Iowa put itself in position to be the best team in the conference not currently banned from anything. With games against Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan and Nebraska ahead, though, it’s hard to imagine the Hawkeyes hanging on to that noble title.
The BCS standings came out this week, however, because Oregon didn’t play, it’s hard to really derive much value from how things break down. Generally speaking, the layout of the first BCS is never really indicative of how things will play out anyway. It’s best to view them the way you would any other poll – a snapshot in time.
With all that in mind, here is how this week’s rankings look:
BCS
1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Oregon
4. Kansas State
5. Notre Dame
6. LSU
7. South Carolina
8. Oregon State
9. Oklahoma
10. USC
11. Georgia
12. Mississippi State
13. West Virginia
14. Florida State
15. Rutgers
16. Louisville
17. Texas Tech
18. Texas A&M
19. Clemson
20. Stanford
21. Cincinnati
22. Boise State
23. TCU
24. Iowa State
25. Texas
AP
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida
4. Kansas State
5. Notre Dame
6. LSU
7. Ohio State
8. Oregon State
9. South Carolina
10. Oklahoma
11. USC
12. Florida State
13. Georgia
14. Clemson
15. Mississippi State
16. Louisville
17. West Virginia
18. Texas Tech
19. Rutgers
20. Texas A&M
21. Cincinnati
22. Stanford
23. Michigan
24. Boise State
25. Ohio
USA Today
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Kansas State
4. Florida
5. Notre Dame
6. LSU
7. Oklahoma
8. South Carolina
9. USC
10. Florida State
11. Oregon State
12. Georgia
13. Clemson
14. Louisville
15. West Virginia
16. Mississippi State
17. Rutgers
18. Cincinnati
19. Texas A&M
20. Texas Tech
21. TCU
22. Boise State
23. Stanford
24. Arizona State
25. Michigan
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