John Roberts Storylines- Rivalry Week!

It's Rivalry Week! Finally, a chance to see the most intense rivalries in college football!

Storylines
The Week of Saturday, November 28, 2009



Check out this week’s rankings. Previous ranking is in parentheses.

1. Texas (1)
2. Alabama (2)
3. Florida (3)
4. TCU (4)
5. Cincinnati (5)
6. Georgia Tech (6)
7. Boise State (7)
8. Pittsburgh (8)
9. Ohio State (9)
10. Oregon (11)
11. Iowa (12)
12. Penn State (13)
13. Oklahoma State (15)
14. Ole Miss (18)
15. Clemson (17)
16. Oregon State (22)
17. California (24)
18. North Carolina (19)
19. Stanford (10)
20. LSU (14)
21. Virginia Tech (20)
22. USC (21)
23. Nebraska (23)
24. Nevada (--)
25. Miami, FL (--)


- Who dropped out? Wisconsin and Arizona. Wisconsin’s loss to Northwestern was not a thing of beauty, but Arizona’s loss was. The Wildcats could be back fairly quickly if they keep on winning.

- Who is almost in? In no particular order, South Florida, West Virginia, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, BYU, and Utah are the next eleven teams. Tennessee, Central Michigan, Houston, Temple, Rutgers, and Boston College are the other six that deserve to be considered for a ranking at this point.

- It was an awfully big drop for Stanford. So they were overrated last week. Sorry. This week, they are probably closer to where they truly belong.

- So, who’s got a shot at the national title? I’m sticking with the seven teams for now, but it is getting close to getting down to just five teams. Georgia Tech and Boise State are nearly eliminated at this point, even if all hell broke loose. Not likely. Cincinnati and TCU are not out of it, no matter what anyone says. The debate over number four could really intensify in the coming weeks. Texas, Florida, and Alabama are all three the clear favorites at this point.

Onto this week’s top storylines!

Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The national title discussion centers around three teams, and they play on consecutive days on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Texas visits Texas A&M on Thursday, Alabama goes to Auburn on Friday, and Florida hosts Florida State on Saturday. But there’s more. On Friday, Cincinnati hosts Illinois and Boise State hosts Nevada as two more national title contenders play. On Saturday, New Mexico goes to TCU and Georgia heads to Georgia Tech. In other words, all three days play a key role in the national title discussion. So don’t miss a day.

Rivalry Week. The rivalries this week are nice. Texas-Texas A&M, Florida-Florida State, and Alabama-Auburn highlight the rivalries, but Georgia-Georgia Tech, BYU-Utah, Tennessee-Kentucky, Virginia-Virginia Tech, Missouri-Kansas, USC-UCLA, South Carolina-Clemson, and Stanford-Notre Dame also find their way onto the radar. There are more, of course. This is the weekend of rivalries, and sometimes crazy things happen in these sorts of games. Plus, there is one new rivalry game- Miami-South Florida. Which team will claim second best team in the state?

SEC Sets Pecking Order. As the SEC Championship Game has been set for months on end it seems, the rest of the bowl pecking order is still to be determined. Get this- the winner of the Tennessee-Kentucky game finishes second in the SEC East. If Tennessee is the loser, they finish fourth in the East. If Kentucky is the loser, they fall all the way to fifth in the East. In the West, Arkansas still has a shot at second if they beat LSU and Ole Miss falls to Mississippi State. If Ole Miss wins, they are likely to go to the Capital One Bowl. An Arkansas win over LSU could propel them to the Cotton Bowl over the Tigers. The Tigers could go to the Outback Bowl if that happens. Regardless, some kind of pecking order will be determined this week in a mediocre SEC (after Florida and Alabama, who deserve their top three rankings).
GAMES TO WATCH

Each week, three games to watch will be listed. One will be the best match-up of the weekend. One will be either an Upset Special or a game that most people aren’t talking about that you should watch for an entertaining game. One will be the non-BCS game of the week, the best match-up between two non-BCS teams. All times Eastern.

Game of the Week
Pittsburgh at West Virginia 7:00 Friday ESPN2

This is the Backyard Brawl, and these two teams do not like each other. It does not matter if the Panthers lose this one- they will have a shot at a BCS bowl next week at home against Cincinnati. But this one is always a battle. The Panthers have been playing as well as anyone in the country over the last month or so. West Virginia has not played perfectly this year, but they have a chance to make their season with an upset of the archrival Panthers. This has the makings of a truly special showdown. It may not contain the big name teams everyone would like to see in a game like this, but it should be a special one nonetheless.

“You Should Be Watching” Game of the Week
Texas at Texas A&M 8:00 Thursday ESPN

There are two other games that could be here- Alabama-Auburn in the Iron Bowl has potential to be a major upset, and the Tennessee-Kentucky game has potential to be the best game of the week by far. But this one also has potential for an upset. Texas has been playing so well lately, that it is hard to imagine them falling at this point. Plus, Texas A&M was hammered by Oklahoma just two weeks ago. But the Aggies have played much better at home, losing just once at home- a five point loss to Oklahoma State. They’ve got just enough to win in one of these rivalry games if given an opportunity. Don’t forget- there was no way USC would lose to UCLA back in 2006 either. And they did. So don’t discount this game and the Alabama-Auburn game completely.

Non-BCS Game of the Week
Nevada at Boise State 10:00 Friday ESPN2

Nevada has three guys over 1000 yards rushing. The Wolfpack are playing as well as any non-BCS team in the country. They have been dominant lately. The Broncos have had a tendency to play some games closer than they should have. Both teams are unbeaten in WAC play. The winner wins the WAC. Boise State must win to keep their BCS at-large (and really distant national title) hopes alive. This is the Broncos last chance to make a real statement on national television. They better be ready for their toughest test since Oregon in the first week.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or just want to talk college football, please feel free to e-mail me at [e-mail]. Thanks for read