College Football News, Notes + Playoff Projections, Week 14

First off, in the name of information, I hardly saw anything this weekend. It was Thanksgiving Weekend in Louisville with Girlfriend, so I just caught most of Saturday night's games - USC-Notre Dame, and Tennessee-Kentucky. Ugly games.

That said, it was a relentlessly unremarkable weekend across the country. Sure, rivalry games are always something to pay attention to, but this year, the BCS Top 5 took their rivals behind the woodshed - Auburn, Okie State, Texas A&M, Florida State, and Notre Dame all took it on the chin in the name of poll positioning. Our championship games are set, even the Big XII, whose Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Division-Title-Winner method selected Oklahoma, and the ACC's...whatever matched up BC and unranked Virginia Tech in a meh-fest for the ages.

Given the relative chaos that has reigned the past few years, only one game remains with real BCS implications: Oklahmoma/Missouri. Now, if UCLA springs an upset on Missouri, then that bumps Boise State or Ohio State out of the BCS, since Oregon gets a Rose Bowl spot and USC will pick up an at-large spot. But if Missouri wins, get this: Oklahoma falls out of the BCS altogether. No rebounding in a BCS game; thanks to the BCS's rules, there can only be two Big XII teams, and Texas will no doubt earn a shot at the National Title, and Missouri goes with a Big XII title. So it's either Miami on January 8th or New Year's Eve in San Diego. It's Miami or bust for the Sooner Schooner. Go fig. Karma and trendspotting suggest a USC victory, but I'm gonna go out and say Oklahoma chokes away the BCS's troubles and puts Texas in Miami.

The Heisman finalists were announced today, and the safe money is on Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford. My thoughts? If you want an MVP award, as conventional wisdom dictates, then McCoy gets it for leading Texas through a remarkably tough month-long stretch of games, with only one Texas Tech drive separating them from unbeaten status. But if you want a player of the year award regardless of team record (call it the McNair Trophy), then go with Michael Crabtree, Tech's all-world wideout. Kid's gonna be a star someday.

Kudos to Phil Fulmer for keeping it classy as he departed his job at Tennessee, and props to their fans for doing the same, even as UT's athletic department pissed on Fulmer's grave before it had been dug by waiting a good four minutes to announce the hiring of Lane Kiffin. Sure, you want to get on recruiting , but they ought to at least support the façade that they still cared about the end of this season.

Alright, projection time:

No particularly meaty shakeups, but some interesting matchups emerge, as well as a first for this season: a non-BCS conference at-large team, TCU. They played the entire season under the radar while the pundits feigned interest over a Utah-BYU Holy War to end all Holy Wars.

AUTOMATIC BIDS:

• ACC: Boston College


• Big East: Cincinnati


• Big Ten: Penn State


• Big XII: Oklahoma


• Conference USA: Tulsa/ECU pick 'em


• MAC: Ball State


• Mountain West: Utah


• Pac 10: USC


• SEC: Alabama


• Sun Belt: Troy?


• WAC: Boise State

AT-LARGE:

• Texas


• Florida


• Texas Tech


• Ohio State


• TCU

And plug all that to your BCS rankings:

1. Alabama


2. Oklahoma


3. Texas


4. Florida


5. USC


6. Utah


7. Texas Tech


8. Penn State


9. Boise State


10. Ohio State


11. TCU


12. Ball State


13. Cincinnati


14. Boston College


15. C-USA pick 'em


16. Troy

So you get the following first round:
Troy @ Alabama
Boise State @ Penn State
Ball State @ USC
Cincinnati @ Florida
Boston College @ Texas
Ohio State @ Texas Tech
ECU/Tulsa @ Oklahoma

Mostly the same matchups as last week, though isn't that Ohio State/Texas Tech game juicy?

8-team projections when I feel like it.