Pressure
Pressure. Pressure has the ability to make you better or to fail miserably. This week's games were no exception to that. A number of teams needed wins in order to make their bowl game more meaningful and a few were able to deal with the pressure and come through with the win they needed.
The pressure cooker that is the Big East was the obvious example this week of not standing up to the challenge. With four teams all vying for the coveted BCS berth, there was a lot riding on the two games which matched the foes. Boston College was the one team that only needed to care about itself. If they went out and took care of business at home, they were in a big bowl game, no matter how undeserved it might be. However, here was that pressure creeping in. Syracuse, who just two weeks earlier lost to Temple on the road should have been an easy win for the Eagles. When the final tally was on the board, the Orange were on top. Boston College just didn't have it. Yes, their quarterback and star player, Paul Peterson was out. Syracuse was also without their top back, Walter Reyes. The Syracuse team was able to step up and win despite their loss. I said last week that BC had a 90% chance of winning the game, factoring in team strength over the year and the home field advantage. Apparently, this game fell within the other 10% for the upset. This win was even more important given that earlier in the weekend, Pittsburgh upset West Virginia and put all 4 teams into a 4-way tie situation. Based on head to head records, the two remaining teams alive in the Big East are Syracuse and Pittsburgh. With the win, Pittsburgh moved into the BCS standings at #23. They will still have to win on Saturday against South Florida to assure them of the bid, but everything looks to point in their direction. This will be an unfortunate turn of events for Utah who looks to face the winner of the Big East should the BCS standings hold. They deserved a better opponent and it is unfortunate a team like Louisville or Texas won't be there to take them on.
With $14 million looking them in the eye, Texas needed to impress in their game against Texas A&M. The hope for the Longhorns would be to move into the #4 spot in the BCS rankings and overtake Cal for the other at-large bid. They were able to respond to the pressure and win their game. The win moved them all but a breath away from being in the BCS game. They still are going to need some help and it will have to come from 6-5 Southern Mississippi. Southern Mississippi was supposed to play Cal back in September. Mother Nature did not believe it was in the best interest of the college football world to have the game played them and assaulted us with hurricanes instead. As a result, the most important game of the year not for the title is this weekend in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If Cal wins the game they will most likely hold onto their spot in the BCS and Rose bowl. With a loss, the bid is all but guaranteed to Texas based on the movement of other teams in the BCS standings.
Quick Shots for this week:
- The rankings are delayed this week. Someone in scheduling at the NCAA needs to call me. #1, not every basketball team had played a Division 1 game by Sunday, which delayed the basketball rankings a week later than usual. #2, someone scheduled a college football game for Monday night. Yes, Louisiana Tech and Rice square off tonight. Why they didn't play this game on Saturday with the rest of the college boys, I will never know. Since Auburn played Louisiana Tech, the result of the game could alter the standings. As a result, I am holding off the rankings until tomorrow at noon.
- There are two bowl match-ups set for the December season. The first is North Texas against that same Southern Mississippi team we talked about early. The game right now according to the MRI is a toss-up, and there is nothing to stop me from predicting a North Texas upset, except for the game being in New Orleans, which while not Hattiesburg, is only 120 miles away. Chances are that the New Orleans bowl is not going to be a packed contest, but my vote is that Southern Mississippi will be well represented. I will hold off on a bowl prediction until after the games this weekend. Either way, this one looks like it could go either way.
- The other bowl match-up revealed Monday places West Virginia, loser of its last two games, against Florida State, who closed out its season with a loss to Florida. The two will meet in the Gator Bowl which marks the second straight trip for West Virginia. Unfortunately, they lost last year to Maryland. In addition, they have lost 10 of the last 11 bowl trips dating back to 1987. Things don't look well for West Virginia this year either having to play against an in-state Seminole team. The only bonuses that the Mountaineers might have are Florida State's poor road record this season and their instability at quarterback. Despite these two items, I am still leaning towards the Seminoles in this game, with an MRI predicted 81% chance of victory factoring in a "home-field" advantage in Jacksonville. Even without the advantage, the Seminoles are still predicted to have a 75% chance of winning the game based on historical performance.
- Trev Alberts is not my favorite analyst. Most of the time, I don't care for him or what he says. He is much too critical and my belief is that ESPN has him on to be grumpy all the time so that they can have their dissenting voice. While he is a big downer on the BCS, he made a good point this weekend. With the realization that the Big East will be putting a poor candidate into the BCS bowls this year, he called on Mike Tranghese, the Big East commissioner to nominate Louisville for the Big East's spot in the BCS. It was pointed out to him that if that was done, since Louisville still is a member of Conference USA, Conference USA would get the $14 million dollars. With that, he backed down, knowing that the Big East would never give up that money, especially considering the state it will be in come next season when another of its members bolts for the ACC and they gain 3 new football members (Cincinnati, South Florida, and Louisville). In this one case, I give a thumbs up to Alberts. It is a novel idea. In a more noble world, perhaps it would be given more serious thought. With $14 million on the line, there is no way it can be. Louisville has proven they can play with the big boys, and next year, they will. But that is next year.
That is it for the week. Enjoy the rankings when they are published on Tuesday. And don't be surprised when you see where Auburn is ranked.
