40 Acres Sports

Texas’ loss to last week to Texas Tech didn’t knock them completely out of the national title race but it certainly shook things up. Texas fans spent the next 72 hours crunching numbers and running scenarios that could result in the Longhorns still making it to the title game. That may make math and stats nerds happy but its just another sign of just how ridiculous the NCAA Division I FBS not having a playoff really is.

ESPN’s Pat Forde makes a(nother) strong case for a playoff in college football:

No less a voice than Barack Obama’s called on Monday night for a playoff in college football. To which The Dash says hallelujah, it’s time for some pressure on the ossified system from the top down. Once upon a time, the Tide wooed Butch Davis to be their coach. The first round of The Dash’s eight-team playoff would shape up as follows today: Top seed and SEC champion Alabama versus eighth-seeded ACC titlist North Carolina in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The backstory would make this interesting, since the Crimson Tide were interested in current Tar Heels.

The first round of The Dash’s eight-team playoff would shape up as follows today:

Top seed and SEC champion Alabama versus eighth-seeded ACC titlist North Carolina in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The backstory would make this interesting, since the Crimson Tide were interested in current Tar Heels coach Butch Davis as far back as 2000, when he was the coach at Miami. That was before Mike Price, before Dennis Franchione and before Mike Shula. Then Bama got it right — royal-flush right — with Nick Saban.

Second seed and Big Ten champion Penn State versus seventh-seeded Big East winner West Virginia in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. Just for fun they could award the old Lambert Trophy for the best school in the East to the winner.

Third seed and Big 12 champion Texas Tech versus sixth-seeded Pacific-10 champ USC in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Would anyone enjoy seeing the Red Raiders’ O (first nationally in passing offense, second in total offense, third in scoring) against the Trojans’ D (first nationally in pass defense, first in total defense, first in scoring defense)?

Fourth seed at-large selection Texas versus fifth seed at-large selection Florida in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow on the same field might be a little fun.

(Dash apologies to Oklahoma and Utah for being the best teams left out. Y’all can console each other in, say, the Alamo Bowl.)

After that: semifinals at the Orange and Fiesta Bowls. National title in the Rose Bowl. Championship trophy presented by Dashette Irina Shayk.

Decide for yourself whether that playoff would generate any interest. After you’ve thought it over for five seconds, call the president of your favorite university and scream into the phone that you want a playoff. Do not stop screaming until you are out of breath or they have hung up on you — and then redial and scream again.

Maybe it will come to pass by the time Tebow’s kids are in college.

Or maybe it happens a little faster depending on Tuesday’s election results.

Just imagine adding the Texas Rose Bowl win over USC, plus the brutal four game stretch the team just finished, plus even more on the line than ever before. How fun would that be?

My Top 8 remains unchanged this week as a few teams didn’t play and the rest won easily. The story of the weekend was the Cremation in the Coliseum - USC’s dismantling of the over-hyped Ohio State. Ohio State has pretty much become a joke, getting shallacked whenever they play on the big stage. I am starting to think if I should allow any teams in the Big 10 in the Top 25 at all? Hmm….

Agree or disagree? Please let us know in the comments.

1. USC

   
   LW: 1

   Was there really anyone surprised in their thrashing of Ohio State? USC looks unbeatable right now but they usually suck-up one game during the regular season, so we will see.

2. Oklahoma

   
   LW: 2

   Offense, offense, offense. Oklahoma probably won’t score less than 40 points all season long. Right now Oklahoma and USC are separating themselves from the rest of the teams in college football.

3. Florida

   
   LW: 3

   Bye week

4. Missouri

   
   LW: 4

   Chase Daniel has the offense rolling right now, though it does help when you play a high school team like Nevada. And 6 catches, 172 yards, and 3 touchdowns for Maclin? Ridiculous.

5. LSU

   
   LW: 5

   LSU finally got to play a game and just toyed with UNT. Not really fair. Let’s see how they do against their first real test, Auburn.

6. Texas

   
   LW: 6

   Game against Arkansas postponed.

7. Georgia

   
   LW: 7

   This team is so overrated it is ridiculous. But since they still haven’t lost, I will wait for them to lose so I can drop them down. That will likely happen in two weeks against Alabama.

8. Alabama

   
   LW: 8

   Alabama’s balanced offensive attack looks impressive. Not much to dislike with this team. They have a pretty good shot to do goods things in the SEC West.

9. South Florida

   
   LW: 19

   What a game Friday night against Kansas. Big lead changes both ways and South Florida pulls out the crazy victory. Now hopefully they won’t have a letdown after this big win.

10. Wisconsin

    
    LW: 15

    Wisconsin just continues their boring football that wins games. But hey, whatever works.

11. Auburn

    
    LW: 9

    3-2 victory against Mississippi State? Are you serious? Their defense is great, but they will have to actually score touchdowns to beat LSU.

12. Texas Tech

    
    LW: 13

    Their offense looks good so far, but hard not to against the caliber of opponents they have been playing. I guess we will have to wait until Big 12 play to see how they really are.

13. BYU

    
    LW: 17

    Absolutely smoked UCLA. 7 passing touchdowns will usually get it done. Might have to start paying attention to this team.

14. Wake Forest

    
    LW: 18

    Bye week

15. East Carolina

    
    LW: 12

    Barely sneaked by a weak Tulane team. Maybe they aren’t as good as we thought. They will need some more convincing wins if they want to challenge for the Top 10.

16. Oregon

    
    LW: 16

    Probably should have lost to Purdue, but their impressive rushing attack led the charge in their comeback win against Purdue. Blount had 132 yards on 12 carries. Not a bad average.

17. Penn State

    
    LW: 21

    Penn State racked up 560 total yards and held Syracuse to 159 yards. We will have to see how they face adversity, because so far they have breezed through this season.

18. Kansas

    
    LW: 11

    Heartbreaking loss against a good South Florida team. I bet Reesing is wanting that one poor throw back late in the 4th quarter. Kansas is still a good football team that will probably climb back up in the rankings.

19. Ohio State

    
    LW: 10

    Now can we please stop thinking Ohio State is any good? Lately anytime they are the national stage they get blown out. Needless to say they will not be playing for the national championship this year.

20. Vanderbilt

    
    LW: 23

    Another solid win against Rice. SEC teams better not overlook this Vanderbilt team. They might be the surprise of the SEC East this year.

21. Utah

    
    LW: 25

    Utah is starting to play like they did in their 2004 unbeaten season. Though their big win against Michigan isn’t looking as impressive as it did in the beginning of the season.

22. Florida State

    
    LW: NR

    Lots of first timers making an appearance in my Top 25, and FSU is the first. They have a real test upcoming against Wake Forest, so we will see how long they stay here.

23. TCU

    
    LW: NR

    TCU has started their season off with 3 impressive win, including a 31-14 win against Pac-10 Stanford. They virtually have no passing game, but their stable of running backs is impressive.

24. Oklahoma State

    
    LW: NR

    Oklahoma State is chugging along basically unnoticed so far this season. Unfortunately for them they have an extremely tough schedule this year. But for now things are looking good.

25. West Virginia

    
    LW: NR

    Even though they didn’t play, I am giving them another shot in the Top 25. They need to win convincingly if they want to stay here.

With Duke now out of the tournament, the road to the Final Four for whichever team wins this game just got a little easier. This game matches up two very different teams. While Texas needs the three to be dominant, West Virginia’s entire game relies on the outside shot. Texas will spend much of the game in a man-to-man defense to attempt to give WVU’s shooters as few open looks as possible, while the Horns will attempt to dominate on the offensive and defensive boards.

Should be an entertaining game.

First Half

• Good dish by LaMarcus Aldridge to find PJ Tucker underneath the basket. Good start and great to see the ball inside to Tucker early.
• Kevin Pittsnogle’s first three goes all the way around the rim before rattling out. A good sign?
• I guess it wasn’t much of an omen. Pittsnogle’s next two threes go down easily to give WVU the lead.

West Virginia 9, Texas 6

• Horns playing good defense and moving the ball nicely on offense. No wide open looks so far for WVU and several easy dunk/layups for the Horns.
• We need to be a little more careful with the basketball. Not too bad, but a couple unforced turnovers so far. I wonder if/when the Mountaineers plan on playing any full court defense.

West Virginia 9, Texas 10

• Darn, I thought we were going to be announcer-free for a second.
• Ouch. PJ takes it to the hoop and hits the ground very hard.
• Kenton Paulino had time and an opening to get rid of the ball on the trap but holds on to for too long. Luckily WVU gets called for the touch foul.
• Big fast break dunk for Tucker. 9 points already for him.
• Ahhhh! I hate playing good three point shooting teams. Good defense all around and Patrick Beilein nails the 3.
• Pittsnogle flops and they call the foul on Aldridge. If they’re going to call that amount of contact then the whistle should blow on every possession.

West Virginia 15, Texas 19

• Less than eight minutes to play and again the announcers are unaware we’re back from commercial.
• Aldrige is stroking it from midrange.
• Great steal by AJ Abrams. Shoot, he’s limping now. He said “f***” as he started to jog back up court and reached down towards his legs.

West Virginia 15, Texas 23

• How much longer is Napolean Dynamite going to play Napolean Dynamite? Memo to actors in Hollywood: If you see Rob Schneider’s name associated with a movie run away! Bench Warmers looks awful.
• West Virginia has yet to make a two-point shot and Texas has yet to hit a three.
• Nevermind. Daniel Gibson nails one. Let’s hope he gets going, we’re up now but we’ll need outside shooters hitting to win this game.
• How is that a foul on AJ Abrams? Yikes.
• Great move and decision by Mike Williams. Passed up a long jumper and drives for the easy hoop. Exactly what Brad Buckman needs to do. His midrange shot is off, put the ball on the floor and look to pass or find an easier shot.

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