Never underestimate the power of corporate media, especially when it comes to college athletics. ESPN, which is tied to ABC with both owned by Disney, pours tens of millions of dollars into college programming each month. ESPN’s greatest influence is in football and in men’s basketball.

Lunardi’s Bracketology

For better or for worse, men’s basketball (and woman’s basketball too) is what it is today because of ESPN. This media channel is at the forefront of the hype surrounding college basketball and has taken Joe Lunardi’s “bracketology” methodology of determining the teams and seedings for the NCAA men’s tournament.

ESPN also has had a major influence on scheduling, coming up with a “BracketBusters” weekend that is now in its tenth season. Officially known as “Sears BracketBusters,” this year’s event will be held from Feb. 17-19, and pulls in 142 teams from 16 conferences to play 71 games. Of those games, 13 will be nationally televised, bringing an unprecedented number of games to your home.

Premier Contest

Sears BracketBusters does not include teams from the power conferences. The Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC 12, SEC and ACC do not participate. Nor does the Atlantic 10. Instead, these games pit teams from midlevel and lower-tier conferences, in a bid to help shake out the field. Teams that play at home may have an important advantage, but the other part of that agreement has the home team returning the favor by visiting its opponent in the 2013-2104 season.

This year there will be one game or premier contest that will pit a pair of Top 25 teams. As of this writing, Murray State is 21-0 and ranked #10 in the nation. St. Mary’s is 21-2 and ranked #16 and is fresh off of a 80-66 win against BYU in Utah. Murray State has largely been unchallenged this year, while the Gaels are unbeaten in the West Coast Conference including a win over then #23 Gonzaga. The Gaels will have a rematch against Gonzaga on Feb. 9 on the road before traveling to Kentucky to play Murray State.

Winners & Losers

February’s showdowns will help some teams make a mark for themselves, while quite possibly ruining the post-season bids of other teams. All conferences except for the Ivy League have championship games, with the winner of each awarded an automatic bid to the Field of 68. About half of that field will be for teams that will gain at-large bids with perhaps just 4 to 8 teams from these non power conferences receiving an invite. Expect that the selection committee will be reviewing the Sears Bracketbuster weekend to take into account how potential teams fare on that weekend of February basketball madness.

The Penn State community is in mourning today following the death this past weekend of long-time head football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno, who began coaching at Penn State 61 years ago and was the Nittany Lions’ head coach for 46 years, was relieved of his position last fall following the child abuse scandal involving one of his former assistant coaches. Paterno was fired after not following up on the abuse allegations. The scandal has shaken Penn State to the core and also led to the firing of university president Graham Spanier.

University-Wide Influence

Paterno’s influence at Penn State extended well beyond football. The coach was a top fund-raiser, helping the school expand its endowment above $2 billion reports the Chronicle. Paterno was also a tenured professor who had a chair in the English department named for him.

Penn State’s emergence as a top-tier football program has come about because of Joe Paterno. Paterno brought two national championships and 24 bowl victories to Happy Valley and it was his presence that helped Penn State gain admittance to the prestigious Big Ten Conference. Because of Paterno, the football program has one of the highest graduation rates of all major universities due to its “Success With Honor” motto that advocates student academic success and involvement in the community through voluntary works.

The university’s ethical status has taken a severe hit as the gravity of the child abuse scandal emerged and became known. A coach who did so much for the university did not do enough to protect young children from a predator. Instead, Paterno put power, prestige and money ahead of ethics, which eventually led to his dismissal. A community is rightfully mourning the man affectionately known as JoePa, but his reputation has been sullied and will likely carry a permanent stain. Although Paterno was not accused of wrongdoing, what he knew and didn’t follow up on has forever changed how we will remember him.

Final Interview

On January 14, the Washington Post published an interview with JoePa, his last interview in fact. Reporter Sally Jenkins met with Paterno, his wife and their four children in Paterno’s kitchen, and discussed his career which came to end following a brief, terse phone call from a college official announcing his termination.

Of the scandal, Paterno said, “I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was. So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.”

No, it did not work out. Worse, Penn State is now named among other scandals that have been uncovered in recent years, from the child abuse scandal of the Roman Catholic Church to the fall of Enron, Solyndra and Lehman Brothers. How the university remedies its reputation won’t come easily. That is a lesson that needs to be learned by every college and university that puts a high price on athletic success.

Forget March Madness — the post-season “fever” that effects college basketball faithful has already set in as teams wrap up the first half of their league schedules and begin their final 10 games before conference tournament play begins. Each team’s last 10 games including conference tournament games are given extra special weight by the NCAA selection committee. Finish strong and “bubble teams” can find a way into this field of 68. Fall down the stretch and the NIT may not even want you!

If you haven’t marked up your calendars yet, you’ll want to circle the following dates that run from the 68 participants being announced through the Final Four. Let’s take a lookout at what is coming down the pike beginning this March:

Selection Sunday, March 11, 2012 — You’ll want to tune in to the Selection Sunday show that airs 6 p.m. EST on this date. Besides the 30+ automatic bids, all of the remaining teams will be announced. Most of the fun is watching fan and team reaction as some teams make it and others are left out.

First Round, March 13-14, 2012 — Played at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, the eight bottom teams battle for the right to move forward and join the Field of 64.

Second and Third Rounds, March 15 and 17, 2012 — The field gets quickly narrowed to 16 teams following this weekend with games held at the following four locations: the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon; at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M.; at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh; and at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY.

On March 16 and 18, 2012 additional second and third round games will be held at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio; at Qwest Center Omaha in Nebraska; at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.; and at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina.

Regional Championships — Four teams each play in the regional championships with the winner of each round sent on to the Final Four in New Orleans. East and Southwest Regionals will be held on
March 22 and 24, 2012, at two locations: TD Garden in Boston and US Airway Center in Phoenix.

The Midwest and Southeast Regionals will be held March 23 and 25, 2012, with games played at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Final Four — The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans will host this year’s men’s Final Four which is made up of the national semifinals and the championship game. The semifinals will be played on March 31 and the championship game on April 2, 2012.

See Also — College Rankings? Mostly Meaningless Right Now.

Who could have seen it coming? Alabama not only avenged itself of an earlier season loss to LSU, but it shut down and shut out the No. 1 team in the nation. With its 21-0 win, Alabama dismissed earlier talk that a win over LSU might not be enough to give it the No. 1 ranking. Seemingly, a close win would still allow LSU to retain the top spot, something the Tide wasn’t about to let happen.

National Champions

By winning by the equivalent of three touchdowns and by shutting out one of the most vaunted offenses in the nation, Alabama proved that at 12-1, it is the best FBS college football team in the nation. The Tide garnered 55 of the 60 first place votes in the AP poll, to No. 2 LSU’s one and No. 3 Oklahoma State’s four. Oddly, there was one person who still thought that LSU deserved to be ranked ahead of the team that held the Tigers to just 92 yards of offense. The shut out was also a first in the history of the BCS.

The state of Alabama has much to rejoice in for the third consecutive year. Last year, Auburn one the national championship. The year before, it was Alabama. For a state with fewer than 5 million residents, it has demonstrated outsize importance in college football. Alabama’s national title win was its eighth, tying it with Notre Dame for the most number of wins.

Defensive Struggle

The defense was clearly the champion of the game, limiting LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson to just 53 yards passing and grabbing one interception. But it was also Jeremy Shelley’s leg that accounted for all of the points through the first three quarters, kicking five field goals. LSU’s red zone defense was excellent, but it was five successful field goal attempts that spelled the difference. With 4:36 left in regulation, Trent Richardson scored the only touchdown of the game. By then it was clearly apparent that Alabama was worthy of winning the national championship.

For the sixth consecutive year, an SEC team is the best team in the land. This year, it is also the second best and the fifth best with LSU and Arkansas taking those positions. Break up the SEC! Seriously, the SEC remains the premier football conference in America and may easily retain that position for a few more years. What may not stay the same is the BCS arrangement which is wholly dependent on post season bowl games to choose a national champion. This week, 11 conference officials and independent Notre Dame will be meeting to discuss making changes to the BCS reports the New York Times.

BCS Changes

What changes will we see? First, those changes won’t happen for at least two more years as the current television contract, worth $125 million, is played out. Second, what changes do occur probably won’t go far enough to match what the FCS teams face: a 16-team playoff. Instead, it seems that two scenarios are likely to get the most consideration: keep the traditional bowl format and seed everyone after the final bowl game is played to determine the two top teams in the nation who would play for a championship game or choose the top four teams who would have a chance to play for the national championship. Those games would not replace the existing bowl games which would go on, but perhaps played on different dates.

Thank you for staying with us as we covered college football this year. Until September, enjoy the run-up to the 2012 season!

What we are seeing now, especially from the upper tier conferences, are games against local or in-state rivals plus a smattering of inter-conference show downs.

Duke, for example, has had its games against Belmont and Presbyterian, but the Blue Devils have also battled ranked teams such as Michigan, Kansas and Ohio State, barely beating Belmont and getting bashed by Ohio State. Still, the Blue Devils are right where they’re expected to be — in the national Top 10.

The current rankings which have Syracuse at #1 will most certainly change. In fact, if recent history is a good example, we’ll see some dramatic changes beginning in January. Those changes are likely to include the following:

Big East Shuffle — Syracuse is #1, but will soon begin a Big East schedule what includes games against several ranked teams. Six BE teams are ranked and each one will be gunning for the Orangemen. Look for the Top 25 to be shaken considerably by March, with several BE schools disappearing and perhaps one or two programs emerging.

Harvard Emerges — The Crimson are having a phenomenal season, having already been ranked once this year. Look for Harvard to prove itself as it battles with Boston College and St. Josephs before opening Ivy action against Dartmouth on Jan. 7. There is a good chance we’ll see a ranked Crimson team again this year with perhaps be given the chance to ruin someone’s dreams in the post season.

Zags Rising — Gonzaga is currently not ranked, but can make a case by beating Xavier on the road on Dec. 31 A depleted Xavier roster was whipped by Oral Roberts this past weekend, but when the Musketeers have everyone playing, they’re one of the toughest teams on the court. Win, and the Zags are a shoe-in for Top 25 recognition, something they should be able to maintain all season long. Lose, and the Zags will have to battle a handful of teams that are residing just outside of the Top 25 including Virginia and UNLV.

Injuries Impacting — Some player of significance will be injured this year, profoundly affecting how his team performs for the rest of the year. We don’t wish injury upon anyone. However, there are some teams that are highly dependent on one player to lead the team. Doug McDermott of Creighton is one example of a player whose absence could change his team’s outlook dramatically.

With well over 300 Division 1 men’s basketball teams, placing in the Top 25 doesn’t give everyone a complete picture. That’s because the Field of 68 — the number of teams that will partake in March Madness in 2012 — are the ones that will really matter. ESPN know this which is why Jay Bilas has dismissed the whole notion of the Top 25 and has come up with Top 68 Rankings subscription required. Because in the grand scheme of thing, weekly polling just may not give us an accurate measurement of the state of men’s college basketball at any point in the season.

This time next year, the Big East Conference may have as many as 19 teams playing basketball. That’s up from the 16 schools that are now part of the Big East for all sports except for football. Credit the league’s most recent expansion drive that added five new schools, three for all-sports except for football, to the bloated conference.

National Conference

Imagine the work that schedule makers will have trying to arrange games when teams from as far as way as Texas play schools in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. Houston, SMU and Central Florida are the newest all-sports schools heading to the Big East and will replace Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia that will be leaving the conference by the following year.

What’s most curious is that for football, the Big East will expand to 13 teams for one year as Boise State and San Diego State join the conference. If things stay as they are right now, the league will shrink to 10 teams by 2014. However, there is a very good chance the Big East will implode before then, leaving each of the football-playing schools leaving for greener pastures. The Big East’s implosion is coming and it could get ugly depending on the moves made by one or more other major conferences.

Possible Scenario

The Big East Conference is in desperate shape and that desperation will only worsen the next time a school decides to exit the conference. Here is one possible scenario that could quickly signal the conference’s end:

Louisville Leaves — It is no secret that Louisville wants to join the Big 12 Conference where the University of West Virginia is heading. Missouri’s move to the SEC had the Big 12 going after the Mountaineers, but the league also took a look at Louisville. The Cardinals may still get invited and might possibly bring Cincinnati with them, making the Big 12 once again a true 12-team conference.

UConn, Rutgers Follow — Whether Cincinnati follows Louisville or not, the steps to get two other Big East programs to leave will hasten. UConn and Rutgers have made it clear that each school wants out. They’ve signed on to the expanded Big East simply to buy some time. UConn would love to go to the ACC while Rutgers is most interested in the Big Ten. If the ACC is interested in going from 14 teams to 16 teams, they’ll make a pitch for both schools. Expect both schools to accept an invitation even if RU’s heart is looking to the midwest and specifically to the Big Ten. Getting out of the Big East is a priority for both schools.

Shambles or a New Big East — With Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn and Rutgers leaving, the Big East conference as we know it will cease to exist. Or might it live on? The latter scenario is possible although count Boise State and San Diego State out of the equation, The Big East could survive by becoming the new “USA” conference by snapping up additional Conference USA schools such as East Carolina and Memphis. Add in Temple and encourage UMass to join and you’ll have a “renewed” conference, that will be “big” and “east” in name only. By the way, Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference may merge to live another day. In a new form, of course.

Some people have wanted the NCAA to intervene in the conference realignment mess, but they overestimate the power of this not-so-august body. College presidents control collegiate sports, therefore as long as there is money to be made by conference championships, bowl games and basketball leagues, nothing will change except the strength of the conferences themselves.

The bowl season will kick off on December 17 with three games scheduled. LSU and Alabama will conclude things on January 9, when the two SEC schools battle for the national championship in New Orleans. A total of 35 bowl games are on tap this season with the usual chorus of people calling for a playoff system again this year.

National Championship

Alabama barely edged out Oklahoma State to win a rematch against LSU and an opportunity to be crowned national champion with a win next month. There are a lot of other teams that have had to settle for lesser bowls in addition to quite a few 6-6 teams that are going bowling.

Perhaps one of the most surprising and disappointing bowl match ups is the Gator Bowl, a Jan. 2 contest in Jacksonville, Florida, pitting a pair of 6-6 teams: Ohio State and Florida. In any other season, both teams would be desirable participants, but this year each team finished with losing records in their respective conferences. Oh, how the once mighty Gator Bowl has fallen!

Minor Bowls, Big Names

Some of the “lesser” bowls will have greater appeal this year, as each has attracted one or more participants that will spice things up. The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 21 has 10-2 TCU and the following day 11-1 Boise State will play in the Las Vegas Bowl. Both teams clearly are strong enough to play in higher tier bowls, but because each one hails from the Mountain West Conference, they must be content with the non-BCS games.

Southern Miss leveled Houston on Saturday to win the Conference USA championship, but will have to “settle” for a Christmas Eve engagement in Honolulu against Nevada. Houston, due to its higher year-end ranking and 12-1 record, gets to play 9-3 Penn State on Jan. 2 in the TicketCity Bowl up in Dallas. Not the best venue for either team, but at least the game is held on an extended holiday weekend day.

The Baylor Bears has one of the best players in the nation, QB Robert Griffin III, a Heisman hopeful. Griffin has passed for 3,998 yards and 36 touchdowns on the year and will showcase his talents on Dec. 29 at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio against Washington. The Bears, once the doormat of the Big 8/12 conference have proven themselves to be one of the most interesting teams in the country. This game gets a Thursday evening audience, but should attract a solid following regardless of whether Griffin is awarded the Heisman.

Undeserved Teams

With USC not eligible for a bowl game, UCLA took the Pac 12 conference’s final spot and will play Illinois on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco for the “Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.” Illinois started the season at 6-0, but lost its last six games. UCLA finished at 6-7 and needed special permission from the NCAA to appear in the post season with a losing record. USC won the Pac 12 South championship because USC was deemed ineligible for the post season. That championship led the NCAA to rule on favor of the Bruins. Whoever said that the bowl system is not broken is cracked!

Besides these two schools which demonstrate how teams can back into a bowl game, there will be some other suspect teams playing in the post season. Ohio State and Florida are two others and a case could be made that Pittsburgh is another 6-6 team that hardly deserves a shot at another game. Some might question Iowa State’s appearance at the New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium against Rutgers on Dec. 29, but the Cyclones did manage to mess up the season for Oklahoma State with its double overtime victory over the Cowboys on Nov. 18. Despite losing its next two games, the Cyclones are in and will head to New York City to face the Scarlet Knights.

Bowl Predictions

We said last week that we would offer our predictions for all of the bowl games, but have decided to amend that list to include only those games we think will matter most to football fans beyond the participating schools themselves.

To that end we see the following scenario unfolding:

• Houston will rebound and knock off Penn State in the TicketCity Bowl.
• Georgia will hold off Michigan State in the Outback Bowl.
• South Carolina should beat Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl.
• Wisconsin and Oregon tangle in the Rose Bowl. We think the Badgers will edge the Ducks.
• West Virginia will stay even with Clemson for three quarters, but the Tigers will pounce and win late.
• Arkansas will easily handle Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl.
• As for the national championship, this game is for LSU to lose. If the Tigers make mistakes, then the Crimson Tide will win. Look for more points than the 9 to 6 LSU win on November 5 too. In this contest, we’re going with the Tide in a minor upset.

Happy bowling!

It has all come down to this: a handful of conference championships that will determine the bowl placement for 70 college football teams later this month and into January. A half dozen games will have significant bearing, with several other games having a much smaller impact. No one ever said that Division 1-A (FBS) football makes sense and soon, we’ll see just how senseless it can seem, at least for some teams.

LSU Tigers

Big on everyone’s list this weekend is #14 Georgia taking on #1 LSU this Saturday for the SEC championship. The Bulldogs opened the season with losses to Boise State and South Carolina, but have gone 10-0 since. LSU is 12-0 and will be the top seed with a win. However, even if Georgia upsets the Tigers, LSU could still be ranked as high as #2 and take on Arkansas or Alabama for the national championship. Figure that the BCS title game will be an SEC affair again this year with the conference assured of its fifth consecutive national championship.

Even before this Saturday’s action gets started, West Virginia will take on South Florida on Thursday night for a chance to stay in the BCS hunt. However, the Mountaineers will have to win their game and hope that they’re computer ranked higher than Louisville which at 7-5 has clinched a share of the Big East title. Louisville isn’t an automatic for a BCS game, but they still have a chance of getting in.

Pac 10

How did a 6-6 UCLA team get to match up against #9 Oregon for the Pac 10 title game? That’s easy — 10-2 USC isn’t eligible for the game or a post season appearance. The Bruins are coming off of a 50-0 lashing by the Bruins and may have just as difficult a time on Friday night against the Ducks. Other than west coast audiences, this game isn’t likely to draw much interest beyond that area of the country.

Other championship games have #24 Southern Miss battling #6 Houston for the Conference USA title, with the latter all but assured of an at-large BCS berth. Should the Golden Eagles surprise the Cougars, then Houston’s fortunes will likely rest on how the remaining games turn out this weekend. Don’t expect Houston to lose, even though they struggled during the first half of their game against Tulsa last week. Houston and LSU are likely to both finish 13-0, but not face each other for the BCS title game.

Other Games

Virginia Tech vs. Clemson and Wisconsin vs. Michigan State are two more title games of consequence. However, #10 Oklahoma taking on #3 Oklahoma State will likely lead to one of those teams getting a BCS nod with the other having to settle for a bowl of little consequence.

The regular season is not officially over until Dec. 10 when Army takes on Navy in Washington, D.C. Neither team is bowl eligible this year, therefore this game will be each team’s “bowl” game to close out the regular season. We’ll publish our bowl outlook next week and include our predictions on outcomes too.

Championship Material

What does all of this mean? Well, for starters the SEC continues it dominance of college football. Having won the past four national championships, another SEC team is likely to get a shot at the big game again this year. Also, there is a chance that two SEC teams could play for the national championship, but there are a few very good teams just behind the top three that could move up.

Thanksgiving weekend will be the final games for many teams, with some games to be played the first weekend in December, including conference title games. The bowl schedule will quickly fill out following next week’s action, although the top tier bowls will wait until after the title games have been decided and the final BCS standings are tabulated. BYU, now an independent, is one of the first schools to accept a bowl invite and will play in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl on December 30 in Dallas. That early invite and acceptance gives the Cougars what they wanted — a convenient to get to bowl game at a desirable date after Christmas.

Big East Conference

The Big East Conference will be sending someone to play in the Orange Bowl in Miami to face off against an ACC team. Trouble is, there are five teams in the league who have a shot at the game — West Virginia, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Not a single BE team is currently nationally ranked which means that whoever makes the cut could have a record as poor as 7-5. This reflects poorly on a league that is bleeding team members is no longer competitive nationally. Still, whoever wins the BE championship after tiebreakers will get to go to a first class bowl game.

If you’re looking for hot games to watch this weekend there will be many including some important regional rivalries. On Thanksgiving Day, Texas A&M takes on Texas, in the sole college football match up. On Friday, Houston and Tulsa do battle for the Conference USA West title, with the winner meeting Southern Miss for the conference championship in December. Houston is ranked #8 in the nation and will be assured of a BCS bowl if they win out. Arkansas at LSU and Pittsburgh at West Virginia round out Friday’s action.

Saturday Contests

On Saturday, several important contests will take place. Georgia, ranked #13 will take on #23 Georgia Tech at noon and Ohio State meets #15 Michigan. Second-ranked Alabama meets #24 Auburn and #19 Penn State plays at #16 Wisconsin. In the evening, the battle for South Carolina takes place when #17 Clemson travels to Columbia to take on #12 South Carolina. The evening and weekend wraps up with an 8 p.m. (EST) contest with #22 Notre Dame playing at #6 Stanford. Oh, lest I forget #18 USC will host UCLA. at 10 p.m. (7 p.m. PCT).

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The next to last full weekend of college football looms with many of the top teams enjoying games against lesser opponents, teams which should present no problem for them. That is, unless they’re looking ahead to conference championship games and dreaming about bowl opportunities. Lose at this point in the season and most teams will have to lower their expectations come bowl season.

PSU Scandal

This past week the biggest news was about Penn State and that program’s fall from grace. The child molestation scandal involving a former coach, Jerry Sandusky, isn’t going away but the Nittany Lions aren’t either. They’ll be traveling to Ohio State on Saturday in a bid to remain on top of the Leaders division and to secure a place in the first-ever Big Ten championship game. Winning at Ohio State will be difficult enough for Penn State which trails in this series with 12 wins to the Buckeyes 13 victories.

Virginia Tech, ranked #8 in the nation, continues to win following its 23-3 loss at home against Clemson on Oct. 1. The UNC Tarheels come to town, a team that may be bowl eligible, but needs a signature win to avoid getting sent to a low-tier bowl. The Hokies are ripe for the taking, but very much aware that destiny hangs in the balance. And, David Teel reminds his readers that two years ago the Tarheels shocked #14 V.T. at home.

Cowboy Nation

If #2 Oklahoma State wins out, they’ll be facing off against LSU for the BCS championship in January. Of course, they still have to beat Iowa State on Saturday and beat Oklahoma on Dec. 3 before that can be assured of playing for the title. Lose one game or play terribly against Iowa State this weekend, but still win, and they could slip in the polls.

South Carolina is ranked #12 and still has a good shot at a BCS bowl game with FCS Citadel at home this week, one week before it hosts in-state rival and #7 ranked Clemson. The Gamecocks finished 6-2 in the SEC and are a half game behind Georgia whom they beat early this season. Clemson, by the way, travels to Raleigh to take on NC State, a 5-5 team that must win to get to a bowl. Guess who’ll be priming for an upset this Saturday?

High Tide

Alabama won’t be looking ahead on Saturday as the #3 Crimson Tide hosts Georgia Southern, one of the best FCS teams in the nation. Alabama is just waiting for someone to slip up in a bid to have second shot at LSU. Auburn looms next week, last year’s national champion with nothing to lose, but a spoiler opportunity available.

The top scoring team in the nation is the #11 Houston Cougars, a team that will be hosting upset-minded SMU on Saturday. Keep winning and the Cougars will face off against #20 Southern Miss in December for the Conference USA championship. Houston will likely be a bowl buster too, securing an at-large bid even if they don’t move up in the polls over the coming weeks. Who would have thought that a Conference USA team would be ranked so high this season? Jason Starret warns that Tulsa next week could be the fly in the Cougar’s ointment.

LSU Rocks

Playing 2-8 Ole Miss on the road shouldn’t present a problem for the top-ranked LSU Tigers who will have just six days to prepare for #6 Arkansas, a team that would like to win out and secure a January bowl. Unless the Tigers become overconfident notes Glenn Guilbeau.

Boise State, now ranked #10 following its 1-point loss to TCU at home last weekend, will play at 6-3 San Diego State. An Aztec upset would bolster SDSU’s own bowl positioning, something the Broncos must keep in mind as they head to sunny southern California this weekend.

See Also — CBSSports.com: McMurphy’s Law: Penn State is the one team no bowl wants to invite; Brett McMurphy; Nov. 15, 2011