Football on the Fringe

Assuming that voters don’t revolt and put TCU ahead of Texas, here’s how the BCS picks are going to be played out, along with my predictions.  I’ve also thrown in a couple of C-USA predictions too, since they’re the only league who’s champion has changed from my last batch.

First pick: Sugar, replacing Alabama: Florida.

Second: Fiesta, replacing [...]

That was quite a night of football.  The refs gifted Texas the Big 12 victory, with what I think was in inaccurate ruling of a horse-collar tackle (last I knew, you had to drag the guy down by the horse collar, not just touch it and let go), and a pair of bogus pass interference calls [...]

It wasn’t quite the shootout I expected, but Central Michigan won a defensive battle over Ohio to claim the 2009 MAC Championship last night.  An early turnover from Dan LeFevour in the red zone kept the game scoreless for much of the first quarter, but their offense got on track and eventually led into halftime 17-7.  [...]

I haven’t made this weekly, since things haven’t changed that fast in the conference landscapes, but now I think we’re ready to have another look.  Bowls are listed in the approximate order of selection again, but in some conferences this is not a specific pick.  I’m also making guesses as to the reps from the big leagues, but those are harder since I don’t know as much about the politics involved in each of the big 6.

BCS Bowls

The BCS picture still isn’t great for Boise State.  With TCU and the SEC runner up basically locked in, they’re still competing for one of two remaining spots.  It’s looking like the leading candidates for those spots are either Iowa or Penn State, the Broncos, and now Oklahoma State, if they overcome Oklahoma in Norman this weekend.  Two spots for three teams is better than what BSU was looking at before, but if it all comes down to a business decision, they could the third team on the list of two.

Sugar- TCU vs. SEC runner up

Fiesta- Boise State vs. Iowa or Penn State.  Boise fans have to be hoping/praying/begging for the Sooners to step up this weekend.

Read Post

Our very compressed week continues on the Fringe today, where I’ll update the coaching watch and have a brand new bowl projections, with some new and corrected information from last time I tried it.  Then tomorrow, the Pub column will run and I’ll have potentially abbreviated weekend previews for you.  After that, the action moves to [...]

Both of our Western conferences were shuffling around, primarily waiting for a big week 13 slate.  The WAC did see a near upset and one overtime game, while in the MWC, New Mexico escaped from a winless season before they head over to Fort Worth for this weekend’s finale.  Also, TCU has locked up the Mountain West Championship.

Read Post

Our last wrapup stop in the east before swinging west, and Conference USA is the least-decided league so far.  Four teams are still alive in the title chase, although the SMU Mustangs chances are greatly diminished compared to the other three.  Houston only needs to beat Rice, while the winner of ECU vs. Southern Miss will settle the eastern division.  Championship scenarios down below. Read Post

The Sun Belt weekend played out about like we probably would have expected, with the good teams winning and the bad teams losing.  We did see a mild upset as Louisiana Lafayette knocked off their state rivals from Monroe in a close one.  Troy has clinched the conference championship, stampeding through the league at 7-0 with just Lafayette coming up on Saturday.  Since 2006, Troy is 25-3 in the Sun Belt.

Read Post

The MAC has had a couple of pretty interesting weeks, despite having games scattered across nearly every night in November.  Things are wrapping up in a tidy little package for their final week and the Championship Game on December 4th.  Central Michigan clinched the West division by watching Ohio take down Northern Illinois on TV, while Ohios win sets up a final game against Temple for all the Eastern marbles.  Either way, two of those three teams will make for a great conference championship game.

Read Post

For a day without a lot of compelling matchups, Week 12 at least set us up for a big finish in week 13.  The non-BCS world has 3 championships and 4 divisions decided during the regular season, and yesterday 2 conferences and one division were locked in, and leaving several showdowns for this coming week.  First [...]