Your Home of the Oregon ILLINI. Oskee Wa Wa!

Thank God for CFB. Special teams. Special teams. Special teams. And, be sound in the kicking game sunshine scooter! An amazing weekend of college football this Saturday. The biggest shocker of the day had to be Georgia over Auburn on the plains in Alabama. Or was it Arizona over CAL in the desert? How about KSU over TX in Manhattan? Take your pick. Wow. CAL goes down in the desert to Arizona after blowing a huge 17-3 lead. Amazing. You just never know how things are going to turn out in college football - especially this year. Take that back. Michigan and Ohio State ahve been rock solid all year. Next week is going to be a great game between #1 Ohio State and #2 Michigan in Columbus. It's amazing to me that these teams have faced-off forever w/o being ranked #1 and #2. Bring it on! And, the hottest site on the web logged 113 unique hits last week.

Then there were my ILLINI. Ugh! We blew two big leads in this game before losing to Purdue at home: 42-31. Too many mistakes in this one to earn the victory at home in fron to the partisan crowd. More of the same; fumbles, interceptions, and miscues late in the game which allowed Purdue to sneak back in and pull away down the stretch. Amazing, our 4th straight loss to the BOILERS. There was a 5 play stretch where we turned the rock over 4 (four) times. Ugh! The defense was disappointing today, giving up over 400 yards of total offense to the Boilermakers. This was an ugly loss and 6 straight. Bring on basketball already. Only 2-29 for our last 31 BIG-10 games. This has to end. Next year should be better for the Fighting Zookers. I hope.

But back to the big games of the day. Georgia took advantage of turnovers today at Auburn en route to their blowout victory on the road. Auburn is dead. Their title hopes are over. In my opinion, they've been living on borrowed time for quite a while. But today was senior day at home in front of the partisans. This kind of beat-down shouldn't happen in that environment. But that's why they play the games. The Georgia / Auburn game is the South's oldest CFB rivalry with only 2 points separating these two schools over the past 105 years. Amazing.

Then, just as I was getting over losing my 9-point game, CAL blew a big 2nd-half lead on the road to Arizona - going down 24-20 to the WILDCATS. Bye bye CAL. Last weekend it was Washington State and this weekend it was the GOLDEN BEARS. Watchout PAC-10 - Arizona is on fire. This is a team that only won a total of 6 games in the previous two years. Lots of strange plays in this one, most going the way of Arizona. CAL just didn't seem to be in rhythm on offense all day. Wow - big upset in the desert today. What a jolt to the BCS and the national picture.

What if? What if? You know what I'm going to say. Assuming Ohio State takes care of business next weekend in Columbus and, USC continues to roll through the remainder of its tough schedule - we're looking at a Trojan / Buckeye title game in Glendale. Or, what if? What if? Those sneaky little IRISH are still in the mix after this BCS buster of a weekend. It's looking more and more likely that the USC / Notre Dame winner will be heading to the desert to take on the winner of Ohio State and Michigan. Or, what if? What if? It's also entirely possible that we could see a 2nd Michigan / Ohio State game in January for all the marbles. I don't want this to happen, nor do I expect it. But, at this point it could happen if next week's game in Columbs is a nail-biter. Ah, the possibilities. Much a - do about nothing at this point. I'm sure things will shake up again over the next few weeks. Here is what CBS has to say about the likely bowl matchups after what we witnessed yesterday.

How about that TEXAS / K-STATE game? Yet another upset (3rd big-one of the day). Have you ever seen a more physical contest? Every hit seemd to be a big blow. This was a very physical game; just ask Colt McCoy who was knocked out in the 1st quarter with a shoulder injury. Not sure how serious that one will be. But this was a classic BIG-12 game. TEXAS had trouble stopping the WILDCAT offense. That was a big surprise. Give credit to Jevon Snead (TEXAS back-up QB). Count the big plays in thise game: blocked punts, fumbles, you name it. Wow, big party tonight in Manhattan. For Kansas State, this was a tremendous win. And the BCS is a total mess. How do you rank the 1-loss and 2-loss teams? And just like Auburn and CAL today, TEXAS is out of the title - game picture.

Other big games this week (and what I noticed):

• Okie State won today. 66-24 over Baylor. No shortage of offense here.
  
• Kentucky became bowl eligible for Rich Brooks (Oregon) today by beating Vandy at home.
• Same for Navy with a win on the road over E. Michigan. Go Goats!
• Kudos to Nebraska - you cost me 2 points today by beating A&M. I feel bad for Dennis Francionne who has yet to beat Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas during his tenure. Back to back home losses to Oklahoma and Nebraska - 1 point each. Ouch!
  
• Penn State 47 / Temple 0. Ouch babe! Joe Pa up in the press box.
  
• Florida squeaked by the old ball coach today in an ugly win at home over South Carolina.
• More props to WAKE FOREST. Wow, 30-0 beatdown over FSU in Tallahassee!
  
• How about UCONN over Pitt today? Thank you HUSKIES.
  
• UCLA pasted the BEAVS today in LA. 25-7. OSU isn't bowl eligible, yet.
  

PICK -EM Update: Week #11 was another week of movement in our rankings. The separation at the top continues. Back in the top-10 comes the Fightin' Illini '71. It's not over yet. But this week, Mr. Larson (Other OSU) led the pack in scoring with just 44 points. If you scored in the 40's this week you had a great week. Otherwise, there were a lot of thirty-somethings posted by folks used to scoring in the 50's. Look for more of the same down the stretch with the rivalry action heating up. Right now it looks like everybody will be chasing Mr. Redbird and his lofty ranking for the crown of PICK EM CHAMP. 20 points separate the top - 10 players. And, if you played every week this year you are in the top 81.3% in the nation. Our group is strong.

My TOP - 10+: 1) Ohio State, 2) Michigan, 3) USC, 4) Notre Dame, 5) WV, 6) Arkansas, 7) LSU, 8) Florida, 9) Rutgers, 10) Texas, 11) Louisville, 12) Wisconsin, 13) Wake Forest, 14) CAL, 15) Boise State, 16) Oklahoma, 17) Auburn, 18) Va Tech, 19) BC, 20) Maryland / Nebraska. Here's the link to the AP and other polls.

With only two more weeks to go in the PICM EM race, try these games on for next week: Michigan @ Ohio State, WV @ Pitt, Aubrun @ Alabama, Arizona @ Oregon, CAL @ USC, & Illinois @ Northwestern. Go Fighting Zookers! PICK EM should be crazy down the stretch. It will be interesting to see how the final rankings shake out.

Heisman: Troy Smith (Ohio State) and everybody else. But, also worth consideration in New York - Brady Quinn (Notre dame) , Darren McFadden (Arkansas), & Slaton (WV).