Football Friday - Does anyone go 12-0 edition

Welcome to the Friday after the first BCS ranking. And welcome to the reality that Texas has almost no chance of defending its national championship.

Coming in at #9 in the initial BCS, with a whole pile of one-loss teams ahead of them, the 'Horns will have to pray for minor miracles on the field, or a crippling virus in the BCS computers, to get back to the National Championship game. This is primarily a factor of a fairly weak non-conf schedule (except for the Ohio St game, which the 'Horns lost and looked bad doing so), and a TERRIBLE Big 12.

The terrible conference thing cuts both ways, though. The SEC is loaded with terrific teams, but they beat the crap out of each other. A team that can go 12-0 or 11-1 in the SEC is really accomplishing something. Very few can.

Ohio St is obviously the best bet to go undefeated, but they are no lock. From there, it's tougher to call. USC will get beaten. West Virginia might not, but they're West Virginia, for God's sake (sorry Steve and Tony).

It probably doesn't matter for Texas though. They're just too far back. Next year.

On with this week's preview:

Colleges

Texas @ Nebraska - My God, I would love to go see this game. It's fall in Lincoln, the 'Huskers are ranked again, and the National Champs are in town. This should be a great test for Texas. I think the 'Horns win and cover the 5.

A&M @ Oklahoma St - Let me get this straight: The Ags are ranked #23, but they're 3.5 point dogs at Okie St? I dunno, seems like if you're a ranked team, you ought to be favored over an unranked opponent, even at their place. I still think Fran is hanging on by his fingernails. I'll go with Cowboys, and we'll see if Coach Fran makes it back onto the team charter.

Georgia Tech @ Clemson - Here's the Redneck Game of the Week. How are both of these schools ranked? Clemson is giving up 7, and I think it's closer than that. Give me them Yeller Jackets and the points. I think Chan Gailey wins the big Catfish Tournament after the game as well. Them's good eatin' (barf).

Hawaii @ New Mexico St - I know absolutely zero about either team, I just wanted to throw in a comment about Hawaii's travel. How would you like to have to fly 10 hours and across about 5 time zones every other week for the entire semester? For that matter, why would you want to leave Hawaii? I'll have to call Norm on this one - What's Hawaii's road record over the years? I would have thought it's crap, but they're giving 20 points to NM St, so go figure.

Colorado @ Oklahoma - Coach Stoops and his boys have had their share of bad breaks and adversity this year. I wonder if they can keep their chins up. Vegas clearly thinks they can, as the Buffs are getting 14. I dunno about that. Much as I like Coach Bob, I might take those points.

Boston University vs. Rhett, the annoying Terrier mascot - Does a school with a tiny, ugly dog as a mascot really deserve a football team? I guess the answer is no. As for Rhett, the guy-in-a-dog-suit mascot on game day, he was an annoying precursor to Rowdy, the idiotic Cowboy mascot of today.

Pros

Washington @ Indianapolis - It ought to be fun watching the Redskins get friggin' killed by the Colts. I'm actually surprised they let Mark Brunell on the same field as Peyton.

Arizona @ Oakland - The Raiders are SO bad. But the Cardinals are coming off a horrible, should-never-have-happened loss on Monday night to Chicago. Denny Green had a total post-game meltdown. It's interesting to see how Arizona reacts. If they are truly losers (which Cardinal teams have been for YEARS), they will fold after Monday's loss. However, if Leinart and Edge James have infused the team with a bit of positivity, Oakland is a GREAT place for a team to get it's confidence back. I sorta like the Cardinals' chances.

Carolina @ Cincinnati - I really thought the Bengals had something. This is a good place to find out if they do.

Vikings @ Seattle - I hate the Vikings. I love the town of Seattle.

Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay - If the Eagles are going to do anything this year, they HAVE to win this game. I think they do.

Pittsburgh @ Atlanta - Let's see if the Steelers did, in fact, get their wheels back on. I think so.

Giants @ Dallas - The start of a stretch that will tell us what the Cowboys really are. To date, they've beaten up on crap teams and lost to decent ones. I think that tradition holds, thus I predict humiliating and demoralizing losses to both NY this week and Carolina next week. Yahooooo!

Comedic Value Game of the Week - Why would anyone spend good money to see Green Bay at Miami? Clearly, the CVGW is sponsored by Lunesta this week.

Go (insert your team here)!