1. Alabama vs Michigan (Cowboys Stadium)
2. Notre Dame at Oklahoma
3. West Virginia at Florida State
4. Boise State at Michigan State
5. Auburn vs Clemson (Georgia Dome)

Stanford and Boise go down HARD.

As Auburn proved, a team can come out of nowhere and win the National Championship.

The way I see it, 2011 is a three horse race between Alabama, LSU and Oklahoma. It will become a two horse race after November 5th when LSU travels to Tuscaloosa. I expect the winner of that game to go onto New Orleans and beat the Sooners.

The rest:
Boise – Schedule is too weak. The only way they get in the big game is if all the big boys have 2 or more losses.
Stanford – I know everyone is in love with Andrew Luck, but his head coach is gone and historically hyped players have a less than stellar follow-up season: Mark Ingram, Tim Tebow, Jake Locker, etc.
Florida State – With a weak ACC, the Seminoles could sneak in there if they beat Oklahoma.
Oregon – After losing bad to LSU, it’s going to be tough to get back in the mix.
Arkansas – if they can go undefeated (Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Auburn. MSU, S Carolina) they deserve the BCS birth.
Wisconsin – The Badgers could sneak in the back door behind NC State transfer QB Russell Wilson but they will have to go through Nebraska and back-to-back road games versus Michigan State and Ohio State. Then there is the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game.
Nebraska – The Cornhuskers basically the same story as Wisconsin but have OSU & MSU at home. October 10th in Madison, WI will be huge.

The Crybaby Bowl (aka: Maaco Las Vegas Bowl) pairs the two biggest BCS complainers in Utah (10-2) and Boise State (11-1). There is only one answer and listen good: PLAY A TOUGHER NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE! Dec. 22 ESPN 8pm.

The Poinsettia Bowl will have an interesting crowd. San Diego State (8-4) is going to their first bowl since 1998 on their home field. However, the USA’s biggest Naval base is also in San Diego. Rest assured there will be some boisterous sailors to cheer on Navy (8-3). Dec. 23 ESPN 8pm.

Hawaii Bowl How fair is it for a team to play a bowl game on their home field? Not very, but if you normally play football in a dust bowl, this is like a dream come true. Hawaii (10-3) vs. Tulsa (9-3), Dec. 24 ESPN 8pm.

2 left out:
W. Michigan – no big surprise at 6-6 – MAC
Temple – a small surprise in that they were 8-4. But, MAC had 4 teams with better overall+conf records. Nobody wants the 5th place MAC team in their bowl.

1 screwed themselves:
Arizona State upset Arizona to get to 6-6. However, two of their wins were against I-AA teams and count as one win. They filed a waiver but no dice. Schedule stronger, Sun Devils.

6-6 teams in bowl games:
Florida Intl – tied Troy for the Sun Belt championship – lamest conf ever.
Middle Tenn – #3 Sun Belt
E Carolina – C-USA had 6 bowl tie-ins. ECU was #5
UTEP -  #6 C-USA.
BYU – playing UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl, ugh.
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisville
Tennessee
Washington
Clemson
Army – 6-5 and probably loses to Navy this Saturday.

1 loss is all it takes:
Boise will play Utah in the Maaco Bowl in Las Vegas on December 22. Fittingly enough, that is a Wednesday – one of their favorite days to play on.

10 Bowls we can do without:
New Mexico Bowl, Albuqurque, NM – BYU (6-6) vs. UTEP (6-6) – zzzzzzzzzz…
New Orleans Bowl, New Orleans, LA – Troy (7-5) vs. Ohio (8-4) – N.O. already has the Sugar Bowl. Do they really need another in that run down old relic?
St. Petersburg Bowl, St. Petersburg, FL – Louisville (6-6) vs. Southern Miss (8-4) – another crappy game in another crappy dome.
Military Bowl, Washington DC – Maryland (8-4) vs. East Carolina (6-6) – no offense to our armed forces but these two bowls are just useless.
Armed Forces Bowl, Fort Worth, TX – SMU (7-6) vs. Army (6-5) – I love our military but do we really need two of these bowls using up money that could go to the actual military?
Pinstripe Bowl, New York, N.Y – Syracuse (7-5) vs. Kansas State (7-5) – football in Yankee Stadium with two mediocre teams…yawn. Been there, done that.
GoDaddy.com Bowl, Mobile, AL – Miami (Ohio) (9-4) vs. Middle Tennessee State (6-6) – they will be lucky to half fill the stadium
BBVA Compass Bowl, Birmingham, AL – Pittsburgh (7-5) vs. Kentucky (6-6) – that name just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Humanitarian Bowl, Boise, ID – Northern Illinois (10-3) vs. Fresno State (8-4) – YES! Idaho in December! That is exactly where I want to be!
Little Caesars Bowl, Detroit, MI – Toledo (8-4) vs. Florida International (6-6) – Right, I am spending my Christmas in Detroit instead of Miami.

74½:
The over/under is for Auburn vs. Oregon is 74½. Take the over!

In the SEC, Auburn wins at Alabama 28-27 to stay undefeated. Arkansas upsets LSU 31-23 to possibly sneak their way into the Sugar Bowl. UGA and Tennessee both win to become bowl eligible.

Going Bowling:

SEC will again send ten teams to bowl games. The Pac 10 currently has THREE teams bowl eligible. Oregon State would need a miracle win over #2 Oregon to get to 6 wins. Washington has to win at Washington State.

SEC – 10

ACC – 9

Big Ten – 8

Big XII – 8

Pac 10 – 3

To date, there are 35 bowls and 70 bowl eligible teams including such 6-win stalwarts as UTEP, Western Michigan, Florida International and Troy.

Army (Armed Forces), Navy (Poinsettia) and Air Force (tba) will all go bowling. Congratulations to our awesome military academies!

Teams that needed a home win to become bowl eligible and lost:

Texas A&M defeated Texas 24-17 in Austin. Sad.

All Louisiana-Monroe had to do was beat lowly La.-Lafayette (3-9). Laffers win 23-22.

Cal and shifty head coach Jeff Tedford lose in Berkeley to Washington (5-6) 16-13.

Now to the fun part: the HAHA awards.

Top HAHA this week goes to Boise who lost to Nevada 34-31. God bless the Wolfpack for exposing these imposters. You did not belong. Now go away.

Georgia Tech (6-6) fans got pretty cocky after beating UGA in 2008 and then winning the ACC in 2009. It’s been all downhill from there. The Jackets lost their second straight to a weak Georgia (6-6) team who was looking to become bowl eligible 42-34.

Miami loses to South Florida? At home? Pathetic.

Rich Rodriguez might be on his way out in Ann Arbor finishing 7-5 and losing yet again to Ohio State 37-7. This was the Buckeyes 7^th straight win over Michigan.

Kansas finished 3-9 under coach Turner Gill. Professional loudmouth Charles Barkley called Auburn racist for not hiring Gill. I think things turned out okay for the Tigers.

Mixed feelings HAHA of the Week:

Despite three Notre Dame interceptions and a fumble, Lame Kiffin and his uninspired USC Trojans lost to the Irish in L.A. 20-16. Both teams finish 7-5.

Game of the WEAK:
Buffalo (2-10) feeling charitable, allowed Akron to get their first and only win of the season 22-14.

HAHA to Utah for losing two in a row, to TCU and  to Notre Dame?! Wow, you must be bad to lose to a team who lost to Tulsa. Utah has a possibility of losing three in a row when they face San Diego State (7-3). Too bad Boise doesn’t have a schedule like this.

Speaking of losing three in a row, the Ramblin’ Wreck has done broke! Three straight L’s for Georgia Tech: Clemson, Virginia Tech and Miami. If they are not careful and do not look ahead to the showdown with UGA, Duke will make it four.

Speaking of Duke, they peed on Virginia’s parade. After beating Miami and going to 4-4, they were feeling pretty good about bowl eligibility. Then they rolled over for Duke and Maryland. UVa ends the season at Virginia Tech. Call it. Time of death, November 6, 2010, 3:00pm.

Some stupid people started talking up Baylor just because they beat Texas. Well, who hasn’t beaten Texas? After sitting at 7-2 and ranked #25, the Bears ran smack into Big XII reality with back-to-back losses to Oklahoma State and Texas A&M by a collective score of 97-58.

Jake Locker, is this why you came back for your senior year? The Washington Huskies (3-6) quarterback turned down being picked #1 in the 2010 NFL draft and millions of dollars so that he could get the crap kicked out of him for free.

Somehow, the Arizona Wildcats made it to 7-2 and ranked #15. Stanford and Southern Cal changed all that. Up next, #1 Oregon. Welcome back to also-ran status.

Last week, Kansas State and UCF snuck their way into the Top 25 and abruptly lost. What is this? Everybody Gets a Trophy Day?

• TCU remaining opponents: San Diego State, @New Mexico.
• Utah remaining opponents: @Notre Dame, @San Diego State, BYU.

#6 Alabama at #10 LSU is always a big game but this year’s game will help determine the winner of the SEC West. Both teams are 7-1, 4-1. If Bama wins, they still have a shot at the BCS. If the Tigers prevail, they have a chance but need to defeat Arkansas and have Auburn lose to UGA or the Tide.

* For those of you out there that want a playoff in college football, open your eyes! You have one. Michigan State and Mizzou were eliminated last Saturday. This weekend, two of the above teams will be gone.

Shhh. Sleeper alert: Hawaii has quietly gone 7-2 including a win over Nevada and putting up 36 points on Southern Cal (but giving up 49). On Saturday, they travel to that idiotic blue field in Boise. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but might the Rainbow Warriors pull an upset? How awesome would that be?

Notre Dame dominated by Navy in a game played in Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ 35-17. There’s nothing like a high-profile game to expose your weaknesses.

Hey! How did a Big Least team sneak their way into the rankings?! Shoo! SHOO! West Virginia goes down to Syracuse at home 19-14.

I am not sure if Texas deserves a HHAHA. A “WTF’’ might be more appropriate. Last years BCS runner-up loses its third game in four. This time it is to unranked Iowa State 28-21. The one victory in that span was against Nebraska who was #5 at the time.

Georgia Tech got all full of themselves after beating weenie teams Wake Forest, Virginia and Middle Tennessee. Clemson smacked them back down to earth 27-13.

This just in, Boise is still a joke.