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With the Missouri Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies leaving the Big 12 for the SEC and the West Virginia Mountaineers from the Big East to the Big 12, college football is losing a few annual games that date back to the late 19th century. Of course these teams had many rivalries within their old conferences but these are the highlights:

1. Border War (Kansas vs. Missouri) – Believe it or not, these two neighboring states still harbor some ill will between the two that dates back to the American Civil War. The schools’ mascots Jayhawks and Tigers were both derived from the Civil War but that story is another blog. The first meeting was in 1891 with Kansas coming out victorious 22-10. The series was the second-most-played rivalry in major-college football history behind Minnesota-Wisconsin (yawn). Mizzou leads the series 57-54-9.
2. Lone Star Showdown (Texas Longhorns vs. Texas A&M) Beginning in 1894, the state of Texas’ two oldest public universities have had a long history of good old-fashion hate. From 1910 to 1940 there was only one instance of a team winning the rivalry game in consecutive seasons. Texas holds an overall 76-37-5 lead with many wins coming from 1940 to 1974 when A&M only won thrice and one tie. Legendary coach Darrell Royal was at the helm for most of those wins. Since then it has been pretty even. Each team had won three of the last six meetings.
3. Backyard Brawl (Pitt Panthers vs. West Virginia Mountaineers) This game is so named because of the proximity of the two campuses. The two cities of Pittsburgh and Morgantown are linked by I-79 with around 75 miles between them. They have played 104 times since 1895 with Pitt hanging on to a 60-41-3 lead but WVU has won the last three meetings.

While waiting for an interesting bowl game to emerge, I got to thinking about Colorado‘s move to the Pac-10. Clearly this is “all about the Benjamins” i.e. money.

Geographically, the Colorado campus is much further from the other eleven Pac-10 conference members than from the Big XII campuses. So, there is no advantage there. Football-wise, overall the Big XII is stronger than the Pac-10, despite Oregon’s BCS Championship Game berth. I am guessing the CU accountants have bigger pull in Boulder than anyone else.

On the Pac-10′s side, they pick up the Denver TV market but little else competition-wise:

• Football – the Buffs have not had a winning season since 2005. They have not had less than 5 losses since 2001 when they went 10-3 and lost the Fiesta Bowl to Oregon 38-26.
• Men’s Basketball – one NCAA tournament appearance since 1997–1998. They have 78 losses the past four seasons (20, 20, 22, 16).
• Baseball – this is odd to me. The Pac-10 is a rich baseball conference. Yet, Colorado has NO baseball team. Also they have no hockey team. Colorado College is a national hockey power.
• Women’s Basketball – no significant accomplishments.
• Other – CU’s greatest successes has been in skiing and cross country. However, U. of Denver has won the last three championships.

After last week’s snoozefest of games, we finally got some exciting games.

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.