Week 12 Rankings

It's amazing what can happen during a Saturday of college football. Overall, Kansas State and Oregon both lost and paved the way for a Notre Dame-Alabama national championship game. Now, The Irish still need to beat USC, and the Trojans look very beatable after losing to UCLA and accumulating 4 losses on the season already. If USC loses again next week, they'll be 7-5 on the season in which they were the preseason No.1. Kansas State didn't have much of a chance against Baylor which is glaring since Baylor has one of the worst defenses in the country. Stanford on the other hand gave Oregon everything they could, and held the Ducks offense to a scoring low for the season. In the end, I don't think there was a single person who really thought the Irish would be in the place that they are now, and I was one of them. Week after week they've knocked down their opponents, and for those who think their strength of schedule is weak, look up Oregon's, Kansas State's, and Alabama's--all of which are weaker than Notre Dame's.
On the other hand, we have Michigan. Yet again Brady Hoke and Al Borges surprise the fans by having Denard Robinson line up in the backfield, and even catch a few passes. It's that kind of offense some have been asking for a long time, and we finally saw it. It was also a sad day for Fitz Toussaint who left the game in the first quarter with an apparent broken left leg. Now, the chances of Michigan surpassing Nebraska for the Legends Division have dwindled down to almost nothing since the Huskers easily beat Minnesota and they have only one game left against Iowa. Iowa would need to win, and Michigan would need to beat an undefeated Ohio State team. Speaking of the Buckeyes, if it wasn't for a costly fumble by Montee Ball at the goal line in the 4th quarter, the Buckeyes might not be undefeated.  Michigan State lost to Northwestern despite outgaining them in every important category, except for the one that doomed them: turnovers. Now the Spartans will need to beat Minnesota just in order to become bowl eligible..all this after a season in which they did not win a Big Ten game at home. Either way. here's a look at the vastly different BCS poll:




1) Notre Dame--The last time the Irish were ranked No.1, Mrs. Doubtfire was almost in the theaters, and most of the players were young toddlers. If they can beat USC, they'll be guaranteed a spot in the national championship. Now Matt Barkley won't be playing for USC, which makes that task all the more easier.
2) Alabama--Wow, Alabama had a whole week off from being talked about in the championship game. What is going to be really telling for this team is which other SEC team they'll be playing against in the conference game.
3) Georgia--Genius or folly to schedule an FCS game this late in the season? I'm going with genius.
4) Florida--Ditto
5) Oregon --I don't watch the Ducks often since they're on the West Coast, and I do want to sleep sometime, but for all the hoopla I've heard about their offense, I didn't see it. No explosiveness anywhere.
6) Kansas State--The Wildcats were never truly in the game against Baylor, just seemingly going through the motions. Collin Klein didn't have a good day either and also said goodbye to the Heisman.
7) LSU .
8) Stanford--If Stanford's defense had played like this all season, and if Hogan was the starting quarterback all season, would they still be undefeated?
9) Texas A&M--For everything they were able to do to beat Alabama, they still let Sam Houston State score 28 points in an Aggie win. I'm not sure if there is a more bipolar team than this one.
10) Florida State
11) Clemson
12) South Carolina--One of the many SEC/FCS games that occurred on Saturday, it wasn't until the 4th quarter that they could pull away from Wofford. Really? Wofford?
13) Oklahoma
14) Nebraska--With one game left against Iowa, the Huskers have pretty much solidified a spot in the Big Ten championship game against Wisconsin. Now that Oregon is out of the BCS picture, they'll most likely be in the Rose Bowl. I feel bad for whichever teams represents the Big Ten
15) Oregon State
16) Texas
17) UCLA--Looks like Jim Mora Jr. was the right hire for this school. Beating USC will help his recruiting as well.
18) Rutgers
19) Michigan--I'm sure Michigan fans will hear all week long about what kind of offense Al Borges will use against the Buckeyes on Saturday...if he uses Devin and Denard in the same way again in Columbus it could be a heck of a game.
20) Louisville
21) Oklahoma State--They lost Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon, yet they are still only a 3-loss tea
22) Boise State
23) Kent State--Kent State is the latest MAC team to be in the BCS/AP rankings this season. Seems to me that as weak as the Big Ten is this season, that's how strong the MAC is. Except for WMU firing Bill Cubit with a week to go. I don't understand that
24) Arizona--It's official, with Arizona being at 7-4 so far RichRod has a winning season in his first season there. It does show that while he is still a good coach, that wouldn't have happened in Michigan.
25) Washington