who is the best team and who are some dark horses?

texas oklahoma this weekend should be a good game

How about them 'skers?? ohh man how many fumbles does Daily have? 9? Wow what a QB.

Big 12 south is a ton better than the north. Maybe Baylors the only team thats not good

After Saturday night, that Baylor game doesn't look to be the gimme that it was back in August. At least the Bears were able to hold Mizzou to 30 points.

USC is an easy favorite but Auburn is the Dark horse along with V.Tech

Uhhhh...I wouldn't exactly say USC is an easy favorite. Did you know that USC has NEVER beaten an ASU team that was ranked in the top 25? Last time I checked they are 19th. Also have you even watched ASU this year? They have arguably the best QB in the Pac-10 in Walter, he is the kind of guy who can lead an upset, big 5th year senior, seen it all...blah blah blah. USC is coming off of an emotionally draining game against Cal, and ASU is coming off of a bye week. All I'm saying is that ASU has a punching chance.

As for VaTech, last time I checked they lost to NC State...end of discussion.

USC 45 ASU 7

That's gotta hurt.

Yeah, that Heisman candidate from USC doesn't have much of a gun on him compared to the ASU kid.

Campbell for Hiesman...GO AUBURN!!!

benson for heisman

Orton for Heisman

It appears I was wrong about the USC game, great game by the Trojans. Barring any MAJOR slipups, they should be able to cruise into the national title game. I think the SEC is just too tough a conference to run the table, especially when you throw in the SEC title game...so that eliminates Auburn. Between Oklahoma and Miami both have interesting tests left. OU struggles against OSU, and they still play a rapidly improving Texas A&M team. As for Miami, they still play VaTech and have a game with Virginia. As for my Heisman leader, I think the Heisman is more based on winning as opposed to stats, so right now my favorite is Leinert from USC.

Auburn roles throught the SEC no prob...all they have is Georgia whom they will beat. They destroyed Tennessee who beat Georgia, who are way too up and down to beat Aurburn who has been pretty solid. As for the SEC title game, they already beat the 2nd best team and that was Tennesses. Oklahoma will overlook the Aggies in Aggieland and lose. I agree Miami has their work cut out for them with Va Tech, but the way Virginia has been looking lately, I think Miami takes that game. So that leaves USC and Auburn for the National Title.

I wouldn't be so fast to discredit Virginia, I was blown away by how FSU just dismantled Virginia. I'm a huge Noles fan and I was expecting a dogfight. I've been waiting for the offense to show up anyways...I think Virginia simply folded to the pressure, I expect them to bounce back. I am very impressed with Auburn so far, the only thing is...they are going to have to beat a team that has a knack for playing very tough against quality competition either at home or on the road (Georgia). And they're probably going to have to play Tennessee again, who bounced back from the lashing Auburn gave them and knocked off Georgia. Tennessee is extremely young at some skill positions and that showed against a hungry Auburn "D". A rematch between the two teams would certainly be an entertaning game.

A couple of quick takes on college football:

-- First, what college football player who has hopes of playing in the NFL, in their RIGHT MIND, would want to win the Heisman Trophy? Does the name Gino Torretta ring a bell? Huh? How about Eric Crouch? Who's he playing for now?

The Heisman Trophy has become the Bermuda Triangle of football. While there have been the occasional Tim Brown's and Earl Campbell's who go on to success in the pros over the years, these days the winner of the Heisman Trophy is fast becoming the answer to that eternally-burning sports question: "Hey, whatever happened to (insert name here), anyway?"

I don't know about you, but if I'm a stud QB or running back playing at Oklahoma, Miami or wherever, and I see my name pop up on a list of Heisman hopefuls, my next move is to violently shake the sports information director until the message comes across that I do not want that albatross around my neck when Paul Tagliabue announces, "With the first pick in the NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins select..."

-- Let's go ahead and call the shot right now: USC 38, Oklahoma 37 in double overtime in the B(C)S championship game.

USC is simply the best team in college football right now. And for those of you dogging Bill Callahan right now, take note of what's happening in El Gay...Trojan fans didn't think too highly of Pete Carroll when he first showed up on campus a few years back. Today, he could probably run for mayor of Los Angeles and win in a landslide.

But if he goes 10-3, look out...

As for Oklahoma, they passed their only serious test in the Big 12 when they shut out a pretty darn good Texas team. The Big 12 is the softest it has ever been. Gone are the days when 4-5 teams were either in or near the top 10 in the country. In fact, on a bad day Oklahoma could still easily beat the best on its side of the aisle and BLOW OUT anybody on this end. That game in Norman later this season could be brutal for the Huskers. And if they play as bad as they did vs. Texas Tech, the Sooners will DEFINITELY score 70 points on the Blackshirts.

And then, the band will come out to perform its halftime show.

-- As far as the Huskers go, here's a little something for you psychotic win-or-else-you-suck Husker fans to consider:

Back in the 1990's, Oklahoma's football program fell on some serious hard times. Gone were the glory days of the Wilkinson-Fairbanks-Switzer era and the vaunted wishbone offense. The Sooners were wallowing in mediocrity, taking beatings that only a few years later they were administering to the Kansas States and Iowa States of the world. In fact, in consecutive seasons the Huskers scored 73 AND 69 points on Oklahoma.

When Bob Stoops came to town in 1999, he brought a pro-style passing offense with him that was rather unique to generations of Sooner fans who cut their teeth, grew up, ate, breathed, smoked and pooped the wishbone offense. Check me on this one, but didn't they win the B(C)S title in 2000??? And weren't they playing for a share of the title about 12 months ago???

Right now, Callahan is trying to fit the square peg (West Coast offense) into a round hole (players left over from the Solich offensive system). These kids have basically had to forget everything they knew about Husker football and learn a whole new system. This would be like you playing golf left-handed all your life, then having to switch to right-handed clubs (in my case I play like crap with EITHER hand, but you get the idea).

There are going to be days like the Texas Tech debacle. There are going to be days like the Kansas game. And, unfortunately, those days when we rack up 59 points on some sad sack are going to be fewer and farther in between for a couple of years. Until Callahan brings in kids who better fit this offensive style, we're going to have to get used to hot-and-cold efforts like we've seen this year.

The great thing about this, though, is that if we give it a chance and allow Callahan to build the program, we can very easily return to the days when we light Texas Tech up for 70 points, instead of having 70 rolled up on the other side. It will give us an opportunity to suffer through the tough times and have a better appreciation of what it's like to be a national champion when the day comes again. And trust me, it WILL come again.

That's my rant and I'm stickin' to it...

RACK HIM. BLING BLING BLING. LATE

Mikey,
You make a lot of valid arguments about college football, especially about the Huskers. However, I disagree with you in two places.

First, USC is not the best team in the nation, I think they are the 2nd best team in the nation. Auburn is rolling over the SEC like it is the Sun-Belt conference. USC might not have a ranked game left but they do have a tough Oregon State team that can't seem to win the big game (and I think they are about due up to win one), a big Washington State rivalry (they might not have won many games, but they always seem to play USC tough), and a UCLA team that has the potential to be dangerous. Auburn pretty much caused LSU's landslide and rolled over teams such as high ranked Tennessee and a tough Arkansas team. Yes, I know that USC has beaten Arizona State and Cal, but they did almost lose to unranked Stanford (which is a very tough and talented team but they are way too up and down). I feel that USC has easily shown this season that they have a great chance to choke big, as well has Miami. I feel that Auburn has been the only team in the nation that has been solid on offense and defense every game this year. The other three top four teams have slipped here and there on both sides of the ball. In 8 games Auburn's defense has only given up 63 total points. USC has allowed 75 in just 7 games.

The second point I disagree with is Oklahoma going undefeated. I think either this week or next week they will lose. If they don't lose to OSU (whose only loss is to the Aggies) on the road, they will get caught by the Aggies in Aggieville, Home of the 12th Man.
The Aggies QB McNeal has broke Kingsbury's(former Texas Tech QB) big twelve recrod of consecutive pass without an interception with 195 passes. Also, the Aggies have only one turn over on the season and their only loss is to the very suprising Utes of Utah. Since that loss, they have been on a six game winning streak with wins over K-State, OSU (at Stillwater), and Colorado. With Oklahoma's defense givig up 88 points in 7 games and the Aggies averaging 31.4 points per game, I expect A&M to able to move the ball fairly easily.

This is what I think will be the outcome, USC and Auburn for the National title and Auburn walking away with it with ease. Auburn has a great running and passing game that is very difficul to stop with Campbell and Williams, plus they have one of the top defenses in the country. Auburn is just too solid for Miami, Oklahoma, or USC to handle.

My 2 dark horses are Wisconsin and Purdue