State of the Pigskin, Champ Week

After getting knocked around at home, UCLA travels up to Stanford (not Autzen) and is a very different team. Most notably, they didn't stop trying in the second half. Consciously, subconsciously, unconsciously, Pac-12 teams would rather play Stanford than Oregon.

I read that No. Illinois busted Kent State's BCS bubble. Let's review. Kent State had only one loss . . . a shalacking by Kentucky. KENTUCKY. Their biggest win on the schedule was probably Rutgers. Rutgers' big wins were Arkansas and Cincinnati? It'd be one thing if Kent State was blowing out opponents the way the real BCS busters did, but they had an average margin of victory under 11 points. Kent State was #22 in the BPR, not dramatically different than their 17 in the BCS, but they are 62nd in the power rankings. As UCLA will attest, losing now might not be so bad if it keeps you from getting blasted later (you can ask Hawaii if you want a second opinion).

Baylor and Oklahoma State are not playing for any kind of championship. But they will score a million points. Baylor has scored at least 21 in every game this season and at least 34 in all but two. Oklahoma State has scored at least 34 on Baylor every year since 1998 and has average 43 points/game since the Big 12 was formed. That does not mean this game will be fun to watch. While you might prefer MMA to heavy weight boxing for the action, watching Baylor is like MMA but every move is a submission. It gets old fast.

Staying in the Big 12, Kansas State and Texas are playing a football game. According to Wikipedia, Klein got his first start and win against Texas. Also according to Wikipedia, Klein could pummel both Texas quarterbacks blindfolded and unconscious. Consider this, four of the six most productive quarterbacks in the country by NEPA are playing in Texas (Baylor, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M) or next door (La-Tech). Texas' quarterbacks combined have been less than half as productive as either Manziel or Florence. They are all much better than Garrett Gilbert, though, who managed a negative NEPA this season. And that's why Saban, in my mind, is still trying to win his first real championship at Alabama (MNCs are even mockier if you didn't win your own division).