TUCFC: 2012 Week 9

Kansas State blew out Texas Tech 55-24 to not only take a critical win, but also grab the Unofficial College Football Championship. They will be hosting Oklahoma State next week.

It is very hard to go the full season undefeated as Florida, Rutgers, Ohio, Mississippi State, and Oregon State all found out this past weekend. We are down to just a handful of undefeated teams now and of them only four right now really matter: Alabama, Oregon, Notre Dame, and Kansas State. I put them in that order for a good reason. If things continue on this path and all four teams end the season undefeated, I believe that is the order in which they will finish in the BCS.

Of course being a blog that is Kentucky centric, maybe it's about time we mention the 8-0 Louisville Cardinals. They are the only remaining team in the Big East that is undefeated and yet they have not a shot of making the BCS title game. There is of course a good reason for that. Rutgers was thought to be better than Louisville, Rutgers got manhandled this weekend by Kent State, Kent State's one loss this season was a blowout loss to Kentucky. How good then can any team in the Big East really be. Of course Louisville beat Kentucky and so far everyone they've played. They don't usually win big, but they keep winning and hopefully it can continue until the end of the season. They still have four games remaining on their schedule: Temple, @ Syracuse, Connecticut, and @ Rutgers.

The big game this last week that everyone was watching was Notre Dame, Oklahoma. Notre Dame dominated the game and so they are now settling in near the top of the pile. Their last big test will be their final game of the season at USC, assuming they remain undefeated. The problem for Notre Dame is that stock in Oklahoma, the Big 10, and USC has fallen far from where it was at the beginning of the season. So even though they have solid wins people still question just how good they are.

The big fall last week was of course Florida. Georgia was embarrassed a few weeks ago by South Carolina, but they bounced back to not only beat Florida, but to also put themselves in position to win the SEC East. Now the only team left standing in the SEC with a shot at the BCS title is Alabama, unless of course more undefeated teams lose.

This week there are a couple of really big games to watch.

Middle Tennessee State (5-3) at Western Kentucky (6-2)
     I'm pretty sure both these teams were picked to be in the bottom 25 at the beginning of the year by Sagarin and both have wins over BCS Conference teams.

Oregon (8-0) at USC (6-2)
     Everyone has been waiting for Oregon to play this game.  Despite their two losses everyone still considers USC to be a top team, they just have an idiot for a coach.  At this point though I believe people will be disappointed in Oregon if they don't win this one easily.

Alabama (8-0) at LSU (7-1)
     There has been some talk lately about how Alabama really hasn't beaten anyone.  If they go into LSU and win that will pretty much silence all of those people.  Despite all of LSU's flaws people understand they are still one of the best teams in the country.



TUCFC Power Ratings
Notre Dame makes the jump up to number one and Oregon jumps up to number two.  Georgia and South Carolina both move back in with Georgia's win over Florida, while Texas Tech and Oklahoma fall out.

Rank	Team	Record	WP	WDiffP	LP	LDiffP	Power
1	Notre Dame	8-0	337.844	421.875	0.000	0.000	759.719
2	Oregon	8-0	242.313	464.575	0.000	0.000	706.887
3	Kansas State	8-0	261.406	444.475	0.000	0.000	705.881
4	Alabama	8-0	229.969	460.225	0.000	0.000	690.194
5	Florida	7-1	280.094	387.763	5.000	35.000	627.856
6	Ohio State	9-0	266.063	350.663	0.000	0.000	616.725
7	Louisiana State	7-1	234.750	328.338	4.000	19.750	539.338
8	Florida State	8-1	180.313	439.900	24.438	86.875	508.900
9	Georgia	7-1	209.188	328.138	6.250	55.875	475.200
10	South Carolina	7-2	191.438	331.913	7.750	56.375	459.225