Football Shifts

This weekend cleared things up a bit on the football schedule. Some of my comments that I made on on Friday came true. Some did not. Let's examine:

SEC - Still Florida vs. Alabama and both are still undefeated. SEC Title game is Dec. 5.

Big-10 - Ohio St. won the BCS berth.

ACC - Georgia Tech won the Coastal division. Clemson is slugging it out with Boston College. Clemson needs to win against Virgina to lock the Atlantic division. ACC Title game is Dec. 5.

Big East - Pittsburgh and Cincinnati still unbeaten in the division. Even if Pitt loses to West Virginia on Nov. 27, the division will be decided in the game between UC and Pitt on Dec. 5.

Big-12 - Texas will lock the South division when it defeats Baylor this weekend. Kansas St. lost while Nebraska won so Nebraska vaults into first place in the North. The match-up between the two teams this weekend will decide the North division and the right to face Texas on Dec. 5.

Pac-10 - Stanford's defeat of USC this past weekend actually put more pressure on Oregon. Oregon now has sole possession of first place thanks to Cal's defeat of Arizona, but Stanford vaulted into second place and Stanford has beaten Oregon head to head. Meanwhile, Oregon St. is sitting back in third place. If Oregon loses either to Arizona or Oregon St., Stanford vaults ahead of them. If Oregon loses to Oregon St., Oregon St. vaults ahead of them and Stanford as they beat Stanford. So the Pac-10 crown will likely be hanging on the result of the Civil War.

Outside of the divisions, TCU and Boise St. both won and retained their BCS #4 and #6 rankings respectively. However, USC lost and dropped completely out of the BCS picture. LSU would be the natural choice to replace them, but again, only two teams from each conference are allowed.

If they remain unbeaten against Colorado and Oklahoma, Oklahoma St. has a good chance to make it. However, they could also lose that place to Penn St. or Iowa, due to higher name recognition (especially if Ohio St. gets nabbed early and the Rose Bowl is left with an at-large pick).

In the NFL, on the AFC side, Indianapolis further cemented their hold on the #1 seed while Cincinnati took over the #2 seed from Denver. Denver could actually lose the divisional lead if they lose to San Diego. Currently Denver and New England are holding the #3 and #4 seeds but these will be in flux. Pittsburgh and San Diego are in possession of the #5 and #6 seeds with Houston and Jacksonville lurking on the outside at 5-4. Given the schedules, I think the only current playoff qualifier that is in danger is Denver. I think they will lose the divisional lead to San Diego and then they will be in the scrum with Houston and Jacksonville for that last spot. New England and Indy are too far ahead in their divisions to be in any danger and Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have enough cupcakes on their schedule that they should finish in the 11-5 area.

Over on the NFC side, New Orleans and Minnesota are sitting very pretty in the #1 and #2 spots respectively. Despite their loss, Dallas still holds the NFC East lead and is contending with Arizona for the #3 seed. Arizona is in no danger of losing their division, which leaves the NFC East as the only division that is still competitive. The wild card is a hot mess as Atlanta, Green Bay, Philadelphia, and the NY Giants are all at 5-4. Carolina, San Francisco, and Chicago are also not out of the wild card hunt at 4-5 as well.