When I Grow Up, I Want To Be a Pollster

No, not really. I've been trying to think how to wrap up what we know about this day and give it some perspective. If you can see through mud, be my guest. As of 9:10 ET, it looks like that each of the six BCS conferences will have a playoff. Out of that, probably three wild cards come out of losses. BIG TEN- Ohio State and Michigan are on a collision course for a trip to Glendale. We knew that before today, and nothing today changed it. Ohio State rolled at home over Minnesota, 44-0. Troy Smith looked like a Heisman winner, 14 of 21 for 183 and a score. Michigan quietly took disposed of Northwestern, 17-3. Mike Hart breaks 100 and really should be only second to Smith on Heisman ballots right now. What happens in he Big East, and West Virginia will change that, maybe. We talked earlier about the other teams, so as of now Ohio State should play Michigan for the BCS title game, loser gets a BCS wild card, Penn State/Wisconsin fighting for Orlando. PAC-10- This the big story of the day. #3 Southern Cal's 27 game winning streak in the conference is over, they lose on he road at Oregon State, 33-31. The Beavers at one point led by 20, 30-10, but the Trojan offense finally got it's act together and went on a 21-3 splurge in the last seventeen minutes. In fact, they scored the possible game tying touchdown on a two yarder from John David Booty to eve Smith with seven seconds to go. However, the two point conversion was knocked down at the line of scrimmage. Streak over. Booty gets 406 yards on the day, but a first half pas was picked off in the endzone killing a drive, that was the difference. Steve Smith catches 11 balls for 258 yards. Matt Moore gets 262 in the air for Oregon State. Southern Cal/Cal is for the Rose Bowl. Notre Dame's CS chances take a big hit here too, they needed USC to be undefeated before their November 25th clash in Los Angeles. Cal, probably, can do no worse than a BCS wild card. You'd have to think they will be favored now. SEC- This conference was supposed to have a championship game tobegin with. After Florida hung o to beat Georgia, 21-14, it looks good for the Gatos to get to Atlanta. They have beat Tennesee and Georgia with South arolina coming up. Remember, Tennessee beat the Bulldogs already. It wasn't a pretty game at the World's Largest Dr Pepper Party, butthe two headed qb monster of Leak/Tebow outplayed freshman uber-wonder Matt Stafford for the win. An early third quarter turnover resulted into a Gator score, that being the difference. Florida would have probably won by a higher margin, but were set back by 10 penalties. Auburn won a snoozer over Ole Miss, 23-17. Arkansas is throttling Louisana-Monroe. Arkansas needs to lose two while Auburn has to run he table for the Tigers to get to Atlanta. Alabama remains on the Tigers Dance card. LSU remains on Arkansas' Arkansas would have to win the SEC outright, most likely,to take the automatic slot in New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl. Does anyone outside of Tiger fans and our friend Brian really think Auburn is better than Florida? Florida looks no worse than a BCS wildcard, provided they stay clean until the SEC Championship. They still entertain an outide notion of the National Championship, but everything would have to go the Gators way. Tennessee needs to beat South Carloina to keep hope alive for the SEC East. BIG EAST- All three undefeated teams were off. The West Virginia/Louisville game Thursday night looked like it was a semi-final game for Glendale, but those pesky Rutgers Scarlet Knights are still on both schedules. The WVU/L'ville winner versus Rutgers is the de-facto Big East Championship. If the winner runs the table, it would be shocking if they didn't play in Glendale. Rutgers plays UConn tomorrow night. BIG 12- Does anyone want to win this conference? Oklahoma beat Missouri, 26-10. That gave Nebraska a whopping three-and-a-half hour cushion in the North. Oklahoma State, behind a 21 point 4th quarter, stuns the Cornhuskers, 41-29. Texas and Texas A&M are in trouble tonight. Texas trails Texas Tech, 31-28 in the 3rd. A&M is tied with Baylor at 21 in the 4th. Oklahoma needs two Big 12 losses by Texas to pass them. A&M remains on the Longhorns schedule, it could happen. Oklahoma must run the table. Texas/Nebraska are still in line for a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. No Wild cards here. ACC- Clemson's loss Thursday knocked out the only decent team out of the race. Boston College and Wake Forest both win. They play, I think, next week. That winner should draw Georgia Tech for that BCS spot . Simply, the winner in Jacksonville in December plays in Miami, err Dolphins Stadium in the Orange Bowl. That's the only ACC slot. Tech beat Miami, 30-23. Wake wins at Chapel Hill, 24-17. BC over Buffalo, 41-0. ELSEWHERE- Oregon State's upset was a double BCS whammy. It hurts Notre Dame, for reasons mentioned earlier, and it HELPS Boise State. They did what Southern Cal could not do, which was beat Oregon State. The Irish beat Navy, 38-14. We'll update any upsets if waranted.