What is a rivalry?

A rivalry is NOT someone you compete against every season.
It is NOT just proximity.
It is NOT hatred, enmity, or animosity.
It is NOT sharing a conference, a city, or a state.

What a rivalry IS...is a pair of teams who can literally "throw out the records" whenever they play.

Consider the games today: Ohio St v Michigan, which was 17-22 points in the Buckeyes' favored column...way too much for a rivalry game. Currently 28-21 OSU, back and forth all game long....Kentucky v Louisville, in which UL was favored by 9-14, but which was at 28-26 in the fourth last check....Georgia Tech v Georgia, where underdog GT leads 21-17 with under three to go...and apparently the two teams brought into the Pac-12 together, Utah v Colorado, where the Utes should have won rather easily but the Buffaloes lead by two in the third quarter. Watching the Civil War tonight (Oregon v Oregon St) or the most fascinating intersectional rivalry in football, Notre Dame v USC, or either of the SEC  matchups: Mississippi St/Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl (games w names usually are trying to be rivalries!) and the Iron Bowl which cannot top last year's everevereverever, Auburn v Alabama.

There are certainly other examples: Arizona/Arizona St (42-35 yesterday), Stanford/Cal, UCLA/USC, Harvard/Yale, Florida St/Miami-Fl, and you can probably name many of your own. Sometimes they arise from personality meshes: in the NFL, New England v Indianapolis were big rivals because they were both top of the division teams, but more because they had Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, the two great quarterbacks of their generation.

And sometimes, rivalries are manufactured - rarely successfully, but once in a while... For example, Nebraska entering the Big Ten, they're playing new teams up and down their schedule, and so there are several teams who might serve as a rival for them. But, watching the wild game against Iowa yesterday (which went to overtime before UN won 37-34), they may have found a rival after all!

Sometimes, rivalries can die, too: it used to be that Boise St v Idaho was one of the great unsung rivalries in the nation, through there D2 days, then the Big Sky days, then they move up into the Big West together in the FBS, and finally into the WAC....but as the Broncos continued to improve, winning conference championships left and right, the Vandals sputtered to losing seasons, fell out of conferences altogether for a year before scrambling back into the low-level Sun Belt and a 1-10 season again this year. When Boise won its tenth or twelfth straight over U of I, it became clear that the critical element of "any given day" was long gone. And therefore, so was the rivalry. There were still sports where the two teams are rivals, but not in football.

Week 9 College Tiers - the Top Third (Tiers A through G)...

Thanks to the classic 35-31 SEC matchup in Oxford, there was one change in the Top Six, with a straight swap that moved Auburn into Tier A and Ole Miss down to Tier B with their second loss (they're still the highest of the two-loss teams, but consider their two losses!). 

Look also for movement upwards from K-State, Arizona St, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, and UCLA; falls from Georgia (where's the rushing D?), Kentucky, and East Carolina in particular...

Tier A: 8-0 Florida St and Mississippi St, along with 7-1 Alabama, Auburn, Notre Dame (barely), and TCU (even more barely!).

Tier B: Besides 7-2 Ole Miss, five one-loss teams with "acceptable" losses and impressive wins fill out the knights-in-waiting: Baylor, Kansas St, Michigan St, Ohio St, Oregon.

Tier C: These are the "if bedlam strikes above us - and it's been known to happen" teams in terms of the CFP committee's four precious roses: Four Pac-12 teams (Arizona at 6-2, Arizona St at 7-1, USC at 6-3, and Utah at 6-2) sit alongside LSU (7-2) and Nebraska (8-1). Truth be told, this tier doesn't need all four Pac-12 teams, but none of the teams below them deserve to knock them out. Probably Arizona St is the only truly likely possibility to challenge, along with the Tigers and Huskers.

Tier D: Under the heading, "if hell freezes over", we look at these clubs in slots 19-24: 6-1 Duke, Georgia and Missouri from the SEC East (two losses each), 5-2 Oklahoma, 7-2 UCLA, and 6-2 Wisconsin, so much more impressive in recent weeks.

Tier E: A wild mixture sits just outside the top 24, ranging from 5-4 Kentucky to 8-0 Marshall (needless to say, the competition differs from C-USA to the SEC!). Also present are Clemson (6-2), the Mountain West's best, Colorado St (8-1), 7-2 Georgia Tech (who impressed yesterday against Virginia), and hard-luck West Virginia, whose three losses are to Alabama, Oklahoma, and TCU.

Tier F: Six six-win teams populate tier F - East Carolina, Iowa, Louisville, Maryland, Miami-FL, and Minnesota.

Tier G: Rounding off the upper 42 are 6-2 Boise St, 5-4 California-Berkeley, 5-4 Oklahoma St, and three more SEC teams with erratic records: Florida, South Carolina, and Texas A&M. 

Hal Mumme's still coaching...

He's now at a small NAIA school in Mississippi, Belhaven College, where his team is (unfortunately) on a six-game losing streak. We mention it partly because we enjoyed watching Mumme introduce the spread offense to several FBS schools, most notably the U of Kentucky; but mostly because his team lost by the monumental score of 91-14 to Lindsey Wilson College (KY) last Saturday. It was 63-0 just before half, and...well, the post-mortem is linked. Unfortunately, it's more a story of "how the mighty have fallen" than anything else...

Looking forward to Week 9 in college football with our SCIENTIFIC tools!

There are some great games coming this weekend, the first one on Thursday night when Tier F Louisville hosts Tier A Florida St! By tiering, the best game of the weekend should be Auburn @ Ole Miss, where the polls have the Tigers above the Rebels, but we have Ole Miss in Tier A and Auburn a rung lower in B; hence, we're favoring Ole Miss (and, if we were actually making bets, "taking the points").

Other marquee games include TCU @ West Virginia (tiers A vs. C), Kentucky @ Missouri (tiers D vs. E; unlike the oddsmakers, we like the Wildcats), Arkansas @ Mississippi St (tiers H vs. A), Arizona @ UCLA (again, they're favoring the lower tiered team, so we'll take tier C Arizona and the points over the tier E Bruins), and Stanford @ Oregon.

Going strictly by tiers, and using the old saw about home field being about a three-point advantage, we've noticed that the point spread for this week's games generally matches up very well with our 20-tier system. As a general rule, the expected margin of victory will be somewhere between 1-2.5 points per tier, plus or minus the three points for the home field. The actual average is 1.75 points per tier, with the median at 1.5 points per tier. So, if two teams are four tiers apart on last week's listing, expect the higher team to be favored by 4-10 points, most likely 6-7, + the three points for home field.

Given those parameters, and strictly using our wisened separation tool better known as "guessing" where teams should fall, we took a look at the 54 FBS games scheduled this weekend for "outliers" to see if there were some easy predictions we could make based on this statistical creation:

Predictions based on our tier system and the Vegas odds...

*Iowa should be favored by more than 4 at home against Northwestern.
*Rutgers shouldn't be eleven point underdogs at home against Wisconsin (more like 2).
*Florida International shouldn't be 6 1/2 point dogs at home to Rice (also about 2).
*Why is Duke not favored over Pitt? Tier D over tier I? They should be giving points!
*North Carolina will be closer to the Hurricanes than seventeen points...
*Boston College shouldn't be getting points from Virginia Tech (or, at least not three)!
*Eastern Michigan shouldn't be more than about a touchdown underdog to Central Michigan (not 16 1/2 points, anyway!). 
*Louisiana Tech should be a much bigger favorite over Tier R Western Kentucky - six points at home isn't sufficient.
*Virginia at Georgia Tech shouldn't be just the three point home field advantage...the Yellowjackets deserve at least a TD spread in their favor.
*Part of the continued over-valuing of the Cougars after Tayson Hill's injury: Middle Tennessee should NOT be the underdog at home again BYU.
*And Kentucky should be favored over Missouri - or at least, not down six!
*We see both UNLV and Ole Miss as higher tiered teams at home (against New Mexico and Auburn, respectively), and with the three-point home bump should be more than one and two point faves, in turn. More like five each.
*Oklahoma St will be a one TD underdog to Kansas St, not two.
*Arizona will flat out beat UCLA in Los Angeles, not lose by four.
*Fresno St may be favored at home, but Wyoming shouldn't be getting 10 1/2 points!
*See previous comment with Utah not getting five points against Arizona St!
*Finally, it's hard to estimate what the trip to the islands does to a team, but we think Utah St deserves more love than a three point spread when they play at Hawaii late Saturday night!

We'll see how those predictions go this weekend! Eighteen chances to be proven wrong! A prognosticator's dream!

We've reached the Week 8 CFB tiers Penthouse!

That's right, the thirty best teams as decided on the field so far this year, divided into the top five tiers (and no closer, as berated before!), for your amusement!

Tier E:
This is the tier with all different conferences represented...in case anyone cares. Present in Tier E are the Mountain West's highest ranked school, Colorado St (7-1, 3-1), Georgia Tech (6-2, 3-2) from the ACC, the Mid-American's hope for a major bowl bid in Marshall (still unbeaten at 8-0, 4-0), the SEC rep Missouri (6-2, 3-1), UCLA (6-2, 3-2) from the Pac-12, and Wisconsin (5-2, 2-1), representing the Big Ten. [Do you think that's about right for Marshall? Are those five teams ones you can see giving the Thundering Herd an even game on a neutral field? That's our criteria for tiers. Comments, please!]

Tier D:
Arizona St (6-1, 4-1) and USC (5-3, 4-2) had a great game a couple of weeks back, and land together here as reps for the Pac-12. Duke (6-1, 2-1 ACC) is here, as well as Kentucky (5-3, 2-3 SEC) - two incredibly high positions for "basketball schools"! Finally, we find Oklahoma (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) and the highest AAC member, the surprising East Carolina Pirates at 6-1, 3-0 in conference!

Tier C:
From here up, we're looking at schools that could legitimately keep dreaming about making the first four-team playoff! The favorites are yet to come, of course, but these teams still have a chance: Arizona (6-1, 3-1 Pac 12), Kansas St (6-1, 4-0 Big 12), LSU (7-2, 3-2 SEC), Nebraska (7-1, 3-1 Big 10), Utah (6-1, 3-1 Pac 12), and West Virginia (6-2, 4-1 Big 12). 

Tier B:
Like last week, every team here can rightfully say they could beat any team, any day, as even their one defeat came in a strongly competitive situation against a top-notch team: Auburn (6-1, 3-1 SEC), Baylor (6-1, 3-1 Big 12), Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC), Michigan St (7-1, 4-0 Big 10), Ohio St (6-1, 3-0 Big 10), and Oregon (7-1, 4-1 Pac 12).

As the NCAA committee announces their first rankings Tuesday, expect to see four of these six teams in the four playoff positions...any of whom could be dislodged on a single Saturday!

Tier A:
Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC), whose one loss was at a Tier A school by one score; Florida St (7-0, 4-0 ACC), who's still undefeated thanks to the lack of prosecution against Jameis Winston; Mississippi St (7-0, 4-0 SEC), the rightful #1 team in the nation; Notre Dame (6-1 as an independent), whose only loss was a one score game at a Tier A school; TCU(6-1, 3-1 Big 12), whose only loss came to a then Tier A school (still a tier B) in a criminal clock-keeping game that allowed field goals against them at the end of each half on the opponent's field; and yes, we're keeping Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) here, having lost a one-score game to a top-notch team in LSU (albeit Tier C) on their field. Comparing losses with the Tier B schools, we'll keep the Rebels over any of them at the moment. Still more to play, though! 

[And if we had to pick four teams right now? Um... Mississippi St...Florida St...Alabama...and TCU would be our fourth right now. Notre Dame has a history of poor performances in championship situations, and I like TCU's "good wins versus what kind of loss it had" ratio over Ole Miss.]

Interesting games this weekend...

Here are the college games that will keep us attentive this weekend...

In Blacksburg, a critical ACC matchup looms Thursday between traditional powerhouses Miami-FL and Virginia Tech, both 4-3 and (most crucially) 1-2 in conference. Another loss dooms either of them; 2-2 (and 5-3 overall) gives them life. We agree that the Hurricanes are the slight favorite, but we're excited to watch it!

Similarly, in the American conference, South Florida goes to Cincinnati Friday, each with a conference loss and pretty much out of hope for a title with a second this week. The Bearcats are the deserved favorite, but we don't trust them...

Also on Friday night:
Boise St without their best receiver (and on the blue) > BYU without their QB.
Oregon anytime, anywhere > a much improved California, our fave to watch!

Memphis by 23 over SMU? It would be really nice if the Mustangs stay that close...With the new allegations of fraud at North Carolina, Virginia should win, probably by more than a TD...

Will Kansas St really be ten points better than the fabled Longhorns of Texas? They should be much more than that, but it depends on how the purple shows up in bright light that's in question.

We'd love to see 6-1 Minnesota start to impress the critics more. They're only a TD favorite against a mediocre Illinois team that they shouldn't have any problems with, even on the road.

Akron's only a 2 point favorite over regular Bottom-Feeder Ball St? Hmm...

What would Marshall have to do to make us believe they could be competitive with the Tier A teams? Win by fifty? Learn to fly? (Play somebody with a pulse?) They're favored by four touchdowns over FAU; would it matter if they won by eight? Fourteen? GaTech/Cumberland scores?

How about Sparty over Big Blue? Would Michigan St have to win by thirty to impress, or is any win over the legendary maize and blue of Michigan credit-building?

Two of our favorite SEC teams, Mississippi St and Kentucky, square off in Lexington Saturday as a 2-TD spread in favor of the Bulldogs, and rightly so - but it's going to be a fun game! (Vanderbilt @ Missouri should also be interesting!)

Temple might be less than the 7 point dog the line makes them at UCF, but we can also see them losing by thirty...Hard to picture Wyoming losing to rival Colorado St by the 18 points the line has, too....

The prime time games are worth setting the evening aside for! Ole Miss at LSU? Good luck, Rebels...you're favored by three, and here's hoping you pull it off! (We're hoping for an undefeated Egg Bowl here at FF!) But that's going to be an awfully tough environment, and every break goes the way of the Mad Hatter, Les Miles, when you go into the Bayou!

South Carolina's fallen so far that they're a 17 point dog at Auburn (deservedly so, too).

The most intriguing thing about Alabama's jaunt into Tennessee, of course, is the return of Lane Kiffin to the Volunteers headquarters. We truly hope that it's an uneventful visit - Kiffin's been punished many times over at this stage for his incompetence, and there's no point in revisiting a past you don't really want to think about any more than you have to!

Can Ohio St make a charge towards the playoff? Can it start by handling Penn St, a good team but one the Buckeyes should be able to defeat (the line is 13 1/2 points at the moment).

Is USC for real? What about Utah? One of them will look more real after their game Saturday night in Salt Lake City; that's for sure! Similarly, we'll get a reasonable look at Arizona St, who goes to Seattle to play U-Dub, aka the University of Washington, who should give them a legitimate test.

Reviewing another FANTASTIC Saturday in college ball!

- Baylor finally got what was coming to 'em today, and West Virginia finally beat one of those Tier 1 teams it played so well! Justice both ways...

- If Bob Stoops doesn't have open campus tryouts for a new kicker next week, then the Oklahoma coach should have his head examined...

- There are some teams that may sneak up on us when the Final Four are revealed in seven weeks or so (we'll publish a pice on THAT later in the week), and Minnesota may be one of them! Like Auburn last year, the luck of the Jedi is with the, this year...

- Duke / Virginia was as advertised, the Devils winning a tight one with a 4Q TD, 20-13...

- The Bottom Eight was packed with reverse upsets across the board: UMass winning big for the second week in a row, Appalachian St destroying Troy 53-14, Kent St beating the US Military Academy 39-17, and Idaho wins its first game of the year, 29-17 over fellow B8'er New Mexico St...

- Would anyone spotting the Texas A&M Aggies, please report their disappearance to the NCAA...

- The Battle of the University of California was also tremendous, with plenty of lead changes and great plays in UCLA's 36-34 victory over California...

- Ohio St, LSU, Marshall, TCU, Michigan St, Ole Miss and Oregon all demonstrated that sometimes, games DO go as expected, and the top team DOES win fairly easily...

- ... And sometimes, SMU is just as bad as we think they are. Cincinnati defeated the hapless Mustangs 41-3, in Dallas yet.

- Poor Todd Gurley. Your backups are proving that it was more the Georgia offensive line's doing than yours...

- Seven TD passes for USC tonight...game winning FG for Colorado St over their main rivals from Utah St... What happened to Florida and Kentucky today? Did their 3OT game a month ago wear them out (eventually)?... As good as the North Carolina QB looked against the Irish last week, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they could rise up and take out Georgia Tech 48-43...

- Did you see Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong leap the linebacker en route to an almost-TD against Northwestern? Alas, they planted his knee outside the end zone, and Abdullah had to run it in on the next play. the Huskers won 38-17...

- Unlike Georgia's Gurley, it's hard to be clearer as to how important Tayson Hill was to BYU than to watch how they've gone from a 4-0 threat for the title playoff to an 0-3 afterthought following his injury, losing again last night to Nevada-Reno 42-35...

- And last and certainly most, what an epic game between pretentious Notre Dame and criminal coddlers Florida St, won by the Seminoles 31-27 after a last minute score by the Irish was called back on an offensive pass interference call that...well, it took guts to make the call. 

Highlights of the upcoming WEEK SEVEN!

There are some MASSIVE games in Week 7! We're in the middle of the college season, probably a third of the way through the NFL plate, and down to four weeks left in Canada before the Grey Cup playoffs begin, so there are a ton of important match-ups to look at:

CFL: The two games that should be close are on Saturday, when Montreal goes to Toronto for ownership of the East lead (depending on whether Hamilton holds serve Friday night when Ottawa comes to town), and the big game for second place in the West Sunday, when Edmonton visits Saskatchewan. The Eskimos are riding high and hold a one-game edge over the defending champs, but hosting the game should give the Rough-Riders an edge. Will it be enough to give them the win? They sure need it, because British Columbia is just a game behind them (and would be tied in the loss column with them if Edmonton wins Sunday)! 12-2 Calgary travels to 6-9 Winnipeg in the other game on Saturday. Predictions: Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton. Especially Edmonton.

NCAA: The beginning of our Tuesday night schedule is tonight, with Louisiana-Lafayette going to Texas State. (When the Wednesday games start in a few weeks, you can feast on football seven days a week! Bliss!)  Thursday has VaTech at Pitt and Utah at Oregon State, two potentially close games, and Friday sees Fresno on the blue at Boise, and Temple travelling to Houston. No calls on any of those games - the lines are too accurate to pick against. But Boise just lost their best receiver...

On Saturday, a plethora of games to choose from! Highlights include several Tier 1 teams in action, including the nightcap with two top tier teams, Notre Dame at Florida State. We think 11 1/2 points is too big a spread - take the Irish. Other top tier teams in action include Baylor at Tier 4 West Virginia (8 1/2 points is too close - the Bears will want to make a statement), Alabama hosting Tier 3 Texas A&M, TCU hosting Tier 2 Oklahoma State, Ole Miss hosting Tier 7 Tennessee, and Oregon hosting Tier 5 Washington (we want to say that Chris Petersen will keep it closer than 21 points, but in reality, three TDs is probably about right). Other top games will include Tier 3 Kansas State at Tier 2 Oklahoma (take the Sooners and the 8 points); Tier 5 Virginia at Tier 3 Duke (the Blue Devils deserve more than 2 1/2 points - take them); Tier 2 UCLA at their UC brethren Cal-Berkeley; Tier 5 Rutgers at Tier 3 Ohio State; Tier 3 Clemson at Tier 6 Boston College; Tier 2 Georgia at Tier 6 Arkansas (we really want to give the Bulldogs the edge, but...no. No prediction.); Tier 6 Missouri at Tier 4 Florida (Missouri isn't as bad as they were last week, and Florida isn't as good. Take the Tigers and the 6 points.); Utah State at Colorado State, both Tier 6; Tier 3 Nebraska at Tier 7 Northwestern; and Tier 4 Kentucky going into Tier 2 LSU (and winning outright! Take the points!). The late games include Nevada upsetting Tier 6 BYU at home (write it down!), and Tier 4 schools Stanford at Arizona State (no prediction, but we struggle with why the Sun Devils are the underdogs...).

FCS: Games of interest to us...Northern Colorado (whom we just posted about today) goes to the red turf of Eastern Washington; Southern Utah goes to Pocatello to play ISU; Cal Poly visits Sacramento State in a potential shootout (CSU Sacramento's games tend to be 59-55 affairs!), and our personal favorites, the Savannah State Tigers, host Bethune-Cookman, who is a 214-point favorite. (No. Not really. Odds don't post for FCS games. But Savannah will find a way to lose this one big and probably embarassingly. That's why we love them.)

NFL: Ignoring the yawner Thursday night (Patriots by more than ten over the Jets), Sunday's line-up includes Atlanta at Baltimore, Seattle at St. Louis (they'll beat the Rams by MORE than the seven points listed), Cleveland at Jacksonville (take the Browns), New Orleans at Detroit (the Saints road woes are real - take the Lions), Kansas City at the Chargers (a classic case of people not realizing how good San Diego is this year, and that KC 2014 is NOT KC 2013), Arizona at Oakland (doesn't matter if Tiger Woods is there again, the Raiders lose by more than four), and the big game, San Francisco at Denver. It's tempting to pick Denver here, just as it is to pick Dallas over the Giants and the spread, but we'll be conservative.

College Tiers after Week 6! (Part A)

Another truly exciting weekend of college football, culminating in the fourth straight victory for the state of Mississippi over a top-notch SEC team! The two Egg Bowl participants are a combined 12-0, and sit in the drivers' seats in the hardest division in football, the SEC West!

Leveling up this week from last.... Oregon and TCU (despite their first loss, they proved they belong in the big leagues) to Tier 1; LSU up to Tier 2; Clemson, USC, and Duke up to Tier 3; Kentucky and Utah up to Tier 4; Washington and Minnesota up to Tier 5; Boston College, Iowa, Utah St and Miami of Fla all moved up to Tier 6; and Bowling Green and Tennessee move into Tier 7.

Those who fell at least one tier include Auburn, Arizona, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Missouri, Louisville, Penn St, Oregon St, BYU, Air Force, Wisconsin and California.

The full Tier listing comes up in the next post in a few minutes...

A few Football factoids to Follow...

* The Philadelphia Eagles have returned seven balls for touchdowns this season, in just their first five games, which is the most in NFL history. Only four teams had six (including Dante Hall's KC Chiefs in 2003), and no one else this season has more than three!

* JJ Watt (occupation: Houston Texan defensive end) has two of those himself, including the amazingly athletic fumble return last night off Andrew Luck, as well as a TD catch as an offensive crossover. Besides being a budding media superstar and (by all accounts) a tremendously nice man, he is the most spectacular and arguably the most valuable defensive player in the league. However, as Colin Cowherd made note of this morning, he is NOT the league MVP, nor will he be. It's basically impossible to imagine a situation where a player who touches the ball twice a game on average is your most valuable, QBs have the huge advantage of handling it and determining the direction of it every single play, and the only other positions with a chance would be the others the handle it regularly - backs and receivers. Watt was spectacular last night...and the Texans lost, again, for the 15th time in 22 games, because their QB play was not up to snuff. In this case, not up to Luck. (Or Manning, or Brady, or Rogers, or Wilson or Brees or any of those top passers that dominate the games they play. 

Sorry, JJ - we love you; we really do! But you won't be the MVP.

* Todd Gurley, Georgia's Heisman-candidate running back, got caught puling a Manziel, signing autographs for money. He made approximately $400 by ESPN's estimation, and it may be that his college career is over. 

Meanwhile, the Power Five conferences (of which Georgia is a member) are about to start supplying cost-of-living expenses for their players, including insurance benefits and more, which will amount to hundreds of times more money flowing to every football player like Todd Gurley than he just got banned from the game for. 

Irony.

* If you're Peyton Manning, six touchdowns from tying Bret Favre's career TD record, and you're playing at the Jets this Sunday in a "who cares" road game before coming home for two important games against SF and SD... How many scores do you throw for this week? Certainly, not six or seven - he'd like to break the record at home, I'm sure. But this IS the Jets, after all, and wouldn't it be nice to get close so he can relax about "IT" happening sometime during that five day span. Our bet: if Peyton doesn't throw at least FOUR (and more likely five!) in New Jersey, it'll be an upset.

* The Cards are probably starting Logan Thomas, late of Va-Tech, at QB against Washington this weekend. Thomas' career stat sheet is remarkable, so I'll remark on it: 1 for 8, for 81 yards. The one was a mistake that the defense whiffed on, leaving the receiver to take it home without interference. Even against Washington, this could be ugly...

* Finally, two unusual college teams to watch out for... the Kentucky Wildcats are a three-OT, missed delay-of-game penalty away from an undefeated record, and the California Golden Bears are a Hail Mary loss to Arizona from a similar 5-0 record. Both teams have shown resilience and the ability to bounce back when down this year, despite meager recent histories... Why not them? Why not this year?