Week 8 was a strange week indeed. Alabama, Florida and USC all looked shaky, while TCU and Oregon looked like national title caliber teams. Georgia Tech should send a thank you letter to Clemson for beating Miami. That loss coupled with Tech’s first win in Charlottesville in almost 20 years puts the Yellow Jackets in prime position to go 11-1 and play for the ACC title. Nebraska creates a new embarrassment each week while the rest of the Big 12 North looks like one massive dumpster fire…again. Florida continues to underwhelm (we’re still waiting for the next Tebow speech…assuming he can speak coherently after the Kentucky game). Texas throttled a very average Missouri team, but that is what good teams do. They hammer bad teams. Alabama should take notice. The Pac 10 takes center stage this week with a Halloween showdown between Oregon and USC. For more on that game and other gridiron tidbits, read more after the jump. Here is the Week 8 rundown.

Teams of the week

Connecticut: I know they lost. But after the tragic death of Jasper Howard, just playing was impressive enough, but to travel to Morgantown, West Virginia, and play well was just awesome to watch. Head coach Randy Edsall deserves a round of applause for getting his team up for a big game after such a tragic week. After giving up a touchdown on the opening kickoff, it would have been understandable if Uconn folded up shop and took a beating. But they didn’t. They fought back and led with under 2:30 to go until Noel Devine scored a touchdown to take the lead for good. Edsall’s post-game comments were tough to take as a sports fan because you could tell he wanted the game badly for his heartbroken team. While I have never had an opinion of Uconn football, I am now a fan for as long as Edsall is there.

TCU: The Horned Frogs are the story of the year in my opinion, but no one is talking about them. Coming off of a complete demolition of BYU (on the road, no less) 38-7, TCU jumped ahead of Boise State as the highest ranked BCS-buster. TCU is a win against Utah away from a 12-0 season and a sure spot into the BCS. Gary Patterson is one of the brightest defensive minds in football, and should TCU run the table, you will hear his name mentioned alongside Cincinnati’s Brian Kelley as the top coaches this off season. All TCU does is win, and they have already gone on the road and beaten Virginia, Clemson and BYU, and don’t kid yourselves, this team is legit and they can hang with anyone.

Heisman ballot as of today:

1. Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska, DT. No, this is not a homer pick. If you are looking for “the most outstanding player” in college football, here he is. In Nebraska’s uber-embarrassing 9-7 loss to god-awful Iowa State, Suh was double-teamed every single play. He racked up 8 tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, a blocked PAT and a blocked field goal. The man is unstoppable. He changes the game every time he is on the field. Simply put, he is the most outstanding player in college football. And maybe him winning the Heisman is not that crazy.

2. Matt Barkley, Southern California, QB. This guy is just amazing Maybe I’m too high on him. He is a true freshman and he leads the Pac 10 in passing yards per game and he has gone on the road and beaten Ohio State, Cal and Notre Dame. Next week USC travels to Oregon and a solid performance in Eugene could propel him to the top spot. In a year where no one seems to want to win the award on offense, Barkley may be the guy to take the reigns.

3. CJ Spiller, Clemson, RB. It seems as though Spiller has been in college forever, but that is what happens when you are a stud as a true freshman. Spiller has always been good, but he has become one of the most exciting players in the country. Against Miami, Spiller accounted for a school-record 310 all-purpose yards, including a 90-yard kickoff return. Spiller was always the lone bright spot for an underachieving team, but this year he and freshman QB Kyle Parker have Clemson poised to make a run at a potential rematch with Georgia Tech in the ACC title game. The last one was pretty close.

4. Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame, QB. Clausen has put up some gaudy numbers this (293 yards per game, 16 touchdowns and just 2 picks). His team is an offensive machine, so faulting him for his defense sucking makes zero sense. The problem with Clausen is that Notre Dame can’t seem to put away average teams. They almost lost to Boston College, Washington and Purdue. His numbers are great, but the Irish should be able to handle Boston College rather easily. Now, should Notre Dame run the table (tough games with Pittsburgh, Uconn and Stanford remain) it would be a shock if Clausen is not the Heisman winner. As much as I love to rip Notre Dame, you can’t argue with Clausen’s year thus far.

5. Mark Ingram, Alabama, RB. The sophomore did not blow anyone away against Tennessee (18 carries, 99 years) but he did face a stout defense in a rivalry game. Ingram is averaging 125 yards per game to go with 8 touchdowns. He leads the SEC in rushing and it will be his legs that propel Alabama to the SEC title game, because he is not getting much help from his redshirt freshman quarterback Greg McElroy.

You may be wondering why Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy are missing. It is simple. They have not been outstanding this year. Tebow was god-awful against Mississippi State and McCoy has been average for most of the year (though he did look very good against Missouri). If you lived in a bubble and had never heard of college football before this year, would you say that either of the two has been outstanding?

Top-10

1. Alabama: Shaky as can be. Greg McElroy looks more like a freshman with each passing week, and that is not a good thing.
2. Texas: Coming off of an emotional, physical game against OU, the Longhorns hammered Missouri on the road. A win next week against Oklahoma State will make it tough to keep them out of the top spot.
3. Florida: Folks, it is only a matter of time before this team loses a game. Tebow is average thus far and the wide receivers for the Gators are as underwhelming as they have ever been.
4. TCU: This team is good, and they are really good on defense. Should they run the table (and I think they will) they are a Texas loss away from the title game.
5. Cincinnati: The Bearcats lost starting quarterback Tony Pike to injury and simply inserted Zach Collaros and crushed Louisville. West Virginia and Pittsburgh are still on the schedule, but Cincy should be favored in both games. Could this be the year that an undefeated BCS team gets left out of the title game?
6. USC: The Trojans have a star at quarterback, a great offensive line and 17 5-star running backs. The issue is that they have been exposed in the last two weeks on defense. Apparently losing 9 starters does hurt you.
7. Boise State: This team is screwed. They can hope Oregon wins out, but even then the rest of the schedule is so bad and TCU is already ahead of them. They are a good football team, but when you don’t play but one team worth a damn, this is what happens.
8. Oregon: The only reason why they are behind Boise State is because of the loss. I think if they played today the Ducks would win, but all I can go on is evidence. A win against USC and I might have to say to hell with having them lower than Boise State.
9. Iowa: This team is not one of the best 5-8 teams in the country. I know Big 10 fans will rip me, but you can’t tell me that this team is elite (though it can be argued that no team is elite this year). The schedule shapes up nicely for Iowa. Only Ohio State on the road and Minnesota to end the year should worry the Hawkeyes. With them being 4th in the BCS, should they win out Iowa could be in the BCS Title game. That would be just lovely.
10. LSU: The Bengal Tigers crushed Auburn (fraud alert!!) and actually looked good doing it. This team makes zero sense. They have as much, if not more talent than any team in the nation, but they can’t run the ball. The game against Alabama in 2 weeks will be epic. A win for LSU and they are right back in the national title hunt.

Games of the week:

USC at Oregon, 8 p.m. This game is going to be awesome. Both teams are playing well, but Oregon is on fire both offensively and defensively. Autzen stadium will be rocking and if there was ever a time for Oregon to beat USC it would be now. USC’s defense has been exposed in the past two weeks and Oregon has more speed on offense than any other team USC has seen thus far. Now, this goes both ways. USC has more talent that any team Oregon has faced and Oregon lost to Boise State. The entire nation sans USC fans will be pulling for Oregon. The Big 10 wants USC out of the picture because Pete Carroll owns them. Boise State needs Oregon to win this game if they have any chance at a national title. One-loss LSU wants USC to get out of its way as does Cincinnati. I think Carroll plays this angle up and the Trojans escape Eugene with a big win. Trojans 27 – Ducks 24.

Texas at Oklahoma State, 8 p.m. This is essentially for the Big 12 title. Yes, Oklahoma can still win out leaving Oklahoma State moot, but I don’t see Landry Jones going undefeated. We all know whatever shitshow that the Big 12 North puts out isn’t winning a damn thing, so this game is a big deal. The Pokes have a tendency to get out to big leads against Texas and then fold, but this year’s Texas team is loaded on defense so I don’t see that happening. If McCoy wants to win a Heisman, this is where he will do it. This is a huge game and one that many people will see. You know the Big 12 is pulling hard for Texas, so if they pull and SEC and fix the game, don’t be shocked (I kid, SEC, I kid). I like Texas to shut down Oklahoma State’s offense and I think McCoy will do just fine and put himself back into the Heisman discussion. Texas 30 – Oklahoma State 17.

Florida vs Georgia, 3:30 p.m. Yes, this game has very little luster. But Florida has not looked good all year, and they are coming off of two bad performances. Now, this can mean one of two things: First, it means that Florida is due to breakout at some point. Or, that Florida just isn’t good if they don’t have wideouts who can stretch the field and run after the catch. This game should be just what the doctor ordered for the Gators. Yes, Georgia has two weeks to prepare for the Gators. But when your defense is 90th against the pass and basically can’t tackle a cheerleader, you are going to be exposed. UGA should give it all they have as this is a game that they desperately need, but they simply have no one who can stop anyone when they are on defense. Look for Florida to get well this week and take down the Dawgs once again. Florida 31 – UGA 13.

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