NCAA Week 13: What We Learned

Refreshingly, we've just emerged from another basic wild weekend in November for college football.

We saw more upsets, Heisman candidates following out of the race, and pretenders being shown the door, all setting up what should be an exciting Thanksgiving weekend of dramatic action. 

Has Johnny Football played himself out of the Heisman? Explain to me how can a player like Johnny Manziel can dominate the way he does, and yet, LSU has his number. The Bayou Bengal defense that gave up 38 points to Alabama held Johnny Football to 10 points and his offense to under 400 yards. We all knew that, in order for Manziel to leap Jameis Winston in the Heisman race, he'd have to play the game of his life against LSU and Missouri. Well, now that it didn't happen, has LSU knocked him out of the Heisman race? Probably, but if he comes back and plays well against Missouri and wins, the back door to the Downtown Athletic Club may still be open. 

Did Oregon Jinx Itself with the Rose Bowl Comments? As we reported the other day, Oregon players weren't exactly thrilled about playing in the Rose Bowl with nothing on the line. Did that comment come back and bite them in the patootie or what! Arizona dominated the Ducks. Oregon played like they didn't want to go to the Rose Bowl or anywhere else, for that matter. Yes, Marcus Mariota was hurt, but still they had a chance to get back in the national championship race, especially after Baylor lost. They played like garbage. And speaking of Baylor ...

Baylor is a pretender ... I think we all suspected Baylor wasn't as good as we thought they were, but we  hesitated to say it. Now, we can. The Bears were overrated. Oklahoma State took no mercy in clobbering Art Briles' team. They did it on the ground, through the air, and on defense. Baylor couldn't stop them, and their high-octane offense fell flat on its collective face, killing any chance that their quarterback might get into a late Heisman conversation. Baylor still has a lot to play for, but it won't be a national championship.

Is Will Muschamp in trouble? If he wasn't, he should be now. Muschamp lost to FCS Georgia Southern in the Swamp. If that doesn't say 'short leash' in Gainesville, I don't know what does. And short leashes can tangle into nooses quite easily. Don't get me wrong, for  the Eagles are an FCS power and are moving to the FBS Sun Belt Conference next season, but for them not to complete a pass in the whole game and still win, that's just pitiful on the Gators' part. Even with all the injuries, Florida should have won that game. It is cool, though, to see a so-called cupcake bite back every now and then.

80 is the new 40 ... I love college football, but one of the things I hate is when big schools like Alabama, Florida State and South Carolina play weak FBS or FCS schools and produce scores like this: 49-0, 80-20, 80-14, and 70-10. It's embarrassing, and it should be curbed. Either a team should have another off week or be made to play better opponents. Even Nick Saban is for a nine-game SEC slate so the school can stop scheduling bad opponents. 

Besides the beginning of the season, this is the best time of the year in college football. Rivalries are on tap everywhere. We have some doozies on the menu Saturday, starting with Michigan and Ohio State in the morning, followed by the big one that may seriously shuffle the SEC and BCS deck in Alabama vs Auburn.

Can't wait!