Wow, did I ever pick the wrong weekend not to watch any college football. Huge upsets all weekend long and suddenly we're down to only 15 undefeated teams.
Pac 10 - USC, California, Arizona St.
Big 10 - Ohio St., Wisconsin, Purdue
Big East - South Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut
SEC - LSU, Kentucky
Big 12 - Missouri, Kansas
ACC - Boston College
Other - Hawaii
There is a great shot that a 1 loss team will sneak into the championship game this year. Other than USC and LSU, none of the remaining undefeated teams were preseason favorites. Yes, some like Cal have great wins and now look like they have a chance. Others like Wisconsin, have only been eeking by, and seem like they could lose at any time. Ohio St. looks like they don't need a rebuilding year, and South Florida looks like they've already built a big-time program, but this weekend showed that upsets will happen. And if USC or LSU slip up, there is a very good chance a 1-loss team will crash the national title game party.
Conference Cup
I've been keeping track of how the BCS conferences have done against each other in non-conference play. It obviously isn't a perfect measure of conference strength. In fact, the Big 10 looks good mainly because it has been beating up on the weaker teams in some other conferences. But, for better or worse, it still provides a decent gauge of what most computer programs will spit out.
Wins vs BCS/ND, Losses vs BCS/ND, Non BCS Losses
9-4-3 Big 10
4-4-0 SEC
5-3-3 Pac10
6-7-1 Big East
7-7-4 ACC
5-6-5 Big 12
0-5-0 Notre Dame
This week's BCS vs BCS
Purdue beat Notre Dame
Florida St. beat Alabama
Virginia beat Pittsburgh
Maryland beat Rutgers
Louisville beat NC State
Really Bad Losses
Miami (OH) beat Syracuse
Syracuse is 1-0 in Big East play, 0-4 in non-conference games.
The Big Ten's strength is largely builty on a 4-0 mark against Notre Dame. If we take the golden domers out of the equation:
Throw out N. Dame
4-4-0 SEC
5-3-3 Pac10
6-7-1 Big East
5-4-3 Big 10
6-7-4 ACC
5-6-5 Big 12
This fits a little closer with what most experts think with the SEC and Pac 10 as the top 2 conferences. The Pac10 looks really strong at the top, while the SEC is probably stronger from top-to-bottom.
Next week I might watch some games and actually have something to say!