WLOCP: CBS accepts no substitutes.

Yeah, baby!  It’s the CBS 3:30 PM broadcast, just like it should be.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, there are no moral victories.

 

What a roller coaster ride in the last few minutes of the Arkansas-Auburn game! Not that it matters in the long run – a 9-7 loss is still a loss, no matter how thrilling.

Arkansas has had leads in the fourth quarter of all three of its losses this season.

Three ranked teams (South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU) still await the Hogs on the schedule, which means that 6-6 is a distinct possiblity.

Advertisement

A flash in the pan, or something more?

I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up unduly, but despite the slow start by the defense on Saturday night, there were a few notes of interest in the defensive stats from the Vandy game:

• The leading tackler was Geno Atkins, with eight.  That marks the first time this season that a defensive lineman has led Georgia in that category in a game.
• The Dawgs had eight tackles for loss.  All but two came from defensive linemen.
• Georgia finally got off the schneid with three sacks.  Two of the three were made by defensive linemen.

Like I said, don’t read too much into that.  It would be nice if it were the start of a trend, though.  Everything Georgia does on defense is keyed from a four man defensive line being able to get pressure and hold its own on the line of scrimmage.  For the Dawgs to have a shot in two weeks, the line is going to have to be a significant factor in the game.

Crazy, man, crazy.

The first BCS rankings of 2007, that is.

It’s interesting to note that, with one exception, the undefeated teams in the rankings have a fairly easy road ahead of them, although, given the number of upsets we’ve seen to date this season, perhaps this should be discounted.

Here’s the list:

1. Ohio State (1) – 1 ranked opponent (Michigan); three home, two road games remaining; no conference championship game
2. South Florida (2) – 1 ranked opponent (Cincinnati); two home, four road games remaining; no conference championship game
3. Boston College (3) – 1 ranked opponent (@ Virginia Tech); two home, three road games remaining; conference championship game
4. Arizona State (8) – 3 ranked opponents (Cal, @ Oregon, USC); three home, two road games remaining; no conference championship game
5. Kansas (9) – 1 ranked opponent (Missouri); three home, three road games remaining; conference championship game
6. Hawaii (18) – no ranked opponents; four home, one road game remaining; no conference championship game

Everybody knocks Hawaii’s pathetic schedule, but Kansas’ is hardly one to brag about. The Jayhawks managed to avoid Texas and Oklahoma in the regular season, although if they make it to the Big 12 championship they’re likely to face the Sooners.

Arizona State has quite a gauntlet to run. If ASU emerges undefeated at season’s end, you’d have to think it would stand a very good chance of crashing the top two in the rankings.

The top three have pretty straight stretches in front of them, although Boston College has to travel to #11 Virginia Tech and play in the ACC conference championship on its road to the BCS. South Florida and Ohio State both play only one ranked opponent each – lower ranked than Virginia Tech in both cases – and don’t have to go through a conference championship game to make it to the BCS.

In other words, it’s quite possible that #s 1 and 2 could hold up, especially considering that #s 4, 6 and 7 in the rankings still have the balance of their SEC slates to run through.

Oklahoma, sitting at #5, is another school to watch. The Sooners have a ranked team left on the schedule (Texas Tech) and may play another (Kansas) in the Big 12 championship game. That’s more than South Florida will see. The question is whether that will be enough to pull Oklahoma into the top two.