A Couple of Thoughts (10/15/11)

What we learned today:

-Michigan State is the dirtiest team in the country. First, they had to unbelievably late body-slams on Denard Robinson, one by Anthony Rashad White and the other by Marcus Rush, which actually led to Robinson leaving the game due to this late hit. But those seem like nothing compared to MSU sophomore William Gholston, who might be the leading candidate for dirtiest player of the year with his three ridiculous intent to injure plays: some sort of judo chop and roll on Taylor Lewan that could have broken his arm, twisting Denard Robinson's helmet which could have broken his neck, and then punching Lewan later in the game after Lewan finished a block by driving him into the ground. Unbelievably, he was not thrown out. If Ohio State loses players for five games for getting tattoos, this guy has to be suspended for the rest of the year right? Well, Sparty doesn't exactly have a good track record of discipline under D'Antonio, so don't expect much. In fact, MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said: "That's what we try to do. Sixty minutes of unnecessary roughness. I'm just happy it didn't get called on every snap." BTW, they are actually saying publicly that they are going to go after Russell Wilson in the same manner next week when they face Wisconsin. Stay classy, Sparty.

-Mack Brown's seat has to be heating up right? I mean, sure his team is young, but the Texas crowd isn't going to take this get-blown-out-then-lose-to-Ok.St. stuff for much longer right?

-Andrew Luck is good. Like, really good.

-Though the scores were lopsided in the end, Washington State hung with Stanford for 30 minutes and Kansas hung with Oklahoma for 40 minutes.

-Oregon loses LaMichael James last week, Darron Thomas in the third quarter and they hardly missed a beat.

-College officiating is getting worse, I think: between all-around poor officiating in the Michigan/Michigan State game (seriously, both teams got hosed multiple times including this would-be Michigan touchdown on a backwards pass that was blown dead) and some pretty atrocious premature whistles in the Oregon/ASU game, it was a rough weekend for the men in stripes, which reminds me...

-Did anyone else see Will Muschamp's tirade on the refs after they missed a halo infraction on a fair catch? Muschamp made Brian Kelly and Bobby Knight proud. ESPN forgot to turn off the mic, so we heard every expletive. Auburn went on to score a TD.

-Ron Zook is still Ron Zook. His most egregious of multiple coaching errors today was with a little over a minute left. Down by 10 and facing 4th down, he opted to go for it instead of kicking a short field goal. Coach, you know you need a TD and a FG to tie it right? Why not take the points and then kick the onside kick? Every 10-year-old Madden-playing kid could tell you that. Instead, his Illini team failed on 4th down and lost the game. BTW, Ohio State won despite only completing one(!) pass. #ZookFail

-Seriously, the NCAA needs to decide if pointing at someone on the way to the end zone is taunting or not and be consistent. Tell me how this play from LSU erases a TD and then the next week this Pick Six does not get called. I don't care which way it's called (actually, I do: I don't think it should erase the TD, I just think it should be assessed on the PAT or kickoff) but whatever they decide, it needs to be consistent!

-Chip Kelly is a boss.

-We can all agree that: 1) Wisconsin will win the Big Ten...and it won't be close; 2) SEC is clearly between Alabama and LSU; 3) ACC is Clemson's to lose; 4) Pac-12 is Stanford's to lose (but don't count out Oregon); 5) The Big 12 is between the Oklahoma schools; and 6) Boise St. is the "best of the rest" and that's not even close.

If I had it my way (16 team playoff) this is how it would look as of today (higher seed gets first and second round home game; semifinals rotating between Glendale, Miami and New Orleans; finals in Pasadena):

1- LSU (SEC Champion)
16- Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt Champion)

8- Oregon (at large)
9- Clemson (ACC Champion)

5- Wisconsin (Big Ten Champion)
12- South Carolina (at-large)

4- Stanford (Pac-12 Champion)
13- Houston/SMU (CUSA Champion)

3- Alabama (at large)
14- Fresno St. (WAC Champion)

6- Oklahoma State (at large)
11- Arkansas (at large)

7- Boise State (WAC Champion)
10- West Virginia (Big East Champion)

2- Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion)
15- Temple (MAC Champion)

*Assuming rankings/standings hold as currently stand

Tell me you wouldn't be excited about this. I mean, c'mon, potential rematches in the second round of LSU/Oregon from earlier this year and Oklahoma/Boise State from 2007? MANBALL offenses of Stanford vs. Wisconsin in the second round? I know I'd tune in to each of these games.