Wait! This site is about the SEC, but what the hell..

Article by Thomas Danielson, senior writer, secfootballpodcast.com
Iʼm going outside the huddle for once since we only have 4 SEC games this week and because my boss asked. Iʼm taking a closer look at a few match-ups outside our superior conference of gods in the SEC. Unfortunately there are other contenders for our crown, that the SEC has owned for 2 straight years thank you very much.


#5 Oklahoma (9-1) (5-1) vs. #2 Texas Tech (10-0) (6-0)
<-- Tom's Pick
Texas beats OU, Tech beats Texas, OU beats Tech. Yes sir, itʼs a perfect recipe for a Round Robin in college football. Not only will they all finish 11-1, but theyʼre all contenders for the title, all ranked in the top 5, and all in the same division that indeed has a conference championship! Yah! Now our BCS will pick the best one to play Mizzou for it all!! Now what if Mizzou beats the winner? Will the other two 11-1 teams get title talk because the better team lost the conference championship game? We all saw OU go to the title in ʼ03 as a contender in the BCS championship, without being a conf. champ in the first place, in fact lost the game 7-35 to Kansas State. USC is another contender with national title talk, even though Oregon State can win out and claim the conf. champ trophy. I donʼt like where the Big 12 has taken us this year, and I wish the NCAA would change the BCS so that being a conference champion is a requirement and not a recommendation. If OU beats Tech and goes to their title game and gets beat, then should that cancel out every team from their division for the title race? If you disagree with me thatʼs fine, youʼre probably a fan of one of these teams. Well all I have to say to you is the same thing I said last year to Georgia Bulldog fans: Mad because you canʼt make the title? Well go win your division, then your conference, and then come cry to me about a national championship berth. Loser. Sooners make it a 3-way tie by winning a shoot-out 45-42 in classic Big 12 offensive action.

#8 Penn State (10-1) (6-1) vs. #15 Michigan State (9-2) (6-1)
<-- Tom's Pick
The Nittany Lions have have won handily at home against Oregon St, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. They've won on the road against Purdue, Wisconsin, and Ohio St, tripping up only once to Iowa, 23-24. Daryll Clark has thrown for 13 TDs and only 4 picks, about 2,000 yards and a QB rating of 137.63, not to mention 8 rushing TDs as well. If not for that one point difference on the road against the Hawkeyes, Penn St would have a lot more on the line than just a conf. title and a Rose Bowl bid. Old Joe hasn't won a Big Ten title out right since 1980. Spartans on the other hand are not playing near as well as Penn State. They lost the season opener to Cal by a TD, then won 6 in a row that included Notre Dame, Indiana, and Iowa. Buckeyes drilled Spartans 45-7, then State came back winning 3 in a row at Michigan, vs. Wisconsin and Purdue. If Penn St wins this game, I don't care what the Buckeyes do to Michigan, they lost to the Nittany Lions at home!! Penn State hasn't been in the BCS since '05 when they won an awesome OT field goal fiasco against an 8-3 ACC Champ, Florida State, in the Orange Bowl. Love to see them play in the Rose for a change. THIS IS NOT SPARTA!!! Go Nittany Lions! 38-17!!

#7(BCS) My #11 Utah (11-0) (7-0) vs. #14 BYU (10-1) (6-1)
Tom's Pick -->
Looks like we may have another Round Robin, sort of anyways. TCU beats BYU, Utah beats TCU, BYU beats Utah. Fabulous. But there's no conference championship game here, just one division. I say BYU will win by 10, 38-28. Everyone is 7-1, so who gets the trophy? Well TCU should be out because they lost a non-conf game, yes yes to OU but non-conf. all the same. That's why Ohio St shouldn't win a share of anything, they lost a non-conf. game to Southern Cal. So you got a 7-1 Utah and a 7-1 BYU. Well if the Cougars win the game, out right MWC Champs. Other analysts will argue that they lost to TCU, Utah beat TCU!! So what, 7-1 is indeed a tie but wouldn't it make sense to give the winner the title? TCU would lose the first tie-breaker by finishing 10-2, while Utah and BYU would both be 11-1. Next tie-breaker is who beat who. Not as complicated as three 11-1 division teams who beat each other.