This Week in Brief
Mississippi State bests Oregon State in the recruiting game, PB reaches a new low, I survive a close one, and it's finally time for the BOTC GOTC.
Recroootin'
Oregon State signed a pair of three star DE's and a one star FB, but could not neutralize Mississippi St.'s surge, as they sign six youngsters highlighted by a four star HB and a four star WR. The Bulldogs jump Oregon State for the number 6 overall class and drop the Beavers down a notch to seventh.
UCF signs their first two recruits and future backfield duo in a four star HB and three star QB. I sign a four star DE, Ole Miss signs another kicker, and a speedy three star wide out pledges Baylor.
Week 10 in Review
Ole Miss vs. Kansas
The Rebels' forgettable season just got reclassified to embarrassing after an ugly loss to the evil institution from Lawrence. Ole Miss' one out of four on fourth down conversions undoubtedly gave the Jaybirds enough opportunities to edge the struggling Ole Miss squad. Jay McDonald only managed 61 yards on the ground and Jake (?) Herron continued his weekly ritual of charity by throwing two picks. Only three touchdowns were scored in total as the arrogance from Douglas County prevail 20-7.
#4 UCLA vs. Washington State
I'm going to say it: this game was horseshit. Despite having the worst offensive line in the Pac-12 sack-wise, the Cougars' QB was brought down only once. The worst rushing offense in the nation gained over eight yards per carry on the best defense in the nation. My players didn't show up? Likely story, but I'm not buying it. No matter how close the Bruins were to coughing this one up, they showed some tact when it mattered. Down seven, they marched down the field scoring the tying touchdown with 0:16 left then crammed the ball down WSU's throat in the overtime session. Victorious are the Bruins with a stressful 28-21 OT victory.
Oklahoma State vs. #17 Mississippi State
Clanga shook off a loss to Texas and a close call against Kentucky in consecutive weeks to ride the Cowboys to a 42-17 victory at Reliant Stadium. After a 10-0 Oklahoma State lead, Richard Wheeler and Tyler Huff notched five touchdowns while the defense added a pick six. Wheeler ran for 168 yards on a hefty 33 carries and Huff hauled in 12 catches for 180 yards. Huff scored three out of the six Bulldog touchdowns.
#20 Baylor vs. Wake Forest
This game turned into a pass-fest with both teams combining for 84 throwing attempts to 46 rushing. Baylor's 40 penalty yards barely slowed down the offensive juggernaut on their way to 568 total yards and 42 points. Justin Kirkpatrick threw for an eye-popping 409 yards and five touchdowns to only one interception. Brian Gorman, the QB for Wake, threw for 255 yards and 3 TDs but was inefficient completing 20 of his 41 passing attempts. Bears maul the Demon Deacons 42-28.
#18 Cal vs. Arizona
The Golden Bears from California continue their losing ways against user clubs and the Wildcats bring their record to an even 4-4. Eric McBride had one less touchdown than incompletion going 15 of 18 for 263 yards and gaining another 96 on the ground. California QB Stephen Fisher did all he could to help his team chucking it for 335 and three scores, but Cal ended up falling to Arizona's complete offensive outing 41-31.
#6 Oregon State vs. Vanderbilt
Oregon State's relentless pass rush had the Commodores' QB eating dirt on eight separate occasions. Vandy converted only one of their nine third down attempts and chalked up a putrid -42 yards on the ground. With a strong defensive performance coupled by 157 rushing yards and two scores from Heisman candidate James Bradford, Oregon State was able to mask Reggie Jordan's relatively poor performance and leave Nashville with a decisive 31-6 victory.
Texas Tech vs. Arizona State
The Red Raiders' are two victories away from clenching a Pac-12 championship berth in their debut season following a 38-17 dismantling of Arizona State. Tech QB J. Matthews stole the show throwing for 326 yards and five touchdowns. Arizona State did nothing on offense to match while losing this pivotal Pac-12 South matchup.
TCU vs. UCF
UCF gets back to .500 and sent TCU tumbling to 2-6 following the 34-19 contest favoring the Golden Knights. UCF went into halftime up 27-13 and TCU could not get anything going offensively. C. Joseph ran for 122 yards and a score to help UCF's defense lead them to a solid victory.
Week 11 Previews
#9 Oklahoma vs. #18 Baylor
By making it nine wins in a row, Baylor could give Mississippi State a huge lift in the log jam that is the Big 12 South race. The Bulldogs sit at 5-2 in conference with a tiebreaker over 4-1 Oklahoma. Texas beat Miss St. and lost to OU, so the possibility for a three way tie is very real. Besides all of that Big 12 race nonsense (which JT no longer has to worry about), this should be a high scoring game as two of the best offenses in the nation collide. Look for fireworks in this top-20 battle.
#16 Mississippi State...
...has a bye week.
Texas Tech vs. Arizona
Arizona could claw themselves back into Pac-12 contention with a victory over the current South leaders. At 3-2 in conference, they would have the tiebreaker over Tech and 2nd place Arizona State with a victory. Arizona is playing their best ball right now as the constant degrading looks to have finally gotten in the young Arizona QB's head.
Arkansas vs. Ole Miss
Ole Miss finally faces a team that is struggling as bad as they are in an Arkansas team that has not won this year. Though Arkansas' schedule has been nothing to sneeze at, having zero wins on the year has to put a dent in your confidence. Could Ole Miss come away with their second victory against a former conference foe? Who knows...
UCF vs. Texas
The Golden Knights travel to Austin hoping to stay above .500 and inch closer to a bowl berth. The Longhorns haven't lived up to their high preseason ranking after falling out of the polls a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, a talented Texas team is one that should not be overlooked, and no one knows this as well as Sean Snyder.
#3 Oregon State vs. #2UCLA
Finally after weeks of anticipation and a few close calls on both sides, the undefeated powerhouses meet up in an enormous game with not only Pac-12 championship implications, but the winner could be put on the fast track to Pasadena with a W. This game got a large national importance boost when all but one team ahead of UCLA and Oregon State was upset last weekend.
Since this is going to be the most important event in your mostly meaningless lives, I will go a little more in depth with this preview. But stat analyses are boring and quite frankly outdated. So I am going to compare the teams by completely irrelevant measures then ask you to pick who's going to win.
Best Mascot
While bears are my favorite animal, there is no valid argument against a beaver. They dam up streams then build a bad ass house on their new personal lake. No other animal besides humans has the balls and know-how to manipulate their environment quite like a beaver. Plus the obvious potential for vaginal jokes.
-Oregon State
Said Mascot's Proximity to Campus
It's always nice when a mascot makes sense. This one took some research. First of all, I had no idea what a bruin was, other than they play hockey on the east coast and inhale smog on the west coast. Turns out, it's basically a grizzly bear. While there may be black bears in the Los Angeles vicinity, the closest Grizzly bear is at least three inches away according to the map I saw. On the other hand, there might actually be beavers in Corvallis. I have no witnesses to back this up, but beavers know real estate and Oregon seems like a nice place to live.
-Oregon State
Real Life Fan Support
Fan support means money and money is everything these days in college sports. While that may or may not directly help you on the field, fan money builds you cool things like weight rooms and really big TVs. Using the almost-semi-flawless "people I know that went there" metric, this comes out to a one-one tie.
-Push
Men's Water Polo Program
Water polo is a great sport for people who want snobby kids that cry when they get a Kia for their sixteenth birthday. Oregon State grads do not breed this type of child and as a result have water polo only as a club sport. When you're trying to compete against an eight time national championship program in a FanPost, this does you no good.
-UCLA
Laziness of Time Zone
Little do people know, but the Pacific time zone was not created because the sun rises and sets later than other parts of the country. People on the left side of the United States are inherently more lazy and wanted an extra few hours to sleep in. No one wins this war of sloth.
-Push
Brownie Points
Sure, I'll take those.
-UCLA
Verdict
This one comes in as a tie, so we will leave it up to the good folks of the BOTC to decide the line on this one.