by Peter Schrager

Bowl season roundup

Bowl recaps and analysis:

EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Complete bowl schedule

Photo gallery:

• Fiesta Bowl snapshots
• Snapshots from Saturday's bowls
• Best from bowl season's 1st weekend

Shopping:

• Get your '09 BCS bowl gear!

I'm talking, "Don't leave the couch — except for the occasional bathroom break — for 16 straight hours" excited. I'm talking, "Ignore the kids' soccer game, the cousin's bridal shower, and the melting stock market" excited. I'm talking, "Order a pizza and rent 'Iron Man,' take Friday night easy, and go to bed early so you can be on your A-game Saturday" excited. I'm jumping out of my skin, over here.

We've got the Red River Shootout between Texas and Oklahoma, Minnesota-Illinois in a game no one would have ever expected to matter six weeks ago, unbeaten Texas Tech and Nebraska, Georgia-Tennessee, a very intriguing Notre Dame-UNC matchup, and Arizona State-USC.

And that's all before 4 p.m. ET.

LSU-Florida, Penn State-Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State-Missouri wrap the Saturday up rather nicely.

Here are my five thoughts heading into Week 7:

1. Texas-Oklahoma is getting the bulk of the Big 12 headlines this week, but let's not sleep on that downright enthralling Missouri-Oklahoma State game in Columbia. If the oddsmakers set this one's over/under at 100, I wouldn't blink an eye. But this one has more than just points on the line — it has BCS-title-game implications. Both squads are unbeaten. Both squads look unstoppable.

There's no downplaying how good the Missouri offense has been this year. In their five wins, the Tigers have averaged 53.4 points per game, 569 yards of offense, and have scored at least 42 points in each contest. Chase Daniel's a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman are sure-fire first-team All-Americans.

But here's my Debbie Downer head nod. And I give it with a hand blocking the tomatoes and wet trash being thrown at me by Mizzou fans right now.

The Tigers defense has been mediocre at best. They still have a lot to prove. They're ranked 83rd nationally in yards allowed (377 yards per game), and are 114th in the country against the pass (282 yards per game). Your local high school team could toss for 200 yards on this defense. Hell, the Kansas City Chiefs could toss for 200 yards on this defense.

Even in Sunday's blowout of Nebraska, Mizzou's D gave up 369 yards. Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz, not spectacular by any means, threw for 290 yards and six passes for 20 yards or more. He picked apart that Tigers defense all evening. The Mizzou players celebrated the program's first win in Lincoln in 30 years by dousing coach Gary Pinkel with a Gatorade shower. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus enjoyed no such bath. His unit's pass defense was getting showered on all night.

By comparison, the four other unbeaten teams in the Big 12 — Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and even Texas Tech — are all giving up less total yards per game and passing yards per game this season than Missouri.

Mizzou's D will be put to the test against Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant, and the red-hot Oklahoma State Cowboys. Though you probably haven't heard much about them, OSU's offense has been downright unstoppable this season. Ranked third in the nation in scoring, the Cowboys have scored more than 50 points in four straight games. For all the talk Daniel and Maclin get, Robinson and Bryant are putting on one heck of a show each week, too.

If Maclin's being considered a Heisman candidate, we must insert Bryant into the national conversation, as well. Last Saturday against Texas A&M, the speedy wideout caught five balls for 106 yards and three touchdowns, and ran a "Direct-to-YouTube" punt return back for a score. It was Bryant's second four-touchdown game of the year.

On paper, these two teams are awfully similar. You've just heard a lot more about Missouri. Plenty of offensive fireworks to be had in this one. Plenty at stake, too. And if the Tigers get past the Cowboys? Well, their reward is a trip to Austin next Saturday.

Whoever said this BCS-title thing would be easy?

2. Auburn fans were a bit concerned when the Tigers only beat SEC doormat Mississippi State by a 3-2 score a few weeks back. They were mildly worried when the offense didn't score a touchdown in the final three quarters of an ugly 14-12 victory over Tennessee. After the offense's (non-)performance in the second half at Vanderbilt last weekend, the masses were downright horrified. War Eagle? Try Broken-Winged Pigeon.

But to fire — yes fire — first-year offensive coordinator Tony Franklin just six games into the 2008 season?

Well, that's ... I don't know what it is.

To be certain, The Tony Franklin Era may go down as one of the most enigmatic (and short-lived) periods in SEC football lore. A trivia question at Alabama tailgates in Tuscaloosa for years to come, Franklin's name will elicit laughter and fist pumps for Tide fans decades down the road.

To think it's all over and finished in less than 80 days is just further proof of the importance of winning football in SEC country. Win or get out. And don't let the door hit you (and your $3K spread offense seminars) on the way out.

Call it the only positive part of the "Auburn" section on his coaching resume, or simply call it a tease — it wasn't always sputtering offense and turnovers for Franklin and the Tigers. Against Clemson in last year's Chick-Fil-A Bowl, with just eight practices and the very basic elements of his spread offense under their belts, the Auburn offense racked up 423 yards en route to a victory. Quarterback Kodi Burns looked awesome; Franklin looked like a mastermind and the cure to Auburn's recent offensive ills.

Yet, that very offensive scheme — the one that Franklin made thousands of dollars selling to high school programs via his "The Tony Franklin System Seminar" sessions — resulted in nothing but hiccups and horror stories for the Auburn faithful this season.

Through six games, the Auburn offense, ranked 104th nationally, still has not broken the 1,000-yard mark on the season. The pass offense under Franklin — the trademark of any spread offense — averaged a mere 154 yards per contest. Last weekend, the offense gained only 82 yards and six first downs over the final three quarters.

Add all this to the fact that the 14-13 defeat was Auburn's first loss to Vandy since 1955, and that another team in the state — one with a second-year coach with the initials N.S. — is unbeaten and ranked No. 2 in the nation, and you can only imagine the tension in Franklin's footsteps this past week.

You could even sense it in an interview he gave with USA Today prior to the Vandy loss. Describing his time at Auburn compared to his previous coaching gig at Troy on Oct. 3, Franklin said, "No matter what the problems were, (Troy players and coaches) knew it was going to work out. Here I have to continue to preach that it's going to work out and since it hasn't, then it's 'When? Pretty soon we hope, right?' "

Unfortunately for Franklin, it wasn't soon enough.

3. If I'm a BYU fan, I'm scratching my head a bit this week. The Cougars entered last weekend's game vs. Utah State as the No. 8 team in the nation, with impressive wins over two Pac-10 opponents — including a 59-0 mauling of a UCLA squad that had beaten Tennessee two weeks earlier. Last Saturday, the Cougars scored 24 points in the first quarter, took care of business, and beat their opponents by 20. It wasn't their best effort of the year by any means, but they looked good enough and the game was never in doubt. So, out come the polls on Monday, and BYU drops a spot to No. 9.

Hmm. Curious, to say the least.

In truth, BYU doesn't need to worry about being No. 8, 9, 10, or 11 in either of the AP or coach's polls. They don't really need to pay attention to either of those polls at all. BYU just needs to worry about being No. 12 or better in the BCS standings come mid-December.

Per the BCS Automatic Qualification and At-Large Eligibility and Selection Procedures, "The champion of Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, or the Western Athletic Conference will earn an automatic berth in a BCS Bowl game if such a team is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS Standings or such a team is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS Standings and its ranking in the final BCS Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an automatic berth in one of the BCS bowls."

Of course, only one mid-major team shall earn an automatic berth in any given year.

What's all that jargon mean? Well, if BYU wins out the rest of the way — and inherent in winning out would mean a victory at TCU and a win at Utah in the season finale — they should finish in the top 12 of the final BCS standings. Those two road games — the trips to TCU and Utah — should be enough to ensure a top-12 seeding.

But slipping a spot here, slipping a spot there in the AP poll in weeks after 20-point road wins?

Well, it certainly doesn't help.

In short, beat TCU and Utah, and BYU can enjoy some January football.

But, beat New Mexico this week, first. The larger the margin of victory, apparently, the better.

4. The response from last week's hypothetical situation in which I suggested Ohio State still could square off against USC in a BCS championship game this season was tremendous. SEC and Big 12 fans treated the nightmarish scenario like the Apocalypse was here. Pure outrage. Disgust.

Meanwhile, the Ohio State and USC backers out there saw the negative framing of such a situation as insulting, and in many cases, an example of biased, ugly journalism. Many called me names. Sticks and stones were thrown, and if I saw any of these fans on the street — I have a feeling some of my bones would be broken, too.

Wah.

To those folks, I apologize for upsetting you. But I don't take back the tone or type of words I used in describing such a scenario ("unfortunate," "nightmarish," "horrifying") for a second. I speak for pretty much every college football fan outside of the state of Ohio when I say we don't need or care to see Ohio State in another title game. Not this year, at least. After blowout losses against Florida in '07, LSU in '08, and USC earlier this season, we've had our fill. Give us somebody else. Give us a game.

Of course, my pleas may not be resonating. In the three weeks since Ohio State's 35-3 loss to USC, the Buckeyes have already begun their slow rise back to prominence. And I won't lie — they looked damn good at Wisconsin last weekend.

They check into this week's Purdue game ranked No. 12 in the AP poll. Win this one and at No. 23 Michigan State next weekend and they could be knocking on the door of the AP top 10. Take down Penn State the following weekend, and we can be talking top five. Win out the rest of the way, and boom, there they are, in the national title discussion.

For those of us outside of Columbus, it's unfortunate. It's nightmarish. And it's horrifying.

It's also very possible.

5. I spent last Saturday with a few buddies visiting Ole Miss, enjoying all of our maiden voyages to The Grove.

Um, it's safe to say that the trip will now be an annual tradition. What a place. Some highlights: