The Heisman is going to a Big 12 quarterback. If not a quarterback, then a receiver, maybe a running back.
Put it another way: Take the Big 12 against the field right now and you're likely to make some money.
Some things you just know. You know? The Heisman folks can save a lot of money right now and invite some combination of quarterbacks Chase Daniel, Sam Bradford, Graham Harrell, Colt McCoy, Zac Robinson and/or Todd Reesing.
If you see any other faces in New York next month be advised that they will be human garnish. There might be a running back -- perhaps Michigan State's Javon Ringer or UConn's Donald Brown -- to fill out the roster. Tim Tebow might be there, but his numbers are way down because his teammates' contributions are way up.
The Big 12's version of a Heisman upset would be a receiver (Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree) or running back (Oklahoma State's Kendall Hunter) winning the hardware.
Unless the league collapses onto itself, the award is the Big 12's to lose. It can be argued that the nation's four best quarterbacks are in the league's South Division alone. It was suggested last month that this might be the best set of conference quarterbacks ever.
Can we now confirm it?
Great players are making great plays in great games all the time in the Big 12. When Harrell threw for 474 yards against Texas, it was the fourth time this season he had thrown for at least 450.
Bradford has tied a school record -- throwing for five touchdowns in a game -- four times this season. You'd think that would earn him some kind of honor. Bradford has never won Big 12 offensive player of the week by himself (he shared it one week).
That's not an oversight. That's life in the nation's best conference. Harrell has beaten Colt McCoy who has beaten Sam Bradford. This month Harrell will play Robinson who will play Bradford.
When Oklahoma State plays Texas Tech on Saturday it will be the fourth game between two top 10 teams in the conference. There was one all of last season.
The likely freshman All-American quarterback (Robert Griffin) plays for last-place Baylor. At 3-6, you wonder where the Bears would be without him.
The league has five of the top eight passers. Harrell is eighth nationally in pass efficiency but only fourth in his own division. The longstanding Rocky Mountain News Heisman poll lists five Big 12 quarterbacks in its top six this week. Three other major Heisman lists (SI.com, rivals.com and the Orlando Sentinel) have Big 12 quarterbacks 1-2-3 this week.
A year ago the league's lone Heisman finalist was in the process of leading his team to a No. 1 ranking, to the Big 12 title game and a Jan. 1 bowl. This season that same player's completion percentage, pass efficiency rating and touchdown pass ratio are better than 2007.
How deep are the Big 12 quarterbacks? If you're talking Heisman at this point, Missouri's Daniel is almost an afterthought.
It's not about him: No, that extra security, the bonfire with a burning effigy, the hate, the boos are all meant to honor Nick Saban at LSU.
"We want to kick his butt," LSU fan Gary Perkins told Gannett newspapers. "I don't respect him. We don't respect him. He's a carpetbagger and turncoat."
As it typically happens in these situations, myopia has broken out. Saban isn't just bringing in his No. 1 ranked team to Baton Rouge to play the Tigers, he is personally insulting the legions of LSU fans. How quickly they forget the national championship in 2003, when the Tigers became the toast of the country after years of languishing.
"Why else would you leave LSU but for money?" LSU grad Katie Dallimore asked Gannett.
Well, let's see, Katie ... Saban went to the NFL, which some might consider a promotion. He got tired of the Dolphins and then returned to coach in what is widely regarded one of the best programs in the country in the best conference in the country.
Sure, he moved up. When you move up you usually get paid more money.
Also in the news: Oh yeah, by the end of Saturday we might have our SEC title game participants.
Alabama can clinch the SEC West with a victory. Florida can capture the East with a win at Vanderbilt.
Might as well bank it. With all those athletes and speed, LSU still has given up at least 50 points in three of its last 11 games. Florida is the best team in the country right now.
The trains you see speeding toward each other are headed to Atlanta on Dec. 6.
Revisionist history: It's funny how when USC was destroying everything in its path earlier this decade, Pete Carroll feigned ignorance about the BCS.
Now?
"It stinks," Carroll said as the underachieving Trojans got ready for Cal.
USC dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 despite pole-axing Washington State and Washington in two of the past two weeks. Of course, that could be part of the problem. It's the Pac-10 that stinks more than the BCS.
USC is the only I-A team that hasn't played a single I-AA program since major-college football split into the two divisions in 1978. By any measure, the Cougars and Huskies qualify.
And then there's Joe Paterno ...: who you believe really doesn't know anything about the BCS.
"Is it BCS or BSC?" Paterno said. "I don't know."
Another thought: Or, maybe, Pete these losses to inferior opponents are becoming a trend. And maybe pollsters are noticing.
A reminder: Oregon State (twice), Stanford and UCLA since 2006.
The rise of Sparty: While Penn State puts it on the line against Iowa, Michigan State plays Purdue while lurking quietly around Rose Bowl contention.
"Every time we stick our hand in the middle of the crowd ... the words 'Big Ten champs' come out of that crowd," coach Mark Dantonio said.
Dantonio's best way to get to Pasadena is beat Penn State on Nov. 22 and get involved a three-way tie with Ohio State and Penn State. In that case, Michigan State would get the bid because it has not played a I-AA opponent. Penn State and Ohio State have each played one.
Why the bitching? Texas Fan wondered out loud this week why its team was so disrespected in the coaches poll, settling in at No. 7 behind a team it beat, No. 4 Oklahoma.
Answers, dear Longhorn:
1. You lose in this system at this point and you run the risk of anything happening. On paper, Texas right now is no different than Oklahoma, Florida, USC or Oklahoma State. Ya'll have one loss.
2. You're still the highest-ranked one-loss team in the BCS at No. 4.
3. You still need two of the top three teams to lose to have a chance.
4. Even with one loss you're third in the computers, only .0020 behind Alabama and Texas Tech.
5. Texas Tech still controls its destiny in the Big 12 South but still has Oklahoma State and Oklahoma to play. Texas has already played those teams.
6. You've still got a heck of a chance: In the event of a three-way tie in the Big 12 South, the team with the highest BCS ranking goes to the conference championship game.
If the tie is between the Longhorns, Sooners and Red Raiders, it looks like Texas would have the advantage.
Coaching follies: WWL isn't going to lie. When it comes to coaching candidates, sometimes we do throw darts at the wall.
Five coaches have been fired or resigned at this point. Some of the names of replacements are a bit far-fetched.
• For example, would Tennessee really hire Minnesota's Tim Brewster (career record 8-13)?
• Will Kansas State consider former Bill Snyder assistant Bret Beilema, currently at Wisconsin? The Badgers have lost four of their last six are in last place in the Big Ten.
• Will Bill Snyder himself come out of retirement to rescue the Wildcats?
• Will TCU's Gary Patterson go anywhere? He talked briefly to Minnesota last season. In some way or another, his name has been linked to five schools (Washington, Clemson, Syracuse, Tennessee and Kansas State).
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| Is Tommy Tuberville's seat hot because one poor season? (Getty Images) |
WWL has heard the same talk, but you have to wonder what is going on in minds of the power brokers. Tubs is 84-38 in his 10th season at Auburn (vs. Tennessee-Martin this week). Do you have to be reminded that he has beaten Alabama six consecutive times?
Things are so crazy that it is speculated that Tuberville might be snatched up by Tennessee the moment Auburn pulls the rip cord.
"You are going to have years like this," said Tubs, whose team has lost four in a row. "Everybody has a bad year once in a while."
Less of Phil: Tennessee's Phil Fulmer begins his walk down the green mile this week against Wyoming.
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal quoted a prophetic Vicky Fulmer this week. As the team flew home from the 1999 Fiesta Bowl national championship win, she told her husband, "Look me in the eye and listen to me. I want you to retire. It's never going to get better than this. You've reached your goals. Let's move on and do something else."
Phil reportedly replied, "Do you know any other job that pays this well?"
Fulmer will walk away 10 years later with a lot more stress and at least $6 million from his buyout.
Friday walk-through
• From 1998 to 2002, Tennessee had nine players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. In the past six drafts, four Vols have been taken in the first round.
• Tennessee defensive back Eric Berry has as many interceptions (six) as his team does touchdown passes.
• Cal (at USC) and Oregon State (at UCLA) are the only teams that control their own fate right now in the Pac-10.
• Lost in the fog: If Vanderbilt does happen to upset Florida it could create a three-way tie atop the SEC East with Georgia and Florida.
• Washington is coming up on a calendar year without a win (Nov. 17, 2007 vs. Cal). Currently I-A's only winless team, the Huskies haven't gone winless in a season since 1890.
• Washington State has been shut out in consecutive games and has gone 154 minutes, 28 seconds without scoring.
• Stanford's Jim Harbaugh is close to getting his team bowl eligible in his second season. The Cardinal are 5-4 with games left against Oregon, USC and Cal. No wonder the administration is trying to lock him up with an extension.
• Carroll held a mock debate with his players regarding the two presidential candidates. "We had a show of hands and then the guys went back and forth," he said. "It almost got out of hand and I called it off."
• Five teams have been ranked No. 1 this season. That's the most in one season since 1990. Anyone want to bet there is going to be a sixth?
