College Football World Staves Off Apocalypse for One More Weekend

At one point yesterday, No. 2 ranked Auburn found themselves down 21-7 to a feisty Georgia foe and had many wondering if the pressure and media scrutiny was finally about to crack them. While this took place the San Diego State Aztecs came out fighting in Fort Worth, racing out to a 14-0 lead against a No. 3 ranked TCU team who most people had deemed invincible after their dismantling of Utah in Salt Lake City.

It was about 5:15 EST when I looked at my TV, saw this all unfolding and asked myself the question: Is this the day? The day it all blows up?

It’s been a chaotic season already; would it have really been all that surprising, after what we’ve witnessed so far, if the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams both went down simultaneously at this late juncture in the season?

Sadly, for those hoping for anarchy, both teams rebounded.

Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton said media assassination attempt be damned, I’m the best player in the game, and you are not stopping me. Newton finished with 300 yards of total offense and accounted for four scores as the Tigers pulled away for a 49-31 victory, clinching a trip to Atlanta in the SEC Championship game against South Carolina on December 4th.

TCU, on the other hand, would go on to score 34 unanswered points to finish off the first half. But the Aztecs were no quitters, and they made a game of it until the very end. Gary Patterson’s bunch did what they needed to, however, and came away with the 40-35 victory, pushing their record to 11-0 on the season with only lowly New Mexico now standing in their way of perfection.

No. 1 Oregon would go on to cap the night with another close call. The Ducks offense didn’t look so offensive against a stiff Cal defense. The Bears were no Portland State or New Mexico. This defense had some players like Cameron Jordan and Mike Mohamed who weren’t going to let running back LaMichael James and quarterback Darron Thomas waltz all over them.

Going into the fourth quarter trailing 15-13, Cal looked like they had a real shot at knocking off the No. 1 team in the nation but kicker Giorgio Tavecchio folded under pressure and missed a short field goal that would’ve put Cal up 16-15 early in the fourth quarter.

The Ducks hung on in a scoreless fourth quarter to come away with the win.

So no upsets, no BCS chaos, no college football apocalypse.

Yet.

We’ve got four undefeated teams left—Oregon, Auburn, TCU, and Boise State—and a few one loss teams like Stanford, LSU, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State lurking in the wings.

With three weeks left in the season, a lot can still happen, and the national title game is far from set.

Oregon has a bye week next week to regroup and refocus for two tough end-of-the-season tests against Arizona and rival Oregon State.

Auburn also has a bye week this week before heading to Tuscaloosa for a clash with Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

Beating the Tide on the road before trying to take down South Carolina for a second time this season will be a tough challenge for Coach Gene Chizik and his team. Remember, beating a team twice in the same season is never easy.

After a bye week, TCU has a relative exhibition game at 1-9 New Mexico to end their season.

Boise State could have the toughest road with WAC wars still to be waged with Fresno State, Nevada and Utah State.

For the first time this season, the Top 10 in the BCS Rankings will remain largely unchanged, and there won’t be a shuffle at the top until at least the end of November since the top three teams all have bye weeks this week.

There are still a lot of questions remaining at this point. Oregon’s offense finally looked sluggish against a quality defense. This media blitz on Cam Newton isn’t likely to stop, especially now that he’s the clear front runner for the Heisman. TCU’s top-rated defense showed some cracks. And people are still going to love to hate the idea of Boise State in a National Championship game.

So there you have it: The apocalypse hasn’t hit college football yet. The four horsemen are still riding strong, but it wouldn’t be surprising if a few of them took a fall before the season is all said and done.