Ducks Fly, Broncos Fall and Tigers Claw Their Way To the Top on Friday Night

We had yet another crazy week in college football. How crazy?  Three of the top four teams heading into the weekend have different rankings today.

The Oregon Ducks headed into the weekend ranked No. 1 in the BCS when they took on No. 21 Arizona. All Oregon did was blow out the Wildcats 48-29. Oregon trailed 19-14 at the half, but in typical Oregon fashion, the Ducks piled it on in the second half. Oregon's supersonic offense would go on to score 34 points in the second half, while the defense only allowed 10 points. Nobody can hang with the Ducks in the second half, period.

One would think that a 19 point victory over a ranked opponent would be enough for Oregon to remain No. 1. Wouldn't you? Well, that wasn't the case, Oregon dropped to two in the BCS (it's really not that big of a deal. They are going to play in the national championship regardless).

Auburn jumped into the No. 1 spot after a 28-27 victory over Alabama in the Iron Bowl. The clash down south was everything that one could hope for in a football game and more. Early on it looked as though the defending national champs were going to derail Auburn's national championship dreams.

The Tigers found themselves down 24-0 early in the second quarter and it looked like all hope might be lost. But Cam Newton proved why he is going to win the Heisman, and why his Auburn Tigers deserve to play in the national championship. Newton rallied the Tigers offense throwing for three touchdowns and running for another in Auburn's historic comeback victory. This victory marks the eighth time this season that the Tigers have come from behind to win.

Not only did Auburn save its own season with a win over Alabama, but it also saved the college football season as a whole. Nobody wanted to watch Oregon play TCU in the national championship; that game would have received the lowest TV ratings in national championship history. 

When Oregon and Auburn face off in Arizona this January, everyone will know that they are watching the two best teams in college football. Oregon smoked the best one loss team in the country (no. 4 Stanford) and Auburn has remained undefeated through a grueling SEC schedule. Sorry TCU, you haven't really beaten anyone, you just whooped up on New Mexico State...

Moving on to TCU's other little buddy, Boise State. This last weekend the Broncos had the opportunity to state their case as to why they were a title contender in their game against Nevada, and what did they do? They choked. Or at least their poor kicker Kyle Brotzman did.

Boise State was up big early leading 24-7 at the half, but the Wolfpack refused to go away. Nevada scored 17 in the fourth and tied the game at 31 with 17 seconds left on a seven yard touchdown pass from Colin Kaepernick to Rishard Matthews. We're going to overtime. Right?

Then the unthinkable happened. Boise took over with 13 seconds left after the ensuing kickoff. On the first play Kellen Clemens completed a 54 yard bomb to Titus Young, leaving two seconds on the clock for active points leader Kyle Brotzman to come in and kick in a chip shot 26 yard field goal for the victory. 

This was going to be a monumental win for the program. Moore's bomb to Young was going to be shown in Boise State pregame highlights along with the Hook n 'Lateral and Statue of Liberty plays for years to come. All they needed was this "gimme" kick. Brotzman came out and proceeded to shank the kick. He had been one of the best kickers in college football all year long, but he didn't have it on this particular night. Bring on overtime.

The Broncos took the ball first in overtime, and gave Brotzman a shot at redemption. Brotzman lined up from 29 yards out to take the lead, and missed again. Poor kid. Nevada took over and would kick a 34 yard field goal four plays later to win the game. Tough luck Broncos.

Many college football fans thought this might be the year a non-AQ school got into the title game, but we won't be seeing Cinderella at the dance this year.