BCS Week 13 Report: Auburn Survives as Boise State Kicks One Away

Down 24-0 on the road to their archrival, things looked bleak for Gene Chizik, Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers' national title hopes.

Up 24-7 on the road against a tough Nevada team, things were looking good for Chris Petersen, Kellen Moore and the Boise State Broncos.

The games were not played simultaneously but for the purposes of this paragraph we can pretend they were. I had picked Alabama over Auburn and Boise State over Nevada so as you can see, for a half to three quarters, I was feeling pretty smart.

Alas, football games last four quarters and some even go into overtime.

Auburn outscored Alabama 28-3 to keep their perfect season, and everything that goes with it, alive. Nevada outscored Boise State 27-7 to end the Broncos' 24-game winning streak, their perfect season and their chance to crash the BCS altogether. The Broncos went from pulling for an upset of Oregon and/or Auburn to get into the BCS Title Game to not even being in a BCS bowl game at all.

You have to feel for Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman who missed two kicks. The first came with two seconds left in the game and came one play after an amazing reception by Titus Young. The second came on Boise State's first possession of overtime. Nevada kicker Anthony Martinez nailed his kick in overtime to give the Wolf Pack their greatest football victory ever.

Oregon also was down early to the Arizona Wildcats. The Ducks offense seems to take a quarter or two to get rolling but by the second half, they are basically unstoppable. The teams they compete against look gassed in the second half as Oregon, who has only been in one close game all year, is steamrolling toward the BCS National Title Game.

TCU is still hoping for a South Carolina win over Auburn in the SEC Championship Game or an Oregon State win over Oregon in the Civil War.

After being wrong on my two predictions last week you would think I would be leery of making picks this week.

If you picked that I would be leery then you would be wrong. TCU looks to be playing the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. I don't like that the Big Ten and Big 12 use the BCS rankings to pick their champs but that is what they do.

Ohio State had their chance to beat Wisconsin and they fell short. Now Michigan State did beat Wisconsin so it is the Spartans that have a real complaint but the complaint line for the BCS might as well be infinite because I can't see the end of it.

I wonder what the future of Rich Rodriguez is going to be in Michigan. The Wolverines are going to a bowl game this year after a two-year hiatus but they have not been competitive against Ohio State. Terrelle Pryor is coming back next year so the Buckeyes will again be a Big Ten favorite. With their defense a shabby, pathetic mess, will the brass at Michigan give Rodriguez another year?

I kind of hope so since the talk is that Jim Harbaugh is the guy that Michigan wants and that guy has made Stanford a top 10 team.

List Time

My Top Two

1. Oregon

2. TCU

Conference Power Rankings

1. SEC

2. Big Ten

3. Pac-10

4. Big 12

5. WAC

6. ACC

Week 14 Preview

1. Oregon at Oregon State

2. Auburn vs. South Carolina

3. Nebraska vs. Oklahoma

4. Florida State vs. Virginia Tech

One Last Thought...

When the Big 12 was first conceived, Nebraska and Oklahoma were put into different divisions so that they could meet in the Big 12 championship game. It was the biggest rivalry of the Big 8 and the powers that be of the Big 12 surely had visions of an annual battle between the two teams to cap the Big 12 regular season.

The Big 12 finally got the game they coveted. It does come with Nebraska having one foot out of the door and that makes this game even more special. The one thing that the Big 12 does not want is to have the Nebraska Cornhuskers win their championship and then leave for the Big Ten.

The ACC had similar visions when they put Florida State and Miami into different divisions, but that championship game has yet to materialize.

The Big Ten has visions of Michigan and Ohio State meeting twice a year, as they will break into two divisions next season.

The Big East has added TCU to make their league relevant again but they do not have enough football teams for a championship game. Now they have enough basketball teams to be a super conference, which is odd.

As for the final Big 12 championship game, I hope that the Sooners win it. The defending champ should always be in the league so in this rare instance, Nebraska can win the final Big 12 title and move into the Big Ten. 

That would bother me and a whole bunch of Oklahoma and Big 12 fans.

Boomer Sooner and beat 'dem Huskers.