What to Watch This Weekend: College Football

Some teams are closing out their regular seasons this weekend and conference championships are going to be crowned, starting with the Big Ten. Penn State is in the best position to win the Big Ten title and earn a trip to the Rose Bowl. I touched on the Rose Bowl scenarios for the Nittany Lions, Michigan State and Ohio State the other day. Penn State fans will also want to pay attention to the Oregon State-Arizona game as the Nittany Lions could be facing the Beavers in Pasadena in a rematch of a week two match-up. Oregon State owns the head to head tie breaker with USC, who could sneak in to the national title picture with some key losses. The Beavers though have some quarterback issues to sort out, with Lyle Moevao practicing with a sore throwing shoulder. While things seem pretty straight forward in the Rose Bowl conferences, the same can not be said about the ACC.

With Miami getting trounced last night by Georgia Tech the question arises; Will the ACC send an un-ranked conference champion to a BCS bowl? Probably not but at the rate this is going it is not impossible. North Carolina is sitting at #22 and visits rival NC State this week. Maryland is #25 and visiting Florida State, who leads the all time series 16-2. Odds are an ACC champ will be ranked, so the question is whether or not the ACC is weak or just extremely full of parity. I say it is weak.

Almost as weak is the Big East, with two teams ranked in the top 25. This week all eyes are on #19 Cincinati hosting #20 Pitt. The winner of the game will take full control in the Big East race. Pitt will have two games remaining in conference while Cincinatti has one conference game left and ends the season with a game in Hawaii. How much of a joke is that? Pitt is 7-0 against the Bearcats, but their coach is still Dave Wanstedt.

Utah and BYU will play another round in The Holy War and this one could make or break the season for Utah. If Utah wins they can bank on receiving a trip to a BCS game in January. A loss and BYU will clinch a share of the Mountain West title. Even with a win it is unlikely that BYU will reach a BCS game unless they win 56-0 and watch some other teams fall mightily in the final weeks. Sadly this game is on a regional conference affiliated television network. ESPN or Fox Sports or somebody should be picking this game up for a larger audience to watch. It would be worth it.

Of course the big game is Saturday night when Texas Tech takes their undefeated record and #2 BCS ranking in to Norman, Oklahoma to battle the Oklahoma Sooners. For Penn State fans it would be best if Oklahoma wins this game and lose next week or in the Big XII championship game. I think, at least for this week, the Sooners do their part. This is the game of the week. I believe Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit are looking for a house together in Big XII country. It seems they are in the region every other week!

While Florida and Alabama are already locked up to play for the SEC championship there is little drama in the conference to worry about. Alabama has a week off to prepare for their show down with rival Auburn and Florida has a game against Citadel from the FCS. Unless Citadel comes up with an effort that exceeds the likes of Appalachian State-Michigan, you can take a break from watching the SEC, which is now being labeled as an over rated conference by some media types.

For you local college football fans, West Chester heads to Bloomsburg to renew a PSAC East rivalry, this time in the second round of the D2 playoffs. I think West Chester goes into B-burg and heads back to Chester County to prepare for the Sub Region 1 final against California (Pa), in a rematch of the State Game from a couple weeks ago.

Elsewhere in the college football world Harvard is also playing Yale in "The Game" and Stanford and Cal are playing in "The Big Game". Notre Dame is playing Syracuse in the "Who Cares Game". Villanova travels to take on rival Delaware as well.