College Football 2011: Grading the Top 25 Teams' Performances from Week 9

Week 9 of college football reminded us once again that if you think you know what's going to happen, you really don't. On the heels of a tremendous week that left Oklahoma and Wisconsin reeling, saw a number of new faces grace the BCS standings and shook up the national title race; this week promised still more drama for some of the toughest conference races in America.

It didn't disappoint.

Once again, we saw upsets and big games as Michigan State was thumped by Nebraska, Wisconsin dropped to Ohio State, Clemson finally fell to Georgia Tech and K-State was no match at all for Oklahoma.

Besides all of that, Stanford needed three overtimes to take down USC, Arkansas barely skimmed past Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech struggled with Duke and others found their fights to be tougher than thought.

Things are really getting exciting and tricky in the world of college football!

So, with all of that in mind, let's attempt once again to grade the performances of the BCS Top 25 from Week 9.

No. 25 West Virginia

Opponent: Rutgers

Outcome: Won 41-31

I'm not really sure what to make of this game. Rutgers is probably a little better than they're given credit for. They did come into the game with a 5-2 record and matched the Mountaineers' conference record as well.

However, West Virginia has been the media darling of the Big East all year and have been considered the best team in the conference hands down, even though Syracuse upended them last week.

The Scarlet Knights got the drop on the Mountaineers and led a good portion of the first half. The second half however, was all West Virginia—at least in the scoring department.

RB Shawne Alston deserves the MVP honors. Alston thundered for 110 yards on just 14 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns. He was the hero of the first half, keeping West Virginia firmly in the game with those scores.

QB Geno Smith was the second-half MVP though. Smith threw for two touchdowns and ran for another—playing at least a part in all of the Mountaineers second half points.

However, it could also be said that Rutgers beat themselves more than West Virginia beat them. The Mountaineer struggled to convert on third downs, managing only 2-of-13 situations and turnovers ultimately killed the Scarlet Knights.

They gave away two fumbles and two interceptions. While they didn't put up as many yards as the Mountaineers, they were more efficient and largely controlled the tempo of the game. Those four turnovers destroyed about every hope the Scarlet Knights had of an upset win.

It was a victory for West Virginia, and the stats were pretty decent in their favor, but it wasn't really that dominant in any fashion.

Grade: B

No. 24 Texas

Opponent: Kansas

Outcome: Won 43-0

The Jayhawks were no match for the Longhorns. It's not really surprising is it? Kansas hasn't won since September 10th and haven't beaten a team from a BCS conference this year.

The Longhorns needed a bounce-back game after suffering a pair of losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. They got it in convincing fashion this weekend.

The passing game wasn't much. David Ash and Case McCoy combined for just 149 yards and Ash offered up a pick.

The run game however, was spot on. Joe Bergeron and Malcolm Brown both eclipsed 100 yards rushing and both scored a pair of touchdowns.

K Justin Tucker was also on his game, nailing a pair of field goals with a long of 52 yards in the second quarter.

The Longhorn defense held Kansas to just 46 total yards. That's right, 46. They were 48 through the air and minus-two running the ball. That's domination.

Good win over a clearly inferior opponent. Those passing numbers leave a lot to be desired though, and two turnovers aren't inspirational.

Grade: B+

No. 23 Auburn

Opponent: Mississippi

Outcome: Won 41-23

Ole Miss might be a pretty good team—if games only lasted 30 minutes. Over 60 minutes, they're just not very good, and Auburn did what so many others have done. They played with the Rebels for the first half and buried them in the second.

QB Clint Moseley didn't put up eye-popping numbers, but he was ultra-efficient and effective. He missed on just three passes, completing 12-of-15 and connected on four of those for touchdowns.

RB Michael Dyer had a tremendous day. Dyer rumbled for 177 yards on 23 carries and picked up a touchdown. In all, the Tiger rush attack was very successful, putting together 254 yards on the day.

The defense was strong enough in the second half to shut Ole Miss out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter. They also capitalized on three Rebel mistakes.

Auburn gained their bowl eligibility with this win. Now it's just a matter of fighting for the best bowl possible.

Grade: A-

No. 22 Georgia

Opponent: Florida

Outcome: Won 24-20

Georgia really needed a good win. Beating Florida this year may not be the same as beating Florida a handful of years ago, but it was still important.

The Bulldogs are still recovering from a pair of losses at the beginning of the season. Winning their sixth straight goes a long way toward moving them back up the standings and keeping them firmly in the SEC East race.

Georgia battled from behind all day long. They tied the game at 17-17 late in the third quarter, but fell right back down again. It wasn't until nearly two minutes into the fourth quarter that Richard Samuel finally put Georgia on top with a four-yard TD run.

QB Aaron Murray had a thoroughly mediocre day. He completed less than half his passes for just 169 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception.

The ground game was a little more serviceable. Isaiah Crowell averaged 4.5 yards per carry and amassed 81 yards while Samuel picked up 58 yards on 17 carries and scored that touchdown.

None of those are tremendous numbers, but they got the job done.

The Bulldog defense came up big though. They limited Chris Rainey to just 26 yards and held Jeff Demps to only 12. John Brantley completed barely a third of his passes, though he did pick up some big gains and scored a touchdown.

Special teams had at least one failure, allowing Demps to carry a kickoff back 99 yards for a score that ultimately made the game much closer than it needed to be.

Good defensive performance, mediocre offensive showing and lackluster special teams made this a narrow escape, but it was still an important win.

Grade: C+

No. 21 Arizona State

Opponent: Colorado

Outcome: Won 48-14

Obviously, the Sun Devils were the clearly better team in this one. The score doesn't lie about what happened—for the most part.

Colorado played a horrible game. That can't go unsaid. The Buffaloes turned the ball over five times and practically handed Arizona State the win.

Still, the Sun Devils had a lot to be proud of.

QB Brock Osweiller threw for over 300 yards and tossed a couple of touchdowns without an interception while RB Cameron Marshall had a great day. Marshall carried the rock 15 times and gathered 114 yards with three touchdowns.

The defense was something different.

On the one hand, they didn't allow a lot of Buffalo scoring. They locked down when necessary and picked up those five turnovers.

On the other, they allowed Colorado to put up 420 total yards—337 of which came through the air.

Most disturbing, the Sun Devils committed 11 penalties for 106 yards. That's unacceptable, regardless of the opponent or how comfortably you're winning.

Grade: B-

No. 20 Texas Tech

Opponent: Iowa State

Outcome: Lost 7-41

Ouch. No, wait, that wasn't enthusiastic enough. OUCH!

The Cyclones aren't anyone's pick as a contender in the Big 12. Their three previous wins came over Northern Iowa, Iowa and Connecticut and the largest margin of victory to this point was a mere four points over UConn.

Iowa State was on a four-game losing streak where they'd been blown out of every contest. To say this was unexpected is a major understatement.

Everything that could go wrong for the Red Raiders did.

Iowa State jumped up to a lightning-fast 21-0 lead in the first quarter and just kept pouring it on.

QB Seth Doege completed just half of his passes and threw two interceptions while failing to find the end zone. RB DeAndre Washington did the bulk of the work on the ground but could still only manage 50 yards as the entire team compiled fewer than 100 yards rushing.

The team committed three turnovers while allowing Iowa State to put two runners over the 100-yard mark and compiling 368 rushing yards.

This was a thoroughly dominant performance but for the wrong team.

Grade: F

No. 19 Penn State

Opponent: Illinois

Outcome: Won 10-7

There are two ways of looking at this game.

From a historic position, this game was something amazing. With this win over Illinois, Penn State handed Joe Paterno his 409th win—surpassing Eddie Robinson as the winningest coach in Division I college football history.

That can't be undervalued. While Joe has been on the sidelines of Penn State for a very long time, Robinson was at Grambling State for 55 years to amass his total. Paterno has been there 45 years.

Such things as 409 wins don't happen in just a handful of years. Most coaches can't stick with the game long enough to put together that kind of record, let alone have the kind of success Paterno has had over the years.

From a more immediate position, this game was U-G-L-Y.

In my opinion, Matt McGloin is clearly the guy to lead this team. Still, he completed just 9-of-24 passes for fewer than 100 yards and threw a pick. Rob Bolden didn't fare any better as he completed 0-of-4 passes.

RB Silas Redd provided the only offensive spark all day, carrying the ball 30 times for 137 yards and providing the only touchdown of the day for Penn State.

The Nittany Lions committed three turnovers all day, but thankfully, Illinois turned it over four times in a really sloppy performance for both teams.

Blame it on the snow, though both of these are northern teams that should be used to such things.

The defense won this game, holding Nathan Scheelhaase to fewer than 100 yards passing (though they eventually gave up a touchdown) and held the Illini run game out of the end zone all day.

This win was huge though, as it puts Penn State firmly in control of the Leaders Division for now and got their coach his historic win.

However, there was nothing particularly great about this game. Good thing winning ugly still counts for something.

Grade: C

No. 18 Michigan

Opponent: Purdue

Outcome: Won 36-14

Purdue may have given Illinois fits last week, but they couldn't do much against Michigan this week. This is what makes playing teams like Purdue so difficult. One week, they can play out of their heads and the next they can look like the old Purdue that routinely finished in the cellar of the conference.

For their part, Michigan didn't allow a 7-7 first quarter tie to scare them into playing stupid football.

Denard Robinson didn't have a career day, but he didn't really need to. He completed 9-of-14 passes but threw an interception and failed to score through the air. He did a little better scrambling around on the ground with 63 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Robinson had an awful lot of help from Fitzgerald Toussaint who grabbed 170 yards on 20 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns. Toussaint's 8.5 yard-per-carry average is impressive even against a fairly weak Boilermaker defense.

Meanwhile, Michigan's defense did well. Caleb TerBush passed for a touchdown, as did Robert Marve. However, those touchdowns were spread out with one coming in the first quarter, and the other coming very late in the fourth when the outcome was well in hand.

The run defense was very solid as the Wolverines only allowed 89 total yards on the ground and kept Ralph Bolden to just 22 yards on 11 carries.

Purdue may not be the most exciting opponent on the Wolverine schedule, but this was an important win and might be just a shade more impressive than it looks on paper.

Grade: A-

No. 17 Houston

Opponent: Rice

Outcome: Won 73-34

Say what you want to about the legitimacy of this Houston team. This was another dominant performance by Case Keenum's Cougars.

Keenum had an all-career day, passing for 534 yards and nine touchdowns. The most amazing part? He didn't even play the full game. Imagine what those numbers could have been if Case had been allowed to play the full 60 minutes.

Michael Hayes and Charles Sims both had strong days as Hayes averaged over six yards per carry and Sims averaged over seven. The Cougar offense had no trouble at all with the Owl defenders.

However, Keenum was the star of the night. Some quarterbacks are lucky to put up those numbers in three games, let alone in one.

Having heaped all that praise on Keenum and the offense, however, there were some deficiencies that can't go unnoticed.

The defense didn't come out very strong as they allowed the Owls to roll out a 17-7 first quarter lead. They woke up in the second quarter and held decently throughout the rest of the game, but the defense still allowed over 470 yards of total offense. Over 350 of those yards came on the ground as the Cougar defense had a lot of trouble with the Owl rush attack.

On top of that, Houston had three turnovers, fumbling away two possessions, and Keenum did toss an interception.

It was a convincing victory, and there's no doubt who the better team was here. However, the defensive woes and turnovers will hurt the overall grade a little.

Grade: B

No. 16 Texas A&M

Opponent: Missouri

Outcome: Lost 31-38 OT

And the late-game woes come back to haunt the Aggies.

A&M fought through a slow start to take a 24-14 lead late in the second quarter and carried a 24-17 lead into halftime. They held that lead throughout the third quarter but surrendered 14 points in the fourth and needed a field goal with 4:10 left on the clock to force overtime.

They couldn't answer the bell after Mizzou scored a TD, and the Aggies squandered another lead and fell short.

Statistically, the Aggies had a pretty good day. QB Ryan Tannehill tossed for 317 yards and scored three passing touchdowns. RB Christine Michael sprinted for 104 yards on 21 carries and WR Ryan Swope hauled in six catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, they just had no answer for Missouri's run game. RB Henry Josey dashed for 162 yards while QB James Franklin scrambled for 97 more.

Three turnovers ultimately killed the Aggies, and they'll have to go back to the drawing board before going on the road to take on Oklahoma and Kansas State the next two weeks.

Grade: C-

No. 15 Wisconsin

Opponent: Ohio State

Outcome: Lost 29-33

Goodbye BCS Title hopes.

I realize that those hopes were pretty dim after Wisconsin was stung by Michigan State last week, but with so many teams stumbling late in the year, there was still a chance the Badgers could work their way back into the mix by the time the conference title game ends in Indianapolis.

Suddenly, just getting to Indianapolis is looking kind of slim and any shot at the BCS Title game is long gone.

This was nearly a tremendous late-game victory for the Badgers. The first half was dominated by defenses as the two teams could only manage a 7-3 score going into the break. It closely resembled the old school football the Big Ten has long been known for.

The third quarter belonged mostly to Ohio State though, who carried a 17-14 lead into the final period. A flurry of scores in the fourth saw Wisconsin fall behind as much as 26-14 and then saw them storm back to take a 29-26 lead with just 1:18 left in the game.

A 40-yard strike from Braxton Miller to Devin Smith with only 20 ticks left on the clock rung the death toll for Wisconsin who has now lost two in a row.

The Badger defense couldn't stop Daniel "Boom" Herron who worked the ground attack 33 times for 160 yards and surrendered three total rushing touchdowns. Miller only threw the ball 12 times and Wisconsin held him to 89 yards, but his one touchdown strike came at the perfect time and Wisconsin got burned badly.

QB Russell Wilson played well, throwing for over 250 yards and three touchdowns, but Bret Bielema relied far too heavily on him as RB Montee Ball was averaging five yards per carry, but was only allowed to haul the ball 17 times.

Had Wisconsin used Ball the way Ohio State used Herron, this might have been a different game. Wilson is good, but Bielema relied far too heavily on the quarterback and got away from what was working the most.

Grade: C

No. 14 Nebraska

Opponent: No. 11 Michigan State

Outcome: Won 24-3

This was the kind of win the Cornhuskers needed. It was a quality victory over a ranked opponent that keeps them firmly in the Big Ten title chase and keeps them climbing the BCS standings.

Most importantly, that famous defense finally showed up to play.

Throughout the season, the "black shirts" have been somewhat disappointing. While they've been okay, they haven't really been dominating and fans had sorely hoped (and believed) that their defense would be strong enough to keep them in contention for a conference title, despite a tough schedule.

Finally, they fit the bill.

Not only did they hold the Spartans to only a field goal, the defense held QB Kirk Cousins to just 86 yards passing and stole away an interception. They also held RB LeVeon Bell to only 58 yards rushing and RB Edwin Baker to 38.

The offense wasn't flashy, but they were taking on a pretty tough defense themselves.

QB Taylor Martinez showed why he can sometimes be frustrating to root for as he tossed for only 80 yards and also threw up a pick, though he likewise managed a touchdown strike to Rex Burkhead.

Burkhead (RB) was the offensive hero of the show, not only pulling down that touchdown pass from Martinez, but also running the ball 35 times for 130 yards and two more touchdowns.

Burkhead accounted for every Cornhusker touchdown of the day, doing more to wear down Michigan State's defense than anyone on the other side of the ball could manage.

Grade: A

No. 13 South Carolina

Opponent: Tennessee

Outcome: Won 14-3

We wondered how South Carolina would look sans Marcus Lattimore. Ultimately, the jury may still be out on that one somewhat, but Brandon Wilds sure gives the Gamecocks something to be optimistic about.

Wilds ran the ball 28 times for 137 yards, taking a ton of pressure off young QB Connor Shaw.

Shaw continues to look good, taking over for longtime veteran Stephen Garcia. Shaw only amassed 87 passing yards but completed 10-of-18 passes, threw a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.

Three turnovers helped keep this game closer than it probably should have been. Not only did Shaw throw up a pick, but the Gamecocks fumbled the ball away twice.

However, the defense did its job. The Volunteers only managed 186 total yards on the day and could only grab 35 yards running the ball.

Given that Tennessee is only 3-5 overall and is winless in the SEC, this should have been a more dominant victory. And given how well Wilds ran the ball in Lattimore's absence, there's no excuses about missing their biggest offensive weapon.

South Carolina put up far more yards than Tennessee and were more effective all day, but struggled to turn that production into points and turned the ball over three times.

It was a good learning game, but little else.

Grade: C

No. 12 Virginia Tech

Opponent: Duke

Outcome: Won 14-10

Ugly. That would be the best description for this victory. The Blue Devils are 3-5 and can count Richmond as their first loss of the season (Richmond!). Virginia Tech should have had their way with Duke.

They didn't.

The defense stole away three Sean Renfree passes, and they didn't allow any one aspect of Duke's attack to find a lot of success, but the offense couldn't do much of anything with that.

QB Logan Thomas completed 17-of-28 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown but also gave away two interceptions of his own. RB David Wilson had a strong day, picking up 148 yards on 23 carries, but Tech could only manage one touchdown for their 243 total rushing yards.

If you really look hard at this game, four Duke turnovers likely made the difference. While both teams were able to move the ball with varying degrees of success, neither team could find ways to finish off their drives.

Get rid of those turnovers, though, and we might be talking about an entirely different outcome. It was a win for Tech, but it wasn't a great win.

Grade: C

No. 11 Michigan State

Opponent: No. 14 Nebraska

Outcome: Lost 3-24

Halloween continues to spell dread for the Spartans. On this weekend last year, the Spartans were blasted by Iowa 6-37. The year before that, they lost to Minnesota 34-42.

Maybe Michigan State should be looking into whether or not they had some kind of Halloween hex placed on them.

Simply put, the Spartans were manhandled by Nebraska. The Cornhuskers controlled the play at the lines and got a solid performance from their defense. The Spartan defense did well, but not well enough and the offense was horrible.

QB Kirk Cousins looked more like a freshman walk-on than a veteran leader of the team. He completed just 11 of 27 passes for a pathetic 86 yards and an interception.

Meanwhile, the running game fell flat. LeVeon Bell averaged 4.8 yards per carry but could only manage a total of 58 yards while Edwin Baker amassed a grand total of 38 yards on 10 carries.

Overall, Michigan State picked up only 187 yards while giving 90 yards back via penalties.

It's always tough going into Lincoln and getting a win, but Michigan State's offense apparently didn't even try.

Grade: D-

No. 10 Arkansas

Opponent: Vanderbilt

Outcome: Won 31-28

The Razorbacks dodged a bullet. The Commodores darn near knocked them down a couple of notches this week.

Vanderbilt led almost the entire game. From the second quarter until early in the fourth, the Commodores had the Razorbacks on the run. It wasn't until Jerry Fanklin picked up a Vanderbilt fumble and dashed 94 yards with ball in toe that Arkansas was able to tie up the game and grab a little momentum.

QB Tyler Wilson threw for over 300 yards and tossed a touchdown, but the ground game really struggled to get anything consistent working for them. Arkansas managed only 72 rushing yards to complement the 316 yards Wilson provided through the air.

What's more, for all the yards Wilson managed to rack up, the Razorbacks really struggled to turn them into points on the board.

Turnovers can't really be blamed for the close call. While the Razorbacks did give away a pair of fumbles, they also took a couple back from Vandy and added an interception for good measure. If anything, it was the fumble return for a touchdown that kept Arkansas in position to win this game.

Vanderbilt's ground game was just too much for Arkansas, though Vandy grabbed their biggest yards in spurts. RB Zac Stacy locked down 128 yards on 19 carries and scored a 62-yard touchdown run. Jordan Rogers did the hard work, pounding out 66 yards on 18 carries, but picking up two touchdowns from inside the red zone.

Credit to Vandy for playing a hard game and bringing everything they had against a top 10 opponent, but it was a somewhat lackluster performance for Arkansas, and they nearly got beat.

Grade: C+

No. 9 Oklahoma

Opponent: No. 8 Kansas State

Outcome: Won 58-17

Now that's how you bounce back from a disappointing loss. The Sooners potentially saw their BCS title hopes go out the window last week when they dropped to Texas Tech.

Kansas State represented an opportunity to make a strong statement against a fellow top 10 team. I'm thinking 58-17 is a pretty good statement.

QB Landry Jones showed again why he's in the hunt for a Heisman Trophy. Jones threw for 505 yards and five touchdowns in the rout of Kansas State. Jones also threw a pair of picks but more than made up for his mistakes.

The ground game found most of its success on a couple of long bursts. Roy Finch scored on a 31-yard scamper, and Trey Millard sprinted 61 yards for a score late in the game.

Still, the Sooners made easy work of Kansas State's feared defense.

Meanwhile, the Sooner defense decided to show up this week to help the cause. QB Collin Klein was able to scramble for 92 yards and two scores but was limited to just 58 passing yards and was kept from throwing for a score.

They held the Wildcats to just 15 first downs and limited them to 4-of-13 conversions on third down.

Solid performance over a top-10 team to get back on track.

Grade: A

No. 8 Kansas State

Opponent: No. 9 Oklahoma

Outcome: Lost 17-58

The Wildcats had an opportunity to make a strong statement, both in the Big 12 and on the national stage. The only statement they made is that they can't hang with the really big boys.

For a short while in the second quarter, Kansas State worked their way to a lead and threatened to hand the Sooners their second consecutive loss.

That all went out the window in a hurry.

By halftime, they were back down 17-23, and the second half was all Oklahoma.

The usually staunch defense couldn't contain Landry Jones' arm, allowing him to throw for over 500 yards and five touchdowns. That helped open up running lanes for the Sooner ground attack to notch off a couple of huge runs that broke the Wildcat spirit.

They played cleanly, giving up only one turnover and committing only 35 yards to penalty. However, they couldn't get past Oklahoma's fired-up defense and could do absolutely nothing with Jones.

Grade: C (consider the competition here)

No. 7 Oregon

Opponent: Washington State

Outcome: Won 43-28

This was a comfortable win, but it really wasn't necessarily that impressive a performance for Oregon.

Statistically, they were actually outplayed by 3-5 Washington State. The Cougars had more total yards, more first downs, more passing yards and held the ball nearly twice as long as Oregon did.

However, Oregon had the bigger number where it counted most—on the scoreboard.

QB Darron Thomas had a thoroughly disappointing day. He threw for 153 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two picks in 13 attempts.

Bryan Bennett arguably had a much better day. He threw for 88 yards on four completions and scored two touchdowns.

RB Kenjon Barner continues to look impressive running the ball. He picked up 107 yards on just 11 carries and scored a touchdown.

Special teams also had a huge day. Boseko Lokombo scored on a blocked punt to open the day and De'Anthony Thomas dashed 93 yards on a kickoff return for a touchdown.

It was exciting, and Oregon grabbed a 15-point win, but I'm not sure it'll be enough to impress many pollsters, and it didn't impress me that much.

Grade: B

No. 6 Stanford

Opponent: USC

Outcome: Won 56-48 3OT

That was an epic ball game! Just because USC can't play in a bowl game doesn't mean they're going to lay down and allow anyone to roll over them.

Stanford knew that, but it still took everything they had and three overtimes to pull out the win.

QB Andrew Luck threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns with a pick. His performance should be good enough to keep him atop the Heisman list.

However, on the other side of the ball, Matt Barkley was having an equally good night. Barkley didn't have as good a completion percentage and threw for considerably fewer yards, but he too tossed up three touchdowns on Stanford's defense with an interception.

RB Stepfan Taylor led a persistent ground attack. Taylor fell just short of the century mark (99 yards) and scored two touchdowns as the Cardinal amassed 186 rushing yards as a team.

The offense did everything it could. Unfortunately, the defense couldn't seem to do enough to put USC behind them. This was a back-and-forth battle all the way to the end.

Turnovers weren't much of an issue, really. Stanford did give up the interception, but they got two turnovers back from USC.

Penalty yards were a thorn for Stanford, though. They allowed 91 yards on 11 turnovers.

It's awfully hard to find fault with Stanford for needing so much additional time to put away the Trojans. USC knew they could make a strong statement by taking down Stanford, and they arguably played their best game of the year.

However, the Cardinal were ultimately too strong and got a thrilling victory to remain undefeated.

Grade: A

No. 5 Clemson

Opponent: Georgia Tech

Outcome: Lost 17-31

I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. A loss that is. I didn't think it would come to the Yellow Jackets though, and I certainly didn't think it would be that lopsided.

In the two previous weeks, Georgia Tech had struggled to get anything offensively working as both Virginia and Miami (FL) had upended the Jackets. Meanwhile, Clemson was on an eight-game run and had some quality wins along the way.

On paper, it really shouldn't have turned out this way.

QB Tajh Boyd made a couple of costly mistakes. He threw for 295 yards and a touchdown but also threw two interceptions.

The offense overall dropped the ball—literally. They had two fumbles to go along with Boyd's two interceptions as Clemson shot themselves in the feet repeatedly.

The run game struggled against Georgia Tech's defense, gaining a total of just 95 yards. RB Mike Bellamy had a tremendous 8.4 yard-per-carry average, but only got eight carries on the day. The rest of the rushing offense could barely generate anything positive.

Meanwhile, the defense allowed it to be the Tevin Washington show. Washington only passed for 60 yards and offered up an interception, but he also ran for 176 yards and a touchdown. David Sims also scored a touchdown and Orwin Smith scored two more.

Clemson's offense was less than spectacular, and their defense was mediocre at best. Maybe the pressure of being in the top five were too much. Maybe it was just their time.

Whatever the case, this wasn't a great showing by the Tigers.

Grade: D

No. 4 Boise State

Opponent: Idle

Outcome: N/A

The Broncos got a chance to sit out the madness this week and wait to see what the BCS gods would hand down to them. Their best hopes would have been to have at least one top-five team lose and for the others to have enough trouble for their weak schedule to keep them in the chase for their biggest BCS dreams.

They got at least part of what they wanted. No. 5 Clemson lost horrifically to Georgia Tech. Plus, both Alabama and LSU were idle this week, meaning they couldn't do anything to further their cause.

However, both Stanford and Oklahoma State had good games. Their BCS hopes still hinge on a lot of other peoples' fortunes.

The rest of the Bronco schedule shakes out like this:

at UNLV

vs TCU

at San Diego State

vs. Wyoming

vs. New Mexico

Grade:

No. 3 Oklahoma State

Opponent: Baylor

Outcome: Won 59-24

A month ago, this game might have been a pretty thrilling matchup. However, the Bears had dropped two of their previous three games and had slipped from the polls.

Still, the Cowboys had a lot on the line, and Baylor represented a dangerous opponent.

As it turned out, the Bears weren't that dangerous at all. Oklahoma State thundered out to a 35-0 first-half lead and never looked back. By the end of the third quarter, they had extended their lead to 49-3.

QB Brandon Weeden put up a solid performance, completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns.

While that was good and will likely keep Weeden at least in the Heisman discussion, RB Joseph Randle was the undisputed MVP. Randle carried the ball just 14 times but ripped off 152 yards and scored four touchdowns.

Adding insult to injury, Herschel Sims also had a tremendous showing, racking up 104 yards on just eight carries with a huge scamper of 81 yards.

The defense did its part until very late in the game when the outcome was no longer in question. Robert Griffin III passed for 425 yards but was only allowed to toss one touchdown pass (in junk time), while the Cowboys intercepted him twice.

RB Terrance Ganaway picked up 88 yards, but again, he was only allowed to find the end zone one time and that was with the Bears trailing 49-3.

It doesn't get more dominant than this game was. The score and stats don't come close to doing it justice. Oklahoma State started strong and completely buried the Bears before taking their feet off the gas and allowing Baylor to put up a few token points.

Grade: A+

No. 2 Alabama

Opponent: Idle

Outcome: N/A

Hollywood couldn't have scripted this without people screaming that it wasn't realistic. The Crimson Tide are No. 2 in the nation, about to take on No. 1 LSU and both teams have a week off to prepare for the big game.

What? That never happens.

The entire season may well come down to this season. Does anyone really think there's a team in the East Division that can compete with either Bama or LSU?

Georgia? I don't think so. Florida? Not a chance. South Carolina? Only if they got really, really lucky.

This game is for the chance to play in the SEC title game—the winner of which will likely go on to play for the National Title.

While this upcoming game is the biggest one of the year, the rest of the schedule looks like this:

vs. No. 1 LSU

at Mississippi State

vs. Georgia Southern

at No. 22 Auburn

Grade:

No. 1 LSU

Opponent: Idle

Outcome: N/A

And so, it all likely comes down to this. This weekend was off. Standing in their way next, however, is No. 2 Alabama.

Both teams had the weekend off. Neither team will have an excuse or an advantage next week. College football doesn't get any better than this.

LSU is just one big win away from gaining the upper hand and a clear road to the SEC title. With that would come an almost automatic position in the BCS title bowl.

To get there, the rest of the schedule looks like this:

at No. 2 Alabama

vs. Western Kentucky

at Mississippi

vs. No. 7 Arkansas