As much as I’d love to talk about this past weekend in college football, given the absolute chaos that reigned, I just don’t have the time to put together a full recap. Hopefully, next week there will be more time to do so. In the meantime, here’s a mini-version to tide you over.
Nine top-25 teams lost last week. The last time that many top-25 teams lost in one week, it was almost four years ago (October 18, 2008). This week’s poll features some familiar faces (Alabama at #1, Oregon at #2) and some new blood (Cincinnati at #21 and Texas A&M at #22, ranked for the first time this year, and Louisiana Tech at #23, ranked for the first time since 1999).
This week’s featured team: the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Ol’ Ball Coach has been drawing a few plays in the dirt, and Carolina has never looked finer. Their 35-7 victory over Georgia was the biggest in series history for the Gamecocks, and their current ranking of #3 is their highest in 28 years. South Carolina is currently riding the program’s longest ever winning streak – 10 games. This isn’t your older brother’s Steve Spurrier team – this team wins with defense. They’re currently 11th in the nation in total defense and 4th in the nation in scoring defense (10.5 ppg). Carolina has not won a conference championship since they won the ACC in 1969 – the only conference championship in the history of the program. The next Chinese Year of the Rooster isn’t until 2017, but who’s to say that 2012 couldn’t be the year of the Gamecock in the SEC?
Congratulations to bamaken, who won week 6 with 150 points. AUBrian was second with 141, and Allison was third with 137.
Standings after six weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…
| 1st | MarylandTwerp | 943 |
| 2nd | The Tradition | 935 |
| 3rd | AUBrian | 933 |
| 4th | gatorbamalover | 932 |
| T-5th | Allison | 930 |
| T-5th | Crimson Gator | 930 |
| 7th | jagrag | 928 |
| 8th | Rocky Tide | 925 |
| 9th | maestro | 924 |
| 10th | CUtigers | 923 |
A big slate of 18 games this week, and with this week starts the mid-season rivalry games. One of the biggest, of course, is Oklahoma-Texas, held every year at the Cotton Bowl during the Texas State Fair (unofficial motto: “we deep-fry anything”). But there are several top-25 teams facing each other, so your picks and points will be paramount! The first game is Louisville at Pittsburgh, Saturday, October 13 @ 11 AM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
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Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.