Nick Saban is getting his team ready to take on a big SEC West rival. Steve Spurrier has his team in the upper echelon of the SEC East. In Ohio, Urban Meyer is readying his players, showing the college football world just how good a football coach he can be. Mark Richt is hearing grumblings after losing to a team from South Carolina. And the college football world is preparing for the early candidate for the “Game of the Year”, as two top-ten SEC powers collide.

Nick Saban is at LSU, about to face Auburn. Steve Spurrier is at Florida. Urban Meyer is starting his first year as a head coach at Bowling Green. Mark Richt just lost to South Carolina, not Clemson. And the “Game of the Year” candidate in question is Tennessee at Florida.

It is September 11, 2001. And everything is about to change, forever.

---

The weekend following 9/11 was the last time college football games were postponed throughout the nation. The rest of the year took on a different feel. Texas A&M famously did a “red, white, and blue-out” of their stadium in their first home game after 9/11 against Oklahoma State. Rivalries were just that…they weren’t war. In fact, Kansas and Missouri changed the name of their rivalry game from the “Border War” to the “Border Showdown” a couple of years later precisely for that reason.

You’ll forgive me for using this space in a different manner than normal. But as one who in the past has not always put football (and Alabama football specifically) in its proper context in life, recalling the events of this day always makes it crystal clear. College football is a great game; some might argue the greatest of games. It is a uniquely American tradition. But at the end of the day, it’s not going to change my life whether my team wins this Saturday or not. Some of us know someone whose life was impacted directly by the events of twelve years ago. We have all been changed in some way by that day.

---

Nick Saban is getting his team ready to take on a big SEC West rival, Texas A&M. Steve Spurrier has South Carolina at a level they’ve never reached before. Urban Meyer is at Ohio State, showing the college football world how good of a coach he is. Mark Richt quelled a lot of the grumblings from the Clemson loss by beating South Carolina. And the “Game of the Year” of the week is Alabama at Texas A&M.

While things seem similar, sometimes things are completely different. And for me personally, one of those things is perspective.

---

Congratulations to BEVO, who won a tie-breaker over GO PONIES! and verntroyer for the week two championship. Both finished with 180 points. Pachyderm was one point behind with 179 points, and maestro, JagRag, AUBrian, badgerTime, The Tradition, and War Ralphie all had 178 points. Again, remember that this year is the “drop two worst weeks” format, so we’ll start the top ten rankings following next week, when there will be three weeks of data. The first game this week is TCU at Texas Tech, Thursday, September 12 @ 7:30 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

The only thing worse than getting beat in college football is paying someone else for the privilege of doing it. Eight 1-A teams found this out the hard way, including Oregon State, which in losing 49-46 to Eastern Washington became only the third team ever to lose a game to a 1-AA opponent while ranked (2007 – Michigan to Appalachian State; 2010 – Virginia Tech to James Madison). The price tag for those losses? A cool $2.4 million. Oregon State paid Eastern Washington $450,000 for their time.

A fun thing about one week’s worth of games is that the statistics are completely wacky. Three examples:

• In Arkansas State’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (a 62-11 win), the Red Wolves racked up 509 rushing yards, and gave up 12. As a result, they find themselves 1st in the country in rushing offense, and 2nd – by a yard – in rushing defense.
• Passing efficiency is calculated by this formula: [ { (8.4 * yards) + (330 * touchdowns) – (200 * interceptions) + (100 * completions) } / attempts ]. According to that fairly convoluted equation, Alabama’s pass efficiency defense rating is 30.6. You could double that number, and it would still be the best rating in the country.
• Jameis Winston had perhaps the best game a first-time starter has ever had passing: 25-for-27 for 356 yards and four touchdowns. His backup even went two for two. Yet, Florida State is only 3rd in the country in passing efficiency, behind Louisville and Georgia Tech (yep, triple-option running Georgia Tech).

If you stayed up somewhat late on Saturday, you may have seen a game out in Seattle that surely surprised a few people who only saw the final box score. Washington christened their reopening of their completely updated Husky Stadium with a 38-6 whipping of Boise State. The Broncos had only lost eight games in Chris Petersen’s time coaching leading up to this game. None of them were by more than 14 points. They hadn’t lost a game by more than four points since 2007. It’s strange to think that in the last year of the BCS, the team that has been considered an annual “BCS Buster” candidate already has lost their chance to do so.

Congratulations to JagRag for taking the week one title! JagRag won the crown in a tie-breaker win over Mark1; both finished with 242 points. AUBrian and BritanniaTex are tied for third with 241 points.

Finally, a couple of programming notes. First, it wasn’t mentioned before, but this season’s champion will again be determined by a “drop two weeks” format. So if you have an off-week, or even miss one entirely, you’re not out of the game! I’ll start giving overall standings in this email after week 3. The first games this week start on Saturday, September 7 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

Our biggest congratulations go to the winner of the 2012 e-Systems College Football Pool:

maestro

maestro finished the season with 2,370 points in the “drop two worst weeks” format. The Tradition finished in second place with 2,349 points, and jagrag was third with 2,343 points. Congratulations to all three for their outstanding performances! All three will receive special prizes for their accomplishment.

If there was a word to describe maestro‘s performance throughout the season, it was “consistent”. She finished third in the first half of the game, and second in the second half. She only finished outside of the top ten in a week twice, and one of those was an eleventh-place finish. At one point, she had five straight top-5 weeks, including three straight weeks at #2. She also takes first place in the total points category, with 2,551 points. The Tradition was again second, with 2,526 points, and Allison was third with 2,513 points. Well done!

In number of games picked correctly, maestro and The Tradition tied for first with 223 games correct. CUtigers finished third, with 219. Good job!

The first half of the game was won by Allison, and the second half by bamaken. Great work!

There were several multiple-week winners this year. The Tradition led the way in this department with victories in weeks 4, 8, and 14. Two-time weekly winners include MarylandTwerp (weeks 2 and 3), bamaken (weeks 6 and 11), and Big Blue Nation (weeks 10 and 13). Other weekly winners were CUtigers (1), badgerTime (5), Mark (7), JustWinAWeek (9), and BritanniaTex (12). Congratulations to all of the weekly winners!

Everyone will receive a prize for participating this year! If you aren’t sure that we have your current mailing address for shipping, please respond to my e-mail that was sent today and we will update our records.

How Did We All Do?

• Picks: 5,147/6,691 (76.924%)
• Points: 59,496/70,611 (84.259%)
• Best Week as a Group: week 1 (614/667 – 92.054%; 7,654/8,004 points – 96.002% of possible points)
• Five weeks with over 80% of picks correct
• Seven weeks with over 85% of possible points gained
• “Perfect” weeks: 9 (all in week one)
• “All But 1 Game Right” weeks: 17

On behalf of all of us at e-Systems, thank you again for participating in our 9^th annual College Football Pool. College football season is one of the most fun times of the year, and for me, this pool always plays a big part in the excitement. I hope that all of you will join us again in 2013, when we’ll do it all again! In the meantime, we hope you think of e-Systems for all your custom application and system needs. We’re just as much fun to work with!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

Bowl games are an interesting fixture of college football. No other sport that I know of features several one-off games, most of which have no significance on a team’s season, at the end of the season. And yet bowl games are here to stay, despite a playoff on the horizon. Let’s take a look at some of the games and point out a few interesting notes:

If you want teams familiar with each other, watch: Syracuse and West Virginia, who meet in the Pinstripe Bowl. The Orange and Mountaineers have played 59 previous times, with Syracuse holding a 32-27 edge. WVU is Syracuse’s fourth-most played opponent, and Syracuse is WVU’s third-most played. The two teams used to play for the Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy, named after a former WVU player and Syracuse coach. No word as to whether the trophy will be up for grabs in the game.

If you want offense, watch: Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Both teams average over 500 yards per game; this is the only bowl matchup to feature two such teams. Or, you could watch Kansas State vs. Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl; both teams are in the top ten in scoring (Oregon is 2nd at 50.8 PPG; K-State is 10th at 40.8), and this is the only bowl game to feature two such teams.

If you want defense, watch: well, the national title game. Alabama is first in rushing defense and total defense, second in scoring defense, sixth in passing defense, and eighth in passing efficiency defense. Notre Dame is first in scoring defense, fourth in rushing defense, and sixth in total defense.

If you love rematches, watch: Iowa State vs. Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl. The teams played in the first game of the year for each, with Iowa State winning 38-23 at home. Will be the outcome be different this time, since Tulsa has won a conference title and ISU is 6-6?

If you want to support a hometown team, watch: BYU versus San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl, where the Aztecs play in their home stadium (Qualcomm Stadium). Or you could pick N.C. State versus Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl. While it’s not in their home stadium, the Commodores don’t have to leave Nashville to play in their bowl game.

If you want to support a team that had to travel a long way, watch: Fresno State versus SMU in the Hawai’i Bowl. The Mustangs will have to travel almost 3,800 miles to reach Honolulu. If you want to stay on the mainland, watch Arizona State and Navy in the Fight Hunger Bowl. The Midshipmen will travel over 2,400 miles to reach San Francisco.

If you want a familiar face in a bowl, watch: either the Rose Bowl or the BBVA Compass Bowl. Wisconsin makes its third straight trip to Pasadena, where they will face Stanford, while Pittsburgh comes to Birmingham for the third straight year to play Ole Miss.

Other quick thoughts: Tigers vs. Tigers in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, as Clemson plays LSU; Bears vs. Bruins in the Holiday Bowl, as Baylor plays UCLA…Western Kentucky gets their first-ever bowl invite, and will play Central Michigan in the Little Caesars Bowl…elite academic schools can win, too: Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Stanford, and Vanderbilt are all playing in bowl games (it’s the first time ever that all five have participated in the same year).

And now, for the absolute nerdiest thing I’ve ever stated in this spot: Ready to get your mind blown? Here we go. Alabama started the year playing the team with the best all-time winning percentage in college football. It will end the year playing the team with the best all-time winning percentage, if Michigan loses to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. Here’s how:

At the beginning of the year, here’s how Michigan and Notre Dame stood:

Rank	Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Winning %
#1	Michigan	895	312	38	73.4136546%
#2	Notre Dame	853	301	41	73.0962343%

Since then, Notre Dame has gone 12-0, and Michigan 8-4, leading to this:

Rank	Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Winning %
#1	Notre Dame	865	301	41	73.3637117%
#2	Michigan	903	316	38	73.3492442%

But if Michigan wins against South Carolina on January 1, they will move back to #1 with a 904-316-38 (73.3704293%) record. If Michigan loses, of course, they can’t jump ahead of Notre Dame, which would mean Alabama would start the season with the team with the #1 winning percentage (Michigan) and finish it with the team with the #1 winning percentage (Notre Dame). Easy, right?

Congratulations to The Tradition, who wins their third week of the year, with 53 points. thelittlebaldguy finished second with 52 points, and jagrag was third with 50 points.

—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

Conference championship games are a relatively new feature in college football history. Since 1992, almost every conference has featured a championship game at some point, although some conferences that once had one now cannot due to not having enough teams in the conference. Let’s take a look at the conference championship games:

We’ll start with the oldest of the championships, the SEC Championship Game. The first major college conference championship game was the 1992 SEC Championship, which Alabama won 28-21 over Florida. Twenty games have been played so far in the series, with the Eastern Division holding an 11-9 edge. Florida has both appeared in and won the most SEC Championship games, with seven wins in ten games. This year’s game breaks a four-game streak of having the #1-rated team in the BCS participating (2008 – Alabama, 2009 – Florida, 2010 – Auburn, 2011 – LSU). I guess they’ll have to settle for a #2 vs. #3 matchup! Alabama has never played anyone except Florida in SEC Title games until this year. Georgia has played LSU three times and Arkansas once in its previous appearances.

What’s the second-oldest conference championship game currently played? Would you believe it’s the MAC Championship? The game has been played since 1997. The team with the most championships and appearances is Marshall (now in Conference USA), with five wins in six games. This year’s game between #21 Northern Illinois and #17 Kent State marks only the second time in championship game history that both teams are ranked coming into the game (in 2003, #13 Miami (Ohio) beat #20 Bowling Green 49-27). If Kent State wins, they have a chance to earn a BCS Bowl berth by virtue of being a top-16 team rated higher than an automatic-qualifying conference champion, and it would be their first conference championship since 1972, when a defensive back named Nick Saban played for the Golden Flashes. If Northern Illinois wins, it would mark their second straight conference title and third MAC title overall.

The ACC Championship Game, played since 2005, pits 10-2 Florida State against 6-6 Georgia Tech. Each team has won one championship game in the past (FSU in the first game in 2005 over Virginia Tech, 27-22; Georgia Tech in 2009 over Clemson, 39-34, although the Yellow Jackets later had to vacate the game and the championship). The Coastal Division representative has always been either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech. This is the first year of the championship game in which one of the teams comes in unranked. Virginia Tech has the most ACC Championship Game wins and appearances, winning three of their five games.

The Conference USA Championship Game has also been played since 2005. This year, Tulsa and Central Florida will play for the title, the third time in the eight year history of the game these two teams have matched up. The Knights and the Golden Hurricane have the most appearances in the game (four each counting this year), although UCF and East Carolina tie for the most wins, with two apiece. This will be the last Conference USA game for UCF, as they leave for the Big East next year. The teams played in the regular season; Tulsa won 23-21 at home. The title game will also be played at Tulsa, but don’t necessarily chalk that up as an automatic win for the Golden Hurricane – the hosting team is only 4-3 in conference title games.

The Big Ten Championship and Pac-12 Championship games only been played once before, so there’s not a whole lot of history to draw from, but each features a repeat contestant (Wisconsin from the Big Ten and UCLA from the Pac-12). Both games feature rematches from a regular season game (Nebraska beat Wisconsin 30-27 on September 29, while Stanford beat UCLA 35-17 last week). The winners of these contests will play in the Rose Bowl against each other, of course; Wisconsin will be vying for its third straight trip to Pasadena and ninth overall; Nebraska will be playing for its third trip, but their first as a Big Ten member. UCLA and Stanford will each be playing for their thirteenth Rose Bowl appearance, which would rank fifth all-time.

Congratulations to Big Blue Nation, who wins their second week of the year, with 193 points. bamaken finished second with 192 points, and Mark was third with 190 points.

Standings after twelve weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

1st	maestro	2231
2nd	jagrag	2211
3rd	The Tradition	2207
4th	AUBrian	2199
5th	Allison	2195
6th	CUtigers	2193
7th	Crimson Gator	2182
8th	JustWinAWeek	2170
9th	Bamarock	2165
10th	BritanniaTex	2164

It’s the final week of the game, so it’s the last chance to improve your standing! The first game is the MAC Championship Game, which features Northern Illinois and Kent State, on Friday, November 30 @ 7 ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

If you ever needed a reminder that college football is sometimes inexplicable, last Saturday around 10 PM would have been about as crystal-clear an example as you could ask for. #1 Kansas State was playing out the string of a four-touchdown loss to a Baylor team that entered the game 4-5. It was the first time ever that a team with a losing record entering the game beat the #1-ranked BCS team. Meanwhile, Oregon and three-touchdown underdog Stanford were going toe-to-toe in a rare Pac-12 defensive showdown. Speaking as an SEC fan, I hope that the West Coasters learned that 17-14 games can be as exciting and fun to watch as 63-59 games. It was the first time that the #1 and #2 BCS teams lost in the same weekend since December 1, 2007 (when Missouri and West Virginia lost).

And so we are down to two unbeaten teams, which is where the BCS honchos would usually get to puff out their chests and say, “See? The system worked again.” Unfortunately for them, one of those two teams is Ohio State. The Buckeyes had the option to take a postseason ban last year or this year. They chose to go to the Gator Bowl last year, where they lost to Florida. As a result, they may be 12-0 with no place to go if they can beat Michigan in their annual rivalry game this weekend. Instead, we’re left with Notre Dame and a contingent of SEC schools chomping at the bit to claim a spot in the title game. Alabama and Georgia have a direct path to Miami – win two more games, and they’re in – but it’s also theoretically possible for Florida or (given a really wacky set of circumstances) even LSU to claim a championship berth. Don’t think it could happen? Go back to 2007, when the Tigers leaped from 7th to 2nd in the final BCS standings before claiming the national title. And of course, Oregon and Kansas State can still make it with some luck as well.

It is time for the year-end rivalry games! As I have mentioned before in this space, this is my favorite weekend of the college football season, because each of these games means just a little bit more to the players and the fans. Some games are played for trophies, others just for pride, but they all mean something special to all of the participants. If there was ever a time to take someone who had never seen a college football game, a good rivalry game is about the best one I could think of. Sadly, this weekend also is a stark reminder that former rivals won’t be playing each other. Texas won’t face Texas A&M in the Lone Star Showdown (Texas will play TCU; A&M faces Missouri). Missouri won’t play Kansas (which is idle this week) in the Border War. Pittsburgh and West Virginia won’t have their Backyard Brawl (the Panthers play Rutgers while West Virginia plays Iowa State). What do all three of those former matchups have in common? Each of them had been played over 100 times before. Kansas-Missouri was the second-most played game in I-A (120 games); Texas-Texas A&M was the third-most (118 games). Traditions left behind, time marches on, to the beat of the almighty dollar.

Meanwhile, in small college news, John Gagliardi retired today. Who’s that, you ask? He was the coach of St. John’s University in Minnesota, a Division III school. He was the head coach there for 60 years. Counting four years before that at Carroll College in Montana, his overall record was 489-138-11, a 77.5% winning percentage. This makes him the winningest coach in NCAA history across all divisions. He also won four national championships at St. John’s. He began coaching at age 16 while still in high school, and retires seventy years later. He had an interesting way of coaching to say the least; there was no tackling or wind sprints at practices, which were very short by today’s standards. He didn’t have a playbook. His players called him “John” instead of “Coach”. Yet he leaves the sport on his terms and remembered as nothing but a winner, and as we all know from recent events, this is something special. Perhaps the final word is this; the Division III equivalent of the Heisman Trophy is called the Gagliardi Trophy. It has been known as such since 1993.

Congratulations to BrittaniaTex, who won week 12 with 216 points. JustWinAWeek finished second with 215 points, and there was a three-way tie at third between Bamarock, AUBrian, and CUtigers, all at 206 points.

Standings after twelve weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

1st	maestro	2053
2nd	The Tradition	2037
3rd	AUBrian	2036
4th	jagrag	2035
5th	CUtigers	2022
6th	Crimson Gator	2019
7th	Allison	2014
8th	JustWinAWeek	2008
9th	BritanniaTex	2003
T-10th	Bamarock	1996
T-10th	gatorbamalover	1996

This week features another 21 games! I know that this is a short week for most of us, so remember to pick before Thanksgiving! This week’s first game is TCU at Texas, Thursday, November 22 @ 7:30 ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

And so we are down to four. Alabama and Louisville fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, leaving Kansas State, Oregon, Notre Dame…and Ohio State. The forgotten of the four due to BCS ineligibility and the Big Ten conference being down this year, the Buckeyes couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Urban Meyer era. While they cannot win the BCS championship, it’s conceivable that if the other undefeated teams slip and they beat Wisconsin and Michigan to finish the season 12-0, they could win the AP national title. So how good are they? Well, good enough to win every week thus far, but perhaps not as dominant as some of the other unbeatens. They’ve won by seven against a Cal team that Oregon beat by 42. They won by 14 against UAB, who South Carolina beat by 43. But as we all know, the transitive property doesn’t apply in college football, so tip your cap to Meyer and the Buckeyes, who are making the absolute best of a bad situation this year.

Now that we are through almost a full year of the new conference alignments, let’s take a closer look at how teams are doing in their new digs. The team that has made the best impression in their first year in their new league is undoubtedly Texas A&M. The Aggies, fresh off of their upset of Alabama, find themselves 8-2 and two winnable games from a 10-win season and (most likely) a tie for second in the SEC Western Division. This could result in a Cotton Bowl bid…perhaps against familiar foe Texas. Wouldn’t that be a bowl matchup everyone (except maybe certain Texas fans) would love to see? Missouri hasn’t fared quite as well. The Tigers are still one win away from bowl eligibility and must beat either Syracuse or Texas A&M to get there. Injuries have hurt their chances of making a big splash this year. In the Big XII, TCU and West Virginia find themselves middle-of-the-pack. The Horned Frogs are 3-4 in the conference and bowl-eligible, but must win against Texas and/or Oklahoma in the last two games to improve their bowl destination. West Virginia started the season with a bang, but has lost four straight and is still looking for that elusive sixth win. They still have Iowa State and Kansas left on their conference schedule, so there is a good possibility of ending up with seven wins, but it’s a far cry from their dreams of a national title after a 5-0 start. Temple is back in the Big East this year, but is only 2-4 in conference and 3-6 overall. Three schools moved to the Mountain West Conference this year: Fresno State (which is 8-3 overall, and 5-1 in conference with their only loss to Boise State), Nevada (6-4, 3-3 in conference), and Hawai’i (1-7, 0-5 in conference).

In small-school news, this week marks the occasion of two of the longest-played rivalry games in all of college football. It is the 129th meeting of Harvard and Yale on the gridiron. Yale leads the third-most played series in college football 65-55-8, but Harvard has won the last five and can make it eleven of the last twelve with a win over the Bulldogs in a contest simply known as “The Game”. In the most-played, longest uninterrupted annual rivalry game in the country, Lafayette and Lehigh will meet for the 148th time this weekend. Separated by only seventeen miles (Lafayette is located in Easton, PA; Lehigh is in Bethlehem, PA), the Leopards and Mountain Hawks have played since 1884, and annually since 1896. Lafayette has the series edge, 76-66-5, but Lehigh has won the last four in a game known as “The Rivalry”. In a time of conference shakeups where dollars seem to matter more than tradition, these are two series you can be sure will stand the test of time.

The week 11 title came down to a tiebreaker, with bamaken pulling out the win over MarylandTwerp and claiming their second weekly win of the year. Both finished with 224 points. With 221 points, maestro claimed third place.

Standings after eleven weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

1st	maestro	1856
2nd	The Tradition	1838
3rd	jagrag	1832
4th	AUBrian	1830
5th	Crimson Gator	1827
6th	CUtigers	1816
7th	Allison	1812
8th	gatorbamalover	1811
9th	JustWinAWeek	1793
10th	LaPush	1792

It’s another 21 game-week this week! We’re down to the last few weeks of the season, so every point is of utmost importance! This week’s games kick off Saturday, November 17 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

If you are a fan of a team that has won a national championship in its past, you have probably experienced a weekend during that championship season much like the fanbases of Alabama and Notre Dame had this weekend. Both the Crimson Tide and the Fighting Irish squeaked out wins. Alabama’s win, a 21-17 win over #5 homestanding LSU, would probably be considered more impressive then ND’s 29-26 three-overtime win over Pittsburgh, but the most important point is that the teams won. With rare exception, a national champion team has at least one stiff test during its run. The last champion that had no losses, ties, or wins by seven points or fewer was Nebraska in 1995. Before that? You have to go all the way back to 1976 and the Pitt Panthers, and even they had wins by eight over West Virginia and ten over Syracuse.

That being said, all of the six unbeaten teams held serve (as Kansas State, Oregon, Ohio State and Louisville all won), and so there is still no clear outcome in the BCS Championship race (other than the fact that Ohio State will not be participating). Each of the teams, with the exception of Oregon, has had at least one of those nail-biter kinds of weekends (the Ducks actually played their closest game this past weekend as well in a 62-51 win over USC).

In addition to death and taxes, one of the things that you can generally count on is a Boise State victory when they play on the blue turf. Dating back to 1999, BSU’s record at home in regular-season games was 89-2 going into its game against San Diego State. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the Aztecs about this: SDSU won the game 21-19.

As I have mentioned before, I have a soft spot for the service academies’ teams. Anyone who can go through military training, be receiving a world-class education, and win a few games in Division I-A is doing all right for themselves. You have to be a fan of the triple-option; each of the academy teams has run a variant on the offense for several years now – but it’s extremely disciplined, clean football. It’s also really cool to look in the stands at the “student section” all dressed in uniform grays, navies, or blues. Army has the chance to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 1996, as they beat Air Force 41-21 last week. They’ll have to beat Navy to do it, something that they haven’t done since 2001.

Congratulations go out to Big Blue Nation, who won week 10 with 176 points. In second place was bamaken with 171 points, and there was a tie between JustWinAWeek and jagrag for third place with 169 points.

Standings after ten weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

1st	maestro	1635
2nd	The Tradition	1623
3rd	jagrag	1613
T-4th	Crimson Gator	1610
T-4th	AUBrian	1610
6th	gatorbamalover	1602
7th	CUtigers	1598
8th	Allison	1593
9th	Bamarock	1588
10th	JustWinAWeek	1578

This week’s games are of prime importance! It’s the third-to-last week of the regular season for most teams. What does that mean? Well, in recent years it’s become commonplace to schedule a game against supposedly-inferior competition in the slot before the big year-end rivalry game. So for many teams, this is the last big test before those rivalry games. There are 21 games this week, so a lot of points are at stake! The first game is Florida State at Virginia Tech, Thursday, November 8th @ 7:30 ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

Every college football season has a weekend like the one we just had, where the only thing unexpected was, well, the expected. The number of undefeated teams got sliced almost in half, from 11 to 6. The ways that some of them lost were pretty painful as well, from Florida’s six turnovers in a 17-9 loss to rival Georgia to Rutgers’ 35-23 loss on Homecoming to Kent State to Ohio’s eschewing of a tying field goal in favor of going for a win against Miami (Ohio) and coming up short.

In the meantime, several of the still-unbeaten teams flexed their muscles. Alabama looked completely dominant in a 31-point win over a previously-unbeaten Mississippi State squad. Kansas State overwhelmed a Texas Tech team that had been playing really good football recently by the same margin. And if there are any doubters left about Notre Dame, they’re awfully quiet now; going into Norman, Oklahoma and winning by 17 opens a lot of eyes. It’s getting to the point where it isn’t just the BCS haters that wish 2014 was already here. A playoff between these three and Oregon would be pretty much must-see TV, would it not?

Of course, there’s still hay to be put in the barn. Alabama has LSU this week, an extremely dangerous Texas A&M the week after that, and the SEC Championship (now against Georgia, most likely) if they navigate those rough waters. Oregon has USC and Oregon State left, not to mention a Pac-12 Championship Game (although that will be played in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium). Kansas State will be favored over everyone left on their schedule, but TCU and Texas won’t be pushovers. Notre Dame has USC, and, well…that’s about it.

In small-college news, Mount Union (Ohio), a traditional Division III power, allowed 14 points in a 33-14 win over previously-unbeaten Heidelberg (Ohio). Why is this such a big deal, you ask? It was the first time the Purple Raiders let an opposing team score since the first game of the season. Since then, they had six straight shutouts; a span of 377:27 of game time elapsed between scores against them. They’re currently 8-0, and outscoring opponents by a total of 420-21.

Congratulations to our week 9 winner, JustWinAWeek, who must be absolutely thrilled with their 165-point performance. Second place was a tie between maestro and BritanniaTex, who each had 159 points.

Standings after nine weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

1st	maestro	1468
2nd	The Tradition	1457
3rd	gatorbamalover	1453
4th	Crimson Gator	1448
5th	AUBrian	1446
6th	jagrag	1444
7th	Allison	1439
8th	CUtigers	1436
9th	Bamarock	1428
10th	BritanniaTex	1422

Another tough lineup of games (five games between top-25 teams) is featured in week ten, so it’s going to be really important to pick well! The first games are set for Saturday, November 3 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.

Due to Toledo’s upset over Cincinnati, we’re now down to 11 undefeated teams. It’s a given that number will shrink by at least one this week, as Alabama plays Mississippi State. At most, there are only four more games possible between unbeaten teams before the bowls: Alabama-Mississippi State this week, Louisville-Rutgers and Oregon-Oregon State on the last weekend of the regular season, and Alabama or Mississippi State versus Florida in the SEC Championship game. Each BCS conference except the ACC has at least one undefeated team, although the Big Ten’s unbeaten (Ohio State) cannot participate in a bowl this year.

What does the ACC have? How about a bowl-eligible Duke team? About this time, Duke fans are usually thinking full-time about basketball. But David Cutcliffe (remember him, SEC fans?) has the Blue Devils eligible for a bowl for the first time since 1994. Duke got there in perhaps the sweetest way possible, beating rival North Carolina for the first time since 2003. Currently, they lead the Coastal Division of the ACC, but tough games against Florida State and Clemson are coming up. If the Blue Devils manage to pull one or both of those upsets, they might get a chance at their first conference championship since a guy named Spurrier was on their sideline.

What’s the most important statistic in college football? One could make a good argument that it’s turnover margin. After all, a team that protects the ball and takes it away from the other team often would seemingly stand a good chance of winning. It’s been a pretty good indicator this year; the top ten teams in turnover margin currently have an overall record of 66-3:

Rank	Team	Turnovers Gained	Turnovers Lost	Margin	Wins	Losses
1	Mississippi St.	21	4	2.43	7	0
2	Ohio	18	3	2.14	7	0
3	Alabama	20	6	2	7	0
3	Kent St.	20	6	2	6	1
3	Louisiana Tech	21	7	2	6	1
3	Rutgers	20	6	2	7	0
7	Kansas St.	16	4	1.71	7	0
8	Oregon St.	16	6	1.67	6	0
9	Boise St.	22	11	1.57	6	1
9	Florida	15	4	1.57	7	0
					66	3

Congratulations to The Tradition, who wins their second week of the season with 226 points. In second was maestro, with 223 points, and BEVO was third with 221 points.

Standings after eight weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

1st	maestro	1309
2nd	gatorbamalover	1307
3rd	AUBrian	1305
4th	The Tradition	1303
5th	Crimson Gator	1296
6th	Bamarock	1294
7th	CUtigers	1293
8th	Allison	1292
9th	jagrag	1290
10th	MarylandTwerp	1287

Another big week of games: twenty of them, including four between top-25 teams. The first game this week is Clemson at Wake Forest, Thursday, October 25 @ 7:30 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
—
Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.