Both teams that I called for Shortlist elimination won last week, putting a sobering damper on my perfect week prior in a hurry:
1) Florida feasts on a plethora of leftover turnovers by Florida State as they cruise in the second half to victory on the road 37-26. A BCS bowl berth is now guaranteed for the man who is definitely not the second coming of Ron Zook in Gainesville, as this Sugar Bowl game was earned by coach Will
Muschamp, unlike the Zooker's hand out Rose Bowl berth to possibly the least deserving automatic qualifying conference team never to win their league in BCS history.
2) Oregon also cashes in on multiple rivalry game turnovers by their lesser ranked in-state foe as they flood the Oregon State Beavers with a deluge of touchdowns in Corvalis for a 48-24 win. The Ducks might end up in a BCS game but their resume for earning it is much more slight when examined
closely this year, so if the do fall out of big bowl contention, they'll only have a weak conference this year that they couldn't navigate unscathed again to blame.
In addition to those major whiffs, three teams lost games last week I never called for them to lose and were eliminated from the Shortlist to South Beach just before the finish line this year;
1) FSU combines with Oregon State for 11 turnovers between their quarterbacks as I miss on both picks where I sided with the two teams in last week's blog. I'm not that upset by it really, but I knew this was going to a lot longer of an article that it would have been otherwise as soon as I saw the level of ineptitude the two signal callers respectively brought to their rivalry showdowns Saturday. Jimbo Fisher will never win anything of consequence as he's now really in year six of calling the shots in Tallahassee and this was the year he had both the easiest route to the title and the most stacked team in the nation. ACC football in a nutshell ladies and gentlemen!
2) Clemson goes zero-for-two against ranked teams this year as the fall at home, and off the Shortlist in 2012, to South Carolina 27-17. Dabo Swinney still can only say he beat the Gamecocks with Tommy Bowden's recruiting classes but will once again find his team in the Tigers' least favorite roll in program history, that of conference favorites, next year regardless of the least impressive 10 win season in college football this year. Yet again, ACC football in a nutshell ladies and gentlemen!
3) Louisville comes out rusty after a bye week and loses at home to UConn in triple overtime 23-20. They can still win the Big East with a win Thursday at Rutgers but they'll be out the door as soon as they can escape from their quickly crumbling conference once this season wraps up for them whether before or after New Year's. Yes, you guessed it, ACC football in a nutshell ladies and gentlemen! By the way, good seats are still available for the football title game this week for the cost of a large cup of premium coffee.
I predict only one team to be eliminated from the Shortlist to South Beach this week, as a result of the de facto elimination game that serves as a national title play-in game for the SEC conference crown:
Alabama.
No back to back titles for title town this year. Maybe some deranged fan of the Crimson Tide will go poison the water supply instead of the trees in Auburn this time, or maybe feed UGA chocolate in frustration? At least there won't be any viral videos of elephant fans committing homosexual assault from bowl season being discovered next year if I'm right about the defending champs falling short this week, so they can stay somewhat classy and spare themselves further stereotypical embarrassment as a group. Until the NCAA asks where Amari Cooper's friend got that new pickup truck, that is.
Enjoy the games this week and join me back here next week as the Shortlist to South Beach reaches its conclusion and the final five or less are weighed on their full merits of championship worthiness.
Copyright 2012 by Christopher Whelpton for Canespace.com