Saturday’s college football games saw a number of teams tumble, most of which are now among the growing list of pretenders for the BCS national championship.
Florida and Nebraska had hopes of reaching New Orleans for the BCS title game, but the Gators and Cornhuskers suffered resounding losses to conference foes.
Florida scored on the game’s first play to take a quick 7-0 lead on Alabama, but for the next 59 minutes the Crimson Tide manhandled the Gators and came away with an easy 38-10 win.
Nebraska jumped out to a 14-7 lead over Wisconsin early in the second quarter, but then the Badgers ran roughshod over the Cornhuskers en route to a 48-17 victory.
Florida and Nebraska will have to win out and they’ll need lots of help to can get back into the national championship discussion.
Virginia Tech got embarrassed at home in their first real test of the season, losing to Clemson 23-3. The Hokies didn’t look like they belonged on the same field with the Tigers, gaining only 258 yards.
Virginia Tech could end up facing Clemson again in the ACC championship, but don’t count on it.
South Carolina saw it’s chances of playing for the national championship vanish when the Gamecocks gave up a late touchdown to Auburn and lost 16-13.
Here’s a list of teams that remain in the hunt for a national championship.
Alabama – The Crimson Tide has the best defense in the nation and Trent Richardson running behind the nation’s best offensive line. Alabama has all pieces to play for a national championship.
Wisconsin – Russell Wilson is the X factor that the Badgers have lacked over the years. His ability to run and pass prevents defenses from stacking the line to stop Wisconsin’s running game.
Clemson – If you haven’t figured it out by now, Clemson is for real. Wins over Auburn, Florida State and Virginia Tech have put the Tigers squarely in the mix for the national championship.
Here’s a list of teams that can generally consider themselves pretenders in the hunt for a BCS national championship.
Nebraska – I hate to bust Cornhuskers’ fans bubbles, but Nebraska was seriously overrated. Wisconsin took the Cornhuskers to the woodshed and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Nebraska lose one or two more games this season.
Florida – Gators quarterback John Brantley has been ruled out against No.1 LSU this week, meaning Florida is out of the national championship picture. The Gators couldn’t beat LSU with a healthy Brantley at QB anyway.
South Carolina – The Gamecocks have a pretty good defense, but their offense is struggling behind quarterback Stephen Garcia, who’s completing just 51.7 percent of his passes and he’s thrown nine interceptions.
Opponents are going to stack the line to prevent Marcus Lattimore from beating them, putting the game on Garcia’s shoulders. Thus far, that’s a formula for success.
