Week 9, 2010: Road games play some tricks, but Oregon's road win gives them a treat

Yes, as I eat some "fun size" Milk Duds (heaven in a box), I had to throw out a Halloween title to this week's blog entry. Makes me want to do a little Andy Rooney/Jerry Seinfeld: Why is it "fun size?" If it is regular sized, would that be "Xanadu Sized?"

The Milk Duds are cool, not only because of their chewiness (as a kid I liked to put a load of Milk Duds in my mouth and chew them like I was a big leaguer, e.g., Sparky Lyle), but I also liked the little box they came in.


I could find all kinds of uses for Milk Duds boxes when playing with little plastic men. The hero of all of my bedroom floor adventures was a little plastic quarterback, who was army man sized, but with a heart as big as a horse and bravery to match. Once he was in a serious predicament, and was placed in a box, and I used a Milk Duds box. One day, hero quarterback was gone, and I assumed I must have left him in the box, and I my Mom, unknowingly, threw out hero quarterback. Time passed, and my family went to visit one of my Dad's co-workers, who had a pile of progeny. I noticed in one of the bedrooms, that they had the exact same quarterback that I did. Years later I realized, the chances of them having the same little QB seem pretty small, I bet those kids stole hero quarterback when they visited our house! So don't think you got away with it, I know you kids kidnapped him!

Well, we knew this would be an interesting week in college football, particularly for the ten teams in last week's projected tournament. Two teams were heavily favored (TCU and BSU), one was a 9/10 point home favorite (Pitt), and one had a bye ('Bama), but the other six had road challenges. ESPN ended up calling it "Roadblock Saturday." The two road underdogs did lose (MSU and Mizzou), and the four others that were touchdown favorites on the road made it (Auburn, Oregon, Utah), with the exception of Florida State, who suffered a wild, wacky ending at NC State.

So the weeks go by, and guess what? The season started with Virginia Tech and Pitt as the ninth and tenth seeds, and they are back in those familiar spots. After losing to BSU, the Hokies were supplanted by Miami and then FSU as the ACC rep, but VTU is back.

And after weeks and weeks with Alabama playing Debby Boone at number one seed, for the fourth straight week, we have a brand new number one. Tell them about it Kasey, "Well, this week's new number one has a mascot that looks like, Donald Duck. And no, it is not Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots, it's (drumroll), the University of Oregon, whose mascot is, a Duck."

After Alabama fell to the Gamecocks, BSU, Okahoma, Auburn, and Oregon have all spent one week in the top spot.

And based on this week's projections, there are some things that would be too good to be true. Besides a chance for a Oregon-Wisconsin Rose Bowl, I have a first round game in Lambeau; how cool would that be?

With TCU and Utah playing this week, we know there are changes on their way. But for this week, onto the projections!!

"In college football, one day you're in, and the next day you're out." -Qadry Ismail

OUT- Michigan State, Missouri, Florida State
IN-Wisconsin, Nebraska, Virginia Tech

FIRST ROUND:

In Kansas City:#7 Nebraska (Big XII champ) vs #10 Pittsburgh (Big East champ)

In Green Bay:#8 Wisconsin (Big Ten champ) vs #9 Virginia Tech (ACC champ)


BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):

Rose: #1 Oregon (Pac-10 champ) vs Wisconsin/Virginia Tech winner

Fiesta: #4 Boise State (at-large) vs #5 Utah (at-large)

Sugar: #2 Auburn (SEC champ) vs the Nebraska/Pittsburgh winner

Orange: #3 Texas Christian (non-BCS conference automatic) vs #6 Alabama (at-large)

Semi-finals in St Petersburg FL

BCS Championship in Glendale AZ

Week by week seedings:

Week	5	6	7	8	9
Oregon	4	2	2	2	1
Auburn	8	8	4	1	2
TCU	5	3	5	4	3
Boise State	2	1	3	3	4
Utah	n/a	n/a	n/a	8	5
Alabama	1	n/a	8	7	6
Nebraska	n/a	6	n/a	n/a	7
Wisconsin	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	8
Virginia Tech	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	9
Pittsburgh	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	10
Michigan State	n/a	n/a	7	5	n/a
Missouri	n/a	n/a	n/a	6	n/a
Florida State	n/a	9	9	9	n/a
Oklahoma	3	4	1	n/a	n/a
LSU	7	7	6	n/a	n/a
West Virginia	10	10	10	n/a	n/a
Ohio State	6	5	n/a	n/a	n/a
Miami	9	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Florida	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Texas	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Week	Pre	1	2	3	4
Oregon	9	8	7	8	7
Auburn	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
TCU	6	5	8	7	4
Boise State	5	2	6	6	2
Utah	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Alabama	1	1	1	1	1
Nebraska	n/a	7	n/a	n/a	n/a
Wisconsin	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Virginia Tech	8	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Pittsburgh	10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Michigan State	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Missouri	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Florida State	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Oklahoma	7	n/a	4	5	6
LSU	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	8
West Virginia	n/a	10	10	10	10
Ohio State	2	4	3	3	5
Miami	n/a	9	9	9	9
Florida	3	6	5	4	3
Texas	4	3	2	2	n/a