DDT

Baylor Number One

Week 13 of the season, and the number one and two teams in the land, Alabama and Florida State, are proving their manhood by taking on the likes of Division II Chattanooga, in Alabama’s case, and Idaho in Florida State’s case. We read a lot in the news about bullying in schools, these days. Is this what they're talking about?

Number 3 Ohio State is playing Big 10 bottom feeder Indiana, while Number 8 Clemson has a scrimmage with DivTwo The Citadel, and number 12 South Carolina has DivTwo Coastal Carolina. Ohio State has to play Indiana because it's a conference game. But Clemson/Citadel and SC/Coastal Carolina? More bullying.

DDT sez, playing cream puffs late in the season should count against powers who aspire to national glory, and—and!—if Baylor wins convincingly against Oklahoma State (game at Stillwater), DDT would jump the Bears to Number 1 ahead ‘Bama, Florida State and Ohio State, based on strength of schedule.

Only three matches this weekend will have impact on the national steeplechase: Number 4 Baylor vs. number 11 Oklahoma State; number 9 Texas A&M vs. number 18 LSU; and number 14 UCLA vs. number 19 Arizona State. Winner of BU/OkState game has the inside track to win the Big 12 title, and the UCLA/AzSt winner will probably take the PAC12 South Division.

Upset alert! DDT sez Michigan State with only one loss (17-13 to Notre Dame) and with the number one D in the country should be rated higher than number 13, but Sparty should be on guard against Northwestern this weekend. NW has lost six in a row, but two were in OT and two were by only three points. The Wildcats are not that bad and are good enough, especially since they’re playing at home this week, to break the losing streak. Right now, the road to the Rose Bowl for the Spartans runs through Evanston.

Other potential upsets by squads who’ve had their ups and downs but, who, on a given day can beat anybody: Arizona in Tucson could surprise Oregon; Olay Miss in Jackson could prove a rude host to Mizzou; Minnesota in Minneapolis might disrupt Wisconsin’s Rose Bowl hopes; and KState in Manhattan could dump OU.

It’s college football. This time of year most teams, regardless of their records, are like a two-headed rattler run over by an 18-wheeler: You never know which way they’re going to strike and when.