Week 6 Story Lines From Around the Country

The SEC is riding high once again after a pair of big games this weekend. The league now has seven teams in the polls after Texas A&M joined the party. But you know all of that. How did everyone else do?

The ACC might have hit rock bottom.

FSU lost to an NC State team that lost by two scores to Tennessee. FSU lost to an NC State team that lost by two scores to Tennessee. FSU lost to an NC State team that lost by two scores to Tennessee. FSU lost to an NC State team that lost by two scores to Tennessee. FSU lost to an NC State team that lost by two scores to Tennessee. FSU lost to an NC State team that lost by two scores to Tennessee.

In other news, Miami played its second tough opponent and got its second ugly blowout loss. Clemson barely edged out Georgia Tech, which got hammered by Middle Tennessee a week ago. Virginia Tech's slide continued by losing by a couple of touchdowns to postseason ineligible UNC. BC fell to a bad Army team. Oh yeah, and Duke is 5-1. No offense to David Cutcliffe or anything, but if Duke is on the cusp of a bowl bid and we're barely into October, it's not a good sign for the league.

The top of the Big 12 asserted itself.

Kansas State walloped Kansas as expected. Oklahoma actually looked good on the road for once and put down Texas Tech's expectations with a 41-20 win. West Virginia and Texas played a close, exciting shootout in which neither team looked bad. The focus on the SEC so far has been earned, but the Big 12 is a dangerous league. The only presumed top-ish team that took a hit was TCU, which fell by a couple of scores at home to Iowa State. That team had been looking shaky, so it was only a matter of time before someone took down the Frogs.

The Big Ten should be furious at Gene Smith and Gordon Gee.

Why? Because their arrogance led them to believe that Ohio State wouldn't get a bowl ban for the Jim Tressel affair when it was obvious from 1,000 miles out that they'd be missing at least one postseason. So, they decided to let their interim-coached, 6-6 team go play in the Gator Bowl last year instead of sitting it out to make absolutely sure that this year's team would have the best possible chance to play after Thanksgiving week. The Buckeyes trounced Nebraska 63-38 yesterday to lay claim to being far and away the best team in the league. No one from the conference is ranked in the Coaches' Poll for the first time ever because OSU is not eligible to be in it.

There were other games, of course, like Michigan State edging hapless Indiana by a field goal and Penn State giving Northwestern its first loss, but right now nothing else matters. The idiots who are somehow still in charge in Columbus are mostly to blame for why the Big Ten's postseason prospects are looking bleak.

The Pac-12 is starting to round into shape.

The league in the west had kind of a noisy start to the year, but things are beginning to gel out there. Oregon won another blowout, keeping itself at the top. USC overcame a terrible start to beat Utah. Stanford outgunned Arizona to keep up in the conference race. Oregon State is asserting its place towards the top with another win, holding off Washington State. The only result that didn't quite fit was Cal taking UCLA to the woodshed, but UCLA is not a real contender anyway.

Canines or felines?

In the land of the mid majors, it's looking like a two horse race between Louisiana Tech and Ohio as far as any potential BCS busting goes. The Bulldogs hammered UNLV and the Bobcats held off Buffalo to remain unbeaten. LA Tech has the tougher schedule of the two, so it has the inside track if they both keep winning all of their games. They even broke into the polls this week at 23 in the AP and 24 in the Coaches. They get their toughest test yet next week when they play Texas A&M in their hurricane-postponed matchup.