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SCS.com Next week, two top five and unbeaten teams, Texas and Texas Tech, will battle it out for Big 12 South supremacy. Texas is three-fourths of the way through the toughest part of their schedule. They convincingly beat Oklahoma, dominated Missouri, and snuck by Oklahoma State. Next, they travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on the high-powered Red Radiers of Texas Tech. Tech, who has struggled at times this year, rolled Kansas 63-21. These two teams will likely score a combined 80 points, if not more. It will be a fantastic game featuring two Texas powerhouses.

If you think Ohio NFL football is bad, just wait until you hear about Washington college football. If Texas and Texas Tech are the cream of the crop in college football, Washington and Washington State are three-day old chopped liver with overcooked rice. These teams are a combined 1-14 (Washington State�s win was over Portland, FCS team). Washington has looked horrible ever since they lost that heartbreaker to BYU. Washington State has looked awful, well, all year long. Four Pac-10 teams have put up over 60 points on the vaunted Cougar defense. Not only do the Huskies and Cougars stink, but the Seattle Seahawks are having a rare losing season. The Seattle Supersonics left for Oklahoma City. And the Seattle Mariners were arguably the worst team in baseball.

I had a blast watching Ohio State and Penn State duke it out for the Big 10 championship (I mean come on, who else is going to challenge PS?). Both teams played their hearts out and left it all on the field. Terrelle Pryor left the ball on the field, which seemingly decided the game. However, the loss does not fall on his shoulders. On the contrary, he played a remarkable game. I am getting the feeling his near future is going to be filled with many awards and accolades. Both defenses played amazing, but PSU�s ability to run the ball led aided them in scoring the only touchdown of the game. The Nittany Lions proved tonight that they can win the tough one, but they still have a lot to prove if I am going to anoint them worthy of a national title birth. However, it is great to see Joe Paterno getting some things going his way late in his career.

I thought the Big 12 was all offense and had no defense, while the SEC was a hard-hitting conference that shut opposing offenses down early and often? Yes, the Big 12 has no defense, but it seems as if the SEC has lost its defensive prowess. LSU has given up a combined 103 points in its two losses this season. It is not like Georgia shutdown LSU, giving up 38 points. Alabama was not tested by lowly Tennessee, but their defense is not quite tops in the nation. Are the offenses getting better or are the defenses regressing? I think we will get a good answer when Alabama plays Florida/Georgia in the SEC title game.

It seems as if the whole college football world has lost its defensive prowess. North Carolina scored 45 on a Boston College defense that shut down Virginia Tech last week. Florida, OU, and TX Tech were all near 50 points at half time. Rutgers, a team that is just starting to hit its stride, scored 54 points on Pittsburgh. I still believe that defense wins championships. However, that �defense� might just be asked to hold its opponent under 30 points.

Hits:

Florida State and Miami both got huge wins over valiant ACC foes (Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, teams with no offenses). These two teams are right in the thick of the ACC championship race.

Ball State got another win, keeping them unbeaten at 8-0.

USC snuck by Arizona 17-10. USC did not bring its best game tonight, and it still won. That is a good sign.

Northern Illinois is about to crash Central Michigan�s and Ball State�s party. NIU is 4-1 in MAC play, while CMU and Ball State are unbeaten. However, NIU plays Ball State and Central Michigan after a bye. The MAC West is now a four team race (Western Michigan is 4-1 in the MAC, but they already beat NIU 29-26).

Louisville took a step in the right direction with a 24-20 win over USF. Hunter Cantwell looked poised leading the Cardinals back from behind in the 4th quarter. The Big East is now wide open. With conference play just heating up, look for even more stir ups.

Congrats to Wisconsin, who was 0-4 in the Big 10 before they beat Illinois 27-17. Nice to see they did not totally quit on their season. A bowl bid is not out of the question.

Misses:

Georgia Tech, who was flying high after beating Clemson last week, fell flat against Virginia. UVA has a tendency to do that to teams this season.

Vanderbilt is in familiar territory, and they do not like it. For the second time this decade Vandy has started 5-0 and failed to win a 6th. The good news is they still have Tennessee and Kentucky left on the schedule. The bad news? They lost to Duke 10-7 this weekend.

Did Pittsburgh, who was 2-0 in Big East play with wins over Syracuse andSouth Florida, really lose to Rutgers 54-34? Ouch. LeSean McCoy did rush for 4 touchdowns in a losing effort.

First, Penn State beats Michigan. Then, Michigan State beats Michigan. Michigan�s winning streaks over Big 10 foes are falling fast.

It was upsetting to see Northwestern lose to Indiana 21-19 this week. The Big 10 needed to find another team to solidify itself in the top 25.

Fresno State, who was dubbed the BCS buster in the preseason, has struggled mightily so far this year. They needed a last second 58-yard field goal to beat 1-7 Utah State.

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