10 Things I Learned This Weekend

1. There are things more embarrassing than losing to Maryland at home. Among those things, watching that same Maryland team go on the road the following week and lose 31-0 to a Virginia team that has no business playing college football, yet will probably somehow beat Clemson when our game-winning touchdown gets called back for 2 men on the line of scrimmage. My guess is that we will avoid finishing dead last in the Atlantic Division, but only by virtue of a tie-breaker over NC State. It's a good thing God forgives, because Bowden owes her big time.

2. There is honor in being wrong. Earlier this week, a stupid person, presumably a South Carolina fan, asked me if I still thought the gamecocks would go 3-9. I was given a chance to retract my prediction. I stuck to my guns; however, I did admit there was a chance they could pick up a 4th win after seeing how average the SEC was this year. I thought that possible 4th win might come against Arkansas. I was wrong. It came against Ole Miss. So my prediction won't come true. Hey, you can't always be right. Looks like 4-8 for the gamecocks this year.

3. Texas is better than I thought they were going to be this year. I had them pegged for 7-5 and a trip to the Alamo Bowl. It would have been unusual to see Texas finish the season with 5 losses, but not surprising. Even so, Texas has unequivocally fought their way back into Holiday Bowl contention, and I have to eat some crow on that one. Looks like it's up to Oklahoma, again, to be the first team to put Texas in their place.

4. The SEC is not a great conference this year. It is merely good on its best day. I want everyone to pay really close attention to the way SEC fan trumpets Vanderbilt going forward. Wait for, and bask in, the inane hypocrisy that will spew forth from his cake hole. When Wake Forest did it, it was a product of a bad ACC, but now that Vandy is doing it, it just shows to cromulent & amazing the SEC is.

5. The Heisman Trophy winner will come from the Big 12, and barring injury, it will be either Chase Daniel or Sam Bradford. I would give the nod to Daniel at this point, but that is no slight on Bradford. Both are superb quarterbacks. Their numbers are very comparable at this point, but my hunch is that Daniel's will stay on this level, while Bradford's might falter a little bit now that OU is getting into the meat of its schedule. I could be wrong, but Daniel is a senior and he's just done this more times than Bradford, who will probably win it next year. One thing is for certain though, the quarterback play in the Big 12 is beyond ridiculous. When Colt McCoy is the 6th best QB in the league, you're into something good.

6. Friday the 13th Part 8 might be the best of the entire series. It's tough to beat Part 5, but at the very least, 8 is the most underrated. Sure, it takes us away from the traditional Camp Crystal Lake setting, but sometimes change is good. Up until this installment, Jason was just a mindless, soulless, jerk. But on the streets of Manhattan, our antagonist becomes self-aware. We see an aggressiveness heretofore unknown. We see a man adapting quickly to his surroundings. We see exactly what can happen when you apply yourself. And we even see the slight makings of a sense of humor. John might tell you I'm crazy for thinking this, but I'm sticking to my guns on this one.

7. The national championship race is gearing up to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. Right now I think there 6 teams with a legitimate chance to make it to the title game. Those Tier 1 teams are: Oklahoma, Alabama, Penn St., Missouri, LSU, and USC. Of those 6 teams, I think Penn St and USC have the easiest path. OU and Mizzou will likely play for the Big 12 title, and the loser will be out. The loser of the Bama/LSU game is likely out as well. Penn St. has one tough game left against Ohio State, and USC is the only team capable of beating USC the rest of this season. The one team I feel most confident about is Oklahoma, despite the tougher schedule. Later on I will do a more in-depth breakdown of Tier 1, as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3.

8. The Big East, are you listening Stuart?, is the worst conference in America. For the second straight year, I bought into South Florida and Connecticut, and for the second straight year, I've been had. Don't get me wrong, I think they are decent teams with pretty good players, but they aren't ready for prime time. I still think the PAC-10 is wretched, but not more so than the Big East, or as I like to call them, the Big Least(MOAG original).

9. South Carolina will battle Tennessee for dead last in the SEC East this year, which, ironically, will prompt Coach Spurrier to stick around for at least one more year. His thinking will be, "Okay, it can't get any worse, let's give this thing one more shot." Of course, after all of his best defensive players leave at the end of this season, Spurrier will find out in that it can indeed get worse. 1-11 for South Carolina in 2009, mark it down.

10. Georgia Tech will finally break the ACC's humbling BCS Bowl losing streak.