This week in the SWC: Dalton for Heisman?

By: Dave Roberson

Hate to break it to you folks, but TCU is good. The Horned Frogs are #5 in Total Offense, #9 in Scoring Offense, and have the #4 rated QB in Andy Dalton. On the other side of the ball, TCU is #7 in Rushing Defense, #1 in Pass Defense, #1 in Total Defense and #1 in Scoring Defense. I should say TCU is really good. They deserve every bit of their #3 ranking. LSU is good. When your only loss is on the road to the #1 or #2 team in the country, depending on the poll and the week, then you have a good team. Oklahoma St is good, #3 in both Total and Scoring Offense. Probably not as good as LSU, but a good team none the less. Baylor is probably the most improved team in the nation this year and Texas A&M probably wins the mid-season turnaround award. Arkansas and Oklahoma are solid. Tech should easily go bowling and SMU and UH are also only one win away. It is not the usual order we find the teams going into the second Saturday of November, but for the conference as a whole, there is nothing to be down on. Next week I will start projecting bowl bids. Those should be fun to follow.

One week after Baylor takes down Texas, the Ags jump up and bring down OU. It was at home, so not as impressive as what Baylor pulled off the week before, but a win against OU is always something to take with pride. However, I would not want to be the Aggies next year when they go to Norman. If there is the slightest chance, OU will hang a big number on the farmers. But this is 2010 not 11, so let’s keep focused in the present. Great win for the boys in maroon. Tech also makes the honor roll this week. Yes, Mizzou was down after a tough loss to Nebraska last week, but hand it to the Red Raiders for beating a highly ranked team. It is becoming expected this year, but LSU and Arkansas, when not playing Auburn, are having a really good season. The only difference is that LSU did beat Alabama last week; Arkansas did not a few weeks back. But the Hogs ate up South Carolina last Saturday and a season finale in the hills with LSU will determine which is the tougher animal, the Hog or the Tiger. But the story of the week is still TCU. The Purple People Eaters went into Utah and not only demoralized, but also destroyed the previously undefeated Utes 47-7. It was an impressive performance on both sides of the ball. Warning to Auburn and Oregon, you better win out. You lose and you are out of the Championship game.

Week 11 will give us some more good games, especially within the conference. Teams are trying to close out strong. It was not very long ago that a November game in Waco was when you gave away tickets to the Boy Scouts, but the Battle of the Brazos has implications for both teams this year. Baylor really, really wants that eighth win and a nice bowl game and the Aggies want to get to nine wins to show recruits that the fight is back in College Station. Baylor is a great story this year, but I think A&M will pull it out late. I am expecting a fun game to watch with sellout crowd on hand Saturday night in Waco. At 2:30 CT, Tech will be hosting OU. Neither team is as good as a couple of years ago, but OU has better talent and should be able to handle the Red Raiders. The final conference game of the weekend is in Austin. The wide open Cowboys will be going for a trifecta. Coming into 2010, Iowa St, Baylor and Oklahoma St had not beaten Texas since the start of the Big 12. The Cyclones and the Bears passed their exam. Coach Gundy does not want his Cowboys to be the only remaining member of that club. The Cowboys are a 6 ½ point favorites, but I am having a hard time seeing Texas lose four in a row at home. But I could not see them losing three in a row either. In fact, I could not see them losing two in a row. So two, three, four, what’s the difference? So unless the Cowboys with the blue star show up instead, the recently mighty Texas Longhorns are headed for their sixth loss. If you want to witness this feat, ABC is making it available at 7 CT. There is nothing really compelling for the rest of the conference. TCU should go 11-0 after a trip to San Diego. The only way they lose is if they make a wrong turn coming out of the airport and get stuck on that broken down cruise ship in the harbor. ARK will dispatch UTEP and LSU has a scrimmage with UL-M. I am picking SMU to pick up that most important 6^th win at home vs. Marshall and UH will have a shoot out with Tulsa. It will be close, but take UH and take the over. That leaves us with Rice. I decided I could handle both last week and this week at the same time. On the plus side, the Owls were able to hold Tulsa last week to 64 points, but on the minus side 57 of those did come by the end of the 3^rd quarter. But that was last week. This week Rice plays the mighty Green Wave of Tulane (no relation to the Crimson Tide) in the Superdome. Both teams have yielded more than 40 points four times this season. For the 8,000 or so fans that may show up Saturday, they should be in for a high scoring game. I am going to go against Vegas and pick the Owls in an upset.

Let’s hope the rain that has been hanging around this week moves on out and the cool air from last week returns. It is hard to believe, but there are only 4 weeks of football left; well, I should say in a tribute to Veteran’s Day, there are have 5 weeks counting the Army-Navy game Dec. 11. Hope your team has its best game of the season; unless, that is, your team is playing mine.