Gators are ready to prove their case

Florida delivered the program’s first SEC championship since the end of the Steve Spurrier era by defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks 38 to 28 in Atlanta.

With that being said, it’s no telling how the BCS will play out tomorrow.

An antidote to shopping

Before I begin, I should let you know that I hate shopping.

No surprise, because I’m a guy.

But for millions and millions of people around the country, today is the first day of Christmas shopping, meaning that there will be long lines and short tempers.

Which equals catfights and mayhem when the doors open.

Fortunately, for most of us (including myself), we have an antidote to the chaotic scene at shopping malls across the country.

College football.

And a way to put those Thanksgiving leftovers to use as we watch the bitter rivalry of Texas and Texas A&M and see if the Longhorns can wrap up the Big 12 South.

The “Battle For the Boot” between Arkansas and LSU, which was always my favorite Thanksgiving rivalry game because of the atomsphere you would get at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge (I’m sure Kate’s at that one) and the game that got me serious about SEC football, which was back in 1997 when the two faced each other in Little Rock on the day after Thanksgiving.

Even the Mid-American Conference got some interesting alternatives to Christmas shopping.

Miami of Ohio versus Ohio University, the “Battle for the Bricks”, which is a game that I am watching right now as I write this.

Northern Illinois with Garrett Wolf (should get an invite to New York City) against Eastern Michigan in Ypslianti, with a possible bowl invite on the line for the Huskies.

And later on, Western Michigan (my friend Jennifer’s school) against Akron in Akron, which should be an interesting matchup in its own right.

Of course, if you don’t watch those games that I mentioned, you can always do the next best thing.

Shop and wait in long lines.

Slept through these……………

Hawaii 61 Louisiana Tech 17

#7 USC 35 Oregon 10

San Diego State 21 UNLV 7

Arizona State 41 Washington State 17

Kansas State 45 #4 Texas 42

Central Florida 26 Memphis (sorry, Miss Candy) 24

#18 Wake Forest 38 Florida State 0

#12 LSU 28 Alabama 14

Louisiana-Monroe 35 Florida International 0

#11 Arkansas 31 #13 Tennessee 13

#22 Boston College 28 Duke 7

#17 Oklahoma 34 Texas Tech 24

UCLA 25 Oregon State 7

#14 Boise State 23 San Jose State 20

TCU 27 New Mexico 21

Middle Tennessee 38 Arkansas State 10

North Texas 16 Louisiana-Lafyette 7

Fresno State 23 New Mexico State 18

More scores to pass along to the masses

I’m 3-8 today, meaning that I will not rely on a magic 8 ball to pick my games for me again.

But to update the scores that are now final, here’s the list of games that ended about 45 minutes ago:

#1 Ohio State 54 Northwestern 10

#2 Michigan 34 Indiana 3

Nebraska 28 #24 Texas A&M 27

#23 Maryland 14 Miami (Fla.)13

#9 Notre Dame 39 Air Force 17

#20 Va. Tech 23 Kent State 0

Kentucky 38 Vanderbilt (sorry, Kasi) 26

Utah 35 Colorado State 22

Southern Miss 31 Tulane 3

Rice 41 Tulsa 38

Houston 37 SMU 27

Colorado 33 Iowa State 16

Stanford 20 Washington 3

Arizona 24 #8 California 20

Penn State 47 Temple 0

Connecticut 46 Pittsburgh 45

#6 Florida 17 South Carolina 16

Troy State 24 Florida Atlantic 17

Nevada 42 Utah State 0

Scores to pass along

With a week to go until the big game between Michigan and Ohio State, this Sautrday is not short of any drama as the regular season draws to a close.

Anyway, here’s the final scores with the early games:

#19 Georgia Tech 7 North Carolina 0

#10 West Virginia 42 Cincinnati 24

#16 Wisconsin 24 Iowa 21

Georgia 37 #10 Auburn 15

Purdue 42 Illinois 31

Minnesota 31 Michigan State 18

Clemson 20 North Carolina State 14

South Florida 27 Syracuse 10

Oklahoma State 66 Baylor 24

Navy 49 Eastern Michigan 21

East Carolina 33 Marshall 20

Late update

I didn’t get a chance to see any of the early games this afternoon because I was downtown with Food Not Bombs, a community service project that I have been a part of since 2005, but with the help of the ticker on both ESPNEWS and Yahoo! Sports, I have some finals to report.

#5 Texas 22 #17 Nebraska 20

#6 Louisville 28 Syracuse 13

#1 Ohio State 44 Indiana 3

#15 Arkansas 38 Ole Miss 3

#24 Missouri 41 Kansas State 21

#8 Auburn 38 Tulane 13

And almost a month after blowing a 37-21 lead to Notre Dame in East Lansing, Michigan State comes back from 35 down to beat Northwestern 45-38 in Evanston this afternoon.

This week’s picks

On last Friday, I did my very first pick special of the season and went 3-2 (Michigan,  Florida, and Texas were the winners on last week).

The picks I posted on last Saturday wouldn’t count because hell, I ran out of things to say in the blog Saturday morning.

And now here’s this week’s picks:

Memphis 35 Arkansas State 0

Florida 21 Auburn 14 (sorry, Kelly)

Ohio State 38 Michigan State 14

Michigan 23 Penn State 20

Louisville 20 Cincinnati 0

Those are my picks and I’m sticking with it.

Midday update

I thought for sure this would be a happy post after the Cardinals’ game and on to the National League Champioship Series they would go, but the Padres’ superb young pitcher Chris Young allowed me to wait until tomorrow for a possible series clinch in St. Louis with Chris Carpenter going to the mound for the Cardinals against the Padres’ ace, Jake Peavy (pending) as the Padres beat the Cardinals 3-1 at Busch Stadium.

And for the first time this series, the photo of myself and my friends (including the chocolate cutie) did not appear at once during the game.

How odd.

I had picked Auburn to beat the Jesus out of Arkansas, but the Hogs turned the table and upset the number-two Auburn Tigers 27-10 in Auburn.

Leaving me to wonder who will be number two in the BCS standings when it comes out on next week.

I also picked the Boilermakers to eke out a narrow victory against the Iowa Hawkeyes, but Drew Tate and company ruined that for me as they shit-kicked the Boilermakers 47-17 in Iowa City, leaving me at 0-2 on today.

The Detroit Tigers are leading the Yankees (for those that are interested) 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning. I’m not sure what the hell is going on in the Motor City because I’m watching the Michigan-Michigan State game (picked the Wolverines by three touchdowns) and the Wolverines lead 7-0 in the first quarter.

I can sense the “Fire John L.” chants starting to heat up.

More picks for Saturday

This is just a followup post on picks that I posted on here yesterday afternoon.

Memphis 31 UAB 30

Nebraska 29 Iowa State 14

Vanderbilt 23 Ole Miss 20

Georgia 19 Tennessee 10

Separation Saturday wrap-up

After finally getting some much-needed cable into my folks’ house and waiting until the third quarter to get the DirectTV receiver to work, I felt that it was my God-given right to indulge in a sweet brickwood cigar and follow the key games from Separation Saturday.

In South Bend, the Michigan Wolverines stomped all over Brady Quinn’s dreams of winning the Heisman Trophy by destroying the Irish 47-21 this afternoon and in the process, quelling the belief that Lloyd Carr couldn’t win the big games against Ohio State or Notre Dame anymore.

For Auburn and LSU, their annual grudge match looked more like an Auburn-LSU baseball game at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge as LSU won 7-3 over Auburn in a game that normally determines who will represent the SEC West in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta later on in the season.

In Lexington, the Wildcats (pause for dramatic effect) ran roughshod over an undermanned Ole Miss squad that turned the ball over five times and got manhandled 31-14 to fall to 1-2 on the season.

And leave Coach O finding some more uses for profantities in the postgame press conference.

In Memphis, a couple of Tiger squad played another classic tonight at the Liberty Bowl as Tennessee State pulled off an overtime win by screwing up on an extra point try and then converting it to a two-point conversion by using the same shovel pass that I use sometimes when I quarterback street football games in my neighborhood to beat Jackson State 31 to 30 in the Southern Heritage Classic.

Meanwhile in Greenville, the Memphis Tigers were Jekyll and Hyde on the field tonight as a subpar second half doomed the Tigers in their game against East Carolina this evening as the Pirates beat the Tigers 35 to 20 and drop the Tigers to 1-2 on the season.

Wonder what DeAngelo’s doing these days, Tiger fans?

Neither am I.

In Bloomington, Indiana, my former school, Southern Illinois, beat a Big Ten school for the first time in school history by beating Indiana 35 to 28.

Which is not really any cause for celebration in Carbondale.

These are the Hoosiers.

In Nashville, my friend Kasi’s school almost pulled off a cardiac victory but came up two points short of beating the Razorbacks at Vanderbilt Stadium this afternoon.

Which means the pharmacists in Nashville will triple dosages of heart medications for patients at hospitals all over Nashville.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs scored points for the first time this season and still lost at home to Tulane by three points.

Same old thing in Starkville.

In Knoxville, another classic chapter was added to the Florida-Tennessee rivalry as Florida came from behind to beat the Vols 21 to 20 on a last-minute drive engineered by senior quarterback Chris Leak.

And another reason to explain to my 9 year-old playnephew that Florida wears the gayest uniforms in the SEC.

Now that these acts of this Saturday in football have been written, what will happen next Saturday?

Only time will tell.