Bloodless Coup

WVU, Auburn and Oklahoma

Since I went to the WVU-Boston College game this weekend college football has been on my mind - even more than usual. First off, I'd like to note that Morgantown is a great place to go to a game. Really. And in lots of ways WVU has more than its share of truly-devoted, friendly fans. That said, I don't know that this was the best of years to go a WVU game. True, they only had one loss before Saturday - but that raised expectations high. Very high. And when the team's play didn't match those expectations far too many fans turned against their team. After an exasperating 45 minutes I can see that. I can even see it after a bad half. But it's pretty depressing to hear the level of jeers that I heard in the first 5 or 10 minutes. And given how the team played on Saturday, you can imagine how bad things had gotten by the fourth quarter. It's great when a team that usually doesn't make the BCS has a chance to - but a lot of fans take it really badly when their team can't follow through on that dream.

That said, the fans had a lot of legitimate concerns. It's hard to describe just how bad the Mountaineers special teams are. WVU can run the ball, but that's about it. As to BC - their quarterback lived up to his fine reputation. And Ayres, their freshman punter, looked good (not that he was needed often). And of course given the scale of the win, BC generally looked good. That said, I wouldn't encourage you to bet on either of these teams come Bowl season.

Finally, I want to note that I'm really pleased that the AP poll now has Auburn tied with Oklahoma at #2. I'd like them to have the #2 slot to themselves, but at least some movement in that direction is happening. While it's hard to knock an undefeated team (both OU and Auburn are undefeated). Auburn has posted much stronger wins over top-level competitors, and it's certainly looked better than OU over the past few weeks. I think that if they win out they should get to play an undefeated Trojans team for the championship.