I’m drowning in a Wisky River.” Bo Pelini and thousands of Nebraska fans could have been crooning that altered version of Willie’s classic show starter yesterday. Wow! After taking an early 17-3 lead, the Huskers were boat raced by Melvin Gordon and the Badgers. Gordon set a new major-college record for yards rushing in a single game. His 408 yards eclipsed the old mark of 406 which was set by LaDanian Tomlinson of TCU in 1999. What made the feat even more astounding was that it was done in only 25 carries. That is 16.32 yards per carry! And… AND… Gordon did not have one single carry in the fourth quarter. BOOM!!!StaveWhat do you think?

Now Wisconsin finds itself firmly in control of the Big Ten West race. Their win, coupled with Minnesota’s 31-24 loss to Ohio State, landed the Badgers in the top spot. It now appears that those two teams could meet in the conference’s championship game. Wisky has games at Iowa and in Camp Randall against Minnesota. The Buckeyes last two games, Indiana and Michigan, will be played within the friendly confines of The Horseshoe.+

SOUTHBOUND+

We’ll continue the song theme here with the Dickey Betts penned tune. “Well I’m southbound mama…” And to what teams does that Allman Brothers favorite apply to? The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and, gulp, my Auburn Tigers. In case you missed it here’s what happened.+

The (not so good at) Fighting Irish dropped their third game of the 2014 season to Northwestern, that’s right NORTHWESTERN. In overtime to the Mildcats. OUCH!!! It doesn’t get any easier for the Golden Domers next week, either, as they take on Louisville in South Bend.+

*SIGH* And Auburn, “Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain…where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey…” *SIGH* I so would that it were true Mr. Oliver Goldsmith. We have been de-clawed and de-fanged. The first egg of the Gus Malzahn era has been laid. We didn’t block. We didn’t tackle. A hope crushing 34-7 loss, to the Georgia Bulldogs, would be the result of that lack of football basics.+

Speaking of basics. Auburn has not had a good defense since Tommy Tuberville’s regime. And who was the defensive coordinator back then?+

BOOM!!!hi-res-183573807-head-coach-will-muschamp-of-the-florida-gators-watches_crop_exactWhat do you think?

Coach Boom that is. AKA Will Muschamp. Muschamp was given his walking papers Sunday by Florida AD Jeremy Foley. Everybody likes Will and I know Foley hated to do it, but we all saw it coming. The South Carolina Gamecocks, and former Gator Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in The Swamp Saturday and summarily ended Coach Boom’s tenure in Gainesville.+

A Birmingham News scribe, Kevin Scarbinsky, wrote that Auburn should call Muschamp immediately and hand him a blank check. There are many fans of the Auburn Tigers that would LOVE to see that happen. I’m sure there are many teams that would love to have the intense coach handling their defense. It will be very interesting to see where this turn of events takes us.+

More later huh?+

DABO(NED)+

Clemson did it again. They pulled a “Clemson”. The ACC’s Tigers were wrecked by Georgia Tech, 28-6. This loss also gave Florida State the Atlantic Division title. Coach Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jackets soundly trounced the Tigers at venerable Grant Field in Atlanta. First downs had Tech with 16 Clemson with 10. The Jackets 352 total yards to Clemmy’s 190 and Tech totaled 155 return yards to the visitor’s 6. And, sadly, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson left the game in the first quarter due to a knee injury. He did not return to action.+

CHARMED?+

We’ll keep in the ACC for a bit. We were just speaking of Florida State. Are these guys charmed? Holy cow! How long are the Noles gonna keep dancing in the rain without getting hit by a single drop of precipitation? Has Jimbo made a deal with the devil?+

They did it, YET AGAIN, Saturday with another comeback win. They trailed 16-0 in the first quarter. They trailed 23-10 at the half. Dalvin Cook ran for a 26-yard touchdown with 3:05 remaining to lift the Seminoles to a 30-26 victory at Miami.+

The win will, most assuredly, land the lads from Tallahassee in the number one spot when Tuesday’s College Football Playoff Poll is released.+

And that brings us to the…+

FEARSOME FOURSOME
playoffWhat do you think?

What will the playoff’s quartet of one through four look like this round? I’ll take a stab at it.+

1. Florida State+

2. Alabama+

3. Oregon+

4. Mississippi State+

I suppose TCU could remain in the first four but I’ve got to think it will be the Bulldogs. They out-first downed, out-rushed and out-passed Bama. But they didn’t out-score the Tide. The opportunistic Elephants had ZERO turnovers and State had THREE. They all came on interceptions.+

Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs were on the verge of being upset by the lowly Kansas Jayhawks. TCU had to overcome a ten point deficit, in the third quarter, to best the Jayhawks, 34-30. Not impressive. But the committee will consider the body of work of both squads. It will be interesting to see how this week’s top twenty-five shakes down.+

So… thus ends week twelve in the ever-changing landscape of college football. It has been a doozy of a season to this point. I expect nothing to change. The madness is sure to continue.+