Week 3 : College Football Trend Watching

A new feature here at BSD. Trend watching for the BCS Bowls, who's up, who's down, who deserves ridicule, etc. Also included is my weekly completely random and made up BCS picks as of today

Up
Cal
Cal has long and majestic history of choking, sucking, being stoned, etc. I don't believe they've been to the Rose Bowl since the 1960s. And yet I will make the case for Cal finally getting back and ending USC's string of Pac 10 dominance. First and foremost USC's shield generator is down. After massive losses to draft, new jobs, and injuries the team looks sluggish. The bigger deal is that Aaron Corp looks awful and post Wash State the team is on the road for 4 of the 5 next games. Cal meanwhile finally won a big non-conference game and simply put has the best running back in the college football. Jahvid Best scored 5 TDs last week. That's not a fluke. So in 2 weeks Cal hosts USC, a win and its a 2 game lead over USC. Certainly not unreasonable. USC right the ship? Will Cal choke? History says yes to both but I'm starting to come around to the idea that USC Death Star might take a hit this year.

Oklahoma
Left for dead after their loss to BYU OU picked up the pieces and routed Tulsa. They know have 2 weeks to prepare for the U. Given the Big 12 hype machine , OU's teflon status (when's the last time they won a bowl game?) and Ok State's less than stellar play and a BCS bid might OU's for the taking.

Down
I've already mentioned BYU and Utah. However G-Tech's mega throttling by Miami means that this team that was slated by some to be in the BCS is finished. Also up there is West Virginia. Not only do they squander a golden opportunity against Auburn but also their starting QB gets injured.

Games of the Week
Miami at V-Tech
Iowa at Penn State (5)
Cal at Oregon

BCS Picks as of 9/23

BCS Championship: Florida over Texas
Orange Bowl : USC Over Miami
Sugar Bowl: Alabama over Boise State
Fiesta: Oklahoma over Cincinnati
Rose Bowl: Cal over Penn State