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'College Football Monday'
Frank Coyle's Weekly Column

Auburn Battles Oregon for #1 in BCS Title Game

Tigers' QB Cam Newton Wins Player of Week

Photo - Cam Newton - Auburn

The final weekend of college football brought about the BCS matchup most fans have talked about since midseason – Auburn vs Oregon. They both won on Saturday that earned them the BCS title game as the #1 and #2 teams in the nation. It should be one of the most exciting title games after a series of wild games over the bizarre 2010 season. Three teams finish the season undefeated with only Texas Christian omitted from the title game. Despite going undefeated for the second regular season in a row, the Horned Frogs could not gather national support to overcome the powers from the SEC and Pac 10 Conferences. After beating an unbeaten Utah team in November, TCU struggled to gain ground especially in the final week facing a 1-10 New Mexico they bombed 66-17.

Auburn and Oregon both won impressively late in the season and are a terrific matchup featuring two explosive offenses. Auburn was once again led by QB Cam Newton as they buried South Carolina in the SEC title that put an explanation mark on the season and most likely the Heisman Trophy award race. He deserves the Heisman Trophy vote off a tremendous season that could be the biggest landslide in the prestigious awards long history. The BCS title game has all the makings of an exciting high scoring game that would be a fitting conclusion to a wild season.

Oregon won a wild game vs Arizona that was close over the first half until the Ducks wacky spread offense took over to win a 48-29 affair. The Ducks ranked #1 in every poll, but Draft Insiders poll, but fell out of the top spot in the BCS this week to Auburn

The BCS title game may still be debated if TCU beats a tough Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl that creates an imaginary game vs the Auburn-Oregon winner. The BCS snub of the Horned Frogs was the main reason TCU joined the Big East last week. As a Big East member the conference receives an automatic BCS bid that gives teams a chance at the national title annually.

BCS Concludes Selection Day With Bowl Pairings

The BCS group announced the teams that have been selected for play in the BCS bowl games, which are the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Game.

"This is one of the best days in college football, and I want to congratulate all the teams who will play in a BCS game, and all the teams who will play in other bowl games this season. For nearly every student-athlete, playing in a BCS bowl game is the number one goal, because it is often the highlight of their careers. This may be why 93 percent of coaches and 70 percent of student-athletes favor the traditional bowl system over a playoff.

"Once again, the BCS has delivered. It has matched the number one and number two teams in the championship game, while delivering outstanding matchups featuring eight other top teams from around the country. It's also preserved the most exciting and dynamic regular season in all of sports," said Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the BCS.

The BCS Pairings are as follows
all times EDT and all games will be televised on ESPN

Rose Bowl - January 1st, Pasadena, Ca, 5:00 pm:
TCU vs Wisconsin

Fiesta Bowl - January 1st, Glendale, Az, 8:30 pm:
Oklahoma vs Connecticut

Orange Bowl - January 3rd, Miami, Fl, 8:30 pm:
Stanford vs Virginia Tech

Sugar Bowl - January 4th, New Orleans, La, 8:30 pm:
Ohio State vs Arkansas

BCS National Championship Game - January 10th, Glendale, Az, 8:30 pm:
Auburn vs Oregon

We will post Complete Bowl Schedule Today on the College Dates Links page

Frank Coyle writes ‘College Football Monday’ weekly during the season. He is a longtime scouting consultant for the Senior Bowl, the nation’s premier postseason All-star game. He is also a member of the FWAA and voter in College team and player awards - Heisman, Outland, Nagurski, Thorpe, etc. He is a voter for weekly Team and Player Awards