Still having intermittent problems with the blog, both on my side and on my host’s side. Sneaking this in before the window of opportunity closes again.

1. Texas

2. Southern Cal

3. Penn State

4. West Virginia

5. Ohio State

6. Georgia

7. Louisiana State

8. TCU

9. Virginia Tech

10. Alabama

11. Oregon

12. UCLA

13. Notre Dame

14. Wisconsin

15. Auburn

16. Florida

17. Boston College

18. Miami

19. Texas Tech

20. Louisville

21. Florida State

22. Clemson

23. Oklahoma

24. Nebraska

25. California

As the bowl games draw near, here’s a list of BCS team blogs to help you keep up with the teams that are, you know, still playing football. Salty language warning for some of these.

Rose Bowl

USC Trojans

• Trojan Wire
• Heisman Pundit
• SC Football
• Inside USC
• Tribute to Troy
• Student Body Right
• Boi from Troy

Texas Longhorns

• Burnt Orange Nation
• Bevo Beat

Orange Bowl

Penn State

• 50-Yard Lion
• Nittany Blog
• Bleed Blue ‘n’ White

Florida State

Does anyone in Tallahassee blog?

Fiesta Bowl

Notre Dame

• Blue-Gray Sky
• Kanka Sports
• Kelly Green
• The Irish Brogue

Ohio State

• Buckeye Commentary
• Around the Oval
• Buckeye Sports Blitz
• Walking to the Shoe

Sugar Bowl

Georgia

• Georgia Sports Blog
• I’m a Realist
• Dawg News
• The Junkyard Blawg

West Virginia

• WV Law Dog Blog

1. Texas: UT gets nod over USC only because of USC’s would-be loss to Notre Dame
2. USC: Basically neck and neck with the Longhorns
3. Notre Dame: Two bad calls on final two plays cost them victory over USC
4. Georgia: SEC champ
5. LSU: SEC runner-up
6. Florida: Lost three games, but beat both SEC champ and ACC champ
7. Penn State: Only one loss, but docked for not having to play a championship game
8. Ohio State: Only losses to Texas and Penn State
9. Florida State: Yeah, four losses, but still champ of tough ACC conference
10. Virginia Tech: ACC runner-up
11. Georgia Tech: Four losses, but beat both Auburn and Miami
12. Auburn: Stumbled out of the gate and lost to SEC runner-up LSU, but beat SEC champ Georgia
13. Miami: Throttled ACC runner-up Virginia Tech
14. Alabama: Only losses to SEC runner-up LSU and number 12 Auburn
15. Oregon: Only one loss, but docked for relatively weak conference
16. West Virginia: Received a BCS berth while never cracking the top ten
17. Michigan: Beat Big 10 champ Penn State, but lost four games
18. UCLA
19. Clemson: Beat ACC champ FSU, but who didn’t?
20. South Carolina: Wins over Florida and Tennessee not as impressive in hindsight
21. TCU
22. Northwestern
23. Iowa
24. Iowa State
25. Louisville

Is Tennessee’s 5-6 season an anomaly or a harbinger of things to come?

Penn State fan The Nittany Blog offers perspective from someone who’s been there:

What exactly went wrong at Tennessee? I don’t know. I can only offer an outsider’s point of view. However, as a Penn State fan who watched our proud program crumble to nothing from 2000-2004, I have a fair idea of how something like this happens. And unfortunately for the Vols, the conclusions are not pretty.

* * * *

The downfall of a traditionally successful program typically occurs because of one or more of the following- poor recruiting of late, poor coaching, NCAA violations and just bad lcuk. Penn State’s downfall was caused by the first two and the last. The Nittany Lions strategy of taking the first players they offered and not waiting on the “big fish” were what produced the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The 2000 and 2001 seasons were just a lot of bad luck. There was more talent there than on the 2003 and 2004 teams. Poor coaching has already been tabbed as a contributing factor after Randy Sanders resigned as offensive coordinator. Obviously bad luck has contributed to it as well. The fumble near the goal line against Alabama and the touchdown by Vanderbilt late in the fourth quarter were two of the biggest.

I think Fulmer will right the program and Tennessee will get back to a bowl next season. There’s too much talent at his disposal to suffer another disappointing season like 2005. A couple years from now, 2005 will just be looked back upon as a hiccup, not the new norm.

I wonder, what was Joe Paterno’s response to the losing season? Did he shake up the coaching staff like Fulmer did? It sounds like he started recruiting differently, and I’ve heard that he started coaching differently, at least by utilizing star freshmen sooner rather than later. But how soon did he react? Did it take four or five years to recover even though he acted immediately?

Coach Fulmer has responded swiftly to the Vols’ losing season.

But was it the right response, and how long will it take to see results?

Time will tell.

Entering the home stretch:

The Trojans and the Longhorns remain Nos. 1 and 2, and Penn State, LSU, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State all move up one spot due to Miami falling from No. 3 to No. 9 after losing to Georgia Tech. Oregon jumped from No. 10 to No. 7 after clobbering Oregon State, and the Fighting Irish improved by one position. Auburn rounds out the top ten.

The Tennessee Volunteers round out the top 117, and some players are behaving badly.

Games remaining that either will or could impact the Race:

• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• UCLA (12) at USC (1), December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Eleven
• Week Ten
• Week Nine
• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

UPDATE: This is Week Eleven. If you’re looking for the latest, see the Animated BCS Race to the Rose Bowl: Final Bowl Selections.

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Only a few weeks left to go, and the Race to the Rose Bowl is tightening:Alabama’s loss to the LSU Tigers left the USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns as the only remaining unbeaten teams. Miami moves up to the third spot behind the unbeatens, and LSU vaults over the Hokies to the fifth position behind number four Penn State. Georgia dropped out of the top ten after a loss to Auburn and is replaced by Notre Dame.

Games remaining that either will or could impact the Race:

• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• UCLA at USC, December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Ten
• Week Nine
• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

Rounding the final corner:

Virginia Tech drops, but not by much, after getting thrashed by Miami, Georgia re-enters the Race, and Oregon’s putrid yellow and green breaks the top ten.

Games remaining that either will or could impact the Race:

• USC at California, November 12, 2005
• LSU at Alabama, November 12, 2005 (3:30, CBS, maybe)
• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• UCLA at USC, December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

College Football News’ Run to the Rose Bowl has Three Unbeaten Contenders — USC, Texas, and Alabama — and eight No Margin for Errors — Miami, Penn State, Virginia Tech, LSU, Georgia, Oregon, Texas Tech, and UCLA.

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Nine
• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

Even as the Tennessee Volunteers have come up lame, stumbled, fallen, fallen, and fallen out of the Top 25 altogether, the Race to the Rose Bowl goes on.

Georgia drops out of the top ten after losing to the Gators, and USC takes over the top spot it lost last week to the Longhorns.

Tonight’s game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Miami Hurricanes is huge. Plus, there are still a lot of games that either will or could impact the Race:

• USC at California, November 12, 2005
• LSU at Alabama, November 12, 2005 (3:30, CBS, maybe)
• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• Florida State at Florida, November 26, 2005 (3:30, CBS)
• UCLA at USC, December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

College Football News’ Road to the Rose Bowl has Five Unbeaten Contenders — USC, Texas, Virginia Tech, Alabama, and UCLA — and eight No Margin for Errors — Miami, Penn State, LSU, Florida State, Georgia, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Texas Tech.

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

The Tennessee Volunteers get a great chance to redeem themselves and improve their national standing when they travel to Tuscaloosa to take on archrival Alabama. This game is too close to call: the Vol defense should make it difficult for the Crimson Tide offense to be productive, and the Bama defense won’t make it easy for the Vol offense to get on track. Heck, even collegefootballnews.com can’t make up its mind.

Some other games of interest to Volunteer fans this weekend:

• Auburn at LSU. This one’s sorta hard to figure. LSU is ranked higher than Auburn, so you’d think you’d want Auburn to win, but an LSU victory makes the Vols’ earlier victory over LSU look better, and an LSU loss would probably only have the effect of substituting Auburn for LSU in the top ten anyway. It’s really a toss up on whom to root for, but I’m going with LSU.
• Arkansas at Georgia. This one, however, is a no-brainer. Wooooo Pigs Soooie!
• Texas Tech at Texas. Tech burst into the top ten last week, and the Longhorns may be due for a letdown. Really, they both need to lose, but this might be the other UT’s only real challenge for the rest of the year.
• Georgia Tech at Miami. Georgia Tech beat Auburn earlier this year. Can they pull off another upset?
• Penn State at Illinois. Will Penn State have a hangover after a tought loss last week at Michigan? Will it matter?
• Oregon State at UCLA. Can the Beavers knock off a top ten team two weeks in a row?

CFN has the TV listings.

College Football News’ John Harris is bucking CFN’s official pick (Tennessee 16, Alabama 13) and making his own.

According to Harris, the key matchups in tomorrow’s game between the Volunteers and the Crimson Tide are:

• the ability of Tennessee’s defensive line to beat Alabama’s offensive line and the Bama run attack
• the Alabama wide receiver corps (which has lost Tyrone Prothro, its best receiver) against the Tennessee secondary (which has lost Jason Allen, its best cover corner and tackler)
• the Vol offensive line, which has been struggling, against the Tide front seven, which has been exceptional.

Harris’ conclusion?

After the close call at Ole Miss last week, the Tide returns this week to Tuscaloosa, where they played an almost flawless game against Florida. They’ll need to continue to harness the emotion and passion of the Tide faithful to knock off a desperate Tennessee team. Similar to the way that Michigan fought back against undefeated Penn State, expect Tennessee to take Bama’s best shot and hang around for four quarters. Brodie Croyle will be the difference as he’ll continue to find open receivers and move the ball as they have this season. He’ll need a big play from one of his receivers, and expect him to get one that wins the game for the Tide. Alabama – 21 vs. Tennessee – 20