Weekly Trivia: National Championship Winners Since 1957

The answer to last week's trivia question, "When was Oklahoma’s last BCS bowl win?" is the Rose Bowl following the 2002 season. They beat the Washington State Cougars 34-14. Oklahoma lost their next five BCS bowls (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008) before beating UConn 48-20 New Year’s Day in the Fiesta Bowl.

On to this week's question. Congratulations to Auburn on the 2010 National Championship. It has been well publicized that this is Auburn’s first national championship since 1957. That is a long time—53 years to be exact. That makes this week’s trivia question:

How many other schools won a national championship since 1957?

Leave your answer in the comments section. The answer will be revealed next Wednesday when a new question is asked.

For more trivia questions, visit the Trivia page.

Monday Musings: Any Changes to BCS Championship Game For Arizona Shootings?

If you want my Keys to the Game for the Auburn Tigers and the Oregon Ducks in the BCS Championship game tonight, they can be found here, on the Business Insider.

This week in college football was a mixed bag of sorts. The headlines were split between coaching changes and the final bowl games. It is the weekend's national headline, however, that hits home, and leads off this week's Monday Musings.

1. The Arizona Shootings. While there is never a good time for what happened in Arizona over the weekend with U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time for college football. The BCS National Championship game will be played in Glendale, AZ tonight. How will this event impact the BCS national championship game? As of 10:53 A.M. Eastern time, the BCS has not made any announcement on its official website regarding the shootings and what might be done for security or otherwise. While the shootings were in Tucson (2 hours south of Glendale), it is 100% appropriate and in order for the pre-game program to be adjusted one or two minutes to offer condolences and hold a moment of silence for everyone who was affected.

2. 4-2. Teams from the BCS non-AQ conferences were 4-2 against teams from AQ conferences. Air Force beat Georgia Tech in the Independence Bowl, Central Florida beat Georgia in the Liberty Bowl, Nevada beat Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, and TCU highlighted the non-AQ victories by beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Only Southern Mississippi (lost to Louisville in the St. Petersburg Bowl) and East Carolina (lost to Maryland in the Military Bowl) failed to beat their AQ conference opponents.

3. Who needs a coach? Michigan fired Rich Rodriguez last week, but they can’t seem to find anyone to replace him. Who would have thought the Michigan job would ever be so undesirable? Jim Harbaugh is not interested. Brady Hoke doesn’t seem to meet their standards. Les Miles? He is going to need some pretty big reasons to leave Louisiana State after he was …

4. Validated. Even with the national championship in 2007, Les Miles struggled to win over the LSU faithful. He struggled with an 8-5 and a 9-4 season the next two years. With the big win over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, Miles has an 11 win season with HIS players, and likely a top 10 finish. He also led LSU to its best start (7-0) since 1973 (9-0).

5. Hoping to get lucky. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, in a bold move, decided to return for his senior season. Recent history shows that he will be lucky to maintain his projected number one pick status. Jake Locker has seen his draft stock drop significantly this year. Colt McCoy had the same thing happen to him. Sam Bradford suffered an injury and was extremely lucky to recover in time for the draft. Tim Tebow also had a scare with a concussion. Matt Leinart dropped from the number one pick to the 10th overall pick. Now with Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL, another set of risks and unknowns is thrown into the mix. Luck will be very lucky to keep his lofty draft position after playing one more year.

6. Suicide coaching hire. Incoming Florida Gators coach Will Muschamp proved one thing this week: he is a defensive genius. That is the only reason I can think of that would make him want to hire beleaguered former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis as his offensive coordinator. Why anyone in the college ranks would trust their offense to Weis is a mystery to me. Weis belongs in the NFL. Hiring Weis could be suicide to Muschamps’ tenure at Florida, and it hasn’t even started.

7. Wake me up from this nightmare. Coaching the Maryland Terrapins might be some aspiring college coach’s dream job. That aspiring coach better be one who plays with a round, orange ball. For new Maryland coach Randy Edsall to call coaching the football team his dream job makes me think he is having a nightmare. What makes Maryland any different from UConn? He is going from one basketball school in a basketball conference to another. Hurry, somebody pinch that guy.

8. Exposed. Most of us learned our lesson back in September when Virginia Tech lost back-to-back games to Boise State and James Madison. The BCS had to learn the hard way. Stanford exposed Virginia Tech, the ACC automatic qualifying champion, with their 40-12 shellacking in the Orange Bowl last Monday night. Should have pitted the Hokies against UConn. Both the Orange and Fiesta bowls would have been better attended and more competitive.

9. Make the most of it. Knowing they would not get to play again until October next season, the infamous “tattoo 5” for Ohio State made the most of it. They were all key players in the Buckeye’s first bowl win ever against an SEC team--Arkansas, 31-26. Fortunately, those first five games next year will be played against much inferior competition.

10. Who needs a coach? Part 2. The Pittsburgh Panthers lost incumbent coach Dave Wannstedt when he was fired at the end of the season. They lost newly hired head coach Make Heywood literally days later when he was arrested. Going into the BBVA Compass Bowl they still didn’t have a coach. That didn’t seem to matter as the Panthers sent the Kentucky Wildcats back to the blue grass state with their tails between their legs, 27-10.

Weekly Trivia: Oklahoma BCS Bowl Wins

The answer to last week's trivia question, " Which FBS conference won the Bowl Challenge Cup in 2009-10?" is the Mountain West Conference with a 4-1 record.

On to this week's question. Oklahoma beat UConn in the Fiesta Bowl to reverse their recent trend in BCS bowls—lose when favored. This week’s trivia question is:

When was Oklahoma’s last BCS bowl win?

Leave your answer in the comments section. The answer will be revealed next Wednesday when a new question is asked.

For more trivia questions, visit the Trivia page.

Game Predictions: BCS Bowls

It is time to give my predictions for the BCS bowls. To view my non-BCS bowl predictions, click here.

January 1
Rose Bowl
TCU vs. Wisconsin, 28-21 TCU
Hawaii is the only non-AQ team to ever lose a BCS bowl game.

Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma vs. UConn, 27-24 UConn
Until Oklahoma wins a BCS game that they should, I will keep picking the underdog.

January 3
Orange Bowl
Stanford vs. Virginia Tech, 35-21 Stanford
The Hokies have finally met their match.

January 4
Sugar Bowl
Arkansas vs. Ohio State, 28-24 Ohio State
The Buckeyes finally beat a SEC team, but was the controversy worth it?

January 10
BCS National Championship Game
Oregon vs. Auburn, 36-34 Oregon
A surprise 2 point conversion will be the difference.

Weekly Trivia: 2009-10 Bowl Challenge Cup

The answer to last week's trivia question, "What other FBS conferences (in addition to the Big Ten) had a three team tie for the conference championship?" is the Big East and the WAC. Uconn, Pitt, and West Virginia all had 5-2 conference records in the Big East. Hawaii, Boise State, and Nevada all had 7-1 conference records in the WAC. You could even throw in the Big 12 South, if you wanted; Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M all had a 6-2 conference mark.

One of the newer traditions in college football is the Bowl Challenge Cup awarded to the conference with the best win percentage in bowl games. This week’s trivia question is:

Which FBS conference won the Bowl Challenge Cup in 2009-10?

Leave your answer in the comments section. The answer will be revealed next Wednesday when a new question is asked.

For more trivia questions, visit the Trivia page.

Monday Musings: Auburn Tigers' Hail Mary Says It All

The final weekend of College Football was a good one. Whether is was conference championship games, rivalries, conference championships (minus a predetermined "championship game"), or bowl positioning being played out on the field, there was enough of everything to keep us talking for two weeks until the bowl games start.

1. That says it all. After South Carolina scored a TD to close the gap with Auburn to 21-14 with seconds to go before halftime (South Carolina would get the ball to start the second half), Cam Newton throws a 51-yard hail mary touchdown. That play sums up everything you need to know about Newton and Auburn for Heisman and national championship talk. Newton’s play has been magical, and Auburn has gotten all the breaks.

2. First time for everything. TCU is going to the Rose Bowl. The Horned Frogs replace Oregon in the Rose since the Ducks are going to the National Championship game. Florida International University is going bowling (Little Caesars). The Golden Panthers were co-Sun Belt Champions. After years of struggling while playing very, very hard non-conference schedules, it pays off as FIU won six games in conference.

3. Worst BCS team ever? Connecticut at 8-4 is not in the BCS top 25. To the best of my knowledge, that is unprecedented. Florida State is the only other four loss team to play in BCS games. The Seminoles did it twice. In 2002, Florida State had a 9-4 record going into Bowl season. However, three of those losses were to Notre Dame (10-3), Miami (12-1), and North Carolina State (11-3). None of those losses were blowouts. In 2005, Florida State had to beat 10-1 Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game to get to the BCS. They also beat a 9-2 Miami team. I can’t build any case for UConn, except that they won the Big East three-team tie breaker. Their best win out of conference is 2-10 Vanderbilt. Beating West Virginia (9-3) 16-13 in overtime is the Huskies’ best win. None of the teams that Connecticut lost to won more than 8 games—and that was Temple from the MAC.

4. More Ammo for Rich Rod Supporters. This is a discussion that will rage on all the way through January 1 when Michigan plays Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl. Michigan beat Connecticut in the season opener. That would be BCS Fiesta Bowl bound Connecticut. Can’t say that Michigan didn’t beat anybody this year. Of course, all this really means is that if Rich Rodriguez was still coaching in the Big East, his team would probably be Big East Champ.

5. MAC Attack. Northern Illinois was a juggernaut the last few weeks. The Huskies had scored 71, 59, and 65 points their last three games. That didn’t intimidate the Miami (OH) Redhawks. Miami came out the 26-21 winner for the MAC championship.

6. Overcome with nerves. Knowing that a national championship game appearance was at stake, Oregon played nervous. They turned over the ball twice in the first five minutes of the game. UConn was up by 10 points with 13 minutes to play. The Huskies blew the lead and needed a 52 yard field goal with 17 seconds to play to secure its first BCS berth.

7. Total Dominance. USC has had, by all accounts, a down year. The Trojans haven’t had a 5 loss season since 2001. UCLA couldn’t beat their cross-town rivals then, and they couldn’t do it now. The Trojans beat the Bruins 28-14 this year.

8. Block that Kick. The crowd loves to chant this phrase. The Arizona Sun Devils delivered. Twice. Correction, James Brooks delivered. The first block sent the game to overtime. Brooks' second blocked point-after-attempt gave the Sun Devils the win over rival Arizona.

9. Broncos Bounce Back. A week after seeing their hopes for a national championship and a BCS bowl shattered, Boise State rebounded with a 50-14 win over Utah State. Probably doesn’t do much to make them feel any better about the week before.

10. Dion does it, finally. To say this has been a disappointing year for Dion Lewis would be an understatement. He had 695 yards rushing on the season coming into the season finale against Cincinnati (he ran for 1,799 last year). He had only rushed for 100 yards in a game twice. He exploded for 261 yards and 4 TD on Saturday.

Monday Musings: 10 Thoughts About Week 3

College Football turned in another memorable weekend. It was packed with memorable performances, unexpected events, and defining moments for teams, players, and coaches. Here are this week's musings.

1. Here we go again. Last year, the Michigan Wolverines started hot (4-0) and we all thought they were back. They only won one game the rest of the year (63-6 against Delaware State). That has made me hesitant to get excited about Michigan this year. The shootout with UMass on Saturday didn't help. Will Michigan keep winning once Big Ten play starts?

2. Houston, we have a problem. A week after Houston appeared to be in excellent shape with a ground game to go with their potent passing attack, the Cougars lost their first and second string quarterbacks. Case Keenum was the life blood of that team. Now, a season full of so much promise, is most likely shattered.

3. The ACC favorite is who? The North Carolina State Wolfpack looks to be the team to beat in the ACC. They are the only 3-0 team, and behind the arm of Russell Wilson they are legit. Tom O'Brien had struggled so far at NCState, but he looks to have assembled a solid team he can win with.

4. Escaped by their whiskers. The Wisconsin Badgers survived a scare Saturday by Arizona State. A blocked extra point attempt with 4:09 to play made the difference. Wisconsin has one more game to figure things out before Big Ten play starts. They might be 3-0 at this point, but none of their wins have been dominant.

5. Can we shorten the game to 3 quarters? This question was asked by FIU, and everyone playing Oregon. The Florida International Golden Panthers had a 20-6 lead going into the fourth quarter, only to see Texas A&M score 21 fourth quarter points to win 27-20. Oregon is humiliating everyone, do we really need to rub it in and play the final 15 minutes?

6. 'Bamas Best Back. Mark Ingram made it clear that he is, not only, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. He is the best Alabama Crimson Tide running back. Back from injury, Ingram took his first carry of the season 48 yards. He had over 100 yards in the first quarter. He averaged 16.8 yards per carry, and scored two touchdowns. Trent Richardson is a very good player, but let's refrain from saying he is better than Ingram.

7. This is why you came back? Many experts felt Jake Locker would have pushed Sam Bradford for the number one pick in last April's NFL draft. Locker decided to stay for his senior year. I don't think he came back for games like the one on Saturday: 4-20 passing for 71 yards and 2 interceptions. Here's an idea, let's go back nine months and Locker can declare for the NFL draft and Jimmy Clausen can stay for his senior year.

8. The Pac-10 packed a punch. Although Washington didn't look so hot, several Pac-10 teams did. Arizona came up with the biggest upset of the year by knocking off Iowa, 34-27. Stanford continued to roll with a 68-24 trashing of Wake Forest. UCLA rebounded with a 31-13 win over upstart Houston. While it was just Portland State, Oregon still exceeded expectations (69 points in 45 minutes). Even Arizona State represented well in a loss at Wisconsin. The losses by Washington and Cal hurt the conference, but everyone else came through.

9. You conned me. UConn had us all fooled. The Huskies are not measuring up to contender status in the Big East. A 20 point loss to Michigan in the opener (UMass only lost by 5). A 14 point loss to Temple this week. Temple might win the MAC, but if you expect to contend in a BCS AQ conference, you put away MAC schools easy.

10. The most overrated play. Michigan State faked a field goal in overtime to beat Notre Dame. It was a risky call, and it looked cool from the camera angle on television, but don't buy into the hype that this one play was the gutsiest play of the college football season. The Michigan State head coach even explained that they didn't have much confidence in their kicker. My props to Michigan State for getting the win over one of their rivals and for executing the play well, but let's not blow this out of proportion.

For the latest College Football Haven Top 25, click here.