Final regular season rankings

By Nate Sandstrom

For all the gnashing of teeth about Texas, I think the BCS has done its self-declared job of putting the two teams that have had the best seasons in a bowl game against each other. I hope others are impressed that Oklahoma is the first team in 79 years to score 60 points in six straight games.

The bigger snub is Boise State getting passed over, I'd have put them ahead of Utah and Ohio State. Oh well, they will get to play in one of the best bowl season match-ups when they take on TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23 in San Diego (get out of work early, kickoff is at 5.)

I would also like to take the time to ask how BYU is #17 in the AP poll. Their best win is Air Force, and they were beat comfortably by Utah and waxed by TCU.

My final regular season rankings:
1. Florida (12-1, 2). Even when they're off they win by double-digits.
2. Oklahoma (12-1, 3). A loss here and they start to be categorized as chokers like the Buckeyes.
3. Texas (12-1, 4). Hope they don't spend so much time crying that they lose to Ohio State.
4. Alabama (12-1, 1). Pretty-much guaranteed preseason #1 next year, right?
5. USC (11-1, 5). Too bad for them no Pac-10 wins were valuable.
6. Penn State (11-1,6). Big Ten team with no athletes. Sure.
7. Texas Tech (11-1, 7). Only team to beat Texas gets only team to beat Florida.
8. Boise State (12-0, 8). Keep racking up undefeated seasons.
9. Ohio State (10-2, 9). Top 10 even in down year.
10. Utah (12-0, 10). Should fare better in Sugar Bowl than Hawaii last year, but how much?
11. Oklahoma St. (9-3, 11). Could be next year's Texas Tech.
12. Cincinnati (11-2, 13). Quietest 11-win season in a while.
13. Oregon (9-3, 14). Late rally has Ducks on verge of another 10-win season.
14. TCU (10-2, 15). Should get more national respect.
15. Georgia Tech (9-3, 16). Where do they go from here?
16. Georgia (9-3, 17). Hope they are recruiting a defense.
17. Mississippi (8-4, 18). Imagine if they had won the Wake and Vanderbilt games?
18. Michigan State (9-3, 19). And we've now reached the lowest tier of ranked teams.
19. Pittsburgh (9-3, 20). Shady McCoy nearly a Heisman candidate.
20. Iowa (8-4, 21). Speaking of Heisman candidate RB's, what about Shonn Green?
21. Oregon St. (8-4, 23). Great at screwing USC.
22. Northwestern (9-3, 25). And I had So. Illinois upsetting them before the year.
23. Virginia Tech (9-4, NR). Somehow, emerged as ACC Champ again.
24. Ball State (12-1, 12). Turnovers are killer.
25. Boston College (9-4, 24). Keep beating expectations.

Taking your team seriously

At Wisconsin games, fans chant "asshole" at teams wearing the opposing team's gear. But a guy in Oklahoma took things way too far last summer, according to an AP report.

Basically, a guy wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt in an Oklahoma City bar was "nearly castrated" by a 53-year-old church deacon who is a Sooner fan.

An excerpt:
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — To some Oklahoma football fans, there are things that just aren't done in the heart of Sooner Nation, and one of them is to walk into a bar wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt.

That's exactly what touched off a bloody skirmish that left a Texas-shirt-wearing fan nearly castrated and an Oklahoma fan facing aggravated assault charges that could put him in prison for up to five years.

The shocking case has set off a raging debate in this football-crazed region about the extreme passions behind a bitter rivalry. Some legal observers have even questioned whether this case could ever truly have an impartial jury.

"I've actually heard callers on talk radio say that this guy deserved what he got for wearing a Texas T-shirt into a bar in the middle of Sooner country," said Irven Box, an attorney in this city 20 miles from Oklahoma's campus in Norman.

According to police, 32-year-old Texas fan Brian Christopher Thomas walked into Henry Hudson's Pub on June 17 wearing a Longhorns T-shirt and quickly became the focus of football "trash talk" from another regular, 53-year-old Oklahoma fan Allen Michael Beckett.

Thomas told police that when he decided to leave and went to the bar to pay his tab, Beckett grabbed him in the crotch, pulled him to the ground and wouldn't let go, even as bar patrons tried to break it up. When the two men were separated, Thomas looked down and realized the extent of his injuries.

"He could see both of his testicles hanging on the outside of his body," said Thomas' attorney, Carl Hughes. "He was wearing a pair of white shorts, which made it that much worse."

Wow! That may be one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard.

Next time you go to Oklahoma...er, just don't go. Who knows what a nun might think of that hat on your head?

--Nate Sandstrom