Let’s look at a big NCAA Football game this weekend. Ohio State is still in the mix for the Bowl Championship Series, even though the team is sitting at home in the final days of the season. After the Buckeyes lost to the Fighting Illini a few weeks ago, analysts wrote of the Ohio State University’s chances at the BCS title. The Ohio State Buckeyes would play Michigan before their season ended and that wouldn’t be enough time to climb back up the Bowl Championship Series ladder, they argued. However, Ohio State is still in the game.

Offensive coordinator Calvin Magee from West Virginia has been named Assistant Coach of 2007 by the AFCA. Every year, staff representatives from NCAA and NAIA football playing schools nominate one assistant coach for consideration. Then, the winners are selected in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, the NAIA, NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, and Divisions II and III. This award was 1st presented in 1997.

Texas Christian University athletic director stated that head coach Gary Patterson is probably on a few programs’ lists as a potential replacement at the positions at the University of Arkansas and Georgia Tech. Danny Morrison, athletic director, said it would surprise him to find out that Gary Patterson was not on any teams’ lists, however, he declined to talk about job speculation. The end of the season already features ten universities with available head coaching positions. Since Gary Patterson took over TCU football (in 2000), he has had 4 10-win seasons, 6 trips to bowl games, and a likely invitation to another bowl match this season.

Let us see how the championship picture looks like. In the North, the winner of the Kansas - Missouri match will go to the Big XII championship. If Texas and Oklahoma both win tomorrow, then Oklahoma will become the South division champion. If only 1 of the 2 teams wins, then that team is going to represent the division. In case both teams manage to lose, it will drop them into a 3-way tie with Oklahoma State. And they will have to go to the massive Big XII tiebreaker procedure.

Let us take a closer look at the present odds and the ones to win the BCS Championship.

1. Louisiana State University: with 5/4 odds of winning the BCS Championship. This team has been the most consistent one throughout the season.

2. Kansas: it is still part of the 5/1 field option at Super Book. They are ready pay $500 for every $100 bet.

3. West Virginia: presently, the team is at No. 3 for the BCS standings. Odds makers have the team with 6/1 odds of winning the BCS championship game

A 4-match winning streak to end the regular season helped Eastern Washington earn a spot in the sixteen-team college football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The Eagles will play McNeese State at 5 p.m. Saturday in Lake Charles. It will be the team’s 1st-ever meeting against the Cowboys (11-0) that won the Southland Conference title with a 6-0 record. The Eagles (8-3, 6-2 Big Sky Conference) will be making their 6th playoff appearance overall and 3rd in the last 4 seasons

It was obvious the California Poly students were ready for North Dakota State last Saturday. The players began showing up at least an hour before the match armed with “thundersticks.” The California Poly are inflatable noisemakers that can make it hard to hear on the football field. North Dakota State University head coach Craig Bohl noticed them during warmups before the match and discussed the issue with the officials and the university athletic director Gene Taylor.

After Rod Huber took over the Mount St. Joseph football program 8 years ago, he insisted he build it with defense. Over the past 4 years, the coach has watched his plan put into practice. Heading into Saturday’s NCAA Division III 1st-round playoff game against Wabash College (9-1), Rod Huber likes his team’s psyche. They have won 4-straight matches, advanced to the postseason for the 4th-straight year. The team is showing the kind of defensive prowess that the coach was dreaming of when he started.

Illinois coach Ron Zook says that two injured starters Arrelious Benn and Vontae Davis will play Saturday against Northwestern. Ron Zook is not sure, however, about fullback Weil. Arrelious Benn, a freshman receiver, and Vontae Davis, a junior cornerback, left Saturday’s 28-21 upset of Ohio State with concussions. The coach said both players are practicing this week. However, neither is participating in contact drills.

BYU’s defense bent just enough to let Texas Christian University make it interesting, then smothered the TCU Horned Frogs before they could complete the comeback. Nixon and Kehl sacked Dalton in an eleven-second span to clinch Brigham Young University’s 27-22 win over the Horned Frogs yesterday night, keeping the BYU Cougars unbeaten in the Mountain West Conference for a 2nd straight season.