It may be a little early to start thinking about the NCAA Rose Bowl, or any other bowl game for that matter, especially since the state of the BCS rankings is in such bedlam. This weekend is going to carry huge bowl game implications with teams like Florida and Oklahoma needing wins to state their case for the BCS bowl game bid. However, it looks like it may be USC and Penn State that get to meet each other in the Rose Bowl game this year. That’s good news, as USC needs some competition in that Bowl game after winning it very easily for 6 years in a row. If you’re a fan of either team, you may want to consider looking for your Rose Bowl tickets now.

After a rather tepid first quarter, the Oklahoma Sooners squad simply bombarded the then number 2 Texas Tech Raiders defense en route to a 65-21 thrashing. Although it has traditionally been quarterback Sam Bradford who has torn up opposing defenses throughout the year, this time Oklahoma opened up the game (and continued to make the hole wider) with their one-two punch running game of DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown. Each tallied over one hundred yards (Murray 125, Brown 108). But that doesn’t mean Bradford was inactive. He too joined in on the domination completing 14 of 19 passing attempts for 304 yards. Get more information about the game at ncaafootball.com.

The Texas Longhorns have partly redeemed themselves by really taking down the Kansas Jayhawks this weekend.  The team has had some trouble the last few weeks, performing weakly against some rivals and some mediocre teams. However, they took down Kansas last Saturday, 35-7, making a convincing case for themselves to bump up a rank or two. To be fair, Kansas is unranked and not considered a contender of any kind this year, but for a Texas team that has had some trouble recently, it is definitely a step in the right direction. The southern championship may be headed towards a tie, however. Oklahoma and Texas Tech are also doing very well and may make it all the way too. Anyway, read more about the game here.

 Though they dropped a crucial game against the heavy underdog Hawkeyes of Iowa, Penn State must not let their focus completely drop off. They may have lost the BCS bowl game opportunity but their chances of playing in the Rose Bowl are extremely strong. All they need to do is finish strong against Indiana and Michigan state and the bid is theirs. Ncaafootball.com has the whole story.

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Tech Red Raiders have been able to strengthen their hold on the top spots in the most recent polls of the sportswriter and all the people who make those big decisions.  Penn State, a team that looked really good a couple weeks ago, dropped 4 spots this week, down to #7 after a loss in the last seconds this weekend. This almost eliminates them from the national competition this year.  Texas, which looked really really good, has also dropped a couple spots in the last couple weeks.  Alabama, however, is still perfect after an overtime win this week.  There are only a couple weekends left to play for these teams, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens. Check out the full 25.

This weekend will be the Penn State Nittany Lions’ last road game in which they will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Though both teams play the game in a similar fashion (run the ball, rely on defense, control the clock), the Nittany Lions have done it better than anyone else this year en route to their current 9-0 record. A record that has propelled them to the number three spot in the polls and one of the premiere college teams in the nation. So if the Lions are able to roll through the Hawkeyes as many predict, they’ll be able to enjoy home field advantage through the rest of the season and may just find themselves in the big BCS bowl game. Check out ncaafootball.com to learn more.

The North Texas football team was tested over the last couple months for various drugs.  The tests were requested by the coach of the team, Todd Dodge, who said that they are a team and should be tested as a team.  The university routinely tests athletes for various drugs, but not usually a full team at one shot.  The upshot of the tests is that 15 players on the football team tested positive.  The results were not released in detail, so there are no details on which players they were, nor which drugs they had taken.  However, the players involved will get counseling and hopefully back on track soon enough.  A second offense would result in suspension and then the consequences rise up from there.  Good luck to those players, and hopefully things get better for them!