There are a few different schools that people are excited to root for when they’re actually winning. Notre Dame is definitely one of them, and they’ve been really strong for many years. But they haven’t been able to get themselves back into winning this season. They look more like Northwestern and Stanford; they rise and fall every once in awhile. The Fighting Irish are not looking like the contenders that they have been for a long time, though. This year, the media is describing it as though the team has just crashed and burned, and that’s almost right.They haven’t gotten a win against a Big 10 opponent in about 3 years, which makes them much less excited as they move forwards than they were before. Perhaps next year. But the Irish have just 3 games to get themselves back into action this year. Hopefully this team will be able to improve at least a little bit so that they will feel better.

In last weeks game between the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs, we knew that tempers would be running high. But we didn’t expect the big story to come out of it as one of these random acts of violence that sometimes appear on the field. Brandon Spikes was seen at the end of a play reaching into a guy’s helmet and, effectively, clawing at his eyes. The player, Ealey, says that it wasn’t such a big deal, but it does show an awful lack of safety consciousness on Spikes part. The conference and the coach suspended him for half of this weekend’s game against Vanderbilt. But he suspended himself for the rest of the game, because he doesn’t want to be a bad influence or something. Meanwhile, there is a big discussion now about “what if” he had really harmed Ealey. He didn’t get his eyes, but he could have come close. And who does that on the football field anyway? The idea is that this was a fully avoidable incident. Anyway, the issue has been more or less dealt with and the teams move on.

The top three teams in the NCAA Football polls from the AP certainly deserve it. Florida is on top, which they earned against Georgia this weekend in a hard-fought but ultimately uneven match in Jacksonville (which looked to be sunny and warm, unlike the place where I was watching it on Halloween). Texas is in second place and they’re working hard to get to the championship this year. The Longhorns were strong last year and strong this year, with Colt McCoy looking for the Heisman. Alabama is in third place, having been overtaken by Texas in these polls. It’s a comfortable place for all these teams, though they would certainly like to get higher in the rankings. It looks like Florida will stay up for the foreseeable future unless there is some huge loss against someone else. Keep watching these polls, because they tend to be a good barometer of where the teams really stand.

This weekend, we will see the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators take each other on in a huge rivalry game that is classic for the conference. This year, the Gators are, of course, omnipotent. They are moving fast to take the national championship again and it’s getting stronger all the time. The Bulldogs have had a lot of trouble getting themselves back in motion. They have been sluggish and unable to win. But on other weeks they have been absolutely brilliant. Against Tennessee, they weren’t able to get it done. Against Vanderbilt, it was a completely different story. Depending on which team decides to play this weekend, we might see one outlet or the other. On the other hand, it might not matter much if Florida is as dominant as they seem to be. Either way, when these two teams get together, it’s very difficult to predict which one will win.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ quarterback is injured, as we know. Bradford’s shoulder just isn’t doing the job for him and so they decided that he will need to get out of this season. He will reportedly take on season-ending surgery and then work for the draft next season. This is probably, in the end, the best choice for him, because he gets to continue his life. His ability to play right now is compromised. He will probably take a hit in the draft, not going as high as he otherwise would. But what’s his choice? Play poorly for the rest of this year and take another hit in the draft, as well as face the possibility of injuring the shoulder beyond repair. In the end, he will probably be able to get back to 100% once he gets into the NFL. His potential is still high, but he’s not going to be as impressive as before.

The Sooners are going to have a rougher go of it this year than they had expected. Sam Bradford, the team’s quarterback, will be having season-ending shoulder surgery, it has been announced, and for many Oklahoma fans, it will feel like the end of the season for them as well. Bradford is a major center of control on this team and his loss is big. We will be watching this afternoon when he does his press conference letting us know of his plans. He will have the surgery, yes, but what next? Will he want to push towards the NFL or will be even be able to? He’ll be ok, but will he be able to get back into football. The coaches aren’t willing to speak for him, but the way they’re talking about “his plans”, it sounds like a touchy situation, at the very least.

With Missouri and Texas preparing to do battle this weekend, it would be good to look at these two teams and take stock of some of their positive and negative sides right now. Texas has struggled because Colt McCoy has had some minor injuries this season. He is widely expected to be one of the best QBs in the upcoming draft class and has been leading his team to greatness for a couple of years now. Whether they can catch Florida remains to be seen, however. For Missouri, Blaine Gabbert will be taking the snaps, despite the sprain that almost took him out this last weekend. He’s working his way back to regularity, but he has had some real trouble with it this season. Mizzou is a good team, but it’s hard to imagine them upsetting Texas in a big way. But a hard-fought game is certainly a possibility.

This weekend, we will see the latest installment of the Texas Longhorns vs Oklahoma Sooners. It looks like it might be a close game, because these two teams know each other well enough to feel confident in stopping them. On the other hand, Oklahoma has been dealing with injuries to people like Sam Bradford, their star QB, that will slow them down. Texas, meanwhile, it ranked in the top 5 again this year, and Colt McCoy is aiming at the Heisman this year, and a win against the Sooners would bring him much closer to it. The predictions mainly have Texas winning this game and my prediction wouldn’t be much different (if I made predictions), but don’t count Oklahoma out. Their program is strong and their coaching can sometimes make wins appear out of nowhere. It will be an intense game that could have some real consequences in the battle for bowl games.

The SEC has been described as “Varsity” by several commentators around the media, whereas they refer to everything else as J-V. This weekend, this was all but confirmed by the game between LSU and Florida. Florida won by a significant margin and it looks to us as though they are almost unstoppable in their pursuit of the SEC title. LSU is still very good, but they haven’t been able to make the stops that the people with the polls said that they needed to stop Florida. This rivalry’s newest chapter has practically sent the SEC title to Florida, who has won more than its share of titles over the last several years. It would take a big miracle, it seems, for them to not win this time.

Oklahoma is having a year that will not live on forever like the one they just finished. The blame is being placed on offensive coordinator Bob Stoops. There are calls for his ouster. This is the guy who sent the offense to win game after game with more than 60 points, making NCAA records. This year, the offense has settled back quite a bit. But remember what’s happened. They’ve lost a whole bunch of talented players who are now in the NFL. In other words, they were some of the best and now they’re down to bare-bones playing. The team is not as good as they used to be. They used to dominate everyone. But they are a younger team, in the same way that Michigan is, and will have to develop their younger talent over the next few years.