When did parity reach the Big Ten?
It's supposed to be Michigan. Or Ohio State. Who let Purdue in the party? And what in the world are Travis Cole and Minnesota and Northwestern doing here?
But, yet, here are those five teams with just one loss battling for the conference crown and a shot at the Rose Bowl.
Purdue, with its win over Northwestern, is now in the driver's seat. Win them all, the Boilermakers are in. Simple. But they still have games at Wisconsin and Michigan State, and host Ohio State. Not so simple.
Watch Minnesota, though. The Gophers play at Indiana and at Wisconsin and get Northwestern and Iowa at home. That's probably the easiest of the five teams' remaining schedules, and there's a very good chance the Gophers could run the table. With a little help, they can go to the Rose Bowl with a 7-1 mark in the conference and 9-2 record overall. Add in they haven't been to the Rose Bowl since 1962 -- a tiebreaker if records are the same -- and they could be Pasadena bound.
"It's almost unbelievable. After the game they said, 'Coach you're on top of the Big Ten.' I don't know if we can handle that. I mean, we are what we are," said Minnesota coach Glen Mason.
Booty call
Finally, LSU's Josh Booty lived up to the hype.
He was supposed to be the Tigers' savior at QB, but has never quite lived up to the hype -- until Saturday. Booty threw for 225 yards and three TDs as the Tigers rolled over Kentucky 34-0.
"I feel like I made better decisions than I have in the past," said Booty, who enrolled at LSU after five years in minor league baseball. "I think I was a lot better quarterback tonight. I kind of slowed down everything as far as my thought process. I was able to make some plays and let the players play for me."
They're baaaacckk
They weren't supposed to do this. They flat-lined weeks ago, or so it seemed.
Yet, here's traditional SEC powers Alabama and Florida making noises again, and actually threatening to win the West and East Divisions, respectively.
Bama, fresh off a 45-7 win over Ole Miss Saturday, was written off after a 1-3 start. But upon further review, maybe it wasn't so bad. Two losses came to a greatly under appreciated Southern Miss team and UCLA.
OK, so maybe it is bad. After all, the Bruins just lost to Cal. But the Tide is 3-1 and wins against Tennessee next Saturday and Mississippi State and Auburn to end the regular season could lead the Crimson Tide back to the SEC Championship Game.
"This is a very important win," said Alabama coach Mike DuBose, who is again on the chopping block in Tuscaloosa. "It's a good start, but we dug ourselves a big hole and now we're trying to get out of it."
If they did make it to Atlanta and the title game, they could see Florida. The Gators are quietly getting it all together. Steve Spurrier may have finally found a QB who he can live with in freshman Rex Grossman. Of course, Spurrier is often fond of QBs who throw five TDs in a game like Grossman did in Florida's 38-7 win over No. 19 Auburn.
And you know the Gators are feeling good when they get a little cocky. While Spurrier had the muzzles on for awhile, Grossman let this little beauty slip out after the Gators moved the ball at will against Auburn.
"I think our scout team stops us at least once every five times," Grossman said.
The Gators have a huge SEC showdown with Georgia in two weeks and the annual war with Florida State on Nov. 18. Two wins there and Florida could be looking at not only a spot in the SEC title game, but a shot at the national title.
"It's hard to play up to their standards," said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville. "If you don't, you get left behind."
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