With everything on the line for a shot at the BCS National Championship, 3 of the top 4 college teams in the nation (Florida, Texas and Oklahoma) made their case in College Football Week 14 action.

The two big questions were: 1) Would Florida win big and protect its No. 4 BCS ranking? and 2) Would a resounding victory by No. 3-ranked Oklahoma lift the Sooners over No. 2-ranked Texas and lead them to a Big 12 Championship game with Missouri?

Texas, which had beaten Oklahoma 45-35 earlier in the season on a neutral site, topped the unranked Texas A&M Aggies 4-8 4-8 at home to set the table. Undefeated Alabama then recorded their 12th straight home win by defeating unranked Auburn 36-0 to retain their No. 1 seed and possible date in the National Championship game. Florida followed suit on the road by defeating No. 23 (by AP) Florida 45-15.

Finally, it was showtime on Saturday night and Oklahoma hit the road and performed at just the right time, defeating No. 11-ranked Oklahoma State, 61-41. Last week, Oklahoma defeated then No. 2 Texas Tech 65-21. Saturday’s win over their in-state rival was their fourth straight 60-plus point victory. The Sooners’ Sam Bradford completed 30 of 44 passes for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns and then added another score on a 1-yard run.

Oklahoma needed to make up a minuscule eight-thousandth of a point to Texas in the BCS standings to earn a spot against Missouri. When the new BCS standings were posted Sunday afternoon, Oklahoma was ecstatic, edging out Texas to claim the No. 2 seed with No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Florida.

And now the final drama of Week 15 begins. No. 1 Alabama travels to Gainesville to face the No. 2 Florida Gators for the SEC Championship (AP Top 25 Poll ranking), and No. 19 Missouri travels to Norman to challenge No. 4 Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship.

The Oklahoma-Missouri matchup took major damage as Missouri suffered a pathetic loss to unranked Kansas, 40-37, over the weekend, leaving the Tigers with a 9-3 record and looking truly pitiful next to Texas. 11-1 in the South Division. 11-1 Texas Tech and 9-3 Oklahoma State, all top teams that wanted to be in the Big 12 matchup.

If Florida beats Alabama and Oklahoma beats Missouri, as most experts believe it will, then Florida would face Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship Game. If Alabama beat Florida and Oklahoma beat Missouri, then it would be Alabama and Oklahoma. If Florida or Alabama win and Missouri defeats Oklahoma, then Texas would face Florida or Alabama.

The regular season is now over for AP No. 3 Texas, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Utah, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 14 TCU, No. 19 Brigham Young (BYU), No. 20 Northwestern and No. 21 Michigan State. All of these teams will play in a bowl game somewhere.

Other AP Top 25 teams to win this weekend included No. 5 Southern California at home over Notre Dame 38-3, No. 7 Texas Tech at home over Baylor 35-28, No. 9 Boise State at home over Fresno State 61-10, No. 15 Ball State at home over Western Michigan 45-22, and No. 16 Cincinnati at home over Syracuse 30-10.

No. 18 Georgia Tech on the road defeating rival in-state No. 13 Georgia 45-42 in a barn burn, No. 19 Oregon on the road over No. 17 Oregon State, 65-38, taking out the Beavers of a possible Rose Bowl appearance, No. 20 Boston College at home over Maryland 28-21, and No. 25 Mississippi at home excluding in-state rival Mississippi State, 45-0.

Other games that caught my eye were Pittsburgh beating West Virginia 19-15 to give the Panthers their eighth win of the season, Buffalo needlessly losing to Kent State 24-21, Eastern Michigan (3-9) defeating Central Michigan (8-4), 56-52 in a dismal display of defense, Arkansas outscoring LSU 31-30, Rice working hard to outscore Houston 56-42 in another embarrassing display of poor defense on both sides, and 6-6 Florida Atlantic beating Florida International 4 -7 in overtime, 57-50, in a game where no defense was played.

Other big games this Saturday include No. 18 Boston College traveling to unranked Virginia Tech with the Atlantic Coast winner winning the title as an automatic bid to a BCS game. No. 8 Penn State, the Big Ten champion, appears to be heading to the BCS Rose Bowl.

East Carolina and Tulsa will meet for the Conference USA title. Undefeated No. 12 Ball State (12-0) faces Buffalo for the Mid-American Championship. Number 7 Utah won the Mountain West Championship and will likely earn a BCS bowl berth. No. 5 Southern Cal needs to beat UCLA to clinch a Pac 10 title and automatic BCS bowl bid for the seventh straight year.

Elsewhere, Arkansas State and Troy are battling for the Sun Belt title, and undefeated No. 9 Boise State (12-0) has already won the Western Athletic Championship but likely won’t get a BCS bowl bid.

After Saturday’s action, bowl officials will move like a hot knife through butter to determine bowl bids and set the stage for Bowl Mania over the holidays to cap off this college football season. anus.

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley