BCS Title Could Be an All-SEC Affair

Blanket Coverage is a weekly rewind of all the action of Week 6, from the big opinions, to the small news, and, of course, coverage of all players named Ju-Ju.

In the second half of Florida's 13-3 win at LSU Saturday night, CBS color analyst Gary Danielson opined that a one-loss SEC team would play in the BCS Championship Game. Danielson's forecast seems fair enough, particularly considering the teams playing in front of him in Death Valley.

The Gators lost one game in both 2006 and 2008 and won the national championship. The Tigers lost two games in 2007 and beat Ohio State in the BCS title game. What Danielson failed to consider, though, was whether a one-loss SEC team with the second-best record in the conference might advance to Pasadena come January.

There is -- and I cannot emphasize this enough -- a lot of football remaining to be played. Still, let's imagine that the No. 1 Gators and No. 2 Alabama both advance to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta undefeated. The winner is a lock for a date at the Rose Bowl, but would voters ever allow a rematch between the two 33 days later?

What other BCS contenders might emerge? Let's look at the unbeatens:

-- Boise State and TCU are both undefeated, but neither non-BCS team will play for the national title.

-- In the Big Ten, Iowa is undefeated, but the Hawkeyes have won three home games versus three unranked teams by a total of six points. Visits to Madison, East Lansing and Columbus do not augur well for Kirk Ferentz's team.

-- Cincinnati and South Florida are unbeaten in the Big East, but they meet Thursday night. The winner will emerge with a more respectable resume, but there are too many one-loss teams with more cache and neither the Bearcats nor the Bulls will have a win against a Top-10 school this year.

-- The ACC and the Pac-10 have no unbeatens remaining.

-- Which brings us to the Big 12, where unbeatens Kansas and Texas will meet in Austin Nov. 21. Although who is to say that both, or even either the Jayhawks and Longhorns will be beaten by then? The cleanest result would be an undefeated Texas, currently No. 3, facing the SEC champion on January 7 in Pasadena. And there's nothing that ESPN covets more than a duel between Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy in the final game of their storied careers.

What if Texas loses, though? Here's an even more intriguing scenario: What if Alabama loses one SEC West game to a one-loss opponent such as Auburn or LSU? Could the Tide fail to play for the SEC championship but remain the most viable, and highly ranked, candidate to face Florida, a team they would not yet have played?

The feeling here is no. Which is why all of a sudden, the most fascinating tilt of the year for my money will take place on Halloween night in Eugene: USC at Oregon. The winner of this glamour game just might leap ahead of one-loss Virginia Tech in the polls and, should the Longhorns fail to finish undefeated versus a rough Big 12 field, be in the driver's seat.

Just think ... a national championship pitting Florida and Tim "God Bless" Tebow versus Oregon and resurrected rusher LaGarrette Blount. The player who absorbed the most talked-about blow to the head this season on one sideline and the player who delivered the most notorious such hit on the other. That would be a ... knockout.

One monstrous, blow-up-the-BCS caveat: Would there be any way to justify sending Oregon to the Rose Bowl over an undefeated Boise State team that defeated them?

Keeping Up With the Hawkins

Try being Misti Rae Ann Hawkins this week. On Saturday, she watched her oldest son get benched in a nationally televised game in primetime. And she saw her husband bench him.

Cody Hawkins, Colorado's 5-foot-11 junior quarterback, has actually played in three nationally televised games in primetime this season: at Toledo, at West Virginia and this weekend, at Texas. In those three games, all losses, Hawkins has accumulated the following numbers: 63-134 passes (47 percent), eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. The defeats are not Cody's fault alone, but his 102.4 passer rating does not put him among the top 100 passers in the FBS.

On Saturday, with the 1-3 Buffs driving for a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter against the No. 2 Longhorns, Hawkins underthrew a pass into the right flat. Texas cornerback Earl Thomas picked it off and returned it 92 yards for a score, the Longhorns' longest interception return for a TD since 1938.

On the ensuing Buff possession, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins burned the redshirt of sophomore Tyler Hansen, inserting him at quarterback in place of his son. It's the second time in as many years that Hansen's redshirt status has been erased at midseason. After the game Hawkins named Hansen the starter going forward, saying of his son's costly interception, "He's gotta make that throw."

Temperatures have been in the teens along the Front Range this weekend, but it's about to get even chillier at the Hawkins household.

Incredible INT

You may never see a stranger interception than the one UCLA linebacker Akeem Ayers had against Oregon. Duck quarterback Nate Costa, falling out of the back of his own endzone, tried to force a bullet over Ayers' head. Ayers leaped in the air and caught it, then had to worry about getting one foot in bounds himself without landing past the back line. He did.

Even Costa was in awe. "That was just a flat-out great play," he said. It was also the Bruins' only touchdown in their 24-10 loss.

Now This Is a White Out

Seven inches of snow fell on Friday night in Laramie, Wyo., and the temperature at kickoff was 15 degrees, yet 14,502 hearty (foolhardy?) fans huddled in War Memorial Stadium to watch the Cowboys defeat New Mexico, 37-13, on Saturday. How brutal were the conditions? The winless Lobos spent Friday evening at a hotel in Cheyenne, 50 miles east, and on Saturday morning needed a two-snowplow escort across a closed Interstate 80 in order to make it to the game.

A Man for all Seasons

Give Stanford credit for knowing how to promote a Heisman candidate with subtlety and a sense of humor. Tailback Toby Gerhart entered the weekend fourth in the nation in rushing (130 yards per game) and even ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said that Gerhart was among his top three Heisman nominees. Gerhart also happens to be a MLB prospect as an outfielder, which prompted the Stanford athletic department to put together this video of the studly senior trying his hand at other sports.

Sly, Stanford. Promoting Gerhart while also promoting your non-revenue sports. My only question is how someone who lives year-round in California be that pale?

An Education

Michigan's true freshmen quarterbacks, Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson, are learning the ups-and-downs of late-game heroics. In consecutive road losses each has accounted for a late touchdown only to follow it up on the ensuing drive with an interception that cost the Wolverines the game. Forcier led the Wolverines on a 14-point fourth quarter comeback at Michigan State two weeks ago, then threw a deflected pick in overtime of the 26-20 loss.

Robinson, who entered Saturday's game at Iowa with Michigan trailing 30-21 midway in the fourth quarter, calmly led the Wolverines on a scoring drive, capped by his own three-yard TD rush. On Michigan's next drive he missed two wide-open receivers and instead tossed a prayer into double coverage as the Maize and Blue lost 30-28.

JJ, Jo Jo and Ju Ju

BYU's JJ DiLuigi caught a 15-yard touchdown pass while teammate Jo Jo Pili added a one-yard rushing TD in the Cougars' 59-21 win at UNLV. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech backup quarterback Ju-Ju Clayton threw an 80-yard touchdown strike in the Hokies' 48-14 demolition of Boston College.

Stats Incredible

A smattering of bizarre statistics or eye-popping numbers from Saturday's games:

-- Florida's defense has only allowed two touchdowns in 61 opponents' drives (3.3 percent) this season. As coach Urban Meyer told ESPN's Chris Fowler in the midnight hour from Baton Rouge, "You can't be a great team unless you have a great defense."

-- Bowling Green wideout Freddie Barnes caught 22 passes in the Falcons' 36-35 win at Kent State. Barnes leads the nation with 12.5 receptions per game, a full 33 percent more catches than the No. 2 receiver, Jordan Shipley of Texas (9.4 per game), grabs. Shipley's circus-quality highlights do show up on "College Football Final" an awful lot more, though.

-- Georgia's offense failed to get in the red zone in the Bulldogs' 45-19 loss at Tennessee. It was the first time in 38 meetings that neither the Dawgs nor Vols entered the game ranked.

-- Arkansas held Auburn scoreless in the first quarter of their 44-23 win against the No. 17 Tigers. It marked the first time in 21 quarters this season that Gus Malzahn's offense had failed to put a point on the board.

-- Boston College quarterback Dave Shinskie, a 25 year-old freshman who had previously pitched in the minor leagues, was 0-for-9 passing with two interceptions in the first half of the Eagles' 48-14 loss at Virginia Tech. Shinskie finished 1-12 for 4 yards.

-- How good is Oklahoma's front seven? Baylor's leading rusher in Saturday's 33-7 defeat, Terrance Ganaway, ran four times for 8 yards.

-- Wisconsin's offense doubled up Ohio State's in yardage, 368 to 184, but a pair of pick-sixes by Badger QB Scott Tolzien helped the Buckeyes to a 31-13 win. SEC Squared for the BCS title?