by Adam Jones 

Someone sent me a thank you note on Wednesday night. It was a friend spending his first Thanksgiving away from Texas and the note reminded him of things past. Remember a few years ago when we were all at my house? No one had any family in town and we ended up playing cards all night. That was a good day. Thanks for that.

It's really one hell of a life isn't it? I mean when one can be thanked for basically accepting a Thanksgiving invitation. For arriving on time, for eating food someone else prepared, for drinking beer, laughing, playing cards...for this I am thanked. My friend had the gratitude all backwards. I was the divorced dad with no place to go. Someone had to take me in, didn't they? Actually, no one had to. There are no guarantees in life. Fast forward eight years and I am being thanked for being fed. Hell of a life isn't it?

This thought crosses my mind as my chief soul mate and navigator directs our car full of boys into Longview and reminds me to hang a left on Lake Lamond. You would think such a street name would run through a country club development, but it instead cuts through a swath of working class East Texas. This is where I keep an eye out for the kids. Regardless of the weather, there are usually a couple a dozen of them in the parking lot of the Autumnwood Apartments. Little do they know that, for the last three Thanksgivings, I have spied on their Wednesday afternoon football game. They spread out over the asphalt, ranging in age from about eight to fourteen; the biggest of them is always at quarterback. Sometimes they have the whole "field" to themselves. Other times they have to run pass patterns around a randomly parked Buick. But nothing keeps them from the game. I only have a few seconds scanning to the left as I pass by their invisible stadium each year. Better if I could simply freeze these kids in my memory and come back to them ten years later to see what they have become. East Texas gives the world some great football players. One of these Longview kids might be James Street or Bobby Taylor. I could be watching Earl Campbell or Billy Sims running free on this parking lot. Or maybe Adrian Peterson. Nothing keeps them from the game...

One of these kids might even be Darren McFadden.

It's really one hell of a life, isn't it?

Arkansas 50, LSU 48

We've been waiting all year for Mr. McFadden to put his stamp on the season and, until Saturday,  we largely been teased. The guy sure has a flair for the dramatic. The nation's best football player, greatly aided and abetted by a (finally) healthy Peyton Hillis at fullback, overwhelmed the one defense I thought could certainly stop him. It all means that LSU, the one team I was fairly certain would play for the national title, will not.

Which brings us to Kansas City. The Kansas Jayhawks must be kicking themselves for moving this game from Lawrence for a bigger payday, but how could they have known the magnitude of this contest during the off-season? Scratch that, how could any of us have known? Kansas never really seemed to be Kansas in this one. Missouri's Chase Daniel led the Tigers to over 500 yards of offense on a remarkable 40 of 49 passing. He can sit next to McFadden in New York.

Missouri 36, KU 28

By the way, Missouri is now the number one team in the AP poll. Missouri. MISSOURI.

Who's number two? Easy. West Virginia, of course. The Mountaineers were on UConn like a Labrador puppy on a pair of Cole Haan loafers. Try 66-21. And UConn was even ranked. Or, maybe just rank. I forget...

Seriously, are we really going to have a West Virginia v. Missouri BCS title game? What were the odds on that at the Mirage in August?

Oklahoma could have something to say about that. Missouri will get a re-match against the Sooners in the Big 12 title game. OU won round one in a very good game in Norman. On Saturday, the Sooners apparently got tired of reading the pre-game Oklahoma State upset predictions and pounded the bejeesus out of their land grant cousins, 49-17.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the Big 12 South, Texas A&M and their lame duck coach physically whipped Texas on both sides of the ball for a 38-30 going away present for Dennis Franchione, who "resigned" after the game. Whatever. The Aggies were far more dominant than the score indicates. Mack Brown's defensive unit has been an absolute disaster down the stretch. Perhaps his staff should try coaching.

Southern Cal took Arizona State to the woodshed on Thanksgiving night, ripping the Sun Devils 44-24 in their own desert homeland. The Trojan defense was devastating in the second half. This is what we thought we would get all season long.

USC versus Arizona State just doesn't strike me as a traditional Thanksgiving night match-up. It's too...I dunno...sunny?

Georgia dumped Georgia Tech 31-17, leaving Georgia Tech at 7-5 for the season, which, by the way, is the record Chan Gailey always achieves at Georgia Tech. More importantly, Georgia may be the best team in the SEC at the moment. Of course, the Bulldogs will not get to prove it in the conference title game. That slot belongs to Tennessee. The Vols, who won the head-to-head match-up with Georgia earlier in the year, survived Kentucky in, get this, quadruple secret overtime, 52-50. Is it just me, or is the SEC the only conference that ever actually plays any overtime games?

Virginia Tech secured a slot opposite BC in the ACC championship by taking out UVa 33-21. Boston College, for their part, held on to their spot by putting Miami out of their misery, 28-14.

Auburn made it six straight Iron Bowl victories over Alabama with a 17-10 win that will leave the Crimson Tide bowl-less. This is not how the season was supposed to end for Nick Saban. Speaking of coaching eminences, Ball Coach led South Carolina to a 23-21 loss to Clemson. That's Tommy Bowden over Steve Spurrier, if you are scoring at home. The Gamecocks finished like warm beer this season and their fans can't possibly be that thirsty.

Oregon with Dennis Dixon: BCS contenders. Oregon without Dennis Dixon: 16-0 losers to UCLA.

Florida State no longer plays the same game as Florida (neither does Miami, but that's another story altogether). The Gators whipped the ‘Noles 45-12 as Tim Tebow was his standard issue five TD self. Apparently he broke his right (non-throwing) hand in the first quarter and didn't bother to tell anyone.

Hawaii clinched the WAC title in a great performance, overcoming Boise State 39-27 to remain the nation's only undefeated team. I did not particularly want Hawaii to win this game, nor did I think they would. Nevertheless, credit where credit is due. A win over Washington next week will put the Warriors in a BCS game where, I am guessing, they will acquit themselves just fine depending on the match-up.

The Big Ten took the final week of the season off, which irritates me to no end.

Impressive Showing of the Week: Arkansas

Now, once again, I have no idea who the best ten teams in the country are and neither do any of you. As of right now, these are the ten squads I would consider most dangerous in a one-time winner take all match-up, which is basically where we are.

1. West Virginia: Pat White just seems to will this team to victory. Not only that, but he has more weapons to play with than anyone in the nation. After watching Juice Williams victimize Ohio State and Arkansas run all over LSU, I am inclined to bet on White, Steve Slaton and their mates against anyone. I am not even sure that WVU is a great football team and I am, of course, inviting whatever disagreement you want to throw out. But for now, count me in the Mountaineer camp.

2. Missouri: I thought Missouri would beat Kansas and my further hunch is that Missouri will beat Oklahoma on Saturday. That victory will complete perhaps the most improbable run to the title game in the BCS era. At that point, the Tigers will certainly deserve it.

3. Ohio State: Over the whole of the season, I think the Buckeyes have been the most solid, most dependable football team in the nation, especially on defense. They do not have the best resume and it is a shame they didn't play at least one big time non-conference game.

4. Georgia: The Dawgs let this season get away from them early. From the Florida game on, coinciding with the emergence of Knowshon Moreno, they have been unstoppable.

5. USC: If I told you at the beginning of the season that USC would finish in the top five, you would have said: "Of course they will." If I mentioned that they would be there even after losing two games, you would say: "Really?" If I told you that one of them would have been to Stanford...

Face it. We're never going to have another season quite like this one.

6. Oklahoma: I am not ready to coronate Missouri just yet. At their best, the Sooners have an argument that they are the nation's most complete team. The loss to Texas Tech occurred with Sam Bradford glassy-eyed on the bench. The loss to Colorado is the one I still can't quite figure out.

7. LSU: I don't know that the Tigers were overrated. My guess is that Saturday's result had much more to do with Arkansas reaching their immense potential than it had to do with a failure on LSU's part.

8. Virginia Tech: I'll be very surprised if the Hokies don't win the re-match with Boston College.

9. Boston College: Well...maybe I won't be.

10. The winner of the Florida versus Illinois Outback Bowl: Please football gods, give us this match-up. We deserve it.

One more regular season down, a lifetime of them left. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Copyright 2007 Adam Jones

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