Let’s recap Week 11, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 15 Texas A&M at No. 1 Alabama

Final score: Aggies 29, Tide 24

Pregame rant: Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games since losing its opener. The Aggies’ two conference losses are to Florida and LSU.

Those defeats aside,  Texas A&M has made a better adjustment to SEC football than Missouri has. So the Aggies will be ready Saturday. The question is will that matter against the Tide?

Alabama is No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (9.11 points allowed a game), but LSU exposed that D a little bit. The  Aggies are fourth in the nation in scoring offense (44.67 points a game).

If freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is on his game, the Tide will have their hands full. One of the most exciting players in college football, Manziel has 2,527 yards passing, 922 yards rushing and 31 total touchdowns (16 passing, 15 rushing).

Post-game commentary: Johnny Football was on his game as was his teammates.

As a result, No. 1 is no more for Alabama.

Manziel threw for 253 yards and two scores, ran for a game-high 92 yards more and was the difference Texas A&M stunning the defending national champions.

The Crimson Tide can still play for an SEC title if they take care of rival Auburn at home in two weeks. With the Tigers being 2-8 and coming off an embarrassing 38-0 home loss to rival Georgia, the Tide shoudn’t have a problem with them.

If somehow ‘Bama  blows that game and Texas A&M gets in that conference championship game, the Dawgs will have their hands full.

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Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 11.

Game of the week: No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2, 4-2 SEC) at No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)

Pregame rant: Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games since losing its opener. The Aggies’ two conference losses are to Florida and LSU.

Those defeats aside,  Texas A&M has made a better adjustment to SEC football than Missouri has. So the Aggies will be ready Saturday. The question is will that matter against the Tide?

Alabama is No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (9.11 points allowed a game), but LSU exposed that D a little bit. The  Aggies are fourth in the nation in scoring offense (44.67 points a game).

If freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is on his game, the Tide will have their hands full. One of the most exciting players in college football, Manziel has 2,527 yards passing, 922 yards rushing and 31 total touchdowns (16 passing, 15 rushing).

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Let’s recap Week 9 shall we?

Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma

Final score: Irish 30, Sooners 13

Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.

It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.

Something has to give.

Post-game commentary: The Irish didn’t give.

Oklahoma rushed for just 15 yards on 24 rushing attempts in falling to Notre Dame at home. The Sooners may have given up on the run too early, but they couldn’t have expected the Irish’s offense to hit them so many big plays last week.

Before this game, I thought all the talk about Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o winning the Heisman Trophy was a bit much.

After seeing how he leads the best defense in the nation outside of Alabama’s, I’m rethinking my votes. He had 11 tackles, a sack and an interception last week. Great player.

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Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 9.

Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-0) at No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners (5-1, 3-1 Big 12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.

It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.

Something has to give.

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Let’s recap Week 7, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 17 Stanford at No. 7 Notre Dame

Final score: Irish 20, Cardinal 13 (OT)

Pregame rant: The Irish have an offensive-minded coach in Brian Kelly, but have relied on their defense to win games. Allowing 7.78 points a game, Notre Dame is second only to top-ranked Alabama in scoring defense.

The Irish are first in touchdowns allowed with three.

However, Stanford has the type of offense that can grind it out and impose its will on a defense. Stepfan Taylor is 15th in the nation in rushing with 560 yards and five touchdowns. If the Cardinal can consistently block Irish senior stud linebacker Manti Te’o, who has 48 stops, Taylor will have room to run.

If not, it will be business as usual for Te’o and the Irish defense.

Post-game commentary: The debate over whether Taylor scored or not from the 1-yard line in OT is a valid one, but someone explain how you run the same play, bad weather or not, on 3rd and 4th down out of a tight formation with everyone in the box to stop the run.

What this game tells me is if you’re playing Notre Dame, better put them away early. The Irish have won three games by seven points or less. They beat Purdue 20-17, Michigan 13-6 and Stanford in overtime.

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Here are three games worth watching in Week 7.

Game of the week: No. 17 Stanford Cardinal (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12) at No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, (5-0), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WICU (NBC).

Pregame rant: The Irish have an offensive-minded coach in Brian Kelly, but have relied on their defense to win games. Allowing 7.78 points a game, Notre Dame is second only to top-ranked Alabama in scoring defense.

The Irish are first in touchdowns allowed with three.

However, Stanford has the type of offense that can grind it out and impose its will on a defense. Stepfan Taylor is 15th in the nation in rushing with 560 yards and five touchdowns. If the Cardinal can consistently block Irish senior stud linebacker Manti Te’o, who has 48 stops, Taylor will have room to run.

If not, it will be business as usual for Te’o and the Irish defense.

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Sophomore quarterback Casey Pachall has thrown for 2,715 yards and 24 touchdowns this season for TCU./AP Photo.

Too many bowl games. Too many sponsors with long names.

I want a playoff system, but it’s not happening.

Too bad.

What do I get in return? A slew of bowl games that are too tough to call sometimes, but if you think you’re better than me, enter my sixth BCS bowl contest on ESPN.com through Bowl Mania.

Enter the Rankin ETN 2011-12.

Let’s look at Week 1 (Dec. 17-24).

Best match up: San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – *No. 16 TCU (10-2) vs. Louisiana Tech (8-4), Saturday, 9 p.m., ESPN. See what I mean about the names. Need oxygen to say all that, but don’t sleep on this game. The Bulldogs are riding a seven-game winning streak. Half of their four losses are to team that are currently ranked (L 19-17 at *No. 22 Southern Miss, L 35-34 at *No. 20 Houston). Now TCU should win, but Louisiana Tech won’t go down easily.

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Let us recap Week 7, shall we?

Baylor (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) at No. 17 Texas A&M (4-2, 2-1)

Pregame rant: The Bears have a quarterback in junior Robert Griffin III who is flat out one of the best players in the nation. Check the numbers: 114-of-142, 1,520 yards, 19 touchdowns and just ONE interception. Once you get in conference play, teams do start to figure guys out, but A&M has its hands full with this guy.

Postgame commentary: Griffin threw for 430 yards, three touchdowns to one interception, but Texas A&M got an even better performance from its quarterback – senior Ryan Tannehill – and walloped the  Bears, 55-28. Tannehill threw for 415 yards and six touchdowns to one interception. The Aggies helped their cause by rushing for 266 yards.

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Let’s recap Week 5, shall we?

No. 2 Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) at No. 17 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC)

Pregame rant: Everyone talks about Florida’s team speed, but this game will see if the Gators truly have some burners.

Postgame commentary: The Crimson Tide can slow down any team. Add Florida to that list. The Gators had just 15 yards rushing and were held scoreless the last three quarters of their 38-10 loss. Oh by the way, Alabama has the nation’s top back in junior Trent Richardson, who rushed for career-high 181 yards and two touchdowns against Florida.

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Let’s recap Week 4, shall we?

No. 5 Oklahoma State (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) at No. 14 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-1 Big 12)

Pregame rant: Great conference opener for these two Big 12 titans, but something has to give here. The Cowboys are second in the nation in total offense at 601 yards a game and third in the nation in points per game at 52.3. However, the Aggies has given up a total of 534 yards and 21 total points in their two games.

Postgame commentary: Down 20-3 at the half, Oklahoma State scored 27 straight points and withstood a final charge from Texas A&M to prevail. Senior Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 438 yards and two touchdowns on 60 pass attempts. The amazing thing about that is Weeden didn’t throw an interception.

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