FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Before railing on the Capitals' 7-2 loss at San Jose, let's wrap up the college football day.

* Utah 48, BYU 24: No one really understands how good Utah is. Some people looked at their 13-10 win over TCU and thought it was a let down, that they should have beaten the Horned Frogs (great name) by more. Remember, TCU, despite losing to Oklahoma, held them to their lowest point total of the season earlier this year. You think Texas Tech wouldn't have liked to hold OU to 35 points? Aside from Oklahoma, I don't think there's a team in the country right now Utah can't play with. They will get their chance as they will surely be in the BCS now, despite probably having no shot at the title game. I, for one, am hoping full out carnage occurs the next two weeks. 

* Boise State 41, Nevada 34: The Broncos ain't bad, either. They are 11-0 with Fresno State to play (which shouldn't be bad, FSU isn't as good as they've been in past years). Earlier this year, Boise State won at Oregon (ranked 17 at the time). Wouldn't be interesting if that same Oregon team turned around next week and cost Oregon State a Rose Bowl bid? That might put Southern Cal in the Rose, and open an at-large bid for ... Boise State. Anything's possible. I think Utah is a bit better than BSU ... and in some way, it's a shame these two don't play. I think it'd be a hell of a game. But there's no way to get a major bowl between the two because of the conference tie-ins, I don't think.

* Oregon State 19, Arizona 17: The Beavers control their own destiny after a last-second field goal lifted them past the Wildcats in the desert. Oregon State beats Oregon next week, and they are off to Pasadena to play Penn State. If they don't ... carnage!!! (I love carnage). I don't think there's much doubt that the Beavers are better than the Ducks, but in the Civil War, that really doesn't matter. This is definitely a game to watch next week. 

* Oklahoma 65, Texas Tech 21: The Red Raiders were exposed when Oklahoma completely shut down their running game.  Texas Tech didn't have the strength up front to run through the middle. When they tried stretch plays to the outside, the Sooners defense was too fast and those plays were shut down. This left Oklahoma able to concentrate on rushing the passer while being able to put enough people in coverage to hamper the Red Raiders passing attack. The Sooners have more talent than the Red Raiders, and were coached up well by Bob Stoops and his staff. Texas Tech was shown to be a bit of a one-trick pony that when the chips were down on the road, couldn't respond. 

But now you are left with a situation in the Big 12 where Oklahoma crushed Texas Tech, but Texas beat Oklahoma, but Texas Tech beat Texas. OU's win is the most impressive of the three - but in that case, isn't Texas beating the Sooners even more impressive? I'm almost hoping one of the three loses in the final week just to free up the situation a bit. And don't forget about Missouri waiting in the conference championship game.

HOCKEY

Sharks 7, Caps 2: Not unexpected here. The Capitals did what they normally do - skate slow, get beaten on the rush, commit dumb penalties as a result of being slow and out of position, and fail to mark anyone in dangerous positions. This led to 7 goals for the home team - the best team in hockey - and a real way to show just how this Caps team isn't the great team some would have you believe based on their record. The defense is simply too slow to handle skillful, quick teams like San Jose. The only thing I saw that I liked (other than the game ending) was the second goal for Washington on the power play. That kind of quick passing and getting into position in front of the net would serve the power play well in the future. Hopefully it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of what was otherwise a sickening effort by the Capitals. 

Washington finishes its road trip (1-2-1 so far) at Minnesota on Monday night. It's on VS. at 8 p.m.