I thought this week in college football was going to be a massive dud. However, after UConn’s emotional victory over Notre Dame and now this thrilling finish in Oxford, I’ve been proven wrong.

Although the majority of the game was evenly matched, people are simply going to focus on the Tigers’ final drive. Ole Miss came out with a contagious passion, displaying confidence on both ends of the field. The Rebels held LSU to five plays and nine yards in the first quarter — pretty impressive. Still, LSU capitalized on key opportunities, particularly after a blocked field goal which Patrick Peterson returned for a 53-yard touchdown. Despite their underwhelming start, LSU had a slight lead over their opponents at the half: 17-15.

Before this game, LSU was 38-5 when leading at the half under coach Les Miles. That’s strange, because what followed was a downright sloppy performance by the Tigers’ defense. Dexter McCluster — one of the most exciting players to watch in all of college football — embarrassed the Tigers’ front seven, exposing its weaknesses on many of his 24 carries. Rebels quarterback Jevan Snead had an solid game, but it was McCluster who actually threw his team’s sole touchdown, finding Shay Hodge in the fourth.

With less than two minutes left in the game, it looked as though Ole Miss had this one in the bag. However, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson has shown essential composure under pressure. With the clock winding down, he hit Rueben Randle for a 25-yard touchdown pass. The score was 25-23 in favor of Ole Miss, so the Tigers went for the two-point conversion. They failed, but the Tigers weren’t ready to quit.

In his deliberate coaching style, Les Miles immediately ordered an onside kick. Somehow sneaking by McCluster, the Tigers’ Brandon LaFell recovered the ball. Jefferson then connected with LaFell for a 26-yard reception. For a brief moment, I thought LSU was going to pull through. Three plays later it was fourth-and-26 from the Ole Miss 48. Only nine seconds remained. What, only nine seconds? Where did all the time go? Well, LSU wasted 17 seconds after their third down before calling a time out. The stadium held its breath as Jefferson threw downfield to Terrance Toliver. Surrounded by Rebels, Toliver made a remarkable catch at the Rebels’ six-yard line. Here comes the Tigers’ field goal team to win the game. Wait, never mind. With the clock stopped on the one second mark for the referees to reset the chains, Les Miles froze. What happened to that readiness? His field goal team never stepped on the field. Instead, Jefferson attempted to spike the ball. Blah. The clock ran out and Ole Miss had defeated LSU at home for the first time in eleven years.

It was a perplexing end to a magnificent game.

I know, I know – it’s MAC football. Who cares right?

Most will look at this game and shrug it off as just another useless game in the middle of the week, but the ramifications for both teams are pretty high and it should make for an exciting game. First and foremost, Ball State is 10-0 and trying to prove that its an elite program, although if last week’s performance against Miami of Ohio was any indication, the Cardinals are who we think they are – a great MAC team, but one that would get destroyed by the likes of any team ranked ahead of them in the polls.

Meanwhile, the Chippewas are 8-2, but more importantly (at least to them), they’re 6-0 in the MAC. A CMU victory would not only be a huge upset, but it would also catapult the Chips into first place in the MAC West Division and a chance to win the conference for the third straight year. This isn’t just a MAC game – it’s the MAC game of the year.

The Cardinals have essentially steamrolled their competition this season, but also haven’t played any truly tough opponents, unless you consider Navy and Indiana as tough. They did crush Northern Illinois – who has vastly improved this season – 45-14 on November 5th, but the Huskies are still far from an elite team right now.

An upset might be in order tonight. At one point this season, CMU quarterback Dan LeFevour was considered a candidate for the Heisman Trophy but an ankle injury sidetracked his season. He led the Chips to win over NIU last week and appears to be healthy again.

The key in this game, however, will be whether or not CMU’s defense can slow down Nate Davis and the BSU offense, which is averaging close to 40 points a game. The Chips certainly have the offense to compete with the Cardinals, but their no-huddle approach only gets BSU’s explosive passing attack back on the field quicker. And CMU has been known to allow opponents to sneak back into ball games in the second half (see their game at Northern last week as proof), which certainly would spell disaster against a solid Cardinal team.

Either way, football is being played on a Wednesday night. And not only that, but a team is actually unbeaten and ranked…and is playing on Wednesday night. You can’t ask for more.

Here’s the latest example of a player jumping over a defender as Beanie Wells does his Superman impression in leaping over an Illinois’ defensive back in the Buckeyes’ 30-20 victory last Saturday.

Love the music. And as long as defensive backs are going to keep trying to tackle players low, I think we’ll see more plays like this.

- Not that a ton of people care about Conference USA, but what a statement by Houston. I don’t know what was more impressive, the fact that the Cougars scored 70 points or that they held Tulsa to only 30 points.

- Iowa’s Shonn Grenne (30 carries, 211 yards in a 22-17 win over Purdue) is a legit Heisman candidate for 2009.

- What happened to Kansas? I realize they didn’t play any of the top teams in the Big 12 last year, but they’re better than 6-5 aren’t they?

- They might have won 34-7, but Penn State’s win over Indiana was the least impressive 34-7 victory in some time.

- One of the more underrated rivalries in college football is Georgia-Auburn. And the Tigers easily have one of the more underrated defenses in the nation.

- Early upset watch for Week 13: Nevada over Boise State. The Wolf Pack’s offense is good enough to keep pace with the Broncos’ explosive attack and Boise hasn’t faced a tough opponent all year. (Unless you consider when they faced Oregon and their fourth string quarterback a tough opponent.)

- Worst…Michigan…season…ever.

- Underrated game of the week: No. 14 Ball State at Central Michigan next Wednesday.

- College football fans were cheated by not getting to see Beanie Wells run for a full season. He was amazing against Illinois.

- How about Troy hanging with LSU in Baton Rouge? Had they not turned the ball over three times, the Trojans could have pulled off one of the best upsets in college football this season.

But are the Tide the legit top ranked team in the nation or are they there by default because they’re unbeaten? With the way Florida crushed South Carolina 56-6 on Saturday and have run roughshod over everybody since losing to Ole’ Miss in late September, are the Gators the true No. 1 team in college football?

Not to take anything away from Alabama or No. 2 Texas Tech, but no team in college football is playing better than Florida is right now. They’re arguably the fastest team in the nation and their defense has played absolutely remarkable this season, holding opponents to just over 11 points a game.

Obviously we’ll know more on December 6 when the Tide and Gators meet in the SEC Championship Game, but you just get the feeling that Alabama is due to stumble. They weren’t overly impressive in a 32-7 win over Mississippi State on Saturday (at least in the first half) and they’ve struggled playing four quarters outside of their impressive win over LSU.

If the two teams meet tomorrow on neutral ground, I’ve got to believe that Florida would hand ‘Bama its first loss of the season.

Upset Watch:
No. 16 North Carolina at Maryland, 3:30 PM ET ABC
The Terps have clearly been a different team at home than on the road where they’re 4-0 and averaging 25.5 points per game as opposed to 1-3 and 11.75 PPG on the road. Maryland has also won five straight against ranked opponents the past two years and still control their own destiny in the ACC Atlantic. Three wins in their final three games would send the Terps to the ACC title game, which is amazing considering this was the same team that got drubbed 31-0 by Virginia. If Maryland is going to pull off the upset they’ll need to get Da’Rel Scott and Davin Meggett going in the running game because putting the ball in the air against the Tar Heels is a risky proposition. UNC has one of the best ball hawking defenses in the nation and has forced opponents into mistakes all season. If the Terps play things close to the vest offensively and rely on their defense to win the game, an upset could be in the making.

Other notable games:
Mississippi State at No. 1 Alabama, 7:45 PM ET
It’s highly unlikely the Tide lose focus against a 3-6 Mississippi State team, but the Bulldogs did pull off one of the better upsets of the year when they crushed previously No. 13 Vanderbilt 34-3.

No. 3 Texas at Kansas, 12:30 PM ET
The Longhorns try to keep in the national title hunt while the Jayhawks look to end the season as quickly as possible.

No. 10 Georgia at Auburn, 12:30 PM ET
This is one of the more underrated rivalries in the SEC.

The Cardinals put their unbeaten season on the line Tuesday night against fellow MAC opponent Miami of Ohio and they came away with a 31-16 victory. They might have won by double-digits, but this was one of the least impressive performances by ranked team I’ve seen all season.

First and foremost, Miami of Ohio is a bottom feeder in the MAC. Yet they were able to score on every possession in the first half except for one, which they could have scored on had they not turned the ball over on a fumble in Ball State territory. Had the Redbirds not killed touchdown drives on their own with poor execution (i.e. dropped passes, passes thrown into double-coverage, etc.), they could have easily hung 30-plus points on the Cardinals. At one point late in the second half, a Miami receiver dropped a touchdown pass with nobody around him because the defender had fallen down 10 yards away from the play. And again, this isn’t a very good Miami of Ohio team. Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t lining up under center. If they played even a decent MAC team on Tuesday night the Cardinals probably lose.

Granted, this was only one game and they did crush Northern Illinois (a decent MAC team) a week ago. But if Ball State gets into a BCS bowl game (highly, highly unlikely even if they go undefeated), they’ll get shredded. If they played Florida tomorrow, they would lose by 70. If they played anybody with remotely a decent defense, they would get embarrassed.

Nate Davis is a great player and Ball State’s offense is fun to watch against other MAC opponents, but this isn’t like previous years where an undefeated Boise State or West Virginia team deserves a chance to see what they can do against the big boys. In fact, I’d be willing to say that the Cardinals don’t get past Central Michigan or Western Michigan the next two weeks. I don’t mean to crap all over a nice story, but the reality of the situation is that Ball doesn’t have the horses to stack up against other ranked programs.

Update: Eating crow: Ball State is no joke