#10 Louisville destroyed #2 Florida State this afternoon 63-20, and quarterback Lamar Jackson put on quite a show with five touchdowns and 362 total yards. Naturally the Heisman talk dominated Twitter as many were ready to hand Jackson the trophy right now, while forgetting how Leonard Fournette seemingly had it wrapped up last season.

The other meme pumped today had many comparing Jackson to Micheal Vick, which seems like a good comparison. Vick then got into the act as well with a very gracious tweet:

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We’ve heard the SEC hype for years, and now after all the smack talk, fans of the conference have to take their medicine.

Ole Miss came out strong, but then utterly wilted in the second half against a resilient Florida State team.

That capped a miserable weekend for the SEC, even with Alabama’s destruction of USC.

Looking back, an analyst on ESPN subbing for Mike & Mike (I can’t remember his name) summed up the SEC’s run pretty nicely when he pointed out that most of the success comes down to two all-time great coaches – Nick Saben and Urban Meyer. Outside of that, what can SEC fans really point to?

If you’re a Georgia, Tennessee Ole Miss fan, can you really pump your chest about the SEC when your team hasn’t won a title? Does it really make you feel good to pump your chest when the Alabama team that regularly crushes you is carrying the SEC banner?

Miami vs. Florida State, 8:00PM ET
These are two very different 7-0 teams. On one side you have the Hurricanes, who trailed in the fourth quarter in each of their last two games. On the other you had Seminoles, who have scored 40 or more points in seven consecutive games and the closet thing they came to losing was beating Boston College by double-digit points. Miami’s offense has been inconsistent of late and while its defense has held strong since the start of the season, no opponent has been a hurdle for Heisman candidate Jameis Winston. The Seminoles are 4-1 against the spread in their last five home games and 4-1 ATS versus a team with a winning record. Lay the points.
FREE PICK: FLORIDA STATE -21

Iowa State vs. Kansas State, 3:30PM ET
Outside of the Miami-FSU tilt on Saturday night, there aren’t many sexy matchups on the Week 10 schedule. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t value to be had. Kansas State is 0-4 against the spread in its last four games following a straight up win while Iowa State is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 road games versus a team with a losing home record. The road team is also 3-1-1 against the spread in the last five meetings between these two teams while the underdog is 4-1-1 against the number in the last six meetings. The Cyclones are 1-6 on the year but take a closer look at their losses prior to their beat down at Baylor and last week versus Oklahoma State. They covered rather easily against Texas Tech and should have beaten Texas if it weren’t for a last-second collapse. The Wildcats, meanwhile, couldn’t be further from the team that opened the 2012 season winning its first 10 games. Take the points on this inflated spread.
FREE PICK: IOWA STATE +17

Saints vs. Jets, 1:00PM ET
One would think that with this being the “Ryan Bowl” that we’ll see plenty of defense. But who knows the tendencies of the Ryan-led defenses better than the offenses for the Saints and Jets? Despite Jimmy Graham playing on an injured foot, Drew Brees threw for five touchdowns last week in a win over Buffalo, including two TD passes to his banged up tight end. Meanwhile, the over is 5-1 in the Jets’ last six games overall, 4-1 in their last five games versus a team with a winning record and 13-5-2 in their last 20 games in November. With New York’s front seven taking away the Saints’ running game, look for Brees to pick on the Jets’ secondary. This game won’t lack for big plays.
FREE PICK: OVER 45.5

Chargers vs. Redskins, 1:00PM ET
Washington’s defense has been putrid this season while allowing 32.7 points per game (31st in the NFL). In fact, the over is 7-2-1 in Washington’s last 10 games after allowing more than 30 points in its previous game (its allowed over 80 points the past two weeks ago), and 7-3 in its last 10 games after allowing more than 350 total yards in its previous game. On the other side, the over is 7-1 in the Chargers’ last eight games in Week 9 and 39-18-4 in their lat 61 road games. Points shouldn’t be a problem on Sunday in Washington.
FREE PICK: OVER 51

Almost a year ago we decided to try to quantify the stature of college football programs so that we could rank them against one another. (Click here for the 2010 Rankings.) Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed.

Here’s how the total points are determined — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million, so for 2011 that would be Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Insight, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name.

We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools.

Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program saw an upgrade or downgrade at the head coach position in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.)

So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.

1. Ohio State (58)

Previous Rank: #2 (+1)
Some college football fans will take issue with the Buckeyes being No. 1 because of their “soft schedule.” But this is a team that has dominated its conference five of the past six years and has finished no worse than second in each of the past six seasons. They’ve also appeared in two title games (though they lost both) and nine straight BCS bowl games, winning the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl in the past two years. They’ve got an interesting season coming up though. Five of their players including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan Herron and receiver DeVier Posey will miss the first five games next year after being suspended. Can the Buckeyes stay unscathed until those players return?

2. Florida (51)

Previous Rank: #1 (-1)
If it weren’t for Urban Meyer leaving the program (and their lousy 2010 season), the Gators would probably still be ranked No. 1. They have three conference championships and two national championships in two years, but the lose of Meyer hurts big-time in these rankings. But don’t fret Florida fans, if Will Muschamp gets the program back on the right track then the Gators won’t be at No. 2 for long.

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Florida State was going to have a tough time with Virginia Tech regardless, but not having Christian Ponder on the field to start the game will make things incredibly difficult for the Seminoles.

Reports say Ponder will not start tonight’s ACC Championship Game, and that E.J. Manuel will get the nod.

Ponder is battling an injury in his throwing elbow, and coach Jimbo Fisher apparently wants to give him time to heal. It seems like an odd time to be giving someone time to heal, seeing the Seminoles are playing for a conference title.

It could just be wording, however, and perhaps Ponder isn’t healthy enough to play and Fisher thinks Manuel provides the Seminoles the best chance at victory under the circumstances (this is the more likely scenario). The reports do say that Ponder will be available if necessary.

Whatever the case, it might be time to get in on some late action on Virginia Tech.