Mike Leach was the subject of many coaching rumors this year, but it appears he’ll be staying put for the next five years, and he’s got close to 13 million reasons to celebrate. He’ll have a job on his hands next year with the losses of Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, but I figure that offense will work against any defense not named Oklahoma.

It’ll be hard to stay in the national title talk next year; Texas returns McCoy and bunches, and Oklahoma will probably be everyone’s preseason No. 1 or No. 2. Couple that with the fact that Ok. State should be better, and the Big 12 will be a tough division to compete in.

There’s always the playoff-playoff-playoff talk in college football, and I couldn’t agree more with this idea. I thought Auburn to snubbed years ago when Oklahoma played USC instead, and I can’t say at the end of each year that the team that won it wouldn’t have lost to any other team in the nation (take the NFL, for example, where last year’s Wild Card Giants went on to one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets of all time; no one called them at the beginning, and no one even gave them a shot once they got there).

Anway, I wanted to go to the BCS standings and see what a college playoff would look like at this point. If there was a playoff, the most popular idea I’ve heard is taking the top eight teams. If that was the case, this is the first round matchups we’d be watching.

#8 Utah vs #1 Alabama: This is the one game I don’t salivate over, because we know the outcome of this one. Oklahoma State is a close No. 9, though, and by the end of their regular season they’d surely jump.

#7 USC vs #2 Texas Tech: Are you telling me you wouldn’t want to see this offensive battle? It’d be pretty humorous to see Vegas set the over/under at 90.

#6 Oklahoma vs #3 Penn State: This would be your first round “upset,” if you could call it that. Penn State has played well, but they just don’t have the firepower to stick with Oklahoma.

#5 Florida vs #4 Texas: Are you kidding me? And this is only the first round…

The best thing about this system? No Ohio State, which means the games should at least be competitive.

The scores of today’s games, minus the Georgia/Hawaii game, which will probably result in a UGA blowout. It’s just underway, but everything else is official. Tomorrow features VT and Kansas.

Wisconsin Badgers 17, Tennessee Vols 21: With it being the 11:00 a.m. game the day after New Year’s Eve, I was a little late to tune in, even being a UT fan. What I watched was a game where Tennessee tried at every possession to give the game away, only for Wisconsin to give it right back. Erik Ainge passed for 365 yards and two touchdowns, 229 of those yards coming in the first half. Tyler Donovan played courageously against the Vols, getting hit every time he seemed to drop back, but finished with only 150 yards passing and one touchdown. It was the Vols first 10-win season since 2004.

Missouri Tigers 38, Arkansas Razorbacks 7: This game was pretty much over before it started. Featuring Felix Jones and Darren McFadden, you’d think one of those guys would have the big day on the ground, but instead Mizzou’s Tony Temple ran all over Arkansas’ D for 281 yards, a Cotton Bowl record.

Michigan Wolverines 41, Florida Gators 35: There was trash talking back and forth, but in the end Mike Hart and Chad Henne made sure to send Lloyd Carr out a winner. Florida’s defense couldn’t do anything all game, and while Tebow and the offense were successful, they often looked out of sync. Percy Harvin finished up with 166 yards rushing to go with 77 yards receiving.

Texas Tech 31, Virginia 28: I watched very little of this game. It was taking place during the Tennessee/Wisconsin game and also during the Michigan/Florida game. Both games featured more high profile teams, but neither was probably as good as this one. Virginia had a ten point lead in the second half, but fell short in the fourth quarter when Texas Tech nailed a game-winning field goal with .02 left.

Illinois 17, USC 49: If you watched this game — or at least the first half, upon which you became as bored as I did — then you saw one team that was really good and one team that was really, really overmatched. Illinois probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Illinois will be an exciting team to watch next year, but they never stood a chance in this one.