“In the end, after sleepless nights and lots of prayers, I’ve decided I’ll forgo my fifth year and declare for the NFL draft,” Sanchez said Thursday at a campus news conference. “It is with a heavy heart I am going to leave this university.”

I’ll bet it was a tough decision. I know I lay awake at night wondering what I would do if ever put in the situation to make millions and millions of dollars or go to classes and play football on the side. Ya know what, I’m gonna need a little longer to think about this one.

It should be noted that in his final game, Sanchez set a Rose Bowl record, completing 80 percent of his passes. It should also be noted that bowl game came against a Big Ten school, so it doesn’t really count.

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.

With that said, here’s a few thoughts on what’s transpired thus far.

Jackonsville State 14, Georgia Tech 41: The Jackets were able to run for 385 yards in its first game running the triple option. You don’t watch a D-I school beat Jackonsville State and say a system will work, but if Thursday night was an indication, then the system will work.

UGA 45, Georgia Southern 21: This isn’t the kind of game you want to see from the No. 1 team in the nation. That offensive line of Georgia has got to be a question mark.

Youngstown State 0, Ohio State 43: The biggest thing about this game wasn’t the score but the health of Chris Wells. If he’s out for a duration of time, and from what I saw from USC, you’ve gotta give the Trojans the nod during their showdown in two weeks.

USC 52, Virginia 7: Ouch. The ACC really showed that they’re an inferior conference this weekend.

Chattanooga 2, Oklahoma 57: Sadly, the score wasn’t even this close. It was 50-0 at halftime, and then the reserves came in.

Hawaii 10, Florida 56: They didn’t look as sharp as I expeted, but keep in mind that Percy Harvin is still out, but expected to play next week against Miami.

Illinois 42, Missouri 52: Chase Daniel had 323 yards and 3 touchdowns. As good a start as that was, he was outplayed by Juice Williams, who had over 400 yards throwing and 5 TD’s.

Appalachian State 13, LSU 41: There wasn’t going to be another miracle this year. Not against that defensive size and speed.

Villanova 21, West Virginia 48: They’re one of the teams I’ve said will play in the BCS Title game. It wasn’t the best showing, but a win’s a win.

Alabama 34, Clemson 10: Again: The ACC just didn’t show up. The Clemson game was never close, and Tommy Bowden proves again why you can’t rely on Tommy Bowden. You can’t say Alabama has more talent, but they sure did look like it Saturday night.

Louisiana Monroe 0, Auburn 34: I watched this game, and though the score shows a blowout, this game was a lot closer. Auburn’s offense never did click, and that’s hopefully just some rust in the new spread system they’re implementing.

Northern Arizona 13, Arizona State 30: Does anyone really think Arizona State will beat UGA? I hope they do, but I’m not really buying into it.

Virginia Tech 22, East Carolina 27: Again: Wake up, ACC.

Washington 10, Oregon 44: Say goodbye to Ty Willingham. He’s on thin ice as is, and losing by 34 points in the opener isn’t the way to start the season.

ESPN has a group of “experts” together to make their picks, and they range widely. There’s a common theme of teams in the BCS Title game: Oklahoma, UGA, Florida, USC, Ohio State, Georgia, and one brave soul picking Missouri, but some of the picks seem off. Two people say Ohio State will win it, and if there’s anything history’s taught us about Ohio State being in a national title game, it’s that won’t not just win, but they’ll get absolutely blown out.

To Todd McShay’s credit — he picked THE Ohio State University to win it all — he at least has them victors over Oklahoma, and not a team from the SEC. Other predictions throughout:

-If they’re right, Clemson will dominate the ACC. If I’m right, Clemson will be a dark horse all year long, and maybe the team that busts the BCS (think Auburn a few years back when they went undefeated in the SEC and got shafted). If Clemson beats Alabama, they’ll be a decent sized favorite the rest of the year.

-Recent odds calculated Georgia of having a 6.2 percent chance of reaching the BCS Title game. It seems low until you look at their schedule, and then you have to wonder if Vegas shot a little high. They play at South Carolina, at Arizona State, Tennessee and Alabama in back-to-back-to-back-to-back games. They get a breather with Vandy, and then it’s off to a gauntlet the likes college football has never seen: At LSU, Florida in Jacksonville — and don’t think Mighty Tim Tebow has forgotten last year — Kentucky in Lexington and then Auburn on the road. So, if you think they’ve got a 6.2 percent chance of going undefeated or only losing one, then you’re clearly no mathmetician, and you’re obviously a tad insane.

-Pittsburgh and South Florida are being picked to win the Big East. Have we forgotten about West Virginia? The team that was one game away from playing for the national title? I know South Florida has had WVU’s number over the last couple of years, but if you think they’re going to have an overall better record than WVU, then you’re smoking that same stuff the guys and gals at UGA are.

-Oklahoma seems to be a lock by these guys to win the Big 12. Missouri has a lot of talent returning, and OU is kind of notorious for late season melt downs (of course, that usually happens in a bowl game).

-Where’s some pub on my Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets? No love for my Tennessee Vols? These guys don’t know anything.

When we hired Bobby Petrino (I say “we” because I am, after all, a Falcons fan; one of the very few left), I had my reservations. I didn’t like that he was coming from college after Nick Saban had just left. To me, Saban was a better coach, and if he couldn’t make it in the NFL, who was to say that Petrino could make it?

Well, 13 weeks later and we got our answer. Petrino dipped less than 24 hours after his nationally televised game on Monday Night Football, a night in which his owner said, “I have more faith in Bobby right now than I did when I hired him.”

With their search currently going on, you’d think Atlanta would smarten up and not take a college guy. They haven’t. Pete Carroll, the great recruiter whose coaching I have to question, interviewed via phone today with Arthur Blank and the Falcons and — obviously not up to sync with Michael Vick’s imprisonment and the team’s aging roster — is actually interested. The story:

Blank, who has also been searching for a general mangager, was expected to offer full control of personnel decisions to Carroll, and the sources said that is what intrigues Carroll most. The coach is currently on vacation in Hawaii.

Carroll spoke with USC sports information director Tim Tessalone on Wednesday and reiterated the he “understands that his name is going to come up for NFL jobs, as it has in each of his past years here, but that he was not going to comment about NFL openings because it would just lead to speculation.”

To make the news even more wonderful to me, they’re going to give him full personnel control, which means a backfield of Reggie Bush and John David Booty, with Dwayne Jarrett and Mike Williams catching everything. For your sake and ours, run, Carroll. Run.

So much for that notion.

Under interim coach Bill Stewart, the Mountaineers pasted the Sooners, 48-28, sending another question to BCS supporters: Is West Virginia the best team in the nation?

I know a lot of people are hopping on the USC and UGA bandwagons right now. UGA beat a team that a local high school could compete with, and USC beat up on a Big Ten team that’s two years away from being considered a national threat. West Virginia, on the other hand, has just as many losses as the aforementioned, and beat up on an Oklahoma team that probably ranks in a higher echelon than Hawaii and Illinois.

The rumor is that Stew — that’s what the players know Bill Stewart as — will be the next head coach at West Virginia, and hey, why not? The players love him, and it could be a luring point to draw Steve Slaton back.

One thing I do know, if this guy is hired, he’s the smartest and luckiest guy in America. West Virginia, whether Slaton returns or not (it’s not like Noel Devine is a shabby ‘back), will be a top 5 team in the nation next year. They were my pick to win it this year, and they’ll probably be my pick to win it next year.

Oh, and I think it’s about time we stop inviting Oklahoma to the BCS games. You can’t lose to Boise State one year, get blown out the next, and expect to keep getting invites.

My guess is the same will be said about Ohio State and National Championship games after Monday’s sure-debacle.

(PS: As a Georgia Tech fan, I can’t stand the “Georgia is the best team talk.” Look, the best team they beat had 4 losses — that would be Florida — and in their hardest road game of the season, they got it handed to them by Tennessee. They didn’t lose. They got it handed to them. So stop with the “they’re so hot” talk. They’re only hot because of who they’re playing.)

I was wrong.

Though I wasn’t as wrong as those people that really believed Hawaii actually had a shot. I said when that game was first announced that they’d get killed, and watching last night’s debacle did nothing to disprove that. Colt Brennan, thought to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, looked like a scared high schooler running around with no clue of where to throw it.

Two BCS games, two blowouts by the first quarter (in Illinois’ defense, they began to come back in the second half, but I don’t think anyone wearing Trojan red was ever very concerned). Tonight features two teams that should be a bit more evenly matched. I’m a little concerned with how West Virginia will play after a.) somehow losing to a 28 point underdog when they were a game away from playing on January 7 and b.) losing their coach because of that pitiful performance, only to have no replacement to date and c.) because Steve Slaton and Pat White could probably sprain an ankle if a stiff breeze came by these days.

Don’t get me wrong: I like WVU. I picked them at the beginning of the year to win it all, and when healthy, they’re as good and as fast as any team in the nation. Oklahoma packs a serious D, and with the question marks surrounding Morgantown, I just don’t know if they can win it.

At any rate, it’ll be better than any of the two that were played last night. For all the BCS proponents who say January 1 is just “so exciting,” they apparently weren’t watching the same TV I was. I had the USC game turned off by the third quarter, the UGA game by the second.

My pick tonight: I’ll say Oklahoma by 3. WVU is more talented, but Oklahoma’s had a much more. . . well, normal month than the Mountaineers.

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.