Tom Dienhart, Rivals: Please, don't give us Penn State on Jan. 8, 2009, in Dolphin Stadium. Give us life, give us liberty, give us hope for a good game. That means give us Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia or USC. Heck, we'll even take Texas Tech and its diabolical offense and kooky coach. They all have been more impressive than — and likely would beat — any Big Ten team.
Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: No one wants to see another Big Ten team in the Bowl Championship Series title game, do they?
David Jones, Harrisburg Patriot-News: What if fans in the rest of the nation mock this sort of football and say the Big Ten is a pretender? What about particularly those pockets in the Big 12 metroplexes of Dallas and Austin and Oklahoma City and some other places like Los Angeles and Gainesville, where more points and excitement seem to proliferate? "I can't do anything about it," Joe Paterno said. "What do I care what they say?"
Greg Hansen, Arizona Daily Star: Yes, USC beat Arizona, but it was the single most encouraging loss of the Mike Stoops years. Is it OK to say that?
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: Not only will USC probably miss the national title game, it could also miss the Rose Bowl, as Oregon State controls its destiny there.
Paola Boivin, Arizona Republic: Forget about losing games and losing sleep. Dennis Erickson's biggest challenge is not losing his team.
John Adams, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Influential boosters have seen enough of the Phillip Fulmer Era. How much more evidence do athletic director Mike Hamilton and the Tennessee power brokers need to make a coaching change?
Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Alert the Urban Crier. "We’ve been hearing about [the celebration penalty] since that [Florida] game was over," Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran said. "We know [the Gators] are going to use that play to get fired up." And you know what? Let 'em.
David Ching, Athens Banner-Herald: What happened to the Southestern Conference and all that defense?
Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star: Reigning Orange Bowl champions aren’t supposed to get chopped like this. And keep in mind that 19th-ranked Kansas was favored to beat Texas Tech.
Sean Keeler, Des Moines Register: Take a look around before throwing Iowa State's Gene Chizik under the bus.
Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Rutgers had scored 37 points in the Big East Conference this season — that's 37 total — and then piled 34 on Pitt. In the first half.
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