Toasted and Roasted

We've had yet another great weekend of college football, which gives us time to come up with the current list of the good and bad that we've seen this weekend, along with this year. And, since "cheers and jeers" and "thumbs up and thumbs down" are already in the mainstream, we're going to toast the good and roast the bad, hence the first-ever list of Toasted and Roasted.

TOAST: Raise your glasses to the Alabama defense, who anchored the nation's No. 1 team to victory last Saturday. Despite a horrific performance by the Tide offense in the first half, it was the defense who kept the Tide alive and shutdown Miss. State en route to another easy victory for Nick Saban and company. Despite the power offenses of the Big 12 South and SEC foe Florida, there is something to be said for a team who has rolled to an undefeated season so far on their defensive prowess.

ROAST: I know everyone else has been on their case, but you can't help but shake your head at Washington State. This is a team who has given up over 50 points six times this year. Their only win is against a FCS team (Portland State), and just when you thought the defense was bad, the offense was shutout for the third time in the last four games. The only good news for the Cougars? Winless in-state rival Washington is next on the list.

TOAST: LSU's incredible fourth quarter against Troy. The Tigers scored 30 points in the last 15 minutes to salvage their homecoming game and escape major humiliation with a 40-31 win over the Trojans. The never-say-die attitude from the Tigers was certainly commendable.

ROAST: LSU in the three quarters before that. Troy out-played, out-hustled, out-coached, and overwhelmed the Tigers in their own stadium. We all know the usually hostile environment that is a night game in Baton Rouge. Troy took a large chunk of that invincibility away with an inspired performance, only to run completely out of gas in the fourth quarter.

TOAST: Raise one for Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. He's a man. He's 41. He's also 9-2 in a fiercely competitive Big 12 South. The Cowboy program is beginning to gain momentum, and Gundy shook off his famous rant from last year and let the results speak louder this year. Coach, we hear you loud and clear.

ROAST: Colorado's Dan Hawkins. I thought the Buffaloes would be much better than they are, given the improvements last year and the strong 3-0 start to this year. CU has just been on a downfall, losing six of their last eight, and with bowl hopes hinging on a road trip to Nebraska, I have to say that the Hawkins era in Boulder has been pretty underwhelming so far.

TOAST: Vanderbilt, who is going bowling for the first time in 26 years. Give tremendous praise to Bobby Johnson, who has accomplished what many thought could never be done at Vandy. This feat alone should prove his coaching abilities to the football world. And given the total collapse at Tennessee, the Commodores could be looking at 7-5 heading into the bowl season. Let's just hope that they don't go to the Music City Bowl; they've spent enough December days in Nashville.

ROAST: The thought of Oregon State in the Rose Bowl. No offense to the Beavers, who have performed extremely well and are taking the Pac-10 by storm, but I don't want to see a rematch of OSU and Penn State, a game in which the Nittany Lions dominated. A rematch could have many leaving a sour taste for Pac-10 football, who already is hurting by having both of the Washington teams in their league.

TOAST: Stanford's Jim Harbaugh for going for the touchdown on the last play, despite USC having the game in hand. Some might call Pete Carroll's move to ice the kicker by calling a timeout with seconds to go the move of a competitive man who plays all 60 minutes of the game. I call it a petty move of a guy who is so obsessed with "style points" that he refused to give up a field goal, even when he's up big. Congrats to Stanford for burning the Trojans with the last second score.

ROAST: Florida's Urban Meyer for keeping Tim Tebow in the game when the Gators were up huge in the fourth quarter. Meyer did it for two reasons: to run it up on Steve Spurrier and to pad the stats of his quarterback in the hopes of a repeat Heisman. What you saw in the first three quarters summed up the Gators for real. They are a deadly team with a good quarterback in Tebow, but Percy Harvin is the best player to suit up in a Florida jersey each game. Harvin turns short Tebow passes into huge gains. He creates havoc every time he touches the ball, except when it gets deep in the red zone and all they do is let Tebow score. Meyer could've run it up with his backup players — padding stats for Tebow was simply ridiculous.

TOAST: Northwestern, aka the second half of this year's Revenge of the Nerds. Yes, Michigan is down ... way, way down, but it still had to taste sweet to go into Ann Arbor and hand the Wolverines a stinging defeat. The 21-14 Wildcat victory sealed 2008 as the worst football season in Michigan history. Pat Fitzgerald has done a great job with this team, and odds are he's not going to stop anytime soon.

ROAST: Lou Holtz. If this guy was consistently right, Notre Dame and South Carolina would be battling for the national title every year. Come on, Lou, enough of the homerism! I wonder what would happen if the Irish met the Gamecocks ... what would Dr. Lou do then?

TOAST: To next week's showdown between Texas Tech and Oklahoma. Two high-powered offenses in a crucial showdown is a perfect pre-Thanksgiving feast for football gluttons everywhere.

ROAST: Three letters. BCS. Think about this: the loser of the Texas Tech/Oklahoma game will most likely lose any shot of a BCS-tier game. That's just one more reason why college football needs a playoff. At least with Alabama/Florida we'll have something close to a national semifinal.