11/15/12: College football chat with Chuck Carlton

Welcome to another college football chat.

Plus, we have a lot to talk about this week: bowl possibilities, Baylor trying to shock Kansas State and, oh, yeah, Johnny Football for the Heisman. Fire away. And excuse my struggles with the ScribbleLive software. Sorry.

Let's get the Johnny Football talk out of the way with three very good questions. Yes, Texas A&M redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel is a bonafide Heisman candidate, right up there with Collin Klein and Manti Te'o. His performance against Texas A&M put him in the discussion in a big way. He's got a big wow factor. But he probably won't win the Heisman this year. A&M closes with Sam Houston State and Missouri and won't be playing on Championship Saturday. Manziel would need one more big game to capture everybody's attention, like RG3 following up his Oklahoma performance two weeks later against Texas. That's not going to happen ... this year.

The public reprimand of Tommy Tuberville was a bit of an over-reaction. The same goes for the Pac-12 investigating Mike Leach. Everybody in college sports is a little nervous after what's happening recently, especially at Penn State. Nobody wants to be seen as ignoring a problem. Still, the first response should come from the institution. Tuberville wasn't involved with the officials or an opponent. It involved his own coaching staff and doing something stupid in the heat of the moment. (And what team would use the same call "Jayhawk" for both offense and special teams in the same game. Recipe for confusion, anyone?). That said, Tech should have gotten first crack at any discipline. It would have been far worse for Tuberville had he lost to Kansas.

Wow. Great question. For one, nobody expected Oklahoma to lose two home games in one season, especially with that 14-game Owen Field streak against ranked teams. Then Kansas State and Notre Dame showed up and imposed their wills. Oklahoma is still a good team, but one with weaknesses and flaws -- despite what happened in Dallas. West Virginia has basically fallen off an Appalachian cliff. It's November and the Mountaineers still aren't bowl eligible after being 5-0 and ranked fifth in the BCS. For one, the struggles prove the Big 12 is far better than Big East. That may not explain all of WVU's problems under Dana Holgorsen.

It's probably a wash. He's getting plenty of attention now and I don't see how talking to the media could enhance his chances at this point. It could do the exact opposite. If Manziel goes to New York as a Heisman finalist, he will have to talk.

Actually headed to Kansas State-Baylor, with the BCS No. 1 team playing on the road. I skipped Oklahoma-Baylor last year and don't want to make the same mistake twice. We will also be staffing Texas Tech at Oklahoma State, with the winner likely headed to the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Sumlin may have the edge in a close race. Nobody expected Texas A&M to be competitive in its first SEC season. Most folks thought Missouri would have a better chance to contend. Yeah, right. A&M is on pace to win 10 games in a season for the first time since '98. That's a solid achievement. Kansas State was supposed to be good but not this good. The Wildcats are an amazing extension of Snyder's philosophy and attention to detail. And who thought Notre Dame would be in national title contention now? You really can't go wrong with any of the three.

Art Briles actually has put together consecutive bowl seasons, equaling the longest run in Baylor history. He understands offense as well as any college coach. The defense just hasn't been good enough, not by a long shot. What will make things different for Briles? The attractiveness of the new stadium being built on the Brazos and a Top 25 recruiting class are a good start.