11/21/12: College football chat with Kate Hairopoulos

Responding to the Heisman question.... Johnny Manziel is the favorite right now, no question. For him to win, he's obviously got to have a solid day Saturday against Missouri. Spectacular would help. And then seniors like Notre Dame's Manti Te'o and Kansas State's Collin Klein, etc. can't use what will be bigger platforms to overtake him. Te'o gets a great platform against USC on Saturday. Klein plays later, Dec. 1, against Texas, when A&M will already be done. But it's Manziel's to lose.

Speaking of the Heisman...a Baylor question! You're so right about the Bears being up and down. Briles' offense is always dangerous, yes, even against a solid Wildcats defense. But, seriously, who would've predicted that Kansas State would put up only 24 on the Bears' defense? I listened to it driving back from College Station last week. For some reason I picked up the KSU broadcast...interesting perspective to hear their national title hopes dissolving.

There's obviously more to the story than has been made public. I'm still looking into it. The most important thing, obviously, is that Thomas Johnson appears to be OK and is with his family. Kevin Sumlin is NOT going into details about it of Johnson's status with the team, but that's not surprising concerning privacy laws and such.

First of all, a lot can still happen in regards to the bowl matchups. There is no secret arrangement in place or not to make the Texas-Texas A&M Cotton Bowl happen. Both are still at least in the running for a BCS berth. A&M is such a hot team right now and may have the Heisman winner so it could get picked up by, say, the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, which gets the first SEC pick after the BCS bowls. Maybe I'm being a downer, but I just think Texas-Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl is too good to be true this year.

A lot is involved with bowl selections...the bowls will be in conversations with the schools and the conferences...lots of leeway

There's at least a chance. Florida, for example, only has one loss. If it wins at Florida State this weekend it could be in the mix. Do y'all think Notre Dame could lose at USC, even without Trojans QB Matt Barkley playing? I'm not giving USC much of a chance. But then again, look at last weekend

Yes, they'll have Johnny Football overall and be riding the momentum from this season. Couple key things, though, could be who returns. OT Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews could have opportunities to leave ealry..same with DE Damontre Moore. A&M's offensive line is among the best in the nation. Moore is the heart of that defense.

Ah, the fun hypothetical questions:) I've been getting a lot of emails pondering where A&M would've ended up in the Big 12 this year, too. Not sure of a score, but I would pick A&M to win and give the Longhorns' defense a hard time, even in Austin. But, as y'all know, that's a game where weird things can happen. I was at the last A&M-UT game last year...can't believe it's been a year and all the things that have happened with the Aggies' program since. That was a soul-crushing loss, but here A&M is at 9-2, 5-2, in first SEC season.

Yes! I can't even imagine how that was possible, no matter the division. Watched my Hoosiers last night. Love college basketball.