Jazz stink, BYU doesn't, and more

1. The Utah Jazz lost at the Boston Celtics last night, 105-86. The loss isn't surprising, and wouldn't have been even if the Jazz were a great team. But they had very little fight in them, and nobody stepped up to make it a game. The Jazz spread the ball around, with everybody scoring, but the high scorers were Ronnie Brewer and Deron Williams with 13 points each. The Celtics outscored the Jazz each of the first three quarters en route to building a 22-point lead going into the fourth.

The bright spot for the Jazz: they didn't blow a big lead this game.

The Jazz are now 3-5, are still in fourth place in the Northwest Division, and take today off before playing at the 4-4 Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow.


2. I should probably make my first mention of the BYU Cougars basketball team, who finished an unsurprising 2-0 in this season's exhibition games. On Tuesday night, they defeated Division II Central Washington 82-46.

I'm not going to pretend to get excited about a win over Central Washington, but I AM going to be excited about this season for BYU. They are coming off back-to-back-to-back conference championships, and have a great blend of youth and experience. Combined with what should be an overall down year in the Mountain West Conference, and the Cougars should get their fourth consecutive conference title, and I am optimistic that this is the year that they break through with an NCAA tournament victory.

They tip off their season with a home game on Friday night against Missouri Valley Conference foe Bradley.


3. More games to watch in college football this weekend:

Big XII: Last year, this conference was the talk of college football, with powerhouse teams in Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Missouri, and Kansas. In addition, you had rising teams in Oklahoma State and Nebraska that were going to make this season exceptional.

One Coleby Clawson sack into the season, and this conference is now a complete mess. Texas is the only team that could possibly win this conference, by far the best team right now. So the weekly crop of games have lacked some intensity and interest.

But the game of the week is Texas Tech at Oklahoma State. With a home victory here, the Cowboys of OSU can assert themselves as the second-best team in the conference and raise expectations even further for next season.

Big 10: There is no question that the big game this weekend is Iowa at Ohio State, co-leaders in the Big 10 standings. The Hawkeyes won their first nine games before losing to Northwestern last week. Ohio State has rebounded from their loss to Purdue with an impressive win last week at Penn State. The Buckeyes should win at home and play themselves into the Rose Bowl, but it will be interesting to see if the Hawkeyes bounce back and show that they are real contenders on the national scene.

MWC: The game that I’m MOST interested in is, of course, BYU at New Mexico. But clearly, the Game of the Week here is Utah at TCU. These two squads are both undefeated in the conference, and both are in BCS contention at this point.

My prediction and amateur analysis will come later, but I have been thinking about who I want to win this game. Pros and cons:

If TCU wins: the Horned Frogs will go undefeated with their two remaining games against Wyoming and New Mexico, and they will go to a BCS game. It will quiet the abnoxious Boise State and Utah fans. And it will give the MWC another BCS powerhouse in their quest to become a part of the BCS.

If Utah wins: it gives BYU a shot at a share of the 2009 MWC conference championship if they win out. Boise State fans go berserk and pretend that they are the best team in history as they go to the BCS for the second time. Utah fans get overly optimistic and talk smack to BYU fans about how they defeated TCU on the road while BYU got killed by them at home.

Easy call: Go Horned Frogs.

SEC: All the late-season drama is gone with three weeks still remaining in the regular season. Florida and Alabama have both clinched their divisions, and will play in December for a spot in the national championship. All that matters now is that these two squads win their remaining games so that this game can be as exciting as possible.

Florida is at South Carolina this weekend, which looked like it would be a competitive match-up until the Gamecocks got blown out their last two games against Tennessee and Arkansas. Alabama, on the other hand, might have a game on their hands as they travel to play Mississippi State. Despite being buried near the SEC West cellar each year, the Bulldogs squad have actually been competitive this year, losing close games to LSU, Georgia Tech, Houston, and Florida. Sometimes teams like this finally get a break-through win if they play enough ranked teams.

WAC: Idaho at Boise State is the Game ‘o the Week in the WAC. Okay, obviously Fresno State/Nevada is looking to be the more competitive match-up. And we all know that the Broncos are going to defeat the Vandals by at least 25 points. But I am making this the Game of the Week in honor of a rare decent team from the Moscow school. They probably believe that they have a fighting chance against their in-state rivals. And just because we like to spread the love at The Joe Rankings, I am giving the University of Idaho special attention today