Rex Burkhead goes out with a bang. (AP)

Snap Judgments from Friday afternoon’s action. For more, check out Saturday’s early Snaps and our complete Top 25 review.

• No. 17 Nebraska 13, Iowa 7. Bo Pelini was asked in his postgame on-field interview whose decision it was to insert the oft-injured Rex Burkhead into the Huskers’ final regular-season game. He laughed. “His!” The senior standout, absent for much of this season while nursing a knee injury, made the most of his time on the turf, leading Nebraska’s ground attack (69 yards on 16 carries) and scoring the Huskers’ only touchdown of the contest on a three-yard run in the third quarter.

Those of you who find our occasional gleeful odes to MACtion tacky are in for a real treat with today’s box score, where you will find just one player with an individual stat line totaling more than 100 yards. (The lucky lad: Taylor Martinez, who completed 9 of 14 passes for 63 yards and rushed for an additional 41.) Burkhead was trailed  by Ameer Abdullah (50 rushing yards on 14 carries) and Braylon Heard (46 yards on four carries). For the Hawkeyes, James Vandenberg completed 11 of 24 pass attempts for 92 yards and threw two interceptions. Mark Weisman led Iowa in rushing with 91 yards on 29 attempts.

Vandenberg also gave the Hawkeyes their only lead of the game, with a one-yard rushing touchdown late in the first quarter, a lead Iowa hung onto until Burkhead’s run. And for a moment there, late in the fourth quarter, it looked as though we might have a ballgame on our hands again. Given the ball on a Nebraska punt at their own 27 with about three and a half minutes to play, the Hawkeyes executed two consecutive six-yard plays before Vandenberg threw his second interception with just 2:11 remaining on the clock. And practically before time had expired in the stadium, we had that all-important BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS: ON SALE NOW email land in our inbox. The Huskers have earned at least a share of the division title and will play Wisconsin in Indianapolis on Saturday, December 1. Nebraska won their first meeting in September, 30-27. [BOX | RECAP]

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@martinrickman I vote for a picture of Dianne Wiest since it’s the Big Wiest.

— Dan Weiner (@DanWeiner) November 13, 2012

• Let’s settle this now. Behold, the divisions of the new Big East: Central Florida, South Florida, Connecticut, Louisville, Cincinnati and Rutgers in the East East, and Boise State, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State, SMU and Temple in the East West. The ease of remembering mostly geographically based divisions aside (lookin’ riiiight at you, Increasingly Inaccurately Named Big Ten and ACC), new divisions mean new opportunities for mnemonic acronyms and Lovecraftian anagrams. IMPORTANT NOTE: For reasons relating to not wanting to come up with a bunch of U-words, we’re going with Central Florida instead of UCF here, South Florida instead of USF and Connecticut instead of UConn. Thank you for your understanding.

Our best suggestions in the clubhouse thus far:

East: Crooked Stepping Creeping Landscape Creep Rust, Considering Shaken Chosen Lawyer Creator Rake and Change Shrewd Cremini Lump Craze Riot.

West: Blistered High Mockery S‘more Stereo Turtle, Blended Holding Minor Sopping Sleepy Tangent and Broad Headache Manic Stiff Solace Toad.

Almost none of these words have anything to do with anything, which is sort of what we get for putting South Florida, Connecticut, Boise and San Diego State in the same conference. Please feel free to leave your own suggestions below.

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Assorted bests and worsts from college football’s weekend that was. 

• Best GameDay flag trek: Getting a Wazzu flag into a crowd shot at GameDay is a long and proud tradition in Pullman, but the Cougar faithful might have been forgiven had they not managed to get a bearer on the deck of the USS San Diego, right? Fear not:

By the way, the Wazzu flag made it on GameDay earlier today, even with it on a ship: twitpic.com/bc1vcq

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 11, 2012

• Worst accuracy: For a guy who coaches the nation’s top-ranked passing offense, Tommy Tuberville sure has bad aim. (Although he is a defensive guy. Perhaps that explains this offensive miscue?)

• Most useful SEC team: Everybody has a purpose in this vast universe of ours, and though there hasn’t been much to celebrate in terms of Auburn football this season, the Tigers are serving a crucial purpose: punching conference opponents’ tickets to Atlanta!

So both SEC divisions will be clinched against Auburn. (UGA today, Bama in 2 weeks).

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) November 11, 2012

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Just imagine Oregon’s mascot tackling one of these things. (AP)

• BEE CEE ESS. The latest BCS standings are here, and your freshly hatched BCS No. 1 is Kansas State; the post-Week 11 AP Poll is here, too, and Oregon is the new No. 1. Dan Wetzel explores an upside-down universe in which Notre Dame needs to catch a break.

• Bowling season draws nigh. A second FBS team has locked in a postseason bid, as BYU has accepted an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl. This season hasn’t gone as smoothly for the Cougars as they might have hoped, but there are certainly worse places to while away a few winter days than San Diego. Stewart Mandel updates SI.com’s bowl projections, this week featuring Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Missouri and SMU.

• The Marquess Wilson thing. Just so we’re all caught up, here’s what we know right now: Washington State suspended star receiver Marquess Wilson, who subsequently announced he was leaving the team and dropped accusations of abuse on his way out. Here’s a StoryStream from our friends at CougCenter, tracing the winding path of these developments. Here’s a Spokesman-Review interview with Dennis Simmons, Wilson’s position coach, on Wilson’s allegations. And here’s Washington State’s president asking for both an internal investigation and one from the Pac-12.

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Florida State cheerleaders present the Noles’ and Hokies’ 2012 turnover margins in interpretive dance. (The girl at the top who is flying away represents the ball.) (AP)

• No. 8 Florida State 28, Virginia Tech 22. Things you need to know about Thursday night’s contest: EJ Manuel saved the game for the ‘Noles on a last-minute 39-yard touchdown connection to Rashad Greene. Virginia Tech linebacker Michael Cole has been diagnosed with a neck sprain after being taken off the field in an ambulance in the third quarter and was to be released from the hospital last night (and is already back on Twitter, if you’d like to send well wishes.) Also, this happened. For more on last night’s ACC clash, click these links:  [BOX | RECAP]

• Arkansas State 45, Louisiana-Monroe 23. Warhawks backup quarterback Cody Wells, starting in place of the injured Kolton Browning, managed to throw for 357 yards, but the Red Wolves are pretty adept at staying ahead on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. Ryan Aplin went 26-of-34 for 334 yards, and David Oku rushed 22 times for 131. Todd Berry spoke afterwards on how injuries to several key players, Browning among them, have affected the Warhawks late in the season:

“It’s been unfortunate, but that’s part of the game. I know one thing, about four weeks ago we were a lot better football team than we are right now. [...] Not to take away anything from [Arkansas State], but right now everybody looks pretty good against us.”

The Red Wolves remain atop the Sun Belt standings along with Middle Tennessee State, each carrying one conference loss. [BOX | RECAP ]

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Dave Clawson is here to hand you this many more losses, Ohio. (AP)

• Bowling Green 26, Ohio 14. In the span of less than two weeks, the Bobcats have lost both their shot at a perfect regular season and an undefeated home season, but this year’s class of seniors will still depart as the winningest in school history. Tyler Tettleton was sacked four times by three different Falcons, but he did manage to become the school’s all-time leading passer, with his 145 aerial yards bumping his career total to 5,475. The Falcons scored 19 points in the second quarter and were led offensively by Anthon Samuel, who rushed for 181 yards and two scores. [BOX | RECAP]

• It’s that time of year. We don’t really get into recruiting as part of our bloggy antics here, but it’s always proper to mark that special day on the calendar when the commitment of the nation’s top recruit is called into question. Keep up with the movements of Robert Nkemdiche with this StoryStream from our friends at SB Nation.

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Terrance Owens will do football things for Toledo, the MAC and America this Election Night. (AP)

• The greatest p.r. email we have received on this job begins thusly: “Tuesday, November 6th is Election Night for the country but it’s also a decisive night in the battle for the West Division crown of the Mid-American Conference. The Toledo Rockets host Ball State on Nov. 6 in a nationally televised contest at the Glass Bowl (8:00 p.m. / ESPN2) in what could help determine the eventual MAC champion.” We should probably get this framed. Preview coming later this afternoon for tonight’s game, right after Profiles in Profiteroles.

• Roster blotter: Matt Scott was, in fact, concussed against UCLA, and is questionable for Arizona’s game against Colorado … Washington State’s company line on Marquess Wilson is that Marquess Wilson is suspended … Bret Bielema is keeping the details of Wisconsin’s late-season quarterback race to himself … Boise State defensive tackle and internet favorite Mike “Bacon” Atkinson is through for the year with a torn ACL.

• Mack Brown trolls message boards all night long just writing “STAY CLASSY:” Because if there’s one real big problem college athletics has right now, it’s a lack of respect conveyed through hand signals and signs, amirite?

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Oregon in the top five means we get to post pictures of the Ducks’ mascot all the time. We like it when Oregon is in the top five. (AP)

• Brace yourselves for a largish shock. Alabama tops the AP Poll for the 10th consecutive week, with Oregon holding steady at No. 2. Your BCS top five, in descending order: ‘Bama, Kansas State, Oregon, Notre Dame and Georgia. The Toledo Rockets make what we call an overdue appearance in the BCS standings this week, along with UCLA and Northwestern. Dropping out: Boise State (breaking a 40-week streak), West Virginia, Arizona and Oklahoma State. Stewart Mandel updates SI’s bowl predictions and … is that hope for Louisiana Tech we’re seeing on the horizon?

• Coach firin’ season! No updates to the carousel as of noon Monday, but ominous rumblings are sounding out of Colorado, and we are really enjoying imagining Rex Ryan at Kentucky.

• Injury report story hour. What to make of Collin Klein’s Oklahoma State game injury? … leading Georgia receiver Marlon Brown is finished as a Bulldog after tearing his ACL against Ole Miss, although the program’s director of sports medicine indicated Sunday that “a full recovery is anticipated that will enable him to continue his career in the future” … perpetual South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels is through with the Bulls after sustaining a broken ankle against UConn … Arizona’s Hank Hobson is out of the hospital …  and Maryland announced Monday the loss of starting MLB and leading tackler Demetrius Hartsfield to a torn ACL, which Patrick Stevens calculates makes five torn ACLs for the Terps this season and the fourth lost team captain in two years.

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Tyler Russell struggled at ‘Bama, while Sean Mannion threw four picks at Washington. (PRESSWIRE :: Getty)

Snaps Judgments from the Week 9 evening slate. For more check out early Snaps, midday Snaps, SI.com’s coverage of Georgia-Florida, Ohio State-Penn State, Notre Dame-Oklahoma, Mississippi State-Alabama and our complete Top 25 review.

• No. 1 Alabama 38, No. 13 Mississippi State 7. There are bad games, and then there are games in which your team’s inspirational campaign for an undefeated season gets thrown back at you by a division rival’s long snapper.

The Tide raced out to a 24-0 lead at the half and added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Mississippi State staved off the shutout with a Dak Prescott-to-Robert Johnson touchdown pass with just over five minutes remaining. T.J. Yeldon led the Tide rushing attack with 84 yards on 10 carries. Andy Staples was on the scene.  [BOX | RECAP]

• Washington 20, No. 7 Oregon State 17. One really good time for an offense to avoid getting a delay of game penalty is when that offense is facing fourth-and-14 with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, down three points with an undefeated season on the line. Fourth-and-19 is a lot harder to convert! [BOX | RECAP]

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• Good morning to America’s Heartland, with love from catlab. Team catlab, your one-stop destination for all catlab needs and services.

• I got those suspended-while-my-team-plays-Boise-State blues. Dave Christensen just sings it out, man.

• Soren Sorensen’s persistent use of Comic Sans continues to be excused, as He Ain’t From Around Here. The New York Times runs down college football statheads.

• On the Mike Leach Twitter thing. Brian Floyd traces the feelingsball origins of folks getting het up over Wazzu players being banned from Twitter, and Tom Fornelli dispenses sense:

If you don’t trust your players on Twitter then you probably have a pretty good understanding of the decisions college kids make.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) October 24, 2012

• And the seventh seal was opened, and it said “but but cash money.” The seventh access bowl may not happen, for basically the same reasons the have-not teams it would have welcomed into the postseason are have-not teams in the first place.

• Big East football: Pay attention. No, really. Stop making that face!

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