So far the Renegades have responded to every challenge (at least since the loss at El Camino). The latest was Saturday (Halloween night), when the Gades blasted Ventura 44-14 to clinch at least a tie for the Northern National Conference title.

Now the Gades have a bye week, which will, as coach Jeff Chudy said after the game, allow the players (and coaches) to "re-charge their batteries."

A win at Canyons in two weeks gives BC an outright NNC title and ensures a home game in the Golden Empire Bowl as a first-round SoCal playoff game.

BC was fourth in the rankings prior to the win over Ventura and will likely remain there. Top-ranked El Camino was beaten 42-26 by No. 3 Mount SAC. I expect El Camino to remain ahead of BC since it has beaten the Gades head-to-head. Mount SAC was third, and will probably move up to No. 2. Cerritos entered the weekend undefeated and improved to 8-0 (and probably No. 1) by beating Desert 27-17. Cerritos and El Camino still must play each other before the regular season ends.

Should the unthinkable happen and BC lose to Canyons, then who knows what will happen? It could mean the Gades would have a first-round playoff game on the road, and the Golden Empire Bowl would have two out-of-town teams. But I expect the Gades to take care of business and beat Canyons.

BC has certainly routed opponents in the NNC. The scores were 34-13 over Pasadena, 31-24 over Hancock (a game BC led 24-3 in the third quarter), 52-14 over Moorpark and 49-3 over Glendale before Saturday's 44-14 win over Ventura (it was 41-0 at one point).

A blog comment mentioned BC has benefitted from playing in a sub-par conference. The Gades have no control over that. All they can do is take care of business against whoever they play. And except for the El Camino loss (40-24 on Sept. 26), they've done that.

BC crushed Glendale 49-3 on Saturday night, setting the stage for a Northern National Conference title game next Saturday.

Ventura improved to 3-0 in the NNC with a 23-6 win over Canyons. BC went to 4-0 with its win tonight (Oct. 24).

So whoever wins next Saturday's game at BC between the Renegades and Ventura will undoubtedly be the outright champion. The loser will make the SoCal playoffs but might not be in the top 4 for seeding purposes, which would mean a road game to open the playoffs.

It looks like BC will go into next week's showdown without its most dominant defensive player, defensive lineman Maurice Hayes, who suffered a right knee injury in the third quarter against Glendale.

Hayes was helped off the field. By the end of the game, his right leg was immobilized in a knee brace and he was on crutches. I'd say it's highly likely his season is over; in the very least, he'll be out awhile.

The injury occurred when his right foot was planted and didn't give way as a mass of humanity converged on a ball carrier. Glendale has that special artificial turf that is becoming more common. The attraction: a big cash outlay, but then little maintenance for several years.

I remember how the old astroturf would create severe knee injuries, but I haven't heard about injury history with this new turf. Hayes' loss will be felt big-time, not only because of his talent, but because of his leadership and on-field fiery attitude that rubs off on his BC teammates.

About the only surprise I can see from Saturday's (Oct. 17) 52-14 BC win over Moorpark was how truly bad Moorpark was. Moorpark is usually a middle-of-the-pack type of team, and in a good year among the top-third in ability in the Western State Conference.

But not this year. BC is now 6-1 and could have scored in the 60-point range if not for some call by the officials (more on that later).

Other Northern National Conference scores from Saturday: Canyons over Glendale (BC's opponent next week), 14-6; and Allan Hancock beating Pasadena 38-23. Ventura had a bye.

BC had (unofficially) 398 net rushing yards. Both Moorpark TDs were aided by some officials calls, mostly defensive pass interference and defensive holding calls that are automatic first downs and kept drives alive.

One avid BC fan I spoke to after the game said it was the worst officiated game he'd ever seen. My two cents? It was bad, but it really didn't matter. When a team wins 52-14 and the officiating is poor, at least it didn't impact the outcome of the game.

On one pass interference call, these guys must have talked for almost two minutes before play resumed. The flag was thrown and there was no question what the call would be. But they took what seemed like forever.

One call I still can't explain was on a punt return by BC's Rishard Matthews, who caught the ball on the BC 17 and returned it past the 40-yard line. A flag was thrown at the 38 and the signal was holding.

OK. When that happens, the foul occurred where the flag was thrown (the 38 in this case) and the penalty yards are marked off from that spot. But not this time. The refs went back to the 17, where Matthews caught the ball, and marched off the yardage from that spot, half the distance to the goal.

There was no foul in that part of the field. The blockers were all at least 15 yards upfield from where Matthews caught the punt. Your guess is as good as mine on this one.

As for things like clipping, chop blocks, pass interference: who knows? Judgment calls. Some I agreed with; others I wasn't sure, but on some I didn't have a great view, so I didn't have as  much of a problem with the. And the game was lopsided, so I suppose it doesn't really matter.

BC travels to Glendale next Saturday, then hosts Ventura on Halloween night.

One of the joys of my job is seeing games like Saturday night's (Oct. 10) 31-24 Bakersfield College win over previously undefeated Allan Hancock.

The game wasn't decided until Hancock's fourth-down pass from the BC 2-yard line fell incomplete in the end zone.

Along the way were some great calls. Like the bomb to William Randle on BC's first play of the second half -- which went for a 61-yard TD. Or the third-and-6 pass in the fourth quarter to Rishard Matthews, which also went for 61 yards and a TD.

Hancock had some great calls also. Like a fourth-and-4 draw play to running back Thomas Sua that went for a 23-yard TD in the middle of the fourth quarter. Or the play-action pass to running back Mario Jones early in the fourth quarter that went for a 5-yard TD when everyone in the stadium looked for a run.

This game was crucial to BC for another reason. Hancock beat Canyons last week in overtime. Since 2000, either BC or Canyons has won the conference championship. If Hancock had beaten BC, the Renegades would have no longer controlled their own destiny in a bid to win the conference title. BC would have needed to run the table and hope Hancock would lose to someone else for a co-championship, and Hancock would have held the tie-breaker because of the head-to-head win.

But now, two weeks into the conference season, BC and Ventura (a 26-20 winner over Pasadena Saturday) are the only 2-0 teams in conference play. Canyons has to be a contender despite its loss last week to Hancock. Canyons rolled past winless Moorpark 31-7. Moorpark comes to BC this Saturday.

BC should have no trouble the next two weeks, with Moorpark winless and Glendale (the opponent on Oct. 24) not at BC's level. Ventura follows (on Halloween night, at BC), then the regular-season finale on Nov. 14 at Canyons (Nov. 7 in is a bye).

I think the Gades are shoo-ins for the eight-team SoCal playoffs; winning the conference title would ensure a first-round home game (which is the Golden Empire Bowl). If BC stumbles, it would be in danger of opening the playoffs on the road, and the Golden Empire Bowl would subsequently attract two out-of-town teams, probably with a miniscule crowd.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's a lot of football left before that all shakes out. But the thriller vs. Hancock keeps BC on pace to win the conference title, and more importantly, BC has its destiny in its own hands.

Bakersfield College bounced back nicely from its first loss of the season on Sept. 26 against El Camino by rolling past Pasadena in Memorial Stadium tonight (Oct. 3), 34-13.

In the days leading up to the game, BC coach Jeff Chudy said Pasadena quarterback Nick Ponce was a better passer than El Camino's Matt Simms, who carved up the BC defense with more than 400 passing yards in the 40-24 win over the Gades.

The Gades definitely played much better against Pasadena. Ponce, who hadn't had an interception all season, threw five. One was returned for a TD and another almost was -- a penalty nullified a 62-yard TD return. The backup QB also threw a pick.

BC sacked Pasadena's two QBs eight times -- four by defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford who seemed to be in the Lancers' backfield the entire night.

Ponce, as it turns out, is not in Matt Simms' league.

Sure, BC played much better and with much more intensity, four turnovers and nearly 100 yards in penalties notwithstanding. But this game was similar to the other BC victories: The Renegades simply overpowered Pasadena because of the Gades' physical prowess.

El Camino, which improved to 5-0 on Saturday by slaughering Riverside 41-16, is a very physical team. It matched BC's physical play. BC's other opponents (Fresno, L.A. Valley, Santa Monica, Pasadena) weren't in the same ballpark.

Next Saturday, BC travels to 5-0 Allan Hancock, a game which will be played at Santa Maria's Righetti High School. Hancock is always very physical, and I expect an interesting matchup because of that. Hancock beat College of the Canyons 19-16 on Saturday. Canyons now has two losses this season.

In the other Northern Natlional Conference game tonight: Ventura beat Glendale 20-13.

How BC matches up physically with Hancock (or a better question: can Hancock match the physical play of BC?) could decide the outcome of this game. We'll see.