Another wonderful day of college football. This week we concluded the regular season for, like, 90% of the teams, and got to see just how bad the ACC is...Shall we analyze? Yes, yes we shall.
Florida State-10, #1 Florida-37
In the first round of our "just how bad is the ACC?" poll, we get to see Florida State, formerly the pride of the conference. The Seminoles, however, have not been at the top of the ACC for a considerable period of time (specifically, from 2005-present). This season, they're a mediocre team in the twilight of their legendary coach's career, and it's a bit sad that this could be the final game of the Bobby Bowden era. (Well, the Imperial Potato Company Spud Bowl might be the final game of the Bowden era, but this was the last regular season game)
This game featured a mid-level team from a mediocre conference against a top-tier team from the best conference in the country. Plus, the good team was the home team. I don't think I need to describe why it was a blowout, nor do I need to elaborate on the gory details, especially after last week's epic post. Shall we move on? Yes, I believe we shall.
ACC-meter: Not that bad
#2 Alabama-26, Auburn-21
'Bama finally faces and passes a test on the road. Some might argue that LSU was a good test for the Tide, but I beg to differ, as LSU is showing its mediocrity with an increasing frequency, and the Tide played them at home.
Now, take note that I am not belittling Alabama at all here. They beat my team fair and square in a neutral site game. But does anyone else find it odd that 'Bama played only 4 true road games this season? The season opener with Virginia Tech, the SEC Championship, and whatever bowl the Tide go to are all neutral site games. Their road games were all in-conference, and we'll now take a tally of them: Kentucky (3-5 in conference), Ole Miss (4-4), Mississippi State (3-5), and Auburn (3-5). My point? Well, even if Alabama goes undefeated and wins the national title, they have done so without facing much road adversity.
This game was their toughest, and that is predominantly due to the weird "rivalry factor" that plagues my logical, practical, statistical mind to no end (more on that to come). I mean, this is the same Auburn team that lost to Kentucky at home earlier this year. As stated prior, I'm not bashing Alabama, as their non-conference schedule included a ranked team, something Texas and Florida were too scared to do. They just happened to have a good year during a season with no tough road games. That's a fact, not some weird bias. If Alabama wins a national title, they will have earned the right to do so by winning the SEC and by beating Texas (well, probably Texas) and that's fine. You, dear readers, merely deserved to know that luck does, in fact, factor in to these sort of things.
As for the game itself...'Bama had to make a comeback against an Auburn squad that gave the Crimson Tide everything they wanted. In fact, if Auburn could have completed some passes (and managed the clock a bit better) during their final drive, we might be looking at this as the top of the upset list. As is, we'll call it a day here, and eagerly await the SEC Championship like everyone else...
#3 Texas-49, Texas A&M-39
Further proof of the "rivalry factor." Texas A&M is a barely bowl-worthy school who's having a bad year in a bad conference. Texas is a national powerhouse that's been running over opponents with abandon. Put them together, and of course you get...
A 10 point ball game with loads of excitement and a whole bunch of points. Many analysts have talked about how well Colt McCoy did in this game, and it's hard to argue with that assessment. Still, you do have to take into account the fact that Texas sealed the game not on a pass or rush, but on a 95 yard kickoff return by Marquise Goodwin. Yes, I'm aware that even without this touchdown Texas is still up by 3, but one must consider the odds (however slim) that the A&M defense could have made a stop.
People are now calling for McCoy to get the Heisman, which is a sham. McCoy has one good game, Mark Ingram has one bad game, and now McCoy's getting an award that has stopped being "Most outstanding player" and more "Best Quarterback." Since the turn of the century one non-quarterback has won the award. That one? Reggie Bush, who had to have one of the best seasons by a running back in history in order to win the thing. McCoy is an excellent quarterback, and he should have a fine career in the NFL, but I do not think he's the "outstanding" player of the year. Know who's outstanding? The Oklahoma offensive line that made Landry Jones look good on Saturday. But we all know that no offensive linemen will ever (EVER) win the Heisman.
Furthermore, this sort of crap is so routine in the Big 12 that it's hardly worth noting anymore. Games of note are games where one or both teams score fewer than 30 points. This game was exciting, but it was not well played defensively. Good luck to the Longhorns against Nebraska's defense (good) and Alabama/Florida's defense (better) during their next two games. (NOTE: This is assuming they beat Nebraska. I know most of us think it's a foregone conclusion, but who remembers this game? (<-Handy link!) Nothing in college football is a foregone conclusion.)
New Mexico-10, #4 TCU-51
I believe I said something like this would happen last week. Lemme check. Yeah, I did. Read last week's post on TCU, then let's move on to something that's at least sort of interesting...
Illinois-36, #5 Cincinnati-49
It should be unsettling to any Big East fan (none of you who read this are, but you might know someone who is. Let's just roll with it...) that the best team in your conference beat the 9th worst team in the Big 10 + 1 by only 13 points at home. Cincinnati's defense has looked quite porous in the last few weeks, and their game against Pitt looms large. Cincy isn't a bad team, and they're definitely the pride of the Big East, but one must wonder just how good the Bearcats are. The good news is that they have beaten a team that could be the Pac-10 champion if all goes well next week. The bad news is that they play in a very weak conference and have the second worst schedule of any undefeated team (sorry, Boise). As stated previously, we have the de facto Big East championship game this week, and the winner of that one will be the lone Big East team in the BCS mix.
Nevada-33, #6 Boise State-44
This is as opportune a time as any to point something out. Years ago, back when I first started following college football, there were numerous complaints about how small schools never got any love and how the big teams had a conspiracy to keep schools like Boise State and TCU and BYU out of the mix.
Thankfully, those days are in the past. Unfortunately, now that some of those schools are actually good, truly big schools won't play them, and the small schools that have vaulted to the top of the rankings are now clogging up the Top 10 by slaughtering their conference foes. This is only bad because, well, some of these teams have business in the Top 10 (this year's TCU and potentially Boise, last year's Utah) and some of them do not (the 2007 Hawaii team).
If this were basketball (a sport I dislike, for the record) then this would not be a problem, because there's about 970 games per team in a basketball season. Plus, and stop me if you knew this already, those round-ball players have a little tournament thingy that they do at the end of each season. Thus, if a small school gets ranked #8, they can prove they deserved it by playing other schools from around the country during both the regular season and during a 64-team playoff.
Football, meanwhile, only has 12 games per regular season. 90% of the football factory schools out there take 3 of those games and play the weakest opponents they can find as a "warm up" or "tune up" or, if you're Alabama, a "late season snack." Then, these teams take one game a piece and play an in-state rival, even though they run a chance of losing that game and spoiling their pay day. It's a risk that some teams will, mark my words, stop taking soon. The other 8 games for all teams not named "Notre Dame," "Army," or "Navy" are then required conference games against foes that you play because they happen to be in a conference that was formed back when your football program consisted of 22 big, angry potato farmers. If your team does well enough (read: has as many wins as losses or better), you then get to go to a bowl against a team from another area of the country with a similar record to yours.
The result? (Links to history lessons in orange) Confusing situations where we have no clear-cut national champion, years where there are 3 undefeated teams but only 2 championship spots, years where a coach says something offhand and it gets blown out of proportion and his utterly undeserving team is declared co-national champions, and years where BYU wins the national title...
Why all the random ranting here? Well, it's kind of what I do. Plus, with Boise running the table against inferior competition and against an Oregon squad that had a new coach and was on the road, we might have a situation where another not-so-great team has arrived in the BCS. I believe we already know what the sensible solution to this problem is, but if you clicked any of those links above, then you know that "sense" has nothing to do with college football...
Oh, and Boise jumped out to a 20 point lead at home in the 1st quarter. I don't care who you are, if you spot the best team in your conference 20 points at home, you will not win the game, no matter how well you play the rest of the way. Consider yourself notified, Nevada.
Georgia-30, #7 Georgia Tech-24
And now for the second installment in the "just how bad is the ACC?" poll. This installment features the best team in the conference getting beaten by an SEC school with a .500 record. Not massacred or manhandled, but a loss is, as always, a loss. To make matters worse, this game featured the "rivalry factor" which we will discuss in the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State game (prepare for a long one down there...). Georgia Tech looked decent but not great, and Georgia played one heck of a game. Still, this game could have (indeed, SHOULD have) been won by Georgia Tech. Take note that I am not ripping officiating, nor am I belittling the fact that Georgia Tech defeated my team fair and square earlier in the season. Nope, this is an example of an offensive coordinator/head coach turning their backs on their team's dynamic.
What do I mean? Well, it was the 4th quarter, and Georgia Tech was down 30-24. They got the ball back after their defense finally managed to stop Georgia for once. Georgia misses a field goal, Yellow Jackets get the ball with 3:03 left and 2 timeouts remaining. Now everyone on the planet (as well as some people who are not on the planet) knows that Georgia Tech is an option team. They run the ball. It's what they do. They begin the drive normally enough: run for 3, run for 6, run for 0 (fumble! OK, GT recovers, no harm), timeout for panic purposes, and then on 4th down a run for 8. Georgia Tech now has the ball on the Georgia 46 with 1:50 left. It's not been pretty, but you still have the timeout, the clock stops while the chains are moving, and hey, if there's one play that you can run to the outside to stop the clock, it's the option, right? Heck, in a pinch, you can even throw the ball.
Now, let's look at Georgia Tech's next play calls. Remember, there's still almost 2 minutes left in the game:
1st down: Josh Nesbitt throws an incompletion towards Demaryius Thomas. OK, I understand, you want to catch the opposition off guard. Nice call, even if it didn't work.
2nd down: Josh Nesbitt throws an incompletion towards Stephen Hill. Ooookay, this one's a bit rough on the ol' cerebellum. Your last pass didn't work, and until this drive started you've thrown only 9 times the whole game. Now you've thrown 2 incompletions in a row, and you have to run the ball to the outside. It's the only way you'll have makeable yardage on 4th down...
3rd down: Josh Nesbitt throws an incompletion towards Anthony Allen, it is broken up by the Georgia defense. ...Or not. You could do something completely illogical, nearly get picked off, and force yourself to pass on 4th down. You know, since in the Virginia Tech game you completed as many passes to the opposition as you did to your own freakin' team. Yes, this is a great idea. Remember, the downfall of having a hyperspecific offense like the triple option is this: You're not going to be as good as a "normal" football team at the aspect of the game which you ignore. Other teams can pass 4 times in a row and probably complete one. You, however, are not "other teams." I think we all know where this is going...
4th down: Josh Nesbitt throws a pass to Demaryius Thomas who grasps it for a brief moment, then drops it. Well, that was fun. I'm sure several die-hards are blaming Thomas for this failure, and I will not deny that he should have caught the pass. But it was Paul Johnson and his playcalling that sunk the Yellow Jackets. Worse, since this little Ramblin' Train Wreck in Georgia Tech was the best team in the ACC this year, it sunk the conference along with it.
ACC-meter: Really freakin' bad
#9 Pittsburgh-16, West Virginia-19
The Backyard Brawl provides us with another shocker, this time with West Virginia dealing the upset. Further proof of the "rivalry factor." Still, you read a long one up there, and even with the Big 10 schools off this week, this has been a long post. Plus, there's more interesting stuff from this week, and I still hate the couch-burning psychopathic West Virginia fans who probably held a riot to celebrate the fact that they beat one of the even semi-decent teams in the worst automatic qualifying conference! Must be tough to be in Morganton, where all there is to do is drink moonshine, watch football, and marry your sister. Yeah, I'm a bigoted jerk. Shall we move on?
PS: Apologies to no one. I still hate you, West Virginia.
#12 Oklahoma State-0, Oklahoma-27
It was awful nice of Bob Stoops to get me this Christmas present so early. Thanks, Sooners! Allow me to repay you with a really random partial analysis of your rivalry game.
Now, let's look at Oklahoma State's schedule, followed by some really angry ranting. (You've been forewarned twice now, this is your last opportunity to read the review of the UVa/Tech game.) Oklahoma State has successfully beaten one ranked opponent this season: Georgia, in their first game. They then lost to Houston and then lost to Texas a few weeks later. Now, other than those 3 games, do you know who Oklahoma State played? They played Rice, Grambling, Texas A&M, Missouri, Baylor, Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Colorado. Of those teams, only Texas Tech and Missouri don't suck. Yet on ESPN and the Big 12 blogs, there was a whole lot of talk about Oklahoma State heading to the Fiesta Bowl as the Big 12's second team in the BCS! At their highest point after the loss to Houston, this team got to be ranked 12th in the BCS standings, yet they were considered realistic prospects for the BCS. Now that they've lost, know who's #12 in the nation? Virginia Tech. No one's talking about them going to the BCS, and rightfully so! The Hokies have 3 losses, and have no business whatsoever in one of the 5 premier bowls. Neither did this team, whose best win is over a 7-5 Georgia team that got its signature win this week!
To further beat this dead horse, have you heard of Jeff Sagarin? He comes up with computer formulas that weigh a team's record and schedule to give an interesting (and, as this link will show you, radically different) perspective on the Top 25. Take note of where our team in question is after this loss: 31st. Let's see who their best win is...#28 Georgia, then #30 Texas Tech. Then...#46 Missouri. (Truly random note: The Western Carolina Catamounts pull in at 189th. Sagarin rankings deal with all 1-A and 1-AA teams)
So, special thanks to the Oklahoma Sooners for keeping the Cowboys firmly out of the BCS and firmly in the hunt for the Overstock.com Over-Rated Bowl featuring Oklahoma State vs. LSU.
Since it was promised above, and since you've had every opportunity to skip this section, here's a lesson on the "rivalry factor." You see, rivalry games make sense in a geographic aspect, but not a mathematical one. In a simpler time, back when teams stayed local and played opponents based solely on location in-state or near-state (LSU, in a touching throwback, still schedules Tulane and UL-Lafayette based on these guidelines), these games were played annually and because of the similar backgrounds of players, they became heated contests. Familiarity, in football, breeds dislike. Especially when the same guy you stared down in high school is now staring you down in college. Or when the guy you hated because he drove an Escalade to high school lines up opposite you, wearing a uniform that is oddly the same color as his Escalade. But enough about Southern Cal, let's move downward...
Mathematically, rivalries defy logic. Oklahoma has been, in my opinion, better than Oklahoma State this whole season. But a 27 point beatdown defied my expectations. Georgia's oft-porous defense had no business stopping Georgia Tech repeatedly, but they did. NC State surely did not belong in the same stadium as UNC, yet they defeated the Tar Heels. These sort of games simply do not make sense from the standpoint of a casual observer. Random upsets are the product of the sheer number of teams and games, but rivalries provide close games and/or upsets year in and year out. I cannot, and will not, attempt to explain the statistical aberration that rivalry games represent. I will merely state that these weird little games are what makes college football so dang fun to watch. Oh, and to prove that there's exceptions to even the rivalry rule...
#14 Virginia Tech-42, Virginia-13
Now, understand that this game followed the rivalry rule for one half. At the half, it was 14-13, and anyone who was in our house at the time will recall that I was not a happy camper. (Side note: Hi, Mom!)
Virginia Tech, however, showed up in the second half, and their defense came to play as well. The turnaround happened with about 6 minutes left in the third quarter, when the Virginia Tech defense recovered a fumble and the offense drove it in under a minute later. Ryan Williams had one heck of a day, as did UVa's quarterback Jameel Sewell, who ran for a career high in this game.
The real story of the game, however, is that UVa's coach Al Groh got the axe pretty soon after the game. We're in coach firing season as it is, and Al's is just the first head to roll in what could be a very busy off-season for movers. At least Al went out with some class, reading a poem at his closing press conference, and walking out teary-eyed from the stadium he's coached in for 9 years. He'll be missed in the state of Virginia.
Virginia Tech won their 6th straight meeting with the Cavaliers, and that's enough to make me happy. Also, they probably clinched a ticket to the Chick-Fil-A bowl. I'd be shocked if they wound up elsewhere, though stranger things have happened...
Oh, and UVa., some free coaching advice here: Charlie Weis is available!
Arkansas-30, #15 LSU-33
LSU again looks underwhelming, this time at home against a team that is not very good. Once again, if Arkansas's kicker could hit the broadside of a barn, we'd have a very different final score than this one.
LSU's not that great this year, and their 3 losses merely cement that fact. Arkansas, however, is worse than LSU, and they'll be headed toward a nowhere bowl. Serves them right for hiring the 3rd most backstabbing coach in college football: Bobby Petrino. Have fun in Paducah, Kentucky!
#17 Miami-31, South Florida-10
Well, Miami was the lone ACC team to beat their non-conference opponent. That's the good news. The bad news is that their non-conference opponent was the mediocre USF Bulls, who have played no one and who have a 3-3 record in the worst AQ conference there is. Miami's not that bad, but they've struggled against good opponents this year, and this is one of the two games they've won convincingly on the road. In short, Miami's not back just yet, but they're a whole lot further along than Notre Dame and Michigan were. My point? This one doesn't move the needle on the ACC meter, especially not in light of our next game...
#18 Clemson-17, South Carolina-34
The final part in our "just how bad is the ACC?" poll features a matchup that features two teams from the desolate wastes of South Carolina (Charleston and Myrtle Beach notwithstanding, the place sucks).
I'm glad South Carolina won this game. Unfortunately, people who don't follow the ACC mistakenly believe that Clemson, because they're in the ACC Championship game, is one of the top two teams in the conference. This is simply not true, and even if the Tigers win the Championship game this week, then it's still not true. Clemson is in a weak division of a weak conference, and they benefited from not playing Virginia Tech or UNC. Plus, they beat a total of one ranked team: Miami. Clemson's not terrible, but they are not the 2nd best team in the ACC. That is a title that belongs to Virginia Tech for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is the non-conference schedule, but I'll move on in the interest of saving you some time.
South Carolina, meanwhile, is a middle of the road SEC team, and they beat the Tigers in every facet of the game. Please, Clemson fans, do not mention CJ Spiller, as his run back was pretty much nullified by the fact that he gained a total of 18 yards as a running back, which is his primary position. This game made the ACC look bad, and it made the ACC Championship game a pretty big joke.
ACC-meter: Horrible. Not as bad as the Big East, but dangerously close.
#21 Utah-23, #19 BYU-26
Well, Utah is still a boring state. Know who's not boring? Max Hall, BYU's quarterback, who did the blog a service after the game by giving us this tasty quote: "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything. It felt really good to send those guys home."
Judging from what's been said in his apology statement, his family (including his wife) were subjected to an awful lot of ridicule and torment by Utah fans last year. And you know what? I'm on his side. If you're a member of a religious sect that bans alcohol and you have beer thrown on you, I imagine that might be a bit of a big deal. At the Orange Bowl I was subjected to various taunts by Cincinnati fans who were apparently unaware that their team spent the last 3/4ths of the game losing. Fortunately I had a rather large friend of mine with me, so nothing was thrown our direction, but I can totally understand Max's angle.
People, as much as it may burst your horrific and drunken bubble, football is still just a game. If Southern Cal beat Virginia Tech by 57, the sun would still come up the next day. And I would curse the light and skip work, but my life would go on after a few days. Football fans, even rival fans, are people! And they deserve to be treated as such! Insult someone's quarterback, not his mother. Tell someone their defense sucks, don't pour beer on them. For crying out loud, if it takes a guy who writes 8 pages about football per week in his spare time to tell you this, then I, for once, am not the one with the problem! Let's move on...
UCLA-7, #20 Southern Cal-28
So, want to know how much of a jerk and hypocrite Pete Carroll is? Well, in this game, he called a timeout with about 50 seconds left so Matt Barkley could toss a 48 yard pass to score a touchdown. Great sportsmanship, Pete. Especially 2 weeks after you whined to anyone who would listen about Stanford going for two when up 27 points.
What did this gesture prove? Well, first off it proved that the Ketchup and Mustard prides itself on scores, rather than actual record. Given how far Southern Cal's fallen in the rankings, I guess they felt the need to show that they can still beat up on the 8th best team in their 10 team conference. Because, you know, that's meaningful. This touchdown was scored by starters, too. They didn't even bother with the gesture of mass subs. Maybe Southern Cal was trying to prove that they deserve to be ranked at all, since they were the only 7 win team in the country to be ranked in the top 25. For that, they can thank Jeff Sagarin's computers.
No matter how you slice it, this one was absolutely unnecessary, regardless of what Pete may have said after the game. Apparently no one ever taught the Silver Fox of Pasadena that actions speak louder than words. Hat tip to UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel who took the high road after the game. Here's hoping Arizona smashes Southern Cal this weekend.
Rice-14, #23 Houston-73
Houston boldly beats a 2-9 team by 59 points. At least they had the decency to put in their backups. Not that it mattered. The way Rice has done this year, I could have scored as Houston's QB.
#24 North Carolina-27, NC State-28
While not a part of our "how bad is the ACC?" poll, this game continues Carolina's bizarre trend of being unable to defeat awful teams. NC State's season realistically ended during the month of October when they failed to win a single game. Carolina, meanwhile, has beaten Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Boston College in Boston, and Miami at home. That's 3 of the better teams in the awful ACC. They also have a home loss to UVa, a massive blown lead against Florida State, and this head scratcher.
This one falls into the "rivalry factor" box, with NC State beating their in-state rivals to seal up a Tar Heel trek to the Meineke Car Care Bowl (No, I didn't make that one up). Good job by the Wolfpack of mustering just enough steam to beat the Tar Heels.
#25 Ole Miss-27, Mississippi State-41
I've already written, like, 8 posts on how Ole Miss didn't (and still doesn't) have any business being ranked. So, let's not dwell on that. Instead, let us briefly ponder how 41-27 looks far worse than it is. Seriously, that's just 14 points. It's just one of those scores that you look at and label a blowout, yet 28-14 is a respectable score, despite having the exact same difference between the winning team and losing team. Just something to ponder.
Now, let's briefly ponder the Bottom 95...
Wow, this week passed last week for length. I think I'm becoming a legitimate writer, a hermit, or both...Rutgers beat Louisville, thus showing that they can beat at least one of the two worst teams in their horrifically bad conference...Nebraska edged Colorado in a game that was nothing more than a warm-up for the Huskers and a send-off for the Buffaloes. The only reason that's scary? Nebraska only won by 8. They play Texas this week...Wake Forest beat Duke, meaning the Devils will not be going bowling this season...UConn sealed up bowl eligibility with a win over Syracuse. Great job, Huskies!...Missouri beat Kansas in a game that, two years ago, was for the Big 12 North Title. This year it just proved who the bigger disappointment was, with Kansas losing in the final seconds after a safety and a field goal. Enjoy the offseason, Coach Mangino!...Tennessee kept its 25-year win streak over the Kentucky Wildcats alive and well...Hawaii beat Navy, though I'm not sure you care...Oh, and Charlie Weis reinforced the already concrete fact that he's going to get canned. Notre Dame lost to Stanford by 7 in a symbolically appropriate end to the Weis Era...Coaching tip for Notre Dame: Al Groh's available!
Whew. That's all I wrote. You know, until later.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday in Review 11/21/09
Another fine day, including some minor upsets, a bizarre coaching situation, and cupcake games which the #1 and #2 teams in the country should be ashamed of. Plus, bonus coverage of a Bottom 95 game from the orange nightmare that is Neyland Stadium! We go!
Florida International-3, #1 Florida-63 and
Chattanooga-0, #2 Alabama-45
I lumped these games together because neither one is worthy of its own article on this rinky-dink garbage dump of a blog. (Yeah, in your face, SEC!) If you want to skip this section and read some actual reviews, scroll down to the Kansas/Texas game. For those of you who want some bile, continue reading...
The SEC bills itself as the premier football conference in the nation. I do not disagree with that, and I'd take the SEC over any other conference top to bottom. However, this statement is difficult to quantify with empirical evidence. How, you ask? The SEC has the #1 and #2 teams in the nation! They're clearly the best, you say. Well, I will now list some teams. See if you notice a theme:
Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida International, Florida State, Virginia Tech, North Texas, Chattanooga, Washington, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Southeastern Louisiana, UAB, Northern Arizona.
Do you know what that is? That is the list of non-conference games for the 4 currently ranked SEC teams (Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss). Know how many of those teams are currently ranked? One: Virginia Tech, which pulls in at an underwhelming 14th. Three (the Hokies, Florida State, and Washington) are from automatic qualifying conferences. Four are 1-AA teams (Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Southeastern Louisiana, Northern Arizona). My point? The best teams in the best conference are apparently too scared to risk losing a non-conference game.
Yes, the SEC is a difficult place to play week in and week out. Yes, the conference normally does a good job of beating itself up through the year. But still, man, if you market yourselves as an awesome football conference, then you should prove it though the regular season.
This sort of cowardly non-conference schedule is going to kill college football's regular season if we're not careful. Why? Because the other schools are going to figure out that playing pathetic opponents will lead to better records, which will lead to every 1-A team playing a schedule filled with awful non-conference opponents. Isn't that fun? No? Then why do we keep rewarding schools that play these bad schedules. Florida and Texas (a realistic national championship matchup) have played a total of zero non-conference foes from automatic qualifying conferences. Their reward? The right to play for a National Championship. Wow, that makes me wish that Virginia Tech had just scheduled Charleston Southern and Chattanooga instead of Alabama and Nebraska. They'd still be ranked in the Top 10!
I guess I'm done. Florida and Alabama are both good football teams, and both of them are very capable of winning the national title. I just wish they'd try and prove that they play in the best conference during the regular season, rather than during bowl time.
Kansas-20, #3 Texas-51
Texas locks up the Big 12 South, something that they had really locked up when Sam Bradford's shoulder decided to secede from the rest of his body back in September. Texas scored a load of points and Colt McCoy (still one of the best football names ever by the way) looked quite impressive. Mind you, Kansas hasn't won since October 10th, and during their 6 game losing streak they're giving up an average of 35 points during that span...
While I'd love to make fun of Texas for having this game on their schedule, I maintain that I will not make fun of teams for their conferences having pathetic teams. The fact that the majority of the Big 12 is bad this year (see the Kansas State/Nebraska review for more on that) is not Texas's fault. The problem comes into play with Texas's non-conference schedule, which is laughable. That they could have helped.
For Kansas, meanwhile, the drama with their coach continues. I will avoid any in-depth commentary until I get more details, but I will point out that this has "gone on for years" but no one said anything back when Kansas was winning the Orange Bowl in the 2007-8 season. If you have something against a coach, that's fine. Say something about it when it happens, not when things turn south for your team. If you don't have the guts to speak up when your team's doing well, then keep your mouth shut when things turn south.
#4 TCU-45, Wyoming-10
Reviewing TCU scores is excruciatingly boring. After that squeaker against Air Force on October 10th (which I criticized the Horned Frogs for, wrongly apparently), TCU's closest game was last week's 27 point slaughter of Utah. The Horned Frogs have proven that, like the big boys, they can crush inferior competition in their conferences. Now all they have to do is beat a 1-win New Mexico team and they'll head to a BCS bowl. I'm not sure who they'll play, but it will be intriguing to see what TCU's capable of against a team that's even remotely close to their level of talent (no offense, UVa and Clemson...).
Until then, however...I guess we're stuck with one more score like this one next week...
#8 LSU-23, Ole Miss-25
Forgive the pun, but it would appear that LSU was revealed as a paper tiger. Last week, if you'll recall, was the first time I'd noticed just how bad LSU's schedule was. Lo and behold, they play a tough road game, and they lose. Now, I don't know if you're aware of this, but there was a tiny little gaffe near the end of this one. You did? Well, let's take a look at it anyway...
OK, so LSU scored a late touchdown to pull the score to 25-23, messed up the two point conversion, and recovered an onside kick. They got the ball back with 1:17 left on the clock, threw an incompletion, threw a completion, threw an incompletion, then suffered a sack. Time out called with :32 seconds left on the clock. LSU then inexplicably threw a screen and lost 7 yards. Now, first off, you're down on the road with a half minute left and it's 3rd and 19. Why on EARTH are you calling a screen pass?! Who thinks to do that?! (Answer: Les Miles...) Then, if the screen wasn't a clue that we'd already cast logic aside, the clock kept ticking. That idiotic screen took something like 6 seconds to run, then the clock just kept ticking down to 9 seconds before LSU used their final timeout. In the post game conferences, many players and coaches (most specifically the now-embattled Miles) claimed they were calling timeout. Now, I know that this game was nationally broadcast on CBS. One of those deals where on every penalty or timeout or review the ref turns on a microphone and addresses literally millions of people all at once. So you're telling me that for 17 seconds in a close ballgame you and your entire coaching staff weren't paying attention to the refs? That you neither saw him give the signal for timeout, nor did you hear him call timeout didn't register? Jeez.
So now you have 4th and 26. Unpalatable, to say the least. Worse, you have 9 seconds left instead of the 26 or so that you should have if you were paying attention to the friggin' game! But you line up, and you throw a long bomb and...Omigosh! It's caught! There's one second left! Get the field goal unit on the field! Run them out! Go! Go! Gooo--Why is the offense still out there? What are they doing?! Trying to spike the ba---game over.
Now, let's try and look at this logically (yeah, right). I have never, ever, at any level seen a spike ball play run under one second off the clock. Unless Les thought that his team would snap the ball with 1.7 seconds left and stop the clock with .9 seconds left or something like that. Unfortunately, I've never seen that happen either. Time keeping in college football is notoriously sloppy anyway. It generally goes unmentioned, but pay attention to a game sometime. The number of seconds that just sort of disappear during the course of a game is amazing. (Field goals are one area to pay attention to, normally 2 or 3 ticks will disappear even after the ball's through the uprights) To think that somehow the time keeper would save you a fraction of a second in a football game is nothing short of fantasy. Another theory states that LSU might have been trying to catch Ole Miss offsides. Right, because it makes sense to risk the outcome of a game and your chance at a BCS berth on something that you have literally no control over (in this case, Ole Miss's defensive line).
In conclusion, Les Miles makes something on the order of $3,750,000 to coach football. If this was Pop Warner or 1-AA, then this gaffe is just fine. Bad luck, etc. But at this level of football, being paid that amount of money, you cannot allow something this unforgivably dumb to happen.
Oh, and in recent weeks Ole Miss has started to look like a Top 25 team. Pity that they couldn't do that back when it mattered even a tiny amount.
#10 Ohio State-21, Michigan-10
Dear Michigan,
Well, you played well against your big rivals in a game that had some meaning, but not too much. You guys really didn't stand a chance of winning this one, and even if you had pulled the upset, wouldn't it be a slap in the face to the program's tradition to claim that a berth in the Kleenex Brand Tissue Bowl was a victory? You guys have some serious recruiting pull, plus a genuinely evil coach, and that's a recipe for success! (See also: Alabama) This season, though, gave you false hope that you were "back." After wins over Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, and Indiana. Seems a bit silly in retrospect, doesn't it? Your only win after that point was a win over a 1-AA school. You guys stay classy, and enjoy the extra practice time in December and January! (NOTE: Don't enjoy it too much. Got you in trouble last time) I think I'll go watch my team (and 67 other teams) go to bowls!
Sincerely,
Bones
PS: Good job, Ohio State. In fairness, other than the rivalry aspect, this game meant literally nothing to you...
#11 Oregon-44, Arizona-41
(Austin was here)
Well, it's hard to deny that a double OT game is interesting, but let's be honest. I was at the Tennessee game when this one happened, and this post is already super long anyway. Let's just say that both sides played well, and we'll move on through the rest of the Top 25 with lightning speed...
Minnesota-0, #13 Iowa-12
If you're ever looking for an interesting rivalry trophy, look no further than the Floyd of Rosedale, the trophy that Iowa and Minnesota vie for annually. Each year these two teams proudly represent their sparsely populated states by hurling their players at one another for a statue of a bronze pig. I just thought you guys would find that interesting.
Oh, and Minnesota's bad this year, and Iowa still had something to play for, hence the fairly predictable score and the utter lack of analysis.
#14 Penn State-42, Michigan State-14
Well, the third best team in the Big 10 smashed the 6th best team in the Big 10. Not that major of an accomplishment, but Penn State is still jockeying for a halfway decent bowl. Both Penn State and Michigan State are bowl eligible, and both of their regular seasons are officially over. Penn State is not too shabby, they just struggle against good teams, which makes them like most of the Big 11. Michigan State, meanwhile, really only has that win against Michigan to cling to. They'll go to some obscure bowl played in mid-December in Des Moines, Iowa.
NC State-10, #15 Virginia Tech-38
The Hokies beat the snot out of the Wolfpack, not that it really mattered for either party. Tech is playing primarily to get into the Gator Bowl rather than the Champs Sports Bowl, and NC State is playing primarily for pride. Really not much to report in on, other than the fact that Virginia Tech is actually pretty bad in the first part of games. This coming week's game against the UVa Slimeballs, er, Cavaliers, is somewhat important. Only because of the rivalry aspect, because Tech is bowl bound and UVa isn't. There we go. Let's move on.
#16 Wisconsin-31, Northwestern-33
Anyone else noticed just how messed up the Big 10 is? Here's an example: Northwestern beat Wisconsin who beat Purdue who beat Ohio State who beat Iowa who beat Penn State who beat Indiana who beat Illinois who beat Michigan who's terrible. That's 9 of the 11 teams in conference, strung together in 15 seconds by a semi-journalist.
This was actually a very good game, and it's good that Northwestern is bowl bound. They're a surprising team, and they might be one of the 2 Big 11 teams that gets a bowl win this year!
Wisconsin, meanwhile, not so much. They do have a cool mascot, however.
#25 California-34, #17 Stanford-28
Speaking of messed up conferences (see above) the Pac-10 is one giant cluster of confusion. Are they good? Bad? Ugly? I nominate number 3. Case in point: This game, featuring a road team that lost its star a few weeks ago and a home team that's coming off of 2 straight massive wins. No sweat for Stanford, right? WRONG!
Cal rolled into town and beat the Cardinal at their own game (specifically, running the football). It was a well-played game by both sides, and one wonders if Cal's star Jahvid Best isn't just a decent running back with a great O-Line. After all, their back-up ran for 193 yards in this game. In fairness, he also got the ball 42 times...
Cal and Stanford are both, of course, bowl bound, and their opponents will have a tough time handling these, the 2 best college teams in California (gosh, it feels so good to type that).
#19 Oregon State-42, Washington State-10
Wazzu is very, very bad. Not much has changed in Pullman since last season.
Oregon State, meanwhile, has taken advantage of some utter bedlam in the Pac-10 to rise to the top. Their game against a much more hyped up Oregon team will determine who gets the Pac-10 berth in the Rose Bowl, and it should make for some entertaining viewing. So...stay tuned, I guess.
Duke-16, #20 Miami-34
Beating Duke is more of an accomplishment this season than it was last season or the several seasons before that. With that said, it's still not much of an accomplishment.
Miami's had sort of a letdown after a good start to the season, but they'll still go somewhere respectable when bowl season comes, and they're going to be a real threat in the ACC next season. Shall we carry on? We shall!
San Diego State-7, #21 Utah-38 and
Air Force-21, #22 BYU-38
Utah is a boring state, San Diego State is nothing short of awful, and this week's Utah/BYU game will feature a matchup of two decent teams that are light years away from being as good as TCU, the leader of their conference. (NOTE: That's this year, last year Utah was the superior power. Take heart, BYU, logic says next year's your year!)
Virginia-21, #23 Clemson-34
Way to go, UVa. The one time I hope you'll beat someone, you fail. Don't worry, I'll go back to my old habits of cheering heartily against you this coming week.
Clemson deserves a hat tip for winning the division of the ACC that doesn't have any good teams in it. Oh, you have a problem with that statement? Well Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, and UNC probably agree with me.
Clemson also deserves to get the finger for the way they treated Tommy Bowden last season, and for the way that they'll treat Dabo Swinney after a few more seasons like this one. Don't believe me? Just wait. If Clemson isn't national title material next season, there'll be people calling for Swinney's head. As stated last week, good luck, Mr. Swinney.
(Austin was here as well)
And to Georgia Tech and South Carolina, I beseech thee, crush Clemson into submission in these coming weeks.
Memphis-14, #24 Houston-55
Houston, inexplicably, is still ranked. They're sure favorites to win the Conference USA championship, and they should go to a semi-decent bowl where (and I have said this before) they will be destroyed if they play any team with an even halfway competent defense. Memphis, meanwhile, is already looking forward to next season. While it's possible to have a worse season than Memphis's current one, that would take effort. Like, actually trying to lose.
#25 Rutgers-13, Syracuse-31
Alright, so I debated about putting this one in here. If you didn't know, the BCS actually didn't have Rutgers ranked; only the AP did. But a story like this shouldn't be left to rot in the Bottom 95. No, this one deserved its own article.
Rutgers, ranked because someone somewhere has decided that the Big East must have 3 ranked teams regardless of what reality indicates, loses to freakin' Syracuse. By 18! That's insanity! This is the same Syracuse that has Greg Paulus as the starting quarterback! The same Greg Paulus who played basketball for Duke University!
Which brings me to my final major tangent for this extraordinarily long post: The Big East's ranked teams. Now that the new rankings are out, the Big (L)East has 2 ranked teams: Cincinnati and Pitt. These teams sit at #5 and #9 in the country. Cincinnati is undefeated and Pitt is 9-1. Ostensibly, these rankings are OK. Then you look at the conference. Can you say with any degree of confidence that these teams deserve to be this high? 2 Top 10 teams from a conference with 0 other ranked teams. This doesn't strike anyone as odd? Let's look at the non-conference schedules. That will give us a better idea of whether these teams should be here:
Cincinnati: Southeast Missouri State, at Oregon State, Fresno State, at Miami (Ohio)
Pitt: Youngstown State, at Buffalo, Navy, at NC State (Pitt's lone loss on the season)
My point? Well, this conference has the honor of fielding two of the top 10 teams in the nation, and neither one has gone out of its way to prove that they're top 10 material. Just throwing it out there...
Bonus coverage
Vanderbilt-16, Tennessee-31
I'd never been to a game in Knoxville, so this Saturday was a bit of an educational experience for me. You see, it's one thing to see Neyland Stadium on television, quite another to go there. There were 100,000 people at the stadium that night, meaning there was room for about 7,000 more who didn't show up.
Knoxville turns orange on gamedays at UT, as was evidenced by the restaurant that we ate at. The wait staff and at least 90% of the patrons were wearing orange. Not burnt orange, but the sort of orange that screams: "LOOK AT ME, DANG IT!" The blinding aura of orange continued inside the stadium where 80,000 of the 100,000 people there were wearing it. Don't get me wrong, the show of solidarity is amazing, and it's impossible to see a game at Neyland without having the words "Go Vols!" exit your mouth at some point in time, but I really wish that it was some other color.
The stadium itself is very quirky. One endzone is quite modern, with clean restrooms and plenty of food stands and an offshoot of the Tennessee bookstore that sells just about everything imaginable in one shade of orange. Other parts of the stadium include the original grandstand area (where our seats were) which has been maintained to keep that "Built in 1921" feel to it. Not necessarily a bad thing, though my fianceé was rather grossed out by the restrooms. The coolest part about Neyland? In the original building there are several classrooms that once functioned as dorm rooms. It's pretty cool to think that there was once a point in time where you could sit in your room until game time, then walk to the window and watch the game.
Various odds and ends: Petro's chili is amazing. If you go to Neyland, try some. Oh, and Tennessee won the game and gained bowl eligibility. Congrats to the Vols, and here's hoping they don't play Virginia Tech in a bowl. I'd hate to see that ugly shade of orange get smeared all over Tech's jerseys as they dragged the Volunteers up and down the field at will...
And now Tales from the Bottom 95
The various "Austin was here" posts stem from me turning my back on my younger brother. I am too entertained and too lazy to delete them...To prove just how screwed up the Big 12 (and by association the BCS) is, look no further than the Kansas State/Nebraska game. Nebraska won, knocking Kansas State out of bowl contention. Had the Wildcats won, however, they would have only been one major upset away from a guaranteed BCS berth. Yeah, try that on for size, logic!...My post about Clemson earlier wasn't entirely accurate, UNC actually clinched the division for the Tigers when the Tar Heels beat the Boston College Eagles earlier in the day...Congrats if you decipher that last sentence...Florida State got bowl eligible this week. Good thing, since their next game is against Florida...Things have gotten really bad in Athens, as Georgia falls to Kentucky...Missouri beat Iowa State, thereby salvaging hope of a mid-level bowl...UConn took out Notre Dame in double overtime, clinching Charlie Weis's firing. Unless he takes hostages! (See previous Saturday in Review)...UCLA won, making themselves bowl eligible and knocking out Arizona State...
Thus concludes the longest post on this blog thus far. Congrats if you made it! If you didn't, that's OK. I wouldn't have either if I hadn't written it...
Florida International-3, #1 Florida-63 and
Chattanooga-0, #2 Alabama-45
I lumped these games together because neither one is worthy of its own article on this rinky-dink garbage dump of a blog. (Yeah, in your face, SEC!) If you want to skip this section and read some actual reviews, scroll down to the Kansas/Texas game. For those of you who want some bile, continue reading...
The SEC bills itself as the premier football conference in the nation. I do not disagree with that, and I'd take the SEC over any other conference top to bottom. However, this statement is difficult to quantify with empirical evidence. How, you ask? The SEC has the #1 and #2 teams in the nation! They're clearly the best, you say. Well, I will now list some teams. See if you notice a theme:
Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida International, Florida State, Virginia Tech, North Texas, Chattanooga, Washington, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Southeastern Louisiana, UAB, Northern Arizona.
Do you know what that is? That is the list of non-conference games for the 4 currently ranked SEC teams (Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss). Know how many of those teams are currently ranked? One: Virginia Tech, which pulls in at an underwhelming 14th. Three (the Hokies, Florida State, and Washington) are from automatic qualifying conferences. Four are 1-AA teams (Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Southeastern Louisiana, Northern Arizona). My point? The best teams in the best conference are apparently too scared to risk losing a non-conference game.
Yes, the SEC is a difficult place to play week in and week out. Yes, the conference normally does a good job of beating itself up through the year. But still, man, if you market yourselves as an awesome football conference, then you should prove it though the regular season.
This sort of cowardly non-conference schedule is going to kill college football's regular season if we're not careful. Why? Because the other schools are going to figure out that playing pathetic opponents will lead to better records, which will lead to every 1-A team playing a schedule filled with awful non-conference opponents. Isn't that fun? No? Then why do we keep rewarding schools that play these bad schedules. Florida and Texas (a realistic national championship matchup) have played a total of zero non-conference foes from automatic qualifying conferences. Their reward? The right to play for a National Championship. Wow, that makes me wish that Virginia Tech had just scheduled Charleston Southern and Chattanooga instead of Alabama and Nebraska. They'd still be ranked in the Top 10!
I guess I'm done. Florida and Alabama are both good football teams, and both of them are very capable of winning the national title. I just wish they'd try and prove that they play in the best conference during the regular season, rather than during bowl time.
Kansas-20, #3 Texas-51
Texas locks up the Big 12 South, something that they had really locked up when Sam Bradford's shoulder decided to secede from the rest of his body back in September. Texas scored a load of points and Colt McCoy (still one of the best football names ever by the way) looked quite impressive. Mind you, Kansas hasn't won since October 10th, and during their 6 game losing streak they're giving up an average of 35 points during that span...
While I'd love to make fun of Texas for having this game on their schedule, I maintain that I will not make fun of teams for their conferences having pathetic teams. The fact that the majority of the Big 12 is bad this year (see the Kansas State/Nebraska review for more on that) is not Texas's fault. The problem comes into play with Texas's non-conference schedule, which is laughable. That they could have helped.
For Kansas, meanwhile, the drama with their coach continues. I will avoid any in-depth commentary until I get more details, but I will point out that this has "gone on for years" but no one said anything back when Kansas was winning the Orange Bowl in the 2007-8 season. If you have something against a coach, that's fine. Say something about it when it happens, not when things turn south for your team. If you don't have the guts to speak up when your team's doing well, then keep your mouth shut when things turn south.
#4 TCU-45, Wyoming-10
Reviewing TCU scores is excruciatingly boring. After that squeaker against Air Force on October 10th (which I criticized the Horned Frogs for, wrongly apparently), TCU's closest game was last week's 27 point slaughter of Utah. The Horned Frogs have proven that, like the big boys, they can crush inferior competition in their conferences. Now all they have to do is beat a 1-win New Mexico team and they'll head to a BCS bowl. I'm not sure who they'll play, but it will be intriguing to see what TCU's capable of against a team that's even remotely close to their level of talent (no offense, UVa and Clemson...).
Until then, however...I guess we're stuck with one more score like this one next week...
#8 LSU-23, Ole Miss-25
Forgive the pun, but it would appear that LSU was revealed as a paper tiger. Last week, if you'll recall, was the first time I'd noticed just how bad LSU's schedule was. Lo and behold, they play a tough road game, and they lose. Now, I don't know if you're aware of this, but there was a tiny little gaffe near the end of this one. You did? Well, let's take a look at it anyway...
OK, so LSU scored a late touchdown to pull the score to 25-23, messed up the two point conversion, and recovered an onside kick. They got the ball back with 1:17 left on the clock, threw an incompletion, threw a completion, threw an incompletion, then suffered a sack. Time out called with :32 seconds left on the clock. LSU then inexplicably threw a screen and lost 7 yards. Now, first off, you're down on the road with a half minute left and it's 3rd and 19. Why on EARTH are you calling a screen pass?! Who thinks to do that?! (Answer: Les Miles...) Then, if the screen wasn't a clue that we'd already cast logic aside, the clock kept ticking. That idiotic screen took something like 6 seconds to run, then the clock just kept ticking down to 9 seconds before LSU used their final timeout. In the post game conferences, many players and coaches (most specifically the now-embattled Miles) claimed they were calling timeout. Now, I know that this game was nationally broadcast on CBS. One of those deals where on every penalty or timeout or review the ref turns on a microphone and addresses literally millions of people all at once. So you're telling me that for 17 seconds in a close ballgame you and your entire coaching staff weren't paying attention to the refs? That you neither saw him give the signal for timeout, nor did you hear him call timeout didn't register? Jeez.
So now you have 4th and 26. Unpalatable, to say the least. Worse, you have 9 seconds left instead of the 26 or so that you should have if you were paying attention to the friggin' game! But you line up, and you throw a long bomb and...Omigosh! It's caught! There's one second left! Get the field goal unit on the field! Run them out! Go! Go! Gooo--Why is the offense still out there? What are they doing?! Trying to spike the ba---game over.
Now, let's try and look at this logically (yeah, right). I have never, ever, at any level seen a spike ball play run under one second off the clock. Unless Les thought that his team would snap the ball with 1.7 seconds left and stop the clock with .9 seconds left or something like that. Unfortunately, I've never seen that happen either. Time keeping in college football is notoriously sloppy anyway. It generally goes unmentioned, but pay attention to a game sometime. The number of seconds that just sort of disappear during the course of a game is amazing. (Field goals are one area to pay attention to, normally 2 or 3 ticks will disappear even after the ball's through the uprights) To think that somehow the time keeper would save you a fraction of a second in a football game is nothing short of fantasy. Another theory states that LSU might have been trying to catch Ole Miss offsides. Right, because it makes sense to risk the outcome of a game and your chance at a BCS berth on something that you have literally no control over (in this case, Ole Miss's defensive line).
In conclusion, Les Miles makes something on the order of $3,750,000 to coach football. If this was Pop Warner or 1-AA, then this gaffe is just fine. Bad luck, etc. But at this level of football, being paid that amount of money, you cannot allow something this unforgivably dumb to happen.
Oh, and in recent weeks Ole Miss has started to look like a Top 25 team. Pity that they couldn't do that back when it mattered even a tiny amount.
#10 Ohio State-21, Michigan-10
Dear Michigan,
Well, you played well against your big rivals in a game that had some meaning, but not too much. You guys really didn't stand a chance of winning this one, and even if you had pulled the upset, wouldn't it be a slap in the face to the program's tradition to claim that a berth in the Kleenex Brand Tissue Bowl was a victory? You guys have some serious recruiting pull, plus a genuinely evil coach, and that's a recipe for success! (See also: Alabama) This season, though, gave you false hope that you were "back." After wins over Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, and Indiana. Seems a bit silly in retrospect, doesn't it? Your only win after that point was a win over a 1-AA school. You guys stay classy, and enjoy the extra practice time in December and January! (NOTE: Don't enjoy it too much. Got you in trouble last time) I think I'll go watch my team (and 67 other teams) go to bowls!
Sincerely,
Bones
PS: Good job, Ohio State. In fairness, other than the rivalry aspect, this game meant literally nothing to you...
#11 Oregon-44, Arizona-41
(Austin was here)
Well, it's hard to deny that a double OT game is interesting, but let's be honest. I was at the Tennessee game when this one happened, and this post is already super long anyway. Let's just say that both sides played well, and we'll move on through the rest of the Top 25 with lightning speed...
Minnesota-0, #13 Iowa-12
If you're ever looking for an interesting rivalry trophy, look no further than the Floyd of Rosedale, the trophy that Iowa and Minnesota vie for annually. Each year these two teams proudly represent their sparsely populated states by hurling their players at one another for a statue of a bronze pig. I just thought you guys would find that interesting.
Oh, and Minnesota's bad this year, and Iowa still had something to play for, hence the fairly predictable score and the utter lack of analysis.
#14 Penn State-42, Michigan State-14
Well, the third best team in the Big 10 smashed the 6th best team in the Big 10. Not that major of an accomplishment, but Penn State is still jockeying for a halfway decent bowl. Both Penn State and Michigan State are bowl eligible, and both of their regular seasons are officially over. Penn State is not too shabby, they just struggle against good teams, which makes them like most of the Big 11. Michigan State, meanwhile, really only has that win against Michigan to cling to. They'll go to some obscure bowl played in mid-December in Des Moines, Iowa.
NC State-10, #15 Virginia Tech-38
The Hokies beat the snot out of the Wolfpack, not that it really mattered for either party. Tech is playing primarily to get into the Gator Bowl rather than the Champs Sports Bowl, and NC State is playing primarily for pride. Really not much to report in on, other than the fact that Virginia Tech is actually pretty bad in the first part of games. This coming week's game against the UVa Slimeballs, er, Cavaliers, is somewhat important. Only because of the rivalry aspect, because Tech is bowl bound and UVa isn't. There we go. Let's move on.
#16 Wisconsin-31, Northwestern-33
Anyone else noticed just how messed up the Big 10 is? Here's an example: Northwestern beat Wisconsin who beat Purdue who beat Ohio State who beat Iowa who beat Penn State who beat Indiana who beat Illinois who beat Michigan who's terrible. That's 9 of the 11 teams in conference, strung together in 15 seconds by a semi-journalist.
This was actually a very good game, and it's good that Northwestern is bowl bound. They're a surprising team, and they might be one of the 2 Big 11 teams that gets a bowl win this year!
Wisconsin, meanwhile, not so much. They do have a cool mascot, however.
#25 California-34, #17 Stanford-28
Speaking of messed up conferences (see above) the Pac-10 is one giant cluster of confusion. Are they good? Bad? Ugly? I nominate number 3. Case in point: This game, featuring a road team that lost its star a few weeks ago and a home team that's coming off of 2 straight massive wins. No sweat for Stanford, right? WRONG!
Cal rolled into town and beat the Cardinal at their own game (specifically, running the football). It was a well-played game by both sides, and one wonders if Cal's star Jahvid Best isn't just a decent running back with a great O-Line. After all, their back-up ran for 193 yards in this game. In fairness, he also got the ball 42 times...
Cal and Stanford are both, of course, bowl bound, and their opponents will have a tough time handling these, the 2 best college teams in California (gosh, it feels so good to type that).
#19 Oregon State-42, Washington State-10
Wazzu is very, very bad. Not much has changed in Pullman since last season.
Oregon State, meanwhile, has taken advantage of some utter bedlam in the Pac-10 to rise to the top. Their game against a much more hyped up Oregon team will determine who gets the Pac-10 berth in the Rose Bowl, and it should make for some entertaining viewing. So...stay tuned, I guess.
Duke-16, #20 Miami-34
Beating Duke is more of an accomplishment this season than it was last season or the several seasons before that. With that said, it's still not much of an accomplishment.
Miami's had sort of a letdown after a good start to the season, but they'll still go somewhere respectable when bowl season comes, and they're going to be a real threat in the ACC next season. Shall we carry on? We shall!
San Diego State-7, #21 Utah-38 and
Air Force-21, #22 BYU-38
Utah is a boring state, San Diego State is nothing short of awful, and this week's Utah/BYU game will feature a matchup of two decent teams that are light years away from being as good as TCU, the leader of their conference. (NOTE: That's this year, last year Utah was the superior power. Take heart, BYU, logic says next year's your year!)
Virginia-21, #23 Clemson-34
Way to go, UVa. The one time I hope you'll beat someone, you fail. Don't worry, I'll go back to my old habits of cheering heartily against you this coming week.
Clemson deserves a hat tip for winning the division of the ACC that doesn't have any good teams in it. Oh, you have a problem with that statement? Well Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, and UNC probably agree with me.
Clemson also deserves to get the finger for the way they treated Tommy Bowden last season, and for the way that they'll treat Dabo Swinney after a few more seasons like this one. Don't believe me? Just wait. If Clemson isn't national title material next season, there'll be people calling for Swinney's head. As stated last week, good luck, Mr. Swinney.
(Austin was here as well)
And to Georgia Tech and South Carolina, I beseech thee, crush Clemson into submission in these coming weeks.
Memphis-14, #24 Houston-55
Houston, inexplicably, is still ranked. They're sure favorites to win the Conference USA championship, and they should go to a semi-decent bowl where (and I have said this before) they will be destroyed if they play any team with an even halfway competent defense. Memphis, meanwhile, is already looking forward to next season. While it's possible to have a worse season than Memphis's current one, that would take effort. Like, actually trying to lose.
#25 Rutgers-13, Syracuse-31
Alright, so I debated about putting this one in here. If you didn't know, the BCS actually didn't have Rutgers ranked; only the AP did. But a story like this shouldn't be left to rot in the Bottom 95. No, this one deserved its own article.
Rutgers, ranked because someone somewhere has decided that the Big East must have 3 ranked teams regardless of what reality indicates, loses to freakin' Syracuse. By 18! That's insanity! This is the same Syracuse that has Greg Paulus as the starting quarterback! The same Greg Paulus who played basketball for Duke University!
Which brings me to my final major tangent for this extraordinarily long post: The Big East's ranked teams. Now that the new rankings are out, the Big (L)East has 2 ranked teams: Cincinnati and Pitt. These teams sit at #5 and #9 in the country. Cincinnati is undefeated and Pitt is 9-1. Ostensibly, these rankings are OK. Then you look at the conference. Can you say with any degree of confidence that these teams deserve to be this high? 2 Top 10 teams from a conference with 0 other ranked teams. This doesn't strike anyone as odd? Let's look at the non-conference schedules. That will give us a better idea of whether these teams should be here:
Cincinnati: Southeast Missouri State, at Oregon State, Fresno State, at Miami (Ohio)
Pitt: Youngstown State, at Buffalo, Navy, at NC State (Pitt's lone loss on the season)
My point? Well, this conference has the honor of fielding two of the top 10 teams in the nation, and neither one has gone out of its way to prove that they're top 10 material. Just throwing it out there...
Bonus coverage
Vanderbilt-16, Tennessee-31
I'd never been to a game in Knoxville, so this Saturday was a bit of an educational experience for me. You see, it's one thing to see Neyland Stadium on television, quite another to go there. There were 100,000 people at the stadium that night, meaning there was room for about 7,000 more who didn't show up.
Knoxville turns orange on gamedays at UT, as was evidenced by the restaurant that we ate at. The wait staff and at least 90% of the patrons were wearing orange. Not burnt orange, but the sort of orange that screams: "LOOK AT ME, DANG IT!" The blinding aura of orange continued inside the stadium where 80,000 of the 100,000 people there were wearing it. Don't get me wrong, the show of solidarity is amazing, and it's impossible to see a game at Neyland without having the words "Go Vols!" exit your mouth at some point in time, but I really wish that it was some other color.
The stadium itself is very quirky. One endzone is quite modern, with clean restrooms and plenty of food stands and an offshoot of the Tennessee bookstore that sells just about everything imaginable in one shade of orange. Other parts of the stadium include the original grandstand area (where our seats were) which has been maintained to keep that "Built in 1921" feel to it. Not necessarily a bad thing, though my fianceé was rather grossed out by the restrooms. The coolest part about Neyland? In the original building there are several classrooms that once functioned as dorm rooms. It's pretty cool to think that there was once a point in time where you could sit in your room until game time, then walk to the window and watch the game.
Various odds and ends: Petro's chili is amazing. If you go to Neyland, try some. Oh, and Tennessee won the game and gained bowl eligibility. Congrats to the Vols, and here's hoping they don't play Virginia Tech in a bowl. I'd hate to see that ugly shade of orange get smeared all over Tech's jerseys as they dragged the Volunteers up and down the field at will...
And now Tales from the Bottom 95
The various "Austin was here" posts stem from me turning my back on my younger brother. I am too entertained and too lazy to delete them...To prove just how screwed up the Big 12 (and by association the BCS) is, look no further than the Kansas State/Nebraska game. Nebraska won, knocking Kansas State out of bowl contention. Had the Wildcats won, however, they would have only been one major upset away from a guaranteed BCS berth. Yeah, try that on for size, logic!...My post about Clemson earlier wasn't entirely accurate, UNC actually clinched the division for the Tigers when the Tar Heels beat the Boston College Eagles earlier in the day...Congrats if you decipher that last sentence...Florida State got bowl eligible this week. Good thing, since their next game is against Florida...Things have gotten really bad in Athens, as Georgia falls to Kentucky...Missouri beat Iowa State, thereby salvaging hope of a mid-level bowl...UConn took out Notre Dame in double overtime, clinching Charlie Weis's firing. Unless he takes hostages! (See previous Saturday in Review)...UCLA won, making themselves bowl eligible and knocking out Arizona State...
Thus concludes the longest post on this blog thus far. Congrats if you made it! If you didn't, that's OK. I wouldn't have either if I hadn't written it...
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Other days in review
Sitting here on a Friday night/Saturday morning the day before the Tennessee/Vanderbilt game listening to music that was recorded about 20 years before I was born. Yeah, I'm cool. But you don't read this because of how cool I am, you read because of the fact that you like your college football spiced with sarcasm and guile and you like it 4 days late. I can do that! Let's look at the games that have been played thus far this week, including a game from this year's nominee for most overrated team:
Colorado-28, #12 Oklahoma State-31
Throughout the majority of this game, the announcers were talking about Oklahoma State's shot at getting into a BCS bowl. Really? Let's look at the current standings...
#1 Florida and #2 Alabama have cupcake games this week, followed by games against inferior rival schools the next week. Barring an apocalypse level meltdown this week or a semi-apocalyptic disaster the next, both of these teams will go into the SEC Championship game undefeated. The winner goes to the National Championship game, the loser probably goes to the Sugar Bowl.
#3 Texas, keeping with the season's theme, will play a pathetic opponent this week (Kansas and their apparently abusive coach) and then they will play rival Texas A&M. Following that, they will play Nebraska or Kansas State for the Big 12 title. Then they will play in the National Title game unless lightning strikes and they lose. If, for some reason, they do lose that game, then Texas still goes to a BCS Bowl and the Big 12 Champ goes as well.
TCU won't lose any of their remaining games, and they're pretty much guaranteed a shot in a BCS game.
#5 Cincinnati could still lose, but they or Pitt will be the Big East champs, clenching another spot in the BCS.
#6 Boise State, in a similar vein to TCU, will have gone undefeated, and they beat their lone major competition (Oregon, a win that's worth more than any on Oklahoma State's schedule). They should go to a BCS bowl.
#7 Georgia Tech is going to the ACC Championship. Because the ACC's down this year, only the winner of the ACC will go to the Orange Bowl. But, let's be honest, that should be GT.
#8 LSU probably won't go to a BCS game. Still, according to the computers, they have a better shot than the Cowboys of Stillwater.
#9 Pitt or Cincinnati will get the Big East's bid. So...let's move on.
#10 Ohio State has already clinched a BCS bid.
#11 Oregon leads their conference. Either they or #17 Stanford will get the PAC-10's berth.
There are 10 berths in the BCS. You're telling me that one of those bowls would realistically take Oklahoma State over any of the 11 teams ranked above them? Considering that Oklahoma State's best win is still Georgia! If you want to see words you never thought you'd read, stay tuned. I hope Oklahoma crushes Oklahoma State next week. Nothing would please me more than to see OSU lose to all 3 decent teams they've played this season. As it was they looked bad against Colorado. Yes, there are injuries and the Dez Bryant suspension. You know what? It's still friggin' Colorado!
Let's move on, shall we? There's nothing left for us to see here.
#7 Boise State-52, Utah State-21
First off, note that Utah is a boring state.
Well, the 3rd most important school in Utah (a title everyone wants, dontcha know?) actually stuck with Boise for one and a half quarters before Boise dropped three touchdowns on them in the final 4:47 of the first half. Anytime you give up 21 points inside the space of 5 minutes, it's not a good sign. When you do that against a team that outclasses you pretty heavily, it sinks any upset bid.
Boise's a good team, and their win over Oregon looks better than it did when the Ducks' disaster unfolded back in September. The question, however, is whether Boise can beat a conference champion at a neutral sight. Actually, thanks to the idiots who think Oklahoma State deserves to be in a BCS game, the question right now is whether Boise (which has beaten a currently ranked team, unlike another school I've been ripping in this post) will even get the opportunity to play a conference champ. They keep doing what they must, however, which is win. So long as they do that, it'll be difficult to deny them a BCS berth...
PS: Note that, while I still eschew the meaninglessness of "head to head" matchups as a barometer of team performance, do pay attention to the fact that Boise State beat Louisiana Tech by 10 at LTU, while the LSU Tigers only beat the Bulldogs by 8 at home. Just some food for thought.
Finally, to explain why this coming week might be a bit different, I will be headed to the Tennessee/Vanderbilt game tomorrow. I will still try and post a "regular" bit ASAP. Plus, I'll try and include a description of the wildness that is Neyland Stadium. For now...sleep.
Colorado-28, #12 Oklahoma State-31
Throughout the majority of this game, the announcers were talking about Oklahoma State's shot at getting into a BCS bowl. Really? Let's look at the current standings...
#1 Florida and #2 Alabama have cupcake games this week, followed by games against inferior rival schools the next week. Barring an apocalypse level meltdown this week or a semi-apocalyptic disaster the next, both of these teams will go into the SEC Championship game undefeated. The winner goes to the National Championship game, the loser probably goes to the Sugar Bowl.
#3 Texas, keeping with the season's theme, will play a pathetic opponent this week (Kansas and their apparently abusive coach) and then they will play rival Texas A&M. Following that, they will play Nebraska or Kansas State for the Big 12 title. Then they will play in the National Title game unless lightning strikes and they lose. If, for some reason, they do lose that game, then Texas still goes to a BCS Bowl and the Big 12 Champ goes as well.
TCU won't lose any of their remaining games, and they're pretty much guaranteed a shot in a BCS game.
#5 Cincinnati could still lose, but they or Pitt will be the Big East champs, clenching another spot in the BCS.
#6 Boise State, in a similar vein to TCU, will have gone undefeated, and they beat their lone major competition (Oregon, a win that's worth more than any on Oklahoma State's schedule). They should go to a BCS bowl.
#7 Georgia Tech is going to the ACC Championship. Because the ACC's down this year, only the winner of the ACC will go to the Orange Bowl. But, let's be honest, that should be GT.
#8 LSU probably won't go to a BCS game. Still, according to the computers, they have a better shot than the Cowboys of Stillwater.
#9 Pitt or Cincinnati will get the Big East's bid. So...let's move on.
#10 Ohio State has already clinched a BCS bid.
#11 Oregon leads their conference. Either they or #17 Stanford will get the PAC-10's berth.
There are 10 berths in the BCS. You're telling me that one of those bowls would realistically take Oklahoma State over any of the 11 teams ranked above them? Considering that Oklahoma State's best win is still Georgia! If you want to see words you never thought you'd read, stay tuned. I hope Oklahoma crushes Oklahoma State next week. Nothing would please me more than to see OSU lose to all 3 decent teams they've played this season. As it was they looked bad against Colorado. Yes, there are injuries and the Dez Bryant suspension. You know what? It's still friggin' Colorado!
Let's move on, shall we? There's nothing left for us to see here.
#7 Boise State-52, Utah State-21
First off, note that Utah is a boring state.
Well, the 3rd most important school in Utah (a title everyone wants, dontcha know?) actually stuck with Boise for one and a half quarters before Boise dropped three touchdowns on them in the final 4:47 of the first half. Anytime you give up 21 points inside the space of 5 minutes, it's not a good sign. When you do that against a team that outclasses you pretty heavily, it sinks any upset bid.
Boise's a good team, and their win over Oregon looks better than it did when the Ducks' disaster unfolded back in September. The question, however, is whether Boise can beat a conference champion at a neutral sight. Actually, thanks to the idiots who think Oklahoma State deserves to be in a BCS game, the question right now is whether Boise (which has beaten a currently ranked team, unlike another school I've been ripping in this post) will even get the opportunity to play a conference champ. They keep doing what they must, however, which is win. So long as they do that, it'll be difficult to deny them a BCS berth...
PS: Note that, while I still eschew the meaninglessness of "head to head" matchups as a barometer of team performance, do pay attention to the fact that Boise State beat Louisiana Tech by 10 at LTU, while the LSU Tigers only beat the Bulldogs by 8 at home. Just some food for thought.
Finally, to explain why this coming week might be a bit different, I will be headed to the Tennessee/Vanderbilt game tomorrow. I will still try and post a "regular" bit ASAP. Plus, I'll try and include a description of the wildness that is Neyland Stadium. For now...sleep.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday in Review 11/14/09
We're reaching the end of the season. Fortunately, for some teams (Notre Dame, Maryland, Washington State, etc.) and unfortunately for others (TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati, and other schools with legitimate schedules who would like Texas' spot in the National Title game). Let's take a look at the scores and highlights from the Top 25 and their bottom-dwelling brethren.
#1 Florida-24, South Carolina-14
Well, Florida's officially undefeated in the SEC. They beat everyone set before them, and they'll have little problem beating their next opponent: the mighty Florida International Golden Panthers (3-7).
In all fairness, though, hats off to the Gators for going undefeated in the toughest conference in the country, and for getting a win without any real help from the officials. Am I harping on that too much? Possibly. Doesn't make me wrong, though.
South Carolina, meanwhile, is doing OK under Steve Spurrier, but they seem to have real trouble taking their chicken show on the road. Look for them in the most minor of the SEC's bowls...
#2 Alabama-31, Mississippi State-3
Well, this one was a blowout, wasn't it? Prior to the game, many analysts had wondered if Alabama might stumble against a Mississippi State team that had given other squads trouble in Starkville. Instead, we got this: a 4 touchdown blowout that stopped being interesting during the 2nd quarter. Mississippi State is a team that serves as a nuisance to several teams, but hasn't beaten anyone. At least they could cling the the nuisance thing up until this week. Now they don't even have that one working for them.
Alabama, one-upping Florida's awesome schedule, has the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga this weekend. Even if you buy the whole "tune-up game" argument that big schools use for early-season cupcakes, how do you explain this being Alabama's 11th game of the season? How is that possible? 'Bama's looked excellent in many games this year, and they have no legitimate excuse to schedule a weak team as their second to last game in the regular season. Expect a rant in the #2 spot next week...
#3 Texas-47, Baylor-14
Anyone noticed that the top 3 teams in the country were all on the road this week? Just an observation.
Texas smacked Baylor, which really isn't remarkable at all, since EVERYONE in the Big 12, a fairly weak conference, has smacked Baylor. (Except Missouri, who is bafflingly bad against bad teams). Texas still has two regular season games left, neither of which pose a major threat to the Longhorns chances. Though they might face semi-tough opposition from the North Division Champion (which will be either the Nebraska Cornhuskers or the Kansas State Wildcats) it is still a virtual certainty that the Longhorns will make the title game. I know I wrote a very similar paragraph to that last week, so I apologize. I'll probably do the same next week, so allow me to apologize in advance...
#16 Utah-28, #4 TCU-55
TCU, looking to prove how good they are, snuffed Utah in front of a home crowd, and on ESPN. Once again, we see a blowout in the name of style points, but this one's semi-justifiable because Utah was ranked. A blowout of a ranked team is at least a little more respectable than a blowout of an unranked cupcake. That doesn't make it right, just less reprehensible.
The 'Frogs aren't too shabby, though, and they might even deserve the BCS berth they'll get. They're still not going to go to the national title game, but they will get the national spotlight against a major conference foe. Should be interesting to see.
Sarcasm for continuity: Utah is a boring state.
#25 West Virginia-21, #5 Cincinnati-24
The Big East proved that they could blow calls for their good teams, too! It's refreshing, really, to know that another conference picked up the SEC's trick of making horrific calls that favor the good teams in the conference. Case in point: Isaiah Pead's "touchdown" during the 2nd quarter of Friday's game between 2 of the top 3 Big East teams. (delightful 5 minute YouTube link here)
I appreciate the Cincinnati chicanery, but that is not anything resembling a touchdown. Pead's arm did not cross the goal line, and it looks like he fumbled the ball. I am not a West Virginia fan. Indeed, as a Virginia Tech fan, I think West Virginia fans are a bunch of couch burning nutcases whose contributions to football consist mainly of lowering academic standards so that their inbred, eleven-toed (but super-fast!) running backs can go to college.
That said, West Virginia got screwed. If the refs wanted to give Cincinnati a fighting chance, they would have said "no fumble" and given Cincy the ball on the WVU 1-inch line. That one's defensible, as it might not have been a fumble (though the rule states that the call on the field can't be overturned unless there's indisputable evidence showing that the field call was wrong. The evidence available wasn't indisputable, but I rest my case.) It is absolutely inexcusable that the play was called a touchdown. Go back to the video and look at Pead's reaction at 3:39, when they overturned the call on the field. He didn't think that the ball had broken the plane. And it was in his friggin' hand!
Why am I harping so much on this? Because one could say that the final score (24-21) was affected a wee bit by the touchdown. I know Cincinnati, even if they run the table, probably isn't going to the title game, but it still stinks that they used this touchdown as a critical play in their win. I'm not saying this made all the difference, but it sure as heck helped. That is all. De facto Big East title game coming up on December 5 between Cincinnati and Pitt.
Idaho-25, #6 Boise State-63
The Broncos continue to pummel opponents in search of respect from the BCS. Due to the fact that the teams they're pummeling are all in their conference (the ultimate one-good-team-in-a-bad-conference that is the WAC), then Boise State's quest for respect will have to wait until next season, especially since Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Cincinnati are undefeated teams from automatic qualifying conferences, and TCU plays in a better conference than the Broncos. End result? They'll play the worst of the AQ champs in their BCS Bowl. At present, that'd be Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. (Explanation: Even though the PAC-10 and Big 10 champs will have a worse record than the Jackets, there is no way that the Rose Bowl will allow the guys from the PAC-10 and the Big 10 to miss the party. Far too much tradition/money involved.)
Idaho, whom I had such high hopes for earlier this year, flamed out. They'll probably be in some obscure bowl. Weeeeeeee.
#7 Georgia Tech-49, Duke-10
The trouble with the option is that you can stop it for a quarter, you can't stop it for a whole game. Duke scored the first 10 points of this game in the first quarter, then got demolished for the remainder of the game. Hats off to Georgia Tech who played extremely well this whole season and earned themselves a berth in the ACC title game. A healthy "up yours" to everyone who said the triple option wouldn't work in a major conference against major conference competition. Good luck to the Yellow Jackets going forward, as they have proven themselves to be the best team in the ACC this year. Here's hoping they beat Clemson in the title game (NOTE: Clemson didn't clinch this last week, but they just have to beat UVa this week...)
Duke, meanwhile, will have to wait for a win, either by upsetting reeling, angry Miami at Miami this week, or by beating a fairly pathetic Wake Forest team at Duke in the last week of the season. I'll leave you to decide which is more likely.
Louisiana Tech-16, #8 LSU-24 (Purple still doesn't show up well)
LSU holds on to beat another of its in-state "rivals." Once again, I have a problem with this game even being played, though the score earns a quick raise of the eyebrow because of how close it was. LSU's 8 victories this season have all come against fairly bad teams, something that surpises me. Looking at the record, their Top 10 ranking is actually sort of disturbing. Since I rip Texas on a weekly basis, I suppose we have to be fair and take a look at LSU's wins:
They have beaten 8 teams this season. Of the teams they have beaten, Auburn has the best overall record. Georgia has the best in-conference record of the teams LSU has defeated, and UGA is the only team that LSU has beaten that has a winning conference record. (This includes their opponents from the Sun Belt, C-USA, WAC, and PAC-10.) The two legitimately good football teams that LSU has played thus far have both been home games against Alabama and Florida. Both of those games ended in losses for the Bayou Bengals. My point? Well, LSU might or might not be the 8th best team in the country. For all the hype that the SEC has received, their "third-best" team has played an appallingly weak schedule, especially when you consider they've lost both of the games they played against national powerhouse schools (these games are also the only 2 they've played against currently ranked teams).
Louisiana Tech, meanwhile, came close to beating LSU and came close to beating Boise State. Close, however, doesn't count, and the LTU Bulldogs will be sleeping in once December rolls around, as this loss sealed them as bowl-ineligible for this season.
#25 Stanford-55, #9 USC-21
Many people are making a fuss over the fact that Stanford went for 2 when they were up 48-21. I agree that it was tasteless, but let's take a look at some scores from the 2007 and 2008 seasons. See if you notice a theme:
USC-47, Washington State-14
USC-38, Notre Dame-0
USC-44, Arizona State-24
USC-49, Illinois-17
USC-52, Virginia-7
USC-35, Ohio State-3
USC-44, Oregon-10
USC-69, Washington State-0
USC-56, Washington-0
USC-38, Notre Dame-3
Forgive me if I consider this just desserts. (Regular readers will note that I hate Southern Cal and Pete Carroll) Southern Cal has been guilty of serial score-run-upping, even when they put in their backups. Stanford's last touchdown was scored by a backup running back. So that makes it OK in the gospel according to Pete, right?
Look, I'm not saying that it's OK to run up the score on a prone opponent. But when your opponent's a hated rival with a history of score gouging, I can't blame Stanford for pushing up the score. Or maybe Stanford went for two, as Woody Hayes once put it when asked why he went for 2 when up 36 on rival Michigan, "because I couldn't go for three." We may never know.
Oh, and Stanford's a good football team, and Southern Cal's on the skids this year. Here's hoping they meet Virginia Tech in a bowl, because I would totally go to that game.
#10 Iowa-24, #11 Ohio State-27
An exciting game, albeit one where both teams looked fairly mediocre. The Buckeyes won the game, clinched the Big 10 title, and will get slaughtered by, er, play the PAC-10 Champion in the Rose Bowl. Congrats to Ohio State for punching the first guaranteed BCS ticket. Lest we forget, though, this is the same team that lost to friggin' Purdue 4 weeks ago.
Iowa, meanwhile, has fallen hard from the ranks of the unbeaten, and will finish the season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Uhhhh, I think they'll win that game, but the way Iowa plays, there's no way of knowing...
Notre Dame-22, #12 Pitt-27
Oh, Notre Dame. You're so...bad. Charlie Weis does so little with so much (and that's not a weight joke). Charlie's going to get fired. It's inevitable. So he may as well start having fun. Only try 2 point conversions. Go for it on all 4th downs. When people ask where the kick teams are, give vague answers. Then, hold the punter and kicker hostage in an undisclosed location and threaten to execute them if he's not kept on staff at Notre Dame. It might work. Or, if it doesn't, we still get a pretty entertaining concept: Charlie Weis: hostage taker. Anyone else smell sitcom?
Pitt, meanwhile, is quietly sneaking up in the rankings. Mind you, their lone loss this year is to NC State, which doesn't bode well for their next two games: at West Virginia, then a home game against Cincy that will determine the fate of the Big East. I look forward to it. Might be fun.
Arizona State-21, #13 Oregon-44
I'm ticked that Oregon has reinstated LeGarrette Blount after that little stunt he pulled (and the punch that he didn't pull) at Boise State. Thus, I'm glad he didn't play in the game. Other than that, judging from the final score of this one and the USC/Stanford game, the PAC-10's back to its old self: Specifically, incapable on defense, but very capable of scoring. That's about it.
#14 Miami-24, UNC-33
Well, Miami loses another one. Again, they lose on the road, proving that the 'Canes really aren't that good away from their friendly confines.
UNC, meanwhile, is an enigma team this year. Capable of beating the fairly good teams in conference (Virginia Tech, Miami) but incapable of beating some of the awful ones (UVa, Florida State). Heck, the only good team they've lost to is Georgia Tech. The only bad team they've beaten is Duke. Welcome to the Twilight Zone, courtesy of the Tar Heel football team. Both these squads should make bowls of the mid-level variety.
#15 Houston-32, UCF-37
Houston loses to the team that Texas demolished last week. While I typically eschew head to head matchups as meaningless (see last season's Penn State beating Oregon State who beat USC who killed Penn State), this one proves (again) that Houston isn't ready to play with the big boys just yet. Special thanks to Central Florida and UTEP for keeping Houston out of the BCS and saving us all from a repeat of that Hawaii/Georgia Sugar Bowl fiasco.
#17 Arizona-16, California-24
Cal's record as an unranked team: 3-0.
Cal's record as a ranked team: 4-3
Maybe the Bears should try and stay unranked...
Arizona, meanwhile, watches their quiet rise to the top of the PAC-10 die a quiet death. Shall we move on? I think we shall.
Indiana-20, #18 Penn State-31
"You know, Indiana's been playing very well these last two weeks. They might just pull off an upset sometime soon." --Me, last week
Guess I was wrong, eh? At least this week. Penn State bounces back from their second loss with a win over a mediocre team in their mediocre conference. As stated previously, look for Penn State to go to some mid-level bowl in the middle of nowhere. Congrats, JoePa!
Texas Tech-17, #19 Oklahoma State-24
Did you know Oklahoma State is still ranked and still playing football? No? Neither did anyone else outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Why? Because OSU has played no one, and has managed to get themselves into the Top 20 by doing that. It's not as deceptive as LSU's totally undeserved Top 10 ranking, but it's still bad. OSU has played precisely two teams that are currently ranked. They have two losses. That's not a coincidence...
Meanwhile, Texas Tech is having a hangover after that great year they had last season. They are, however, bowl eligible, thanks to wins over 5 mediocre teams and Nebraska. Congrats, Red Raiders! Enjoy the Big Al's House of Staplers Bowl in Paducah, Kentucky!
Michigan-24, #20 Wisconsin-45
Dear Michigan,
I struggle to keep a straight face when I look back and see that in Week 4 the pollsters legitimately thought you were the 22nd best team in the country. Since that point you have won one (ONE!) game, and that one was against Delaware State, a 1-AA foe. The long and the short of it is that you're not good this year. Your five victories consist of the following: Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, and Delaware State. You will only make a bowl if you beat Ohio State this coming weekend, and there are people calling for your coach's head already. It's his second year! Frankly, I hope you make the mistake of firing Coach Rodriguez. Turn yourselves into a coaching carousel program. Look how well it worked for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1997-2007! Here's looking forward to your last letter of the year next week!
Sincerely,
Bones
PS: Wisconsin, good job. You're a middle-of-the-road team in a mediocre conference. Have fun in the Champs Sports Bowl (NOTE: I didn't make that one up.)
#21 Virginia Tech-36, Maryland-9
Tech beat one of the worst teams in the conference wearing their hideous new road alt uniforms. (Pictures of the number-gradient garbage here. Pay attention to Tyrod's number 5.) Maryland, for their part was wearing black and camouflage jerseys. And the game wasn't close, hence my harping on the fashion. Moving on...
#22 BYU-24, New Mexico-19
Utah is a boring state. Oh, and New Mexico...still winless.
Washington-21, #23 Oregon State-48
Wait, Oregon State's ranked? Oh, and Washington really started to stink after they beat Southern Cal. Short version of this game: No one cares about it outside of the Pacific Northwest. That includes me.
#24 South Florida-0, Rutgers-31
I've maintained throughout this season that the South Florida Bulls have beaten a slew of nobodies and don't deserve to be ranked. This game merely vindicates my anti-USF feelings
#24 Clemson-43, NC State-23
Know what's funny? Clemson could go to the ACC Championship game simply by beating UVa next week. Doesn't that suck? I hope Georgia Tech rips those orange-clad nut jobs in half. Why the hatred, you ask? Because you and I know that the second Dabo Swinney starts losing more than 3 games a year, the same whack jobs that got Tommy Bowden fired will be calling for Swinney's blood as well. Good luck, Dabo. You're gonna need it.
Moving on, now, to Tales from the Bottom 95
Kentucky becomes bowl eligible after beating Vandy...Tennessee looks to follow suit this coming week against the same team...Ole Miss crushed the Vols this week, though...Nebraska defeated Kansas this week, and their game against the Kansas State Wildcats will determine the fate of the Big 12 North...East Carolina killed Tulsa. Anyone want to write an article that they're better than Boise State? No one? Because that's what a ton of pundits did when they compared the Oklahoma/Tulsa game and the Boise/Tulsa game. Idiots...Boston College beat UVa to keep Clemson out of the ACC Championship for one more week...Now that they lack Matt Ryan, I am totally OK with BC winning an ACC Championship...Georgia finally won another SEC game, by beating Auburn...Northwestern wins again, beating Illinois. Illinois, however, is very bad...Lastly, Western Carolina University won a road game! Way to go Cats!
That's all I wrote. See you next week!
#1 Florida-24, South Carolina-14
Well, Florida's officially undefeated in the SEC. They beat everyone set before them, and they'll have little problem beating their next opponent: the mighty Florida International Golden Panthers (3-7).
In all fairness, though, hats off to the Gators for going undefeated in the toughest conference in the country, and for getting a win without any real help from the officials. Am I harping on that too much? Possibly. Doesn't make me wrong, though.
South Carolina, meanwhile, is doing OK under Steve Spurrier, but they seem to have real trouble taking their chicken show on the road. Look for them in the most minor of the SEC's bowls...
#2 Alabama-31, Mississippi State-3
Well, this one was a blowout, wasn't it? Prior to the game, many analysts had wondered if Alabama might stumble against a Mississippi State team that had given other squads trouble in Starkville. Instead, we got this: a 4 touchdown blowout that stopped being interesting during the 2nd quarter. Mississippi State is a team that serves as a nuisance to several teams, but hasn't beaten anyone. At least they could cling the the nuisance thing up until this week. Now they don't even have that one working for them.
Alabama, one-upping Florida's awesome schedule, has the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga this weekend. Even if you buy the whole "tune-up game" argument that big schools use for early-season cupcakes, how do you explain this being Alabama's 11th game of the season? How is that possible? 'Bama's looked excellent in many games this year, and they have no legitimate excuse to schedule a weak team as their second to last game in the regular season. Expect a rant in the #2 spot next week...
#3 Texas-47, Baylor-14
Anyone noticed that the top 3 teams in the country were all on the road this week? Just an observation.
Texas smacked Baylor, which really isn't remarkable at all, since EVERYONE in the Big 12, a fairly weak conference, has smacked Baylor. (Except Missouri, who is bafflingly bad against bad teams). Texas still has two regular season games left, neither of which pose a major threat to the Longhorns chances. Though they might face semi-tough opposition from the North Division Champion (which will be either the Nebraska Cornhuskers or the Kansas State Wildcats) it is still a virtual certainty that the Longhorns will make the title game. I know I wrote a very similar paragraph to that last week, so I apologize. I'll probably do the same next week, so allow me to apologize in advance...
#16 Utah-28, #4 TCU-55
TCU, looking to prove how good they are, snuffed Utah in front of a home crowd, and on ESPN. Once again, we see a blowout in the name of style points, but this one's semi-justifiable because Utah was ranked. A blowout of a ranked team is at least a little more respectable than a blowout of an unranked cupcake. That doesn't make it right, just less reprehensible.
The 'Frogs aren't too shabby, though, and they might even deserve the BCS berth they'll get. They're still not going to go to the national title game, but they will get the national spotlight against a major conference foe. Should be interesting to see.
Sarcasm for continuity: Utah is a boring state.
#25 West Virginia-21, #5 Cincinnati-24
The Big East proved that they could blow calls for their good teams, too! It's refreshing, really, to know that another conference picked up the SEC's trick of making horrific calls that favor the good teams in the conference. Case in point: Isaiah Pead's "touchdown" during the 2nd quarter of Friday's game between 2 of the top 3 Big East teams. (delightful 5 minute YouTube link here)
I appreciate the Cincinnati chicanery, but that is not anything resembling a touchdown. Pead's arm did not cross the goal line, and it looks like he fumbled the ball. I am not a West Virginia fan. Indeed, as a Virginia Tech fan, I think West Virginia fans are a bunch of couch burning nutcases whose contributions to football consist mainly of lowering academic standards so that their inbred, eleven-toed (but super-fast!) running backs can go to college.
That said, West Virginia got screwed. If the refs wanted to give Cincinnati a fighting chance, they would have said "no fumble" and given Cincy the ball on the WVU 1-inch line. That one's defensible, as it might not have been a fumble (though the rule states that the call on the field can't be overturned unless there's indisputable evidence showing that the field call was wrong. The evidence available wasn't indisputable, but I rest my case.) It is absolutely inexcusable that the play was called a touchdown. Go back to the video and look at Pead's reaction at 3:39, when they overturned the call on the field. He didn't think that the ball had broken the plane. And it was in his friggin' hand!
Why am I harping so much on this? Because one could say that the final score (24-21) was affected a wee bit by the touchdown. I know Cincinnati, even if they run the table, probably isn't going to the title game, but it still stinks that they used this touchdown as a critical play in their win. I'm not saying this made all the difference, but it sure as heck helped. That is all. De facto Big East title game coming up on December 5 between Cincinnati and Pitt.
Idaho-25, #6 Boise State-63
The Broncos continue to pummel opponents in search of respect from the BCS. Due to the fact that the teams they're pummeling are all in their conference (the ultimate one-good-team-in-a-bad-conference that is the WAC), then Boise State's quest for respect will have to wait until next season, especially since Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Cincinnati are undefeated teams from automatic qualifying conferences, and TCU plays in a better conference than the Broncos. End result? They'll play the worst of the AQ champs in their BCS Bowl. At present, that'd be Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. (Explanation: Even though the PAC-10 and Big 10 champs will have a worse record than the Jackets, there is no way that the Rose Bowl will allow the guys from the PAC-10 and the Big 10 to miss the party. Far too much tradition/money involved.)
Idaho, whom I had such high hopes for earlier this year, flamed out. They'll probably be in some obscure bowl. Weeeeeeee.
#7 Georgia Tech-49, Duke-10
The trouble with the option is that you can stop it for a quarter, you can't stop it for a whole game. Duke scored the first 10 points of this game in the first quarter, then got demolished for the remainder of the game. Hats off to Georgia Tech who played extremely well this whole season and earned themselves a berth in the ACC title game. A healthy "up yours" to everyone who said the triple option wouldn't work in a major conference against major conference competition. Good luck to the Yellow Jackets going forward, as they have proven themselves to be the best team in the ACC this year. Here's hoping they beat Clemson in the title game (NOTE: Clemson didn't clinch this last week, but they just have to beat UVa this week...)
Duke, meanwhile, will have to wait for a win, either by upsetting reeling, angry Miami at Miami this week, or by beating a fairly pathetic Wake Forest team at Duke in the last week of the season. I'll leave you to decide which is more likely.
Louisiana Tech-16, #8 LSU-24 (Purple still doesn't show up well)
LSU holds on to beat another of its in-state "rivals." Once again, I have a problem with this game even being played, though the score earns a quick raise of the eyebrow because of how close it was. LSU's 8 victories this season have all come against fairly bad teams, something that surpises me. Looking at the record, their Top 10 ranking is actually sort of disturbing. Since I rip Texas on a weekly basis, I suppose we have to be fair and take a look at LSU's wins:
They have beaten 8 teams this season. Of the teams they have beaten, Auburn has the best overall record. Georgia has the best in-conference record of the teams LSU has defeated, and UGA is the only team that LSU has beaten that has a winning conference record. (This includes their opponents from the Sun Belt, C-USA, WAC, and PAC-10.) The two legitimately good football teams that LSU has played thus far have both been home games against Alabama and Florida. Both of those games ended in losses for the Bayou Bengals. My point? Well, LSU might or might not be the 8th best team in the country. For all the hype that the SEC has received, their "third-best" team has played an appallingly weak schedule, especially when you consider they've lost both of the games they played against national powerhouse schools (these games are also the only 2 they've played against currently ranked teams).
Louisiana Tech, meanwhile, came close to beating LSU and came close to beating Boise State. Close, however, doesn't count, and the LTU Bulldogs will be sleeping in once December rolls around, as this loss sealed them as bowl-ineligible for this season.
#25 Stanford-55, #9 USC-21
Many people are making a fuss over the fact that Stanford went for 2 when they were up 48-21. I agree that it was tasteless, but let's take a look at some scores from the 2007 and 2008 seasons. See if you notice a theme:
USC-47, Washington State-14
USC-38, Notre Dame-0
USC-44, Arizona State-24
USC-49, Illinois-17
USC-52, Virginia-7
USC-35, Ohio State-3
USC-44, Oregon-10
USC-69, Washington State-0
USC-56, Washington-0
USC-38, Notre Dame-3
Forgive me if I consider this just desserts. (Regular readers will note that I hate Southern Cal and Pete Carroll) Southern Cal has been guilty of serial score-run-upping, even when they put in their backups. Stanford's last touchdown was scored by a backup running back. So that makes it OK in the gospel according to Pete, right?
Look, I'm not saying that it's OK to run up the score on a prone opponent. But when your opponent's a hated rival with a history of score gouging, I can't blame Stanford for pushing up the score. Or maybe Stanford went for two, as Woody Hayes once put it when asked why he went for 2 when up 36 on rival Michigan, "because I couldn't go for three." We may never know.
Oh, and Stanford's a good football team, and Southern Cal's on the skids this year. Here's hoping they meet Virginia Tech in a bowl, because I would totally go to that game.
#10 Iowa-24, #11 Ohio State-27
An exciting game, albeit one where both teams looked fairly mediocre. The Buckeyes won the game, clinched the Big 10 title, and will get slaughtered by, er, play the PAC-10 Champion in the Rose Bowl. Congrats to Ohio State for punching the first guaranteed BCS ticket. Lest we forget, though, this is the same team that lost to friggin' Purdue 4 weeks ago.
Iowa, meanwhile, has fallen hard from the ranks of the unbeaten, and will finish the season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Uhhhh, I think they'll win that game, but the way Iowa plays, there's no way of knowing...
Notre Dame-22, #12 Pitt-27
Oh, Notre Dame. You're so...bad. Charlie Weis does so little with so much (and that's not a weight joke). Charlie's going to get fired. It's inevitable. So he may as well start having fun. Only try 2 point conversions. Go for it on all 4th downs. When people ask where the kick teams are, give vague answers. Then, hold the punter and kicker hostage in an undisclosed location and threaten to execute them if he's not kept on staff at Notre Dame. It might work. Or, if it doesn't, we still get a pretty entertaining concept: Charlie Weis: hostage taker. Anyone else smell sitcom?
Pitt, meanwhile, is quietly sneaking up in the rankings. Mind you, their lone loss this year is to NC State, which doesn't bode well for their next two games: at West Virginia, then a home game against Cincy that will determine the fate of the Big East. I look forward to it. Might be fun.
Arizona State-21, #13 Oregon-44
I'm ticked that Oregon has reinstated LeGarrette Blount after that little stunt he pulled (and the punch that he didn't pull) at Boise State. Thus, I'm glad he didn't play in the game. Other than that, judging from the final score of this one and the USC/Stanford game, the PAC-10's back to its old self: Specifically, incapable on defense, but very capable of scoring. That's about it.
#14 Miami-24, UNC-33
Well, Miami loses another one. Again, they lose on the road, proving that the 'Canes really aren't that good away from their friendly confines.
UNC, meanwhile, is an enigma team this year. Capable of beating the fairly good teams in conference (Virginia Tech, Miami) but incapable of beating some of the awful ones (UVa, Florida State). Heck, the only good team they've lost to is Georgia Tech. The only bad team they've beaten is Duke. Welcome to the Twilight Zone, courtesy of the Tar Heel football team. Both these squads should make bowls of the mid-level variety.
#15 Houston-32, UCF-37
Houston loses to the team that Texas demolished last week. While I typically eschew head to head matchups as meaningless (see last season's Penn State beating Oregon State who beat USC who killed Penn State), this one proves (again) that Houston isn't ready to play with the big boys just yet. Special thanks to Central Florida and UTEP for keeping Houston out of the BCS and saving us all from a repeat of that Hawaii/Georgia Sugar Bowl fiasco.
#17 Arizona-16, California-24
Cal's record as an unranked team: 3-0.
Cal's record as a ranked team: 4-3
Maybe the Bears should try and stay unranked...
Arizona, meanwhile, watches their quiet rise to the top of the PAC-10 die a quiet death. Shall we move on? I think we shall.
Indiana-20, #18 Penn State-31
"You know, Indiana's been playing very well these last two weeks. They might just pull off an upset sometime soon." --Me, last week
Guess I was wrong, eh? At least this week. Penn State bounces back from their second loss with a win over a mediocre team in their mediocre conference. As stated previously, look for Penn State to go to some mid-level bowl in the middle of nowhere. Congrats, JoePa!
Texas Tech-17, #19 Oklahoma State-24
Did you know Oklahoma State is still ranked and still playing football? No? Neither did anyone else outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Why? Because OSU has played no one, and has managed to get themselves into the Top 20 by doing that. It's not as deceptive as LSU's totally undeserved Top 10 ranking, but it's still bad. OSU has played precisely two teams that are currently ranked. They have two losses. That's not a coincidence...
Meanwhile, Texas Tech is having a hangover after that great year they had last season. They are, however, bowl eligible, thanks to wins over 5 mediocre teams and Nebraska. Congrats, Red Raiders! Enjoy the Big Al's House of Staplers Bowl in Paducah, Kentucky!
Michigan-24, #20 Wisconsin-45
Dear Michigan,
I struggle to keep a straight face when I look back and see that in Week 4 the pollsters legitimately thought you were the 22nd best team in the country. Since that point you have won one (ONE!) game, and that one was against Delaware State, a 1-AA foe. The long and the short of it is that you're not good this year. Your five victories consist of the following: Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, and Delaware State. You will only make a bowl if you beat Ohio State this coming weekend, and there are people calling for your coach's head already. It's his second year! Frankly, I hope you make the mistake of firing Coach Rodriguez. Turn yourselves into a coaching carousel program. Look how well it worked for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1997-2007! Here's looking forward to your last letter of the year next week!
Sincerely,
Bones
PS: Wisconsin, good job. You're a middle-of-the-road team in a mediocre conference. Have fun in the Champs Sports Bowl (NOTE: I didn't make that one up.)
#21 Virginia Tech-36, Maryland-9
Tech beat one of the worst teams in the conference wearing their hideous new road alt uniforms. (Pictures of the number-gradient garbage here. Pay attention to Tyrod's number 5.) Maryland, for their part was wearing black and camouflage jerseys. And the game wasn't close, hence my harping on the fashion. Moving on...
#22 BYU-24, New Mexico-19
Utah is a boring state. Oh, and New Mexico...still winless.
Washington-21, #23 Oregon State-48
Wait, Oregon State's ranked? Oh, and Washington really started to stink after they beat Southern Cal. Short version of this game: No one cares about it outside of the Pacific Northwest. That includes me.
#24 South Florida-0, Rutgers-31
I've maintained throughout this season that the South Florida Bulls have beaten a slew of nobodies and don't deserve to be ranked. This game merely vindicates my anti-USF feelings
#24 Clemson-43, NC State-23
Know what's funny? Clemson could go to the ACC Championship game simply by beating UVa next week. Doesn't that suck? I hope Georgia Tech rips those orange-clad nut jobs in half. Why the hatred, you ask? Because you and I know that the second Dabo Swinney starts losing more than 3 games a year, the same whack jobs that got Tommy Bowden fired will be calling for Swinney's blood as well. Good luck, Dabo. You're gonna need it.
Moving on, now, to Tales from the Bottom 95
Kentucky becomes bowl eligible after beating Vandy...Tennessee looks to follow suit this coming week against the same team...Ole Miss crushed the Vols this week, though...Nebraska defeated Kansas this week, and their game against the Kansas State Wildcats will determine the fate of the Big 12 North...East Carolina killed Tulsa. Anyone want to write an article that they're better than Boise State? No one? Because that's what a ton of pundits did when they compared the Oklahoma/Tulsa game and the Boise/Tulsa game. Idiots...Boston College beat UVa to keep Clemson out of the ACC Championship for one more week...Now that they lack Matt Ryan, I am totally OK with BC winning an ACC Championship...Georgia finally won another SEC game, by beating Auburn...Northwestern wins again, beating Illinois. Illinois, however, is very bad...Lastly, Western Carolina University won a road game! Way to go Cats!
That's all I wrote. See you next week!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Saturday in Review 11/7/09
Another Saturday, this time with some upsets! Let's get crackin'.
Vanderbilt-3, #1 Florida-27
One of the better teams in the SEC beat the worst team in the SEC. Heck, they didn't even need the ref's help to do it, an improvement over the Gators' normal routine.
Don't get me wrong, Florida is an excellent school with a fine football program, but you can't deny that some crummy calls have helped them along the way. Also, one of the students here at the group home desired me to write "gators suck, georgia rules" somewhere in here (all lack of capitalization is [sic]). Since Georgia isn't ranked, and Florida is, I figured I would put this here, if only to prove him wrong.
Aaaaand, that's all I got for this game. Guess we should move on, eh?
UCF-3, #2 Texas-35
Texas finally rounds out its horrific non-conference schedule with what might have been their toughest non-conference game. (Take that for what it's worth. In case you don't remember, their other non-conference games were Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, and UTEP)
I'm not sure if I should analyze this. Texas is pulling the same stunt that USC and Ohio State did during the early years of the decade: playing non-conference nobodies and playing in a weak conference, leading to a cheap and undeserved bid in the national title game. Congrats, Longhorns! Your first and only real test of the season will be a game against Alabama or Florida in the National Title game...
#9 LSU-15, #3 Alabama-24
Another big fuss gets made over a crummy call or two in an Alabama game. The big case in this game? An interception that was called a non-interception after a video review. I will now let ESPN writer Ivan Maisel write something idiotic, then I will correct him. Ivan:
"The fourth-quarter interception that LSU corner Patrick Peterson did (according to video) or didn't (according to the SEC officials) make enthralled conspiracy theorists. I think they need a hobby. If the Tigers had gotten the ball, they would have been on the Alabama 37, trailing 21-15, with a backup quarterback and a backup tailback. On the Tigers' last two possessions, Jarrett Lee went 1-for-7 with two sacks and one pick. In other words, that call didn't decide the game." (BLOGGER'S NOTE: link here just in case you think I'm making this quote up. Quote is taken from the "Weekend observations" section in the right sidebar)
OK, so there's the quote. Now that's from someone who gets paid real money to write about college football. Why am I so up in arms, you wonder? Well, discounting a team's chances simply because their backup is in or because they don't show any signs of life is a hideous mistake. I mean, Stanford had their backup in on the road in 2007, AND they were down 16-7 at the start of the 4th quarter, when they pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time. (Story of that game here. Gloriously vindictive video here) So don't you think that LSU, a ranked team playing at home might have stood a chance against another ranked team? You think that might be a possibility, especially since they would have had the ball, and would have been trailing by 6 points? I'm not saying LSU would have marched down and won the game, but casually dismissing another missed call by the SEC officials as irrelevant is absolutely stupid. LSU could have won this game, but they weren't even given a chance.
Northwestern-17, #4 Iowa-10
So, uhhhh, Iowa. What happened? Wait, why am I asking you? No one from Iowa reads this thing...
OK, I will answer that question. Iowa is, much like the 2004 Carolina Panthers, a .500 team masquerading as a championship contender. Of their 9 wins prior to this game, they should have lost to Northern Iowa, Michigan State, and Indiana. They could have lost to Arkansas State, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The only games they won convincingly were matchups against their perennially pathetic rival Iowa State, non-conference foe Arizona, and Penn State. In this game, they lost their quarterback to injury in the 2nd quarter, and many people are saying that is why they lost the game. Lest we forget, this is the same quarterback who tossed up 5 INT's last week in Iowa's near-loss to Indiana. I don't think this individual player is responsible for Iowa losing this one...
The Hawkeyes caught more than a few lucky breaks during their long undefeated run, and they still have a legitimate shot to go to Pasadena and play in the Rose Bowl. To do that, however, they have to go into the Horseshoe and beat Ohio State, and beat Minnesota in Iowa City. And the way Iowa's season's going so far, they'll beat Ohio State by 10 on the road, but beat Minnesota by 2 on a freak safety at the very end of the game. I look forward to it.
Connecticut-45, #5 Cincinnati-47
Cincy hangs on to win a defense-optional game. UConn continues to amaze me by playing great football, despite the serious emotional hangover that they'll have for the remainder of this season.
The big story of the game is that Cincinnati's backup QB has been unreal ever since starter Tony Pike went down with an injury. Zach Collaros doesn't screw around, it would seem. It will be interesting to see, if Cincinnati gets in trouble down the road, what their coach does with the quarterback situation. I'm curious as to whether they'll try to play musical quarterbacks, or if a talented young man (Collaros or Pike) will be forced to ride the pine because of the other's performance. In fairness, Cincinnati went through, like, 5 quarterbacks last season, so I don't know why this year is the year that the national media chooses to focus in on their quarterback situation
Oh, and I still hate that awful "Oh! Oh! Oh! *clap clap clap* U-C!" chant that the Cincinnati faithful do. Because, like USC's fight song, they do that 7,000 times a game, even when nothing is happening. It's really irritating....
#6 TCU-56, San Diego State-12
TCU is pretty good, but like Boise before them, they play in a horrible conference. TCU even tried to schedule some semi-good non-conference foes. Unfortunately, their two major non-conference foes were both bad-to-mediocre teams from the ACC. So those wins don't really help the Horned Frogs case. So their only recourse is to win with "style." Unfortunately, in the eyes of the BCS computers and voters, "style" is a synonym for blowout. The result? Games like this one...
#7 Boise State-45, Louisiana Tech-35
Boise survives an upset scare, thereby proving, uhhhh, something...I'm not sure what, honestly.
Look, Boise's the best team in their conference, but that's not saying that much. I'm curious to see how they'd perform in a BCS Conference. They'd probably get the bid in the ACC or Big East or Big 10 this season.
The real question for me is: How did Louisiana Tech wind up in the WAC? Seriously, the other schools in that conference are located in Idaho, Hawaii, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. How the heck did a school from Louisiana get in there?! If anyone has the answer, please let me know...
#8 Oregon-42, Stanford-51
Ugh. It's happening again. The annual unraveling of the PAC-10's decent teams that let's USC escape from its egg-laying and grab a Rose Bowl berth. In this case, Stanford shocks the Ducks in an amazingly offensive (forgive the pun, please) performance.
The Ducks looked fairly flaccid. Either the win over Southern Cal tired them out, or Stanford had the answers on offense that the Trojans didn't. One thing that is certain is this: Stanford did not have the answer on defense. This game was, like the Cincy-UConn game, what the analysts like to call a "shootout." I like to call it "crummy defense."
Seriously, I do not understand why it's "exciting" to see an offense tear off chunks of yards and put up gaudy numbers, but it's "boring" to see two defenses grind it out. Wouldn't a touchdown mean more in a 13-10 game than a 51-42 scorefest? Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd rather see a good defensive game than watch defenses roll over and have points stacked to the ceiling.
Oh, and hats off to Stanford for beating another highly ranked foe...seems to happen once every 3 years or so.
Wake Forest-27, #10 Georgia Tech-30
Well, the good news for the ACC is that its highest ranked team didn't lose. The bad news for the ACC is that its highest ranked team had to go into overtime at home to beat Wake Forest.
As a side note, Wake is like Iowa, if all the breaks in a game went against the Hawkeyes. Wake has lost many close games this year, including their last 3 by a total of 7 points. Mind you, the game before that they lost by 35, so take my analysis for what it's worth...
As for Georgia Tech, they lived dangerously this game, going for it on 4th down 5 times, and only coming up with one successful conversion. Mind you, that conversion came in overtime and led to the game winning touchdown, so it's hard to argue with that decision. Personally, I like teams that aren't afraid to go for it on 4th down, but I would have hated to be Paul Johnson if that last attempt in overtime had failed like the 4 attempts during regulation. As is, it'll be interesting to see who Georgia Tech plays in their bowl (which will likely be the Orange Bowl against...either TCU, Boise State, or Cincinnati). No one runs the triple option better than Georgia Tech right now, and it's wreaking havoc in the ACC. I'm curious to see how other teams fare against the run-happy attack.
#16 Ohio State-24, #11 Penn State-7
The Buckeyes crushed Penn State in Happy Valley, surprising many analysts. I'm surprised as well, but I guess I shouldn't be: Penn State's only loss prior to this one was at home against Iowa...
As for Ohio State, their QB, Terelle Pryor played extraordinarily well, in the type of game he was expected to have for the last one and a half seasons. It remains to be seen if this is one of those once-in-a-career games, or if he was just trying to show up PSU, a school he turned down 2 years ago to go to Ohio State. Before anyone points to the huge stats he's had in some games this season, allow me to point out that the most awesome of those awesome stats have come against Toledo, Purdue, and Minnesota. Less than impressive, especially considering that they lost to Purdue. Oh, well, let's move on...
Penn State...sorry guys. Enjoy your trip to a semi-obscure bowl. Ohio State and Iowa will play for the de facto Big 10 championship game this weekend. Unless, you know, something bizarre happens...
#12 USC-14, Arizona State-9
A fairly mediocre game for the Trojans offense, and a normal game for the Arizona State offense. Arizona State has only beaten bad teams this year (Best win: Washington) yet, because they have played 4 bad teams (Washington, Washington State, Idaho State, and Louisiana-Monroe) they can still make a bowl if they win 2 of their remaining 3 games. One of those games is against awesomely underachieving UCLA, so all they have to do is beat Oregon or Arizona. I doubt either will happen, but wouldn't that be awesome? To reward a team for beating 4 crappy teams and scraping up 2 legitimate wins with a bowl game! College football is fast becoming one of those kindergarten baseball leagues: There's no winners or losers, EVERYONE gets a trophy!
As for Southern Cal, they're having an off year. It gives me joy, but we all know they'll be back next year. The Trojans still have a very legitimate shot at winning the PAC-10 (excuse me while I go vomit after typing that...)
OK, I'm back. And you can look for the Trojans to close out the year with 3 straight wins, since they play Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona, all at home. Yes, 2 of those 3 are ranked, but we all know that USC inexplicably only loses to unranked teams. Final note from this game: The new rankings are out. 2-loss Southern Cal is ranked 9th, Oregon is ranked #12 and Arizona is ranked #17. They are currently tied for 3rd in the conference behind Oregon and Arizona. Please explain how the highest ranked team in the conference is in 3rd in the actual conference standings! Augh! I hate USC!
Syracuse-10, #13 Pitt-37
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this surprises no one. Syracuse hasn't been good since Virginia Tech and Miami were in the Big East, and even then they weren't exactly a huge threat in the Big East. Ever since 2002, however, the Orange (Or Orangemen as they used to be known) have been nothing shy of awful.
So, really, good job Pitt, in that you beat a team that you were supposed to beat. Your real test comes November 27 and December 5, when you play West Virginia and Cincinnati back to back. Oh, and you play Notre Dame in there as well, but don't worry about that one. Even if you lose, you can still easily win the conference, since Notre Dame defends its independent status the way the Swiss defend their neutrality...
New Mexico-14, #14 Utah-45
Utah is a boring state, and New Mexico's 0-9. What more do you need to know?
#15 Houston-46, Tulsa-45
I really can't wait until Houston plays a team with some kind of defense. Seriously, in the bowl season when they wind up going against some Big 10 or ACC or low-caliber SEC school, I cannot wait. Because when they play a team with a defense, they will get destroyed. Sure, they beat Mississippi State, but does MSU really count? We all know Oklahoma State and Texas Tech don't because no one in the Big 12 plays defense well. So, seriously, enjoy it Houston. You will eventually play someone who can play defense, and when you do, it will not be pretty.
Virginia-17, #17 Miami-52
Miami cruises over UVa at home. Considering that the Cavaliers aren't that good, and that Miami is at least decent, this outcome isn't surprising at all. Heck, UVa normally plays better on the road than at home (See victories over UNC and Maryland) but they still lost to a Miami squad that looks primed to go to the Gator Bowl at the end of the season. They're not great, but they're better than UVa for whatever that's worth... (Answer: Not much)
Washington State-7, #18 Arizona-48
Wazzu hasn't won a PAC-10 game since they beat last year's winless Washington team. What does this tell us? Simply that Arizona won a game that I would have ruthlessly mocked if it were non-conference. One cannot help in-conference cupcakes, but anyone who schedules Washington State as a non-conference game is officially a pansy school. (I'm looking at you, Notre Dame!) (No, you don't have a conference, but you could play anyone and you choose Wazzu!)
#19 Oklahoma State-34, Iowa State-8
Rough week for the Iowans, eh? Well, rough week for Iowa fans. ISU fans should be used to this by now. Oklahoma State fans should, too.
Let's recap OSU's season: They have played 2 good teams. They have lost to both of said teams. They have beaten a total of 3 teams with winning records: Georgia, Missouri, and Texas A&M. None of those 3 teams have winning conference records, and all 3 of them are only one game above .500. Meaning that OSU is defining mediocrity: Beating bad teams, losing to good ones. And, in the screwed up world of college football, this means that they get to be ranked among the top 20 teams! I think OSU might be the team I hate the most this season. As much as it pains me to write it, at least most of the other teams I criticize are good (Texas, Southern Cal, Florida). Oklahoma State really has done nothing to vindicate where they're ranked! Let's move on.
Oregon State-31, #20 Cal-14
You know what's funny? I looked back through the records of this season: Cal is 4-3 as a ranked team this season, but 2-0 as an unranked team. Maybe they should try and stay unranked for the rest of the year...
As for the analysis, there's not any. Cal lost their star, Jahvid Best to a scary looking injury, and the best thing to come out of this game was the fact that he's still alive and is not paralyzed. Best has had 2 concussions in the last 2 weeks, and since Cal isn't a contender for the PAC-10 or National Title, I am absolutely of the opinion that Best should sit out the remainder of the regular season. He's an excellent running back with a bright future, but more importantly he's a human being, who needs to be treated as such. A quick nod to Cal coach Jim Tedford, who said basically the same thing. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for one of the PAC-10's finest.
#21 Wisconsin-31, Indiana-28
You know, Indiana's been playing very well these last two weeks. They might just pull off an upset sometime soon.
Wisconsin is an middle-of-the-road team in a fairly bad conference. So...take this win for what it's worth, which is not too much (Second time I've used that line in this post. Gotta come up with some new material...)
Navy-23, #22 Notre Dame-21
Well, Charlie Weis may just get himself fired. You don't pimp Notre Dame as "back," then lose to Navy at home. That's just not good for job security. The good news? Charlie will get a ton of money if he does get fired! So that's something for him to cheer about.
Notre Dame is struggling. The NBC broadcasters were talking about a possible BCS berth for the 2-loss Irish during the Navy game. Really? With 6 automatic qualifying conferences, 2 undefeated teams from non-AQ conferences, and a host of 1-loss teams with better schedules than Notre Dames, you're thinking of one of the 8 berths available in BCS Bowls? (No one but Lou Holtz thought that the Irish might still go to the championship game.)
As for Navy...they scared Ohio State in the Horseshoe earlier this year, so this game does help prove that the Midshipmen (still one of the most awesome mascots ever, by the way) are a pretty good team. The Middies have Delaware, Hawaii, and Army coming up, plus a berth in the Texas Bowl that they've already accepted. Navy could realistically win 10 or 11 games this season! Welcome to the twilight zone...
#23 Virginia Tech-16, East Carolina-3
The Hokies avenge last year's season-opening loss with a win against the Pirates in the rubber game between the two schools' home-neutral-home setup. Sadly, this game was how Virginia Tech had to break their losing streak: Against their second-worst non-conference foe. (Sad fact: The ACC is so mediocre that ECU isn't even the second-worst team on Virginia Tech's schedule)
As for coverage...it was a defensive struggle through most of this game, though the Hokies should have had 23 points were it not for a Tyrod Taylor fumble on the 1-inch line early in the game. Mind you, ECU had a touchdown called back on a pretty bad holding call, so both teams lost points during this exchange.
My favorite part of this game? ECU's midfield logo, painted up nice because they were on ESPN. Have a look:
Pretty awesome, eh?
#24 Oklahoma-3, Nebraska-10
Mark my words: If Nebraska keeps playing good defense (5 INTs in this game) they will be back on top of the Big 12 in a season or two. Sure, beating this year's Oklahoma team is nowhere near the accomplishment it would have been last season, but give credit where credit is due. Even the "mighty" Texas Longhorns allowed 13 points to the Sooners. Good job by the Huskers, who became bowl eligible with this win.
As for Oklahoma...ugh. This is a team that's in rough shape. Their QB kept tossing the ball to the wrong team, their star players are almost universally injured, and they're 1 game above .500 after the 9th week of the season. It's been a long, rough fall from that #3 spot they held so very long ago in August...
#25 BYU-52, Wyoming-0
Isn't it ironic that the team that torpedoed Oklahoma's chances this season is the team that rounds out this week's Top 25? It's not ironic? Oh, well. It is interesting that I said something good about Wyoming last week and, well, look what happened. No shame in losing to a good team, the shame is found when you lose to a good team by 52 at home. To be fair, BYU probably is one of the 25 best teams in the country, meaning that, unlike so many others, their ranking was appropriate.
Oh, and for continuity's sake: Utah is a boring state.
And now...Tales from the Bottom 95
Carolina gets its second conference win by beating Duke. Look out Tire Bowl, here come the Tar Heels!...Yes, I'm a vindictive jerk. Isn't that why you read this thing?...West Virginia got their 6th win at home by beating the awful Louisville Cardinals this week. Yes, their 6th win at home. They've played 9 games total. Isn't that some bold scheduling? Here's hoping their road trip to Cincinnati serves up some poetic justice for that cowardly schedule...Georgia bounces back from that trouncing by Florida. Mind you, they did so by beating Tennessee Tech...Arkansas, proving that they are a team capable of beating semi-OK schools, defeats South Carolina...Auburn boldly defeated Furman, one of the Tigers' 8(!) home games...Last week I wrote that Michigan's season had hit rock bottom. I was wrong. They hit the bottom this week when they lost to Purdue...How much does Rich Rodriguez make again?...Must've been cupcake week in the SEC East. Tennessee beat up on Memphis, Auburn played Furman, Kentucky played East Kentucky, Georgia played Tennessee Tech, and Florida played Vanderbilt (cue rim shot)...CJ Spiller proved just how good he is (again) when he ran over Florida State...Pity that Clemson's so bad...Finally, pre-season #8 Ole Miss proved how good they were by defeating awesome 1-AA foe Northern Arizona...
That's all for this week. See you later...
Vanderbilt-3, #1 Florida-27
One of the better teams in the SEC beat the worst team in the SEC. Heck, they didn't even need the ref's help to do it, an improvement over the Gators' normal routine.
Don't get me wrong, Florida is an excellent school with a fine football program, but you can't deny that some crummy calls have helped them along the way. Also, one of the students here at the group home desired me to write "gators suck, georgia rules" somewhere in here (all lack of capitalization is [sic]). Since Georgia isn't ranked, and Florida is, I figured I would put this here, if only to prove him wrong.
Aaaaand, that's all I got for this game. Guess we should move on, eh?
UCF-3, #2 Texas-35
Texas finally rounds out its horrific non-conference schedule with what might have been their toughest non-conference game. (Take that for what it's worth. In case you don't remember, their other non-conference games were Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, and UTEP)
I'm not sure if I should analyze this. Texas is pulling the same stunt that USC and Ohio State did during the early years of the decade: playing non-conference nobodies and playing in a weak conference, leading to a cheap and undeserved bid in the national title game. Congrats, Longhorns! Your first and only real test of the season will be a game against Alabama or Florida in the National Title game...
#9 LSU-15, #3 Alabama-24
Another big fuss gets made over a crummy call or two in an Alabama game. The big case in this game? An interception that was called a non-interception after a video review. I will now let ESPN writer Ivan Maisel write something idiotic, then I will correct him. Ivan:
"The fourth-quarter interception that LSU corner Patrick Peterson did (according to video) or didn't (according to the SEC officials) make enthralled conspiracy theorists. I think they need a hobby. If the Tigers had gotten the ball, they would have been on the Alabama 37, trailing 21-15, with a backup quarterback and a backup tailback. On the Tigers' last two possessions, Jarrett Lee went 1-for-7 with two sacks and one pick. In other words, that call didn't decide the game." (BLOGGER'S NOTE: link here just in case you think I'm making this quote up. Quote is taken from the "Weekend observations" section in the right sidebar)
OK, so there's the quote. Now that's from someone who gets paid real money to write about college football. Why am I so up in arms, you wonder? Well, discounting a team's chances simply because their backup is in or because they don't show any signs of life is a hideous mistake. I mean, Stanford had their backup in on the road in 2007, AND they were down 16-7 at the start of the 4th quarter, when they pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time. (Story of that game here. Gloriously vindictive video here) So don't you think that LSU, a ranked team playing at home might have stood a chance against another ranked team? You think that might be a possibility, especially since they would have had the ball, and would have been trailing by 6 points? I'm not saying LSU would have marched down and won the game, but casually dismissing another missed call by the SEC officials as irrelevant is absolutely stupid. LSU could have won this game, but they weren't even given a chance.
Northwestern-17, #4 Iowa-10
So, uhhhh, Iowa. What happened? Wait, why am I asking you? No one from Iowa reads this thing...
OK, I will answer that question. Iowa is, much like the 2004 Carolina Panthers, a .500 team masquerading as a championship contender. Of their 9 wins prior to this game, they should have lost to Northern Iowa, Michigan State, and Indiana. They could have lost to Arkansas State, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The only games they won convincingly were matchups against their perennially pathetic rival Iowa State, non-conference foe Arizona, and Penn State. In this game, they lost their quarterback to injury in the 2nd quarter, and many people are saying that is why they lost the game. Lest we forget, this is the same quarterback who tossed up 5 INT's last week in Iowa's near-loss to Indiana. I don't think this individual player is responsible for Iowa losing this one...
The Hawkeyes caught more than a few lucky breaks during their long undefeated run, and they still have a legitimate shot to go to Pasadena and play in the Rose Bowl. To do that, however, they have to go into the Horseshoe and beat Ohio State, and beat Minnesota in Iowa City. And the way Iowa's season's going so far, they'll beat Ohio State by 10 on the road, but beat Minnesota by 2 on a freak safety at the very end of the game. I look forward to it.
Connecticut-45, #5 Cincinnati-47
Cincy hangs on to win a defense-optional game. UConn continues to amaze me by playing great football, despite the serious emotional hangover that they'll have for the remainder of this season.
The big story of the game is that Cincinnati's backup QB has been unreal ever since starter Tony Pike went down with an injury. Zach Collaros doesn't screw around, it would seem. It will be interesting to see, if Cincinnati gets in trouble down the road, what their coach does with the quarterback situation. I'm curious as to whether they'll try to play musical quarterbacks, or if a talented young man (Collaros or Pike) will be forced to ride the pine because of the other's performance. In fairness, Cincinnati went through, like, 5 quarterbacks last season, so I don't know why this year is the year that the national media chooses to focus in on their quarterback situation
Oh, and I still hate that awful "Oh! Oh! Oh! *clap clap clap* U-C!" chant that the Cincinnati faithful do. Because, like USC's fight song, they do that 7,000 times a game, even when nothing is happening. It's really irritating....
#6 TCU-56, San Diego State-12
TCU is pretty good, but like Boise before them, they play in a horrible conference. TCU even tried to schedule some semi-good non-conference foes. Unfortunately, their two major non-conference foes were both bad-to-mediocre teams from the ACC. So those wins don't really help the Horned Frogs case. So their only recourse is to win with "style." Unfortunately, in the eyes of the BCS computers and voters, "style" is a synonym for blowout. The result? Games like this one...
#7 Boise State-45, Louisiana Tech-35
Boise survives an upset scare, thereby proving, uhhhh, something...I'm not sure what, honestly.
Look, Boise's the best team in their conference, but that's not saying that much. I'm curious to see how they'd perform in a BCS Conference. They'd probably get the bid in the ACC or Big East or Big 10 this season.
The real question for me is: How did Louisiana Tech wind up in the WAC? Seriously, the other schools in that conference are located in Idaho, Hawaii, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. How the heck did a school from Louisiana get in there?! If anyone has the answer, please let me know...
#8 Oregon-42, Stanford-51
Ugh. It's happening again. The annual unraveling of the PAC-10's decent teams that let's USC escape from its egg-laying and grab a Rose Bowl berth. In this case, Stanford shocks the Ducks in an amazingly offensive (forgive the pun, please) performance.
The Ducks looked fairly flaccid. Either the win over Southern Cal tired them out, or Stanford had the answers on offense that the Trojans didn't. One thing that is certain is this: Stanford did not have the answer on defense. This game was, like the Cincy-UConn game, what the analysts like to call a "shootout." I like to call it "crummy defense."
Seriously, I do not understand why it's "exciting" to see an offense tear off chunks of yards and put up gaudy numbers, but it's "boring" to see two defenses grind it out. Wouldn't a touchdown mean more in a 13-10 game than a 51-42 scorefest? Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd rather see a good defensive game than watch defenses roll over and have points stacked to the ceiling.
Oh, and hats off to Stanford for beating another highly ranked foe...seems to happen once every 3 years or so.
Wake Forest-27, #10 Georgia Tech-30
Well, the good news for the ACC is that its highest ranked team didn't lose. The bad news for the ACC is that its highest ranked team had to go into overtime at home to beat Wake Forest.
As a side note, Wake is like Iowa, if all the breaks in a game went against the Hawkeyes. Wake has lost many close games this year, including their last 3 by a total of 7 points. Mind you, the game before that they lost by 35, so take my analysis for what it's worth...
As for Georgia Tech, they lived dangerously this game, going for it on 4th down 5 times, and only coming up with one successful conversion. Mind you, that conversion came in overtime and led to the game winning touchdown, so it's hard to argue with that decision. Personally, I like teams that aren't afraid to go for it on 4th down, but I would have hated to be Paul Johnson if that last attempt in overtime had failed like the 4 attempts during regulation. As is, it'll be interesting to see who Georgia Tech plays in their bowl (which will likely be the Orange Bowl against...either TCU, Boise State, or Cincinnati). No one runs the triple option better than Georgia Tech right now, and it's wreaking havoc in the ACC. I'm curious to see how other teams fare against the run-happy attack.
#16 Ohio State-24, #11 Penn State-7
The Buckeyes crushed Penn State in Happy Valley, surprising many analysts. I'm surprised as well, but I guess I shouldn't be: Penn State's only loss prior to this one was at home against Iowa...
As for Ohio State, their QB, Terelle Pryor played extraordinarily well, in the type of game he was expected to have for the last one and a half seasons. It remains to be seen if this is one of those once-in-a-career games, or if he was just trying to show up PSU, a school he turned down 2 years ago to go to Ohio State. Before anyone points to the huge stats he's had in some games this season, allow me to point out that the most awesome of those awesome stats have come against Toledo, Purdue, and Minnesota. Less than impressive, especially considering that they lost to Purdue. Oh, well, let's move on...
Penn State...sorry guys. Enjoy your trip to a semi-obscure bowl. Ohio State and Iowa will play for the de facto Big 10 championship game this weekend. Unless, you know, something bizarre happens...
#12 USC-14, Arizona State-9
A fairly mediocre game for the Trojans offense, and a normal game for the Arizona State offense. Arizona State has only beaten bad teams this year (Best win: Washington) yet, because they have played 4 bad teams (Washington, Washington State, Idaho State, and Louisiana-Monroe) they can still make a bowl if they win 2 of their remaining 3 games. One of those games is against awesomely underachieving UCLA, so all they have to do is beat Oregon or Arizona. I doubt either will happen, but wouldn't that be awesome? To reward a team for beating 4 crappy teams and scraping up 2 legitimate wins with a bowl game! College football is fast becoming one of those kindergarten baseball leagues: There's no winners or losers, EVERYONE gets a trophy!
As for Southern Cal, they're having an off year. It gives me joy, but we all know they'll be back next year. The Trojans still have a very legitimate shot at winning the PAC-10 (excuse me while I go vomit after typing that...)
OK, I'm back. And you can look for the Trojans to close out the year with 3 straight wins, since they play Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona, all at home. Yes, 2 of those 3 are ranked, but we all know that USC inexplicably only loses to unranked teams. Final note from this game: The new rankings are out. 2-loss Southern Cal is ranked 9th, Oregon is ranked #12 and Arizona is ranked #17. They are currently tied for 3rd in the conference behind Oregon and Arizona. Please explain how the highest ranked team in the conference is in 3rd in the actual conference standings! Augh! I hate USC!
Syracuse-10, #13 Pitt-37
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this surprises no one. Syracuse hasn't been good since Virginia Tech and Miami were in the Big East, and even then they weren't exactly a huge threat in the Big East. Ever since 2002, however, the Orange (Or Orangemen as they used to be known) have been nothing shy of awful.
So, really, good job Pitt, in that you beat a team that you were supposed to beat. Your real test comes November 27 and December 5, when you play West Virginia and Cincinnati back to back. Oh, and you play Notre Dame in there as well, but don't worry about that one. Even if you lose, you can still easily win the conference, since Notre Dame defends its independent status the way the Swiss defend their neutrality...
New Mexico-14, #14 Utah-45
Utah is a boring state, and New Mexico's 0-9. What more do you need to know?
#15 Houston-46, Tulsa-45
I really can't wait until Houston plays a team with some kind of defense. Seriously, in the bowl season when they wind up going against some Big 10 or ACC or low-caliber SEC school, I cannot wait. Because when they play a team with a defense, they will get destroyed. Sure, they beat Mississippi State, but does MSU really count? We all know Oklahoma State and Texas Tech don't because no one in the Big 12 plays defense well. So, seriously, enjoy it Houston. You will eventually play someone who can play defense, and when you do, it will not be pretty.
Virginia-17, #17 Miami-52
Miami cruises over UVa at home. Considering that the Cavaliers aren't that good, and that Miami is at least decent, this outcome isn't surprising at all. Heck, UVa normally plays better on the road than at home (See victories over UNC and Maryland) but they still lost to a Miami squad that looks primed to go to the Gator Bowl at the end of the season. They're not great, but they're better than UVa for whatever that's worth... (Answer: Not much)
Washington State-7, #18 Arizona-48
Wazzu hasn't won a PAC-10 game since they beat last year's winless Washington team. What does this tell us? Simply that Arizona won a game that I would have ruthlessly mocked if it were non-conference. One cannot help in-conference cupcakes, but anyone who schedules Washington State as a non-conference game is officially a pansy school. (I'm looking at you, Notre Dame!) (No, you don't have a conference, but you could play anyone and you choose Wazzu!)
#19 Oklahoma State-34, Iowa State-8
Rough week for the Iowans, eh? Well, rough week for Iowa fans. ISU fans should be used to this by now. Oklahoma State fans should, too.
Let's recap OSU's season: They have played 2 good teams. They have lost to both of said teams. They have beaten a total of 3 teams with winning records: Georgia, Missouri, and Texas A&M. None of those 3 teams have winning conference records, and all 3 of them are only one game above .500. Meaning that OSU is defining mediocrity: Beating bad teams, losing to good ones. And, in the screwed up world of college football, this means that they get to be ranked among the top 20 teams! I think OSU might be the team I hate the most this season. As much as it pains me to write it, at least most of the other teams I criticize are good (Texas, Southern Cal, Florida). Oklahoma State really has done nothing to vindicate where they're ranked! Let's move on.
Oregon State-31, #20 Cal-14
You know what's funny? I looked back through the records of this season: Cal is 4-3 as a ranked team this season, but 2-0 as an unranked team. Maybe they should try and stay unranked for the rest of the year...
As for the analysis, there's not any. Cal lost their star, Jahvid Best to a scary looking injury, and the best thing to come out of this game was the fact that he's still alive and is not paralyzed. Best has had 2 concussions in the last 2 weeks, and since Cal isn't a contender for the PAC-10 or National Title, I am absolutely of the opinion that Best should sit out the remainder of the regular season. He's an excellent running back with a bright future, but more importantly he's a human being, who needs to be treated as such. A quick nod to Cal coach Jim Tedford, who said basically the same thing. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for one of the PAC-10's finest.
#21 Wisconsin-31, Indiana-28
You know, Indiana's been playing very well these last two weeks. They might just pull off an upset sometime soon.
Wisconsin is an middle-of-the-road team in a fairly bad conference. So...take this win for what it's worth, which is not too much (Second time I've used that line in this post. Gotta come up with some new material...)
Navy-23, #22 Notre Dame-21
Well, Charlie Weis may just get himself fired. You don't pimp Notre Dame as "back," then lose to Navy at home. That's just not good for job security. The good news? Charlie will get a ton of money if he does get fired! So that's something for him to cheer about.
Notre Dame is struggling. The NBC broadcasters were talking about a possible BCS berth for the 2-loss Irish during the Navy game. Really? With 6 automatic qualifying conferences, 2 undefeated teams from non-AQ conferences, and a host of 1-loss teams with better schedules than Notre Dames, you're thinking of one of the 8 berths available in BCS Bowls? (No one but Lou Holtz thought that the Irish might still go to the championship game.)
As for Navy...they scared Ohio State in the Horseshoe earlier this year, so this game does help prove that the Midshipmen (still one of the most awesome mascots ever, by the way) are a pretty good team. The Middies have Delaware, Hawaii, and Army coming up, plus a berth in the Texas Bowl that they've already accepted. Navy could realistically win 10 or 11 games this season! Welcome to the twilight zone...
#23 Virginia Tech-16, East Carolina-3
The Hokies avenge last year's season-opening loss with a win against the Pirates in the rubber game between the two schools' home-neutral-home setup. Sadly, this game was how Virginia Tech had to break their losing streak: Against their second-worst non-conference foe. (Sad fact: The ACC is so mediocre that ECU isn't even the second-worst team on Virginia Tech's schedule)
As for coverage...it was a defensive struggle through most of this game, though the Hokies should have had 23 points were it not for a Tyrod Taylor fumble on the 1-inch line early in the game. Mind you, ECU had a touchdown called back on a pretty bad holding call, so both teams lost points during this exchange.
My favorite part of this game? ECU's midfield logo, painted up nice because they were on ESPN. Have a look:
Pretty awesome, eh?
#24 Oklahoma-3, Nebraska-10
Mark my words: If Nebraska keeps playing good defense (5 INTs in this game) they will be back on top of the Big 12 in a season or two. Sure, beating this year's Oklahoma team is nowhere near the accomplishment it would have been last season, but give credit where credit is due. Even the "mighty" Texas Longhorns allowed 13 points to the Sooners. Good job by the Huskers, who became bowl eligible with this win.
As for Oklahoma...ugh. This is a team that's in rough shape. Their QB kept tossing the ball to the wrong team, their star players are almost universally injured, and they're 1 game above .500 after the 9th week of the season. It's been a long, rough fall from that #3 spot they held so very long ago in August...
#25 BYU-52, Wyoming-0
Isn't it ironic that the team that torpedoed Oklahoma's chances this season is the team that rounds out this week's Top 25? It's not ironic? Oh, well. It is interesting that I said something good about Wyoming last week and, well, look what happened. No shame in losing to a good team, the shame is found when you lose to a good team by 52 at home. To be fair, BYU probably is one of the 25 best teams in the country, meaning that, unlike so many others, their ranking was appropriate.
Oh, and for continuity's sake: Utah is a boring state.
And now...Tales from the Bottom 95
Carolina gets its second conference win by beating Duke. Look out Tire Bowl, here come the Tar Heels!...Yes, I'm a vindictive jerk. Isn't that why you read this thing?...West Virginia got their 6th win at home by beating the awful Louisville Cardinals this week. Yes, their 6th win at home. They've played 9 games total. Isn't that some bold scheduling? Here's hoping their road trip to Cincinnati serves up some poetic justice for that cowardly schedule...Georgia bounces back from that trouncing by Florida. Mind you, they did so by beating Tennessee Tech...Arkansas, proving that they are a team capable of beating semi-OK schools, defeats South Carolina...Auburn boldly defeated Furman, one of the Tigers' 8(!) home games...Last week I wrote that Michigan's season had hit rock bottom. I was wrong. They hit the bottom this week when they lost to Purdue...How much does Rich Rodriguez make again?...Must've been cupcake week in the SEC East. Tennessee beat up on Memphis, Auburn played Furman, Kentucky played East Kentucky, Georgia played Tennessee Tech, and Florida played Vanderbilt (cue rim shot)...CJ Spiller proved just how good he is (again) when he ran over Florida State...Pity that Clemson's so bad...Finally, pre-season #8 Ole Miss proved how good they were by defeating awesome 1-AA foe Northern Arizona...
That's all for this week. See you later...
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