After a hiatus, we’re back… It wouldn’t be Monday if we didn’t find a way to enter your life, right?
It was one of those weeks in college football- the “times that try men’s souls“, as it were.
More than a few top squads found themselves in dogfights (too soon?) with opponents that, on paper, they should have dominated. But, because we know that games aren’t played on paper but by tiny men in our television sets, this week’s slate of competition ended up being quite memorable.
First, let’s visit the Notre Ame Broadcasting Company, where the coverage of what would turn out to be a surprisingly good NA/U$C Game was worse than anything the Big Ten Network ever created. Not since the days of Jefferson Pilot Sports have people been subjected to such rampant homerism in the coverage. It’s almost as if either they weren’t watching the game or as if they’d gotten a high school budding sportscaster to cover it.
At any rate, my hat is off to Charlie Weis for his brilliant usage of my favorite trick play- the “missing man” formation; although Pete seems to be questioning the Irish’s attempts to seek a competitive edge. What Carrol’s Trojans aren’t talking about, though, is the way they allowed a team to come back from a 20 point deficit to almost tie at the buzzer. And yet, even with some creative clock work by the Notre Dame officials, the Irish did not prevail.
Interesting fact: The three signature wins of the Charlie Weis era are last year’s victory over Hawaii in their bowl game, Almost beating U$C in 2005, and Almost beating U$C last night. Yup, two of the three are only moral victories.
The Red-River shootout turned out to be just that, with Texas holding on to win even after Oklahoma’s Heisman Trophy QB was again sent to the sidelines. I’m very interested in seeing what the Big 12 South looks like this year- Texas has some development yet to do, in my opinion.
Over in the SEC, both Florida and Alabama were pushed to the brink. The Gators needed to have Tim Tebow’s prayers answered on a last second field goal in order to beat Arkansas. I wonder how this guy feels about Tebow’s faith now? The Great Saban and company were in a bit of a close game against the “Formerly Good Ballcoach“, but managed to pull away in the second half.
Every one’s favorite (well, not everyone, right Coach Stoops?) “little school that could” found themselves up to their necks against Tulsa, but the Boise State Broncos managed to hold on to their undefeated season with a seven point win. Cincinnati also looked to be in trouble, until USF self destructed in the second half.
Not all ranked teams fared well this weekend, though: In the ACC, Virginia Tech met the buzzsaw that is the triple option attack and lost their number four ranking to the Ramblin’ Wreck. The Fighting Mangino’s managed to let Coach Hawkins keep his job (after benching his son), and Nebraska fell to unranked Texas Tech.
Oh, by the way- Ohio State choked against 1-5 Purdue. Having watched most of the game, “choked” isn’t exactly the word for it… but this is a family blog, so I’ll put it thusly:
Except in real life, the train with Boiler Pete would still be chugging along.Look, you know what happened, I know what happened, Eric has already written about it, and it will be putting my therapist’s kids through prep school. So, that’s all I’m gonna’ say about that.
It could be worse… Delaware State lost twice on Saturday. Once in an embarrassment to Mich1gAAn, and once by forfeiting the game that they originally scheduled for Saturday that they forgot to re-schedule so they could accept the $500,000 “pity date” payment TTUN gave them. To make matters worse, when the game was over they had to travel back to Delaware. *shudder*
Across the nation- Kentucky beat Auburn (honestly, I’m as surprised as you are), TCU continues to roll, Cal reminded Slick Rick who the “real” University is in this budget-forsaken state, and TBPU played solidly against a really overrated Mizzou team. UW again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, State Penn and Iowa played solidly against good opposition, Kansas State embarrassed aTm, and Vandy is Vandy, as my daughter would say. This week’s “Big T1e1n Cripple Fight” goes to Indiana, who managed to beat Illinois in Bloomington. Hope the resume’s ready, coach Zook.
Small schools- Gallaudet lost to Catholic, or so I heard.
Now that the BC$ is out (interesting how ESPN has stopped calling for a playoff now that they have exclusive BCS rights?) it’s time for my weekly “who I’d like to see play in a national championship game” update. With a lot of football still to be played, I think there are four teams I’d love to see in a playoff… you know, if the No Clue At All had such a thing. Semi-final games of U$C and Alabama with the winner playing either Texas or Florida would be a great thing for the fans, right? Ah, but it’s not about the fans- it’s about the tax-free money for these “educational endeavors”. Silly me.
This week’s matchups- Ohio State looks to rebound against the Gophers, and Nebraska does the same against Iowa State. Illinois and Purdue square off, while Vanderbilt travels to South Carolina. Alabama and Tennessee play, as do State Penn and Mich1gAAn. UW begins it’s quest to win the Northwet by meeting Oregon, and the marquee game is undefeated TCU against 16th ranked BYU.
Sorry, nothing exciting like the Red River Shootout. To make up for it, here’s something amazing:
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