By Brendan Loy
Uga VI, the mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs since 1999, has died. 
I'm not a Georgia fan, obviously, but Uga (pronounced "uh-guh") is pretty freakin' cool. Not as cool as Traveler, of course, but cool nonetheless. R.I.P., Uga VI.
By Brendan Loy
You know those "House Divided" license plates -- they're really popular here in the South -- for families in which the spouses root for rival schools? Well, the governor and first lady of California have something similar going on, except it relates to politics rather than sports, and it's on their house instead of their car:
Heh.
Of course, while the Schwarzenegger-Shriver split gets front page treatment in the New York Times, the same thing happens every day in the Carville-Matalin household. :)
(As for those license plates, I need a customized USC/Notre Dame version that says "A Man Divided." Heh. Okay, not really, but it'd look cool, anyway...)
By Brendan Loy
Last week, I confessed that, although the rational side of my brain is undecided between Barack Obama and John McCain, the "portion of my brain that views politics as a sport can't help 'rooting' for Obama" because he is "the scrappy mid-major going up against the staid, boring, established program; he's Boise State against Oklahoma ('They said this day would never come: a WAC team in a BCS bowl! Yes, we can!'), he's Appalachian State against Michigan... or, as McCain might prefer to say, he's Hawaii against Georgia."
Now, Ben Smith uses a college-football metaphor, saying that Obama's 50-state, expand-the-map strategy is the political equivalent of the "spread offense."
If so, Obama's definitely going to win Michigan. :)
By David K.
Gays aren't the only new couples in California. USC and the Coliseum have patched up their differences and worked out a deal to keep the Trojans playing at the Coliseum for another 25 years, about the same time Coach Carroll will be ready to retire.
By Brendan Loy
The ACC and Pac-10 have the least despicable non-conference schedules in college football. And when you consider that the Pac-10 plays a nine-game, true round-robin in conference, their schedules are the most respectable by a mile.
Which conference has the cupcake-iest schedules? The Big Ten, of course. Though the SEC and Big 12 are nipping at its heels.
By Brendan Loy
Every Day Should Be Saturday is running a contest that gives all you college sports fans an opportunity to help the victims of the recent spate of disasters -- the Burma cyclone, the China earthquake, the Midwest tornadoes -- while simultaneously showing your team pride. Here's how it works:
1) Make a donation online to the American Red Cross, CARE, or the International Rescue Committee.
2) Email the donation confirmation to kevin@fanblogs.com and state your team affiliation by 8pm EDT on Wednesday, May 14th.
3) Results will be displayed at Every Day Should Be Saturday and Fanblogs throughout the week, with the final results shown by Thursday, May 15th.
4) The winning school will have its colors displayed at EDSBS and logo/mascot shown on every page at Fanblogs.
Things are looking dismal in the current standings for both USC and Notre Dame. Neither school shows up in the Top 10, and in fact, if EDSBS is counting ND as part of the "Big East" for purposes of their conference standings, it appears that zero dollars have been donated by fans of either school. (The Pac-10 and Big East are tied for last place with $0.)
So, pony up, Irish and Trojan fans! We can't let freakin' Michigan -- in first place with $1,000 -- win this thing.
By Brendan Loy
[Warning: All of the links below are at least marginally SFW, in that they contain no actual nudity. However, some contain scantily clad women, suggestive material, etc., so depending on your situation and location, you may want to steer clear.]
The Arizona State cheerleading squad survived the uniformed ex-cheerleader in a porn movie scandal, but apparently the specter of six current cheerleaders in their underwear, baring their not-quite-naked bodies on the Internets for all to see, was too much for the university to handle:
[T]he cheerleading squad that performed at Arizona State football and basketball games has been eliminated. Arizona State will instead have "spirit squads" that will be led by the band director.Why the change? It's not entirely clear, but the Fox TV affiliate in Phoenix suggests that it's because TheDirty.com posted photos of Arizona State cheerleaders in their underwear.
More on this story -- including the photo -- after the jump.
Continue reading "ASU cheerleading team axed over raunchy photo" »
By Brendan Loy
I mentioned yesterday that college football's powers-that-be have once again decided, in their infinite wisdom, that the BCS is just fine & dandy, and playoffs r teh suxx0rs. But I missed this detail: the NCAA has certified two new bowl games, bringing the total to 34. Because, as AOL Fanhouse says, "that's what the nation really wanted."
This means a total of 68 teams will be goin' bowling. Last year, 71 teams finished with records of 6-6 or better. We're seriously getting into the territory where, in a given season, there might not be enough bowl-eligible teams to fill out all the slots. I expect we'll soon see a rule change allowing in teams with 5-7 records if there aren't enough .500-or-better teams available. (Remember, 6-6 teams have only been allowed in for the last two years, and that change coincided with the expansion from 28 to 32 bowls.)
In any event, 34 bowls means that more than 57 percent of all Division I-A teams will be playing in the postseason. Remember when a bowl bid was actually a meaningful reward for a good year?
Anyway, the new kids on the block are the Congressional Bowl in Washington, D.C., and the St. Petersburg Bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida. Mercifully, a 35th bowl -- the Rocky Mountain Bowl in Salt Lake City, which would have pitted the fifth-place Mountain West team against the fourth-place WAC team -- was rejected.
The St. Petersburg Bowl is still in need of a corporate sponsorship, which gives me an idea. If every college football fan who supports a playoff, and hates the endless proliferation of meaningless bowls between 6-6 teams, were to donate, say, $5, couldn't we make these folks a sponsorship offer they couldn't refuse -- and force them to name their bowl something like the "Utterly Meaningless St. Petersburg Bowl" or the "St. Petersburg Bowl Brought To You By Shameless Greed" or the "Let's Have A Freakin' Playoff Already St. Petersburg Bowl" or the "F***-the-BCS St. Petersburg Bowl"? Cuz that'd be sweet.
Meanwhile, another AOL Fanhouse blogger wonders how on earth USC lost two games (and played poorly in a bunch of other games) each of the last two seasons, given that seven former Trojans were drafted during the first two rounds of the NFL Draft last weekend -- which continues a trend of Trojan dominance on Draft Day. It's a fair question.
By Brendan Loy
Well, everybody who matters, anyway.
By David K.
The Connecticut legislature reached a compromise with UConn that will allow the university's football team to schedule a six-year series against Notre Dame, even though none of the games will be played in Connecticut. The Irish balked at playing at the Huskies' 40,000-seat home stadium, Rentschler Field in East Hartford, insisting instead that UConn's "home" games played in larger stadiums elsewhere, most likely in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and/or New York. However, Connecticut lawmakers were unimpressed with the idea of UConn outsourcing its home games to other states. In the words of State Rep. Michael Christ, D-East Hartford, who proposed an earlier bill that would have required UConn to play all its home games at Rentschler, "Many of us felt we already had a beautiful facility in Connecticut and it was built for UConn."
The newly announced deal requires UConn to play six home games at Rentschler Field each year, "as long as the NCAA rules permit a 12-game season and permits a team to use one Football Championship Subdivision win per season as a bowl-eligible win." It also reduces the length of the series between UConn and Notre Dame from ten years to six. "I believe we have crafted a reasonable solution," said Christ, who added that he hopes UConn can persuade the Irish to play at Rentschler Field in the future. (Ha! Fat chance.)
The series will start in the 2011 season and go through 2017. The three home games for the Irish will, of course, be played at Notre Dame Stadium. The deal still needs to be approved by Notre Dame and venue officials. Connecticut and Notre Dame already have a separate deal to play next season in South Bend.
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Rep. Christ wrote a scathing op-ed about this topic last week in the Hartford Courant. My dad suggested the headline, "Christ to Notre Dame: Screw you." Heh.
Anyway, here's an excerpt:
Loyal Husky fans flock with family and friends to Rentschler for every home game, rain or shine, in support of their beloved team. There are hundreds of stadium workers who depend on a game day payday from parking cars, working concessions and post-game clean-up. Many local school bands and clubs as well as charities also use games to bolster fundraising. Should all those benefits move to Massachusetts? I say no!
If Rentschler Field is too confining for the Leprechaun army the Fighting Irish deploy each week, how come the similar capacity stadium of the Boston College Eagles (formerly of the Big East) is not too small? That series alternates between South Bend and Chestnut Hill, Mass. ...There is no question Notre Dame will remain the "Wal-Mart" of college football as long as it is able to keep its national television network deal. However, UConn officials can come out of this looking like heroes both here in Connecticut and nationally by saying "no thanks." They could brag that no one, not even the legendary Notre Dame, can tell Connecticut where to play its home games. Even if the Fighting Leprechauns, after a few more years of two-win seasons, do eventually find their television revenue dried up and are forced to finally join a conference, it is very possible that the Irish will abandon their pseudo Big East affiliation and join the Big 10 anyway.
Ahem. It was a three-win season, thank you very much.
Incidentally, to answer the question posed by the title, I will, of course, root for Notre Dame, my alma mater. But as I said in comments, "if I had to pick one game (other than USC) for ND to lose, it would be the UConn game. Imagine what a huge win that would be for the Huskies program."
That said: Gooooo Irish! Beeeeeat Huskies! :)
By Brendan Loy
The Shirt 2008 is out. It was unveiled yesterday. (Hat tip: Lisa.) The money quote is "NOTRE DAME WILL RISE AGAIN," which seems appropriate.
Domersphere reactions? Her Loyal Sons hates it. Rakes of Mallow likes it, although he wishes it was green. Blue-Gray Sky thinks it's "pretty good." Of course, it features the famous quote about "the blue, gray October sky" that BGS is named after, so they would like it. ;)
By Brendan Loy
The Frozen Four is underway, and Notre Dame leads Michigan 3-2 with 10:44 left in the second period. It was 3-0, but Michigan just scored two rapid-fire goals to get back in it.
Liveblogs here and here. The game is being televised live on ESPN2. Winner gets Boston College in the national championship game Saturday. GO IRISH!!! BEAT SKUNKBEARS!!!
UPDATE: Michigan tied it at 3-3... then Notre Dame just took a 4-3 lead with less than 9 minutes left.
UPDATE 2: Tie game 4-4, with 5:21 left. Ugh.
UPDATE 3: Overtime. And, alas, I have to go to bed. Go Irish.
UPDATE 4: IRISH WIN!!!! (Okay, so I didn't actually go to bed...) WOOOHOOO!!!
UPDATE 5: The Associated Press is mean. Check out their lede:
Michigan has Notre Dame's number on the football field. Not so the ice.
Jeez! Is that really necessary? The Irish hockey team makes it to the national championship game for the first time ever -- upsetting the #1-ranked team in the country, and becoming the first #4 seed ever to advance this far -- and the first sentence of the AP article takes an irrelevant shot at the football team? WTF?! Is Brian Cook working ghost-writing for the AP or something?
Moreover, it's inaccurate. Yes, Michigan beat Notre Dame -- badly -- in 2007 and 2006, but the Irish won easily in 2005 (when Michigan was ranked #3 in the country, the Irish just #20) and in 2004 (when ND was unranked and Michigan was #7). Michigan won in '03; Notre Dame won in '02. That makes them 3-3 in their most recent series. (They didn't play from 1998 to 2001.)
If you want to go back further, the Irish are 12-11-1 against the Skunkbears since the series was renewed in 1978 after a 35-year hiatus. Michigan leads the overall series 20-14-1, but somehow I don't think the Wolverines' 9-2 record between 1884 and 1943 was what the AP reporter had in mind.
In any event, 20-14 is hardly a massive advantage, and 11-12 isn't an advantage at all, nor is 3-3. However you look at it, you simply cannot construct an accurate historical reality in which "Michigan has Notre Dame's number on the football field," unless you're looking only at the last two years, which is rather myopic and hardly a sufficiently representative sample to make such a sweeping statement. Neither team has the other's number; they've been very even in recent years.
Maybe the AP's hockey writers should stick to talking about hockey. How about that.
Anyway, here's a better ESPN article about Notre Dame's amazing run to the national championship game. In hockey.
P.S. Now, if you want to say that USC currently has Notre Dame's number in football, thanks to six straight wins -- five of them blowouts -- that would be accurate. :) Likewise, it would have been accurate to say that the Irish had the Trojans' number back during their 13-year undefeated streak in the '80s and '90s. But no way does either ND or UM have the other's number right now.
By Brendan Loy
Man, oh man, has it been a great year to be an unheralded, small-conference school in western North Carolina, or what?
First Appalachian State beats Michigan in the Big House. Then Gardner-Webb beats Kentucky at Rupp Arena. And now Davidson -- Appy State's conference-mate -- is going to the Elite Eight.
Just call it the Bermuda Carolina Triangle:
"Abandon hope, all ye major-conference foes who enter here!"
Heady days in western Carolina. HOT! HOT! HOT!
By Brendan Loy
The University at Buffalo football team will play a home game on ESPN2 on Election Night against Miami of Ohio. It'll be Buffalo's first nationally televised game since moving to Division I-A, and the first-ever nationally televised game out of UB Stadium. And according to UB grad Weston (pictured below with yours truly on the night of the Buffalo-Rutgers game last fall), they're calling it the "Blue vs. Red Game," in reference to its Election Night timing. Heh.
Speaking of Buffalo, the Bulls are currently trying to extend their men's basketball season in unlikely fashion. At 3-13 in conference play and 10-19 overall, UB is the lowest seed in the conference, #12, but they're leading aforementioned Miami, the #5-seed, by a score of 51-42 with 11:39 to go. Can Buffalo get four wins in four days to win the MAC Tournament? Um, probably not. But hey, you never know. Crazier things have happened -- like the UB football team winning five games in a season. :) Winner gets #4-seed Ohio tomorrow.
UPDATE: Buffalo loses, 69-68. :(
By Brendan Loy
Not content with pissing all over USC's football championships, now LSU wants to steal our basketball coach. :P
Floyd responded with a non-denial denial. I'm sure Les Miles will be rushing to the microphone any minute to castigate the media for reporting on such rumors when Floyd is busy trying to focus on winning a Pac-10 and NCAA championship. ;)
(Hat tip: Jay.)
By Brendan Loy
Pete Carroll and new UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel have reportedly reached an agreement that will allow the Bruins and Trojans to renew the old tradition of both wearing their home jerseys when they play each other.
Sweet.
The Daily Bruin and Bruins Nation have more. (Hat tip: Doc and Chris Newbury.)
By Brendan Loy
USC has had an awfully impressive track record on the recruiting trail in recent years, especially in the area of quarterbacks. John David Booty was the top QB recruit of the Class of 2003; Mark Sanchez was the top QB recruit of the Class of 2005; Mitch Mustain was the top QB recruit of the Class of 2006. All three went to USC (after a brief sojourn at Arkansas, in Mustain's case).
Well, the embarrassment of riches continues: the Class of 2009's top quarterback recruit, Matt Barkley, announced yesterday that he will go to USC. (Hat tip: Andrew Leyden.)
Sweet.
By Jay Johnson
Looks like Norm Chow is headed back to southern California to assume the role of Offensive Coordinator.
For UCLA.
That is all.
By Brendan Loy
Pete Carroll isn't talking about the ongoing speculation concerning his possible return to the NFL with either the Atlanta Falcons or the Washington Redskins. But the Associated Press asserts that the Falcons' hiring of Tom Dimitroff as general manager last weekend "likely will end [owner Arthur] Blank's possible interest in Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll. Carroll has said he would have interest in an NFL job only if given the authority in personnel decisions."
Meanwhile, USC linebakers coach Ken Norton will remain at Troy instead of defecting to his alma mater, UCLA, which had tried to woo him across town. "I'm flattered," he said of the Bruins' interest. "They'll always be a team in my heart . I feel real good about Rick Neuheisel and what he's going to do there. ... The timing just wasn't right. I'm really appreciative of what Pete Carroll has done for me over here, and my business is not finished."
By Brendan Loy
Buffalo's Turner Gill gets a contract extension: "Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Gill's new salary is expected to put him in the top tier of MAC coaches."
By Brendan Loy
Ladies and gentlemen, I dreamed the impossible dream, but alas, it looks like that dream -- of former Michigan State coach John L. Smith "doing crazy s**t while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a lei" -- will not happen. It appears Hawaii is going to keep things in-house, hiring defensive coordinator Greg McMackin as June Jones's successor.
Continue reading "Slap thyself, John L. Smith: Hawaii says no" »
By Brendan Loy
Heh: In the wake of June Jones's departure as Hawaii's head football coach, state-employee union rules have forced the university to post the job on the Internets, available for anyone to apply. "By mutual agreement with the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, the position must be advertised for at least five working days." It was posted on Tuesday, so you have until at least Saturday to apply:
Head Football Coach, position number 80110, UHM Athletics, (Manoa), Duties: Under administrative direction, Coach is responsible for planning, administering, and evaluating the overall operation of the intercollegiate football program to include, but not limited to, academic achievement of student-athletes, recruitment of qualified prospects, supervision of assistant coaches and other staff assigned to the program, compliance, program management (eligibility, scheduling, travel, budget, equipment), and student-athlete welfare. The head coach assumes full responsibility for ensuring that team performance is competitive in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with the goal of achieving post-season competition.
And so on, and so forth. Applicants must submit a cover letter, a resume, three references, and UH Form 64. (God bless bureaucracy.) "Review of applications will begin on Jan-15-2008 and will continue until the position is filled." They've received 30 applications so far -- including, apparently, one from former Michigan State coach John L. Smith.
This is kind of ironic, at least in the Alanis Morrisette sense, considering that Smith's Spartans lost 41-38 at Hawaii in 2004, then spent the better part of 2006 trying to weasel their way out of a contract to play there again in 2007. They finally succeeded -- though not until after Coach Slappy had already been fired -- paying $250,000 for the right to not play Hawaii.
The scheduling cowardice of Smith & co. helped doom Hawaii to an abysmal SOS rating, while allowing Michigan State (under new coach Mark Dantonio) to go 4-0 in its non-conference slate against cupcakes UAB, Bowling Green, Pitt and Notre Dame. (Okay, so those last two might not have been cupcakes when they were scheduled, but still...)
And now, Smith wants to go to Hawaii. For good. He's not shy about it, either, telling a reporter: "With 18 years of collegiate head coaching experience and over 130 wins, I would hope that would qualify me as a candidate to be the next head coach at the University of Hawaii."
"And if they don't hire me, I'll slap myself," he added.
Okay, maybe he didn't actually say that last part. But oh, John L. Smith, how I've missed you.
Hawaii, please, please, make this happen. It'll be good for college football. Check that: great for college football. John L. Smith doing crazy s**t while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a lei = COMEDY GOLD.
(Hat tip: EDSBS.)
In other coaching news, it seems a Washington booster offered the school $100,000 to fire Ty Willingham.
By Brendan Loy
Amid all the excitement of the past few days, I never got around to posting the final standings of the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest. Of course, the final point totals are already online, but that's without tiebreakers. Full standings, with tiebreakers, are after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
It's January, which means it's Pete-Carroll-to-the-NFL rumor season. This time, though, it sounds like there may actually be something to the rumors:
USC coach Pete Carroll is interested in the Atlanta Falcons' head coach opening and is expected to speak with Atlanta owner Arthur Blank via phone Wednesday, sources at the American Football Coaches Convention in Anaheim told ESPN's Joe Schad.
Blank is expected to offer full control of personnel decisions to Carroll and the sources said that is what intrigues Carroll most.
DAMN YOU, BOBBY PETRINO!!!
(Hat tip: BK.)
P.S. Reaction from around the Trojansphere:
Student Body Right: "Let’s face it, at some point the guy will jump back to the NFL, it seems inevitable, but… Atlanta? Maybe the single worst job in the league right now? Seems a little nutty, if you ask me."
AOL Fanhouse: "It's... interesting to speculate why Carroll would leave a gravy job at USC for a massive rebuilding project in Atlanta."
Conquest Chronicles: "I am a little shocked that the Falcons would even entertain going after another college coach, regardless of [the coach's] success, after the whole Petrino mess. I have said before that I think Pete Carroll will end up back in the NFL but I'm not sure this is right fit for him. ... [But] I think this might the time for him to go. This is an itch he really wants to scratch and you will only get so many opportunities to make the move back into the NFL. Don't get me wrong I want to keep him as long as we can but we need to be realistic that sooner or later this will probably happen."
TrojanWire: "Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona and Houston have all courted the man, but so far no team has been able to woo him back over. ... [But now Atlanta] is supposedly offering what Pete wants most: full control of all personnel decisions for the Falcons. ... Pete has been quoted saying he'll 'never return' to the NFL, but who knows...if the conditions are right, any man has his price -- even Pete."
Scott Wolf: "About two weeks ago, I spoke to Carroll about the Falcons job and he was not bullish on it or the organization." And later, a quote from the USC sports information department: "There's nothing going on, no reason to even talk about it." Yeah right -- "Nothing going on . . . except an interview with the Atlanta Falcons today," Wolf adds.
By Brendan Loy
If LenDale White gets a first down on that 4th-and-2 against Texas, if John David Booty doesn't throw an interception with 1:10 left against UCLA, and if Stanford's Tavita Pritchard doesn't complete that 4th-and-goal prayer from the 10 (or the 4th-and-20 moments before), USC is celebrating its fifth consecutive national championship right now.
I know: if, if, if. And throw in two more "ifs," because I'm assuming the Trojans would have beaten Ohio State in the title game the last two years, if they'd made it in (though that seems like a pretty reasonable assumption). Still, it's pretty incredible to contemplate how close 'SC has come to a dynasty like no other.
Ah well. Next year. BEAT THE CAVALIERS!!
By Brendan Loy
Well, not really. But with LSU #1 and Georgia #2 in the final AP poll (just as I predicted), it's sort of inescapable. The drumbeat of SEC chest-beating will be unavoidable between now and next September. OMG BEST CONFERENCE EVAR!1!!
By the way, LSU was not a unanimous #1 -- second-ranked Georgia got 3 first-place votes, third-ranked USC got 1, and seventh-ranked Kansas got 1 -- but this wasn't even close to being a split championship. (Again, just as I predicted.) LSU finished with 60 first-place votes and 1,620 points overall. Georgia got 1,515 points; USC, 1,500.
Of course, as David mentioned yesterday, I'm sure LSU will graciously refuse to accept the Associated Press championship trophy. ;)
After the Tigers, Bulldogs and Trojans comes a tight battle for #4, which Missouri eked out with 1,347 points -- one more point than #5 Ohio State (1,346) and five more than #6 West Virginia (1,342). A bit further behind is Kansas, one of just two one-loss teams in the nation (the other being #19 Hawaii), with 1,303 points.
Rounding out the AP Top 15: #8 Oklahoma, #9 Virginia Tech, #10 Texas and Boston College (tied), #12 Tennessee, #13 Florida, #14 BYU and #15 Auburn. For those keeping score at home, that's five SEC teams in the Top 15. Please shoot me now. ... Of course, if you look at their records, you'll note that Tennessee, Florida and Auburn are the only four-loss teams ranked above #18, which is further evidence of the Kreutz Theorem ("when [pollsters] rank SEC teams, they automatically subtract a loss from their record"). Heh.
Michigan, if you're wondering, finished #18, the highest-ranked non-SEC four-loss team. Who can honestly say they saw that coming back in September? Oh, and Appalachian State got 5 votes, effectively tying them for 34th place with South Florida. HOT! HOT! HOT!
Anyway, on a more serious note: congratulations to the LSU Tigers! Whatever we may think of the BCS, the Bayou Bengals deserve credit for surviving this most turbulent of college-football seasons and earning, at last, an undisputed national championship... sort of. :) Well done, guys. Way to geaux.
P.S. This is the first time two teams from the same conference have finished the season ranked #1 and #2 in the AP poll since 1971, when the top two were #1 Nebraska and #2 Oklahoma of the Big Eight. (And it didn't stop there. Fellow conference-mate Colorado was #3!)
UPDATE: In the final USA Today coaches poll, USC edged Geogria for the #2 spot, 1,380 points to 1,370, and Ohio State headily beat Missouri for the #4 spot, 1,287 to 1,241, with West Virginia close behind Mizzou at 1,239, and Kansas at 1,217. Unlike in 2003, there were no dissenters from the contractually obligatory coronation of LSU as the #1 team.
UPDATE 2: As long as we're talking rankings, Stewart Mandel has posted his preseason Top 10 for 2008. Of course, much depends on various juniors' stay-or-go-pro decisions. But provisionally, he has Georgia at #1, Ohio State #2, Oklahoma #3, USC #4 and Missouri #5. LSU, which he says "will be hit harder by graduation than any of the other top teams from 2007," is #9.
By JLR
In yesterday's Washington Post, there was a decent article examining the pros and cons of a playoff system for college football. I've already explained my position, and I've heard numerous arguments from the Brendansphere. However, with a 2-loss "champion," I need to say it again: the BCS system sucks. If App State can figure out how to have their students take their final exams even though they have playoffs, why can't Virginia? (UVA purposely declined their invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl because it would have conflicted with exams).
And now I need to stop and look at what I wrote. I'm a teacher, for chrissake ... A teacher who sometimes resents ploys arguments like this from athletic departments. Somefeel the stress is too much ... maybe.
Some of the Appalachian State football players felt that way, crammed into the ballroom some 48 hours before playing the most important game of their season. Afterward, though, they also agreed the stress was worthwhile. Years from now, unlike whichever team wins tonight [OSU. or LSU -ed], the merits of their national championship will not be questioned.
I was a student athlete in high school (though not in college, I'll admit). Classwork comes first. If there was a conflict, I went to the teacher and worked something out. Period. Almost every teacher I know would be willing to give students other opportunities to make up work (or an exam) if they had a legitimate reason for missing class--and I think playoffs would qualify. True, it might be tough, but isn't that what being a student athlete is about?
By Brendan Loy
My two favorite sports, college football and presidential politics, converge tonight. The BCS national-title game is underway (LSU is up 17-10), and the first New Hampshire primary results will be available in less than three hours, as the polls open -- and close -- in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location. I don't know how many people will be flipping between Fox and C-SPAN around midnight, but I know I will be!
UPDATE: LSU was up 34-10, but Ohio State just scored a crucial touchdown to cut the Tigers' lead to 34-17 late in the third quarter.
UPDATE 2: Still 31-17 with 5:43 left, and after two straight interceptions by LSU, it's pretty much over.
Meanwhile, back on the political front, here is some corroboration of what Matt Drudge was reporting earlier today.
UPDATE 3: LSU 38, Ohio State 24, final. (It was 38-17, then tOSU got a garbage-time touchdown with 1:13 left.)
So, um, yeah, nevermind. ;)
The Fox analyst says Ohio State "could very well be back in this game next year." Oh good lord.
Now, over to C-SPAN...
UPDATE 4: WTF?? C-SPAN does not appear to be showing Dixville Notch live!! Why does C-SPAN exist, if not to allow political nerds to watch live coverage of ridiculous, nonsensical, meaningless political traditions?
UPDATE 5: Phew, CNN is live from Dixville Notch!
UPDATE 6: It's midnight, and the New Hampshire primary is underway! Four of the 17 residents of Dixville Notch have already voted absentee, and the other 13 just dropped their ballots into the ballot box. ... And the polls are closed!
UPDATE 7: This is riveting.
UPDATE 8: Duncan Hunter is there. In Dixville Notch. Heh.
And they're about to announce the results!
UPDATE 9: McCain 4, Romney 2, Giuliani 1. No love for Hunter!
UPDATE 10: Obama 7, Edwards 2, Richardson 1. w00t!
By Brendan Loy
Back on December 3, the day after the BCS pairings were announced, the always eloquent Sunday Morning Quarterback had an excellent post about LSU and SEC fan hubris in anticipation of the Mythical Championship Game showdown between the Buckeyes and the Tigers. I meant to blog about it earlier, but never got around to it. Now, with the game mere hours away, seems like the perfect time to finally do so. Quoth SMQ:
The worst result of last year's mythical championship game was the growth and perpetuation of this absurd notion of superior "SEC speed," based not on the collective 40 times and shuttle drills of hundreds of players on a couple dozen teams that make up the SEC and Big Ten, but on a handful of plays in a single game that was decidedly outside the season-long patterns of both participants, and not demonstrably decided by "speed" (unless you're willing to suggest Tennessee and Arkansas were done in a week earlier by "speed," too, which was at least as plausible). ...
One would think the false sense of inevitability that followed Ohio State prior to last year's championship (or USC the year before that, or that very, very fast Miami team in 2002, or, I don't know, LSU, Ohio State, West Virginia, USC, Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, California, Florida or LSU again prior to stunning upsets over the last three months) would demonstrate the virtues of humility to fans everywhere, and lead them to stop for a second to recognize - last year's anomalous championship beatdown is a great example of this - that anything can happen in one game, on one night, and "anything" will not necessarily reconcile itself with the accumulation of disparate performances that precedes it. It only adds to the accumulation; it doesn't define it. Based on everything we know from the dozen "samples" on both sides leading up to last January, that Florida team couldn't beat that Ohio State team by 27 points again in a whole season of trying. There's a reason the Gators were underdogs, and it's not because they kept the fast guys under wraps when squeaking out wins against South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Based on everything we know from both teams' performances this season, Ohio State and LSU should be a close, hard-hitting game between two of the few teams that still operate largely from traditional two-back sets on offense and do not hesitate to run old-fashioned isos, counters and traps into the line. It's an interesting collision of style and persona between loose cannon Les Miles and icy, understated mercenary Jim Tressel, and their emphases on emotion, "poise" (as Miles likes to repeat to his oft-flagged charges) and discipline. But it will be decided by the side that executes and catches the right breaks under the specific set of circumstances that unfold on Jan. 7, at which point, of course, that team will be instantly refashioned into gold-drenched superheroes with inherent abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Naturally: We are the champions! These are the myths we make.
But the athletes, the speed, all of that is a given. LSU and Ohio State have both turned in top ten recrutiting classes each of the last four seasons. They've all got the athletes. They've all got the speed. The differences in raw talent on this level are nil. This championship, like all championships, will be about combining management, strategy and execution in the moment, and probably a bounce or timely flag or two. Not as catchy as "SEC Speed," but anything more precise than wrongheaded, bumper sticker hubris rarely is.
Indeed.
Anyway, you may notice that in the title of this post, I'm going out on a limb, aligning myself with the 27 out of 90 Bowl Pick 'em contestants and 25.3 percent of ESPN readers who believe the Buckeyes will prevail. I am predicting this not because I'm pro-OSU but because I'm anti-CW (conventional wisdom, that is), and I see no particular reason to believe that Ohio State can't win this game. This isn't an SEC-Big Ten Challenge (which the former would certainly win), it's a game between two specific teams from those conferences, and while I won't be particularly surprised if either one wins -- such is the chaotic nature of college football, especially this season -- I think a Buckeye blowout would be the perfect conclusion to the season, in the sense that it would turn conventional wisdom on its head one last time. And the Buckeyes certainly have plenty of motivation, while the homestanding Bayou Bengals could easily fall into the trap of reading their press clippings a bit too much. Also, for the love of God, I don't think I can handle the SEC chest-thumping if the Tigers win. So: Ohio State 27, LSU 10.
Oh, and the talk about a split national championship? Forget about it. This is, as I keep saying, a Mythical Championship Game in the sense that there's no particularly compelling reason to believe that these are actually the two best teams in the country, but at the same time, nobody else stands out as being worthy, either. The problem this year, unlike in all past BCS controversies, isn't that there are too many championship-worthy teams, it's that there are too few. My USC Trojans, for one, really and truly should not be in this discussion at all, and it's frankly an embarrassment that they are. Yes, they'd probably win a playoff, but who cares? We don't have a playoff system, we have a system where you're judged on your body of work, and USC lost to Stanford and beat next to nobody. As for the others -- Georgia, Kansas, West Virginia, Missouri (!) -- they all, like USC, are nice teams, but none of them scream "national champion" and all have glaring flaws. So will the LSU-OSU winner, of course, particularly if it's the two-loss Tigers. But in this strangest of all seasons, sheer inertia should result in the Mythical Championship Game winner being recognized by both polls. If Hawaii had beaten Georgia, it would have been a different story, but of course, that rather emphatically did not happen. So tonight's game is for all the marbles: BCS and AP. That said, the phrase "undisputed champion" would not be proper. There's plenty of cause to dispute the result. It's just that no single alternative stands out, so tonight's winner gets the consensus title by default.
Go Buckeyes.
By Brendan Loy
Tulsa leads Bowling Green, 21-0 at the end of the first quarter of the GMAC Bowl, and the Golden Hurricane is threatening to score again. That's bad news for Trisha Neudorff and good news for Seth Carmack, who, as noted earlier, will clinch the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest if Tulsa wins tonight.
UPDATE, 10:35 PM: It's 42-7 Tulsa with 11:20 left in the third quarter. I'm going to bed now, but I think we can safely declare it over: Tulsa wins, and Seth Carmack is the 2007 Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest champion!
Carmack is the first winner to clinch the contest prior to the BCS title game. That's partly the result of how heavily favored LSU is -- just three of the current Top 15 contestants picked Ohio State, so most of them have no opportunity to gain any ground on Carmack, who went with the majority and picked LSU -- and partly the result of my blatant editorializing in making the Mythical Championship Game have an equal point value to the other BCS bowls. If the title game was worth 8 points, like last year, Neudorff would still be alive to win. But it's only worth 5, and she trails by 6, so the best she can do is lose by one point.
Anyway, congratulations, Seth!
UPDATE: The final score was 63-7. Pick 'em standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Rutgers's 52-30 win over Ball State in the International Bowl means that Seth Carmack will clinch the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest if Tulsa beats Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl tomorrow night.
Trisha Neudorff needs for Bowling Green to win tomorrow, and then for Ohio State to upset LSU in the BCS title game Monday. If Tulsa wins tomorrow, Neudorff will be too far behind Carmack to catch him, even if the Buckeyes win.
After the jump, complete standings plus each contestant's predicted winners of the final two bowls. (The GMAC Bowl is worth 1 point; the BCS title game, 5 points.) Standings are also here.
By Brendan Loy
It's Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 14 with 5:51 left in the Orange Bowl. Hokies ball on their own 22.
As I mentioned earlier, if the Jayhawks win, the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest will become a two-person race between Seth Carmack and Trisha Neudorff. If the Hokies rally, Brian Dupuis will clinch the contest.
UPDATE: Awesome touchdown catch by Kyle Harper for VT, and after a 15-play, 78-yard, 2-minute-51-second Hokies drive, it's 24-21 Kansas with three minutes left. Finally, a competitive BCS game!
UPDATE 2: Kansas wins! So, Dupuis is eliminated. Carmack leads the pick 'em contest, and can clinch early if Rutgers and Tulsa win the International and GMAC bowls, respectively. If either Ball State or Bowling Green (or both) win, Neudroff stays alive heading into the BCS title game, needing an Ohio State victory over LSU to move ahead of Dupuis.
Complete standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Brian Dupuis, a.k.a. DUP, who won the first annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest in 2005-06, can clinch the third annual contest tonight if Virginia Tech beats Kansas in the Orange Bowl.
If Kansas wins, Dupuis will be eliminated, and the contest will become a two-person race between Seth C. and Trisha Neudorff. Neudorff would win if Ohio State beats LSU in the title game and either Ball State or Bowling Green (or both) win the International or GMAC bowls, respectively. If LSU wins, or if both Rutgers and Tulsa win, Seth C. would win the contest.
Current standings here and after the jump.
Continue reading "Dupuis on verge of another pick 'em win" »
By David K.
With less than 6 minutes remaining the Mountaineers of West Virginia are dominating the Oklahoma Sooners 48 - 28. A win would not only be a huge upset (for instance only 17 of the 90 entrants in the bowl pool picked WVU and over 84% of the voters in the ESPN Bowl Mania challange picked the Sooners, with an average confidence of 24.5 out of 32) but the first win of the bowl season for a team playing with an interim coach. Oklahoma is looking at another loss in the Arizona desert, although not nearly as exciting as last years to Boise State. And its been a messy game too, 21 penalties so far and 225 penalty yards between the two teams, a dubious Fiesta Bowl record.
Oh and one more thing, the next time someone complains about USC only playing one song I'm going to tell them to watch an Oklahoma game, that stupid Sooner ditty is ridiculous.
UPDATE:
Final score 48-28 WVU, congrats to the Mountaineers. If West Virginia is smart they'll hire interim coach Bill Stewart right after the game. He got this team to play for him when no one else believed in them.
By Jay Johnson
We've had some excellent, very competitive BCS bowls so far.
I mean, this Fiesta Bowl is practically a nailbiter, with West Virginia struggling to hold on to a 20 point lead over Oklahoma.
48-28, WVU with 9 minutes to go in the game.
Sheesh.
By Brendan Loy
Loyette and I are watching the Rose Bowl in the hospital (well, she's asleep, but she's sitting on my lap while I watch it, anyway), and so far, we like what we see: the Trojans lead 21-3 at halftime.
UPDATE: USC 49, Illinois 17, final. w00t!
Meanwhile, Georgia and Hawaii are underway in the Sugar Bowl. Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis -- the same announcing team that called last year's Boise State win in the Fiesta Bowl and this year's Appalachian State upset of Michigan -- are calling the game. I sense an upset!
UPDATE 2: Or not. Georgia 24, Hawaii 3 at halftime.
UPDATE 3: Nope, definitely not. Georgia 41, Hawaii 10, final.
Remember how everyone wanted to see USC vs. Georgia instead of putting them in separate bowls? Tonight pretty well demonstrated why, no? It's not the Rose Bowl's fault that a Trojans-Bulldogs matchup didn't happen, but man, it would have been pretty awesome. The BCS sucks.
By Brendan Loy
Although I suddenly find college football considerably less interesting than staring dumbfoundedly into my daughter's eyes, nevertheless a bunch of bowl games are happening today. And things are going well so far for the hometown team, as Tennessee leads Wisconsin 21-7 near the end of the first half.
Later, of course, it'll be USC vs. Illinois in the Rose Bowl and Georgia vs. Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. Loyette says, "Fight on Trojans, and Go Warriors!" Okay, actually, Loyette just sort of let out a sleepy squeak, but that's how I interpret her sentiments. :)
Also about to begin: the Sabres-Penguins outdoor hockey game, with 73,000 crazed Buffalonians packing the Bills' iced-over football stadium. Kevin at Bfloblog calls it "the biggest sporting event to occur in the City of Buffalo in my lifetime."
Now if you'll excuse me, Becky and Loyette are both napping at the moment, and I'm going to try and do the same. I haven't gotten much sleep in the last 36 hours (something I know will be quite common for the next several weeks/months/decades), and I gotta rest up before the Rose Bowl!
By Brendan Loy
Heh.
That's USC alum Michael Walsh, a.k.a. lex icon, at left, and UCLA alum Mike Tran at right, looking pretty sanguine under the circumstances.
(This is all because I won a bet, in case you forgot.)
In accordance with the terms of the bet, Tran's ride will be flag-adorned all day today and tomorrow. So there will be one extra Trojan car driving around the streets of L.A. (or Orange County, whatever) during the Rose Bowl.
Hopefully Mike will manage to contain his self-loathing enough not to drive across the center line or anything. ;)
Here's another shot of just the car with the flag:
Fight on Trojans, Beat the Illini!!!
By Brendan Loy
Alabama's win over Colorado in the Independence Bowl kept Hal Strickland in sole possession of the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest lead. Things could change a lot tomorrow, though, with six bowl games worth two points apiece. Strickland picked Air Force, Georgia Tech, South Florida, Kentucky, Clemson and Oklahoma State. Everyone else's picks can be viewed here and here.
Current standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Penn State beat Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl, so the top six in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest remain unchanged from the last update.
If Alabama beats Colorado in the Independence Bowl tomorrow, Hal Strickland will remain in sole possession of first place. If Colorado wins, D. Brooks will tie him for the lead.
Full updated standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Hal Strickland took sole possession of first place in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest moments ago as Mississippi State beat Central Florida, 10-3 in the Liberty Bowl.
Strickland picked Penn State in the evening's final game, the Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M. But he will stay in first place at the end of the night even if the Aggies win.
Mark Gardner and 2005-06 pick 'em winner Brian Dupuis are tied for second place, one point behind Strickland. They also picked Penn State, as did Scott Fort, Courtney Tawresey and D. Brooks, who are tied for fourth place, two back of Strickland.
All of the bowls for the remainder of 2007 are worth two points each; the non-BCS New Year's Day bowls are worth three apiece; and the BCS bowls are worth five each. Current standings after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
ESPN's announcer for the Meineke Car Care Bowl just stated that the AP is reporting that UCLA has hired former Washington coach and Bruin alum Rick Neuheisel, who left a trail of recruiting-violation carnage in his wake at both UW and Colorado, as its new head coach.
Hahahahahaha.
The score, by the way, is Wake Forest 17, UConn 10 in the closing seconds, with the Demon Deacons running out the clock.
UPDATE: Wake wins, 24-10. Hal Strickland and Mark Gardner are now tied for the lead in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest. One of them will take sole possession of the lead depending on who wins the Liberty Bowl: Strickland if Mississippi State wins, Gardner if UCF wins.
Meanwhile, here's an article about Neuweasel.
And in basketball, Tennessee and Gonzaga are underway. Go Zags!
By Brendan Loy
After Boston College's win over Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl, there's a four-way tie atop the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest among Gerry deSimas, Mark Gardner, Anthony H. and Hal Strickland. All four picked Oregon State over Maryland in the currently-underway Emerald Bowl, but in the also-underway Texas Bowl between TCU and Houston, deSimas picked Houston while the others picked the Horned Frogs. So deSimas will take sole possession of the lead if the Cougars win. If TCU wins, it'll be either a three-way tie among Gardner, Strickland and Anthony H. (if Oregon State wins) or a six-way tie among those three and JLR, Chris Healey and Lane Buchan (if Maryland wins). Both games are currently tied in the third quarter.
UPDATE: TCU wins, 20-13. So it'll be either a three-way or six-way tie. Oregon State leads Maryland 21-14 with 6:39 to go.
UPDATE 2: Beavers win! Finally, the Pac-10 pulls one out. Latest pick 'em contest standings here and after the jump. Also after the jump, scenarios for who will have the lead at the end of the day tomorrow.
By Brendan Loy
Did Darren McFadden just ruin one of the few intriguing-on-paper matchups of this wretched bowl season by rendering himself ineligible?
UPDATE: Apparently it ain't so. The TV station that initially reported the story has retracted it and apologized.
By David K.
Up 21-0 it looked like Texas was about to put the nail in the coffin with a recovery of a backwards lateral and return by the Longhorns, until, that is, the instant replay showed that as the ball was bouncing backwards towards the Texas sideline, a Texas coach/ballboy reached out for the ball and tipped it with his thumb before he drew back his hand*. The result? A unsporstmanlke conduct penalty that resulted in the ball being given back to ASU plus half the distance to the goal, 4 and 3 on the 7 yard line. Carpenter tossed a short pass for a touchdown on the ensuing play, and proceeded to hold texas to a 3 and out on the next drive to get the ball back on the Texas side of the field. WIth 10 minutes remaining in the first half, plenty of time for the Sun Devil's to make a comeback.
* Some may dispute whether the ball touched the young man's hand or not, it was tough to tell from some of the angles, however there were clearly Texas players and coaches on the field which would also have been an unsportsmanlike penalty anyway.
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Aaaand Arizona State lays a massive egg for the Pac-10, committing five turnovers en route to a 52-34 Texas win. Dammit, Sun Devils!
In the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest, it's now a six-way tie for first place among Gerry deSimas, Hal Strickland, Mark Gardner, Chris Healey, Anthony H. and D. Brooks. Updated standings here and after the jump.
Continue reading "Holiday Bowl continues crazy 2007 football season" »
By Brendan Loy
Purdue leads Central Michigan 48-41 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Motor City Bowl. Purdue led 34-13 at halftime, but the Chippewas have stormed back to make it a ballgame. If they complete the comeback and win, Andrew Long and Joey Kaufman will be tied for the lead in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest; if the Boilers hang on to win, it'll be a nine-way tie among the other current co-leaders.
UPDATE: Tie game! CMU just scored a touchdown, and it's 48-48 with 1:09 left.
UPDATE 2: Purdue gets a field goal as time expires, and the Boilermakers win 51-48. Beat the drum!
So it's a nine-way tie. Updated standings here and after the jump.
P.S. Tomorrow at 8:00 PM on ESPN, San Diego will host the first bowl worth two points in the pick 'em contest: Arizona State vs. Texas in the Holiday Bowl. (Go Sun Devils!) Of the current co-leaders, David K., John Chung and Timugen picked ASU; Anthony H., D. Brooks, Gerry DeSimas, Hal Strickland, Mark Gardner and Chris Healey picked Texas. Overall, 48 contestants picked the 'Horns; 42 picked the Devils.
By Brendan Loy
Boise State went from being last bowl season's Cinderella to this bowl season's most overwhelming favorite, according to the contestants in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest -- and it seems the Broncos preferred the glass slipper. Boise lost to East Carolina last night, 41-38 in the Hawaii Bowl.
Only five people in the Pick 'em Contest -- Chris Healey, Edward Eylar, Larry Caplin, Marge, and Becky Loy -- saw that coming. The other 85 contestants picked the Broncos. That's 94.4%, the largest percentage picking any one team in the bowl contest's three-year history. (111 of 118 contestants, 94.1%, picked Texas over Iowa last year, and were just barely right.)
This isn't the first time a huge majority in the Pick 'em Contest has been wrong. In 2005-06, the two heaviest favorites both lost: Nebraska stunned 115-13 favorite Michigan, and Utah defeated 119-9 favorite Georgia Tech. Last year, the five most lopsided games, prediction-wise, all went according to form, but the sixth-biggest underdog, Florida State, beat a UCLA team that was favored 99-19.
Anyway, East Carolina's win means that nobody has a perfect prediction record in this year's Pick 'em Contest. Healey joins the previous co-leaders in an 11-way tie for first with 5 points out of a possible 6. In the contest's three-year history, this is the earliest point, by far, that everyone has missed at least one game. Mark Gardner, Darrin Bartley and Carl Lindecrantz started 10-0 in 2005; Colin Pedicini started 11-0 last year.
Complete standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Oh, sweet schadenfreude...
It looked like UCLA was going to pull a stunning comeback against BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl moments ago, as the Bruins -- whose kicker had previously hit field goals from 50 and 52 yards -- needed only a 28-yarder as time expired to win the game. But a BYU player got a hand on the ball and it fell just short of the goal post, giving the Cougars a dramatic 17-16 win (and changing the planned title of this post from "BYU cougs it" to the headline you see above). Somewhere, Mitt Romney is cheering.
Said ESPN announcer Brad Nessler, referring to UCLA defender Bruce Davis: "He played his guts out tonight, literally." Wow, that sounds painful. Though I suppose it's better than being literally on a roller coaster to hell...
Anyway, BYU's win means that 10 contestants in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest are still perfect at 5-0. It also means that Becky and Alphadog finally got one right; they were 0-4 through the first four bowls, but they both picked BYU over fUCLA. Latest standings here and after the jump.
By JLR
FSU has 36 players on its roster that won't be playing in the Music City Bowl due to injury, rule violations, or academic dishonesty.
Brendan, is it too late to change our picks? ;-)
By Brendan Loy
Bowl season is barely underway, and already we have our first game-changing blown call. Sorry, Navy!
Meanwhile, after Florida Atlantic's 44-27 win over Memphis, only 15 people are still perfect in the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest. Both of the winners so far were underdogs, according to the contestants: 57 of 90 picked Navy over Utah, and 56 picked Memphis over FAU.
Now underway is the second-most lopsided bowl game of the year, prediction-wise: 84 contestants picked Cincinnati, while only 6 picked Southern Miss in the Papa Johns Bowl. But so far, the underdogs are (again) ahead: Southern Miss leads 7-0 with 10:08 left in the second quarter.
None of the 15 co-leaders picked the Golden Eagles, so if they win, there will be no one left with a perfect record in the contest.
Later today: the New Mexico Bowl and the Las Vegas Bowl. (GOOOOO MORMONS, BEEEEEAT BRUINS!) Schedule here.
UPDATE: Cincy wins. Still a 15-way tie for first, at 3-0.
By David K.
LA Daily News is reporting that Oregon Coach Mike Belotti has met with UCLA officials regarding the Bruins' head coaching position. Norm Chow, former USC offensive guru, has announced he is not interested in the job (followed by a collective sigh of relief from Trojan nation). Rick Neuheisel, the scourge of both the Colorado and Washington programs, is also still in the running.
By David K.
Utah has scored the first points of bowl season, scoring a touchdown in the second quarter of the Poinsettia Bowl. Plenty of time for more action, but only 32 of the 90 contestants in the pool picked the Utes to win, a victory here would put a lot of people in second place!
UPDATE
Utah wins 35-32, holding off a last minute comeback from Navy who scored on their longest TD pass of the year and recovered the onside kick, but lost the ball on an interception when their receiver slipped. Bowl season starts off with a bang!
By Brendan Loy
Just another friendly reminder that 9:00 PM EST tonight is the deadline to enter (or re-enter) the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest. Go Navy, Beat Utah!
UPDATE: Bowl season is underway! And so is the Bowl Pick 'em contest. 90 contestants entered; you can view their picks by bowl or by contestant. The results will be posted here.
On quite a few bowls, the contestants are almost evenly divided. For instance, 48 of the 90 believe Texas will win the Holiday Bowl; 42 believe Arizona State will win. 48-42 margins also exist in the Insight Bowl (Oklahoma State over Indiana) and the Gator Bowl (Texas Tech over Virginia). In the Meineke Car Care Bowl, the split is 46-44 in favor of UConn over Wake Forest. Georgia Tech is favored over Fresno State by the same margin, 46-44, in the Humanitarian Bowl. And the contestants are split right down the middle on the Peach Bowl: 45 think Auburn will win, 45 think Clemson will win.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the most lopsided bowls, prediction-wise, are the Hawaii Bowl (Boise State 85-5 over East Carolina), the Papa Johns Bowl (Cincinnati 84-6 over Southern Miss), the Rose Bowl (USC 83-7 over Illinois), the Las Vegas Bowl (BYU 81-9 over UCLA... hahaha) and the Capital One Bowl (Florida 80-10 over Michigan).
Rose Bowl aside, the favorites in the other BCS bowls are Georgia in the Sugar Bowl (51-39 over Hawaii), Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl (73-17 over West Virginia), Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl (58-32 over Kansas), and LSU in the Mythical National Championship Game (63-27 over Ohio State).
By Brendan Loy
If you haven't yet entered the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest (hey, come to think of it, I haven't entered yet!), you (and I) have just over 32 hours left to do so. The deadline is 9:00 PM EST tomorrow, which is when people across the country will drop whatever they're doing, sit down on their couches, turn on their TVs, and unite as one nation to watch the eagerly anticipated San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between a team that notched its first win of the season against UCLA (Utah) and a team that won for the first time in 44 years over another team notched its first win of the season against UCLA (Navy).
Speaking of UCLA... hey Mike, how's it coming on that car flag?
Er, so anyway, sign up now! And if you already made your picks but want to change 'em, just enter again. The deadline is the same regardless; your last entry will be the one that counts.
By David K.
Some critics of Tyrone Willingham believed it was his unwillingness to make staff changes that led to his ouster at Notre Dame 3 years ago. Whether that was true or not, it can't be said this time, as he has fired Defensive Coordinator Kent Baer along with Special Teams coach Bob Simmons. Defensive struggles were one of the Huskies' lowlights this season, and many were pushing for Baer's firing.
By Brendan Loy
There finally appears to be some progress in the negotiations between USC and the L.A. Coliseum Commission... but this part concerns me:
The school...will allow the commission to pay for a stadium overhaul -- one that would cost in the neighborhood of $50 million -- by allowing the use of USC's logos in a stadium naming-rights deal."In the interest of getting a deal done we have ... agreed to allow the commission to do a naming-rights deal and cooperate with the commission to get a single, prime naming-rights sponsor to name the Coliseum and put together a package," Dickey said. "As long as the money that was raised from that will go toward improving the Coliseum, based on the list of improvements that we feel are necessary and the specific deadlines by which they must be done."
Does this mean the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is going to become the Office Depot Coliseum of Los Angeles or some such blasphemy? Good lord.
(Suggested corporate sponsor via Boi From Troy, who blogged about this possibility way back in September.)
By Brendan Loy
Since my shameless plugs for Julie worked, I figured I might as well try another sort of shameless plug... one that could make me money!
I recently got an e-mail from a fellow at Asgard Press inviting me to check out their selection of Vintage College Football calendars. They're pretty nifty, if you're into old-timey-lookin' football type stuff. Here, for instance, is what the cover of their Notre Dame calendar looks like:
They've got a ton of other schools, too, including Tennessee. Alas, no USC -- that's in the works for next year.
Anyway, they make great stocking-stuffers... if you have an enormous stocking. :) Okay, okay, they make great gifts, anyway, for the old-school football fan in your life. Go over and see for yourself! And if you decide to buy one, be sure to use that link to get to it: you'll get a 10% discount, and I'll get a 15% cut. So everybody wins! :)
By Brendan Loy
With Rich Rodriguez leaving West Virginia to become, at long last, the new coach at Michigan, the question now becomes who will be West Virginia's new coach, and it appears that a possible candidate is... that's right, kids...
Sources close to University President Mike Garrison have informed WBGV that Nick Saban's agent has contacted WVU regarding our vacant head-coaching position.These sources tell us that Saban is extremely unhappy in Tuscaloosa and has failed to recapture the situation he had in Baton Rouge with LSU. The purpose of the agent's call was to express initial interest in the position and to have WVU athletics put together a compensation package enough to lure Saban from Alabama.
LOL!! Just when you thought Bobby Petrino might take over the title of "most blatantly disloyal sleazeball coach east of the Mississippi Dennis Erickson," King Saban reasserts his claim to the throne...
By Brendan Loy
The Tennessee Titans have given UCLA permission to interview offensive coordinator Norm Chow for the Bruins' head coaching position, and the interview reportedly took place Saturday night in Kansas City.
By Brendan Loy
Speaking of college football playoffs... tonight in Chattanooga, it's Appalachian State (12-2) against the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (11-3) for the Division I-AA national championship. With a win, the Michigan-conquering Mountaineers can earn an unprecedented third straight title -- and maybe, just maybe, quarterback Armanti Edwards can establish himself as a legit candidate for the 2008 Heisman Trophy. The game is at 8pm EST on ESPN2.
By Jay Johnson
Looks like the Dookies have stolen themselves a coach from Tennessee. According to local reports, Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe has been offered and is expected to accept the head coaching job in Durham.
Best wishes to Coach Cut. I hate to see him go, but I certainly understand the desire to make about 3 times what he's making as OC here. He's going to have a long tough road to get any football success at Duke, but I certainly think he'll do a fine job.
By Brendan Loy
The USC Trojans are your 2007-08 college football national champions! Well, sort of.
By Brendan Loy
MGoBlog: "Something is rotten in the state of Schembechler, and it will not yield the throne."
By Brendan Loy
That reminds me, I saw a UCLA Bruins football calendar selling for $0.49 at a Knoxville store yesterday. Seemed like a pretty fair price to me. I was sorely tempted to buy it and send it to Mike Tran, with the price tag still attached. ;)
By David K.
Interesting follow up to the news that Ty Willingham will have at least one more year as Washington's coach. Athletic director Todd Turner, the man who brought him in and one of his most vocal supporters has resigned. Some are pointing to his support of Willingham, which seems strange considering the recent decisions to keep him on and the continued support of UW President Mark Emmert for the coach. Others point to his difficulty in raising funds for Husky Stadium renovations and fallout over remarks made last year when holding up Northwest rival Oregon as an example for the Huskies to follow.
A nationwide search for a new AD will be conducted and in the interim UW Vice President for external affairs, , will act as athletic director.
Meanwhile in the Pac-10, reports are that Washington State is going to hire Eastern Washington coach Bob Wulff as their next head coach. Wulff is a WSU alum, where he played from 1985-1989 under current Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson. Wulff has coached at the 1-AA EWU since 2000 and has been named three times as the Big Sky conference Coach of the year since then. His Eagles lost to Appalachian State in the 1-AA Quarterfinals earlier this month.
By Brendan Loy
Rumors on the Internets are that he's been offered the job. That'd certainly be interesting.
P.S. The Daily Breeze also reports that Chow is a top candidate. And late last month, Conquest Chronicles quoted ESPN's Bruce Feldman as reporting that, according to a source, "Chow really wants the job." We shall see.
By David K.
Naw just kidding, Tebow won. :)
Tebow, a Florida sophomore, is the first underclassman to win the award, and could potentially repeat at least once to tie Archie Griffin, the only two-time winner. Heck, Tebow could even become a three-time winner. It'll be interesting to see if he can live up to expectations over the next few years, and even more interesting to consider if he can exceed them. Congratulations Tim Tebow, Heisman Trophy Winner 2007.
By David K.
Amidst all the discussion of diversity in the coaching ranks of Division 1-A football, Navy has hired what is believed to be the first polynesian head coach in the league's history by promoting assistant coach Ken Niumatalolo to the academy's top football job. Niumatalolo is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, where he was a three time letterman at quarterback and led the Rainbow Warriors to their first postseason bowl game in 1989.
By Brendan Loy
For the first time in history, a sophomore will win the Heisman tomorrow night. The finalists are Florida's Tim Tebow, Arkansas's Darren McFadden, Missouri's Chase Daniel and Hawaii's Colt Brennan, but the result is already a foregone conclusion: Tebow will win, according to StiffArmTrophy.com, which tabulates actual declared ballots, and has never been wrong.
In other Heisman-related news, sports writers Don Jaeger and Jim Henry are releasing a book in January called "Tarnished Heisman," containing transcripts of conversations of Reggie Bush supposedly "acknowledging he owed money" to his would-be New Era agents. The upshot is that, at the least, Bush could lose his Heisman if the transcripts are taken seriously. As always, Yahoo! Sports is at the forefront of reporting this story, though their headline is oddly uninformative and actually kind of funny: "Bush hit with book." I have this mental picture of somebody whacking Reggie over the head with a Harry Potter book or something. Heh.
UPDATE: James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal had a slightly different take, prefacing its reference to the headline "Bush hit with book" by quipping, "That Laura Sure Can Throw." Heh.
I wonder which book Bush was hit with?
By Brendan Loy
Quick, everybody get out your race cards! Apparently the reason Nebraska hired LSU's Bo Pelini instead of Buffalo's Turner Gill is because Gill is black. Yup, there's no other possible explanation. Cornhusker Nation is a bunch of dirty racists!! [rolls eyes]
Look, it sucks that there are only five black head coaches in Division I-A college football. (Based on percentage of the population, there should be 15.) But it truly boggles my mind that the race-obsessed media doesn't grasp the degree to which they're making the situation worse by focusing so heavily on race, to the exclusion of other relevant issues, whenever a black coach is hired, fired or considered for a coaching job.
Continue reading "The media's obsession with race is hurting black coaches" »
By Brendan Loy
ESPN has posted its official bowl preview, and I have to say that I'm really, really annoyed by this factually erroneous statement about the USC-Illinois Rose Bowl game:
The Tournament of Roses chose tradition (sorry, Georgia) over a better matchup.
I've seen numerous sports "journalists" make similar statements over the last few days. Only problem: it's not true. The Rose Bowl did not have Georgia as an option.
By Brendan Loy
Washington will not fire Ty Willingham. (And thank goodness. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton might have led a march on Pac-10 headquarters if Dorrell and Willingham had both been fired in the space of a week.) There is speculation, however, that the Huskies will "clean house" with regard to the defensive coaches, starting with coordinator Kent Baer. That would please resident BrendanLoy.com Husky fan David K., who commented Sunday that "the biggest failure is our defense and our DC needs to be gone now. If Willingham does not fire him, I will move towards the fire Willingham camp." That's what a lot of Irish fans were saying back in 2004 with regard to Ty's coordinators, including Baer (who followed him from Notre Dame to UW), and it didn't happen, but hopefully this time Ty won't make the Bush-esque mistake of putting loyalty before competence.
In other Washington-state sports news, #17 Gonzaga lost to #8 Wazzu last night, the Zags' first-ever loss at home while ranked.
By Brendan Loy
It's that time of year again... time for the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest!
Actually, I'm getting the contest started a little earlier this year than I did in 2005 and 2006, because you never know when the baby might come, and I want to be sure this is all set up in advance. :) The deadline to enter is December 20 at 9pm EST, which is when the Poinsettia Bowl kicks off.
Anyway, you can sign up now! If you wish to change any of your picks before the deadline, you can simply enter again. Only your last entry will count.
More details after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
ESPN's Irish Trojan doubleheader at Madison Square Garden, a.k.a. the Jimmy V Classic, is going well for the good guys so far. Notre Dame leads Kansas State, 59-53, with four minutes left. Luke Harangody is more than holding his own against the Wildcats' much-hyped Michael Beasley, with 19 points and 14 rebounds to Beasley's 17 and 11.
After ND and KSU finish up, it's USC vs. #2 Memphis and O.J. Mayo against Derrick Rose.
UPDATE: Irish win, 68-59! Kyle McAlarney finished with 18 points, including a clutch three-pointer from the top of the key with a couple of minutes left that essentially sealed the win.
UPDATE 2: At halftime, it's 29-24 Trojans. Nice!
UPDATE 3: OVERTIME! Daniel Hackett missed a free throw that would have put USC up 1 with 5.9 seconds left... and Taj Gibson has fouled out, so overtime may not be in our favor here.
UPDATE 4: Memphis survives, 62-58 in OT. It was a sloppy game all around, but with a lot of good defense. Nice effort by the Trojans, who lose their second down-to-the-wire decision against a Top 4 opponent in the last 72 hours. If only Hackett had hit that foul shot...
By David K.
Karl Dorrell has been officially fired by UCLA. The Bruins schizophrenic season pretty much mirrored the chaos of the football season overall, but even his near miss at the Rose Bowl wasn't enough to assuage the Bruin nation (think that loss to Notre Dame hurt a bit?). So who will be the next coach forced to face off against Pete Carroll and the Trojans?
Defensive Coordinator DeWayne Walker will serve as interim coach for the teams bowl game against BYU.
By JLR
As Brendan has posted repeatedly over the last 48 hours, the whole BCS process sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls. (Kudos to you who get the reference...) But I thought I'd take my power as a guestblogger to make this a post. Not that I'm actually expecting the NCAA to take notice of this post, or actually care what college football fans want or anything, but I feel it needs to be said quite explicitly.
The BCS Bowl system for Division I-A football sucks.
Continue reading "The BCS Bowl system for Division I-A football sucks" »
By Brendan Loy
An odd analogy occurred to me yesterday, one that links two of my great passions: hurricanes and college football. The analogy is this: in a way, the 2007 college-football season reminds me of the 2005 hurricane season. Both featured a series of absolutely extraordinary events, one after another after another -- each of which seemed so improbable as to be almost impossible, and yet no matter how unlikely, they just kept happening. Each event would have been incredible by itself; in combination with all the others, they got to the point of defying all adjectival description. All you could really do is sit back and say, "Wow." At some point, you just had to concede that this season simply didn't follow the rules.
Seven named storms in June and July. A Category 4 and a Category 5 hurricane in July. Four Cat. 5s during the course of the season, including three of the six most intense Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded -- all in the space of seven weeks. A monster hurricane threatening Houston three weeks after another monster hurricane destroyed New Orleans. A two-mile-wide pinhole eye rotating around the edge of a 40-mile-wide outer eye. A tropical storm making landfall in Spain. A cold-water hurricane that seemed to defy the laws of thermodynamics. A grand total of 28 storms, shattering the old record and pushing us into the Greek alphabet by mid-October. Two Greek-alphabet hurricanes, one of them a major hurricane. The season's final storm forming on December 30 and lasting until January 6.
Appalachian State winning at Michigan. Syracuse, a 37-point underdog, winning at Louisville. Stanford, a 41-point underdog, winning at USC. Navy beating Notre Dame. Thirteen Top 5 teams losing to unranked teams. The #1 and #2 teams both losing in the same weekend three separate times -- including both of the last two weekends of the regular season. Ohio State twice rising from #3 to #1 as a result of those double-upset weekends. LSU twice losing while ranked #1, yet still finishing the regular season ranked #2. West Virginia choking away a national-title shot at home, at night, against 4-7 Pitt, a 28-point underdog. UConn a co-champion in the Big East. Buffalo a co-champion in the MAC East. Kansas and Missouri, national-championship contenders. South Florida, briefly ranked #2 in the land. Notre Dame going 3-9. Illinois going to the Rose Bowl. Hawaii going to the BCS. Cal going from the nation's unofficial #1 team for a few hours to 6-6 seven weeks later. Oregon, similarly, going from 8-1 and #2 in the nation to 8-4 and unranked. Nebraska giving up 76 points to Kansas one week, dropping 73 on Kansas State the following week, and losing 65-51 in its finale. North Texas 49, Navy 45... at halftime. The Play II. A hyperactive coaching carousel, complete with SEC coach-swapping (kinky!). Les Miles going, in the space of 12 hours, from allegedly leaving LSU for Michigan to unexpectedly leading LSU to the BCS title game. An Ohio State team that many suspected of being fraudulent even when it was undefeated, losing at home to an unranked team in Week 11, falling to #7, rebounding to #5 with a win in Week 12, then rising all the way back to #1 by the end of Week 14 without playing a game. LSU climbing from #7 in the second-to-last BCS standings to #2 in the final standings -- and going to the championship game as a two-loss team. A sophomore, playing for a three-loss team, about to win the Heisman. And did I mention USC lost to Stanford? At the Coliseum? And that they'd be in the BCS title game if they'd won?
What a year. Truly unbelievable.
P.S. Also yesterday, I thought of an argument for why, even after USC-Stanford, Louisville-Syracuse, and WVU-Pitt, Appalachian State over Michigan is still the biggest upset of the year, and for that matter, of all time.
By Brendan Loy
UCLA's embattled controversial godawful head coach will reportedly be fired this week.
Trojan Nation will miss him dearly. We do appreciate the free touchdown he gave us as a parting gift on Saturday, though. Thanks for the memories, Coach Dorrell!
By Brendan Loy
Here are the final BCS standings, and here is the bowl schedule.
As expected, it's LSU-tOSU for the Mythical National Championship -- a moniker that I'm adopting for this season without a champion -- in New Orleans on January 7.
Also in New Orleans, it'll be Georgia-Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. If the undefeated Warriors beat the #5-ranked Bulldogs (which I seriously doubt they will, but if they do), they should win the AP championship. ("Should" as in "it would be just," not as in "I predict it would happen." No, definitely not the latter.)
Possibly holding a more realistic chance of capturing the AP championship is Oklahoma, which will face West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl. SMQ writes that OU has "a distant chance to challenge LSU for a split title in the AP ballot if the respective margins of victory work in the Sooners' favor." But good lord, if LSU were forced to share another national championship, their fans would be insufferable. It's the opposite scenario -- LSU winning an AP title, but not a BCS title -- that would have been delicious; a repeat of 2003-04 would just be annoying. I doubt it will happen, though, in any event. 96 points is a lot to make up.
In the Orange Bowl, Virginia Tech will play Kansas. Yes, Kansas got the last at-large bid (not counting the automatic at-large, Hawaii). Sorry, Arizona State. Whether or not it's because the BCS hates the Pac-10, the fact is that the Sun Devils are going to the Holiday Bowl to play Texas. Also on the outside looking in: two-loss, #6-ranked Missouri, which came into the season's final weekend ranked #1 in the land, then fell all the way to the Cotton Bowl (vs. Arkansas) with its loss in the Big 12 title game. Is it fair that #13-ranked Illinois and #8-ranked Kansas got into the BCS ahead of #6-ranked Missouri, which beat both of those teams? No, of course it's not, but then, nobody ever promised "fairness" when it comes to the non-title-game BCS bowls. And hey, Chase Daniel vs. Darren McFadden? I'll watch that game. Er, if I'm not in the hospital on New Year's Day with a laboring wife or a crying newborn, that is.
But anyway, enough of all that, let's talk about the Grandaddy of Them All.
The Rose Bowl, for the first time ever, will feature USC and Illinois. I know some Trojans are underwhelmed by this matchup, especially considering the more compelling possibilities we thought we might see, like USC-Ohio State or USC-Georgia. Personally, though, I'm excited. My mom went to Illinois, as did my friend Dmytro, so this will be a good opportunity for some friendly and familial trash-talking. Plus, the Illini and their fans will undoubtedly be very excited about their fifth-ever Rose Bowl (and first since 1984), so it'll be especially fun to squash their dreams like a little bug. :) As for Ohio State: we'll get 'em next year.
Fight on, Trojans!! Beat the Illini!!
By Brendan Loy
The coaches poll is out, and LSU is a solid #2, well ahead of Oklahoma, Georgia and Virginia Tech. I don't think there's any serious doubt now that it'll be tOSU vs. LSU in the Mythical National Championship game. Also: another first-place vote for Hawaii!
1. Ohio State (46) 1,469
2. LSU (11) 1,418
3. Oklahoma (2) 1,331
4. Georgia 1,277
5. Virginia Tech 1,242
6. USC 1,227
7. Missouri 1,104
8. Kansas 1,099
9. West Virginia 1,010
10. Hawaii (1) 994
UPDATE: Okay, so let's do some bowl projections. The title game is tOSU vs. LSU. The Rose Bowl gets first pick to replace the Buckeyes, but they can't pick Georgia without the Sugar Bowl's consent under Rule 3C of the Team-Selection Procedures. So you can forget about the folks in Pasadena eschewing Big Ten-Pac 10 tradition to set up a USC-Georgia matchup. They probably wouldn't have done that anyway, but even if they want to, they can't. So it's USC vs. Illinois in the Rose Bowl. (No other potential USC vs. Somebody Else matchup is sufficiently compelling to even make the Rose Bowl think about not selecting a Big Ten team.)
The Sugar Bowl will pick Georgia to replace LSU. Virginia Tech is automatically slotted into the Orange Bowl and Oklahoma into the Fiesta Bowl. Then each of those bowls picks from the pool of available teams in the following order: Orange, Fiesta, Sugar. West Virginia (as Big East champion) and Hawaii (as WAC champion in the Top 12) must be given bids. Contenders for the one remaining genuine at-large spot include Missouri, Kansas and Arizona State. Boston College or Clemson might be in the mix at #14, but no way are they getting picked. And for that matter, neither is Missouri. Basically, it's between Kansas and ASU for the final spot.
So anyway, who does the Orange Bowl pick to play Virginia Tech? The conventional wisdom has been that they choose West Virginia, but now the two-loss Mountaineers are damaged goods. Then again, so is everybody else! But Stewart Mandel thinks they'll pick Kansas, which would send West Virginia to Glendale and Hawaii to New Orleans. Alternatively, if the Orange Bowl picks WVU, the Fiesta Bowl can either set up Oklahoma vs. Kansas (a Big 12 game that never happened this season) or Oklahoma vs. Arizona State. I'm guessing it's the latter, but I could be wrong. Obviously it won't be Oklahoma vs. Missouri again. And obviously Hawaii is going to the Sugar Bowl to face Georgia no matter what.
So really, the Orange and Fiesta Bowls are the only question marks. The MNC, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are set. As for the others, I'm going to buck the Mandel Thesis and assume the Orange Bowl picks WVU, in which case:
Mythical National Championship Game: Ohio State vs. LSU
Rose Bowl: USC vs. Illinois
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Hawaii
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Arizona State (or possibly Kansas)
P.S. I can't resist an I told you so. This is what I wrote immediately after LSU's loss to Arkansas last week:
[D]on't believe anyone who says "LSU's title hopes are dead." They're not. All the Tigers need is for West Virginia to lose (to UConn tomorrow or to Pitt next Saturday) and Oklahoma to win the Big 12, and they'll be right back in the hunt. ... [LSU would have] a more compelling case than any of the others would be able to make. So I think LSU is still effectively fourth in the BCS pecking order, behind the winner of tomorrow's Kansas-Missouri game (#1), West Virginia (#2) and Ohio State (#3).
I may do a whole post on this later, but the fact that so many pundits didn't see this coming -- to the point of declaring LSU's title hopes unequivocally dead as late as 8:11 PM yesterday, declaring the soon-to-be #2 team in the country's season "a disappointment" -- is just another example of the absolute failure of most football writers to have any foresight whatsoever when it comes to the BCS. I'm not saying they should have predicted this, certainly, but they should have recognized it as a possibility. You've got to be able to look past your preconceived notions (e.g., "West Virginia will crush Pitt") and past the current rankings (e.g., "LSU is #7, so they can't possibly reach #2") to think about what will occur if the unthinkable happens. And anyone who did that, realized that LSU was a very serious title contender even after the loss to Arkansas.
UPDATE: Rich Tellshow says "it looks almost certain that it will be OSU vs LSU."
UPDATE 2: Jerry Palm agrees, saying that to deny LSU the #2 spot, "the Harris voters would have to completely go off the wagon. ... [P]oll voters follow certain patterns. I'd say LSU is very safe."
By Brendan Loy
Not that the AP poll matters for BCS purposes, but anyway, it's out.
LSU's margin is comfortable:
1. Ohio State (50) 1,578
2. LSU (11) 1,519
3. Oklahoma (1) 1,423
4. Georgia (1) 1,421
5. Virginia Tech (1) 1,380
6. USC 1,346
7. Missouri 1,195
8. Kansas 1,164
9. Florida 1,071
10. Hawaii (1) 1,050
According to Rich Tellshow's analysis, Virginia Tech will be #2 and LSU #3 in the computers, but with a projected difference of just 0.02 points in the BCS formula. That would mean the Tigers would need only 8 coaches and 16 Harris voters (or something in that neighborhood) to leapfrog them ahead of the Hokies. Given how far ahead LSU is over VT in the AP poll -- and given basic logic and common sense -- that seems quite likely.
But I'm still hoping against hope for LSU to be #3 in the BCS, somehow, so that they can win an AP championship but not a BCS championship, and sweet irony can reign supreme.
UPDATE: This sucks. It looks like the BCS is probably going to give us the result that most pundits wanted, as of last night. That doesn't mean "the system works" -- the system is still fatally flawed, structurally unable to produce a genuinely undisputed champion in a situation like this, or for that matter, any situation where there are more or less than two major-conference undefeated teams -- but some people will doubtless say "the system works!" when they see Ohio State #1 and LSU #2, if that indeed is how it works out. It would have been far better, for purposes of promoting chaos and discrediting the BCS, if Virginia Tech or Georgia were to sneak in at #2. I don't see that happening, though, unless the coaches or Harris voters do something totally out of left field. The pro-LSU consensus in the AP is significantly stronger than I expected, and implies that the coaches and Harris voters will probably see things the same way. Maybe they are a Borg collective consciousness, after all. :)
(And by "genuinely undisputed champion," I mean that just because the pundits and pollsters think Ohio State is #1 and LSU is #2, doesn't mean there aren't a half-dozen other teams and fan bases with extremely legitimate arguments that they belong in those spots.)
By Brendan Loy
Hawaii is going to the BCS!
Specifically, they're going to the Sugar Bowl, where they'll play either LSU or Georgia. They got there by wrapping up a perfect 12-0 season with a 35-28 win over Washington, scoring 28 unanswered points to rally from a 28-7 deficit.
Now here's a question for you. If a two-loss team wins the BCS title game, and undefeated Hawaii beats the nation's #3 or #4 team in the Sugar Bowl, do the Warriors get a share of the national championship, via the AP? And if not, why the hell not? ... Anyway, more after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
BCS guru Jerry Palm thinks it'll be Ohio State vs. LSU in the alleged title game. So does Brad Edwards of ESPN. Meanwhile, Rich Tellshow hasn't posted anything yet tonight (!), so I don't know what he thinks. [UPDATE: The BCS Guru is also projecting a LSU-tOSU final. (Hat tip: Wiz.)]
I agree that LSU is the most logical, defensible choice*, as I wrote last week. But I don't think it's all that easy to predict what the pollsters will do, because, as I keep saying, they aren't a Borg-like collective consciousness. Tomorrow's poll results will be a chaotic mish-mash of many individuals' disparate and contradictory opinions. Some people will have LSU #2 (or even #1) and some will have them #5 or lower. The entire Top 10 will be a mess, particularly #2 through #7, and so the vote-total gap between teams in that range may be much smaller than usual. Things are just that jumbled. And because the BCS formula looks at vote totals, not ranking numbers, I think the computers may decide this (because there, the formula does look at ranking numbers).
That said, Jerry Palm knows more about the BCS than I do, and he says that, in the battle for #2, "Virginia Tech might have better computer rankings. Oklahoma might be better with the polling numbers. But I don't think either has the combination that LSU will have." He admits, however, that nothing is certain, and quipped, "I'm getting ready to get in the fetal position and crawl under my desk."
*unless Hawaii wins.
UPDATE: Here are Stewart Mandel's bowl projections. He has Arizona State being squeezed out of a BCS bid by the Orange Bowl taking Kansas instead of West Virginia (thus forcing the Fiesta Bowl to choose between WVU and Hawaii, with ASU not an option).
By Brendan Loy
What if the AP ranks LSU #2 (behind Ohio State), but the BCS ranks them #3? And then the BCS #2 team (Georgia, Oklahoma, USC, whoever) beats Ohio State in the BCS title game, while LSU convincingly wins the Sugar Bowl (which apparently won't be against Hawaii). Guess what? LSU is your AP champion!!!
No doubt they would solemnly reject the honor because "it's the not the system everyone agreed on."
UPDATE: HeismanPundit is thinking the same thing.
P.S. Who would the Sugar Bowl be against? Let's see. Time to update the BCS bowl projections...
By Brendan Loy
On ESPN, they're talking a lot about the Trojans. Kirk Herbstreit thinks either LSU or USC should be #2. Jesse Palmer thinks the debate should be between LSU, USC and Oklahoma.
Y'all know I'm a Trojan fan, but I'm not seeing it. If you're ranking on resume, well, the Trojans have the worst loss of the bunch (at home to Stanford), and not enough quality wins to make up for it (at 10-2 ASU and... um... vs. 8-4 Oregon State? at 6-6 Cal?). If you're ranking based on "who's playing hot now," you can make a case for the Trojans, but you can make a better case for Georgia. "But Georgia didn't even win its division!" you say. That's true, but now we're talking about resumes again. And as soon as you start talking about resumes, you have to talk about USC's loss to Stanford. And anyway you have to talk about resumes. It's intellectually bankrupt to focus exclusively on "who's playing hot now" while ignoring resumes. By that logic, you could potentially have a three-loss or four-loss team ranked ahead of an undefeated or one-loss team. You have to consider resumes as a significant part of your calculus, and I just don't see how USC has a serious case.
That said, I'm certainly not going to be jumping up and down about the injustice of it all if USC somehow sneaks into the title game. Frankly, no one "deserves" to be ranked #2 at this point. All of the contenders are massively flawed. I think the team with potentially the best argument is the one with no chance at all: Hawaii. And they're losing 21-0 to Washington right now, so never mind.
P.S. On SportsCenter, Pete Carroll made the injury argument: they're healthy now, they weren't healthy earlier in the season, they're the best team in the country when they're healthy. That might be true, but by that logic, why not put Oregon in the title game? They were the second-best team in the country when they were healthy! I know, I know: they're not healthy now, whereas USC is healthy now. But I'm deeply uncomfortable with this line of reasoning. If we go down this road of giving teams free passes because their losses occurred when they had injures, where does it end? Injuries, unfortunately, are part of the game. If you suffer too many of them, if you're not deep enough to withstand them, if your coaches can't game-plan around them, you suffer the consequences. You don't get a mulligan. Playoff opponents constantly say that "the regular season is the playoff." If we can discount USC's losses, particularly the loss to Stanford -- Stanford!! -- because Booty's finger was broken, well then, that argument is utterly exposed as completely bankrupt. If the regular season is the playoff, there is no conceivable way USC can go to the BCS title game.
P.P.S. West Virginia was the #2 team in the land until Pat White got injured tonight. Presumably, he'll be healthy by January 7. So, by Pete Carroll's logic, why not put the Mountaineers in the title game??
Because there's no crying in baseball, and there are no mulligans in football, that's why.
UPDATE: ESPN just had a graphic showing how many wins each contender has over teams with winning records. Virginia Tech has 6; Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma all have 5. You know how many USC has? 2. Two. Same as Kansas. And they have a loss to Stanford to boot, by far the worst loss of the bunch. How can anyone possibly argue with a straight face, in light of those facts, that they deserve the #2 spot ahead of their competitors? I hate to argue with such vehemence against my own team, but I'm sorry, there is just no legitimate case for putting USC in the title game. A big win over a slightly suspect ASU team does not a whole season make, not when other teams in the running have their own impressive wins, and more of 'em. Frankly, what is Kirk Herbstreit smoking?
By Brendan Loy
CHAOS!!!!!!
Kirk Herbstreit says if Oklahoma wins, "the BCS is going to implode. This is their worst nightmare... This is as bad as it's ever gotten. Who are you going to put in there?"
P.S. Why not Hawaii? No, they aren't good enough to be #2 in the country. But neither is anybody else. Faced with a bunch of lackluster choices, why not choose the one that hasn't lost a game? I predict Hawaii will get some unexpected second-place votes in the polls if they win tonight. Not a lot, obviously not enough to even sniff the title game, but a few, because some voters will surely think the same thing.
It's a shame the mid-major conferences weren't able to produce a better undefeated team this season, because a squad like 2007 Boise State or 2005 Utah (i.e., with a more impressive schedule and a record of more consistent performances, especially on the road) actually might get serious consideration in this situation.
Anyway, the more I think about this, the more I realize it's completely and utterly unpredictable who will be #2 in the BCS. Not until the polls actually come out will anyone be able to say with any confidence what is going to happen. As I wrote in comments, "in this situation, it's particularly foolish to think of 'the voters' as if they are a Borg-like collective consciousness. If Missouri loses, there will be massive variations among everybody's Top 10s, and the result will be very unpredictable." You'll have the same team getting second-place votes from some people and sixth-place votes from others, and this will be true up and down the standings. So who the heck knows? It's going to be an absolute mess. And I love it!!
UPDATE: It's official: Missouri loses, 38-17. Chaos reigns!!!!!
UPDATE 2: An interesting poll result over at ESPN. Unscientific, of course, but:
If Ohio State moves up to No. 1, which other team most deserves to play in the title game?LSU 30.9%
Georgia 19.5%
Hawaii 15.5%
USC 10.3%
Oklahoma 8.7%
Kansas 6.9%
Virginia Tech 6.9%
Missouri 0.7%
West Virginia 0.6%
By Brendan Loy
#1 Missouri and #2 West Virginia are both underway -- against Oklahoma and Pitt, respectively -- each needing only a win to earn a trip to the BCS title game. Meanwhile, all across the state of Ohio, they're flipping frantically back and forth between ESPN and ABC, hoping against hope that either the Sooners or the Panthers can make something happen.
Of course, if both the Sooners and the Panthers win, then we have some serious mass chaos on our hands. Georgia, LSU, Kansas and Oklahoma would all be arguing over a spot in New Orleans opposite Ohio State, with Virginia Tech, USC and Hawaii on the periphery of said argument. My guess: it'd be either LSU or Oklahoma. But the pollsters would likely be so divided among themselves about how to rank the entire Top 10 that the actual results might be unpredictable.
Anyway: GOOOO CHAOS!!! BEEEEAT ORDER!!!
UPDATE: Oklahoma and Missouri are tied 14-14 at halftime, and Pittsburgh leads 10-7 late in the third quarter. Chaos!! CHAOS!!!
UPDATE 2: Barring overtime, the Pitt-WVU game will end well before the Oklahoma-Missouri game. If Pitt wins, will the Sooners realize when the score is announced that it means Missouri is no longer the only team at the Alamodome potentially playing for a spot in the BCS title game?
P.S. It's 13-7 Pitt with 6:17 left.
Suppose WVU comes back and wins, 14-13. Lots of people are presumably watching this game at this point, so it's not like the Mountaineers' narrow escape against the lowly Panthers would go unnoticed. Is there any chance the voters think about jumping Ohio State ahead of West Virginia after a thoroughly unimpressive WVU win?
UPDATE 3: Gee, do you think the referees want West Virginia to play for the national championship? Good freaking grief. I am so sick of saying, this season, that "these refs are horrible" -- but THESE REFS ARE HORRIBLE.
UPDATE 4: Pitt leads 13-7, and has the ball, with 49 seconds left! And Missouri is down by 14!
CHAOS!!!!! CHAOS!!!!!!!!
UPDATE 5: PITT WINS!!!!! PITT WINS!!!!!!!!
By Brendan Loy
Barring a late turnover returned for a USC touchdown, it looks like Vicki Lopez will once again lose a BrendanLoy.com contest after heading into the final event with the lead. The current USC margin of 17 points would make Sean Sullivan the winner of the USC prediction contest; Lopez would finish second. UCLA has the ball deep in their own territory with less than three minutes left.
UPDATE: UCLA punts it away, and USC has the ball near midfield with 1:44 left. You have to think the Trojans won't be too aggressive with their play-calling, so it looks like UCLA will beat the spread and Sullivan will win the pool.
UPDATE 2: Yup. USC 24, UCLA 7, final. Congrats, Sean!
By Brendan Loy
They're underway at the Coliseum.
They're also underway in the SEC title game, and Tennessee leads LSU 7-6 late in the first quarter.
In the ACC, Virginia Tech beat BC, which virtually guarantees that Illinois will be eligible for a BCS at-large berth, and also helps Hawaii significantly. The only threat to the Warriors reaching the Top 12 now, assuming they beat Washington, is if Arizona State and Tennessee both leapfrog them in the BCS standings. (And even that might be okay, because if Tennessee wins, LSU might fall behind Hawaii.)
UPDATE: Trojans lead 17-7 at halftime. USC dominated the first half, but UCLA drove down the field in the final seconds to make it a ballgame. Dammit.
UPDATE 2: And at the start of the fourth quarter, Tennessee leads LSU, 14-13. If the Vols win, the Tigers won't go to the BCS at all, as UT and Georgia will take the SEC's two spots. Likewise, if Missouri loses to Oklahoma tonight, those Tigers will likely fall out of the BCS altogether as well, as Lex icon explains. So the last two teams ranked #1 in the regular season could both be left out of the big-money bowls! How crazy is that?
As crazy as everything else that's happened this season, I suppose.
UPDATE 3: Trojans looking like crap. This is, like, the opposite of Pete Carroll Second-Half MagicTM. Still 17-7.
UPDATE 4: HAHAHAHA!!! Karl Dorrell sucks!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! USC 24, UCLA 7, with 12 minutes to go.
For those who missed it: the Bruins had the Trojans stopped near the goal line (I have to think even Pete Carroll would have gone for the field goal), but when faced with a choice of whether to decline a holding penalty and take their chances with 4th and goal from the 2, or accept the penalty and give the Trojans another shot at 3rd and goal from the 12, Dorrell inexplicably chose the latter, USC predictably marched right in for a touchdown, and I'll be mighty surprised if Dan Guerrero isn't calling a press conference to fire Dorrell at this very moment.
UPDATE 5: Meanwhile, Erik Ainge probably just threw away Tennessee's shot at the SEC title. An interception inside the LSU 5 yard line, and LSU has the ball, up by 7, with 2 minutes left. This after an earlier pick-6 gave LSU the lead.
UPDATE 6: LSU wins. The Tigers are going to the Sugar Bowl (barring a trip to the title game if chaos strikes later tonight), where they will almost certainly play Hawaii, if the Warriors beat Washington. With Tennessee losing, there is no way an undefeated Hawaii gets excluded from the BCS.
Virginia Tech is effectively eliminated from any national-title hopes, and Georgia's chances are severely hurt. If Missouri and West Virginia both lose tonight, you have to believe LSU gets the nod over Virginia Tech (which it crushed earlier this season) and over Georgia (a fellow two-loss team from the same conference that didn't even win its own division, whereas LSU won the conference). But it would be a debate among LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma and Kansas. Virginia Tech wouldn't even be in the discussion, IMHO, because of that loss to LSU. Nor would USC, not with the worst loss of the bunch.
By Brendan Loy
Les Miles is staying at LSU.
By Brendan Loy
Needless to say, it's a huge Saturday in college football, with championships to be decided in the SEC, Big 12, ACC, Pac-10, MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt... plus Hawaii (and maybe BYU??) playing for a BCS bid... plus West Virginia and Missouri each playing for a spot in the BCS title game, with Ohio State waiting in the wings if one falters, and the tantalizing prospect of mass chaos looming if they both falter... plus Chase Daniel, Matt Ryan, Pat White and Colt Brennan making their final Heisman arguments (although truthfully, Tim Tebow's probably already got it wrapped up, but maybe Daniel could catch Darren McFadden for second place with a big game today)... plus Florida International, against 2-9 North Texas, trying to avoid going winless for the second straight year... oh yeah, and there's also Army-Navy... and the Big Game... and the Civil War... and the Territorial Cup... and I heard a couple of schools in L.A. might be playing a game too. ;) Here's the schedule, and here's the TV listings.
Alas, I don't anticipate having too much time to blog about it all. So I'm posting this open thread, Daily Kos-style, to give y'all a place to comment on the day's action, at least until I post something else (or a guestblogger beats me to the punch).
Oh, and one more thing:
FIGHT ON, TROJANS!!! BEAT THE BRUINS!!!!!
By Brendan Loy
As some of you have doubtless noticed, I haven't actually gotten around to posting an official update on the USC and Notre Dame prediction contests... all season long. Um, yeah, sorry about that!
Luckily, commenter and contestant Ken Stern has posted several unofficial updates, most recently on November 11... and if that update was correct (and I have no reason to believe otherwise, indeed my spot-checking confirms his calculations), two contestants -- Sean Sullivan and Vicki Lopez -- remain alive to win the USC pool, with the outcome to be decided by tomorrow's USC-UCLA game.
Sullivan and Lopez are among 13 contestants with 9-2 prediction records, but they have the lowest "point differentials" of the bunch, meaning they have come the closest to picking USC's margin of victory or defeat in each game. Lopez is a total of 104 points off to date, while Sullivan is a total of 106 points off. Sullivan picked USC to beat UCLA by 17; Lopez picked the Trojans to win by 27. That means Sullivan will win if USC either loses or wins by 20 points or less; Lopez will win if the Trojans win by 22 or more. If USC wins by exactly 21 points, they would finish tied, with identical point differentials of 110 and no further tiebreakers to separate them.
Interestingly enough, with the point spread set at 20 by most oddsmakers, the prediction contest almost literally comes down to a question of whether the Trojans cover. If they don't, Sullivan wins. If they do, Lopez wins, unless they win by exactly 20 (Sullivan still wins) or by 21 (it's a tie).
Anyway, the big question is, can Lopez (a.k.a. "Vicki from NJ") finally win a BrendanLoy.com contest? Three times -- in the 2005 and 2006 Oscar pools and the 2006 women's NCAA pool -- she has been in position to win heading into the final event of a contest, only to lose at the wire. Can the Trojans win big, and break the "Lopez Curse" tomorrow? :)
In the Notre Dame pool, by the way, Sandy Underpants won, clinching early and never looking back even as he went 1-3 through the last four games of the season. He correctly predicted that the Irish would go 3-9, but he managed to get four games wrong along the way (he thought they'd lose to UCLA and Stanford, but beat Navy and Air Force) to finish with an 8-4 prediction record. That was better than anyone else, though. Andrew Long and Ken Stern, who both thought the Irish would 6-6, tied for second with 7-5 prediction records (both missed the Michigan State, Purdue, UCLA, Navy and Air Force games); Stern finished second on the basis of a lower point differential (183 to 197). No one else got fewer than six games wrong.
I'll try to post full, official standings of both pools at some point. Maybe by the time the baby starts kindergarten. :)
By Brendan Loy
Nebraska's new head coach will reportedly be LSU's Bo Pelini, not Buffalo's Turner Gill. YAY!!! (Hat tip: DUP and Scientizzle.)
They're ecstatic over at UBfan.com.
Hopefully this means Gill stays at UB and builds that program for at least a good while longer. He's been mentioned as a possible candidate for some other openings (e.g. Duke, Wazzu), but it was widely believed that Nebraska in particular was the one job he'd drop everything for. If so, then the Bulls have dodged a major bullet. It'd be great to see them continue to build on this year's improvement, with Gill at the helm.
UPDATE: No comment from Nebraska's interim athetic director, interim coach, and possibly interim quarterback and interim kicker, Tom Osborne.
Meanwhile, it's looking like a mass exodus from Baton Rouge, with rumors on the Internets saying that LSU head coach Les Miles already has one foot out the door, heading for to Ann Arbor.
By Brendan Loy
Karl Dorrell is begging for one more year as UCLA's head coach. In the course of making his case, he says this: "I hate to say it, but the guy who was before me screwed it up for me. And I had to clean it up and then rebuild." That's right, folks, Dorrell is blaming Bob Toledo, who was fired in 2002, for the Bruins' continued woes. And you thought the Notre Dame fans still blaming Ty Willingham were bad!! And this is coming from Dorrell himself!! LOL!! Way to take responsibility. You stay classy, Coach Dorrell.
More good stuff at DumpDorrell.com.
Alas, while I personally would love to see Dorrell stick around as UCLA's coach forever, I'm afraid it is USC's sad duty to dispense with him once and for all tomorrow. Ah, well -- it'll be well worth it, of course, not just for the Rose Bowl bid, not just for the win over our hated rival, but also for the pictures of Mike Tran driving around L.A. in his sweet Trojanmobile on Rose Bowl day.
BEAT THE BRUINS!!!
P.S. I checked the Bruins' roster, and in case anyone was wondering, no, UCLA does not have any sixth-year seniors, so Dorrell can't say he's still playing with Toledo's recruits. ;)
By Brendan Loy
Two years ago, Mike Tran and I made a friendly bet on the USC-UCLA game, which, thanks to USC's 66-19 win, resulted in Mike becoming a Trojan for a day.
Last year, we made another bet, and needless to say, things didn't go quite as well for me. The Trojans lost 13-9, so I had to wear Mike's UCLA jersey to our Professional Responsibility class, and publish a blog post about "Why UCLA is superior to USC." The latter was particularly galling because, as a rule, I like to be truthful and accurate in what I post on the blog. Posting such blatant lies was borderline unethical. ;)
Mike and I have made other friendly bets over the last two years on games of peripheral interest (USC-ND, ND-UCLA, UCLA-Gonzaga), most recently resulting in me officially owning him, but it's when our undergrad alma maters meet that the stakes are highest -- and in those contests, we're each 1-1. Tomorrow, though, somebody will break the tie.
Here are the terms: If USC wins, Mike has to buy a USC car flag, and must put it (and keep it) on his car December 31 and January 1. So he'll be driving around L.A. flying Trojan colors on the day before, and the day of, the Rose Bowl... muahahaha. He also has to get a picture, well in advance, of himself with the flag-adorned car, and send me a copy of said picture, so that I can set it to post automatically on the blog on January 1 (in case I'm in the hospital that day, which is a distinct possibility). Oh, and when he's done with the flag, he has to send it to me, and I get to keep it.
If UCLA wins, I have to do much the same thing, but for a longer period of time -- that's our way of dealing with the odds, because USC is favored by 20 points, but we're betting straight-up on the game. So if the Bruins are victorious, I have to buy a UCLA car flag and keep it on my car for seven days: to and from work on five weekdays and all day long on two weekend/holiday days. And I have to post a different picture of it on the blog (presumably via cell phone) every single day. (Ugh... that would be a nightmare, because I probably won't be blogging much in late December and early January, so the homepage would most likely be dominated by pictures of the UCLA flag.)
If UCLA plays in the Rose Bowl, New Year's Day must be one of the weekend/holiday days, unless we spend that day at the hospital. My end of the bargain is more flexible about the dates than his because of the uncertain timing of the baby's arrival. (Obviously, Mike doesn't want me to get credit for leaving the flag on the car while it's parked at the hospital for 48+ hours, out of sight and out of mind.) But I have to do it at some point during bowl season. And, again, when I'm done with the flag, I have to send it to Mike, and he keeps it.
So there you have it. If USC loses, I'm sending Pete Carroll my therapy bills for the humiliation I'll suffer from driving around town looking like a bandwagon fUCLA fan. Ugh. FIGHT ON TROJANS, BEAT THE BRUINS!!!
By Brendan Loy
University at Buffalo head football coach Turner Gill, who was interviewed on Monday for the Nebraska job, has in the mean time been named MAC coach of the year for guiding the historically hapless Bulls to their best Division I-A season ever, with a record of 5-7. Which, incidentally, is identical to Nebraska's record this season. Raise your hand if you saw that coming before the season started.
UPDATE: In a development that should surprise no one, ESPN is reporting that "Nebraska has narrowed its search to two candidates: Turner Gill, head coach at Buffalo, and Bo Pelini, the defensive coordinator at LSU." Those two have been considered the front-runners all along.
Pelini! Pick Pelini!
UPDATE 2: Mum's the word:
As the University at Buffalo football team was being honored at halftime of Thursday’s basketball game against Tulane, the Bulls’ student section made their feelings clear about Turner Gill.
“Turner stay, Turner stay!” they chanted. “Turner stay!”
Afterward, the only thing Gill wanted to discuss was UB football, not the possibility of becoming the next coach at Nebraska. Gill, a front-runner for the job almost from the time Tom Osborne became the interim athletics director at the school, declined comment on anything Cornhuskers related Thursday.
“Unable to comment,” Gill said. “That’s all I can say.”
Also Thursday, Osborne declared himself the interim coach until he hires a successor to Bill Callahan, allowing Nebraska’s beloved former coach to visit prospective recruits and try to prevent the program from slipping during the recruiting contact period. Osborne said he hoped to have a new coach by next week.
Gill, who according to sources met with Nebraska officials Monday, was also asked if he had been contacted by other schools, and also declined comment. Gill’s name has surfaced for openings at Washington State as well as Duke. He said he remains committed to coaching at UB.
The basketball team beat Tulane, by the way.
By Brendan Loy
USC says it may move its home games from the Coliseum to the Rose Bowl starting next season, due to a breakdown in negotiations with Coliseum management. Scott Wolf says this announcement, particularly in light of its timing the week before the UCLA game, "really smells like a negotiating ploy by USC to pressure the Coliseum into agreeing to its demands," which Wolf suspects involve not just "improvements" but "revenue-sharing plans (like luxury suites)." Here's how USC's top lawyer, senior vice president for administration Todd Dickey, characterizes the university's demands:
"Our first choice is to play at the Coliseum. However, the Coliseum needs some significant improvements. The sound system is barely audible, the video system is failing, the bathrooms need upgrades, the entrances, the seats, the lighting, just about everything needs work."
Dickey says USC "has offered to make those improvements," but the university doesn't want to "just to hand the money over to the Coliseum Commission" -- it wants to "actually operate the facility." That, naturally, is the sticking point. The quasi-public Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission doesn't want to hand over the keys of the kingdom to those high-falutin' University of Spoiled Children snobs. [/sarcasm] The L.A. Times opines: "some political observers have suggested that commissioners would like to avoid making themselves superfluous." You think?
The Rose Bowl is a neat and historic venue (of course, so is the Coliseum!), and this would be a return to tradition of the Trojans and Bruins sharing the same home stadium (the Bruins were at the Coliseum from 1928 through 1981), and perhaps both wearing their home jerseys when they square off each season. But it would stink for USC students. The walk to the nearby Coliseum -- kicking that flagpole for good luck on the way, and then walking past the rose garden, and past the local Mexican food vendors selling churros and such -- is a memorable aspect of football Saturdays at 'SC. Braving traffic on the 110 to Pasadena would be far less romantic, and far more inconvenient.
And of course, it would stink for the L.A. economy, too, from hotels and restaurants on down to those food vendors I mentioned, not to mention the locals who charge obscene prices for parking near the stadium. As a result, Mayor Villaraigosa is raising a ruckus, pontifficating about how he is "absolutely committed" to maintaining the status quo: "USC football is one of the most important economic engines in South Los Angeles and the Mayor has no interest in seeing those jobs leave for Pasadena." I'm not sure whether the Mayor's "interests" matter for present purposes, except perhaps to get the Trojans some bad press from Telemundo, but I suppose he might be able to pressure the Coliseum Commission to make USC happy. [UPDATE: Boi From Troy, who, as an Angeleno, has far better knowledge than I of the strange quasi-governmental structures they have out there, points out that Mayor Villaraigosa "matters because he directly appoints 2 of 9 Coliseum Commission members." Well then! I stand corrected. But my error was totally worth it for the Mirthala Salinas joke.]
In any event, Pete Carroll isn't concerned about a possible move to the Rose Bowl. "It's kind of been our second home since we've been here," he says. Heh. Indeed.
Some players, however, aren't taking the news so well. The Coliseum is "my home," said linebacker Keith Rivers. "I wouldn't want to change that." Added offensive linesman Jeff Byers: "[You can take our lives but] you can't take away the Coliseum. [I AM WILLIAM WALLACE!!]"
I'll just say this. If, heaven forbid, USC loses to UCLA on Saturday, it almost certainly won't be because the players were distracted by this news. But no one will be able to prove that that wasn't a contributing factor, and as a result, people will talk about it, and they'll wonder, and they'll gripe. The university will take a lot of heat for its ridiculously poor (well-calculated, no doubt, but in the grand scheme of things, poor) timing here. And rightfully so.
Of course, there's a simple way to avoid that problem: BEAT THE BRUINS!!!
P.S. On the bright side, a move to the Rose Bowl would mean USC students wouldn't have to deal with being physically assaulted by Coliseum rent-a-cops.
P.P.S. Also, a doubleheader at the Rose Bowl next November 8 -- Oregon State @ UCLA, then Cal @ USC -- would be way fun. Er, except for the hellacious traffic, that is.
By Jay Johnson
Ole Miss has hired Houston Nutt to take over the head coaching duties for the nightmarishly bad Rebels football team.
By Brendan Loy
Out of curiosity, is anyone excited about any of these projected bowl matchups?
I mean, not that Rutgers vs. Ball State in Toronto won't be awesome... not that a UCLA-BYU rematch in the Las Vegas Bowl wouldn't be thrilling... but it does sort of seem like the craziest college-football season in the history of mankind has left us with, at least on paper, a somewhat lackluster postseason. Of course, what's "on paper" means nothing this year, right? But still.
Personally, if all of Mandel's bowl predictions were to prove correct, here are the Top 5 games I'd be most interested in watching:
By Brendan Loy
Washington State's Bill Doba: fired.
Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey: fired.
Duke's Ted Roof: fired.
Southern Miss's Jeff Bower: fired.
And finally, Arkansas's Houston Nutt: inexplicably offered a new contract, which he inexplicably turned down, possibly to go to Ole Miss.
P.S. Oh, and Syracuse's Greg Robinson may be next.
UCLA's Karl Dorrell will, of course, have a job for at least five days. I wonder: if the Bruins somehow beat USC and go to the Rose Bowl, will they still fire Dorrell? And if so, will he be the first coach ever to be fired immediately after leading his team to the Rose Bowl? Heh.
UPDATE: ESPN.com has created an incredibly helpful coaching carousel page with a list of all the departing coaches and (eventually) their successors. Cool.
By Jay Johnson
After the monumental failure with the hire of Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M backs up excellent decision making with the hiring of a failed NFL head coach that couldn't get a Brett Favre led team to the Super Bowl in the then-pathetic NFC.
Mike Sherman? Really?
Way to go Aggies! (False exuberance here. I see nothing in this hire for anyone at TAMU to be excited about. This is as lackluster of a hire as could be imagined.)
By Brendan Loy
BCS analyst extraordinare Jerry Palm confirms what I said yesterday: don't sleep on BYU. (Don't sleep with them, either, unless you're married to them. They're very moral!) The Mormons Cougars could end up in the BCS, if they beat San Diego State on Saturday and everything falls their way:
"It looks like BYU has a chance if the following teams lose: USC, Hawaii, Arizona State and two of [the following] - Tennessee, Oregon and Boston College," said Palm, who operates collegebcs.com. "Even then, it's not guaranteed. Better still if all six lose, and BC losing is the least helpful."
If a two-loss team from a mid-major conference qualifies for the BCS, that would be, well, a perfect ending to this craziest of college-football seasons.
Er, well, "perfect" except in the sense that it would involve USC losing to UCLA. Which is to say, not perfect at all. So nevermind.
By Brendan Loy
Is this the beginning of the end for Turner Gill at Buffalo? UB's athletic director has given Nebraska permission to talk to Gill about its head-coaching vacancy. "I'm happy for Turner and his family about getting the opportunity to talk to Nebraska," AD Warde Manuel said. "He's worked extremely hard and deserves this opportunity."
According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, Manuel said the interview will take place "in the next day or so." He added, "I think it's tremendous. Turner is absolutely ready to coach at Nebraska. He's done a great job, an awesome turnaround. Although I would hate to lose him, he would be a great coach there." Earlier, Manuel was quoted as saying, "I don't want him to leave our program. Obviously, I don't. But without a doubt, Turner Gill, if he can do what he’s done here in two years, there's nobody there in Nebraska that could tell me that he's not deserving of a serious, serious look at being the head coach of Nebraska."
It certainly doesn't sound like UB is jumping through hoops to try to keep him around. (Not like they could anyway, really. It's not like they can even pretend to try and match Nebraska dollar for dollar.) And in light of Gill mentor Tom Osborne's comments about the new Huskers coach needing to understand Nebraska's tradition, this is starting to sound like a slam dunk.
If Gill's tenure at Buffalo is over, he certainly went out in style. Buffalo won in overtime at Kent State on Saturday to finish 5-7 -- easily the best season in Buffalo's nine-year Division I-A history. More here and here.
By Brendan Loy
With one game to go, the UCLA Bruins could still go to the Rose Bowl -- or no bowl at all. It's up to the USC Trojans to make sure it's the latter. Stewart Mandel explains:
Of all the strange postseason scenarios still floating around, I don't think you possibly find one any more bizarre than the fact that the Bruins, who just reached bowl eligibility this weekend, are still technically alive for the Rose Bowl.Here's the deal: USC (9-2, 6-2 Pac-10) and Arizona State (9-2, 6-2) are currently tied for first in the Pac-10 standings, with the Trojans holding the tiebreaker following last Thursday's win. Oregon (8-3, 5-3) and UCLA (6-5, 5-3) sit a game behind following the Bruins' 16-0 win over the quarterback-depleted Ducks. If surging Arizona (5-6) upends the Sun Devils (not implausible) and Karl Dorrell's Bruins pull another crosstown upset of the Trojans (highly unlikely), it would create either a three-way tie for first between USC, ASU and UCLA, all of which went 1-1 against each other, or a four-way tie with Oregon. In either case, the Bruins win the tiebreaker due to their victory over the Ducks. (If you dare to figure out how that is, read this).
The craziest part of all is, just as easily as the 6-5 Bruins could go to the Rose Bowl, they could also go to no bowl at all if they lose. If Arizona does beat ASU, it would give the Pac-10 seven bowl-eligible teams for six spots and almost assuredly restrict them to one BCS berth. Guess which would be the odd team out in that scenario? Yep -- the same team that's playing for a Rose Bowl berth next week.
USC needs to beat UCLA not just on general principle, not just for pride, not just for revenge, not just for the Roses, not just so I can win another bet against Mike Tran, but for the good of the whole conference. If the Bruins, who lost to Notre Dame and Utah, and who have done nothing in conference play to merit any sort of respect (no, shutting out an Oregon team playing its 26th-string quarterback doesn't count), go to the Rose Bowl, the Pac-10 will be the laughingstock of the country.
So Trojans, for the love of God, beat the Bruins.
P.S. A minor correction to Mandel's analysis after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
With one week to go in the college-football regular season, Hawaii is finally right where they want to be: #12 in the BCS standings. So, beat Washington and they're BCS-bound, right?
Well, probably. The fly in the ointment is #14 Tennessee. If the Vols beat LSU, they would almost certainly leapfrog Hawaii. It's also possible that #13 Arizona State could jump Hawaii with a win over Arizona, especially if the Warriors win less-than-impressively over the 4-8 Huskies. The Warriors and Sun Devils are really close in the standings at this point.
If Tennessee and/or ASU leapfrogs Hawaii, the Warriors will need somebody (or somebodies) currently ahead of them to fall behind them. #7 LSU might fit the bill, though I'm not sure how far they'd tumble with a loss to UT. Probably just far enough, is my guess. Also, somebody's gotta lose the ACC title game between #6 Virginia Tech and #11 Boston College; BC would certainly fall behind Hawaii with a loss, while VT might or might not. Other possibilities would be Missouri beating #9 Oklahoma and (heaven forbid) UCLA beating #8 USC. The latter scenario could help Hawaii in two ways: by allowing them to jump USC, and by potentially putting them ahead of the Pac-10 champion. If UCLA beats USC and ASU beats Arizona, the Sun Devils would be the conference champions, and it'd be a close call between them and Hawaii. If UCLA and Arizona both win, the Bruins would be the champ (at 7-5 overall...ugh), and would certainly be ranked below Hawaii in the BCS.
Bottom line, if Hawaii beats Washington, the Warriors are probably 90% likely to reach the Sugar Bowl, where they'll play either LSU (if the Tigers beat Tennessee but don't sneak into the title game), Tennessee (if the Vols beat LSU), or Georgia (if LSU beats UT and makes it into the title game). With UConn out of the picture, the Warriors have essentially 0% of going to any other BCS bowl, as all of the other at-large teams will be more attractive to the bowls, and the Sugar Bowl picks last.
P.S. Don't sleep on #19 BYU. If Washington beats Hawaii, UCLA beats USC, Arizona beats ASU, Oregon State beats Oregon, and LSU beats Tennessee, the Cougars would probably be ranked #15 or #16, and ahead of Pac-10 champion UCLA. So the Sugar Bowl would be LSU (or Georgia) against BYU!
By Brendan Loy
Missouri is #1 in the new AP poll by a margin of 45 first-place votes to 20, but West Virginia is #1 in the new coaches poll by a margin of 37 to 17 (with 6 first-place votes for Ohio State).
Of course, it doesn't matter who's #1 and who's #2. If the Tigers and Mountaineers both win on Saturday, they'll go to the BCS title game, and they'll decide on the field who deserves to be #1. More significant is who comes after #3 Ohio State in the coaches' poll, since those teams would fighting over the #2 spot in the BCS if Missouri and WVU were to both lose on Saturday.
It goes like this: #4 Georgia (1,232 points), #5 (tied) Kansas (1,161 points), #5 (tied) Virginia Tech (1,161 points), #7 LSU (1,134 points), #8 Oklahoma (1,126 points), #9 USC (1,073 points) and #10 Hawaii (958 points). I have to say, I'm surprised Kansas is still ranked that high; I didn't think the Jayhawks would be in the mix anymore, but they are. Texasyank was right: they could pull a Nebraska, a la 2001. (Though I still doubt it would actually happen.)
Anyway, it would be a hell of an argument among the teams currently ranked #4 through #8 if Mizzou and WVU lose:
• Georgia could claim it's playing the best football right now, but others would point out that they didn't even win their division, a la Nebraska in 2001. And if LSU beats Tennessee, how do you keep out the two-loss conference champion in favor of a two-loss divisional runner-up (that, oh by the way, lost 35-14 to the Vols)? The only reason to favor the Bulldogs over the Tigers is because they lost earlier than LSU did. But is that really a good reason? Also, Georgia has one of the worst losses of the group (at home to a .500 team, South Carolina... if anyone remembers September 8 at this point).
• Kansas could point out that everyone else has two losses, while they only have one. But they, too, have the "didn't win their division" problem, plus they started 11-0 against a very weak schedule and then lost against the first real quality opponent they played. The Jayhawks are in prime position to be leapfrogged.
• Outside of the Top 3, Virginia Tech is the highest-ranked team right now that could potentially win its conference. But can the voters possibly keep the Hokies ahead of LSU, if the Tigers win the SEC, when VT lost 48-7 to LSU back in September? I think VT must hope for Tennessee to beat LSU to have any shot.
• LSU has the 48-7 trump card over Virginia Tech, and the SEC trump card ("champion of the toughest conference in America") over everyone else if they beat Tennessee. But they also suffered a late, high-profile loss, which pollsters hate. If LSU wins, will the voters follow the Kreutz Theorem and leapfrog them ahead of all the non-SEC two-loss teams (and Kansas), or will they continue to punish the Tigers for losing late? LSU needs to root for Virginia Tech to win the ACC, because having that 48-7 win at the forefront of everyone's minds is obviously good for their cause. Other LSU talking points: they played the toughest schedule of the group, and both of their losses were in triple-overtime. Rebuttal: yeah, but a lot of their wins were really close, too. Surrebuttal: well of course they were, because they played the toughest schedule of the group! And the SEC is a war!
• Oklahoma is currently ranked last among the teams seriously competing to take advantage if the Top 2 falter, but they have two advantages: they can make one of those top two falter, by beating Missouri; and in so doing, they can score the highest-profile "quality win" of everyone in the group. On the flip side, like Georgia, they lost to a 6-6 team (Colorado).
I don't think anyone else would really be considered. USC just doesn't have enough of a case to pass Oklahoma or Georgia, even if everybody else loses. Hawaii, right or wrong, is not going to be seriously considered for the #2 spot by the pollsters or the computers, under any circumstances. West Virginia and Missouri won't be able to sneak in the back door after a loss; there are too many other available two-loss contenders. And Boston College, at #12, has too high of a hill to climb, even if the Eagles beat VT.
Personally, I think LSU would be the most deserving if WVU and Mizzou lose and all the two-loss teams win, but that opinion is subject to change depending on how the teams in question look on Saturday.
P.S. Man, wouldn't an eight-team playoff be a great way to settle all this? Just saying!
UPDATE: Rich Tellshow thinks USC will finish ahead of Kansas and Oklahoma if they beat UCLA, and that it could come down to the Trojans vs. the Bulldogs for the #2 spot if Missouri, West Virginia, LSU and Virginia Tech all lose:
If [Mizzou and WVU lose] then LSU could be back with win over UT, with an LSU loss VT would have a claim if they win the ACC, and UGA or USC possibly if LSU and VT lose. I think Kansas is done and OU's computer component will keep them out.
UPDATE 2: Jerry Palm thinks USC has no chance. I tend to agree.
By Brendan Loy
So far, it's all Chase Daniel & co., and Kirk Herbstreit has already described Kansas as being "exposed." Maybe those cupcakes didn't serve their purpose? Anyway, they're just starting the second half, and it's 14-0 Mizzou.
Earlier, West Virginia gave UConn a good old-fashioned whoopin', 66-21. D'oh! So now WVU is a win over Pitt away from the BCS title game. Now, Pitt isn't very good, but do you think they'll be a little motivated to play their "Backyard Brawl" rivals with a chance to derail their title hopes? Remember what happened to USC against UCLA last year, Mountaineers, and be careful: that could be you. (In which case, hello, Ohio State!)
Also, fUCLA shut out Oregon, which means that if they now turn around and lose to USC next week, the Trojans will be Rose Bowl-bound. Thanks, Bruins!! ... Oregon's loss is also good news for Hawaii, as the Ducks will presumably join Texas in dropping behind the Warriors in the BCS standings. (And frankly, if Kansas keeps looking this bad, they might take enough of a plunge in the polls to fall behind Hawaii as well, especially given the weakness of Kansas's prior schedule, which is almost Hawaii-esque.)
Speaking of USC, wins by Georgia and Oklahoma mean the Trojans' slim national-title hopes are probably dashed. I don't think a two-loss USC would finish ahead of the two-loss Bulldogs or Sooners.
P.S. With regard to Hawaii, assuming Kansas stays ahead of them, I think the two major questions are: 1) will Arizona State stay ahead of them? And 2) will Tennessee leapfrog them? If the answer is "no" to both, I see the Warriors at #12 next week, going into their finale against Washington (unless Hawaii can leapfrog someone based on their performance against Boise State).
Meanwhile, the best hopes for a conference champion to finish ahead of, if the Warriors need it (i.e., if they're between #13 and #16), now come from the Pac-10 (if USC loses to UCLA, triggering bizarre tiebreakers extraordinaire) and, of all places, the SEC (if Tennessee beats LSU and doesn't leapfrog Hawaii). The Big 12 and ACC are now guaranteed to have their champions finish in the Top 14, along with the Big Ten and almost certainly the Big East (even if they lose to Pitt, I don't think West Virginia would fall that far).
UPDATE: Kansas rallied valiantly from a 28-7 third-quarter deficit, but Missouri won 36-28. So it's now Missouri and West Virginia in the driver's seat for the national-championship game, with Ohio State waiting in the wings if either of them falter next week, and mass chaos if both falter. (Ohio State vs. ... Georgia? LSU? Oklahoma? USC? Boston College? Virginia Tech? Kansas?? Hawaii???)
By Brendan Loy
Horrible. Another illegal helmet-to-helmet hit against a quarterback goes uncalled. What the f*** is wrong with these referees? And with college-football referees generally? Good grief.
P.S. Um, but anyway, Go Irish, Beat Farm. It's 14-14, late in the third. Speaking of refs, apparently there was an awful call that robbed ND of a touchdown earlier, though I missed it.
UPDATE: Irish win!
So it's 3-9. Remember "9-3 is not good enough"? ... Still, it could have been worse. Like 2-10.
Ah, well. Next year.
UPDATE 2: Reading this over, I realized it sorta sounds like I'm saying, sarcastically, "Ah, well. Maybe the Irish will got 2-10 next year." That wasn't my intention. I meant "Next year hopefully they'll be better."
By Brendan Loy
It looked like the Wildcats were going to win for sure in the second OT after they intercepted Eric Ainge and just needed a FG to win, but then Tennessee blocked the kick... and looked for a moment like they might run it back for a touchdown, until Kentucky stopped the run by committing what looked like a facemask against the ball-carrier, which was not a penalty "by rule" because Tennessee was on defense in overtime (so I guess a Kentucky player could have pulled out a gun and shot the UT player with the ball, and it would be okay).
Anyway... the SEC really is kind of a war, isn't it?
UPDATE: Tennessee wins! 52-50 in 4OT, and the Vols are SEC East champs! They'll play LSU in the conference championship game in Atlanta.
By Brendan Loy
Notre Dame has a 7-0 lead over Stanford early. BEAT THE DRUNKEN TREES!!!
Meanwhile, in Morgantown, UConn took an early 7-0 lead over West Virginia, but the Mountaineers have rallied and are up 14-7 with 4:14 left in the first quarter. WVU's second touchdown came after a devastating UConn fumble on a punt return deep in their own territory. The Huskies' success this season has been based largely on an excellent turnover margin, and now is definitely not the time to stop taking care of the football, with a BCS berth on the line.
Incidentally, the biggest UConn fans in the country right now are in Columbus, Ohio, as a West Virginia loss would send Ohio State to the national championship game (unless a two-loss SEC champion could leapfrog one-loss Ohio State). In addition, a UConn victory would mean that Hawaii, if they get BCS-eligible, would probably go to the Fiesta Bowl rather than the Sugar Bowl. (The Sugar Bowl picks last, the Fiesta Bowl second-to-last, and I imagine the folks in Glendale would prefer Hawaii to UConn if those were their only two options.)
P.S. Tennessee is beating Kentucky, 31-14. Win, and the Vols clinch the SEC East -- and eliminate Georgia from the SEC race, and hurt the slim national-title hopes of both LSU and Georgia, but virtually guarantee Georgia a BCS at-large berth (if the Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech).
Also, Oklahoma is up 14-7 over Oklahoma State at the end of the first. A Sooner victory would largely eliminate the various truly wild BCS title-game scenarios, since the Big 12 would be guaranteed to produce a highly ranked champion. A hypothetical two-loss, Big 12 champion Oklahoma would represent the "floor" for BCS scenarios; anyone who can't finish the season ranked ahead of them would be eliminated. (Whether that would totally eliminate USC, I'm not entirely sure. The computers don't much like Oklahoma.)
By Brendan Loy
Nebraska coach Bill Callahan has been fired, and Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron, a former USC assistant, reportedly will be fired momentarily. All this after Texas A&M's Dennis Franchione resigned yesterday.
By Brendan Loy
Hawaii and Boise State are underway in their much-hyped battle for the WAC title and a possible BCS berth. It's 13-7 Hawaii early in the second quarter. (Boise blocked the PAT after the Warriors' second touchdown.)
UPDATE: Very entertaining game so far. Boise State has scored 10 unanswered points, and leads 27-26 with 6:52 left in the third quarter.
UPDATE 2: Now it's 39-27 Hawaii heading into the fourth quarter.
Unlike the Broncos, the undefeated Warriors, if they win tonight and beat Washington next weekend, have a real shot at finishing in the Top 12 and qualifying automatically for a BCS bowl -- now likely the Sugar Bowl against LSU! -- without the need to finish ahead of a big-conference champ or squeeze in because of a glut of SEC and Big 12 teams in the Top 14. And to that end, Texas's loss to Texas A&M earlier today is very helpful.
UPDATE 3: Hawaii 39, Boise State 27, final. The Warriors are WAC champions, and they're 11-0 with Washington coming to town next week.
By Brendan Loy
Arkansas leads LSU, 14-6, with 9:40 left in the third quarter. Darren McFadden just rushed 73 yards for a touchdown; he has 151 yards on 17 carries today, making him the first 100-yard rusher against the Tigers this season.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M is leading Texas 10-0. A loss by the Longhorns would eliminate the juicy possibility of a USC-Texas Fiesta Bowl, but on the bright side, it would boost the Trojans' extremely slim national-title hopes. (Oklahoma would then need to lose to Oklahoma State tomorrow, but win the Big 12 title game next Saturday. And lots of other teams would need to lose, specifically LSU, West Virginia, Georgia, Virginia Tech and Oregon. It also wouldn't hurt if Boston College loses to Miami but then wins the ACC title game... and if LSU loses twice. If all of the above happens, and the Trojans beat the Bruins, that would leave two-loss USC, possibly two-loss UConn, one-loss non-conference-champ Kansas, and perhaps undefeated WAC champ Hawaii arguing over who gets to play Ohio State in New Orleans, and I think the Trojans would win the argument.)
UPDATE: Arkansas wins!! Final score: 50-48 in triple OT.
I had a feeling LSU was going to lose, either today or in the SEC title game. As I wrote last night, it was foolish for anyone analyzing the BCS to just assume the Tigers would win out, as had seemingly become the norm. LSU has been living on the edge all season, and as I put it last week, "I think the Tigers are a bit like Hillary Clinton: they've been at or near the top of the polls for long enough that they are starting to feel inevitable, but they haven't actually done anything to establish that they're head-and-shoulders above everyone else." Tonight, they were brought back down to earth.
That said, don't believe anyone who says "LSU's title hopes are dead." They're not. All the Tigers need is for West Virginia to lose (to UConn tomorrow or to Pitt next Saturday) and Oklahoma to win the Big 12, and they'll be right back in the hunt.
If Kentucky beats Tennessee tomorrow and Georgia beats Georgia Tech, the SEC title game next Saturday would feature the nation's two highest-ranked two-loss teams, LSU and Georgia... and if UConn upsets WVU tomorrow, the two-loss SEC champ would only need Oklahoma to beat Kansas or Missouri to potentially earn a trip to New Orleans to play Ohio State. That scenario would create a debate between Oklahoma and the LSU-Georgia winner, and perhaps USC and Virginia Tech if they win out and win their conference titles, and one-loss, non-champion Kansas. But I think the SEC champ would get the better of the argument, in part because of the Kreutz Theorem ("when [pollsters] rank SEC teams, they automatically subtract a loss from their record") and in part because, well, the SEC champ honestly would probably be the best choice in that situation, unless you want to make an argument for undefeated Hawaii. Particularly if the champ is LSU, they'll be able to say: 1) they won the nation's toughest conference, and 2) their two losses both came in triple-overtime. That's a more compelling case than any of the others would be able to make. So I think LSU is still effectively fourth in the BCS pecking order, behind the winner of tomorrow's Kansas-Missouri game (#1), West Virginia (#2) and Ohio State (#3).
P.S. Oh, and also, Texas lost! Woohoo!!
By Brendan Loy
"It's motherf---in' game day. We're the motherf---in' Trojans."
Fight on USC! Beat ASU!
UPDATE: Trojans lead 17-7 with 3:44 to go in the first quarter.
Ridiculous unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty against Sedrick Ellis just now. The NCAA really needs to reign in the trend among referees to try and take all the emotion out of college football with bulls**t calls like that. It happened to Notre Dame's John Carlson against Duke last week (details here), and this one was equally absurd. Good lord, football is exciting, the players get emotional sometimes, and they celebrate. Big freakin' deal. Unless they're jawing in the opposing players' faces or something, it shouldn't be a penalty. Let them play, you a**holes.
Also, the BCS "analysis" by the ESPN announcing crew and Charles Barkley was insipid. Anyone who thinks it's even a question whether ASU will be "in the conversation" if they win out suffers from a failure of imagination and foresight. In this of all seasons, can't these people wrap their minds around the reality that the landscape changes from week to week, and of course the Sun Devils will be "in the conversation" if they win out? Also, why does everyone just assume that LSU is going to win out?!? LSU has two tough games left, and no one can take anything for granted this season. All the talk is about Kansas/Missouri and West Virginia fighting for the last spot. People, they might both get in. Or they could both lose, along with LSU, and the title game could be Ohio State vs. Arizona State. Or Ohio State vs. Georgia. Or Ohio State vs. USC (!). Lots of crazy things are still possible. It's just plain stupid to look at the current BCS standings and assume nothing will change.
UPDATE 2: It's 27-17 USC at halftime.
UPDATE 3: WOOOOOO!!!! 44-17, late in the third quarter.
I think it's safe to say "Beat the Bruins" with this playing of Conquest. :)
UPDATE 4: Okay, I know the game is over, but how the hell is it "unsportsmanlike conduct" for Sedrick Ellis to briefly and unobtrusively celebrate a sack, but Rudy Carpenter can get in the referee's face about a call, yelling and screaming at him like a second-grader throwing a temper tantrum, and not get flagged? These refs are HORRIBLE.
UPDATE 5: Trojans win, 44-24. Pete Carroll is 23-0 in November.
BEAT THE BRUINS!!!!
P.S. All this talk about USC needing Oregon to lose to reach the Rose Bowl sort of misses the point, in a certain sense. If USC beats UCLA next weekend, they will go to a BCS bowl. The only question is which one: Rose or Fiesta? Frankly, I actually prefer the potential Fiesta Bowl matchup with Texas to a Rose Bowl pre-match with Ohio State, the Trojans' second opponent next season. But regardless, while USC may not control its own Rose Bowl destiny, it does control its own BCS destiny, as a practical matter. I don't think I heard anyone on ESPN mention that all night.
By Brendan Loy
Remember Jonathan Tu, the USC fan and blogger on a cross-country, stadium-by-stadium college-football tour, who Jay and I met up with for the Tennessee-Arkansas game 10 days ago? Well, he got arrested in College Station, Texas on Monday, trying to sneak into Texas A&M's Kyle Field. I kid you not.
Left: Jon in Tennessee. Right: Jon in Texas.
Well, hey, it'll make for an interesting chapter in his book.
By Brendan Loy
Taking a page out of Andrew's playbook, Alabama coach Nick Saban attempted to motivate his team Monday by comparing the Crimson Tide's loss to Louisiana-Lafayette with 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. Heh.
But what would that make Michigan's loss to Appalachian State? Antietam?
P.S. Holocaust-tastic!
P.P.S. I don't know what everyone is so upset about. We all already knew that SEC football is a war! :)
By David K.
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr will announce his retirement Monday after 13 seasons at the helm of the Wolverines. Carr had early success, including a 1997 National Championship and a 5-1 record against rival Ohio State through 2000, but in recent years the Maize and Blue have struggled, dropping four straight to the Buckeyes for the first time ever and becoming the first ranked team ever to lose to a I-AA opponent.
Speculation is that LSU coach Les Miles, a former Bo Schembechler player, would be the top choice to replace Carr, but a clause in his contract with the Tigers would cost him $1.5 million for fleeing to Ann Arbor. In addition, there are rumors that Carr, who still carries a significant amount of influence, is not favorable towards Miles.
By Brendan Loy
...it's Texas Tech 27, Oklahoma 7 with 9:18 left in the second quarter, and OU's starting quarterback, Sam Bradford, is out of the game. Shades of Oregon/Dixon?
An upset by the Red Raiders would be great news for West Virginia, Ohio State and Arizona State, as they could then root for the Big 12 South champ -- be it Oklahoma or Texas -- to beat next week's Kansas-Missouri winner in the conference championship game, thus taking the Big 12 out of the BCS title picture entirely. (Sorry, Kansas, but a one-loss Jayhawks squad would be behind all the other one-loss teams in the pecking order, and possibly also two-loss Georgia, Virginia Tech and USC.)
UPDATE: I'm glad OU is going to lose, but how was that not a touchdown?
UPDATE 2: Texas Tech wins, 34-27. They are the eleventh unranked team to knock off a Top 5 team this season!
Next week: #2 Kansas vs. #3 Missouri! In football! LOL!
P.S. For those keeping track at home, here's an update on USC's slim national-championship hopes.
By Brendan Loy
First things first: Notre Dame 28, Duke 7, final. WOOO!!!! Finally, a home win for the Irish!!!
Meanwhile, here in Knoxville, the Tennessee Volunteers rallied from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to edge in-state rival Vanderbilt, 25-24, and retain control of the SEC East. If the Vols win at Kentucky next week, they'll take on LSU in Atlanta for the SEC championship. If Kentucky wins, the title game will be LSU vs. Georgia instead. (Georgia beat Kentucky today, 24-13.) No offense to the Vols, but given the way the Bulldogs have been playing, I think the Tigers (who beat Ole Miss 41-24 to defend their #1 ranking) will be rooting for Tennessee next week.
In the Big East, UConn's 30-7 romp of Syracuse, combined with Rutgers's 20-16 win over Pitt, guaranteed that next week's West Virginia-UConn game will decide the conference title. The only question remaining is who it'll be deciding between. If West Virginia beats Cincinnati tonight, the Mountaineers and Huskies will play a de facto championship game, with the winner going to the BCS. It would be the second straight year WVU has hosted such a game (they beat Rutgers last year). [CORRECTION: The previous sentence is wrong. WVU did host Rutgers in last year's finale, but by winning, the Mountaineers delivered the Big East championship to Louisville.] If, on the other hand, Cincy pulls the upset tonight, West Virginia will be the Bearcats' proxy warrior next week; a WVU win in that circumstance would mean a Cincinnati title. Either way, UConn is one road win away from an utterly improbable trip to either the Orange or Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately, the Huskies haven't won a road game of any significance all year.
Out in the Big 12, Kansas and Missouri survived the upset bug that has bitten many teams before "showdown" games this year -- think Florida the week before the LSU game, Texas and Oklahoma the week before the Red River Shootout, Ohio State and Michigan last week -- as both won easily today, 45-7 over Iowa State and 49-32 over Kansas State, respectively. So now the archrival Jayhawks and Tigers, neither of whom have won a Big 12 North title in football before, will meet next Saturday for all the marbles. Winner gets Oklahoma in the conference title game a week later, assuming Oklahoma takes care of business in the mean time. (The Sooners can clinch the Big 12 South with a win at Texas Tech tonight. But watch out -- Oklahoma isn't technically ranked #2 yet, but they know they'll be #2 in the new rankings if they win, so that might be enough for the #2 curse to strike!)
As for the Big Ten, Ohio State is once again the champion after beating Michigan 14-3. The Buckeyes will go to the Rose Bowl barring a series of upsets that lands them in the championship game, which could happen -- though I think Arizona State is probably ahead of them in the pecking order, and so, I suspect, is Georgia, despite the Bulldogs' two losses, if Tennessee loses next week, Georgia wins, and then beats LSU for the SEC title. ... Also in the Big Ten, Illinois won over Northwestern, staking their claim on a possible BCS at-large bid. If there are enough upsets above them, the Illini may be able to sneak into the Top 14 by season's end.
Nothing of any significance is happening today in the Pac-10, in terms of the conference race, with Oregon having lost on Thursday night and both USC and ASU idle in anticipation of their Thanksgiving showdown. However, Cal's slide into oblivion continues as Washington picked up its second conference win at the Bears' expense, 37-23. It's a shame the Huskies weren't able to pull out either of their recent close losses (against Arizona or Oregon State), because if they had, they'd be heading into next week's Apple Cup with a shot at bowl-eligibility still alive (though they'd then have had to upset Hawaii in Hawaii the following week).
Last but not least (okay, maybe least), in the ACC, Clemson plays Boston College tonight for the Atlantic Division title. Who will be their ACC title-game opponent? That will be decided by next week's Virginia-Virginia Tech game. Which means that, if West Virginia beats Cincy tonight, next week will feature three head-to-head, BCS conference- or division-deciding games. (UConn-WVU, Kansas-Missouri, and Virginia-Virginia Tech.) Four if you count Boise State-Hawaii, which is now officially all set after Boise crushed Idaho, 58-14.
By Brendan Loy
Specifically, some #95 vs. #103, 1-9 vs. 1-9, worst-nationally-televised-game-in-history football? It's the Duke Super Bowl, and it's a half-hour away. GOOOO IRISH!!!! BEEEEAT DUKE!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, BEAT DUKE!
UPDATE: "Let's be honest, this is some bad football." --NBC announcer. It's 0-0, late in the second quarter.
UPDATE 2: Notre Dame scored two late touchdowns off Duke fumbles, and it's 14-0 Irish at halftime.
By Brendan Loy
Hawaii, sans Colt Brennan (mostly), escaped Reno with a 28-26 win over Nevada last night, thanks to a 45-yard field goal with 11 seconds left (or rather, two 45-yard field goals, as Nevada's coach pulled the timeout trick to force the Warriors' Dan Kelly to kick it twice).
Now, if Boise State can take care of business against Idaho this afternoon, next Friday night's Broncos-Warriors matchup -- with not just a WAC title, but a possible BCS berth, on the line -- will be all set. And Brennan is expected to be back for that one.
So, go Boise... and go Michigan!! (The Wolverines, who could clear the WAC champion's path to the BCS with a win over Ohio State, trail 7-3 at halftime.)
By David K.
Oregon quarterback and Heisman hopeful Dennis Dixon is done for the season after tearing his anterior-cruciate ligament in Thursday's game against Arizona. Dixon will need to have surgery with a recovery time of six months.
By Brendan Loy
Oregon's loss is all Ryan Leaf's fault. Heh.
Also: "Remember the implications of this: because of the injury to Dennis Dixon’s knee, we might see literally dozens of football players suffer career-ending injuries in their attempt to carry a victorious Mark Mangino off the field in New Orleans this January."
(For the uninitiated, that would be this Mark Mangino, he of the many cupcakes. h/t.)
UPDATE: Dennis Dixon is out for the season. DAMN YOU, RYAN LEAF!!!
By Brendan Loy
It's become increasingly common in the sports blogosphere to refer to the BCS title game as the "MNC," meaning "Mythical National Championship." As regular readers know, I despise the BCS, so I agree with the sentiment, but I have nevertheless resisted the "MNC" label because I don't want to confuse people with unnecessary blog-hipster jargon.
That said, never has the label been more appropriate. Unless Kansas goes 13-0, in which case they will have earned the right to be called an undisputed national champ, this year's "champion" will indeed be mythical. Commenter Sandy Underpants expressed this point well yesterday:
It's become fairly obvious that there will not be a National Champion this season. Sure a team (or two (or three)) will get the BCS title and the AP title and the Golf Digest title, but they aren't going to be national champions because they were dominant or the best, they're going to be champs because the season ran out. If we kept going there would be a new number 1 and 2 team during the week of December 8 and a new 1&2 December 15.
Indeed. It's tempting to argue that LSU is somehow above the rest of the pack, and that they would eventually become the obvious choice if the season continued indefinitely, but in light of their close shaves (and their loss, albeit on the road in triple-overtime, to a team that has since been exposed as only slightly above average), I'm not sure that's accurate. I think the Tigers are a bit like Hillary Clinton: they've been at or near the top of the polls for long enough that they are starting to feel inevitable, but they haven't actually done anything to establish that they're head-and-shoulders above everyone else.
By Brendan Loy
Arizona 34, Oregon 24, final. The injury-plagued Ducks are the fifth #2 team to lose to an unranked opponent this season.
Ridicluous.
The Big 12 trio of Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri now unquestionably occupies the #2 spot in the BCS pecking order. #3 is West Virginia. #4? I'd say it's Arizona State, rather than Ohio State; I think the Sun Devils will leapfrog the Buckeyes if both win out. Regardless, the Sun Devils now control their Rose Bowl destiny.
And on that front, how about USC? If the Trojans win out, they can earn their sixth straight Pac-10 title or share thereof. They'll need another Oregon loss to reach the Rose Bowl, though.
Oh, and if eight of the Top 10 teams not named Arizona State lose between now and December 2, the Trojans could be playing in New Orleans on January 7. Far-fetched? Not this season. Fight on!
P.S. I just did a quickie BCS bowl projection update, and, assuming USC beats ASU, Oregon and Texas win out, the Big 12 champion reaches the national title game, and West Virginia wins the Big East, I think this could mean a Trojans-Longhorns rematch in the Fiesta Bowl:
Title game: LSU vs. Oklahoma (or Missouri or Kansas, whatever)
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Ohio State
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Fiesta Bowl: USC vs. Texas (!!!)
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Boise/Hawaii/Illinois
At least now, if Oregon wins out, we won't have to see a Rose Bowl pitting either USC vs. Michigan (for the third time in five years) or USC vs. Ohio State (next year's home opener). Frankly, given the competition, I'd rather see the Trojans in the Fiesta Bowl. Playing Texas (or some other Big 12 team, or Georgia, or whomever) would be interesting and fun. The Buckeyes or Skunkbears? Bleh.
On the other hand, what if Michigan beats tOSU on Saturday, and Oregon wins out? We'd be looking at a Rose Bowl rematch of that dreadful Michigan-Oregon game from September. Yikes. Would the never-before-used "greater good of college football" clause be invoked to prevent such a yawner?
By David K.
I haven't paid much attention to the Thursday night games this year, but with tonights game featuring current #2 Oregon it looks a lot more interesting to Pac-10 fans. Oregon is taking an agressive approach to the game so far and its working for them. Dennis Dixon scrambled 40+ yards on a 4th and 3 to score a touchdown and then they quick snapped for a 2pt conversion. Will Arizona be able to respond? Apparently not as Oregon just intercepted a Tuitama long pass on the Wildcats second play of the night.
Box score here, game is on ESPN.
UPDATE Oregon QB Dennis Dixon, a leading Heisman candidate is likely done for the night after taking a bad step and wrenching his injured knee. The question now is whether he is done for just the night or done for the whole season. Can Oregon win out with Brady Leaf stepping in at QB?
UPDATE x2 Following Dixon's exit from the game Arizona has been on fire especially on special teams and now lead by 17 points going into the half.
UPDATE FINAL Arizona wins the upset 34-24
Oregon becomes the 5th #2 team to lose to an unranked opponent this season. I imagine Coach Stoops (Arizona) will be getting a good phone call from Coach Stoops (Oklahoma) after this game. Dennis Dixon continued an unlucky streak for west coast quarterbacks, we'll see if he is back for next weeks game, but Oregon is out of the picture when it comes to the national championship, can they make it to the Rose Bowl? According to the announcers this will be the first time since 1998 that Arizona has won back to back Pac-10 home games. Yikes.
By Brendan Loy
Once upon a time, serial underdog-rooters like myself dared to dream that the November 23 showdown between Hawaii and Boise State would be "an absolutely HUGE game, with not just WAC title implications, but BCS implications" for both teams. Then the Broncos of Boise, the newly crowned Fiesta Bowl champions and mid-major conquering heroes, lost their opener to Washington, and the dream died -- or so we thought. Yet here we are, just over two months later, and the odds are increasing that the Broncos-Warriors clash will be a virtual BCS play-in game (assuming, of course, that both teams take care of business this weekend, and also assuming Hawaii, if it beats Boise State, proceeds to beat Washington the following weekend).
I blogged about this last week, but thanks to the events of this past Saturday -- particularly those in the Big Ten -- and the discovery of a scenario that I hadn't previously considered, it's worth revisiting.
There are three ways for a mid-major conference champion to qualify for the BCS in spite of the bowls' aversion to voluntarily inviting them. One is to finish in the Top 12 of the final BCS standings. Another is to finish between #13 and #16, and ahead of the champion of at least one BCS conference. And the third -- which I hadn't thought of before, until Stewart Mandel mentioned it in yesterday's Mailbag -- is to finish in the Top 14 when four of the other Top 14 teams are ineligible to be invited because of the two-team-per-conference limit, thus forcing the bowls to invite all ten eligible teams, including the "little guy" they'd rather leave at home.
The Top 12 scenario is the easiest to comprehend, but it's also the least likely to occur this season. Hawaii may be able to pull it off, but Boise probably can't, barring several upsets among teams currently ranked a bit above them (e.g., Texas, Florida, etc.).
The Top 16 scenario is much more likely, as I believe both Hawaii and Boise are virtual locks to finish #16 or higher if they win out. The bigger question is whether any BCS champion will finish below them, and while everyone seems to be focusing on the ACC and Big East on that front, I believe the key to the whole scenario is Saturday's game in Ann Arbor. Fans of the Warriors and Broncos may want to wear some maize & blue these next couple of days, and perhaps softly hum "Hail to the Victors" as they go about their business, because their hopes of reaching the BCS may well depend on the fortunes of the Michigan Wolverines. I'll return to that scenario and analyze it in more detail after the jump.
Then there's the Top 14 scenario. In this situation, the WAC champ wouldn't technically get an "automatic" BCS bid, but they'd be guaranteed an invitation anyway because of a glut of SEC, Pac-10 and Big 12 teams in the BCS Top 14. Here's how it would work: if the ACC, Big Ten and Big East champions all finish in the Top 14, and no other teams from those conferences join them there, that would leave seven BCS invitations to go around, but the other three major conferences are only eligible for two invitations each -- a total of six. That leaves one extra, which would of necessity go to a #13- or #14-ranked WAC champ.
More on both of the latter two scenarios after the jump.
Continue reading "Hail hail Michigan, defenders of the WAC?" »
By Brendan Loy
From Stewart Mandel's Mailbag:
How the heck can college football increase the number of games in a season, keep the same bowl eligibility requirements (six wins), and the Pac-10 still not manage to produce enough teams to fill its bowls?
--Jeff G., Ellicott City, Md.
Two words, my friend: Karl Dorrell.
Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Miami of Ohio hosts Akron tonight at 7:30 in a ESPN2 weeknight game that has major implications for the surprising Buffalo Bulls. Here's a detailed rundown of the MAC East scenarios, but basically, because Buffalo squandered its chance to put away the division by losing to Miami 11 days ago, they now need the RedHawks to lose. Thus, it would be really, really helpful for UB's division championship hopes if Akron were to pull the upset tonight. (Miami has two games left: tonight's tilt and a visit to hated UB rival Ohio next Saturday. Buffalo also has two remaining games: vs. Bowling Green this Saturday and at Kent State next Saturday.)
Oddly enough, however, winning a division title might arguably hurt Buffalo's chances of qualifying for a bowl game. If Buffalo and Miami both win out, the Bulls won't go to the MAC title game -- but at 6-6, they'll be bowl-eligible, and believe it or not, they might actually be an attractive option for the International Bowl in nearby Toronto, which has third pick among eligible MAC teams. On the other hand, if Buffalo wins out and Miami loses a game, Buffalo will carry that 6-6 record into the MAC title game, which would be an all-or-nothing proposition for the Bulls: win, and they'd be guaranteed a bowl invitation; lose, and they'd be bowl-ineligible at 6-7. (The NCAA will grant a bowl-eligibility exemption to 6-7 conference champs, but not to 6-7 runner-ups.)
But maybe I'm being a homer (for my, like, fifth-favorite team... heh) in thinking that the International Bowl would give 6-6 Buffalo a second look based purely on location. Presuming that UB fans would travel to Toronto en masse if their team gets a bowl invite would be a leap of faith, to say the least. I think the bowl's decision would depend in part on how many MAC teams are bowl-eligible, and how many of those get to 7 wins. (On both fronts, a bunch of teams are on the bubble at the moment.) Either way, if you're a Buffalo fan, I guess it makes more sense to root for the Bulls to, uh, take the bull by the horns, if you will, and earn their way to a bowl game -- which means winning out, hoping Miami loses, and then winning that MAC title game. Besides, even by getting to the MAC title game, Buffalo would be a national TV, which is almost like a bowl game. So: Go Bulls! And more immediately, Go Akron!
By David K.
Official update during the broadcast of the UW game. UW QB Jake Locker, who earlier left in an ambulance, has been released from the hospital and is returning to the game. Presumably he won't be playing anymore tonight, but with the results from the hospital negative and his being released, looks like there is hope for his return next week. Meanwhile the UW has pulled within 6 points of the Beavers with 7 minutes left in the game. Lets go Dawgs!
UPDATE: The Huskies get a lucky break from what is a horrible call by the refs, who gave the Huskies a fumble recovery on a play where OSU running back Bernard was CLEARLY down at the 3 yard line. However they were able to snap the ball before anyone could call for a review.
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Washington lost, 29-23.
Meanwhile, Locker wasn't the only quarterback out west who suffered a scary helmet-to-helmet hit in one of yesterday's late games. Hawaii's Colt Brennan -- who has a showdown with Locker's Huskies on December 1 -- suffered a mild concussion in the Warriors' win over Fresno State:
The Warriors are now 9-0 and 6-0 in the Western Athletic Conference, one of just two unbeaten teams left in the nation. But much of the talk was about Brennan's status after the hardest hit many watching had ever seen in a football game.The crushing blow (shoulder first, no flag) dealt by Bulldogs linebacker Marcus Riley left Brennan unconscious briefly, and with what was initially diagnosed as a grade 3 (the most severe) concussion. It was later described as "mild" by a UH official, and several people said Brennan was back to normal after the game.
Brennan did not talk to reporters afterward, but did release a statement.
"I'm doing fine," he said through a UH spokesman. "I'd like to thank everyone for the support they gave out there. I'm looking forward to getting back on the field for next week's game against Nevada." ...
[A] UH official described Brennan as "day-to-day" when it comes to football duties. Brennan did not require hospitalization.
Coach June Jones said he does not expect Brennan to miss Friday's game at Nevada.
By JLR
Some huge ACC games today--a few of which with national implications.
For starters, I just got home from the BC/Maryland game (Maryland 42, # 8 BC 35) Maryland's now 5-5 ... One more win (@ FSU or @ NC State) to be bowl eligible. Let's GOOOOOO MAR-Y-LAND!
All of the other nationally-ranked ACC teams won today (#11 Virginia Tech, #19 Virginia, and #21 Clemson all won).
Even though that was the only real upset today in the ACC, BC's loss and Clemson's victory over Wake Forest today puts Clemson in first place in the ACC-Atlantic Division ... And Clemson plays BC at home next week. Since that's Clemson's last ACC game this season (they finish the season against arch-rival South Carolina), it's a must-win for Clemson to make it to the ACC championship game against either Virginia or Virginia Tech (who play each other on the 24th in Charlottesville).
By Brendan Loy
"Hey, I want you to know something. My dad fought in the war so you could have the privilege to say dumb things." --Lou Holtz to Mark May on ESPN's College Football Final, after an argument over whether Kansas (10-0) is the best team in the country.
Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Scary news from Corvallis:
Washington Husky quarterback Jake Locker was injured and taken off the field on a stretcher and left Reser Stadium in an ambulance tonight in the second quarter of a Pac-10 game against Oregon State.Locker was hit hard on a scramble with 6:18 to go in the second quarter. The redshirt freshman was attempting to pick up a third-and-six when he scrambled and was hit helmet-to-helmet by Oregon State safety Al Afalava. Oregon State linebacker Joey LaRocque was also in on the play.
Locker landed face down in front of the Huskies' bench at the 45-yard line and did not move while being immediately tended to by trainers.
He was turned over, his facemask was cut off and he was put on a stretcher and lifted into an ambulance after about 10 minutes. Play-by-play radio announcer Bob Rondeau said on KJR-AM that Locker was moving all of his limbs but there was concern about a possible neck injury.
Locker was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis and there was no immediate update on his condition. Washington teammates circled Locker, the team's leader and the centerpiece of the team's future hopes, as doctors worked. Locker's parents, Scott and Anita, moved down to the field, with Anita Locker hugging Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham as doctors worked on her son. Anita Locker rode in the ambulance with her son.
More here. Thoughts and prayers here.
The game is still ongoing. UW trails 16-0, and a loss would mathematically eliminate the 3-6 Huskies from any chance at bowl eligibility, but I imagine that's the least of your average Washington fan's concerns right now.
By Brendan Loy
Navy 74, North Texas 62, final. Good lord. (And they actually slowed down in the second half. It was 49-45 at halftime.)
By Brendan Loy
USC and Cal are tied 17-17 with 13:41 left.
Hopefully the end result will be better than the basketball team's opener earlier today. (Again with the Atlantic Sun conference knocking off ranked teams at home!)
Anyway... here are some photos from my afternoon at the Tennessee-Arkansas game:
Bloggers unite! Me with Mark from Loser with Socks and Jonathan from 82 Sluggo Win.
The Vols come in through the "Power T."
Austin Rogers scores Tennessee's first touchdown of the day, and the crowd goes wild.
Arkansas's quarterback passes the ball. Why on earth the Razorbacks did so much of this, I have no idea. They have the country's best running back, Darren McFadden -- and he only ran the ball five meaningful times in the first half. Most of his 22 carries came after the game was already out of hand. Not only that, but on a whole bunch of occasions, he wasn't even on the field on crucial plays. Houston Nutt is a terrible, terrible coach.
Jonathan, Jay and me. (I put on the long-sleeve shirt, and the USC shirt over it, after the Tennessee game ended. It was getting chilly... and it was time to root for the Trojans agaist Cal!)
By David K.
Illinois was able to hold off Ohio State and came away with an amazing 28-21 win in Columbus to ruin their undefeated season and likely keep them out of the National Championship game.
Who will be #1 next week? LSU, Oregon, or undefeated Kansas?
Update: Heh, looks like someone over at SI.com needs to do some fact checking, their football page currently has the following link: Illinois snaps No. 13 Michigan's win streak.
By David K.
Good afternoon sports fans! With Brendan out celebrating Tennessee's win over Arkansas, a little guestblogger updating on todays football action.
As Brendan mentions below Wisconsin upset Michigan, but a Wolverine win over Ohio State next week would send them to the BCS game (presumeably the Rose Bowl) in January as the Big-Ten representative.
Meanwhile, despite striking early with a touchdown in the first 13 seconds of the game, #1 Ohio State is trailing unranked Illinois 28-21 at home. An Illini win would likely set up a 1 loss team as the new #1 with #2 LSU strong favorites against Louisiana Tech and #3 Oregon having a bye this week (they take on Arizona on Thursday night).
In the SEC, Mississippi State upset 22nd ranked Alabama and became bowl eligible. The scoring in the game consisted of 2 touchdowns and 5 field goals with a final score of 17-12 in traditional SEC style.
Clemson crushed Wake Forest to stay within striking distance of the ACC-Coastal title, they would need to beat Boston College next week and would likely face the winner of the Virginia/Virginia Tech game in the ACC Championship.
Down in the Big 12, Missouri is doing its part to make sure their last regular season game against Kansas would be for the Big 12 North title with a win today over struggling Big 12 South opponent Texas A&M.
#16 Connecticut's Cinderlla season in the Big East is in trouble as they trail unranked (but 7-2) Cincinatti 20-3 in the 3rd quarter. Connecticut would still sit atop the Big East, tied with W Virginia, but the Huskies still have to play the mountaineers at home.
In the Pac-10 #9 ASU is attempting to hold off the schizophrenic Bruins who led early but now trail the Sun Devils by 4 in the 3rd.
USC will take on Cal at 8pm EDT in a game that many had thought might decide the Pac-10 title when the season started.
Finally, Charlie Weis continued to show his patriotism as the Irish lost at home to a strong Air Force team, despite an improved performance from Jimmy Clausen in his return as a starter. The Irish drop to 1-9 for the first time ever but hope remains for their final home game as they take on perennial doormat Duke (who, of course, suck).
By Brendan Loy
West Virginia beat Louisville yesterday -- in a game attended by Trojan CFB blog road-tripper Jonathan Tu, who will drive to Knoxville today for tomorrow's Tennessee-Arkansas game -- in Morgantown by a score of 38-31, thereby keeping the pressure on surprise Big East leader UConn. If WVU (3-1 Big East) had lost, UConn (4-0) would have had a two-game lead over everyone in the conference, meaning they could have lost any one of their final three games, including the November 24 game at West Virginia, and still won the conference. Instead, as things stand now, the Huskies can still finish 2-1 and win the conference, but one of the wins must be over West Virginia.
UConn plays Cincinnati, which is also still in the Big East hunt at 2-2, Saturday at Cincy. The Huskies have yet to prove they can beat a quality opponent on the road, so this is a big game, even though UConn could lose it and still win the conference by beating Syracuse and WVU. The Huskies' three consecutive wins over Louisville, South Florida and Rutgers were all at Rentschler Field; their only two victories away from East Hartford have been over Duke and Pitt, and their one loss was on the road against Virginia. Two of their final three games are on the road against tough opponents: the Bearcats on Saturday, the Mountaineers in two weeks.
Also, if UConn beats Cincinnati and follows it up with a home win over lowly Syracuse next week, and West Virginia loses at Cincy next week, the Huskies would clinch the conference before even taking the field against WVU.
I never got around to writing my planned "UConn is for real" post after they beat USF, but Sunday Morning Quarterback had a good post on Tuesday titled "Getting to know UConn." In it, SMQ examines how the Huskies have managed to achieve this level of success, and then asks, "is UConn good? Does it matter?" A comparison to 2006-07 Wake Forest is made. Those guys, you may recall, ended up in a BCS bowl.
By Brendan Loy
By Brendan Loy
I mentioned yesterday that I'm going to Saturday's 12:30 PM Tennessee-Arkansas game with Jonathan (who will be driving in from Morgantown on Friday after attending the West Virginia-Louisville game Thursday night) and Jay. What I didn't mention is that we have a fourth ticket that needs a home. I've asked a couple of people, but as the ticket is presently still unclaimed, I thought I'd open it up for any Irish Trojan readers who might be in the greater Knoxville area and would be interested in a face value ($44) ticket to see the Vols take on the Razorbacks at 108,000-strong "Fort Neyland." Granted, this could result in my sitting next to some weirdo from the Internet, but so could selling it on Craigslist or StubHub, so why not? :) Anyway, if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail this afternoon or evening at irishtrojan [at] gmail.com. Otherwise, I think I may have a Craigslist buyer. So let me know.
By Brendan Loy
First, there was the fake interview with Les Miles. Then, the fake brain x-ray. And now, via the great (and broke) road-tripping Jonathan Tu, this piece of comedy gold:
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - After four days of martial law and nearly eight years under former President Pervez Musharraf, the Republic of Pakistan was restored to order by LSU (8-1, 5-1 SEC West) head coach Les Miles, who parachuted into the Muslim country in a daring pre-dawn raid.
“People of Pakistan, you are free!” Miles shouted from the highest step of the Pakistani House of Parliament.
Heh.
Next season on 24: Jack Bauer finally meets his match... Les Miles.
By Brendan Loy
Scott Schmidt, a.k.a. Boi From Troy, has an op-ed in today's L.A. Times -- in which he criticizes USC. Specifically: "no one should be so arrogant as to think that their talent on the field will excuse their behavior off it. Yet if Heritage Hall celebrates O.J. Simpson the football player while looking away from O.J. Simpson the man, regrettably, that is the idea we're left with."
P.S. But -- through no fault of Scott's, I'm sure -- the headline writer misused an apostrophe in the subhead!!! "The university still honor's Simpson's football career" ... AAAHH!!! Somebody call the grammar police!!
By Brendan Loy
With Jay and Jonathan Tu! (He of the whirlwind, season-long, cross-country college-football odyssey.) For face value! w00t!
Two years ago, I was at the L.A. Coliseum for the game in which Reggie Bush turned out a mind-bogglingly amazing performance that basically clinched the Heisman. At Neyland Stadium on Saturday, will I see the Razorbacks' resurgent Darren McFadden do the same thing? Let's hope not, for Tennessee's sake. Still, I think it's always worthwhile to see great players in person, whichever team they're playing for.
Oh yeah, and Tennessee controls its own destiny for the SEC championship. So that's good too. :) Go Big Orange!
By Brendan Loy
ESPN GameDay is going to a Division III game for the first time in its history this Saturday, visiting Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts for the "Biggest Little Game in America," the 122nd annual showdown between rivals Williams and Amherst.
By Brendan Loy
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over Trojan Nation today, as Lloyd Lake -- the would-be agent, not the body of water -- will meet with NCAA investigators to discuss the Reggie Bush case.
Er, and no, why of course my use of the word "snitch" in the headline doesn't imply that I don't want the truth to come out. What ever would give you that idea? Ahem.
Anyway, it might seem impossible that USC is going to emerge from this clusterf*** unscathed, but you know what they say: Impossible is nothing.
Previous Reggiegate posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
UPDATE: Trojan fans, this will make you feel better. Vote for Ruth!!
By Brendan Loy
There's been a lot of schadenfreude-ian talk in recent weeks about how Notre Dame's offense might be the worst in college football history. One Florida blogger has devoted a special category just to tracking the alleged statistical evidence of this dubious distinction. And the talk hasn't just been coming from the Domer-haters. Even the venerable Fighting Irish blog Blue-Gray Sky conceded last month that ND's offense "could go down in history as one of the worst ever produced, if not THE worst."
Now, I'm not going to sit here and defend Notre Dame's offense. It's been terrible. Awful. Bloody abysmal. But to claim, on the basis of nothing more precise or meaningful than an absolute, context-free measure of yards per game, that it might be the OMG WORST OFFENSE EVER!!!, is an indictment of lies, damn lies, and statistics, more than it's an indictment of Notre Dame's putrid offense (which is bad enough without being indicted for crimes it didn't commit, for heaven's sake).
Continue reading "ND's offense: Bad? Yes. Worst ever? Maybe not." »
By Brendan Loy
Uh-oh. Now we're going to lose the war, and it's all Charlie Weis's fault:
The Naval Academy canceled classes Monday, giving the 4,400 midshipmen another day to celebrate the football team's first victory over Notre Dame in 44 tries.
Charlie Weis: Giving our brave men & women in uniform an excuse to slack off, and thus helping the terrorists win, since 2007. Way to go, Coach.
;) Just kidding, of course.
By Brendan Loy
NOTE: An earlier version of this post was based on an incorrect recollection of the BCS qualification rules; I was thinking the Top 14 is the cutoff for automatic at-large qualification by a non-BCS team, but it's actually the Top 12, which changes things significantly. I've altered the post accordingly.
Looking at this week's BCS standings, I notice something very interesting: while Hawaii (8-0), ranked #14 last week, has slipped to #16 (leapfrogged by Texas and Florida), Boise State (8-1) has risen from #22 to #20, thanks to losses by Alabama and Kentucky (previously #17 and #18, respectively).
Hawaii's schedule is so weak -- though no fault of their own, but rather, due to the utter wimpiness of big-time programs who refused to play them despite being offered as much as $500,000 to do so -- that the Warriors don't even register in the computers at the moment. (That is to say, they're outside of the Top 25 in every single computer, so their computer rating for BCS purposes is a big fat .000.) That may change if they win their last four games, including the November 23 showdown with Boise State, but their computer profile will certainly remain very weak. However, I do believe they'll finish in the Top 12 if they win out, and thus get invited automatically to a BCS bowl.
But what about Boise State? If the Broncos take care of business against the absolutely wretched opponents they face the next two weeks (Utah State and Idaho, a combined 1-18), and then beat Hawaii on the 23rd to earn the WAC championship, could last year's Cinderella become this year's big surprise -- the first one-loss team from a non-BCS conference to earn a trip to a BCS bowl?
I think it's entirely possible. Of course, the weakness of their next two opponents will hurt Boise's computer profile -- but then the strength of their final opponent (Hawaii) will boost it. And attrition among higher-ranked teams will inevitably keep their poll ranking moving up over the next four weeks, if they just keep winning. A bunch of teams currently ranked above them are destined to lose sooner or later: for example, only one of the ACC trio Boston College, Virginia Tech and Virginia can make it to the finish line unscathed. Same goes for USC and Arizona State from the Pac-10, Auburn and Georgia from the SEC, and West Virginia and UConn from the Big East: somebody's gotta lose those games, and with all teams involved being ranked #9 or lower, and the pollsters' tendency to punish teams severely for late losses, there's a pretty good chance the losers will fall behind Boise State. Michigan, too, will fall behind the Broncos if they lose to Ohio State. And of course, Boise can take care of #16 Hawaii itself.
Adding it up, I count between five and seven spots that Boise is likely to climb by pure attrition before season's end, if they win out. That would get them to between #13 and #15: not quite good enough, but close. Add in the likelihood of an extra boost from pollsters if the Broncos pull off what would be a high-profile, nationally televised win over Hawaii, and they'd be even closer. Throw in a couple of upsets -- Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks over Florida, anyone? How about Texas Tech and/or A&M over Texas? -- and the Broncos could be in business.
Alternatively, Boise could take advantage of the rule that gives a non-BCS conference champion an automatic bid if they're ranked between #13 and #16 and ahead a BCS conference champ. Scenarios to consider here: UConn, currently #13, loses one of its next three games, but still wins the Big East by beating West Virginia. Michigan, currently #12, loses at Wisconsin, but still wins the Big Ten by beating Ohio State. Florida, Georgia and Tennessee each lose a game, so the Vols, currently #23, go to the SEC title game with an 8-4 overall record... and win. If any of those things were to happen, Boise State would probably be all set, again assuming they win out.
All things considered, I give Boise State a 50/50 chance of making a BCS bowl -- despite that season-opening loss to Washington -- if they win out.
Once upon a time, I thought the Hawaii-Boise State game in three weeks would be "an absolutely HUGE game, with not just WAC title implications, but BCS implications" for both teams. When the Broncos lost to the Huskies on September 8, it looked like that dream was doomed. But maybe not! Go Broncos & Warriors! Beat various & sundry midgets! Bust the BCS! Again! :)
P.S. ESPN's Brad Edwards (subscription required), of "Road to the BCS," is a bit less bullish than me. He thinks Boise State's only realistic hope is the finishing-ahead-of-a-BCS-conference-champ route: "BSU isn't likely to reach the top 12 (needed for an automatic at-large bid), but top 16 is a possibility, which could get them into a major bowl if the champion of an automatic-bid conference (most likely the ACC) is ranked lower."
I disagree with his "most likely the ACC" comment; I think the Big East is the most likely, at least in terms of the ease of concocting the scenario. UConn would certainly plummet with a loss -- the Huskies' national profile is so low that their high ranking is incredibly tenuous -- and wouldn't gain back that much ground by beating West Virginia (a result which would do more to discredit WVU in the pollsters' eyes than to boost UConn's cred). But perhaps Edwards just thinks it's really unlikely UConn beats WVU. In any event, the ACC certainly could fit the bill as well. The best scenario would be if Virginia loses to Miami but then beats Virginia Tech and wins the title game. Alternatively, BC could beat Clemson, lose to Miami, and then win the title game. Those are, I think, the most likely scenarios where the ACC champ could finish below Boise.
By Brendan Loy
As an Irish Trojan, I don't subscribe to the notion of the "perfect day" -- a day when USC wins and both UCLA and Notre Dame lose -- but for those more typical Trojans who do, this has to be one of the sweetest "perfect days" in recent memory. USC avenged last year's loss to Oregon State, UCLA got embarrassed by lowly Arizona, and Notre Dame lost to Navy. Man.
As for me, all I can say is Beat the Bears, and Beeeeat Falcons!
By Brendan Loy
Arizona State's loss to Oregon and Boston College's loss to Florida State mean that the ranks of the unbeaten have shrunk from five to three -- only two of whom are legit national-title contenders. (Hawaii, through no fault of its own, has played such a weak schedule that its computer numbers are way too low to contend for the BCS Top 2; I don't think they have any chance even if the rest of the highly ranked teams suffer a total meltdown over the next four weeks.)
The two remaining unbeatens who matter are #1 Ohio State and #8 Kansas. You'd have to think the Jayhawks, who picked a very good week to pile up some style points against hapless Nebraska, will move ahead of ASU and BC, leapfrog idle West Virginia, and maybe leapfrog Oklahoma too, to reach #5 or #4 next week. The top one-loss teams will be #2 LSU, #3 Oregon and #4/5 OU.
As a side note, can you imagine if UConn had beaten Virginia three weeks ago? The Huskies -- who crushed Rutgers tonight -- would be one of the three remaining unbeatens with a shot at the national title. In football. Unbelievable.
Anyway, back to Kansas. With games coming up against #9 (soon to be #7) Missouri and, if they reach the Big 12 title game, #6 (soon to be #5 or #4) Oklahoma, the undefeated Jayhawks will have plenty of opportunity to earn quality wins before season's end. Notwithstanding the name on their jerseys, I have to believe they'll make it to the championship game if they win out, even if LSU and/or Oregon also wins out.
That brings me to the following scenario. Imagine Ohio State, Kansas and LSU all win out. The Buckeyes and Jayhawks head into the title game with nobody really sure how good they are. Meanwhile, LSU rolls to the SEC championship, the triple-overtime loss at Kentucky their only blemish. Ranked #3 in the final BCS standings, the Tigers go to the Sugar Bowl -- and let's suppose they play a decent, well-respected opponent there. (This is the least likely part of the scenario. The Sugar Bowl picks last among the BCS bowls, so if Hawaii wins out and qualifies, the Warriors will most likely be going to New Orleans. If not, the Sugar Bowl could easily feature some other unwanted stepchild like UConn. But suppose things shake out right, and LSU ends up playing someone like West Virginia, someone they'd get credit for beating.)
Now suppose LSU absolutely crushes its well-respected Sugar Bowl opponent, while Kansas and Ohio State play an ugly, ugly championship game that makes both teams look bad. Let's say Kansas wins. In the process, though, the widespread doubts about both of the relatively untested teams in the title game are confirmed. Do you see yet where I'm going with this? The BCS and coaches poll championship is, of course, awarded to undefeated Kansas, the winner of the title game ... but the Associated Press, in a split vote, gives its #1 spot and share of national championship to the far more impressive-looking Tigers of Louisiana State University, despite their one loss. Suddenly every LSU fan, from sea to shining sea, is forced to go through incredible mental and rhetorical gymnastics trying to explain why their AP championship is legit, while USC only got a "one-peat." Oh, it would be so freaking sweet.
PLEASE, PLEASE, COLLEGE FOOTBALL GODS, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
By Brendan Loy
It's Alabama 27, LSU 24 early in the fourth quarter. Will the Tigers go from a national title game contender to missing out on the SEC title game?
Meanwhile, Oregon leads ASU 21-13 at halftime after the Sun Devils' horrible clock management caused them to totally blow a golden opportunity to score before the half.
And UConn is beating Rutgers 18-3. Go Huskies!
Oh, and no score yet between USC and Oregon State. Fight on Trojans! Stuff the Beavers! BTW, for those who, like me, are outside of the ABC regional feed, you can listen live on KSCR.
UPDATE: LSU came back to win, 41-34.
Oregon is up big, 35-16 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. ASU has made a ton of comebacks, but this deficit may be too much even for Dennis Erickson Second-Half Magic to overcome.
And USC leads 10-3.
UPDATE 2: Ducks & Trojans win. USC may yet make it to the Rose Bowl, if Oregon makes it to the BCS title game. The Trojans need to beat Cal, ASU and UCLA, and hope that three of the following four teams lose: Ohio State, Boston College, LSU, Kansas. And BC is losing right now...
P.S. Suppose the title game is Ohio State vs. Oregon. Suppose also that USC wins out and gets picked by the Rose Bowl to replace the Ducks. Who would the Trojans' opponent be? Not Michigan; the Wolverines will fall out of the BCS Top 14 if they lose to the Buckeyes. Not any other Big Ten team; nobody else from that conference will be BCS-eligible, either. Hmm... if LSU loses the SEC title game but is still eligible for a BCS at-large bid, which they probably would be, how about a Trojans-Tigers Rose Bowl?
By Brendan Loy
Let the explosion of anti-Irish schadenfreude begin. From sea to shining sea, every college-football fan who doesn't root for Notre Dame is loving this one. It's Navy's first win over ND in 44 years, ending an NCAA-record 43-game losing streak against a single opponent... and the Irish are now 1-8 this season, 1-10 in their last eleven games. Over at ND Nation, their heads asplode.
Fire Mike Brey Charlie Weis?
P.S. Here's the game story. Linked page also contains a clip of Lou Holtz's ESPN pep talk... for Navy. I guess it worked.
UPDATE: Dylan at the Blue-Gray Sky writes: "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Charlie. It tolls for thee. Great recruiter. Great coordinator. Not a very good head coach."
By Brendan Loy
Notre Dame and Navy are tied at 7 early in the second quarter, as Notre Dame attempts to improve to 2-10 in its last 12 games, while Navy attempts to improve to 1-43 in the last 44 years against the Irish. ND is only a 3-point favorite at home over the Midshipmen. [UPDATE: While I was writing this, Notre Dame scored, and now it's 14-7. GOOOO IRISH! BEEEEAT NAVY!]
Meanwhile, in a game that could determine the MAC East championship, Buffalo -- a 7-point underdog on the road -- is up 7-3 over Miami of Ohio in the first quarter.
But the score of the afternoon right now is this one: Kansas 69, Nebraska 31... with three minutes left in the third quarter.
UPDATE: It's 21-14 Irish at halftime, and 17-7 Miami over Buffalo late in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the final score in Lawrence was Kansas 76, Nebraska 39. Ouch!
UPDATE 2: Buffalo has rallied to tie the game at halftime. Go Bulls!
UPDATE 3: Are we about to witness history? Navy has taken a 28-21 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Sharpley fumbled the ball deep in Irish territory, and a Midshipmen defender rumbled in for a touchdown. ND Nation is in full meltdown mode.
Meanwhile, Buffalo trails 31-20 late in the third quarter.
UPDATE 4: Tie game, 28-28, 3:17 left. Navy ball.
UPDATE 5: The Irish got the ball back, and had a 4th and 8 on the Navy 28, needing only a field goal to win... but instead of trying the 42-yard attempt, they went for it, Sharpley got sacked, and we're going to overtime.
An ND Nation poster writes: "I just don't have any energy left to support Chuck. His playcalling today has been at least as bad as Wild Bill's [Callahan, I think]. His choice to not even attempt that FG was almost as bad as Ty punting from BC's 30. Time to start the coaching search." Lots of other comments along the same lines (though some disagree).
UPDATE 6: Buffalo lost, 31-28. :(
UPDATE 7: Phew! Notre Dame survives overtime #2, managing to hold Navy to a field goal after only getting a FG themselves, and we're going to a triple overtime. 38-38.
UPDATE 8: Navy's quarterback gets his sixth and seventh completed passes of the entire game for a 25-yard touchdown and two-point conversion to open the third overtime. Amazing. 46-38 Navy. Irish ball.
UPDATE 9: Navy wins.
To be honest, I'm glad they got the two-point conversion on the second try, because the interference call on the first try was ridiculous. He went for the ball, and that's exactly what he got. The only thing he "interfered" with was the football, and I'm pretty sure that's allowed. It would have been a travesty if Navy had lost because of that call.
By Brendan Loy
Last week, for the first time all season, relative predictability reigned in college football. Yes, Georgia upset Florida and Mississippi State stunned Kentucky, and yes, we all learned to our great surprise that UConn is apparently for real... but in the big picture, it was a calm Week 9, at least in comparison to Weeks 1-8.
Of particular note, all five undefeated teams were in action last week -- three of them on the road, three of them against ranked opponents, four of them favored by four points or less -- and yet all five won. That's the first time all season a week has gone by without a previously undefeated team suffering its first loss. So the Fantastic Five is still a Fantastic Five. And only four of the Edgy Eleven one-loss teams lost -- three of them to another one-loss or undefeated team. The only team from last week's list of contenders to lose to someone off the radar was Virginia, which fell at N.C. State. So we're left with a Skittish Seven.
Perhaps it makes sense that last week was relatively predictable, though. After all, I had predicted unpredictability, declaring: "[Nearly] every...team with a zero or a one in the loss column is potentially vulnerable, at least on paper." So, in this season when what's "on paper" matters less than ever, it figures that the college football gods would defy prediction by being predictable when many people were predicting unpredictability. :)
If that's right, then this week will probably be the upset-fest that I expected last week to be, because -- on paper -- this one looks like it should be a calm week. Of the remaining five undefeated and seven one-loss teams (collectively, the "Teetering Twelve" -- teetering, that is, on the edge of elimination from title contention), aside from the showdown between ASU (8-0) and Oregon (7-1), there are only two road games (LSU at Alabama, Missouri at Colorado), and only one matchup that screams "potential upset" (UConn vs. Rutgers). Most of the teams on our list are expected to handle this week's opponents fairly easily. Which, given the way this season has gone, probably means they won't.
Anyway, without further ado, here are your Fantastic Five and Skittish Seven. Oh, and let's not forget the Terrible Two: Florida International and Utah State, both 0-8. (Marshall earned its way out of the Threadbare Three last week with a win over Rice.) Here goes...
By Brendan Loy
You know it's an unusual season in the land of Troy when you go to usctrojans.com on the Friday afternoon before a football game -- the Homecoming football game, in fact -- and the top story is "USC BASKETBALL 2007: Five Questions For O.J. Mayo." Heh. (The Trojans are #18 in both preseason basketball polls -- one spot higher than their current BCS ranking.)
Anyway, John David Booty will start for USC against Oregon State tomorrow. It'll be his chance to avenge the loss that started his team's recent Pac-10 slide (the Trojans are 6-4 in their last 10 conference games, after winning a zillion in a row prior to last year's loss in Corvallis). But unless we go to a sports bar, Becky and I won't be able to watch it; we'll get Florida State-Boston College instead.
But that's okay, because honestly, I'm more interested in watching the big Pac-10 game of the week (nay, year!), #4 Arizona State at #5 Oregon, especially now that it's been announced that Rudy Carpenter will play for ASU despite a sprained thumb on his throwing hand. That's good news for Stewart Mandel, who wrote that "seven hours is a long way for me to fly to watch some backup," and also for ESPN, which rescued the game from Fox Sports Net oblivion by buying the rights to broadcast it nationally in those regions not served by the originally planned regional FSN telecast. (Sadly for the folks in Oregon and Arizona -- and Southern California, I think -- they still have to watch it on crappy FSN.)
If the Sun Devils, who are 7-point underdogs despite their higher ranking, manage to beat the Ducks this week, and follow it up with a win over UCLA next week (don't count out the worst-coached team in America; following up losses to Utah, Notre Dame and Wazzu with a win over 9-0 Arizona State would be totally in line with Karl Dorrell's baffling of neverending inconsistency), they'd be 10-0 when USC comes to town on Thanksgiving Day. I wonder, if that happens, which of her alma maters would Becky -- who went to ASU for grad school, remember -- root for? Normally she, like me, roots for the Trojans against all comers, but if a USC win would just mean the difference between Some Crappy Bowl and Some Other Crappy Bowl, whereas an ASU win would get the Sun Devils within one win (against Arizona) of the national championship game... I dunno what she'd do. Becky? (Yeah, I could just ask her in person, but asking her over the blog is more fun in this case. :)
By Brendan Loy
I haven't been able to watch this yet (I'm currently at the airport using a very slow cell-phone connection), but people keep sending it to me, so I figure I'd better post it. From what I'm told, it's the ridiculously crazy ending to a Division III conference championship game yesterday, and the only thing missing is the Stanford band. Enjoy:
By Brendan Loy
The Buffalo Bulls, college football's dormat for so many years, continue to have their most successful season since moving to Division I-A in 1999. They beat Akron yesterday to move to 4-5 overall, and they can now almost assure themselves of a division title if they win at Miami of Ohio on Saturday -- or at least reduce the division race to a two-team battle: themselves against Bowling Green.
The Bulls are 4-1 in the MAC, and more importantly, 3-0 in the MAC East. The division title is actually determined by the teams' intradivisional records, and here's how those standings look right now, with each team's remaining divisional schedules listed after their records:
Buffalo 3-0 (@Miami, BG, at Kent)
Miami (OH) 2-1 (Buffalo, Akron, at Ohio)
Temple 2-2 (at Ohio, Kent)
Bowling Green 2-2 (Akron, at Buffalo)
Akron 1-2 (at Bowling Green, Ohio, at Miami)
Ohio 1-2 (Temple, at Akron, Miami)
Kent State 1-3 (Temple, Buffalo)
So, as you can see, if Buffalo beats Miami, they'd be ahead of everyone else in the conference by two games in the loss column -- with two games to go.
Moreover, the Bulls would own the head-to-head tiebreaker against every two-loss team except Bowling Green (who they haven't played yet). I haven't studied the MAC's multi-team tiebreaker rules, but I assume Buffalo's head-to-head success would mean that, if they win Saturday, they'd be assured of a division title by a single UB win or BG loss in those teams' remaining divisional games. (Buffalo hosts Bowling Green on Nov. 17, and then finishes the regular season at Kent State on Nov. 24; Bowling Green hosts Akron on Friday, and finishes with their visit to Buffalo on Nov. 17. So, if Akron beats Bowling Green and then Buffalo beats Miami, I think the Bulls actually would clinch the division title on Saturday, with two games to go.)
Winning the MAC East title would, of course, put Buffalo in the MAC championship game on December 1. However, although the Bulls could potentially get there with a 5-1 or even 4-2 divisional mark, that would mean they'd have a 6-6 or 5-7 record overall, which would mean they'd have to win the MAC title game in order to qualify for a bowl. Normally, the MAC runner-up gets a bowl bid, but a 6-7 or 5-8 runner-up is not bowl-eligible. (A 6-7 champion, on the other hand, is likely to receive an excemption from the NCAA and be allowed to play in a bowl. As I recall, that happened in the Sun Belt sometime recently.)
Of course, the downside of all this is, the more success UB has, the more likely head coach Turner Gill is to attract Nebraska's attention.
But regardless... GO BULLS!!
By Brendan Loy
While Ohio State and Michigan continue to tediously steamroll toward their 836th consecutive Big Ten-deciding showdown (if the Wolverines win, can we please declare Appalachian State the Big Ten champ instead, and let them play in the Rose Bowl?), the rest of the nation's conferences are in total disarray. For instance, raise your hand if you thought any of the following games would potentially have massive BCS implications for both teams:
• Arizona State at Oregon, next Saturday
• Kansas at Missouri, November 24
• UConn at West Virginia, November 24
Seriously, WTF? Meanwhile, USC-Cal has been reduced to a battle to stay out of the Las Vegas Bowl. Oh, and defending champ Florida? At 5-3, they're not even bowl-eligible yet.
Good lord. It's a brave new world out there.
That said, the new AP poll is out, and for the first time in forever, there are no major changes at the top. Ohio State is #1, Boston College #2, LSU #3, Oregon #4 and Oklahoma #5. The latter two switched places from last week (OU was idle, Oregon beat USC), but otherwise the Top 5 is unchanged.
Arizona State moves up from #7 to #6 (leapfrogging West Virginia), and is now getting two first-place votes. Too bad for the Sun Devils that Cal lost two straight before last night, otherwise ASU would probably have jumped to #3 or #4 by beating the Bears. Now the question is, if the Sun Devils can beat Oregon in Eugune next Saturday, how high do they rise? If there's any justice in the world, they should certainly jump the one-loss teams and move up to no lower than #3. (That said, I think Oregon will win. Oregon is good.)
Meanwhile, whereas losing games unexpectedly in the Pac-10 means you're overrated, losing games unexpectedly in the SEC means the conference is "deep" and "competitive" and "a war." At least, that's how I interpret the fact that all four of the ranked three-loss teams are from the SEC (#18 Florida, #19 Auburn, #23 South Carolina, #24 Tennessee), while three-loss Cal -- which, um, beat Tennessee -- is unranked. (The Bears lost to UCLA, Oregon State and ASU, which I'd say is certainly no worse than losing to Cal and getting absolutely destroyed by Florida and Alabama.)
Oh, and USC fell from #9 to #13. They're just behind #12 Hawaii (!).
Elsewhere in the rankings, Kansas and Missouri are now both in the Top 10 (at #8 and #9, respectively). Michigan -- which, as you may or may not recall, lost to Appalachian State earlier this year -- is #15. They're one spot ahead of UConn... yes, UConn... which is now #16. In football. (More on the Huskies in a separate post later.) Also, Boise State has rejoined the Top 25, at #21.
By Brendan Loy
Every Day Should Be Saturday, whose head blogger is a Florida fan, summarizes yesterday's Georgia game. Prodigious profanity is involved. Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Two weeks ago, it looked like this week's Tennessee-South Carolina game (underway now) would potentially decide the SEC East. The Volunteers and Gamecocks were the only teams in the division that controlled their own destinies. Then last week, Tennessee got crushed by Alabama and South Carolina was upset by Vanderbilt, taking all the air out of tonight's matchup.
Or so it seemed. Incredibly, by kickoff time tonight, UT-USC had regained its former significance. Thanks to the latest round of SEC madness -- specifically, Georgia's upset of Florida and Kentucky's loss to Mississippi State -- Tennessee and South Carolina are again the only SEC East teams that control their own destinies. Florida, Kentucky and Vanderbilt have three losses apiece; Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina have just two. And since Georgia's two conferences losses are to the Vols and Cocks, the Bulldogs will have to hope that tonight's winner loses another game at some point.
Whoever comes out on top at Neyland Stadium this evening won't need any (more) help. They'll just need to win their remaining games, and if they do that, they'll be playing in Atlanta for the conference championship on December 1.
Remarkable.
I've had limited blogging time today, which is why I haven't said much about the day's other football developments. But I wanted to get this online while the game is still ongoing. As for the rest, including UConn's win over South Florida (!), I'll blog later. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Speaking of "remarkable"... Tennessee blew a 21-0 halftime lead, fell behind 24-21 with 1:24 left, then sent the game to overtime on a 48-yard field goal (after missing a 43-yarder but getting a second chance because the whistle had already blown on a false start penalty) and won in OT. Tennessee 27, South Carolina 24, final.
I'm exhausted, and about to go to bed. I'll try to do some more football blogging tomorrow, but it may not happen until I'm at the Nashville Airport in the late afternoon, if then. Lots of stuff to do. G'nite all.
By Brendan Loy
But hey, on the bright side, Buffalo won! It's the second time this season Buffalo has won and USC has lost on the same day, and both instances occurred on a weekend when I was going to Denver (although in this case I'm not there yet). Is this a sign of some kind? :) Anyway, the Bulls are now 4-0 in the MAC East, and 4-5 overall -- their most wins in a season since joining Division I-A.
By Brendan Loy
Got back from the Smokies around 4:00, and just finished fast-forwarding through the first half of USC-Oregon, stopping to watch almost every play in real time while skipping all the fluff in between. Based on what I saw, I'm not feeling terribly inspired. USC's offense looked terrible, and the defense is trying hard but just isn't as good as Oregon's offense, seemingly. It strikes me that the Trojans are lucky to be within 10-3. Barring some serious Pete Carroll Second-Half MagicTM, I foresee an Duck blowout -- which would be the first time since Becky and I were juniors at 'SC (in 2001) that the Trojans have lost a game that wasn't decided on the final play.
UPDATE: Touchdown Trojans! Sanchez to Turner! 10-10.
UPDATE 2: The Ducks do what the Trojans twice failed to do -- taking advantage of a turnover deep in their own territory -- and it's 17-10 Oregon.
UPDATE 3: F**k!
UPDATE 4: 24-10 Ducks with 11:39 left in the game.
In other news, what the hell is wrong with Fox Sports Net?? The camerawork is AWFUL (I keep not being able to see the quarterback, and the ball is invisible half the time on passing plays because they haven't adequately adjusted their cameras to the shadows now covering the field), and they have entirely missed several plays, including Oregon's 2nd-and-goal run just now. WTF???
UPDATE 5: Touchdown! 24-17 with 4:44 to go!
But again, the camerawork! I couldn't even see that there was a receiver in the end zone until he had already caught the ball! It looked like Sanchez was throwing the ball to nobody, and then all of a sudden, the camera panned down and -- what? there's a guy there! TOUCHDOWN! What a wretched, wretched football broadcast this is.
But enough bitching about FSN. FIGHT ON TROJANS!!! Get the ball back!!
UPDATE 6: Aaaaaand Oregon intercepts it. Ducks win.
Well, it wasn't a blowout, at least. Once again, a USC loss comes down to a final drive. But Oregon was clearly the better team.
Congrats, Ducks.
Harumph.
P.S. Why do the FSN announcers keep saying it looks like the Pac-10 won't get two teams into the BCS? I can see no basis for that statement. If either Oregon or Arizona State makes it to the title game, which is entirely possible, the Rose Bowl will certainly try to replace them with another Pac-10 team, and it seems extremely unlikely that there won't be any other Pac-10 teams in the BCS Top 14 and thus eligible for selection. Either Cal or USC could be there if they win out, as could the loser of next week's Oregon-ASU game if they win out after said game. It's possible the Pac-10 will cannibalize itself enough that only the conference champion will reach a BCS bowl, but it's by no means preordained at this point.
By Brendan Loy
Becky and I plan to drive up into the Smokies in the morning to check out some of the fall foliage. It's really our last chance to see the high-elevation colors near their peak, since I fly out to Denver on Sunday and next weekend the mountains will presumably be past peak. So I'm sacrificing ESPN GameDay and the Rutgers-West Virginia game for the sake of a pretty drive. I know, I'm such a martyr. :)
I hope to be back by 3:00 PM for the USC-Oregon game, but I don't have too much confidence that that will happen; I imagine traffic in the Smokies will be heavy, as I doubt we're the only people with this idea for a Saturday morning/afternoon activity. Anyway, we're TiVoing the game, and if we get back late, I'll be taking a pre-Deathly Hallows-esque vow of Internet avoidance from 3:00 on, in order to maintain the suspense when I fire up the TiVo and pretend I'm watching the game live. So, if I don't blog anything for a while, that's why.
FIGHT ON TROJANS! BEAT THE DUCKS!
By Brendan Loy
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:
There you have it: the photo evidence of Brady Quinn's lost bet with Rodney Peete on last Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game.
But it gets even better. There's video evidence, too:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
(NOTE: The video clip has changed since I originally uploaded it Thursday night. Among other things, I've added a little musical coda at the end that my Trojan readers will enjoy...)
Thanks to the anonymous commenter who pointed me to the photo. And thanks to Brady-Quinn.org, a fan site, for linking to the video clips on the Browns site and YouTube that allowed me to mash up the above clip.
Of course, even as I glory in it, I can sympathize with Brady's plight. As can Mike Tran. Sometimes friendly bets are a b**ch. :) But kudos to Brady for upholding his end of the deal.
Now then... BEAT THE DUCKS!!!
By Brendan Loy
Sorry, John David, but I'm happy about this: "Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback Saturday against Oregon, Coach Pete Carroll announced Thursday afternoon."
Meanwhile, Oregon has yet to announce which uniforms it will wear. There are so many choices: the hideous ones, the butt-ugly ones, the gouge-your-eyes-out-with-their-sheer-repulsiveness ones...
By Brendan Loy
Thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury's stolen base tonight, Taco Bell will be giving away free tacos on my birthday. Heh.
Anyway, it's 2-1 Sox in the sixth.
Meanwhile, Boston College is staging a late rally after trailing Virginia Tech 10-0 for most of the game. It's 10-7 Hokies with 36 seconds left, and the Eagles are deep in Tech territory.
UPDATE: Touchdown Boston College!! Holy crap!! I think Matt Ryan just won the Heisman... and BC has broken the #2 curse! (Dammit.)
UPDATE 2: ...aaaaand Matt Ryan barfs on live TV.
UPDATE 3: "Ryan for Heismann!" Heh.
Okay, back to the World Series...
UPDATE 4: JACK BAUER IS ON HIS OWN!!!!!
UPDATE 5: Sox win!! 2-1, final. It's a 2-0 series lead for Boston, heading out to Denver.
By Brendan Loy
The Blue-Gray Sky has an awesome aerial photo of the Army parachuters beginning their jump down to Notre Dame Stadium before Saturday's game against USC. Definitely check it out.
By Brendan Loy
...but road-tripping USC alum Jonathan Tu has the scoop on the biggest upset of all.
Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Browns rookie quarterback Brady Quinn reached into the back of his locker, pulled out the cardinal-and-gold No. 10 jersey and gritted his teeth."This," he said, "is going to hurt."
Quinn, the former Notre Dame star, then slipped the Southern California jersey over his head and felt his skin crawl.
"That's why I've got extra layers on," he said. "So it doesn't actually touch any part of my body."
Quinn had to wear USC's colors on Wednesday after losing a bet with former Trojans quarterback Rodney Peete over last week's game between Notre Dame and Southern Cal. ...
Surely, Quinn got some points in the wager. After all, Notre Dame is 1-7 and USC is 6-1.
"It's a pride bet," Quinn said. "C'mon now. You don't bet points. I got faith in my guys." ...
When he finished with his interview, Quinn quickly ripped off the jersey and slam dunked it into a nearby garbage can.
Mike Tran should sent Brady a sympathy card. :)
(Hat tip: Scott Wolf.)
By Brendan Loy
This weekend promises to be a pivotal one in the race for college football's mythical national championship. In all but two of the eleven games featuring at least one undefeated or one-loss team, the point spread is less than a touchdown. Homestanding Hawaii and Missouri are favored by 27 and 29 points over New Mexico State and Iowa State, respectively, but aside from them -- and idle LSU and Oklahoma -- every other team with a zero or a one in the loss column is potentially vulnerable, at least on paper. Could this be the week when the ranks of the unbeaten and once-beaten become so thin that we begin seriously discussing the possibility of a two-loss team reaching the BCS title game?
Certainly, there will be at least three losses this weekend among the sixteen teams on our radar: the Fantastic Five unbeatens and the Edgy Eleven once-beatens ("edgy," in the sense of "on edge," because one more loss would well and truly eliminate them from the title race... probably). That's because, of course, #8 Virginia Tech (6-1) hosts #2 Boston College (7-0) in this week's edition of the ESPN Family Of Networks Thursday Night Game Of The Century Week; #5 Oregon (6-1) hosts #12 USC (6-1) in a battle for Pac-10 supremacy on Fox Sports Net (pay no attention to the Bruins and Sun Devils behind the curtain!); and #23 UConn (6-1) hosts #10 South Florida (6-1) in a major Big East showdown that, of course, everyone has had circled on their calendars all season long... right?
So, yeah, three of those six teams have to lose. But lots of other teams from the Fantastic Five and the Edgy Eleven face tough battles this weekend, too. For instance: Arizona State finally puts its undefeated record to the test, albeit at home against a suddenly reeling Cal team. Kansas travels to Texas A&M. West Virginia visits revenge-minded Rutgers. And of course, #1 Ohio State visits #25 Penn State in the OMG Buckeyes If You Win This Game Then All You Have To Do Is Beat A Bunch Of Midgets And Those Guys Who Lost To Appalachian State And You'll Make It To The Title Game Again And Then Lose By Eight Thousand Points To Another One-Loss Team Bowl.
Oh, and lest I neglect the flip side of the college-football coin, let's not forget the BrendanLoy.com winless watch. Colorado State finally won a game last week, breaking an 13-game losing streak. So now the Frail Four is a Threadbare Three. (Hat tip: Patrick, last year.) And one of them is actually favored this week: #118 Marshall (0-7), which hosts #112 Rice (1-6). In fact, the Thundering Herd is (are?) an 8.5-point favorite! That's more than #15 Virginia (7-1) can say about its away game against #82 N.C. State (2-5): the Cavs are only favored by three! Talk about disrespect from Vegas! But anyway, I digress. So yeah, Marshall is favored, and Utah State (0-7) is just a 2.5-point underdog against Louisiana Tech (2-5). Among the Threadbare Three, only Florida International, they of the worst-in-the-nation 19-game losing streak, is seen as a sure loser (at 39-point-favorite Arkansas).
So, whether you're interested in the top of the heap or the bottom of the barrel, this promises to be a very competitive week of college football. And depending on how it goes, maybe I'll have to start tracking two-loss teams next week. (Sigh.)
Anyway, without further ado, here is this week's list of the unbeaten, once-beaten, and constantly-beaten:
By Brendan Loy
The new BCS standings are out. No surprise that Ohio State is #1, Boston College #2 (just in time to fall victim to the #2 Curse against Virginia Tech on Thursday), and LSU #3. But check out who's next: Arizona State, idle last week, managed to climb all the way from eighth to fourth!
ASU's rise is partially due to attrition, with losses by #2 South Florida, #6 South Carolina and #7 Kentucky over the weekend, but the Sun Devils' impressive victory over the University of Bye was enough to leapfrog former #5 Oklahoma, which barely escaped with a win over lowly Iowa State. And you know who else leapfrogged Oklahoma? The Sooners' BFFs in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Ducks! How the formerly #10-ranked quack attack got all the way up to #5 by beating 2-5 Washington, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing a Pac-10 replay crew was involved somehow.
In all seriousness, it's a big-time statistical logjam from #4 through #6; the decimal digits separating ASU, Oregon and Oklahoma really aren't all that significant. Next on the list are #7 West Virginia, #8 Virginia Tech, #9 Kansas, and #10 South Florida.
USC, which visits #5 Oregon next Saturday, is #12. Hey, it's a 5-12 game! It's like March Madness! And we know a scrappy 12-seed wins every year! Woo! Go Trojans! Will O.J. Mayo be suiting up?
Interestingly, the Trojans feature the biggest difference between the polls (which have them #7 and #8) and the computers (which have them #21). I think #21 might be a little harsh, but I certainly think the computers are closer to reality here, recognizing, as they do, that the Trojans have accomplished absolutely nothing of significance on the field so far this season. Let's see 'em beat Oregon and Cal and ASU, and then we can talk about a high ranking, m'kay?
Meanwhile, the football squad from the University of Michigan -- you may recall them as the opening-weekend patsy scheduled by Div. I-AA powerhouse Appalachian State as a tune-up game for the Mountaineers -- has climbed all the way to #20, which just goes to show that even the little guys can succeed if they believe in themselves. Nice going, Michigan. Kitten power!
Oh, and UConn is #23. UConn!!! They're sandwiched between Auburn and Alabama. UCONN!!! In FOOTBALL!!!
By Brendan Loy
Wow. What a win for LSU over Auburn tonight. I love to make fun of the SEC -- both because of its homers' over-the-top puffery about the conference's superiority, and because of the league's tendency to produce "thrilling" games with final scores like 9-6 -- but I can't deny that there have been a remarkable number of incredibly exciting big-time SEC games this season, and this was just the latest example.
Thanks to a picture-perfect, highlight-reel, Pontiac-game-changing-performance touchdown with one second left* (pictured above), LSU remains in the national-title hunt -- and the SEC West standings reveal a much clearer picture than in the jumbled East, with just two teams tied at one loss apiece: LSU and Alabama (which humiliated Tennessee earlier in the day).
And, as it happens, the co-leaders play each other in their next game! The Tigers and Tide both get byes next week, and then on November 3, LSU visits Tuscaloosa for a showdown that will likely decide who represents the West division in the SEC championship game. (Auburn is third in the division with 2 losses; everyone else has at least 3 losses.)
LSU-Alabama was always going to be a very big game this year, because it's Nick Saban against his old team. Now it's absolutely HUGE. Methinks Fowler, Kirk and Corso should just book their plane tickets now, because there ain't no other game that day that's going to even be in the running for a visit from GameDay. (Sorry, ASU-Oregon.)
*Well, three seconds, really. Everyone is making a big deal out of the :01 thing, but it was clear that 2-3 extra seconds came off the clock that shouldn't have; I think the clock operator stopped paying attention because he was so stunned by Les Miles's play call. Nevertheless, the Tigers admittedly cut things awfully close, considering they only needed a field goal.
By Brendan Loy
Notre Dame fans tend to pride themselves on being "classier" than other fans. And in some cases, it's true. But not in this case:
As USC coach Pete Carroll departed the field, the Notre Dame fans chanted, "F--- Pete Carroll."
Well, that's one way to handle the pain of a 38-point loss. It is not, however, the classy way. And if USC fans did something like that, we'd be hearing all about how it proves that Trojans are classless.
(More after the jump.)
By Brendan Loy
...the grass looks normal length:
:)
By Brendan Loy
Washington and Oregon are tied 24-24 in the third quarter. The Huskies trailed 24-17 at halftime but scored first in the second frame, so maybe their second-half woes are finally behind them? We shall see. A win here would be huge for the bowl eligibility hopes of Washington (2-4), which has Arizona and Stanford next on its schedule. The Huskies play 13 games, so they need a 7-6 record to make a bowl game. [UPDATE: While I was writing this post, Oregon scored a TD to take a 31-24 lead with 3:38 left in the third.]
An Oregon loss would mean that Cal and Oregon, who have been the presumptive Pac-10 favorites since USC lost to Stanford, would both have 2 losses in conference, while the Trojans have just one, and Arizona State and UCLA -- yes, UCLA, which got pummelled by Utah and handed Notre Dame its only win of the season -- are both unbeaten in conference play. And with all but one game between and among the Trojans, Ducks, Bears and Devils still to come, it looks more and more like the Pac-10 standings will end up looking a bit like the SEC East. But of course, if that happens, it'll mean the Pac-10 is "overrated," whereas in the SEC, it means the conference is "really competitive."
[UPDATE 2: Um, yeah, so, nevermind. Oregon 55, Washington 34, final. Another second-half Husky collapse -- specifically, a fourth-quarter collapse. It was tied at 31-31 with 1:12 left in the third.]
Speaking of the SEC, Auburn just took a 14-7 lead over LSU. And in the Big Ten, Michigan leads Illinois 17-14 at halftime. GO ILLINI!! BREAK THE SKUNKBEAR/BUCKEYE HEGEMONY!!
Meanwhile, in baseball, the Red Sox appear well on their way (knock on wood!) to erasing their 3-1 deficit against the Indians, tying the series at 3-3 and forcing a decisive Game 7 at Fenway Park tomorrow night. Admittedly, it's only the third inning of Game 6 right now... but it's already 10-1 Boston, thanks in part to a first-inning grand slam by J.D. Drew:
Nice.
By Brendan Loy
So... who starts at QB for the Trojans next week at Oregon?
And, um, will Navy beat Notre Dame?
P.S. Brian Grummell echoes my thoughts:
I have to be frank here: USC just isn't a very good football team right now. In fact, many of their problems all year manifested themselves in the first half against Notre Dame today. Fortunately for the Trojans, Notre Dame is that much worse of a football team that at one point in the third quarter USC had as many touchdowns as the Irish had first downs. ...The fact that a shaky USC was able to so easily dismantle a Notre Dame team that was competitive against a highly ranked Boston College team just last week has me concerned about the Eagles. Maybe they are the next to suffer the fate of #2 that slayed USF Thursday night.
Coincidentally enough, BC next week, like USF this week, is on the road... on Thursday night... on ESPN... against a quality opponent (Virginia Tech). I foresee a Hokies "upset."
By Brendan Loy
South Carolina 3-2
Florida 3-2
Georgia 3-2
Kentucky 2-2
Tennessee 2-2
Vanderbilt 2-3
Okay, so maybe it is kind of a tough conference. :)
P.S. Stewart Mandel: "Whatever you do, don’t go trying to connect the dots when it comes to the SEC this season. Alabama routed Tennessee, which routed Georgia -- but the Dawgs beat the Crimson Tide. Georgia also beat Vanderbilt, which itself just beat South Carolina -- which itself beat the Dawgs. Dizzy yet?"
By Brendan Loy
USC 38, Notre Dame 0, final.
It's the first Trojan shutout in Notre Dame Stadium since 1933. Notre Dame's worst home shutout since losing 40-0 to Oklahoma in 1956. The first time since 1960 that the Irish have been shut out twice in the same season. The largest Trojan margin of victory in the history of the series. The first time USC has ever won three straight at Notre Dame Stadium. Oh, and Irish punter Jeff Price is Notre Dame's player of the game.
Fight on.
But damn, it sucks that Notre Dame sucks this much.
By Brendan Loy
Cal 21, UCLA 20 with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter.
Florida 38, Kentucky 24 with 6:16 left in the fourth quarter -- and Kentucky is driving in Florida territory.
UPDATE: UCLA hit a field goal to go up 23-21, then returned an interception for a touchdown to make it 30-21 with 1:33 to go. Looks like the Bears will lose for the second consecutive week.
Meanwhile, Kentucky is within 38-31 with 3:35 left.
UPDATE 2: UCLA wins. Florida wins.
By Brendan Loy
Just rebutting Kristin's post. :)
Anyway, so far, so good. 17-0 at the half.
UPDATE: Now 24-0. The Irish offense is just looking totally inept and overmatched. As Texasyank says, "Notre Dame makes Stanford look like the freaking Patriots."
UPDATE 2: 31-0! w00t Vidal Hazelton!
The biggest USC margin ever against Notre Dame is 31 points -- which they achieved during all three years of Ty's tenure. ... There are 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Just saying.
P.S. Right now, a bunch of Domers in the student section are thinking, "I delayed my fall break for this?"
UPDATE 3: Meanwhile, in Syracuse, Buffalo trails 17-3 in the third quarter. D'oh!
UPDATE 4: "You can't lose your job to injury"? Tell that to T.C. Ostrander!
UPDATE 5: Before anyone starts saying "Pete Carroll is running up the score" by going for it on 4th and 2 up 31-0 ... Pete Carroll always goes for it on 4th-and-short in that no-man's-land portion of the field. Always. Doesn't matter the game situation.
I suppose nobody will complain, though, since the Irish stopped 'em. See, Pete was actually being charitable! ;)
UPDATE 6: Exchange between NBC announcers, talking about Kentucky's schedule:
Announcer #1: "That's a real tough assignment in back-to-back weeks, LSU and Florida."
Announcer #2: "It's like that every week in the SEC."
Um, NO IT'S NOT! The SEC is a tough conference, but it is NOT like playing LSU and Florida every week! You also get to play Ole Miss and Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, etc. And yes, those teams can pull off upsets (as Vanderbilt did today against the "other" USC) when you don't show up to play. So what? So can Stanford and Oregon State and Arizona, etc. So would you say that "every week in the Pac-10" is like playing USC and Oregon in back-to-back weeks? Ugh. I hate SEC homerism.
P.S. Oh yeah, and in the Pac-10, every team plays every other team. So whereas, for example, Tennessee doesn't play LSU or Auburn this season, USC has to play Cal and Oregon and ASU and every other team in the league. That counts for something, too. If you're in the SEC, you don't actually get to claim credit, schedule-wise, for the fact that "our league has X number of ranked teams" because odds are, you don't play them all. Not so in the Pac-10.
UPDATE 7: TOUCHDOWN MCKNIGHT! 38-0 Trojans with 10:57 to go.
UPDATE 8: Some Domer despair here.
By Brendan Loy
It's not SAHN-chez.
It's not San-CHEZ.
It's SAN-chez.
Get it right.
Sincerely,
A USC fan
P.S. Actually, yes, turning the ball over at your own 10 yard line is a "bad play."
By Brendan Loy
41-17? Really?
By Brendan Loy
Wake up the echoes, fellas. No, not those echoes. These echoes:
Fight on!
UPDATE: Who is this "Mark SAHN-chez" the NBC sideline reporter speaks of?
UPDATE 2: USC wasted two timeouts on its opening drive. WTF, Sanchez?
P.S. Man, those jerseys are ugly. :)
By Brendan Loy
Tennessee and Alabama are underway in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide are short-handed because five players have been suspended for "impermissible receipt of textbooks." In Alabama, you see, they don't believe in textbooks.
Anyway, 'Bama leads 3-0 after opening the game with an onside kick, and recovering it -- then failing to capitalize fully, managing only a long field goal.
This game is, of course, a huge rivalry and grudge match down in these parts, as Jay made clear. But not everyone feels quite the same way. In the last few days, I've noticed a couple of interesting cars on Knoxville-area roads, to wit:
Ugh. How could anyone possibly root for both Tennessee and Alabama? Clearly, if you support both teams in a huge rivalry like that, you aren't a real fan. ... What? Oh. Right. ;)
Anyway, Go Vols, Beat Bama!
UPDATE: Tennessee trails 24-17 at halftime. Meanwhile, also at halftime, Vanderbilt is winning 17-6 at #6 South Carolina. Again with the chaos!! #2 South Florida losing at Rutgers on Thursday wasn't really an upset; this, however, would be an upset. And of course, a win by either 'Bama or Vandy (nevermind both) would rob next week's South Carolina-Tennessee game here in Knoxville of an awful lot of its cachet. (As things stand now, the Vols and Cocks are the only teams that control their destiny in the SEC East. But maybe not for long.)
By Brendan Loy
[Bumped to top -ed.]
Fight on! Beat the Irish!
(More after the jump.)
By Brendan Loy
You know how I know? Because the game is on Versus!
By Jay Johnson
I know most of you non-Southern types that read Brendan's blog have teams with rivals that are big deals. All of the Trojans hate the Bruins, etc.
There's nothing quite like a Southern football rivalry, though. Lots of teams down in these parts don't like each other. I find it hard to express adequately how much I dislike the University of Alabama. If you compile all of the collective disdain I feel for Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia, and all of the other teams in the college football world and bundle it all together, it only approaches the amount I despise the Crimson Tide.
I have tried all week to express my feelings about The Third Saturday in October, but my blinding rage prevents me from doing so. Instead, I'm going to direct your attention to a post from a Vol fan from a decade or so ago. He seem to convey most of what I feel, and does it better than I probably could've.
God, I hate Alabama.
GOOOOO VOLS, BEAT BAMA
BUCK FAMA
If Alabama wins, the Terrorists win.
Alabama: Showing the commitment and dedication in the tradition of the game. Except now, they seem to be paying the Coach MORE than the players.
Toilet paper and laundry detergent. Keep it handy for crapping your pants and then cleaning up after the Vols destroy you. This is, IMHO, the most moronic tradition in college football.
By Brendan Loy
TrojanWire provides a helpful illustration of Thursday's terrifying Trojan flight in the skies over South Bend:
Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Arguably the best blogs in the Domersphere and the Trojansphere, respectively -- The Blue-Gray Sky and Conquest Chronicles -- are both previewing tomorrow's game with an extensive series of questions & answers for one another.
Here are BGS's answers to CC's questions. And here are CC's answers to BGS's questions.
Meanwhile, the Blue-Gray Sky also has a lengthy discussion of the 1977-vintage green jerseys that the Irish will be wearing tomorrow. (In case you forgot, this was announced back in June.) Among other things, Charlie Weis is quoted as saying: "These uniforms are ugly (laughter), but what the players like about them is that they're throwbacks." Specifically, throwbacks to the era of a certain Number 3 (pictured at right).
The good news for the Trojans is that, whatever the jerseys might looks like, certain immutable truths remain. Dan Quayle is no Jack Kennedy, Barack Obama is no Ronald Reagan, and Evan Sharpley is no Joe Montana.
Or is he? Come to think of it, I actually compared Sharpley to Montana in comments a few days ago, albeit in the context of saying that, heck, we don't really know whether Sharpley might rise to the occasion now that he's finally going to be handed the reigns for real. I doubt he'll do anything spectacular, but the fact that it's his first start is, in an odd way, making me more nervous than usual... because who knows? Anyway, here's the relevant portion of that comment:
Notwithstanding my joke about beating the spread, which I felt obligated to do for the sake of Notre Dame Week trash-talking, I am actually a bit worried about this game, too. I think USC will win, but I'm not nearly as confident as I was last year -- which is odd, because Notre Dame is far worse this year than last. But USC is worse, too. Last year, I felt absolutely certain the Trojan offense would expose the Irish defense, which had been playing at an extremely mediocre level against weak competition ever since the Michigan game, but had been repeatedly bailed out by Brady Quinn & co. Hence my prediction that USC would win by three touchdowns, even though the spread was just 7. Last year, I knew ND was overrated, and I was right. This year, I don't have the same confidence because I just don't know how well USC will play; they've been so inconsistent, and more often bad than good. I also don't know what ND will look like with Sharpley at the helm all game long. Who knows, maybe he'll turn into the second coming of Brady Quinn (or Joe Montana) out there. More likely, though, I think ND's best chance is a low-scoring game with a lot of 3-and-outs, and just hanging in there till the fourth quarter, when the crowd (and the "echoes" and so forth) will again become a huge factor in a close game. Given the injuries on USC's O-line, this is entirely possible -- Carroll may not feel confident airing it out with Sanchez making his first road start, and if ND's defense plays at a halfway decent level, USC might not be able to establish the run because the entire O-line is injured. Now, of course, Notre Dame's offense won't be able to do much against USC's defense (barring the "Sharpley is suddenly God" scenario), but if it's a low-scoring, grind-'em-out game, you never know. Weird things could happen... turnovers, special teams flukes... and all of a sudden, '07 Notre Dame is the second-worst team to beat USC in the Pete Carroll era (behind '07 Stanford). It could happen. Will it? I doubt it. But am I worried? Yes, a little. More than last year, and I didn't expect to be saying that three weeks ago.
What do y'all think?
Oh... and I'd be remiss if I didn't conclude, courtesy of Scott Schmidt a.k.a. Boi From Troy, with this clip of the Trojan Marching Band playing their version of the Notre Dame Victory March during the USC pep rally at Chicago's Navy Pier:
Heh.
GOOO TROJANS! BEEEAT IRISH!
By Brendan Loy
I don't support gay-bashing, but I do support LSU-bashing, and, um, well, this is just funny. Offensive and juvenile and politically incorrect, yes, but funny. Ha ha ha.
By Brendan Loy
The entire USC football team had a near-death experience on their chartered plane in the skies over South Bend last night:
USC players, coaches and supporters aboard the team's charter flight from Los Angeles endured a harrowing arrival in South Bend, Ind., on Thursday night.
Several players, administrative staff and coaches' spouses said passengers were hurled out of their seats and hit their heads on the ceiling when the plane dropped while making an approach through a lightning storm. The pilot aborted the approach and circled before landing without incident, said Dennis Slutak, USC's director of football operations. ...
"There was a moment there when I was thinking, 'This is it,' " Slutak said.
Said sophomore safety Taylor Mays: "I was screaming." ...
"That was terrifying," freshman fullback Stanley Havili said. "I thought I was going to die."
Good lord! According to the AP, "about 125 people, including 82 players, coach Pete Carroll and most of the coaching staff" were on board the plane. (Hat tip: BK.)
In all seriousness, let's all, Trojan and Domer alike, say a little prayer of thanks that USC didn't suffer a Marshall moment here. That would have been just awful, whoever you root for. Thank goodness everyone's all right.
(Er, well, everyone except senior defensive end Lawrence Jackson, who "said he was going to see the team trainer because a popsicle stick had pierced the inside of his mouth during the drop." Sounds like he'll live, though. Heh.)
Hopefully this isn't a sign that the gods are conspiring for another echoes-awakening afternoon and evening at Notre Dame Stadium. I thought we were safe because, unlike last time, it isn't a full moon. But with Mother Nature "shaking down the thunder from the sky," literally, the Irish may have reason to hope that supernatural forces are once again conspiring in their favor. Touchdown Jesus is an angrier (son of) god than we thought!
Anyway, the forecast for tomorrow night is clear skies, temperatures in the low 70s dropping into the 60s during the game, with winds out of the south at 10-15 mph. (The south end zone, if you're wondering, is where the "Bush Push" occurred.)
FIGHT ON TROJANS!!! BEAT THE IRISH & ASSORTED FORCES OF NATURE!!!
UPDATE: An AOL FanHouse commenter who claims to be USC radio announcer Peter Arbogast says he was on the plane, and "this story is blown waaaaaaay out of proportion":it was a routine flight into a stormy area, we encountered some light turbulence. for ONE second, we took about a 100 foot drop. some players who had been warned to wear their seatbelts but did not listen, were made to be weightless. Everyone on board whooped, more like the initial drop of a very mini roller coaster, then there was the usual chatter. this is totally ridiculous. Experienced flyers went right back to watching the movie or reading. some talk turned to people who have had scary things happen on a plane trip. this wasn't even in my top ten. It reminded me of how people will talk aobut their earthquake experiences if a little earthquake hits while you are at dinner. sheesh. no one was hurt, no one hit the ceiling of the plane, a few guys got freaked out cuz they've seldom ever flown in a plane with turbulence before.
By Brendan Loy
Okay, I'm treading on dangerous territory here -- but, whatever, I'm allowed to be kinda mean to Notre Dame this week -- so: everybody remember these?
Well, uh, check out Rakes of Mallow's prediction for the remainder of Notre Dame's season:
I think we're going to be competitive at least for a while against Southern Cal, losing in the two to three touchdown range when everything is settled, which is when the real fun begins. Everyone will be on watch for Navy to end the streak, then for Air Force, Duke and Stanford to get their chances to embarrass us. I can imagine losing in Palo Alto Thanksgiving weekend, but we'll take care of business against the Midshipmen, Falcons and Blue Devils for sure. 5-7 finish, which after the woeful, embarrassing start, is not so bad.
Heh. Ah, the soft bigotry of low expectations.
(By the way, a 5-7 finish would actually require the Irish to not lose in Palo Alto on Thanksgiving weekend. Just saying.)
P.S. Pity the International Bowl. They're desperately hoping Notre Dame wins six games, so that the 6-6, bowl-eligible Irish would be available to be chosen -- in place of some stupid Big East team that would beat ND by three touchdowns -- to play a MAC team in Toronto on January 5. What MAC team, you ask? Oh, I don't know, maybe... Buffalo?? Notre Dame vs. UB at the SkyDome?!? The Canadians would love it, as would the Buffalonians. (Domers? Not so much, methinks. Playing Buffalo in a bowl game would be a lose-lose proposition: win, and nobody cares, because it was against Buffalo; lose, and you just lost your tenth straight bowl game... to Buffalo.) But alas, Notre Dame would need to win tomorrow for that to happen, and then win out. Not. Gonna. Happen. Particularly the "win tomorrow" part.
FIGHT ON, TROJANS!! BEAT THE IRISH!!
By Brendan Loy
Sunday Morning Quarterback -- who is rapidly becoming my favorite college-football blogger -- offers an articulate and accurate perspective, IMHO, on South Florida's loss to Rutgers last night:
It doesn't diminish the chances of the BCS being seized by chaos, but the season does get that much less interesting for Cinderella sympathists and well-wishers (and satirists, if they recognize setbacks), whose last feel-good hopes rest solely with Kansas. ...
In the bigger picture, it's just another reminder among so many this season: you are not your ranking. I thought it was a little bit ironic that Rutgers students started the "O-ver-RA-ted!" chant as the Knights ran the clock out, because it was clear that USF was rated exactly right for what it had accomplished over the first six games. South Florida was a team with two impressive wins over Auburn and West Virginia and no losses; now it's a team with with two impressive wins over Auburn and West Virginia and a loss at Rutgers. It's the same team, and the fleeting assessment/sentiment that named the Bulls the "second-best" team in the country wasn't wrong as some kind of catchall judgment. It was just a snapshot.
I write this as a person who a) is not comfortable with South Florida's success, b) defended the Bulls right to compete for a mythical championship and ranked them second in the nation this week and c) picked USF to lose tonight. I also think there was widespread, quasi-secret acknowledgment that, no, when it was finished, South Florida wouldn't be the number two team by whatever method it's defined, not really, not with the same set of players that lost four times last year in the most successful season in school history, playing now through a series of land mines that had managed to down more promising contenders before them.
That didn't stop USF from achieving that high, though, which is an acknowledgement the voters were paying attention, at least, and were open to the blasphemy (and potential commercial disaster) of a South Florida championship if it took care of its business. It didn't, and so traditionalists can breathe easier dropping the upstarts back in their place. But at least the Bulls have the snapshot, and when they work their way into this position again, it never hurts to have a few of those to show.
Well, most of the voters were paying attention. Not all.
Meanwhile, my favorite MSM football columnist, Stewart Mandel, offers a more sobering, but also correct, perspective:
For the second straight year, the Scarlet Knights ended one of their conference foe's dreams of an undefeated season. In all probability, they also assured their conference's irrelevance for the rest of this 2007 season.
It doesn't have to be that way. It probably shouldn't be that way. But such is life for the BCS' new kid on the block -- particularly when its last remaining hope for perfection was itself an infant.
When you're an LSU or Oklahoma, you can lose a tough conference road game, brush it off and return to the top five within a couple weeks as if it never happened. When you're USF, and you lose a tough conference road game just four days after an already skeptical set of voters tabbed you the No. 2 team in the country almost as an obligation, you can expect the court of public opinion to be somewhat less merciful. ...
Such is the still fragile state of the rebuilt Big East. When Kentucky beats LSU, it's written off as a near-inevitability in the rough-and-tumble SEC. When Rutgers beats USF -- just a couple weeks after losing to then-undefeated Cincinnati, which itself turned around and lost to Louisville -- it's an indictment against both program and conference.
"Our problem is, we're a young league, and when we beat each other up, people will discredit us," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Thursday night. "The SEC has a long, upstanding tradition, and people are starting to understand how tough it is to get through that league undefeated. I think it's become difficult to get through our league undefeated, and it's only going to get more difficult."
Make no mistake, USF deserves any knocks it will get for its performance Thursday night. Playing in their first-ever game as a top-five team, with the outcome on the line, the Bulls had two gift-wrapped opportunities to tie or win at the end. They produced minus-32 yards.
The commissioner, however, has a valid point about the increasing difficulty in his league. Of the six BCS conferences, there are only two with no undefeated teams remaining -- the Big East and the SEC. There have been eight league games contested in the Big East this season. They have produced seven different winners.
"There are no days off in this league," said Rutgers' Rice. "Everybody talks about how competitive the SEC is, but we're getting to the point where we're just about as competitive. Every team comes to play, and they come right at you." ...
[I]t appears that the conference, just as it did a year ago, has beaten itself out of a chance at the national title. West Virginia, ninth in last week's BCS standings, may well be the league's highest-ranked team next Sunday -- and the Mountaineers previously lost to USF.
"I really don't know what's going to happen," said [USF cornerback Trae] Williams. "We've just got to leave it up to the polls and the computers."
That probably wasn't the best idea, Trae. Those polls and computers can be awfully harsh about losses to Rutgers.
If only you'd lost instead to Kentucky.
Yup.
P.S. Before the SEC homers go ballistic, let me just say that I'm not suggesting the Big East is equal to the SEC in terms of conference strength, nor do I think Mandel is saying that. The only conference that can hold a candle to the SEC this year is the Pac-10, and even there I'd say the SEC has the advantage.* The point is simply that the Big East is a genuinely competitive conference with a healthy share of good teams, and cannibalization within said conference doesn't necessarily mean the league is "garbage." You have to compare resumes individually. For example, as between Florida's losses at LSU and vs. Auburn, LSU's loss at Kentucky, and USF's loss at Rutgers, I'd say Florida at LSU is clearly the "least worst" loss, followed by LSU at Kentucky, followed by South Florida at Rutgers, followed by Florida vs. Auburn (which, let's remember, lost at home to South Florida) -- and #2 and #3 are pretty close, with the deciding factor in my mind being that the LSU-UK came went to triple-overtime. Now, obviously, those rankings are subject to change as the season progresses; if Rutgers tanks and Kentucky wins out, it won't be close anymore, and if the opposite happens, #2 and #3 will switch. But regardless, the point is, it shouldn't be automatically accepted as gospel truth that any loss in SEC is more acceptable than any loss in the Big East. You gotta look at the individual circumstances. And if the last two years have taught us anything, it's that winning as a favorite on the road in the Big East in a weeknight game on the ESPN family networks is really quite difficult.
*Although, let's see how things look after ASU, Cal, Oregon and USC all play each other. (Amazingly, Cal-Oregon has been the only game to date between and among those teams, and it was one of the best games of the season, with very high quality of play on both sides.) If all four turn out to be truly elite teams, then the Pac-10 will have a really good case that it's equal or superior to the SEC this season.
By Brendan Loy
Is there anybody out there who will be attending tomorrow's USC-Notre Dame game, who would be interested in liveblogging a few posts via cell phone for the Irish Trojan's Blog? If you've got a camera phone, I can set things up so that you can post photos directly to the blog, and if you've got any kind of cell phone, I can give you a phone number to call to leave audio posts.
I've got a liveblogger lined up for the Buffalo-Syracuse game, but considering this blog is called the Irish Trojan, I figured I should probably try to get a USC-ND liveblogger too... :) Anyway, if anybody's interested, shoot me an e-mail at irishtrojan [at] gmail.com.
By Brendan Loy
South Florida and Rutgers are about to kick off another huge Thursday-night ESPN game. GameCast here.
As I said before, I expect Rutgers to pull the upset. And as a Trojan fan, I suppose I should root for the Scarlet Knights, since USC needs unbeaten teams to lose. But I just can't bring myself to root against the Bulls, not yet, not when I suspect USC will end up losing at least one more game, and South Florida -- as the resident underdog/Cinderella story -- would be my second choice among the current BCS Top 20, excluding USC. So, screw it. GO BULLS!!
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians will shortly begin Game 5 of the ALCS. Can Josh Beckett get the series back to Boston, or will C.C. Sabathia outduel him this time? GO SAWX!!!
I daresay I'll be doing a fair amount of channel-flipping over the next few hours. :)
UPDATE: Dude! That punter can throw!
UPDATE 2: Okay, so I'm having trouble really jumping on the USF bandwagon here. I was on the Rutgers bandwagon last year, and darn it, I like them. I dunno. I'm not sure who I'm rooting for. I'm just enjoying watching the game. It's 20-17 Knights in the 3rd.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox lead the Indians 2-1 in the 5th. Go Sox!
UPDATE 3: Down goes Frazier South Florida! Rutgers wins an entertaining game, 30-27. The Bulls' BCS title dreams are dead.
Sorry, Jenn:
Aaaand I'm back to rooting for Rutgers to win the Big East. R-U! RAH RAH!
I feel ashamed for ever rooting against them. It was just my general love for Cinderella stories, and my desire to see BCS chaos, that caused me to flirt with USF -- but I never stopped loving you, State University of New Jersey! :)
Meanwhile, the Red Sox lead 7-1 in the 8th.
P.S. Er, when I say "rooting for Rutgers to win the Big East," that assumes UConn won't be a contender. Of course I would root for the Huskies above everyone else in that conference. But, notwithstanding their current 5-1 record, I'm assuming they will not be a serious threat to win the Big East.
P.P.S. If Ohio State loses to Michigan State on Saturday, would it be the first time in college-football history that both the #1 and #2 teams in the AP poll have lost for two consecutive weeks? Make it happen, Spartans!!
FINAL UPDATE: SOX WIN! Eight innings and a win for Beckett, one inning and a save for Papelbon. Nice. Back to Fenway, baby! See you Saturday night!!
By Brendan Loy
Notre Dame may have Touchdown Jesus on its side, but USC has the Dalai Lama!
But wait: does that mean we're tarred via guilt-by-association with President Bush? D'oh!
By Brendan Loy
From comments yesterday (modified slightly for family-friendliness):
By Brendan Loy
In this week's Mailbag, SI.com's Stewart Mandel has an great discussion of the differences -- good and bad -- between the computer rankings and the human polls. So many people dismiss the computers out-of-hand, while some others treat them as gospel truth and diss the polls whenever they disagree with the computers. The reality is that both systems are flawed, and Mandel does an excellent job of explaining why:
1) Silly intangibles like prestige and recent history play no factor. It's no surprise that USF is held in higher regard by the computers (where the Bulls are No. 1 in five of the six, No. 2 in the other) than they are by humans (where they're No. 3 in both the coaches and Harris polls). To the computers, "USF" is just another set of data, not some unfamiliar, 11-year-old Big East program. And that's a good thing, because apparently such biases are still alive and well. Harris Poll voter Eddie Crowder, Colorado's coach from 1963-73, told CBSSports.com this week that, "I haven't even seen a brief highlight of [USF]," and that he couldn't name a single Bulls player. If his final No. 2 vote came down to deciding between USF or LSU, Crowder said he'd likely side with the Tigers because, "They're better stabilized ... They've been there, done that for 100 years."
Are you kidding me? Did I just walk into some sort of time warp where it's 1963 again and there's only one game on television all week? All but one of the Bulls' games so far have been available to anyone with basic cable. And what on earth do the last 100 years have to do with the 2007 season? The sad thing is, Crowder is probably par for the course among the Harris panel, which consists of heavily of retired coaches and ADs. So in this regard ... advantage: computers.
2) There is no arbitrary starting point for the teams. Some of the computer pollsters do put out preseason editions, but they become meaningless once the games begin. In the computers, Ohio State and Arizona State are currently tied for fifth, which makes sense because they have nearly identical credentials. Both are 7-0. The Buckeyes' wins have come against opponents with a combined 15-18 record (Division I-A games only), while the Sun Devils' foes are a combined 16-20. In the human polls, however, OSU sits 12 spots ahead of ASU, the single biggest reason being that the Buckeyes started the season 10th in the coaches poll while the Devils were unranked. Again, advantage: computers.
3) Margin of victory is not a factor. As you may recall, prior to the 2002 season, the BCS honchos asked its participating computer gurus to remove any margin-of-victory component from their formulas. While their intention was to dissuade coaches from running up the score (and for the most part, they've succeeded), in doing so, they kind of made a mockery of the whole rankings concept. In the computers' eyes, USF's 64-12 victory over UCF last week is no more or less impressive than Texas' 35-32 escape against the Golden Knights earlier in the season.
That doesn't make much sense to me, nor did it to several of the mathematicians, a couple of whom refused to comply and walked out. Another, Jeff Sagarin, did make the adjustment but posts both those results and his true rankings every week. How different are they? In the BCS version, Oklahoma checks in at 12th (and has an average of 11). In the original Sagarin version, the Sooners are No. 1. Advantage: humans.
4) Early season ratings aren't necessarily accurate. Like with any statistics, the more data that's made available, the more accurate they become. Which is why the computers have always included a disclaimer that their ratings in say, Week 6, may skew drastically from those at the end of the season. Basically, you're not getting a complete picture, hence such "wacky" anomalies as Michigan checking in seven spots higher than Oregon -- the same team the Wolverines lost to 39-7 -- in Billingsley's computer while barely registering in some of the others. In other words, there's no "common sense" override. Advantage: humans.
I've talked about issue #3 at length in prior seasons here on the blog. I think the computers' exclusion of margin of victory is especially ludicrous because they so heavily weigh strength of schedule, which means that teams with weak schedules are put at an insurmountable disadvantage -- they are penalized for playing a weak schedule (which is generally not their fault, especially when we're talking about in-conference games) and are unable to make up the ground they thus lose. Because margin of victory doesn't count, they can't make up ground, as they logically should be able to, by blowing out the weak teams they play (i.e., by doing what good teams are supposed to do against weak teams: "taking care of business," if you will). So they're stuck; they're screwed. To use a bit of legalese, the wrong-headed BCS ban on MOV over-emphasizes SOS to the point that a weak schedule creates an irrebuttable presumption of overall weakness.
Notre Dame, as I've pointed out before, has recently been an interesting case study in the inherent absurdity of ranking teams without any margin-of-victory component. In 2005, the Irish were consistently ranked lower in the computers than in the polls. Why? Say what you will about bias and hype and kool-aid, but the main reason was a flaw in the computers, not the polls: the computers were unable to comprehend that both of ND's regular-season losses were extremely close affairs, including the 3-point loss to #1 USC, while all of their wins (until the Stanford game at season's end) were blowouts. ND was thus penalized for playing a relatively weak schedule (because a whole bunch of their regular opponents were having uncharacteristic down years), even though they'd "taken care of business" against that schedule, and had proven their worth in a close loss to the best team in the land.
Then in 2006, the exact opposite happened: the Irish were consistently ranked higher in the computers than in the polls, because the computers were unable to comprehend what the pollsters could see with their eyes: that the Irish's losses to Michigan and USC were not actually "good losses," even though the opponents were strong teams, because the Irish got absolutely blown away by both of 'em. Similarly, the computers did not know that Notre Dame had barely escaped with victories against weakish UCLA and Michigan State teams, nor that they had failed to truly dominate some of the even weaker opponents on their schedule (e.g., Purdue, Air Force) to the degree that one would like to see an elite team do. The pollsters saw all that and, once the kool-aid had finally worn off, ranked the Irish accordingly; the computers didn't. All the computers knew is that the Irish had gone 10-2 against a pretty strong schedule. The details of the individual games, which entirely discredited the Irish's claim to be a truly elite team, were totally lost on the computers, because of the lack of a margin-of-victory component.
All that said, if only the BCS would allow the computers to include a rational margin-of-victory component -- and I'm convinced that some formula could be devised that would lessen the impact of "running up the score" while acknowledging the inherent difference between, say, Notre Dame's 3-point loss to USC in 2005 and Arkansas's 53-point loss to the same Trojans -- I think the computers would be better than the polls, precisely because of those "prestige and recent history" and "arbitrary starting point" problems that Mandel talks about. It's a shame the BCS has crippled its own ranking system by arbitrarily imposing a statistically unsound requirement for the sake of political correctness.
By Brendan Loy
The Buffalo News ran an article today about the Turner-Gill-to-Nebraska rumors.
By Brendan Loy
The "NDCHOOCHOO" blog offers some funny "story lines" for the USC-Notre Dame game:
The Streak: USC last lost to Notre Dame in 2001. That loss will not be forgotten by USC, however, as 9th Year Senior Chauncey Washington was just a 3rd year sophomore back then, and will recount his expereinces with the team, after his Geritol.
Snooping Around: Yes, USC supporter and mascot, Snoop Dogg will make the trip out the Notre Dame for the game. Apparently, Desmond Reed told him that there was some really "funky grass" at Notre Dame, and Snooop wanted to check it out for himself. ...
The Fall of Troy: USC is no longer in contention for the National Championship. In fact, they are only in third place in their own conference. To make matters worse, as it stands now, with UCLA's win last season, USC is only the second best team in their own city. In stark contrast, Notre Dame enters the game atop the South Bend polls.
Heh.
He also refers to USC's injured quarterback as "John David Steven Morris Upton Booty." Again, heh.
By Brendan Loy
Playing really, really well in the second half has been such a hallmark of the USC Trojans in recent years (though not so much this year) that I often refer to the phenomenon by the all-capitalized, faux-trademarked phrase "Pete Carroll Second-Half MagicTM."
Sadly for Washington Huskies fans, as recent events have suggested and as this handy chart confirms, there is no such thing as Ty Willingham Second-Half Magic, except perhaps for Willingham's teams' opponents -- which, come to think of it, always include USC, so these phenomena may not be entirely unrelated. (Hat tip: EDSBS.)
Some Domers will doubtless want to seize on this trend as proof that firing Willingham was justified (which for some reason we're still debating, three years later - only at ND!), but oddly enough, the school at which Ty enjoyed the greatest second-half success was... Notre Dame. Hmm. Also, as the linked post points out, the statistical trend is not actually all that drastic in percentage terms. (I wonder, though, what the numbers would look like if you eliminated "garbage time" scores, where Ty's teams were either so far ahead or so far behind that it didn't matter. My guess, based on subjective impressions and imperfect memories, is that doing that would make the numbers look worse for Ty, but I could certainly be wrong about that.)
Anyway, I just thought that this was kinda interesting, and that posting it would be about 95% certain to set off a nice juicy blog comment-war, which would certainly liven up a "hump day" afternoon. So there you go. Talk amongst yourselves. Ty sucks! Ty is awesome! Notre Dame is racist! No they're not! AAAAHH!!!!
By Brendan Loy
I've been lax in updating my list of college-football unbeatens in recent weeks, and with all the upsets that have taken place, the Terrific Twenty-Three has shrunk to a Fantastic Fifteen, then an Elite Eleven, and now a Super Six since I last posted a full-fledged update.
With so few unbeatens and so many weeks left, and with this crop of unbeaten teams seeming so relatively fragile (compared, for instance, to last year's much sturdier-feeling Spectacular Seven), I think Texasyank is right that "one-loss is the new undefeated." Not since 2003 has it appeared so likely, so early, that one or both teams in the BCS championship game will have a loss. Thus, I'm expanding my focus a bit this week. We'll start with the Super Six unbeaten teams, but then we'll look at the Fretting Fifteen, the nation's remaining one-loss teams (who are, of course, "fretting" because one more loss will truly knock them out of title contention*). Finally, we'll look at the teams who haven't won a game yet: the Frail Four.
Half of the nation's undefeated teams (Boston College, Arizona State and Hawaii) are idle this week. The other three all face potentially difficult tests: South Florida is at 4-2 Rutgers tomorrow night, and then on Saturday, Ohio State hosts 5-2 Michigan State and Kansas is at 4-3 Colorado, which, of course, stunned Oklahoma a few weeks back. The way this season has gone, it wouldn't be remotely surprising if only the idle teams are still unbeaten come Sunday morning. Indeed, with USF favored by just 2.5 points and Kansas by just 4, the only potential loss by an unbeaten that would actually be a major upset would be MSU over homestanding tOSU. (Speaking of which, go Sparty go! ... Ugh, now I hate myself.)
*Well, the first nine or so of 'em, anyway. Missouri, Virginia, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, UConn and Boise State are almost certainly already out of the national-title picture entirely, if they were ever in it.
Anyway, without further adieu, here are this week's schedules for the unbeatens, the once-beatens, and the constantly-beatens...
By Brendan Loy
The South Florida bandwagon just got a little bit hotter. (Reasonably SFW. Cleavage.) More here.
UPDATE: According to several comments on the Wizard of Odds, Sterger is no bandwagoner; apparently she has longstanding ties to USF, and has attended many games there. Seems she's got dual loyalties to Florida State and South Florida. Well, I, of all people, can hardly fault someone for having dual loyalties -- especially this week!
UPDATE 2: This whole story is made-up nonsense! The photo of Sterger in a Bulls hat, supposedly proving she's jumped on the USF bandwagon now that they're #2 in the country, is from 2006!
By Brendan Loy
Part 1 of the Stewart Mandel Thesis has come true: Nebraska legend Tom Osborne has been named interim Athletic Director to replace the Steve Pederson, who was fired yesterday. (Hat tip: EDSBS.)
Part 2 of the Mandel Thesis has Osborne firing Cornhuskers coach Bill Callahan and replacing him with Buffalo head coach Turner Gill, himself something of a Nebraska mini-legend. Will it happen? I dunno, but this article from last month did note that "Gill still talks regularly with former Cornhuskers coach Tom Osborne, who he calls a mentor and a friend," and this one, also from last month, says Osborne "believes Gill has what it takes to be a successful Division I head coach":
Osborne witnessed Gill's leadership skills as the starting quarterback for the Cornhuskers' dominating teams in the early 1980s, and saw how well he related to players as a Nebraska assistant coach from 1992-2004."He's in it for the right reasons," Osborne said. "He's there to serve the kids and isn't in coaching for his own ego. Turner is a good recruiter and a great role model for players."
Hmm. It's hard to believe Osborne won't at least give Gill a look. Should UB fans start rooting for the Bulls to tank the rest of the season, thus causing their coach's stock to plummet and making him an unpalatable hire in Big Red country?
P.S. On the other hand, Osborne could always take the Dick Cheney route and appoint himself Nebraska's new coach!
UPDATE: I'm told the above photo is actually a picture of Norman Osborn, not Tom Osborne. Ah, close enough. I think this photo is a rough representation of what awaits Bill Callahan...
By Brendan Loy
It's official: Evan Sharpley will start at quarterback for Notre Dame against USC on Saturday. "I think Evan this week gives us the best chance of winning," Charlie Weis said. "Or at least beating the spread." No, no, I made that last part up. (Though it would be a bit more realistic...)
Meanwhile, USC may have a burgeoning quarterback controversy of its own. Injured ex-starter John David Booty hopes to be back in the lineup in time for Saturday's game. He will test his broken finger at practice today. "If I can throw effectively, I want to play," he said, but added, "It's the coach's decision, not mine." Indeed it is, and Pete Carroll doesn't sound so sure yet: "We're going to go with Mark [Sanchez] as the starter going into practice ... It's Mark's day [Tuesday]. Then we'll see what happens with John. We'll just wait, watch, see what he feels like afterward."
By Brendan Loy
College football blogger Sunday Morning Quarterback expresses better than I could his rationale for ranking teams based purely on their "resumés" instead of using a "power ranking" method.
See also this post from last year comparing and contrasting the different polling methods. I wish more voters would put as much thought as SMQ has into their personal philosophy of polling.
By Brendan Loy
Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson was fired Monday, and it seems almost inevitable that football coach Bill Callahan will be next.
If Callahan is shown the door, some Buffalo fans are worried that Nebraska might try to lure Heisman finalist and former Osborn/Solich/Callahan assistant Turner Gill away from resurgent UB*. Gill interviewed for the top job in Lincoln back in 2004 before it was ultimately offered to Callahan. He was hired by Buffalo in '06.
Columnist Steve Sipple of the Lincoln Journal-Star mentioned Gill as a possibility in a column Sunday: "Turner Gill? Well, he’s doing wonders at Buffalo. The Bulls are 3-4 overall and 3-1 in the Mid-American Conference. Their three league victories equal the most since joining the MAC and returning to Division I-A in 1999. The former Husker quarterback is calling the plays for an offense that features elements of a West Coast attack, a power-I formation and even some option." Gill's name is also floated at the Fire Coach Callahan blog. And FanIQ asks: "Will Turner Gill be coming back?"
*Can you be "resurgent" if you've never been good before? Hmm. Maybe the Bulls are just "surgent."
UPDATE: Stewart Mandel writes:
[University Chancellor Harvey] Perlman said Monday that he would soon appoint an interim athletic director with "full authority to assess the state of the athletic department and its athletic programs and to make any decision necessary to advance those programs." Translation: The guy can fire coaches -- and, barring a dramatic turnaround, he will.
As a result, Perlman is facing an unusually important "interim AD selection" -- because the identity of that person could go a long way in determining the identity of Nebraska's next football coach. The popular rumor du jour is that of Huskers legend/Congressman Tom Osborne temporarily taking the reins and bringing back favorite son Turner Gill, who, in his second season at Buffalo, has the long-inept Bulls sitting a half-game out of first in the MAC's East Division with a 3-1 conference record.
UPDATE 2: Fox Sports also mentions Gill in its article about the Nebraska situation: "Turner Gill, the former Husker great and architect behind a minor MAC uprising at Buffalo, has been bandied about as a possible replacement as head coach. Yet others still hope that with Pederson out of the picture, Nebraska will get a second chance to hire LSU's Bo Pelini, a fan favorite in 2003."
By Brendan Loy
A few short days ago, it looked like ESPN College GameDay would be making its first-ever visit to basketball-centric Champaign, Illinois for next Saturday's Michigan-Illinois game. Then the Illini lost to previously hapless Iowa, taking the air out of what would have been a battle of two unbeaten-in-conference Big Ten teams. (And by the way, thanks a lot, Illinois, for reducing the conference race, again, to Ohio State vs. Michigan -- which, at this point, is about as exciting to people outside the gravitational pull of Ann Arbor and Columbus as Red Sox-Yankees is to people outside the Northeast.)
So where is GameDay going instead? To yet another locale whose residents are just discovering this wonderful game called "football": Lexington, Kentucky, that strangest of SEC towns where football comes in second to basketball in the local consciousness. Or perhaps it's third; does UK have a JV hoops team? Anyway, the Wildcats host Florida on Saturday -- which, come to think of it, would be a hell of a basketball game as well; can we tweak the b-ball schedule a bit and have a doubleheader? -- and the Kirk & Corso circus will be there.
Of course, in this season of nonsensical mayhem, Kentucky being a football powerhouse is nothing to write home about. At this rate, George Mason (of the mighty Sea Board Conference) will be cracking the BCS standings by November, with Gonzaga close behind -- and the Zags haven't played a football game since two weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. Apropos of which, Every Day Should Be Saturday nicely summarizes the current state of college football's national championship race:
The science fiction scenario of falling asleep for decades, awakening, and finding the world inhabited only by eyeless nuclear mutants has arrived: you are, whether you like it or not, staggering around the streets yelling “IS ANYONE OUT THERE?” at the fact that South Florida is the second-ranked team in the BCS.
Ohio State claims spot one, followed by South Florida at two, Boston College at three, LSU at four, and Oklahoma at five. Army’s 1947 squad is number six, the nation of Bolivia is at seven; acclaimed chef Eric Ripert and his kitchen staff are at eight, and finally, the nine spot is occupied by a sweet 2005 Dodge Ram dualie and chrome pipes with the Idaho plates 323 AAJE. The truck’s owner, Steve Redding of Boise, Idaho: “What the f**k is my truck doing in the BCS standings?”
Heh.
Oh, and speaking of Kentucky, here's the ending of Saturday's thriller, sans commentary, seen from field level:
(Hat tip: AOL Fanhouse.) I love college football.
By Brendan Loy
It's Irish-Trojan Week here at the Irish Trojan's Blog, and what better way to kick it off than by noting that today is the second anniversary of the greatest day in college football history?
I'll never forget October 15, 2005 -- and, specifically, the USC-Notre Dame epic that was the centerpiece of that madcap day of football mayhem -- as long as I live. If I ever go senile, it'll probably be one of the last things I remember: I might forget my own name, what year it is, and where the hell I am, but you can be sure the employees at the nursing home will know all about Leinart-to-Jarrett and the Bush Push.
More imminently, you can bet that eighteen years from today, our teenage daughter will roll her eyes as her 43-year-old dad starts waxing nostalgic again about the Greatest Game He Ever Saw, 20 years ago that very day: the hype and build-up; the pep rally with Joe Montana and Rudy (but not, alas, Bon Jovi); the green jerseys; the nail-biting first three quarters; the full moon rising over Notre Dame Stadium in the fourth quarter; the surreal, larger-than-life, echoes-awakened atmosphere of those final minutes, like something out of a movie and yet so much better than any movie; the flash bulbs popping from one end of the stadium to the other; the impossibly loud, ear-shattering screams of eighty thousand Irish fans when Brady Quinn scored the go-ahead TD; the insanity of 4th and 9; the delirious, premature field-rushing; our jubilation and the crushing heartbreak all around us moments later; how we stayed put and let the stadium clear out before we left, and then steered clear of Turtle Creek on our walk home, lest our USC sweatshirts provoke drunken Domers like a matador's cape provokes an angry bull; and so on, and so forth. I know, Dad, I know. You've told me all about it a million times. Can I borrow the car?
As I wrote last year on this day:
The game was tense throughout, a real back-and-forth affair, and man, was I nervous. Never in my life had I been so emotionally invested in a sporting event. For weeks leading up to the game, I had repeatedly joked that if USC lost, I would “have to drop out of law school” because I’d never hear the end of it. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but the fact is, I’m the unabashed, unrepentant Trojan at Notre Dame, so my friends would have ripped on me something fierce if the Irish had won, and rightfully so. As a result, I felt like my personal pride was at stake on that field. Besides which, all personal considerations aside, I just really, really, really wanted the Trojans to win.
A funny thing happened in the final minutes of the game, though. As intense as it was, I went from being a nervous wreck to being remarkably sanguine about the game’s outcome. I know that’s counterintuitive, given how incredibly close and exciting the final minutes were, but the closer we got to the end — especially after Brady Quinn scored the go-ahead touchdown and the entire crowd went so unbelievably crazy that I was literally hearing static because it was too loud for my ears to really process the level of sound — the more I realized, you know what, no matter who ends up winning this game, it is just so freakin’ cool that I am here.
As I watched the full moon rise over the eastern side of the stadium, and listened to the crowd scream its collective lungs out, all the while witnessing a truly epic battle unfolding on the field below, I realized that I would literally someday tell my grandkids that I had been at this game.
And then it got better.
Read the whole thing. Also, here are my photos of the game (and of the events that preceded it).
Anyway... with the Irish a historically awful 1-6 and the Trojans an uncharacteristically uninspiring 5-1, this year's showdown in South Bend doesn't have 0.01% of the hype or build-up that the last one did. Still, I'll have plenty to say about it in due course. But for now, let's look back on the events of two years ago today, as seen from my unique vantage point: a Trojan in the midst of the Irish student section.
And, from a somewhat more expansive vantage point, a clip showing some more of the events of that incredible Saturday in October:
What a day. What a damn day.
By Brendan Loy
Can you say Boise State 69, Nevada 67 in 4OT? It was the most points scored in an NCAA Division I-A game since official record-keeping began in 1937.
Boise State is one of 15 remaining one-loss teams, and the only one from a non-BCS conference. Can the Broncos become the first non-BCS team to qualify for a BCS bowl with a loss? Probably not, but this season, who knows? If everybody else in the country has three losses by the time the season's over... :)
By Brendan Loy
It sounds like Mark Sanchez will get the start for the Trojans against Notre Dame.
But who will start for the Irish? It might be Evan Sharpley instead of Jimmy Clausen, as Sharpley once again looked like the better QB yesterday.
Who would have thought, back in August, that this year's USC-Notre Dame game could potentially feature Mark Sanchez against Evan Sharpley?
UPDATE: More on Notre Dame's QB decision here.
Meanwhile, USC fan Jonathan Tu -- who is currently in the midst of living the dream, doing a season-long whirlwind college-football odyssey that will see him attend 22 games in 14 weeks, including the one in South Bend next Saturday -- riffs on what it feels like to be human again:
[When the final score of the Arizona game was announced,] I didn’t think about mistakes, injuries, what-ifs, polls, ramifications, anything, really, except one thing: how good it feels to win.It’s been so long since USC’s had a realistic chance of losing to anyone except one of the traditional powerhouses of college football (Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan). This is what it felt like in 2002, but, more specifically, this is what it felt like pre-2002: anything can happen, anything will happen, and, yes, even a 7 point win over a hapless Arizona team is a miracle, a godsend, a blessing, a wonder, something worth celebrating in of itself. This was not the case with some of the wins over the past several years. I was spoiled; we all were.
I’m a fan, so naturally I have ideas about what needs to happen for USC to be in New Orleans. (Hah!). But for the first time in a long time I’m only thinking about the next game and the stated goal: to make sure Notre Dame’s only win is over UCLA, which is thoroughly acceptable to a USC fan. Whether that win’s by 3 or 30, I’ll take it.
By Brendan Loy
After following up its loss to Stanford with a near-loss to Arizona, USC has dropped in the polls -- quite justifiably, in my view -- despite the continuing rash of upsets all around them. USC fell from #10 to #13 in the AP poll (leapfrogged by Kentucky, Virginia Tech and Arizona State), and from #7 to a tie for #9 in the coaches poll (leapfrogged by West Virginia and South Carolina). Given that they've looked certifiably godawful for three consecutive weeks, and given that Nebraska has now been exposed to the point that it no longer qualifies as a quality win (let alone a "signature" one), I think the Trojans should fall even further (I have them #16), but at least the new rankings more closely approximate reality than last week's.
Ohio State is #1 in both polls. It's far closer to a unanimous decision in the coaches poll (56 of 60 first-place votes, with just 1 for Boston College and 3 for South Florida) than in the AP poll (50 of 65, with the remaining votes breaking down thusly: USF 11, BC 1, Oklahoma 1, LSU 1, Arizona State 1). South Florida is #2 in the AP poll, #3 in the coaches; Boston College is the reverse of that, #2 in the coaches and #3 in the AP. Proving Texasyank's point that "one-loss is the new undefeated," Oklahoma and LSU are #4 and #5 in both polls. After that, it's mass chaos from #6 to #13. But undefeated Arizona State is #12 in both polls, and undefeated Kansas is #15 in both. Undefeated Hawaii is #17 in the AP, #16 in the coaches. Oh, and Michigan is ranked again -- #24 in the AP poll. Hot! Hot! Hot!
P.S. Prediction: South Florida will lose at Rutgers on Thursday. These Big East weeknight games on ESPN have not been kind to favorites (or to road teams) the last two years, and the Scarlet Knights (and their fans) will be pumped -- they may have dropped from the polls, but they've still got a conference championship to win, and this game is a must-win for them to achieve that goal. And now, they can beat the nation's #2 team in the process! As Louisville beat West Virginia, as Rutgers beat Louisville, as Cincinnati beat Rutgers, and as South Florida beat West Virginia, so will Rutgers beat South Florida. Round and round the Big East's cycle of cannibalization goes; where it ends, nobody knows.
UPDATE: The first official BCS standings are out, and as expected, South Florida is #2 (behind #1 tOSU) because the computers love the Bulls, due to their strength of schedule and quality wins (and because the dumb BCS computers don't understand the value of preseason polls, nor do they recognize the "vague notions of superiority based on the size, recognition and historical success of a program" that human polls value so highly). The computers love South Florida so much, in fact, that they ranked the Bulls #1 in the country. But because Ohio State is a runaway #1 in both human polls, they get the edge over USF in the BCS standings even though they're just #5 in the computers. On the other hand, Boston College, #2 in both of the polls that matter of BCS purposes, is just #7 in the computers, and thus ends up #3 in the BCS.
By Brendan Loy
The South Florida Bulls have set the college-football world on fire this season, streaking their way to a 6-0 record and a #2 national ranking. But the other Division I college football team with the nickname "Bulls" also deserves some props. Like USF, the University at Buffalo is having its best season since joining Division I-A -- and although these Bulls are enjoying success on a slightly less grand scale than the other Bulls, they got their own bit of national exposure last night, in the form of a "helmet sticker" on ESPN's College Football Final:
The Nebraska alum Rece Davis mentions is Turner Gill, the former Nebraska quarterback and 1983 Heisman finalist, who is now in his second season as Buffalo's head coach. He has really turned things around at UB, taking a program whose fans were conditioned to simply hope that they wouldn't go winless each year and raising expectations to the point that, last week, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg wrote that UB "could be a sleeper team" in the MAC, and Pat Forde called them the conference's "biggest surprise." And that was before yesterday's 43-33 win over Toledo, which improved the Bulls' conference record to 3-1 (3-4 overall, with road losses to Penn State and Rutgers and a close home loss to Baylor).
Needless to say, they're excited over at ubfan.com. See, for example, this thread, noting that the Bulls have jumped from #105 to #84 in the CBS Sportsline rankings -- ahead of #90 Notre Dame. "Excuse my language, but this is pretty f***ing sweet," one poster writes. "We're finally out of the 3 digits."
(Buffalo being ahead of Notre Dame is okay, just so long as they stay safely behind USC. Last Saturday, when I was visiting with UB alum Vikki in Denver on the day that USC lost to Stanford and Buffalo crushed Ohio, we started musing about when was the last time UB won and USC lost on the same day. Vikki then got a little carried away -- I blame the Jaeger bombs -- and said something along the lines of, "You just wait, one of these days Buffalo will be ranked ahead of USC." To which I replied that, if that day ever comes, I will fly from whatever city I'm living in to whatever city Vikki is living in, and I'll take her out for a celebratory pub crawl and buy her drinks all night long. So, Buffalo getting ahead of USC would be a very expensive proposition for me. Heh.)
With the Toledo win following on the heels of (in Rittenberg's words) the "31-10 dismantling of preseason MAC East favorite Ohio" last Saturday, the Bulls now have their first two-game winning streak since 2001, with a chance to make it three -- and secure their first four-win season since joining Division I-A in 1999 -- when they visit Syracuse next week in a battle for Western New York supremacy.
More importantly, Buffalo is sitting in second place in the MAC East, tied in the loss column with Akron (2-1), who the Bulls host on October 27, and Bowling Green (1-1), who they host on November 17. All those teams are behind division leader Miami of Ohio (3-0), who Buffalo faces on the road on November 3. That'll be a tough game for UB, but the bottom line is that the Bulls have morphed into a legit MAC East contender, at least for now -- and they control their own destiny. Win out in conference (the other remaining game is at 1-2 Kent State on November 24), and Buffalo would play in the MAC championship game on December 1.
That's a long way off, and pondering possible bowl qualification is even further off (though I can't help but think that the International Bowl in nearby Toronto, which gets third pick from the MAC, would be an ideal fit for Buffalo if they were to do well enough to be considered). It would be unwise, methinks, for Bulls fans to get their hopes up too high; there's still plenty of opportunities ahead for the Bulls to suffer some "that's why you're Buffalo" moments, and finish the seaon disappointingly. But regardless of what happens next, what's clear already is that the Bulls are having a great season by UB standards, and Turner Gill is living up to the hype, steadily improving his team and building a worthwhile program. Way to go, Buffalo!
UPDATE/CORRECTION: According to a poster on ubfan.com, "because of the unbalanced division numbers only intradivisional games count, so UB is 2-0 for divisional standing purposes. The loss to Ball State doesn't count." Nor does the win over Toledo. So that means Buffalo is actually tied for first place in the division. Either way, they control their own destiny. And all four of the Bulls' remaining conference games will count.
UPDATE 2: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle columnist Bob Matthews is worried about the Bulls: "I've always thought that Syracuse, Buffalo and the University of Rochester would rank 1-2-3 in football in that order forever. Now I'm not so sure. Turner Gill's Buffalo Bulls program appears to be gaining on sagging Syracuse."
Meanwhile, the Buffalo News says UB "could contend for a MAC crown":
In a parity-filled, unpredictable college football season in which teams like South Florida, Kentucky, Boston College and Arizona State are positioning themselves to play for the national championship, Buffalo winning the MAC is not out of the question. Whatever happens, UB has already qualified as the biggest surprise in the MAC and Turner Gill as a coach-of-the-year candidate.
On the down side, the turmoil at Nebraska has raised fears that Gill's days could be numbered as UB's coach, if the Cornhuskers come calling.
By Brendan Loy
The thrill of victory...
...and the agony of defeat.
What a crazy, crazy, crazy season.
P.S. After the jump, my extremely unscientific, off-the-top-of-my-head Top 20.
By David K.
While Brendan's away, the guestbloggers will play :D
USC pulled itself together in the 4th quarter to come away with a 20-13 win against Arizona. It wasn't pretty but a wins better than a loss. Sanchez played well in his first start, going 19/31 and a 130 yards including his first pass for a TD, but the two interceptions helped Arizona early on. Arizona's QB Tuitama was amazing through the air going 30/43 and 233 yards, but the Arizona ground game was non-existent and the Trojans were able to contain the Wildcat passing game in the 4th quarter to come back and win.
Notre Dame trails Boston College 27-14 with less than 6 minutes remaining in the fourth.
UPSET ALERT
#1 LSU and #17 Kentucky are tied going into overtime 27-27 after LSU missed a 57 yard field goal. Will we see ANOTHER number 1 team next week? #2 Cal is playing the unranked Beavers of Oregon State at home. #3 Ohio State easily won against Kent State, #4 Boston College leads Notre Dame, and #5 South Florida crushed Central Florida on Friday.
UPDATE
Boston College held on to beat Notre Dame 27-14.
LSU and Kentucky are going into a 3rd overtime. Both scored TD's in the first, and FG's in the second.
UPDATE 2
Kentucky beats LSU 43-37 in the third overtime.
Kentucky has twice before beaten a #1 team, the last time was in 1964.
By Brendan Loy
Let the games begin!
GOOOO IRISH!! BEEEEAT EAGLES!!
FIGHT ON TROJANS!! BEAT THE WILDCATS!!
And, special BrendanLoy.com bonus bandwagon games: GO HUSKIES!! BEAT THE CAVS!! GO BUFFALO!! BEAT TOLEDO!!
By Brendan Loy
A couple of college football's disrespected unbeaten teams have the opportunity to earn a "statement win" later today.
Missouri (5-0), ranked as high as #3 by the computers but just #11 in the polls, can change a lot of minds if they win at #6 Oklahoma (5-1) today. People will be watching: ESPN GameDay will be in Norman this morning, and the 6:30 PM game is nationally televised on Fox Sports Net. (Or not. Apparently the game will be preempted by hockey in some regions.) The Sooners are 12-point favorites. And, bad news for the Tigers: their leading rusher won't play.
Meanwhile, UConn, unranked despite being 5-0 because they haven't played anybody, might crack the Top 25 if they win at 5-1 Virginia today. (It's a 3:30 PM ESPNU game.) The oddsmakers, at least, seem to have a bit of respect for the Huskies; the Cavs are just 3-point favorites.
Personally, I figure that if there's ever a year when UConn, generally a basketball powerhouse and football nobody, can be a force in college football, it's gotta be the year when Kentucky, Kansas and Illinois are all in the top 20.
By Brendan Loy
Andrew and Bea are in town, visiting us, and today we headed out to the Smoky Mountains:
We had fun. Here's a shot of me and Bea inside a corn crib at Cades Cove:
And here's a picture of Becky and the baby :) in front of the Smokies:
By Brendan Loy
Jeez. He looks like John David Booty out there!
UPDATE: On the other hand... hey, he led them to a comeback victory in overtime... so, that ain't so bad. Yeah, he had 4 interceptions, but he also had 4 touchdowns (plus a rushing TD!) and 545 yards passing on 44 of 75 attempts... LOL!
P.S. An interesting article relevant to the Warriors' BCS hopes: Hawaii's weak schedule is not its fault. See also this quote from WAC commissioner Karl Benson: "Hawaii was willing to open the season at Michigan. They talked to Nebraska, they talked to Southern Cal, West Virginia, Indiana. Hawaii was willing to go on the mainland to open the season against a high-profile opponent but didn't get any takers."
By Brendan Loy
Some of you may have heard already that the Gipp family recently exhumed George Gipp's body for some undisclosed reason involving "testing." Naturally, there is all sorts of speculation about this. Some people think it's an evil plot by Charlie Weis to help the Irish beat Boston College, perhaps by cloning a new team. But personally, I think the PostGame has discovered The Truth:
Follow this impeccable logic: Gipp inspired Rockne’s famous line from his deathbed, which was later reenacted by Ronald Reagan in a movie which made a star of the young Reagan, whose popularity as an actor was the main reason Americans elected him as governor of California in 1966 and president of the U.S. in 1980, whose administration later supplied financing, weapons, and training to Afghani opposition groups called the mujahedeen after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, which enabled another financier named Osama Bin Laden to grow in power and also resulted in many of these trained rebels joining the extremist group Taliban, who are connected with the al-Qaeda organization (both run by Bin Laden), who were responsible for the terrorist attacks of Septemer 11, 2001.Did you get all that? Unquestionably, George Gipp is responsible for 9/11! Obviously, he planned all of this from his deathbed. His family just made the connections and are exhuming his body for clues to his extremist Muslim sympathies.
Heh.
P.S. GOOOO IRISH!!! BEEEEAT FREDO!!!!
By Brendan Loy
It's official: Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback in place of the injured John David Booty against Arizona on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Stanford's senior quarterback, T.C. Ostrander, is healthy again after missing last week's game due to the aftereffects from a seizure -- but he has nevertheless been replaced by Tavita Pritchard, the redshirt freshman/Czech supermodel/lesbian ceramics professor who led the Farm to victory over the mighty Trojans last week.
Poor guy. Ostrander picked the wrong damn time to have a seizure. Or perhaps the right damn time, from Stanford's perspective, if you believe the stars would have aligned differently and USC would have pulled out the win had Pritchard not been starting. Either way, you gotta feel at least a little bit bad for Ostrander.
Can Sanchez pull a Pritchard, and replace Booty permanently even if the latter gets healthy? Well, obviously it's impossible for him to lead the Trojans to an upset victory on the order of Stanford-over-USC (unless the New England Patriots have any open dates and can squeeze USC in), but even so, I have to believe that if Sanchez proves himself on the field, to the point where he looks signficantly more impressive in his start(s) than Booty has thus far this season (which shouldn't be that hard), Pete Carroll will let him keep the starting job, John David be damned. We shall see.
P.S. I missed it until yesterday, but Casey's post about the USC-Stanford game is pretty funny.
By Brendan Loy
Florida fan and college football blogger extraordinaire Orson Swindle, of Every Day Should Be Saturday fame, went to LSU's Tiger Stadium, a.k.a. "Death Valley," for the first time ever Saturday, and he wrote a great blog post about the experience. Money quote:
That voodoo’s real. When the “Four Corners Salute” gets cranking, it’s like listening to a 747 made entirely of fired clay crashing into a field of shattered glass. Getting a snap off effectively is in itself a game ball-worthy achievement. Combined with the orgy going on outside the stadium for five miles in any direction, it’s the gold standard for any other college gameday experience. Any of them. It is peerless in terms of demonstrated intensity, lunacy, commitment, flair, and menace. At several points in the day, we were convinced we were going to be killed, injected with creole butter, and thrown in a deep fryer…but only in the most festive and accommodating of ways, of course.
Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Everything old is new again in the Reggie Bush case, as the AP is breathlessly reporting that Reggie Bush and his family may have taken "nearly $280,000 in benefits" while at USC. ESPN is carrying this story on its homepage, with the headline, "Report: Bush received $280K in benefits at USC."
$280K!! OMG!! Only one problem: it's not actually news. The only new piece of information in Reggiegate is that wannabe agent Lloyd Lake may finally talk to the NCAA (as the L.A. Times and Yahoo! both reported Tuesday, and I blogged yesterday). But the details of what he'll say, including the $280,000 figure, are old news. Yahoo! first reported all that stuff back in January. (You might even recall that I blogged about it at the time.) Babies have been conceived, carried to term, and born since "Report: Bush received $280K in benefits at USC" was new, headline-worthy information.
Personally, I wouldn't trust Lloyd Lake anyway. He is, after all, "home to a variety of non-native, non-migratory birds." That means he's full of sh*t!
By Brendan Loy
As if this hasn't already been a bad enough week for USC, now comes word that the NCAA may finally be making progress in its investigation of Reggie Bush -- the probe that could potentially result in the forfeiture of USC's 2004 national championship, the Orwellian erasure of the Greatest Game Ever Played*, and perhaps even a retroactive nullification of one of the few bets I've ever won with Mike Tran.
Er, not that I'm rooting against the administration of justice, or anything. [whistles quietly]
Anyway, here's the full story. Excerpt:
One of the two would-be sports marketers who allegedly made improper payments to Reggie Bush while he was still at USC has agreed to meet with NCAA investigators and claims to have documentation of financial transactions between Bush and him, according to a source close to the investigation.
Lloyd Lake was also expected to file a civil lawsuit in San Diego this month. He will seek to recoup money allegedly given to Bush and his family and will ask for punitive damages, claiming the former Trojans tailback defrauded him in a deal to launch a sports marketing agency, the source said. ...
Some people close to him have contended that the young athlete and his parents were led astray by unscrupulous agents. Others have questioned the credibility of Lake, a former documented gang member and convicted felon. ...
If investigators find that Bush received improper benefits while playing for the Trojans during the 2004 or 2005 seasons, USC could be forced to forfeit games. The program could face further sanctions if it were proved that coaches or administrators knew or should have known about the alleged benefits.
Bush's status as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner also could be in jeopardy.
Sounds like the investigation is finally getting what it's been missing for all these months: a little push. (Ahem.)
Anyway, stay tuned, as they say. In the mean time, my previous posts on Reggiegate can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.
*until this game.
P.S. If the 2004 championship is indeed forfeited, I eagerly await LSU fans' "Zero-Pete" campaign.
By Brendan Loy
Hint: it wasn't USC-Stanford. Would you believe... Akron-Western Michigan?
Come to think of it, that ending was rather remiscent of another game involving Stanford, back in the day.
AOL FanHouse calls it "The Kalamazoo Kalamity." Sunday Morning QB quotes a local newspaper article explaining the whole story of what happened:
Bill Cubit walked in, smacked his hat on the table, sat down and stared. For about five minutes Saturday night, Western Michigan University's football coach didn't raise his eyes from the table in the postgame interview room in the bowels of Waldo Stadium.
Cubit needed time to digest what had just taken place.
Moments earlier, he must have figured he'd be talking about his team's third straight win and an impressive second half against a surprisingly game Akron program.
Instead, the Broncos' coach had to relive a heart-wrenching 39-38 defeat, one that appeared certain to be a victory with a few seconds remaining.
"Obviously, it was just unbelievable," Cubit finally began. "I don't know what else to say."
With a 38-31 lead and time winding down, WMU (2-4) elected to take a safety on fourth down with 15 seconds remaining rather than chance a traditional punt.
Akron's Alphonso Owen took the free kick from Broncos punter Jim Laney at the 11-yard line and began upfield. In the grasp of WMU's Boston McCornell at about the 25-yard line, Owen found teammate Andre Jones streaking up the left sideline.
Jones grabbed the short lateral and reversed field, beating WMU's coverage deep into Broncos territory before slipping past C.J. Wilson at the 5-yard line and ducking into the end zone for the victory after time had expired.
Like I said: weird, wild stuff.
By Andrew Long
A few thoughts on one of the most disastrous occasions for a Trojan in living memory....
1. Despite the provocative title, while I think this is definitely the worst loss in USC football history, I believe the Michigan loss to Appalachian State was even more ignoble and pathetic. Michigan is the winningest program in collegiate football, was considered a strong national title contender, and lost to a "Hot, Hot, Hot" I-AA team with the lamest school promo video ever aired and which recruits kids from towns whose church leaders handle snakes.
As bad as Stanford is, they are a longstanding, hated rival of USC, they play us every year and are very familiar with our schemes and plays, and despite how horrible they have been the past few years, they still recruit classes ranked anywhere from 25-50 and regularly send players to the NFL (the League currently has 20 from the Farm).
2. I heard two things at the L.A. Coliseum on Saturday evening that surprised me at first... but then made total sense. The first surprise came after USC failed to score at the end of the first half despite two tries from the one-yard line. A few scattered boos rained down from the crowd, and after a couple seconds, built into a modest crescendo. USC fans, booing their own team???
Predictably, an even greater number of USC fans booed lustily as the USC fans immediately ran off the field into the tunnel. But the second surprise came as Bea and I moved to the aisle and were held up until some of the crowd could clear. It took a few minutes to make any progress whatsoever down the Coliseum's upper reaches, and just before we started moving, I heard clapping. Not just a few people here and there either -- but virtually an entire section of USC fans around the tunnel at the east end of the Coliseum, as the Stanford players and coaches jubilantly walked, skipped, and jogged back to their locker room.
While I refrained from the booing, I couldn't help but join in the clapping. And I've been pondering ever since just why that was so. As for the boo-birds, the fact is, I feel the booing was completely justified. While I couldn't bring myself to boo anything USC-related not named Paul Hackett or O.J. Simpson, like my fellow fans that night, I couldn't handle the sight of a team that played lethargically in Seattle and barely escaped a completely outmatched Washington Huskies team (unfortunately, I saw that disgraceful performance live as well), only to turn around and pathetically play even worse against the Stanford Cardinal and flat-out give the game away. Few things are as angering as spending upwards of $60 for a ticket to watch the team you love -- one that is full of ridiculous talent and led by an amazing coach -- drop easy pass after easy pass, refuse to block rushers, make mental mistake after dumb penalty after mental mistake, and throw interceptions at the worst possible moments. If Stanford actually outplayed us in any facet of the game save for playing with some heart and focus, I could forgive the loss, but the fact is Stanford had nothing to be proud of on that stat sheet except what showed on the scoreboard.
Yet the emotion that rose up in the fans and twice turned much of the Coliseum into a disgruntled flock of boo-birds is the same reason many of us who were still around clapped for the hated Cardinal players as they ran off the field. The Stanford band may be the ultimate disgrace, and goddamn that ridiculous, loser tree of a mascot, but those Cardinal players showed guts, focus, heart, and a refuse-to-lose attitude all because of a crazy, wacky coach believed in his players and made them believe in themselves. I'd trade half the talent on the USC roster for a few ounces of the character that Stanford team showed that night, and the clapping from my fellow Trojans showed I wasn't the only one who felt that way. The claps also showed that USC fans, in addition to having high standards and expectations for their team, can still display class to hated rivals even in the midst of utter humiliation -- something some other tradition-rich fans completely lack (fUTLA has neither tradition nor class, and this is true of most of USC's regular opponents save U-Dub and Notre Dame). The Stanford players just deserved a hand, that's all there is to say.
3. John David Booty must be benched this week. In no way am I pinning the blame for the loss solely on Booty -- as alluded to above, virtually everyone on the team made critical mistakes -- but it's apparent JDB just doesn't have that special moxie that's needed to pull a team out of a funk and will it on to victory. Actually, when it comes to lack of focus and heart, Booty not only isn't part of the solution, he is part of the problem. It's no coincidence that in the past two games which USC has looked horrible, Booty has thrown seven interceptions (one of them in the end zone, against Washington, was overturned on review). Teams rally to the quarterback, but this team simply doesn't rally to John David Booty. And really, it shouldn't be any surprise that this Evangel Christian star turned into a bust like the rest of his highly-coveted high-school predecessors. You don't have to be a great quarterback to win a national title -- see: Chris Leak, Florida, 2006 -- but if you're not a college phenom QB, you do have to command the fierce, outspoken loyalty of your team. And Booty clearly does not carry that type of swagger.
4. That being said, Pete Carroll has still backs Booty as his starter, if he is healthy enough to play this coming Saturday. Still, I say that, with or without Booty as our starting QB, I'll be shocked if we lose another game. It is simply inconceivable we'll come out this flat against ASU, Cal, Notre Dame, fUTLA, Oregon State, or Oregon. And while the team obviously didn't learn its lesson after sleepwalking through the U-Dub game, I have to bet that the slap to their face this past Saturday finally woke them up. Indeed, if I'm PC, I'm handing out t-shirts to everyone on the team this week with big, bold letters that proclaim, "I LOST TO FREAKIN' STANFORD!" The players should be forced to wear those shirts for the rest of the season under their jerseys, in practice, and in the games.
As for the chicken-littles who want to doubt USC and think we're in deep, deep trouble, I call bullsh*t. Stats don't win games, but they do speak to certain truths, and the truth is there isn't a team on our schedule that can hang with us when we're not beating ourselves. Really, who here wants to put their money where their mouth is and bet against the Trojans in Berkeley, in Eugene, or in Tempe? I'll take that bet from each and every one of you, straight up. Despite three turnovers, Stanford couldn't muster 100 yards on these Trojans through the first three quarters, and penalties (some stupid, some wrongly called) were the only reason Washington could keep a couple of drives alive against the Trojans. I'm not expecting USC to suddenly put it all together and play stellar for each of the next seven games, but no way do they have that many dropped passes, that many penalties, that many missed blocking assignments, and that many turnovers. Factor in getting some key starters back on our offensive line and on our defense, and we're definitely due for a breakthrough.
5. Bitch about the polls all you want, but the reason USC is ranked 10 in one poll and 7 in the other is due mostly to the fact that, despite how badly USC killed itself, it barely lost this game, and most of the pollsters just couldn't bring themselves to agree that there were more than six-to-nine teams that could beat USC if they played tomorrow. Few things are as predictable and as lame as whining about the placement of one-loss teams six weeks into the season. Words like "travesty" and "injustice" should be saved for the last couple of weeks of polling, when there are enough games played that more valid, unbiased comparisons can be made. I can't help but point out that at this point in the season, even the recently-revered Stewart Mandel ranked South Carolina behind Georgia ... two weeks in a row, after the Gamecocks handled the Bulldogs in Athens and then lost a brutally tough game in Baton Rouge to the now-unanimous #1 team.
My point is simple: If you can find a rational AP or Coaches' ballot that lacks an obvious head-scratcher, you're obviously not paying attention.
By Brendan Loy
Trying to get away from this whole miserable college-football thing (I didn't mean that, football gods! I'm sorry!), I decided to read up on some politics before I go to bed. So I clicked over to this Weekly Standard article about whether Rudy Giuliani is really the most electable Republican. And how does the article end?
FOOTNOTE: USC, ranked second in the county, with a 35-game home winning streak, was a 41-point favorite over Stanford Saturday night. Stanford won, 24 to 23. Obama can beat Hillary.
Damn you, Bill Kristol. Damn you.
(Who ever would have figured Kristol for a Tree-hugger?)
By the way, the article's most glaring error -- one so glaring that it's almost useless, really -- is that it doesn't talk at all about the system by which the President of the United States is actually chosen: the Electoral College. Who cares what each potential candidate's popular-vote margin would be? The state-by-state races are the only thing that matters! And when we're talking about the potential electability of a Republican candidate from New York, it's a decidedly non-trivial point.
By Brendan Loy
Three men were charged Monday in the murder last week of a University of Memphis football player.
By Brendan Loy
Butter (the cat, not the dairy product) made it onto This Week in Schadenfreude, a weekly college-football feature on AOL FanHouse by MGoBlog's Brian Cook (who, after all, invented the idea of using kittens to lament a devastating loss). Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Like Michigan-Appalachian State before it, Stanford's upset win over USC was so monumental -- and the Trojans, like the Wolverines, are so widely hated by other college football fans -- that the news of the final score spurred waves of schadenfreude in stadiums, sports bars and living rooms around the country, by fans of random teams ostensibly unconnected to a game between the Trojans and the Farm. Indeed, as I wrote yesterday, it extended to fans of other sports, as I learned while walking, with my USC sweatshirt on, through the jubilant crowd leaving Coors Field after the Rockies beat the Phillies. In baseball.
The reaction at Tiger Stadium, where LSU was in the home stretch of its most crucial regular-season game at the time, was much more intense than a bit of heckling on Denver's Market Street. It was televised on CBS; I'm still trying to find a video of it online (aside from this YouTube home movie, which doesn't show the actual moment when the crowd exploded in celebration), but Every Day Should Be Saturday summarized it thusly: "In case you don’t know what a bomb sounds like when it goes off, it’s Tiger Stadium when a USC defeat is announced." Bob Tompkins of Louisiana Gazette News said it "was as if a jet buzzed the stadium." He also noted that "the Tigers were jumping up and down and waving from the sidelines."
LSU fans have ample reason to hate USC*, plus the Trojans' loss made them the undisputed #1 team in the country**, so it's no surprise they went nuts at the news that the Trojans had lost. But you'd have to think, if there's any place in the country where the news of Stanford beating USC would really spark some joyful celebration, it'd be the Rose Bowl, where -- of all possible combinations -- freakin' UCLA was playing freakin' Notre Dame at the time. And you'd be right:
Just an hour before a sizable portion of the 78,543 fans in attendance started filing out in defeat, the Rose Bowl was rocking and rolling with the news from 16 miles away that those hated Southern California Trojans had been upset by Stanford. I'm not sure how everybody in the crowd knew -- radios, I guess -- but the moment Stanford scored the winning touchdown a loud roar filled the air, and it was so deep and out of nowhere that the UCLA and Notre Dame players seemed genuinely confused, unaware of the shocker until it was later relayed by the public-address announcer to another loud ovation.
"SC sucks! SC sucks!"
I have to imagine it wasn't just the UCLA fans chanting that. It was presumably the one thing Irish and Bruin fans could agree on. [UPDATE: Her Loyal Sons confirms this: "One of the most fun/funny moments in the game was when the USC-Stanford score was announced. UCLA doesn't love Notre Dame. Nor does ND have a love affair for the Bruins. But both sets of fans are united in their common loathing of USC. And that showed just after the Stanford upset was announced... Both teams cheering like they were going to pull in a W, when only one was."]
And like at LSU, even the players (at least on the Bruin side) got into the act: "Guys on the UCLA sideline waved towels" after the PA announcement. Too bad they then proceeded to lose to a previously winless team for the second time this season. But hey, why take pride in your own football program when you can make fun of your rivals for losing their seventh game out of the last 70? Yup, 'SC sure sucks all right!
On an unrelated note: "radios, I guess"? Has Gary Parrish never heard of cell phones?
Anyway, while I may sound slightly bitter, I actually find these celebrations rather amusing, so if you know of any links to good videos of 'em, please pass 'em along. I've love, in a masochistic sort of way, to see them. Speaking of which, here's a brief video of the Rose Bowl reaction. Again, alas, it starts just after the crowd begins going nuts. Same thing with this video clip.
Oh, and speaking of video clips, one final note. Watching football games on Versus is always a bit painful -- they should really stuck to hockey -- but after announcer Ron Thulin's call of Stanford's winning touchdown, the network really ought to lose its broadcasting license, or at least have its press credentials for all college football games permanently revoked. "Touchdown USC!"?!? Are you freaking serious?!?
Think about this for a second. You're Ron Thulin. You have the chance, by pure dumb luck, to lend your voice to one of the greatest upsets in the history of college football. And you mix up the names of the teams on the deciding play of the game. Holy freaking crap. I understand it's a very exciting moment, but good God, that's a truly colossal screw-up. (Not to mention analyst Kelly Stouffer following up Thulin's gaffe with the bold prediction that Stanford will "go for the tie," not the two-point conversion and the win, even though they had already tied it and the extra point was enough to win it.)
Anybody got the radio call?
*Wait, actually, no, LSU fans don't have ample reason to hate USC! They freakin' WON the 2003-04 BCS championship, whereas the Trojans got gypped out of a spot in the title game ... so really, they're a bunch of whining crybabies, not even sore losers but sore winners ... and hypocrites to boot, since they continue to self-righteously bitch and moan about the injustice of the "one-peat" even though they unquestionable would have called themselves champions just like USC did if they'd won an AP title under identical circumstances ... but that's another post for another day.
**Not that it really mattered, considering both teams were clearly going to the BCS title game if they'd gone undefeated..
By Brendan Loy
Returning again to Josh's Saturday-night question -- "What sort of crazy world is this?" -- ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach takes a look at just how nutty the college-football landscape has become:
• Of the 25 teams ranked in the preseason AP poll, 10 teams now are unranked. ...
• Seven of the top 15 teams in this week's AP top 25 poll were unranked in the preseason: No. 4 Boston College, No. 5 South Florida, No. 7 South Carolina, No. 9 Oregon, No. 11 Missouri, No. 14 Arizona State and No. 15 Cincinnati.
• Second-ranked California, Boston College, South Florida and Cincinnati are ranked higher than they've ever been ranked before. Missouri has its highest ranking since 1981, and No. 20 Kansas is ranked for the first time since 1995.
• Seven of the 10 remaining unbeaten teams in major college football were unranked in the preseason. LSU, Ohio State and Hawaii are the only undefeated teams left from the preseason top 25. The other unbeatens: Arizona State, Boston College, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Kansas, Missouri and South Florida, which didn't even play football a dozen years ago.
I'll add one more: right now, it looks like my mom's alma mater, Illinois, has a better chance of making it to the Rose Bowl than my alma mater, USC.
Craziness, utter craziness.
Speaking of craziness, FanNation.com takes a look at whether USC-Stanford was the biggest upset ever. As I mentioned previously, this is the third time this season we're having this discussion. Michigan-App State, Louisville-Syracuse, and now USC-Stanford. (I will NOT, however, be saying anything along the lines of, "Stanford is hot! hot! hot!"*)
I must ask again: how many more milestone games can college football possibly give us? Not just this season, but the last three seasons, have been redonkulous! The idea that a 10-10 tie between Notre Dame and Michigan State was once considered a "game of the century" gives you an idea of how much more supercharged the excitement of this sport has become in the modern era. Although I'm obviously not happy about this latest milestone, the overall effect of the last few years reminds me of Joe Buck's call of Mark McGwire's 70th home run: "How much more can you give us, Big Mac?!?" I feel like asking the same question of the college-football gods!
In other football-related news, commenter Ken has stepped boldly into the breach and posted unofficial pick 'em contest results for the USC and ND contests. I'm still trying to find that spreadsheet, so I can't vouch for 'em, but I have no reason to believe they're wrong. Anyway, thanks, Ken!
*Oh wait, I just did. Dammit.
P.S. Oh, and while I think of it, I've been meaning to ask:
UPDATE: Boi From Troy asks whether the Trojans should bench John David Booty next week against Arizona. He weighs the pros and cons, and comes out "fifty-fifty." I'm in roughly the same boat. But what I find most interesting about Boi's post is this line: "Arizona is a must-win game if USC is to become Bowl-eligible." Really? Is that how low we've sunk, how much expectations have dropped, that we're now fretting about becoming bowl-eligible?
Let's think about this rationally for a second. It's entirely possible USC could lose to Cal, Oregon and Arizona State, but that would still be only four losses; we'd need to lose three more to be bowl-ineligible. Sitting at 4-1, with home games left against Arizona, Oregon State and UCLA and a trip to Notre Dame, I feel pretty confident we can pick up two more wins, for heaven's sake. USC is overrated, but not that overrated.
(That said, obviously if we play as poorly as we did against Stanford, we'll lose every game on our schedule. But that goes without saying, and it would be downright silly to assume we'll continue playing that poorly indefinitely. We've also won four games, y'know.)
By Brendan Loy
Let me be the first (well, okay, the second) to say that the new college football rankings are total b***s**t, especially the coaches' poll. USC #7? Are you kidding? What exactly has USC accomplished on the field that justifies being ranked so high? Forget the preseason expectations and the armchair assessments of the team's talent and hypothetical potential, which they haven't even come close to living up to. The Trojans have not earned the right to be considered a Top 10 team.
How the hell is USC (4-1) ranked ahead of Arizona State (6-0), which won at Stanford 41-3? How are they ahead of Missouri (5-0), which beat Nebraska more impressively than the Trojans did? How is it that the two one-loss teams with the worst losses -- Oklahoma (to Colorado) and USC (to Stanford) -- are ranked ahead of teams whose only losses are to #2 Cal (Oregon), #5 South Florida (West Virginia), #1 LSU (Virginia Tech and South Carolina) and #11 Missouri (Illinois)? I'm not saying "quality losses" should determine everything, but do they count for nothing?
I realize it's objectively good for USC that they're ranked so high, as it makes their potential road back to national-title contention easier. So I suppose I should be grateful that the pollsters are such idiots. But I can't help thinking it's an injustice at this point. If USC wins at Cal, Oregon and Arizona State (which, at this point, I very much doubt they will -- not all three, for sure), then they'll deserve to be highly ranked. But right now? No way are the Trojans a Top 10 team right now!
Stewart Mandel agrees. After the jump, I quote his commentary on the Trojans' ridiculously high ranking, followed by my personal Top 20.
By Brendan Loy
FanNation points out that USC is "amazingly 4-3 in their last seven conference games after winning a record 27 straight." Wow. I hadn't realized that. [UPDATE: I didn't realize it because, well, it's not true. They're 5-3 in their last eight. But still. That's quite a slide by recent Trojan standards.]
Also, this tidbit is intriguing:
"Anybody who wants to write this season off is wrong," said Booty, who quickly got over the loss and partied with friends at Hollywood hot spot Les Deux after the game. "We're not doing that."
Really?
Look, I know he's a college kid and all, and the night after a game is probably one of the few times he can stay out late. And heaven knows I can't criticize the concept of drowning your sorrows after losing to Stanford, considering I did exactly that last night. But I'm just a fan, not the starting quarterback who threw the interceptions that handed the Farm the win on a silver platter. Am I wrong to think that Booty should have been too upset to go out partying at a "Hollywood hot spot" last night?
UPDATE: In comments, Bucky argues convincingly that I am indeed wrong:
You are absolutely wrong. As someone who played college sports, I can tell you that one thing has nothing to do with another. What do you expect him to do? Stay home all night and feel sorry for himself? He knows he played badly, why should he punish himself? Honestly, he owes you nothing.College kids go out and party. After games is really the only time of the week that you can do it. I partied after wins and losses alike and can tell you that when you are playing football, spending time with teammates partying is one of the most valuable things you can do.
By Brendan Loy
It figures that the one time I actually win a bet against Mike Tran, I can't really enjoy it because Notre Dame's triumph over UCLA coincided with USC's debacle against Stanford. Nevertheless, I did win the bet, which means Mike had to change his Facebook status for the day...
...and I get to re-post these lovely images from last year:
Heh heh. UCLA sucks.
By Brendan Loy
• This season has now witnessed not one, not two, but three Greatest Upsets In The History Of College Football.
• Kansas, Missouri, South Florida and Cincinnati are undefeated, and will all be highly ranked -- deservedly so -- when the new polls come out. USC and Oklahoma have a loss apiece. Florida and Texas have two losses each. WTF? As Josh said, "What sort of crazy world is this?"
• USC is not close to being a Top 10 team. The Trojans have accomplished nothing of note on the field this season. They played poorly against Idaho, piss-poorly against Washington, and of course, well, last night happened. They beat Wazzu easily, but Wazzu's defense is horrible. Their "signature" win over Nebraska, which looked rather less impressive after Ball State almost beat the Huskers, was revealed as a total sham last night when Missouri beat Nebraska 178-3 or something like that. Nebraska sucks. So does USC, at least by USC standards. At this point, it wouldn't be a surprise if they lose 3 or 4 games this season.
• What the hell has happened to Pete Carroll Second Half MagicTM? Throughout the Trojans' amazing five-season run, USC made a habit, week after week, of putting it into another gear after halftime and leaving their opponent in the dust. It was like clockwork. Trojan fans were spoiled by this; we felt that we could always depend on a second-half surge, and we were almost always right. This season, however, the magic is nowhere to be found. The last two games, USC has looked horrible in the second half. What's going on? ... Maybe the problem is that the players have started assuming it will happen, rather than realizing they need to make it happen: "I think a lot of guys thought we were going to come out in the second half and things were going to go our way but that didn't happen," said Hershel Dennis.
• John David Booty was once considered a Heisman contender.
• Prediction: LSU will lose a game at some point. So will Cal and ASU. Ohio State will not lose a game, not because they're terribly good, but because the Big Ten is wretched. Thus, Ohio State will win the national championship over either South Florida, Cincinnati, Kansas, Missouri or Boston College, even though the best team in the country is very probably in either the SEC or the Pac-10. The desperate need for a playoff in college football will once again be revealed, and ignored.
• On the bright side, I won a bet with Mike Tran yesterday (on the ND-UCLA game, obviously, not the USC-Stanford game). The result of that bet will appear later, when I get a chance to post it. For now, once again, I gotta go because my plane is about to board.
By Brendan Loy
Above: Me, at 12:15 AM MDT this morning, still flying my USC colors because, G*d dammit, I'm a real fan... and smiling because of, well, beer.
Here's a little anecodote that I'm sure many of my non-USC-fan readers will enjoy immensely. It developed last night that, around 11:00 PM MDT -- just over two hours after the most ignominious Trojan loss of the Pete Carroll era, and mere minutes after the Rockies won their NLDS series over the Phillies -- I found myself walking across downtown Denver, toward Coors Field, directly into a crowd of thousands of euphoric Rockies fans. (I was heading to the bar where Kristy, pictured above, was hanging out with a bunch of her co-workers and fellow SHA girl B-Sav.) What made this walk interesting is that I was wearing a USC sweatshirt. And not just any USC sweatshirt, but the garish, gaudy one pictured above, whose lettering always seems to jump off the shirt, such that everyone within half a mile inevitably notices that I'm wearing Trojan colors. Which is normally a good thing. But last night, you can imagine the result: one Rockies fan after another, fueled by alcohol and jubilation and schadenfreude, heaping abuse on me as I walked by. More than one passing pedestrian exclaimed, "USC LOST!!!" (Really? I had no idea!) A female passenger in a passing car yelled simply, "STANFORD!!!" And on and on.
Not that I can blame them: I deserved every minute of it. When your team goes 63-6 over the course of five-plus seasons, then loses at home to Stanford, you gotta expect a healthy dose of abuse from your fellow fans. And I knew what I was getting myself into. In fact, I had the opportunity to leave my sweatshirt behind a few minutes earlier, when we made a pit stop at Kristy and V's apartment. But screw that: I started the night flying my Trojan colors, and I wasn't going to change clothes just because we'd... and it still shocks me to write this... lost to Stanford. No, I was going to take my medicine, because that's what real fans do. So there I was, walking down Market Street, flashing victory signs -- in a mixture of defiance, irony and resignation -- to passers-by as they accosted me, and responding to those ever-so-informative cries of "USC LOST TO STANFORD!!" by acknowleding, "Yes, we did" and "Yup, we suck."
UPDATE: I've decided that the full story of how I experienced last night's debacle isn't really compelling enough to warrant a full-fledged blog recounting, but here's one interesting tidbit: I actually found out that USC had lost via a text-message from BK. I'm sure it'll make him happy to know that. :) I had learned of Stanford's go-ahead touchdown via the ESPN Gamecast on my phone while waiting in line to get into the Irish Snug pub, but there was still a wee bit of hope at that point, since USC was getting the ball back with 40-some seconds left. So I dashed to the nearest TV and tried to get the bartender to change the channel to Versus. She was in the process of trying to do so -- struggling mightily with an unresponsive remote, and not knowing what channel Versus was -- when my phone buzzed with a text message from Brian. The message said only, "FARM!!!" I knew immediately what that meant. My Gamecast confirmed it about 30 seconds later: the Trojans had lost to the Farm.
A few moments later, V asked if I wanted a drink. "Yes, I would like a drink," I replied. "I would like a strong drink." Later in the night, I proposed several sarcastic toasts relevant to the game, such as, "To John David M****f***ing Booty's 836 interceptions" and "To the G**damn f***ing Tree." Not that I'm bitter at all. :)
By Brendan Loy
Will South Florida's dream season end at the hands of... Florida Atlantic?!? What is it with these unheralded Big East teams choking as soon as they make it into the Top 10?
Another unbeaten in trouble: Arizona State, facing a surprisingly stiff challenge from Wazzu.
Meanwhile, out in L.A., USC and Stanford are about to get underway. BEAT THE DRUNKEN TREES!!!
P.S. Texas sucks.
UPDATE: USF and ASU won.
In the USC-Stanford game, it's 3-0 'SC early, but the Trojan receivers have contracted a severe case of butterfingers. Penalties are so last week; dropped passes are the new hotness!
On the bright side, Texas still sucks.
Oh, and...
GOOOO IRISH!!! BEEEEAT F****CK BRUINS!!!
You can do it, Irish. You will do it. While packing up my suitcase just now, I set aside my 2006 "The Shirt" to wear on tomorrow's plane ride home. I fully expect to be wearing it in triumph, not shame. Don't let me down, Charlie & co.
By Brendan Loy
The college-football day formerly known as Showdown Saturday is underway. And although last week's upsets deflated some of the big games, they lended unexpected importance to others, like Wisconsin-Illinois (Illini lead 24-19 in the fourth quarter) and Kansas-Kansas State (Jayhawks up 21-17, also in the fourth).
After last week's unexpected massacre of the Terrific Twenty-Three, how many unbeatens will fall today? Already, the Fantastic Fifteen is down to a Fantastic Fourteen after South Carolina's win over Kentucky on Thursday. And it'll decrease to at least thirteen when Ohio State plays Purdue tonight. In addition, Kansas and Wisconsin are both in close games right now, and Cincinnati (at Rutgers), Missouri (vs. Nebraska) and LSU (vs. Florida) all figure to face tough tests tonight. It wouldn't be surprising if the number of unbeatens decreases to single-digits by the end of the night.
Oh, and Buffalo is beating Ohio! :) It's 17-7 Bulls in the third quarter.
I probably won't be posting as many college-football updates as usual today, but feel free to comment here on whatever games are going on.
GOOOO IRISH!!! BEEEEAT BRUINS!!!
FIGHT ON TROJANS!!! BEAT THE FARM!!!
UPDATE: Illinois wins! After ending the #5-ranked Badgers' best-in-the-nation 14-game winning streak, the Illini are 3-0 in the Big Ten and will undoubtedly be ranked next week. If Illinois keeps playing this well, they could go to the Final Four! Er, the Rose Bowl, that is. :)
So now just thirteen unbeatens remain. Kansas remains in that group after going into Manhattan and knocking off Kansas State.
In other news: Buffalo 31, Ohio 10, final. w00t!
Oh, and Northwestern beat Sparty. Heh.
Now, Tennessee is winning at home, 21-0 over Georgia. Good ol' Rocky Top! Whoo!
By Brendan Loy
"How do you think LSU fans feel about being No. 1 in the AP poll this week? Do you think they are telling everyone that 'we're not really No. 1,' because, as they all said after the 2003 season, the only poll that counts is the coaches poll?" --Chris Baker, to Stewart Mandel.
"I'm certain any LSU fan in his right mind will be quick to [say] that the Trojans are currently ranked [#1] by the two polls (coaches and Harris) used by the BCS -- the only system agreed upon by all participants beforehand." --Mandel, in response.
Heh.
By Brendan Loy
I have an announcement to make.
I have made a decision. I have decided I'm going to be optimistic about Saturday's Notre Dame-UCLA game.
Yeah, the Irish are 0-5, they've looked like the worst team in football for most of the season, and much of their "improvement" in the second half of the Purdue game was due to the Boilermakers puckering and playing prevent defense. Yeah, UCLA has looked pretty good outside of the Utah game, and they usually only have one Karl Dorrell SpecialTM "lay an egg" game per season (Arizona 2005, Florida State 2006, Utah 2007). Yeah, UCLA wants revenge from last year, and yeah, Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija won't be there to bail out the Irish this time, and yeah, the game is at the Rose Bowl. So what? Who ever said college football is rational? Auburn won at Florida. Syracuse won at Louisville. Appalachian State won at Michigan. This is the season of road upsets. And it's Notre Dame's turn. Good God Almighty, for the love of all that's holy, it's got to be Notre Dame's turn.
Dammit, I have hope. I believe. As Jean-Luc Picard says, "Living is making choices," and I am choosing to believe.
I am an Irish Trojan, for Pete (Carroll)'s sake. I love Notre Dame, and I hate UCLA with the heat of a thousand suns. If anyone on this earth should have faith in Notre Dame this weekend, it's me.
UCLA is favored by 20.5 points, you say? Pfft. Whatever. Louisville was favored by 37 against Syracuse. F*** it. F*** the Bruins. That's all there is to say about it. F*** 'em.
You will not hear another pessimistic peep from me about this game between now and Saturday evening. I am optimistic. I am confident. I am irrationally exuberant! You know why? Because UCLA sucks, that's why. UCLA sucks so much, their suckiness defies the laws of physics. But that's impossible! you say. The laws of physics can never be defied! Clearly, young padawan, you do not understand the extent of UCLA's suckitude.
My logic is inescapable: UCLA sucks. Notre Dame is awesome. Therefore Notre Dame will win.
GO IRISH. BEAT BRUINS. So let it be written. So let it be done.
1-5, baby. 1-5. I have spoken.
By Brendan Loy
A day after learning that a teammate had been murdered on campus, the Memphis Tigers have decided to play football tonight rather than canceling their long-scheduled Tuesday-night ESPN2 date with -- of all teams -- Marshall. (Now there's a football program that knows a thing or two about tragedy.) The Memphis players voted on whether to play; the decision was a unanimous yes.
Notwithstanding Memphis coach Tommy West's words -- "There's going to be a 3 1/2-hour block where we have to have our minds on business, as hard as it is" -- I daresay tonight's game will mean a lot more to the participants than an ordinary football game would. (If you're Marshall's coach, what does your pep talk sound like? Sheesh.) Nevertheless, for what it's worth, here's the football significance: this is an important game for two Conference USA East teams trying to salvage something from what has been a miserable season so far. Marshall is 0-4 and ranked #6 in ESPN's Bottom 10; Memphis is 1-3 and tied for last place in the division at 0-1.
The game is at Memphis. It starts at 8:00 PM EDT, preceded on ESPN2 by College Football Live at 7:30. I imagine the ratings will be substantially higher than would normally be expected for a weeknight game between two C-USA teams with a combined record of 1-7.
UPDATE: Memphis won, 24-21. Good for them.
By Brendan Loy
Classes have been canceled at the University of Memphis after a defensive linesman for the school's football team was murdered last night:
A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot in his car at Carpenter Complex about 10 Sunday night, in what police said was not a random attack.
Taylor Bradford, a junior defensive lineman from Nashville, was pronounced dead at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. After he was shot, he drove his light-colored Lincoln across central and hit a tree near Zach Curlin, police said. No witnesses have forward at this time, according to police.
With the killer at large, officials ordered the campus to be put on lock-down on Sunday night and canceled Monday's classes at 4 a.m.
When police say this "was not a random attack," are they suggesting that somebody targeted him because he's a football player? Were they upset about the Tigers' 1-3 start, and most recently their loss to Arkansas State on Saturday? If so, needless to say, that's f***ed up.
P.S. According to ESPN, "Bradford was a member of the Tigers' defensive scout team last season, but had not played this season." Well, that would seem to reduce the likelihood of the "irate football fan" theory. Though not the awfulness of the tragedy, obviously.
By Brendan Loy
USC's 16 penalties against Washington last night "was not a school record, it just felt like one," Scott Wolf points out. Well, yeah -- I could have told you that. I remember vividly when USC set its school record for penalties, which was also the Pac-10 record for penalties: 21 of 'em. It was September 25, 1999, and the #16-ranked Trojans lost to upstart Oregon, 33-30 in the first conference game of my freshman year. The Trojans would ultimately finish the season 6-6, 3-5 in conference, though head coach Paul Hackett would save his job for one more year by beating UCLA for the first time in nine tries (despite committing 16 penalties in that game as well). Only after following up that season with a 5-7 mark in 2000 (after again starting the season in the Top 25, #15 to be exact) did Hackett finally get canned.
I mention the 1999 Oregon game because you might recall me referencing it a week-and-a-half ago in my post "On being an Irish fan," as an example of me mocking the Trojans back when they were laughably bad:
[I]f I dig through my old photos...I believe I'd find a picture from the fall of 1999 of my dorm-room whiteboard after a USC-Oregon contest in which Paul Hackett's Trojans set a new Pac-10 record for penalties in a game. My reaction wasn't to wail and scream and gnash my teeth and wring my hands; I don't do teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing; it's not my thing. Instead, my reaction was mockery. I don't remember exactly what the whiteboard said, but it was something along the lines of congratulating the Trojans for their glorious Pac-10 record.
I found that photo, BTW:
Anyway... back to last night. What to make of USC's performance? Boi From Troy is happy because pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and the Trojans still won. This sentiment was expressed last night at the college-football blog 100% Injury Rate:
The only team that can beat USC is USC. And let me tell you why. Quite simply, there is no team in college that can go on the road, commit three turnovers, have a punt blocked, commit 16 penalties for 160+ yards, and lose two great O-linemen - all against a decent opponent - and win. No one. LSU can't do that, Cal can't do that, Ohio State can't do that. USC played one of those games where they literally did everything they could to keep shooting themselves in the foot and still beat a decent Washington team. That is incredibly impressive. Of course, if USC plays like they did on Saturday against LSU, Cal or Ohio St. they'd be crushed. But the fact remains, they did everything wrong on Saturday against Washington and still won. That's pretty remarkable. USC is the only team that can stop USC. And they almost did it on Saturday.
On the list of things that went wrong, in Boi's view, was the officiating:
By Brendan Loy
The new college football polls are out. In the AP poll, LSU moves ahead of USC by a meaningless margin of 2 points and one first-place vote; the Tigers and Trojans are essentially tied. USC maintains a reasonably comfortable lead in the coaches' poll. (The new Harris Poll -- which, unlike the AP, actually counts for BCS purposes -- isn't out yet.)
Frankly, I agree with the AP on this one. As I said yesterday, I'd have put LSU #1 on my ballot this week, if I had a vote. But it doesn't really matter anyway. If both teams win out, they'll play in the title game. It's only if one or both falters that the race gets interesting.
Apropos of which: Cal is #3, Ohio State #4 and Wisconsin #5 in both polls. South Florida rockets all the way from #18 in both polls to #6 in the AP poll, #9 in the coaches' poll. Boston College, Kentucky, Florida and Oklahoma make up, in differing orders, the rest of the Top 10.
The Gators clearly have the inside track to the title game among the one-loss teams, IMHO. If they win out, which would entail capturing the SEC crown and probably beating LSU twice in the process, they will certainly be ahead of any other one-loss teams in the pecking order, and possibly ahead of any undefeateds from the Big East as well (though I don't think it would be justifiable to put them ahead of USF, given the Bulls' win at Auburn). I imagine there might even be an argument about a one-loss Florida team vs. an undefeated Big Ten or ACC team, given the number of "quality wins" Florida would have to collect along the way (and given how last year turned out).
Anyway, next week's supposed marquee games will, as it turns out, feature #1/2 LSU vs. #9/7 Florida and #10 Oklahoma vs. #19/16 Texas. Looming larger now are Ohio State-Wisconsin on November 3 (though I suspect the Badgers will lose before then, possibly next week at resurgent Illinois) and USC-Cal on November 10 -- the latter a very possible #1 vs. #2 matchup, if both teams win out till then and LSU loses to Florida next week (or to Kentucky, Auburn or Alabama in the weeks that follow).
P.S. Florida's loss yesterday means one thing for sure: we won't have to deal with the nightmare scenario of LSU and Florida splitting the season series (i.e., the winner of next week's game then loses in the SEC title game), each finishing with one loss (to the other), and then arguing over who deserves a spot in the BCS championship game -- or even contending that they deserve a championship-game rematch. Now we know for sure that at least one of them will finish with at least two losses. Thank goodness.
By Brendan Loy
USC survives, 27-24. Phew.
Good effort, Huskies. Way to hang in there till the end and make a game of it. As for the Trojans, it's nice to see that we can still win while playing like we're sleepwalking, committing 843 penalties for 458,629 yards (or something like that), and generally looking kinda crappy. But this sort of effort won't cut it when we travel to Oregon, Cal and Arizona State.
Meanwhile, Auburn stunned Florida, 20-17, hitting a last-second field goal to win it. Wow.
The #4 Gators join #3 Oklahoma, #5 West Virginia, #7 Texas and #10 Rutgers as losers this weekend. Again, wow. Check out next week's likely Top 4:
1. USC or LSU
2. LSU or USC
3. Cal
4. Ohio State
Holy hell!
If Florida beats LSU next week, and the Trojans and Bears win out through October and the first week of November, the Cal-USC game on November 10 could be #1 vs. #2!!!
By the way, let the record show that I was the first person who labelled today "Upset Saturday." And that was at 2:02 PM, before any of the day's Top 10 losses! :)
P.S. Auburn's win over Florida isn't just big for Auburn. It's huge for Big East co-leader South Florida, which knocked off Auburn on the Tigers' home field two weeks ago. It was starting to look like USF's win over Auburn was going to lose some of its lustre, but not anymore!
If the Bulls can run the table in the Big East, they can present themselves as serious national-title contenders. Imagine the following scenario: USC wins out and finishes #1. Florida recovers from tonight's loss, knocks off LSU next week, wins out and captures the SEC crown. The Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 don't produce any undefeated teams. South Florida, however, wins the Big East at 12-0. So... who is USC's opponent in the BCS title game? Florida, the SEC champion and defending national champ, can make a case for itself at 12-1... but what about USF? They'd be 12-0, Big East champs, and with a win over the team that beat Florida. Seems to me, the proper matchup in that scenario would be Trojans vs. Bulls.
Of course, that exact scenario probably won't happen, but in any conceivable scenario, it's very good news for USF that Auburn picked up this victory, and it'd be even better news if the Tigers seize on this win and really turn around their season.
Needless to say, any national-title talk is a long way off -- and personally, I doubt USF will win out. Based on watching them play, I don't actually think they're all that good. But it's still fun to speculate about such things. :) A more immediate question is where the Bulls will be ranked next week. They were #18 this week, but the combination of their win over West Virginia with Auburn's win over Florida, plus all the other upset losses, should allow them to move up significantly.
If I had a vote, here's what I think my ballot would look like, off the top of my head:
1. LSU
2. USC
3. Cal
4. Ohio State
5. Kentucky
6. Boston College
7. South Florida
8. Wisconsin
9. Florida
10. Oklahoma
P.P.S. The Terrific Twenty-Three is down to a Fantastic Fifteen: Boston College from the ACC; Kansas and Missouri from the Big 12; Cincinnati, South Florida and UConn from the Big East; Purdue, Ohio State and Wisconsin from the Big Ten; Arizona State, Cal and USC from the Pac-10; Kentucky and LSU from the SEC; and Hawaii from the WAC. And with three of the four participants in next Saturday's supposed Games of the Century (OU-Texas, LSU-Florida) suffering losses today, the only unbeaten-vs.-unbeaten matchup next week is Ohio State at Purdue.
P.P.P.S. If anybody's wondering why I still haven't posted the pick 'em contest standings... I've misplaced the spreadsheet that I need to calculate 'em. It must be on one of my external drives. I'll try to find it tomorrow. :) Sorry!
By Brendan Loy
Er, sorry, forgot to post a USC-Washington game thread earlier. It's a scoreless tie at the end of the first quarter, with USC looking very sloppy so far. Oh yeah, and two of our starting offensive linesmen got injured on the same play. D'oh!
Meanwhile, Auburn is beating Florida 7-0 early.
UPDATE: UW scored, USC answered, and it's 7-7. Meanwhile, Auburn's lead is now 14-0! War Eagle!
UPDATE 2: Another Trojan injury! Good grief!
Forget the third string. Could USC's all-gimp team beat Notre Dame? :)
UPDATE 3: Trojans 17, Huskies 14 at halftime.
UPDATE 4: Heeeere we go. Bring on the Pete Carroll Second-Half Magic!TM
UPDATE 5: UW looks asleep, but USC hasn't done anything yet either. Still 17-14. Meanwhile, it's now the fourth quarter in Gainsville, and Auburn leads 17-3. Woooo!
According to Brent Musberger, if either USC or Florida loses tonight, it'll be the first time since October 11, 2003 that five Top 10 teams have lost in one weekend. I remember that day very well: it was two weeks after USC's triple-overtime loss to Cal, which had dropped the Trojans from #3 to #10 in the polls. They had climbed back to #9 the week before, on the strength of their win at Arizona State; I lived in New York City at that time, but I was visiting Becky the weekend of October 4, and we were at Sun Devil Stadium for the game -- which turned out to be the first win of the 34-game winning streak. Anyway, I was back in New York on October 11, and Dane happened to be in town, so we got together and went down to the bar where the USC alumni club was meeting to watch the Trojans play Stanford. We watched the scoreboard giddily as one Top 10 team after another lost: #3 Ohio State, #5 Florida State, #6 LSU, #7 Arkansas and #10 Nebraska. I think we may have had a few drinks to celebrate those losses and USC's win; I recall stumbling toward the subway later, marvelling at the beauty of being in a city where picking a designated driver isn't an issue. :) Anyway, as a result of those losses by previously undefeated teams, and of USC's easy win over the Farm, the Trojans climbed all the way back to #5 in the AP poll and #4 in the coaches poll the following week. It was almost like the Cal loss had never happened. October 11, 2003 set the stage for USC's eventual split championship with LSU. (In fact, if I'm being honest, the biggest reason USC was ranked #1 in the final regular-season AP poll, with LSU #2, is because the Trojans suffered their loss two weeks before the Tigers did.)
UPDATE 6: USC 24, Washington 17 with 11:01 left in the fourth quarter. This one may actually go down to the wire!
UPDATE 7: 15 penalties, 151 yards. Is this a Paul Hackett-coached team???
Also, will Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit please stop talking about irrelevant s**t and TALK ABOUT THE GAME?!? It would be different it this were a blowout, but it's a close, exciting game!! The endless headshots of the two announcers are getting extremely old, too. Show the field, show the players, show the coaches, show the fans, show the cheerleaders... show something other than two white guys sitting in a bland booth talking to each other! Ugh!
UPDATE 8: AUBURN WINS!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!
Meanwhile, it looked like Washington had intercepted the ball in their own end zone with 3:06 left down by just 7, but it now appears it will be overturned on replay and USC can go for a field goal to take a 10-point lead.
UPDATE 9: Field goal good! 27-17 Trojans.
By Brendan Loy
HUGE win for the Colorado program, needless to say. It was 24-7 Sooners late in the third quarter, and 24-10 going into the fourth, but the Buffaloes scored 20 unanswered (17 of those in the fourth) to win it, 27-24. Wow!!
I'm super annoyed at myself for not watching. The game was televised here, but I had the TV on the Clemson-Georgia Tech game (on mute) because the OU-CU game wasn't close the last time I checked. D'oh!
Anyway, now we probably won't have to worry about any damn LSU-USC-Oklahoma controversy this year. Thank goodness. If the Trojans and Tigers both go undefeated, I'd love to have an undisputed title game between 'em. It'd put about four years of angst to rest.
I guess this means I'm rooting for Oklahoma against Texas next week. The more undefeated teams lose, the better! Not only to facilitate a possible USC-LSU battle, but also to facilitate a possible Rutgers or South Florida title-game appearance if USC is the only undefeated team left at the end of the season. (Obviously I refuse on principle to contemplate scenarios that involve USC losing. :)
P.S. Maybe I won't have to worry about Texas: they're losing 24-14 to Kansas State at halftime! Woo!!! Texas & Oklahoma suck!!! :)
UPDATE: Texas is going to lose!!! YEEEEEAAAH!!!! WOOOOO!!!!! Second year in a row they've lost to Kansas State.
But it looks like the Rutgers dream is going to die. They're trailing Maryland 27-17 with 6:45 to play. This hasn't been a good 24 hours for the Big East. First the #5-ranked Mountaineers, considered the conference's one true "elite" team, loses in conference play, and now Rutgers, the presumptive class of the conference in the wake of WVU's loss and Louisville's collapse, is losing to a middling ACC team. Yuck.
UPDATE 2: Kansas State 41, Texas 21, final. Woohoo!
So much for next Saturday's Red River Shootout having massive national-title implications. The Big 12 is now, in all likelihood, irrelevant to the BCS race. The Pac-10 and SEC have the inside track to the title game.
Wouldn't it be awesome if Auburn could stun Florida at the Swamp tonight? It would totally cap off the day. (And, um, you know what wouldn't totally cap off the day? USC losing to Washington. Yeah. Let's have none of that.)
Meanwhile, Rutgers scored a TD, and is within 3.
UPDATE 3: Maryland wins, 34-24. So much for the Scarlet Knights inserting themselves into the national-championship discussion. The remaining undefeated teams in the Big East are... Cincinnati, South Florida and UConn!
So, four Top Ten teams have been upset in the last 24 hours: #3 Oklahoma, #5 West Virginia, #7 Texas and #10 Rutgers. In addition, previously undefeated Clemson, Michigan State and Oregon lost today. So the Terrific 23 is down to 16 and counting. Still to play: #1 USC (at Washington), #4 Florida (vs. Auburn), #8 Ohio State (at Minnesota) and #24 Cincinnati (at San Diego State).
UPDATE 4: Another reason to like Colorado: their coach is a Great Big Sea fan!
By Brendan Loy
It's Purdue 26, Notre Dame 19 with 7:58 to go. Evan Sharpley, replacing the injured Jimmy Clausen, is looking Brady Quinn-esque all of a sudden; Tennessee's own Golden Tate is looking Jeff Samardzija-esque; and Purdue is looking Michigan State-esque, circa 2006, as they "pucker pucker pucker" away a big lead. And of course, that lead could have been bigger (like, 42-19) if they had more of a red-zone offense. On the other hand, it could have been smaller (like, 26-24) if Notre Dame could kick a freakin' field goal or extra point. Apropos of which, apparently Charlie Weis plans to go for 2 and the win if the Irish score again. Seems sensible to me, given that the kicker is 1-for-3 on PAT attempts that counted, 2-for-5 when you include the ones that were nullified by penalties. First, though, we need to stop Purdue on this drive.
GOOOO IRISH!!! BEEEEAT BOILERS!!!
UPDATE: Can someone explain to me how the F*** that was a touchdown?? His ass was on the ground!! WTF??? Why do we even have replay, if they aren't going to take extra time to look at a play like that??
Regardless, 33-19 Purdue, 5:33 left. So much for that.
UPDATE 2: Aaaand an interception in the end zone effectively ends the game.
0-8.
UPDATE 3: 33-19, final.
So, was this a "moral victory" for the Irish? Certainly, they played better in the second half than they have all year. On the other hand, Purdue was definitely puckering. From what the announcers were saying, the Boilermakers have made a habit of playing lazy in the second half this season, and they continued that habit against the Irish today. No way do the next three teams on Notre Dame's schedule let them back into the game like Purdue did. (Well, UCLA might, but only if they're having one of their Karl Dorrell SpecialTM "lay an egg" games.)
On the other other hand, the Notre Dame team that took the field two weeks ago against Michigan wouldn't have taken advantage of the opportunities Purdue gave them. So yes, there's improvement. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I agree with AlGoldenDomer that "the 1st half may have been our worst of the year" -- well, maybe not worst, but certainly worse than anything except the Michigan game -- and that matters too. I think Camarillo Brillo puts it best:
We did show some heart. Sharpley played well. Tate and Kamara came on big, and they deserve more PT. Defense stepped it up a bit in the 2nd half.However....
We were getting our asses kicked in the first half. [Defensive coordinator] Corwin Brown's scheme for the Purdue offense was for s**t. We sat back in a passive base defense, like Minter and let Purdue shove the ball down our throat. We got very little pass rush on Painter. The wide-outs on Purdue were abusing our secondary.
Our special teams are beyond bad. Two missed PATs a missed FG, numerous poor squibs that gave Purdue great field position, terrible blocking on punt returns and kick returns.
Weis made some bad decisions. Where was Robert Hughes? Okay, he got stuffed on 4th and 1, who hasn't? Bronco F***ing Nagurski couldn't pick up 4th and 1 with this line. Tate was all over the field making great catches. Why put him on the bench? Why put Brian Smith on the field after that stupid personal foul? (two fouls if you count the uncalled one before that)?
It was a nice comeback but on the main this team is an undisciplined mess.
I'll say it again. Charlie, you are the head coach. You are the man who swaggered into South Bend and proclaimed that when it came down to Xs and Os you would not get beat very often. Charlie, it's about alot more than X's and O's right now. It's about managing the game, preparation, making smart substitutions and keeping your players in line. The reality is, Charlie, you are 0-5. That has never happened before in the history of Notre Dame. Your contract was extended after 7 games in your first season. You are getting paid millions of dollars. This is your team, these are your recruits. Fix the problem, Coach Weis.
By Brendan Loy
A few halftime scores from around the country:
LSU 10, Tulane 9 (Tulane was up 9-7 until the Tigers got a field goal just before halftime)
UPDATE: Looks like LSU is pulling away. No surprise there. But how about Duke being within 3 points of Miami in the fourth quarter? The same Miami that crushed Texas A&M last week?
UPDATE 2: LSU and Michigan won, but Illinois and Indiana pulled the upsets.
Meanwhile, undefeated Division I-AA team UMass is making it a ballgame against undefeated Division I-A team Boston College.
By Brendan Loy
[Well, I suppose I can let the blasphemy below stand, but I'm going to bump this post above it, at least. :) -ed.]
* * *
With apologies to the Neudorffs...
GOOOOO IRISH!!! BEEEEEAT BOILERS!!!
UPDATE: We've got Erin Andrews! w00t! And apparently she's been looking deeply into Charlie Weis's eyes.
UPDATE 2: If you look deeply into Charlie Weis's eyes right now, you'd probably see... panic. It's 10-0 Purdue already, with 5:49 left in the first quarter, and the defense looks like s**t. Boilermakers moving the ball at will.
On the bright side, here's one of the many reasons I love Becky: for the last three Saturdays in a row, she's made some sort of a yummy dip for us to eat while watching football:
Mmm... vegetables.
UPDATE 3: What the hell was that? Darrin Walls just gave up on that tackle. It was like he just sort of assumed Greg Orton would go out of bounds... and as a result, Orton got loose for an extra 10 yards. Completely pathetic.
UPDATE 4: A sampling of commentary from ND Nation:
how f'n embarrassingIt cannot get worse than this.
HOLY F**K
F**k this. Good thing I have a kid's soccer game to get to.
this is just bloody awful.
Unf**kingreal.
We Are TOAST
USC will beat us by 80
UPDATE 5: I wrote earlier this week that "I feel like some of my fellow Irish fans aren't fully grappling with the enormity of the team's suckiness." Well, over on ND Nation, I think the "grappling" process is beginning. There are several comments along the lines of, "This is the worst team I have ever seen," and there's this post, which I agree with 100 percent:
We are inexplicably bad...in EVERY facet of the game. I can understand rebuilding. There is no excuse to be this bad, across the board. Yes, it's Ty's fault. But this is Weis' fault primarily. This team should be competitive by this point, and they're not even close.
The combination of our "improvement" against a very mediocre Michigan State team and our "brutal" early schedule (whose already clearly overrated "brutality" is looking even less fierce at the moment, with Penn State losing to Illinois, and Michigan -- whose big "quality win" is over Penn State -- losing to Northwestern) allowed some Domers to fool themselves into thinking that we'd be doing much better if we were playing weaker teams. Now, they're saying things like this: "The sad thing is PU isn't even good. That's how bad we are." "Nope. They're a .500 Big 11 team."
It's 23-0 with 2:50 left in the first half. Two touchdowns and three field goals. If Purdue had any kind of a red-zone offense -- if, say, we were playing USC or Boston College today -- it'd be 35-0 right now. We're lucky to be "only" behind 23-0.
By Trisha Neudorff
However, seeing as how Brendan has just picked on the BBD (Big Bass Drum, for you non-Purdue people), I just can't let that go.
GO BOILERS! BEAT THE IRISH!
(Yes, I realize I may have just forfeited my guest-blogger privileges, lol. It was worth it ;))
By Brendan Loy
#18-ranked South Florida upset #5 West Virginia tonight, 21-13, in a sloppy but entertaining Big East showtown that ESPN2's Sean McDonough introduced as "the biggest game in the history of our Friday-night telecast." And the outcome makes it the biggest win in the history of USF's young football program.
With the loss, the Mountaineers join Louisville and Pittsburgh in a tie for last place in the Big East, while South Florida is tied with UConn and Syracuse for first. No, it's not opposite day: those are really the current conference standings. Who'd have thunk it? Huskies and Orange and Bulls, oh my!
Of course, the standings don't mean much at this point (everybody is either 1-0, 0-1 or 0-0 in conference play), but the more important point is that South Florida and Rutgers are now the presumptive front-runners for the Big East title (although, don't sleep on Cincinnati). McDonough even suggested that USF, which has a pretty favorable schedule outside of the Thursday-night showdown at Rutgers on October 18, could find itself in the national title discussion if it runs the table.
Methinks it would take a lot of attrition among the other members of the Terrific Twenty-ThreeTwo before most people would start seriously considering the Bulls for a title-game spot -- but hey, that does tend to happen, so it's certainly within the realm of possibility. (It would help USF's case if Auburn could turn its season around, thus making the Bulls' win at the Tigers' home stadium look more impressive. That could be especially helpful if we end up having a BCS debate between an undefeated South Florida team and, say, a one-loss Florida or LSU team.)
Personally, I don't think USF is actually good enough to be true national-championship material. In fact, notwithstanding my bias toward mid-majors and other little-team-that-could success stories, I don't think they're close. In both of their games that I've watched -- tonight's sloppy triumph, and the even sloppier win over Auburn three weeks ago -- the Bulls won largely by taking advantage of a ton of unforced errors (and a few forced ones, too, in fairness), and would have won more easily if they hadn't made a fair number of bad mistakes themselves. I suspect that'll catch up with them at some point, and they'll eventually lose a game or two.
But their rise to prominence is a great story regardless, and if they do end up running the table, they certainly deserve to be duly considered as a national-title contender out of the very competitive league that the Big East has become.
By Brendan Loy
Jay at The Blue-Gray Sky has a Top 10 list of superstitious rituals that might help break Notre Dame's six-game losing streak. I particularly like #4:
Collect the poison of a Yellow Jacket, the tooth of a Nittany Lion, the hair of a Wolverine, and the sweat of a Spartan. Mix together in a large pot and boil for 24 hours, chanting the ancient Celtic Rite of Purification. Pour mixture in the trash and immediately shotgun 12 Keystone Lights.
Heh. #6 is good, too: "Zahm Hall shall remain celibate until the first win. Zahm is delighted to finally have an excuse."
Whatever it takes, I hope the Irish can find some way to pull out a win tomorrow against Purdue. If they don't, there's an excellent chance the November 3 home game against Navy will become a "something's gotta give" matchup, and not in a good way. I can hear the pregame commentary already in my mind's ear: Which streak will end today? Navy's 43-year string of futility against the Irish, or Notre Dame's 10-game losing streak? Somebody's gotta win! ... Yeah, that wouldn't be fun. Not fun at all. Blech.
Go Irish. Beat Boilers.
By Brendan Loy
For the second week in a row, Friday-night football on ESPN2 features a matchup between two undefeated teams tonight. This week's showdown, West Virginia at South Florida, is a much bigger deal than last week's Oklahoma-Tulsa nonconference curiosity. Tonight's game will go a long way toward determining who wins the Big East, and the folks in Tampa are ready -- they've been ready for some time, actually -- for the biggest game in their young football program's history (not to mention their first home sellout). The visiting, #5-ranked Mountaineers, whose BCS hopes were derailed last season by a stunning home loss to South Florida, are a one-touchdown favorite.
Saturday will feature two more unbeaten-versus-unbeaten showdowns, both at 3:30 PM. In the Big Ten, Michigan State visits Wisconsin, and in the Pac-10, Cal visits Oregon. The latter, which is basically the battle to see who will challenge USC for the conference title (though Arizona State may also have something to say about that), is the ESPN GameDay game, though most of the country won't get to see it because of other ABC games airing at the same time. (Here in Knoxville, for example, we get Clemson-Georgia Tech instead. Harumph.) There's also, technically speaking, another unbeaten-versus-unbeaten showdown between Boston College at UMass at 1:00 PM, but the Minutemen are a Division I-AA team, so that doesn't really count.
There's only one unbeaten-vs.-winless game this week: Notre Dame (0-4) at Purdue (4-0). If the Irish keep losing, they could potentially face a grand total of five such games before the season is over (not counting the season-opening 0-0 vs. 0-0 game against Georgia Tech) -- vs. Penn State, vs. Michigan State, vs. Purdue, vs. Boston College and vs. USC. I wonder if that would be some kind of record? Anyway, the Irish are 22-point underdogs against Purdue.
Easily the heaviest favorite among the unbeatens this weekend is LSU, which visits a Tulane team that Vegas has pegged as a 41-point underdog. Ouch. The second-heaviest favorite is Hawaii, the lone remaining undefeated team from a non-BCS conference, which resumes its WAC schedule at Idaho -- and is favored by 25.
Outside of the three games between a pair of Division I-A unbeatens, the only game featuring one of the Terrific 23 with a point-spread of less than 14 points is the aforementioned Clemson at Georgia Tech contest; the Tigers are favored by just 3. Other than that, all the unbeatens are heavily favored -- even the runt of the group, UConn, which hosts 15.5-point underdog Akron at East Hartford's Rentschler Field. The Huskies, by the way, got three votes in this week's AP poll, courtesy of a 23rd-place vote by Doug Doughty of the Roanoke (Va.) Times. That means all 23 undefeated teams are now getting at least some recognition in the polls.
Anyway, the Terrific 23 will definitely shrink to at most 20 this weekend, thanks to the three unbeaten-vs.-unbeaten games, and a Clemson loss would drop the total to 19... but any further attrition would entail a major upset.
The full "Terrific 23" schedule is after the jump.
P.S. Stay tuned for pick 'em contest standings! Really! Tonight! (Hopefully.)
By Brendan Loy
Demetrius Jones, who disastrously started Notre Dame's season opener at QB and then notoriously quit the team right before the Michigan game without telling anybody his plans, is going to Cincinnati instead of Northern Illinois. (Hat tip: Patrick.)
The sad thing is, that's a step up at this point. The Bearcats are 4-0 and ranked for the first time since 1976. Notre Dame... eh, you all know how Notre Dame is doing. In any event, I wish him well.
On an unrelated note, I'm really, really going to try to make time tomorrow evening to finally get the pick 'em contest online. Considering the regular season is basically one-third over, I figure it's time. :) Also coming tomorrow, hopefully: an update on the Terrific Twenty-Three (i.e., the remaining undefeated teams), and who they play this weekend. If I have time, I'll do the Egregious Eleven as well (the winless teams).
UPDATE BY DAVID K.: The South Bend Tribune is reporting that Notre Dame sophomore lineman Chris Stewart has traveled home to Texas to spend time with his family, and is considering leaving the school and the team. If he leaves, Stewart would be the third player to leave the team in the past two weeks and the 17th to leave since Charlie Weis took over the program.
(Hat tip: Timugen in comments.)
By Brendan Loy
...Jim Boeheim. (Warning: clip contains profanity!)
God, I love that clip. Best. Rant. Ever. I can't believe I didn't think of posting it earlier, in relation to the Gundy incident.
By Brendan Loy
As noted previously here and here, I've been planning for some time -- since the Michigan game, in fact -- to write a serious post about Notre Dame's struggles this season. I've been working on it mentally for almost two weeks, and I actually started typing it up shortly before the Michigan State game. I was hoping that game would render the post moot, but alas, no. So, here goes.
Admittedly, against the Spartans, the Irish showed some improvement over the previous week's performance -- going "from total ineptitude to just sucking" -- to the point where it's now at least possible to envision them beating the likes of Navy and Duke. But make no mistake, they're still horrible. In terms of quality of play, the Irish have got to be in the bottom 25% of Division I-A right now, and probably the bottom 10%. And so the question must be asked: Why? How? What the hell has happened?
I realize Notre Dame graduated a lot of good players last year. I realize there's inexperience at key positions. I realize the talent and depth are thin on the offensive line, among other places. I realize Jimmy Clausen is young, green, and getting pushed around like nobody's business. I accept all that. And believe me, I didn't expect the Irish to be good this year. But I still don't understand how they got this bad, this quickly. It simply boggles my mind.
Perhaps the boggling of my mind is not too surprising in itself. I'm not a terribly good football analysisist when it comes to the actual nuts and bolts of the game; I've never claimed to be. (I can explain to you all about the BCS, though. I'm better with the nerdy stuff than with the actual game.) But when I read the analyses from people who do know what they're talking about... I still don't get it. None of the explanations for the Irish's sudden and calamitous fall from grace seem adequate. Many seem, if I can be uncharitable for a moment, more like apologias than analyses.
I feel like some of my fellow Irish fans aren't fully grappling with the enormity of the team's suckiness. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I get -- and as a result, their explanations ring hollow and inadequate, and leave me feeling continually confused over what the heck is going on in South Bend.
Continue reading "How did Notre Dame get so bad, so fast?" »
By Brendan Loy
Following hot on the heels of yesterday's proof that Bush is Hitler, now we have proof that the Texas Longhorns are evil -- or at least, that they're supported by both President Bush, who the Left believes is Hitler, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who the Right believes is Hitler! Texas: favorite team of the Little Hitlers! Mack Brown, Colt McCoy and Limas Sweed are the new axis of evil!
P.S. This post invokes Godwin's Law on the Texas football season, which means the Longhorns are now obligated to forfeit all of their remaining games. Congratulations, Oklahoma, you've just won the Big 12 South. :)
By Brendan Loy
If the Vegas oddsmakers to be believed, the biggest upset in college-football history was not the Michigan-Appalachian State game three weeks ago; it was the Louisville-Syracuse game this past Saturday! The Orange was a 37-point underdog to the Cardinals -- one point more than the 36-point spread in the 1985 Oregon State-over-Washington stunner that is generally regarded by gambling types as the biggest upset ever.
Appy State, by contrast, was "only a 22-23 point underdog, depending on who you listen to," according to Brian Cook. I'm not sure where he's getting those numbers, since there is generally no "official" point spread on games between I-A and I-AA teams. But this article says Jeff Sagarin had Michigan as a 25-point favorite. So whatever the exact spread (or would-be spread), I think it's fair to say it was (or would have been) less than 37.
And rightfully so, I'd argue. For all the histrionics, here and elsewhere, about the Appy State upset ("This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible"), the Mountaineers are a good team that just happens to play in a lower division; they would probably finish in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten, and they might win the ACC Coastal Division. Okay, maybe not, but you take my point: whether you call them I-A or I-AA, "Bowl Subdivision" or "Championship Subdivision," the reality is that Appalachian State is better than Syracuse.
None of which, of course, changes the fact that Michigan lost to Appalachian State. HAHAHAHAHA. (Pay no attention to the 38-0 drubbing of Notre Dame behind the curtain!)
Anyway, the broader question this brings to my mind is: how many more milestone games can college football possibly give us? The last three seasons have been a veritable goldmine! We've seen the biggest upset ever by point spread (Syracuse over Louisville, 2007), the first-ever Div. I-AA win over a ranked Div. I-A team (Appalachian State over #5 Michigan, 2007), the most consequential and utterly thrilling David-over-Goliath upset in bowl history (Boise State over Oklahoma, Fiesta Bowl, 2007), the biggest comeback in history (Michigan State over Northwestern, 2006), the biggest comeback in bowl history (Texas Tech over Minnesota, Insight Bowl, 2006), arguably the greatest championship game ever played (Texas over USC, 2006), and arguably the greatest game ever played, at least until the Boise-Oklahoma game (USC over Notre Dame, 2005) on arguably the greatest day in college-football history (October 15, 2005). It's really getting a little excessive at this point. Can college football possibly keep up this insane level of excitement? Or are we in for a few boring years ahead, as karmic retribution?
By Brendan Loy
If you're a college-football announcer, what better time could there possibly be to start randomly talking about Britney Spears -- confusing the hell out of everyone else in the broadcasting booth -- than in overtime of the Georgia-Alabama game, right before the game-winning touchdown?
Thanks to Georgia QB Matthew Stafford and WR Mikey Henderson, I guess we'll never know to answer to the question, "What is Britney doing with her life?" (Hat tip: Stewart Mandel.)
Also thanks to Stafford and Henderson, Alabama is no longer among the ranks of the unbeaten... and somewhere, some crazed Crimson Tide fan is thinking about registering FireNickSaban.com. :)
Anyway, the Thrilling Thirty-One is down to a Terrific Twenty-Three. After the jump, a look at how all 31 teams that entered the week undefeated fared.
By Brendan Loy
...final. 302 passing yards, 207 rushing yards, 6 touchdowns, and 1 rainbow:
Booty was 28-of-35 for 279 yards and 4 touchdowns. (Stanley Havili and Chauncey Washington rushed for the other two Trojan TDs.)
Elsewhere in the Pac-10, Oregon has taken the lead after trailing Stanford (!) for a while... Washington and UCLA are tied at 10... and Oregon State is leading Arizona State, 26-20. All three games are in the third quarter.
UPDATE: In the end, the favored teams -- Oregon, UCLA and ASU -- all pulled away to win by wide margins. The Ducks and Devils remain unbeaten, as does Cal. (And USC has to play at all of them.)
Next week's game of the week -- not just for the Pac-10, but for the whole country -- is Cal @ Oregon. I have to believe ESPN GameDay will be in Eugene. (The ABC evening game, i.e. the Kirk Herbstreit game, is USC @ Washington. Often times, GameDay goes to the ABC evening game. But after UW's loss tonight, I can't imagine they'll be going to Seattle to see #1 USC play a team on a two-game losing streak.)
By Brendan Loy
After the humiliation of losing to Appalachian State, the Michigan fanatics at MGoBlog turned to kittens to dull the pain of it all. Perhaps it'll work for my fellow Domers reeling from the Irish's unprecedented 0-4 start (and the prospect of coming into the Navy game 0-8)? Let's see:
No? Oh well, it was worth a try.
Goooo Irish, Beeeeeat Boilers. (Please?)
P.S. Perhaps, instead of kittens, we'll feel better if we think back on happier times? Like, for example...
...and...
Ah, those were the days.
By Jay Johnson
No, this isn't a rehash of the story from a couple of weeks ago where the Mountaineers went to Ann Arbor to pull the upset of the century in college football.
Today, ASU was the upset victim. The brave players from Boone saw their 17 game winning steak snapped at the hands of....WOFFORD?
Oh well, all good things must come to an end, I guess.
By Brendan Loy
UPDATE: It's 27-7 Trojans with 3:03 left in the second quarter. Live, free audio broadcast at kscr.org.
Thanks goodness ABC is showing us the thrilling Iowa-Wisconsin game -- the Hawkeyes lead 3-0 late in the second quarter -- instead of the Trojans. Harumph.
UPDATE 2: Still 27-7 at halftime. Unlike in the Nebraska game, USC has been focusing on its passing game today. Booty is 19-for-25 with 191 yards and two touchdowns through two quarters. (He was 19-for-30 with 144 yards and two touchdowns in the whole game against Nebraska.)
In other news, UConn is crushing Pitt! Wow! On the flip side, Baylor beat Buffalo, 34-21. :(
UPDATE 3: The list of undefeated teams has shrunk from 31 to 24 thus far. Texas A&M lost on Thursday (to Miami), Tulsa lost on Friday (to Oklahoma), and today has seen losses by Texas Tech (to Oklahoma State), Indiana (to Illinois), Penn State (to Michigan), South Carolina (to LSU) and Air Force (to BYU). Among those in action now, Wisconsin is trailing Iowa 10-7 at halftime and Alabama is trailing Georgia 17-10 in the third quarter. Everyone else either won or is winning comfortably, except Hawaii, Arizona State and Oregon, who play later or are just starting, and Rutgers, who is idle.
By Brendan Loy
Michigan State 31, Notre Dame 14 with 2:45 left in the third quarter. The Spartans just scored the killer TD on a 4th-and-2 play from the 30 that started with a fumbled snap and ended with a wide-open receiver running into the end zone after a perfect pass. Ugh. As noted on ND Nation, "0-8 is lookin more likely," if not "damn near inevitable."
P.S. Of course, Notre Dame has rallied from 17-point fourth-quarter deficits against the Spartans before. But somehow I don't think it's going to happen again, unless Brady Quinn flies in from Cleveland and suits up. And perhaps brings the Browns' offensive line with him.
UPDATE: Michigan State 31, Notre Dame 14, final.
The Irish are 0-4 for the first time ever, and F***in' Sparty has won six straight games at Notre Dame Stadium. (The first time any visiting team has just done that.) They've also lost six straight games by 17+ points.
ND looked inconsistent, but with flashes of brilliance competence, in the first half. The second half was horrible. Overall, though, I think Four Leaf Domer put it best: "[T]his was actually a major step forward today. We went from total ineptitude to just sucking."
That said, I don't agree with him that "it took us a long time to get this bad." It seemed to happen pretty much overnight. Last season, good. This season, godawful. I've yet to see any successful attempt to adequately explain it.
Here's a debate on whether Irish fans should be jumping off the Weis bandwagon at this point.
Speaking of which, did the NBC sideline reporter just call Weis "Ty"?
UPDATE 2: Also on ND Nation, mkovac asks, "How much of this 0-4 season is on Charlie?" and says, "in my mind, he's lost me, just like Willingham lost me when SC beat ND so badly in the Coliseum in 2002, followed by a bowl loss and a 38-0 drubbing at the hands of Michigan in Ann Arbor." He proceeds to lambaste the Irish for "incompetent play" and then wonder aloud if Notre Dame has "so successfully downgraded its program" that it "has turned itself into an Ivy League team."
By Brendan Loy
GO BULLS!!! BEAT BAYLOR!!!
UPDATE: 10-0 Bears. D'oh!
UPDATE 2: Touchdown Buffalo!! 10-7 Baylor with 3:13 left in the first half.
UPDATE 3: Dammit. 24-7.
By Brendan Loy
BEEEEAT SPARTY!!!
UPDATE: Whose idea was it to run a Reggie Bush commercial during a Notre Dame game? Is Adidas trying to convince Domers to wear Nikes?
UPDATE 2: Spartan fumble! First and goal from the 9! If they don't score a touchdown here...
UPDATE 3: TOUCHDOWN! Travis Thomas.
Really, that shouldn't count as an "offensive touchdown." The defense (with the help of the special teams) gave them the ball inside the 10, for heaven's sake. But still: finally! 7-0 Notre Dame.
UPDATE 4: Aaaaaand Michigan State scores two touchdowns. 14-7 Spartans. They're already giving up over on ND Nation. I feel much the same way -- this feels like the Tulsa-Oklahoma game yesterday, when the Golden Hurricane took an early lead, but you could very quickly tell from watching the teams play that it ultimately wasn't going to be close; Oklahoma was clearly better, and was going to pull away. Barring a whole bunch of lucky breaks (e.g., MSU fumbles, big special-teams runs for the Irish, etc.), this is going to be an other ugly result for ND.
UPDATE 5: Hey, there you go! Notre Dame just scored a legitimate offensive touchdown! An 80-yard drive! Nice! 17-14 Spartans, with 10:41 left in the half.
In other news, Florida held on against Ole Miss, and Nebraska barely held on against Ball State, but Syracuse stunned Louisville. Also, Duke, after snapping its long losing streak last week, almost started a winning streak... but Navy outscored them 14-0 in the fourth quarter to win 46-43.
Now, Air Force -- one of the two remaining undefeated non-BCS teams, and a future Notre Dame opponent -- is struggling. They trail BYU 17-0 at halftime.
UPDATE 6: And a good defensive sequence! Hey, maybe the Irish have a prayer after all!
UPDATE 7: 17-14 MSU at halftime.
Let the record show that ND Nation's football board has not been "nuked," as it was last week. So apparently that was an act of censorship, not a routine action designed to divert traffic over to the gameday board, as a commenter suggested.
BYU's lead over AFA is 24-6 near the end of the third quarter. Also late in the third, Wofford is beating Appalachian State, 28-17! Upset special!
By Brendan Loy
Syracuse -- ranked #128 in the current Sagarin ratings, two spots below Buffalo -- is beating Louisville, at Louisville, 31-14 late in the third quarter. WTF?
What is it SEC fans always say about how there's never an off-day in SEC play, even the bottom-feeders can beat you, etc.? Well... looks like that's true in the Big East, too! (Er, in some instances, at least. On the other hand, West Virginia is beating East Carolina, 41-0.)
Speaking of SEC bottom-feeders being competitive, Ole Miss is keeping it close against Florida, so far.
Also, Nebraska is struggling with Ball State.
By Brendan Loy
I hate Sparty.
Hate.
Go Irish.
[Bumped. -ed.]
By Brendan Loy
So, um, Tulsa... this year's Boise State... yeah, not so much. Oklahoma 62, Tulsa 21.
By Brendan Loy
Perennial Big 12 doormat Baylor pays a visit to perennial Division I-A doormat Buffalo tomorrow at 6:00 PM. The game will be broadcast via streaming Internet audio here and streaming video here.
Do the Bulls stand a chance? Vegas thinks so: Baylor is favored by just three points. Three points! Without looking it up, I feel pretty damn confident in saying that that's the closest UB has ever come to being favored against a BCS-conference team. And no wonder: the Associated Press says Buffalo is "playing arguably its best football in eight years." In the last two weeks, they've crushed Temple 42-7, and then kept Penn State close for most of the first half (and scored three garbage-time touchdowns to achieve a respectable-for-Buffalo losing margin of 45-24). Plus, tomorrow's game is the Bulls' home opener, and the stadium is expected to be a "sea of blue."
The delusional dedicated fans on ubfan.com are predicting scores like 38-24 and 42-17... in UB's favor. They're veritably giddy with excitement about the possibility of a "statement" win for the Buffalo program. Yeah, yeah -- it's Baylor. But there's no question it would be the biggest win in UB's Division I-A history, if they could pull it off.
GO BULLS!!!
By Brendan Loy
David strikes first, after Goliath throws an interception! Tulsa 7, Oklahoma 0. Go Golden Hurricane!
UPDATE: And now a rockin' three-and-out defensive stop! Yes! Tulsa gets the ball in Oklahoma territory after a punt from inside the end zone! w00t!
UPDATE 2: They're pulling out the Boise State-ish trick plays early. Not to mention their timeouts (they've used all three, and there's still 6:50 to go in the first quarter). I predict a second-half flameout. But that doesn't mean I won't totally get all excited now. 4th and 1 from the Sooner 28. Go for it!
UPDATE 3: Dammit. Stuffed 'em.
UPDATE 4: Er, or perhaps a second-quarter flamout... or late first-quarter. Suddenly, Oklahoma is looking unstoppable, and Tulsa is looking lost. 7-7 with 3:20 to go in the quarter. D'oh.
UPDATE 5: Yup. This one isn't going to be close. 14-7.
By Brendan Loy
Call me crazy, but I don't think this is the best idea.
By Brendan Loy
The Thrilling 31 is one team down after Miami's blowout of Texas A&M last night. And it'll be down to 29 by the end of tonight. But who will be the victim of the weekend's first battle of unbeatens: Oklahoma or Tulsa?
The obvious answer is Tulsa, the "David" in this David vs. Goliath matchup, a whopping 23-point underdog at home. But "obvious answers" have been wrong before. (See, e.g., Ohio State vs. Florida.) And Stewart Mandel says Tulsa "is quickly becoming one of the scariest mid-majors in the country -- a possible Boise State in the making."
Boise State: now there's a team Oklahoma may have heard of once or twice before. Anyway, Mandel thinks it's "entirely possible" the Golden Hurricane could pull the stunner. Others are unconvinced:
#4 Oklahoma at Tulsa: One sports writer [presumably referring to Mandel -ed.] actually tried to make this out to be a potential surprise (but not quite a trap) for OU. That’s BS: OU is going to pummel the Golden Hurricanes. From what I hear, these games end up like Sooner home games anyway (since tickets are cheaper and its close to Norman).
Tulsa is one of just three remaining undefeated non-BCS teams in the country, and neither Air Force nor Hawaii has as good an opportunity for a "statement" win as the one the Golden Hurricane could get tonight. (Air Force could get the nation's attention, sorta, with a win at Notre Dame in November, but beating a sub-.500 Irish team isn't exactly the same thing as beating Oklahoma. Same goes for Hawaii against Washington.)
So, can Tulsa do what TCU, this year's pre-season mid-major darling, failed to do against Texas two weeks ago, and raise itself up into the nation's consciousness (and BCS-bowl contention) by beating a Big 12 power with national championship ambitions?
Surely the Sooners will be ready for the challenge. After last year's Fiesta Bowl, they ought to know not to take mid-majors with chips on their shoulders lightly. I'll be rooting for Tulsa, but somehow I doubt "this year's Boise State" will climb to glory on the backs of the very same team as last year's Boise State. That would just be too perfect for this Sooner-scorning Trojan fan.
I bet Tulsa beats the spread, though. They scored 55 points on BYU last week (and allowed 47), so I predict a shootout. Unfortunately, Oklahoma's got the bigger guns. My prediction: Oklahoma 52, Tulsa 35. (Because clearly my predictions are worth paying attention to. My "Notre Dame 6, Michigan 5" last week was spot on. Heh.)
As an aside, kudos to Oklahoma for scheduling this game. I constantly complain about teams from college football's upper echelon packing their schedule with non-conference patsies, so it's refreshing to see a "name" team like Oklahoma actually willing not only to play a decent mid-major like Tulsa, but to play them on the road. Same goes for Texas, which hosted TCU and visited Central Florida in consecutive weeks, both legit programs that almost pulled off upsets. (Though admittedly, I might be giving Texas too much credit, since Central Florida probably didn't seem so "legit" back when Mack Brown & co. scheduled that game.) If more teams would do what the Sooners and Longhorns have done this season, college football would be much fairer to the "little guy." And I say that despite generally loathing both UT and OU. But y'know, credit where credit is due, and all that rot. Mandel has more on this point.
Oh, and about the weekend's other unbeaten vs. unbeaten matchup: good news for South Carolina. LSU's new mascot, a Siberian tiger named Mike VI, won't be in attendance. So if the Gamecocks are going to get mauled Saturday night, it won't be by a jungle cat; it'll be by the LSU defensive line. Which, come to think of it, is probably a more frightening prospect anyway, so nevermind.
By Brendan Loy
Last year, throughout the college football season, I had a weekly feature here on BrendanLoy.com called "The Unbeatens," in which I would list Division I-A's remaining undefeated teams, along with their opponent for the next week. I started it after Week 3, when there were 29 unbeatens remaining. We're at that point again -- indeed, Week 4 technically starts tonight, and Miami vs. Texas A&M involves one of the Thrilling 31 -- so I guess I'd better get crackin'.
This year, there are two more unblemished records than last year at this time: 31. That number will decrease to no more than 29 after this weekend, though, as there are two games between fellow unbeatens: Oklahoma at Tulsa tomorrow night, and South Carolina at LSU on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, there are four games Saturday between an undefeated team and a winless team: Kansas vs. Florida International, Texas vs. Rice, Cincinnati vs. Marshall, and (ahem) Michigan State vs. Notre Dame.
Anyway... what is the significance of this list? Well, at least for the teams from BCS conferences (28 of the 31), being on this list means your hopes of an undefeated run to the national championship have not yet been extinguished. For some of these teams, those hopes are a realistic possibility (e.g., USC, LSU, Oklahoma), while for others, they are a ridiculous pipe dream (e.g., UConn, Indiana, Kansas). For most, they're somewhere in between those two extremes. But regardless, in every one of these fan bases, you know there are a bunch of fans -- delusional fans, perhaps, but fans nonetheless -- asking the question: "What if? What if we won all our games?" And that's the beauty of college football: it affords everyone (well, er, except the non-BCS teams) the opportunity to dream big... and then affords everyone else the opportunity to laugh their heads off when those dreams are cruelly extinguished (e.g., when UConn visits Pitt on Saturday).
Anyway, without further adieu, here is the list...
By Brendan Loy
I just checked TVGuide.com, and, um... ABC is showing Iowa-Wisconsin at 8:00 PM Saturday in Knoxville, instead of USC-Wazzu?? Are you kidding me??
I thought I'd escaped the torture of missing games I cared about in favor of lame-ass Big Ten crapfests when I moved out of the Midwest!! Not that Wisconsin is crappy, of course, but c'mon: how is #7 Wisconsin vs. an Iowa team that just lost to Iowa State the "national" game, instead of #1 USC vs. a decent Washington State squad (whose only loss is to... you guessed it... Wisconsin)? Good grief.
Hey, fellow Knoxvillians (Knoxvillites? Knoxvillagers?), can you recommend any non-smoking sports bars? Does such an animal even exist? I have a pregnant wife to think of here...
By Brendan Loy
A classmate with unimpeachable Domer credentials sent me this blog post, which he thinks is pretty funny, and I agree. Excerpt:
SOUTH BEND, IND (AP)–Notre Dame Athletic Director Kevin White announced the signing of a contract extension to head football coach Charlie Weis this morning, inking the third year head coach to an unprecedented three hundred year contract extension worth an estimated 1.4 billion dollars in salary and benefits.
Heh. Read the whole thing. Mer-people are mentioned.
This comment by Stewart Mandel, written in the form of an open letter to White, is also rather amusing: "I'm sure when you handed over that Fort Knox-sized contract extension to Charlie Weis a couple years ago, you were expecting a slightly bigger return on your investment than, say, zero offensive touchdowns through three games. It's too bad you didn't structure the deal so that he'd be paid per rushing yard. That way, he'd owe you money right now." Heh.
Apropos of which: it has been suggested that I'm taking Notre Dame's horrendous start a little too lightly, and that my light-hearted attitude demonstrates, once and for all, that I'm not a real Irish fan. That's a contention that some of my Domer detractors have been trying to prove for over three years now, but this particular incarnation of the argument is, on its face, better than most of the ones that have been raised before -- and this time, some of the people raising it are actually doing so in good faith. So I thought it deserved a more complete answer than "shut up, you Trojan-hating idiots."
Here's the thing. As some of my regular readers surely have noticed, I take a light-hearted attitude toward almost everything. Even when it comes to stuff I feel strongly about, I'll still joke around mercilessly. (My jokes aren't always funny, but that's a separate issue.) I have practically no sacred cows. I'll make fun of whomever, for whatever reason. For instance, I think global warming is real and a very important issue that we need to address, yet I routinely make fun of Al Gore and his fellow crusaders. I very strongly believe in gay rights, yet I crack jokes about gay issues all the time. Perhaps most relevantly, I'm a big Gonzaga fan, and that loss to UCLA two years ago was one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen, but I'll totally make fun of Adam Morrison for crying on the basketball court, because dammit, it's funny.
The same goes for Notre Dame. Am I happy that they're 0-3? Do I enjoy watching the utter meltdown that has occurred in South Bend? Of course not. I'd be much happier if they were unexpectedly 3-0, and we were building up for another colossal clash of titans between the Irish and Trojans. I'd be much happier if this season was like the last two, when I would routinely spend my Saturdays watching consecutive resounding victories by "my" teams. But that's not the reality. The reality is, the Irish suck right now, and they suck so badly that's it's, objectively, rather funny. I mean, c'mon: snapping the ball over the player's head on the first play of the Michigan game? That's worthy of the '62 Mets! Notre Dame -- Notre Freakin' Dame -- being ranked last in every offensive category? The irony alone is comedy gold! And for heaven's sakes, no offensive touchdowns in three games? WTF??
If USC was this bad, I'd laugh at them too. Really, I would. It's a big part of how I deal with disappointment, at least when we're talking about topics that are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, like sports. Of course, I can't prove to you, based on the archives of this blog, that I'd laugh at USC too if the Trojans were comically bad, because the Trojans have never been comically bad -- they've never been bad, period -- since I started this blog! But if I dig through my old photos (and I'm of no mind to do that right now), I believe I'd find a picture from the fall of 1999 of my dorm-room whiteboard after a USC-Oregon contest in which Paul Hackett's Trojans set a new Pac-10 record for penalties in a game. My reaction wasn't to wail and scream and gnash my teeth and wring my hands; I don't do teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing; it's not my thing. Instead, my reaction was mockery. I don't remember exactly what the whiteboard said, but it was something along the lines of congratulating the Trojans for their glorious Pac-10 record. Mockery is always, or nearly always, my first resort in such situations.
By Brendan Loy
Via Boi From Troy at AOL Fanhouse, the Trojan Marching Band's new Booty Rap:
In a related story, while the USC Trojans are clearly rather good at this whole football thing, they're not so good at losing coin tosses.
By Brendan Loy
The good: USC 49, Nebraska 31.
The bad: Michigan 38, Notre Dame 0.
The ugly: Utah 44, UCLA 6.
By Brendan Loy
One week after Washington beat Boise State to end Division I-A's longest active winning streak, Duke just wrapped up a 20-14 win over Northwestern, halting at last its NCAA-worst 22-game losing streak.
Coincidentally enough, Northwestern holds the all-time record for the longest losing streak, with 34 straight defeats from 1979-1982 -- and if Duke had continued its losing ways, the 34th loss would have been next year against Northwestern. But the Wildcats couldn't keep the Blue Devils' streak alive tonight, despite a 1st-and-goal in the game's final minute.
Oh well, at least we don't need to worry about Duke ending the streak against Notre Dame...
Anyway, the ignominious distinction of longest active losing streak now falls to Florida International, which lost its 15th straight to Miami tonight. (Thankfully, there was no brawl this time.)
By Brendan Loy
It's USC 21, Nebraska 10 at halftime.
Conquest Chronicles has an open thread.
UPDATE: Now it's 35-10 USC. w00t! That's 28 unanswered points for the Trojans, who are winning this by running the ball down Nebraska's throats. Fight on!
Meanwhile, Alabama upset Arkansas with a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback, culminating in a game-winning touchdown with 8 seconds left.
UPDATE 2: 42-10! And still 5:03 left in the third quarter.
I think this ought to convince the pollsters to keep USC ranked #1. :)
UPDATE 3: Justice Thomas in the hizz-ouse!
UPDATE 4: And homestanding Kentucky upsets Louisville in an in-state rivalry thriller!
By Brendan Loy
...final.
WTF? LOL! WOOOO!!
This would be the same Utah team that came into the game with an 0-2 record, having lost 24-7 to Oregon State and 20-12 to Air Force. And yes, tonight's game was at Utah's home stadium, but so was the Air Force game, so it's not like the Utes are invincible at home. The Bruins just came in and laid a giant egg.
Fire Karl Dorrell?
Anyway, if the Trojans beat Nebraska, it'll be what some USC fans call a "perfect day," meaning a day on which USC wins and both UCLA and Notre Dame lose. Obviously, as a Notre Dame fan except when they're playing 'SC, I don't personally hope for such days (unless it's the day of a USC-ND game), nor are they actually a good thing from a BCS perspective -- but still, there will be a lot of very happy people in Trojan Nation tonight if USC wins and completes the trifecta.
By Brendan Loy
Notre Dame's first play from scrimmage: a wild snap by the 5th-year senior center, which sailed high up into the air and almost resulted in a safety, pinning the Irish at the half-yard line.
USC's first play from scrimmage: a 50-yard run by a redshirt freshman, made possible by an awesome block by the freshman center.
(They scored a touchdown three plays later. 96 yards in 4 plays. 7-0 Trojans. Fight on!)
By Brendan Loy
By Brendan Loy
Central Florida just fumbled away a chance at stunning Texas. Bah.
Speaking of Florida: Florida 59, Tennessee 20, final. Yikes. UT was within 28-20, but Florida finished the game on a 31-0 run, including 24-0 in the fourth quarter
Meanwhile, UCLA is trailing 17-6 in the third quarter at Utah. [UPDATE: Make that 24-6!] ... I know that's bad for the Pac-10, but: WOOOOO!!!! UCLA sucks!!!!
USC and Nebraska get underway at 8:00 PM on ABC. Fight on, Trojans!! Beat the Cornhuskers!!
By Brendan Loy
It's been a nightmare beginning for Notre Dame. They got the ball first, and their first offensive play was a horrible snap that almost led to a safety, and ultimately allowed Michigan to get the ball back around the Irish 40. After the Domer defense held the Skunkbears to a field goal, QB Jimmy Clausen fumbled the ball away inside the 25, and Michigan scored a quick touchdown to make it 10-0. The offense's third time on the field, there was another botched snap and another fumble (albeit one the Irish recovered), and Michigan got it back again. They didn't score, though, and Tom Zbikowski returned the punt into Michigan territory -- only to have it called back on a clipping penalty. A couple of plays later, the Irish again fumbled it away inside their own territory... and Armando Allen was injured on the play. So, pretty much a worst-case scenario so far.
UPDATE: 17-0. And the Irish have "gained" a total of -19 yards so far.
Meanwhile, Florida leads Tennessee 14-3 and Ohio State is up 3-0 over Washington.
UPDATE 2: And Clausen throws an interception. Michigan again gets the ball in Irish territory.
"I don't see how they could possibly be playing any worse. ... This is shockingly appalling." --Becky
UPDATE 3: 24-0, with 11:28 left in the first half. Over at Blue-Gray Sky, their heads are exploding. There is talk of a 140-0 USC margin, and of losing to Navy. Can we still depend on beating Duke?
UPDATE 4: Washington just scored a touchdown with three seconds left in the second quarter!! Huskies lead Ohio State 7-3 at halftime.
Meanwhile, a few choice comments from BGS:
"Dejavu. After I had lunch today I made a deposit in the toilet that looked just like the ND offense."
"0-12 is not a fantasy... we're well on our way, y'all."
"days like this are difficult since i quit drinking. maybe i'll get some heroin."
"I've decided to just listen to the game on the radio. In my car. In my garage. With the engine running. And the windows down. It's better like this."
"I'm turning Protestant after this game"
UPDATE 5: 31-0 Michigan, with less than a minute left in the first half.
I daresay I'll be watching a lot more of the second half of UW-tOSU than of ND-UM.
Oh, and it's 28-6 Florida over Tennessee. So yeah: Huskies-Buckeyes it is. Go Dawgs! Go Pac-10!
UPDATE 6: Things have gotten bad enough that ND Nation has apparently shut down its football message board. Also, while the general-interest board The Back Room is still open, football-related posts are apparently being deleted from it. [UPDATE: Confirmed. There was a response to this post saying, "He was running from the Michigan defense." It has disappeared.]
The folks who run ND Nation get all censorious like this occasionally, when they deem that people are getting too angry and disloyal to Notre Dame in their furious comments. They did it when the Irish lost Urban Meyer to Florida, and they're doing it now. I think it's quite lame.
UPDATE 7: After a 96-yard interception return for a Tennessee touchdown, the Vols are within 28-20 of Florida. ...
... But, literally just as I was typing that sentence, Eric Ainge "pulled a Clausen," fumbling the ball deep in his own territory, and a Florida player picked it up and ran it in for a TD. So, 35-20 Gators. Damn.
UPDATE 8: One of the announcers on ABC just said something about Penn State's "impressive victory over Buffalo" earlier today. Huh? Is it possible for a Top 25 team to have an "impressive victory over Buffalo"? And even if it is, would a 45-24 win count?
UPDATE 9: Sharpley's in. Clausen was 11-of-17 for 74 yards... and was sacked eight times.
UPDATE 10: Michigan 38, Notre Dame 0, final.
Ohio State and Florida are both going to win, too. So all of the teams I was rooting for in this afternoon's "big three" games, lost.
Now I'm watching Central Florida vs. Texas on ESPN2. George O'Leary's team is threatening to stun the Longhorns... and Texas losing always makes me happy. Go Knights!
UPDATE 11: ND Nation's football board has reopened... and a quick glance at the posts makes clear that, if Charlie Weis's honeymoon with Irish fans wasn't definitively over after the first two weeks, it is now.
UPDATE 12: According to a commenter, I'm wrong about ND Nation:
Brendan and others, FYI: NDNation has a policy all this season of closing the football boards during games. This is to concentrate play-by-play discussion on the Game Day boards. They do this for all nationally televised games in any ND sport on its respective board.
However, nothing appears on the Game Day board from prior to 6:43 PM, which is around the same time they re-opened the regular football boards. So unless they routinely delete everything that's posted there immediately after the game, I still think they were being censorious because of the nature of today's loss. Especially considering that, over on the Back Room, they were threatening to ban anyone who commented about football.
By Brendan Loy
A symbolic representation of the uphill battle that both Notre Dame and Michigan face this afternoon:
I stand by my prediction: Notre Dame 6, Michigan 5. :) The Curse of Bo Schemblechler strikes again.
By Brendan Loy
Demetrius Jones, who started at quarterback in Notre Dame's season opener against Georgia Tech with disastrous results, didn't make the trip to Michigan with his teammates, and will apparently transfer to another school -- specifically, Northern Illinois. (Hat tip: kcatnd and BGS.) He'll be the second of the four Irish QBs from last spring's Blue-Gold Game to transfer. Zach Fraser went to UConn.
By Brendan Loy
No, not those Trojans. The Troy Trojans. They're leading Oklahoma State, 27-10 with 3:56 until halftime, live on ESPN2.
Here's hoping they hold on -- for one of two Trojan victories over a Big 12 team this weekend!
By Brendan Loy
Has TCU gone from "this year's Boise State" to "this year's Fresno State"? The Horned Frogs, once considered the most likely non-BCS-conference team to crash the big-bowl party in 2007-08, followed up its drubbing at the hands of Texas with a stunning loss to Air Force last night. The Falcons rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 20-17 in overtime. They improved to 3-0; TCU is now 1-2, and 0-1 in the Mountain West conference. I daresay the Frogs' coach is probably cursing his team's schedule right now: in retrospect, visiting Texas on a Saturday and then playing at Air Force on the following Thursday may not have been the best idea.
(Re: "this year's Fresno State," I refer, of course, to the post-USC-game Bulldogs, not the 8-1 squad that almost stunned the Trojans at the Coliseum on November 19, 2005. That team looked BCS-worthy, but since then, they've been an enormous disappointment, going 5-13 in their last 18 games starting with that loss.)
P.S. In comments, Randy predicts that Air Force will be "the Boise State of this college football season." Hey, it could happen! If they can win at BYU next Saturday, the rest of their schedule looks pretty reasonable... and now I'm debating whether to say "except for the game at Notre Dame on November 10." Frankly, winning at home against UNLV and Wyoming might be bigger challenges this year than beating the Irish... though hopefully ND will be much improved by November, and it is at Notre Dame Stadium. But I daresay Notre Dame's "easy" last four games may have just gotten a little less easy.
By Andrew Long
[Andrew guestblogging.]
Whether they realize it or not, Notre Dame's season just got a little uglier -- and they haven't even lost to Michigan yet. As part of the unfolding scandal now surrounding Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, Paul Zimmerman reports an interesting nugget rife with implications:
Marinelli was the defensive line coach in Tampa Bay when the Bucs beat the Patriots in the 2000 regular season opener and did a good job controlling New England's offense. After the game the Patriots' offensive coach, Charlie Weis, was overheard congratulating the Bucs' defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin.
"We knew all your calls, and you still stopped us," Weis said. "I can't believe it."
He couldn't believe it because the Patriots had videotaped all of the defensive signals in their last preseason game, which was against the Bucs.
Now, I'm not suggesting Charlie Weis still participates in such blatant attempts at cheating (all bitterness of Weis' poor gamesmanship ruining Desmond Reed's career aside), however, it does lead to a few questions:
I think the answers to the above two questions are terribly obvious, and this must be disconcerting for Domers. The evidence mounts that not only is Weis not the great coach he was cracked up to be, he also isn't the most ethical role model for Notre Dame.
Obviously Urban Meyer was Notre Dame's real target when the Golden alumni turned on Ty Willingham after the 2003 season and sabotaged his recruiting efforts with over-the-top threats, demands, and innuendo, but even though Domers congratulated themselves on getting the "genius" Weis after whiffing on Meyer, did they shoot themselves in the foot even worse than even their biggest detractors imagined?
There's no way Domers will admit how badly they treated Ty after the rough transition year in 2003, when Davie's option system and personnel were finally being flushed out for brand-new personnel for the still-emerging West Coast Offense and a bunch of new starters on defense. And without a doubt, the ten-year, $40 million contract Weis has means the current coach will not be expeditiously run out of town like Ty was. But we can hope that Ty's current success -- and the latest revelations about Weis and Belichick -- will once again teach Notre Dame to put personal integrity, morals, and academic commitment above greed and the yearning to return to the glory days when Notre Dame could rely on its built-in advantages (money, media exposure, and religion) to win national titles. There is still time before the Golden Dome is tarnished much further.
By Brendan Loy
Following up on my previous post about the Associated Press allowing Division I-AA teams into its poll for the first time ever this week: Appalachian State -- victor over the victors valiant, conqueror of the conquering heroes -- is, alas, not ranked. They are, however, in the "others receiving votes" category, right between Auburn and Cincinnati. If you count back from #25, they are effectively ranked #33 in the country. (For the record, Sagarin puts them at #53... just behind #52 UConn, well ahead of both #63 Notre Dame and #69 Michigan.)
And hey, if those hot, hot, hot Mountaineers can keep winning -- they've got Northern Arizona next on the schedule, followed by trips to Wofford and Elon -- maybe they can work their way up into the Top 25 through attrition.
Speaking of which, Rece Davis says that LSU and Oklahoma should be #1 and #2, ahead of USC: "If you're a pollster and those aren't your top two, what you're saying is that your preseason prediction is more important than what you've seen on the field. Unfortunately, too many people seem unable to break that habit."
Anyway, back to Notre Dame and Michigan. They're both in ESPN's Bottom 10 for the second straight week. What an honor! Alas, someone will almost have to ascend out of the rankings this Saturday... and Mike Hart guarantees it'll be the Skunkbears. (Though he may not have used that particular term.)
If the Irish don't improve these offensive statistics, then I'm afraid Hart will be right. However, I'm betting on the Curse of Bo Schembechler to pull us through. Official Fearless BrendanLoy.com Prediction: Notre Dame 6, Michigan 5! (You know our offensive line is totally capable of giving up a safety.)
By the way, the post with the statistics also contains another detailed discussion -- with, you know, facts and stuff -- about the whole "Ty vs. Charlie" debate. Not like that topic isn't already consuming 95% of the (virtual) oxygen in the comment section. :)
The Blue-Gray Sky has a good post, too, about ND's current predicament.
Finally, speaking of predicaments: D'oh! USC has suffered its first season-ending injury, to defensive back Josh Pinkard.
By Brendan Loy
Her Loyal Sons on the Irish offensive line's, well, offensiveness -- and who's to blame for it:
Obviously, the crackling, eroding foundation to all of our offensive problems is the offensive line play. That’s just about all that ND fans can agree upon right now. The cause, however, seems to be dividing ND fans into two camps: Those who blame Charlie and those who blame Willingham. They’re both right. They’re both wrong. I do know one thing, if you argue “in 3 seasons, Charlie has never had a good offensive line,” and then think that, in and of itself, shows that Weis and Company can’t coach an offensive line, you’re failing to look at the cause of our symptoms. The previous 2 years, we had almost no depth at offensive line thanks to Willingham’s mistaken belief that offensive linemen don’t need recruiting. Good luck coaching that up. Rumors abound about how “entrenched” a few offensive linemen felt last year. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that every ND player gives a “Rudy effort,” every day in practice. It just doesn’t happen. Now, this year, we’ve got some real talent at OL, not just with the starters, but with the back-ups. But the starters are all very inexperienced, and the backups are even more inexperienced, not to mention even younger. So our offensive line traded one set of big problems for a new set of big problems. I expected Charlie to do a better job of overcoming this new set of problems. To be sure, I’ve been very disappointed, but I also think I understand it. Mental errors will happen with this squad. I can sort of live with that. What I can’t live with is guys on the OLine not making hustle plays, not going out and hitting someone in the mouth when they do know which guy they’re supposed to hit. Still, even that may play into a tentativeness resulting from lack of experience. Still, there are 2 guys on that offensive line with more than a dozen starts and a lot of talent. They, at least, need to start looking like it. And that plays into the coaching we have today. I expect this coaching staff to take that set of big problems and overcome them with a few bumps and scratches. Thus far, however, there’s been almost no overcoming of anything.The really funny thing about problematic offensive line play is that it often involves really big guys making small mistakes that add up to huge problems. And that’s what we’ve seen a lot of in these first 2 games. Things like picking up a double team when you should be picking up a blitzer, or failing to realize that the DE on the TE side is going to use a speed technique if the TE releases without challenging the DE, or just failing to have your head on a swivel. Those are correctable, but it’s about time for this coaching staff to correct it or bench someone.
By Brendan Loy
I like singing "Rocky Top" at The Backer in South Bend. I like yelling "whooo!" with my fellow Domers at the appropriate moment in the chorus. It's fun. It's silly. It's inexplicable. (Why do ND fans have such a soft spot for the UT fight song? I have no idea.)
I also like listening to "Rocky Top" on my iPod or in my iTunes. It's cute, it's catchy, I can tap my feet to it. Almost can't help doing so, actually.
But I daresay this is what "Rocky Top" is supposed to sound like:
More videos to come. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The clips are below, but first, check out this panoramic picture of Neyland at night that I stitched together from five different shots taken with my wide-angle lens:
You really have to view the larger version of the photo to get the full effect. Er, and pay no attention to the "ghost" Tennessee players. They're artifacts of the photo-stitching process.
Anyway, here's a video of the team running out onto the field:
As usual with crowd videos, it doesn't do justice to the absolute explosion of sound that occurred when the players started coming out of the tunnel. But wow. 106,311 people can make a lot of noise when they want to. :)
Here's a clip of Tennessee's go-ahead touchdown and extra point in the second quarter, as seen from our seats in Section X15 of Neyland Stadium:
Man, that is one orange stadium. That's one thing I'll give UT over ND for sure: the fans know what damn color to wear. None of this trying to decide if our color is blue, or green, or gold, or what. No. It's orange. Everybody knows it's orange. So everybody wears orange. Everybody.
Er, except me:
Heh.
Someday, we'll show that picture to our kid, and tell her this was her first college football game. In a manner of speaking, at least. :)
Anyway, yeah. We had a great time. If you've never been to a football game in a stadium that seats 100,000+, I highly recommend it. It's very cool. Rocky Top, Tennessee!
P.S. Here are some photos by another blogger who appears to have been sitting in the same section as us, a handful of rows down.
P.P.S. Did I mention the stadium is really orange? Here's another one of my pictures, proving the point:
By Brendan Loy
The Associated Press announced Thursday that it will allow Division I-AA teams in its Top 25 poll, if people vote for them. (Hat tip: TrojanWire.) This is in contrast to the previous policy that only I-A teams were eligible. Some voters had expressed interest last week in voting for Appalachian State, but were told they couldn't. Now they can. And after following up last week's HOT HOT HOT win over then-#5 Michigan with a 48-7 drubbing of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne yesterday, it certainly seems likely that Appy State will get some votes this week. But will they make the Top 25? Who knows? #17 Auburn, #19 TCU and #22 Boise State will probably be dropping out of the poll, so there'll be room for the Mountaineers to move up, if the voters are so inclined, without bumping anybody. Of course, the voters need to make room for Oregon, South Carolina and maybe South Florida... and Washington will be knocking on the door, among others... so it's hard to say. But it'll certainly be interesting to see where Appalachian State falls.
By Brendan Loy
After watching the South Florida Bulls' ugly upset over Auburn just now, it occurred to me that it was the second unlikely victory by a team called the "Bulls" today. The first, of course, was the University at Buffalo Bulls' 42-7 win over Temple. As awful as Temple is, the equally awful Bulls of UB were a three-point underdog, probably because the game was at Temple. And so they went out and won by thirty-five. Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Yeah, me neither. For that matter: raise your hand if you thought UB would have more wins at the end of Week 2 than Michigan and Notre Dame combined. Heh.
By Brendan Loy
Sometimes, you watch a game where both teams play so well, with so much heart and guts, that you feel like it's a shame somebody has to lose. USC-ND '05 comes to mind, as does the Rose Bowl between USC and Texas later that season.
Other times -- less frequently, but it does happen -- you watch a game where you feel like neither team deserves to win. Such a game is being played right now in Auburn, Alabama, and televised in all its ugliness on ESPN2. That network is sometimes called "The Deuce," and let me tell you, this game is a big, fat "deuce."
You only need to know two statistics to understand how painful this game is to watch. Statistic #1: Auburn has surrendered 5 turnovers, 4 of them in the second half. Statistic #2: South Florida has scored zero points off of those turnovers. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
How do you, as an up-and-coming "little guy" team trying to prove itself, go into the home stadium of the #13-ranked team in the country, get that many freebie opportunities, and waste them all? And then, having wasted them all, how are you still in the game??
By Brendan Loy
Tennessee 39, Southern Miss 19, final. When they scored toward the end of the first half to go up 17-16, I had a feeling they might be taking the lead for good, and I was right. I got that TD on video, too. I'll post that, and a couple of other clips, shortly.
In other news, alas, Texas pulled away late and beat TCU 34-13. Between the Horned Frogs' loss and Washington beating Boise State, the chances of a mid-major qualifying for a BCS bowl took a serious hit today. If Hawaii loses in overtime to Louisiana Tech, that'll be even more true.
P.S. What kind of odds could somebody have gotten on a preseason bet that, at the end of Week 2, Michigan and Notre Dame would both be 0-2, while Washington would be 2-0?
UPDATE: Hawaii wins!
By David K.
Today's Husky game was held in Seattle at Husky Stadium, today's Cougar game was held in Seattle at Qwest Field (the Seahawks' home field). I'm assuming two games in the same city on the same day is a rare occurance, but I was wondering if there were other instances anyone can remember in recent history. And no, USC and UCLA home games don't count: UCLA plays in Pasadena, not L.A.
By David K.
The Pac-10 is more than making up for Oregon State's blowout loss to Cincinnati on Thursday. So far today, the Pac-10 is 5-0, with the latest win coming from the WSU Cougars, who clobbered the Aztecs of San Diego State, 45-17.
Earlier in the day, Oregon dominated Michigan as Brendan pointed out below. The 39-7 loss is the worst that the Wolverines have suffered in almost 40 years. That coupled with Penn State's crushing of Notre Dame means that for the first time ever, both Michigan and Notre Dame have started out 0-2 in the same season. The streak ends for one team next week though, as they will face each other.
Another streak ended today in Seattle, as Ty Willingham's Huskies broke Boise State's 14-game win streak, previously the longest active streak in Division I-A college football, downing the Broncos 24-10 in front of a crowd of over 70,000 fans. Rookie Husky QB Jack Locker had a hot and cold day, throwing for over 190 yards with 1 TD, and rushing for over 80 including another TD, but turning the ball over once each on the ground and in the air.
#13-ranked UCLA led the Cougars of BYU early, 20-0, but managed to let the Mormons get within 3 before winning their game 27-17. #10 Cal held off Colorado State to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Elsewhere in college football, #3 LSU is manhandling #9 VA Tech with a 24-0 lead in the 2nd quarter. Texas came out swingign in the second half and leads TCU 34-13 in the 4th quarter. Irish Trojan hometown favorite Tennessee beat Southern Miss by 20. Today's only top 25 upset (so far) comes from USC, no not Southern California, but South Carolina, who upset Georgia in typical SEC fashion, scoring 16 points with only one touchdown and a handful of field goals. Georgia's 12 points came entirely from field goals. YAWN.
By Brendan Loy
Between the baby shower last Saturday and the Tennessee game today, I haven't had the "pleasure" of watching very much Notre Dame football so far this season -- but based on the beef's comment and some text messages I received from BK [UPDATE: and this post on ND Nation, and this one and this one and this one and this one], I have a feeling that today's debacle in Happy Valley represents the moment when your average ND fan starts to turn on Charlie Weis. Whether that trend continues depends on how things go, of course, but it's awfully hard to see where on the schedule the Irish are going to pick up a win between now and November. Against Michigan State? At Purdue? Maybe. But the offense is going to need to start scoring touchdowns if we're going to have a chance against anyone.
Anyway, Michigan and Notre Dame are both 0-2, the first time that's ever happened. And they play each other next week! And Chad Henne is injured! Man, talk about a game that has lost all its luster in just two weeks. The two winningest programs in college football history meet, and they come into the game with a combined record of 0-4. Who'd have thunk it? Indeed, as texasyank points out, they've now lost a combined eight consecutive games... and most of them haven't been close. (The only close ones were the OSU-Michigan game and... heh... the Michigan-Appalachian State game.) It's a good thing Notre Dame has an NBC contract, otherwise this game might not even be televised. So, what will happen? Will the curse of Bo Schembechler continue? Will Notre Dame finally score an offensive touchdown? Will the game end in a 0-0 tie? What do you think?
By Brendan Loy
My feeling on the Michigan-Oregon game has been that Michigan would probably come out firing all cylinders, wanting to redeem themselves after the Appalachian State debacle, and would probably win -- unless they have a rough start, commit some turnovers, etc., and fall behind early. In that case, I figured, resolve could fizzle to demoralization, memories of Appy State could loom large, and Oregon could win big.
Well, on the opening drive, Michigan QB Chad Henne threw an interception in the end zone. Now Oregon is driving toward the end zone. Gamecast here.
Becky and I are about to leave and head toward UT for the Vols game, so you can consider this a general college-football open thread, at least until I post something via cell phone later. Go Ducks! Go Vols! GO IRISH!
By Brendan Loy
Akron 2, Ohio State 0, 10:32 in the first quarter. Heh.
More seriously: Marshall 10, West Virginia 6, late second quarter... and they're threatening to score again before halftime. ... UPDATE: 13-6 Marshall at halftime. Could have been 17-6, but on 1st and goal with 20 seconds left, the Thundering Herd's coach made the p***y move of not even trying for a touchdown, instead running to the middle of the field and then taking their last timeout with 2 seconds left. Good grief, take a couple of shots at the end zone first!!
UPDATE: Ohio State 3, Akron 2 at halftime. "Sounds like an SEC game." -Becky. Heh!
Meanwhile, it's WVU 27, Marshall 23 early in the fourth quarter. You think Marshall's coach wishes he'd gone for that touchdown?
Oh, and it's Buffalo 21, Temple 0 in the first quarter. w00t!
WVU and tOSU both eventually won big. Meanwhile, USC's next opponent, Nebraska, barely held off Wake Forest, with an assist from a controversial interference/holding no-call in the final minute. Oklahoma destroyed Miami. And Buffalo is crushing Temple in the third quarter! Yes!!
By Brendan Loy
Remember my post about the ultimate college football roadtrip, detailing my hypothetical four-month itinerary of cross-country stadium-hopping? Well, USC football blogger Jonathan Tu is living the dream:
[M]y current odyssey [is] a 14 week, 25 state (plus District of Columbia!), 22 game (or so) road trip that will take me to stadiums involving all six BCS conferences and a number of mid-majors ... I revel in thy jealousy.
Dude. Revel away. I'm so jealous.
By Brendan Loy
My first official job perk here in Knoxville: I totally just scored free tickets to tomorrow's Tennessee-Southern Miss game from one of the judges! Nice!! (And yes, I have permission from my judge to blog this. :)
By Brendan Loy
There is an inordinate number of people in downtown Knoxville this afternoon wearing orange. You think maybe there's a home football game tomorrow or something? :)
By Brendan Loy
D'oh! Bearcats 34, Beavers 3: "As great a day as it was for the Pac-10 when Cal beat Tennessee last Saturday, this one was a big black eye for the conference."
So... 'twas a bad Thursday for the Pac-10. But what will Saturday bring? Assuming Cal, Arizona State, Arizona and Washington State hold serve (against Colorado State, Colorado, Northern Arizona and San Diego State, respectively), the big games tomorrow for the Pac-10 are Boise State at Washington (a reasonably close loss by the Huskies would suffice, for conference-pride purposes), BYU at UCLA (though you'll forgive me if I don't start up a chorus of "Goooo Bruins, Beeeeat Mormons"), and of course, the big game in the Big House, Oregon at Michigan.
Will the Wolverines circle the wagons, come out of the tunnel angry and eager, and start their long, slow climb back to respectability after the Appy State debacle? Or will they pull a Michigan State, curl up into a ball after a demoralizing loss and watch their season die? The Ducks (and the Domers, who play 'em next) would love it if it's the latter. Vegas, however, thinks it will be the former. Personally, I think the Curse of Bo Schembechler might be the tiebreaker. The Wolverines are 0-3 since the legendary coach died on the eve of the Ohio State game last year.
USC, by the way, is idle this week. Notre Dame, which doesn't want to hear anything about "0-3" right now, travels to Happy Valley to face Penn State at 6:00 PM EDT tomorrow. GOOOO IRISH, BEEEEAT JOE PA!
Incidentally, here's a handy list of nationally televised games (though if people would stop pretending that games on ESPNU, ESPN360, "the mtn." and the Big Ten Network are "televised," that would be great).
By Jay Johnson
Coach Charlie Weis names Jimmy Clausen as starting ground beef..err..quarterback for ND.
By Brendan Loy
USC used the "missing man formation" during its first extra point Saturday against Idaho to pay tribute to kicker Mario Danelo, who died tragically and mysteriously in January. Here is a TrojanWire article about the tribute; here's a YouTube clip from the TV broadcast:
(Hat tip: BK.)
By Brendan Loy
How amazingly cool must it have been to be one of the handful of Appalachian State fans who made the trip to the Big House for the Michigan game on Saturday, probably daring to hope for nothing more than the moral victory of a good effort and a surprisingly close loss... and then...
(Hat tip: Fanhouse.)
P.S. Here are the TV highlights from the final two minutes:
That's the same announcing crew that did the Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl, isn't it? [UPDATE: Yup.] Lucky bastards!! Anyway, here's the radio call from the Appalachian State radio network.
After the jump, clips of Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State fans reacting to their hated rival's humiliating loss... heh.
By Jay Johnson
The folks at MGoBlog have, ahem, retooled their website.
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: I'm bumping this post to the top of the homepage because I think it's freakin' hilarious, and also to point out that we just passed a car on I-90 with a Michigan bumper sticker on it, whereupon I pointed at it and said, "Ha ha!" :)
By David K.
It's 38-21 Cal over Tennessee right now in Berkley as the Bears look to avenge their loss at the hands of the Volunteers last year. So far though, Ainge's broken finger doesn't appear to have been a huge issue, he's 19/22 with 179 yards and two TD's.
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Now 45-31 Cal with 10:31 left. Meanwhile, USC leads Idaho 21-0 early in the second quarter
UPDATE BY DAVID K.: Cal wins with a final score of 45-31. It wasn't a blowout like the previous year's loss to Tennessee, but I'm sure the Bears will take it. Could we see an undefeated Cal vs. an undefeated 'SC when the two meet?
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: USC leads Idaho 38-3 late in the third quarter... and I'm going to bed.
By Brendan Loy
Georgia Tech 16, Notre Dame 0, halftime.
UPDATE: Georgia Tech 33, Notre Dame 3, final. Ugh.
Understatement of the day: "We all have work to do between now and going to Penn State." --Charlie Weis.
That would be the same Penn State that won 59-0 today. Granted, it was against awful Florida International, but still. 59-0! And then the Irish get to travel to the Big House to play a very angry Michigan team. Yippee.
Time for a poll...
By Brendan Loy
Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32, final.
#5-ranked Michigan felled in the Big House by a Division I-AA team! The biggest upset in college football history?
P.S. Jay sorta kinda called it.
UPDATE: Appalachian is HOT! HOT! HOT!
SMQ writes:
"The upset of the year!" suggests one of my friends on the phone. "This reminds me of Miami Ohio's upset over LSU in 1986," texts another. No. No. They lack understanding. A I-AA team beat Michigan. This shakes the foundation of my comprehension of the world to such a vastly greater extent than any upset, sighting, conspiracy theory, apparition, miracle or act of nature I could possibly cite. This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible.
MGOblog says only: "Please Stand By."
P.P.S. Here's a photo of App. St.'s coach being carried off the field at the Big House:
P.P.P.S. Stewart Mandel offers some perspective:
In the 29 years since the NCAA formally split Division I into two separate entities, no I-AA team had ever defeated a team ranked in the AP poll. When it finally happened, it wasn’t the No. 24 team that went down. Or the No. 19 team. It wasn’t a Hawaii or a Rutgers or some other marginally respected program that just happened to be ranked.The victim was the winningest program in the history of the sport. The No. 5 team in the country according the pollsters. Winner of 11 games just a season ago. A squad with at least four future NFL draft picks on its offense alone. Participant in three of the past four Rose Bowls. Consensus favorite to win the 2007 Big Ten title.
All of those things may still come true for the Wolverines, but one game into its season, this Michigan team has already etched itself into history for the most embarrassing possible reason -- by becoming the first ranked team ever to lose to a I-AA squad.
For everything that Boise State’s historic Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma said about the new era of college football, Appalachian State just trumped it ten-fold. What every coach tries to tell his players and the media every week only to be met by perennial skepticism has now been confirmed as true. No one is unbeatable in college football anymore. Anything can happen.
By Brendan Loy
Over at the Blue-Gray Sky, Pete is having a debate with the pessimistic voice inside his head about how Notre Dame's season will go. Who gets the better of the argument? We blockquote, you decide:
[PESSIMISTIC PETE] Here's how I see it: the Georgia Tech game is a loss. It should be a win, but the fact that there is zero warmup time for the team means they lose a close one. Penn State: second game, on the road in a stadium that's been prepping for us all year, and a relatively experienced team? Don't like our odds there. Michigan: their stadium, offense that torched us last year still intact, gimme another L. Michigan State? We should beat them, but stranger things have happened against them. Purdue? Same. UCLA? Once again, on the road, experienced team against our young'uns. Are you noticing a pattern here? BC: Perfectly located on the schedule (for them), sandwiched between a West Coast jaunt against a good team and the biggest game of the year. Oh, and they're experienced, with one of the better quarterbacks out there this year. Perfect upset fodder. USC? Best we're hoping for is competitive. The rest are jokes. The way I see it, a .500 record would exceed expectations.[OPTIMISTIC PETE] It's tough, but I don't think it's THAT tough. Georgia Tech: lost the best wide receiver in the country last year, breaking in a new quarterback too, we're more talented and at home. Penn State: we smoked them last year, Corwin's defense baffles Morelli, and we win going away to shock everyone. Michigan: remember the last time an underrated ND team went to the Big House? I smell deja vu. Michigan State: New coach + no Stanton = win. Purdue: Weis's dominance of PU continues. UCLA: I think they're overrated, and by now, this inexperienced team has some great games under its belt. A toss-up, but ND's got a good chance. Boston College? New coach, new offense, we're better, it's at home. Win. USC? I'm going to say we win, because you always gotta believe we can beat those guys, you gotta. And the rest are jokes, in a good sense. At worst we go 8-4, but, and even I think I'm crazy for thinking this, but it's not impossible that we could do some very special things this year.
In about two hours, we'll get the first inkling of who might be right. Win, and the expectations (and hype) for Notre Dame's season will improve immensely; lose, and they'll be favored to start 0-3.
(Full disclosure: I actually wrote this post last night, and timed it to post shortly before game time. In real-time, I'm at Becky's baby shower right now, suffocated by the estrogen all around me and unable to get anywhere near a computer or a TV on the first Saturday afternoon of football season. Oh, the indignity.)
By Brendan Loy
The Washington Huskies were supposed to win tonight's season-opener at Syracuse -- one of the few times they'll be favored this year, given their brutal schedule -- but a 42-12 shellacking of the Orange? That's pretty impressive, and bodes well for their chances to at least make a bit of noise this season, even though they're clearly going to lose a lot of games.
More broadly, this is good news for the Pac-10, which saw Oregon State beat Utah 24-7 yesterday, and now this. The big test, of course, is tomorrow night at 8:00 PM, when Cal hosts Tennessee. Five other Pac-10 teams are in nonconference action tomorrow too, including Wazzu at #7 Wisconsin and, of course, Idaho at #1 USC. The Cougars can lose (hopefully they'll keep it close), but all the others had better win for the sake of the conference's BCS reputation, as Chris Dufresne pointed out in the L.A. Times yesterday.
Tomorrow is, of course, college football's real opening day, as reflected in my countdown bar at left, notwithstanding the dribs and drabs of made-for-TV mismatches that have been played in the last two days. (Average final score: 38-10.) Not that most of tomorrow's games will be much better, what with such thrilling matchups as East Carolina at Virginia Tech, Appalachian State at Michigan, and Western Kentucky at Florida -- and those are all before 1:00 PM! :) But still, 54 games in 12 hours is enough to get any fan excited, especially after the wilderness of the offseason.
Alas, my opening-day football-blogging will leave something to be desired, thanks to our visit to Buffalo and, specifically, the baby shower. It's at 1:00 PM, and yes, I'm going: I've been informed I have no choice. :) Notwithstanding the stereotypically girly character of such occasions, there will actually be at least four males in attendance -- and the shower is apparently going to be held in the TV room, so there'll be no sneaking off to watch football. Hopefully it'll be over in time to catch the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game at 3:30 PM...
Speaking of which, I almost forgot... time for my ritualistic weekly incantations...
GOOOOO IRISH! BEEEEEAT JACKETS! (Suck it, JT! :)
FIGHT ON, TROJANS! BEAT THE VANDALS!
P.S. Over at ND Nation, an 'SC fan dropped by to wish the Irish good luck against Georgia Tech, and throughout the season... except on October 20, of course. "AZDomer" responded: "I hope the earth opens up and swallows your entire school." To which another Domer, "The Flash," replied:
This world would lose one tremendous count of hot women were it to do so. It would not be worth it just because we have lost a few football games to their university.
Heh. Well, at least some ND Nation posters have some sense. ;)
By Brendan Loy
This post will remain on top of the homepage for a while: Enter the 3rd annual Irish Trojan USC & ND pick 'em contest!
By Brendan Loy
So, I was planning to post something making fun of the quality of games, or lack thereof, on this season-opening Thursday of college football. I was going to list a representative handful of tonight's contests, with sacrcastic exclamation points at the end of each one -- Cincinnati vs. Southeast Missouri State! Louisville vs. Murray State! Rutgers vs. Buffalo! -- and then I was going to say something like, "Try to contain your excitement about this scintillating array of games."
But then I learned that I may have the opportunity to watch the Buffalo-Rutgers game, in a sports bar in Buffalo, with a bunch of crazed UB fans. And naturally, being a huge dork with a soft-spot for lovable losers like the UB Bulls, I'm totally excited. So it would now be disingenuous for me to go ahead with my originally planned post. :)
It's funny: a few years ago, Buffalo-Rutgers would have been seen as a rare opportunity for the Bulls to perhaps pull an upset against a BCS-conference team. Nowadays, however, it's almost as daunting as Buffalo-Auburn was last year. Rutgers is a legit powerhouse with legit BCS (and Heisman) ambitions, while Buffalo's ambition remains the same as ever: to avoid losing each and every single game it plays. To not go winless. A lofty goal indeed. :)
Anyway, not that it matters -- and this is the last time I'll root against Rutgers this season, unless they play USC or Notre Dame in a bowl game -- but I'll say it for what it's worth: LET'S GO BUFF-A-LO!!!
By Brendan Loy
The greater Knoxville area is abuzz with anxiety this evening after the revelation of what Tennessee fans doubtless regard as the most consequential finger injury since Gollum bit the Ring off Frodo's hand: Vols quarterback Erik Ainge has broken his pinky finger on the eve (well, not quite the eve, but close enough) of UT's big showdown with Cal. The official word is that he'll start, but the football-obsessed denizens of Big Orange Country are nevertheless worried. Could Tennessee's hoped-for dream season be thwarted before it begins by a broken pinky?
I, of course, hope Ainge is able to play with full effectiveness -- but I must say, I'm extremely torn about how I want the Cal-UT game to come out. On the one hand, now that I'm living in Knoxville, I'm supposed to root for Tennessee when doing so doesn't conflict with my other loyalties (i.e., USC and ND), and anyway a Vols win over the Bears would really make the start of football season exciting here, the sort of excitement that can only come when the crazed populace of a football-mad region begins to see some validation of their championship delusions. :) On the other hand, this is a very big conference showdown between the Pac-10 and SEC, and although I'm trying to warm to the latter now that I'm living in SEC country, my primary loyalty as a Trojan fan obviously lies with the former. A second consecutive Cal loss to UT, in Berkeley this time, would be humiliating for the Pac-10, and would make it much harder to argue with the "SEC = NFL" crowd as the season goes on. And that could become very consequential for USC, if they end up in a BCS debate at season's end against the likes of LSU or Auburn or Florida (or, well, Tennessee!). So I feel like I sort of have to root for Cal in this one, even though I'd sort of like to root for Tennessee.
By Brendan Loy
Via TrojanWire:
I'll be honest: I wasn't terribly impressed with Booty last year... until the Rose Bowl. But man, if he plays this season the way he played against Michigan, he'll be a runaway Heisman winner.
Oh, and speaking of college football: Don't forget to enter the 3rd annual Irish Trojan USC & ND pick 'em contest!
By Brendan Loy
...time for the Irish Trojan's 3rd annual Notre Dame and USC college football pick 'em contests to begin!
Just like the previous two years, the goal is not merely to predict each team's final record correctly, but to predict each game correctly, and that's how the contests will be scored. Final record and margin of victory will be used as tiebreakers.
To enter the contest, simply leave a comment with your name* (or a psuedonym that will adequately identify you to Irish Trojan readers) and your predicted margin of victory for each USC and Notre Dame game. (They're separate contests, so you can choose to enter one or the other if you wish; you don't have to enter both, though of course it's encouraged.) Positive numbers mean you're predicting a win by the Trojans/Irish; negative numbers mean you're predicting a loss.
USC's schedule is here; Notre Dame's schedule is here. I'll put a simple text list of all the games at the top of comments, so you can copy & paste that, and then fill in the relevant numbers, if you wish.
The deadline to enter is 3:00 PM EDT on Saturday. The prize, as usual, is good old fashioned bloggy bragging rights.
Good luck! Beat the Vandals! Beeeeat Jackets!
*First and last names preferred, not required. But please, if you have a particularly common name, at least give a last initial or something. I don't want three "Davids" and four "Andrews" with no last names. :)
Did you hear the one about the guy who has this dog, and he says, "My dog Max is the biggest USC Trojan football fan of any damn dog in the country. Every year when USC plays Notre Dame, he gets so excited! Every time 'SC scores a touchdown, he jumps up and down and barks, and when USC wins the game, he does back-flips and cartwheels."
So the guy's buddy says, "Well, what's he do when Notre Dame beats USC?"
The guy says, "I don't know. He's only 6 years old."