Can of worms...

So, replay is supposed to fix college football, right?

Not so fast, my friend.

We've already addressed the fiasco at the Oregon and Oklahoma game. Now another Oklahoma team has replay to blame (in their minds) for their loss.

As you remember, Houston (not that one) was driving and toOSU forced a fumble. The replay official overturned the call, saying that it was not a fumble because forward progress was stopped. In Malibu, a shout of "What in the holy heck was that?" was heard from GPRC E34.

Well, the fallout was predictable. The replay guy has been suspended. Thus sayeth the Lord.

Problem is, we've now opened a Pandora's box, where every college that doesn't agree with the outcomes of various calls is now going public with the tape that proves their point. For your consideration- John L. Smith and the Michigan State Spartans, claiming that the various penalties against MSU during a sideline scuffle were exaggerated based on Charlie Weis' fabricated claims. And he has the tape to prove it.

Nothing was said about the tape to prove why his team let a 31-14 halftime lead dissappear. Maybe it went into the locker room with Coach Paterno.

I guess this is what happens in our reality TV, YouTube world- everything is taped, and everything is second guessed.

I guess I miss the days where it was about what happened between the sidelines and not what happened (or didn't happen) in the video booth. How long until we find out that a coach created "evidence" via his Graduate Assistant in charge of film editing?

Stupid freaking leprechauns...

What looked to be the easiest week in our college football picks turned into a week filled with exciting games, with one in particular standing out as an "instant classic". The biggest impact on Saturday, though, wasn't leveled by a linebacker or a fullback, but by the weather. The major front that swept across the country made an appearance at numerous games, and may have changed the outcome for several top teams.

Given that we are talking about "college" football, let's review, shall we? What did we learn this week?
We learned that:

• You don't want to play Arkansas in overtime (6-1 overall), as Alabama learned
• Arkansas' punter is, um, special...
• Everyone should schedule a 1-AA team
• Well, almost everyone
• Buffalo has never really recovered from "wide left", have they? What? Wrong Buffalo? Sorry...
• Troy never stood a chance
• Gig 'em, indeed
• High scoring football in Seattle must be contagious
• Colorado's new motto- "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory"
• For the 2nd straight week, an Oklahoma team falls prey to a blown instant replay call
• Bye week for two teams (and obviously, I can't read a calendar)
• Joe Paterno is old

Couple of notes on this one- first, I spent the majority of Friday giggling about this shirt, which implies that JoPa is a brain eating zombie (PSU fans call themselved Zombies). So, Saturday was another dia del gigglismos (as we say in LA), for all the wrong reasons.

CFMusings would like to go on the record as being a big fan of Coach Paterno, and in saying that humor about the bodily functions of the elderly is disrespectful and wrong. Funny, but very wrong.

First was the sign I saw on SportsCenter (which was removed for Gameday)- after some research I found the story of said sign... (comments section here)

I showed up at College Gameday this morning at about 8:00 to make sure I got the perfect spot (right behind Herbstreit's left shoulder), and I did. I used the recommendation from Cory's blog comment earlier this week to use the sign:

"Boxers of Briefs?" (picture of Paterno) "Depends.."

So at about 9:30 when ESPN started the live from Columbus segment with Herbstreit I had the sign in perfect location, right off his shoulder, clear as day. My sign was on Sportscenter - score.

At 9:45 a Gameday security ogre approached me and demanded that I take down my sign and give it to him, or I would have to be escorted away from the set. So I gave him a few "what the hell" comments and after he threatened to bring in the police and make the situation ugly, I bargained with him to give me a Gameday t-shirt in exchange for my sign.

So then, right before a crucial punt in the second quarter, Jo Pa goes 'trotting' across the field to the locker room with a case of "flu like symptoms". At first, I thought it was a trick play of some sort- I was impressed that none of the Ohio State or Penn State players were phased by it.

But ah, ABC. They wanted to go indepth, and let us know way WAY too much about Coach Paterno's problems. Here are some posts from other bulletin boards...

Did JoePa just run to take a pee break with 7 minutes left in the first half? Or is he just late for the early bird dinner specials at Bob Evans?

You know what an older gentleman, sensitive to the slow deterioration of his once-strong body, wants above all else? Wall-to-wall national coverage of his case of the runs. Thanks, ABC.

Can we start calling him Joe Pooterno?

Huh- that's the first time Joe's gone for two this year...

Maybe he's trying to be the spokesperson for these...

Well, I guess eating brains will do that to you. Back to the list. We also learned that-

• Speaking of crappy, Ohio State was hampered by the weather in their ugly win
  

These things will happen, but it just seems like since the UT game, the Buckeyes have not been firing on all cylinders, waiting instead for the big play. And their third score (INT for a TD), may not have been a TD- it looked like the ball was dropped by Jenkins before he crossed the plane of the goal line. If so, then it should have been no TD, and PSU's ball at the 20. Again, they replayed this (to check to see if he was in bounds), but the call was not overturned. It was good to see the defense take charge, though, when the offense was sputtering. That has been the largest concern, and has been answered. Nonetheless, I believe that we learned that

• Ohio State is not the #1 team in the country

I know that I'm the guy that always picks against his team in big games, but I've been saying this for a while now. I think that they'll have to take yet another step forward to beat Iowa this week, MeatChicken at the end of the year, and Michigan State. Which brings us to..

• Charlie Weis may be an offensive genius, but his defense sucks
• The "L" in John L. Smith stands for "Lay down, roll over, and give up"
• Stupid freaking leprechauns
  

You'll hear about how this game "redeemed" Notre Dame's season, and how the "Luck of the Irish" made a difference. The facts of the matter are that 1) Notre Dame gave up 78 points in 6 quarters, 2) The second half was played in a monsoon, 3) This is as much about MSU's inability to finish as it is Notre Dame's tenacity (someone called this "The Meltdown"). I know that I picked Notre Dame, but ND fans are soooo annoying. I was looking forward to a "you can't even be the champion of Michigan, how do you expect to win a National Championship?" email to several friends of mine.

Just so you don't think I've been drinking the haterade, I have a hard time figuring out who's the best team in the country these days. tOSU struggled was losing at halftime to a team that ND smashed, ND needed a collapse by MSU to pull out a win, USC was only up 3-0 at the half against Arizona, Georgia needed a miracle to beat Colorado, Florida was only beating Kentucky (Kentucky!) 12-7 in the third quarter, WVa and Michigan had their wins in question in the third quarters as well.

So, who's #1? Dunno... But these are my top 5 (in no order)- USC, tOSU, Michigan, Auburn, Lousiville/WVa/Texas/Florida (OK, I cheated, but these teams are a step behind everyone else).

Luckily, though, we know who's on top of our league from week to week... It seems like we weren't phased by the weather at all!

Stupid NC State- cost 6 teams from having perfect scores. Why did Coach Amato start to care now?

The top of the heap looks pretty solid- Is Steve starting to pull away? Or is Michael's forward progress going to be reviewed so that he can have a second chance?

Paula- I'm proud of you! Doug- Um, are you still with us?? And what happened to Carrie? Now there's another battle for "best in the house"...

These are great scores, given that teams are playing less than they did in the past. As you may remember, the NCAA changed the rules regarding clock usage (read here and here) the Wizard of Odds blog brings us the following stats from the year thus far (before this week), courtsey of CFbStats.com

Overall----G-------Plays------Plays/G------Min--------Min/G-----Time/G
2005-------178-----29736------167.05-------35593------199.96-------3:19:58
2006-------199-----30261------152.06-------36988------185.86-------3:05.52

That's 15 lost plays per game, average. FYI.

So, let's see what we'll be talking about this time next week? Will Emily stop staring at her thumb and move up the charts? What will happen in these games?

• BYUand TCU (on OLN... uh... Versus)
• Auburn and South Carolina
• Rutgers and USF
• Illinois and Michigan State
• Texas Tech and aTm (If the Aggies win, Coach Leach has his second career planned)
  
• USC at WSU
• Manginos at Nebraska (is Runza Hut ready?)
• tOSU at Iowa
• Anderson at Mt. St. Josephs (really)
• Ursinus and McDaniel (I double checked..)

Small schools (if I goof this up, it will be the last one...) Division 2 match up, as Tusculum meets Wingate. The Pioneers of Tusculum have the opportunity to spend their off hours perusing the fantastic collection of the Andrew Johnson museum. Located in Greenville Tennessee, Tusculum is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, USA, and is unique for their "block system" of education (where a student will take one class at a time, for three hours a day, for 18 consecutive days), used by only three other institutions.

Located in beatiful Wingate North Carolina, the Wingate Bulldogs also have excellent co-curricular opportunities, as WU bosts both a magnetic resonance spectrometer and a DC plasma spectrometer. Wingate University is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, and is 3-1 on the season. Perhaps they can use their spectrometers to analyze weaknesses in the Tusculum gameplan

At least they're trying...

We here at the Musing have given our Illini friends some grief, and (recently) deservedly so.

However, I wanted to point out on their behalf that Coach Ron Zook is serious about this, and is working hard to emulate one of the great coaches of the Big T1e1n. You can see some of this in this video link- listen and look for the phrase "Coach Ron Zook is not happy..."

"Fighting" Zooks

(This is from a NY newscast, so the Orange football team that they're talking about is Syracuse...don't get your hopes up)

That's a step in the right direction, but to truly be great it will need to look a lot more like this:

(What is it about the color orange that makes people so mad?)

I guess Illinois fans should be greatful- if they had won more games and a couple of national championships and Zook did this, he'd be fired, right?

USC Fans and I agree...

We both hate Brent Musburger.

LA Times: USC Signals Its Displeasure

The complaint here is that BM told American what signal Trojan QB John David Booty uses to tell his recievers to change their routes to "go" routes, given the coverage.

I agree with the outrage, but think that USC could easily come up with a new call.

Ironically, this is the second week in a row that that QB's "go" signal has been revealed during ESPN on ABC's Saturday Night Game Of The Week Brought To You By Taco Bell. During the tOSU/Texas game, Ted Ginn Jr caught a perfect pass from QB Troy Smith. Afterward, as they were showing replays, one of the commentators mentioned that Smith signaled for the change in pattern by rubbing his helmet.

Makes football exciting, but if it impacts the game, the it's a bad idea.

Like having Musburger in the broadcast booth in general.

And the wages of sin are...

Suspension- at least for the Pac 10 officials involved in the OU/UO debacle on Saturday. To recap-

In Eugene, there were not one but TWO blown calls and subsequent blown replays; both allowing the Ducks to overcome their hideous uniforms and Oklahoma's lead. First there was a pass interference call that should have been disallowed due to the ball being tipped (ironically, the exact opposite of what the issue was at LSU/Auburn). Second, Oregon clearly touched their onside kick attempt prior to it going 10 yards or being touched by Oklahoma's return team, and the ball was recovered behind the pile by an OU player. Yet, after further review, the ball was given to Oregon and they scored the winning touchdown. Some of us were yelling "Shenanigans", and speculating that Oregon's most famous alumni had something to do with it... but the reality is that Oklahoma still lost the game for three reasons: 1) The vaunted OU defense got burned deep on a pass while they were in prevent defense, 2) Stoops ran Peterson to set up the filed goal, but this burned off way too much time, and 3) OU's 44 yard field goal was blocked. Those things are within a team's control, even if the officiating isn't.

In response-

The Pacific-10 Conference suspended for one game the officiating crew and the instant replay officials that worked Saturday's Oklahoma-Oregon football game after finding mistakes were made in calls near the end of the contest.

Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said Monday that a review by conference officials of video of the game revealed that both the instant replay officials and the game officials assigned by the conference made errors in the final minute and 12 seconds of the game.

and if that weren't bad enough, the president (President, mind you) of Oklahoma (not the state, the University), wants more-

University of Oklahoma president David Boren sent a letter Monday to Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg, saying the officiating problems was beyond an "outrageous injustice," and asking him to pursue having the game eliminated from the record books and having the officials involved in the game suspended for the remainder of the season

No word (other than whining) from the LSU/Auburn game...

UPDATE: When Bob Knight chimes in that Oklahoma is being oversensitive, you know it's good.

Loathe Notre Dame? Why?

Well, Mom, I know that their coach looks like a nice enough fella', and all of those nuns praying away may make you happy, but there's something more, um, sinister involved here.

MotSaG: Now do you get it?

Well spoken, gentlemen, well spoken.

Separation Saturday

Well, every bit of hype was lived up to this week... seven amazing games, and several that came down to the wire.

If you weren't glued to your couch watching football this weekend, well, you probably were not in our apartment. Or if you were, you were Carrie. I think the "separation" comes on Sunday- when I'm finally separated from the remote control.

Let's relive the memories, shall we?

This week's version of the "Can they both lose?" game had Michigan kicking the holy stew out of Notre Dame in South Bend (no, 'Holy stew' is not an official Catholic meal- as far as you know). Even though I picked the Irish, it was a good win for a couple of reasons:

1. The Big T1e1n has now beaten the #2 team at home for two consecutive weeks
2. Perhaps now everyone will stop acting like Charlie Weiss is a genius (0-3 against top 5 teams)
3. Perhaps now everyone will get off of the "Brady Quinn, Heisman Trophy Winner" bandwagon (best quote, from Troy, "If he's a Heisman frontrunner, then I'm obviously good enough to be the backup for Detroit." Actually, given the Lions, this may be true...)
4. Makes it all the more likely that THE GAME will be for all the marbles, with 2 top ranked teams. The way it should be.

The Notre Dame loss was so unforseen, that even the Pope decided to do something to distract attention from it.

Iowa defeated Iowa State for the legendary Cy-Hawk trophy. Oh, and a lifetime supply of CarHartt hats.
The Clemson and FSU (Bowden Bowl) match up proved once and for that- well, nothing really. They'll play again next year. FSU lost, but got over 100 yards rushing, bringing their three game total to 148 yards. Wow. Oh, and the newfangled clock rules played a part in this one, too.

In the Clemson-FSU game mentioned above, after the Tigers scored and kicked off (the clock running on the kick now, not when it's fielded), Bowden had to use a time out just to be able to get his team on the field in order to attempt a miracle Hail Mary. This should never be the case. This rule has got to go. (HT: M-Zone)

Miami and Lousiville proved that Miami is still Miami (stay classy, Hurricanes), and that Lousiville is for real. Really. Either way, the Hurricanes lost 31-7. Downside? Now they'll start looking for a new coach to bring them back to the way they were. Yeah, that's a good idea... do 202 yards of panealties in the 1991 Cotton Bowl sound like what you're looking for?

Over on the Outdoor Life Network (seriously- they have the Mountain West contract), Texas Tech and TCU met for a classic match up of, well, I'm not sure. Maybe a match up of "Teams who have Texas in their names but haven't won a national championship". Anyway, Doug's frogs won 12-3, and Tech Coach Mike Leach still looks like Vince Gill. OLN went back to televised duck hunting immediately afterwards. Too bad Doug forgot to make his picks and take advantage of his alma mater's superiority.

The SEC had Tennessee and Florida battling down to the wire yet again, with the Hators prevailing 21-20 in the waning seconds in Knoxville. Vol faithful took the loss in stride, though, knowing that the team could go back to their jobs as dreamsicle salesmen on Monday. (HT: Dan Common)

Los Angeles survived the invasion from Husker Nation, and saw a great game of football. Ultimately, USC triumphed 28-10, but it was a much closer game than many imagined. In fact, the only questions remaining after the game were:

1. Will this kid ever be able to walk again? ( no photo)
   
2. Why didn't Callahan throw the ball, given that it was a West Coast game and they run the West Coast offense?
3. Do you think that Andre Jones learned anything?
4. Do you think the Nebraska Alumni association will forgive everyone but Amanda, Janie, and Carrie for picking against the Huskers? (8 points, Terry?)
   

In "Games that only we care about", Syracuse defeated the "Zooks" (not fighting at all) at home 31-21, in a battle of members of ESPN.com's Bottom 10. Ouch. aTm defeated Army, UW beat Fresno State on a blocked extra point, Arkansas also squeaked by Vandy in Nashville, and Kentucky won. At least Vandy and Illinois didn't lose to a 1-AA school *cough Indiana cough* You'd think their coach had brain damage or something.... Oh. Sorry.

In our Small Schools update, the Quakers came out fighting and defeated Anderson 32-24, in spite of a late Raven rally including an onside kick recovery (great job, special teams coach). Azusa fell 27-7 to Wisconsin Whitewater, while ACU won 51-14. Savage Storm, indeed.

But in the midst of a weekend of highlights live controversy... first for our friends in stripes.

LSU/Auburn ("War Tiger!") ended up being an amazing finish, and would have been settled much earlier if AU defensive backs would wrap rather than just lowering a shoulder. Nonetheless, the late call (or no call) on the tipped pass/pass interference cost LSU a greater opportunity to win. Frustratingly, replay was used, and did not help do what it was designed to do.

In Eugene, there were not one but TWO blown calls and subsequent blown replays; both allowing the Ducks to overcome their hideous uniforms and Oklahoma's lead. First there was a pass interference call that should have been disallowed due to the ball being tipped (ironically, the exact opposite of what the issue was at LSU/Auburn). Second, Oregon clearly touched their onside kick attempt prior to it going 10 yards or being touched by Oklahoma's return team, and the ball was recovered behind the pile by an OU player. Yet, after further review, the ball was given to Oregon and they scored the winning touchdown. Some of us were yelling "Shenanigans", and speculating that Oregon's most famous alumni had something to do with it... but the reality is that Oklahoma still lost the game for three reasons: 1) The vaunted OU defense got burned deep on a pass while they were in prevent defense, 2) Stoops ran Peterson to set up the filed goal, but this burned off way too much time, and 3) OU's 44 yard field goal was blocked. Those things are within a team's control, even if the officiating isn't.

Even in the "ESPN on ABC Game of the Week", there were a c0uple of pieces of controversy. First, was the news regarding Reggie Bush, which the commentators didn't talk about much at all (well, seemingly not as often as they mentioned He Who Shall Not Be Named- even last week at the Texas Game, 3 years later, MoC's name was invoked...).

The second controversy involved College Gameday- Herbstreit and the guys go to the site of the biggest game of the week- while USC/Nebraska was a big game, it was speculated that GD would head to the LSU/Auburn game, or the UT/UFla game, or even to South Bend.

Not so fast my friends... Those games are all on competing networks (CBS/CBS/NBC), so GD was headed to LA. Online, several folks were asking "huh?", and conspiracy theories abounded. Finally, someone came forward with the truth- ESPN's Gameday is a part of the brand, and needs to follow to the designated game of the week. Wonder what they'll do this week, with Notre Dame/Michigan State and USC/Arizona being the "game", depending on the market...

Saddest part of this was the GameDay atmosphere- usually, there are people cheering and screaming and holding up signs behind the crew- this week, it was 6 in the morning (for the east coast kick off time), and LA people were neither awake or even aware that there was a game on. As I read on another blog-

Someone needs to release a star studded “Do They Know It’s Football?” for the clueless people of Los Angeles. Where’s Bono when you need him? Probably grandstanding about starving kids in Africa again. Priorities, man.

Don't ever let anyone tell you LA is a sports town.

Onto the picks...
Carrie comes back to earth, and Jake wakes up! We also had our first "no show", with Doug mailing it in during the busiest time of the year for SPU.
Here's how this week's points worked out...

We had a couple of people who risked more on their picks, and as such some of the 6-4 folks got more points than the 7-3 ones.

Here's where we are with our picks after three weeks:

Not only did Carrie come back to the pack, but she's now in a tie with her little brother. While at the same time it's looking more and more like maybe this year will be like the last two.

Points to this... uh, point.

Carrie falls to fifth, and we have a couple of dogfights for 14th and 6th places.

So, what will happen this week? Big games include-

• Penn State at Ohio State
• Arizona State at Cal
• Notre Dame at Michigan State
• Iowa at Illinois
• Buffalo (snicker) at Auburn
• C0lorado at Georgia (can anyone say 0-4?)
• Louisiana Tech at Texas A&M
• Alabama at Arkansas
• Tennessee State at Vandy
• Kentucky (snicker) at Florida
• UCLA at UW
• Anderson at Mt. St. Joseph (fun fact- no mountains in Indiana)

Small school highlight of the week- the Division 3 Ursinus Bears square off against the McDaniel Green Terror (I wish I were making that up). Located in Maryland, McDaniel was founede after the Civil War and has the distinction of being the first coed college south of the Mason Dixon line.

Ursinus, on the other hand, has as it' primary mission "to model civility, to prepare students for an interdependent world and to teach students how to put their ideas to work". Located near Philadelphia, it is missing a great opportunity to be the nation's premier research institution for rhinitic studies.

See, 'cause it's pronounced "yer sinus", and the rhnitis refers to- heck, you look it up.

Good luck this wewek!

Bush league

Yahoo! Sports is reporting what we've speculated about for a while- Heisman trophey winner Reggie Bush and his family may have accepted more than $100,000 in benefits while he was playing for the Trojans.

Check out the results of the 8 month investigation here: Cash and Carry

Things to note:

1. These were benefits from sports agents, and not directly related to USC (boosters, etc.)
2. Some of the things documented are kind of mickey mouse (limousine rides, etc.), and (in my opinion) are an understandable but stupid part of the NCAA's regulations
3. If true, USC might have to forfeit every game that Bush played in; including both (one) of the national championship(s)
4. If true, Bush may lose his Heisman
5. If true, USC may be placed under sanctions (yeah, right...)

I'm wondering if ESPN will give this story the same type of coverage that tOSU gets every time MoC makes another stupid decision. Given that they just spent a whopping 15 seconds on it during SportsCenter, I'm not hopeful.

More as it develops.

UPDATE- There may be a direct USC connection after all... I missed this in the first reading

Also, (running back coach Todd) McNair allegedly knew of Bush's involvement with the New Era venture before last season's national championship game against Texas, according to two sources. And at one point during the 2005 season, sources say Bush thought that Carroll knew about his parents' living arrangement and feared he was going to conduct his own investigation.

Huh.

Rivalry

I know that tOSU just won a big game... but let's keep it in perspective. TBDBITL helps do just that, as seen in this video clip taken right after Saturday's contest. It starts with the traditional "Carmen Ohio" alma mater with Coach Tressel and the team, and then, well...

Like I said. Perspective.

Ain't got no alibi...

In another place, I mentioned that Carrie and I were trying to decide who had the ugliest uniforms in college football. I remember it like it was yesterday, when I said....

Carrie and I were watching UTEP and Syracuse and Oregon this weekend, and wanted to put bleach in our eyes. Yuk. So, we decided to have an informal poll amongst our folks for the ugliest uniforms in Division 1-A college football. And yes, each of Oregon's versions counts as one uniform.

For the next couple of weeks, we'll be taking nominations, and in mid October we'll create a bracket that will run into the bowl season. Please go to the comments section to nominate a team- it will help if you can include the URL of a photo of the uni- there are a lot of places on the web to find them.

So far, we've got the following (thanks to ESPN.com's Uni Watch)

Boise State All Blue
UTEP All Blue
Syracuse Home
Oregon (All combinations)

Huh. Never had a flashback in a blog before.

Anyway, the good folks at USA Today have helped my cause with their amazing article outlining the couture conundrum that our Duck-y friends have on gamedays. You can read about it here: What to wear?

Check out some of the options-

384 possibilities. More if their socks don't match. I can hear the locker room banter now- "Does this helmet go with these shoes?" "I cant wear the white- it;s after Labor Day, and I'm an autumn..." "Do these pants make my butt look big?"

Look, Gus- you're an offensive guard. Gravity makes your butt look big.

And Nike makes these athletes look like a train wreck.

Following up

Remember when we were talking about the NoClueAtAll?

Seems like they made a shockingly wise decision regarding the Clemson situation...

NY Times: Brother Brother

Ummmm... Are you sure you want to go there?

Well.

Interesting reading out of Omaha: NU corner confidently predicts win over USC

Huh.

Is talking smack against ever USC a good idea? To me, it falls in the realm of taunting the happy fun ball... just something you don't do.

However, like the man said- "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up". I guess we'll see.

Like I was sayin'...

Still haven't finished (or begun) my timestudy of the tOSU/UT game, but read this today and found it interesting-

NY Post: NCAA Changes Behind Times

Great quote:

Every big-time sports authority that has auctioned that authority to television invariably has allowed its sport to be chipped or chopped until the sport scarcely resembles what made it popular in the first place.

Oh, yeah, the NCAA really knows how to identify, attack and resolve problems. If it were in the deodorant business, it would sell nose plugs.

Good thing the NCAA is one of those businesses that doesn't have to worry about competition.

Week two- Are you kidding??

Did you check the "Roll Call" and enter your information??

Go ahead, we'll wait.

Back? Good...

On paper, this looked like a difficult week... a lot of "huh?" games. But that's why the games aren't played on paper, but by tiny men inside of our televisions. Let's take a look at the games that mattered.

Big 12

• Nebraska overwhelmed Nickles and Dimes University (according to Doug Flutie), in the "stadium that some people are still griping about".
• Oklahoma State over Arkansas State. Wow, Paula- can't anyone in Arkansas play football??
• University of Willingham 13, Oklahoma 13, halftime. Even though it ended up differently, UW did themselves proud.
• Colorado is now 0-2. Hee hee hee.... (More on this later)
• Baylor were not very Christlike
  
• The Fighting Manginos squeeked by Lousiana Monroe. Insert "slim margin/Slimfast" joke here...

ACC

• Florida State has no running game, and struggles against Troy. Maybe if Malachi would have helped, it would have been an upset...
• Boston College went into overtime against Clem and his son.
• Akron's mighty ZIPS upset NC State at home on the last play of the game. NC State is coached by our favorite Napoleon Dynamite impersonator, Chuck Amato.
• Wake Forest scores in the last minute and a half, and keeps all of us from committing seppuku
  

SEC

• Auburn blows out Missississississippi State; LSU does the same to Arizona
• Kentucky (holy crap!) wins a game not involving freethrows
• Arkansas proves that my earlier comment was illfounded, and beats Utah State. If only it had been Utah...
• Tennessee stops Air Force with a little ground defense in the 4th quarter (see, 'cause they're the AIR force, so ground... nevermind)
• Vandy drops a close one at Alabama. If they just would choose a mascot like I suggested...
  
• There is a God. Spurrier loses at home
  

Big T1E1N (and friends)

• Notre Dame looked ridiculously good in their home opener. Remember what I said earlier about apocalypse? I think they're talking to me...
• Rutgers wins!! Hooray!! What? Oh, whoops. Sorry.
• Iowa and Syracuse played an ugly one (more later)
• Michigan beat yawn Central Michigan. If only God had better aim...
• Northwestern lost to New Hampshire. No jokes here, only continued prayers for the Wildcat family
• Did Ohio State play this week? Huh. Didn't notice.
  

Other

• Horned Frogs whip up on a California school
• Texas Tech wins ugly against UTEP (more later)
  

Smaller schools

• Anderson loses late to Depauw. If you're interested, games are broadcast live online.

I really blew it last week, as Central State and Urbana played the week prior (Urbana won). This week, Urbana got beaten by Tennessee Martin. To make up for it, here are two bonus updates:

• Wheaton Thunder (formerly 'Crusaders', due to Billy Graham) defeated yearly MIAA power Albion College 29-7.
• The Pittsburg State Gorillas absolutely obliterated Oklahoma Panhandle University 87-0. Seriously.
  

In our picks/points world, we're seeing history. Obviously, we are in for an interesting year... Who knew that Carrie would be ranked #1 in the nation? She's been #1 in my heart (OK, #2, after Jesus), but in the nation? Wow. I just hope she'll still talk to me.

So how do you top back-to-back perfect weeks? Two perfect scores on week 2. Seriously, I think this is the total number of perfect scores we've ever had. Here's the digits...


And here are the picks...

In my own defense, I should have gone 9-1 this week. I changed my pick to Colorado State at 8:00 am Pacific on Saturday, and it didn't register. Ah well, rules are rules, and these are the scores.

And just so you know, I always ALWAYS choose against my team in huge games. That way, I 've at least got something to be pleased by. Yup, I'm a loser.

So, here's where we are... just a bunch of Salieris pursuing Carrie's Mozart.


Michael, Jake, and I were talking- usually 8-2 or 7-3 every week will win this thing. This year, though... Wow. We must secure this single family domicile each and every seven day span.

Maybe this will be the week that everything splits out a bit... there are some really tough "rivalry week" games to pick from and watch:

• Michigan and Notre Dame
• Auburn and LSU
• Tennessee and Florida
• USC and Nebraska
• Iowa and Iowa State
• Miami and Lousiville
• Oklahoma and Oregon
• Texas Tech and TCU
• Clemson and FSU (Bowden Bowl)
• Syracuse and Illinois
• Arkansas and Vanderbilt (ohhh!!!)

In smaller schools-

• Anderson squares off against the greatest mascot in college sports- the Earlham Fighting Quakers.
  
• Abilene Christian and SE Oklahoma State- SEOKS's mascot is "The Savage Storm".... seems like they're just asking for trouble.
• Azusa Pacific, fresh off their win at the NFL Hall Of Fame, faces the NCAA Division 3 runner up, the Warhawks of Wisconsin-Whitewater. (Jake, what's the difference between a war hawk and a war eagle? Do you think UW-W also has another mascot? A lion perhaps?) You've got to wonder if they just stayed in the midwest, or if they traveled from LA to Ohio to LA to Wisconsin to LA. In either case, that's some serious coin.
  

You Ain't Got No Alibi!!! Carrie and I were watching UTEP and Syracuse and Oregon this weekend, and wanted to put bleach in our eyes. Yuk. So, we decided to have an informal poll amongst our folks for the ugliest uniforms in Division 1-A college football. And yes, each of Oregon's versions counts as one uniform.

For the next couple of weeks, we'll be taking nominations, and in mid October we'll create a bracket that will run into the bowl season. Please go to the comments section to nominate a team- it will help if you can include the URL of a photo of the uni- there are a lot of places on the web to find them.

So far, we've got the following (thanks to ESPN.com's Uni Watch)

Boise State All Blue
UTEP All Blue
Syracuse Home
Oregon (All combinations)

Oh, and this helmet.

Deep in the heart of WHOOOO!!!!!!

logo shamelessly borrowed from Buckeye Commentary

What an amazing game... Just a couple of thoughts, and then I've got candy to make...

Offense: Wow. Wow wow wow. And just think how good OSU can be if/when Troy starts to run. Game ball to Gonzales.

Defense: Bend but don't break... nice. I'm really surprised that UT did not stay with the run, and I'm not the only one... In the big T1E1N, we will definately need to do better against the rushing game. Game ball to Lauranaitis, who can't help but be a bad dude, given who his dad is.

Penalties: This will kill us long term... I felt so bad for Alex Boone, the sophomore lineman that had a couple of things against him. In addition, the "helmet to helmet" thing is K-R-A-P crap- even the Dallas paper agrees:

Texas spent more than seven minutes on its only touchdown. Got a little help in the red zone, too, when the Buckeyes' 6-6 Jay Richardson slammed into McCoy and apparently was flagged for being too tall.

What is especially frustrating about this call is that the two Texas Safeties led with their helmets for the entire game, with no calls. Nor should there be, unless it's intentionally meant to injure someone. Defenders are taught to "Bite the ball", to put your facemask on the ball in order to 1) not miss the tackle and 2) potentially force a fumble. The dropped pass by Hamby in the endzone last year came because of such a hit- it's part of the game. I can't believe I'm doing this, but to quote Bob Davie "He's a big boy, he's wearing pads, and it's a contact sport".

Other thoughts:
A) Some folks in Columbus got a bit too happy last night... three comments-

1. You're not helping those of us who read and post on Michigan blogs when you reinforce every stereotype that they have for tOSU fans.
2. To paraphrase Lou Holtz (I know)- "Act like you've been there before; and like you're planning on going back."
3. To paraphrase Sam Wyche- "You live in (or represent) Columbus, not West Virginia"
   

B) I hate Brent Musberger, and am SOOOO excited that we get to have him do every Saturday evening game for the rest of the year. He started talking about how the game was over at the beginning of the fourth quarter... What an idiot. If he ends up missing after visting LA next weekend, I won't be a part of the search team.

C) It's great to see that Robert Randolph has been tabbed to do the theme song for the Saturday night games. He and his band are all members of the Church of God (In Christ), a pentecostal movement that started in LA. They begun as part of the worship team, and now are doing the music thing full time. You can check out last Saturday's performance here: Robert Randolph- Thrill of It

D) You already know how I feel about the new clock rules, designed to "make the game move faster". Well, it's not any better now...When Carrie is looking at me with that "Why did I marry you?" look because I'm so frustrated, you know something is wrong. You want to make the game move faster? Go back to the old rules, and limit the commercials. Sometime this week, I'm going back to count how many commercial breaks/commercials (including those ones where they tell you who is sponsoring the game after a commercial break) that this game had in the first half. As a point of reference, TV time stated at 5, kickoff at 5:16, and the second quarter didn't start until after 6. The worst part of it? The ESPN/ABC ticker used to tell us about upcoming ABC shows. That's like making announcements for a strip club in church- the ticker is sacred.

Here are some ideas that Carrie, Michael, and I came up with to assist with this...

1. Fewer commercials, higher prices. That way, the money stays the same.
2. Set a specific number of commercials. Once you run out, you can't break away from the game. Heck, show the bands...
3. my favorite Same as above, but also limit the amount of airtime that Brent Musburger has, and make these dependant upon each other. So, if Brent goes 5 minutes over his limit, then that's 5 minutes less of commercials you can have. If Brent keeps his yap shut, then ABC can even run extra commercials. Seriously- I'm ok with commentators filling 'dead air' as long as they know what they are talking about. Brent Musburger does not.
4. on a similar vein Hold an event after the game where Brent has to suit up and actually go against some of the people he's been talking about. Sell commercials to that. Guaranteed to make up any lost revenue from assuming any of the previous ideas

E) Godzillatron. Oh. My. God. That's AWESOME!!! Especially when it looks like this...

That's all I have for now, although I'm sure I'll post some additional material here this week. For now, though, duty calls...

Go BUCKS!!

3-2-5 and 3-2-5-e

In case you're wondering, this is the reason that we're seeing less football this year. These new rules, which reads as follows, were instituted this season:

Rule 3-2-5, When Clock Starts
Change: When the ball is free-kicked, the game clock will be started and subsequently stopped when the ball is dead by rule.

Rationale: By starting the clock when the foot touches the ball on kicks, the length of time to play the game will be less.

Rule 3-2-5-e, When Clock Starts
Change: When Team B is awarded a first down, the clock will be stopped and will start on the ready for play signal.

Rationale: By starting the clock, the committee estimates it will shorten the game by about five minutes, according to studies by several Division I-A conferences.

Lots to say here... I agree that televised college fooball games go waaay too long. But, the problem is the commmercials (another way for the NCAA to make money) and TV time outs, not the game itself. Although, it seems that we've lost more plays without losing any TV time at all. Check out the great work at the Wizard of Odds and the Men of the Scarlet and Grey on this:

WoO- Does Rule 3-2-5 fail to shorten games?

WoO- First Hard Data on 3-2-5-e

MotS&G- Shorter Games, Worse Stats

Another issue is the new replay system- in the FSU/Miami game, almost every call was getting reviewed. How does that help "move the game along"? I love replay, but how many freaking minutes of my life did we lose because the officials were afraid of making the wrong decision in the FSU/Miami game? I believe that it’s one of the unfortunate aspects of our blogified/YouTube world where everything can be dissected online immediately- if you can cover yourself by going to the video, you do.

Bottom line, I’d rather the game was solved on the field rather than in the commercial break or the replay booth.

But, if you want to do your part to protest 3-2-5 and 3-2-5e, you can do so here:

WeHateTheNewClock Rules.com

More on the "No Clue At All"

Great follow up articles about what we wrote earlier regarding the NCAA...

More from Malcomb Gladwell-

Abolish the NCAA?
NCAA Redux

Interesting story from The Wizard of Odds-Who Takes Advantage of the System?

Summary- Clemson athlete has custody of his brother, due to horrible circumstances. Story runs in the paper, and people want to help financially. But athlete can't accept any of the generosity, as it would violate NCAA rules.

Riiiight...

I like to think I'm a relatively intelligent person, so perhaps I'm missing something.

tOSU quarterback recieves $500 and sits out two games...

USC wide reciever recieves $18000 in free rent, and is reinstated for first game.

Notre Dame safety wins first professional fight

And earns $25,000...

QB sinks hole in one; cannot keep award

Prize money was $25,000...

US Olympian cannot continue to accept sponsorship money for training while playing college football

while people who play professional, minor league baseball can still go to college and play football without having to give back any of their earnings.

You would think that folks in higher education would have more sense. Oh wait, they do... they're still getting paid, right?

Let the record show

I do not coach youth league football.
I've never been to Stockton.
And I wouldn't have had such bad form.
(Coach Willams taught me better)

Oh, crap

Ohio State should just give up now...

Remember, Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies the possibility of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.

Interesting...

Over the weekend, starting Texas DB Tarell Brown got into a bit of trouble...

ESPN: Texas CB Brown faces drugs, weapons charges

For the record, we will not be casting any first stones hereabouts. College aged adults make dumb decisions, and should be exhonerated if possible, held responsible if appropriate, and educated throughout.

Interestingly enough, it seems that all of the problematic items (gun, drugs, etc.) belong to someone else after all. So, Brown may get to play, even if he doesn't start.

Again, these young men are high profile- anything that happens to them is under the brightest scrutiny. If Brown is only responsible for hanging out with knuckleheads, then so be it.

However, this story in the Austin Statesman makes you wonder if the student athletes in question might recieve 'friendlier' treatment: Statesman: Free football tickets? Judges say 'Yes'

As much as I love the game, the impact it has on society at large really worries me. And yes, I know I'm part of the problem...

Roll Call

Ok- Who are you? Comment with the following info:

Name
Part of the country
Alma Mater(s)
Favorite College Football Team
Team you love to see lose
Random fact

Thanks!

After week one...

For those of you newbies (Where in the heck did you come from???) each week, I'll post a quick summary of the ins and outs, and will update both the weekly and overall scores. I also (as you can see) put things here during the week that relate to college sports, and welcome comments and content. Please use the comments section- if not, it will just be Michael, and you know how that gets.

Also- I'm posting "Roll Call"- please comment and add your information so people can know who they're up against, since we have such a large crowd. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with some nickname, and who wants that?

Let's get on with it...

Well… we’ve officially kicked off for both the Pick-em season and the high holy days that are college football! Pretty successful and exciting week, especially if you’re a Nebraska Fan from Malibu… but more on that later.

In the big dance, the Buckeyes won ugly, the Cornhuskers threw their way to victory, TCU defeated Baylor, A&M overwhelmed the Citadel Bulldogs, toOSU looked good against a sub par opponent,Auburn gave WSU enough space to ‘coug’ themselves, and the University of Willingham and the Fighting Zooks found themselves with a winning record for the first time in a long time. Even the beloved Anderson Ravens kept their grasp on the Wagon Wheel, defeating Taylor in a night game at a local high school. Yup, Indiana football at it’s finest.

Not all was well, however- Vanderbilt made Michigan look, well, ‘Michigan-like’, but could not pull out a win. Arkansas fans found out that their hopes for “this year” should start AFTER they play USC- although they were 20 points closer at home. As much as they tried, Kentucky couldn’t figure out the three point line in their game against Louisville- although literalist Michael Bush was obviously told to “break a leg” to start his senior season. Florida State won, but Miami lost! Also, as much as it pains me to say it, Notre Dame won… What can you do against the Holy See? But, Colorado.... snicker... lost to a Division 1-AA school.

Fun Fact: Arkansas/Tennessee/Auburn defeated USC/Cal/WSU 89 to 82 in the SEC/Pac 10 clash. Minus the USC scores, it’s 75 to 32. Trojan football- money well spent. Who do they play next???

Looking at our league, Carrie was PERFECT! And I'm not just saying that becuse she's cute- she went 10-0 for what may only be the fifth time in the history of this "league". Here's how everyone ended up:

Points

Lots and lots of Shikes at the top of the list, but not the usual suspects. Annual challenger Dan and recently unretired Janie are in the lower echelons... perhaps that will change, perhaps the tide has turned.

You know what's really nice? 11 of us beat Mike Golic- who invited him anyway?

Let's look at our other scores- picks percentages (for those who think that the whole confidence points things is too close to gambling and don't want to stumble...)

Picks
A bit odd to see the one guy who should know the most about Division I college ball at the very bottom...

Next up- Most of our teams are continuing their tour of force, playing the highest caliber opponents. Nebraska hosts Nicholls State (home of the Colonels), and Washington plays Oklahoma (If UW loses, they can still get jobs selling cars...). The SEC sees Auburn and Mississippi State squaring off, as well as the Commodores and the Crimson Tide That's Also An Elephant meeting (was there even a commodore in Crimson Tide? I know it was about boats).

As an aside- what is it with Alabama people? Can't you choose a mascot? Crimson Tide/Elephant, Tigers/War Eagle, Blazers/Dragons... Don't get greedy, just settle on one. Please.

Back to the update- TCU wages against the mighty UC Davis Aggies, while the real Aggies will see Lousiana-Lafayette visit College Station. USC prepares for Nebraska with an off weekd, and Arkansas is guaranteed not to lose. Hooray!

Anderson squares off in Greencastle against the DePauW (Not DePauL, from Chicago- this one is Dan Quayle's alma mater. Proud...). Remember this fact in a couple of weeks when I rant about the Monon Bell game.

Huge games this week- Penn State travels to South Bend to face Notre Dame, which is a sure win for ND. If PSU wins, Joe Pa (a devout catholic) will surely be thinking about how this might impact his soul's future (look, he';s 114- you'd think about death too.)

In Austin, the "I can't believe I had tickets to this one and didn't go" game- #3 Texas hosts #5 Ohio State (Yes, I know they're number one... I don't believe they deserve it). If you don't watch this one, you don't love college football. Or Jesus.

Small college game of the week- In the NAIA, we go back to the homeland, where Urbana University plays Central State University in the Dayton Classic, held in Welcome Stadium on the UD campus. Urbana University's most well known alumni is my mom; this institution holds a loose affiliation with the Swedenborgian General Convention of the Church of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America. With a group that philosophically focusing on the afterlife, Urbana's students should be proud of their school spirit.

Central State, on the other hand, is a traditionally African American institution in Wilberforce Ohio. Famous Marauders include Vince Buck, Erik Williams; and the program is just being reinstated after cuts due to budget concerns.

Don't forget to "Roll Call"- and get your picks in...