Treats and Tricks

Happy Halloween weekend... And some things got really spooky for national powers!
(OK, that's enough of that. If you're looking for great costume ideas, check here- Hallelujah. Pass the candy corn)

We followed our best week for picks for a really tough week... But that's why the games are played, right? Here is the wrap up with some observations.

• Michigan won. Whoop de freaking do. Their coach made a statement by not starting a player who ran afoul of the law... he sat a total of 5 plays. If he had killed someone, I'm sure that he would have had a gold star taken off his sticker chart.
  
• Oh! SU #1- tOSU continued the juggernaught, with a 44-0 beatdown of Minnesota. Golden bear sighting at halftime of the golden gopher game.
  
• UWillingham lost in overtime to a resilient Arizona State team. Boy, they miss Stanbeck...
  
• OH! SU #2- toOSU upset the beloved Huskers in Stillwater, especially in the second half. Carrie leaves tomorrow to avoid vacuuming Michael's apartment.
  
• Oklahoma continued the domination of the Big 12 South over the North, knocking off Mizzou in Columbia.
  
• OH!! SU #3- tooOSU, in the game of the week, upset #3 USC in Corvallis. I have promised several people that I won't make any comments that use both tooOSU and USC's mascots. Just remember, you can't spell "suck" without USC.
  
• Not everything was great for orange and black teams on this Halloween weekend- Anderson dropped yet another conference game. Kinda hard to play without a QB, huh?
  
• Auburn gave Emily a late birthday present with their late win over Ole Miss. Think a newer Miss could have done differently?
  
• Vince Gill and the Red Raiders almost pulled off a huge upset against the Longhorns. Again, that's why you play the entire game, chief.
  
• aTm showed that cadets are better than Baptists, stopping Baylor's hopes for a Big 12 South title. Because, come on, it's Baylor.
  
• Illinios played a great three quarters. Wisconsin played a better 4 quarters. Them's the breaks.
  
• Florida and Georgia haven't figured out what to call their game. Whatever. The Gators won.
  
• Kentucky won! And there wasn't a basketball involved!! Cue the apocalypse...
• Vandy defeated those snobs at Duke. Guess we know who's smarter now, huh? Of course, Vandy students are probably having significant issues in their role as the bully picking on the Poindexters in Durham.
  
• Tennessee went to Columbia (not that one or that one, the other one) and defeated the Gamecocks with the help of the new clock rules. Seriously, Spurrier's guys got the ball back with 1:05 left on the clock, and were only able to run three plays.
• Arkansas beat a school for the blind, or something.
• Notre Dame won for the 62nd straight time against Navy. Sounds like it's time to drop that part of your schedule, Charlie...
  
• God is Good!! Florida State and Miami lost close games that went down to the wire.
• And, Colby defeated Bates 10-7. Nothing cheesy about that at all.
  

Now that the BCS standings are out, it's time to make "As Far As I Know Right Now" predictions like everyone else in the country. With WVa in 3rd after the Southern Cal loss, my guess for the national for the national championship is... The winner of the Michigan/tOSU game and the winner of the SEC championship, unless WVa beats undefeated Lousiville and undefeated Rutgers. In my opinion, the Big 12 championship won't have as much BCS weight as two one loss SEC teams going at it; and it's quite possible that the Big LEast champ will get the shaft again.

Plus, I'm not sure there are enough old couches to burn if it were a tOSU verses WVa National Championship game.

Let's get this out of the way right now. Michael was the only person to pick toOSU over Nebraska, and is now in first place. Hate email can be addressed to mhouston@apu.edu.

Here's how this week ruined our pick scores:

Even though we were close(ish- sorry, Terp), our scores were all over the place... Nice to see Emily bringing her A game!

Bringing us to the last several weeks. Like I said, Michael has bumped his way into first and is 1/6000 people beating Golic. Which means he might win a chance to go throw for the dough. And of course, he's going to take his league commish for good luck, right?

Obviously, Michelle has time at home to research her teams and the week's games. Right Michelle- Zachary surely gives you enough "mom time" for that? :)

Just think! Only three more weeks until THE GREATEST GAME EVER! (Hyperbole? I don't think so) However, there's stuff to pay attention to this week:

• Anderson looks to stop the skid or man the lifeboats against Woody Harrelson's alma mater, Hanover College
• The targets of Oklahoman wrath meet in the "Big 12 North Championship"- Nebraska and Mizzou in Lincoln
• Another great SEC showdown, as Tennessee travels to LSU. Maybe Smokey will try to bite Mike the Tiger...
• Michigan plays.... ooooohhhh.... Ball State. Wonder if Letterman will go.
• Illinois. tOSU. Good luck with that. Cat, we'll talk later about side bets- current spread is 14.
  
• Notre Dame contines their whine making tour by playing North Carolina. Only because Ball State was busy, I guess.
• Washington and Oregon meet in Eugene. Loser has to take (or keep) Longview.
• toOSU becomes the next to see if Texas is for real.
• Arkansas and Rev. Houston Nutt play South Carolina and the Devil. Well, it's about time we settle this, huh?
• aTm will let Oklahoma step on their field, but no longer than absolutely necessary.
• Auburn and *snicker* Arkansas State square off.

Our small school highlights a 1-AA Senior Day matchup between Assumption and PACE University. The PACE Setters (like a dog. seriously) suffer from having horrible helmets. PACE has two campuses- Pleaseantville NY and Manhattan, and students can study at either or both of these using the free campus shuttle. They are known for their environmental law program, should you know a spotted owl that wishes to sue someone.

Assumption College is located in Worcester Mass, and has a 102 year history. It was founded and shaped by the Augustinians of the Assumption, a Catholic order that seeks to follow the Augustinian Rule. The Greyhounds are proud of their new Italian Studies major, which they hope will help students Learn, Achieve, and Contribute.

You may have already been aware of this information, but I didn't want to, you know, make that assumption.

A squared plus A squared equals shenanigans

Michigan is on TV again (ESPN has the Big T1e1n contract), which means that they've been on TV more than the #1 team in the country. Ah, the joys of west coast broadcasting...

Anywho, Michigan's first TD was a reception by Adrian Arrington, which is interesting, given recent events. This week, A2 pleaded not guilty to a charge of domestic abuse stemming from an incident that occurred earlier in October.

The guys at Men of Scarlet and Grey help point out why this is so interesting.

Context:

Mario Manningham and Tyler Ecker get injured, are out for the Penn State and Iowa games (at least). As a result, UM is very thin at receivers. Arrington and Breaston will have to step up if UM has a chance to make it to Columbus undefeated. Penn State and Iowa are the two biggest games on the UM schedule leading up to OSU. Penn State in particular is a potential trap, being an away game at night in Beaver Stadium. After PSU & Iowa, UM has three cakewalk games leading up to the big showdown against OSU.

Sequence of events:

1. The day before the Penn State game, Arrington’s girlfriend calls 911 (Ypsilanti police respond).
2. Arrington plays at Penn State, getting 83 yards and a TD in a very close game against the Lions.
3. Arrington is arraigned.
4. Carr is “first informed” of the situation, during preparations for Iowa.
5. Carr “very carefully” investigates, determines that “the allegations are not supported by the facts.”
6. Internet threads and blogs break the news, with people wondering what Arrington was doing driving around drunk the day before the Penn State game, and questioning why Arrington is being allowed to play at all.
7. Crickets are heard chirping in Ann Arbor.
8. Arrington plays against Iowa, getting 8 catches for 79 yards in another close game.
9. 48 hours after the Iowa game, about 10 days after the initial call to 911, Carr says that the details regarding the incident are “a new issue,” and that it “will be handled internally.”
10. UM takes a breath, begins preparing for the weakest part of their schedule.
11. Arrington pleads not guilty, court date set for November 1.

And here he is, scoring the Wolverine's first TD against Northwestern.

Of course, this version of the story can be viewed as biased, given the source. For more commentary, check out these other sites:

Pfef's Sports Blog
MZone (comments, too)
BBC- Buckeye Battle Cry
MGoBlog
AOL
ESPN

Back to the MoSaG- They help put some perspective on this by comparing it to the situation that happened at Texas, where Mack Brown suspended a starting DB before the Ohio State game, even though he believed the student athlete would be exhonerated. While I believe firmly that students should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, I also believe that this learning happens with appropriate consequences in a timely fashion.

I also reflect on the continual accusations that OSU tends to look the other way (again, see any comment on the above boards), and remember that the starting QB (SfB) was benched for two games for an incident involving alcohol; one of these games was the first victory at Ann Arbor.

To be clear, I'm making any judgments, and am confident that Coach Carr will do what he deems best for the students he's entrusted with. I'm just noting change in attitudes when shoes are on other feet.

Autumn in Ohio

Tax Exemption, Part Deux

Feel free to refresh your memory regarding the congressional inquiries into the NCAA's tax exempt status...

And then, read this article by George Will (yup, the Washington Post/Newsweek/Meet the Press guy)

Post: Tax Breaks for Football

He attempts to look quickly at the question- "What is the place of high-stakes football in higher education?"

But, of course, this may go nowhere:

University of Illinois law Professor John Colombo, a tax expert who also testified before the committee, believes the NCAA is in no real danger for two reasons: IRS precedent and the popularity of college sports. "(The IRS is) going to reverse 40 years of their own precedent?" Colombo said. "And if they do, how will congressmen from Texas and California -- and let's throw Oklahoma in there -- react? It's a political non-starter. "This is a not-so-subtle warning to the NCAA that its actions have consequences. The message is that Congress could step in and make your life miserable."

We'll keep you posted...

Best. Week. Ever.

Sorry for the delay in posting... Will was here, what can I say? Next week, we'll be back to abnormal...

Another great week of college football, capped by a number of amazing finishes. Muchigan State helped John L keep his job another week, and UWillingham almost set a huge upset at Bezerkly. Notre Dame neede another miracle against UCLA (more thoughts here), and *gulp* Texas needed a miracle in the snow at Lincoln.

Of course, for some folks it was business as usual.

Not everything was great, though- Anderson dropped another close one against the Beavers of Bluffton, toOSU was concussed by aTm, and Illinois was Illinois.

For our group, though, Perfection was the name of the game, with 6 people going 10-0 and no one worse than 8-2 (losers).
And for points, no one lower than 50? That's unheard of...

So, with 5 weeks to go, here[s where things fall out. Points are pretty close (and a lot of us are elligible for the chance to toss a football),
and Picks are still too close to call (interesting that 10 points seperate the folks tied for picks lead).
Football this week finds Georgia and Florida playing in what used to be the "World's largest outdoor cocktail party, and Nebraska meets toOSU in "The game to see who has to vacuum whose apartment".

While this is on, the West Coast will actually see great football (tOSU and Minnesota, ya betcha), while Auburn reminds Ole Miss that there are no more Mannings available.

SAT scores and Fullbrights abound as Vandy and Duke square off, while Arkansas and Lousiana-Monroe meet on "Dental Hygenists' Worst Nightmare" night in Little Rock.

aTm tries to keep Baylor from being bowl elligible (do Baptists even bowl?), and Illinois heads to Madison to get the cheese kicked out of them.

Anderson meets the Engineers at Rose-Hulman (home of the Colts' training camp).

Other D3 games of interest include #4 Capital at #1 Mount Union, and Colby verses Bates. Colby was founded while Main was still a part of the Massachusetts, and was the first male college in New England to become co-ed. Nothing cheesy there.... Bates college does not, unfortunately, offer master's degrees; nor is there a Bates Motel nearby for visitors. Which is probably for the best, given that it wishes to remain co-ed.

Griping Irish

Amazing article today on ESPN Page 2 in response to Charlie Weiss' complaints that his team fell in many polls.

What planet ya' from, Charlie?

Great quote:

And do you want to know what else befuddles me? How you were able to dupe Notre Dame into giving you a 10-year contract worth nearly $40 million after starting your career 5-2 without a single win against a team that finished the season ranked in the Top 25. That's a bit befuddling. As is the fact that you are regarded as some sort of football god even though the next good team your Fighting Irish beat will be the first. In your tenure you have played three good teams (so much for the perception that Notre Dame plays a brutal schedule, huh?): USC last October, Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl and Michigan five weeks ago. You were blown out in two of those three games. But, yeah, you almost beat USC. Congratulations. Heck of a moral victory there. That's exactly why you were hired. For moral victories.

And it only gets better... check it out.

This is what I'm talking about...

The rest of the country is watching #5 Texas and #16 Nebraska.

We, who are blessed with a west coast address, are watching Disney Saturday Morning.

Again.

Hannah Montana, The Proud Family, That's So Raven, et. al.

No wonder Pac 10 fans don't know that their teams aren't really the best in the country- they don't ever see the rest of the country.

Stupid EaSbPcN...

Politics of football

Those of you that know me know that I was less than happy to see Penn State's Paul Posluszny win the Butkus award last year for the nation's best college linebacker. As I have ranted, AJ Hawk was recognized as the best LB in the Big T1e1n, which includes Penn State. So somehow, the nation's best linebacker is not even his conference's best linebacker.

My therapist finaly convinced me to relax and attribute this (however unjustly) to Penn State's reputation as "Linebacker U". Serenity now.

Well, it's interesting to see now that tOSU's "Little Animal" James Laurinatus was left off of the Lombardi award finalist list ( for best college lineman, which Hawk won last year), while Posluszny is the front runner. In spite of stats like this:

HT: Pfef's Sport's Blog

At least James has a chance to redeem this situation in the Butkus Award. Good coverage here and here.

Serenity freaking now.

Sugar and spice....

Well, it was a good visit to Michigan- Carrie and I escaped, which was surprising given recent history. I guess you could say that we had a nice time.

Which was important, since that's the advice I was given when we left on our nice flights.

We had such a nice time, I thought it would be nice to do a nice post about the nice things that happened the last two weeks in football. For instance:

• It was nice to see Auburn defeat an undefeated Florida
• It was nice to see Texas A&M do the same to undefeated Missouri
• Oklahoma's Peterson jumps for joy. What a nice guy. Too bad he got an owie
• It was nice to see Arkansas on top of the SEC West at 5-0
• Anderson was nice enough to let two other teams win
• It was nice to see Ohio State roll over anything in their path
• It was nice to see Nebraska win two on the road
• Rutgers keeps winning... that's nice
• WVA is undefeated, and no one has burned a coach yet. Also nice
• It was nice that Vanderbilt could win a big one against Georgia
• It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who hates the new clock rules
• It's nice to see that I'm not with USC on this matter
• Illinois did not lose to Ohio State. They lost to Ohio and coach Solich. I'm sure he thought that was nice
• Illinois also lost to Indiana whose coach is recovering from brain cancer. Much nicer than sending flowers
• It was, uh, nice to see that things in Miami never change (OK, that's not fair... let's try again)
• It was nice that Miami responded appropriately by suspending players involved for the huge game against... uh... winless Duke
• UK has basketball season to look forward to- very nice

See? It was nice all around.

Other than Cat forgetting her picks two weeks ago and Amanda repeating the feat this week, we had lots of nice things happen. Carrie scored her third perfect week, and it was nice to see Emily at the top of the charts. Instead of trying to catch up with all of the individual niceties, here's where we are now.

Really nice set of games this weekend. Nebraska hosts those nice fellers from Texas, and it's on TV! Illinois travels to nice, Happy Valley to play Penn State and their nice old coach. Michael and Todd get to talk smack about the toOSU/aTm game- they like that. Anderson and Bluffton meet, and Anderson tries to be successful without two QBs. Washington enjoys the hospitality in Berkley- they're a funny bunch down there. The not so nice coach brings the Gamecocks against Vanderbilt. I'm sure that will work out well.

Well, that was fun. Hopefully we'll be able to come back next week with even more nice stories since I will have more time to think of swell things to say.

Hooray football!

One of my favorite coaches

Not that you didn't know that:

ESPN.com: What I learned from Ty Willy

Go UW(illingham)

After further review

"Chuck, what's the beef with the new clock rules? Why so uptight?"

Well, I think this helps answer that question:

A Big Drop in Scoring This Season

ht:cfbstats

Especially in the second half. Huh. I guess that means that Ohio State had better not try to repeat last year's performance against Michigan.

Now they've done it...

More NCAA news; this time, it's serious(ish):

Panel Questions NCAA's Tax Status

Which brings to mind several questions:

1. The NCAA is tax exempt?
   
2. Miles Brand makes $800,000 dollars a year. For what?
3. Really? The NCAA does not have to pay any taxes?
   
4. There are churches whose tax exempt status is being questioned because of their support of a candidate or party platform, but the NCAA with several enormous television contracts ($503 million from NCAA tournament this year) wants to be exempt? How does that work?
5. None? I have to shell over 35% of my income, and the NCAA doesn't?
6. Seriously?
   

Here are other questions, asked by the committee rather than a blogger in Malibu:

• From the standpoint of a federal taxpayer, why should the federal government subsidize the athletic activities of educational institutions when that subsidy is being used to help pay for escalating coaches' salaries, costly chartered travel and state-of-the-art athletic facilities?

• What additional educational value is received by participation in Division I-A athletics beyond that which is received by participation in other division or intramural athletics?

• How does the transformation of the NCAA men's basketball championship into commercialized entertainment further the educational purpose of the NCAA and its member institutions?

• Several Division I-A schools pay their men's basketball coaches four to five times more than their women's basketball coaches. What additional educational benefit do men's basketball coaches provide beyond that which is provided by women's basketball coaches?

I'm not anti NCAA- they brought/bring me many of my favorite moments in life. However, I am interested in examining the hypocracy of big business actions under higher education language, often at the expense of disadvantaged students.

Remember, this is how Capone went down...

Maybe it's just an Ohio thing...

From the Columbus Post Dispatch:

Which college footbal announcer/analyst irritates you most?

I'm not alone...

Fighting INDEED!!

Real quick update this week- Mom has come to visit, and we had other things to do on Sunday.

This Saturday was big for one reason… Illinois WON!!! Holy freaking cow! Surely a portent of the apocalypse… which makes this the sign of the beast. Go Fighting Zooks!

In a similar vein- if you’ve got nine minutes or so to spare, you have GOT to give this a listen (please excuse the title of the post). This radio personality has a meltdown of epic proportions after the Spartans lost to the Irish last week. What do you think he’ll do after a loss at home to Illinois? I hope people have taken away any of his sharp objects. Coach Smith can’t seem to believe it either… I imagine that Cat felt the same way.

In other news:

• “War Tiger” defeats the antichrist in a squeaker
• Certain folks hereabouts had numerous heart attacks as the Huskers rolled into overtime
• Nothing shuts up a bunch of drunk, yellow clad fans like an early, easy score
• Todd Ormsby has asked that I not mention the Aggies’ loss to Texas Tech, so I won’t
• Kentucky beat central Michigan
• The Willinghams managed to win away from Seattle
• These are arms. This is what they can do.
• Never doubt the Broncos
  
• Anderson's battle against a ranked opponent didn't work out so well
  
• Somehow, they didn't coug it. It didn't help. And their uniforms were ugly.
  
• Vanderbilt defiled the Temple. (sorry, I've been reading 1 Corinthians 3:17)
  
• It’s not too late to jump on the Scarlet Knight bandwagon
• Wingate over Tusculum. Hooray.
• Arkansas didn't lose
  
• Neither did toOSU
• If this guy's not on your Heisman list, he should be
• Umm... what about this highschool kid? (registration required, it's worth it)
  

On to the scores- Happy birthday, Michelle! Way to celebrate with a perfect week of picks! Terry, did you not get the memo?
Cat almost (ALMOST) made it a trifecta of Illinois, softball, and 10-0. Dan Common missed one pick for every good hamstring that he has left.

The "Huskers" may be rising, but our early leader seems to be falling. Luckily she has good neighbors to keep her from being in last place.

Michelle's big week bumps her to the top of the heap with Steve, while there's a huge logjam at 39-11 (stupid superstition of picking against the Buckeyes...)

Still staring at the thumb, I guess...

Hey, just so you know, not everyone thinks the new clock rules are a bad idea. We are about balanced coverage hereabouts.

Next weeks games are quite interesting...

• Things get real in the Big 12 North, as Iowa State and Nebraska square off on ABC
• The "Red River Shootout Sponsored by Dr. Pepper and Big Red Sports Autos" with Texas and OU
• SEC powers meet: Arkansas and Auburn
• SEC powers meet, part deux: Florida and LSU
• National powers meet: Navy and Air Force
• Stupid state powers meet: Michigan State travels to Ann Arbor
• Cousins meet: Tennessee and Georgia (sorry)
• The game no one would watch if it weren't on ABC: Oregon and Cal
• The Battle of Who Could Care Less: Indiana and Illinois
• The Aggies look to rebound against the Manginos
• UW looks to go 2-0 against Los Angeles
  
• Bowling Green = Cannon fodder
• Vandy! Ole Miss! Espn 6!! Don't miss it!
• The entire state of Oklahoma plays the entire state of Kansas
• Satan travels to Lexington (on his way to Georgia, I presume)
• Homecoming at Anderson! That must mean Franklin College, which has nothing to do with this

Small schools highlight of the week: It's an "Underrepresented populations" battle, as Texas College faces off against Bacone. Not located in Austin, Texas College is a historically black college that proudly calls their athletes the "Steers". Interestingly, they are one of the only schools to put their team name on the backs of their jerseys.

Bacone College is a 4 year American Baptist college whose mission is to serve Native Americans. They have a great mission statement for their athletic department:

The nurturing Christian environment of Bacone Athletics will provide an interactive opportunity for students to receive leadership training and experiences based on Biblical truths that direct athletes to the benefits of living a life of leadership through a dedicated relationship with Jesus Christ. Through God’s leadership the Athletic Department will be committed to spiritual leadership, scholarship, stewardship, excellence in competition, and a commitment of service to the American Indian community.

While this is AWESOME, I was a bit dissapointed that they didn't have affiliations with historical figures or meaty tasty treats. Mmmm, bacon...

EDITORS NOTE: No updates until the 16/17th- I'm making a trip to enemy territory, but will get to be there when the Buckeyes roll into East Lansing to face the Slappys.