Yeah. That makes sense.

You may have heard about Heisman candidate Ian Johnson's little "hobby".

He knits. Seriously. Like Rosie Grier.

Playing on the smurf turf at Boise State, it's understandable that it might be a bit chilly and that a good cap or scarf or mittens would be appreciated. So, his craft comes in handy, as it were.

He does such a good job that people have been purchasing his wares. Well, until recently when the NCAA said that this jeopardized his amature status and ordered him to stop.

So, what to do with the already completed items... you can give them away to charity! Homeless and other folks need warm wares, right? Nope. Not according to our friends in Indianapolis.

You know, the one whose CEO makes $755,000 (plus benefits) to lead the "non profit" group.

So, let's review our list, shall we?

• 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
• People who play professional, minor league baseball can still go to college and play football without having to give back any of their earnings.
• And now- no knitting.

One good thing, though- it guarantees that this guy will never play any college sport, no matter where.

Too cute not to post...

Future rabid Buckeye fan...

Bird's Eye View

Another posting on tOSU/Michigan... check out this video, taken from a building near the 'Shoe. It's a 24+ hour timelapse of November 17-19.

We're watching

Currently, there are four African American head football coaches at Division 1A 'major' programs (Big T1e1n, Pac 10, SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 12, MWC). Four. Karl Dorrell at UCLA, Ty Willingham at UW, Ron Prince at Kansas State, and Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State. Four. You remember, we've talked about this before...

And now, with a number of firings on the way, it will be interesting to see if this number increases.

Here are the current or recent openings:

Michigan State- Hire: Mark Dantonio (no)
Iowa State- Hire: Gene Chizik (no)
North Carolina- Hire: Butch Davis (no)
Arizona State
North Carolina State
Alabama
Miami
Cincinnati

Stay tuned here for updates.

You've gotta have heart...

Well, it's been a great run... and a fantastic finish this week! The championship came down to the wire, and we have a first time winner for both our points and picks classifications! We'll get to that in a second... with all of the trypthophan in our systems, you may have missed some amazing football this week. Let's just say that it's not the healthiest of holidays.

Todd had a heart attack as the Aggies upset the Longhorns with an amazing QB keep on the option play in the waning minutes in Austin. The game, however, was marred by the cheap shot placed on Colt McCoy- rumor has it that he's OK.

Michael nearly had a coronary as Oklahoma State came this close to upsetting OU; the option was again the difference, as the Freshman QB forgot to pitch the ball to the open back for the go ahead score. And yet he still managed to tell everyone that his team's rival should be playing in the BCS Championship, so we knew he was OK.

Paula must have had a stroke, as her beloved 'Hawgs looked past LSU and got pounded at home. So much for BCS hopes... At least Florida State also lost, so there's something to celebrate, right?

'Husker faithful all went out to get their vision checked after Nebraska defeated Colorado 37-14. Not because it wasn't expected, but because of all of the trickeration that was necessary. Plus, it is a bit hard to believe that they would keep trying to score when they were up 30-14 with less than a minute to go.

Chuck nearly needed angioplasty. Not really sports related- deep fried prime rib will do that to a guy.

West Virginia dropped to South Florida and Georgia Tech lost to the irratic Bulldogs of Georgia. Tennessee, um, 'overwhelmed' Kentucky 17-12, and Oregon State won the "Civil War" against some of the ugliest competition in the world. Oh, and all is well... the Mormons beat the other guys in the "Holy War". So we've got that working for us.

High school news: Websters Grove defeated Kirkwood 28-12 for the Frisco Bell, although it was a JV game (the varsity are in the state playoffs). In San Jose, Lincoln beat SJHS 33-7 in the annual Big Bone Game (seriously).

And (in case you thought I was going to forget this) Notre Dame lost to U$C. Yup, that's right... Charlie "Offensive super genius" Weiss still has not defeated a top caliber team. Let's revisit this, shall we?

2005: #1 USC 34, Notre Dame 31; #4 Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20
2006: #2 Michigan 47, Notre Dame 21; #3 USC 44, Notre Dame 24

And yet, Charlie and his wunderkind QB will still manage to get their BCS bowl, all because they are Notre Dame. My bet is that it ends up being Boise State; a great team with a great season, but one that is overmatched against the rest of the BCS teams... This will placate all of the ND alums by giving them an easy win, and will justify the national media's ridiculously high 2007 preseason ranking for the Irish (you know it will happen, even though they graduate everybody).

Ironically, many people say they could be headed to the Rose Bowl to meet Michigan again (since that turned out so well last time). What's interesting about this is that the Michigan folks are soundly against a rematch... "We already beat them- What would be the point?" Exactly.

Final note- Listening to U$C games on the radio is a lot of fun. "Booty" Hee hee hee hee...

So, onto the matter at hand... even though her Hawgs lost, Paula had a great final week!!
I will absolutely give it to her... She did not miss a single week this year. I wonder if CIS knows how she uses her university supplied Outlook???

Todd was obviously soo excited about the Aggie win, that he gigged himself into a coma. That can be the only reason that I know of that he forgot his picks. Amanda and Nate, well, I guess they lost hope.

And that means.... DAN COMMON is our points winner for the year!!
As our "official" champion, he recieves a tasty buckeye treat (Well, OK, I was saving one for him anyway...). In our "picks" system, Michelle wins both the house and the overall championship!
Only one game seperated the top two, or we would have had a sweep. Great job, Michelle.

Jake- I would be remiss if I didn't point out yet again that you finished behind Todd and Cat (who missed one week) and just barely ahead of Emily (who missed two).

Since it's the last week (I think), I wanted to take a look and see our percentages of correct points/picks overall. For this, I calculated the number of points that were attempted against those that were gained (so weeks that were missed did not count against you). Here's where we ended up (people in yellow missed at least one week)

Picks

Points

If only folks had played every week... Let Paula be a role model to you- from missing three weeks last year to finishing in 4th for picks.

While I haven't heard if anyone from our group has been invited to play catch with Mike Golic, I hope you realize just how strong our group is. Did you realize that:

• Over the course of the year there were 11 perfect weeks? (Carrie had 3; Michelle had 2)
• 14 of our 19 were in the top 80 percent of the nation?
• 9 of us were in the top 90% of the nation?
• 6 were in the top 95%?
• Dan was in the top 1.7%?
  

It would be difficult, I imagine, to find a group that was as well rounded and highly competitive as ours was... Like I said, though, we haven't yet been told if one of us is going to Kansas City. If that happens (heck, we'll all be watching Nebraska and Oklahoma anyway), let's pray that they hit the target and remember the "commissioner" that made it all possible.

NEXT- After the BCS and bowls work out, I'll send another email invite for our Bowl Challenge (it's a lot harder...). Also, stay tuned to this channel for updates on the games that matter, and the stupid stuff that doesn't.

Thanks for a great season!

Moment of clarity

I've been trying to figure out how I feel about the Michigan game... Obviously, it was a great win, but I don't know. It felt like domination, but the score was much too close for that. And with all the talk of a rematch...

Luckily, I've found wisdom- this time from "enemy territory". One of the blogs that I regularly read is the amazing MGoBlog-great for all things college football, not just UM. In their post following THE game, I read-

Rematch? Uh... what? Going to the game and losing imposed a sort of involuntary media blackout so I must have missed the leap of logic from “Michigan got housed” to “Michigan deserves a rematch.” Yeah, yeah, three point final margin but let's not fool ourselves: Michigan was +3 in turnover margin – and two of those were gifts – and still only got within ten points of OSU before scoring a 90% cosmetic touchdown aided with a miraculous, potentially horrendous bailout pass interference penalty. (Please note Secret Axiom Of Football #27: "If it ends with an unrecovered onside kick, it wasn't that close.") I see that Michigan is still somehow #2 in the BCS. Now... I know a lot of poll madness is attributable to people not watching games, but you watched this one, right? This is madness.

Feeling better now...

Well, that was fun, wasn't it?

What an amazing game... Back and forth, ups and downs, a halftime lead evaporated, game comes down to the wire... Incredible.

What? No, I wasn't talking about that. I'm still jacked by the St. Ambrose loss to the Morningside Mustangs in overtime. Seriously, who could have felt the winds of change blowing??

Certainly not Wake Forest, whose Cinderella season went up in smoke against a determined Virginia Tech team. Who's hokie now?

And Rutgers obviously didn't see the unexpected coming either, as their role of BCS spoiler stopped at the hands of the Bearcats from Cincinnati. Speaking of hands, it was sad to see coach Greg Schiano making the "chopping wood" signal to his team to the point where his hand should have been broken. Coach, at some point you stop chopping and look for the path back home. I'm guessing that the sign on that path says "30-11". Thanks for playing the BCS game- we do have lovely parting gifts.

And the "Fluffing Zooks" of Illinois didn't see the train in purple that hit them as well. Ron, it's going to be hard to recruit in Chicago if you can't even beat Northwestern. Just be thankful that they still have academic standards that won't admit a lot of potential athletes who you can pounce on.

And now- the AFLAC trivia question not sponsored by AFLAC: What legendary coach was the subject of this quote this weekend from one of his players?

"it isn't the same with Coach not on the sidelines, but we know he is with us in spirit and he is up there watching over us"

Back to the games of the week- If you don't believe by now that Notre Dame hates America, look no further than the fact that their starters were still in the game during the fourth quarter of their 41-9 beatdown of Army. It was also nice to see #3 Florida schedule a team with no wins against a 1-A team for such a close game. At least Arkansas couldn't choose their opponent; it's not their fault that MSU is terrible. Same goes for the Volunteers- Sorry, Vandy. Kentucky also chose to whoop up on a lesser squadron, solidifying their role as Bowl cannon fodder for some real team.

Just so you know, I'm not going to go into detail with my thoughts on THE Game... If you're interested, stay tuned to this channel over the next couple of days. Given that a record 21.7 million folks watched it you saw what I did. I will say, though, that any criticism of tOSU's past problems went out the window with Adrian Arrington's 90 yards and one touchdown performance. I will say, though, that it was an awesome audition for his potential next team.

Making life easier, one day at a time: Rumor of the week is Spurrier going to coach Miami. See, that way all the loathing can be focused, for your convienience. Steve Spurrier- thinking of you.

Well, the Crapple Cup was the only thing that kept Todd from going perfect in one of the most difficult weeks of they year. Of course, the rest of us missed it too, so that puts Todd at the top of this week's picks.
Again, in a really difficult week, our top teams did really well. But it also seems as if we were inspired by last week's Ghidorah reference- we had a three headed monster of non-participation. You've got to wonder if some of these folks have just thrown in the towel, as it were. We do know that this is not the case for Emily, who merely flaked it. I guess California will do that to you. Please note the change of her team name... Congrats to Auburn for their fifth consecutive Iron Bowl victory.

And, for those of you new to our little program, I know that I was the only person to pick against Ohio State. I always pick against tOSU in the Michigan game... well, not always. But, it works- In the Tressel era, the beloved Buckeyes are undefeated against the team up north when the following things happen:

1. I pick aganst them, but have them winning in the "score" section
2. A Houston watches the game with a Strawn (Michael missed the 2003 game. In 2004 Michael watched with Scott. This year, I included Caleb and Tara Houston just to be safe)
   
3. I avoid wearing blue shirts during the week
4. My Buckeye necklace is also 3-0 against "them"

So, how did our points come out? Interesting things happening up top:
Dan's failure to have faith in his UWillingham Huskies cost him this week, but may not have made a difference in the long run. Be sure to email him at dcommon@spu.edu to ask him where he was during the OSU/Michigan game.

AFLAC not sponsored by AFLAC Answer: Joe Paterno. The quote is from Paul Posluzny, referring to Joe Pa's coaching from the booth due to his injury. Seriously. Bet I can guess who you thought it was...

With one week to go (maybe- last week they added an extra week), the race is really up in the air. In fact, we have a new leader after this week:
Dan and Michelle leap Michael due to the incorrect Cal/USC pick by our Cowboy friend. I will go ahead an concede the points race for our apartment to my wife, as Jake has done earlier. Maybe that's why Emily didn't pick this week... she DID say that he was supposed to remind her... I smell shenanigans.

Fun Ohio Fact- OSU 42, Michigan 39. Ohio pick 4 lotto for Saturday evening: 4239.

Huge battle for #2 overall spot- Like we've been saying, this will come down to the final weekend of picks!

Speaking of #2 (no, not like that), the BCS still has Michigan as #2, and a number of people are talking about a rematch on January 8. While there's still a lot of time, and a USC win this weekend almost assures their berth in Glendale (Columbus West), I will say that I don't think a rematch is a good idea. I agree with a lot of what MotS&G has to say about this, but I would add this- it would trivialize THE game. Ohio State/Michigan is special because it's once a year- two states, two teams, two fanbases pointing to one game. A rematch would take away a part of wht makes this the greatest rivalry in sports.

Plus, I can think of 42 million reasons why this won't happen.

Thanksgiving week battles: With our league coming down to the wire, there will be a lot of great stuff to keep us busy. Here are the important matchups:

• Boston College at Miami. Echoes of a great game...
• Texas A&M at Texas
• LSU at Arkansas
• Colorado at Nebraska
• North Carolina at Duke (the "Is it basketball season yet?" game)
  
• Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
• Kentucky at Tennessee ("Rocky Top" game- writers of UT's fight song were from Kentucky)
• Florida at Florida State
• Notre Dame at USC

Of course, the greatest small schools game is the annual Frisco Bell game between Webster's Grove and Kirkwood in the St. Louis suburbs. This is such an instrumental part of thanksgiving lore, it's been covered by both the New York Times and the Miami Herald.

Other important battles:

• Turkey Fryer at Michael's father in law's place
  
• Biscuits versus Dressing at Joe's house
  
• Steve versus the "afternoon walk rather than watching football on Thanksgiving" matchup
• Seconds and Thirds of pumpkin pie against Chuck's cholesterol
• Scott's son's first Thanksgiving versus clean clothing
• Everyone versus the NFL Network
• Friday morning: Shopping or Black Friday?
  

Gobble gobble, everyone!! Happy Thanksgiving...

Hail to the victors...

the REAL victors, not pretenders from Ann Arbor.

Ohio State 42 Michigan 39

Obviously, we're pleased hereabouts... best thing is that I get to post this photo, taken at a farm outside of Kalamazoo Michigan.

GO BUCKS!!

Judgement Day

Let's keep this in mind

In light of the huge doing's hereabouts, it's also important to remember that "college sports" are a pretty lucrative way for a number of people to make a lot of money.

You can see just how much here- USA Today: Contracts for college coaches cover more than salaries

Makes you wonder how the NCAA can be tax exempt...

Rest in Peace...

Even as an Ohio State fan, I mourn with the Wolverines at Coach Shembechler's passing. A graduate of Miami of Ohio ("The Cradle of Coaches"), his friendship and rivalry with Coach Woody Hayes made The Game what it is... the National Championship, even if both teams were 0-11 coming in.

He touched the lives of innumerous students and athletes, and will be missed.

Are you ready???

If not, this should help...

Not me....

People have asked, so I thought I would respond...

This is not us: Pair selling OSU/Michigan Tix to Pay for Adoption

Yes, we are adopting. Yes, adoption is expensive. But no, we don't have tickets.

Plus, I think I can confidently say that my wife would not allow me to sell such a precious commodity... especially given who her grandfather was (search "Fuenning").

Following up on AA

From this: A squared plus A squared equals shenanigans

The trial date has been set- AA will appear in court on November 30

This date was set today at a hearing that, imagine my surprise, did not make a decision.

'Cause, you know, if they did, that decision would impact 11/18/06- Football-calypse.

"Hail to the victors", indeed

That State Up North

Now THIS is a rivalry...

Actual State Farm insurance bilboard in Columbus

Great shirt that says it all (HT: MZone)

In Columbus airport- reads "thanks for visiting, even if you are from Michigan"

When you make The Daily Show, that's saying something...


And then, there's this video...to this day, it makes me nauseous/angry just to watch.

Suprise, suprise, suprise...

For a greater appreciation of our title, click here

And this, dear readers, is why the games are not played on paper. Who could have guessed that:

• Rutgers !RUTGERS! would now be a part of the National Championship picture, after their huge win against Lousiville. Oh, the pandemonium... but at what cost?
  
• Three one loss teams would fall to inferior competition, halting once and for all the "What about us?" whine-fest. See Genesis 4:6-7 for clarification- Loose translation, "Do what you're supposed to and all will be fine". In that vein...
• Wow- Georgia ruined a great 'tailgate' party at Jake's house. Perhaps they felt slighted; or perhaps Brandon Cox had his mind on Emily's bbq rather than the game.
• Wow2- Texas experienced an upset of Biblical proportions, losing to KState in a game that saw back to back flea flickers. As it has been said elsewhere... Very nice.
• Wow3- Cal got caught looking ahead to USC, and got stooped against Arizona.
• Oh, and Florida almost lost. At home. To the Spurriers.

All across the board, surprises abounded

• #24 aTm fell in the last seconds to Nebraska. Much rejoicing in Lincoln. Runzas for everyone
  
• 6-4 Pittsburgh lost in overtime to 4-5 Connecticut
• Stanford's first win came against UWillingham
  
• Kentucky is bowl eligible, at Vandy's expense. Hide the women and the liquor
• Tennessee looked like road kill against Arkansas (more on the Hawgs later)
• Notre Dame proved that it wants the terrorists to win by demoralizing Air Force
• toOSU helped Baylor remember how the meek are blessed
• Miami of Florida and Florida State have a combined ten losses. Commence giggling
  
• Anderson kicked a field goal with six seconds left to win their 8th straight "Bronze Bowl" 19-16. The long march is over, Joe (we're still waiting for the season recap, coach)
• Wabash's late safety preserved a 23-20 win for the Monon Bell, in a game that we actually watched in California. Ah, the joys of HDTV...
• Speaking of California, Cal of Pennsylvania fell 21-17 in a rain swept game to Indiana of Pennsylvania. Next up, Iowa of Wisconsin. Yet another game that was broadcast in Malibu. No tOSU or Nebraska, though.
• Oh, and tOSU and Michigan absolutely obliterated their opponents. No surprise there

She's the hostess with the mostest... mostest points this week! It's a great thing that Emily didn't jump off a roof after the Georgia game, because she wouldn't have seen how successful she was-

There must have not been internet connection under that bridge this week... You join a proud group, Nate. LEt the record show that this was the first time in the history of our picks league that I dropped 20 points. Yikes. Ph well, that's why we also have our other scoring system:

See? That looks much better... In a week where everyone loses at least two games, it's not surprising at all to see so many at .500 or better.

Do you realize just how good our group is? We are all above 75% of the country, have 10 people over 90%, and have 8 people better than Mike Golic. Check it out:
And our picks...
Going out on a limb- Ok, after this weekend, it's my turn to finally rank what I see as the teams with a chance to play in the "Whatever they're calling it" National Championship Game. Here's how I see it-

1. THE Ohio State University- Doy
   
2. Michigan- Doy2- If they can win in Columbus, they deserve to go to Tempe. Not that anyone would like it
   
3. USC- Winning out means beating two loss Cal, one loss Notre Dame, and UCLA. They are better than
   
4. Arkansas'- Still have to get by LSU and Florida, but they are playing better than
   
5. Florida- Pick a QB, will you? If they win the SEC, they beat a good one loss Arkansas
   
6. Notre Dame- Only because of a soft schedule and a national backing
   
7. Big East Ghidorah (Rutgers/WVa/Louisville)
   
8. Boise State- They are undfeated, and guaranteed a BCS bid. Why not?

So, what to do this weekend? Well, there's the NAIA playoffs, where Morningside plays St. Ambrose. Hooray! Methodists and Catholics, going at it. Morningside's campus is on the national register of historic places, and the Lady Mustang Basketball team is the two time defending national champions. St. Ambrose (patron saint of bees), was a foundational figure in opposing Arianism, and his sermons led Augustine to the Lord. We should all be greatful.

In 1A, it's time for the big rivalry games: The Iron Bowl (Alabama and Auburn), The Irony Bowl (Illinois and Northwestern), The Kissing Cousins game (Vandy and Tennessee), The Old Oaken Bucket (Indiana and Purdue), The Military versus God game (Notre Dame and Army), The Sunflower State Game (seriously- Kansas and Kansas State), The Apple Cup (Wazzoo and UWillingham), and Cal/USC.

Oh, and the Football-calypse. This is too big for this post, I'll be linking and listing all week on this site.

Go Bucks.

Whoop De Freaking Do

So- big doin's in 'Naptown (Indianapolis, for haters)- the NCAA has released it's graduation rates for 2005. Hey, guess what? They went up 1% from last year.

Hooray! Whoops- not so fast my friends. The data also shows:

athletes in general graduated at a higher rate than other students at their institutions, Division I male athletes in general fell short of other male students (56 vs. 58 percent), and football players (55 percent) and men’s basketball players (46 percent) were lower still. And the numbers were even lower at the Division I-A level, the NCAA’s top competitive level, where 41 percent of men’s basketball players and 42 percent of baseball players earned their degrees in six years. (Granted, those numbers are all generally on the rise, as NCAA officials are rightly quick to note.)

As you can imagine, not everyone is excited and there are higher expectations:

“These figures understate the gap between the graduation rates of the general student body and athletes, since many regular students fail to graduate for financial reasons, which is not an issue for athletes on full scholarships.”

Or, as the guys at TheWizardofOdds put it:

63% of all scholarship athletes who entered Division I colleges in 1999 had graduated within six years, compared to 61% of all students at those institutions... But we have to wonder what the graduation rate would be for the general student body if it had access to tutors and academic centers and everybody could be on scholarship and not worrying about paying the rent.

Amen...

See? SEE?!?!???

Sometimes you have something to say, and just can't find the words. So you search and search for someone to give you a hand; to write or sing or say the thing that's in your heart.

Heck, that's the whole schtick behind Hallmark Cards. And Winger.

I've been calling for a Division 1A playoff for years. And, I realize that it ain't going to happen. So, I live with the BCS, and pray for utter chaos (multiple undefeated teams).

But there still was something 'off' about the system; something I couldn't describe. And then I found this:

The BCS Has Turned College Football Into Figure Skating

Clarity!! This is what I wanted to say all along.

For perspective, here's my most recent thoughts on the 'sport' that is figure skating:

Winter Olympics

Perspective

This Thursday, as you watch Rutgers and Louisville, listen closely to the announcers on ESPN. As they praise the Scarlet Knights for their program's turn around, see if they mention the sacrifices that the University has made in order to be "prestigious".

They won't.

But you'll know anyway, because you'll have read this article: The Price Of Glory for Rutgers

For a summary, New Jersey has cut higher education budgets across the state, yet the football program at Rutgers has seen their budget (and expenditures) grow in astronomical ways. Included in this- their coach, Greg Schiano, is the highest paid state employee, making over one million dollars a year.

And, he's a top candidate to leave and assume a position at another school because of his successes.

Money well spent?

Off week?

Every great team has a week where they don't look like themselves... I thought that this would be the week for the greatest Pick'em group as well, but many folks took the lemons of a harsh schedule and made tasty lemon bars with powdered sugar. Or something...

In the 'real' world, though, there were lots of potholes and construction sites on the road to the BCS Championship game... Many of the top teams did not play well at all.

• Like the police in Smokey and the Bandit, West Virginia's hopes ended in Louisville on Thursday night, where it was proven that there is no D in "Big LEast". Hopefully, though, they enjoyed the lovely parting gifts.
• Um, is there a trend here? PJs other favorite team put a scare into #2 Michigan, and Ball State lost due to a no call on pass interference in the endzone. Personnally, I thought that UM being pushed by Letterman's alma mater was kind of humorous, but I can see how people would feel otherwise.
• The Zooks looked like they were who we thought they were until the second half, when Tressel-ball turned the offense into mashed potatoes. While the defense played well, I can easily say that there were more than a few tOSU fans who were pulling a Paterno as the game wore on. But, the IlliBuck stays in Columbus.
  
• Speaking of JoePa, his knee was injured during PSU's loss to Wisconsin. As the film showed his leg being bent backward by the player sliding into the sideline, a sensitive internet pundit wrote,

Joe Paterno just about lost his leg below the knee when a player's helmet directly collided with it. The whole thing bent backwards, and he's still on the sidelines, looking no more irritated than he does on a day-to-day basis. You know who else can take a complete inversion of the kneecap? Corpses.

• Wisconsin proved why the new clock rules suck, by intentionally going offsides on kickoffs in order to take up more time. Remember, the clock starts when the ball is kicked, so any time that elapses is just gone when they assess the penalty and kick again.
  
• Florida looked shakey against Vanderbilt, which (I'm afraid to say) had more to do with Leak's turnovers than the Commodore defense.
• The team that Nebraska almost beat kicked the stuffing out of the team that beat Nebraska handily. Oh, what might have been.
• PACE couldn't keep pace with Assumption, losing 19-0. Too many assumptions, I guess.
  
• Anderson dropped yet another close one to Hanover College. Ouch. It's almost over, Joe... Hang on.
  

There were some good things, though...

• Kentucky upset Georgia. Hooray!! UK is almost elligible to go and get their brains beat in at a bowl game!
• Mississippi State beat Alabama at Alabama. Huh- I wonder if they can stay in the SEC now?
• ABC settled an argument for me. Since it's November, ABC has decided to start airing the 12:30 game out here instead of Hannah Montana. This week we got regional coverage. All this time, I thought I lived on the West Coast. What region are we in? Whatever region includes Penn State and Wisconsin. So, we didn't get to see...
  
• Nebraska defeat Mizzou, and put themselves in the driver's seat for another loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship. Go Huskers! And remember, "bugeaters" is better than "booger eaters"
  
• Miami is now 5-4. Five. And. Four. And they say there's no God.
• Notre Dame fans have something new to gripe about- "Why isn't Brady Quinn a Heisman frontrunner?" Hey, here's an answer- Because his great stats this week came against a team that has one win, and that one was to a 1-AA school. Also- it's not impressive that you have a team with no defense, so you have to continue to throw the ball to be sure that your team will win.
  

While it didn't turn out to be our best week ever, it also wasn't our worst. Again, on Friday this looked like a nightmare week, with only a couple of sure thing games. But, the worst we finished was 5-5, and most of our group was 7-3. Here's how it ended up:
Whoops- Emily joins Cat and Amanda in the "forgot to pick" category. Ah well, I guess our days of limited chirophobia are over.

Points wise, we did pretty well. You would have thought that our leaders would have lost more than just 6 points with such a difficult list of options.

Fror the record, aTm's and Tennesee's inability to play short yardage defense in the 4th quarter cost me from going 9-1 and only dropping 3 points. But, in the Aggie's defense, Oklahoma cheated ala USC last year (what? no replay??) Again, the world of "could have been"- I'm glad the Vols found something to party about.

With three weeks to go, here's how our points and picks line up:

Umm, Jake? You know how your wife didn't submit any picks this week? She's still beating you. I'm just sayin'...

Off topic, I would draw your attention to what looks like a great football film. It doesn't come out until December 22, but you can check out the main site here: We Are Marshall. As someone who has connections to West Virginia, this story is something that combines some of my favorite things. One note, though- this movie about a plane crash also stars Matthew Fox. Let's just say that if I see him on one of my flights from LAX, I'm going to leave the plane before takeoff.

Another great week, starting with yet another matchup of undefeateds on Thursday, as Louisville and Rutgers square off. The Zooks look to continue their successes against Purdue, while Auburn hopes it doesn't lose to a team that Kentucky defeated. The Wildcats host Vanderbilt, and toOSU looks to take Texas revenge on Baylor. It's a battle of "it's all relative" jokes when Tennessee and Arkansas meet, while tOSU travels back to Illinois to meet Northwestern. We'll see if Carrie is still talking to Todd after Nebraska faces the 12th man, and Brady Quinn pads his stats against Air Force (Are you freaking kidding me with this schedule?). The PAc 10's ugliest uniforms travel to meet the largest bunch of bandwagon fans as Oregon and USC play, while Stanford and Washington just try to stay out of each other's way.

Triple Small School Games of the Week!

Anderson and Manchester renew their storied rivalry in the Bronze Ball Game- I still haven't heard what this is about. Hopefully, Joe will be able to send us a recap of the Ravens' season... If he does, it will be posted immediately (after the word "asscrippling" is edited out).

In Crawfordsville, it's the 113th meeting of DePauw University and the Little Giants of Wabash College, and the 75th for the Monon Bell. Most known for the elaborate attempts to steal the trophy, this is one of the oldest rivalries in the nation. This year, it will be broadcast entirely on HDNet, thanks to a partnership between Mark Cuban (yup, that one) and DePauw.

Finally, in my favorite ridiculously named universities game of the year, California of Pennsylvania's Vulcans face off against Indiana of Pennsylvania, coached by Rutgers alum and former Fighting Illini Lou Tepper. Little known fact- the loser of this game has to change it's name to indicate that the other school 'owns' it; so potentially, next year's freshmen could be enrolling at Indiana's California of Pennsylvania.

If the BCS were an election...

We'd see more stuff like these:

Notre Dame?


Big East?


SEC?