Unusually usual

Huh.

If 9 of the top 10 lose over the course of two weeks, something strange must be happening, right? But the weirdness doesn't stop there:

• Kansas is undefeated. Kansas. Reason enough to link to this. (turn sound up)
  
• Miami lost to a team whose only win was against James Madison.
• The number one running back is a white kid from Nebraska, but not in a good way.
• Undefeated Urbana High choked away a 22-0 halftime lead to a 2-4 team.
• The Zooks look to be for reals... especially against #5 Wisconsin.
  
• Two of the worst teams in football put the "Loss" in Los Angeles, including a defeat of #2 that defies the 40 point spread. Great work by QB Tavita Pritchard, relative of our friend "the Throwin' Samoan". Stanford's win was so amazing, that it earns the YouTube clip of the week.

• Notre Lame has a win... Yup, it was against a third string, walk on quarterback, who threw two game winning interceptions, but it keeps them from going 0-8. Instead, get ready for 1-7!
• Speaking of goofy QB situations- Why doesn't Coach Fran just let Jorvorskie play QB? Not that this won't keep him from being fired...
  
• Tennessee looks great against Georgia; Vandy, Kentucky not so much against Auburn and South Carolina.
• Mich1gAAn wins by 11, against some school named for a flightless bird.
• The also flightless Ravens drop to 1-4. Yikes.

It wasn't all surprising, though- There were at least three amazing games. The Red River Shootout was all that it was cracked up to be- Oklahoma's freshman QB managed to lead them over Texas in a close battle in Dallas. LSU managed to hand Urban Myer and "Mr. Everything" Tim Tebow their second consecutive SEC loss with a late comeback. (Related note- Brian's having a rough year as a Phillies and an NFL Rams fan). And, the number 2 defense in the country held a team averaging @500 yards and 45 points to 190 yards and no points (nope, I'm not counting the 88 yard drive and late TD against the second string)

Wow- What an odd year of football. South Florida and Boston College are both in the top five. Who would have thought? And when the leaders of the picks league go into a slide that ends with a combined 6-14 with 31 total points, isn't it a sign of something? Take a lookee at these numbers:
Wow. I don't think that Carrie and I have ever done that poorly. It's time to start flipping a coin- it would work just as well... Obviously, Joe's not been given much say at AU- he definitely knows more football than he's letting on.
Each week, it seems like it's harder and harder to assign points, and it shows! But Mom's strategy of "Colors and favorite mascots" worked well enough for a victory this week, and Amanda continues to come on strong. somehow Cat went 5-5 and finished below people who did much worse. That's why we do two sets of rankings, folks.
Looks like Terry is running away with this thing- but with this season, who knows? What I meant by "Step it up" was not "I should do so badly that everyone passes me...
Jake and Aaron have the Shike women challenging them at the top... Oh, and i't good to see Scott and PAula come back to join the group.

One guy's opinion, week three: LSU #1, Cal #2, then one of the one loss teams (USC? OU?) and then Ohio State. They're not better than these others, even though records say otherwise.

Team to keep an eye on: Indiana (yup)- They don't play Michigan or Ohio State, so as a one loss team they could sneak into the Big T1e1n mix.

Coming up this week:

• Ohio State tries to avoid a shootout at Kent State.
• Michael and Carrie try to find a place to watch Callahan and Gundy go at it.
• Kentucky gets their shot at LSU (Good luck with that)
• Pope Fight!! Boston College at Notre Lame
• Hawgs! War Eagles! Nutt! Tuberville! ESPN!
  
• TCU tries to beat the team that upset USC
• Zook goes to Iowa. Like a lot of people, I guess.
• Anderson hosts Defiance (NO! they DON'T!!)
• And the Huskies travel to Arizona. Hopefully, they've shed a bit of fur.

Obscure game of the week: Since the Catholics are going at it, why not the Lutherans? Concordia (Chicago) meets Concordia (Wisc), Cougars and Falcons. Since they both come from the same great Lutheran stock, and from the LAtin word for "harmony" (where we get "Chord"), I'll take this opportunity to point out that there are actually 10 institutions who are a part of this system, but that these are the only two who play each other in football.

As a branch of the conservative "Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod", these schools' foundations include salvation as "grace alone, through faith alone, for Christ's sake alone" They also hold an a-millennial view, as well as rejecting the ordination of women. Finally, theirs is a closed communion, open only to persons who have been baptized and confirmed members of the church.

Well. There you go.