Cheaper by the Dozen

It's Monday, and MACh1gAAn still sucks.

In the midst of the "sleeper week" (where everyone was sleeping because there wasn't a marquee game) there were some things going on of note.

• Let's get it over with and start in Champaign/Urbana, where tOSU sought to bounce back from what I call the "airline worse case scenario" (I was stuck on Delta watching last year's upset as we traveled to Ethiopia- nowhere for me to pace around). And, sure enough, Tressel-ball was sufficient to stop the Zooks. Which brings us to our first video of the week: a lesson in physics

Look, there's no way a 240 pound guy should be able to do that. The best part of the video? Check out who's busting his keister to get out and lead block. Yup, #2, the freshman QB. Even though it's not the first time it's happened, when you realize that he started 10 yards behind Wells you've got to be impressed.

• Nebraska showed why they are still relevant, owning Kansas State in Manhattan.
• TSUN dropped a home game to Northwestern, who was missing their starting QB and RB. Awesome.
• Navy made two (!) onside kicks happen, as Ntre Ame almost collapsed against them for the second straight year.
• Auburn put a scare in the pre-season SEC champ.
• LSU needed a collapse of Biblical proportions by Troy to stave off the upset.
• Minnesota also failed to finish, and allowed the Axe to remain in Wisconsin.
• In the Big 12, Baylor beat A&M. You read that correctly.
• Texas reminded Kansas that they are, indeed, Kansas, in a game that brought our first runner up for catch of the week:

• Also in the Big 12, TBPU had to put up with some serious shenanigans as they overcame Colorado. At least they responded appropriately... if your definition of "appropriate" includes theft.
• In the "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy" category- Steve Spurrier got pounded by 50 points by the team he used to coach and run the score up on people with.
• Oregon brought out yet another uniform monstrosity in their win over Arizona. At least they had cute ducky wings.
• Slick Rick returned to Seattle. Nothing good can come of this sentence.
  
• toOSU continued to win and push it's way toward a Rose Bowl (more later).
• U$C didn't choke against Stanford this year (having already done that against the Beavers), but also didn't cover the spread. For what it's worth.
• Vandy is finally bowl illegible after beating Kentucky. Of course, all you need to do is win 50% of your games to be bowling, so there's really not that much to get excited about.
• Small Schools: The "Strawn Jinx" in in full effect. My comments about Manchester never winning the Bronze Ball inspired them to finally upset the Anderson Ravens, who end the year at .500.
• #2 Wabash also fell in the Monon Bell game, losing at home to DePauw.
  

And now, for the catch of the week. It's the second play in this highlight, and may also qualify for the hit of the week:

And now, the scores for our grouping:

What's amazing about that is that Carrie spent 5 minutes setting up her picks. Nate gets the award for "most from the least", finishing last in picks and middle of the pack in the points.
Cat's "moving lag" finally catches up with her,and she drops to the bottom of the week's standings.

Mystery solved: I've written before about how my scoresheet looks differently than what I entered. This week I figured it out. Typically, I do my picks twice- once on Tuesday (just by my initial gut feeling) and once again on Friday. Usually, there's no change- but when I have made changes they haven't registered for some reason.
This week, it cost me: for picks, I changed to choose Michigan and Boston College (after FSU suspended 5 players), so that ended up being a wash. However, the four games I lost were all changed on Friday to lower points, so this "glitch" meant that I dropped about 15 points more than I should have.

Ah well- we've said all along that we'll trust the machine, so I'm stuck. Moral? Either spend 5 minutes like Carrie or only do it on Fridays.

Not that it would have mattered, Dan seems to be running away with this thing:

(And by "Dan", I don't mean "Nolan's Dad").

This is especially true in the points race, where he's built a 19 point lead as the season comes to a close:
This week, things will shake out a little more in the BC$ when the Red Raiders travel to Norman. However, because I'm snarky, here's something that might be interesting to see:

• OU beats the Red Raiders and win the Big 12 South
• Florida State upsets Florida
• Missouri upsets OU in the Big 12 Championship Game
• Florida beats Alabama in the SEC Championship Game
• Penn State loses to MSU (more on this later)
• Oregon State wins out against Arizona and Oregon

Which means that, more than likely, we'll have a Texas and U$C National Championship Game. While a great matchup, neither of these teams will have won their conference.

You know what we need? A playoff. You know who agrees with me? The President elect.

Eight team playoff, shorter regular season... wow, that sounds really familiar somehow.

The problem with this plan- Even the President doesn't have enough weight to throw around. The current BCS coordinator responded to this by saying

For now, our constituencies -- and I know he understands constituencies -- have settled on the current BCS system, which the majority believe is the best system yet to determine a national champion while also maintaining the college football regular season as the best and most meaningful in sports.

Yeah. We understand constituencies. And given that ABC/ESPN is about to sign a deal to run the BC$ through 2015, we've got no hope of seeing change anytime soon.

What am I hoping for? Well, for tOSU to get a BC$ bowl bid this year, the easiest thing would be for either toOSU or Penn State to lose. And, I don't see either happening. If Penn State wins, they get the Rose Bowl (barring some other issue that would put them into the Championship Game), and Ohio State would be left hoping that an "at large" bid opens up (not likely, with Boise State and Utah going undefeated and toOSU winning out). But, if State Penn chokes against the Spartans, I may finally get to see the Buckeyes in Pasadena. Fingers crossed.

So, what does this week hold? Vandy gets a shot of finally beating the Vols, Arkansas faces the legion of Croom, Pittsburgh and Cinci play for the Big lEast championship, The Chicago War has the Zooks and the Wildcats in Evanston, and the "CRAP-ple Cup" sees winless Washington at one win Washington State. And yes, it will be televised. U$C is on their third bye of the season. Seriously.

Of course, the big games will be State Penn and MSU, as well as the Sooners and the Leaches. Oh, and it's the week for "The Game". Here's your joke of the day:

This years' Ohio State/Michigan game has been canceled.
Michigan began driving to Columbus to play, but couldn't get past Toledo.

Small schools highlight the first round of the NCAA Division 3 playoffs, where Lycoming will travel to Hobart. Well, actually, they will travel to Hobart and William Smith, since the schools were initally two seperate institutions, one for men and one for women. Collectively known as the "Colleges of Seneca", these colleges are located in Geneva New York. Lycoming's Warriors love numbers and colors, and famous alumni have bombed in a big way.