BCS Broncos!

Hot: BoyC State

With an interception for a touchdown on the first series and up by only three at the half, things were looking grim for the Broncos. There is nothing Fresno would have liked more than to roll into Bronco Stadium and take down the team who upset them when they tried to crash the BCS party several years ago. But then there was the third quarter….28 points….not to mention the fourth…..20 points….and Fresno was left with another painful reminder of just how far their season fell from the big talk it started with. The Broncos, on the other hand, helped Ian Johnson tie Marshall Faulk for the number one position on the WAC all-time TD list, managed not to get any penalties as Kyle Wilson returned a punt for a TD (4th longest in school history), and even convinced grumpy ol’ Pat Hill that they deserve to be in a BCS game. Hopefully the bowl representatives in attendance were convinced too! 

Not: Three’s Company

In a season where many of the top conferences and teams are looking a little sad, it seems like a great time for a team from a lesser conference to break into the BCS bowl party. But only one is likely to. Utah has the bid all wrapped up…and there is some talk about Boise State breaking in for another BCS first. But what about Ball State? They too did all they could this season. They beat all of their opponents and played all kinds of crazy days of the week to get some network love. And, in the end, they left without a chance to prove that they have what it takes to play with the big boys.  

Hot: Quacking under pressure

Oregon State rolled onto their home turf Saturday confident that they would clinch the Pac 10 title and make a trip to the Rose Bowl. Oregon, however, had a much different plan in mind. The Ducks dominated the game from start the finish, scoring the most points EVER allowed by the Beavers. Barring UCLA doing the unthinkable by topping USC next week, the Beavers will not be smelling the roses after all.  

Not: Auburn

The Tigers may have won the Iron Bowl six times in a row, but they were entirely inadequate against this year’s #1 Bama team. The Tigers not only failed to score, but they let Bama get their first win in Tuscaloosa. This game also marked Auburn’s fourth loss to a ranked team this season (out of four tries). 

Hot: Float like a butterfly, sting like a Yellow Jacket?

Heading into the locker room at the half, the Bulldogs certainly seemed sure to come back out and wrap up a yet another win over Georgia Tech. Instead, they came out and watched Rushing Roddy Jones turn up the heat and push the Yellow Jackets ahead. Rather than losing this game, along with several others predicted this season, Tech came out on top to prove that they have a lot more to offer than they’ve been given credit for.  

Not: LoserSU

Once again, LSU managed to look pitiful this week, leaving most people wondering, “How did they ever manage to win seven games?” On fourth down with 22 seconds to go, it seems like LSU had done just enough to escape the mediocre Razorbacks. Instead, Casey Dick found London Crawford and the win in the end zone.  Maybe LSU and Fresno should throw themselves a pity party!

Hot: Utah State murders NMSU

The Aggies upped the other Aggies by 45 points in their senior day match up. Utah State not only won, but totally dominated New Mexico State, holding them to MINUS SEVEN rushing yards! In fact, NMSU’s offense was a total failure. Their only score came on defense when they tackled Curtis Marsh for a safety. What a great way to end the season….for half the game’s Aggies anyway!  

Not: Finding new coaches

In Utah State’s best season in years, the school decided to relieve the coaching staff of their duties. The Aggies may have only won 3 games this season, but they were conference wins. Beyond that, they had several close games and over all looked WAY better this season than they have in the recent past, particularly toward the end of the season. Sometimes it makes sense to fire a coach, but I certainly do not support this move by Utah State. I hope all the displaced coaches find places at schools where they will get more out of all the work they put in.

So Many Nots, So Little Time

There were about 10 more not-worthy teams this week, but not enough hots to balance them out!

Hot: Tiller’s Last Hurrah

Sure, sure. Neither Purdue nor Indiana has exactly a good record, but the Boilermakers pounded the Hoosiers by the biggest margin since 1893! Despite the disappointing season, Korey Sheets captured the school record for rushing touchdowns. And with the win, Purdue can once again proudly display the well-deserved Old Oaken Bucket!

Not: The Blasted Bye Week

Nothing screws up a team’s momentum like a bye week. Just ask Texas Tech! Their performance Saturday looked like, well, like The Citadel versus Florida! The Citadel, who isn’t even doing well in their FCS conference, lost to Florida 19 to 70. Instead of watching a exciting offensive battle, fans were instead given 3 turnovers, 45 rushing yards, barely 21 points, and the most points given up in school history.

Hot: Northwestern

Northwestern now has nine wins and is back in the rankings! This is only the fifth time in school history a Wildcat team has reached nine wins….the last time was when Coach Fitzgerald was a player. Go Cats Go!

Not: BYUTah

What good is a rivalry game if the underdog can’t win? Shame on you, Cougars! The Broncos were counting on you to pave the way for their second trip into the BCS party! It’s pretty hard to come up with a win when your quarterback throws the ball to the other team FIVE times….most of them in one quarter….isn’t it?

Hot: The New Ole Miss

The time of dismissing Ole Miss may have come to an end. Coming into the Florida game, the Rebels had lost 15 games to ranked teams. In just two month, they have beaten Florida and LSU, and barely lost to Alabama. The Rebel defense held LSU to just a little more then 200 yards.  

Not: The Orange Crush

Welcome loss #14 for Notre Dame in 2 seasons! Seems like without Eye Candy Quinn they can’t do much of anything. Sure, this season is better than last, but losing to Syracuse? The Fighting Irish might as well have taken a dive to WASHINGTON (the only completely defeated BCS team)! But with 8 losses this season, The Orange needed something good to happen!

Pilfering Pete

Hot: Iowa

People may have already been congratulating Penn State on their undefeated season and impending trip to the national championship game, but Iowa was not among them. They proved this weekend that no matter how good a team is, the season is not over until every game is marked off the calendar. Right, Florida? USC? What’s most entertaining is that Daniel Murray, who kicked the game-winning FG with one second to go, was only 1 of 3 on field goal attempts coming into the game. He actually hadn’t made one since the season opener! Nice!

Not: Tennessee

Remember the curse of the “W” and how Wyoming was among those terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE teams? Well, apparently Tennessee is even MORE terrible. As if losing to the Crudy Cowboys wasn’t bad enough, the Vols did it at home on Homecoming. Yes, the lowest-scoring team in college football held the Vols to seven points, their lowest-scoring non-conference game in six years. SUPER ouch! 

Hot: Texas Tech

Yes, they’ve still got it. Like most of the nation, I was pumped up to watch another nail-biting, high-scoring shoot out Saturday night. Instead, I nodded off for a good portion of Tech’s lopsided victory over Oklahoma State. Remember, though, Red Raiders, just like Penn State learned this weekend, the season is not over until every game is finished. Oklahoma is going to be a crazy tough hurdle to overcome.

Not: Schools talking to Coach Pete

Rumor has it that several schools are trying to persuade Chris Peterson to leave Boise State. To those schools, I have this to say: “You can’t have him. So there!” Scary, right? Seriously, though, Coach Pete already committed to “Beat Coach Pete” so he pretty much has to stay at BSU forever! http://rec.boisestate.edu/beatpete/index.cfm

Hot: Pat Hill’s pants….which are on fire

According to the commentators in yet another pathetic Fresno State loss, Pat Hill cited the reason for Fresno’s tough non-conference scheduling as that they can’t get anyone else to play them. Yeah right, Pat! Let’s review: Fresno does or does not have a good track record against schools at or below their level? DOES NOT is the correct answer. So tell me, Pat, why exactly would those teams have a reason to be scared to play you? Shame on you for lying.  

Not: WVU’s overtime loss

Just when things were back on track, West Virginia loses to Cincinnati in overtime and Michigan beats Minnesota! For much of the game, the Mountaineers never even looked to have a chance at winning. They were down 20 to 7 at the start of the fourth quarter. From there it was Fiesta Bowl-level craziness to take the game into overtime. WVU scored a safety, a TD complete with a 2-point conversion, recovered an on-sides kick, and made a 52-yard FG to tie up the game! PHEW! Going into overtime, it seemed like WVU was destined to win, but they could only manage a FG on their possession. From there, the offense could only watch helplessly as the Mountaineer defense roughed the passer and failed to stop the Bearcats’ TD attempt.  

Hot: George Iloka….and the rest of the team too!

Bronco fans were definitely non-plussed with the plethora of mistakes in Saturday’s game. However, on paper, the Broncos are wicked hot (unless you look at the penalties…)! FOUR players passed for TDs: Coughlan, Perretta, Moore, Bissel.  The offense accrued 563 yards. The defense forced SIX turnovers. FIVE different players scored: Pettis, Powers, Childs, Johnson, Perretta. But my favorite player of the game was George Iloka who snagged two interceptions!

Not: Football fan fatalities

This is most definitely the most unimpressive thing in college football right now. Apparently, a heated argument about the Alabama/LSU game led to the fatal shooting of two fans. Read the limited details here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3693334

Hot: Ball State

Quietly, but steadily, Ball State continues to win and climb in the polls. The undefeated Cardinals are now sitting at 14 in the BCS poll. Ball State, currently 9-0, is having its best season in more than forty years. And Wednesday night, they had a chance to show the nation why. The Cardinals easily breezed past MAC opponent Northern Illinois, beating them 45 to 14 when all was said and done.

Not: Not getting to watch Utah versus TCU

When two ranked potential BCS busters play, shouldn’t that be televised? On a channel people get? Rather than watching an exciting TCU/Utah game that could have had major implications for other BCS hopefuls, we had to sit through the Maryland/Virginia Tech game instead, just to see the score scroll by on the bottom of the screen! A wag of the finger to you, programming decision makers!

Post-Halloween Thrillers

Hot: Utah State

The Aggies rarely have much to be excited about, but Saturday they solidly trounced Hawaii at home. The Aggies scored in every quarter to come out 16 points ahead of the Warriors. Interestingly, the Warriors had more yards and more first downs, but it wasn’t enough to win.

Not: NMU not being Utah

We cheered and cheered, but the Lobos just couldn’t get it done! New Mexico had the entire fourth quarter to take the lead, or even tie it up for OT. Instead, in true Lobo fashion, they settled for the loss, letting the Utes keep their BCS hopes alive.

Hot: Floridatastic

It isn’t often that Kirk Herbstreit and I see eye to eye, but I think he’s got it right when he says that Florida is the best team in college football…..home loss to Ole Miss or not.  The Gators gladly crushed Georgia Saturday night. From the first play, the trash talk and unportsmanlike conduct was blatant on both sides of the ball, but the Gators didn’t let it distract them. They held the Bulldogs to 3 measly points in the first half and only 7 more in the second. In fact, the Gators handed Georgia their worst loss under Mark Richt. Nicely done Gators.

Not: Quadruple Overtime

Despite three turnovers and four overtimes, Pitt managed to overcome Notre Dame and become bowl eligible for the first time since their Fiesta Bowl loss to Utah in 2004. But having to go through four overtimes to beat Notre Dame is not hot. In fact, this game marked ND’s ninth loss to teams with winning records in nearly 3 seasons. In fact, Notre Dame hasn’t beaten a ”quality” team since the second game in 2006 when they took down a #19 ranked Penn State.  

Hot: West Virginia is back on track

As Rich Rodriguez struggles at Michigan, Bill Stewart has his team back on track and bowl eligible. In fact, WVU is 3-0 in conference play after easily beating a 25-ranked UConn team on Saturday. And, high five for Pat White, who passed the 4000 rushing yards and 5000 passing yards marks.

Not: Fractured Freshmen

Houston wide reciever, Patrick Edwards, entered Tuesday night’s game against Marshall as 28th in terms of receiving yards per game at 86.3 YPG, second among freshmen. Unfortunately, when running for a pass, he ran out of the back of the end zone into a band equipment cart, suffering a compound fracture in his right leg.  Colorado, too, lost an outstanding freshman. Running back, Rodney Stewart, also broke his right leg this week. Stewart’s leg was broken in the second quarter during a horse-collar tackle by Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller.

Hot: Big finishes

What a weekend for fantastic, thrilling, nail-biting, game-winning plays!! Northwestern, looking to have given away the win to Minnesota, intercepted the ball for a touchdown with 12 seonds left. East Carolina intercepted a UCF pass in overtime, setting up a FG for the win. Michigan State managed a 44-yard FG with 7 seconds left to top Wisconsin. Kentucky blocked Mississippi State’s PAT to prevent OT and gain the win. Georgia Tech’s defense forced a fumble on Florida State’s final TD attempt, giving Tech their first win over FSU in ACC play.  And, of course, Texas Tech had an amazing last-second (literally) TD pass for the win.   

Not: Michigan

Not only did Michigan lose to a pitiful Purdue this weekend, they also managed to make it impossible to become bowl eligible this season. The last time the Wolverines were THIS bad was more than three decades ago.  AND Michigan will have its first losing season in FOUR decades. In fact, the last time Purdue managed a win against Michigan was 8 years ago in 2000. 

Hot: Boise State is looking great

The Broncos looked excellent against New Mexico State on Saturday. The Aggies, on the other hand, did not have much to celebrate in this homecoming game. In fact, on 39 rushing attempts, the Aggies only managed 37 yards….less than one yard on average! Boise State still had a lot of penalties, but did limit it to two during punt returns, which is a major improvement.

Not: State of Washington

Once again, the State of Washington was poorly represented in Pac 10 play this weekend. Neither team scored at all. Washington’s performance is arguably the least embarrassing, considering they had to travel to USC. Washinston State, however, let Stanford score 58 points in their biggest win in 59 years.