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!

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.

As Shiny as a Rusty Penny

Hot: OSU beats Mizzou….and rhymes too

Even though their mascot looks more like a garden gnome than a cowboy, Oklahoma State proved Saturday that they aren’t the only OSU who is upset-worthy. The Cowboy defense picked three of Mizzou’s glorified Chase Daniel’s passes….the third on Mizzou’s final drive toward a win. Now the Cowboys are 6-0. Six and oh, six and oh, six and O-S-U!!! 

Not: Boise State….ESPN too

You know I love BSU more than…well pretty much everything…and I think Kellen Moore is great, but the majority of their performance against Southern Miss was pathetic. Bronco defense, you are excused from this reprimand. As usual, you came through when you needed to and kept BSU from even getting close to the BIG L, despite the rest of the offense’s poor performance. Oh…take the running backs, Austin Pettis, and Jeremy Childs with you. ESPN reporters, you can sit in the seats the defense just vacated. No, Kellen Moore actually did NOT shine in this game. There was more than one fumbled snap, a throw that was intercepted when the ball should have been thrown away, and pretty much all of his passes were low. LUCKILY Jeremy Childs is ridiculously fantastic and could make the catches, but Moore was far from accurate. Moore can’t take all the blame, though. The O line failed to make holes on many occasions, a big hold negated an exciting touchdown run, and the majority of the second half was made up of the ever-exciting 3 and out. Y’all better take your defense out for a nice dinner and thank them for keeping the perfect season alive!

Hot: Cotton Bowl

You couldn’t ask for a more exciting game. It was no BSU/OU Fiesta Bowl, but it WAS thrilling nonetheless. In the end Texas won, but both teams were hot in this game. There were only 3 total yards and 3 first downs difference between the two teams, despite the Longhorns possessing the ball for nearly a quarter longer than the Sooners. Bravo teams for backing up the Big 12′s credibility.

Not: Rotten Bowl

Okay….it’s not really a bowl….more like an arm pit….but this was too good to pass up:

 

Hot: Gatorade not Tiger Tang

Sure was fun being in the top five, eh Tigers? There’s not really much to say about this game. Florida showed up and never relented. The Gators worked tirelessly to prove to their fans, LSU, and the nation that the Ole Miss game was a fluke…..and they did. And in doing so, they handed LSU their biggest loss in 6 years. There’s not much GATOR than that!  

Not: TWO channels and still no coverage

While the thrilling Notre Dame/UNC game was shown on both ABC AND ESPN, viewers in our area saw neither. WE got to see the oh-so-boring USC/ASU game (turns out Coach Erikson isn’t getting along any better in Phoenix than he did in Moscow) and the even-more-boring-if-that’s-possible Ohio State/Purdue game (Idaho might actually be able to beat Purdue). Thanks a LOT schedulers!

Hot: Holy TOLEDO!

They may not be 1-AA like App State, but losing to Toledo is WAY worse on the LAME-O-Meter. That said, the fact that Toledo put their second W on the board this season against Mr. Cocky Pants Rodriguez is HOT indeed. Even better, Michigan had a chance to take it into overtime with what should have been a nice easy field goal. Instead, they suffered another home loss at the hands of an “inferior” opponent. Nice work, Rockets.

Not: Cuffs and Carts

While UCLA reciever, Terrence Austin, was being strapped to a board and taken from the field for a seriously cringe-worthy head injury, law enforcement and the second paramedic unit were busy elsewhere. Yes, instead of being concerned for the wellfare of this young man, some fans decided to use the break in play to start a fight. A fight that ended with one fan falling over the wall onto the field behind the UCLA bench. Like Austin, this fan was also carted away from the field and at least one other left in handcuffs. Pretty lame.

Maybe YOU Should be BSU too!

Hot: Fresno Proving Me RIGHT!

Another overtime game against an inferior team….only this time the Bulldogs proved that, despite my prejudice against them, I have been right all along. Fresno State was always OVER RATED!! It gets more embarrassing for Fresno when the facts are revealed: this was a home game; Hawaii has never beaten a rank team on the road; the Bulldogs turned the ball over six times; they also missed 3 field goals; Hawaii’s only win this season (until now) was against Weber State. I DO love to be right!! 

Not: The “Mighty” Ducks

Oregon was amazing on Saturday…..for like 5 minutes anyway. After that, they couldn’t have scored if the Trojans gave them the ball on the one yard line with 8 downs and benched the D line. They are THAT bad. What is Mike Bellotti thinking? Why put Masoli in at QB when he proved his inadequacy against Boise State? Despite playing nearly the same amount of time in that game, Masoli managed a measly 27 yards compared with Thomas’s 210 and 3 touchdowns. The only logical explanation is that Coach Bellotti put money on the Trojans and wanted to ensure he was gonna get paid! Holla!

Hot: Wednesday’s Winners

Go Orange! Go Big Blue! Fight! Fight! BSU! There’s really not much more to say than that. There were a few mistakes, but overall the Broncos looked great in all areas against Louisiana Tech on ESPN Wednesday night.  The Broncos continue their home turf (blue as it is) success, having only lost 1 game at home in the last five years.

Not: South Florida

The Bulls’ offense did a whole bunch of nothing in the first half of their game against Pitt. They did manage to block a punt and run it back for a score so that they were only down by 10 instead of 17 at the half. Before that score, the Bulls missed a field goal and failed to convert on a fake field goal attempt. The offense did manage to score in the second half, but not enough to overcome the Panthers. See you later, top 10.

Hot: Baller State

Ball State has made it into the Top 25 for the first time EVER! There’s something magical about being BSU…isn’t there? The Cardinals are now 6-0, and held Toledo scoreless Saturday….unlike Fresno who could barely beat them in double OT. Go FootBALL State!

Not: Freezermakers

Yeah, Purdue, you stink. Your boilers are broken. They’re making nothing but ice (and not the shiny diamond kind). It hurts me to say it. I really does. But so is life.  It’s like a box of chocolates, you know? And that’s all I have to say about that.

Hot: It will happen SOONER or later

The Sooners are only 10 points away from being the first program to reach 30,000 points scored. Unfortunately for them, Boise State plans to score that many (30k) next week. Blast those Broncos! Always trying to steal Oklahoma’s glory!  

Not: Virginia Wins

Remember when Maryland embarrassed Cal? That sure was exciting, wasn’t it? Their peformance against Virginia this weekend was just a smidge below that level. They failed to score at all and let the up-to-this-point-rather-terrible Terrapins walk all over them. They moved the ball fairly well, getting more then 300 yards of offense, but could never cash in. Better luck next week, not-so-merry land.

Behold the Great and Powerful Oz

Hot: David (the giant crusher) X2

Oregon State and Ole Miss did the unthinkable this week. As commentators were proudly proclaiming USC the greatest team ever, the Beavers were preparing to repeat history. Not only did the Beavers triumph over the Trojans at home two years ago, eons ago they toppled the giant when they sat at #1….just as they did Thursday night. Ole Miss, too, repeated history, now having beaten Florida 3 of the last 4 times the teams have met.  

Not: Being declared hot

Last week, I declared USC and Florida the best teams in the country and invited them to the National Championship game. My bad! These teams may yet make it to the big game, but I just made it a lot harder for them. Little did you know that I held so much power! Ignore the lady behind curtain! I’m the great and powerful Oz!

Hot: Game Changing Performance

Despite losing starting QB TJ Yates last week, North Carolina refused to roll over for Miami. On the final drive, Tar Heels 28/Miami 24, it looked certain that the Hurricanes would succesfully put the ball in the end zone and hand North Carolina another painful loss. Instead, on the final play, Robert Marve passed to Kayne Farquharson, a pass certain to clinch the win, and watched in horror as the ball slipped out of Kayne’s hands right into the hands of UNC’s Goddard. The deflated Hurricane fans watched gloomily on as victory was snatched so quickly away. 

Not: Destruction between the Hedges

Georgia’s ability to acrue penalties finally paid off….sort of. The Bulldogs, who are the most penalized team in the SEC, made mistakes at the absolute worst times throughout their home matchup with Alabama. In all, they had 10 penalties to the Crimson Tide’s 2. Despite gaining only ten less yards than Alabama, Georgia was down 31 points at the half and really didn’t have much more to give in the second. And the ever outstanding Knowshon Moreno gained a measly 37 yards. To their credit, though, the Bulldogs are taking the loss like men and remain hopeful for the rest of the season.   

Hot: Not being in the Bottom 10

After winning last week’s pillow fight against Idaho, Utah State managed to jump out of the Bottom 10! This is more rare than a jewel of the calibur of The Heart of the Ocean (think Titanic)! Always remember Aggies, this week you were better than Tennessee (who actually was in the Bottom 10). It doesn’t get much better than that! 

Not: Attacking your program

Sure the Bruins stink, but they couldn’t have felt much worse than when they discovered that the UCLA marketing department published an ad in the Fresno Bee to entice more Bulldog fans to the Rose Bowl for Saturday’s matchup. Selling tickets is cool and having a full statium is great, but selling out your own team to achieve it? That’s not so good. The ad read, “So you can say ‘I was there’,” obviously indicating that the marketing department had little, if any, faith in the Bruins. They might as well have put out an ad reading, “Our team sucks and you’re going to want to see your team prove it.” Ouch!

Hot: Super Smarties

Northwestern: 5-0; Vanderbilt: 4-0; Duke: 3-1, with its first ACC win in 26 tries. Smarties seeing success: priceless. As great as it see to see these teams off to a positive start to the season, it’s definitely NOT hot that Northwestern is not in the rankings. Give the smarties some love!

Not: Fresnobsession

Let’s recap YET AGAIN……Fresno beat a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad Rutgers team; lost to an over-rated Wisconsin AT HOME; barely beat Toledo, who is now 1-3 and lost to FIU; AND scraped by, as their own marketing department will tell you, an awful UCLA who is completely defenseless. And this deserves a ranking why? It’s getting old, voters, it really is.  

HOTerable mentions: Michigan, Houston, Navy, Maryland, Rice, Oregon, Tulsa, Penn State, Oklahoma

NOTerable mentions: Wisconsin, Purdue, Wyoming, the State of Washington, Idaho, Hawaii