May you rest in hell, Rich Rodriguez

I think we're all aware that West Virginia is not taking Rich Rodriguez's departure well. The governor got mad at him, there have been conspiracy theories floating around that he lost to Pitt so he wouldn't have to play in the National Championship, and the school he dedicated himself to for a number of years is now suing him. It kind of makes you think the state wants him dead.

This video confirms that's indeed the truth. Nothing better than a Coach Rodriguez tombstone!

Congrats, West Virginia. You're now wedged between Mogadishu and the Sunni Triangle as places I can't wait to visit.

-WCK

Football > Law in Louisiana

Justice stops for nothing, unless there's any football team from Louisiana playing in a big game. Then law can sit on its ass and wait.

Yes, the always entertaining - (read: lazy) - state of Louisiana has decided for the second time in a year that football is more important than your right to a speedy trial.

Stephen Babcock, an attorney defending an insurance company in a lawsuit over a car crash, requested the delay of the trial because he has tickets to the National Championship game and is an LSU fan. But, more importantly, he and other LSU fans have rented out the second floor of a Bourbon Street bar for a pre-game tailgate party.

That seems like a reasonable request, even though something tells me Babcock will likely be just as drunk during the actual trial.

And just so you know that Babcock took this matter incredibly seriously, in his written request for a new trial date he referred to Ohio State as "Slowhio" ("due to their perceived lack of speed on both sides of the ball").

Man, that sentence has Harvard Law written all over it.

Not so surprisingly, the judge agreed to postpone the trial.

As mentioned earlier, there is actual precedent for football over law in Louisiana. In January, a judge agreed to postpone a trial due to a conflict with last season's NFC championship game between the Saints and Bears.

While I'm being a bit tough on Louisiana, it could always be worse. In Texas if your trial date lines up with a Cowboys game or a UT BCS game they simply execute you on the spot.

-WCK

"I want Colt Brennan's head on a stick"

Look, I think the BCS stinks. No question. And I can understand why Georgia is angry. But all that said, I will never, ever, understand the South's fixation on college football.

Case in point is a wonderful - by which I mean horrible - article penned by Travis Fain at the Macon Telegraph.

It's basically your classic slurp the local college team for having a big year deal, but then it gets a bit bizarre. Despite Fain early in the article saying that the Telegraph is a family newspaper, he proceeds to write this ridiculous paragraph:

But since I doubt the BCS is looking for my opinion, let me close with this: I want Colt Brennan's head on a stick. I want that pretty boy Hawaii quarterback driven through the Superdome turf. I want perfection in all phases of the game this New Year's Day. Destroy Hawaii. And then let this be known across the land: The Georgia Bulldogs will be staying in the national title conversation for many years to come. And if you're not with us, then you'd better start running.

Nothing says family newspaper like "I want his head on a stick." I also can't remember ever seeing a print journalist write something like this. Fain writes like Hawaii invaded Georgia and Brennan took a dump on a Jefferson Davis statue (which I'd whole-heartedly approve of Brennan doing).

Hawaii, I'm definitely pulling for you in this game. Just to see what Fain pens if you beat Georgia.

-WCK

What we learned from the weekend's football action

That's one bleak future.

I don't think there's a lot of point in talking about college football from this weekend. It's a disaster. And LSU v. Ohio State is ok, I guess. People can argue forever about who should be playing in the national championship, but it doesn't really matter. The truth is there really is no national champion this year. I'm just glad that Hawaii made a BCS game. But they went undefeated against a crap schedule, people say. Yes, but they tried to schedule some big non-conference games - like Michigan. Michigan didn't want to play them. So hey, if no one wants to play Hawaii, and they go undefeated, let's let them play one of the big boys and see how they do, just like Boise State. It only seems fair.

On to more important things, like pro football. By the way, this was not the best of weekends for games. But anyway, on to what we learned from the weekend (and the Thursday game) of pro football.

1. You might as well just write the Dolphins down for 0-16 at this point. An awful lot of people thought that if there was any game they were going to win this year, it was going to be this one against the Jets. Instead, they got blown out in the second half. I honestly can't remember a team anywhere near as bad as the Dolphins in my lifetime. They literally have nothing at this point. No quarterback, no running game, no defense, nothing. I'm not even sure pride can save them at this point, because right now I actually think a hot college team like USC could hang with the Dolphins for a period about a half or three quarters. If people are starting to wonder if a college team could beat you when you're a pro team, you're really awful.

2. Making the forced out of bounds call reviewable would probably be bad for football. Even though I'm mad as hell that Cleveland lost a game that they technically won, making a play like that reviewable puts you on a slippery slope. Because then you could argue that we should also make pass interference and holding calls reviewable as well. That's the problem with the "let's make this play reviewable" argument. Then technically we should make everything reviewable and games would last 5 or 6 hours. Of course, when Cleveland beat the Ravens, they technically reviewed a play they shouldn't have on the field goal. So in other words, the NFL has no clue what the hell it's doing. Truthfully, I've never been totally happy with the whole instant replay deal. I think it's necessary, but it's not infallible, and there are a lot of scenarios where you think to yourself "this really should be reviewable", but you know that if it was reviewable, games would last forever. It's a crappy system that needs reform, but what exactly that is remains a bit of mystery.

3. As much as it pains me to say this, Joe Gibbs has lost it. He's now fully responsible for two Redskins loses and arguably a third. I know the team had its mind on Sean Taylor yesterday, but they had a good chance to win as well, and Gibbs pretty much gave the game to the Bills. What's terrible is that Gibbs is a 3-time Super Bowl champion and made a mistake that is completely inexcusable. I hate to say it, but an awful lot of people know that you can't call back-to-back timeouts. It's not exactly some obscure rule.

4. Just when you think Eli's about to get benched, he manages to survive yet again. Quite frankly, he's horrible. The way the Giants are winning is defense and a good running game. Eli isn't even managing games well. This is winning DESPITE him. That's really all you can say. Imagine this Giants team with Romo. They'd be a lot better than 8-4. Meanwhile, it was interesting to see Rex play pretty well across the line. He played much better than Eli, yet his team lost. It's funny how this game came out. Eli was beyond dreadful except the last two drives but gets the win and survives for another week when he really shouldn't. Rex lost, but it wasn't his fault. I think my brain's going to explode.

5. Purple Jesus is my hero. He had 15 carries for 116 and 2 TDs and made some ridiculous moves in the game. My theory is he magically healed himself last week when no one was watching, because he didn't look like he was ever injured at all. Also, Tavaris Jackson is finally playing like an NFL quarterback, which sure is helpful. Finally might get defenses to stop keying on PJ and Chester Taylor. This team looks pretty good right now, and experts are starting to pick them as the last NFC wild card team. Which naturally means they'll lose their next 4 games.

6. God has left the Lions. They were overachieving earlier this year and now they've returned to earth. Their schedule is also brutal from this point on. But hey, 6 wins is like going undefeated during the Matt Millen era. Might as well give Millen that 10-year contract extension right now, Detroit.

7. There are too many mediocre teams in football. We all know this, but whatever, it needs to be said. I can't remember the last time I saw this many teams hovering around .500 this late in the season. Sure makes for some crappy Sunday viewing - like yesterday.

8. If you don't live in the Bay Area, you're lucky. We had only two day games today - SF v. Carolina and the Raiders v. Denver. And the Raiders game wasn't in HD. It was good to see the Raiders win, and JaMarcus finally get a few reps, but we all know nothing will be going on here until next year. Right now watching the 49ers and Raiders is like going to a funeral. You don't really want to go, but you go because you have to.

I'm getting tired, so the next few will be quick.

9. The Colts proved they are the second best team in the AFC. I really wanted to see Jax win that game to mix things up a bit, but Indy won without Harrison and Freeney, which made this an even bigger win.

10. People should stop assuming Aaron Rogers is some kind of bust. He's behind a QB that basically would be allowed to play even if he was in a wheelchair. Rogers finally had a chance to show what he could do in the Cowboys game, and he proved that he's definitely got something. Hell, I should know, I watched him at Cal for a few years. He's a damn good player. Green Bay is lucky to have a backup as solid as Rogers. Not many teams in the NFL have a backup of his caliber. Plus, he'll be a good replacement for Favre, you know, when Favre retires at age 57.

11. New Orleans, what can I say. You let a third string QB beat you. You suck.

12. I think you could say, right now, that Mario Williams actually was the right pick at #1 for the Texans. Bush has been awful this year, and cost the Saints their game on Sunday, and the jury is still out on VY and his passing ability.

13. Nice work on passing Walter Payton, LT. You just made the Hall of Fame.

-WCK

A Joe Pa costs 1/8 of a Nick Saban, and will get you more wins

Joe Paterno may be a bit old for a coach, and he may not know what a Playstation 3 is, but considering what Penn State is paying him, that's ok. He'll do for now.

It was revealed today that Joe Pa makes only a little over $500,000 a year. While that's still a lot of money, it pales in comparison to what other big name coaches make. Alabama's Nick Saban is the highest paid coach in the land at $4 million per year - which makes me laugh every time I hear it - while Oklahoma's Bob Stoops makes over $3 million. Ohio State's Jim Tressel, Florida's Urban Meyer and South Carolina's Steve Spurrier make upward of $2 million annually. I especially like how Meyer is paid $2 million a year to literally run 6 offensive plays. A drunk monkey could run that offense.

What's a bit odd about this whole story is that we never knew what Joe Pa's salary was until now. Penn State is a public institution, which means that all employee salaries should be available to the public.

Penn State, however, refused to make the information public for a long time. It took five years of legal turmoil between The Patriot News in Harrisburg and Penn State before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Joe Pa's salary and those of other top Penn State officials are public information.

I'm actually glad we finally found out what Joe Pa makes, and it's not outrageous by any means. As Joe Pa said "I'm paid well. I'm not overpaid." Plus he has a substantial retirement fund he can dip into.

In an age where college football has become big business not only for schools, but for coaches, it's good to see a coach of Joe Pa's stature not robbing a school blind. Hopefully, it also leaves some extra money in the coffers to spend on stuff like, say, education.

-WCK

This must be why Ohio St. keeps beating Michigan

I think most people are familiar with the fact that Michigan is looking for a head football coach. And I also think they're aware that they can actually apply for the job. I just sent in my application.

But looking a bit closer at the application, it came to my attention that there's something a bit off about it. Apparently the Michigan job only requires 40-hours of work a week. That's a bit better than the 120+ hours of work a week usually associated with the NFL.

While I'm sure Lloyd Carr didn't stray from that 40-hour work week schedule, I'd have to think that to beat Ohio St., Michigan will need someone like Les Miles who can put in a few more hours to get them over the hump. I'd say 42-hours a week should do it.

-WCK

What we learned from Thanksgiving week/weekend football

Due to too much turkey, I didn't get around to writing much about either college football or pro football from this past week/weekend. So I'm just going to do the lazy thing and combine them into one post that's much shorter than normal.

On to what we learned.

1. That both the Eagles and Colts have given the NFL a blueprint for how to slow the Patriots offense. The Colts were able to give the Pats offense trouble by having a devastating 4-man rush that got pressure on Brady which allowed the Colts to frequently drop as many as 6 or 7 guys into secondary coverage. The problem was that the D-line ran out of gas in the 4th quarter and Brady started to get way too much time to pass. On the flip side, the Eagles had Lito Sheppard basically take Randy Moss out of the game. That way, instead of having to always double team Moss, they could frequently blitz an extra linebacker because they knew Sheppard would be all over Moss. The only problem was that just taking out Moss wasn't good enough, as Welker went wild. And he frequently caught passes in the middle of the field during a blitz package. So essentially there are two ways to slow down the Pats offense. One is to have a great 4-man rush that consistently gets pressure on Brady and allows you to drop as many as 6 or 7 guys into the secondary for pass defense. The other way is to have one or two shutdown corners that neutralize Moss/Welker (hopefully both) which allows you to consistently blitz Brady and force him to throw quickly. Of course, if the Pats ran more, they might be able to keep defenses like the ones the Colts and Eagles threw at them a bit more honest. But since the Pats aren't doing that (and I'm not really sure why) then these are really the only two ways to limit the Pats offense. Both the Colts and the Eagles were almost successful in doing their defensive gameplans for 4 quarters. However, both came up a little short. The Colts just kind of ran out of gas, and the Eagles had no answer for Welker, partly because they sold out on the blitz so much and partly because no one could cover him. The question then of course is - can anyone do what the Colts or Eagles did for 4 quarters to beat the Pats? I'm not sure anyone can. This may sound crazy, but one team I'd like to see play the Pats is the Broncos. With Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, two shutdown corners, they might give the Pats offense serious problems. Of course, they don't meet in the regular season and the Broncos might not even make the playoffs. The Packers with a healthy Woodson and Harris might also give the Pats some trouble, but both would have to make the Super Bowl.

2. The Eagles game also gave the NFL a blueprint for how to score on the Pats defense. The Pats don't have a great pass rush. Or at least they sure as hell didn't against the Eagles. Feeley often had all day to throw. If there's one gap in the Pats defense, it's the 10-20 yard in. That was open all night for Feeley, and it was how the Eagles managed to consistently score points. Considering the Eagles had a career-backup QB consistently leading his team up and down the field against the Pats defense, I'd say Andy Reid found a weakness and exploited it all game long. And strangely, the Pats never really adjusted to it. Now, will this weakness still be present in future games? I'm not sure. And I think Belichick will be working real hard this week to fix that problem. But there's no question that the Eagles, at least for one week, really showed a true weakness in the Pats defense.

3. I finally have to man up and say the Packers are for real. They beat a suddenly woeful Lions team, but hey, the Packers didn't create their schedule. Favre's definitely been on point this season, and when you combine that with some of the breaks he's gotten, look out. Plus when I said this team couldn't run worth a damn, they pulled Ryan Grant out from under a rock and he's done a hell of a job. They also have a great young defense and if they hadn't blown that game against the Bears, they'd be undefeated. That's pretty crazy. We'll get to see how legit they are this Thursday (or the five of us who get NFL Network will) when they meet up with the Cowboys in Dallas. I think to stand a chance they need Woodson to be healthy, and that looks doubtful.

4. This may be it for Eli Manning. Even though some people thought he had turned the corner this year, let's be honest. He was turning the corner from being a bad QB to a mediocre QB. Plus, he's thrown at least one pick in all but two games this year. That's terrible. Plus he's below the league average in passer rating. Have our expectations of Eli been reduced to such a level that we'll basically take mediocrity from this guy? I mean, he was the number 1 pick. It's ok to just admit he sucks and move on.

5. I think you can make an argument that Darren McFadden should be the Heisman winner right now. McFadden pretty much single-handedly lifted Arkansas over LSU. And despite some early game turnovers, his second-half and OT performances were truly ones for the ages. He also did what Tebow couldn't do - beat LSU. And McFadden's team only has one more loss than Tebow's Florida. I'm not saying give McFadden the Heisman now. I'm just saying that his performance against LSU - combined with Tebow's injury - made the Heisman race a lot more interesting all of a sudden. And it likely made McFadden the new frontrunner. Maybe.

6. So right now we're looking at a National Championship of Mizzou against West Virginia if both win out. Somehow I'd actually prefer that to one of the two of them losing and seeing Ohio State squeak in. Lord only knows what happens if they both lose. Ohio State v. Georgia maybe? That seems to make even less sense, because Georgia isn't even playing in the SEC Championship game. Man, I have no clue. Either way, it should be interesting.

7. A columnist said after USC beat ASU on Thanksgiving that USC is the best team in college football right now. He may be right. That team is finally completely healthy and playing like they should have been all season. Remember, they lost to Stanford in large part because Booty was playing with a broken throwing finger for most of the game. And they lost to Oregon because Sanchez was at QB. I honestly think USC, top to bottom, is the most talented team in the country. And now they're finally playing like it. Seeing them potentially match up against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl would I think be a bigger game than the National Championship.

8. I'd like to thank the Raiders for ending their 17-straight game skid to AFC West opponents. That's almost unreal when I stop and think about it. And thanks to the 49ers for finally stopping the bleeding at 8 games. That's life in the Bay Area as a football fan. Not good.

And that's it, I'm still messed up on tryptophan from one last helping of leftovers.

-WCK

This stunt might make Michigan more attractive to Les Miles

We're all well aware that Les Miles is the most likely candidate to fill the Michigan opening. And naturally LSU, and most of Louisiana, is worried about losing him. But this may be a bit much. The school is planning a march today called "March for Miles" and I'll let you read the details here, since the photographer of the invitation is a bit touchy about legal issues, even though it's all over the Web. Normally you march for racial equality or world peace - not football coaches - but what do I know. I'm a normal human being. Naturally something this unimportant is already in the news down there, and the message boards and Facebook are going off about how big the march will be. Here are some of the comments circulating across the Web. And mind you, these are LSU fans, so these comments were probably written with no sarcasm intended whatsoever.

• It'd be bigger than the Jena 6 march. It'd be as big as the March on Washington in 1963.

• This is historic stuff. This is something the priveleged few, as in those who show up, will be happy to tell their kids about. They will relish the fact they were a part of it

• I guarantee you I can get at least 100 coonasses to attend. Now, it's 100 coonasses going to Baton Rouge, so, somewhere around Paradis we're going to start losing some to DWI's...but we should end up with at least 40-50 in Baton Rouge.

• I'll be there with a boombox blaring "I am the Real American"
  

• I could see a movie being made in the future.

• What coach WOULDN'T want to come here knowing the love and support we offer our coaches. Knowing that we stand behind our coach. If I were looking for a job, hell I'd take a pay cut to work for a company with those benefits. A company who's customers genuinely love and support the employees of the company they patronize? Give me some of THAT! You can't even get that kind of stuff in the military anymore, with liberals run amok.

• Has anyone had a Les Miles look-a-like contest where people dress up as him and act like him similar to people dressing up like Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant?
  
  
• We could start a "pass the hat for Les fund" at this march


• I am going to wear my cheerleading outfit
  
  

• ---

  I will only march if Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are there.

  ---

  I would throw them under a bus...
  
  
• THIS IS NOT BEGGING HIM TO STAY. If he has to go, we understand, but if he goes he will have this to take with him.


• Very few people are born wanting to be LSU's coach; most of them have to learn how awesome it is. This is another part of the learning process. We show him the love, and he WANTS to be at LSU. See?

Les, for God's sake, take the Michigan job.

-WCK

Nick Saban one ups Kellen Winslow Jr.

Some individuals are born to lead men into combat. Like Dwight Eisenhower, Stormin Norman Shwartzkopf, and of course Kellen Winslow Jr. Remember, he's a soldier.

Now you can add General Nick Saban to that illustrious list. Tell the boys what they're fighting for and where that loss to UL-Monroe ranks in world history.

"Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic event," Saban said during the opening remarks of his weekly news conference on Monday. "It may be 9-11, which sort of changed the spirit of America relative to catastrophic events. Pearl Harbor kind of got us ready for World War II, or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event."

Ok, so let's get this straight. The three most catastrophic attacks on American soil have been:

1. 9/11
2. Pearl Harbor
3. UL-Monroe beating Alabama

Well, we needed something to fill the #3 spot, and lord knows the War of 1812 wasn't going to cut it. Although judging by the way Saban used "kind of" and "or whatever" to describe Pearl Harbor, perhaps we can move UL-Monroe beating Alabama up to #2.

I've never been more excited to see Alabama lose again. If they lose to Auburn this Saturday, maybe Saban can bring in some intergalactic struggle for his next press conference. The moon of Endor is counting on you General Saban.

-WCK

What we learned from Saturday's college football action

I must be starting to get numb to all the upsets in college football, because even though two top 5 teams went down this week it didn't seem all that crazy. It seemed totally normal. Of course, this week's two top 5 losses by Oregon and Oklahoma weren't really upsets. Considering both teams essentially played without their starting QBs, it's no real surprise they both lost.

By the way, the picture above is of the real Washington Husky. A few years back (not in '94 as the pic suggests) the dog was so exhausted after a Cal/Washington game at Cal that it had to stop for some water outside a Cal fraternity. The owner left the dog in the frat's care while he went to get his car to pick up the exhausted dog. When an opportunity like that presents itself, one's gotta take advantage of it. Luckily, Dwyermaker got the pic of the Husky rocking the Cal cap. Regrettably, Cal got steamrolled by Washington on Saturday. It's all the dog's fault. Bad dog.

Anyway, on to what we learned.

1. You shouldn't let players play on a torn ACL. I couldn't believe that Oregon actually allowed Dixon to play in the Arizona game when the coaching staff and medical staff knew he had torn his ACL in the ASU game. Unreal. Of course Dixon wanted to keep playing, but players always want to keep playing. That's when a coach and a medical staff have to step in and say "no way." Not only because a player could do further damage to his knee (which happened), but because schools have an obligation to look after these guys and not just play for the buck. Remember, this isn't the pros (technically). Instead, Oregon got greedy and with a national championship just over the horizon, they rolled the dice and gambled. They played the "Well, Dixon said he could play" card. Now who knows how bad Dixon's knee is and what his future may be. And I can't stress this enough: Everyone involved in the decision to let Dixon play should be fired, period. That means Belotti, that means the medical staff, and anyone else involved. What Oregon did by letting Dixon play was unethical and goes well beyond a simple irresponsible decision. It was a calculated move that took advantage of a kid who desperately wanted to keep playing when he clearly shouldn't have been. It seriously wouldn't surprise me if Dixon's family eventually sues Oregon over this. They'd have one hell of a case.

2. Lose your QB and your season goes down the toilet. That's nothing new, but that's what happened to Oregon, and now it's happened to Oklahoma. At least Oklahoma didn't stick Crawford back out there again. I realize injuries are a natural part of football, but it's real clear that if a starting QB gets knocked out of a game, a team's season usually ends right then and there. And that's not good. Granted, there's no way to solve this problem, but it just seriously sucks that both Oregon and Oklahoma are out of the national championship picture because their QBs got injured. Don't any of these teams have any blue-chip QB backups? At least Michigan had Mallett.

3. Even though Ohio State beat Michigan pretty soundly, we should do everything possible to keep them out of the national championship. I don't think they'll get there anyway, but with how things have gone this year, who knows. Ohio State is a team that does two things well - they run the ball and play defense. But their passing game is suddenly real suspect. Imagine Ohio State against LSU in the championship. Considering Boeckman's recent struggles and the fact that Matt Flynn really isn't that good - and those two guys would be going up against great defenses - we might see a 0-0 game that goes to overtime.

4. Lloyd Carr has no choice but to retire on Monday. It already looked like he was going to do that anyway, but this loss to Ohio State just cemented it. He's beaten them once in 7 years, and that just isn't going to do it. I actually think Michigan fans will have a more favorable view of Carr when they look back on his time as head coach than they do right now. And that's because he won a national championship for Michigan in 1997. That'll always smooth things over a bit.

5. We might as well just give Tim Tebow the Heisman now. Dixon was his only real competition and now that Dixon's done, well, there's really no one else. Plus, the fact that Tebow is now the only QB to ever throw for 20+ TDs and run for 20+ TDs (which is astounding when you think about it) is something voters can't ignore. It really doesn't matter how many loses Florida winds up with this year, Tebow's clearly got this thing in the bag.

6. Nick Saban losing to UL Monroe was awesome. Alabama's now 6-5, which means the school is paying Saban nearly $700,000 per victory right now and they may not even make a bowl game. The fans are mad, the boosters are mad, and Saban's probably got a turd on his front lawn right now. Even more fun is that UL Monroe is a very, very bad team. They started out the year 0-4 and lost to North Texas. In fact, they're the only team North Texas has beaten this year. Great hire Alabama, great hire indeed.

7. It's officially time for Kansas to step up. This team has played a pretty easy schedule all year, but at least they've taken care of business. The only thing that concerns me is their two wins over Colorado and Texas A&M, both very close games. Those aren't great teams. I honestly don't think Kansas can beat both Mizzou and Oklahoma in back-to-back weeks, but at least Kansas will be tested. Can't say the same thing about Hawaii.

8. Speaking of Hawaii, they better step up as well. They play Boise St. on Friday. Hopefully Colt Brennan's brain will finally be back in place after that brutal hit he took against Fresno St. last week. I'm not sure where to place Hawaii if they beat Idaho St. It would be their only real victory over a legit opponent - which probably means the Toilet.com Bowl for Hawaii. Hey, they deserve it. Schedule some better non-conference games next year Hawaii, then we'll talk.

9. Despite their win Saturday, West Virginia continues to frustrate me. After their 2005 campaign, a lot was expected from them. But for the last two years it's looked like WV is going to go undefeated, and then they always drop a game against a legit opponent that they really should win if they want to be considered for the national championship. I don't want to see them in the national championship. The Big East isn't a good conference and I just can't help thinking that WV has somehow underachieved these last two years but gets rewarded anyway. Example: After USF suffered their first loss, a close loss to Rutgers on the road, they were ranked lower than WV. Why? Because people think WV is better than it really is. And I have no idea why. They consistently choke away at least one game a year for seemingly inexplicable reasons. That isn't the kind of team I want in the national championship.

10. Hopefully this year will be the one where the calls to start a playoff system finally begin to seep into the NCAA's brain. There are so many possible scenarios that could occur in the next two weeks it's ridiculous to even think about. What if Kansas beats Mizzou but loses to a two loss Oklahoma in the Big-12 Championship? What if LSU loses the SEC championship? What if Hawaii goes undefeated? What happens if Arizona State wins out by beating USC and Arizona? What if the Dolphins were demoted to the WAC? Quite frankly, it's insane to even try and make sense of all this. Which, of course, is why we need a playoff. Now, I realize even with a playoff, people will still be complaining about who did and didn't get in. But it'll at least shut up some of the criticism. The BCS system is only amplifying it.

11. Mike over at What It Is wanted to know what we thought of BC's win over Clemson. I actually was impressed. Anytime you can go on the road against a legit opponent with a statistically great defense (although overrated because Clemson plays in the weak ACC) and beat them, it's a good win. However, you could also say Clemson lost this game. First by having that receiver drop what would have been the game winning catch (and it was a pretty routine catch, he just dropped it) and then taking that dumb sack that took them back just enough for their kicker to come up just short at the end. Credit BC for the sack, but you know what, that receiver lost the game for Clemson. And since I talked about the ACC in this post, I might as well get some words in on it. It's a dreadful conference, period. That was always my concern with BC. If they went undefeated in the ACC, would they be good enough to legitimately play in the national championship? My answer was always no, and about 80% of people probably would have agreed with me. Luckily, we don't have to worry about that, since BC lost to Florida St. and Maryland in back-to-back weeks. My stance on the ACC is this: go undefeated, and then maybe you should be considered for the national championship. Lose a game, forget it. And that's because you're the worst power conference in America.

-WCK

Nebraska fans enjoy leaving threatening messages

Now is not a good time to be Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove. Even in recent wins Nebraska has been giving up a ton of points. But worst of all are those 76 points that Kansas hung up on the team a few weeks back.

Naturally Cosgrove will probably get the axe at the end of the year. Or maybe sooner, if one psychotic fan gets his wish.

It seems Cosgrove got some pretty threatening phone calls after the Kansas debacle

According to court documents obtained Wednesday, one expletive-laced message suggested Cosgrove go back "where you came from you ... before I ... kill ya."

A Nebraska fan who takes football way too seriously? What are the odds of that?

The messages were left between midnight and 3 a.m. on Nov. 4. Cosgrove said he received "numerous" phone messages containing vulgar language in past weeks, according to court documents.

Captain Charlotte Evans of the school's police department said this is the first time this season campus police have been called about possible threats against a member of the football coaching staff.

Well that's actually fairly comforting to learn. I would have thought that by this point in the season every Nebraska coach - especially Callahan - would have received at least one death threat.

-WCK

The Gipper liked them young

You may recall back in October that George Gipp's body was exhumed for rather bizarre and unexplained reasons. And just to make it even weirder, ESPN filmed it too.

Well, a little later it leaked out that Gipp's body was exhumed to find out if he had fathered an illegitimate kid.

Gipp, as it turns out, wasn't the 1920s Matt Leinart, so he won't be joining our list of athletes who fathered illegitimate kids (although Gipp apparently went to even fewer classes than Leinart and was heavily involved in gambling rings). Tests done on Gipp's right femur revealed that he wasn't the father. But there's still some strange stuff to reveal.

The whole reason for this bizarre series of events actually came from this 2005 internet posting by a woman who believed Gipp had gotten her grandmother - Eva Bright - pregnant. Gipp actually did date Bright for a year before he died at age 25. But the interesting thing is that Bright was either 15 or 16 when Gipp was dating her. I don't even think Leinart would do something like that.

So in other words, a 25-year-old All-American football player was dating a woman almost a decade younger than him who wound up cheating on him. I'm just amazed Marcus Vick wasn't involved in any way.

As for Notre Dame, they seem to have taken Knute Rockne's "Win ONE for the Gipper" speech way too literally this year.

-WCK

What we learned from Saturday's college football action

I'll tell you one thing we learned right away. That Ohio State fans cry when their team loses. Hardcore man. And by "hardcore" I mean "total losers who need to calm the hell down."

On to the other stuff.

1. Illinois may have helped us avoid a total BCS meltdown. While no one is happy with the BCS system, at least it's pretty clear that the two best teams in the country - LSU and Oregon - are now at the top of it. You could debate for hours which team is more deserving of the #1 ranking, but it's basically irrelevant. If both LSU and Oregon win out, we'll get the SEC against the Pac-10 in the National Championship. And considering those conferences have easily been the two best conferences in the nation this year, that scenario would make for one highly watched National Championship. A lot better than the potential Ohio State/BC matchup that was sitting on the table a few weeks ago.

2. However, all this may change if Kansas runs the table too. I really like the Fighting Manginos, but I'm not a believer yet. What will make me a believer is if Kansas beats Missouri in two weeks. Then they'll likely face Oklahoma in the Big-12 Championship, and if they win that game, well then you've gotta let them play in the National Championship. I think the odds of Kansas beating both Mizzou and Oklahoma are slim to none, but hey, if they do it, they deserve to be in the National Championship.

3. Speaking of interesting scenarios, USC may just get back to the Rose Bowl yet again after being left for dead two weeks ago. If Oregon goes to the National Championship, and USC wins out by beating ASU and UCLA, they'll go to the Rose Bowl. Even more ridiculous is that if Michigan beats Ohio State, they'll go to the Rose Bowl again as well. Imagine that. The two schools that suffered the worst upsets in college football history this year may face each other in the Rose Bowl. I'm not sure if that should make me excited or really angry.

4. Where'd that vaunted Ohio State defense go? I didn't think Ohio State was the best team in the country heading into this weekend at all, but I certainly thought they were pretty damn good, primarily because of their defense. But allowing Illinois to drain more than 8 minutes off the clock to end the game, while allowing QB sneak after QB sneak. What the hell? That was atrocious. If you can't prevent an 8 minute drive when you desperately need the ball back, you have no business being in the National Championship. Maybe Ohio State's defense has just benefitted from playing in a crappy conference this year.

5. While I may have been surprised by Ohio State's loss, I wasn't surprised by Boston College's loss at all. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, BC has played a weak schedule and they'd be beaten down regularly if they played in the SEC or Pac-10. What makes this loss even sweeter is we had a commenter in the past rail us for calling BS on BC when they were the #2 team in the country. After two losses in a row I don't think that commenter is going to be quite so chatty now.

6. Arizona State is still overrated. They should never have been ranked #4 in the country and they should have dropped lower than #9 after having gotten thoroughly roughed up by Oregon. They haven't beaten anyone of note except a Cal team that has folded faster than Superman on laundry day (thanks Simpsons). Plus they played a UCLA team yesterday that can only be described as massively schizophrenic. And UCLA didn't have it yesterday, thanks to having their 19th string QB at the helm. ASU is going to get crushed by USC next week and won't be going to the Rose Bowl.

7. After saying last week that we should all pay attention to UCONN, they get crushed by Cincy. Which means we can all stop paying attention to them.

8. I'd like to nominate the John Parker Wilson blind heave into the endzone that was returned for a TD just before halftime as this season's worst INT. That was crushing beyond belief for Alabama, and also awesome to watch. I could watch that clip on repeat for hours. There's nothing better than watching Nick Saban lose, and watching him lose in gut-wrenching fashion is even better. I also like how Miss St. and Alabama now have the same record. Keep it up Saban.

9. I'd say something about Hawaii being undefeated, but I can't remember anything about their game against Fresno except this ridiculously vicious hit that Brennan took. Doesn't seem to be an illegal hit, it's just that Marcus Riley got 20 yards of unimpeded steam built up before he decked an unsuspecting Brennan. Something tells me Ty Detmer will be leaving a big check in Riley's locker. [Thanks to Wizard of Odds and UH Bows for the clip]


10. That sure was a great way for the U to leave the Orange Bowl. Nothing like getting shut out 48-0 against a team that can't seem to win unless they give at least 200 fans heart attacks for being unable to win by more than 2 points.

11. Michigan's loss to Wisconsin wasn't quite as bad as some are making it out to be. They played without Hart and Henne left the game in the first quarter. All that matters is the Ohio State game next week to determine who goes to the Rose Bowl. I mean Michigan's National Championship hopes officially ended after losing to App St. anyway, so all they have left is the Rose Bowl and the loss to Wisconsin didn't really change things all that much. It's still win and you're in. Michigan just better hope they have Hart and Henne back next week. Otherwise, Ohio State might as well just book its tickets to Pasadena now.

-WCK

What we learned from Saturday's college football action

With the exception of BC losing, which wasn't all that surprising, not a real surprising Saturday. But we still learned some stuff.

1. Did ESPN mess something up on Saturday? I had to wait for the Michigan game to end before they went over to the Oregon game. How did this happen? Wasn't Oregon/ASU the College Game of the Week? I wasn't in any of the FSN areas either, that still had the rights to the game. And the game wasn't on FSN here in NorCal. What the hell happened?

2. That said, Oregon proved they should move up to #2 in the country. Although ASU was admittedly a shaky #4, they were #4 heading into today and Oregon beat them convincingly. The game wasn't even as close as the score indicated. And Dennis Dixon is now the clear Heisman frontrunner. Meanwhile, while LSU was on the road, they barely won their game against Alabama. And in all honesty, Alabama should have won that game. But to me, Oregon's comfortable win against the #4 team in the country at home is bigger than a close road win by LSU over the #17 team in country.

3. Maybe we should all start taking Kansas a lot more seriously. I haven't paid much attention to them all season, but they got my attention today. They basically scored 76 points in three quarters of play. I don't care that Nebraska sucks, hanging 76 on them is insane. And Kansas went 10 straight drives with a TD. Kansas seems to have all the makings of being this year's Boise State. A team that no one pays attention to that hammers people all year and winds up a in a BCS game - then shocks the world by beating some powerhouse. That seems to be their destiny this year. We should also pay attention to UCONN. They've beaten Louisville and USF, which no longer sounds quite as good as it used to. But they play West Virginia to end the season, so that'll tell us how legit they are.

4. All hail the Naval Academy. For the last 43 years there had been three givens in life: death, taxes, and Notre Dame beating Navy. No longer. What made it even sweeter was that it came at South Bend in triple OT. Even better is that if Notre Dame loses to Air Force, that would mean they'll lose to two service academy teams in a season for the first time since 1944. Man I hope that happens, and you know what, it probably will.

5. Boston College proved to be what we all thought they were, a joke #2 team. I can't remember when exactly, I think it was a week or two ago, someone posted a comment railing us for taking shots at BC. Something about how they had a real tough schedule or something and were the best team in the country. Well, so much for that. The truth is this team got by for so long because they play in a weak conference and didn't have to face V-Tech's starting QB last week. Now they'll be where they belong, somewhere in the middle of the top 25. And also like to thank Florida State for giving us a better national championship.

6. Virginia is either the luckiest team ever or Al Groh is one damn good coach. 5 wins by 2 points. You almost get the sense that this team can't win unless they play in a close game. I'd probably be dead by now if I was a Virginia fan.

7. Ohio State may actually be the best team in the country after all. Although Wisconsin hung around for 3 quarters, Ohio State annihilated them in the 4th. That's two weeks in a row that they've stuck it to ranked teams. I kept wondering how they'd do once they finally started playing semi-legit competition. Well, they've answered the bell. I'm no longer sure they'd lose to LSU or Oregon. I got no problem if they make the national championship.

8. However, Michigan may get in the way. Sure they started the season off terribly, but they've definitely righted the ship. Their win over Michigan State may not have been impressive, but a win's a win. Plus, they get Ohio State at the Big House this year. And with a chance to ruin Ohio State's perfect season, bury the two early season losses, and go to the Rose Bowl, I think Michigan is going to give them a seriously tough time.

9. Darren McFadden seems intent on reminding Heisman voters that he's still alive. Arkansas hasn't had a great season, and that's definitely hurt him, but nothing says Heisman like an SEC-record 323 yards rushing. Of course, South Carolina gave up 541 rushing yards in total so I might have been able to run for 100 yards in that game, but whatever. Welcome back to the race Darren. And speaking of the Heisman and running backs, here's someone you should pay a lot of attention to - Knowshon Moreno of Georgia. All he's done this year is rush for the most yards in school history as a freshman since some guy named Herschel Walker played there. Moreno will be in the top 3 for the Heisman next year and could win it his junior year.

10. What happened to Colt McCoy this year? He's been pretty awful. He's lucky to have Jamaal Charles show up every 4th quarter to save his butt. I have a feeling he'll turn it around next year, but it for whatever reason, he ain't got it this year.

-WCK

Oregon/ASU Blackout???

UPDATE: For people wondering what's wrong with Dwyermaker and why he didn't just watch on FSN, well he couldn't, he doesn't get FSN. Here's the full answer from an email he sent me - So the game was on Fox Sports out here, which I actually do not get. What makes this more interesting and I'm surprised all the commenters did not note this is that in order to get the one FSN channel on DishNetwork in LA, it costs an extra $10 a month for just that one channel (which is complete BS). And I really don't watch FSN that often so I just never got it, and that's not a channel you expect to have to pay $10 a month for. So, I have to stand by the fact that ESPN should not be advertising that they will be showing a game in SoCal that a number of people do not receive without paying extra money for.

Okay,

I am not quite sure who is to blame for the Oregon/ASU blackout that was imposed on Oregon, Arizona, Southern California, and New Mexico. I do know that I spent about a half hour on the phone with Dish Network looking for someone to vent my rage against, but when I found out that ESPN/ABC Sports didn't even give them the signal I figured that this was a futile enterprise.

This tends to suggest that the blameworthy ones in this sad affair would be either ESPN/ABC Sports and/or the schools themselves. On ESPN's website they claim there are certain contracts in place involving ticket sales or other issues so that they are powerless to do anything about blacking out certain games. I feel certain that this is complete crap. I'm sure that in negotiating broadcasting contracts with different conferences and schools it is entirely possible to ensure that everyone who wants to can watch the game unless you are engaging in some BS negotiating tactics or by just being cheap.

The question for me is how anyone gains by blacking out a huge football game in three of the biggest markets for the game in the country. ESPN either is losing massive advertising revenue or pissing off their advertisers whose ads are not being seen by anywhere near as many people as would otherwise want to see it. Viewers such as myself are rightfully pissed because we can't watch a huge college football game that has been heavily advertised for the past week with no warning that the game would be blacked out. I would imagine that advertisers are mad too because the demographic that would be watching this game has strong purchasing power and they are not able to sell their products. Plus, ASU and Oregon are losing important exposure for potential recruits and lucrative television revenue in their markets.

So, what the $%@$!!!? I know there are bigger problems in the world, but when I'm kicking back on a Saturday i'm serious about my entertainment and don't like being misled by advertising. I did write a comment to ESPN expressing my displeasure and have to say I love the classy touch on ESPN's comment area that limits you to 500 characters. Nothing says that ESPN cares about their customers as much as making sure you don't tell them too much about what they are doing wrong or actually using their ridiculous budget and broadcasting power to ensure that people actually get the product they advertise. If this were a restaurant or a company making power tools and you just never got the food you paid for or the wrench you purchased never worked would that company stay in business for any length of time? Hell no. Somehow, I have a feeling that ESPN will not have much trouble bouncing back after alienating a significant percentage of their customer-base.

Something definitely needs to be changed within sports broadcasting so that there is more accountability for networks advertising games and then blacking them out without warning. Hey, maybe everyone can just figure out how to make sure that everyone who wants to watch sports events can watch teams that want to be watched so that advertisers who want to pay for air time can do so and networks can make the money that I'm sure they and their shareholders want.

-Dwyermaker

Backup linebackers are expendable, backup QBs less so

Some of you are probably already familiar with the commotion that happened down at LSU this past Friday. Since the Tigers had the week off, that meant Friday night was all right to go out and party.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, three LSU football players, Derrick Odom, Jeremy Benton and Ryan Perrilloux were all involved in a brawl at the Varsity nightclub.

Odom is also accused of smashing a car window. And Perrilloux, well there's a real a question about what else he did. From the official police report:

Much later, on the night of the 26th, nearly 24 hours after the original fight, an employee of The Varsity reported for the first time, to an off-duty officer, that he was leaving the Varsity when the original fight was going on, when a man he believed to be Ryan Perrilloux ran up and pointed a gun at him and his girlfriend.

The employee, however, couldn't identify Perrilloux in a photo line up. Perrilloux also supposedly passed a lie-detector test in which he said he never had a gun.

Regardless of the gun issue, reports say Odom and Perrilloux were the primary people keeping the fight going. Both have some past scrapes with the law to say the least.

Perrilloux was cited by Baton Rouge police last spring for attempting to enter a downtown gambling casino with false identification that said he was 21. He was also questioned by federal authorities late last year for his tertiary role in a counterfeiting ring in his hometown of LaPlace.

Odom was arrested twice in recent months on misdemeanor charges — one for damaging an automobile of a woman and the other for damaging an automobile and threatening the owner and his father.

Yesterday Odom was charged with a misdemeanor for smashing a car window after the brawl. He was soon kicked off the team by Les Miles. Benton was also kicked off the team.

Perrilloux, however, will remain on the team but Miles says he will not play Saturday when LSU faces Alabama.

Odom getting kicked off the team is understandable. He's been charged with yet another misdemeanor. It also helps that he's a redshirt freshman linebacker who's seen no action this year.

But Benton is harder to understand. He hasn't been charged with anything, just like Perrilloux. Yet now he's been kicked off of the team.

So what's the difference between Benton and Perrilloux? Benton's a backup junior linebacker who's only seen action in 4 games this year. Perrilloux's going to be the starting QB next year.

I know this isn't surprising, but it sure speaks volumes. It continues to hammer home the point that if you're an important component of a team (and play a real critical position), you can get away with quite a lot. If you're not that important and do basically the same stuff, well, expect to get the door.

It also says that a lot of football teams - and coaches - put winning above everything else, including character and academics. I'm looking at you, Les Miles.

But in the end, this seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Which when you truly stop and think about it, is rather depressing.

-WCK

Which was better: The Play or The Mississippi Miracle?

Seeing as this question has been going on for the last few days, we've decided we might as well try and answer it. First let's take a look back at The Play.


And now the Mississippi Miracle.
Now let's get to which one is better.

1. Number of laterals - The Play has 5. Mississippi Miracle has 15. Edge Mississippi Miracle.

2. Play Calls - Both announcers have their heads explode. Even.

3. Finish - The Play has the Stanford Band on the field during the final seconds. Mississippi Miracle has Trinity run out onto the field after the final TD. Edge The Play.

4. Number of band members injured - The Play has 1. Mississippi Miracle has zero. Huge edge to The Play.

5. Number of controversial non-calls - The Play has 2, one player is pretty clearly down, and one lateral was potentially a forward pass. Mississippi Miracle has at least one potential holding penalty not called. Edge The Play.

6. Classic postgame quotes - The Play had John Elway saying "This was an insult to college football... They [the officials] ruined my last game as a college football player." Mississippi Miracle had Millsaps coach Mike DuBose saying "The worst part about it is we had five or six guys just quit on the play." Edge clearly to The Play.

7. Impact of loss - The Play prevented Elway from ever playing in a bowl game while at Stanford. Mississippi Miracle prevented Millsaps from clinching a D-III playoff berth for a week. Massive edge to The Play.

So there you have it. Because of the magnitude of The Play's impact on royally screwing over John Elway's college career, combined with the fact that a band member was massacred in the process, clearly gives The Play the definitive title of best play in college football history over the Mississippi Miracle.

-WCK

Lee Corso is totally unbiased and does not play favorites

Here's Mr. Corso just before Saturday's Penn St./Ohio St. game doing what he does best. Being a completely serious journalist who doesn't pander to the crowd. By the way, today is Opposite Day.

-WCK

The Play II

The YouTube version of this is gone, presumably because of ESPN, so here's the official ESPN clip. It's Trinity College against Millsaps College from yesterday. And it took 15 laterals from Trinity to get the win. I like how bored the announcer is for about the first 8 laterals. Then things pick up a bit.

-WCK

What we learned from Saturday's college football action

I'm shocked, shocked, that an ASU fan would flash the shocker while he's on TV for about 5 seconds. It's not quite Thunderlabia, but it'll do for an ASU student. Of course later in the night, a panning shot of the student section showed everyone giving the shocker. ASU fans, all class. By the way, if you want to know our thoughts on ASU, we believe Ned Flanders said it best: "Apparently it's easier to get into heaven than Arizona State."

On to what we learned.

1. Ohio State may not be the best team in country, but they at least proved they're worthy of the #1 ranking. Going into Happy Valley and beating down Penn State was what Ohio State needed to do in my mind to prove to people they're a legit #1, and they did that. Even more impressive was that this game was never close. I'm still troubled by the fact that Ohio St. has played some serious cupcakes this year, but this was a big test and they passed it. The only team left that seems to have the ability to beat Ohio St. is Michigan. I can't believe I'm even saying that.

2. Oregon proved today that they belong to be in the same discussions as LSU for National Championship consideration. Oregon hung on to beat an extremely talented USC squad and should have beaten them by more if they hadn't had a few stupid turnovers. The amazing thing about Oregon is that they're literally one play away from being the undisputed #1 team in the country. That fumble into the end zone at the end of the game against Cal may be the difference between them playing in the National Championship and some other BCS bowl game. Regardless, this team's offense is truly something to reckon with, even though they've had a few injuries and a suspension. They can run, pass, and stretch the field in a way I haven't seen any other offenses do this year. Dennis Dixon is like a thin Vince Young and Jonathan Stewart is an absolute workhorse. It'll be tough for this team to make it into the National Championship game, but if they do get in, look out. If this team can put points up on the board against USC's defense, they can put points up on the board against any defense.

3. Speaking of USC, when do we bring out the official "Pete Carroll is a bad coach" chant? This team is ludicrously talented and now they could easily finish their Pac-10 schedule with 3 or more losses. How does this happen? Well, it happens when your coach isn't good at getting everything out of his players. If you think I'm being too critical, look at the Stanford game. The only way you lose a game like that is if you're coach doesn't prepare you for it. When Carroll had that incredible 3-year run from 2003-2005, everyone thought he was the greatest coach since sliced bread. But since losing the National Championship to Texas, a game USC really should have won (to take nothing away from Vince Young), USC has lost some truly head scratching games. The loss to UCLA last year that took them out of the National Championship was pretty terrible and the Stanford loss was about 10 times worse. Oregon totally deserved to beat USC yesterday, but still, there's something wrong with USC. And I think it's Carroll. I think he's a great recruiter, but a lousy coach. Which shouldn't be much of a surprise considering he was a lousy pro coach.

4. If you want our thoughts on BC, we wrote about that on Friday. We weren't real kind to BC.

5. The SEC and Pac-10 are too tough for their own good. Watching Kentucky lose to Miss St. followed by Florida losing to Georgia was pretty surprising. And in addition to that, Tennessee beat South Carolina. Meanwhile, watching Cal lose to UCLA and Arizona St. in back to back weeks (mainly due to Longshore's bad ankle) also speaks volumes about the strength of the Pac-10. And on top of that Arizona St. is in first place in the Pac-10. But you're nuts if you think Arizona St. is going to go through the Pac-10 undefeated. They have to play Oregon, UCLA and USC the next 3 weeks. They'll lose 2 of those games, maybe all 3. By my estimation, the Pac-10 has 6 very legit teams (out of 10) while the SEC has unreal 8 (out of 12). These teams match up against each other every week and absolutely bludgeon themselves to death during the course of the regular season. You should get a badge of honor for making it out of either of these two conferences with only one loss.

6. It looks like SEC teams are starting to figure out Florida. And by figure them out, I mean they're just keying on Tebow. He's literally their whole offense. And when you combine that with the fact that Florida only has about 6 total plays, they aren't really a hard team to prepare for. This isn't Tebow's fault at all by the way. It's Urban Meyer's fault. He hasn't done anything to take the pressure off of Tebow even though he promised to do that weeks ago. Now Tebow has taken way too many big hits and has that bruised shoulder - which is only worse after yesterday. And they've now got 3 losses. You can put all the blame on Urban Meyer.

7. The Heisman race just got incredibly cloudy. Most people going into this weekend had Tebow as the Heisman frontrunner. Then Florida lost. That would have left space available for Andre Woodson, but he had already lost to Mississippi St., officially putting a stake into the heart of his Heisman campaign. I have no clue who in the hell is going to win this thing any more.

8. Kansas is sort of good, maybe. I mean they're 8-0, but who've they beaten? Pretty much no one. But whatever. I'd love to see them go undefeated just to cause a nationwide riot against the BCS system.

9. Bill Callahan continues to dig his own grave at Nebraska.

10. I don't know anything about UCONN at all. But maybe I should start paying attention.

-WCK