"Steveo's Salvos" - December 2009 Edition

"Salvos" is presented as the editorial content of CollegeFootballFan.com focusing on current issues surrounding college football and news about some of the teams on the CFF schedule this year.  Originally from a newsletter, this web site, CollegeFootballFan.com, has evolved. 

Learned from a master? -  Lane Kiffin has raises suspicion not only with the NCAA, but at the University of Tennessee where recruiting violations come into question as two orange boosters, namely a couple of UT coeds belonging to Orange Pride, a UT booster group that hosts recruits when they visit Knoxville, were recorded in a photo with two recruits in Duncan, SC after a game this past season.  The girls even carried a poster claiming "Miller and Willis have our hearts" naming the two recruits whose game they were attending 230 miles from campus.  According to NCAA guidelines, now such contact is allowed off campus by people affiliated with the school's football program.  Orange Pride is.  We can insinuate what ever we want regarding what Orange Pride's members  do as hostesses, but the school and the NCAA will sort that all out.  If Kiffin had any direct involvement in this, major punishments could be dealt out.  One thought we had:  Kiffin's previous college experience was at USC before he stumbled with the Raiders.  What was Charlie Weis recently insinuating about that program after being bounced out of ND?  If violations are found at Tennessee, don't be surprised if the ramifications go beyond Knoxville, TN.

"Back to the Future!" - On Monday night, the NY Giants will square off with NFC East rivals, the Washington Redskins. Eli Manning and Jason Campbell will face one another once again just as we saw them face each other on September 8, 2001.  Sophomore Eli manning was making his SEC debut as an SEC QB for Ole Miss while Campbell was Auburn's established QB.  AU triumphed 27-21 as young Manning led a comeback to make the score close and almost pull off a come-from-behind victory.  Had replays been utilized back then, the Rebels may have won as a long pass of Manning's into the end zone resulted in an incomplete as his receiver was ruled out of bounds.  Replays on Sports Center revealed that wasn't the case all weekend long.  The two QBs are still going at it with the benefit of challenges and replays. Those changes benefited both the college and pro games a year later.  Three days after that game in 2001, our world was reshaped even more drastically.

Ending the regular season with class and dignity - We don't know who gets credit for this move, but it was one of ingenious.  Finishing the regular season with the Army-Navy game as the last and only exclusively televised game to finish the season is the way to end the season every year.  It won't be the prettiest or most significant game as far as rankings or bowl games, but the greatest rivalry in college football, "America's game", is special every year.  Navy won 17-3 on its way to a 9-4 record on the way to the Texas Bowl.  Army finished 5-7 and will have to refund tickets to anyone mad enough to buy Eagle Ban Bowl tickets to see Army possibly play in the eagle Bank Bowl.  Instead, UCLA will meet Temple there.  It's the only bowl game in our plans this year when the two square off on December 29 in D.C.  Navy HC Ken Niumataololo summed or the game best with a tear in his eye, stating that he was proud of both teams.  He emphasized that these are the kids who will be in Iraq and Afghanistan for us in the near future.  That's why this game is so special.  We hope to be at next season's game with navy season tickets.

The Mount Union-Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitational (also known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl) - Congratulations to the UW-Whitewater Warhawks who triumphed 38-28 in a very competitive, hard-hitting game we watched on TV due to the major snowstorm that hit the eastern seaboard.  UW-W got off to a 14-0 lead, but Mt. Union battled back to enter the fourth quarter at 28-28.  The Warhawk's Levell Coppage broke off a 31-yard TD to extend the lead with 1:17 left in the game and after Wesley Hicks sacked Mt. Union's Frank Rocco on fourth down,  Jeff Schebler's 44-yard FG iced the final score for Whitewater's second title in two years.  It was an exciting game, but both QBs impressed us with accurate throws in frigid temperatures.  Rocco threw three TD passes on 383 yards and Jeff Donovan countered  with two TDs for the Warhawks among his 322 yards.  Coppage took MVP honors with his three TDs and 111 rushing yards.  MU WR Cecil Shorts impressed us with his catches among the ten he made for 185 yards and two TDs.  With Mt. Union alum Pierre Garcon now on the receiving end of Peyton Manning's passes for the Colts, will this senior possibly following in his footsteps into Sundays?  We think he has a shot from what we saw.

Two champs in '09? - Because of the weather, we missed out on seeing our second of two national champs by canceling our trip to Salem this past weekend.  Villanova's victory over Montana in the FCS championship on Friday night assured us that we'd seen at least one when we watched 'nova maul New Hampshire in the quarterfinal game two weeks ago.   Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats.  With a lot of starters on offense returning next season, we hope to see them play again, maybe in another playoff.  We only hope that the weather will be kinder than this years' if we plan to venture to Villanova in December again next season.  We also know that they'll venture up to Lehigh next Sept. 11.

FBS strikes again -  Just when you think this system couldn't get worse, it does.  It's all about the big conferences maintaining their images and keeping money for themselves.  Instead of matching the two undefeated BCS busters against some of the "name brands" of the traditional "power conferences",  they put TCU against Boise this year just as the two powerhouses got shoved aside last year to a lesser bowl despite Boise being undefeated.  We don't want to see these two undefeated teams play against one another this year.  We want to see what these mid-majors can do against the FBS schools. We think that TCU, because of their balance of a good defense and with a good offense deserved a shot at Florida.  Cincy and Boise would have made a good match-up between an undefeated FBS and an undefeated mid-major.  Had Texas not gotten three breaks on their final game-winning drive against Nebraska,  we think the FBS bid should have gone to TCU  winners over Clemson, BYU, and Utah.  Texas didn't come up with a big-time win over the course of this past season.  Cincinnati has a high-powered offense, but the give up a lot of points.  Hard to believe that the Big Ten (Iowa) gets the other at-large bid.

Coldest weekend of the year - The first weekend in December.  We always referred to it as Army-Navy week, but those two  closed out the 2009 regular season for the official finale of college football's regular season. That game in Philly is always played on cold, raw days in Philadelphia or elsewhere when we attended.  It didn't snow last Saturday, but the cold, windy day made it typically bitter on Army-Navy day.

Cash for "clunkers" - With 34 bowl games to be played, it's just ridiculous that 68 out of 119 teams are now going on to post season play.  When commentators say now that team so-and -so has wins over seven bowl-bound teams, what does it matter any more when a good portion make it with questionable 6-6 records?  We considered the International Bowl as a destination this year since it's one of few for us within driving distance.  The family applied for passports with the idea we could check out things north of the border along with some college football.  But, South Florida against Northern Illinois just can't get us excited to go.  Bowling Green plays Idaho, Central Michigan against Troy, 6-6 Iowa  State vs. 6-6 Minnesota, 6-6 Marshall at 9-3 Ohio (in Detroit),  and 9-3 Middle Tennessee against 6-6 So Miss, just don't get us excited.  Eliminate Marshall and So Miss who we saw play one another, and Ohio and Middle Tennessee playing each other would be of interest with nine wins each. 

RU-tude - They won 45-17 over Central Florida last Saturday night.  The Scarlet Knights are never happy.   They finished the season 8-4 knocking off three 1A weaklings and two FCS weaklings for five wins, got by UConn by the skin of their teeth on a miracle with 22 seconds left, knocked off a USF team that played pathetically at the game we attended, and beat Big East doormat Louisville.  They kept Syracuse from finishing behind the Cardinals by losing to them for the Orange's only Big East win, and the three teams in the Top 20 they played at home, they lost to.  So they wonder why they're not in a better bowl game than the St. Petersburg Bowl?  They felt they really got jobbed since they have to take finals this week before Saturday's game.  They wanted big-time college football and they got it.  They've been to five straight bowls now, and they're lucky.  Even Bob Davies made a statement that other teams would have turned down this bowl bid because it interfered with final exams.  We find that hard to believe. Rutgers is lucky because only the Insight.com Bowl they played in in 2005 was the only bowl in existence prior to five years ago.  If not for the NCAA's liberal policy of granting more cities a bowl game, they probably wouldn't have gotten into any though they did deserve a better bowl on 2006 when they finished 11-2.  Stop belly-aching RU.  Beat some good teams and win the Big East!  Then you can take your finals and get ready for a game.  Enjoy the fact that you got some post-season play because of the addition of so many insignificant new bowl games.

A salute to Bobby -  Sorry to see Bobby Bowden's career come to an abrupt end.  We always liked him from afar.  He had a great streak going there for quite some time.  He always sought good competition to play outside his conference when others would not.  We got to see his championship team of 1993 in the Kickoff Classic,  They demolished outmanned Kansas in a machine-like way, 42-0.  We also saw his Seminoles fall in the 1997 Sugar Bowl for the national championship to Florida, 52-20.  In 1998, they opened with a 23-14 Kickoff Classic win over Texas A&M.  when he seemed to back away from situations regarding academic issues, we lost some respect, but we generally liked the man for always being himself as well as his head-coaching capabilities.  We also remember the small part about him in the movie, "We are Marshall". depicting his support of that program after the plane crash which devastated that school back when he coached cross-state rival WVU.  Football coaches are measure in wins and losses, and in recent years, that's what brought his career to an end.  In his prime, he was one of the best.  We miss him already.  His sendoff will be against his other former FBS team West Virginia, when the tow meet in this year's Gator Bowl.

"Another one bites the dust, and another one's gone, and..." Not only with several teams we saw play this year.  It started last week when Western Kentucky announced HC Dave Elson was done on his way to a winless season.  Princeton announced it is parting ways with Roger Hughes after 10 years at the helm and a 4-6 season.  Head Coaches are dropping like flies all over now.  JD Brookhart got the axe at Akron whom we watched beat Army in 2008.  Steve Kragthorpe is gone from Louisville after three tough seasons after his success at Tulsa. Kragthorpe built Tulsa who continued to thrive until this year after his departure three years ago, but 15-21 isn't cutting it with a school that had national championship aspirations after its 12-1 season in 2007 under Bobby Petrino.  He left for the pros and returned to Arkansas after one year. Mark Snyder finished 6-6 at Marshall whom we saw two weeks ago, but we heard the disenchantment among the Marshall fans at Joan C. Edwards Stadium that day.  Al Groh is gone again from Virginia.  Former assistant Al Golden at Temple could be under consideration, but so could Mike London, also a former assistant who's now Head Coach at defending National FCS Champ, Richmond.   Golden  might be making one more move before he steps in for JoePa 80 years from now. Dan Hawkins is still struggling after four years at Colorado (16-33) after leaving Boise.  We saw him lose at Boise where he was successful, and the Broncos haven't missed a beat since.  As a matter of fact, they seem to have gotten better.  Colorado is sticking with Hawkins for now though.  Of course, we're waiting for the big shoe to drop when Notre Dame makes a final decision after their 6-6 season. Michigan seems like it's going to give Rich-Rod one more chance.  That is until some other story regarding ethics is divulged by the news media.  We expect to hear something about Ron Zook's future at Illinois soon. The carousel is about to get started.  We saw Tommy Tuberville's name suddenly come up.  We hope Ken Niumatolo's job at Navy is safe.  Our concern is that people are taking notice of Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech and they wonder if the triple option would right things for their programs.  Navy's coach is proving he can do wonders with it, too. We have some ideas of our own as well. Read on.

Step on up!  - Aforementioned Akron is starting a nation-wide search for  an new Head Coach.  Alliance, Ohio isn't that far away, and it's home to ten-time D-3 champ, Mt. Union.  Our assumption is Purple Raider HC Larry Kehres may not be interested in moving on up.  WE give him credit for his loyalty and dedication to the small school program.  However, with ten championship rings and another possibly on its way, wouldn't HE like to see what HE can achieve at another level?  This sound like an opportunity.  Ten or eleven National Championships is a lot at any level.  He's got nothing left to prove at Mt. Union.  He must be satisfied financially and professionally, but it would be interesting if he has the capability to make things happen with his successful strategy in D-3 at the D-1level.  He recruits like heck in Ohio.  Players there know his rep.  He can evidently get players out of Florida.  He brought Pierre Garcon, an MU grad now playing for the Colts out of the Sunshine State.  We'd love to see if he can work his magic at the next level.  No mater what the result, it would be fun.  Let's see what kind of risk-taker he really is!

Huskies' loss; Rams' gain - Following Northeastern's win over Rhode Island to finish their season at 3-8 and bring up the rear in the powerful Colonial Athletic Conference, the administration contacted all the Huskies' players for a meeting - the last ever for Northeastern football.  Due to financial constraints and the inability to catch up with the rest of the conference, Northeastern has decided to disband its football program.  The admin is offering players to keep their scholarships and finish out their educations there at the Boston campus, or to help them find other programs to play for.  FCS, ACC and MAC schools are purportedly interested. The players, of course, are in shock and in despair.  Leaving the Colonial leaves a void in the CAC North Division.  In 2002, we attended our only game at Parsons Field, nestled in a neighborhood in Boston, when we saw the Huskies host Fordham in a first-round playoff loss, 29-24.  Coincidentally, Fordham announced before the season, that it would be providing football scholarships and eventually be cutting ties with the Patriot League though they do plan to compete with these same teams for a few more years.  Maybe that'll change sooner than expected.  Fordham located in the Bronx with scholarships would be a perfect fit for the Colonial's North division.  Old Dominion and Georgia State are set to join the South over the next few years.  Fordham looks like a good fit here.  We're sure more news will come sooner than expected.

Hofstra - Sorry to see the Long Island program shut down.  What evidently kept the solid program afloat for many years was the presence of the New York Jets who used their facilities as headquarters for many years.  When the Jets moved out to Florham Park, NJ last year, they took all of Hofstra's football revenues with them.  The Colonial Conference's second program to fold this season produced players like Wayne Chrebet of the NY Jets and Marquis Colston  of the New Orleans Saints.  We regretfully never got to a Pride game in West Hempstead, but we did see them in an exciting playoff game in 2001 when they fell in OT to Lehigh in a first round game in Bethlehem, 27-24.

Ripples of Big Ten expansion - The word is out that the Big Ten is going to get a twelfth team somehow.  In the east, the word is that Rutgers is a prime consideration.  The Big Ten wants more money and a championship game with a twelfth team to expand their season and reduce the downtime between their teams' final games and BCS game.  Why they can't extend their schedule like the Big East and PAC-10 we don't understand, but we've addressed that before (see below).  OK, so let's assume Rutgers gets into the Big Ten and the conference gets their championship game, the New York/New Jersey media market, their extended schedule, a recruiting footprint in the Garden State which will just rake talent from Rutgers, another win for some of their lesser teams, a doormat for their basketball conference, and basically they get to keep their current power structure.  What happens to the Big East who has to fill the void RU leaves behind, particularly the metropolitan media market?  Here's a wild idea:  aforementioned Fordham plans to give out scholarships in the heart of the Bronx for football.  Nearby, there's a stadium in that borough trying to revive big-time college football.  There could be a few unplanned conflicts with scheduling in October every few years to keep this from happening.  Like the Jets pumping money previously into the Hofstra program, think what the NY Yankees could offer for Fordham football.  Fordham vs. Pitt, Fordham vs. Syracuse, Fordham vs. West Virginia, etc, etc.  It would be a win-win-win for Fordham. Yankee Stadium, and the Big East.

 What it's come down to - scheduling -  We're admitted Navy fans, but we'd like to see Army be competitive, too.  They'll square off on Dec. 12, and with a 5-6 record, Army looks to upset Navy and garner an automatic Eagle Bank Bowl bid - fat chance!  Granted, Army had to set up a more competitive schedule to help point the program in the right direction, but their 5-6 record is deceiving.  The five wins are over 0-11 Eastern Michigan, 1-10 Ball State, 2-10 North Texas State, 2-9 Vanderbilt, and 2-9 VMI.  Even the 7- 49 record of these five opponents is deceiving.  Ball State' s win was over Eastern Michigan.  NTS defeated Ball State and 0-10 Western Kentucky. The SEC's Vanderbilt defeated 2-9 FCS team West Carolina and 2-9 Rice.  FCS team VMI defeated winless Presbyterian and won by one over Robert Morris.  It goes to show, that if you look hard enough, you can bulk up on a lousy schedule and still be considered bowl eligible.  Hate to pick on Army because even the top-ranked teams are doing it - some worse than others. It's just amazing how many non-competitive teams are out there, but the NCAA keeps creating more bowls.  Wins get you there no matter who they're against.  Navy's 8-3 record includes a 2-point loss to No. 9 Ohio State, a loss to No. 8 Pitt, and a 3-point loss to 9-2 Temple.  Wins came over Wake Forest, Air Force, and at Notre Dame to give them some respectability.  Their option offense is so much more effective than Army's.  We don't expect the score to be close by the end of Q3 as the Texas Bowl-bound Mids make it seven in a row against Army.  Navy fell to Hawaii late Saturday night, 24-17.  They come into Philly against Army at 8-4 in two weeks.

The Big Ten should take a lesson from Navy - When Army-Navy rescheduled their traditional grand finale for the second Saturday in December for the next five years to play the last regular season game in college football and to avoid competition for attention from the conference championship games, the Naval Academy realized that a lay-off from their last scheduled game of November 14 until December 12 was just too long.  How do you keep a team game ready over those for weeks?  Navy wasted no time this past season and scheduled a 13th game at Hawaii slated for this Saturday, Nov. 28.  The point isn't taking a nice trip to the Islands near the end of the season, but the key was to come up with a game to avoid the long lay-off and keep the team ready for its big game despite being against a weak Army team.  The Big Ten just ended its season this past weekend.  It recently announced that next season, six of its bowl games will be played on New Year's Eve and New Year's day.  If they continue tradition, that's six weeks of football with no games.  Teams lose their edge over that time.  In the meantime, other conferences play championships on the first Saturday of December.  The Big East sets up all their teams in a conference finale that day.  USC traditionally plays UCLA that day.  The point is that when these teams play that weekend, they only have four weeks or less to play their next game.  Without a conference championship, the Big Ten needs to plan a few "bye" weeks and extend their regular season into the first week of December as well.  We think it could only help maintain some kind of "edge".

 Marshall  Memory - My late father grew up in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, about five miles from the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel. Both sets of my grandparents lived in that same town during the 1970s. My father always spoke with great pride about the athletes and teams that came from his old hometown over the years. During the height of my youth baseball career in the late ’60s growing up in Boonton Township, he took me to see a few games one weekend when the Lyndhurst American Legion baseball team played in nearby Dover in the state championship tournament. The Lyndhurst lineup consisted of players playing college baseball as freshmen at  Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Princeton, and Lafayette, among others. The team’s catcher was a broad-shouldered kid with a gun for an arm who went to “some small school down south,” according to my father, who was a former sports editor for the local paper, The South Bergen News. Ted Shoebridge played catcher for the Lyndhurst Legion. Between Legion baseball and a semi-pro baseball circuit known as the Metropolitan League that played in Bergen County Park in Lyndhurst, we saw many of these same players compete over the next few years during various visits to my father’s parents’ house. As an All-Star catcher in youth baseball still learning the position myself, Ted Shoebridge was always my focus. He was a solid hitter, a hustler, and a take-charge leader on the field. In one, quick motion from the crouch, he’d spring straight up, take one short stride, and bring his arm up straight over the top in a split second to nail any runner trying to steal second. Surely pro scouts drooled. As a 12-year old, I didn’t emulate the Reds’ Johnny Bench or the Mets’ Jerry Grote, two of my favorites.  When I was behind the plate, I was Ted Shoebridge!

     In the fall of my first season playing football as a high school freshman, I remember hearing the news about the horrific plane crash in West Virginia in which 75 people including most of the Marshall football team perished on their return trip from East Carolina on November 14, 1970. But it became more poignant the following Monday. For some reason, our varsity team hosted a game on Monday instead of Saturday, and we freshman were in attendance in the stands. After the game my father came to pick me up. I met him down near the field at the end of the game. He said to me, “Do you know who died in that Marshall plane crash?” I never really had heard much about Marshall until the news of the tragedy, much less knew of any one who went there. Before I could give it much thought, he blurted, “Ted Shoebridge.” I was shocked! I never knew until that moment that the “small school down south” Shoebridge attended was Marshall! Nor did I even know that the baseball prospect I admired with a rifle of an arm also played quarterback for that college. On that terrible day in college football history, Shoebridge had led a comeback against ECU that fell short in a 17-14 loss. He came off the bench in the second half and completed 14 of 32 attempts for 188 yards and a 16-yard TD. His Lyndhurst High School teammate, Marcelo Lajterman, doubled as kicker and punter for The Herd. At the crash site, Ted Shoebridge’s body was never recovered. I remember a photograph in The Sporting News after the tragedy showing his parents presenting a huge floral arrangement to the school.

Among places I desire to visit to attend football games,  I included Huntington, West Virginia, in the mix along with Knoxville, Baton Rouge, and Columbus, Ohio. I planned to see a game there so I can also visit the Memorial to a team and a guy who I expected to see play some day in the Major Leagues. At noon time on Saturday, we'll watch the fountain turned off on the 39th anniversary of that tragedy.  There will be a hell of a game afterwards, too, as the Thundering Herd hosts the Golden Eagles.  Both teams have identical 5-3 records overall and 3-2 marks in Conference-USA.  Darius Marshall of Marshall is 13th in the nation in rushing with 1.32 yards and 11 TDs.

Double standard - Why is it when Florida just squeaks past mediocre Arkansas, 23-20, who's been thumped already by Alabama, or when Alabama brushes by Tennessee (a three-time loser including one to UCLA), 12-10, the media deems it a typical hard-fought SEC game?  Then when Cincinnati defeats UConn 47-45  after taking a commanding lead, the media heads present it like the undefeated Bearcats don't deserve their high ranking because of the close margin of their victory?  This is typical of the con job the SEC throws out there hyping their already over-hyped conference.  It's one thing to compare them to the declining Big Ten, but the Big East, the Big Twelve, the MWC, and the PAC 10 have held their own against them - when the SEC will play them.

Big Ten busters -  That's just about anybody who plays them.  Ohio State, Iowa, and Penn State are the best of a bunch of boring, lethargic teams this year.   A few years ago they harped on the conference having such great coaches.  Saban and Miles left the state of Michigan to coach down South.  This conference needs a wake up call.  If they talk about expansion, maybe they should consider a merger with the Mid American Conference.  They seem on par with their sister Midwest conference.

Anchors aweigh! -   The Mids could be headed to a ten-win season in  their seventh straight bowl bid after winning their seventh straight Commander-in-Chief Trophy.  They get a pretty good bowl match-up with Missouri in the Texas Bowl.  We'd like to go see that one.  Navy is taking ticket orders from fans to send Mids or Navy enlisted personnel to the game.  Sounds like a good cause for those serving during the Holidays. Go Navy!

Ten years ago - On November 20, 1999, we took two four year-old boys to college football's longest-played rivalry to see Lafayette visit Lehigh for the 135th time.  "Who wants to be a Millionaire" was the rage on TV at the time, and Cousin  Ben Wylie came up with some interesting questions in the show's format to entertain us as we crawled along in traffic. Unexpectedly,  the local roads couldn't handle the traffic for the big game.  We were late for a tailgate party with our friends Scott and Leeann Magee.  No. 13 Lehigh edged the underdog Leopards 14-12 on their way to the 1AA playoffs that day.  I remember two boys becoming very lethargic in the third quarter, but  a couple of large Cokes got them into the spirit of the game in the fourth.  Ben and Eric played a version of football near the modern art sculptures on the upper lawn of the athletic field grounds.  They ran around the "artwork" and threw a mini football through the holes created in the formations by the imaginative artist before the chase began to tackle one another.  It prompted one fan walking by to comment, "Now I understand what these things are good for." Ten years later, Ben and Eric are finishing up their high school freshman seasons - Eric for Lenape Valley and Ben for Hackettsown.  LV beat H-town in their early season meeting.  We'll return to the Lafayette-Lehigh game this year on November 21 as we only have two tickets and the boys probably have other things to do.  For the Leopards and Mountain Hawks, the roles are reversed ten years later.  After eight games, Lafayette is 7-1, 3-0 and ranked No. 24 in the FCS vying with Colgate and Hoy Cross during the next two weeks for a Patriot League title. Lehigh is 2-6, 2-1, but looking for the upset against Lafayette in their traditional regular season finale.  That's what rivalries are all about.  Our Guest Game Analyst will be Charlie Roberts who's accompanied us to the Harvard-Yale game the last two years.  Charlie, a Lehigh grad, is looking forward to this one even more.

The winless - We watched Cheyney State fall hard to second-year program Lincoln back on August 29, 41-20.  The Wolves finished the season a solid 0-11 after losing their finale to 8-3 Clarion, 32-12.   The Wolves haven't had a winning season in years.  The second-year Lions improved from one win to three in their second season.  Western Kentucky joined them in their inaugural FBS season to finish 0-12.  Better luck with a new coach next season, Hilltoppers.

The Good and the Ugly -   As of the final rankings, we've seen the AP's No. 8 Ohio State (twice),  No. 13 (why?) Penn State, and  No. 17 Pitt  We sold our Cincinnati-Rutgers opening weekend tickets and missed the No. 3 team in the country, Cincinnati, who finished 12-0 . The ugly?  Western Kentucky who opened our season as we added them as our 120th FBS team in their 63-7 loss to Tennessee finished 0-12. ESPN.com has them rated as No. 120 and Head Coach David Elson will not be back at the end of the season.  A search committee has be assembled.  We wonder if the names Weis and Rodriguez appear on their list.

Ivy title - Penn won the Ivy League title going 7-0 finishing with a win over Cornell last week.  Their 8-2 record was blemished by losses to No. 1 Villanova and to 8-3 Lafayette.

TOP 19 - This isn't what you think it is.  This is our pre-season poll indicating how we see the 19 FBS teams on our slate will finish relative to one another this season:    Things will change if we plan to go to that aforementioned Florida game.  1.) Penn State  2.) Ohio State  3.) TCU  4.) Pitt 5.) West Virginia 6.) Clemson  7.) South Carolina   8.) Rutgers  9.) South Florida  10.) Minnesota  11.) Southern Miss   12.) NC State  13.) Tennessee  14.)  Michigan 15.) Marshall 16.) Army  17.) Duke 18.) Tulane 19.)  Western Kentucky.7.

OK, so here's how it finished - 1.)TCU (did not see)   2.) Ohio State  3.) Penn State  4.) Pitt 5.) West Virginia 6.) Clemson (did not see) 7.) Rutgers   8.) Tennessee  9.) South Florida  10.) South Carolina  11.) Southern Miss  12.) Minnesota  

13.) Marshall  14.)  Michigan 15.) NC State 16.) Duke  17.) Army 18.) Tulane 19.)  Western Kentucky.  Only Tennessee, NC State, and South Carolina deviated more than two spots from our original positions.

We did it!!! - October 27, 2007.  CollegeFootballFan.com is #1!!!  Aside from any media types, no one can say that they've seen more College Bowl Subdivision teams than we have.  It's impossible.  There are 119 teams and now we've seen 'em all!  Great time with some big Nevada Wolfpack fans for the Grand Finale against Idaho in Reno.  Now we move on to more great football games season after season!  Western Kentucky becomes #120 in 2009.  We hope to be at their opener, but a certain Guest Game Analyst (GGA) we've had with us over the years will probably start playing Freshman football in HS this season.  We'll have to work around that.