No. -10 USC . . . The Trojans, who have been playing football for 121 years, had never allowed more than 52 points until mighty Stanford showed up at the Coliseum last Saturday to blowup Homecoming, 55-21. USC has allowed 1,564 yards in three of its last four games, including a combined 361 yards rushing to Oregon’s LaMichael James and Stanford’s Toby Gerhart. Trojan head coach Pete Carroll’s upcoming book “Win Forever” is still slated to come out early next year.
No. -9 Purdue . . . If you dominate time of possession 40:39 to 19:21, go 14-of-22 on third down and limit your opponent to 2-of-10, gain 28 first downs and allow only 12, you should win right? Probably in a rout. But the Boilermakers somehow found a way to lose at home to Michigan State, 40-37. Purdue outgained Michigan State in total yards 524-362 and both teams had one turnover. Stats lie.
No. -8 The Oh-for-10s . . . Eastern Michigan, Western Kentucky and New Mexico kicked Rice (1-9) out of the club last week after the Owls selfishly won a game to break up what had a been a fab four all season. To each their own. The Eagles, Hilltoppers and Lobos are still well on their way to getting goose egged, although there were a couple close calls last Saturday. Western Kentucky’s losing margin was only three points at Louisiana-Monroe (21-18) and New Mexico was only five points shy of BYU (24-19), but no one ever said going 0-36 was easy.
No. -7 Minnesota . . . Winning isn’t everything. Especially when the opponent is South Dakota State and you need a field goal in the final minutes to pull out a 16-13 victory at home. The Jackrabbits, who moved up to the FCS in 2004 and were playing just their second FBS foe, can be excused for not scoring an offensive touchdown. Such is not the case for the Gutless Gophers, who crossed the goal line only once on a three-yard fumble return.
No. -6 Florida and Alabama . . . The Gators and Crimson Tide should be ashamed of themselves for who they’re playing on Saturday. Top-ranked Florida will test itself against Florida International, while No. 2 Alabama gets it on with Chattanooga. C’mon, guys. Seriously.
No. -5 Washington . . . The Huskies haven’t won a game since that bogus bounce pass was ruled an interception, providing for a 36-33 victory over Arizona on Oct. 10. If not for that gift from the Pac-10 officials, Steve Sarkisian would be looking at a seven-game slide. Washington’s latest laydown occurred at Oregon State, where the Huskies were clowned before, during and after a 48-21 humbling. Check out this quote from Beaver wideout Damola Adeniji: “Personally, we feel like we can do anything we want. We just show up, hit ‘em in the mouth and get the win.” For the record, Adeniji got engaged during a pregame senior day ceremony. But there’s no truth to the rumor that he cooked up a few omelettes at halftime.
No. -4 Colorado State at New Mexico . . . The last time we saw the Rams, they lost their seventh game in a row, 35-16, at UNLV. They had last weekend off to prepare for this titanic tilt at New Mexico, with the Mountain West cellar at stake. As all “Worst of the Weak” readers know, the Lobos are one of three 0-10 teams in the nation and have lost their last 14 games, dating back to last season. When people are being quoted as saying that they need to beat New Mexico to save their season, you’ve got some serious issues.
No. -3 Kansas . . . Just two years ago, the Jayhawks capped off a 12-1 season with an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Earlier this season, Kansas was 5-0 and ranked at No. 16. Back then, the only problem the Jayhawk footballers had was with the KU basketball team. Since then, Kansas has fallen apart. The Jayhawks will have lost six consecutive games after Texas gets through with them on Saturday. As if that weren’t enough of a headache for Kansas head coach Mark Mangino, he’s also under investigation by the school, reportedly for mistreatment of players.
No. -2 Tennessee . . . We don’t really mind the 42-17 loss at Ole Miss. It was only a matter of time before those guys in Oxford got things sorted out. We just wish Lane Kiffin’s thugs would give the Knoxville Police Department a break.
And finally, the absolute “Worst of the Weak” . . .
No. -1 Syracuse . . . Louisville is the only Big East team that the Orange have beaten in the last three years, but not this season. Despite gaining just 151 total yards and converting on only one of their 12 third-down attempts, the Cardinals found a way to beat Syracuse last Saturday, 10-9. Unless the Orange sweep their final two games against Rutgers and Connecticut (pause for laughter to subside), they’ll have won no more than one conference game in each of the last five years. Realistically, its looking like Doug Marrone will debut at Syracuse the same way Greg Robinson did in 2005 . . . 0-7 in league play.
Re: -6: Florida should be ashamed of itself for its whole cupcake of a season. Florida International is pathetic, but even FSU is a pushover. And for all the talk about how tough the SEC is, they are basically comprised of three contenders (Florida, ‘Bama and LSU) and then a bunch of second tiers who are no better than any other conference. And even LSU is a joke this year. None of this, of course, is FL or AL’s fault, but have some cajones and schedule some real out of conference competition for a change.
in defense of Alabama and Florida, they were required to add a twelth game when the rule was changed, so instead of having 11 games in row, they decided to put their byes in the middle of the season.
Obviously, not many high profile or even FBS teams are available the second weekend of November.
Besides, every teams plays a FCS somewhere along the line, It just so happens that they play their FCS teams this weekend.
If either Florida or Alabama were 8-2 instead of 10-0 then this would not be an issue.
Why don’t you put Kansas State in this list since two of their victories this year are FCS and they have to win out just to qualify for a bowl (they would also play their way into the Big 12 championship game.)
Do sports columnists actively look for things to complain about? Seriously?
Both the Tide and Gators have played a tough conference schedule (yeah, the SEC isn’t what it was, but it will still have 10 out 12 teams bowl eligible this year) plus ‘Bama played Virginia Tech to start the year, and all Tamanaha can whine about is that neither team is playing the Indianapolis Colts the week before they play their year-ending rivalry games.
Of course, if BCS teams only played BCS opponents (and good ones at that) then the media would be griping that they weren’t scheduling the Florida Internationals and the Chattanoogas of the world to give them the exposure and cash they would need to perhaps build their programs up. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
jh1975,
FIU isn’t an FCS school, and KSU has already qualified for a bowl game.
Sean,
K-State has not qualified for a bowl as of yet. They do have 6 victories, but the rule says that you may count ONE win over a FCS team, but not TWO. So one of the Wildcat’s wins does not count toward a bowl invite.
What’s the big deal? Florida does this every year! Play 1-2 cupcakes at seasons end. Those games should be scheduled early, not late.
Almost every major team plays one (or more) cupcake game. I actually think these teams should be given a break – provided they don’t play more than one in non-conference play.
The “cupcake”programs want and need these games against the big boys. Without these games, they will always remain cupcakes. Just go ask now respectable and one time cupcake Rutgers. Temple? Recently a perennial one loss team, now bowl eligible, and they hope to keep improving. Ask once lowly and now #5 Cincinnati what it has meant to be on the schedule of the highly ranked teams. And Syracuse, recently considered a major power in the east, needs to keep the more powerful schools on its schedule to rebuild and someday again become an eastern power.
How strong is the SEC and their top ranked teams? Florida has faced one ranked team this season, both Florida and Alabama beat LSU. The strange things is when LSU loses a game they went up in the BCS standings.
Every year the PAC 10 enjoys beating themselves up because on any given weekend one PAC 10 team will beat a stronger team as you have witnessed the passed two weekends. Even the Washington Cougers have played more ranked teams than Florida, Alabama and Texas and you consider these the top teams in the country. If strength of schedule is truely part of the ranking process, none of the top six teams would be in the top twenty-five.