Opa! I came back from the Houston Greek Festival and ready to give some scores out. We have both coasts as well as dozens of other games out there. Come along. Get ride on the fantastic voyage of college football. I've seen a number of scores when I came home and began to type up this report. The same *.rtf file I use for my regular posts is what I use to take in all of my scores. I've already seen candidates for "most disappointing loss" and "upset of the week." Be sure to take a look at my synopsis of this week's games so you can get a general idea of what happened.
WEEK 6 - SATURDAY SYNOPSIS
The first full weekend of October seen a lot of teams play conference games or at least start conference play. An SEC game saw one shocking upset occur while a variety of big wins and saddening losses. One game ended with poor clock management and denial of an upset in California. Big games also came to form when Division 1-AA was about to see history being made. Division 2 saw a number of road teams win on the road. One big upset occured in the Division 2 ranks. A critical Division 3 match pitted a #1 team playing at home against a Top 10 opponent in Ohio. Teams that will play their sixth game in 1-A will have a chance at going to a Bowl Game by season's end, granted that they have been undefeated at this point.
DIVISION 1-A GAMES
"All's Fair in Love and Hate" Texas vs. Oklahoma (Cotton Bowl; Dallas, TX - RG: Red River Shootout)
How would you define hate? Think about what constitutes two people or parties to simply dislike each other. Imagine if one thing divides both of these two people or parties. Think about Texas and Oklahoma. They are two of the toughest teams in the Big XII, much less in the nation. Let's meet Oklahoma. Perhaps the most popular Oklahoma alum is WWE Raw announcer, Jim Ross. He'll proudly show his love of Oklahoma. The Sooners are ready to make that trip into Dallas to meet their Burnt Orange rivals. That Burnt Orange crew is the University of Texas. The U. of Texas can be found in the state capital of Austin. They are the defending champions in showing that the Big XII is NOT a sorry conference. They beat that team in Los Angeles that was entering dynasty status. The Longhorns know that no win is more important than kicking Oklahoma's asses. We head over to Dallas, Texas. Now you would think that Texas would have the upper hand since the game is played in the state of Texas rather than in Oklahoma. But that's not the case. You see, the Red River Shootout is like most soccer games and international friendlies. You have a lot of Burnt Orange to support Texas fans, and then you have Crimson to represent Oklahoma. So the game still remains critical to both teams. In the end, the win light went in Texas' favor. Texas pulls off another great performance even when I thought Adrian Peterson would be the X-Factor for the Sooners. Still only one loss for Texas. They're looking great right now. See if they can keep it up when they play their next game. (28-10; #7 Texas)
The next series of games will check in to the SEC. Come along for the ride.
"" #9 LSU at #5 Florida
The Florida Gators were going to just tidy up a bit and uh... beat down the LSU Tigers. Mission accomplished. ESPN College Gameday was in Florida as Kirk Herbstreit picked LSU to win. But Lee Corso put on the head of Albert (the Florida mascot), signaling Florida will win. He's a crazy, lovable sun of a gun. But L. Corso was right. (23-10; #5 FLORIDA)
"From Lexington with Love" South Carolina at Kentucky
Let's check in with the city of Lexington, home to the University of Kentucky. I asked last night if Kentucky could shut up and shut down South Carolina at home. Now let's see if they actually did. Let's meet South Carolina. South Carolina has to leave the Palmetto State for this one. Too good to be at home? No. Just to give Kentucky a message- "we're coming to get you!" Rather than state their claim via the wonderful folks from the United States Postal Service, they do it on the football field. The Gamecocks were probably sick of seeing Kentuckians(?) telling them that they are going down. While their men's basketball team are pushing to make the NCAA tournament after winning two straight NIT's, the football crew wants a Bowl Game. The team that will attempt to stop them is Kentucky. So let's meet Kentucky. The state of Kentucky is one of only four states that are Commonwealths. The flagship university of this state is ready to see its football team look for a big win and go a few more games over .500. You can find a beautiful fountain in Lexington next to a glass wall building saying "Lexington." One other camera view on ESPN2 shown a little girl playing in another fountain there. I never realized Lexington is a big city. I know Louisville is, but not Lexington. Anyhow, Kentucky has their own fountains. The blue crew are hoping to spring up like a fountain and drowning South Carolina in Wildcat blue. Late in the game, Kentucky picked up some huge momentum. Kentucky only trailed 17-10 with 4:53 left in the game. South Carolina had the ball on 3rd and 2 on Kentucky's 23-yard line. At least the 'Cats shown they can match up against South Carolina. Unfortunately, Kentucky got a taste of its own medicine when South Carolina pulled off some trick plays of their own as they took the air right out of Kentucky. The 6+1 made it 24-10. Kentucky may be done at this point. But put the fork down. We still have 4L42 left in the game. A miracle can save UK. After this Kentucky has LSU, Georgia, and Tennessee. So Kentucky still is pretty sure they are on the ropes getting pummeled by the other boxer. They had a chance to bring the game into Overtime, but Kentucky's Hail Mary prayer wasn't answered. And South Carolina won. I have a reason why Kentucky shouldn't be disappointed. The reason why is that they kept themselves in the game instead of being blown out or shut out by powehouse programs. If games were won on heart alone, Kentucky would be money against South Carolina. But unfortunately, games aren't won that way. I'd say it's a heartbreaker considering that Kentucky had plenty of chances to cash in on South Carolina's mistakes. (24-17; South Carolina)
"Winning Malfunction" Arkansas at #2 Auburn
My goodness gracious! I was listening to this game on the radio. My pocket radio has TV tuner features, so I was able to listen to the Arkansas/Auburn game. From what I was hearing, it was pretty damn ugly. But before I tell you what happened, let's meet the two teams. This game is brought to you by two schools that start with "A." Fayetteville, AR is where you can find The University of Arkansas. Arkansas has a pretty good basketball squad (with an ugly logo from what I've seen). The football team is marginal at best. But they want to pick up a hellacious win. The Razorbacks want to shut up Auburn. The Auburn head coach is Tommy Tuberville. He was the first coach to petition for a playoff in college football because he has faith in his team winning games and not getting as much love. An Auburn win here will give the Tigers plenty of recognition. Or like in college basketball, you have to have some significant wins and simply do a smashing job all year. You can't lose to inferior (depends on the level of the certain team) teams in basketball. Same would go for football. Jordan-Hare Stadium is where Auburn plays. There are about 60K-80K fans that pack the house for football. What is it like when all of them are silenced and leave the game early? Just ask Auburn. Auburn's going to fall very far from the tree now that Arkansas screwed up Auburn's win-loss record. (27-10; Arkansas) *upset!*
"Time to Get Rowdy" #13 Tennessee at #10 Georgia
Two schools with rowdy fans will engage in Athens, GA. We got Tennssee up against Georgia. Both schools have great women's basketball teams with Tennessee's girls getting the recognition compared to Georgia. Tennessee is ranked #13. At least their progress here has been better than last year when they failed to make a Bowl Game for the first time since the late 1980s. The Volunteers won't have 100K fans supporting them at Neyland Stadium. Instead, they'll get a tongue lashing from rowdy Georgia fans. The Petit Le Mans took place last week in Georgia. That was the big one for the state of Georgia. Football still remains strong in Georgia no matter what events take place. The Georgia Bulldogs are trying to keep up the same fire like their National Championship team of 1980(?) did. Most of the current Georgia players probably weren't even born when Georgia won the National Championship that year. It is said that the University of Georgia's arch is that freshmemn who walk underneath this specific arch will not graduate. So word to all current and future freshmen at the University of Georgia- DON'T WALK UNDER THAT ARCH!!! With 12:34 left in the game, Georgia answered a Tennessee fumble for a touchdown with a BEAUTIFUL 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The KR went from Asheville, NC all the way to Portland, OR. It was a lovely coast-to-coast TD. Unfortunately, the two-point conversion kept the score at 38-33 in favor of Tennessee. (51-33; #13 Tennessee) *upset!*
* Vanderbilt at Mississippi
This game in Oxford, MS seen the Ole Miss Rebels take down the Vanderbilt Commodores from Nashville. Vandy is now 0-2 in the SEC. (-; MISSISSIPPI)
Now on to other games.
"The Chopping Block" Michigan State at #6 Michigan (RIVALRY: Battle for Paul Bunyan)
Football in the state of Michigan is exceptional. The Big Ten rules in just about every sport the Big Ten sanctions. Big Ten football- nothing like it. (-; #6 MICHIGAN)
"Sixth Time a Charm?" Baylor at Colorado
Folsom Field is such a beautiful place to play football. Sad thing their football team has been ugly as sin. Winless overall. Even Baylor would whip Montana State's asses if Colorado didn't schedule them. Colorado went from a Big XII North champion to a damned disappointment. Whomever picked Colorado to win the Big XII North for another straight season must really feel like crap. If the Buffaloes can't beat lowly Baylor, they will be the biggest disappointment since Duke. Colorado would normally win games. But enough about Colorado. Let's talk about the lowly Baylor University. Baylor can be found in Waco, TX. They've been whacko against teams. They still stink, but the Bears have done a much better job at this point than Colorado all year. And in the end, Colorado lost again. I bet Colorado would lose to Savannah State or Temple if they keep this up. If Colorado was an NFL team, they'd get first pick in the NFL Draft because they are HORRIBLE right now. (-, 3OT; Baylor)
"Speak of the Blue Devil..." Duke at Alabama
Duke stinks. The Blue Devils stink more as they lost at the Alabama Crimson Tide. Somebody needs to be fired for Duke's football efforts. They need help. That's even if Urban Meyer has to get called up for the Duke job. (-; ALABAMA)
* Purdue at #1? Iowa
Unaffected by the big loss against Ohio State, the Iowa Hawkeyes kept on keeping on to smash the Purdue Boilermakers. (47-17; IOWA)
* #23 Missouri at Texas Tech
The Missouri Tigers won in enemy territory by beating the Texas Tech Red Raiders. (38-21; #23 Missouri)
* Penn State at Mnnesota (RIVALRY: Battle for the Land-Gant Trophy(?))
These two unranked schools went at it in one of the nation's youngest rivalries. They've been playing since 1993. The Nittany Lions of Penn State took down the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Overtime. (28-27, OT; Pennsylvania State)
* Northwestern at Wisconsin
Wisconsin's hockey team had a successful first game, and the Badger love continues as the football boys beat up and feasted on the Northwestern Wildcats. (41-9; WISCONSIN)
"Hell Freezing Over" Louisiana-Lafayette at Houston
This is not good. The Houston Cougars have now lost two straight as the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns shocked Houston. What would have been an easy win and a chance for Kevin Kolb to elevate his Heisman campaign has been denied of any hope of continuing. Something's wrong in Cougar land, and they need to fix it before it gets much worse. (31-28; Louisiana-Lafayette) *big win nominee*
--- RAPID FIRE ---
* Ball State at Buffalo (55-25; Ball State)
* Rice at Tulane (38-24; TULANE)
* Akron at Cincinnatti (20-14; CINCINNATTI)
* New Mexico State at Idaho (28-20; IDAHO)
* Central Michigan at Toledo (42-20; Central Michigan)
* Connecticut at South Florida (38-16; SOUTH FLORIDA)
* Virginia at East Carolina (31-21; EAST CAROLINA)
* Washington State at Oregon State (13-6; Washington State)
* Stanford at #12 Notre Dame (31-10; #12 NOTRE DAME)
* #?? West Virginia at Mississippi State (42-14; West Virginia)
* #22 Nebraska at Iowa State (28-14; #22 Nebraska)
* VMI at Army (62-7; ARMY) *ownage nominee*
* #11 Oregon at #16 California (45-21; #16 CALIFORNIA) *upset!*
* Louisiana Tech at Boise State (55-14; BOISE STATE)
* Indiana at Illinois (34-32; Indiana)
DIVISION 1-AA GAMES
GTPlanet, I am proud to report that history has been made in 1-AA football. We begin with the team looking to chase history playing at home against Richmond.
"A New Power" Richmond at New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Wildcats made history in this game as David Ball of UNH set the all-time record for most 1-AA touchdown receptions in surpassing Jerry Rice. In doing this, they crushed the Richmond Spiders by 10. (27-17; NEW HAMPSHIRE
From me to you, David Ball- Congratulations. You're one hell of a talent. You would make a GREAT pick in the NFL Draft if you keep up the good work. Sweet justice.
Let's go to other games now.
* Saint Francis at Central Connecticut State
Turn your head. This was ugly. The Central Connecticut State Blue Devils beat the holy hell out of the St. Francis Red Flash. Finally some Blue Devils that can play football unlike their 1-A Blue Devil counterparts. (61-2?; CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE)
* North Dakota State at Georgia Southern
I didn't know this until I Seen the ESPNEWS score. Georgia Southern is a great football team in 1-AA. The Eagles now have fallen to 2-3. Now for another surprise- the North Dakota State Bison are 5-0! Can you believe it? (34-14; North Dakota State)
* Morehead State at Dayton
Kentucky school, Morehead State went on the road to play against Dayton. The Dayton Flyers were shot out of the skies as the Morehead State Eagles preservered. (22-15; Morehead State)
--- ILLINOIS PACK ---
* Southeast Missouri State at Eastern Illinois
(21-0; EASTERN ILLINOIS)
* Western Illinois at Southern Illinois
(31-24; SOUTHERN ILLINOIS)
* Illinois State at Western Kentucky
Close, but not quite. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers lost by a penny as the Illinois State Redbirds were money in Bowling Green. (28-27; Illinois State)
- end, "Illinois Pack"
--- RAPID FIRE ---
* Eastern Kentucky at Samford (31-12; Eastern Kentucky)
* Southern at Alabama A&M (28-21; ALABAMA A&M)
* Marist at La Salle (41-13; Marist)
* Pennsylvania at Bucknell (34-24; Pennsylvania)
* William and Mary at Massachusetts (48-7; MASSACHUSETTS)
- Delaware Duet -
* Delaware at Northeastern (27-24; NORTHEASTERN)
* Delaware State at Bethune-Cookman (33-31; Delaware State)
- end - "Delaware Duet"
* California-Davis at Cal Poly (23-17; CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNICAL)
* Brown at Holy Cross (35-30; HOLY CROSS)
* Yale at Dartmouth (26-14; Yale)
* Princeton at Colgate (27-26; Princeton)
* Morgan State at North Carolina A&T (38-0; Morgan State)
* Albany at Stony Brook (33-21; STONY BROOK)
* Villanova at Hofstra (20-16; Villanova)
* Cornell at Harvard (33-23; HARVARD)
* Jacksonville at Davidson (38-3; DAVIDSON)
* Lehigh at Georgetown (28-3; Lehigh)
* Clark Atlanta at George Mason (43-0; Clark Atlanta) <- remember this game, because I'll do an extra on it.
DIVISION 2 GAMES
* at (-; )
* #2 Northwest Missouri at Emporia State (49-17; #2 Northwest Missouri)
* #3 North Dakota at Minnesota State (24-3; #3 North Dakota)
* Ouachita Baptist at #4 North Alabama (47-10; #4 NORTH ALABAMA)
* #21 Presbyterian at Wingate (14-9; WINGATE) *upset!*
* Slippery Rock at Shippensburg (28-21; SHIPPENSBURG)
* #12 Pittsburg State at #17 Washburn (29-14; Pittsburg State)
* St. Augustine's at #6 North Carolina Central (43-14; #6 NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL)
* Tarleton State at Texas A&M Kingsville (29-0; Tarleton State)
* Texas A&M-Commerce at Southeastern Oklahoma (14-13; Texas A&M-Commerce)
* Tiffin at Kentucky Wesleyan (29-10; Tiffin)
* Tuskegee at Morehouse (55-29; Tuskegee)
* Valdosta State at Southern Arkansas (41-7; #5 Valdosta State)
* #7 West Texas A&M at #25 Midwestern State (29-27; #7 West Texas A&M)
DIVISION 3 GAMES
* #10 Ohio Northern at #1 Mount Union
The defending champions of Division 3 football is Mount Union College. The Purple Raiders were ready to raid through their opposition. Ohio Northern wants to eliminate Mount Union's dominance. Unfortunately, the Polar Bears were ripped a new ass. (49-7; #1 MOUNT UNION)
* Wisconsin-Stevens Point at #2 Wisconsin-Whitewater (31-13; #2 WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER)
* #5 Hardin-Simmons at #12 Mary-Hardin Baylor (28-16; #12 MARY-HARDIN BAYLOR) *upset!*
* Wisconsin-Platteville at #7 Wisconsin-La Crosse (28-21; #7 WISCONSIN-LA CROSSE)
* #11 Occidental at Redlands (24-10; #11 Occidental)
* #13 Central at Luther (19-13, OT; #13 Central)
* Greensboro at #21 Christopher Newport (28-0; #21 CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT)
* Moravian at #24 Delaware Valley (39-0; #24 DELAWARE VALLEY)
* Emory and Henry at Hampden-Sydney (24-21; HAMPDEN-SYDNEY)
* Ursinus at Case Western Reserve (16-7; Ursinus)
* Maine Maritime at (-; )
* Trinity (Texas) at Huntingdon (24-13; Trinity of Texas)
* Washington University at LaGrange (31-24; Washington University) <-WU in St. Louis, MO; not Seattle, WA (UWa)
* Massachusetts-Dartmouth at Western New England (37-7; Massachusetts-Dartmouth)
* Johns Hopkins at Franklin and Marshall (14-7; Johns Hopkins)
* Simpson at Buena Vista (15-14; BUENA VISTA)
* Tri-State at Kalamazoo (33-30, 2OT; KALAMAZOO)
* Coast Guard at Fitchburg State (31-30; Coast Guard)
JOHN'S SPECIAL!
* Mission Viejo (Calif.) at De La Salle (Calif.) --- High School Football ---
This is a High School football game with perhaps the most legendary high school football program in America. De La Salle once won over 150-something straight games. It means that they were very invincible for a long time. The De La Salle Spartans at #1 ranked in the nation. This California school took on another California high school- Mission Viejo. The Mission Viejo crew are looking to shock the Spartans. The De La Salle coach, Bob Ladouceur, has only 19 losses in 28 seasons at De La Salle. De La Salle IS high school football. De La Salle wins even though Mission Viejo picked up a consolation touchdown. (35-28; DE LA SALLE)
JOHN'S WINNERS AND LOSERS
BIGGEST WIN(S) OF THE WEEK:
David Ball (RB(?), New Hampshire) Makes 1-AA History for Most Touchdown Receptions as New Hampshire Wins - I'm giving this one special consideration because David Ball surpassed future NFL Hall-of-Famer, Jerry Rice. J. Rice played for Mississippi Valley State in his college days
MOST DISAPPOINTING LOSS(ES) OF THE WEEK
Washington Has Poor Clock Management to Fall to Southern California - This isn't so much about Washington losing, but Washington losing with poor clock management. I hate the new clock rules. It didn't work. Other candidates I've considered:
* Georgia Falls Apart in Second Half to lose to Tennessee
* Oregon played nothing like a #11 team against #16 California
UPSET(S) OF THE WEEK (if any)
Arkansas Goes on the Road to Out-Class Auburn - Arkansas came, saw, and conquered Auburn in an upset loss. The same head coach that wanted a playoff had to bear to watch his team go down in flames at home.
OWNAGE(S) OF THE WEEK
Army Turns VMI into Fertilizer 62-7 - Army beat Virginia Military Institute by a whopping margin. It was big enough for me to put on them as the winners of the "Ownage of the Week."
Virginia Military Institute = OWNED (by Army - 62-7)!
JOHN'S EXTRAS
--- THE HOUSTON GREEK FESTIVAL ---
The 40th Annual Houston Greek Festival is the city's biggest ethnic event lasting for over 40 years. How big is it? The British TV network, Sky TV(?) had someone talk about what were the biggest events held in October. One of the answers was the Houston Greek Festival. Showing that you don't need to go to Los Angeles or New York to enjoy a great city in great America. I had some pretty good food there. Just too bad that I can't remember or pronounce most of the names of the food. What was fun is that there were some very wonderful Greek dances including one performance by a wonderful young man that picked up small glasses of wine (I guess) with his teeth and drinking from them with his teeth. There was also a VERY funny skit all along featuring a Greek person named Niko (nee-koh, not nigh-koh). We had fun there with me and my family. Only person I came across that I know of was one of my community college's counselors. Too bad I didn't catch up to her. If you're in the Houston area, there's another day of the Greek Festival this Sunday. So check it out if you can. And come to Houston for next year's show if you missed this one. Houston really is a wonderful city if only
--- SINCE WHEN...? ---
GTPlanet, I've made a strange discovery. I was going to report the Division 2 scores when I came across Clark Atlanta University. I found this web site on George Mason football that's been around since 1993: {
http://recsports.gmu.edu/football/ }. This website {
http://www.gmufootball.org/ } features info that George Mason is basically a club-level team trying to break into the NCAA football ranks. George Mason has been champions of the Seaboard Conference (non-NCAA) about five times.
--- MONTERREY HISTORICS COVERAGE ON SPEED CHANNEL ---
Speed Channel aired their coverage of the Monterrey Historic Automobile Races. This 33rd Annual event saw something I've been wanting to see since the concept of the U.S. Grand Prix return- F1 cars at Laguna Seca. Ricardo Zonta of the Toyota F1 team tried to go for the all-time record at Laguna Seca. By getting better each lap, Zonta was able to smash the time and clock in a 1:06.309 as his fastest lap. He had a top speed or average speed of about 121.504 mph. Why don't these cars run at this track or even Road America? Someone HAD to bring it to Indy- a "roval" that no one except F1 and the Infiniti Pro Series race on. Bring it to a real race track. Maybe even do Miller Motorsports Park. MMP established itself as a challenging American race course in only its first year. Why not, player? Maybe even return to Sebring. When are we going to see today's F1 cars tackle Laguna Seca? When will we see other race cars compete at Indy's road course? I know Indianapolis is sacred ground, but why not some extra races at that course's road course?
--- FINAL JAPANESE GRAND PRIX AT SUZUKA ---
I like studying and learning about Japan. I still think that Suzuka is one hell of a race track. Suzuka has been a driver's favorite for a lot of Formula One race car drivers, not to mention my pick for Japan's toughest race track. The series is going to head to the uglied-up and f:censored:ed-up Fuji track. Suzuka is an awesome race track The best feature of this track is that there is so much track in such confined space. How can you not like this course? My only dislike about Suzuka is the Casio Triangle, which guarantees you going into 2nd or 1st gear going very slow. It's even worse with motorcycles. If it means that this is the very last Japanese GP at Suzuka, then you've brought some sensational memories in Formula One racing.
October's just as wacky as September! See you next week!
