The College Football Czar

Week 9

Week eight in review: It was another weekend riddled with upsets as undefeated teams Brigham Young, Texas Tech and James Madison were all defeated, leaving only three teams in Division I-A football without a loss (Miami, Utah, and UCLA). Not many years ago, that meant something, but now that two-loss major conference teams with weak schedules are shoo-ins for the playoffs, it's just a statistic.

Nc State head coach Dave Doeren has been fired after thirteen and a half seasons in Raleigh, which have been mostly successful. Including two outstanding years at Northern Illinois, Doeren has compiled a record of 121-77, and he's still only 54 years old. He was let go after a disappointing defeat at Stanford last Saturday, but the move sure seems to be about more than wins and losses. The College Football Czar has no inside information, but he thinks the way the coach blew that Vanderbilt game and then pinned the blame on his quarterback suggests that something has gone wrong inside the program, and that this was a greater concern than the Wolfpack's current 3-4 record.

In addition, Baylor has dismissed Dave Aranda, who departs midway through his seventh season with a record of 40-40. At least he's free to discuss midgets now. Perhaps he'll even start a podcast on the subject. Reportedly, BU has actually spoken to its Heisman-winning quarterback Robert Griffiniii about the vacancy, even though he has no coaching experience whatsoever. That may sound like a desperate reach, but on the bright side, it would get him out of the announcing booth.

The College Football Czar had another tough week, finishing with a record of 11-9, which could have become his second consecutive losing week if not for a 4-0 mark in Saturday ACC games.. For the season, he is 110-62, for a .640 winning percentage.

Oct. 30

Baylor at Central Florida

Do the Waco kids need any help? Oh, all they can get. Luckily for them, there's a new sheriff in town, as defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman has been named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Even after losing to Kansas 25-24 on a blocked field goal attempt, the Bears have a respectable record of 2-2 in the Big XII and 4-3 overall, but they finish the season with consecutive games against BYU, Texas Tech and Houston.

Last week's big game in Orlando was so zany, it was just like a Disney sports movie, except for the refreshing absence of Tony Danza. UCF eschewed a chip shot with just over a minute to play in a tie game, and instead went for it on fourth-and-goal from the one, and got stuffed. Then, they held Brigham Young to a three-and-out and got the ball back with a chance at a long field goal with only seconds remaining. Will Stone's kick was blocked behind the line of scrimmage, but he recovered it and ran, and actually gained ground. Because it was only third down when the kick was attempted, the Knights still had another down to work with.

That's when things really got weird. Stone's helmet came off during the play, at which time a flag was thrown, apparently for facemasking, which would have set up another kick from a far more comfortable range. Following a discussion, the referee picked up the flag. Because there ruling was that Stone lost his helmet by means other than a penalty, he had to come out of the game for one down, and the backup kicker jogged on instead. The officials then ruled that because the clock was stopped by the removal of Stone's helmet, there had to be a ten-second runoff, which meant that regulation time was over. The following day, the Big XII would clarify that by rule, the clock should have stopped after a "legal kick down" anyway, regardless of the fact that it ended with the kicker rushing the ball. So the second-stringer was wrongly deprived of a chance at a game-winning kick.

After the teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, UCF got the ball to start the second OT, but its drive stalled. This time, Stone's kick was good, but a penalty flag was thrown on BYU for roughing the kicker. Coach Scott Frost accepted the penalty, taking the three points off the board, and the Knights resumed the drive for a touchdown, with the successful, mandatory two-pointer making the score 39-31. On the subsequent possession, the Cougars failed to convert on a fourth-and-goal from the four, and the game was over.

There has since been a considerable amount of outrage expressed over the roughing call, most loudly from the stupidest precincts of the sports media. In fact, the call was obvious, and would have been wholly uncontroversial if it hadn't happened in overtime of the first defeat for the #2 team in the nation. Cougar defensive lineman Kendal Wall had burst through the Knight offensive line too late to affect the kick, but he barreled into the kicker's leg under his own momentum. It was a textbook example of why such a rule exists.

Tony Danza was unavailable for comment. Phew!

Baylor 27, Central Florida 23

Kent State at Sacramento State

Before embarking on this cross-country trek, the Golden Flashes thought it would be a good idea to pick up a Wagon Wheel, which they did, in a 35-20 victory over local rival Akron. KSU overcame 14 penalties for 114 yards in the game to improve to 3-5.

The Hornets have actually been less competitive in their home games against Mid-American Conference opponents than they have on their repeated road trips to the Midwest. However, there's no reason to expect this matchup to go as badly for them as the 48-7 stomping they took in their last game at Hornet Stadium against first-place Ohio.

This would have been a rebuilding year for Sac State even if they were still at the I-AA level, but it has at times been a very successful program. Unfortunately, one of its best seasons was marred by an incident that earned those players involved a nomination for the Lardhead of the Year Award. In a 2002 Division I-AA playoff game at Montana, four Hornet defensive linemen sprayed each other's jerseys with Pam so their Grizzly counterparts would just slide off them. They lacked the foresight to do this discreetly in their own locker room, though, and instead did the spraying on the sideline, in front of everybody. A photographer for Montana snapped a few quick pics, which the school promptly sent to Big Sky Conference headquarters.

Amazingly, the conference let them off with a reprimand, which was just about as impactful as their lardhead nomination. In fact, the College Football Czar hereby rescinds that citation, on the basis that the Hornet players' cunning plan actually worked, in that nothing stuck to them.

Kent State 41, Sacramento State 21

Oct. 31

Georgia Tech at Pitt

The Panthers turned into a pumpkin when Mason Heintschel was injured in Week 5, and the tractor that just ran over them was the #1 Miami Hurricanes. It's hard to see how they ever put the pieces together again, now that they have fallen to 5-3, with the guts having been carved out of their offense.

GT is not scheduled to face Miami or SMU, and yet it has not otherwise been competitive in the ACC so far. A week ago, the Yellowjackets allowed an even 500 yards in a 49-27 beating by Boston College to fall to 1-3 in the conference and 2-5 overall.

Most of Tech's troubles have been on the defensive side of the ball, where they have given up averages of 407.6 yards and 30.3 points per game. The only time they've allowed fewer than 24 points to a Division I-A opponent was in their Week Zero 14-13 loss to Colorado.

After Pat Narduzzi's team beat Virginia Tech to improve to 5-0, he demanded a ranking, and three days later, the Panthers were ranked. Ergo, the College Football Czar proposes that he demand it again. What's the worst that could happen?

Georgia Tech 23, Pitt 20

Purdue at Penn State

With a 21-18 Week 7 loss in Ann Arbor, the Nittany Lions became the only thing breaking Michigan's fall toward the bottom of the Big Ten standings. You can see the source of PSU's offensive woes from the names atop their stat sheet. Their leading passer, of course, is Iowa State transfer Rocco Becht. Their leading rusher is Iowa State transfer Carson Hansen. Their leading receiver is Iowa State transfer Chase Sowell. So how good was Iowa State last year? They went 5-4 in the Big XII, with a loss to Colorado. Not the stuff of which Big Ten championships are made.

Ryan Browne of the Boilermakers is the third-leading passer in the Big Ten, just ahead of Josh Hoover of Indiana. Already this season, he has more TD passes than he did all of last year, with fewer than a third as many interceptions. He did get picked off twice in a 38-26 loss at Washington a week ago, but the fact that this tripled his total through seven games means he's doing better than okay.

It's very early yet, and former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell may yet turn out to have a great career in State College, but he was basically the last branch PSU reached for before going over the waterfall, and that desperation is apparent today. Among the candidates the school had reportedly pursued beforehand were Curt Cignetti, Marcus Freeman, Bob Chesney, Mike Elko, Matt Rhule and the mushroom man, Kalani Sitake. They ended up with a guy who had a good ten-year run at ISU, but one that was mostly comprised of 8-5 and 7-6 seasons. Those haven't been routinely Penn-Statey records since the immediate post-Sandusky period.

Sadly, that's probably the worst memory the people over there in Jonestown, East of Johnstown have of that time. An institutional scandal involving the serial sexual abuse of minors is one thing, but three consecutive seven-win seasons? Now, that's outrageous.

Purdue 30, Penn State 22

Florida vs. Georgia

As long as the game formerly known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is not allowed to be fun anymore, it comes as no surprise that it has been moved indoors to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Thankfully, this displacement is temporary, until the completion of renovations at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, in 2028.

When you were learning your greater than/less thans, your teacher might have told you that the alligator eats the bigger number. That's just what is happening on the gridiron, where the Gators have beaten two Top 10 teams, but lost both of the games in between. In Week 7 against Texas, with sophomore quarterback Tramell Jonesjr making his first career start, UF frustrated the then-top-ranked Longhorns by keeping the ball on the ground. It did so effectively enough to possess the ball for almost two thirds of a 27-24 victory.

Yeah, but take a look at Uga the bulldog mascot. The tiger wouldn't like the taste of him, anyway. Besides, Coach Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs have had an idle week to plot their comeback after an upset loss to Auburn, and any letdown they might have had after winning at Alabama is long gone.

Okay, so high rankings are actually little numbers, kind of like the ones a young College Football Czar got on his greater than/less than exam.

Georgia 31, Florida 14

Ohio State at USC

The Buckeyes' 19-15 victory over Indiana in Week 7 was a costly one, with the loss of QB Julian Sayin to an injured elbow on his throwing arm. Freshman Luke Fahey finished the game, throwing two incompletions in his first action against an opponent from outside of the Mid-American Conference.

Jayden Maiava may be the third-most prolific passer in the nation, but the Trojans don't want him throwing the ball 50 times, which is what he did in a woeful 24-7 loss at Wisconsin. The desperation that number suggests was the result of a running game that was utterly ineffective. Including the negative yardage from five sacks, Tailback U rushed for a total of minus-17 yards.

Perennially imperiled Southern Cal coach Lincoln Riley could easily finish under .500 in conference play, if the rankings of his remaining opponents are any indication. Luckily for him, one thing this season has demonstrated is that a healthy starting quarterback is extremely important. If that's not clear enough, Oregon coach Dan Lanning could explain it to him.

How does a team rush for negative yardage, anyway? By moonwalking?

Oh sure, like you can't imagine seeing that on a football field.

USC 17, Ohio State 10

Auburn at Ole Miss

The Rebels rallied from a 21-point deficit to tie Texas in the fourth quarter, before the game finally got away from them, 34-27. They had trailed 24-3 at halftime, partly because QB Trinidad Chambliss had thrown two costly interceptions when his team was already in scoring position.

A week after a power surge against top-ranked Georgia, the Tigers experienced a brown-out in a 38-17 loss to LSU. Dual-threat quarterback Byrum Brown, who had rushed for a season-high 115 yards against UGA, was stopped for a season-low 21 yards and 19 carries by the Bayou Bengals.

The Rebel running game has got production problems of its own. Starting tailback Kewan Lacy is out with a dislocated shoulder, reportedly a completely different shoulder injury than the one that forced him to miss the Florida game, which his team lost. Without him, their leading rusher is Makhi Frazier, formerly of Michigan State, who has a very good per-carry average of 5.9. We'll see how that number holds up when he's getting the bulk of the carries.

Many years before Ole Miss lost head coach Lane Kiffin to a nearby conference rival, there was Tommy Tuberville, who in 1998 responded to rumors of his being hired away by saying, "They'll have to carry me out of here in a pine box." Less than a week later, he left to become head coach at AU. The Rebs defeated his Tiger team the following year 24-17, in what will forever be remembered as the Pine Box Game.

Tuberville is now in the U.S. Senate. Had he been better at political spin at the time, he might have been able to play off his betrayal as an act of consideration. "That's okay, guys. You don't have to carry me out in a pine box. I'll walk." Come to think of it, that's the kind of thing Lane Kiffin might do.

Ole Miss 23, Auburn 10

Wisconsin at Iowa

In one of the game's most underrecognized rivalries, the Hawkeyes are aiming to even the all-time series, which the Big Bad Gers currently lead by a count of 49-48-2. Iowa has won the last four, holding UW to ten points or fewer on each occasion.

The Madison Reds engaged in ger warfare as they ravaged USC 24-7 to improve to 3-1 in the conference, and 5-2 overall. Since an opening 41-13 loss to Notre Dame at Lambeau Field, the Badgers have not allowed more than 20 points in any game.

If one quarterback went 20-of-37 for 198 yards with one TD and three interceptions, he would probably be benched. But those are last week's numbers for Hawkeye QBs Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski combined, leaving coach Kirk Ferentz with an unenviable decision. For now, he's going with Brown, who had been the starter until his throwing shoulder was injured against Ohio State.

Compounding the Hawkeyes' offensive problems is the loss of RB Kamari Moulton for the season, to what is being non-described as an "upper body injury." The senior had just romped for a career-high 208 yards and two TDs in a 41-24 win at Washington a week before being pulled after only ten totes in a 13-10 loss to Minnesota.

These traditional Big Ten foes play for a trinket called the Heartland Trophy, a bronze likeness of a grazing bull with a disproportionately large head and long, ornery face. Any resemblance to Kimberly Guilfoyle is purely hilarious. I mean coincidental.

Iowa 16, Wisconsin 14

Arizona at Texas Tech

It was only a matter of ttime before this TTech tteam stammered to a stop. One might even say it was a paper ttiger. The Red Raiders' unlikely six-game winning streak to open the season went splat last Saturday in Cincinnati, 37-24.

The Wildcats have played a weak schedule so far, their only setback being from their previous step-up in competition, 28-17 at Brigham Young in Week 2. Aside from that, they have been winning with remarkable ease, and last week was more of the same in Ames, anagrammatically speaking.

This game is scheduled to kick off at noon Eastern Time, which is 11AM in Lubbock, but people in Tucson will be watching it at 9 o'clock. That's because there is no daylight saving time in Arizona, so while most of Texas is still on Central Daylight Time, Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time, which is a two-hour difference. So, when it's time for a pregame brunch in Lubbock, Wildcat supporters will just be having their morning tequila.

A lot of people would like to dispense with daylight saving time, but maybe we should just get rid of time zones altogether. After all, it worked out brilliantly in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

Arizona 47, Texas Tech 42

Northwestern at Oregon

Former Fighting Duck coach Chip Kelly returns to Eugene as offensive coordinator for the Wildcats. As head coach at UCLA, he went 0-4 against the U of O, but the games were very competitive, and the Ducks weren't in disarray, as they are right now.

Quacker coach Dan Lanning has fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, and perhaps there are good reasons for that, but from a distance it looks like the first-year OC is being made into a bit of a fall guy. After all, the fact that he didn't have a reliable backup QB to work with was not his doing. In three games against Division I-A competition with Dante Moore in the lineup, the webfoots averaged 36.3 points per game. In the three games since he's been out with a concussion, they're scoring only 14.0. Seems like more of a personnel problem than a schematic one.

So the Ducks dismiss their offensive coordinator just as Chip Kelly comes for a visit. The natural speculation is that they're lining him up for the job, and giving him a less-than-subtle hint beforehand. They're probably not going to like the way he auditions for it on Saturday against their team, though.

A fall guy! He's a football coach. It's a joke, son, you missed it!

Northwestern 35, Oregon 24

UAB at South Florida

At 4-3 with games remaining against Temple and Charlotte, the Blazers stand a good chance of making it back to a bowl game in Alex Mortensen's first full season as head coach. Already, they've matched their highest win total in any of the past three seasons.

Two weeks ago, USF stopped a two-game skid, in a strange midseason nonconference matchup against Kent State. The Bulls spotted the Golden Flashes an early safety, and almost fell further behind until they forced a fumble at the goal line, and speedy, 240-lb defensive end C.J. Hicks returned it 96 yards for a touchdown. In a statistically close game, they pulled away to win 29-2, but their lack of offensive production continued a season-long trend.

Like that game, this one is being played at Raymond James Stadium, known to the locals as the Ray Jay for short. But you can call it Ray, or you can call it Jay, but you doesn't hasta call it funny, because there's actually no stinkin' joke to it at all.

UAB 20, South Florida 17

Minnesota at Indiana

If there was a playoff to determine which college football team had the most abrasive head coach, this is a matchup that could not possibly take place any earlier than the quarterfinals. Such a tournament could not help but be superior to the CFP, in part because there would be no trouble finding 24 qualified participants to throw their visors in the ring.

Considering how few starting quarterbacks remain around the Big Ten, this could prove to be a preview of the conference championship game. The radiant rodents (5-2, 3-1) took advantage of Iowa's struggles at that position to win the Floyd of Rosedale by a final of 13-10. A plus-3 margin in turnovers, provided in part by hampered Hawkeye QB Hank Brown, more than made the difference.

Hoosier quarterback Josh Hoover hardly threw the ball against Michigan, and perhaps that was a good thing, considering that he only went 8-for-18 for 81 yards, and threw his first interception of the season. In yet another grinding defensive battle in that conference, nobody reached the end zone until overtime, when Hoover hauled the ball for a four-yard rushing touchdown to win the game, 13-6.

In their past two games, the Golden Gophers have won a big jug and a bronze statue of a pig. So what do they get if they beat IU? Nothing? Not even a tractor gear, or a ceramic weevil, or something? Well, why bother winning, then?

Indiana 24, Minnesota 14

Uconn at Air Force

The skies were not friendly to the flyboys last Friday, when they had to put in pocket passer Josh Johnson, who had been the third-stringer at the start of the season. In that 28-14 defeat at Wyoming, the Falcons were forced to all but abandon their traditional option game when QB Evan Medders was lost to a non-contact injury, which is often the worst kind. Original starter Liam Szarka is already out for the season with a lower leg injury, sustained during a Week 5 victory over Navy.

Husky tailback Cyncir Bowers is running like he really means it, gaining an average of 7.0 yards per carry. In last Friday's 35-16 stroll over puny New England neighbor Umass, his 131 yards included a 70-yard touchdown dash to put the game out of reach before halftime.

There seem to be a lot of football players anymore whose names are pronounced "sincere." The College Football Czar thinks that puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on them. How does one of these guys respond when somebody asks a question to which there is no honest, friendly answer, such as, "How do you like my ascot?" or, "Is Taylor Swift a brilliant composer, or what?"

Uconn 31, Air Force 28

Louisiana Tech at South Alabama

The Jaguars trail LTU by a game in the Sun Belt West, which means the Bulldogs would take a commanding lead if they can keep their conference record perfect for another week. Tech has recorded shutouts in its last two games, against Louisiana-Monroe (24-0) and Old Dominion (26-0), yielding a total of 85 rushing yards between them.

Like so many other teams, the Bulldogs have had a significant injury at the quarterback position, but since Blake Baker has returned from breaking a bone in his hand, they have won three in a row, all of them conference games. Baker has completed 77.3 percent of his passes during that stretch, with six TDs and no picks. Had coach Sonny Cumbie known this would be the result, he might have reenacted the Casino hammer scene with his QB before the season opener.

Will someone please come up with a respectable helmet for this Jaguar team? They have been rotating among a Q-Tip-headed weasel, the non-word "JAGS" in clunky square letters, and "South Alabama" in calligraphy, as if it had been clipped from a wedding invitation. It's hard to believe they can be competitive in bidding on transfers when they won't even cough up enough money to hire a graphic designer.

Perhaps they could put the words "rhymes with cars" on their helmets, so that we no longer have to put up with them being called the "Jag-wires" for three and a half hours.

Louisiana Tech 21, South Alabama 13

Utah at Cincinnati

The salty Ute defense sprinkled the tail of Connor Weigman and prevented the Houston offense from taking flight in a tough 21-13 triumph, to remain the only unbeaten team in the Big XII. QB Devon Dampier tossed two interceptions, but made up for it with a series of strikes to convert on third-and-longs, leading his team back from a 10-0 second-half deficit.

Last week's 37-24 stunner against Texas Tech improves the Bearcats to 5-0 at home this season, their only two losses coming on the road to Arizona and West Virginia. Quarterback J.C. Frenchiv (named after the land that produced King Louisxiv), threw four touchdown passes against the Red Raiders, which proved to be enough even though he also gave away his first two INTs of the season. Frenchiv is not among the more feared passers in the Bigxii, but his stats compare slightly favorably to those of BYU's Bear Bachmeier.

UC is glad to have seen the last of Frenchiv's predecessor, Brendan Sorsby, who completed only 11 of 33 last year in the only previous meeting between these teams, a 45-14 rout by Utah, which was the lesser of the two ranked teams at the time. The Bearcats hope they have since gotten rid of the sors of their problem.

The city in which Frenchiv plays is known as the Queen City, but France has never in its history had a queen, let alone xiv of them. Don't you just love college football trivia?

Utah 20, Cincinnati 18

Oregon State at Fresno State

The 5-2 Beavers, led by offensive-minded rookie head coach JaMarcus Sheppard, boast the nation's leading passer, Braden Atkinson, and leading receiver, Jesse Legree. Their early setbacks were against ranked teams Texas Tech and Houston, the quality of which should keep them in consideration for a shot at the CFP if they can stay undefeated in their own conference.

A scheduling oddity that would factor in is the "flex game" the Pac 12 has employed this season. Each member of the eight-team league plays every conference opponent in addition to four nonconference games, for a total of eleven games. On the final week of the regular season, the league will subjectively pair them up for one return game against a conference foe at the opposite home field from the previous game. The purpose of this is to enhance the P12's chances of landing a team in the playoffs, by manipulating the schedule to put its best team in position. Presumably, this would mean potentially setting up the OSU for a second battle with Boise State in order to improve schedule strength, but maybe it won't work out that way. Maybe the best team in the Pac 12 will wind up being the obvious pick for the group-of-six CFP spot, so the conference would be reducing its chances with a toss-up game, and would be better off matching the first-place team against Wazzu instead. Then again, the CFP committee would obviously see why they did that, and hold it against them.

Mind you, the Pac 12 is still going to be holding a conference championship game between the top two teams, even though the flex game would have already been basically the same thing. So, either the P12 title game will be a re-rematch between the two best teams, or else the third best team will climb over the loser of the flex game, with a chance to torpedo the top team in the championship and spoil the whole plan. The geeks who must be running this conference need to let the game be about the guys on the field, and stop trying to scheme their way to success.

FSU (4-3, 1-2) was expected to figure more prominently in this silly scenario, but they were beaten by San Diego State on a very long, very late field goal, 26-23. It was their second tough Pac 12 defeat in a row, having previously come out on the wrong end of a 38-31 battle with Boise State.

In short, anybody at Pac 12 headquarters who is flexing over the flex game is a lardhead.

Oregon State 43, Fresno State 31

Washington at Nebraska

In this battle between traditional powerhouse programs, the Cornhuskers hold a slender 5-4-1 all-time lead, surprisingly with no games between them in the Seventies or Eighties.

The Huskies have had a week off since ending a three-game losing streak with a 38-26 road win over Purdue. Senior running back Trey Cooley gained 113 yards with a touchdown on only eight carries, the first time a UW player has had a 100-yard rushing game all season.

It was probably a badly needed idle week for the 5-2 Huskers, who have blown fourth-quarter leads in back-to-back games against Indiana (20-17) and Oregon (17-14). Statistically, the N-men are still second in scoring among Big Ten teams at 35.6 points per game, but there are no more Bowling Greens and Marylands left on their schedule.

You might wonder why Washington is traveling to Lincoln. It's so that they can have a conversation without that blowhard Teddy Roosevelt butting in.

Nebraska 21, Washington 20

South Carolina at Oklahoma

The Gamecocks toppled Tennessee last week 27-24, but part of what made it possible was that they were playing against a freshman backup quarterback who has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns. None of those three things is true about Sooner scrambler John Mateer, whatever other criticisms he has faced.

OU has alternated wins and losses all season so far. A week ago, they defeated Mississippi State 23-15 to improve to 4-3, so they must be due for a defeat this week against SC. At least one would think so, were one a lardhead. In fact, the College Football Czar sincerely hopes Brendan Sorsby is not reading this right now.

It's a little-known fact that the Sooners have a real live sooner as a mascot. It's just that nobody ever sees him because he's always gone before anyone else shows up at the stadium. Kind of defeats the purpose, really.

Oklahoma 30, South Carolina 27

Appalachian State at Georgia Southern

App State's 34-31 Thursday night overtime upset of James Madison has blown the race for the group-of-six CFP bid wide open, though probably not wide enough for it to squeeze through. At 5-2 with a 10-3 loss to Old Dominion, the Mountaineers would have to win out, and root for lots of unlikely results from the Pac 12, Mountain West and American Conferences.

The Statesboro Blues may be under .500 right now, but that's due mostly to strength of schedule (Clemson, Houston, James Madison). Last game in Norfolk, they dominated Old Dominion a lot worse than the 23-15 final suggests, with a very late eight points put on the board to make it appear close. The Eagles lost starting slinger Max Johnson to a shoulder injury in the first half of that game, but he is expected to return this week. The 25-year-old seventh-year senior, formerly of LSU, Texas A&M and North Carolina, will be lucky if he's not all worn out before the pro scouts can get a good look at him.

You doesn't hasta call him Johnson.

Nope, still not funny after all these years.

Georgia Southern 29, Appalachian State 25

The College Football Czar

a sports publication from The Shinbone