We’ll start with the bad news, which is that NickyLou and the Tide have now managed to drop two in a row to Sly Croom’s MSU Bulldogs, which is not going to sit well with the Crimson Nation back in Tuscaloosa. MSU dropped our Tide 17 to 12 in a sloppy, sloppy game that included an end-zone INT run back for a Bulldog TD. Yuck. The math doesn’t change much, but it’s still a loss. Nick Saban Point Per Million drops to 2.3125.
However, Saturday did bring us plenty of opportunities to get happy. Let’s start with the biggest news: formerly top-ranked Ohio State got upset by the unranked Illini. Whups! Buh-bye, No. 1 and BCS title bid! And guess who shows back up at the top of the list? LSU, who cruised to a big win over La-Tech as they enter the easier part of their slate.
What else? More comeuppance for paper tiger BC, who fell to unranked Maryland 42 to 35. Insert Nelson laugh here.
Oh, and it gets better: Notre Dame managed to fall to another service academy in their spectacular 41 to 24 loss to Air Force. The Irish still face Duke and Stanford, and could easily lose both. How much longer will Weis have a job? ESPN wonders the same thing:
The Irish, who were held to 58 yards rushing, had lost eight games in a season twice before, going 2-8 in 1956 and 1960.
It was also the school-record sixth straight home loss. Notre Dame could finish the season winless at home if it doesn’t beat Duke next week. The only other times that has happened were in 1887 (0-1), 1918 (0-0-1) and 1933 (0-3-1).
“As a team, we’re at that low point, basically the lowest of lows,” safety David Bruton said. “But we’ve got to keep plugging.”
The loss dropped Weis’ career record to 20-15. His predecessor, Tyrone Willingham, was fired after three seasons with a 21-15 record.
This week was also fun if you hate Steve Spurrier, as all right-thinking fans do: his Cocks couldn’t get over Urban Meyer’s Gators, who spanked their old coach 51 to 31; Florida QB Tebow rushed for 5 TDs and threw for 2 more.
Even better, Coach Fran lost, too. All in all, an acceptable Saturday even with the Bulldog win.
Anyway, BCS isn’t out yet, but AP is, and they have it: LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, and West Virginia. The Buckeyes drop to 7.
Update: BCS is now out, and varies slightly: LSU, Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and then West Virginia. OSU is 7 in both polls. Kansas is totally a paper tiger here; they’ve beaten basically nobody and have a schedule packed with powerhouses such as Central Michigan, SE Louisiana, Florida International, Baylor, etc. It’s starting to look like Tigers vs. Ducks or Sooners in the big game; time will tell.