2002 Week 5
September 25, 2002
This week we're finally starting to emerge from all the exciting non-conference matchups, exciting games where powerhouses like San Jose State have close calls against teams from minor conferences.
Down in Knoxville the Florida Gators really took it to Tennessee. I haven't seen anyone put 21 on the board so quickly since the last time my good friend Herb Street played me in one on one (I thought jiggling my neck would distract him, but he just drove by me and made layup after layup).
I guess I'm going to have to retract my prediction of Tennessee making it to the BS title game. That's not the only disappointment for Vol fans, as I now doubt that Peyton E. I. Manning Junior will win the Heisman Trophy.
My other predicted title game team, Ohio State, had a great comeback win over Cincinnati, with an exciting finish. The Bucks really showed something against the Bengals--and on Cincinnati's home field too. The Bucks are unlike these other college teams that tend to struggle against the NFL teams.
Speaking of heartstoppers, that Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Michigan State Chippewas matchup was quite a game.
I'm still trying to figure out these overtime rules. In this game, Michigan State scored first in overtime on a great catch by the son of their former coach, Charlie Rogers, on a pass thrown by their first-string QB, Choad Smoker. I'm sure Darryl was proud.
Then Notre Dame scored on a long pass to their third string quarterback, Arnaz Battle, from their second string quarterback, Ty Dillingham Jr, while starter Carl Holiday was on the sideline. The Irish were declared winners of the game. I guess it was because Notre Dame, unlike MSU, didn't use their starting QB in OT.
In other action, Boston College sure got whacked by the Hurricanes. I don't think anything can stop Miami other than an NCAA investigation.
It's always been true that during the non-conference schedule lots of teams schedule cupcakes and pasties.
Certainly many schools don't mind going to a big-name school and getting pummeled, because they get the exposure and the money, not to mention the challenge of playing top-notch competition. They actually enjoy getting beaten like a drum; it reminds me of my good friend Lee Corso's visits to Madam Ovary's Casa de la Masochisma.
That's why I was shocked to see that Miami's next game vs. a pastie isn't against an American team.
The Hurricanes have scheduled a Canadian team, Yukon. I'm not sure what's going through their heads down there in Miami, but why snub good old American cupcakes in favor of one from another country?
Even worse, due to being Canadian, Yukon is used to playing under weird Canadian rules, with 12 men on the field (kind of like Washington) and men in motion, not to mention their metric field that's about 230 yards long (double it and add 30).
Miami could have just played a normal pastie like SE New Mexico State or Nebraska and avoided this controversy.
But that's far from the most disgusting foreign non-conference story this week.
Last week and this week, two quality programs, Penn State and Texas A&M, are lowering themselves to scheduling that French school, La Tech.
You'd think that JoePa would have learned from the criticism he got for playing that French team a couple years back, but he put them back on the schedule. And now the Longhorns are duplicating his error.
Look, I know that it might seem pretty easy to defeat a team from a country like France. That's not the point. The problem is that JoePa and his former rival Jackie Sherrill are denying some other cupcake a chance to get waxed.
I'm sure they got some special two for one deal, as La Tech will stay all week in State College Station and play both teams. The La Tech team probably will get some special on snail guts at Denny's, but it's still a disgrace to the game.
This is especially true because the second La Tech sees those buzzcut Longhorn cadets march into Kyle Rote Field they'll probably surrender en masse.
Fortunately there are a lot of other far better matchups this weekend. I know where I'll be this weekend: sitting at home watching the showdown in LA, as the Trojans try to stick it to the Beavers.