2018 Week 7
October 16, 2018
We're finally in the middle of October and we had some great action last week - and we haven't even started on one of my favorite parts of the year, MACtion. There's nothing like watching two teams play on a Tuesday night in front of 1,300 fans.
It was a tough week for many highly-regarded teams. The #2 rated University of Georgia went to Baton Rouge to face Coach Ogre and his Bayou Bungholes. They left no longer rated #2 as LSU cruised to a 20-point win. I haven't seen a bunch of bulldogs get pounded like that since the 1999 Blacksburg Dog Show.
The University of Washington headed down to Eugene to play Oregon. Oregon gave the Huskies all they could handle, finally pulling out the game in overtime. Now I'm still a bit confused about these overtime rules. Oregon went first and scored but apparently missed the extra point, then Washington kicked a field goal and lost 30-27. in any event it was quite a nice win for the Beavers.
The Michigan State Fighting Chippewas bounced back after a tough loss to Northwestern, going into State College Station and scoring late to upend Penn State to retain possession of the coveted Hugh Grant Trophy.
Iowa State played giant killer once again, defeating the Western Virginia Mountain Men. The Cyclones pulled away late in the game and may have done serious damage to Will Geer III's Heisman hopes. His grandfather, former actor Will Geer, came over to watch the game and once again started bawling every time Will III threw an incompletion. We're gonna have to get him some Xanax. Or bourbon.
Michigan continued to play well in pummeling Wisconsin 38-13. In a more controversial result, Florida came from behind to upend Vanderbilt, 37-27. There had been a near-brawl after a violent shot by a Gator against a Vandy player. Now I'm quite the expert on hard hits against Commodes, though usually I just end up replacing the toilet.
Elsewhere in the SEC Tennessee pulled a nice upset at Auburn. Coach Shug Jordan is ready to cut bait with Coach Malzahn, though he does still like Mrs. Malzahn and her pretty tin foil hats.
Virginia held on for an upset win against the #16 rated Miami Hurricanes. I'm glad that UVA showed that they are now capable of beating a 16 seed. One could understand why people thought it may have been a basketball game as the 16-13 final is about as high scoring as most Virginia hoops games.
Colorado came to Los Angeles with an undefeated record and left with a 31-20 defeat. It's tough to win at USC what with the bright lights. And the Song Girls. Especially the Song Girls.
My Pitt Panthers played very well in South Bend but came up short against the Irish, losing 19-14 after a late Notre Dame touchdown. The game featured some controversy. Pitt faced a fourth down near midfield. They snuck out a backup quarterback wearing #96 in punt formation to fake a punt. They figured #96 was similar to #98, which is the number their regular punter wears. However, Notre Dame was not confused because their players, unlike most ACC football players, learned their numerals before college. The Irish noticed the slightly different number, figured something was up, and stopped the play and held on for the victory.
The play was even more interesting because the backup quarterback turned out to be famous former Illini star Jeff George, who apparently has some eligibility left. I guess he chose the #96 as a homage to his age.
This isn't the first time teams tried to be sneaky with jersey numbers. I can remember the old days when the Minnesota Golden Buffaloes were a powerhouse with legendary multitalented player Bronko Nagurski. He'd play numerous positions, halfback, linebacker, safety, left tackle, and kicker. Minnesota would put him out there in a different number each time he played a different position. This tactic was banned after a 1929 game between Minnesota and Penn State after a complaint from Nittany Lion head coach Joe Paterno. And, no, I still don't know where JoePa is around here.
We're almost to the third Saturday in October, and that means just one thing around here - watching Coach Bryant laugh as the Tide beats the Vols by 40+ points. See you next week!