Sun 02 Sep 2007
A Boone for the Appalachians
If it's the Sunday after the first Saturday in September, it must be time to kick off the new NCAA-ball season. As ever, the new campaign begins with many of the top-ranked teams shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars (as much as tens of euro) so that one of the lower-ranked teams will come to their stadium, and be spanked off the park. The big boys get their players warmed up, one of the six wins they need to qualify for the post-season, and their fans go away with the warm afterglow of a win, quality of the opposition be damned.
It doesn't always go to plan.
X- Appalachian St. 34 vs. #11 Michigan 32
Yes, that would be Michigan - in contention for the BCS title game until the final week of last season - being beaten in their own back yard by Division I-AA Appalachian. This is the one hole in the argument of not recognising matches against lower division opposition: Michigan would probably find themselves about 100 points lower as a result of this match, and it's a contender for Upset of the Season.
Last Week's Top Ten
There were no such troubles for the remainder of last season's top twelve.
#108 Idaho 10 vs. #1 Southern Cal 38
X- Youngstown St. 6 vs. #2 Ohio St. 38
X- W. Kentucky 3 vs. #3 Florida 49
#4 LSU 45 vs. Mississippi St. 0
Arkansas St. 13 vs. #5 Texas 21
X- Murray St. 10 vs. #6 Louisville 73
#112 North Texas 10 vs. #7 Oklahoma 79
Washington St. 21 vs. #8 Wisconsin 42
East Carolina 7 vs. #9 Virginia Tech 17
Kansas St. 13 vs. #10 Auburn 23
W. Michigan 24 vs. #12 West Virginia 62
Last year's BCS champions Florida, defeated finalists Ohio Province, and Louisville outscored their lower-division opponents by 160-19. A quick memorandum to these teams: margin of victory counts for nothing any more. A win by one point is as good as a win by one hundred. Best team for the best two years Southern California was restrained in its victory, though Oklahoma also ran the score up excessively. Three other matches between highly-placed sides:
Other Top Thirty Matches
#29 Georgia Tech 33 vs. #13 Notre Dame 3
#31 Tennessee 31 vs. #15 California 45
#22 Wake Forest 28 vs. #18 Boston College 38
A memorandum to the excessively large, and excessively loud, Notre Dame fan club: your team has lost to a good side. This was always going to happen when you played Southern California, they've been beaten to the punch by the best technicians in Georgia, now sink down the rankings faster than a Swiss entry at Eurovision.
The Upset-o-meter
A couple of results have registered a normalised 30-point transfer:
36- Bowling Green 32 vs. Minnesota 31
32- Kent St. 23 vs. Iowa St. 14
Remember, Kent had a strong claim to play in the post-season last year, but was frozen out in favour of Miami-florida, a team that had to rely on punching up a Division I-AA team in the opening week.
Bragging Rights This Week
It's the opening week of the season, and some provinces and territories begin their internal championships, usually with a single game.
Colorado St. 28 vs. Colorado 31
Northeastern 0 vs. Northwestern 27
X- E. Kentucky 10 vs. Kentucky 50
X- Indiana St. 7 vs. Indiana 55
Oklahoma St. 14 vs. #19 Georgia 35
Colorado beat the Territory side, and will now meet the Beetles. Northwestern's win over Northeastern means they'll face the winner of the future match between North Dakota and North-by-Northwest. Kentucky has the advantage, but must yet play West Kentucky to seal the win. And Georgia's win will cause much cheering in Redcar-on-the-Chattahoochie.
Top Thirty!
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
1 1 1 SCALF PX 1319 153.6 0 Southern California
2 2 2 OHIST BX 1296 112.9 70 Ohio Province
3 3 3 FLORD SE 1295 101.9 70 Florida
4 4 4 LSU SE 1285 147.0 0 Louisiana Territory
5 5 5 TEXAS BT 1264 151.2 0 Texas
7 7 6 WISCO BX 1264 141.4 0 Wisconsin
8 8 7 AUBRN SE 1256 145.1 0 Auburn
11 11 8 VTECH AC 1249 142.3 0 Virginia Tech
9 9 9 OKLAH BT 1248 139.5 0 Oklahoma
6 6 10 LSVLE BE 1244 110.7 70 Louisville
10 10 11 WVIRG BE 1242 146.8 0 W Virginia
15 15 12 CALIF PX 1236 136.5 0 California
19 19 13 BOSCL AC 1221 138.0 0 Boston College
12 12 14 MICH BX 1221 107.4 70 Michigan
13 13 15 BSEST WA 1211 111.1 70 Boise State
16 16 16 TCU MW 1211 146.0 0 Texas Christian
18 18 17 GRGIA SE 1207 141.9 0 Georgia
17 17 18 PENST BX 1191 145.0 0 Penn Province
29 29 19 GEOTC AC 1189 134.7 0 Georgia Tech
21 21 20 BYU MW 1184 134.9 0 Brigham Young
22 22 21 NBRSK BT 1181 134.2 0 Nebraska
27 27 22 ORGST PX 1176 132.8 0 Oregon Territory
25 25 23 UCLA PX 1163 137.4 0 Calif, Senora Riena
20 20 24 RUTGR BE 1160 141.6 0 Rutgers
26 26 25 ARKNS SE 1159 140.5 0 Arkansas
14 14 26 NOTDM XX 1159 136.8 0 Notre Dame
32 32 27 OREGN PX 1155 135.6 0 Oregon
24 24 28 TXSTC BT 1144 101.6 70 Texas Tech
33 33 29 MIAFL AC 1133 138.2 0 Miami-Florida
28 28 30 TEXAM BT 1133 99.3 70 Texas A and M
There are perils in playing really low-lying teams, as Louisville has found out. Georgia-tech's big win lifts them ten places, and sends Notre Dame sinking a dozen. Position 31 is held by Maryland, and it would not be unreasonable to argue that they deserve as much of a top-30 place as Michigan.
The Atlantic Conference
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
11 11 8 VTECH AC 1249 142.3 0 Virginia Tech
19 19 13 BOSCL AC 1221 138.0 0 Boston College
29 29 19 GEOTC AC 1189 134.7 0 Georgia Tech
33 33 29 MIAFL AC 1133 138.2 0 Miami-Florida
31 31 31 MARYL AC 1129 97.1 70 Maryland
23 23 34 WAKEF AC 1105 133.0 0 Wake Forest
34 34 35 CLEMS AC 1102 100.0 70 Clemson
37 37 38 FLAST AC 1082 100.1 70 Florida Territory
56 56 67 VIRGI AC 956 135.3 0 Virginia
73 73 72 NCARO AC 949 105.4 72 N Carolina
75 75 89 NCSTA AC 887 137.0 0 NC State
116 116 114 DUKE AC 729 158.0 0 Duke
Not a tremendous amount to say about these, especially as Clemson and Florida Territory will play their match in the early hours of next Tuesday. It's too early to predict the key matches.
The Mountain-West Conference
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
16 16 16 TCU MW 1211 146.0 0 Texas Christian
21 21 20 BYU MW 1184 134.9 0 Brigham Young
67 67 47 WYOMG MW 1025 135.4 0 Wyoming
40 40 50 UTAH MW 1019 135.1 0 Utah
62 62 77 NEWMX MW 928 134.4 0 New Mexico
84 84 82 AIRFC MW 909 101.8 71 Air Force
87 87 83 SDGST MW 904 103.1 71 San Diego State
82 82 94 COLST MW 869 134.8 0 Colorado Territory
111 111 99 UNLV MW 845 145.2 0 Nevada, The Meadows
It's relatively rare for one of the minor leagues to get all their teams in the top 100, so hats off to the Mid-West for doing that. Title decider here looks like it'll be TCU-BYU during the second week-end in November.
Next week
Games scheduled for coverage on NASN UK:
Fr 0030 Oregon Province -v- Cincinnatti
Sa 1700 Miami-florida -v- Oklahoma
Sa 2030 Oregon -v- Michigan
Su 1300 Notre Dame -v- Penn Province (taped)
Su 1530 Virginia Tech -v- LSU (taped)
linkpage | NCAA
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Tue 04 Sep 2007
Platini's Proposals, and other news
It is to be regretted that the comment system was unavailable from Saturday until Monday: this was due to circumstances beyond our control. Probably Michigan fans trying to prevent discussion of their loss.
One late result from the Sorting Hat Round:
SEVILLA (Spain) v AEK ATHENS (Greece) 2:0 4:0
Sevilla will take position 3 in group H, AEK will play Salzburg in the Final Qualifying Round for the UEFA Cup.
Michel Platini has outlined his vision for the European League, UEFA Cup, and Intertoto Cup from the 2009-10 season. The European League would still consist of 32 teams, but with 22 automatic qualifiers:
* national champions 1-12
* runners-up 1-6
* third-places 1-3
* defending champions
At present, the defending champions, national champions 1-9, and runners-up 1-6 are guaranteed places, the remaining sides must go through the Sorting Hat round.
Under M. Platini's proposal, the remaining national champions would go through a three-round qualifying phase, reducing their number from 40 to 6 - we assume that champions 13-20 would be exempt to the second qualifying round. Domestic cup winners 1-16 would play off amongst themselves for the last four places; where the cup winner has already qualified for the League, they would be substitituted by the highest-placed league finisher, not the cup loser. It is not immediately clear what would happen if a side ranked 13-16 were to win their domestic league and cup.
The UEFA Cup moves to 12 groups of 4, playing matches home-and-away. The defending champions and losers from the Sorting Hat round progress directly to the group phase. They would be joined by 37 sides from a Second Qualifying Round; assuming no change to the eligibility format, 106 sides would enter this tournament. The top two from each group would then advance to the First Round Proper; the third-placed side in the European League would still join them.
The Intertoto Cup would be abolished. Any club looking to hold a trophy in perpetuity may wish to win next season's edition.
M. Platini has also proposed moving the European League final to a week-end, and reserving 75% of seats for «genuine» fans, as opposed to corporate freeloaders. A final decision will be made in November.
Results from the FA Cup Round Thirteen
18 Ossett Albion v Bradford Park Avenue 0:1
28 Colne v Nantwich Town 1:3
29 Trafford v Manchester United 2:5
55 Chasetown v Oadby Town 4:1
92 Wembley v Ware 1:4
110 Dartford v Leatherhead 3:0
143 Farnborough v Chesham United 0:2
These sides progress into the FA Cup Round Twelve (212 teams, including byes) where they're joined by the sides in the three Divisions VII. Here are selected highlights:
1 Bradford Park Avenue v Scarborough WO
3 Newcastle Benfield v Newcastle Blue Star
15 Fleetwood Town v Manchester United
29 Rocester v Chasetown
38 Hednesford Town v Stratford Town
83 Dartford v Sittingbourne
87 Cray Wanderers v AFC Wimbledon
88 Maidstone United v Erith & Belvedere
Matches to be played on 15 September.
We may as well run through the live football for enhanced cable viewers while we're at it, for the week beginning 7 September.
Sa 1700 BBC1/** England -v- Israel
Mo 1945 SET1/E5 Burton -v- Torquay
We 1945 BBC1/NC England -v- Russia
Th 1945 SET1/E5 Forest Green -v- Salisbury
There are highlights of the Nations Cup qualifiers on Eurosport, and extended highlights the following day. Other live sport includes the Rugby World Cup on TV5 and ITV.
linkpage | EuropeanResults
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Sun 09 Sep 2007
Advantage Orange
Another round of qualification matches for Euro '08, including the World Cup Final Replay, Second Leg.
Group A Of Eurovision
20:15 Serbia 0 : 0 Finland
22:00 Portugal 2 : 2 Poland
After 9: PL+ 20 FI+ 18 PT 16 RS 15 BE 10 AM* 8 KZ 6 AZ 5
The top four sides played each other to a standstill; Poland's late equaliser was cheered by their own fans and those of Finland, who are now in the box seat to add yet another European trophy to their burgeoning national roll of honour. It's Finland against Poland and Portugal - Serbia on Wednesday; winners in the former match are just about there, losers in the latter would be staying home.
Group B Of Difficulty
16:00 Scotland 3 : 1 Lithuania
17:00 Georgia 1 : 1 Ukraine
20:50 Italy 0 : 0 France
After 8: FR 19 SC 18 IT 17 UA* 13 LT 7 GA+ 7 FA 0
A good day for Scotland: the win over Lithuania put them above Italy and in a qualification spot, and top of the group for about five hours. It couldn't last, but the two top seeds cancelling each other out works in Scotland's favour. France hosts Scotland on Wednesday; a win will seal a place in Euro '08 for the new World Cup winners (the aggregate of the replay is France - Italy 3:1.) Italy travel to Ukraine.
Group C Of Balkans
16:00 Hungary 1 : 0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
19:30 Malta 2 : 2 Turkey
20:00 Moldova 0 : 1 Norway
After 8: GR* 18 NO 16 TR* 14 BH 13 HU 9 MT 5 MV 2
Bosnia - second going into these matches - suffered an unexpected defeat, and left something for their rivals in qualification to tilt at. Turkey will have to see a draw in Malta as a missed opportunity, while Norway picked up the three points but nothing more. The winners: Greece, who travel to Norway in pole position.
Group D Of Cricket
20:15 San Marino 0 : 3 Czech Republic
20:30 Slovakia 2 : 2 Ireland
20:30 Wales 0 : 2 Germany
After 8: DE 22 CZ 17 IE 14 SK 10 WA* 7 CY* 7 SM 0
The expected wins for Czechia and Germany, but Ireland will be rueing the late equaliser in Bratislava. That's handed the advantage to the Czechs. Germany can qualify outright for the finals with a win in Dublin on Wednesday; the Czechs have no game.
Group E For England
17:00 Russia 3 : 0 Macedonia
20:30 Croatia 2 : 0 Estonia
After 7: HR 17 RU 17 EN* 13 MK 7 EE 3 AD* 0
Workmanlike victories for the top two, and Russia's victory makes it impossible for Macedonia to qualify. Russia now travels to England to begin their series.
Group F Of Baltics
18:15 Latvia 1 : 0 N.Ireland
20:30 Sweden 0 : 0 Denmark
22:00 Iceland 1 : 1 Spain
After 8: SW 19 NI 16 ES 16 DK* 11 LV* 6 IS 5 LI 4
Latvia's win puts the skids under Northern Ireland, and lifts the Euro '04 surprise package to fifth. Sweden and Spain will be disappointed not to have recorded wins, and Spain is still not in a qualifying position. Iceland's draw puts them above Liechtenstein as well. No match for Sweden next Wednesday, allowing Northern Ireland to return to the top with a win in Iceland. Spain hosts Latvia.
Group G Of Darren
17:00 Luxembourg 0 : 3 Slovenia
18:00 Belarus 1 : 3 Romania
20:30 Netherlands 2 : 0 Bulgaria
After 8: RO 20 NL* 17 BG 15 AB* 9 BL 7 SV 7 LU 0
The win for the Netherlands promotes them to second, and gives the Dutch a head-to-head win over Bulgaria, two points clear, and a game in hand. Next: Netherlands heads to Albania, Bulgaria hosts Luxembourg, Romania puts their feet up.
linkpage | EuropeanResults
|
When did the London School of Economics start doing well?
Some matters arising from last week. Western Kentucky is officially transitioning to become a Division I-A team. The transition does not end until the 2009-10 season, and we will not rank the side before that date.
We said last week that Appalachian's victory was a contender for the greatest upset of the season. With so many months of action still to play, it is presumptious not to expect anything greater. One thing that the Glicko ranking enables us to do is to work out which is the greatest upset of the season... at least for matches involving I-A teams. We have a hole where I-AA sides go.
Last year, Sagarin ranked Appalachian as the 44th team in the ELO rankings, 55th in his Predictor algorithm, and 53rd overall. Other teams in the area were IOWA, SMISS, HOUST, and ALABM. (MICH, incidentally, finished 9th in ELO, 8th in Predictor, and 7th overall. No, we don't get that either.) It's interesting to note that Sagarin relegated Appalachian to 80th in his pre-season list, surrounded by HOUST, TOLED, MIOHO, SDGST. The Massey ratings preserve order from season to season, and initially put Appalacian at 78th, suggesting something around that area seems to be the consensus. In turn this suggests a notional rating in the region of (900, 150), and that makes the result worth 40 points on the Upset-o-meter.
Michigan has split. Following last week's humiliating loss to I-AA Appalachian, we have created a new team, MICH2. This is the Michigan team, but counting last week's humiliating loss to I-AA Appalachian as a loss to a side of (900, 150). The defeat cost MICH2 91 ranking points, and the side would have ranked 30th, one point ahead of Maryland. For the rest of the season, MICH's opponents will also play MICH2, we will work out the ranking for both Michigan sides, and see if there is any significant difference at the end of the season. Our gut feeling is that there will be a difference, but it won't be all that significant. The opponents will have their scores adjusted on the basis of MICH, because those were the rules when we went into this season. And if they hadn't gone for two in the third quarter, Michigan could well have forced extra time, and would surely have won on kicks from the 30-yard mark. TMQ's Football Gods snickered.
Last Week's Top Ten
#1 SCALF - no match
Akron 2 vs. #2 Ohio St. 20
Troy 31 vs. #3 Florida 59
#8 Virginia Tech 7 vs. #4 LSU 48
#16 TCU 13 vs. #5 Texas 34
#6 Wisconsin 20 vs. UNLV 13
35- South Florida 26 vs. #7 Auburn 23
#29 Miami (Florida) 13 vs. #9 Oklahoma 51
Middle Tennessee 42 vs. #10 Louisville 58
We mentioned above how Appalachian shouldn't count on having the biggest upset of the year: Akron took a 2:0 lead over Ohio Province, and if that had been the final, it would have been a 46-point upset. The big match, though, was Louisiana Territory's match against Virginia Technical, won by the home side at a canter. The Texas Kingdom Championship match was won by the home side, ending TCU's nine-game winning streak, the fourth-longest in NCAA-ball going into yesterday's matches. Wisconsin extended its streak to 11 games, but Auburn was knocked off by the decent South Florida side. Miami (Florida) continued to lose games it should win, and at least Louisville has an excuse for running up the score this week.
Other high-ranked matches
#27 Oregon 39 vs. #14 Michigan 7
#26 Notre Dame 10 vs. #18 Penn St. 31
#33 South Carolina 16 vs. #19 Georgia 12
#20 BYU 17 vs. #23 UCLA 27
What do you do with a side that loses by a sneeze to a side ranked about 80th, and by a mile to a side ranked 27th? Arrange a game against a side that has also lost its opening two matches, albeit against slightly less modest opposition. +0-2 Michigan and +0-2 Notre Dame will meet next week, and we hope to have a result by this time next week. Apparently, there has to be a winner, even if the game drags on into Monday. South Carolina takes their first win against Georgia since 2001, and BYU's defeat ends their winning streak at 11 - it was the second-longest in the league.
Upset-o-rama
34- #15 Boise St. 10 vs. Washington 24
31- #22 Oregon St. 3 vs. Cincinnati 34
30- Air Force 20 vs. Utah 12
X- N. Iowa 24 vs. #81 Iowa St. 13
Boise's loss snaps their 14-game winning streak, the longest in NCAA-ball. For the hard of memory, that leaves WISCO's 11-game run the longest. And your house keys are on top of the microwave. Oregon Territory and Utah also lose ground, while Iowa loses the provincial battle to North Iowa, another I-AA side.
Which did the Pools Panel say would be goalless?
#117 Buffalo 42 vs. #115 Temple 7
Memphis 0 vs. Arkansas St. 0
Buffalo launched its bid for a bowl game with a handsome victory over Temple. Remember, Buffalo has more wins to its name than Michigan and Notre Dame. Combined. The Memphis match was postponed following an appearance by lightning; it will be played on 27 September.
More Provincial Championships
North Carolina 31 vs. East Carolina 34
Missouri 38 vs. Mississippi 25
New Mexico St. 34 vs. New Mexico 44
N. Arizona 24 vs. Arizona 45
X- W. Illinois 0 vs. #109 Illinois 21
X- S. Illinois 34 vs. N. Illinois 31
What happened to last week's heroes?
Lenoir-Rhyne 7 vs. Appalachian St. 48
Appalachian played five high-stakes games in a row: the four matches of the I-AA playoffs, and last week's game against Michigan. Their eight-game winning streak is now as long as the combined losing streaks of Michigan and Notre Dame - both sides lost their post-season games, and the final regular-season match last year.
Comedy result of the week
X- Waldorf 14 vs. Drake 45
Critic from the Muppets soundly beaten by Josh's friend.
The Top Thirty
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
4 4 1 LSU SE 1330 137.7 0 Louisiana Territory
1 1 2 SCALF PX 1319 153.6 1 Southern California
5 5 3 TEXAS BT 1309 141.2 0 Texas
2 2 4 OHIST BX 1308 149.2 0 Ohio Province
3 3 5 FLORD SE 1306 141.8 0 Florida
9 9 6 OKLAH BT 1280 132.1 0 Oklahoma
7 6 7 WISCO BX 1274 138.5 0 Wisconsin
6 10 8 LSVLE BE 1257 147.4 0 Louisville
10 11 9 WVIRG BE 1255 142.9 0 W Virginia
15 12 10 CALIF PX 1248 133.3 0 California
17 18 11 PENST BX 1236 135.9 0 Penn Province
19 13 12 BOSCL AC 1235 134.1 0 Boston College
22 21 13 NBRSK BT 1215 127.2 0 Nebraska
25 23 14 UCLA PX 1210 129.6 0 Calif, Senora Riena
11 8 15 VTECH AC 1207 133.9 0 Virginia Tech
32 27 16 OREGN PX 1205 128.6 0 Oregon
20 24 17 RUTGR BE 1196 133.6 0 Rutgers
24 28 18 TXSTC BT 1191 132.0 0 Texas Tech
29 19 19 GEOTC AC 1189 134.7 1 Georgia Tech
8 7 20 AUBRN SE 1182 138.2 0 Auburn
35 33 21 SCARO SE 1169 130.7 0 S Carolina
16 16 22 TCU MW 1169 137.1 0 Texas Christian
12 14 23 MICH BX 1161 139.4 0 Michigan
34 35 24 CLEMS AC 1160 131.2 0 Clemson
26 25 25 ARKNS SE 1159 140.5 1 Arkansas
28 30 26 TEXAM BT 1158 136.7 0 Texas A and M
36 32 27 ARZST PX 1151 127.6 0 Arizona Province
18 17 28 GRGIA SE 1148 133.8 0 Georgia
21 20 29 BYU MW 1139 127.6 0 Brigham Young
31 31 30 MARYL AC 1138 139.4 0 Maryland
13 15 31 BSEST WA 1132 143.5 0 Boise State
In the two years we've been running this model, only three sides have ever led the standings. SCALF, most of the time; TEXAS, for a few weeks at the start of last season; and OHIST for one week, immediately after the regular season last year. LSU adds its name to the roll of honour following its victory over VTECH. They slide, as does AUBRN, and upset losers BSEST. TEXAS rises back into the top three, following a good victory over TCU. The tweaks we made to the formula over the summer allows for big climbs for the week's other big winners, and slumps for the losers - NOTDM has now gone 14-26-36, and MICH2 would rank 41st if the parent team were excluded.
Conference Watch - The Moderately-Sized East
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
6 10 8 LSVLE BE 1257 147.4 0 Louisville
10 11 9 WVIRG BE 1255 142.9 0 W Virginia
20 24 17 RUTGR BE 1196 133.6 0 Rutgers
42 44 32 SFLOR BE 1124 137.1 0 S Florida
44 45 37 CINCI BE 1112 138.7 0 Cincinnati
61 53 57 PITTS BE 1010 140.5 1 Pittsburgh
80 71 72 CONNC BE 949 139.2 1 Connecticut
90 97 101 SYRAC BE 828 133.5 0 Syracuse
It's been a good year for the East so far, where all sides are +0-0 in divisional matches. The big three don't meet each other until the end of October.
Conference Watch - The Pacific Ten
1 1 2 SCALF PX 1319 153.6 1 Southern California
15 12 10 CALIF PX 1248 133.3 0 California
25 23 14 UCLA PX 1210 129.6 0 Calif, Senora Riena
32 27 16 OREGN PX 1205 128.6 0 Oregon
36 32 27 ARZST PX 1151 127.6 0 Arizona Province
27 22 35 ORGST PX 1120 126.7 0 Oregon Territory
65 49 41 WASNG PX 1088 134.4 0 Washington
51 59 53 WASST PX 1032 132.7 0 Washington Territory
43 54 58 ARIZN PX 1007 141.4 1 Arizona
83 90 85 STANF PX 887 142.2 1 Stanford
UCLA heads the official table, courtesy of its win over Stanford. SCALF's last four matches are against the four sides beneath them, California meets Oregon (29 Sept) and UCLA (20 Oct), but those are the only top-five matches before November.
Next week...
Matches on NASN-UK:
#9 West Virginia -v- #30 Maryland, 00.30 Friday.
#54 Oklahoma Territory -v- #86 Troy, 9am Saturday (tape)
#57 Pittsburgh -v- #56 Michigan Province, 5pm Saturday
#36 Notre Dame -v- #23-41 Michigan, 8.30 Saturday
#34 Tennessee -v- #5 Florida, 00.30 Sunday (tape)
#2 SCALF -v- #13 Nebraska, 2pm Sunday (tape)
linkpage | NCAA
|
Wed 12 Sep 2007
Twenty-20, or 4-3
The seven-game one-day series between England and India finally reached a conclusion on Saturday. It had been running for almost three weeks, which strikes us as a bit long. Here are the classified results.
21 August, Southampton
England 288/2 (50 ov); India 184 (50 ov)
England won by 104 runs. 6-0.
24 Aug, Bristol.
India 329/7 (50 ov); England 320/8 (50 ov)
India won by 9 runs. 5-1.
27 Aug, Birmingham.
England 281/8 (50 ov); India 239 (48.1 ov)
England won by 42 runs. 5-1.
30 Aug, Manchester.
India 212 (49.4 ov); England 213/7 (48 ov)
England won by 3 wickets with 12 balls remaining. 5-1.
2 Sep, Leeds.
India 324/6 (50 ov); England 242/8 (39/39 ov)
India won by 38 runs (D/L method). 5-1
5 Sep, The Oval.
England 316/6 (50 ov); India 317/8 (49.4 ov)
India won by 2 wickets (with 2 balls remaining). 5-1.
8 Sep, Lord's - Sep 8, 2007
India 187 (47.3 ov); England 188/3 (36.2 ov)
England won by 7 wickets with 82 balls remaining. 6-0.
Final score: England 25, India 17.
There's also a 20-20 World Cup under way. We don't count the warm-up matches, as these were (at least nominally) friendly games. Quite how anything between Australia and New Zealand can be called friendly is beyond us. There was also one proper warm-up tournament, giving this classified result:
20/20 Quadrangular (also involving Kenya and Uganda)
2 Sep, Nairobi.
Pakistan 191/7 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh 161/7 (20/20 ov)
Pakistan won by 30 runs. 2-0.
Bangladesh finished second, but the surprise was that Uganda beat Kenya to finish third.
The tables
Overall
AUS 1285 119.7 5
SL 1156 118.4 2
NZ 1057 121.5 5
PAK 1015 170.4 0
SA 977 126.2 3
IND 976 132.9 0
ENG 948 118.9 0
WI 900 117.5 2
BAN 799 124.9 0
Test
SL 1137 181.4 2
IND 1072 170.3 1
ENG 1002 170.3 1
AUS 1000 200.0 3
NZ 1000 200.0 3
PAK 1000 200.0 3
SA 1000 200.0 3
WI 955 180.9 3
BAN 856 168.4 2
ODI
AUS 1285 119.7 5
SL 1134 121.3 2
NZ 1057 121.5 5
PAK 996 172.2 4
SA 975 126.2 3
IND 946 147.8 0
ENG 934 133.7 0
WI 928 128.1 2
BAN 845 127.7 2
20/20
PAK 1038 187.0 0
AUS 1000 200.0 3
ENG 1000 177.8 3
IND 1000 200.0 3
NZ 1000 200.0 3
SA 1000 200.0 3
SL 1000 200.0 3
WI 1000 177.8 3
BAN 962 187.0 0
linkpage | Cricket
|
Thu 13 Sep 2007
Vos garçons ont pris un battement d'enfer!!!
UEFA has officially cancelled Armenia's matches with Azerbaijan, scheduled for last Saturday and Wednesday, after the visitors declined to play. We unofficially deem this a pair of wins for Armenia.
International: EURO qualification grp. A
17:00 Kazakhstan 2:2 Belgium
18:00 Finland 0:0 Poland
22:00 Portugal 1:1 Serbia
After 10: PL+ 21 FI+ 19 PT 17 RS 16 AM 14 BE 11 KZ 7 AZ 5
No advantages in the battles for the top place, and that's got to work in favour of Poland. Portugal and Serbia have yet to make up their game in hand on the leaders, and the last match-day sees Portugal-Finland and Serbia-Poland.
International: EURO qualification grp. B
19:00 Lithuania 2:1 Faroe Islands
20:45 Ukraine 1:2 Italy
21:00 France 0:1 Scotland
After 9: SC 21 IT 20 FR 19 UA* 13 LT 10 GA 7 FO 0
Napoleon Bonaparte! General de Gaulle! Francois Mitterand! Louis Quatorze! Marie Antoinette! Jean Luc Picard! Edith Piaf! Brigitte Bardot! Justine Henin! Asterix the Gaul! Nikolas Sarkozy! Can you 'ear me Monsieur Popup?!!
Italy put an end to Ukraine's dreams of qualification, and Scotland deliver a hammer punch to the French hopes of qualifying. The world champions have now been defeated home-and-away by the Scots, who now need a win against Georgia and something from their home matches against Ukraine and Italy.
International: EURO qualification grp. C
19:00 Norway 2:2 Greece
19:30 Turkey 3:0 Hungary
20:00 Bosnia-H 0:1 Moldova
After 9: GR* 19 NO 17 TR* 17 BH 13 HU 9 MT* 5 MV 5
After their surprise loss last week-end, Turkey keep the pressure up on the top two, but Bosnia's challenge ends with a loss to Moldova. Norway finishes with three relatively easy matches, Turkey must yet play Greece.
International: EURO qualification grp. D
18:30 Slovakia 2:5 Wales
19:00 Cyprus 3:0 San Marino
20:30 Czechia 1:0 Ireland
After 9: DE* 22 CZ 20 IE 14 SK 10 WA* 10 CY* 10 SM 0
This one's almost done: if Ireland can't beat Germany in next month's match, the Germans will qualify; a win for Germany will take the Czechs bouncing through with them.
International: EURO qualification grp. E
18:00 Andorra 0:6 Croatia
20:30 Macedonia 1:1 Estonia
21:00 England 3:0 Russia
After 8: HR 20 RU 17 EN* 16 MK 8 EE 4 AD* 0
Croatia should have done enough to qualify from this group, but the second place could be determined by their match in England in November. Before that, Russia needs to gain at least a draw from the return fixture, or hope for England to mess up against Estonia.
International: EURO qualification grp. F
20:00 Denmark 4:0 Liechtenstein
20:05 Iceland 2:1 N.Ireland
22:00 Spain 2:0 Latvia
After 9: SE* 19 ES 19 NI 16 DK* 14 IS 8 LV* 6 LI 4
Northern Ireland are almost out of it: they need to beat either Spain or Sweden in the away fixtures, and hope Denmark isn't doing enough to sneak through.
International: EURO qualification grp. G
19:30 Bulgaria 3:0 Luxembourg
19:45 Slovenia 1:0 Belarus
20:45 Albania 0:1 Netherlands
After 9: RO* 20 NL* 20 BG 18 SV 10 AB* 9 BL 7 LU 0
Very much to plan, the Bulgarians still relying on a slip-up by one of the sides above them.
Next week's football
Fr 1930 SET1/DE Borussia Dortmund -v- Werder Bremen
Sa 1230 SET1/SC Hearts -v- Rangers
Sa 1715 SET1/EN Chelsea -v- Blackburn
Sa 1800 SET2/DE Bayern Munich -v- Schalke 04 (recording)
Su 1400 C5/IT Juventus -v- Udinese
Su 1530 SET2/IE Kerry -v- Cork
Su 1700 SET1/FR Lorient -v- Rennes
Mo 0500 SET1/FR Monaco -v- PSG (recording)
Mo 1800 SET2/NL Rode -v- Feyenoord (recording)
Mo 2000 SET1/EN Derby -v- Newcastle
Tu 1945 ITV/EL Porto -v- Liverpool
Tu 1945 ITV4/EL Chelsea -v- Rosenborg
Tu 1945 STV/EL Shakhtar Donetsk -v- Celtic
Tu 2000 SET1/PT Benfica -v- Naval
Th 1945 SET1/E5 Histon -v- Oxford
Th 2000 C5/UC Everton -v- Metalist
Th 2000 ITV4/UC Tottenham -v- Anorthosis
Th 2200 ESPT/UC UEFA Cup highlights
Th 2300 ESPT/EL European League highlights
Coverage of the women's world cup continues on Eurosport; England's matches are also shown on BBC-2.
linkpage | EuropeanResults
|
Sun 16 Sep 2007
Notre Dame is stunningly bad
We've had almost two letters fluttering into our in-box this week. The universe is called Barbara, writes Edward Pole-Tudor from Krestull. Ha! You can't fool us, you're really a bald-headed alien whose entire role in life is to entrap humanity in generously-proportioned geodesic domes. What? No, Mr. Pole-Tudor, we're not Tuesday Morning Quarterback, and the competition is to name the universe. Not win it.
College Bowl
, in its traditional Sunday lunchtime slot (that's except for viewers to HTV and Ulster, who will see it at Monday teatime, or viewers to Tyne-Tees, who will see it on Sunday afternoon) and we'll start at the top and work our way down.
Last week's Top Ten
Middle Tennessee 0 vs. #1 LSU 44
#2 Southern Cal 49 vs. #13 Nebraska 31
#3 Texas 35 vs. UCF 32
#4 Ohio St. 33 vs. Washington 14
#34 Tennessee 20 vs. #5 Florida 59
#116 Utah St. 3 vs. #6 Oklahoma 54
#7 Wisconsin played a I-AA side
35- #8 Louisville 34 vs. Kentucky 40
#9 West Virginia 31 vs. #30 Maryland 14
#104 Louisiana Tech 12 vs. #10 California 42
No problems for SCALF, Florida, and West Virginia against defent opposition, though we do wonder why LSU had to content itself with beating up on only a fraction of Tennessee. Texas survived a scare against UCF, ranked 75 going into yesterday's games. Oklahoma and California also picked up a few points, while Wisconsin was in trouble for much of its game against Citadel, the first half ended 21-21. The big shock, though, was Louisville's loss at Kentucky, reversing the annual tradition between the two teams.
Other closely-matched sides
#12 Boston College 24 vs. #19 Georgia Tech 10
#25 Arkansas 38 vs. #45 Alabama 41
#106 Illinois 41 vs. #101 Syracuse 20
Alabama's win ranked only 25 on the upset-o-meter.
Not Upset of the Week
#119 Temple 17 vs. Connecticut 22
Temple denied a 41-point victory by a dubious television replay decision late in the fourth quarter.
Mismatch Of The Day II
#112 Buffalo 24 vs. #11 Penn St. 45
Is It Safe To Come Out From Behind The Sofa Now?
#36 Notre Dame 0 vs. #23-39 Michigan 38
Depending on how you wish to adjudge these matters, this was either a slight upset or a slightly expected win. Either way, no-one predicted that the Notre Dame side would be so rubbish on the ground. According to Dismal research, the attacking team managed to get 79 yards in total, and their 33 shots at carrying the oval object forward resulted in a net loss of 6 yards. Clearly, the team needs the guidance of someone who is an expert in ground play, ruthless and completely unstoppable. We reckon we know just the doctor...
Provincial Championships News
X- Northwestern St. 14 vs. Northeastern 42
X- E. Kentucky 6 vs. W. Kentucky 26
X- S. Connecticut 34 vs. Cent. Connecticut St. 56
X- S. Carolina St. 3 vs. South Carolina 38
X- Illinois St. 24 vs. E. Illinois 21
35- Iowa 13 vs. Iowa St. 15
Who Have Appalachian Beaten This Week, Then?
X- N. Arizona 21 vs. Appalachian St. 34
Upsets Of The Week
42- #115 Duke 20 vs. Northwestern 14
40- Mississippi St. 19 vs. #20 Auburn 14
39- #14 UCLA 6 vs. Utah 44
36- #117 E. Michigan 21 vs. N. Illinois 19
35- #8 Louisville 34 vs. Kentucky 40
35- #22 TCU 17 vs. Air Force 20
35- Ball St. 34 vs. Navy 31
35- Iowa 13 vs. Iowa St. 15
34- UTEP 24 vs. #113 New Mexico St. 29
33- Oklahoma St. 23 vs. Troy 41
32- Minnesota 39 vs. Florida Atlantic 42
30- #29 BYU 47 vs. Tulsa 55
So Duck, the fifth-worst side in the entire Division I-A, pulls off a shock win against top-50 side Northwestern. That eclipses the defeats of top 20 sides Auburn and Senora Riena, while the narrow victory over North Illinois means that they'll be dancing on the streets of Ypsilanti last night. Should have played the boys from next door, really... New Mexico Territory made it a good night for sides from the bottom ten, while BYU's losing streak now extends to a shockingly-long two games. It'll be matches against Notre Dame at this rate.
Top Thirty
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
1 2 1 SCALF PX 1359 143.7 0 Southern California
4 1 2 LSU SE 1337 135.9 0 Louisiana Territory
2 4 3 OHIST BX 1333 141.9 0 Ohio Province
3 5 4 FLORD SE 1332 134.8 0 Florida
5 3 5 TEXAS BT 1320 137.9 0 Texas
10 9 6 WVIRG BE 1289 135.0 0 W Virginia
9 6 7 OKLAH BT 1284 131.4 0 Oklahoma
7 7 8 WISCO BX 1274 138.5 1 Wisconsin
19 12 9 BOSCL AC 1272 127.0 0 Boston College
15 10 10 CALIF PX 1256 131.3 0 California
17 11 11 PENST BX 1243 134.1 0 Penn Province
11 15 12 VTECH AC 1226 129.0 0 Virginia Tech
32 16 13 OREGN PX 1219 125.1 0 Oregon
24 18 14 TXSTC BT 1206 128.1 0 Texas Tech
12 23 15 MICH BX 1202 131.2 0 Michigan
20 17 16 RUTGR BE 1196 133.6 1 Rutgers
22 13 17 NBRSK BT 1187 121.8 0 Nebraska
6 8 18 LSVLE BE 1180 140.1 0 Louisville
28 26 19 TEXAM BT 1170 133.5 0 Texas A and M
13 31 20 BSEST WA 1169 135.0 0 Boise State
35 21 21 SCARO SE 1169 130.7 1 S Carolina
36 27 22 ARZST PX 1166 124.0 0 Arizona Province
34 24 23 CLEMS AC 1160 131.2 1 Clemson
29 19 24 GEOTC AC 1151 127.9 0 Georgia Tech
18 28 25 GRGIA SE 1148 133.8 1 Georgia
25 14 26 UCLA PX 1144 125.2 0 Calif, Senora Riena
38 33 27 MISRI BT 1142 125.2 0 Missouri
12 -- -- MICH2 BX 1132 127.6 0 Michigan 2
44 37 28 CINCI BE 1128 134.3 0 Cincinnati
42 32 29 SFLOR BE 1124 137.1 1 S Florida
54 47 30 KNTCY SE 1121 134.4 0 Kentucky
Normal service is resumed at the top of the ladder, with SCALF's good victory ensuring that they climb back to the top. WVIRG had a good win, MICH perks up after its first win of the year, and five sides move into the thirty - amongst those going in the opposite direction are Auburn 20 to 37, TCU 22 to 38, and BYU 29 to 42.
The Big Twelve
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
5 3 5 TEXAS BT 1320 137.9 0 Texas
9 6 7 OKLAH BT 1284 131.4 0 Oklahoma
24 18 14 TXSTC BT 1206 128.1 0 Texas Tech
22 13 17 NBRSK BT 1187 121.8 0 Nebraska
28 26 19 TEXAM BT 1170 133.5 0 Texas A and M
38 33 27 MISRI BT 1142 125.2 0 Missouri
53 44 44 KANSS BT 1085 129.9 0 Kansas
46 49 50 KNSST BT 1047 129.9 1 Kansas Province
63 59 59 BAYLR BT 999 130.9 1 Baylor
64 76 61 IWAST BT 976 131.6 0 Iowa Province
50 54 65 OKLST BT 969 125.0 0 Oklahoma Territory
70 66 74 COLRD BT 939 123.0 0 Colorado
As is traditional, the powerhouses rig their opening schedule to get a few wins under their belt, and that's reflected in the rankings. The conference is divided into North and South divisions, and both Texas sides and Oklahoma are in the southern section: OKLAH visit TEXAS on 6 October, and TXSTC on 17 November; TEXAS host the Tech a week earlier. In the north, the key match looks like MISRI-NBRSK, also on 6 October.
The Sun Belt
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
81 86 73 TROY SB 942 130.7 0 Troy
101 93 77 FLATL SB 913 126.9 0 Florida Atlantic
94 90 78 ARKST SB 912 131.4 0 Arkansas Province
86 98 99 MDTEN SB 832 131.6 0 Middle Tennessee
95 102 103 LOLAF SB 805 131.5 1 Louisiana Lafayette
99 107 108 LOMON SB 775 132.6 0 Louisiana Monroe
110 114 115 NTEXS SB 745 137.0 1 North Texas
119 118 118 FLINT SB 655 141.3 0 Florida International
The usual tale of woe from this conference has been upset by Troy's win this week, and FLATL's second win in three games. Arkansas Province is the only other side to have won so much as one game this season. FLATL visit TROY on 1 December.
Next week's televised matches
- Texas A and M -v- Miami-florida (00.30 Friday)
- Oklahoma -v- Tulsa (9am Saturday, recorded)
- Match to be determined (5pm Saturday)
- Georgia -v- Alabama (00.30 Sunday, recorded; repeated 12 noon Sunday and 2pm Tuesday)
- Another match TBD (3.30am Sunday)
- Iowa -v- Wisconsin (3.30pm Sunday, recorded)
linkpage | NCAA
|
20-20 World Championships
Results from the first phase of the 20-20 Cup:
West Indies 205/6 (20/20 ov); South Africa 208/2 (17.4/20 ov)
South Africa won by 8 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)
West Indies 164/8 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh 165/4 (18/20 ov)
Bangladesh won by 6 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)
Bangladesh 144 (19.3/20 ov); South Africa 146/3 (18.5/20 ov)
South Africa won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
England 135 (20/20 ov); Australia 136/2 (14.5/20 ov)
Australia won by 8 wickets (with 31 balls remaining)
India 141/9 (20/20 ov); Pakistan 141/7 (20/20 ov)
Match tied
New Zealand 164/7 (20/20 ov); Sri Lanka 168/3 (18.5/20 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
West Indies failed to qualify for the second phase. All three matches in their group are treated as happening simultaneously.
20-20 Standings
AUS 1038 185.8
SL 1038 187.0
PAK 1035 170.7
SA 1034 163.9
IND 1004 185.9
ENG 968 171.4
NZ 962 187.0
WI 962 153.6
BAN 962 152.9
Overall standings
AUS 1292 138.6
SL 1169 122.2
NZ 1041 135.8
PAK 1012 155.4
SA 1002 124.5
IND 983 126.0
ENG 943 116.1
WI 864 114.9
BAN 813 113.6
The second phase has begun already, and continues until Thursday.
linkpage | Cricket
|
Tue 18 Sep 2007
Football weekly starts: now
The Upset-o-meter first. We reckon that a 30-point surprise victory is going to be recognised by the club's supporters as a surprise, a 35-point upset will be heard around the nation, a 40-point shock will be news around the world, and a 50-point upset will be one of the greatest shocks in the history of both clubs.
43 Juventus - Udinese 0:1
42 Aberdeen - Motherwell 1:2
41 Derby - Newcastle 1:0
39 Hearts - Rangers 4:2
37 Lens - Nancy 1:0
37 Bor. Dortmund - Werder Bremen 3:0
36 Eintracht Frankfurt - Hamburger SV 2:1
34 Teplice - Sparta Prague 2:1
33 Sunderland - Reading 2:1
33 Norwich City - Crystal Palace 1:0
33 Barnsley - Scunthorpe United 2:0
32 SSC Napoli - Sampdoria 2:0
32 Auxerre - Nice 2:0
31 Man City - Aston Villa 1:0
31 Birmingham City - Bolton Wanderers 1:0
30 Marseille - Toulouse 1:2
19 Siena - AC Milan 1:1
For those interested: we would hesitate to directly mix upsets here with NCAA-ball, but it's clear that Juventus's defeat is big news. Rangers may have lost the lead in Scotland, but Aberdeen have lost face ahead of their UEFA Cup engagement. Werder will also be heading into European competition.
England II and III
WAT 876 96
WBA 846 94.3
CHA 843 99
STK 811 97.2
SFU 801 95.7
BRC 790 128
IPS 759 96.1
SOT 757 95.9
CCR 756 97.7
PLY 742 95.2
WLV 738 95.1
BNL 737 98.5
BPL 736 125.6
HUL 730 93.3
PNE 725 96.4
LEI 718 98
CPL 709 96.9
COV 702 95.6
CDF 690 92.9
SCU 686 135.6
BAN 677 97.3
NOR 672 94.8
SFW 651 94.8
QPR 639 100.5
CRW (III) 714 144.8
LEE (III) 702 105.0
SEN (III) 666 101.5
BRI (III) 624 126.3
LUT (III) 601 108.8
MIL (III) 522 136.1
No surprises to find the top two in Division II - Watford and Bristol C - also doing well here. Blackpool are 5th in the league but only mid-table here, showing how tight the division is at this time of year. Sheffield W and QPR are in trouble. In Division III, Leeds lost no points on our analysis, and are highest-placed of the sides that have played this year. Southend has already played three of its ten league matches for our purposes.
The FA Cup
Results from the round 12 matches played last week-end:
1 Bradford Park Avenue v Scarborough WO
3 Newcastle Benfield v Newcastle Blue Star 2:1
15 Fleetwood Town v Manchester United 2:1
29 Rocester v Chasetown 0:1
38 Hednesford Town v Stratford Town 0:0
83 Dartford v Sittingbourne 1:1
87 Cray Wanderers v Wimbledon 2:6
88 Maidstone United v Erith & Belvedere 3:0
So Manchester United, winners as recently as 2004, fall out, but 1988 champs Wimbledon progress.
Ties for the round 11 matches, where sides from Divisions VI N and S enter, include:
9 Bradford Park Avenue v Whitby Town
19 Cambridge City v Chasetown
23 Matlock Town v Telford United
27 Boston United v Buxton
30 Hednesford Town / Stratford Town v Alfreton Town
37 Hayes & Yeading United v Herne Bay
43 Dartford / Sittingbourne v Camberley Town
47 Billericay Town v Maidstone United
58 Debenham LC v Wimbledon
69 Oxford City v Weston Super Mare
75 Truro City v Bath City
linkpage | ResultsTables
|
Fri 21 Sep 2007
Euro Contest News
One upset in domestic competition this week:
34 Scunthorpe - Preston North End 2:1
European League, Matchday One
Group A
Olympique Marseille - Besiktas 2:0 (35)
Porto - Liverpool 1:1
Group B
Chelsea - Rosenborg BK 1:1 (19)
Schalke 04 - Valencia 0:1
Group C
Real Madrid - Werder Bremen 2:1
Olympiakos - Lazio 1:1
Group D
Milan AC - Benfica 2:1
Shakhtar Donetsk - Celtic 2:0
Group E
Rangers - Stuttgart 2:1 (34)
Barcelona - Olympique Lyonnais 3:0
Group F
Roma - Dinamo Kyiv 2:0
Sporting Lisbon - Manchester Buccaneers 0:1
Group G
PSV Eindhoven - CSKA Moskow 2:1
Fenerbahçe - Internazionale 1:0 (34)
Group H
Arsenal - Seville 3:0 (30)
Slavia Prague - Steaua Bucharest 2:1
Marseille's win was a surprise in a technical sense: the Turkish opposition picked up a lot of points last year, and Marseille was best of a bad bunch to finish second in France. Rosenborg's draw proves they'll be no pushover, and accounted for Chelsea manager Jose Mourino. It was a bad week for the German sides. Olympiakos were playing only their second competitive match of the season: the team qualified directly for the group stage, and found their first domestic match at the end of August postponed from the forest fires. Match 2 went ahead just before the internationals, but match 3 last week-end was also delayed, allowing for the general election.
Shakhtar are good at home, rubbish away. Celtic are rubbish away and good at home, so the Glaswegians need to hit three in the return fixture in November to make the UEFA Cup. Rangers have one of their finer wins, and it was enough to lift them ahead of Celtic in our Scottish standings for the first time since 2004. Barcelona and Arsenal have taken good steps to topping their groups, it's difficult for the opposition to come back from 3:0 down. The only other surprise comes in group G, where the bottom team after one match is Inter Milan.
UEFA Cup, Final Qualifying Round, First Leg
Midtjylland -v- LOKOMOTIV MOSKVA 1:3
Groningen -v- FIORENTINA 1:1
Rabotnicki -v- BOLTON 1:1
AEK ATHENS -v- Salzburg 3:0
NÜRNBERG -v- RAPID BUCURESTI 0:0
EVERTON -v- Metalist 1:1
TOTTENHAM -v- Anorthosis 6:1
LENS -v- KØBENHAVN 1:1
GETAFE -v- Twente 1:0
Groclin -v- CRVENA ZVEZDA 0:1
LITEX -v- HAMBURG 0:1
Sarajevo -v- BASEL 1:2
AUSTRIA WIEN -v- VÅLERENGA 2:0
H. Tel-Aviv -v- AIK Solna 0:0
ARIS SALONIKA -v- ZARAGOZA 1:0 (37)
DINAMO BUCURESTI -v- Elfsborg 1:2
LOKO SOFIA -v- RENNES 1:3
Brann -v- CLUB BRUGGE 0:1
BAYERN -v- Belenenses 1:0
ABERDEEN -v- DNIPRO 0:0
HEERENVEEN -v- Helsingborg 5:3
TOULOUSE -v- CSKA SOFIA 0:0
SAMPDORIA -v- AaB Aalborg 2:2
SPARTAK MOSKVA -v- Häcken 5:0
Hammarby -v- BRAGA 2:1
Larissa -v- BLACKBURN 2:0
MLADÁ BOLESLAV -v- PALERMO 0:1
DINAMO ZAGREB -v- AJAX 0:1
ARTMEDIA -v- PANATHINAIKOS 1:2
SPARTA PRAGUE -v- OB ODENSE 0:0
EMPOLI -v- Zürich 2:1
SOCHAUX -v- PANIONIOS 0:2 (38)
ANDERLECHT -v- RAPID WIEN 1:1
Paços de Ferreira -v- AZ ALKMAAR 0:1
ZENIT -v- STANDARD LIEGE 3:0
LEVERKUSEN -v- Leiria 3:1
VILLARREAL -v- BATE Borisov 4:1
Sion -v- GALATASARAY 3:2
ATLÉTICO MADRID -v- Erciyesspor 4:0
Tampere -v- BORDEAUX 2:3
Just four sides can book their place in the next round with confidence: Spurs, Zenit, Villarreal, and Athletico Madrid.
Football for cable viewers and people with raisins on their telly:
Fr 1930 SET1/DE Bochum -v- Eintracht Frankfurt
Sa 1030 SET2/AU Geelong -v- Collingwood
Sa 1300 BBC1/WC England -v- FARCE
Other QFs on Eurosport, 10am Sat and Sun.
Sa 1715 SET1/EN Fulham -v- Manchester City
Su 1300 SET1/SC Hibernian -v- Celtic
Su 1400 C5/IT Game tbc
Su 1500 SET2/AU Port Adelaide -v- Kangaroos
Su 1700 SET1/FR Rennes -v- Sochaux
Su 1900 SET1/DE Werder Bremen -v- Stuttgard (highlights)
Su 2000 SET2/PT Game tbc
Mo 1125 SET2/NL Az Alkmaar -v- Ajax (recorded)
Mo 1325 SET2/NL PSV -v- Feyenoord (recorded)
Mo 2000 SET2/FR Lyon -v- Lille (highlights)
Tu 1700 SET2/FR Auxerre -v- Marseille (recorded)
Tu 1930 SET2/DE Karlsruher -v- Bayern Munich
Tu 1945 SET1/E5 Gravesend and Northfleet -v- Crawley
We 1245 BBC2/WC Semi-final live
Th 1245 BBC2/WC Semi-final live
Th 1945 SET1/E5 York -v- Halifax
linkpage | EuropeanResults
|
Sun 23 Sep 2007
Upsets and losses
As we rather expected, Notre Dame has appointed a new coach to look after its ground game. David Ross is a surprise choice, given that he's never coached for a top-string team before, but then we realised that Notre Dame isn't a top-string team any more, and would probably have difficulty beating California of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Ross honed his tactics at South Carolina's junior team, where he used brute force in a tactical way. He encourages his players to look for a smart move, but always to be prepared to bludgeon their way through the opposition's defences. Some of his training methods confused observers: was it really necessary for his teams to practice while wearing long kaftans, asked administrators. The rumours are that Mr. Ross was let go after a completely bizarre incident involving a sink plunger on the training pitch. Not everyone is a fan of his plan: D-Squared Digest calls the new coach the worst in history. He may have a point:
#48 Michigan St. 31 vs. #45 Notre Dame 14
Notre Dame scored an offensive try in the opening five minutes, conceded one almost straight from the kick-off, scored a second strike early in the second quarter, and then engaged reverse gear once more. At this rate, Notre Dame will take on Iona in the Cathedral Challenge.
Over in the senior game, there's a scandal involving the New England Terrorists, a video camera, and opponent's signs. Tuesday Morning Quarterback is outraged; the NFL-ball management say, Oh, fine them one pick from next spring's joining list, and the coach 25 quid. TMQ has also been sampling food at Moto, and thinks it brilliant. Heaven alone knows what happens if he goes to Tebay.
To business, and we start with
Last Week's Top Ten
Washington St. 14 vs. #1 Southern Cal 47
#21 South Carolina 16 vs. #2 LSU 28
Northwestern 7 vs. #3 Ohio St. 58
#4 Florida 30 vs. Mississippi 24
Rice 14 vs. #5 Texas 58
East Carolina 7 vs. #6 West Virginia 48
#7 Oklahoma 62 vs. Tulsa 21
Iowa 13 vs. #8 Wisconsin 17
#116 Army 17 vs. #9 Boston College 37
Arizona 27 vs. #10 California 45
The top ten was all in action, and all ten sides won, something of a rarity.
Other Top Forty Matches
#11 Penn St. 9 vs. #15 Michigan 14
#31 Oregon St. 32 vs. #22 Arizona St. 44
#25 Georgia 26 vs. #32 Alabama 23
#30 Kentucky 42 vs. #39 Arkansas 29
Michigan's road to mediocrity continues, the side now +2-2 on the season, and the loss to Appalachian is almost cancelled out by the tonking delivered to Penn Province. Extra time was required in the Georgia - Alabama game, yanked off the schedules by NASN in favour of taped coverage of the SCARO-LSU match, which was all over at half-time. Another fine editorial decision there.
Upsets of the Week
45- #107 Syracuse 38 vs. #18 Louisville 35
39- #14 Texas Tech 45 vs. Oklahoma St. 49
37- Utah 0 vs. UNLV 27
35- Illinois 27 vs. Indiana 14
34- Iowa St. 35 vs. Toledo 36
33- #24 Georgia Tech 23 vs. Virginia 28
Syracuse's victory over Louisville is the largest upset we've recorded this season, and we suggest that this result - the season's first win for Syracuse - is no smaller than Appalachian's opening-week win. It's a bad week for technical colleges, those in Texas and Georgia both fall to lowly opposition, and Virginia's college only gets a victory by beating a two-player team, William and Mary. Greedy? Not as bad as East Michigan, whose 38-15 victory was over one guy, Howard.
Who did Appalachian beat this week?
X- Appalachian St. 31 vs. Wofford 42
Oh. That's messed up that feature.
Notre Dame has been stealing the headlines...
...but Auburn has been in a bit of a slide, losing its last two matches to trivial opposition. No longer:
#98 New Mexico St. 20 vs. #37 Auburn 55
Yes, that's certain to get the side scaling the rankings.
Inter-Provincial Challenge
X- N.C. Central 27 vs. N. Carolina A&T 22
Mmm, gripping.
This Week's Top Thirty
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
1 1 1 SCALF PX 1376 138.8 0 Southern California
4 2 2 LSU SE 1363 129.6 0 Louisiana Territory
2 3 3 OHIST BX 1346 138.1 0 Ohio Province
3 4 4 FLORD SE 1339 133.1 0 Florida
5 5 5 TEXAS BT 1329 135.5 0 Texas
9 7 6 OKLAH BT 1306 126.1 0 Oklahoma
10 6 7 WVIRG BE 1305 130.7 0 W Virginia
7 8 8 WISCO BX 1294 133.5 0 Wisconsin
19 9 9 BOSCL AC 1277 126.1 0 Boston College
15 10 10 CALIF PX 1270 127.6 0 California
12 15 11 MICH BX 1247 124.5 0 Michigan
32 13 12 OREGN PX 1233 121.7 0 Oregon
11 12 13 VTECH AC 1226 129.0 1 Virginia Tech
22 17 14 NBRSK BT 1201 118.6 0 Nebraska
36 22 15 ARZST PX 1199 118.3 0 Arizona Province
17 11 16 PENST BX 1196 126.9 0 Penn Province
20 16 17 RUTGR BE 1196 133.6 2 Rutgers
18 25 18 GRGIA SE 1187 127.1 0 Georgia
12 -- -- MICH2 BX 1183 121.9 0 Michigan 2
34 23 19 CLEMS AC 1176 127.8 0 Clemson
25 26 20 UCLA PX 1174 119.5 0 Calif, Senora Riena
13 20 21 BSEST WA 1169 135.0 1 Boise State
54 30 22 KNTCY SE 1161 127.1 0 Kentucky
33 34 23 MIAFL AC 1155 122.7 0 Miami-Florida
35 21 24 SCARO SE 1145 125.7 0 S Carolina
44 28 25 CINCI BE 1144 130.0 0 Cincinnati
42 29 26 SFLOR BE 1143 132.6 0 S Florida
38 27 27 MISRI BT 1142 125.2 1 Missouri
24 14 28 TXSTC BT 1142 123.8 0 Texas Tech
45 35 29 PRDUE BX 1131 121.8 0 Purdue
23 46 30 WAKEF AC 1123 117.7 0 Wake Forest
No change to the top ten, and only the slightest shuffling of order in there. Arizona Province and Georgia show good climbs from their wins, as do Miami-Florida. Purdue and Wake Forest make their first appearances in the top 30 this year, at the expense of Texas A and M, and Louisville.
The Big Ten
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
2 3 3 OHIST BX 1346 138.1 0 Ohio Province
7 8 8 WISCO BX 1294 133.5 0 Wisconsin
12 15 11 MICH BX 1247 124.5 0 Michigan
17 11 16 PENST BX 1196 126.9 0 Penn Province
12 -- -- MICH2 BX 1183 121.9 0 Michigan 2
45 35 29 PRDUE BX 1131 121.8 0 Purdue
74 48 38 MICST BX 1095 118.4 0 Michigan Province
49 54 56 IOWA BX 1011 122.6 0 Iowa
68 51 61 INDAN BX 984 126.2 0 Indiana
60 64 70 NWSTN BX 958 130.9 0 Northwestern
105 93 75 ILLNS BX 920 132.9 0 Illinois
48 76 79 MINNS BX 911 120.9 0 Minnesota
One regular commentator suggested that this should be re-named the BCS North, on the grounds that that's more accurate than the current description, which probably isn't all that Big, and certainly isn't Ten. Michigan Province the year's breakout team, though they're the only one yet to play divisional opposition. That changes next week, as MP head to Wisconsin.
The South-East
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
4 2 2 LSU SE 1363 129.6 0 Louisiana Territory
3 4 4 FLORD SE 1339 133.1 0 Florida
18 25 18 GRGIA SE 1187 127.1 0 Georgia
54 30 22 KNTCY SE 1161 127.1 0 Kentucky
35 21 24 SCARO SE 1145 125.7 0 S Carolina
8 37 31 AUBRN SE 1122 129.3 0 Auburn
30 40 35 TENSE SE 1120 118.3 0 Tennessee
52 32 43 ALABM SE 1077 127.0 0 Alabama
26 39 46 ARKNS SE 1060 126.2 0 Arkansas
98 62 63 MSPST SE 971 137.8 1 Mississippi State
89 79 78 VNDRB SE 912 135.2 1 Vanderbilt
93 92 97 MISIP SE 848 127.9 0 Mississippi
Eyes are set on LSU against Florida, 1am on 7 October. They're the two best sides in the conference, but because they're in opposite divisions, they could yet meet again in the December Final. Kentucky has yet to taste defeat, and has fixtures against South Carolina, LSU, and Florida in consecutive October weeks. Of the top five sides, only LSU is in the West division, a competitive imbalance.
Next week's televised matches
The final week of the baseball season, and NASN's unusual status of home broadcaster for Anaheim and Senora Riena's matches at the Millennium Doom, mean that there's not much in the way of NCAA-ball next week.
Southern Mississippi -v- Boise State (9am Friday, recorded)
West Virginia -v- South Florida (9am Saturday, recorded)
Match to be confirmed (00.30 Sunday)
Notre Dame -v- Purdue (Midnight Monday, recorded)
linkpage | NCAA
|
Tue 25 Sep 2007
France and Scotland
Upsets of the week-end
40 Rennes - Sochaux 0:2
39 Inverness Caledonian Thistle - Hearts 2:1
38 Gretna - Dundee Utd 3:2
37 Hibernians - Celtic 3:2
35 Hansa Rostock - Duisburg 2:0
34 Zaragoza - Osasuna 2:1
34 Sheffield Wednesday - Hull City 1:0
32 Crystal Palace - Sheffield United 3:2
32 Blackburn Rovers - Portsmouth 0:1
31 Southampton - Barnsley 2:3
31 Auxerre - Marseille 2:0
30 Recreativo Huelva - Espanyol 2:1
30 Heerenveen - Utrecht 2:3
18 Livorno - Inter 2:2
18 Liverpool - Birmingham City 0:0
17 Queen's Park Rangers - Watford 1:1
15 Valladolid - Real Madrid 1:1
15 AC Milan - Parma 1:1
Three big upsets in Scotland allow Rangers - 3:0 winners over Aberdeen - to take the lead in the SPL, and a clear lead in the Glickoblog-Football rankings. First wins of the season for Hansa Rostock and Sheffield Wednesday were always going to be upsets, but Marseille will be particularly grumpy at losing their match. In non-upset news, Barcelona beat Seville, and Manchester Buccaneers beat CSKA Kensington Under New Management.
League 1
LYN 1095 89.0
BDX 1079 88.7
NCY 1050 90.6
REN 1044 88.5
LEM 1022 88.7
PSG 1002 87.7
VCN 988 89.5
MON 985 88.8
NIC 984 89.5
MAR 980 86.8
LOR 972 88.6
TOU 968 87.6
AUX 960 89.1
LIL 957 88.9
LEN 939 89.3
SET 919 89.2
STR 902 112.9
SCX 900 87.5
MTZ 806 120.4
CAE 771 119.6
NTS (II) 917 111.1
TRY (II) 904 116.8
SED (II) 901 111.3
Lyon's shaky start to the season hasn't been enough to stop them from leading France, but that owes more to the shaky state of the rest of the league. There was no clear challenger last season, and one has yet to emerge in this campaign. At the bottom, Metz and Caen are already looking like relegation fodder. Troyes has yet to play ranked opposition.
Division A
RAN 1008 91.4
CEL 951 92.0
ABD 897 92.5
HBS 853 93.4
KLM 812 95.0
HRT 801 94.8
DDU 750 94.0
FAL 728 93.7
MTW 710 93.2
ICT 674 94.9
GRE 642 114.1
STM 627 96.7
DNF (II) 710 115.4
LVG (II) 555 145.8
As we mentioned, Rangers are now clearly ahead of Celtic, with Aberdeen best of the rest. Wins for Gretna and Inverness now mean St Mirren prop up the table, and Dunfermline is yet to play this season.
linkpage | Tables
|
Wed 26 Sep 2007
Cricket news
The remaining stages of the 20/20 World Cup have taken place.
Group A
New Zealand 190 (20/20 ov); India 180/9 (20/20 ov)
New Zealand won by 10 runs
South Africa 154/8 (20/20 ov); England 135/7 (20/20 ov)
South Africa won by 19 runs
New Zealand 164/9 (20/20 ov); England 159/8 (20/20 ov)
New Zealand won by 5 runs
New Zealand 153/8 (20/20 ov); South Africa 158/4 (19.1/20 ov)
South Africa won by 6 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)
India 218/4 (20/20 ov); England 200/6 (20/20 ov)
India won by 18 runs
India 153/5 (20/20 ov); South Africa 116/9 (20/20 ov)
India won by 37 runs
Group B
Bangladesh 123/8 (20/20 ov); Australia 124/1 (13.5/20 ov)
Australia won by 9 wickets (with 37 balls remaining)
Pakistan 189/6 (20/20 ov); Sri Lanka 156/9 (20/20 ov)
Pakistan won by 33 runs
Australia 164/7 (20/20 ov); Pakistan 165/4 (19.1/20 ov)
Pakistan won by 6 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka 147/5 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh 83 (15.5/20 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 64 runs
Sri Lanka 101 (19.3/20 ov); Australia 102/0 (10.2/20 ov)
Australia won by 10 wickets (with 58 balls remaining)
Bangladesh 140 (19.4/20 ov); Pakistan 141/6 (19/20 ov)
Pakistan won by 4 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)
Semi-finals
New Zealand 143/8 (20/20 ov); Pakistan 147/4 (18.5/20 ov)
Pakistan won by 6 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
India 188/5 (20/20 ov); Australia 173/7 (20/20 ov)
India won by 15 runs
Final
India 157/5 (20/20 ov); Pakistan 152 (19.3/20 ov)
India won by 5 runs
India, therefore, crowned the champions, defeating Pakistan in a tense final. Australia and New Zealand share third place, South Africa was unfortunate enough to go out on net run-rate, Sri Lanka won a game, and the 2009 hosts England did no better than Bangladesh.
The 20-20 Standings
PAK 1100 125.5
IND 1086 124.1
AUS 1054 138.6
SL 1048 149.3
SA 1026 129.2
NZ 965 132.6
WI 962 153.6
BAN 941 131.7
ENG 939 133
What's unusual about this table? That's right, Australia isn't first! What's not unusual about this table? England and Bangladesh are bottom. Yep, just four and a quarter years since England invented 20/20 cricket, the country is amongst the worst in the world at it. Even by English standards, that's a fast decline.
Overall
AUS 1248 119.5
SL 1140 109.6
PAK 1064 116.9
IND 1052 101
NZ 1032 109
SA 1012 106.7
ENG 915 101.5
WI 864 114.9
BAN 792 106.7
Pakistan and India the major gainers here, advancing to third and fourth. Is this beginning to look like a reasonable ladder of cricket countries yet?
The winter fixture list
With the calendar turning to October, the fixture list begins to heat up. Coming up next month:
* India -v- Australia (7 x ODI, 1 x 20-20)
* Pakistan -v- South Africa (2 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* Sri Lanka -v- England (5 x ODI; 3 x Tests in Dec)
Later this winter:
* South Africa -v- New Zealand (2 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* Australia -v- Sri Lanka (2 x Test)
* India -v- Pakistan (3 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* Australia -v- New Zealand (3 x ODI)
* South Africa -v- West Indies (4 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* New Zealand -v- Bangladesh
* Australia -v- India (4 x Tests)
* New Zealand -v- England (3 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* Pakistan -v- Australia (3 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* Bangladesh -v- South Africa (2 x Test)
* Bangladesh -v- India (3 x ODI)
* India -v- South Africa (3 x Test)
* West Indies -v- Sri Lanka (3 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* West Indies -v- Australia (4 x Test, 5 x ODI)
* Aus / Ind / SL ODI tournament
* Ban / Ind / SA ODI tournament
* Asia Cup
linkpage | Cricket
|
Thu 27 Sep 2007
Sent to Coventry
League cup time in England and France (both Round 5), Scotland (Round 4), plus league programmes in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Here are the upsets.
52 Manchester Buccaneers B - Coventry (II) 0:2
47 Hamilton Academicals (II) - Kilmarnock 2:0
45 Birmingham Browns - Leicester (II) 0:1
43 Luton (III) - Charlton (II) 2:1
42 Bordeaux - Metz 1:2
38 West Bromwich (II) - Cardiff (II) 2:4
38 Hertha Berlin - Hansa Rostock 1:3
36 Sevilla - Espanyol 2:3
36 Palermo - AC Milan 2:1
36 Hibernian - Motherwell 2:4
32 Genoa - Udinese 3:2
32 Catania - Empoli 1:0
UPSET Strasbourg - Amiens (II) 0:1
We only interpolate values for lower league sides in England and Scotland; we suggest that Strasbourg's loss would rank in the mid-30s.
The big news, of course, the defeat for the Buccaneers' B-side against Coventry, certainly the biggest cup upset for the Midlands side since they played Sutton.
League Division I
ANL 1208 88.9
MUN 1164 91.6
CHE 1160 93.4
LIV 1153 90.6
BLK 1074 92.7
POR 1042 93.6
EVE 1026 93.6
TOT 1002 91
AVL 993 95.4
MCY 987 92.2
WHM 985 94.4
NWC 978 92.7
REA 927 92.5
MID 895 90.6
FUL 893 91.4
BOL 882 91.9
SUN 879 94.6
BIR 867 93.5
WIG 843 92.4
DER 795 94.5
Yes, the defeats to Coventry and Manchester Buccaneers have left the Arsenal Libels on top of the League, with Liverpool close in fourth. Derby look doomed already, Wigan haven't much in them, but the rest are very close.
1. Bundesliga
BAY 1175 92.2
SNV 1099 90.1
BYL 1081 92.1
WER 1069 89.7
HAM 1065 92.2
STT 1040 91.8
KRR 1002 121.3
HAN 986 94.1
BOC 953 94.4
HER 938 95.1
BDO 932 95.8
BIE 929 95.6
EIN 920 94.5
NUR 920 90.1
WLF 914 94.6
COT 832 95.9
HRS 828 127.6
DUI 803 124.6
MAI (II) 954 115.3
AAA (II) 880 119.1
BMO (II) 808 116.5
Bayern is looking indomitable this year, after a bit of a rubbish season last time saw them finish fourth. Schalke and Hertha were the early leaders, but defending champions Stuttgart have been as much down as up. Karlsruhr has got off to a good start, but the other promoted sides and Cotbus look doomed already.
Football for cable viewers and people with dried fruit on their telly:
Fr 1930 SET1/DE Schalke 04 -v- Hertha Berlin
Sa 0430 SET1/AU Geelong -v- Port Adelaide
Sa 1230 SET1/SC Motherwell -v- Rangers
Sa 1715 SET1/EN Birmingham -v- Manchester Buccaneers
Su 1300 BBC2/WC Final live
Also Eurosport. 3rd place match on BBCi from 0930.
Su 1400 SET1/SC St Mirren -v- Hearts
Su 1400 C5/IT Game tbc
Su 2000 SET2/PT Game tbc
Mo 1915 SET2/PT Benfica -v- Sporting Lisbon (recorded)
Mo 2000 SET1/EN Tottenham -v- Birmingham Browns
Tu 1330 SET2/NL Ajax -v- VVV Venlo (recorded)
Tu 1600 SET2/DE Cottbus -v- Eintracht Frankfurt (recorded)
Tu 1940 SET2/FR Caen -v- Toulouse (recorded)
Tu 1945 SET1/PT Recorded match to be confirmed
Tu 1945 ITV/EL Manchester B -v- Roma
Tu 1945 ITV4/EL Steaua Bucharest -v- Arsenal Libels
Tu 1945 STV/EL Rangers -v- Lyon
Th 1945 SET1/E5 Woking -v- Farsley Celtic
Th 1945 SET1/UE Metalist Khariv -v- Everton
linkpage | ResultsTables
|
Sun 30 Sep 2007
There are bad teams. There are really bad teams.
The Sports Economist enquires into why Notre Dame is so jaw-droppingly, eye-wateringly, utterly rubbish all of a sudden. Part of the explanation, the blog suggests, is that it's the last remaining independent team, not affiliated to any of the major conferences. And part of the explanation is that the team really is jaw-droppingly, eye-wateringly, utterly rubbish, who couldn't beat their way out of a paper bag.
Going into this week's matches and mismatches, only one side in the BCS conferences and Notre Dame had yet to win, and all 65 sides in the BCS conferences had won at least once. Even 107th-ranked Duke - who play NOTDM in November - had something in the W column. Opponents Purdue had opened with three wins against senior opposition, and had eaten a cupcake. All of which brings us to:
Who Have Notre Dame Lost To This Week?
#49 Notre Dame 19 vs. #23 Purdue 33
If there's one bright spot for the Not Very Good At This NCAA-ball Lark, PRDUE was a 22-point favourite for the game, meaning that the Not Dames at least beat the handicap, and recovered from 23-0 down at half-time. One dark spot? Dave Ross's training in the ground game isn't working well: the team managed a net 56 yards, with no individual play recording 10 yards.
In the grand scheme of things, which is more shredded: the evidence of cheating that the New England Terrorists turned into the NCAA-ball-Senior office the week before last and was promptly destroyed, or the ability of Notre Dame to beat any opponent ranked in the top 50 or so of the NCAA-ball world? There's only one way to sort this out, bring in the world record holders in Shredding Things: in the red corner, national security advisor to Ronald Reagan and man fired over the Iran-Contra affair, Oliver North! And in the sewer corner, mentor of the Teenage Mutant Hero Terrapins, the less ratty of the two contestants, Shredder!
The University of Arizona Province has a very wide catchment area, stretching all the way from Alburquerque to the Pacific coast. Naturally, it employs the best professionals at everything it can do. That explains the uni's recent implementation of a new payroll system. Needless to say, it wasn't tested, and the HR people couldn't cope with all the additional paycheques they had to write. The provincial credit union said that 55 people had to take out emergency loans, and others had to contact their banks. None of this off-pitch drama has affected the NCAA-ball side, rising from 36th last year to 15th last week, and beating Stanford 41:3 this week.
There's no point in running Who Have Appalachian State Beaten This Week, for the side conspired to lose last week. Instead, we have a new feature.
Who Have Appalachian State Wofford Beaten This Week?
Wofford 45 vs. Furman 20
Last Week's Top Ten
#1 Southern Cal 27 vs. Washington 24
#2 LSU 34 vs. #110 Tulane 9
#3 Ohio St. 30 vs. Minnesota 7
37 - #31 Auburn 20 vs. #4 Florida 17
40 - Kansas St. 41 vs. #5 Texas 21
44 - #6 Oklahoma 24 vs. Colorado 27
34 - #7 West Virginia 13 vs. #26 South Florida 21
#38 Michigan St. 34 vs. #8 Wisconsin 37
#9 BOSCL played unranked Massachussets
#10 California 31 vs. #12 Oregon 24
The top three bead their lowly opposition, but it's all change in the positions beneath. BCS defending champions FLORD lost to AUBRN for the second year running; we remarked last week how AUBRN had given up two easy wins; this victory almost cancels one out. TEXAS lost to KNSST for the second year running. See, this is what can happen for people who are simultaneously classic and trendy. OKLAH lost to mid-table COLRD, and we can just about forgive WVIRG for their loss to another top 30 side. CALIF will close up the gap, beating a side ranked just two places lower.
Other Top 40 Matches
#19 Clemson 3 vs. #37 Georgia Tech 13
#119 Temple 21 vs. #113 Army 37
Local rivalries
Air Force 20 vs. Navy 31
Utah St. 18 vs. Utah 34
UNLV 20 vs. Nevada 27
The Upset-o-meter
44 - #6 Oklahoma 24 vs. Colorado 27
40 - #16 Penn St. 20 vs. Illinois 27
40 - Kansas St. 41 vs. #5 Texas 21
37 - #31 Auburn 20 vs. #4 Florida 17
34 - #7 West Virginia 13 vs. #26 South Florida 21
32 - Maryland 34 vs. #17 Rutgers 24
30 - Washington St. 20 vs. Arizona 48
30 - Syracuse 14 vs. Miami (Ohio) 17
30 - Kent St. 33 vs. Ohio 25
Biggest win we've recorded this season remains Syracuse's upset of Louisville last week, worth 45 on the Upset-o-meter. SYRAC lost to MIOHO, LSVLE beat NCSTA.
The Top Thirty
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
1 1 1 SCALF PX 1390 134.9 0 Southern California
4 2 2 LSU SE 1366 129.1 0 Louisiana Territory
2 3 3 OHIST BX 1355 135.7 0 Ohio Province
7 8 4 WISCO BX 1316 127.9 0 Wisconsin
15 10 5 CALIF PX 1306 121.3 0 California
19 9 6 BOSCL AC 1277 126.1 1 Boston College
3 4 7 FLORD SE 1273 127.9 0 Florida
12 11 8 MICH BX 1261 121.3 0 Michigan
5 5 9 TEXAS BT 1254 131.0 0 Texas
10 7 10 WVIRG BE 1247 125.1 0 W Virginia
11 13 11 VTECH AC 1236 127.1 0 Virginia Tech
9 6 12 OKLAH BT 1235 123.4 0 Oklahoma
22 14 13 NBRSK BT 1214 115.8 0 Nebraska
36 15 14 ARZST PX 1212 115.5 0 Arizona Province
42 26 15 SFLOR BE 1203 126.7 0 S Florida
25 20 16 UCLA PX 1201 114.6 0 Calif, Senora Riena
12 -- -- MICH2 BX 1200 118.1 0 Michigan 2
32 12 17 OREGN PX 1200 116.4 0 Oregon
18 18 18 GRGIA SE 1199 124.3 0 Georgia
13 21 19 BSEST WA* 1192 129.8 0 Boise State
8 31 20 AUBRN SE 1184 124.6 0 Auburn
54 22 21 KNTCY SE 1180 122.7 0 Kentucky
35 24 22 SCARO SE 1173 120.8 0 S Carolina
33 23 23 MIAFL AC 1164 120.7 0 Miami-Florida
44 25 24 CINCI BE 1159 126.3 0 Cincinnati
45 29 25 PRDUE BX 1159 116.6 0 Purdue
28 33 26 TEXAM BT 1149 120.8 0 Texas A and M
21 34 27 BYU MW* 1143 112.3 0 Brigham Young
38 27 28 MISRI BT 1142 125.2 2 Missouri
24 28 29 TXSTC BT 1142 123.8 1 Texas Tech
29 37 30 GEOTC AC 1140 117.1 0 Georgia Tech
California closes the gap on Wisconsin by 14 points, and even after their embarrassing first-week loss, Michigan is clearly in the scrap for a top ten space. South Florida has only played three ranked opponents, but two of those were significant wins. Falling out of the top 30 are Rutgers (17-31), Penn Province (16-33), Clemson (19-34), and Wakefield (30-37).
The Bottom Ten
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
102 110 110 TULNE CU 750 132.2 0 Tulane
104 109 111 UAB CU 746 129.2 0 Alabama, Birmingham
115 111 112 EMICH MA 721 123.6 0 East Michigan
109 114 113 IDAHO WA 720 132.8 0 Idaho
103 112 114 MEMPH CU 719 125.1 0 Memphis
110 116 115 NTEXS SB 706 127.9 0 North Texas
118 115 116 BUFFL MA 704 128.5 0 Buffalo
114 117 117 UTHST WA 645 125.9 0 Utah Territory
119 118 118 FLINT SB 621 132.2 0 Florida International
117 119 119 TEMPL MA 585 128.2 0 Temple
Army's win over Temple lifts them out of the bottom ten. It also ensures that all of Notre Dame's opponents for the remainder of the season have more wins against ranked opposition (ie at least one).
Conference Watch: the See You Jimmy
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
59 44 44 TULSA CU 1082 121.8 0 Tulsa
66 62 53 ECARL CU 1029 123.5 0 E Carolina
55 54 65 HOUST CU 987 117.4 0 Houston
96 73 70 UCF CU 960 122.0 0 Central Florida
58 65 71 SMISS CU 946 129.6 0 S Mississippi
85 86 78 UTEP CU 918 119.8 0 Texas El Paso
72 88 86 RICE CU 877 130.3 1 Rice
92 101 99 MARSL CU 829 132.6 1 Marshall
79 92 100 SMU CU 828 114.9 0 Southern Methodist
102 110 110 TULNE CU 750 132.2 0 Tulane
104 109 111 UAB CU 746 129.2 0 Alabama, Birmingham
103 112 114 MEMPH CU 719 125.1 0 Memphis
It's a conference-by-division: UCF, Smiss, and ECarl are in the East, the rest of the top six in the west. After just three conference games, it's far too soon to say where this lot are headed.
The MAC
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
57 67 60 CMICH MA 990 115.9 0 Central Michigan
91 81 77 BALLS MA 918 117.7 0 Ball State
71 89 80 WMICH MA 911 119.9 0 West Michigan
107 90 87 BOWLG MA 871 128.8 1 Bowling Green
78 80 88 OHIO MA 865 117.7 0 Ohio U
97 84 89 AKRON MA 862 115.6 0 Akron
106 103 90 KENTS MA 862 122.8 0 Kent State
88 91 96 TOLED MA 836 114.8 0 Toledo
77 93 98 NILNS MA 831 120.1 0 N Illinois
112 108 103 MIOHO MA 811 116.0 0 Miami-Ohio
115 111 112 EMICH MA 721 123.6 0 East Michigan
118 115 116 BUFFL MA 704 128.5 0 Buffalo
117 119 119 TEMPL MA 585 128.2 0 Temple
Another split conference: the top three are all in the West, the next four in the East. Temple, we may assume, won't be challenging for anything, though their +0-4 record is still better than +0-5 Notre Dame.
The WACADAY
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
13 21 19 BSEST WA 1192 129.8 0 Boise State
39 36 36 HAWII WA 1123 131.1 0 Hawaii
47 69 59 NEVDA WA 991 123.5 0 Nevada
76 82 75 FRSST WA 922 128.0 0 Fresno State
69 87 85 SNJST WA 878 118.3 1 San Jose State
113 102 102 NMXST WA 814 135.5 1 New Mexico Territory
100 104 106 LSATC WA 759 130.7 0 Louisiana Tech
109 114 113 IDAHO WA 720 132.8 0 Idaho
114 117 117 UTHST WA 645 125.9 0 Utah Territory
Caution! May contain decent teams! Hawaii has yet to taste defeat this year, and will play Boise on 24 November. Nevada is the only other side of note, playing Boise on 15 October, and Hawaii on 17 November.
State of Independents
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle
==================================================================
41 60 51 NAVY XX 1031 117.7 0 Navy
14 49 57 NOTDM XX 1018 112.8 0 Notre Dame
108 113 105 ARMY XX 767 129.3 0 Army
For the first time in many, many years, the Navy is the leading independent NCAA-ball team, and not those people from Notre L Dame. The Independent Title Decider pits Navy against Penfold (think about it!) on 3 November.
Next week's live matches
It's been a particularly rubbish week for The Disney Corporation in the UK. Some time ago, Disney announced that it would close its little-watched ABC1 channel at 6am on 1 October. It actually fell off the air at lunchtime last Wednesday. On Friday, we were intrigued to see that all the week-end's programmes on NASN - a subsidiary of ESPN, in turn a subsidiary of Disney - had acquired the tag: Freeview. Excellent, we thought, a chance to see Hockey Night in London and a few NCAA-ball matches. Except that our cable box has resolutely declined to show these programmes, for they are not actually free-to-view. Oh, they might be for the two or three people watching on some obscure satellite service, but that's no help to us. Indeed, such a lack-of-attention to detail only serves to re-inforce our view that Disney is entirely staffed by incompetents, and has been since the days of Ted Harbert.
Anyway, next week's schedule is (as ever) subject to amendment. Hockey Night in Canada
returns from midnight, and there's Major League Rounders at 9pm. All but one games are on tape, the only live match is Unknown, and they're wasting valuable time by showing a match where the result is known already. That's Disney for you, the very definition of a Mickey Mouse outfit.
Fr 1430 Kentucky -v- South Carolina
Sa 1700 Game tbc (live)
Su 0930 Oklahoma -v- Texas
Su 1230 Florida -v- LSU
Mo 1300 Georgia -v- Tennessee
We 0900 Notre Dame losing to UCLA
Th 1400 Navy -v- Pittsburgh
linkpage | NCAA
|
