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)
NCAA |
