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
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