It's been a very low-scoring week in NCAA-ball.
We predict a 0:0 draw
Cent. Michigan 14 vs. Clemson 70 Nevada 67 vs. #17 Boise St. 69
Right. And it'll be New Zealand - France in the world cup final.
Who Have Notre Dame Lost To This Week?
#3 Southern Cal 38 vs. Notre Dame 0
Hands up who's surprised. Dave Ross's ground unit ran for the grand total of 10 yards. Honestly, a fleet of dustbins could do better.
Mismatch Of The Day
#110 N. Illinois 3 vs. #19 Wisconsin 44
Again, hands up who's surprised.
The NCAA-ball runs from A to Z, almost
Wyoming 12 vs. Air Force 20
Almost: Air Force is the first side alphabetically, and (until Youngstown steps up to the oche) Wyoming is the last. There's not much to choose between these powerhouses of the Mountain-West division.
Close Matches By Ranking
#69 Stanford 21 vs. #70 Arizona 20 #95 Bowling Green 31 vs. #96 Kent St. 20 #116 Idaho 31 vs. #109 New Mexico St. 45 #119 Fla. International 14 vs. #107 Louisiana-Monroe 28
The Bottom Ten
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle =================================================================== 104 105 110 UAB CU 745 115.0 0 Alabama, Birmingham 77 110 111 NILNS MA 744 111.4 0 N Illinois 116 111 112 DUKE AC 742 129.7 1 Duke 95 106 113 LOLAF SB 739 107.8 0 Louisiana Lafayette 102 117 114 TULNE CU 721 114.6 0 Tulane 110 113 115 NTEXS SB 708 114.2 0 North Texas 115 115 116 EMICH MA 679 115.4 0 East Michigan 109 116 117 IDAHO WA 649 117.6 0 Idaho 114 118 118 UTHST WA 625 121.9 0 Utah Territory 119 119 119 FLINT SB 584 124.1 0 Florida International
What's happened to the two climbers out of the bottom ten? Stay tuned!
Intervilles
X- Ark.-Pine Bluff 14 vs. Alabama A&M 31 Miamiflorida 37 vs. Florida St. 29 41- N.C. State 34 vs. East Carolina 20
It must be really galling for Miamiflorida to get their first mention here from playing in their territorial championship. Two years ago, it the NCAA-ball title was in their sights.
Last week's top ten
Michigan St. 17 vs. #1 Ohio St. 24
#13 Auburn 24 vs. #2 LSU 30
#3 Southern Cal 38 vs. Notre Dame 0
#4 Boston College - no game
#5 Oklahoma 17 vs. Iowa St. 7
#6 Michigan 27 vs. Illinois 17
#7 Virginia Techincal College - no game
Mississippi St. 13 vs. #8 West Virginia 38
31- #9 California 21 vs. #28 UCLA 30
#10 Arizona Province - no game
A very run-of-the-mill win for Ohio Province; Louisiana's victory over Auburn means much more in the big game of the season. Southern California can't have expected that its blowout victory over Notre Dame would see their vanquished opposition slip out of the top 50. Oklahoma, Michigan, and Virginia West all beat up on sides in the third quartile. No such luck for California, beaten by the maddeningly inconsistent side from Senora Riena - if it wasn't for two upset defeats, UCLA would be pushing for the top ten.
Other Top 40 Matches
#11 Florida 45 vs. #18 Kentucky 37 32- #12 South Florida 27 vs. #40 Rutgers 30 #20 Texas Tech 10 vs. #25 Missouri 41 #37 Virginia 18 vs. #29 Maryland 17 #32 Texas A&M 36 vs. #36 Nebraska 14
We mentioned last week how Kentucky had risen from 54 to 18; this defeat might give us an upper bound to their talent before Notre Dame allows us a lower bound to their lack-of-talent. South Florida had claims to make the top ten, that defeat is still their first of the season; quite how those Mickey Mouse commentators at ESPN managed to rank them in position 2 is beyond us, unless they forgot to type in the number "1". Missouri and Virginia are other sides making strides, 38th and 56th last season.
Upset-o-meter ticklers
43- Vanderbilt 17 vs. #15 South Carolina 6 42- #30 Cincinnati 17 vs. Pittsburgh 24 41- N.C. State 34 vs. East Carolina 20 36- Miami (Ohio) 17 vs. #114 Temple 24 35- #112 Memphis 38 vs. Rice 35 33- Tulsa 23 vs. UCF 44 33- #35 Louisville 17 vs. Connecticut 21 33- #117 Tulane 41 vs. SMU 34 32- #12 South Florida 27 vs. #40 Rutgers 30 31- #9 California 21 vs. #28 UCLA 30 31- #21 Tennessee 17 vs. Alabama 41
It's difficult to over-state the size of those defeats at the top there, particularly Vanderbilt's 63-place knock-off of Carolina South. The second defeat makes it almost impossible for the side to make the top ten. Cincinnati should just look embarrassed, particularly if we remind them about their former mayor Springer.
And look at Temple go! Three wins on the trot, up to the giddy heights of position 107, and they're 28 points ahead on the year. This after managing 1, 0, 2, and 1 wins in the past four seasons. Carry on at this rate and a place in the post-season beckons for Temple rather than Notre Dame.
Who Have Appalachian State Wofford beaten this week?
X- Elon 24 vs. Wofford 13
So Elon beat the side (Wofford) who beat the side (App State) who beat the side (Michigan) who beat the side (Notre Dame) who beat the side (UCLA) who beat the side tipped just last week as a potential Best In Show. All of which can only mean that the NCAA-ball final should be between Elon and the winners of the match between Ohio Province and Temple. That's the sort of institutional advancement we would like to see!
Seriously, we would rather like to see a few post-season matches between the lesser lights, and something along the lines of Most Improved Lower Conference Side (this year probably Temple, last year Kent State) against Decent Side From Division II (Elon, hello) would be a good sporting contest. Wouldn't make much money, of course... oh. Right. We'll be moving along, then.
The Top Thirty
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle =================================================================== 2 1 1 OHIST BX 1395 125.5 0 Ohio Province 4 2 2 LSU SE 1361 114.7 0 Louisiana Territory 1 3 3 SCALF PX 1331 125.6 0 Southern California 9 5 4 OKLAH BT 1307 112.0 0 Oklahoma 19 4 5 BOSCL AC 1304 120.4 1 Boston College 12 6 6 MICH BX 1303 113.3 0 Michigan 3 11 7 FLORD SE 1276 117.0 0 Florida 11 7 8 VTECH AC 1269 120.5 1 Virginia Tech 10 8 9 WVIRG BE 1267 125.5 0 W Virginia 12 -- -- MICH2 BX 1248 109.5 0 Michigan 2 36 10 10 ARZST PX 1244 109.3 1 Arizona Province 5 14 11 TEXAS BT 1236 118.3 0 Texas 32 16 12 OREGN PX 1232 110.6 0 Oregon 13 17 13 BSEST WA 1223 107.9 0 Boise State 15 9 14 CALIF PX 1204 113.3 0 California 7 19 15 WISCO BX 1204 118.0 0 Wisconsin 8 13 16 AUBRN SE 1201 111.8 0 Auburn 38 25 17 MISRI BT 1197 110.8 0 Missouri 25 28 18 UCLA PX 1191 107.9 0 Calif, Senora Riena 17 22 19 PENST BX 1190 110.1 0 Penn Province 23 24 20 WAKEF AC 1188 107.9 0 Wake Forest 42 12 21 SFLOR BE 1185 115.2 0 S Florida 53 26 22 KANSS BT 1179 113.3 0 Kansas 54 18 23 KNTCY SE 1170 109.8 0 Kentucky 18 23 24 GRGIA SE 1169 115.3 1 Georgia 28 32 25 TEXAM BT 1169 107.1 0 Texas A and M 35 15 26 SCARO SE 1164 111.2 0 S Carolina 24 20 27 TXSTC BT 1160 110.5 0 Texas Tech 20 40 28 RUTGR BE 1159 114.2 0 Rutgers 56 37 29 VIRGI AC 1155 104.0 0 Virginia 21 27 30 BYU MW 1153 111.0 1 Brigham Young
Florida's big win sends them climbing up into the top ten. Note that there's no argument that Michigan is a good side, deserving of a top ten place. Missoura and Senora Riena also scoot up following their big wins, while California - number 3 just two weeks ago - is sinking like a Parisian cathedral.
The "Big" Twelve
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle =================================================================== 9 5 4 OKLAH BT 1307 112.0 0 Oklahoma 5 14 11 TEXAS BT 1236 118.3 0 Texas 38 25 17 MISRI BT 1197 110.8 0 Missouri 53 26 22 KANSS BT 1179 113.3 0 Kansas 28 32 25 TEXAM BT 1169 107.1 0 Texas A and M 24 20 27 TXSTC BT 1160 110.5 0 Texas Tech 22 36 40 NBRSK BT 1101 104.4 0 Nebraska 50 49 42 OKLST BT 1091 108.6 0 Oklahoma Territory 46 41 46 KNSST BT 1072 110.8 0 Kansas Province 70 56 61 COLRD BT 1006 104.3 0 Colorado 63 74 78 BAYLR BT 925 110.0 0 Baylor 64 86 84 IWAST BT 869 115.0 0 Iowa Province
Kansas heads the North division, a game clear of Missouri; the two sides meet on 24 November. Oklahoma, Texas A and M, and Oklahoma Territory are tied at the top of the South division; OKLAH plays TEXAM on 3 November, OKLST on the 24th; TEXAM beat OKLST two weeks ago.
The Sun Belt
LY LW TW Conf R RD Idle =================================================================== 81 64 57 TROY SB 1011 116.1 0 Troy 101 77 77 FLATL SB 927 112.0 0 Florida Atlantic 86 88 81 MDTEN SB 903 112.1 0 Middle Tennessee 94 82 87 ARKST SB 857 107.7 0 Arkansas Province 99 107 102 LOMON SB 780 113.4 0 Louisiana Monroe 95 106 113 LOLAF SB 739 107.8 0 Louisiana Lafayette 110 113 115 NTEXS SB 708 114.2 0 North Texas 119 119 119 FLINT SB 584 124.1 0 Florida International
Fairly clear where this one's going: Troy enjoys a half-game advantage over FLATL, the two sides will meet on 1 December.
Next week's NASN-UK matches
Fr 1330 AC: #5 Boston College -v- #8 Virginia College of Technology Sa 1700 BE: #9 West Virginia -v- #28 Rutgers (live) Sa 2030 SE: #24 Georgia -v- #7 Florida (live) Su 1630 AC: #36 Clemson -v- #38 Maryland Su 1930 BX: #1 Ohio Province -v- #19 Penn Province
Don't forget, next week is the week the clocks go back, and that's traditionally a home for upsets, unexpected results, and things that go bump in the night.
NCAA |
