FCS Top 25 — Oct. 6, 2008

By Nate Sandstrom

This weekend was quite filled with upset story lines of the last one, especially since the biggest impact upset happened Thursday when Pitt went to South Florida and killed the Bulls hopes of a national title game appearance.

I didn't get to watch a ton of football Saturday as I was in Madison for Ohio State-Wisconsin. A good game overall, although I think by the end of the season neither of these teams may be ranked. I have to admit that after Wisconsin CB Allen Langford picked off a pass on OSU's second drive I thought the Badgers had it. The 20-17 defeat was Coach Beilema's first home loss as a head coach (third year).

It was also the first time in like 40 years that the band wasn't there as well and it was weird. Half of going to college games is the ceremony, the pomp and circumstance. It's still not determined if they will be back for this week's game against Penn State, also in prime time but apparently moved from ABC to ESPN.

For-now starting QB is apparently on a short leash. Good, says this Badgers fan.

Before I headed out to tailgate I also caught parts of Indiana at Minnesota, Iowa at Michigan State, Kansas at Iowa State and Penn State at Purdue. Late night, I saw Fresno blow a home game to Hawaii. Quick thoughts:

• Minnesota is just one win from bowl-eligibility after winning a sloppy game against the Hoosiers. Coming off a 1-11 season it's good progress for second-year coach Tim Brewster; however, there will be no easy win for them the rest of the way as they go to Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin and host Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa. Still, they should get one of those to get to 6-6.

• Going into the season I thought Indiana junior QB Kellen Lewis was an NFL prospect. Saturday, he was splitting time with sophomore Ben Chappell. He also had a key fumble. It may be a long year for the Hoosiers.

• Iowa State reversed their usual style of starting slow and jumped out to a 20-0 lead on Kansas at the half. They then played their usual first-half swiss cheese defense in the second half rather than the first as Kansas came back for a 35-33 win. This game, combined with S. Florida's loss, has Kansas dropping way down in my poll.

• All right. It's 4th and 1 on your opponents 21 with 2:16 left. You can tie the game with a field goal, completing a 13-point rally. Kirk Ferentz went for it. Was stuffed. And Iowa had lost three straight. By a combined nine points. Short sentences are annoying.

I was saying kick it and go to OT, but Ferentz apparently got a vote of confidence today, so I guess he will be out by the end of the year. Don't expect him to get a job handicapping, the Hawks will still be favored at Indiana.

• Penn State looked sloppy in their 20-6 win, but I have a feeling they will step it up in Madison this weekend.

• Fresno State's resume looks a little worse each week. The opening win at Rutgers and a narrow home loss to Wisconsin looked good in mid-September. It doesn't look so great now, especially after getting taken to 3OT by Toledo, scraping out a win at UCLA and losing at home to previously 1-3 Hawaii.

Now this week's FCS Top 25: (W-L, last week's rank)
1. Oklahoma (5-0, 1). Making their schedule look easier than it is.
2. Alabama (6-0, 2). Avoided dangerous trap door game, so props for that.
3. Missouri (5-0, 3). Broke 50 in four of five games now.
4. LSU (4-0, 4). When are these guys going to play?
5. Penn State (6-0, 5). Rest of conference may drag down terrific team.
6. Texas (5-0, 6). Colt McCoy is more accurate than Tom Brady.
7. Texas Tech (5-0, 7). Will look to score 200 over next 3 games before Longhorns.
8. Vanderbilt (5-0, 11). Can't debate the resume, although this story will end badly by Nov.
9. USC (3-1, 12). No game left on their schedule to vault them pass SEC/Big 12 Champs.
10. Georgia (4-1, 10). Right team, wrong schedule.
11. Florida (4-1, 14). Hate to move them up after they piled meaningless points on Arkansas late.
12. Oklahoma St. (5-0, 20). Don't write them off, even if they lose to Missouri.
13. Auburn (4-2, 15). Does Jason Campbell have eligibility left?
14. BYU (5-0, 16). Overrated nationally, but could win a BCS Bowl on the right night.
15. Utah (6-0, 17). Based on Org. St., should be ahead of USC. But Utah plays too many too close.
16. Tulsa (5-0, 18). This year's Hawaii with a better offense.
17. Boise St. (4-0, 19). Win over Oregon doesn't look as good as it did two weeks ago.
18. Ball State (6-0, 21). Make a joke. This team is legit.
19. Virginia Tech (5-1, 22). Being reminded that every game counts, even ECU.
20. California (4-1, 24). Stupid early-game loss at Maryland. Maybe they should cry too.
21. Pitt (4-1, NR). Now that they're ranked again, they'll probably lose again.
22. Michigan State (5-1, 25). Positioning themselves for New Year's Day Bowl.
23. South Florida (5-1, 8). Need a healthy Selvie.
24. Kansas (4-1, 9). Don't often drop teams who win by 15, but see above Iowa St. comments.
25. South Carolina (4-2, NR). Big win over Miss with big plays on defense.

FCS rankings on the sidebar.

Spring games — Hooray!

The Big Ten Network is televising conference schools' spring football games (scrimmages) this week as well as offering them free online. My thoughts from the portion of the Wisconsin game I caught and Badger beat reporters:

QB battles always grab the headlines, and it appears the situation remains unresolved. I was most impressed with Scott Tolzien, who led a nice drive that eventually stalled and resulted in a missed field goal.

The kicking game was inconsistent, as the Badgers search for a replacement for NFL-bound Taylor Mehlhaff. The offense stalled several times in the red zone, including a defensive stop where Lance Smith was stood up on 4th and goal at the 1-yard-line. Ken DeBauche's younger brother, Brad, is replacing him at punter. He got off a nice 45-yarder but also shanked another one.

The running game looked great. Redshirt freshman John Clay, a top-5 RB recruit, racked up nearly 100 yards. Of course he's still behind All-American P.J. Hill as well as Lance Smith and Zach Brown. Hopefully the attack will help all the RBs keep their legs fresh, particularly Hill, who was worse for the ware at the end of his freshman year.

Most of the DL sat out with injuries, although senior DE Matt Shaughnessy's broken leg is not as bad as initially feared.

For those wondering about last year's QB, Tyler Donovan, he signed a CFL contract with Edmonton.

The schedule is favorable for Wisconsin. Ohio State, Illinois and Penn State all come to Madison, where they have lost just one game in four years. They have to go to Ann Arbor, but at least it is in September as the Wolverines adjust to new man Rich Rodriguez running the program. They make a trip to the usually dangerous Fresno State in September, and also have a trip to Iowa sandwiched between the Penn State and Illinois road games. Michigan State also seems to have UW's number; the Spartans host the Badgers on Nov. 1.

Early pre-season estimation: 10-2

--Nate Sandstrom

Sports page run down

Add Jim Fassel, who believed he would have the job by now, to the list of people upset with Dan Snyder, the Washington Post reports.

I thought he was all but written off, but the Baltimore Examiner reports that Steve McNair may QB the Ravens next year.

USA Today looks at Super Bowls that are rematches from the regular season, and finds the winner in the regular season is 1/5 in the Big One.

Hines Ward had his feelings hurt, the Post-Gazette reports.

This chopped AP story reveals that Bill Clinton is supporting the Giants in the Super Bowl, but plays golf with Tom Brady. Imagine the chicks they can get as a team.

One more reason not to watch the Pro Bowl, Brett Favre isn't playing.

Could Drew Rosenhaus have another Willis McGahee sales job? Top CB prospect Jack Ikegwuonu, a junior from Wisconsin, tore his ACL during a workout Tuesday; however, agent Drew Rosenhaus says everything is fine, just like he did with Willis. My heart's still broken he left the Badgers early.

Here's a dose of "I told you so":

He made himself eligible for the draft earlier this month, leaving UW after his junior season, and signed with Rosenhaus on Jan. 5.

Ikegwuonu was pulling a sled, in a drill designed to improve his speed, when the injury occurred.

He exploded out of a start and planted his leg when the knee gave way.

"I blame the agent for telling him to come out, when we told him to stay in," an NFL scout said.

--Nate Sandstrom

All good things must come to an end

I almost called this post "living on the edge." Either titlee fits the seasons of Wisconsin, which had the nation's longest winning steak broken last weekend, and USC, which had the nation's longest home winning streak snapped by a 41-point underdog on Saturday.

For the Badgers thus far, their games have been similar. Fall behind less talented team. Push ahead of less talented team. Let less talented team get back in it. Pull out win in the end.

On Saturday, the Badgers followed the early part of the script, but forgot the rest. I can't say I'm entirely surprised, I had already ranked Illinois #16 coming into the game and as soon as Vegas posted them as favorites I was concerned.

Nonetheless, I mounted the Badger "W" on the front of my house on Saturday morning and hoped for the best.



The score, 31-26, wasn't very Big 10, but the hitting was. Wisconsin WR Luke Swan was knocked out of the game, and his Badger career is now over. Too bad, as he was having a solid season and may have had a chance to make an NFL team next year.

Meanwhile, Illinois lost QB Juice Williams, although Eddie McGee continued to show he is no slouch. WR Arrelious Benn was also injured. Both appear unfazed.

So now the questions are: 1) How will Wisconsin rebound after their first loss in 15 games? 2) How will Illinois players respond to their new found success?

Before the season, I pegged the Badgers only loss this season to be at Penn State this Saturday, although I feel less confident that they will win in Ohio State each week. I think they can win at Penn State, but I'm going to wait and see how the injury report reads before making a pick on this one.

Illinois heads to Iowa, a reeling team with a pathetic offense. Hard to believe, but Iowa has lost eight straight Big 10 games. But Ferentz is 3-0 vs. Zook.

I had Illinois to win this game before the year started. At the time it seemed like an upset but obviously not anymore. Illini are opening as a 3.5 point favorite, but if they lose focus they could slip.

Now to USC. While they have not fallen behind in games like Wisconsin, they have had a tendency to let teams hang around. They finally got burned by Stanford.

USC had won 35 straight home games, with their last loss also to Stanford in 2001. Matt Hayes calls Saturday's result the end of the dynasty. Booty is hurt. Oh no!

I'm not ready to say the sky is falling. This is the nation's most talented team and I don't believe any team will finish the year undefeated. It's going to be tough for them to get back in the title picture, but if they run the table, including wins against Cal, Oregon and Arizona State, they'll have a shot.

Congrats on beating the best team in history, Coach Harbaugh.

Ironically enough, another upset minded team now has the nation's longest home winning steak — Appalachian State.

--Nate Sandstrom

What a weekend

I know I say this every weekend, but it was a great sports weekend. Not so much for some of the teams I follow, but there was plenty to watch.

Even though this is a football blog, let me start with baseball. I've watched closely as the Mets and Padres have tanked their seasons over the last few days. ESPN covers it extensively and asks people to rank the Mets' collapse with other chokes. When I was on people put it at the top, which I find ridiculous, given the other choices.

At least the Padres get a chance at redemption tomorrow (7:30 Eastern on TBS). Likely Cy Young winner Jake Peavy takes the mound in Denver against Josh Fogg. That the Padres are only -145 favorites in this pitching match-up speaks volumes about the direction in which these teams are headed.

Isn't it ironic that Tony Gwynn's son might be responsible for keeping the Pads out of the playoffs?

Okay, back to football, the stated topic of our little blog.

On Friday, River Hill (Clarksville) continued to make their case to be the best team in the Baltimore area by posting a 57-0 win over Hammond (Columbia). They have now outscored their opponents 184-0 in four games. They take on Howard County's only other undefeated team, Wilde Lake (Columbia) this Friday. We'll have a preview of the key players on Thursday.

Michael Campanaro accounted for five TDs on Friday. Read more about this weekend's top performers here.

In the D.C. area, DeMatha rolled St. John's 35-6. Friendly (Fort Washington), likely the state's best team, beat McDonough(Pomfret) 40-0.

Call Saturday what you will —"upset Saturday," "train wreck Saturday" — five of the Top 10 went down. Of the five who did win, only Ohio State did so easily.

It would be easy to attribute several of these upsets to look-ahead games: LSU and Florida and Texas and Oklahoma all face off next week. In Texas' case, I just don't think the Longhorns are that good.

Of all the teams I've watched thus far, I am most impressed by Ohio State, who dominated Minnesota. Their defense is scary good. I'm not sure that Wisconsin will be able to score more than 20 against them.

That may not be enough fr a Wisky win, because the Badgers defense has been scary bad. When Jack Ikegwuonu has missed time, like against the Citadel and saturday's 37-34 close call against Michigan State, they seem incapable of making a stop. They did however come up with big third and fourth down stops against the Spartans.

Ike was suffering from an unidentified illness. The State Journal discusses the D0 here.

Wisconsin is off to Champaign this weekend to take on Illinois, who is really good. I don't know how Ron Zook talked all these kids into attending Illinois, but I expect they'll beat at least one more ranked team this year.

Before we leave the Big 10, I want everyone to see the uniforms the Gophers wore on Saturday by clicking on that link. Looks like they saw the Eagles' ugly challenge and raised.


Leaving the Big Ten behind, how wide open is the Big 12 now? I still feel like Oklahoma is the favorite. Missouri is probably the team to beat in the North, but it appears Colorado and Kansas State have the ability to push them.

In the ACC, how about Maryland's win at Rutgers? Nothing like a total meltdown to inspire you to upset a Top 10 team on the road the following week. I didn't watch a lot of this game, but I think the box score tells the story. Run the ball. Run it some more. 239 yards on the ground! Here's a Post story.


South Florida should request a patent on how to beat West Virginia. Rutgers' loss puts the Bulls in the Big East penthouse, but as Louisville and Rutgers found out last year, it's not always an easy place to stay.

Holy crap! It's midnight. Look for more this week.

--Nate Sandstrom

Early games

Why have instant replay when you still don't make the right call? That's what happened in today's Temple-UConn game.

On 4th & 7 at the UConn 15(ish) and trailing 22-17 with about 40 seconds left, Temple ran a reverse with a pass option. The receiver tossed it into the end zone. A Connecticut defender tipped it away — to a Temple receiver who appeared to drag one foot in the back of the end zone for the game winning TD.

The ref ruled it incomplete. It was reviewed. The official said the call stands, with no explanation (i.e. did not have control).

Poor Temple. Even though it would have added embarrassment to me on how wrong my UConn lock of the week was, it would have been a rousing win.

Om other early action, UVa. stopped a two-point conversion attempt by UNC to hold on to a 22-20 win. Pitt converted on a 4th & 18, but still came up short at Michigan St., 17-13. Citadel played close to Wisconsin, who lost All-American corner Jack Ikegwuonu in the game's first minute.

I mostly watched the Wisconsin game, they may be in trouble if Ike's injury is serious. Citadel moved the ball pretty much at will in the first half. The Badgers rallied in the second half, but for the third time this year, I was underwhelmed with their results.

At the same time, they seemed to be trying a lot of different things, including an odd play on a 3rd and 1 in which they split out P.J. Hill and Donovan tried to sneak it in. It didn't work, they got a false start on the next play and had to settle for a FG.

Hill tied a school record with 5 TDs. Brian Calhoun did it at Illinois in 2005, a game I was at.

Their next game is against Iowa, who got dominated by Iowa State in the first half. They've come out on fire in the second half, but we'll see if they dug themselves in too deep a hole.

More updates after the 3:30 game.

--Nate Sandstrom

On Wisconsin

On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin!

I haven't posted all weekend because I was in Wisconsin for the Wisconsin-Washington State game on Saturday. Wisconsin won 42-21 and could've put in another TD at garbage time if they wanted. Despite that, Washington St. RB Dwight Tardy frequently rushed past pursuit and long-shot Heisman candidate RB P.J. Hill struggled, at least for him. Lance Smith ran well in the second half.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Coach Bielema also sees room to grow.

I give WR Luke Swan Badger of the game, although QB Tyler Donovan won co-Big 10 Player of the Week.

Tailgating lived up to expectations, as I enjoyed a delicious brat.

Elsewhere ... about the only two stories covered from the past college football weekend were Michigan getting upset (big story) and Notre Dame getting whupped (less than surprising). I'll hit other college football notes later today.