The College Football Czar: Week 10

Week nine in review: The College Football Playoff Selection Committee released its first rankings of the season, and its members seem to have been determined to avoid controversy, by (a) ranking the two remaining undefeated major-conference teams first and second, and (b) buying into the SEC hype by awarding that conference three of the top four spots.

Mississippi State deservedly received this week’s #1 ranking, but nobody who has watched Florida State this season can possibly believe they’re the second-best team in the nation. Ranking the Seminoles second because of their 7-0 record was simply the easiest thing to do. Auburn is understandably ranked third, but then Ole Miss, which just turned in a clunker in a 10-7 loss to LSU, is in the fourth and final playoff position, ahead of Oregon and Alabama. Sure, the Rebels beat Bama head-to-head, but another way to look at it is that each of those teams has lost one game, and the Crimson Tide’s loss was to a presumably better opponent. Putting the Rebs fourth was again the easy thing to do, because they play Auburn this week, so the situation will essentially straighten itself out.

The best thing the College Football Czar can say about the committee members is that if there were still a BCS, it would be better to include the committee’s rankings in the formula than those from the Associated Press. At least the committee showed enough sense to place Notre Dame at #10. The AP ranks the Fighting Irish #6, ahead of Ole Miss and Michigan State, and a handful of other more deserving teams. Not only do they rank FSU second, but 14 AP voters actually found the Noles more worthy of a #1 ranking than Mississippi State. But of course, how else do you justify such a high ranking for the Irish, if you don’t inflate the team that defeated them?

The Czar went 15-5 for the week, improving his overall record to 116-71, for a .620 winning percentage.

There was a play near the end of the Utah-USC game that, for those who watched it, confused the goal-line extension rule. Since the College Football Czar has written about this before, but never explained it in detail, let’s see if he can sort it all out. Ute QB Travis Wilson ran the ball to the one-yard line, where he went airborne, and landed out of bounds. The play was initially called a touchdown, but was reversed, and the ball spotted at the one. The announcers “explained” that it would have been a touchdown, if only the ball had touched the pylon, because then the goal-line extension would have applied.

Um, how can the Czar put this? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Actually, it’s understandable if the announcers don’t get it, because the officiating on this point has not been consistent. In 2012, Notre Dame was awarded what turned out to be the winning score against Purdue on a similar play. Everett Golson had launched himself out-of-bounds, but tapped the pylon with the football on the way by. The on-field officials had called the play correctly, and spotted the ball where it had crossed the boundary line on Golson’s way out. The replay official – getting it wrong as usual – made the embarrassed referee incorrectly explain that it was a touchdown because Golson had touched the outside of the pylon with the ball.

The goal-line extension rule applies only when the ball-carrier remains in-bounds. The ball may be out of bounds when it breaks the plane of the goal line, and the touchdown still counts as long as the ball-carrier makes contact with the ground in the end zone, or touches the pylon. The pylon itself is out of bounds, with the inside edge aligned with the sideline, but for a ball-carrier to originate from an in-bounds position and touch the pylon, some part of him must still be in bounds when he and the pylon meet. That’s when the goal-line extension applies.

What Golson did in 2012, and what the announcers of the Utes-Trojans game suggested was legal, was for the ball-carrier to leap out of bounds short of the goal line, cross the goal line out of bounds, and tap the ball against the pylon – which is also out of bounds – for a touchdown. This is not the case. It is only a touchdown if: (a) the ball breaks the plane of the goal line within the field of play; or (b) the ball-carrier crosses the goal line in-bounds, with the ball breaking the plane of the goal line, whether the ball is in-bounds or not. If neither the player nor the ball is in bounds, the pylon has no magical power to extend the goal line and turn an out-of-bounds play into a touchdown.

Why is it up to the College Football Czar to explain this, when all the networks are now employing fancy-schmantzy officiating experts to watch instant replays with us and point out the obvious? As far as the Czar can tell, Mike Pereira’s job isn’t much different from Sigourney Weaver’s role in Galaxy Quest. She listens to the computer, and repeats it.

The 4-3 Bearcats lost QB Gunner Kiel to a rib injury at halftime of last Friday’s 34-17 win over South Florida. Veteran Munchie Legaux, himself the victim of a gruesome knee injury a year ago, completed the game, and might get the start this week in New Orleans, although Kiel claims he’s ready to go. Munchie, who in the past has thrown the ball with the same precision with which Cookie Monster eats, stayed with safe passes in the second half, completing 14 of 15 for 121 yards.

Speaking of quarterbacks who never go away, Nick Montana is back behind center for the Green Wave, taking over for Tanner Lee, who injured a shoulder against Rutgers back in Week 6. Montana, the younger son of the 49er legend, was originally a Washington Husky, but then found his way to TU by way of junior college.

This is the first meeting between these teams in the American Athletic Conference, but when they met as Conference USA rivals from 1996-2002, the Wave won five out of six. Of course, this is a whole different Bearcat program than it was two conference affiliations and two BCS bowl appearances ago.

The Czar’s younger readers probably don’t even remember how Cookie Monster ate cookies back in the old days. By now, he’s probably been renamed the Arugula-Eating Entity, who drinks pomegranate water, wears a Lycra cycling outfit, and finds the word “monster” demeaning.

The Panthers couldn’t have asked for a better script last week – than the old-time “Pitt” logo on their helmets, that is. The game was such a total bollix that its script must have been written by the same person who wrote the final episode of St. Elsewhere.

Pitt fumbled on each of its first five possessions to spot Georgia Tech a 28-0 lead, then traded blows the rest of the way to lose 56-28. Especially costly was the turnover from running back James Conner, who carried the ball for 74 yards to the Tech one-yard line before it was punched out, and through the end zone for a touchback.

Last year in Durham, it was the Blue Devils who gave the game away, by going minus-4 in turnovers. A 27-7 Panther lead nevertheless dwindled to 58-55 by the end of the game, but David Cutcliffe’s team couldn’t finish the comeback.

That autistic child who dreamt the past six seasons of Panther football must have eaten something really disagreeable beforehand.

A pair of blown calls that went against PSU looked like they wouldn’t end up mattering, until their moribund offense was given a jolt by a generous Ohio State team in the second half. The un-interception that had been awarded to OSU, and the missed delay of game on a field goal attempt, proved critical in the Nittany Lions’ 31-24 double-overtime defeat.

The Lions could have made the officiating a non-issue on their own, if only they were able to hit paydirt without the benefit of a turnover. Through the first three quarters, their offense ran only one play that gained more than ten yards.

The Terrapins were terraminated last week at Wisconsin, where they didn’t score until the final minute of a 52-7 stomping. For the entire game, they only gained 175 yards, 138 of which was piled up by WR Stefon Diggs. Still, that was the first game in which they’ve been held under 24 points all season.

When the Terps were contending for basketball championships, the slogan “Fear the Turtle” was all the rage. Well, if there’s anything more intimidating than turtles, it’s Beaver Stadium, the house of 100,000 pom-poms. Perhaps the Nittany Lions’ slogan should be “Fear the dande-Lions.”

The leapin lizards jumped all over Texas Tech 82-27, for the most points scored by one team in a game between Division I-A opponents since 2010, when Wisconsin beat Indiana 83-20.

Don’t expect them to hang 82 on WVU, though. Behind former Penn State offensive coordinator Tom Bradley, the Mountaineers are allowing an average of 25 points per game this year, down 8.3 from 2013. Last week in Stillwater, they stuffed Oklahoma State 34-10.

Kicker Josh Lambert has been a hero for the Eers this year, booting last-second game-winners of 47 and 55 yards to defeat Maryland and Texas Tech. A year ago in Fort Worth, he went 3-for-3, including the overtime winner, to hand the Horned Frogs a costly 30-27 loss. Frog QB Casey Pachall turned the ball over three times that day, which equals the number of INTs his successor, Trevone Boykin, has thrown through seven games.

ESPN’s College GameDay is going to Morgantown this week, and the College Football Czar thinks that’s a brilliant idea. The new set they’ll be able to buy with the insurance money will be really nice.

The Tigers took the chant “we’re number one” too literally last week against South Carolina, when they mistakenly put two players on the field to defend a Hail Mary attempt, both wearing uniform #1. Had the officials caught it, the Gamecocks would have gotten a second chance from five yards closer, at the Tiger 36. Instead, AU escaped with a 42-35 win, in spite of having allowed SC to go 5-for-6 on fourth-down conversions.

With no timeouts left, and nine seconds remaining in a defensive brawl with LSU, the Rebels’ decision to attempt a 42-yard tying field goal should have been a snap, but Hugh Freeze and his staff froze, getting a five-yard delay of game penalty for their indecision. Then, they ran one more play, even though most of the possible outcomes were negative, rather than try a 47-yarder.

Quarterback Bo Wallace, who was already having his worst game of the season, decided to take that opportunity to throw for the end zone, instead of nibbling a little yardage off the field goal attempt as expected. His desperation floater was picked off at the goal line, sending the #3 Rebs to a 10-7 defeat that should have knocked them out of playoff position, but of course did not.

If the Confederates had studied tactics at the same place as the Rebel coaches, they’d have lost the war, and they’d all be speaking American now.

Much of the conventional wisdom in football is wrong, including the old axiom that a starting quarterback should never lose his job due to injury. Not that there’s anything wrong with the 14-for-25, 180 yard performance from ASU’s Taylor Kelly against Washington, but Mike Bercovici had totally dominated ranked opponents USC and Stanford in the previous two games. Bercovici’s completion percentage and TD-to-interception ratio are almost identical to Kelly’s, except that he has faced better competition, and he is healthier.

In order to justify Coach Graham’s decision, Kelly is going to have to be some type of weird sandwich from this point on. After battling through this budding border rivalry, the Sun Devils host Notre Dame next week, and they finish the regular season against arch rival Arizona in Tucson.

The 6-1 Utes’ only loss was against Washington State, who upset them 28-27 in Salt Lake City, after the home team had taken a 24-7 halftime lead. Kyle Whittingham’s club has held up better under pressure ever since, winning three games by six points or fewer. Last week, they scored with eight seconds left to upend USC, 24-21. The winning drive started after the Trojans went for it on fourth down inside the Ute 30, and came up short for the second time of the game. Southern Cal kicker Andre Heidari was playing his first game since returning from a groin injury, and was not allowed to attempt a kicks of 44 and 45 yards.

It’s a little-known fact that The Old Axiom is a trophy that’s awarded to the winner between two of the crappier teams in the Big Ten.

Looking back at the Cowboys’ season, one might argue that they haven’t really played a good game since an opening 37-31 neutral-site loss to Florida State. They’ve now had back-to-back lopsided losses to TCU and West Virginia, and their most recent victory was a 27-20 quagmire at Kansas, in which they were outgained by over 100 yards.

Matthew McCrane could have saved K-State some headaches if only he’d shown up sooner. The freshman has taken over the place-kicking duties ever since three misses by Jack Cantele helped cost the Wildcats a 20-14 loss at Auburn. McCrane is now 6-for-6 on the year, although his long is only 38 yards.

The Cats are coming of a 23-0 trouncing of Texas, and have not given up more than 28 points in any game this season. Their shutout of the Longhorns was their first since clobbering Kent State 37-0 in early 2011.

OSU coach Mike Gundy says he tried to trademark the phrase, “I’m a man, I’m 40!” but that someone else had beaten him to it. Who in the world do you suppose was competing with him for the use of that slogan? Ricky Schroder?

Gator coach Will Muschamp admitted this week that he is adopting a “bunker mentality.” To drive the point home, he concluded his press conference by saying, “Dummy up, you meatheads, you!”

When Chubb reigns, he pours it on, like he did in the Bulldgogs’ 45-32 win over Arkansas. In two games since Todd Gurley’s suspension began, freshman Nick Chubb has chugged for 345 yards and two TDs.

The NCAA has finally defined Gurley’s previously indefinite suspension, so that he will miss this game, and also next week’s trip to Kentucky. The Dogs are appealing the decision, but by the time they get an answer, Gurley will probably have missed both games anyway.

In the Gators’ last game, they held Missouri to 119 total yards, but still got blown out 42-13. The difference in the game was four non-offensive scores, which Mizzou tallied by returning a punt, a kickoff, a fumble and an interception each for a touchdown.

The Ducks dropped out of first place last year with a 26-20 setback in Palo Alto, but that was when the Cardinal could run the ball, and Marcus Mariota could not. This year, Stanford is rushing for 66 fewer yards a game, whereas the quacker QB is just now hitting his stride.

The Cardinal are only 1-2 on the road this year, their lone win coming at Washington by a score of 20-13, when the Huskies foolhardily ran a fake punt in their own territory when the game was tied.

Ever since their upset loss to Arizona, the Fighting Ducks have been feeding the ball to 230-lb freshman running back Royce Freeman. Over the past three games, Royce has rolled to his three highest totals of the season, totaling 402 yards and eight touchdowns.

Coach Mark Helfrich should be a little worried about having a guy named Freeman up there in the Great Northwest. You never know when he might wander off to Montana and start printing his own money.

Tech was trounced last Thursday night by Miami, 30-6, seven days after a 21-16 loss to Pitt. When will they learn that Thursday is historically a bad day for Gobblers?

The Eagles eased up a little too early against Wake Forest, letting a 23-3 fourth quarter lead shrink to 23-17 with over six minutes remaining. Safety Justin Simmons stopped the final WF threat with an interception in BC territory, where his team wound down the final two minutes of the game.

The situation in the Eagle backfield was chaotic at the start of the year, but as Jon Hilliman and Nietzsche say, from chaos comes order. Freshman tailback Hilliman has rushed for 572 yards and 9 TDs, making him the team’s second-leading ground gainer behind QB Tyler Murphy.

You can tell what a trying season it’s been for Frank Beamer’s team by the befuddled expression on the legendary coach’s face. He’s starting to get the same look as Washington State coach Mike Leach, as if he’s wondering if he remembered to put on underwear before leaving the house, but doesn’t want to embarrass himself by actually checking.

The Bruins blew a 31-14 fourth-quarter lead last week before outlasting lowly Colorado, 40-37 in overtime, to climb to 6-2. Aside from their shocking blowout of Arizona State, each of their victories has been decided by eight points or fewer.

The Wildcats walloped Washington State 59-37, to bounce back from their first loss of the season after an idle week. DaVonte Neal and Cayleb Jones each scored on a kick return, in addition to each receiving a TD pass from Anu Solomon.

Last year, Bruin linebacker Myles Jack saw his most extensive action on the offensive side of the ball. His 120 rushing yards included a 66-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game-winner, as he lifted his team to a 31-26 triumph. This year, the blue bears have gotten most of their rushing yards from more conventional sources, with Jack getting only 16 carries for 58 yards through eight games.

Since Jack is adhering more strictly to his defensive role, does that make him a Jack “in the box”? Let’s hope so, because no child wants to play with a Myles in the box.

SDSU is #12 in the nation in scoring defense. That’s pretty good, considering that their three losses have been to offensively potent opponents North Carolina, Oregon State and Fresno State. Two weeks ago, they handled Hawaii 20-10, to give themselves sole possession of first place in the West division of the MWC.

The Wolf Pack are only 2-2 in the conference and 5-3 overall, but those losses have been to Arizona, Boise State and Colorado State, which have got a combined record of 19-4. Moreover, the three defeats have been by a total of just 17 points. Last week was UNR’s turn to beat Hawaii, but they did it 26-18 on the road, where it’s a lot more difficult.

Historians who specialize in making crap up like to credit the Mayans with inventing basketball, but it’s a little-known fact that the Aztecs really did invent football. One big difference between their game and ours was that their penalty for holding was to have one’s heart eaten. As every lardhead knows, holding can be called on every play, which it was, and that’s why the Aztecs are no longer among us. Here endeth the lesson.

The Hurricanes have only lost on the road this year, to Louisville, Nebraska and Georgia Tech. At home, they’ve dominated the likes of Duke (22-10) and Cincinnati (55-34).

Carolina is a respectable 4-4, but they’ve been outscored by an average final of 41-37. The low point of their season came when the East Carolina Pirates beat the pieces of eight out of them, 70-41, but they’ve never given up fewer than 27 throughout a schedule that’s included offensively impotent Virginia Tech, and Division I-AA Liberty. A week ago, they matched their season-low when they came back to beat Virginia, 28-27.

The Czar thinks the Tarheels are taking a bum rap over those so-called “paper classes” of theirs, because he thinks the value of a degree in origami is being dramatically undervalued. Why, from there, a student might graduate all the way to culinary school, and learn how to carve radishes into swans!

Considering the beating the Hilltoppers’ defense has been taking, they might be getting ready to throw in the towel. They snapped a two-game skid last week with a wild 66-51 win over Division I-A newcomer Old Dominion, but before that, they lost consecutive shootouts to UAB (42-39) and Florida Atlantic (45-38). Jeff Brohm’s team bombarded FAU 31-14 in the first half, only to be outscored 31-7 in the second.

The Bulldogs have quietly taken command of the C-USA West with a league record of 4-0. A win over WKU would keep them on course for a meeting with Marshall in the conference championship game. The hiring of Skip Holtz was questionable, the way he suffocated the offense at South Florida, and the result was the same in a 4-8 campaign in his first year at LTU. This year, his team has increased its scoring by almost two TDs a game, even though their total yardage is barely any better.

The Hilltopers may think they’re proving something by using a towel as their team logo, but the folks in Ruston are unimpressed. They’ve been using towels down there for literally decades.

With QB Nate Sudfeld out for the season, it was a rough debut for Zander Diamont, the Hoosiers’ previously untested freshman. Diamont was chiseled by the Michigan State defense, against which he completed 5 of 15 for 11 yards, in a 56-17 smashing.

The maize and confused have had a week off to let their heads stop spinning, and figured out how they’ve gotten to 3-5. Here’s a hint: the Wolverines are the seventh-worst offensive team in the nation, scraping up a meager 321 yards per game. Mind you, that’s including their 560-yard, 52-14 opening romp over Appalachian State.

Some of the Wolverine players planted a spike in the turf at Spartan Stadium last Saturday, before their 35-11 loss to Michigan State. Perhaps they were trying to persuade MSU to decide who gets the Paul Bunyan Trophy with a game of horseshoes.

Through the first four games, overzealous pundits were projecting an undefeated season for BYU. Since they lost QB Taysom Hill, however, they’ve gone winless, to level their record at 4-4. Surprisingly, they’ve actually lost mostly because of their defense. New quarterback Christian Stewart has played pretty well in his last three games, throwing seven TDs to two interceptions, while completing 61 percent of his passes.

The MT-heads have let “M” get in their heads a lot more than “T” this year. At 5-3, the Blue Raiders have lost road games at Minnesota, Memphis and Marshall. They might be in trouble this week, except that the Mormons prefer to go by “LDS” these days.

… Although, if they want to use the slogan, “LDS But Goodies,” they’ll have to pay Mike Gundy for the rights.

The Ragin Cajuns got peppered in last year’s finale in Mobile, 30-8, although they had already secured a third consecutive bid to the New Orleans Bowl, and were resting injured QB Terrance Broadway. The senior scrambler has stayed healthy enough to start every game this season, leading ULL to a 3-0 start in Sun Belt play.

The 5-2 Jags have won four in a row to remain within a game of the conference lead. They couldn’t have gotten much easier I-A opposition, however, than Idaho, Appalachian State, Georgia State and Troy. From this point on, they face ULL, Arkansas State, Texas State, South Carolina and Navy.

While it’s true that there’s no “I” in “team,” it’s even truer, if possible, that there’s no “I” in one particular team called the “Jaguars.” Nevertheless, lardheaded announcers can always be counted on to call them the “Jag-Wires.” When they run a trick play, that probably makes them the “mis-cheee-vee-ous Jag-Wires.” What do we need to do to get a little phonetic justice, raise enough money to hire Ben Kingsley to do play-by-play?

The defending SEC East champion Tigers don’t look like a very good team this year, but they may not need to be, with their only two West division opponents being Texas A&M and Arkansas. Having lost head-to-head against Georgia, they must finish a game ahead of the Bulldogs to successfully defend their division title, but if they can win against the Wildcats, a 7-1 finish will suddenly become plausible. UGA, however, must still square off with Auburn in mid-November.

The Wildcats are a win away from returning to the postseason for the first time since 2010, when they played in the BBVA Compass Bowl. They’d better clinch this week, though, because their remaining schedule doesn’t get much easier.

Last week, the Cats lost their second in a row, but made a far better showing than they did a week earlier against LSU. Mark Stoops’ team played a statistically even game against top-ranked Mississippi State, and pulled within a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but gave up a score on the ensuing kickoff to close out a 45-31 dogfight.

A lot of sportswriters actually referred to that game in Birmingham as the Compass Bowl, as if its sponsor sold compasses. They probably explained the letters “BBVA” to themselves by assuming they were Roman numerals.

CSU quarterback Garrett Grayson is not the youthful ward of Bruce Wayne, but that’s okay with him. Sidekick status would be a demotion at this point, now that he’s the leading passer in the Mountain West Conference. Taking into account the possibility of a conference title game, and the inevitability of a bowl game, it would be a disappointment if he didn’t reach the 4,000-yard mark this season.

The Spartans were one of the few bowl-eligible teams that didn’t get invited in 2013, and they’re in danger of missing out again this season. Last week’s loss to Navy drops them to 3-4, with difficult road games remaining against Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State.

The 7-1 Rams outran rival Wyoming 45-31 to capture the coveted Bronze Boot. It was a big win, but what a disappointment afterward, to discover that they have no toes.

At 4-4 and with their traditional finale against Army, the Midshipmen could all but clinch a berth in the Poinsettia Bowl if they can upset the Irish. Their season may have seemed lost when they were 2-4, but then they had a feelgood win over I-AA VMI, and last week, QB Keenan Reynolds rushed for a career-high 251 yards in a 41-31 victory over San Jose State.

The Fighting Irish still have most of their toughest tests in front of them, with long road trips upcoming to Arizona State and USC. They’ve also got a home game next month against a Louisville team that, as this edition is being posted, is giving #1 Florida State all kinds of trouble.

This game is being played in Landover, where the home of the Washington Redskins will get to see what an ethnically offensive team logo and nickname really look like. If there’s a rebellious bone in the bodies of the stadium employees, they will refuse to use the name “Notre Dame,” but will instead only refer to “the South Bend football team.” That’d sound pretty dopey, wouldn’t it, Phil Simms and Tony Dungy?

Want to see some real Fighting Irish? Try bar-hopping through Dublin, and asking people what “Notre Dame” is Gaelic for.

If the Borrowing Owls can become bowl eligible at 6-6 again, they’ve sure to go to a bowl game next time, simply because there are more of them. They should have been rewarded for their scheduling last year, and this season, they’ve again faced all Division I-A opponents, including road trips to Nebraska and Alabama.

The Blazers are a game better than the Owls at 4-4, but they’ll have a tougher time reaching the end of the season at .500. Their next two games after this are against Conference USA division leaders Louisiana Tech and Marshall.

The burrowing owl is FAU’s mascot, but the school’s athletic teams usually just call themselves the Owls. Maybe they just don’t want to be called the B.O.’s The NCAA might want to investigate them for that. It’s probably xenophobic.

-- Daniel Clark is a writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author and editor of a web publication called The Shinbone: The Frontier of the Free Press, where he also publishes a seasonal sports digest as The College Football Czar.

Looking forward to TCU at West Virginia.

Would love to see TCU squeak in as the 4th seed at the end-of-season rankings.

2 posted on 10/30/2014 7:32:46 PM PDT by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)

Notre dame “beats” FSU only to have the touchdown called back, and lose by only 3 points

sooo FSU is 2nd and Notre dame 10th

makes perfect sense/sarc

He posted his entire litany of predictions here, without necessitating a link to read it all.

How does that make him a blog pimp?

6 posted on 10/30/2014 9:19:46 PM PDT by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)

The announcers explained the goal line extension rule that if the player has the ball and touches the pylon then it is a TD. He never touched to pylon or went over it in the air so it was not a TD.

Oregon Stanford should be a barn burner.

Go Ducks!

Errrr, begging your pardon, JP, but pick plays are illegal!

EVERY TV commentator said Notre Dame’s penalty call was the right call.

Until FSU looses (and I thought Louisville had FSU’s number tonight), they deserve the #2 ranking.

“Until FSU looses (and I thought Louisville had FSU’s number tonight), they deserve the #2 ranking.”

yeah yeah, but if FSU is #2 and ND loses to them in a very close game, they should be ranked together closely.

3 point difference equals 8 spots on the rankings?

c’mon....

Not sure where your sarcasm was intended...Notre Dame ran a pick play(offensive pass interference) at the end of the game and was correctly penalized for it. They LOST! Show a little grace and class like Notre Dame is supposed to have and accept it...The worse thing for Notre Dame is now that that play is out in the open and is known as being an illegal play, they won’t score off of it anymore this season...How will they score now? ND would go 0 for 10 if they were to play FSU 9 more times this season...

P.S. Good luck with Louisville, you’ll need it...

“Errrr, begging your pardon, JP, but pick plays are illegal!”

I know.

“EVERY TV commentator said Notre Dame’s penalty call was the right call.”

But this week it’s being referenced as a “controversial call”

“They LOST! Show a little grace and class like Notre Dame is supposed to have and accept it.”

Yes I know and I do.

My point was only to question the very small difference in score yet the vast difference in ranking, between FSU and ND.

Ex. Auburn beat Miss by only 4 points, will Miss drop to #11 or lower?

Now that Florida has won a game, I expect them to move into the top ten...I think that in the future, in order to simplify things, there should probably be a top ten poll just for the SEC and then a top ten poll for the not so SEC teams...seems only fair.../S

Unless I misunderstood the announcers in the Utes-Trojans game, they were making the same mistake that announcers often make about this rule, in that the player coming in contact with the pylon is not the same as his touching the pylon with the ball. You’re right that it’s a touchdown if a ball-carrier who is in bounds touches the pylon, but it’s not a TD if only the ball does. The ball can touch the pylon without either it or the ball-carrier having to be in bounds when reaching the plane of the goal line.

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