I tell ya' Herbie:
Illinois defeating Wisconsin last Saturday on a walk-off field goal was one of those stunners that both teams have a point to discuss.
Starting with Illinois, where the interesting question to ponder is about the future of Lovie Smith.
Smith looked to be on the road to nowhere after the Illini were defeated at home by Eastern Michigan, but could Smith have turned things around after stunning the sixth-ranked and undefeated Badgers?
It depends if Smith can get to six wins and a small bowl bid, I think Smith may have earned himself another year.
Illinois is 3-4 and will need to sweep their three games against lower-level teams, this week against 2-5 Purdue in West Lafayette, next week against 1-6 Rutgers at home and their finale against rival 1-5 Northwestern also at home.
Sweep those and they get their six wins regardless of their two tougher games, both on the road vs Iowa and Michigan State.
If they don't and this week on the road against a similarly talented team in Purdue will be difficult to win after the big victory over Wisconsin, the upset could be simply the highlight of yet another disappointing Illini coaching era.
I tell ya' Herbie:
As for the Badgers, I was disappointed in their loss as it would have been a much bigger game to the media against Ohio State had they entered the game undefeated, but I'm not sure it's any less of a big game with the loss.
Put Ohio State aside and look at the Illinois game as a fluke because it was.
Why on Earth did Paul Chryst with arguably the top runner in the nation in Jonathan Taylor, stop using him?
Illinois scores with just under six minutes to go and cuts the Wisconsin lead to two points.
Wisconsin has a first and ten with under four minutes to go and the clock running at their own forty after a first down.
Chryst calls a run play to the fullback (-1 yard) and a screen pass to the same fullback (6 yards) before a pass on third and five was intercepted near midfield and allowed Illinois the chance to win the game.
That decision might have been the difference between winning and losing and if it's close in Columbus on Saturday and it could be that Paul Chryst will have to decide to run with the horse or attempt to win with their weakness with the game in the balance.
I tell ya' Herbie:
Tonight as I was checking my Twitter timeline, John McAdam (who has a terrific wrestling podcast ) mentioned a game this weekend that struck my interest because part of what I love about college football is that every week the pairings range from every portion of the spectrum.
Take the battle of New England universities in what might be the worst two teams to play each other this season for an example.
1-6 Connecticut travels to 1-6 Massachusetts in a game that is so bad as I review it that my only question is how did they each win a game?
UMass hasn't given up fewer than 29 points all season and that was in their only win (37-29 over 0-7 Akron)!
If you remove the Akron game, UMass has allowed 44,45,48 (to Rutgers for the Scarlet Knights only win) 52,58 and 69 points to their opponents and their closest loss was a 25 point loss to I-AA Southern Illinois at home!
As for UConn, their one win was a three-point win at home over I-AA Wagner (Don't get too excited yet, Wagner is 1-6 and the week after the three-point loss at UConn, the Seahawks lost by ten at home to Division II East Stroudsburg) and they were competitive in their second game in losing by eight at Illinois, but it's been downhill since with losses of 35, 35, 26 and 42 points before playing Houston close at home last week in a 24-17 loss.
UMass has a marginal excuse with a first-year head coach in Walt Bell, but UConn continues to trudge through Randy Edsall- the sequel, as Edsall, he of the ridiculous contract where he gets bonuses for scoring first in a game (Seriously you need to read this) among others and has a career record of 29 games UNDER .500, continues to get more mileage out of an 8-5 season nine years ago than any coach should, makes his way toward crushing the heart of a third program (UConn twice and Maryland).
What I really don't understand is this- In an era that almost every game has television or is hooked up with an internet/streaming service of some kind, no one is showing this game!
This is exactly the type of game that I would watch unless one of my teams would be playing at the same time!
I tell ya' Herbie:
One of the most ridiculous overreactions that I've seen occurred in Statesboro Georgia and the Sun Belt came between visiting Coastal Carolina and the homestanding Georgia Southern Eagles.
We enter the fourth quarter and "Mo Bamba" hits the loudspeakers.
Almost every team in the country has some type of song to fire up the fan base etc moving into the final period, so Georgia Southern isn't unique there and their players began to jump around to the music.
Coastal Carolina began to dance back and although it didn't seem that it was good-hearted and the Chanticleers were trying to show that they weren't intimidated, it wasn't a nasty situation either as neither team was close to the other and nothing physical was threatened.
Yet, here comes the officials to make something out of nothing and threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct on every player on the field.
That ridiculous decision caused three players that had been penalized earlier in the game to be ejected due to the rule that if a player is penalized for a personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct twice in a game they are ejected.
Once again, officials getting involved where they are unneeded,
Georgia Southern went on to win the game 30-27 in three overtimes.
Top Five
1) LSU
2) Ohio State
3) Alabama
4) Oklahoma
5) Clemson
Just Missed: Penn State
Group of Five
1) SMU
2) Cincinnati
3) Appalachian State
4) Boise State
5) Memphis
Just Missed: San Diego State
Heisman Watch
1) Joe Burrow LSU
2) Jonathan Taylor Wisconsin
3) Tua Tagovailoa Alabama
4) Jalen Hurts Oklahoma
5) Justin Fields Ohio State
Just Missed: J.K. Dobbins Ohio State
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