2010 Football Season, Labor Day weekend

It's a First: The first Division III football game of the season began at 3 PM on Thursday, September 2, and I was an eyewitness. The 11th ranked (Division III) Ohio Northern Polar Bears defeated the Wisconsin River Falls Falcons 35-21 at Dial-Roberson Stadium in Ada. ONU trailed 15-14 at halftime, and the teams were tied at 21 before ONU took advantage of Falcon turnovers to score the last two touchdowns. In other Division III action this weekend, Randolph Macon slaughtered Methodist 54-14. Washington U St. Louis put out the Knox College Prairie Fire 34-3.

Premiere: Georgia State played its first football game Thursday night and defeated Shorter 41-7.

Streaking: The Ada Bulldogs continued their conference winning streak, now at 17 games, and the Spencerville Bearcats continued their conference losing streak, now at 12 games, as Ada annihilated Spencerville 70-20 at Spencerville. Ada led 28-0 when Spencerville earned their first first down. Ada led 56-0 at halftime, and it was all over but the shouting.

Hopes Dashed: #15 Pitt had cherished hopes of winning the Big East and contending for national glory. Those hopes took a beating Thursday night at the hands of Utah, 27-24 in overtime at Pitt.

Overreaching and Underachieving: The "Right Reverend" Houston Nutt at Ole Miss obtained the services of Jeremiah Masoli, the quarterback dismissed by Oregon for misbehavior. The NCAA first denied Masoli permission to go to Ole Miss, but Masoli eventually won on appeal. One would normally assume that Ole Miss could handle a Division I-AA opponent like Jacksonville State, but not so. Jacksonville State won 49-48 on a two-point conversion in the second overtime.

Rivalry Games: Many major college teams take this first weekend of the season to fatten their records on patsies. The only reason that some of these teams are not playing the Little Sisters of the Poor is that the Sisters don't field a team. There are, however, a few rivalry games on this opening weekend: Temple beat Villanova 31-24, a game that was closer than the final score, to take the Mayor's Cup. Kentucky defeated Louisville 23-16 to take the Governor's Cup. Mizzou came from behind to overcome Illinois 23-13 in the Arch Rivalry game. Colorado beat Colorado State 24-3 to take the Centennial Cup. In the Crab Bowl Classic on Monday, Navy dominated the statistics, but they lost several fumbles near the Maryland goal line and lost to Maryland 17-14. Maryland was able to stage a final goal line stand, and Navy failed to score from the one within the last minute to allow Maryland to clinch the win.

Our Teams Triumphant: In the debut of coach Brian Kelly, Notre Dame defeated Purdue 23-12. Northern Colorado edged Adams State 54-0.

Sighs and Other Depressed Sounds: #4 William and Mary (I-AA) took an early lead, but allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to lose to unranked Massachusetts 27-24. Vandy failed to convert a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter and lost to Northwestern 23-21 in the SAT game of the day.

Real Matchups: All of that extra practice must have paid off for Michigan, who beat Connecticut 30-10. UConn had been expected to contend for the Big East title, so either Michigan is back of UConn was overrated. #6 TCU skinned the #24 Oregon State Beavers 30-21. In one of the real battles of the weekend, East Carolina outscored Tulsa 51-49 on a last second Hail Mary to the tallest receiver on the field. In what was probably the highlight game of the weekend, #3 Boise State edged the #10 Va. Tech Hokies on Monday night 33-30. Boise State trailed for much of the second half, but they were able to score the touchdown to go ahead with about a minute to go and then hold off the Hokies. If they beat Oregon State in a couple of weeks, Boise State may be in position to contend for the national championship.

Patsy Pummeling: #2 Ohio State enforced their will against Marshall 45-7. Terrell Pryor's passing was quite impressive against undermanned Marshall. Wake Forest was destined to beat Presbyterian, and the only question was the final score, which was 53-13. #13 Miami of Florida crushed the Rattlers of Florida A & M 45-0. #4 Florida, despite having trouble with the snap from center to shotgun QB and a host of other mistakes, bested Miami of Ohio and Ada-native QB Zac Dysert 34-12. #25 West Virginia climbed all over Coastal Carolina 31-0. #9 Iowa pasted Eastern Illinois 37-7. Virginia stepped on the Richmond Spiders 34-13. #5 Texas boiled Rice 34-17. #11 Oregon may have inflicted the worst beating of the weekend over New Mexico 72-0. #1 Alabama rolled over San Jose State 48-3. Arizona State burned Portland State 54-9.

Revenge of the Patsy: North Dakota State 6, Kansas 3. Turner Gill, the new Kansas coach, needs to return to the drawing board. #7 Oklahoma barely withstood a Utah State comeback 31-24.

Pentagon: Air Force shocked and awed Northwestern State of Louisiana 65-21. Army marched past Eastern Michigan 31-27.

Sins of the Fathers and Sons: #14 Southern Cal, on probation for 2 years for misdeeds that took place under former coach Pete Carroll, surfed past Hawaii 45-36. #18 North Carolina missed d13 players (9 starters), including their best defensive players, for a variety of academic and agent-related misdeeds when they face #21 LSU in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game on Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. LSU led for most of the game, but North Carolina kept fighting and made it close, losing 30-24.

Still Undefeated: Georgia State (see above), Peabody Conservatory, Emory.

2010 Football Report, Week 1

Big excitement for Ada folks this Friday night. While driving from Findlay to Ada on I-75 after dinner and shopping, my wife and I passed the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. My wife had never heard of the vehicle, and I had only seen it on TV. Ohio may really be the Heart of It All, since we have been visited by the Wienermobile.

Other big excitement--the opening game of the 2010 football season for Ada High. I was following their game on radio when I passed the Wienermobile, and it sounded like Ada might win. By midway in the second quarter, the Ada Bulldogs led their county rivals from Hardin Northern 49-0 on the way to a 69-7 opening blowout. New quarterback Konnor Baker threw 6 touchdown passes in the victory. Go Dogs!

College football begins next weekend, so those who follow this blog for college football news must wait another week. Ohio Northern will play the first Division III game of the season next Thursday afternoon at home in Ada.

College Conference Rearrangement: After much summer speculation over whether the Big 12 would be dismantled and whether this year would mean the advent of the 16 team super-conferences, there was actually little change in the BCS conferences. Nebraska, miffed at the influence of Texas in the Big 12 and seeking greater TV revenue, will move from the Big 12 to being the 12th team in the the Big 10 in 2011. (Twelve team conferences are allowed to have divisions and to offer the TV networks a championship football game between the two division winners. The Pac 10 (or 12) and the Big Ten become big winners here at the expense of the Big 12.) I found it interesting that the Big Ten chose Nebraska rather than Missouri or its other candidates--Texas, Pitt, Rutgers, etc. In choosing Nebraska, the Big Ten has chosen to remain faithful to its midwest roots, skipping the opportunity to try to penetrate Texas or the New York TV market via Rutgers and/or Syracuse. In choosing Nebraska, the Big Ten also showed that football power and economics are more important than other sports or academics, because Missouri is probably stronger in basketball than Nebraska and is also probably a stronger academic institution.

Texas is an interesting player in all of this. Both to keep its rivalry with Texas A & M and for in-state political reasons, it will be difficult for Texas to move to another conference without taking A & M, at minimum, with it. Apparently, the Pac 10 was interesting in allying with Texas, but Texas legislators were allegedly trying to force whatever conference that took Texas to also take Texas A & M, Texas Tech, and Baylor. The Pac 10 wanted Colorado rather than Baylor, so a deal with Texas was not possible. So the Pac 10 will become a 12-team league by 2012 by picking up Utah from the Mountain West Conference in 2011 and Colorado from the Big 12 in 2012. (Numerical conundrums are rampant because of these changes. The Big Ten will continue to be called the Big Ten despite having 12 teams. Perhaps the Big 12 will continue to be the Big 12 despite having only ten teams.)

The conference that has seen the most change, and the most serious threat, has been the Mountain West Conference. The Mountain West, not more than 20 years old, includes Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, Texas Christian, New Mexico, and Nevada (Las Vegas). Until this year, its consistently prominent members were Utah and Brigham Young. When Utah announced that it would move to the Pac 10, BYU began to consider its options, since Utah has been BYU's big rival for many years. After Utah's announcement, the Mountain West need to act to ensure its own survival, and so it added Boise State. Boise State (the school with the blue football turf) has been phenomenally successful in football in the relatively weak Western Athletic Conference, and so the Mountain West will be a step up for Boise State. When BYU began to look at leaving the MWC to be independent in football and joining the WAC for other sports, the conference acted again, adding two more WAC schools, Fresno State and Nevada (Reno). The Mountain West's strategy seemed both to strengthen itself and to limit BYU's options by nearly destroying the WAC, the conference to which BYU would move. BYU's plan had to change. BYU ultimately decided to become independent for football and to join the West Coast Conference, a league primarily known for basketball whose best known sports school is basketball power Gonzaga. The Mountain West has lost two of its most prominent schools, but has emerged intact and strong through its additions. The big loser in all of this has been the Western Athletic Conference, which will be left with only six schools (Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Utah State, New Mexico State, and San Jose State) and with long and expensive trips required for competition. It will be interesting to see if the WAC can survive at all.

Bad banners: One of our neighbors has taken to flying a University of Nebraska flag on the front of her home. Ada does not have strong land use laws, or I'm sure that this eyesore would probably have been removed by now. Since Nebraska will be joining the Big Ten, this banner will also be an eyesore not just to me but also to the fans of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and the schools that most people around her root for. I have tried to find some positive value to this flag, and I may have succeeded. Since Colorado is on its way to the Pac 10 (12?), it does serve as a reminder that in the future, Colorado (Pac 12) could face Nebraska (Big 10) in the Rose Bowl.