Weekend of Sept. 25, 2010

High School: The Bulldogs stomped the Pirates of Bluffton High at Bluffton 42-6 behind five touchdown passes from Konnor Baker. The Bulldogs rolled up 601 yards of offense on the way to the victory.

Division III: #10 ranked Ohio Northern shut out Muskingham 36-0 at home. #25 Randolph Macon piled up 45 points in the first half and cruised to a 48-14 triumph over Frostburg State. Washington U whipped Westminster College 36-6 at home.

How the Mighty Are Fallen: UCLA took the ball from Texas 4 times in the first half, rushed for more than 260 yards, and whipped the #7 Longhorns 34-12 before a dismayed crowd in Austin. #19 Miami of Florida dominated the Pitt Panthers Thursday night 31-3. Pitt was nationally ranked before the season began, but no longer.

Trophy Games: #4 TCU trampled the Ponies of SMU Friday night 41-24 in the battle for the Iron Skillet. In the Battle of the Bell, Marshall edged Ohio U 24-23.

Our Teams, Victorious: Most of the Big Ten was playing out of conference patsies today, and #21 Michigan was no exception, clobbering hapless Bowling Green 65-21. Denard Robinson, their star QB, suffered a minor knee injury in the game. #2 Ohio State devastated a feckless Eastern Michigan team 73-20. Terrell Pryor completed 4 touchdown passes for OSU, ran for a TD, and then caught one. Virginia Tech evened their record at 2-2 by shutting out conference rival Boston College 19-0. Maryland rolled over Florida International 42-28. Virginia massacred the Keydets of Virginia Military 48-7. Missouri rolled over Miami of Ohio 51-13 despite 20 of 27 passing by Zac Dysert. William and Mary scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to overcome Maine 24-21. Georgia State made played its first road game vs. Campbell, and rode a strong special teams performance to a 24-21 win. #9 Florida chewed up Kentucky 48-14 in the Swamp. Colorado State edged Idaho 36-34.

Unexpected: Toledo, expected to be Purdue's easy victim, defeated the Boilers 31-20. Tennessee barely edged Alabama-Birmingham 32-29.

Top 25: #1 Alabama had all they could handle on the road against #10 Arkansas, but the

Tide eventually rolled 24-20. #17 Auburn defeated #12 South Carolina at home in a mild upset

35-27. Four late Gamecock turnovers helped kill their chances. #15 LSU relied on defense and

special teams to overcome a determined #22 West Virginia team. #3 Boise State defeated #24 Oregon State on the blue turf in Boise 37-24. #11 Wisconsin destroyed Austin Peay 70-3. #5 Oregon took advantage of 7 Arizona State turnovers to overcome the Sun Devils 42-31 in the desert.

Our Teams, with Tears: Notre Dame, stumbling through a stretch of ranked opponents, lost to #16 Stanford 37-14. Owen Marecic scored a touchdown on a running play and, seconds later, scored another on an interception. Two way scoring like Marecic's is really rare these days. Northern Colorado served as sacrificial victim for #25 Michigan State 45-7. Richmond fell to 1-2 after losing to Delaware 34-13 at home.

Department of Defense: Air Force scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome Wyoming 20-14. Army cast out the Duke Blue Devils 35-21.

Undefeated and Untied This Week: Peabody Conservatory, Emory, Navy, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Illinois.

Weekend of September 18

High School: The Ada Bulldogs continued their winning ways with a defeat of Toledo Christian 48-35 at home. Konnor Baker threw for more than 200 yards and 3 touchdowns and Kellen Decker ran for more than 200 for the Dogs.

Division III Doings: #11 Ohio Northern ripped #18 Otterbein 34-10 in the conference opener for the Bears. Randolph Macon blasted Shenandoah 42-14 behind 5 TD passes from the Randy-Mac QB. The Washington U Bears visited #6 Wittenberg but should have stayed home, because they absorbed a 37-7 whipping.

Ranked vs. Ranked. #24 Arizona outlasted a comeback by #9 Iowa to upset the Hawkeyes 34-27 in the only matchup of ranked teams of the weekend.

The Unexpected Can Be So Upsetting: Southern Mississippi uprooted the Jayhawks of Kansas 31-16 Friday night. Also on Friday, Nevada Reno upended Cal 52-31 in Nevada. Massachusetts, a member of the same Division I AA conference as William and Mary, gave Michigan all that the defenseless Wolverines could handle before succumbing to superior force 42-37. Vandy drowned the Ole Miss Rebels 28-14 and won their first conference game since 2008. Missouri scored a touchdown with just over a minute to go to edge visiting San Diego State 27-24. #16 Auburn edged Clemson 27-24 in overtime. Clemson had tied the game at 27 with a field goal that was disallowed by a penalty, and then Clemson missed the second try at the 3-pointer.

As Expected: Illinois overcame Northern Illinois 28-22. #2 Ohio State's defense grabbed 5 turnovers from Ohio U and led the Buckeyes to a 43-7 shellacking of the Bobcats. Colorado started slowly but came on in the second half to defeat Hawaii 31-13 in Boulder. #10 Florida overcame a sluggish start to defeat Tennessee 31-17 in Knoxville. Virginia Tech trailed East Carolina in the third quarter but came on strong to win 49-27. #12 (Div. I AA) William and Mary beat Old Dominion 21-17. The Richmond Spiders beat Elon 27-21.

The Powers that Be: #1 Alabama edged Duke 62-13. #8 Nebraska rolled over Washington 56-21 as their defense held pro prospect Jake Locker of the Huskies to less than 100 yards passing. #4 TCU 45, Baylor 10. #5 Oregon pulverized Portland State 69-0.

Hooray For: Miami of Ohio, on the strength of 3 TD passes by Ada grad Zac Dysert, unloaded on Colorado State 31-10. Arizona State had an extra point blocked in the fourth quarter that prevented them from tying the score on #11 Wisconsin in Madison. Final score: 20-19 Badgers. Northern Colorado whipped Idaho State 35-21.

Oh, Woe Is Me: #21 West Virginia shelled Maryland 31-17. North Carolina, still playing without 12 suspended players, lost to Georgia Tech 30-24. Georgia State lost a heartbreaker to Jacksonville State, the #4 ranked team in Division I AA, 34-27 in overtime in Atlanta. Notre Dame lost a heart-breaker in the first overtime 34-31 when Michigan State scored a touchdown on a fake field goal to outmatch the field goal that Notre Dame had kicked.

Military Affairs: #7 Oklahoma had to hang on to edge Air Force 27-24 in Norman. Army shelled North Texas 24-0. Navy torpedoed Louisiana Tech 37-23.

Undefeated This Week: Peabody Conservatory, Emory, Virginia (resting up before their arduous battle with VMI).

And From the Diamond: The Rockies crushed the Dodgers 12-2. It is September, so, of course, the Rockies are making a run (from behind) for the playoffs.

College Week 2, Sept. 11

On this day, we should share a moment of silence for those who died on 9/11, and for the first responders and others who did their best to save others.

High school report: Ada faced a their toughest opponent of the year so far last night, Columbus Grove. Ada jumped out to a quick lead, but Grove fought back and were driving late in the game to come back when DB Ty Jolliff intercepted a long Grove pass to secure the victory. Ada's Bulldogs outscored the Columbus Grove Bulldogs 38-20.

Division III. The Rhodes College Lynx defeated the Washington U Bears 14-10 at Rhodes. Does that make Wash U Rhodes kill? A touchdown pass in the last minute of play powered Randolph Macon to a 41-37 win over #19 Johns Hopkins.

Big Games: Several ranked teams face ranked opponents this weekend, racheting up their level of competition. #1 Alabama had no trouble handling #18 Penn State 24-3. #2 Ohio State exploited four interceptions thrown by #12 Miami in defeating the Canes 36-24. Terrell Pryor had almost 350 yards of total offense in the victory. #7 Oklahoma, coached by Bob Stoops, massacred #20 Florida State, whose defensive coordinator is Mike Stoops, 47-17. Maybe Bob knows something about Mike's playbook. Michigan took a 21-7 halftime lead against Notre Dame and then held on to take the game 28-24 at South Bend. Michigan QB Denard Robinson had over 500 yards of total offense, producing more than 200 yards passing and 200 yards running. #24 South Carolina beat visiting Georgia, ranked #22, 17-6. South Carolina, coached by passing guru Steve Spurrier, relied on a strong ground game from Marcus Lattimore to overcome the Dawgs.

Trophy Games: #23 West Virginia barely avoided an embarrassing loss and managed to claim the Governor's Cup in the Friends of Coal Bowl by beating Marshall 24-21 in overtime at Marshall. #9 Iowa stormed Iowa State 35-7 to take the Cy-Hawk trophy.

Upsets: Kansas, which last week lost to North Dakota State, upended #15 Georgia Tech 28-25 at Lawrence. South Dakota of Division IAA upset Minnesota 41-38.

Indigestion from Eating Cupcakes: #13 Virginia Tech, which had been expected to contend for the ACC championship, lost to Division IAA James Madison 21-16. This defeat, reminiscent of Michigan's disastrous loss to App. State in 2007, probably marks the end of Tech's national title hopes and also damages the BCS case of Boise State. Boise State usually only plays one or two strong teams per year, and Virginia Tech was projected to be the strongest team on Boise's schedule.

Our Teams in Victory: #8 Florida relied on several interceptions to "snap back" from their bad performance last Saturday to defeat a South Florida team coached by Skip Holtz 38-14. Florida is still having trouble on offense, so future prospects could be dimming. Clemson clobbered hapless Presbyterian 58-21. The Miami Redhawks defeated Eastern Michigan 28-21, so Zac Dysert of Ada finally won one. Maryland shelled Morgan State 62-3. Missouri ripped McNeese State 50-6. (For those of you who wonder where McNeese State is, it's in Louisiana.) Toledo edged conference rival Ohio U 20-13. Nationally ranked William and Mary massacred the Keydets of VMI 45-0. Illinois took down IAA Southern Illinois 35-3. Arizona State warmed up for Wisconsin by dumping on Northern Arizona 41-20 in Tempe.

Veil of Tears Dept.: In Colorado's first opportunity to take on a Pac 10 team since deciding to join the conference, the Buffs got mauled by the Cal Bears 52-7. Lambuth acted like the lions, and Georgia State became the lambs in GSU's first football defeat, 23-14. Vanderbilt held down #19 LSU in the first half but were eventually overwhelmed 27-3. Northern Colorado lost an offensive struggle to Weber State 50-47. #16 Southern Cal scored early and then hung on to overcome Virginia 17-14 in L.A. Colorado State took it on the chin (and on all other parts of the body) from Nevada Reno 51-6.

Other Games of Interest: Mountain West power and national #4 TCU trampled Tennessee Tech 62-7. #6 Nebraska vandalized Idaho 38-17. The #5 Texas Longhorns gored Wyoming 34-7. The Fordham Rams outbutted the Rhode Island Rams 27-25. Oklahoma State just nipped Troy 41-38.

Is It Basketball Season? Wake Forest outscored Duke 54-48 in the ACC basketball opener for both schools. Oops, it really was a football game.

Pentagon Papers: Air Force provided another reason for BYU to leave the Mountain West Conference, tripping the Cougars 35-14. Hawaii swamped Army 31-28 at West Point. Navy edged Division IAA Georgia Southern 13-7.

Undefeated and Untied This Week: Peabody Conservatory, Emory, #11 Ohio Northern, #3 Boise State.