Mid-Manifest Destiny: How The West Was Won
A weekly examination of the lesser luminaries of Division I-A. On this week’s agenda: Five (FIVE) mid-major teams are ranked in the national Top 25. Do not adjust your TV dials.
• Polled teams roll. Check out the margins of victory on the five (!!) mid-majors currently gracing college football’s top 25:
- Boise State 57, Toledo 14. A perfect 500 yards of offense for the Broncos, which we assume was all part of some convoluted Chris Petersen plan. (Anybody see Fringe last week? It's like that. He causes the deaths of thousands of football dreams with a simple ballpoint pen.)
- TCU 45, Wyoming 0. An offense previously lambasted as slow-starting, even against inferior competition, ran up 586 yards in Week 6.
- Utah 68, Iowa State 27. So much for the Cyclones' admittedly bizarro winning record after besting Texas Tech.
- Nevada 35, San Jose State 13. Colin Kaepernick threw for "only" 273 yards, but it's cool -- Vai Taua's got 196 rushing yards of his own to throw in.
- Air Force 49, Colorado State 27. A one-loss mid-major team in the polls (and deservedly so) is something to stare at.
• Spoiler-Falcons! While we’re talking about Air Force, take a look at their schedule: Two of the above-mentioned five teams will meet the Falcons in October. With that three-point loss at Oklahoma as the only ding on AF 2010, it’s safe to say the Falcons can contend with quality competition. But whose BCS-busting bubble will burst first?
• Buffalo hide is Tuffalo hide. Buffs linebacker Scott Pettigrew has been released from the hospital after being stabbed in a bar over the weekend. Three locals were charged in the attack.
• The continuing curse of Wednesday Night Frights. UCF beat a stumbly-bumbly Marshall team in the opening game of Week 7, but the Knights lost starting QB Rob Calabrese to a knee injury in the first half. (Not the Greg Calabrese on The Young & The Restless, it should be noted. Sorry. We were excited, too.)
• The continuing curse of being associated with New Mexico football in any way. So the Lobos lost (and more on that later), but the most entertaining story out of Land of Enchantment-based football this week was the reassigning of a beat reporter who sent an “inappropriate” email to NM running back Desmond Dennis. The Wiz has the story, and here’s why we said “entertaining” and “curse” so close together:
Dennis, who had been averaging a team-leading 29 yards a game for the winless Lobos, had only one carry in New Mexico’s 38-20 loss to Texas El Paso on Oct. 2. Locksley said after the game that Dennis needed to concentrate on academics.
• Bloggers read books! Our own Mountain West Connection talks with Dan Wetzel about his forthcoming swashbuckling adventure story, “Death to the BCS.”
• It’s hard out there for a Coug. There’s a miniature quarterbacks controversy brewing in Houston, and by “miniature,” we mean “everybody left uninjured on the roster is a freshman.” Want our advice? Everybody just calm down, sit on your hands, and wait for Case Keenum’s medical waiver to clear. (Oh, and Houston got paved by Missy State, but you probably could have guessed that was going to happen about the time the Cougars’ second-string quarterback was carted off back in September.)
• TCU to the Big East? Short answer: We don’t know. Or much care, since this is October and there’s real actual football to worry about instead. (Offer invalid within the borders of New Mexico.)
• Time once again to play everybody’s favorite game, “What The Hell Do We Do With UTEP?” They’re 5-1! But it’s UTEP. So many of our also-rans lost last week! But they’ve only beaten inferior competition. But we love UTEP! BUT LAST YEAR THEY BEAT HOUSTON AND THEN LOST TO MEMPHIS APPARENTLY JUST TO SPITE US. You guys, UTEP could go 11-1 this year. They could beat Arkansas. They could also lose to UAC next week. That’s what it means to party with Mike Price. [rolls dice]
Profiles in ownage.
• Raise one up for Louisiana, who led Oklahoma State at the half before coming completely unglued and allowing a 24-point third quarter.
• Navy, for whom we predicted an undefeated 2010 and are still not sorry. The Middies edged Wake Forest by one point on the road.
• East Carolina, sitting the C-USA East catbird seat with a shootout win over Southern Miss.
Not ready for primetime.
• Temple, our busty, lusty MAC favorites, who sustained a second loss against Northern Illinois in their second game with minimal or no action from the injured Bernard Pierce.
• San Diego State, who were looking pretty good at football until they ran into the unlikely obstacle of a definitely un-good BYU and lost by a field goal.
Scoreboard.
For the first time I can remember, a mid-major conference has a winning record against Big Six Schools. (All right, it’s not a conference, per se, but I-A independents are 2-1, and BULLY FOR THEM.) Overall, mids went 1-7 against BCS conference schools in Week 6, and are 16-72 on the year.
Walking Dead Watch. A fond farewell to FIU and New Mexico State, who exit the ranks of the winless ... by beating also-walking deads Western Kentucky and FIU. Still lifeless: Akron and Eastern Michigan.
Violently Subjective Mid-Major Top 10
1. Boise State (5-0)
2. TCU (6-0)
3. Nevada (6-0)
4. Utah (5-0)
5. Air Force (5-1)
6. SMU (4-2)
7. Hawaii (4-2)
8. Northern Illinois (4-2)
9. Navy (3-2)
10. East Carolina (3-2)
Also receiving imaginary votes: Houston, Temple, San Diego State, UCF, Southern Miss, Army, Fresno State
Stay Tuned For Week 7.
On tap for Saturday: Army-Rutgers, Houston-Rice, SMU-Navy, MTSU-Georgia Tech, BYU-TCU, Utah-Wyoming, Air Force-San Diego State, Boise State-San Jose State, Nevada-Hawaii.
