Mid-Manifest Destiny: MTSU, Troy Remind Us Why Tuesday Night Games Are Atrocious
A weekly examination of the lesser luminaries of Division I-A. On this week’s agenda: MTSU and Troy usher in another season of horrible Tuesday night football, BYU’s plummet continues apace, and TCU slows their roll.
• Are you ready for some footbaaaall? Using a very loose definition of the word footbaaaall? Tuesday-night action returned this week; unfortunately, it was in the form of MTSU-Troy. For a team expected this summer to contend for the Sun Belt crown, and considering they've got Dwight Dasher back at last, the Blue Raiders sure got bottled up in a hurry (and in front of a near-record home crowd, too), to the tune of 28 net yards rushing. (They lost, is the point. And Troy sits atop the conference again. Sunrise, sunset.) Compounding the fun, Dasher was hampered by a hand injury, and Troy QB Jamie Hampton broke his leg in a fashion that compels us not to even link to a photo of it here.
• Whatever happened to baby BYU? The Cougars hovered at or just below the cutoff for more than a few preseason Top 25 lists. Just over a month later, they’re 1-4, seeming not to care a fig whether they’re dropping games to high-profile, mediocre competition (Florida State), actual quality teams (Nevada), or none of the above (Utah State?!). After surrendering 434 yards to the Aggies in a Friday night fright-fest, defensive coordinator Jaime Hill was fired with great gusto. (That’s faster than Auburn fired Tony Franklin. You stop and think about that, and then think about how well the rest of that year worked out for the Tigers.)
• Battle Frogs hop with deliberation. Story to watch as the season rolls on: They have a very talented team, actually tend to play some defense, and have the scheduling advantage of still needing to play two ranked teams (Air Force and Utah) to close out the season. Will TCU then bypass Boise in the rankings? And how will relatively low-scoring shutouts like this week’s 27-0 blanking of Colorado State affect their perception on the national level?
• When does the Angry Ostrich rest his limbs? When his backup bowling ball has a season-high performance. Colin Kaepernick clocked in under 100 yards rushing against UNLV, but fear not! The Pistol is still rapid-firing, and Vai Taua racked up 188 yards on 19 carries.
• It’s time once again to play everybody’s favorite game, “What The Hell Do We Do With UTEP?” They’re 4-1, but those wins come at least in part thanks to the most laughably wobbly early-season slate imaginable (Arkansas-Pine Bluff, New Mexico State, Memphis, New Mexico). They got blown out by 30 at Houston. But the interesting thing about UTEP, as ever, is that they’re equally capable of losing to 1-4 Rice this Saturday as they are of upsetting No. 11 Arkansas in November. They could do both. Nothing would surprise us. Miner Rush, it should be noted, likes what they see:
The Miners are off to their best start in 5 seasons and are showing some signs of dominance on defense. UTEP is now ranked 60th in total defense which is remarkable considering they ended last season ranked 110th. Trevor Vittatoe has been solid and is now ranked 27th in the nation in total offense. The Miners schedule still sets up nicely with Rice coming to town before UAB, Tulane, and Marshall.
Profiles in ownage.
• Could Temple, of all teams, have a plug-and-play situation in the backfield? Sophomore phenom Bernard Pierce, felled by a high ankle sprain, was sidelined for the Owls' trip to Army, and replacement part Matt Brown rocketed off for 226 yards and four touchdowns.
• Tulane, who beat Rutgers by a field goal in a game that was both close and boring, thanks to a zero-score final quarter.
• Nobody seems to be noticing thanks to Hawaii playing football out in the middle of some ocean, but Warriors QB Bryant Moniz is doing things like throwing for 532 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks. If they were part of America, they'd really be onto something.
Not ready for primetime.
• Boise State, and we mean that literally: The Broncos kicked off their slate of WAC nonentities with a 59-0 shellacking of New Mexico State. This was followed by a drop in the polls that was as slight (from No. 3 to No. 4) as it was inevitable. OBNUG gives the ranking some tough lovin’.
• FIU, who selfishly refused to live up to their potential as special upset bunnies after three straight losses to Big Six teams (two of them agonizingly close) and finally got mauled the way a Sun Belt team should. By Pitt. Thespis is cruel.
• The Navy-Air Force game. We’re not gonna lie: We thought that given their schedule, there was a realistic shot for Navy to go undefeated this year. While we weren’t counting on them to faceplant quite so dramatically, we were counting even less on Army ending up being the fun service Academy team to watch. It’s all down to the Black Knights now, after Week 5’s 14-6 Air Force “win” over Navy. There are defensive slugfests, and then there’s ... whatever this was.
• Bowling Green. Not to belabor this stat any more than we have to, but ... we just have to: Robert Lorenzi, senior Falcons DB, led the team in total yards based on interception yardage alone, which is why it shouldn't shock you that Bowling Green lost on a last-second missed field goal.
• In other Sad Clown Kicker news, North Texas, who didn’t really need any more anguish this season, lost to Louisiana on a blocked extra point. To review: The Mean Green have lost three starting quarterbacks to injury. Wide receiver Tyler Stradford had his chest punctured while running from a dog. And the entire team is still reeling after the death of freshman Josh Rake in a car crash last week. However badly you think your team’s misfortunes are, please keep North Texas in mind (and in your prayers).
Mini-Major Medalist.
• UC Davis, who notched a one-point win over San Jose State! They’re not one of the California schools with an awesomely weird mascot, but we tip our visors just the same.
Scoreboard.
Six mid-major teams played Big Six games this week, and they didn’t go well, apart from that aforementioned C-USA win (Tulane over Rutgers). The rest of the mids went 0-5, moving the overall board to 15-65 against BCS teams. Still, three teams ranked in the national polls is nothing to sneeze at.
Walking Dead Watch.
Remaining winless is ohhhh, everyone: Akron, Eastern Michigan, New Mexico, FIU, WKU, and New Mexico State. The closest any of these sad saps came to a victory was Eastern Michigan’s 13-point loss to Ohio.
Violently Subjective Mid-Major Top 10
1. Boise State (4-0)
2. TCU (5-0)
3. Nevada (5-0)
4. Utah (4-0)
5. Air Force (4-1)
6. Temple (4-1)
7. Southern Miss (4-1)
8. San Diego State (3-1)
9. Fresno State (3-1)
10. Houston (3-1)
Next: UTEP
Stay Tuned For Week 6.
Louisiana hosts Oklahoma State Friday night in what should be a real screamer. Saturday’s highlights: Central Michigan-Virginia Tech, Wyoming-TCU, UNLV-West Virginia, San Diego State-BYU, Utah-Iowa State, East Carolina-Southern Miss, Mississippi State-Houston, Hawaii-Fresno State. MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF THE WEEK EVER: Western Kentucky-Florida International. Somebody, somehow, is gonna have to get a win in 2010, bless their hearts.
