Searching for at least one great team
Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (VandalMania [1] T-shirts now half off after Idaho surrendered 70 Saturday to Nevada):
Throwback football — or, no throwback football
A Dash retro cheer — Rah, rah, rah! Fight, fight, fight! — for Ball State (2) and Navy (3), both of which went pre-Dorais-to-Rockne to win Saturday. Total passing yards between the two in victories over Eastern Michigan and Wake Forest: 1.
The aforementioned yard belonged to the Cardinals, who completed two of 10 throws. The Midshipmen did not so much as attempt a pass in a daylong rain.
They scoff in your general direction, Mike Leach (4).
The semi-great eight
By mathematics and human consensus, the straightest path to the BCS National Championship Game has been awarded to the top 3 teams in the current standings: Florida, Alabama and Texas. But even a straight path can hit potholes. After watching all three teams wheeze to victory in person (Gators and Crimson Tide over Tennessee, Longhorns over Oklahoma — combined margin of victory 15 points), The Dash is starting to doubt the established hierarchy.
Granted, those were three high-stakes games against an underdog that also happens to be a bitter rival — all ingredients that contribute to heaping pressure upon the favored team. Nevertheless, it seems fair to ask: Are the big three really miles better than the five strivers chasing them? And are any of them really great teams?
ESPN.com
10/28/9
