Six More Lives Are Claimed By College Football Parody

Sports Betting News - September 27th, 2009 - Written by John

It is generally accepted that early rankings are a broken, misguided practice. Aside from creating conversation, their purpose is really inconsequential because of the calamity that is college football. But this season may be taking it to a whole new level. With teams already shuffling in and out like temporary employees, this weekend saw six ranked teams lose to unranked teams.

At least one top-5 team has lost every week since the opening weekend of the college football season and Saturday, the teams who were once tied at no. 5 both fell to unranked opponents, rocking the top-end of the rankings for the fourth straight week. Ole Miss, who since vaulted into the no. 4 spot, was dominated by South Carolina in a low-scoring affair that started with a 52-point over/under. The Rebels were held to their lowest point total in 18 games despite holding South Carolina to only eight yards in the fourth quarter.

The parody continued during the night cap of Saturday's games with a familiar story of Penn State's futility against Iowa. The Nittany Lions were knocked out of the national title picture, blowing an early 10-point lead in a 21-10 loss in Happy Valley. After falling behind, the Hawkeyes stormed back, outscoring Penn State, 16-0, in the fourth quarter. They were keyed by Broderick Binns' sack in the end zone that put Iowa on the board in the second quarter. They finally took the lead in the fourth quarter when Adrian Clayborn blocked a punt and took it to the house to make it 11-10.

"I was too tired to celebrate," Clayborn would later say. "I was just trying to get to the sideline so I could sit down."

It has become a paradox as of late. Iowa is annually out of the rankings when they meet Penn State, and Happy Valley is understood as one of the most intimidating places to play. Yet the Iowa owns the Nittany Lions, winning seven of the last eight games against their conference rival, and it never really seems to matter where.

"The team really proved to be a resilient bunch tonight because there was nothing easy about anything that happened out there," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz told ESPN.

With four and five out of the way, Cal had a golden opportunity to jump into the fourth spot with a win over Oregon. It was also a great chance for Jahvid Best to make his case for the Heisman trophy after Tim Tebow suffered a concussion and will probably miss at least one game. But what happened, well, let's just say Oregon coach Chip Kelly won't have to deal with refund requests. The Ducks, sporting retro jerseys from the late 90s, routed Cal, 42-3, and Best only got 55 yards on 16 carries.

Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli returned to his '08 form, completing 21 of his 25 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

"On offense the sky's the limit for us," Masoli said with confidence. "We're the only ones who can hurt us. These last couple of weeks we've been in a funk, but today we moved past that."

Another brutal arena to play in claimed the lives of more national title hopes when Virginia Tech blew out Miami in Blacksburg. Sloppy Field conditions and persistant rain foiled the Hurricanes' passing attack, forcing them to rely on the run. Jacory Harris, who had at least 300 yards in each of his first two games, wasn't able to manage the offense as efficiently without the passing game. As a result, the Hokies got another one of their patented special team scores and emerged as the favorite for the division title with a 31-7 win. Miami will now need Virginia Tech to lose twice in-conference for any shot at the ACC Championship.

No. 18 Florida State took another big blow when they fell 17-7 at home to South Florida. It was an out-of-conference loss, yes, but the Seminoles now have a very real chance at going 0-for-the-state-of-Florida. And there was no hiding it. Despite the small margin of victory, it was never really close.

"They whupped us," FSU coach Bobby Bowden told reporters. "They're a lot better than I thought.

"The way we got beat up on offense, I didn't know we could get beat up like that. They did everything faster than I thought."

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