Trav's Thoughts

There are a couple of things I find silly about college football. I know...some of you think all sports are silly, but allow me this indulgence.

The first thing I think is silly is to win the opening coin toss and defer your choice of whether to receive or kick until the second half. The idea is to see if you can trick the other team into making a mistake and saying they'll kick to you, thereby voiding the opportunity to get the ball either to start the game or to start the second half.

Who would fall for that? If you win the coin toss and don't want the ball, then say you'll kick off. Otherwise, say you'll receive and get on with the game. And yes, I do realize that you do get choice of direction when you lose the coin toss...or defer your choice. Both teams have to deal with weather conditions like wind or a setting sun. You win the toss and give up your benefit, which is to get the ball first, in favor of a hollow benefit, which is to choose direction and get the ball first in the second half. Pppppppfffffffftttttttttt.

The second thing I find silly is the idea that the visiting team can force the home team to take the field first before the game. Visitors are guests. In football that should mean that the home team offers you the field first. And as good guests, you accept the field first. Besides, if you're the home team then part of being at home is the advantage of your crowd being hyped up and ready to go nuts for you when you take the field. A visiting team shouldn't be allowed to impact that in any way other than how they play once the game starts.

Roughing the snapper? WTF? A phantom personal foul on a field goal attempt after the Irish defense had stuffed Washington on a second goal line stand, gave the Huskies 3 more downs.

The Irish stepped up and stuffed them again to force the field goal anyway. But still...roughing the snapper? The replay didn't show any kind of foul. I don't get it.

The Irish annoyed me for a good portion of this game. The offense settled for 5 field goals on 5 trips inside the 20 yard line. ND's defense couldn't get off the field on 3rd down, and they couldn't keep UW Junior QB Jake Locker from driving the Huskies downfield in a little over a minute at the end of regulation to get a field goal to send the game into OT, after ND Junior QB Jimmy Clausen had driven the Irish downfield to get the go ahead TD in the previous series.

This was a great game with 7 lead changes in 60 minutes. UW played very well, and I would have been rooting hard for them against anybody else.

The Irish scored first in OT, getting a big pass play from Clausen to Junior WR Golden Tate down inside the 5 yard line, and then pounding the ball up the middle with RB Robert Hughes. And then UW ran out of magic, and was unable to score on their possession. The Irish win, 37-30 in OT. Sweet!

Locker threw for 281 yards and a TD on 22 of 40. He also ran for 33 yards and a TD. Freshman RB Chris Polk ran for 136 yards on 22 carries. Clausen threw for 422 yards and 2 TDs on 22 of 31. Tate caught 9 passes for 244 yards. Freshman K Nick Taush was 5 of 5 on field goals for ND, with a long of 40 yards.

Notre Dame (4-1) hosts #7 USC (3-1, 1-1) on 17 Oct, while Washington (2-3, 1-1) hosts Arizona (3-1, 1-0) next week.

Here are the results for the AP Top 25:

1 Florida was idle.
2 Texas was idle.
3 Alabama (5-0,2-0) beat Kentucky 38-20. Mark Ingram rushed for 140 yards and 2 TDs on 22 carries. The Tide forced 4 UK turnovers.
4 LSU (5-0,3-0) beat #18 Georgia (3-2,2-1) 20-13. Charles Scott rushed for 95 yards and 2 TDs on 19 carries.
5 Boise State (5-0,1-0) beat UC Davis 34-16. Kellen Moore threw for 285 yards and 3 TDs on 22 of 31.
6 Virginia Tech (4-1,2-0) beat Duke 34-26. Tyrod Taylor threw for 327 yards and 2 TDs on 17 of 22. For Duke, Thaddeus Lews threw for 359 yards and 2 TDs on 22 of 40.
7 USC (4-1,2-1) beat #24 California (3-2,0-2) 30-3. Joe McKnight rushed for 119 yards and 2 TDs on 20 carries.
8 Oklahoma (2-2,0-1) lost 21-20 to #17 Miami (3-1,2-1).
9 Ohio State (4-1,2-0) beat Indiana 33-14. Terrelle Pryor threw for 3 TDs.
10 Cincinnati (5-0,1-0) beat Miami (OH) 37-13. Tony Pike threw for 270 yards and 2 TDs on 23 of 42. Jacob Ramsey rushed for 103 yards and 3 TDs on 12 carries.
11 TCU (4-0,2-0) beat SMU 39-14. Andy Dalton threw for 189 yards and 2 TDs on 12 of 20.
12 Houston (3-1,0-1) lost 58-41 to UTEP. Donald Buckram rushed for 262 yards and 4 TDs on 32 carries. For Houston, Case Keenum threw for 536 yards and 5 TDs on 51 of 76.
13 Iowa (5-0,1-0) beat Arkansas State 24-21. Ricky Stanzi threw for 296 yards and 3 TDs on 18 of 26.
14 Oklahoma State was idle.
15 Penn State (4-1,1-1) beat Illinois 35-17. Stephon Green rushed for 120 yards and a TD on 13 carries. Evan Royster rushed for 105 yards and a TD on 17 carries.
16 Oregon (4-1,2-0) beat Washington State 52-6. Oregon rushed for 318 yards and 6 TDs as a team.
17 Miami (3-1,2-1) beat #8 Oklahoma 21-20. Jacory Harris threw for 202 yards and 3 TDs on 19 of 28.
18 Kansas was idle.
19 Georgia (3-2,2-1) lost 20-13 to #4 LSU.
20 BYU (4-1,1-0) beat Utah State 35-17. Harvey Unga rushed for 118 yards and a TD on 21 carries. Max Hall threw for 218 yards and 3 TDs on 16 of 23.
21 Mississippi (3-1,1-1) beat Vanderbilt 23-7. Jevan Sneed threw for 237 yards and 3 TDs on 19 of 34. Shay Hodge caught 8 passes for 122 yards and 2 TDs.
22 Michigan (4-1,1-1) lost 26-20 in OT to Michigan State. MSU rushed for 197 yards and 3 TDs on 49 carries as a team. MSU's defense intercepted forced 3 turnovers, including an interception in OT.
23 Nebraska was idle.
24 California (3-2,0-2) lost 30-3 to #7 USC.
25 Georgia Tech (4-1,2-1) beat Mississippi State 42-31. Josh Nesbitt threw for 266 yards and a TD on 11 of 14. Demaryius Thomas caught 8 passes for 174 yards and a TD.

Finally!

In game 161 of 162, my silly Dodgers beat Colorado 5-0 to finally win the NL West division for the second season in a row. They may be the last NL team to clinch their division, but my Dodgers are still the top seed by virtue of winning percentage. They will host St Louis in the best of five division series. Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday.

GO DODGERS!