Autumn Spectacle: Revelations & Implications

Gameday Ramblings
By AutumnSpectacle.com staff E-mail
October 20, 2007

On this very page during

Another gameday…another wonderful autumn Saturday. Join us as we provide you our thoughts as week 8 unfolds in our Living Room Stadium.

11:26 a.m. ET – The second TV has been rolled into the living room and hooked up right next to the flat panel HD. It’s time to buckle up the chinstraps, baby!

11:57 a.m. – The crowd attending the College Gameday show in Lexington is huge. Imagine what it must be like to finally be a part of this thing called college football and Corso rains on your parade by putting on the Gator head.

12:19 p.m. – It’s weird watching Big 10 games now since they aren’t as accessible because of the Big 10 Network. The only thing worse than the Big 10 Network is The Mtn. Network. As fans of all military academies, including the Air Force Academy, we’d love to see the Zoomies play more often. As a consolation, we’d even love to see highlights from Mountain West games. For the love of pete, people! Give us some MWC football!

12:21 p.m. – The weather at all the early games look ideal. The sun is out and temperatures are brisk/comfortable. Perfect football weather.

12:26 p.m. – The beef that’s been cooking in the oven overnight has filled Living Room Stadium with the smells of barbecue goodness. The chef is the leader for our Heisman vote.

12:33 p.m. – Touchdown Georgia Tech. Ohhh, what we would give for Army to be a national power again. Still, it’s hard to be depressed about it when we hear the strains of the GT fight song. We’re not a hell of an engineer but could someone make us an Honorary Ramblin’ Wreck?

12:40 p.m. – What happened to the idea that Iowa State was changing their unis? Bring back the throwbacks you wore versus Iowa this year. Those yellow helmets were fantastic.

12:46 p.m. – If there is a more entertaining advertising campaign on TV than the beef jerky commercials featuring Sasquatch, please let us know.

12:56 p.m. – Iowa State gets a turnover. Weirder things have happened this year than a team like the Cyclones beating a top 5 squad. This is what makes this sport the Autumn Spectacle.

12:59 p.m. – Touchdown Iowa State! ISU 7, Sooners 0.

12:59 p.m. – Touchdown Alabama! Tide 10, Vols 0. How many times has the phrase “Fat Phil” been uttered in Tuscaloosa this weekend? Why is the broadcast quality on Lincoln Financial games so bad?

1:01 p.m. – Quick reflection: It’s not often to have touchdowns scored simultaneously on TVs sitting next to each other. Kudos to Iowa State and Alabama for providing a TD in stereo.

1:08 p.m. – Maybe there’s something wrong with our GamePlan connection. But, it appears that Vanderbilt is beating South Carolina, 10-0.

1:13 p.m. – Correction: Vandy 17, Gamecocks 0.

1:18 p.m. – The #5 team in the country looks sluggish and slow. We’re guessing the altitude in Ames, Iowa is only about 11 feet. So, the lack of oxygen excuse Sooner fans used after the loss at Colorado won’t work here.

1:25 p.m. – It’s easy to forget sometimes that Penn State has some pretty good playmakers. They have guys who have skills. Looking forward to them hosting top-ranked Ohio State next week in Happy Valley.

1:26 p.m. – One of the underrated things about gameday is the constant phone calls and text messages from friends and family who are attending games but calling here looking for scores. That’s the one problem with going to a football game – you don’t get to watch as much football.

1:39 p.m. – For as much physical beating that he takes from opposing defenses and for as much criticism as he gets from fans, Alabama QB John Parker Wilson is very serviceable. Touchdown Tide! Bama 17, Vols 14.

1:42 p.m. – What is up with guys in the South who wear the mop top hairdos? It was a bad look in 1974 and it’s a bad look now. God created us with ears. There’s no reason to wear your hair like earmuffs.

1:50 p.m. – Iowa State just went for it on 4^th & 1 on the Sooner 11. Why? Their defense is playing well. A field goal could’ve made it a two possession game. Bad decision by Gene Chizik that might come back to haunt them.

2:02 p.m. – Halftime in Ames and Columbia, South Carolina. The two favorites are down and look average. Is this yet another upset Saturday?

2:06 p.m. – Correct us if we’re wrong, but it appears Nick Saban is not afraid to let his emotions show. Holy cow! Lucky for his offense, they scored at the end of the half. Otherwise, we fear someone would’ve had to have Saban’s headset surgically removed from their backside.

2:12 p.m. – Late hit on Bama near the end of the half. The referees have completely gone overboard on that penalty. The two Bama defenders actually had physical contact with the guy while he was in bounds and they rode him to the sideline. It’s an absurd call and a tiring trend in officiating. It set Tennessee up in field goal range and literally gave the Vols three points at the end of the half. Bama 24, UT 17

2:13 p.m. – Have you seen the renderings of the new football complex being built at Indiana? If they can keep things going, the Hoosiers are going to give themselves a chance to permanently climb out of the conference cellar.

2:20 p.m. – Gameday grub is served. Must refuel.

2:59 p.m. – We’re back and the two top 10 teams are still in dogfights. For as big as Oklahoma’s offensive line is, they are having a hard time running the ball - again.

3:04 p.m. – Our kingdom for The Mtn. network.

3:05 p.m. – Penn State just lined up in the I-formation and ran a fullback dive. Can you name the last time you saw that play?

3:06 p.m. – Vandy just keeps plugging away. They have an 11-point lead at the 11-minute mark in the final quarter versus South Carolina.

3:07 p.m. – Vandy just got a pick. Gotta love the drama of college football! Commodore head coach Bobby Johnson can friggin’ coach.

3:08 p.m. – Sooners take a 14-7 lead at Iowa State early in the 4^th. How big is that 4^th down stop by the Oklahoma defense late in the first half? (see 1:50 p.m. entry)

3:22 p.m. – Bad punt by Oklahoma and gives ISU a short field at the Sooner 44. The Cyclones need to take advantage.

3:23 p.m. – John Parker Wilson just keeps making plays and the Bama Nation loves him…for now.

3:26 p.m. – The Cyclones just picked up a first down on a catch near the sideline. It looks like a catch but Bob Stoops challenges the play. He has a habit of challenging plays in what appears to be an emotional response instead of basing the challenge on what actually happened.

3:28 p.m. – Who woke up the Bama offense? They couldn’t muster much the past few weeks and they are opening a can on Tennessee today. Tide 38, Tennessee 17.

3:29 p.m. – The catch is confirmed and Iowa State has a first down. The Sooners might really need that timeout later on. Stoops should’ve checked with us before he challenged.

3:30 p.m. – It’s over in Columbia. Vandy makes amends for their missed opportunities last week. ‘Dores win 17-6 and the Gamecocks are out of the national title picture.

3:32 p.m. – What will the over/under be on how many minutes it takes before ESPN shows highlights from Michigan State’s 1998 upset at Ohio State? We’ll put it at the 6-minute mark in the first quarter. We’ll take the under.

3:35 p.m. – Another big stop for the Sooner defense as they pick off a pass in the end zone. Missed opportunity for Iowa State…again. Less than 7 minutes to play. ISU needs a stop and get the ball back.

3:41 p.m. – Sooners call timeout as they prepare to go for it on 4^th & 4 at the ISU 33. Big time play coming up.

3:42 p.m. – Missouri/Texas Tech just kicked off. Tigers run a fake punt and pick up a first down on their initial drive.

3:43 p.m. – How cool is Sam Bradford? The redshirt freshman QB completes a pass on 4^th down to extend the drive and push the clock under 3 minutes. Meanwhile, the OU offensive line still can’t move the line of scrimmage.

3:44 p.m. – Unbelievably, Texas Tech is forcing a second punt for Mizzou and we’re only 3 minutes into it. That’s more work for the punt team than what most expected all day.

3:46 p.m. – We sort of expected Kentucky to be emotionally spent after last week. They open the game with a touchdown and take a lead.

3:48 p.m. – Field goal is good for Oklahoma and they all but put the game away with a 10-point lead.

3:49 p.m. – Pick six for Mizzou. At the same time, Bama just keeps rolling along. It’s not that we didn’t expect a Tide win. But, the offensive beatdown they’ve given Tennessee today has been impressive.

3:54 p.m. – We’ve yet to watch any games that had anything but perfect weather. God loves the Autumn Spectacle and this is His gift to us. Also, He undoubtedly created HDTV. Seeing Notre Dame in the green jerseys on our HD is a little slice of Heaven right here in Living Room Stadium.

4:15 p.m. – The defenses in Columbia look far more stout than usual. The theory goes that a team that runs the ball well will have a defense that can defend the run well because they face it every day in practice. Maybe that’s the reason for the play of the Mizzou and Tech defenses so far. They spend a lot of time defending their quirky offenses during the week.

4:34 p.m. – Watching Notre Dame can be painful. They just blocked a punt and then managed to lose two yards before their field goal attempt was blocked. And this came AFTER they muffed a punt that led to a USC touchdown.

4:46 p.m. – In the midst of the drama at Nebraska, Turner Gill’s Buffalo squad sits near the top the MAC East. Right now, they’re tied 3-3 at Syracuse. Gill is making a case to be the new head guy at his alma mater.

4:48 p.m. – Speaking of the debacle that is the Bill Callahan Era, Texas A&M leads the Huskers 30-14. Each fan that leaves early in Lincoln is just another nail in Callahan’s coffin.

6:31 p.m. – The dessert for the evening has now been prepared and we’re ready to get back into the groove.

6:33 p.m. – Ahhh, the joys of GamePlan. It keeps us in touch with the conference games from the leagues that receive lesser attention. We’re big fans of Howard Schnellenberger and what he has done at Florida Atlantic is nothing short of remarkable. It’s fun to see their success.

6:36 p.m. – Can we give the Mizzou defense some love? The vaunted Texas Tech offense has been reduced to a mediocre crew today.

6:41 p.m. – Seriously? They’re still running the info on the ticker about John Elway’s son committing to Arizona State?! He’s the 24^th rated QB in the country by one of the recruiting services. The perspective of what is important and what is not is incredibly distorted. Just because his dad was a great QB doesn’t mean the news is worthy of this much attention.

6:52 p.m. – DeSean Jackson gets attention, which is deserved. But, it’s not like he’s the only athlete on the team. Their offensive skill guys can flat out run.

6:56 p.m. – Take that Gary Danielson! The CBS analyst said earlier that the thing he hates about the BCS is that Cal lost last week and was now out of the national title hunt. First of all, that was a long way from the truth. Secondly, they still had to win the rest of their games, Gary! We wonder if he was whimpering in the booth in Lexington when he saw the highlights of UCLA’s pick six that secured the Bruin win.

7:02 p.m. – ESPN2 is airing some sort of NASCAR thing. We have no response.

7:20 p.m. – The naysayers were poking fun at the Miami-Florida State game this week because it’s not the high-profile game it has been in the past. Well, it has been every bit as competitive and entertaining as it ever was.

7:26 p.m. – Air Force beat Wyoming to remain in the hunt for the Mountain West title. In the name of Blane Morgan, someone give us some Zoomie highlights!!!

7:29 p.m. – Watching a TV game from Colorado gives us vertigo. It’s almost like we’re watching it from the blimp cam.

7:30 p.m. – Interesting tidbit of trivia. Colorado’s unis are black and gold with silver numbers. Did you know that their official colors are silver and gold? If black isn’t an official color, then why is it such a big part of their uniform design?

7:36 p.m. – Before the final round of games start, let’s recap the drama for week 8. Second-ranked South Florida lost on Thursday night followed by #6 South Carolina and #7 Kentucky. #12 Cal has now gone down along with #21 Tennessee, #23 Cincinnati and #24 Texas Tech. That’s seven of the BCS Top 25 and we still have Oregon, Michigan, LSU and Auburn on the slate! It just goes to reemphasize the fact that you have to bring it every week and the theme is “survive.”

8:01 p.m. – UL-Lafayette is making a run at Florida Atlantic. If FAU can find a way to win, they will stay on track for their showdown with Troy at the end of the year.

8:54 p.m. – Is there anything more fun than college football overtime? FAU’s last-minute drive was breathtaking and it was only topped by the drama of their OT win. We got some Owls up in here! Hoot! Hoot!

9:08 p.m. – Gotta love the comparison between Maryland QB Scott Turner and Napoleon Dynamite.

9:12 p.m. – Night games on the Bayou have an energy that just screams out of the TV. It makes us wonder why LSU started the tradition of wearing white jerseys at home.

9:17 p.m. – Holy cow! Auburn RB Brad Lester is quick!

9:18 p.m. – We at AutumnSpectacle.com absolutely love watching Washington QB Jake Locker. It’s a shame that their game with Oregon tonight is only on FSN Northwest. That leaves us watching the ticker to see how U-Dub is doing. Ducks 24, Huskies 17

9:20 p.m. – Auburn is picking up right where we thought they would. They have won 14 of their last 15 SEC road games. And, they’ve won 9 of their last 10 versus top 10 teams. We’ve had a feeling about them all week because playing on the road just doesn’t seem to bother the Tigers all that much.

9:45 p.m. – LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey is a scary, scary man.

10:01 p.m. – Auburn scores on a fullback dive. He crosses the goal line and everyone in the stadium knows it. Still, the guy in the booth calls for a replay. Asenine! When the rules committee wants to review the length of games, they should consider the replay system and the time that is wasted by how the system works. If it were up to the coaches to challenge like they do in the NFL, there wouldn’t be as many replays and the time of the games would be right where they want it to be.

10:07 p.m. – Remember back when everyone said Michigan was terrible? Yet, here they are controlling their own destiny in the Big 10 race.

10:58 p.m. – There’s nothing more fun to watch than college football simply because of the creativity and trick plays. The reverse pass by Michigan to take the lead totally sucked the oxygen out of the Illinois crowd.

11:11 p.m. – Games really swing on momentum and you can feel the Mo working as a 12^th man for LSU early in the third quarter. Their first drive of the second half was huge. Things seem to be snowballing a little.

11:17 p.m. – LSU calls another timeout. Only one left and there’s a lot of time left in the third quarter.

11:43 p.m. – It’s about the sixth Sasquatch commercial we’ve seen today and each one draws a laugh.

11:48 p.m. – Holliday is the smallest player we’ve ever seen.

11:49 p.m. – Why, exactly, does LSU switch quarterbacks? Flynn is a gamer and just makes plays. Perrilloux is okay but he is definitely not better than Flynn. And, it’s not like Flynn is a statue. He can run, too.

11:54 p.m. – What is it about the quality of officiating when it comes to replay and decision making? A flag was thrown on Flynn’s TD pass to Hester. Only after a referee’s conference, the play went into review without the ref telling us what the penalty was. Only after the review did they say that there was no penalty.

11:56 p.m. – What is up with the show E:60? It just further proves our point that the media is all about being a part of the show and not reporting the stories. Who cares about the discussions that happen behind the scenes?

12:00 a.m. – Ol’ Mo is wearing a white jersey. Three and out for the Auburn offense. If Auburn wants a win, they need the next touchdown. Otherwise, the LSU crowd and defense will tee off on Brandon Cox.

12:02 a.m. – Flynn stands in and delivers. If Crowton sends in Perrilloux now, he’s out of his mind.

12:03 a.m. – Enter Perrilloux and a negative yardage play.

12:06 a.m. – Have you seen the Oregon/Washington highlights? Oregon’s uniforms are an absolute joke. What an embarrassment! If their fans aren’t embarrassed, then we’re embarrassed for them.

12:12 a.m. – Monster possession for the LSU defense here. They lead by six.

12:13 a.m. – Helmet-to-helmet call against LSU. Watching Les Miles argue with the field judge is funny. He can’t keep his headset on top of his high hat.

12:17 a.m. – How good is Brad Lester?!

12:21 a.m. – Touchdown Auburn! This has been an incredible game. Both teams have taken leads and the other team answered. With just over three minutes to play, we can’t wait to see what happens down the stretch. Auburn 24, LSU 23.

12:24 a.m. – What is up with Auburn squibbing the kickoff? LSU only needs a field goal and they are set up with great field position. That could come back to haunt them.

12:25 a.m. – For real! Flynn is a friggin’ good quarterback. He should never come off the field.

12:27 a.m. – Great tackle on 3^rd & 3! What a great LSU spot by the referee!

12:32 a.m. – Are you kidding?! What an unbelievable throw by Matt Flynn! The national title dreams were on the line and Flynn delivers a perfect strike. The LSU coaches just about screwed themselves with clock management and yet Flynn bailed them out. LSU won in spite of their coaches.

12:35 a.m. – We started the day 13 hours ago and here we are at the end of another incredible day of college football. Eight of the BCS Top 25 went down. Some title hopes took a hit this week (South Florida), some survived to fight another week (LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Kansas, Missouri) and others probably took a fatal blow to their dreams of a Crystal Ball (South Carolina, Kentucky, California, Auburn). We feel lucky to be able to sit here and devote so much of our time to the Autumn Spectacle. We hope your gameday was every bit as enjoyable as ours because “there are a limited number of autumn Saturdays in a lifetime.”

Who were the big winners today?

All of those who survived.

Georgia – With the Gamecock and Wildcat losses, UGA finds themselves in the thick of the SEC East race.

Michigan – Don’t look now but the Wolverines control their own fate in the Big 10. Win out and they go to Pasadena.

Kansas – The Jayhawks are unbeaten and their win revealed the quality of this team. They can play defense, they can move the ball on offense and special teams is a strength. They will be noticed when the polls are released on Sunday.

Arizona State – ASU didn’t play but teams in front of them in the human polls lost, which means they will move up. The fact that they are one of only five undefeated teams left will earn them extra attention.

Who were the teams that took a step back today?

Auburn – The Tigers were one second away from picking up a huge win in Baton Rouge and taking a giant step toward the SEC West title. Now, they are thrust into the role of spoiler.

Oregon – Yes, they won on the road. That’s nothing to sneeze at nowadays. But, their ridiculous uniforms almost count as a loss.

Texas Tech – The Red Raider offense was exposed. A win today would’ve put them in great shape in the Big 12 South.

Nebraska – With games remaining at Texas, at Kansas, home versus Kansas State and at Colorado, will the Huskers win another game?

California – A week ago, Cal was so close to becoming the top-ranked team in the country. Now, they need some help to be able to win the Pac 10.

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