Bottom 5 10-18
BOTTOM FIVE
By Ron Haramia
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
236. Florida State (5-2)
237. Schools glad that basketball practice has started (3-16)
238. Florida Atlantic (0-6)
239. U.S. Defense (3-23)
240. Buffalo (1-6)
The Bottom Five Bowl Selection Committee donned their classy blazers and were out in full force this weekend with so many great matchups being played. Of course, I am talking about the Idaho (1-6) @ Louisiana-Monroe (1-5), Middle Tennessee (1-5) @ Vanderbilt (1-5), and Cal Poly SLO (1-5) @ S. Utah (1-5) games.
�Florida State�s record is very deceiving. The important one is 0-4 vs Miami in the past 10 years when kicking a last second field goal to win.
�For at least three schools, their campuses are abuzz because of the excitement about their team � the basketball team that is. Valparaiso (0-6) has been allowing basketball-type scores to their opponents in the last three weeks (54 and 52 respectively, in loss Nos. four and five). They did get a 3-pointer though in their 52-3 loss to Dayton this week. Syracuse (1-5) loss to Temple 17-16 (but then again, that may be their score versus the Owls in bball too). Duke (2-5) lost to Wake Forest 36-10.
�Florida Atlantic (not to be confused with Florida Pacific??), lost to Youngstown St., 24-17. Although their leading rusher had 83 yards, two of their four running backs had negative yardage giving the team an average of 1.1 yards per carry. Let�s see...if they get nine downs instead of four...and they run it every play...they would still be short of the first down! That may have had something to do with the loss.
�Valpo isn�t the only one with defensive problems. Remember the military saying: �We do more by 9 in the morning than most people do in a day�? Well, apparently, practicing football is not one of the things they do.
Army (0-6) lost to some Horned Frogs (46-27), Navy is 1-5 after losing to Rice, Massachusetts Maritime (1-4) lost to Westfield State 54-0, Maine Maritime (0-5) lost to Bridgewater 21-3, and the Coast Guard (1-3) had a merry time during a bye week.
NOTE: It only took seven weeks, but the Akron Zips (1-6) finally won, defeating Liberty (1-5), 49-21. In an unprecedented move, Akron�s athletic director asked for a home-and-home series (we play at their home, they play at ours, etc.), every week, for the rest of the season.
Game of the Week: On Saturday, Notre Dame (whose West Coast offense has gone south - 40 yards rushing vs Pitt) plays @ Air Force (386 yards rushing vs BYU) in a game between the two worst 6-0 teams in the country.
PRO FOOTBALL
28. Oakland Raiders (4-1)
29. New England Patty Cakes (3-3)
30. Washington Red-skinned (2-3)
31. Detroit Lions (1-4)
32. Cincinnati Bungles (0-6)
�The Raiders came into their game against the winless St. Lose Rams averaging 40.5 points and 461 total yards per game. So naturally, they got beat 28-13, amassing 65 yds rushing to go with 2 intercepts, 4 sacks allowed and 14 penalties. They also made Rams� third-string QB Marc Bulger look like Kurt Warner (three TD passes, one rushing TD).
�After starting the season 3-0 and proving last season�s Super Bowl win was no fluke, the Patty Cakes have now lost three in a row trying their best to prove it was. They allowed a team to have a 100-yard rusher for the fourth straight game in losing to the Packers 28-10. One bright spot though, Patty QB Tom Brady matched Packer QB Brett Favre interception for touchdown (three each).
�The �Skinned allowed a punt and kickoff return for touchdowns to the Saints� Michael Lewis, that famous return man who two years ago starred for......a beer distributor. Lewis was a beer delivery truck driver before making the NFL two years ago at the age of 29. Good story, but bad news for the �Skinned, who lost 43-27.
�The cowardly Lions lost to the Tikes (1-4) in a possible Bottom Five playoff preview. The win snapped the Tikes� eight-game losing streak that started last season with a loss to the 0-12 Lions in Minnesota. Luckily for the Tikes, they knew they�d meet again. The Lions were coming off a win and a bye, but had not won consecutive games since November 2000. To the Lions� surprise, byes do not count as wins.
�Looking ahead to their bye week (it has been a bye season for the offense), the Bungles lost 34-7 to the Steelers (2-3). That makes the fifth time they have started 0-6 in the last dozen years, proving they are not a fluke.
Although they have only held the lead in a game this year for a total of 2:30, they look to stay in the Bottom Five much longer than that.
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