25. FIFTEEN THREE-AND-OUTS IN THE FIRST 15 POSSESSIONS (IF YOU INCLUDE THE ONE THREE-AND-FUMBLE), ALL THE WAY INTO THE FOURTH QUARTER. Even given the long, laborious history of American drive charts, the Rutgers drive chart in its 78-0 loss to visiting Michigan has to be one of the most remarkable drive charts since college football began in 1869. Reading, and rereading, and rereading, and rereading this drive chart can make one think of all the misery in the 200,000 years of human existence.
24. THE LSU-AT-FLORIDA POSTPONEMENT-OR-CANCELLATION DEBACLE. On the other hand, some things just provide day-to-day entertainment.
23. THE NECESSARY REVISITING OF THE NOTRE DAME-TEXAS GAME. Seen on Sept. 5 in Austin, Texas’ 50-47 overtime win was a portentous classic. Seen here on Oct. 10, with the two teams 4-7 combined with other wins only against Nevada, Syracuse and UTEP, that opener was a non-portentous classic.
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22. THE RIDE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. With 2015 playoff qualifier Michigan State suddenly 2-3 after losing at home to Brigham Young, Coach Mark Dantonio said, “The ride up the mountain’s very difficult at times, and that ride down sometimes is very quick.” If that comes off as surprisingly poetic from the prosaic Dantonio, remember that he has been so excellent across 10 seasons that he just hasn’t had to brandish his poetry.
21. “I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT SCORE.” Twenty-one brisk months ago, Oregon Coach Mark Helfrich sat next to Urban Meyer in front of reporters on the eve of a national-title game, one of two coaches in very rare air. Twenty-one brisk months later, he said those five words to Oregon fans after a fourth straight loss and a 70-21 annihilation from visiting Washington. As the East Lansing poet Mark Dantonio once put it, the ride down the mountain sometimes is very quick.
20. HOUSTON TRIES TO RECOVER. As Joseph Duarte pointed out in the Houston Chronicle, teams are 55-55 since 2006 in the week after playing Navy, given the complications of retooling defenses after preparing for Navy’s rare triple option. With Tulsa (4-1) visiting come Saturday, a pained, post-defeat Houston will stand for all those beleaguered, bedraggled teams, and try to nudge the mark to 56-55.
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19. GUS MALZAHN CAN COACH. He could, and then he couldn’t, and now he can.
18. MY COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS. As of our 27-23 win over No. 12 Azusa Pacific on Saturday, with our 92 offensive plays to their 52, and with that key goal-line interception from the aptly named Jalen Champagne, half our four wins have been against Division II top-12 teams. It bodes well for the coming tussle against South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, which would make an excellent border rivalry except that Colorado doesn’t border South Dakota.
17. THE RETURN OF LAMAR JACKSON. As Duke visits Louisville on Friday night, Louisville’s quarterback (fifth in the nation in rushing yards per game, 11th in passing) emerges from an off week. We all barely know him, yet it didn’t quite seem like Saturday without him.
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16. A VERY IMPRESSIVE 17,535. It might have been a Division III record, the crowd for No. 5 Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s visit to No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater, which won 17-14. Then again, those Wisconsinites are connoisseurs.
15. NO. 1 ALABAMA (6-0) AT NO. 9 TENNESSEE (5-1). Associated Press poll voters held Tennessee deservedly at No. 9 after a narrower-than-narrow road loss at Texas A&M, demonstrating that unlike poll voters of yore, they weren’t lazy and thoughtless about it. Never fall for the blurry nostalgia that things used to be better.
it counts to my mama so that's alright with me
14. THE QUOTE OF THE WEEK, EVEN IN A WEEK WITH HELFRICH AND DANTONIO. After Michigan’s all-everything defensive back Jabrill Peppers rushed thrice for 74 yards against Rutgers, quarterback Wilton Speight told reporters in New Jersey, “As he was running, I thought this kid looks like a guy I created in my NCAA football on my Xbox.” There’s really nothing to add to that.
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13. FLORIDA STATE’S DEMARCUS WALKER BLOCKS AN EXTRA POINT TO BEAT MIAMI (FLA.) 20-19. “To their credit,” Miami Coach Mark Richt said, “somebody cared enough to blast through and get it.” From here on, one might watch extra points and wonder who cares enough.
12. PURDUE! It’s a reminder of something important that Purdue beat Illinois 34-31 in overtime and running back Richie Worship told Purdue reporters, “The emotions are everywhere. I’ve never had a feeling like this.” It’s a reminder that even when programs have had eras so dreary we forget about them, their struggle still carries the prospect of value.
11. VIRGINIA TECH! Goodness.
10. A NOD TO MR. DANIEL LACAMERA. When you’re a kicker (for Texas A&M) who has just tried a 38-yard game-winner, and the opposing coach has called two timeouts to ice you, and you have missed the kick so wretchedly that the football itself actually looked sad as it traveled, and then you try a 34-yard game-saver in overtime with your team down by three, and the opposing coach calls a timeout to ice you, but then you drill that thing, you have mastered the crucial art of forgetting.
9. THE LITTLE GAME TO PLAY WHEN WATCHING MICHIGAN. You might call it “Count the Opposing First Downs,” or something less clunky, given that Wisconsin got eight and then Rutgers got two. The question of whether Illinois will reach double digits at Ann Arbor on Oct. 22 gives that matchup a sudden, unexpected shred of curiosity.
8. A NOD TO KYLE FIELD AT TEXAS A&M. It’s the kind of noise that stays in the ears for days, fomenting goose bumps, reminding that the spectacle of the game helps explain why we endure all the crud.
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7. NO. 2 OHIO STATE (6-0) AT NO. 8 WISCONSIN (5-1). The Big Ten has four top-10 teams for the first time since Oct. 3 1960, when it had No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 7 Purdue, and East-tilted bias was even worse than it is today.
6. A NOD TO MR. MYLES GARRETT. Texas A&M’s mighty NFL-bound defensive end had finished his remarks after the unimaginable 45-38, double-overtime win over Tennessee, when he broke off into an impromptu reminder that people should try to assist the hurricane victims in the United States and Haiti. When roaming college campuses, there are many times when one thinks that those who fret for the country’s future are lunatics.
5. HELLO TO THE BRONCOS. Western Michigan, 2-0 against the Big Ten and 6-0 against the three tiers it has found on its schedule so far, has its first-ever AP ranking, at No. 24. It’s also making sublime one-handed catches in the corner of the end zone.
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4. A NOD TO MALIK FOREMAN. When the Tennessee defensive back so cleverly plucked the football from Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams at the 2-yard line for a touchback after a 71-yard run seemed touchdown-bound with 1:49 left, it reminded some of George Teague’s famous plucking of Lamar Thomas in the 1993 Alabama-Miami Sugar Bowl, which reminded some that Lamar Thomas went on to coach at Louisville (and now Kentucky) and to recruit Lamar Jackson, which reminded some that they might need another hobby or something. For such a demented barrage of thoughts, there must be one spectacular play.
3. THAT UPCOMING APPLE CUP: FRIDAY, NOV. 25 IN PULLMAN. With Washington quarterback Jake Browning the nation’s No. 1-rated passer, and Washington State quarterback Luke Falk the No. 4 yards-per-game passer, and Washington looking like some fearsome giant, and Washington State recovered from its early swoon after romping at Stanford, and the two of them sharing a beautiful contempt, this thing is already enticing.
2. A NOD TO TENNESSEE AND TEXAS A&M. To the nation, they’re second-tier powers who occasionally lurk near the summit. To anyone who saw them mingle on Saturday, they became an unforgettable entanglement of effort and drama.
1. UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY. Changed the year.
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