Before we begin: we all should take a moment to reflect on the 15th anniversary of one of the darkest of days in American history: 9-11, 2001!!
Now to the games:
BC is off the schneid!!
It’s been nearly a year, September 26, 2015, (9-consecutive losses) to be precise, since the Eagles football team have belted out its fight song “For Boston” in a joyous and victorious locker room. YIKES!!!
To put that run of ineptitude into perspective: the Republican field for President had its full field of 17 candidates, the UK was still a member of the EU, the Red Sox were in last place, and Tom Brady was the starting QB for the Patriots. WOW!!!
The BC defense was stellar as usual combining for a team record 8 sacks, and holding the feisty, but overmatched Minutemen to a minus-23 yards rushing. Double Yikes!!!
Mark Whipple’s “Belle’s of Amherst” play hard, but it still needs size and depth to go against the bigger programs.
On offense, well, we don’t want to say that the Eagles playbook is something out of the Stone Age, but a pair of “Wooly mammoths” were seen on campus walking to their Psyche 1 class!!
But a win is a win. Let’s see what happens next week when BC (who has lost its last 9 ACC Conference games) travels down to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech.
Hail the Academies: Army and Navy both won yesterday, but the win by the Cadets of West Point may be a sign that the fortunes of the “Long Grey Line” are beginning to turn for the better.
Army, who has already matched its win total from last year, knocked off the Owls of Rice 31-14 to start its season 2-0 for the first time since Bill Clinton was hanging out with Monica – 1996. YIKES!!
And the best part for the Cadet faithful is it has done it with a defense that is worthy of the name; Army Football. Good for them.
The Middies on the other had were the beneficiaries of a brain cramp by UConn 
coach Bob Diaco, who saw his Huskies climb out of a coffin (in honor of Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein) and storm all the way back from a 21-0 deficit to grab a 24-21 lead.
Navy who should never be counted out, master minded a late TD drive and with 3-minutes left to play recaptured the lead: 28-24 but the visitors refused to get sea sick.
Connecticut marched back down the field on a multiple of short passes and runs, and the final completion placed them on Navy 1-yard line with 17 seconds left on the clock and one timeout.
If the Huskies punched it in, it would have been the signature victory of Diaco’s 2-plus seasons as the Storrs headman. But, alas it wasn’t to be.
In an Ahab ending, with confusion engulfing and swirling on the UConn sideline, Diaco called his last time-out, sending in a pair two plays. Unfortunately, he never got to try the second.
On its first and final try UConn ran up and the middle and the Middies stuffed it. And by the time the referee cleared the players, “We practice this. In situations like that we lay on the guy until the referee clears the play,” said a Navy player.
Well it worked to perfection, before UConn could line up the clock expired as the Huskies stared stunned at the goal line a half-a-yard away from victory!!
While the stadium and the Midshipmen serenaded its victors with: “Navy Blue and Gold” its fight song: “Have proud Sailor’s right to wear, the Nave Blue and Gold!!”
In the other locker room Diaco had two words succinctly describing the loss: “Crushing, Crushing!!”
Yes it was!! Double Yikes!!!
In the yawn department: Alabama, the best team in America, cruised over Western Kentucky 38-10, while officially finding its QB, a true freshman named; Jalen Hurts.
The kid is the first freshmen to start for Groucho’s favorite team since the Orwellian year of 1984. WOW!!! Joe Namath, Kenny Stabler, Bart Starr et-all must be smiling.
And what in the Sam Hill is going on in Clemson??
The Tigers have who has more weapons than North Korea, seem to be a suffering from some strange sleeping disorder as they once again looked lethargic in struggling to put away an inferior (36 pt. underdog) opponent in this case: Troy: 30-24.
An example this two-game sleep walk was the “brilliant” play by punt returner/receiver Ray-Ray McCloud who was cruising all alone into the end zone, when he decided to flip the ball in a TD celebration.
There was only one slight problem: he let the ball go on the 1-yard line, as he celebrated his the no-touchdown with his teammates. BRILLIANT!!! As the commercial used to shout.
Maybe that’s why his needs to repeat his first name??!!! Dabo’s Boys need to figure it and quickly before the October 1st showdown against Louisville.
The wildest game of this early year took place in Stillwater, where the Cowboys o
f Oklahoma State had its victory snatched by a “dumb” (his words) decision by it coach Mike Gundy, as Central Michigan won with an untimed illegal 49-yard miraculous “Hail-Mary” final play pass, that also involved a lateral, and a nine-yard right side scamper into the end zone.
It transpired this way: QB Cooper Rush lofted the “Hail Mary that was caught by wideout Jesse Kroll at the OK State 10, who then lateraled it to his fellow receiver Corey Willis, who jetted around the left side for the game winner. Are you kidding me!!! In fact the radio broadcast by the CM team has the analysis almost shouting a no-no when he just caught himself shouting; “Are you ……. Me??!!
What makes the defeat even worse is that the play should never have been allowed.
BY the nature of the play the game should have been over but none of the six referees working knew the rule or caught the mistake.
Here’s a quick synopsis: Intentional grounding on a 4th down play with the clock expiring is a loss of down and an automatic end to the game. But the referees missed it, and allowed Central Michigan one untimed play they spun into a golden/stolen victory!!
“It was still a dumb call on my part regardless,” said Gundy. DOUBLE OUCH!!!
[As a note: Amazingly Central Michigan had a similar play occur with the same two receivers in the 2014 Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl but CM lost when it failed to convert the two point conversion].
Finally instead of Urban Renewal, college football needs more of rivalry renewal as Pitt and Penn State, two former annual Thanksgiving Day rivals, who haven’t faced each other in 15-years staged a wildly entertaining game that was won by the Panthers of Pitt 42-39.
The other was the best game of the year so far: an old SWC (sure we’ll cheat) Southwest Conference grudge match between Arkansas and TCU that had more twists and turns than the 24 Hours at Le Mans.
It took a double-reverse then pass two point conversion with 1:03 on the clock, as well as a last-second blocked field-goal by the Razorbacks to simply get the game into overtime, where Arkansas ultimately won when its gritty QB Austin Allen bulldozed his way in from the five yard line for the game winner: 41-38.
But the key to the Hogs comeback occurred with TCU’s QB Kenny Hill, who was magnificent, scored on a keeper to put the Horned Frogs up 28-20, but made a very immature throat slashing gesture incurring a deserved 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on the kickoff which gave the Hogs spectacular field position dramatically helping its final game tying drive in regulation. Nice move Kenny!!!
We can’t end without out shout out to our favorite bloviating gas bag Charlie Weis, which saw the last team he “fixed” the Jayhawks of Kansas go back to its losing ways; as the Bobcats of Ohio knocked off KU: 37-20. Sorry Charlie!!
That’s it from cyberspace. We’ll be up and running with our analysis of week 3 Wednesday night. Until then, Peace and listen to the music. pk
Saturday Football 