Random College Football Musings 11/2

- In a game where neither coach coached like they wanted to win the game, and the team that totally outplayed its opponent lost, Phillip Fulmer pulled a very stupid move, but got bailed out by a fresman kicker against South Carolina. With 1:20 and 2 timeouts left as South Carolina’s Ryan Succop lined up to kick a 48 yd. game winning FG…Fulmer calmer called a timeout to ice the kicker. Hey Phil, you ice the kicker when it is the potential last play of the game, or you aren’t going to run any offensive plays after the kick. Do you think you could have maybe used that timeout on the last drive, Phil? After Succup made the kick, the Vols were bailed out with a kick return to the 50, and a 15 yd. forward fumble. However, being short on timeouts, they still had to kick a long field to send it to overtime. Which of course, was a circus itself. Game ended, with Succop, a kid who will get NFL looks as a kicker, missing a 31 yard FG, badly.

-SEC underdogs are 20-11 this season, with 7 > pt. underdogs an awesome 11-4. Talk about parity. There are simply no off weeks in this conference. (except Ed Oregeron’s Rebels, read below)

-Which team has the worst losses as a group in the country? Would have to be UCLA. The enigmatic Bruins (who in all fairness have suffered many injuries) lost by 38 as a 15 pt. favorite to Utah ,lost by 14 as a 21 pt. favorite to Notre Dame, and lost by 20 as a 5 pt. favorite at Washington St. last week. They did win outright both times they have been an underdog this season, by 26 and by 9. Wild pointspread results are nothing new for a Bruins team that holds the largest pointspread victory in history. 10 years ago, they won 66-3 at Texas as 10 point underdogs.

-The firing of David Cutcliffe from Ole Miss was one of the worst axings of all time, no matter who would have followed him. Cutcliffe was fired just one year after sharing the SEC West title with LSU in 2004. He was let go despite having the longest bowl eligible streak in the SEC West at 7 years. But man does it look bad now considering Ed Orgeron’s accomplishments (ahem) at Ole Miss. The Rebels are the only SEC team without a win this season. They are assured of their 3rd straight losing season under Orgeron. They are 0-21 against winning teams under Orgeron. They have been outstatted in every game except one this year…The list goes on. The only thing worse than Cutcliffe’s firing? Orgeron’s hiring, of course.

-We’ve talked about balanced offensive teams that go for 200/200 yds. both through the air and on the ground. There are now 9 of those teams left in Division 1A. However, the Toledo Rockets almost took offensive balance to new levels last week. They totalled a whopping 812 yds. of offense vs. Northern Illinois, easily the biggest number in NCAA Division 1 this season, and the biggest number that I, personally can remember. They were 18 yds. rushing short of 400/400 on the day.

-The NCAA’s Top 10 teams in Time of Possession? In order: Arizona St., Wisconsin, BYU, Wake Forest, Iowa St., Lousiville, Ohio St., Houston, Colorado, and New Mexcios St. Wouldn’t expect the Cyclones or NMSU Aggies to be on that list, would you?

- The NCAA’s Top 10 in Turnover Margin? In order: Florida Atlantic, UConn, Boston College, LSU, Kansas, WVU, East Carolina, Ball St, Cincinnati, and South Florida. Those teams are a combined 50-26 ATS, with the only losing ATS team being LSU.