Lowlights Countdown Week 9

Lowlights Countdown – Week 9

10. Weekly New Mexico failure update – New Mexico lost again. No shock there as the Lobos barrel towards 0-12 and the firing of the coach. That said, the worst failure came from quarterback Brad Gruner who is now out for the season injured after getting hurt CARVING A PUMPKIN. If this wasn't New Mexico, already a punchline, this would go into the pantheon of all-time stupid injuries along with tearing your ACL in celebration as a kicker, breaking your collarbone while carrying deer meat that you had just killed while hunting and dropping a steak knife on your foot. It still might anyway.

9. The Michigan defense (or Joe Paterno's QB choice earlier this season) – Michigan can't stop anyone. If there was anyone left on the schedule that the Wolverines could stop, it was likely to be Penn St. and its decidedly lo-fi attack. Giving up 41 points was not supposed to be in the equation but it happened. And for Penn St., is this just a function of playing the Michigan defense or did the quarterback change (admittedly due to injury) have something to do with it.

8. Michigan St.'s luck runs out in a big way – Surviving what appears to be an awful Notre Dame on a fake field goal in overtime. Coming from 17 down to beat an average Northwestern team and needing a fake punt in the process. Having most of the tougher games at home (does anyone really think Sparty could have won in Camp Randall). No Ohio st. on the schedule. It all came to a head in a big way. 30-0 at halftime at Iowa. 37-6 the final. No amount of luck could have saved this team on this day.

7. Clemson still being the old Clemson we know and love – Clemson has a recent history marked with strife and inconsistency. Many thought this had changed when Tommy Bowden was fired and replaced with Dabo Swinney, especially when Clemson ran through the second half of the ACC schedule to win the Atlantic division. Despite that, the problems were still there. The second half of the season gack was out of conference play against South Carolina last year. There was still the loss as a double digit favorite to Maryland. Nothing really changed except the streak started early enough and the division was bad enough that the Tigers won it (and promptly lost the ACC title game). This season, its been back to normal and no game is more emblematic of that than losing 16-10 at Boston College this season. Pathetic. And to think many (myself included) thought this team was the best in the ACC after pushing Auburn to overtime on the road. It turns out that was just one of the highs on the usual Clemson roller coaster.

6. New Mexico St. in another train-wreck game – New Mexico St. is one of the five worst teams in FBS play. Of course they have two wins because they share a state (and therefore a rivalry) with New Mexico (whose failings are well-chronicled on this blog) and they share a conference with San Jose St., one of the teams that would likely be much better off just dropping football and being done with it all. The Aggies managed a 29-27 win over San Jose St. on Saturday in a game where both teams set highs for total offense since 2008. At least there was something semi-good about the game unlike the last time New Mexico St. was featured here.

5. West Virginia on offense – 13 points? Against UConn? That's it? What happened to the West Virginia offense. The defense is better than at any point in the Rich Rodriguez era that sent teams into the top ten for a few years running, but the offense has now gone off the rails. With the exception of a four touchdown explosion in the first half against Maryland, this team has been terrible on offense. Even against bad Big East teams, there is little hope of reaching 20 points most times. Just pathetic considering the talent on hand there.

4. Minnesota on ABC Saturday Night Football – I know the opponent was Ohio St. and I know it only went to 21% of the country, but ABC should be apologizing to that 21%. There is no reason for a team that has one win and has already fired its coach to be on ABC for any reason. Was there really no way to not get this changed like what happened with the USC-Washington, Notre Dame-Boston College, Stanford-Oregon situation earlier this season? Wouldn't the Big Ten Network have been happy to add a primetime game considering they also had a conference game on ESPN at the same time (Michigan-Penn St.)?

3. Laying down in the rain – There was awful weather in Seattle for the first round quarterback tilt between Stanford with Andrew Luck and Washington with Jake Locker. Of course, with many more performances like that one, Locker won't be a first rounder for much longer. The Huskies laid down dead for the entire game on their home field and got shut out 41-0. It looked like a game from the last days of Willingham when Washington went 0-12. Embarrassing at best and flat out disgraceful at worse.

2. Throwing with a freshman quarterback when it was unnecessary – Notre Dame only needed a field goal. They have one of the best kickers in the country. They should have used him. Hubris run amok that Brian Kelly opted to go for the touchdown. He needs to learn to take the points. Notre Dame is bigger and much more critical than his previous positions. Take the points when they are there, not unnecessary chances.

1. Tennessee quarterback Matt Simms – I now know why (other than the arrest) Simms couldn't hack it at Louisville. He is a prima donna, even more so than brother Chris who at least had talent to go along with arrogance. Matt Simms continues to pop off to the media about playing time. He needs to realize something. He is not extremely talented, has no future in the NFL no matter what he does, and is older than the backup. When a season goes off the rails like this one has at Tennessee, the veteran needs to play mistake free football to stay in at quarterback because otherwise the coaching staff needs to see what they have with the backup heading into recruiting. Simms doesn't realize any of this and he has now turned himself into a headache and problem for the coaching staff. In fact, they would probably best be served cutting ties with Simms after this season instead of allowing Simms to submarine their team chemistry next year in his senior season.

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