Stunner Not So Surprising

Kudos to Mike Price, coach of the UTEP Miners, for knocking off a Houston team that was expected to ride roughshod over Conference USA after beating not one, but two Big 12 South powers (well, second-tier powers). After all, his Miners played two Big 12 teams too, Kansas and Texas, but lost to them by a combined 98-14. This game became one of motivation as it was a lot easier for Price to get his charges fired up for a game that could turn around their season than for Houston coach Kevin Sumlin to stop his players from reading their press clippings and forecasts for “running the table.”

The notion that Houston’s performances against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech would force the teams that knock heads with them annually in conference play to surrender to them without a fight was always odd. The talent level at UTEP and Houston is roughly the same. Playing at home and with the motivational advantages listed above make this “upset” not much of a stunner.

But of course that is what makes becoming the darling of the non BCS crowd so difficult. You have to schedule up and then win those games to get noticed, but then once noticed make sure that you take care of business in conference play. Every year we see teams get noticed in September with an upset win, begin to get written about by some pundits, and then fall to a rival or two. It happens all the time yet some pundits still fall for the illusion. If Houston is good enough to beat teams we have heard off, then they must be good enough to crush guys from El Paso or Tulsa. It will be a lot of fun if they can then travel to Mississippi State next week and knock off another team from a BCS conference.

But the main concern for the Cougars must be the Conference USA West race. They are 0-1 and not only trail 1-0 UTEP, but 1-0 SMU and more importantly 2-0 Tulsa. They do not play the Golden Hurricane until November 7, but that game is on the road. Good luck, but then again you have traveled to The Sooner State once before this season and returned with a win.

Meanwhile, Houston QB Case Keenum may have seen his long-shot Heisman race go up in flames despite throwing for 536y and 5 TDs against the 11 guys considered defenders by UTEP. It would have taken a miracle for Keenum to win and any loss will cost him the little attention he was getting. A good performance next week will not hurt, but with so many of the voters having a prejudice against guys from beyond the BCS, he is in trouble.

View From Bennett Avenue

Indiana was robbed on that call. The Hoosiers already had to fight any doubts they had about winning based on decades of failure against the Wolverines and when it seemed like they could overcome the odds, the refs stepped in. And the blown call, Michigan fans, did not make things “even” for calls that went against Michigan earlier in the game as this one basically ended matters. Sure, Indiana still had to move the ball into scoring position, but they had done so all game. By allowing 467y to IU, Michigan proved that they are not quite ready for re-elevation to the ranks of college football powers. That the Mississippi State Bulldogs failed to end a nine-game losing streak to LSU moments later by a matter of inches made it worse for fans of the true upset.

Despite the spin about yesterday being a day that shook up the rankings, the actual stunners were all of the garden variety. That Virginia Tech and Oregon won at home was no real surprise, although of course the ease of their respective victories was unexpected. And even though Iowa was a big dog on the road, their team’s success in the series against Penn State buoyed well for their chances. South Florida over Florida State on the road and with a back-up QB? A surprise, sure, but the Seminoles are too inconsistent to expect anything but upset wins followed by upset losses. The main reason that the rankings were shook up was that the rankings were incorrect. And the comparison so far is not to 2007, in which everyone continually was upset allowing a two-loss Louisiana State team to win the national title, but to 1983 when the top two teams in the country, Nebraska and Texas, were ranked 1-2 for most of the year while numbers 3 to 20 were continually jumbled. As long as Florida and Texas—or more accurately Florida, Texas and Alabama—remain unbeaten, the craziness of 2007 will remain unique. Of course both Nebraska and Texas lost their bowl games in 1983, which could not happen this year if they face off in the BCS title game. Not that I want to get ahead of myself.

One last note is to congratulate Oregon for getting off the mat from their week one loss to Boise State to become favorites, or at least co-favorites, for the Pac 10 crown. If they had lost to Purdue week two, their season may have spiraled out of control. Back-to-back nice wins however have the Ducks feeling good. And I do not expect coach Chip Kelly to have to offer any more refunds.