Upon Further Review (Week 11)

Surrender. On Two. Ready. Break.

Some folks in Big Ten country want us to believe that Saturday's game between Iowa and Ohio State
proved that the Buckeyes are a worthy conference champion, and the Hawkeyes deserve an at-large BCS bowl bid.

I guess the Big Ten has to have some sort of champion.  I don't know why they expect the rest of the college football world to care about a league that still hasn't figured out how many teams belong to it.

But an at-large BCS bid for Iowa?  Seriously?

Saturday's game was a 27-24 affair, decided in overtime.  While it sounds like it should have been exciting, it was most noteworthy for the fact that, once the score was tied at 24 late in regulation, neither team made a serious attempt to win.

Given the ball on their own 18 yard line with 2:37 remaining, Buckeye coach Jim Tressel managed to run five plays - three of them handoffs - to gain a grand total of 13 yards before punting to Iowa.

Then, Iowa, after fielding the punt, had the ball at their own 33 yard line with 52 seconds and two timeouts remaining.  With a great opportunity to try to get into position for a game-winning field goal, Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz decided to run out the clock and hope for the best in overtime.

This was two teams playing not to lose.  And it was truly pathetic.

Midwest football is about as exciting as boiled cabbage anyway, but this display of mediocrity prompted CBS Sports.com writer Gregg Doyel to suggest that the Big Ten banner should be a white flag.

Ohio State, by virtue of winning the league, will stumble into the Rose Bowl, and probably lose badly to whatever Pac 10 opponent they face.  But do we really need to reward this Iowa team with a BCS bowl berth?

Let's examine their resume.

They beat Arizona 27-17 in Iowa City on September 19. 

It seemed like a good win at the time.  But the Wildcats are now 6-3, and they end the season with Oregon, at Arizona State and at USC.  That looks like a 7-5 finish to me.  Maybe.

The following week, Iowa beat Penn State 21-10 in Happy Valley. 

Again, it seemed like a good win at the time.  But let's tell it like it is.  Joe Paterno has been a class act for his entire coaching career.  He has kept the Penn State football program mostly clean while achieving frequent success on the field.  In my view, he has earned the right to coach there until giant, hairy cockroaches take over the Earth, if that's what he chooses to do.  But that doesn't, in any way, mean that this year's Penn State squad is good.  Their most impressive win is over Temple.  The Owls.

On October 17, the Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin. 

They are a very respectable 8-2, but, upon closer examination, they lost to the only two ranked opponents they played.  Translation: the Badgers are great in games that don't matter.

Otherwise, Iowa struggled with the likes of Northern Iowa (a 17-16 win) and Arkansas State (a 24-21 win).

So that brings us back to Saturday's game in Columbus.  In a tie game, with the league title and its associated Rose Bowl berth on the line, Kirk Ferentz ordered his team to cower in the huddle and then take a knee.

In what was possibly the most appropriate ending for such a display of gutlessness, Iowa managed to lose 16 yards on their first three plays in overtime, and throw an interception on 4th and 26.

Ohio State took over and ran the ball three times, gaining three entire yards, before trotting the kicker on to the field for the game winner.

So Ohio State (9-2), with a game remaining at Michigan, managed to back into a Rose Bowl.  And Iowa (9-2), with one game remaining against Minnesota, may have backed into a Fiesta Bowl simply by being the second least courageous team in the Big Ten.

It doesn't seem quite right.

There's a little part of me, though, that wants to see Iowa in the Fiesta Bowl against Boise State (10-0) - the scenario that seems most likely right now. 

At least the Hawkeyes would find out what it's like to face a team that always plays to win.

Bulls in September. Puppies Afterward.

 South Florida coach Jim Leavitt has a problem.  He needs to find a way to make his players understand that the season lasts all the way through November.  His teams have gained national recognition with fast starts, but also gained a reputation for slow finishes.

Since 2007, the Bulls are 13-0 in games played in September, but 11-13 in the rest of their games, including 6-10 in the month of October.  And it's not because they've played nothing but patsies early in the year.

On Septmber 8, 2007, they won 26-23 at Auburn.  On September 12 of last year, they beat a highly-regarded Kansas team in Tampa 37-34.  This year, they beat Florida State 17-7 in Tallahassee on September 26. 

But, after starting the season 5-0, they've now lost three of their last four, and Thursday's game against Rutgers was one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a college football team.

The Bulls (6-3) managed only 159 yards of total offense in the game, had four turnovers, and were totally overwhelmed by a Scarlet Knights team that really doesn't have many stars.

Afterward, Leavitt said, "They just beat the dog out of us."

With remaining games against Louisville, Miami, and at Connecticut, the Bulls are hoping there's at least a little dog left.