College Pigskin - What a Weekend

Holy leaping lizards and downtrodden Broncos (of the Boise State variety, not Denver).

September 11th, 2010 may be remembered as a landmark Saturday in the college football world. A lot of teams either grew up or got smacked down, at least in terms of their national title hopes (see Boise State). Okay, so the Broncos haven't officially been eliminated from national championship contention, but it doesn't help that their Labor Day victory over Virginia Tech - which seemed like it would be their shiniest badge of honor during an unlikely title run - was essentially negated with the Hokies' stunning 21-16 upset loss against in-state little brother rival James Madison Saturday. JMU doesn't even compete in Division I-A, and Boise State's remaining schedule is packed mostly with zeros rather than heroes.

Michigan catapulted itself into the Top 25 (No. 20) with a splendiferous (that's right, I said it!) and stupefying 28-24, last-minute triumph over the Fighting Irish in a packed house at Notre Dame. Sophomore QB Denard Robinson, with over 500 yards of all-purpose offense, was the key reason. It looks like Rich Rodriguez has found the perfect signal-caller for his spread offense. The lean times in Ann Arbor may be over, at least for a little while.

So many great games happening, but one of the other bullet-point mentionables is No. 1 Alabama running roughshod over No. 18 Penn State in Tuscaloosa. The Nittany Lions just didn't have the firepower to compete with the Crimson Tide, even though 'Bama was short by two top players (one of which was 2009 Heisman Trophy winning running back Mark Ingram). Elsewhere, No. 2 Ohio State maintained its hold on the second spot in the rankings with a 36-24 win against No. 12 Miami (Fla.), a game that received a decent amount of attention as a rematch of that thrilling, controversy-marred national championship game from the 2002 season. Well, the Buckeyes took care of business again, forcing Hurricanes QB Jacory Harris into 4 interceptions. Two of Miami's TDs came on special teams (punt return and kickoff return).

No. 3 Boise State sat idle, no doubt disbelieving its misfortune by the hand of VTU's incomprehensible loss. No. 4 TCU blasted Tennessee Tech, 62-7, and No. 7 Oregon struggled early at Tennessee before cruising to a 48-13 win, bumping the Ducks up to No. 5. That's your top 5 in the new AP poll, kiddos. Slots 6-10 belong to Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa and Florida, respectively. All of them won convincingly.

Remember haters of the current system - every weekend is a playoff. Oh and uh, the idea of Reggie Bush giving back his Heisman is laughable. NCAA, you are often ridiculous and nobody really takes you seriously, just so you know.