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This and that
Dick VitaleSPECIAL TO ESPN.COM
Another week, another shocker in college football. Ohio State fell from the unbeatens as Ron Zook's Illini pulled off the stunner at Columbus. You have to feel good for Zook, who was beleaguered at Florida and he is building a special program in Champaign. It is tough to win on the road, but to snap Ohio State's streaks of regular-season wins and Big Ten victories, wow! Now I can hear the cries from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Eugene, Oregon and LSU and Oregon scream that they are No. 1. My friends, there is still a lot of football to be played before the BCS pairings are announced. There are three schools in the Big 12 -- Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma -- that feel they could have a say in the matter. It is exciting stuff week in and week out as this has been one of the wackiest college football seasons ever.
Tim Tebow has to be back in the Heisman running. He put on a show as Florida handed South Carolina its fourth straight loss. Tebow ran for five touchdowns and accounted for seven overall and it was not against a cupcake, on the road. He shattered the Gators' single-season rushing touchdown mark. The person who shared it before Tebow was none other than Emmitt Smith. He is multi-dimensional and when it is all said and done, he will go down as one of the best college football players ever. He is unique and special.
How about a salute to the Atlantic Sun conference? Gardner-Webb, 9-21 last season and picked eighth in the league's preseason poll, easily defeats Kentucky at Rupp Arena. Think about how many kids at Gardner-Webb were McDonald's All-Americans? Kentucky has Joe Crawford, Ramel Bradley, Alex Legion and Patrick Patterson who came out of high school with those credentials. Mercer, led by James Florence's 30 points, stuns USC, ruining O. J. Mayo's ballyhooed collegiate career (he did finish with 32 points). Belmont goes into Cincinnati and upsets the Bearcats. Wow, this will have an affect on the conference's RPI, plus it gives the league some big-time exposure. The bad news is opponents will play those upsets over and over, so teams will play at a different level against the Atlantic Sun.
College basketball has parity. Besides the Atlantic Sun stunners, what about UNC-Greensboro of the Southern Conference winning at Georgia Tech? Cleveland State knocked off South Florida of the Big East. Hampton beat Tulsa and Alabama State surprised SMU. This is going to be a fun season.
Brett Favre and the Packers have been awesome, baby with a capital A! Favre joined Dan Marino and the second NFL quarterback with 60,000 career passing yards. Green Bay's defense was outstanding in a shutout of the Vikings to move to 8-1. Come on, how many people thought Green Bay would be this good? Mike McCarthy should receive consideration for Coach of the Year.
The Rams finally broke into the win column, upsetting a Saints team that had been hot. So the Dolphins are the lone winless team in the NFL. Miami had a tough home loss to Buffalo, and things won't get easy with two road games at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the next two weeks.
The Cowboys also deserve a salute for getting a W at the Meadowlands against the Giants. Terrell Owens stepped up again with over 100 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Who would have thought Notre Dame would ever be 1-9? Nine Ls with two to play. Next up is Duke, another team with nine setbacks. Who would believe the Irish would lose to two service academies in the same season, not to knock those programs. The loss to Air Force was misleading; the game was not as close as the final score indicated. The Falcons flat-out dominated and it is hard to believe the Irish are in this situation.
The Red Sox made some news as it is loud and clear the team will try to keep things intact. They got a commitment from Curt Schilling, signing him to a one-year deal. He took a cut to $8 million, but he will serve as an inspiration to young pitchers like Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. Boston also made a move to try to re-sign third baseman Mike Lowell. The clubhouse will have winners and Theo Epstein has done a great job.
Interesting to hear Joe Torre talking about the possibility of Alex Rodriguez coming to the Dodgers. Wow, that has to help raise the price of A-Rod. and that has to bring a smile to the face of agent Scott Boras. There have been reports of the Angels having some interest and all it takes it two teams to start the bidding and then it is off to the races.
Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.
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