College Football Week 13

For many Hawkeye fans who are wanting an Oregon State defeat this week to in-state rivals, Oregon, we present you the Fighting Duck Cheerleading Squad. A loss by the Beavers helps the chances of the Big Ten Conference having two BCS teams and improving Iowa's bowl rank within the Big Ten. However a win by Oregon State puts them into the Rose Bowl as Pac 10 Champs. New Year's Day in Florida looks very promising.

Dome is Home--For the past twenty-seven years the Minnesota Golden Gophers have called the HHH Metrodome home. At that time, moving their home facility off-campus to an indoor, climate-controlled atmosphere was a recruiting plus. However now the dome is blamed for lack of attendance and atmosphere. Next year the Gophers move into TCF Stadium on the UM campus. Saturday night at kick-off I noticed a packed house for the border rivals Iowa Hawkeyes. A full house isn't typical unless the Hawkeyes or Badgers travel to the Twin Cities, but Minnesota will definitely miss out on these types of crowds when playing outdoors in November, and more importantly, the deafening noise that gets trapped inside. Moving into the open-air stadium will lose its flare, not after a couple of years, but perhaps after a couple of games. If Tim Brewster continues to have the same type of success that his predecessor Glenn Mason has (padding his schedule with lower level FBS teams and succumbing to BCS schools of winning records), it won't matter where the Gophers play, fans will not show up. Now they are guaranteed of full houses at least once a year.

Keep the A.D. to His Word--After a devastating 70-7 defeat to the hands of New Mexico , San Diego State Athletic Director Jeff Schimmel declared Head Football Coach Chuck Long would be back in 2009. Chuck was fired prior to Saturday's 42-21 win over UNLV. Long did not share the news with members of his team or coaching staff until after the victory. It was discovered Schimmel and boosters had been securing the money to buyout Long's last season on his contract over the last two weeks.
Can we end in-season comments by athletic directors unless a final decision is made. Please state that a decision will be made at the end of the year. It is unfair to coaches, staffs and players to be misled.

Blowout Saturday--As exciting this college football season has been, this past Saturday was a disappointment. Every game in the Big Ten was decided in the first half with the exception of Wisconsin and Cal-Poly. In the day's most anticipated game, #5 Oklahoma dismantled #2 Texas Tech. A top 25 North Carolina Tar Heel team was embarrassed at home by in-state rival, North Carolina State while the newest darling of the ACC, Miami lost badly to this week's darling, Georgia Tech. We may see the same this week when Florida and Florida State meet.
Games to watch:
Georgia Tech at Georgia
Western Michigan at Ball State
Oregon at Oregon
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
and look for West Virginia to upset Pittsburgh.