College Football Week 5

North Carolina had little to cheer about this past Saturday. A disappointing home loss to the hands of previous ACC disappointment, Virginia 16-3. Butch Davis' team is looking more like his Cleveland Browns than his Miami Hurricane.

Ball State was the darling of football a year ago by spending most of the season undefeated under the leadership of Brady Hoke. Hoke left for the perfect weather of San Diego to head up the Aztec program turning the Cardinal program over to offensive coordinator Stan Parrish. Parrish took over looking for his first win in over 25 games as a head coach. He is still looking for that one win five games into the 2009 campaign. Much can be said for continuity, but the only continuity the MAC program has right now is tied to the head coach and not a successful program.

The NCAA has looked for ways to shorten the time of football games. This year the Big Ten average has been 3:09, an improvement since 3:16 less than five years ago. But if they are truly serious about speeding up the game, please don't take unnecessary time to review plays that are called correctly and confirmed by the fan at home watching in real time.

Iowa's winning point differential against BCS-conference teams-18. Against non-BCS conference teams-2.

College Football Week 6

Kind of a slow week for college football, but it did set up some interesting match-ups for week seven. Before we get to that, a couple of items from the past week.

Still undefeated--There are still a few teams that continue to win and stay unbeaten. Many may have seen the monumental victory for Vanderbilt over Auburn. Another school of higher education that had the week off yet is undefeated is Northwestern. One team gaining their first appearance in the top 25 for many, many years is Ball State. With Brady Hoke leading the Cardinal, Ball State has steadily improved and is 6-0 this season. The former Michigan Asst. Head Coach may be proving he was the best candidate for the job in Ann Arbor.

Surf's Up--A team looking for an identity is Fresno State. They began the season with a convincing win at Rutgers as well as a double OT win at Toledo. The Bulldogs had every chance to upset Wisconsin at home, but couldn't make the necessary field goal. This past weekend they hosted a Hawaii team far from it 2007 BCS form and lost to the islanders.

The fourth of October--When returning from Michigan State this past weekend, Iowa radio play by play personality Gary Dolphin phoned his wife while waiting for the plane to depart East Lansing. As the conversation continued Gary's wife Cindy kept reminding him how great the fourth of October is. Finally Gary called her on it and found out it was their 33rd wedding anniversary. (However Cindy was incorrect. She told him it was their 38th.) Gary promised to take Cindy to dinner the following night. Here's hoping Gary called her by the right name.

Many interesting games this weekend. Among a few to keep tabs on:

• Oklahoma v Texas at Dallas in the Cotton Bowl. The winner has control of their destiny in the hunt for the national title game.


• LSU at Florida. Can Florida keep their title game hopes alive with the Tigers heading to the Swamp


• Notre Dame at North Carolina. The Irish have struggled winning on the road with Charlie Weiss. North Carolina may be for real and will need to prove so with a win this weekend.