Hey All,
It's time for a break from your Zoom meetings and working form home. Here is another edition of Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Jim Murray.
USC Flashback Summary
September 12, 1970, USC 42-Alabama 21- 50 years ago there was a game that sent shockwaves through Alabama and the rest of the SEC. An integrated Trojan squad whipped an all-white Alabama squad at historic Legion Field, in Birmingham. The game was billed as a battle of epic proportions without the racial tension added too it. The equally epic SC assistant coach Marv Goux fired up the Trojans for the trip with this famous quote in his pre-trip rally for the team with the Trojan Marching Band backing him up, "No team has gone where we'll go, no 'real' team can do what you will do. It is destiny, we take no prisoners. After we kick their asses on the field, if they still want us, we'll annihilate them in the parking lot." Nobody wanted another piece of the Trojans after Sam Cunningham ran all over the Crimson Tide, while the Trojan defense ensured the victory. The great Jim Murray penned this line capturing the greater meaning of the game in his post game column for the LA Times, "Birmingham will never be the same. And brother, it's a good thing." ESPN did an excellent piece on the game on its' College Gameday show. 18 Trojans
Telling Stat: 1 of 18; Sam Cunningham was the most prominent, but just one of 18 African-American Trojans who took the field that night in Birmingham.
Observations
...Dust in the wind; After their dismal losses to Sun Belt foes, the Kansas Jayhawks and K-State Wildcats have become irrelevant in record time this season.
...Ugly is good; You can fault North Carolina and Notre Dame for both winning ugly games last Saturday, but the big thing is that they won. Winning anyway possible and surviving to next week is bigger this year than any other year.
...He ain't happy; Navy HC Ken Niumatalolo is not thrilled that Air Force gets to play for the Commander-In-Chief's trophy this year. Two Games
...One thing I'd never thought I'd write; Notre Dame is now 1-0 in conference play.
..2-0 on the Hudson; Army is alone as the only 2-0 team in the nation.
...It's no contest, really; Those in Las Vegas who took Pitt -30 points and holding what they thought were holding winning betting slips after the Panthers 55-0 thrashing of Austin Peay got a rude awakening when trying to cash out. With Pitt up 42-0 at the half, the teams decided to shorten the second half with 10 minute quarters. That meant the game was only 50 minutes long and according to Nevada gaming regulations, a football game has to go at least 55 of the regulation 60 minutes for a winner to be declared and bets to be paid off. The game was declared a NO-CONTEST under that rule and all bettors were refunded their money.
...West Virginia in their rear view mirror; Eastern Kentucky will be happy if they never see those country roads again after being pasted by a combined 115-10 by Marshall and West Virginia these past two weeks.
...Aztec invasion; San Diego State has announced that they will be playing their 2021 home games at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. That's just a mere 115 miles north of the SDSU campus. The move is being made while construction is under way for the new Aztec Stadium that will sit in the footprint of the current San Diego County Credit Union Stadium.
...33 and a W; Georgia Southern came from behind to notch a 28-27 win over Campbell after having 33 players not suit up for the game due to a number of reasons form COVID to injuries to disciplinary actions. Whew.
...Beaten and shifted; Not only did Duke open up with a loss at Notre Dame last Saturday, they were told about an hour or so before kickoff that their 9/26 bye week had disappeared. The postponement of the Virginia-Virginia Tech game forced the ACC to move the Blue Devils game at Virginia to be moved up to from its' original date of 11/14. The move allows the league to reschedule the UVa-Va Tech game.
...A long road ahead; New Florida State HC Jay Norvell may now be realizing just much work he'll have to do to bring Florida State back tot he top of the ACC. HIs Seminioles blocked two field goals and an extra point and still lost to Georgia Tech. Ouch
...Sega Center blues; Watching football and knowing my team isn't playing this year gives me the same feeling I had when I was a 12-year old at the video arcade and didn't have any quarters.
...Great White Nothing, eh?; In case you all missed it, and all of you did, the Canadian Football League cancelled their season back in July. Reading the 3DownNation website isn't much fun this year.
...Not the start they wanted; The humiliation that comes from losing three games to Sun Belt foes and cancelling three games to COVID positive tests was not the start to the year the Big XII was hoping for.
...The band was not out on the field; No band present, but this ending to an Alabama high school game should make every Cal fan proud. A ton of laterals
...That empty feeling; Most folks have a lot of things they've missed not doing during this pandemic. One thing I really miss, hit me on Sunday afternoon. It was the first football Sunday in forever that we won't be gathering at my mom's house for Sunday dinner. That is the time we dissect what happened in USC's game the day before over a good dinner while watching the Sunday night NFL game. The laughter, the arguments, the food and football are the things I miss most this year.
Ugly Uniform of the Week
Iowa State gets the nod this week for their all-red ensemble. The running blood clot look is not good.
Departments
Best Game Nobody Saw Last Week: San Marcos. TX- The UTSA Roadrunners let a 24-7 halftime lead slip away only to get themselves in a dogfight with Texas State. Some great play down the stretch and a little help from a bad Bobcat PK let UTSA escape with a 51-48 win in two overtimes. Texas State PK Alan Oronoa missed a PAT late in regulation and a chip shot field goal in the second overtime to open the door for UTSA to take the game. The teams combined for 50 first downs, 971 total yards of offense and 160 offensive plays. It was a barn-burner on I-35.
Blowout Game of the Week: Fort Lauderdale. FL- This week's game comes form the NAIA ranks where the Keiser University Seshawks chewed up the Florida Memorial Lions, 62-0. The final score proved to be ironic as the it was the first game played by the FMU Lions in quite some time. The story on their team website proclaimed, "For the first time in 62 years, Florida's only historically Black university had an active football team." It was an afternoon and to remember and to forget. The Lions were down 14-0 less than five minutes into the game, 28-0 at the end of the first quarter and 48-0 at the half. Keiser QB Eli Mathews completed 12 of 14 passes for 242 yards and three TDs and the RB combo of Marques Burgess and Antoine Sims combined for 107 yards rushing and four scores on the day. FMU QB Antoine Williams recorded the Lions' longest gain of the day when he completed a 18-yard pass to WR Victor Barbosa just before halftime.
This Week's Three Notes About Nothing...
The Oriental Trading Company's Halloween catalog is a fun thing to read through.
Trader Joe's has turned the page to Autumn and that's very cool.
Picked up some apple butter the other day, man I forgot how good it is. Yum.
Until next time folks remember that nobody knows how long this season will go. Enjoy what you can.
-The Commissioner
