Loser of the Week (Wk 4)
Everywhere you look it's 'Poor Notre Dame' — Hey, Don't Forget about College Football's Best Losers
Apparently the entire sports world was watching when ‘Loser of the Week’ debuted here a week ago. Instead of talking of great wins or surprisingly rising programs last week (anyone notice Kansas’ stats?), the sports media world zeroed in on college football’s worst team: winless Notre Dame.
Pete Fiutak began his interesting Calvacade of Whimsy (www.collegefootballnews.com) with five straight Notre Dame points after week three’s shut-out loss to an 0-2 Michigan. Every ESPN episode of Sportscenter, College Football Live and First Take all week had segments on Charlie Weis, Notre Dame’s legacy, and forecasts that didn’t differ with their pre-season expectations of a 1-7 start. During the Tulsa/Oklahoma game Friday night, ESPN2's coverage broke away to an in-booth trifecta of pleated pants with announcers Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and ex Dame coach Bob Davie (and an inset box of Lou Holtz) discussing Irish woes for nine straight minutes as Tulsa threw a long TD pass in a tenser-than-reported second quarter.
Loser of the Week (LoW) headquarters is happy to inspire a shift away from the winners’ monopoly, but ESPN, Sports Illustrated and other sports writers simply misunderstood the plan. The goal is on teams that lose well – not just the plain bad. And Notre Dame is so bad right now it isn’t even fun to watch.
LoW Starter: Tulsa
It’s not easy being Tulsa in Oklahoma. When the 23-point underdog gold-and-blue Tulsa rushed onto their Skelly Field against in-state rival #4 Oklahoma, more than half the crowd wore Sooner red. Tulsa — named the Golden Hurricane in a town with no hurricanes (even gold ones) — is the smallest division-one university to play the football game. Several players were turned down scholarships at all other division-one schools. On defense, Tulsa lined up a 220-pound former receiver against Oklahoma’s 6’8”, 360-pound offensive lineman Phil Loadholt. Even ESPN2 sideline reporter Joe Schad joked last week that ‘there’s nothing to do in Tulsa.’ (Go see the Golden Driller, pictured above, Joe.) Yet they gave Oklahoma its first (temporary) deficit of the season, more than doubled the yards against the nation’s #2 defense (398 yards vs Oklahoma’s 180 average) and continued to drive into Oklahoma territory well after the ESPN2 announcers prematurely mumbled ‘the rout is on.’
The heart of the performance was Tulsa quarterback Paul Smith, a local kid once turned down by Oklahoma and Penn State programs. The elusive communications major, who wants to work for ESPN some day, passed for 350 yards and his two picks followed receivers’ mistakes. The quick, misdirection-heavy spread constantly found open slots in Oklahoma’s untested secondary. After three first-half drives ended inside Oklahoma’s 35 with no points, Smith began the second half with a scrappy, six-minute drive that finished with him diving head-first in the end-zone on 4th and goal from the three. Only down by 14, Tulsa kicked off to DeMarco Murray, who weaved 81 yards for a TD. And Tulsa couldn’t score again. ‘It broke our back,’ said coach Todd Graham afterwards. If it did, they didn’t show it. Tulsa responded with another long drive ended by an interception. And after Oklahoma scored a fourth-quarter TD, Tulsa overloaded the left side of the line for the PAT — and blocked it. Winners sometimes lose, but they never quit.
Tulsa lost 21-62.
LoW 2nd-String: Texas Tech Offense
Everyone’s spreading Heisman goop all over Colt Brennan, the big yard-throwing QB at Hawaii, but few talk about Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell who puts up the same numbers against tougher opponents. At Oklahoma State on Saturday, the Red Raiders (led by Mike Leach, known for his team-meeting pirate lectures) scored 45 points and gained 718 yards. Harrell threw 46-for-67 with 646 yards and no picks. Star receiver Michael Crabtree caught 237 yards and three TDs on the day (and 11 for the season), but a game-winning TD pass bounced off his hands late in the game. An Okie State defender actually had the nerve to talk trash. Meanwhile, Tech’s defensive coordinator resigned after the loss for 'personal reasons.'
Texas Tech lost 45-49.
LoW Penalty Box
The entire sports media world. For Notre Dame over-saturation.
Kentucky coaching. LoW headquarters loves the ‘Tuck (even if Ashley Judd doesn’t come out for football games), but the coaches need a calculator. Last week they enigmatically kicked a PAT to go up with 0:28 remaining on Louisville by six points (not seven), then had to sweat out a last-second pass that would have lost the game with an automatic PAT. This Saturday, after scoring a TD with two minutes to go at Arkansas, Kentucky was up by four points and went for two. To be up by six? Not worth the risk: if it failed (and it didn’t), an Ark go-ahead TD would mean a last-second ‘Tuck field goal would only send the game in overtime. Doesn’t add up.
Last Week’s Losers
Both of week three’s losers won in week four. Norfolk State beat Bethune-Cookman 38-31, Central Florida beat Memphis 56-20.
LoW's Mesmerizing Tirade of the Week
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy goes off, way off, after an Oklahoma City newspaper questioned the guts of his benched quarterback Bobby Reid (no relation to me). If you do nothing else this week, listen to the tirade and read the offending article, which had been given to Gundy by 'a mother of children.'
LoW archive
Week three's report
