Pac 12 Recap, Week 1 2011

I’m sorry to say that the Pac 10 Recapper is no more. After, what, five years of this, I will no longer be recapping the games of the Pac 10. It has been my honor to write these for you and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. While it has sometimes been a struggle, its always been worth it, because of you, fair readers. So thanks very much.

Before I sign off for good, let me introduce your new Recapper, the Pac 12 Recapper, who, unfortunately for most of you, is actually still me. That’s right, I shamelessly manipulated you into all collectively thinking “Noooo…don’t go!” (or, “Finally! Let’s get someone who can write these better, like my cat!”) all so I can inflate my meager ego.

So…thanks for being manipulated. I’d like to say I’ll never do it again, but that’s a lie.

A few changes to go over before I dive in. First, no more Shout Outs. Quite simply, I’ve run out of ways to humorously compare Augustana football to Pee Wee football. There are only so many bake sale jokes I can churn out, and I passed that milestone about two years ago. So anyone still interested in Augustana football can visit www.crayola.com/cutelittlefootballleague, the official site of CCIW football, brought to you by Crayola (“The Color of Football! ™”). Okay, I guess I had one more joke in me. Also, while I quite enjoy piling on to Notre Dame football, I’m…oh, who am I kidding, I’ll keep doing that. But I’ll also throw out a pithy comment or two in a smaller , cleverly titled Other Stuff section about other stuff I noticed. I’ll also bring back the completely arbitrary rankings, now bonus sized and without regard to reason.

It’s a new era in recapping, and what with all the noise of MORE teams joining the Pac 12, this could turn into a full time job. Which is good, since my full time job could turn into…not a job. But enough of that…as they say, Onward….

I had a lot of people ask me why I didn’t do a preseason, um, precap (is that a word?). Anyway, I did think about it, a lot, but to tell you the truth, after all the godawful news that came out of the offseason, I wasn’t sure I could write anything that bleak. It seemed like every week, there was some story about one school or another talking to the wrong person, recruiting the wrong player, tattooing themselves for the wrong price (in most cases, the price was free), selling something they shouldn’t, or, in the case of Miami, doing just about everything wrong a single college program could do. So while I thought about writing what would amount to a eulogy for college football, I decided instead to skip it and focus on the games instead.

And those games started this weekend. So, here I am.

Let’s just get this out of the way up front, so I can establish some credibility (ha!):  LSU was and is quite a bit better than the Ducks at football. One could argue (or rationalize, depending on your point of view) that bad turnovers and a costly suspension of a key player (someone tell me what kind of world we live in when driving 118 miles per hour at 4 am while high is cause for suspension…I mean, really, if that’s all it takes to get suspended, we’d ALL be suspended) were the reasons they lost, but the truth is, the SEC has bigger players that are just as fast. So the Ducks lose to LSU 40 – 27 and now, according to the press, are a) absolutely out of any national title chase and b) have no hope of any player winning the Heisman. In this world of new Ducks prominence, that’s a big disappointment…three years ago, that’d be less surprising than me typing a run-on sentence. Just sayin’.

As bad as it was to be a Duck fan, imagine what it’d be like to be part of Beaver Nation. Here, I’ll make it easier for you to imagine…you’re six, your parents promised you a trip to Disneyland and a lollipop, but a meteor just crashed into your house, killing your parents, destroying Disneyland forever, and wiping all lollipops off the face of the Earth. Beaver Nation should feel just a bit worse than that.
Being the intrepid Recapper that I am, I searched high and low to find a way to watch the Beaver game (short of going to Corvallis…I may be intrepid, and dedicated, but even I have my limits). I scanned through all 900 of my channels…nothing (although I did get caught up for a bit in some Lifetime movie (by the way, men are creeps)). Then in all honesty, I swear I am not making this up, I watched something called a “Live Chat.” That was a bit south of compelling, but I finally did find a link to a site that was broadcasting the game live. So while I’ll probably end up with quite a few questionable credit card charges, I watched the game on the Series of Tubes. Which, in hindsight, is something I’d pay good money to unsee. It was ugly, as OSU had to COME FROM BEHIND against Division 2, middle-of-the-pack Sacramento State (note: Sacramento is not a state). The Beavs did come from behind, but ultimately, in overtime, lost as the Hornets (that’s the Sacramento State mascot…scary!) converted a two point conversion and won 29-28. Also, OSU benched their starting QB at half-time. Also, they let one of their suspended players play anyway, putting a dent into that “moral high-ground, stone-throwing" attitude that permeates press coverage of the team and some of their more strident fans. Also, next week they face highly-ranked Wisconsin, on the road. So…yeah, could be better.

The whole weekend was a mixed bag for the Pac 12. First, it wouldn’t be college football without a quarterback at UCLA getting hurt, and that’s just what happened. Coach Rick Neuheisel, who apparently has a seat that is quite hot, trotted out starting QB Kevin Prince, who promptly got a concussion. I don’t know about you, but this is feeling REALLY familiar. As was the outcome: UCLA lost to Houston 38-34. Kirk Herbsteit, one of my wife’s MANY "television boyfriends," picked the Ducks to win the National Championship and picked UCLA to win the newly formed Pac 12 South. Seriously, he gets PAID to say stuff like that. What a rip-off.

Also, Colorado got to go to Hawaii. And they got to lose to Hawaii (not the state, the football team) 34-17. Most of you probably don’t know (and if you did know…seriously, get a life) that Colorado hasn’t won a road game since 2007 (!). 2007 was the first year of the iPhone! Back in 2007, George Bush was still president! That’s like, the olden days. Awfully glad we’ll have Colorado to kick around…your Recapper needed to lay off the Cougs this season.

So that’s it for the Pac 12 teams that lost, interestingly, and I type interestingly, because based on most of the national press coverage, the Pac 12 ate crap all weekend.  But, I must admit, a few of the wins come with caveats. For example: USC beat Minnesota, 19-17, but had to have herculean performances by their QB and WR, and only then, barely held on to win. Washington only beat lowly Eastern Washington by 3, 30-27. And WSU pulverized Idaho State, 64-21, but in the process, lost their starting QB to a broken collarbone, a bone that I'm guessing would be useful if one were a quarterback. I mean, I'm no doctor, but seems likely. Anyway, he's out for 6 to 8 weeks. 8 weeks from now, I'll be beginning my hunger strike to prepare for the Thanksgiving Gorge Fest; in other words, a long time from now.

Then there was the parade of Pac 12 teams that beat up lower division teams: Utah beat Montana State 27-10, Arizona State beat UC Davis 48-14, Arizona beat Northern Arizona 41-10, and Stanford beat the holy hell out of San Jose State 57-3.

Finally, Cal beat Fresno State (note: Fresno is not a state, and is barely a city) 36-21. I have no interesting comments to make here.

Other Stuff

Despite the Lord’s best efforts, throwing TWO huge thunderstorms down on South Bend, Notre Dame lost to South Florida 23-20. This marks year 100 in a row that the media has said, “Notre Dame is back! This is their year.” There’s a LOT I could say about Notre Dame, but I’ll hold off, because it’s a LONG season, so I’ll leave it at that.

What’s amazing is that the Notre Dame game wasn’t the only game postponed by Lordly interference. Two other games were actually cancelled because of the storms. They just…stopped. I know that I sat through a truly biblical storm last year at Tennessee, but geez…. I don’t want to get all political, but this climate change thing needs to be fixed if only because it’s mucking up my football.

Arbitrary Pac 12 Power Rankings (AP12PR, for short)

1.        Stanford – sure, smoked a D2 school, but man, did they smoke them
2.        ASU - also beat a D2 school by a lot
3.        Arizona - ditto
4.        Cal - see above
5.        WSU - ditto, but lost a QB, so down a bit
6.         Utah - welcome to the party, pal! (what movie?)
7.        USC - barely beat a "rebuilding" Minnesota
8.         Washington - barely beat a D2 school
9.        Oregon - lost at a "neutral site" to a really good SEC school
10.        UCLA - lost on the road to a Conference USA school with a really good QB
11.        Colorado - hasn't won a road game since a "tea party" was an actual party where tea was served
12.         OSU - pretty much didn't do a single thing right

Ass Handers Award

Goes without saying, but I'll say it. Oregon State, welcome to the first ever Pac 12 Ass Handers Award.

From Scratch

I've been Mr. Mom (Old Guy Reference Alert!) for the week while my wife is up in Seattle either a) working very hard or b) raising her second family.  And as a quick aside, let me just say that single parenthood sucks it. I have an unbelievable level of respect for those parents that are doing it on their own. After three days (going on seems like a month), I'm kind of ready for the missus to come home. And by kind of ready, I mean, PLEASE COME HOME!

And I'm not even really that good at it. I haven't read the official Single Dad Handbook, but I just have a sense of these things. Last night, for dinner, I asked the kids if they wanted a 100 Grand Bar, or a Whatchamacallit Bar. Being wise kids, they went with both, but man, when they were still running around the house full-tilt at midnight, I was really wishing I had been smarter and only let them have one.

Tonight we did a little better. I actually used the oven to make them a pizza (the Costco cheese pizza is a big hit with the ankle biters). And I decided to make myself something, aside from something that had already been made that I just needed to heat up.

So I went with the chicken pot pie (okay, that's not really making something, but I finally didn't use the microwave). Or maybe it was a turkey pot pie. Some kind of poultry. Now I don't know about you, but I can't think of the poultry pot pie without thinking of "The Breakfast Club." So after tossing around a few Judd Nelson lines (Old Guy Reference Alert #2), I tossed a couple of those bad boys in the oven. And then noticed on the box that the crust was "Made From Scratch!"

Which made me wonder two things. First, really? Second, what exactly does "made from scratch" mean?

I went to the internets (official slogan "Now Only 97% Porn!") and found out this: "Its use in cooking means "from ordinary cooking ingredients that have not been pre-mixed or otherwise specially processed." Obviously sugar, flour, baking soda and the like are the result of a long process which is the culmination of the history of agriculture and of chemistry and God-knows-what. But sugar, etc., are "ordinary cooking ingredients.""

So that's interesting. But then I started to think...so the box (one of probably 10s of thousands made that day) says "made from scratch," but clearly by "made" they mean "a machine dropped all the ingredients into a giant vat which was then molested by another machine until the crust was finished." Or rather, that's what is REALLY meant, but what the box wants me to think is that a cute old lady pulled the ingredients out of her pantry and whipped up the dough 'specially for me, using her favorite rolling pin and letting her littlest granddaughter help out.  But I'm old and therefore was not born yesterday and therefore know that the box is full of shit.

Really, why bother? I'm already eating a poultry pot pie...its got enough sodium to make my heart question the wisdom of my decision ("hey, brain, are you SURE?") and ends up tasting only slightly better than absolutely nothing. Knowing that, I'm still going to eat it. So, seriously box, you don't need to convince me that grandma approves.

Anyway, I should probably go...I left the kids in their room practicing starting and putting out fires and there's a 50/50 chance it might not work out that well.

Potpourri for 100, Alex

A few things to get out of my head:

Seriously, that Friday song is THE WORST. Go listen to it and I guarantee you'll wake up with that crappy tune bouncing around in your brain like a super ball. Stephen Colbert did some meta-clever cover of it on the Jimmy Fallon show and while I was smiling because Colbert is funny, I couldn't stop thinking "Why are you listening to this damn song?!?" So awful.

Speaking of awful, the Blazers are getting beat right now at HOME by 20 (!) to Golden State. Golden State...are you kidding me? This is why I hate NBA basketball. Players just don't care enough. Sure, the quality of basketball is better than college (as evident by that atrocious National Championship game..good lord), but they just don't care. Every NBA team takes off, I'm guessing, 10% of their games. Which blows. I don't go to games because I'm cheap and lazy (a winning combo), but if I was in the stands right now, I'm walking down to Paul Allen and asking for my money back (or, rather, walking toward Paul Allen and getting dragged off by security...okay, talking to everyone around me about walking toward Paul Allen but instead going to get $12 popcorn). The Blazers playoffs start now...right now. They need that sixth spot or better to play someone they might beat. Instead, they'll probably slide to seventh and play the Lakers and lose in five games. NBA...it's fannnntastic.

The proliferation of Do Not Attempt is reaching epic proportions. For example...Lexus commercial (I think) where the car is driving around on some zany city with roads that go straight up or upside down or are  impossibly curvy and, yep, you guessed it. Do not attempt. Thanks for that...I'll make sure not to drive my new Lexus upside in some crazy future world. I know some lawyers, and they're delightful people. So I don't blame them. As I said, I blame stupid people, cause you know someone did something crazy like drive their car with the cardboard sunscreen still up in the windshield and crashed into a tree and sued. "How was I supposed to know I should move it before operating the vehicle? There was no warning!"

Also, how you like the one space after periods? I read somewhere that the old double space after period rule was dead, which, I must say, blew me away, not to mention it took me about three months to get used to. And I'm only half used to it as it is.

Last night I watched the first two episodes of "The Killing," a show on AMC. It was great. If you're not watching, you're dumb. It's one of the most beautifully shot shows I've seen a long time. The subject matter is tough, so be warned. It's about a high school girl that gets killed and the case to solve it, and follows it from murder to resolution. Each episode is a day in the investigation. I think the most interesting thing is that, before I had kids, stuff like this show would just wash over me. I'd still think it was great, but it wouldn't have the emotional impact it has now that I have kids. Tough not to at least imagine what it'd be like if something that awful happened to my little girl. So yeah, I gave her a big hug while she slept. That being said, great show. Watch.

Also, you should be watching "Justified" and "Fringe." Because I have awesome taste in everything. Now, time to get out of these plaid pants and hit the sack.

The Dumbification of America

I'm back..and enough about that.

So I want to talk about how dumb we are now. As a country.

Now I'm a firm believer that things are NOT worse than the good old days. Our problem is that we just hear about it faster and in greater volume. There were creeps kidnapping kids 75 years ago, we just hear about every missing kid almost instantly. Or say some random guy kills his wife/girlfriend/lover and suddenly it's on the cover of "People." Guys killed girls back in the day, we just didn't get to see all the pictures on the internet a week later.

But I kind of think we're dumber than we used to be. All you need to do is watch a few hours of television or open a laptop and let the great tidal wave that is the internets wash over you to start to wonder if our fellow man isn't doomed to eat paste.

For example:  as many of you know, I like sports. So I have my television tuned to ESPN more often than not. And a commercial getting a lot of play right now is, um, something about anti-perspirant (not very effective, I guess). Anyway, in the commercial, some guy I should know on some survival show I've been told I should watch is testing the effectiveness of the product by making normal office schlubs wear meat shirts (the Lady Gaga for Men line of clothing, apparently). And then, the survival guy has his buddy release some wolves, that then chase the fleeing men down and catch (and offscreen, devour) two of the men. The last man survives, because, according to the survival guy, sweat is like gravy to wolves (who knew?). And our survivor is not sweaty. So, see, if it works in those conditions, it'll work as you try to pick up that hot drunk woman at the bar. But! But that's not the dumbest part of the commercial (oh, no, it gets dumber). The dumbest part is, at the bottom of the screen, the ubiquitous "Do Not Attempt."

Do Not Attempt!

Cuss word alert:  Are you fucking kidding me?!?

Do not attempt? You need to warn me not to test my deodorant by putting on a shirt made of meat and running from wild wolves? Thank you SO much for the warning because I was totally going to do that. Right after I tested the effectiveness of my mouth-wash by eating a giant pile of dogshit and making out with my wife.

There's two reasons for such a soul-crushing warning:
1. The makers of the hygiene product are so afraid of being sued that they make sure even the dumbest people won't try what they saw on television...or
b. The makers of the hygiene product just know that everyone that sees the commercial is dumb.

And I'm going with b.

The reason is because of the other dumb thing that has made its way into my head:  "Friday."

If you have not experienced this phenomenon, here's a few words:  Don't.

Okay, just one.

This is far and away the most horrible song ever. Satan would play this on his iPod all day long, over and over, in Hell, were it not for the fact that he probably hates it, too.

But the thing of it is, it's everywhere. I discovered it after seeing articles about it in two or three different places. After reading a few articles, I had to hear it for myself and good lord do I wish I hadn't. The song, on Youtube, has something like 70 million page views. 70 million! Of course, 89% of the people hate it, so maybe there's hope, but really, it's our fault something like this exists.

(Let me be clear here...Yes, the girl is only 13 and I really shouldn't be mocking 13 year olds. But her parents shelled out thousands of dollars to buy the song, record it, create a video, and post it online. No one made them do that. No one made the young girl record the song. So since they made the decision to do it, they're fair game.)

(As another aside, there's an old saying that if you put a thousand monkeys in a room with a thousand typewriters, eventually one of those monkeys would type up a Shakespearian play. Well, this song, clearly, was written by one monkey who got trashed on banana schnapps and wrote the song on the wall with his own feces.)

The dumb part, to try to get back to my point, is that people mistake 70 million hits and a picture on the first page of Yahoo as fame. Like they've arrived. Throw your little girl on the You Tubes singing the worst song known to man and she's famous...except she's not. She's just on the internet. I'm on the internet! I'm just some goofy guy who can type and gets mad at stupid stuff. I'm not famous. I'm never going to be famous. Sure, we're talking about this girl, but that doesn't make her anything. It's just that things happen easier now, faster, and that's made us dumber. We mistake now for arriving. It took Elvis years before he became ELVIS. It took the Friday girl 35 seconds to upload musical murder.

There's a point in here someplace, and I think I'll probably pound away at it some more later, but anyway, that's my triumphant return.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that baseball starts tomorrow. So go White Sox!

Ducks v. Auburn, Championship Recap

Took a few days for me to gather my thoughts on the Big Game.  I went into the game with, in my head, thoughts that the Ducks could win, but in my heart, I couldn't believe that they would.  We're talking about my school here, where I spent four of the most formative years of my life, where I started becoming who I am today.  I watched the football team go from the depths of mediocrity to a chance to win a capital NC National Championship.  And as the game started, I didn't really want it to.  I was nervous as hell, but again, my head had convinced me that they could win, but in my heart...no.  I just wanted them to play well.  The last thing I wanted was to come to work the next day and listen to everyone tell me how badly the Ducks sucked and how they didn't belong there and that they were a fraud.

Naturally, I felt just about every emotion you could feel while watching a four hour football game:  frustration, elation, disappointment, grumpiness, a little bit surly, perhaps a few minutes of terror (not sure why on that one).  And at the end, my heart won out.  They didn't win, because cool things like that don't happen to me, but they were in it the whole game, and that took some of the sting out.  I REALLY wanted them to win, but just as much, I wanted them to show everyone that they were legit.  And they did that.  Which made it easier to take.

Next year, though, they need to win a BCS Bowl game.  Just sayin'.

As for the game itself, I think it's time for the BCS to eat the plate of shit it deserves and go away.  Five weeks between the last game and the bowl game meant that both teams sucked it, hard.  Neither offense was sharp, even though we were promised a shootout, points scored at a furious clip, blah blah blah (in case you're curious, no, none of the "experts" on television know shit).

I would have liked to have seen a game between the two football teams that finished the season, not whatever those two teams were.

So yeah, the quality of play sucked it; I still found it compelling, because I had a rooting interest in one of the teams.  And yeah, the broadcast was brutal...too many damn breaks; the whole game was played out in fits and starts.

So other than the fact that they lost, that the game play wasn't sharp and the broadcast went on and on, it was great!

But honestly, an unbelievable ride, all season long.  I'm glad I get to rest my heart now, though.  I could use a little less stress.

No more football for awhile.  I'll try to come up with more stuff, and I will post some old recaps over the next few months.  So you all come back now, you hear?

Reader's Corner

For those that don't know me, I'm a huge reader (not a great big fat person that likes to read, but a person that likes to read a lot).  Most years, I read about 40 or so books, which isn't gonna get me any rewards (do they give rewards for being a big ol' nerd?), but it's kind of a lot, if I do say so myself, especially with twin 6 year olds, a full time job, a wife, a puppy, and and and....

Anyway, I thought I'd take some time and talk about some book I recently read that I want to recommend.  Why would I do such a thing?  Because it's my blog, and that's what bloggers do...act like narcissists.

First up is "The Unnamed," by Joshua Ferris.  This is a GREAT book.  I read his first one, "Then We Came to the End" which was quite good, but "The Unnamed" is SO good.  In a nutshell, it's about a guy, married, one kid, lawyer, who suddenly, without explanation, begins to walk.  Middle of the night, middle of a meeting, whatever he's doing, his body takes over and he up and starts a walk.  Often he'll walk for miles and miles until his body stops working and he collapses and sleeps, where ever he might be.  

The novel is about this guy, with this affliction, and what it does to his life and his family and it is so profound, so good, that really nothing I can write here will do it justice.  It's funny, touching, frustrating, strongly-written.  It made me appreciate my life and want to work harder at being a better person, because whether it's some fantastical, unnamed affliction, a real-life tragedy, or just the march of time, so much of what is good in life can slide by or disappear completely, without being fully enjoyed.  It's that good and there isn't anyone I wouldn't recommend this book to.  A slam dunk, four star book and one of the very best I've read in a long while.

I'm also a big history fan, most specifically around the Civil War (my son's middle name is Lincoln), and I just finished "Manhunt:  The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson.  I actually read another book about the same subject a few years ago, but this book was really great.  It read so quickly, despite being close to 400 pages, and the small details that were added made this a very engaging read (for example, one of the actresses in Ford's Theater at the time, rushed to the box seats where Lincoln had been shot and asked if she could cradle the president's head, just so she could get some of the president's blood on her dress...then spent the rest of her life being tormented by people that wanted to see the dress).  That's good stuff, and the book is full of those kind of details.  Also highly recommended.

For fans of mystery novels, I read a few recently that couldn't be more different.  John D. MacDonald, considered one of the grandmasters of the genre, wrote a long series about Travis McGee and I re-read the first one, "The Deep Blue Good-By."  It's pretty dang good, and has a looseness about it, much like the main character, who lives on a big house boat in Florida.  A good book, that makes me want to read more, with a powerful ending.  If you like mystery novels of this ilk and haven't read any Travis McGee books, get on it.

Also read Philip Kerr's "Berlin Noir," which contains the first three Bernie Gunther novels.  These aren't great mysteries (the actual crimes aren't that important, and while I never guessed what was going on, that's only because I didn't try to), but the setting is REALLY interesting.  The first two books take place in pre-WWII Germany, as the Nazis are building up their power, and Gunther's two cases brings him into contact with them.  It's a fascinating look at that era, something that could be learned from non-fiction books, but not nearly as interestingly.  The third book picks up about two years or so after the war ended, as Germany is slowly pulled apart by all the countries that helped push out the Nazis.  And of course, those countries aren't any better than the Nazis were.  All three books are very good, if a little bleak.  I'm not a historical fiction kind of guy, but the setting of this one really sets it apart from other, similar books.

I guess that's enough for you folks now.  I will say that reading is one of those things that everyone should do more of...I've been reading constantly since at least sixth grade, and it's one of those things I couldn't imagine not doing.  Hopefully you feel the same.

 

Return of the Recapper: Bowl Edition (better late than never)

This isn't exactly timely, but figured I'd throw out a few comments on the bowl games involving Pac 10 teams that happened recently.

After the abysmal showing by Arizona, I didn't have high hopes for Washington vs. Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.  Instead, Washington showed surprising grit, gristle and gumption.  The took it hard to the Huskers, winning a tough contest, 19-7.  And despite all the excitement all year long for Jake "The Snake" (it's contractual that all Jakes must be nicknamed The Snake...I believe it's in the Constitution) Locker, he finished off the year pretty much like he played it...amazingly mediocre.  56 yards passing on five completions, but he did have 83 yards rushing and a touchdown.  So that was cute.  But a really surprising game, when you consider that earlier this year, Nebraska beat the Huskies 56-21.  I would say yeah Pac 10, but that's kind of dumb.  And also, not that excited that Washington might be good again.

As an aside, the Holiday Bowl was presented by Bridgepoint Education, which according to their website specializes in something called postsecondary education.  They have "regionally accredited" universities in beautiful Clinton, Iowa and Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Despite the fact that I did go to an actual college, I'm not sure I know what "regional accreditation" means.  I'm assuming that it means your degree would only be good in Clinton, Iowa...or maybe, if you're lucky, all of Iowa.  However, they appear to be doing quite well, since they get to sponsor a big ol' Bowl Game.  One more quick thing and I'll move on:  according to the website, the two colleges, Ashford University and University of the Rockies, has a total of 77,000 plus students, ground and online.  However, at both colleges, ground-only students number 640...so yeah, fake colleges.

In the Orange Bowl, Stanford (speaking of, you hear the head coach, Jim Harbaugh, might take another job?) got to play ACC champ Virginia Tech.  And they beat the snot out of them, 40-12.  Hard to believe that when I started these recaps, Stanford was unbelievably horrible and the butt of many a joke by yours truly.  Now, cowabunga...damn good.  Of course, if Harbaugh leaves as expected, forcing Luck to the NFL, and graduating a bunch of seniors, it's likely their run won't last.  But still, crikey.  Good.

Might as well go with a shout out, to our old pals the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  Playing in the Sun Bowl, of all games, they renewed a rivalry with another formerly great team that is also delusional about their status in the game, Miami (Catholics versus Convicts...woo!).  And Notre Dame looked pretty damn good, stomping the Hurricanes 33-17.  The program seems to be on the upswing, winning their last five games and ensuring that their fans will be utterly ridiculous about their future.  Yay!