Soft Pretzel Logic

Penn State.

Rutgers.

Temple.

Villanova.

Penn.

La Salle.

The Phillies. (If you thought the BCS was a tightrope...)

(Not to mention Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas and Clemson. And throw in West Virginia from Friday night.)

Ouch.

That should get a few clicks. I'm quite pleased to say that pageviews on this blog have skyrocketed since we built an automatic RSS feed headline aggregator on the front of Philly.com, so that when I write a blog post it shows up there without my having to do anything.

Anyway, rest assured that the headline doesn't refer to the Phillies, or even Penn State. But tomorrow we have Temple at Army, Villanova at No. 9-ranked (in the SportsNetwork I-AA poll) James Madison and Penn making the long bus trip to Dartmouth. it wouldn't surprise me if all three of them lose.

Heck, La Salle might have the best chance of winning, as they travel to Beaver Falls, Pa.-based Geneva College. The Division III-level Golden Tornadoes play in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.

As for the national scene, it's a shame we won't be getting Cal-Oregon on Channel 6, but at least we'll see Rutgers play a BCS-conference team. And Alabama-Florida State should be fun.

That is, if anyone isn't watching the Phillies...

By way of ACC Now and The Quad, this Orlando Sentinel story from Tallahassee. Surprise:

Two former Florida State University employees and 23 FSU athletes participated in varying levels of academic fraud during the 2006-07 school year, the school said Wednesday.

Apparently, 21 of the 23 athletes are still in school. We don't know who they are, or what sports they play. But hey, Florida State wins national championships, don't they?

Oh, wait...

Kevin Tatum reports in this morning's Inquirer:

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Mid-American Conference yesterday admitted that its officials blew the call when a touchdown reception by Owls wide receiver Bruce Francis was disallowed with 40 seconds remaining in the team's 22-17 loss to host Connecticut on Sept. 15.

Well now. As if we all didn't feel dumped on enough after Brian Giles' homer drove a stake into Phillies' fans hearts overnight.

Then again, we surely knew this was coming, didn't we? It was just that blatant. So blatant that we even listened to a conspiracy theory or two.

But at least UConn didn't sell its soul to the devil. At least not yet...

So you've probably noticed by now that Philly.com launched its redesign over the weekend. It's been taking up a lot of my time, but now I have at least a few minutes to come back and see what this week's football stats are.

So let's have a look at the local scene...

21. Rutgers (32)
47. Penn State (40)
86. Delaware (93)
106. Villanova (107)
127. Lehigh (139)
161. Temple (166)
162. Lafayette (139)
175. Penn (165)
185. Delaware State (162)
242. La Salle (242)

The biggest jump of the week is Lehigh, though none of the teams did exceptionally well. Rutgers jumps 11 spots without playing, which probably says quite a bit about how weird a season this has been in college football.

I'm surprised Villanova didn't move higher after beating Penn, but it was a home win and margin doesn't count. It's noteworthy, though, that Villanova is ranked higher than Syracuse (110) even after the Orange won at Louisville. If that stays the case all year it would make an interesting rollout come basketball season.

Then again, the Cardinals are in Mike Kern's Fraud Five.

Penn State fell less than I thought it would, though they were a bit low to start with and Michigan (44) is pretty close to the Nittany Lions in the rankings. Lafayette falls the farthest after being upset at home by Princeton.

Now for the Top 10 comparison. I'm adding in the Harris poll this week because it counts for 1/3 of the BCS standings. Once the BCS standings start, I will swap Harris out for the BCS.

If ever there was a team whose computer stats seem inflated compared to the human eye, it seems to be Ohio State. The Buckeyes have played Youngstown State (82), Akron (83), Northwestern (99), and Washington (36). The first three of those are a lot higher than I expected, especially Northwestern, which lost at home to Duke.

But I think Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan could all beat Ohio State pretty easily. Even after seeing the Nittany Lions struggle in Ann Arbor this past weekend.

Other than that, the big discrepancy seems to be whether Boston College or Rutgers deserves to be in the Top 10. Both teams have Philly ties, so if there are any fans out there of either school let me know what you think.

At least I feel like I'm one of them, given how long I've been away from the blog. And I won't be around this weekend either because of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. So you'll have to get your Sunday roundup elsewhere, but that obviously isn't too hard.

Mike Jensen is an outsider in Ann Arbor, where his survey of 87 Michigan fans reveals some interesting emotions among Wolverines fans about coach Lloyd Carr.

Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Ilario Huober comes to this weekend's Penn-Villanova game as an outsider, but looks through the history books to find what he thinks should be a good rivalry. It certainly deserves a prominent spot on the local college football scene.

But we have insiders, too. Joe Juliano writes about the first ever game between Widener and Rowan, while Jeff McLane profiles Penn State running back Rodney Kinlaw.

And Mike Kern looks over the whole college football landscape, from Notre Dame's struggles to the weekend preview box for Penn-Villanova and Temple-Bowling Green.

That Notre Dame story also includes the Couch Potato Guide, highlighted by South Carolina-LSU (CBS) and Penn State-Michigan (ABC) at 3:30 p.m. Plus the Big 5 game, of course, which will be on CN8 at 6 p.m.

Have a great weekend.

Here we go again. Last week's number is in parentheses for the local teams. I'm adding Rutgers this week because if State College counts geographically (not to mention Newark and Easton), Piscataway does too. Especially as alumni bases go.

Tell me what you think of this:

32. Rutgers (didn't track last week)
40. Penn State (13)
93. Delaware (77)
107. Villanova (105)
131. Lafayette (143)
139. Lehigh (168)
165. Penn (132)
166. Temple (188)
173. Delaware State (162)
242. La Salle (242)

Well, that's quite a big drop for Penn State. It says a lot about just who they've played (and so does ESPN.com's Pat Forde in this week's Forde Yard Dash, albeit with an actual sense of humor compared to me).

The Nittany Lions should rise again just by playing Michigan, even as bad as the Wolverines are, especially if Morelli and Co. head home from Ann Arbor with a win.

I expect Temple to keep rising, especially once they hit the MAC teams like Akron that do play good teams, and playing Penn State should help a bit too (especially with margin of win/loss not factored in).

If I had to guess, I'd say Temple ends up a shade higher than Villanova but below Delaware. Omar Cuff is going to carry the Blue Hens a very, very long way this year. Don't buy tickets for Chattanooga just yet, but if he keeps playing as well as he has a deep playoff run is not out of the question -- especially if Delaware gets a home game or two.

Villanova could surprise a few people, but they'd have to do something pretty special to stay in the top 125. Much of their current ranking comes from playing Maryland, and I suspect one or two CAA losses will have a pretty big impact on what the computer spits out.

Lehigh and Lafayette might rise a bit more, but I bet Penn doesn't end the season any higher than it was last week. The highest-ranked Ivy in Sagarin is Harvard at 141, and while I think Yale (currently (157) will be above the Crimson when the Elis come to Franklin Field next month, the rest of the Ivy League is ranked below Penn and gets to beat itself up for the rest of the fall.

And some people out there wonder why so few people care about it...

Anyway, here's this week's version of the Top 10 comparison:

Well, the computers and the humans have come closer this week. Sagarin matches at least one human poll in five of the ten slots this week, compared to only one last week.

I actually think the computers might be on to something with Boston College, though I agree with those out there who think it's a bit hard to actually pick 10 top teams in the country at the moment.

But I bet you and I had the same reaction to seeing Cincinnati at Sagarin's No. 7: What the...? (fill in as you like). Well, here's my best guess. The Bearcats' three wins are over Southeast Missouri State (189), Miami-Ohio (80), and Oregon State (13). So the latter two wins are clearly carrying Cincy above its human-voted weight, though the Bearcats did get some votes in this week's AP poll.

Miami-Ohio does have a win over a BCS conference team, even if it's doormat Minnesota, while Oregon opened up its season by beating Utah, which thumped UCLA in Salt Lake City this past Saturday, 44-6. I was convinced that was a typo when I first saw it Saturday evening.

I have a hard time thinking the Bearcats will be in the Top 10 next week though, as they play Marshall at home Saturday. No. 11 Alabama plays Georgia, and if the Crimson Tide go 4-0 I bet even those computers will shake a bit from the noise coming out of Tuscaloosa.

Fred asks:

Is Bagnoli on the hot seat?

The body of work is there over the 14 years.

But they have not won the league since 1993.

And the past two seasons, the team finished at 5-5, with losing league records.

What is the problem down there?

Well, it's 2003, but it's still a fair question. If this year's team doesn't win the league the graduating seniors would be the first in Al Bagnoli's tenure to not leave with a title.

Is Bagnoli on the hot seat per se? No. At least, not yet. The body of work is indeed there, and I think that has given Bagnoli the right to leave when he sees fit unless something goes really wrong.

I think there are three main reasons why Penn didn't win last night, and yes, I was at the game. First, and most importantly, a lot of people I talked to yesterday had no idea that Lafayette is ranked third in I-AA in both scoring defense and total defense. There's quite a few very good teams nationwide at I-AA, so to be that highly ranked is no small feat.

The Leopards have also tied for the league title each of the last three years, which is a pretty impressive streak for a team that was really bad not all that long ago.

Second, Joe Sandberg's first-half thigh injury was crucial. He's Penn's biggest offensive threat, able to get good yards on the ground and also execute screen pass plays very well. Penn called a lot of screens last night and it just isn't the same without him getting the ball.

But just look at Sandberg's rushing stats last night: 17 carries for an average of five yards each, while Kelms Amoo-Achampong carried 15 times for 1.6 yards apiece.

That does not, however, excuse what I thought was some questionable play calls by Bagnoli at times -- runs on third and long, passes on first down, and such. Not that you always go the other way, but in the context.

And I didn't agree at all with the intentional safety, even though Bagnoli's argument that the defense was doing well enough to not get run over on the last drive has some merit.

The third thing is the kicking game, and this is the thing I'm least worried about. Yes, Andrew Samson missed two kicks, though the first one was one of those where if they gave points for striking the upright he'd get the most possible. But he's a freshman and last night was his first ever college game. So I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Above all, I don't think Bagnoli has too much to worry about right now. I do think Villanova will beat Penn next weekend far more comfortably than they have the last few times, but that's a totally different level anyway.

Does it matter that Penn State "ho-hummed" its way to a 45-24 win over Buffalo yesterday with a trip to Michigan coming next week?

Who should be the Nittany Lions' starting running back?

Are the Wolverines back on stable ground after beating Notre Dame senseless, 38-0?

Will Notre Dame be 0-4 a week from today? The Irish host a Michigan State team that has played pretty well so far next week.

Is Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese right that his conference's teams need to stop playing the Norfolk States of the world?

If you're a Temple fan, just how upset are you this morning at that overturned touchdown yesterday?

Does Villanova's big-play offense make the Wildcats a contender for the playoffs after wins over Lehigh and Maine?

Did Penn coach Al Bagnoli make the right decision when, with the ball at his own one-yard line on fourth down late in yesterday's game, he had his punter intentionally take the safety instead of trying to punt, allowing Lafayette to go down the field and win the game with a field goal because the safety cut the Quakers' lead from four to two?

And finally, what does it say that Penn has one offensive touchdown this season and Temple has five, and both have more than Notre Dame, which has none?

You tell me.

Good lord, I just got deluged with instant messages from people screaming that Temple got jobbed by the refs on that touchdown in the back of the end zone.

Yes, they did.

And I swore they were going to overturn the incomplete call when they showed the angle from the near sideline where you could clearly see Bruce Francis had the ball and a foot down.

But to the person who asked me why Temple can't catch a break... no one ever said college football is a meritocracy.

(I expect to get slammed for that comment. But it's true. People have called it a lot of other things, many of which have been both positive and true, but I've rarely heard that specific word used.)

Okay, I realize my sporting tastes aren't the same as a lot of people's, but going straight from the Women's World Cup into College GameDay makes for one of the best mornings of ESPN programming I've ever seen.

Mike Jensen's College Football Report leads with Notre Dame-Michigan, which looks to be the sporting equivalent of 110,000 people driving by a car wreck all at once. I'll be flipping back and forth between that game and Tennessee-Florida, which figures to be yet another statement of intent on the Gators' part.

(By the way: if you got the print Inquirer today you'll note that in the Big Ten Network item in this story, the Temple kickoff is listed as 3:30 p.m. It's actually at noon, and the online version of the story has been corrected.)

Jeff McLane profiles Buffalo coach Turner Gill, a former Nebraska star who played in some very famous games and is now one of only six African-American head coaches in Division I. His Bulls go to Penn State today. It's a very good story. McLane also gives five keys to this afternoon's game.

On the local scene, here are previews for Temple-Connecticut, Norfolk State-Rutgers, Maine-Villanova and Lafayette-Penn. It's 'Nova's first home game and Penn's first game of the season.

And speaking of the Wildcats, there's big news out of the Pavilion: assistant coach Ed Pinckney is leaving to take a job with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It should be nice to see him reunited with Randy Foye... and I can't help thinking that it's where another Villanova star, Howard Porter, lived for so long. That doesn't mean anything, but I just find it an interesting coincidence.

I just stumbled across the Sagarin football ratings for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it includes all the I-A and I-AA teams. This lets us have a look at how the Delaware Valley's teams stack up against each other, at least by one measurement. But it's an important measurement, as it's one of the many used to calculate the BCS standings.

Sagarin has a very significant flaw, though: the score margin of a win/loss is not factored in at all. This is obviously very important in football, especially in the eyes of the voters who make the human-based polls. But Sagarin does give weight to games played at home versus away.

So here goes, and I'll include Penn State in this one even though they're obviously miles away from everyone else.

13. Penn State
77. Delaware
105. Villanova
132. Penn
143. Lafayette
162. Delaware State
168. Lehigh
188. Temple
242. La Salle

For better or worse, La Salle is ranked higher than only "243 ***UNRATED***."

If there are any other teams you think I should include, let me know. I'll try to do this each week, probably on Mondays from now on.

And as far as the national scale goes, here's how Sagarin's Top 10 compares to the AP and coaches' polls. Of note, the data does NOT include West Virginia's win at Maryland last night.

I'm not sure how much credence I put in Sagarin this early in the season -- it isn't very accurate early in the basketball season either, for that matter -- but is interesting just how different Sagarin is from the human polls.

The lack of score margin factor is obviously the biggest thing. It's the most obvious reason for West Virginia (22) and Florida (11) not being in the Sagarin Top 10. But I think it also says something about non-conference strength of schedule.

Maryland is the only non-Big East, BCS-conference team West Virginia is playing this year. So while the 31-14 scoreline won't matter, the fact that the game was in College park will, Florida's two wins so far have been blowouts of Western Kentucky (122) and Troy (90), both at home.

I would expect the Sagarin ratings to change quite dramatically in the weeks to come. If nothing else, I'll probably keep this feature going just to see how close it comes to the human rankings.

I need to step away for a few days to work on some other projects. The college sports stories from the two papers will still show up in the RSS feed in the right rail of the blog, and everything is always at the sports page of Philly.com.

But there's just too much going on right now for me to focus on the blog... and it's September 11, so there are more important things going on in the world anyway.

I'll be back over the weekend.

Pick your preferred form of embarassment: last week's loss to Applalachian State or yesterday's 32-7 undressing by Oregon. Regardless, the natives are clearly restless in Ann Arbor, Mich. Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom says Lloyd Carr shouldn't be fired, while his colleague Drew Sharp says "Michigan quit" and Carr should offer to resign.

I get the impression that Albom is the proverbial one guy in front of the huge mass of people with pitchforks and torches trying to stop them all from charging ahead to battle. The one guy pretty well never wins that fight, even if he is a bestselling author and TV commentator as well as a writer.

But on the bright side, Mike Hart guaranteed that Michigan will beat Notre Dame next weekend.

On the even brighter side, Notre Dame is also 0-2 after being whacked by Penn State at a frothing Beaver Stadium last night. If any Penn State fans who were there do read this blog, I'd love to know what the atmosphere was like from you. It sure looked special on TV.

Jeff McLane recaps the game by highlighting Austin Scott's 116 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. I was particularly impressed in the fourth quarter, when the Nits called 18 run plays and only three pass plays.

The last touchdown drive was particularly impressive: 10 plays, all rushes, for 63 yards over a span of five minutes and 12 seconds of game clock. The very definition of a running game that just beats an opponent's defense into submission.

Shannon Ryan's sidebar on Jimmy Clausen's rough night has one of the best ledes I've ever seen.

Mike Jensen wasn't too impressed with anyone in a gold helmet, writing that the Irish "won the miscue battle."

On the local scene, Temple kicked Vegas in the rear by losing to Buffalo, 42-7, while Villanova impressed in a 30-20 win over Lehigh.

And the rest of the regional wrap-up.

Finally, in the other big game of the day nationally, Pat Forde recaps how LSU turned Virginia Tech into boudin sausage (mmm, sausage). I know there are some Hokie fans around here, and all I can say to them is you have to tip your hat to the Tigers and their fans. I'm not sure anyone goes into Baton Rouge at 9:15 on a Saturday night and wins.

And I'm not sure Pete Carroll comes out of the Superdome in January with a win over them, either.

Nothing like sleeping in until just moments before College GameDay starts, then being jolted awake by the sounds of thousands of roaring LSU fans behind the set. What an electric atmosphere it will be in Baton Rouge tonight as Virginia Tech visits.

Saturday also starts with Mike Jensen's College Football Report, including the usual Top 10 Topics, Heisman Watch and Games of the Week.

Going back to last night for a second, Rich Fisher recaps Rutgers' 41-24 win over Navy. Ray Rice ran for 175 yards and set the Scarlet Knights' all-time rushing record on his second carry of the night. I watched a good chunk of that game and while I know Navy isn't all that great, I was quite impressed by Rutgers' offense both on the ground and in the air.

Jeff McLane considers the quarterbacks in the other big game today, Notre Dame-Penn State. I suspect Jimmy Clausen will hear a few times tonight about that stretch Hummer he rode to his first college news conference.

In a new video feature on Philly.com, columnists Bob Ford and Phil Sheridan debate whether Notre Dame is any good this year in Riffing with the Writers.

The New York Times' college football blog acknowledges the Inquirer's existence in its Notre Dame-Penn State preview, which I know matters to way more people than it should.

Villanova goes to Lehigh today, and Joe Juliano writes that this will be a much better gauge of where the Wildcats are than last week's game at Maryland.

Temple hosts Buffalo this afternoon at the Linc with last year's loss to the Bulls still fresh in the memory.

On the basketball side of things, St. Joe's released its schedule (though without tip times, just dates).

And a stunning upset in college soccer: Villanova won at No. 1 Duke. I might do some college soccer stuff when the College Cup comes around if any of the teams play locally. For now, it's all we have.

Okay, so here's some interesting news. Philly.com has a college football pick'em game going this season. As in, just pick the winners of a bunch of games. Not against the spread or anything like that. But there are real prizes, like TVs and other things.

So I'm going to stick my neck out there and challenge you all to play me. I figure you'll beat me, but hey, this is a participatory thing. To register, click here. Then, after you create an account, look for the group called Soft Pretzel Logic.

There was a round of picks last week, but since no one played in the group, it doesn't count.

Give it a shot, and if you join in, leave a comment and let me know.

(And if you're more inclined towards the NFL, there's an NFL pick'em game as well...)

Lots of good stuff today...

It's Thursday, so start with Mike Kern's weekend preview column in the Daily News. Of note, two of Penn State's opponents this month are in the Fraud Five, but that might not be too surprising. There's also the always-useful Couch Potato Guide.

Kern also previews Temple's first ever MAC game and writes the Villanova and Temple info boxes for the weekend. The Wildcats are at Lehigh, which is about as close as we come to an all-local game outside of Villanova-Penn (or maybe Delaware).

On to Penn State-Notre Dame, and you get coverage of both sides of the ball in today's papers. The Daily News' Bernard Fernandez writes about a greater Nits emphasis on the passing game, while the Inquirer's Jeff McLane profiles Sean Lee, perhaps the next in line at Linebacker U.

The Inquirer's Shannon Ryan reports that Charlie Weis thinks this weekend's game is "us against the world." That might be less one-sided than Weis wants to think...

Joe Juliano was at the weekly local football coaches' luncheon and reports on the small-college scene.

On the basketball side, Juliano reports on the release of Villanova's Big East schedule. Thus far, there are six games on ESPN, one on ESPN2 and one on CBS. I see a chance to pile up a lot of wins in late February and March, and that could serve the Wildcats very, very well come Selection Sunday. As always, your thoughts are welcome.

Finally, Dick Jerardi gathers memories of Jameer Nelson's late father, Floyd "Pete" Nelson, who will be buried in Chester tomorrow.

In perhaps the biggest news to hit the Philadelphia-area college football scene in a very long time, Vegas has Temple as a three-and-a-half-point favorite over Buffalo. It's the first time in four years that the Owls have been a betting favorite. It's not my area of expertise but I know it matters to a whole lot of people.

In games of far more consequence, Shannon Ryan and Bernard Fernandez report on Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis' decision to have much-hyped freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen start against Penn State on Saturday.

Jeff McLane reports that Joe Paterno doesn't think Appalachian State's win over Michigan was the greatest upset of all time.

And a story from yesterday on how much scalpers are getting for Saturday's game.

I don't have a prize, but try writing a caption for this photo taken at the Colorado-Colorado State game in Denver over the weekend:

Because if it's Sunday...

Before going through today's football stories, I highly recommend Phil Sheridan's column on why the Philadelphia Eagles' website should not be considered a legitimate news source.

Now for the college stuff. And as you might imagine, there's a lot of it. Shannon Ryan writes that Penn State did what Michigan did not, which is win your fluff home opener without much trouble.

(I'll come back to the Wolverines' loss to Appalachian State in a moment, but let me get through the local stuff first.)

Jeff McLane notes that redshirt sophomore Mickey Shuler replaced the suspended Anthony Quarless at tight end and caught his first ever touchdown pass. Bob Ford considers JoePa, who made it out of the tunnel without much trouble despite that not-quite-healed-yet leg.

Villanova hung around with Maryland for a while, but Joe Juliano reports that the 'Cats only ran 14 plays in the second half to Maryland's 43. The final score: 31-14.

Kevin Tatum considers the Temple-Navy game and relays coach Al Golden's belief that it was a "moral victory."

After the jump, the national scene.

So there I was, watching the Temple band form the tunnel that the Owls were about to run though, watching the crowd file in and the student section try to form a genuine atmosphere.

It certainly felt like a step forward for this program, so often the butt of jokes tossed across the college football landscape. So what if the upper deck and most of the middle deck were empty.

Yet it seemed to go like this all night: a step or two forward, then a step back, or sideways.

The Owls won the coin toss and elected to receive. The ball came to Travis Shelton, the one guy on the field in cherry and white you knew could really do something, at the goal line. He got 21 yards on the return; it would be his longest of the night.

Adam DiMichele lined up under center. His first pass was incomplete. His second was a completion to freshman Daryl Robinson, the other guy for Temple getting a lot of buzz. Robinson was able to get a few good-looking yards after the catch, and the crowd roared. The play came back because of a holding penalty.

DiMichele completed his next pass for eight yards, but Temple punted. Navy went down the field and scored a touchdown.

On the next drive, DiMichele threw a nice pass to Matt Balasavage for a 20-yard game. Big roar for that one... and an illegal touching penalty on Balasavage to cancel it out. Temple would punt again, and Navy took two plays to score another touchdown.

In the second quarter, Temple's Anthony Ferla forced a fumble on a carry by Navy's Zerb Singleton. John Haley just about tripped over another Temple player before finally grabbing the ball and taking it 25 yards the other way to the Navy 12-yard line.

The very next play, Marcell Grigsby got nailed on a carry six yards behind the line of scrimmage.

But that was followed by DiMichele finding Robinson for a screen pass, and Robinson scampered out wide and into the end zone. The extra point made it 14-10, and we had a ballgame on our hands.

Then, in the fourth quarter. Temple with the ball at the Navy 23. Balasavage is wide open near the left hash at around the 15, with literally no Navy players within five yards of him. DiMichele throws the ball towards him, but a bit high.

Balasavage reaches up, and it seems for just a moment like he's going to bobble the ball and not pull it in. But he grabs it, tucks it under his arm, and starts rumbling towards the end zone. Six-foot-four, 240 pounds, a bunch of Navy players starting to give chase, and for a moment it feels like he's carrying the entire Temple student section on his back to the 10-yard line, the five... and into the end zone. 27-19, and we have a game again.

But on the extra point attempt, Temple's young players can't quite get lined up right. Al Golden doesn't want to waste a timeout, so he lets the play clock expire and eats the five yards.

The extra point attempt is blocked. Navy goes down the other end and hits a field goal, and that does it.

Golden talked after the game about how disappointed he was that the team didn't win, about how he wanted to get the feeling of winning in his players, about how much the team had worked hard and improved since losing at Navy last season.

It was noted that despite giving up 361 rushing yards, Temple had the majority of the time of possession. Golden didn't seem to take any solace.

No, they didn't win. A city that demands winners probably paid a bit more attention than usual last night, given the primetime lights and the Phillies being out of town, and didn't get the result.

But this city also demands effort. It certainly got that. Next weekend is another game, surely a more winnable game against Buffalo. A revenge game, even, given that Temple lost to the Bulls last year.

Perhaps the boulder will be a bit easier to move up the hill then.

It's Saturday, so start with the return of Mike Jensen's College Football Report. As always, it includes the Top 10 Topics and the Games of the Week. This week's edition includes the Games of the Season as well.

Kevin Tatum and Mike Kern recap the Temple-Navy game. I'll have some thoughts of my own to share shortly, but there was definite proof last night that the Owls have no intention of being tossed around anymore like they've always been.

Villanova goes down to College Park, Md., today to play the Terrapins. Maryland hasn't always done what it's supposed to do against Division I-AA teams, so this one might at least be entertaining for a bit longer than it should be.

Meanwhile, Florida International goes to Penn State today trying to reverse the image created from last year's 0-12 season and brawl at Miami. I somehow doubt the folks in Happy Valley will be all that accomodating.

Clearly, though, the biggest game of the day -- and yes, the Spectacle of the Week, winning the contest by (and with) one vote -- is East Carolina at Virginia Tech.

A few weeks back, Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post wrote something on his blog that I found to be quite salient.

Why do we have to wring some sort of grandiose tales of societal healing out of sporting events? In what way does football provide comfort to the people who actually need to be comforted; say, the victims' parents? If any of my relations were ever struck by tragedy, how exactly would a four-yard run up the middle on second-and-eight make me feel better?

I get as sick as anyone of the overhyping of not just college sports, but sports as a whole. I find it particularly aggravating when a media outlet -- and ESPN is first in line with this -- takes a storyline and sticks to it the entire way through, even when what is going on in front of our eyes is something different. Perhaps even the opposite thing entirely, or at least something that proves the Chosen Storyline to be false in some form.

But there has never been any doubt to me that there is no other thing on a college campus that brings people together better than sports. I would be perfectly happy if some famous professor did it, or the medical research facilities, or an orchestra, or anything else. For better or worse, though, sports is the thing that gets it done.

What happened at Virginia Tech is of a completely different scale than anything we've seen in a long time. But be honest with yourself:

Does anything bring the St. Joe's and Villanova campuses together like basketball (especially when they're playing each other)?

Is there any other thing besides sports that Temple University does at any point during the year that would put 25,000 of its students, staff, faculty, alumni and anyone else with a connection to the institution in the same place at the same time for three and a half hours?

I would love to hear an answer proving that something else can do so. I genuinely mean that. But I doubt it will happen.

So I find Mark Schlabach's column on ESPN.com today to be particularly worth reading. The players at Virginia Tech genuinely understand just what it is they are doing by playing football as I write this post.

"People can say the Yankees and Saints are on a much larger scale than ya'll," Hokies quarterback Sean Glennon says in the story. "But in the town of Blacksburg, I think we're on the radar as much as the Yankees are in New York and the Saints are in New Orleans. The people in this community really love Virginia Tech and they love the Hokies."

Do you honestly want to not believe him? Do you think he wasn't being genuine? As cynical as this sports summer has been, I want to think that this game today really does matter, and that the people of Blacksburg really have been waiting all summer for this day, and that it really does mean something to them.

If that's not so, I'll stand up and say I was as much a victim of the media hype as anyone else. But I rather doubt it.

What about you?

The final score was 30-19 Navy. Listen to Temple coach Al Golden and Owls QB Adam DiMichele and CB Anthony Ferla discuss the game with reporters.

I'll post my thoughts in the morning.