Well, that was different, now wasn’t it?
This past week involved one of the biggest upsets in college football history, in terms of point spread. Louisiana-Monroe walked into Little Rock a 30 ½ point underdog, and walked out a winner. It wasn’t technically the biggest upset this year by point spread (that honor goes to Texas State’s upset of Houston as a 36 ½ point underdog), but it was certainly the biggest in terms of national magnitude. Louisiana-Monroe had never beaten a ranked team and probably counted a 2007 win over a then 6-4 Alabama team as its biggest win of all time to that point. Adding insult to injury, the Warhawks also took home a $500,000 guarantee check from Arkansas to play the game. Not a bad night’s work.
And then there’s Savannah State. The school, which has a 4-72 record against 1-AA schools since it became one, has found itself as the poster boy for the trend of “cupcake” games. It had its game against Florida State mercifully called in the third quarter due to inclement weather. The Tigers were trailing 55-0 at the time. This means that for approximately $860,000 worth of guarantee money, Savannah State has played a little over six quarters of football (against Oklahoma State and FSU), has been outgained 1,069 yards to 167, and has been outscored 139-0. College athletics, among other things, is supposed to be about educating the athletes on the teams and preparing them for life. I’m not sure what the life lesson is here, but I don’t think it’s a positive one. In case you’re wondering, Savannah State has a bye this week.
This is not to say that all matchups between 1-A and 1-AA schools went the same way. The entire state of Colorado must be wondering what happened after Saturday, when both Colorado and Colorado State were beaten by 1-AA schools (Sacramento State 30, Colorado 28; North Dakota State 22, Colorado State 7). 1-AA Eastern Washington almost pulled off a second win over a 1-A opponent in as many weeks after beating Idaho in week 1 and losing 24-20 to Washington State on Saturday. They don’t get nearly the attention that the major programs do, but there’s some good football that’s played every Saturday at smaller venues all across the country – sometimes even good enough to beat one of the big boys.
The rash of upsets this week led to a little more spread in the standings. Congratulations to MarylandTwerp, who pulled off their second straight 275-point performance to take this week outright. GO Ponies was second this week, with Rocky Tide finishing third.
The overall standings after two weeks:
| 1st | MarylandTwerp | 550 |
| 2nd | Rocky Tide | 544 |
| 3rd | gatorbamalover | 543 |
| T-4th | Allison | 542 |
| T-4th | Ralphie | 542 |
| 6th | maestro | 540 |
| 7th | AUBrian | 539 |
| 8th | Crimson Gator | 538 |
| T-9th | CUtigers | 537 |
| T-9th | jagrag | 537 |
Remember that this year, the worst two weeks of each player will be dropped to determine the champion. Starting next week, I will be listing overall standings by that measure. The first games this week are Saturday, September 15 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
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Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.