The town of Calhoun City, Mississippi, is an unassuming blip on the map. Mississippi Highways 8 and 9 junction in the center of the town, which had a population of 1,774 in the 2010 census. It is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Dave Parker, the 1978 National League MVP and a two-time batting champion. However, it has another distinction this week. It’s the closest city the writer can find to the midpoint between the towns of Starkville and Oxford, which gives it the unofficial honor of being the current epicenter of the college football universe.
I wonder if Bruce Dickinson’s fever has subsided yet. There is plenty of cowbell in Starkville these days, as Mississippi State is on an historic run. With their wins over LSU, Texas A&M, and Auburn, it’s the first time in MSU history that they’ve beaten three straight top-ten teams. The Bulldogs completed the quickest rise from unranked to #1 in the 78-year history of the AP poll, doing so in five weeks. It is also the first time that Mississippi State has been ranked #1 in the AP poll. But don’t overlook their neighbors to the south! Ole Miss is only two poll points behind Florida State for the #2 ranking. The Rebels are riding the second-best scoring defense in the country (11.8 points per game) to their first 6-0 start since 1962. The Egg Bowl, the annual rivalry matchup between the two teams, is looking to be the biggest in the series history, and certainly one of the most expensive: the current lowest-priced ticket for the game that I found? $295.
In other, non-Mississippi news, you might have heard of this little game that’s going to be played in Tallahassee this week. Florida State and Notre Dame enter the week as #2 and #5 in the polls respectively, making it the second straight week we’ll get a top-five showdown. This will be the eighth game between the Seminoles and the Irish; Florida State holds a 5-2 advantage. This gives the Seminoles the distinction of being only one of four teams currently playing football to own a winning record against Notre Dame in a series with more than five games. (Michigan, Nebraska, and Ohio State are the others; LSU, Penn State, Syracuse, and Tennessee have .500 records against the Irish.) This will be only the second matchup in Tallahassee (the other was in 2002), but the fifth in the state of Florida. The buildup for this one is almost as big as the famous 1993 game, which Notre Dame won 31-24. Florida State got the last laugh, however, as Notre Dame lost their next game to Boston College and the Seminoles ended up regaining the #1 spot and the national championship.
The Marshall Thundering Herd (still one of my favorite nicknames in college football) have a proud tradition. They’ve won two I-AA national championships and won five out of six MAC conference championships once making the leap to I-A. But things had slowed down considerably for several years until last year, when Marshall had their first 10-win season since 2002. But that pales in comparison to what they’re accomplishing this year. While their strength of schedule will not be winning any awards, the Herd is currently 6-0 and outscoring opponents by an average of 48-17. They have the second-best offense in terms of yards and points in the country (second to Baylor in both categories), and the eighth-best scoring defense. They are ranked for the first time this week. Looking at their schedule, it would not be surprising to see the Herd thundering along to a perfect 12-0, and only East Carolina stands ahead of them in the race to the “best Group of 5 Conference” major bowl bid…
In small school news, it’s about that time of year for me to include my annual “Mount Union is a *really* good Division III team” paragraph. This year’s version of the Purple Raiders currently stands at 5-0. Their closest game was their first, a 58-7 win over Bethany (WV). The average score of their games thus far this year? 64-4. As it seems to be every year, it will probably come down to a one-game season for Mount Union: the Division III championship game in recent years has tended to feature Mount Union versus Wisconsin-Whitewater. (This year, UWW is also currently 5-0, with an average margin of victory of 48-5). Other amazing records: Mount Union has not failed to win their conference championship since 1992. Their record (counting this season) since the start of 1992? 303-13, a .959 winning percentage.
Congratulations to Allison, who wins week 7 with 128 points! JagRag was second with 127 points, and there was a three-way tie for third between JG Bama, maestro, and JHutto, each with 126 points.
Overall standings after seven weeks:
| 1st | Allison | 1175 |
| 2nd | maestro | 1174 |
| 3rd | JagRag | 1173 |
| 4th | AUBrian | 1165 |
| T-5th | pachyderm | 1159 |
| T-5th | JHutto | 1159 |
| 7th | SicEmFrogs | 1157 |
| 8th | The Tradition | 1156 |
| 9th | GODAWGS | 1155 |
| 10th | Bamagirl25 | 1152 |
It’s been a couple of tough weeks to pick, and this week doesn’t get much easier: four top-25 matchups highlight the slate of games. Pick wisely and well! The first game this week is Utah at Oregon State, Thursday, October 16 @ 10 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!