NCAA Week 7: Good Snark, Bad Snark

This is why conference games can be so much more interesting than big brand inter-regional clashes.

• First of all, those high-profile non-cons happen when teams are still getting their respective acts together, and as Ohio State can attest, that usually takes more than one game.
• Secondly, players and teams are usually quite familiar with each other in conference games, so there are many more intangibles on the line than meet the eye.

With the upsets on Friday and Saturday, there are now only eight remaining unbeaten teams:

Alabama ... 7-0	Wisconsin ... 6-0
Penn State ... 6-0	Miami ... 5-0
Georgia ... 7-0	South Florida ... 6-0
TCU ... 6-0	Central Florida ... 4-0

Those ranks will surely be thinned even more, but only one is totally certain:

• Alabama and Georgia would only meet in the SEC title game if they win their divisions.
• Penn State and Wisconsin would only meet in the Big Ten title game if they win their divisions.
• Central Florida and South Florida -- both in the American East -- go at it on Fri 24 Nov.

Again, conference games contain rivalries and various other axes to grind. If more than one club on that list makes it through its campaign unscathed, it'll be news.

Good Snark: Sticking the landing ... CalBear frosh QB Ross Bowers has gone airborne in his high school days, and now he's reaching new heights at an institute of higher learning:

Bad Snark: For want of a shoe ... The kingdom was lost. Tell Auburn and Washington about it.

The Tigers missed a chip shot:

The Huskies missed two gimmes, including this doink:

Washington's used two kickers this season, and neither has gotten the job done. Clemson lost their kicker, and the backup's having issues.

Compare those misses to the teams' respective scores, and take note how those misses have significantly affected the college landscape.

Good Snark: It's clobberin' time ... Boston College freshman RB AJ Dillon is 6-0 & 240. He also may be related to Ben Grimm:

Dude blasted through Louisville 39 times for 272 yards and four TD's in the Golden Eagles' 45-42 upset of Louisville.

Not sure if any Cardinal looked through Dillon's facemask to see if there was any resemblance.

Bad Snark: Advancing a Punt v2.0 ... How does this happen twice in an FBS season?

Maybe this column should be required reading for special teamers everywhere. In Week 5, a Miami Hurricane punt didn't pass the line of scrimmage and could've been advanced. That's the rule.

In the CalBear game, the third Wazzu punter on the day popped an infield fly that landed behind the line and virtually within a step of a teammate. Names will be protected, but with the friendly bounce that ovoid took, dude coulda rambled for a while.

Yet another opportunity lost.

Good Snark: Division III gets it ... Someday, Wabash College kicker Schuyler Nehrig will become a captain of industry.

He gets it:

That touchdown pulled the Little Giants -- go figure -- within one point of Ohio Wesleyan, and then Nehrig tacked on the PAT to tie it.

Maybe the Battling Bishops came back to win, 16-13, and drop Wabash from the unbeaten ranks, but full marks to Nehrig for having a clue when others are found wanting.

Bad Snark: Stay in your lane ... Back in the FBS, this really wasn't a sterling week for special teams.

There the Indiana Hoosiers were -- where they always are -- hanging in against a Big Ten power and trying to finally get over the hump and win one. It was late in the fourth quarter, they'd just hit paydirt against Michigan to pull within three, and they pulled the perfect onside kick outta their bag of tricks.

Almost.

Simmie Cobbs Jr is the Hoosiers' go-to dude, a junior who has more presence than that.

He had loads of room down that sideline and a clear path to a probable -- you never know with Indiana -- victory.

Long story short: Michigan won in overtime, 27-20.

Snarkalicious: Lure of the Palouse ... It wasn't the best of weeks in Pullman.

• First, Washington State wet the bed down in Berkeley, and
• Then, Cougar alum and AD Bill Moos surprised everyone by trading the USA's richest wheat fields for the corn belt of Nebraska.

But then, a happy ending for Wazzu. Mike Leach quickly announced he was staying.

Dude will always be a superhero amid the rolling hills that are enriched with the loess from the prehistoric Missoula Floods and ash from volcanoes such as Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, and Mt St Helen's. It's why they yield three lush crops a year.

Frankly, all he's gotta do is yield one lush crop every six years, and he'll have a statue right next to Butch the Cougar.