RIP Carroll Hoff "Beano" Cook, college football's original talking head. Like a lot of this site's audience, I'm just old enough to remember Beano predicting Ron Powlus would win two Heisman Trophies and two national championships at Notre Dame, but a little too young for him to have been the instrumental publicist and later the irascible Saturday mainstay for me that he was for nearly two decades of fans now approaching (or well into) middle age. If I make it 60 years in this business and the kids remember for anything, though, that will be a fine life. Just a fine life. "You’ll never have a 16-team playoff in college football. The most that could happen would be four teams in the next century. But after that, I’m dead, so who cares?"
So Boise State's equipment truck hit a cow en route to Saturday's game at Southern Miss, and apparently did to poor Bessie what Boise's defense is going to do the Golden Eagles' freshman quarterback. I guess the local poultry has had enough of the "Eat Mor Chikin" thing. As a native Mississippian, I feel compelled to point out that there is no evidence at this point that the, uh, collision actually happened within the Magnolia State, the distance from Boise to Hattiesburg covering some 2,000 miles across a couple dozen state borders. But demographically, the odds are that it definitely did. (via @MurphsTurph)
One of the greats, Tom Osborne, steps down as AD; this time for good. This season will be Osborne's last in Nebraska in an official capacity, though his status as pater familias of the Cornhusker juggernaut has been literally enshrined both inside and outside of Memorial Stadium for eternity. Osborne's formidable legacy comes down to four important moments: 1. Going for the win when he didn't have to in the 1984 Orange Bowl,2. Presiding over the most ass-kicking succession of teams in college football history in the mid-nineties, 3. Orchestrating Nebraska's monumental move to the Big Ten, and 4. Pioneering the fine art of rocking tight red pants like a boss. Because he was the boss, for 35 years, and for three more months, he still is. So don't go thinking it's about to be "Lord Of the Flies" around here.
Lowlights: Arizona's red zone riot, and more of the worst of Week 4. Over at CBS, it's the weekly lowlights, featuring Arizona's o-fer at Oregon, Georgia Tech's self-inflicted safety, the latest edition of the Dreadful Dozen and the newest inductee in the Lowlights Hall of Fame, Denard Robinson.
Notre Dame opts out its series with Michigan. Go out on a high note, as they always say.
One Foot Inbounds: Returning to Glory (For Real This Time). The latest edition of the weekly recap at Football Outsiders asks the really important questions, like: Is it safe to trust Florida State and/or Notre Dame? Just how terrifying is the concept of Oregon playing defense? And how many gallons of fresh sorority blood does it take to keep Bill Snyder going on a daily basis? Plus the regular Top 25 and Lowsman Trophy Watch, starring you-know-who.
Saturday Roll Call, Evening Edition: Over at CBS, we get you caught up on the best of what you may have missed in the afternoon games, including Miami's stunning comeback from Georgia Tech's stunning comeback, a record-smashing afternoon at Old Dominion and the most hilarious safety this side of Dan Orlovsky.
Saturday Roll Call, Early Edition. Over at CBS, the best of what you should have seen in the noon games, but may have missed, featuring Geno Smith's rogue headgear and Iowa's sixth-string, walk-on fullback rumbling for 217 yards and three touchdowns. That's right, AIRBHG: 217 yards and three touchdowns. Oh, you bad, huh? Where you at? What you got to say about that? What... oh. Well, that really is quite devastating.
Montee Ball leaves game with head injury. Shortly after losing the first fumble of his career in the first quarter, Wisconsin's reigning Heisman finalist was forced to leave the Badgers' game against UTEP with an apparent concussion – all the more serious given that Ball is only a few weeks removed from suffering a concussion in a preseason assault. He won't be back today, and his status for the start of the Big Ten schedule is obviously in the air. The Badgers led just 9-6 when Ball left the game; at the half, they've taken command, up 23-6 with more total yards in two quarters (250) than they've managed in either of their last two games.