Ten Answers, feisty dry turkey edition…

Ten answers to ten questions I didn’t ask. With the turkey (cooked it dry I did) I didn’t get Ten Questions up last week. There was plenty of knowledge dropped on us though, namely that Tebow is out of his cage, Mickey Andrews picked a shitty year to retire, and the services of Charlie Weis are in high demand (as an NFL O-Coordinator). On to the ten (five) answers…

1.) It may be debatable as to whether or not defense wins championships, but it sure as hell wins regular season games. What is the common thread between each of the fallen glory teams this year (Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida State)? It’s bad defense.

Consider where each of these teams ranks in scoring defense:
Florida State - 98th
Michigan - 79th
Notre Dame - 64th

Despite being able to light up the scoreboard offensively, all of those programs have had significant difficulty this season stopping opponents (or even slowing them down in some cases). Let that help you go to sleep better at night Buckeye nation- as long as Jim Heacock and company are rocking the fierce D, things can’t go too far awry.

Even in the case of USC and Oklahoma, the defense hasn’t been horrible but the offense hasn’t been able to do enough to make up the difference.

2.) Cincinnati 49, Illinois 36

Tony Pike is a bad man. I don’t care who you’re playing, six touchdown passes in one game is pretty sweet. Tha’ts like 4 1/2 games worth of touchdown passes for TP. To keep Cincy fan’s ego in check, that was Illinois, and not Dick Butkus’ Illinois, the Zookers 3-8 Illinois.

Allowing the Illini to drop half a 72 on you is a problem. Sugarcoat it all you want. I still think TCU is the best of the non-BCS schools (yes I just called Cincy a non-BCS school- deal with that) but I would looooove to see Cincy take on Alabama, preferably at Alabama.

The $32 million dollar elephant in the Bearcat room is obviously Brian Kelly. Notre Dame fans should be comforted by the fact that everything Kelly touches turns to gold. Not only did he win at Grand Valley State and win at Central Michigan and win at Cincinnati, he’s done it convincingly and with an Urban Meyeresque go-for-the-throat attitude. Losing a stud QB like Pike would cripple most teams (see Oklahoma), yet all Kelly and Cincinnati did was tap Zach Collaros on the shoulder and ask him to go destroy three teams until Pike was ready to go again. Put Pike back in, six touchdowns, voila.

I hate to say it Bearcat nation, but there’s no better place for a gold-encrusted coach to go then Notre Dame. It’s going to happen; you’re a stairstep program. Kelly- any concern about what decision to make, give Greg Schiano a call at Rutgers.

3.) Boise State 44, Nevada 33
TCU 51, New Mexico 10

We’re guaranteed at least three undefeated teams at the end of the regular season so the BCS must be working. Boise State and TCU both finished their regular seasons undefeated and await their bowl fate.

TCU is a lock for the BCS but Boise State should have some heartburn until the official pairings come out. I think the Broncos are in but it’s all about the benjamins playa. I hope they don’t get in so somebody starts stirring up some BCS trouble (other than old white guys/the President in Washington).

I don’t think TCU or Boise deserve a spot in the BCS national championship game but they do deserve to play their way into it. It would be an unbelievable spectacle to see them go to Florida or Texas or Alabama to play in order to move on to the semifinals. There’s just no parity in the regular season schedules and there never will be.

4.) Florida 37, Florida State 10

It’s officially time for “Weekend at Bobby’s“ to be over. You know the movie- the two kids try to keep the party going by propping up the old man making it look like he’s still pulling all the strings. Anthony McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman it’s over. Time to divvy up the estate.

The eternal optimist in me would like to think that if FSU had Christian Ponder behind center, the ‘Noles could have kept the game closer. The realist in me knows an entire A-Team van full of past Florida State quarterbacks could have shown up and it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference.

I hate to say it because I think he’s one of the best assistant coaches of the last 20 years but the atrophy in the Seminole defense under the direction of Mickey Andrews is a huge reason why the Seminoles are where they are. That and they’ve had these guys as their last five quarterbacks:

*Drew Weatherford
*Xavier Lee
*Wyatt Sexton
*Adrian McPherson
*Chris Rix

5.) West Virginia 19, Pittsburgh 16

Wannstache!! Anyone who bet their hard-earned money on Pittsburgh over West Virginia needs a hug this week. Pitt lost to the Mountaineers via a late field goal, taking considerable wind out of the coming Pitt-Cincy matchup this weekend. Pittsburgh Board of Tourism, know this- had Pitt won last week I was on my way to the city of 2+1 Rivers but now I’m not. Thank the Wannstache for the loss of my tourism dollars- and I’m a big spender. Suck on that.

You’re welcome.