#1 Ranked LSU Blows 27-14 Lead, Loses in 3-0T, Becomes the 10th Team Ranked in the Top 10 to Lose

The Kentucky Wildcats, ranked number 17 in the Associated Press Polls, stunned the number 1 ranked Louisiana State University Tigers Saturday night, in a triple overtime thriller. Andre Woodson, Quarterback of Kentucky Wildcats, and his team are the latest team to shake up the National Title chase this season, but are the first team in nearly four years to topple the number one ranked team in the regular season, beating the LSU Tigers 43-37. The winning play was a 7 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Steve Johnson, putting the team up 43-37, but the team failed to convert the two point conversion that is required during the third overtime. It didn’t matter. LSU failed to get into the end zone with their four chances, and all four of the plays run were running plays. Charles Scott, running back for the LSU Tigers, failed to convert a fourth down play, only two yards. He nearly converted it, but came up just one yard shy. This is the first time that the Wildcats have beaten a number one ranked team since 1964, when they defeated Mississippi.

The Tigers became the 10th Top Ten ranked team to lose this season. The first was one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history, when the Michigan Wolverines lost to an incredible underdog in Appalachian St. in week one play. In the last two weeks, nine more top ten ranked nationally in the top ten have lost. This includes last weekend, when the number two ranked University of Southern California Trojans lost to the Stanford Cardinals by a score of 24-23. The last number one ranked team to lose was on December 6, 2003, when the Oklahoma Sooners lost the Big 12 title in an upset to the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 35-7. The biggest problem for LSU is the fact that the first Bowl Championship Series polls’ come out. The BCS poll is the one that counts, not the AP or a Coaches’ Poll, because it picks the teams that will play for the National Championship in January. So whether or not they win the rest of their games this season or not, their run for a National Championship is more or less finished. However, this could change too, with all the upsets so far this season, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if more top ranked teams lost and at least one of the two teams that end up playing for the National Championship have at least one loss under their belts. It should be an interesting end to the season over the next few weeks now that a number one team has lost. To me, this season has been one of the most interesting yet. All these twists and turns in the National Championship run make for some VERY interesting games. I love it.

Jones-Drew Fined for Celebration

Maurice Jones-Drew, tail back for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was fined $7,500 for his post-touchdown celebration. Jones-Drew had just scored a 52 yard rushing touchdown in last week’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and decided to have himself a little celebration. Jones-Drew staged a celebration where he used the goal post, simulating it as an ATM machine. “It was pretty cool,” said the second year Jacksonville tail back afterwards. “We laughed our way all the way to the bank.” However, the result of it was unexpected and now he really does have to make a withdrawal from his bank account, which he for sure is NOT laughing about.

The league fined him the $7,500, stating that he violated the rule that says that a player cannot use props as part of their touchdown celebrations. The play came during the second quarter of the game, when he shot through a hole and flew past the secondary Kansas City’s’ secondary defense for the 52 yard score. Now what he did next is where the fine comes in. After the score, he dropped the ball and then went to the goal post and, as a few team mates watched him, he simulated punching in his account number and then removed his deposit. He was surprised when he heard that he was going to be fined by the NFL pointing out that he did not use the ball as a prop, which is not permitted. League officials shrugged it off, stating that the goal post is considered a prop and that a player cannot use it as a part of a rehearsed celebration, and therefore they fined him for his actions. Nobody yet knows whether or not Jones-Drew will appeal the fine or not. His base salary for the 2007 season is roughly $360,000. It was Jones-Drew’s first touchdown of the 2007 season, who was a second round draft pick from UCLA. In his rookie season he rushed for 941 yards and 13 touchdowns. So far in the four games he’s played this year, he’s rushed for only 182 yards and that single touchdown. Now normally I would agree with the league on this, but only if the ball had been used in the celebration. In this case it's more of a league decision, they say he used the goal post as a prop, but he never really did anything with it, did he? He just walked up to it and made it LOOK like he was putting his account number "into" the post, but it's nothing like when Joe Horn of the New Orleans Saints, after his touchdown, went over to the goal post, LIFTED UP the cushioning part of it, and took out a cell phone. I don't think I agree with the league this time though.

Trouble for Austin Scott and Penn State

Last week I wrote about the Duke rape scandal. Well this week it’s the start of something new. Penn State running back, Austin Scott was charged Friday with rape, sexual assault, and two counts of aggravated assault. He is also facing three misdemeanor charges including two counts of indecent assault and one account of simple assault. This account was said to have occurred on Friday October 5, 2007 at Scott’s on campus apartment after the two met at a bar. He was suspended on unknown terms later that day by coach, Joe Paterno.

Austin Scott is a super senior at Penn State University and he remains enrolled. He was redshirted his senior year for persistent injuries he was facing. He led his team his freshman year in rushing yards.

He is pleading non guilty to all charges. Scott and his lawyer say that this incident was consensual and they plan to prove this. However, Scott originally told investigators that the woman initially did not want to have sexual intercourse.

I don’t really know how to feel about issues like this. In my opinion, the allegations could by all means be factual. But part of me thinks that a once star player on the football team would have no problem getting women to have consensual sex with him. Is the woman just looking for a little spotlight or is she really a victim of sexual assault and rape? I guess we won’t know until the jury deliberates but what we know that this is not good news for Austin Scott or the Nittany Lions.

Bengals CB Joseph Suspended

The NFL suspended the Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Johnathan Joseph for this weeks game against the Kansas City Chiefs because of a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy according to Sports Illustrated. We have yet another NFL player suspended for violation of the substance abuse policy. It seems like every week we hear of another player getting in trouble. I’ve always said that the behavior of these professional athletes, NFL players in particular, has been steadily disintegrating over the last few years. Joseph will lose salary for this week’s game and the following game against the New York Jets as a result of his violation. He is the ninth Bengal arrested over the past nine months. Two other Bengals players are suspended at the moment, linebacker Odell Thurman and receiver Chris Henry. Thurman violated the substance abuse policy last year and sat out the season, and isn’t allowed to return this season. Henry has been sentenced to miss the first eight games of this season for multiple violations of that same substance abuse policy. I have to ask… When will players learn to shape up and stop doing drugs? I guess this is a universal question that applies to plenty of people, but these professional athletes are in the public eye and as a result their offenses draw much more attention.

This image was found at www.bengals.com.

Texas Tech T-shirt controversy

According to ESPN.com Texas Tech has banned the sales of T-shirts that have Vick hanging the dog mascot of rival Texas A&M. The red and black shirts, with text that says "VICK 'EM" on the front in an apparent reference to the Aggies' slogan "Git 'em," was created by a Tech student who was trying to sell them before Saturday's game. The back of the shirt shows a football player wearing the No. 7 Vick jersey holding a rope with an image of the mascot Reveille at the end of a noose. (Description taken from ESPN.com for lack of better way to describe the shirts). The shirt creator Geoffrey Candia, a part of the Theta Chi fraternity, had sold around 300 of the shirts before the sales were banned, 200 shy of the projected sale total of 500. These two schools have a long bitter history toward each other, hence the reason they are considered bitter rivals, which would explain the T-shirts.

At least the issue is the subject of T-shirts rather than something much worse, such as a violent confrontation between the two schools. I personally find the T-shirts amusing rather than hurtful, even though this is not the preferred politically correct viewpoint. It’s only a student hoping to create a humorous T-shirt in the spirit of the fierce rivalry. There is no doubt that people are offended by the shirts, but as I said earlier the shirts would be preferred to violence. I almost feel sorry for Michael Vick. He just can’t seem to stay out of the media’s limelight, even if he is not directly involved in the controversy. Sure his situation is highlighted, but it’s almost refreshing to se that he’s not the catalyst in this particular story. Just let him serve his time and be done with it. It’s almost as bad as the constant coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death. If these shirts would have had any other subject on them, I doubt that the story would have made much more than the local newspaper if that.

Football just keeps getting better as tough teams go down.

What a weekend for football upsets. First who saw the Illinois defeat of the Wisconsin Badgers coming? This definitely will have significant repercussions on Big Ten standings. Right now Ohio State is leading the Big Ten with a perfect season so far and Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, and Wisconsin are all 5-0. Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State University are all trailing behind with 4 wins and 2 losses each. And rearing up the Big Ten conference is Minnesota with 2 wins and 4 losses. I’m sure now one credible really predicted Michigan to have 2 losses so far so early in the season but upsets in sports is what makes the games worth watching right?

College football weren’t the only ones to see action this weekend. The NFL got its fair share Sunday night as well. Bears had a great weekend thanks to the Packers. All bets were against them as they matched up against arch rivals, the Green Bay Packers. The first half was just as everyone imagined. Packers score a touchdown within 6 minutes of the game and in the first rush. The Packers had the ball for a whopping 341 yards in the first half alone but after second quarter ended Bears were within 10 points. This was all thanks to Charles Tillman of course who forced two fumbles on Sunday. Green Bay probably would have put points on the board in both cases. The second half of the game, the Bears fought their way back and lowered Brett Favre’s confidence just a little. A few good passes on behalf of Brian Griese also helped the Bears out. It was definitely a change for Bears fans to not have a quarterback to complain about after the game.

Other highlights from this weekend include Notre Dame’s defeat of UCLA which marks the Irish first win of the season. And of course, former champs, USC falling to Stanford. I guess all this is looking good to the still strong, Ohio State Buckeyes right now. All this is good television as far as I’m concerned. I, for one, am very excited to see some strong teams go down and to see all the surprising upsets take place. Keep ‘em coming.

Briggs Pleads Guilty

Last week Lance Briggs plead guilty to leaving the scene of his accident, and also the failure to report being involved in that accident according to ESPN.com. If you hadn’t heard of this incident, the Bears linebacker lost control of his $350,000 Lamborghini Murcielago outside Chicago early in the morning on August 27. He faces 120 hours of community service and will be under court supervision for the next year. Abandoning the scene of an accident is a misdemeanor and failing to report an accident is punishable by fine. He was only fined $485 for his failure to report, hardly a meaningful fine to an athlete who makes in the millions each year. Briggs was given a lighter sentence than what could have been sentenced because this was his first arrest and he was given the benefit of the doubt. The reason he fled from the scene is because he panicked and didn’t know what to do. I don’t know how much money you need to have, or how stupid you need to act, but if I wouldn’t abandon a car worth $350,000 for the life of me. His car is worth more than many peoples home’s, and he left it on the side of the road. As if we didn’t need any more problems with players in the NFL this year. It seems like the general behavior of NFL players has deteriorated to embarrassing levels over the last few years. This is a pretty minor issue, however, compared to the actions of Michael Vick, but it still tarnishes the image of the NFL.

The picture was found at www.chicagobears.com

Stripped of Her Medals.....But Why Now?

Marion Jones, winner of five medals during the duration of the 2000 summer Olympics, located in Sydney, Australia, has returned her medals to the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S Anti-Doping Agency officials. This consists of 3 gold medals and 2 bronze medals. Jones, who has always denied using performance enhancing drugs, such as steroids, has finally admitted to using such items. Jones gave back the five medals, and then further agreed to forfeit any race she participated in since September 1, 2000. Jones was the winner of the Gold medal in the 100 and 200 meter dashes and the 1,600 meter relay, as well as the Bronze medal winner in the 400 relay and the long jump. If the IOC (International Olympic Committee) decides to vacate her results from the Sydney Olympics, then her relay teammates could lose their medals as well. The USOC's (United States Olympic Committee) CEO and Chairman both said the would support the IOC in nullifying the relay results, encouraging the other Americans to give back their medals. Jearl Miles-Clark, Monique Hennagan, Tasha Colander-Richardson, and Andrea Anderson, as well as Jones, all won Gold medals as part of the 1,600 meter relay. Christy Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry, and Passion Richardson, and Jones all won Bronze medals as part of the 400 meter relay.

Now what's interesting about the USOC wanting the athletes to give their medals back NOW, is that two of the other women from the 400 meter relay, Christy Gaines and Torri Edwards, have BOTH served doing bans since the Sydney Olympics. So why would the USOC take away the athletes medals now that Marion Jones confessed to using banned doping substances? Is it just because Jones is more well known as being a user of doping substances? Why wouldn't they have taken away the athletes' medals after one of the other two failed their tests and served their bans?