Group of Six schools need their own playoff
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Dean Smith, the legendary men's college basketball coach at North Carolina, believed that moving the women's hoops regular season to the fall would increase nationwide interest in the ensuing postseason by eliminating the shadow cast by the men's tournament.
The gargantuan problem is that the proposed move would pit women's college basketball against college football for a mass audience.
Ironically, college football has something of an in-house marketing problem of its own these days.
Theoretically, the teams in the Group of Six conferences are competing with teams in the power conferences for spots in the College Football Playoff.
The reality is that the overwhelming majority of Group of Six teams are not CFP caliber.
The way things stand now, a victory over a power conference opponent in a secondary bowl game is the symbolic top prize for a Group of Six member that is not selected for the CFP.
A more enticing carrot would be a separate national championship for Group of Six members.
The Sept. 12 meeting between Boise State of the Pac-12 and Memphis of the American Conference illustrates why this idea has merit.
The description of the matchup as a crucial early-season showdown meant that the loser would likely face an uphill challenge for selection to the CFP.
Ohio State's loss to Texas on that same day was not interpreted similarly.
The plain truth is that the Group of Six conferences are not equal to the power conferences in top-to-bottom competitive depth.
The reason why all 16 SEC teams were undefeated after Week One is that they cleaned up on FCS and Group of Six teams.
Just as college football found a way to incorporate the bowl system into the CFP structure, the best of the secondary bowls could be adopted for a Group of Six playoff, if desired.
Currently, a conference championship in the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt only has significance if the title holder finds its way into the CFP.
Some may view a separate championship for Group of Six members as a consolation prize.
However, in line with Dean Smith's thinking, a Group of Six national championship would create interest beyond the fanatical audience that tunes in to watch meaningless bowl games in half-empty stadiums.
And where there's mass interest, there's money, which should allow Group of Six pride to take a backseat to financial gain.
They won, but...
■ In a classic trap game, then-No. 12 USC outlasted winless Rutgers, 42-35, giving up 168 rushing yards to a team that averaged 90.5 against UMass and Boston College. The Scarlet Knights totaled 32 rushing attempts for 5.3 yards per carry and two touchdowns. The 35 points were the most scored by Rutgers against a ranked opponent since 2008.
■ Also, then-No. 24 Oklahoma bounced back from a loss at Michigan to defeat New Mexico 14-6 at home, but rushed for only 61 yards on 32 attempts (1.9 avg.). The Sooner D carried the day by limiting New Mexico to 185 total yards and three third-down conversions in 14 attempts.
Not pulling punches
For the first time since 1962, then-No. 7 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss met as AP Top 10-ranked teams. The 32-24 outcome in favor of the Rebels produced a bayou full of notable postgame comments.
Reflecting on the emotions he experienced as the team bus entered the stadium area of the Ole Miss campus where he coached for six years, Lane Kiffin said, "I know that sometimes I don't act like it, but I'm a human too, you know."
One of Kiffin's expressed pet peeves at Ole Miss was that the student section in the stadium was rarely filled before kickoff.
Last Saturday, Kiffin noticed that "The stadium was full an hour early. So I guess I had to leave to get them to do that."
Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding made a veiled reference to Kiffin while emphasizing that the primary offseason goal was bigger than defeating one team.
"It was a reminder that no player, no person, is bigger than anyone else, and that this place has been built the right way with really good people," Golding said.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss used his time before the media to stand up for the Rebels program.
"I feel like the whole nation kind of disrespects Ole Miss," Chambliss said. "When they compare LSU and Ole Miss, they always say LSU has more money, the nicer facilities, a bigger fanbase, bigger stadium. There's more to it than just (Lane) Kiffin being on the other side of the ball. I'm happy we got this one
for our fans and the people who
support Ole Miss."
Less than hog wild
The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees has passed a resolution that calls for a review of the state of competitiveness of Razorback athletics, including steps to improve the resources available to the football program.
Arkansas has dropped 12 straight SEC games, including last Saturday's 45-17 home loss to Georgia. Since 2016, the program's best season record in conference play is 4-4 in 2021.
"Failure is not an option," Trustee Steve Cox said. "This has to succeed and I believe it will."
Notable
■ Opening the season with road games at Nevada, No. 2 Georgia and No. 4 Indiana, Western Kentucky of Conference USA lost all three games while surrendering an FBS-worst 157 points. Conversely, Iowa leads the nation in points allowed with 13 in three games.
■ NCAA Division III Gettysburg College has won 14 games and lost 69 since the 2017 season. Eight of the wins are over Juniata.
■ Led by Jerry Schmitt--the longest-tenured head coach in FCS at 22 seasons--Duquesne lost, 48-7, at Washington State, the program's 14th defeat in 15 games against FBS opponents all-time.
■ Montana running back Eli Gillman entered last weekend's action as the active career leader in all of college football (FCS, FBS, D-II, and D-III) in rushing yards (4,005) and rushing touchdowns (56). In a loss at Oregon State, Gillman rushed for 81 yards on 18 carries, but did not score.
■ Oregon's 84-0 ho-hummer over Portland State represented only the fourth-largest margin of victory in school history. Point totals of 115, 97 and 95 were recorded in shutouts over Puget Sound in 1910, Willamette in 1916 and Portland in 1898, respectively.
■ In a 55-0 win over Northern Iowa, three Iowa running backs each rushed for more than 100 yards. A trio of Hawkeyes last achieved that feat in 1983.
N Houston's 176 rushing yards snapped Texas Tech's seven-game streak of not allowing 100 yards on the ground which had been the longest in FBS.
Quotable ...
"We won everything but the score and the turnover battle, and that's kind of the story today."
-- SMU coach Rhett Lashlee after a 41-31 loss to Louisville
in which the Mustangs committed two turnovers in Louisville
territory in the final three minutes of the game
"There's no moral victories. We came here to win. And we didn't win."
-- Houston coach Willie Fritz after a failed 2-point conversion attempt in the final minute left
the Cougars on the short end of a 28-26 score at Texas Tech
Jim Caltagirone, a former member of Penn State's sports information department, comments on the national scene for Gameday. He can be reached at jimclion4ever@gmail.com