Undefeated:

• Alabama
• Boise State
• Cincinnati
• Florida
• Iowa
• Kansas
• South Florida
• TCU
• Texas

Winless

• Ball State
• Eastern Michigan
• Florida Atlantic
• Miami (OH)
• New Mexico
• Rice
• Western Kentucky

Really, I think the big surprises here are that there are no major surprises. Few people would have put Iowa on the undefeated list when predicting records at this point in the season, considering that they played Penn State, but once again, the boys at Happy Valley choked.

I guess South Florida on the list is a little surprising too. They haven’t had a totally easy season. Cincinnati has (sorry, I know ya’ll love ‘em, but I’m not sure they aren’t totally overrated). Next week, they play one another, so that will end for one team.

WR Mardy Gilyard has been important for the Bearcats so far this season. Can they continue to charge ahead as they meet harder opponents on the field? Image: Newscom

I’m hoping that Cincinnati proves they deserve to be ranked so high, but I don’t think South Florida will just roll over.

As for the winless list…well…let’s just say that Michigan is happy to not be on it.

Post from: EveryJoe

2009 Midseason Undefeated and Winless

#25 Pittsburgh 41, Louisville 7

• Pittsburgh’s Defense Powers Panthers Past Louisville at Big East Headline News
• Pitt beats Louisville Pittsburg Panthers Football

Rutgers 35, Syracuse 17

• Deja Vu at Bleed Scarlet
• Make that three in a row for the Rutgers football team wctc’s RU Crazy Blog
• Rutgers/Syracuse Notebook at Rutgers Football Headlines

Cincinnati 26, #25 West Virginia 23 (OT)

• Cincinnati Edges West Virginia In OT at Cincinnati Bearcats News
• Cincinnati 26, West Virginia 23 at Cincinnati Blog

Other conferences: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Independents, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-10, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC

(check back soon if the link isn’t live yet)

Post from: EveryJoe

2008 Week 11: Blogging about the Big East

Cincinnati 24, #23 South Florida 10

• What To Make Of South Florida Free Fall at U of L Card Game
• Cincinnati takes down reeling No. 23 South Florida at World Sports Breaking News

West Virginia 35, #25 Connecticut 13

• West Virginia Remains Alone In First Place With Win At Connecticut at Big East Football Headline News

Pittsburgh 36, Notre Dame 33

• The Irish manage to finally lose in 4th OT to Pittsburgh! at Michelchiasson’s Weblog
• Pitt Is It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! at Backwoods Presbyterian

Syracuse 28, Louisville 21

• Louisville Falls To Syracuse, 28-21 at Louisville Cardinals News

Other conferences: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Independents, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-10, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC

(check back soon if the link isn’t live yet)

Post from: EveryJoe

2008 Week 10: Blogging about the Big East

Not only is he indestructible, it seems, but he also is a damn good quarterback. Cincinnati is 6-2 overall, and 2-1 in the Big East. Admittedly, that’s not exactly what I’d call a strong conference, but the Bearcats run a fast-paced, no-huddle, spread offense, and that’s not easy to do. In Thursday’s game against South Florida, he was 20-of-28, throwing two touchdowns…you can’t scoff at that.

Pike is a junior, and is only playing after senior Dustin Grutza broke his leg in the second game of the season. Pike broke his arm two games later, giving the starting spot to Chazz Anderson, a redshirt freshman. Although Pike returned last week against Connecticut, he only played during the first half because his hand went numb. Oddly enough, since then, Anderson has been dropped from backup status to emergency only status because he’s having problems with a knee injury.

Maybe I’m just in a Halloween mood, but Cincinnati might be cursed.

I’m just sayin’.

But they won against ranked South Florida 24-10, so how cursed can they be, right?

Oh, and if you actually want to read about the game, not my ramblings about Pike and curses and such, you can do so here.

Pictures via Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tony Pike is a Bad Ass; Cincinnati is Cursed

West Virginia 34, Auburn 17

• West Virginia 34, Auburn 17 at Arkansas Razorback Sports Network
• White, Devine Rally West Virginia Past Auburn at Big East Headline News

Connecticut 40, Cincinnati 16

• Brown Runs For 150 Yards; UConn Beats Cincinnati at Courant.com

Louisville 24, #16 South Florida 20

• Gameday Final: Louisville 24, USF 20 at South Florida Headline News
• U of L-South Florida key stat comparsions at the Courier-Journal

Rutgers 54, #17 Pittsburgh 34

• The offense we’ve been craving at Bleed Scarlet
• Welcome back Rutgers offense! at WCTC’s RU Crazy Blog

Other conferences: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Independents, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-10, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC

(check back soon if the link isn’t live yet)

Post from: EveryJoe

2008 Week 9: Blogging about the Big East

Well, let’s just say that they denied him five times. This last time, they said that he was out of time, and that he wouldn’t be granted any more appeals.

So, he went over their heads. Mauk is now, in essence, suing the NCAA. The court case is being held in Hardin County, where Mauk grew up, and is being overseen by Judge William Hart, who refused to throw out the case as the NCAA requested. That doesn’t mean he’ll grant Mauk the right to play, though. Both sides make valid points for this case:

Mauk’s side: Mauk was injured early during his freshman season. He couldn’t play and was only a part of the team because they didn’t have a third QB to take his spot. He was then injured again in 2006 during the season opening, so essentially, he missed almost two full years.

NCAA’s side: Mauk was injured, but team doctors cleared him to play. Even though he didn’t play that year, he was officially part of the travel team and Wake Forest has no records indicating that he couldn’t have played if needed in a game.

So, really, there is a lot of gray area here. Mauk’s appealing be, I’m sure, he’s hoping to come back for another great season and be drafted. Why else would you fight so hard for another year of playing time? And really, I’d probably fight too. He had a great career once he transferred to Cincinnati, leading them to a #17 ranking last year and throwing for 31 touchdowns and over 3,000 yards. If he has anther year like that, he’d def be drafted.

Though I have to say this – he is injury-prone and NFL teams aren’t going to overlook that. Plus, at this point, when the season’s already started, is it worth the time to continue on with another trial, which I’m sure (if he is turned down) will lead to another appeal? There comes a point where enough is enough.

I do tend to think that the NCAA is being hard on him, since they’ve granted others sixth years in the past without this much trouble. Sure, Wake Forest might not have documentation of everything, but three doctors have come forward to say that Mauk is right – he couldn’t have played, even if he was “officially” a part of the travel team.

So what’s you stance on the Ben Mauk story? Should they grant him another year? Should he keep fighting?

Picture via Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ben Mauk Keeps On Fighting

Mauk’s hearing is scheduled for Friday. His stance is that while at Wake Forest, a career-threatening injury kept him out of college football for nine months after surgery in 2003. The NCAA also denied a request for an additional year due to a freshman year injury.

Says Mauk’s lawyer,

“We believe the NCAA has treated Ben differently than it has other athletes with very, very similar circumstances.”

The NCAA says that Mauk’s claims were denied because there wasn’t medical documentation of his injuries, and Mauk says that it isn’t his fault those files weren’t maintained.

I’m on the fence about how I feel. On one hand, his missed a legitimate amount of time…but on the other hand, will one more year really make a difference? Although he was a key player at Cincinnati last year, I really don’t think they have a top team this year, nor do I think he’ll fare well in the draft.

And yeah, it is kinda your fault if you don’t have the paperwork. Granted, the schools should have kept that shit as well, but you should never rely on someone else to have copies of your personal records.

So what do you think…does he get one more year?

Post from: EveryJoe

Should Ben Mauk Get to Play?

Or is it? Maybe we just haven’t been giving Cincinnati enough credit. They are 8 -2, after all. The offense came out of the gates running and didn’t stop, with quarterback Ben Mauk throwing for three touchdowns. Huskies quarterback, Tyler Lorenzen, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to make things happen. In fact, one of the only big plays he made for the night was a pass tipped by Anthony Hoke to Bearcat Adam Hoppel who ran with the interception to inside the 10. By the end of the first quarter alone, Connecticut had allowed 13 unanswered points to rack up on the scoreboard.

Another major factor in the win was Cincinnati’s awesome defense. In addition to Hoppel’s interception, the defense sacked Lorenzen a number of times and put pressure on him in almost every play, forcing him to throw more quickly.

Cincinnati all but fell off the radar with losses to Louisville and Pittsburgh in mid-October, but let’s not forget that they won against such teams at the then-ranked-#21 Rutgers and last week’s #18-ranked South Florida. They are a pretty good football team.

So, will Connecticut drop out of the race for the Big Eat? Nope. The top three teams at the moment at Connecticut, West Virginia, and Cincinnati, and these three teams all play one another in the next two weeks. If Connecticut beats West Virgina and West Virginia beats Cincinnati, they’ll be looking good for that top position. West Virginia is a tough team, though, and their win last night has given them some more momentum. I predict that they’ll come out on top for the Big East.

AP Photo/Tom Uhlman

Post from: EveryJoe

Connecticut – Cincinnati Results: The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall

After all, they have “top-notch facilities” and “a head coach who’s been coaching for 16 years.” That sounds perfect to me too.

Or it might be the fact that Notre Dame will allow Jones to actually PLAY if he chooses a school like Cincinnati, one that the Irish don’t play.

So you have to ask yourself again: What Would You Do?

I’ll tell you what Jones would do: He’d make a list of good football teams this season (and ones that have potential for the next few seasons). He’s croos off the list anyone Notre Dame plays. He’s cross off the list anyone who is likely to laugh at him for applying. He’s cross off the list anyone who didn’t agree to give him lots of playing time.

And then he’d apply to the only school left – Cincinnati.

I hope that they wait a few weeks before actually printing up a jersey with his name on it…

Post from: EveryJoe

Cincinnati Cashes in on the DJ College Football Frenzy