The Sports Thinker

\ And all of the sudden, the ghosts of B25 polls past join the poll this week for the first time this year.  FIU , Rutgers and UNLV , welcome home. And those are the best words you can hear on Thanksgiving week!  Enjoy the meal, the turkey, the family and the football!!! 1) Massachusetts  (1-10) The Minute-men lost a Bummer Bowl at Texas A&M  20-3. Next, they will host Army to close out the season. 2)  Northwestern  (1-10) The Mildcats took a 10 th  straight loss, 17-9 at Purdue.  The score was really 24-9, except that a Boilermakers pick 6 TD was called back for “high-stepping”. Which, honestly, is kind of a racist penalty. This week is the season capper with the Land Of Lincoln Trophy game at Illinois . 3)  University of South (really West) Florida  (1-10) The Nulls lost a Bummer Bowl at B25 #14  Tulsa, 48-42 . I told you the Bummer Bowls are good games. Next up, the season ends with US(rW)F hosting cross state rivals U...

This was a week to be surprised by two poll teams. First off, Vanderbilt pulled off a road upset of a nationally ranked team, Kentucky , to vault themselves out of the poll after only one week.  Second is the season long story of New Mexico State . Three straight wins has put the usually moribund Aggies at 4-5, out of the DHM and chasing a potential bowl berth. Not that their recent schedule has been difficult, but 4 wins in 9 games is an historically great stretch for NMSU . Add to that the excellent seasons that usual 25ers Kansas and Connecticut are having and it becomes clear that coaching does matter. With Jerry Kill taking over the Aggies, Jim Mora Jr. in charge at UConn and Lance Leipold at Kansas  that good coaching is paying dividends right from the start as all 3 have been head coaching successes in the past. Continued success to them, and as always, enjoy the games. And watch these Bummer Bowls......almost all of them can be seen somewhere and they are often tig...

A lot of wins among the 25ers, a lot of losses among the DHM and a good bit of turnover in this week's poll, with 8 teams among the 25 or the DHM falling out altogether. And 5 from the DHM joining or rejoining the poll. And, as always, the MAC with their weird Tuesday/Wednesday schedule is thrown in just for confusions sake. As for this week, as always, enjoy the games!! 1)   Akron  (1-9) The Zips lost a Tuesday MAC special at home to Eastern Michigan , 34-28, solidifying their hold on B25 #1 status. Next up, a return to Saturday football at Buffalo on 11/19 ….sort of a half BYE week, if you will. 2)  Massachusetts  (1-8) The Minute-men lost 27-10 at Connecticut , in what would be a Bummer Bowl in many seasons. Now they visit B25 # Arkansas State for a Bummer Bowl. 3)  Colorado  (1-8) The Beefalos got trampled at home by #8 Oregon , 49-10.  Things remain treacherous this week with a Friday visit to LA to take on #9 USC 4)   University of South Flo...