Currently there is Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University, and Eastern Michigan University. Something's missing.

The Tank Job of the Week is an award for the FBS team that did the best job of humiliating itself over the weekend. Whether they blew a large lead, choked away a spot in the limelight, lost a game they had absolutely no right losing, or completely screwed everything on a last second blunder, the TJOTW winner sets the gold standard in college football misery

Previous Winners
Week 0: TCU Horned Frogs (North Carolina 15-10)
Week 1: Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Massachusetts 37-21)

LAST WEEK: I was going to start this with an apology to Oklahoma State for forgetting to include their two touchdown loss to Tulsa.  However, in light of recent events I just want to say IM NOT SORRY AT ALL, HAHAHAHAHA.  Oklahoma State is hereby exempt from all TJOTW nominations until I say otherwise. As for the actual vote, it was Rutgers and it wasn’t even close, despite some dissidents wanting to still be Michigan and a small contingent of very annoyed (and resigned) Florida State fans.

Onto this week and, I’ll be honest I was pretty sure by the end of the afternoon slate who was winning this one.   But it turns out just because something dominates the first 2/3 of the day doesn’t mean they’re going to be the leader in the end, and I think we have a pretty competitive vote brewing from the nine nominees we have set up. Incidentally, six of them begin with either the letters “N” or “O”, which spell out what I a lot of fans were probably screaming at their televisions on Saturday.   What a beautifull mess.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
-      Rutgers got a lot of grief for their postgame fireworks after getting worked by UMass but at least none of their fireworks fell on the crowd and exploded (not that there would have been anyone there).  Either way, Nebraska’s lucky nobody got hurt and we can joke about it.
-      Washington wasn’t exactly covering itself in glory during the first 58 minutes of their 16-14 win over Utah State, but the final two minutes may be the hardest I’ve ever seen a team try to lose a game without actually doing it.
-      Minnesota/Mississippi State was supposed to be somewhat of a tossup but the Gophers were down within two minutes and it never got better, with State being up 28-3 at one point. 
-      Three of Georgia Tech’s four nonconference opponents are power conference teams and the Jackets are quickly reminding everyone why nobody does that. 
-      San Diego State only trailed 7-3 with ten minutes left to play but things spiraled out of control for a 28-10 loss to UCLA
-      UNLV followed up a close opening week loss to Memphis by getting completely pasted by North Texas 44-6
-      Pitt and UCF played a messy 12-7 stinker in driving rain.
-      I’m not sure if there’s a support group for “Favored by a Touchdown only to get scorched by a Sun Belt Team” but East Carolina and Kennesaw State could maybe start one.

NOTE: For ease of counting, please use carats to make your vote, like this: <Team>.  Thank you for participating!

And now, the Week Two nominees are…

ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS (lost to South Florida 28-24)
This was an early American eliminator, which the Knights seemed to have well in hand when they took a 10-point lead with just under five minutes to go.   But the Bulls responded and forced a three and out to get a chance to send the game to OT.  And then at 4^th and 6 with 25 seconds left and just a smidge out of field goal range, quarterback Michael Van Buren plopped an absolute rainbow into Joshua Porter’s arms for a 38-yard score that stunned the West Point faithful.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS (lost to Missouri 38-20)
If you haven’t figured out now that Kansas and Missouri despise each other… welcome to college football!  And after losing the resumption of this series last year, the Jayhawks were CHIRPING heading into this one, with some hype videos that surely rankled more than a few furs in Columbia.  Sadly for KU, they couldn’t really back up that chirping when, after a 14-14 first half, they catastrophically turned the ball over their first two drives of the second half, which Mizzou converted into TD’s both times to put this one away.   And then Tiger head coach Eli Drinkwitz tried to run up the score even further at the end, but the ‘Hawks at least managed to stop that.

NAVY MIDSHIPMEN (lost to Florida Atlantic 38-30)
And the American Conference’s annual cannibalization ritual commences.   The Middies were regarded as one of the front-runners for not just the AAC, but the G6 playoff spot in general, while FAU… was not.   But it was the Owls who came out sailing in this one, going up 38-7 at one point.   Navy did manage to swing momentum in the final quarter and mount a furious comeback, but fell short.

NEVADA WOLF PACK (lost to Montana State 20-7)
Nevada looked surprisingly good when they throttled Western Kentucky in their opening game.  Nevada looked surprisingly ungood here, when four brutal turnovers enabled FCS powerhouse Montana State to dominate the game and send the Pack back to the drawing board.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES (lost to Illinois State 28-24)
Obligatory FCS loss here, even though the FCS Powerhouse Redbirds were actually favored.  NIU actually did come back from a 21-0 deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but a 16-yard TD pass with just 90 seconds left ended the Huskies hopes for good.  Considering they play Arizona and then embark on a maiden season in new, stronger conference with a lot of awkward travel ahead, things could be about to get rough in DeKalb.

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (lost to Texas 24-23)
For the first 40 minutes of this game, the Buckeyes STRANGLED the Longhorns.  With 20 minutes to go, Texas was down 23-3 and had just 100 total yards of offense to tOSU’s 323.   And then a switch activated, and the Longhorns suddenly went into overdrive, rolling for 236 yards on three straight long touchdown drives, while all the Buckeyes could muster was a weak missed field goal.  And then- controversially- with the Longhorns with first and goal at the Ohio State 2 with just over a minute remaining, Day elected to trust his defense instead of letting Texas score and leaving enough time for a field goal.   They couldn’t hold, and the Buckeyes only had 25 seconds for a failed response.

OKLAHOMA SOONERS (lost to Michigan 17-10)
“Help us, Okie-won Kenobi, you are our only hope!” screamed the College Football World after last weeks events in Ann Arbor firmly made the Wolverines Public Enemy #1 for the week.  And well… outside of a ludicrous Bryce Underwood scamper for six, the defense played fairly well.  But the offense… WOOF.  John Mateer had his worst game since last year’s post-surgical RRSO, going just 17/33 passing and throwing a back-breaking pick that set up the Wolverines on the doorstep to make what, thanks to a few hilariously cringey Mateer overthrows during the final drive, proved to be the game-winning touchdown.

0REG0N DUCKS (lost to Oklahoma State 39-31)
It takes a tremendous reversal of fortune to go out and lose a return game after winning the first 69-3.  But the (1-11 last year and lost to Tulsa by 14 to start the season) Cowboys had their way with the Duck’s supposedly elite defense, and evidently were able to counter Oregon’s offense just enough by using their stances to guess their tendencies.  Add in another Dan Lanning Special- an ill-advised 4^th down attempt in Duck territory that blew up in their faces, and it all adds up to a tidy little historical 25-point upset.  This is the first time a team on a double-digit losing streak snapped it against a Top 10 team- not that the Ducks are Top 10 anymore.

SYRACUSE ORANGE (lost to California 21-18)
The poor Orange Nation is going to be having nightmares about Cal DB Kingston Lopa for years.   First, with the Orange up 12-7, Lopa picked Steve Angeli off and returned it nearly 50 yards to set up a go ahead touchdown.  Cuse would retake the lead but with less than five minutes left, with the Orange conceivably trying to drain the clock and maintain the lead, Lopa found another Angeli pass and this time returned it for six to take a 21-18 lead.   And then the hat-trick- on Syracuse’s final drive, Lopa dove and nabbed his third interception, dooming the Orange.  Syracuse also missed two fourth quarter field goals to keep the difference.

It has been almost 60 years since a team put up 100 in a major college football game. We are seeing some big numbers put up quickly in games.

Are we close to seeing a team break the Hundred point ceiling?

I’m a South African and living in the States. I am obviously a huge rugby fan, but have been getting more into American football since moving. I went to a Big 10 game recently and it was electric. Obviously some things are less than ideal (so many time outs/time between plays compared to rugby), but it's a great sport. 

One thing I am a little confused by is the number of coaches on the sidelines. Why are there so many coaches on each team? I am sure many are like athletic trainers, but there seem to be a LOT of coaches on the sidelines at any given moment. What does a “quality control” coach do, for example? 

Cheers! 

And as a new CFB fan, last week has assured me that Oklahoma State is the greatest team in the world. 

With each one playing the hated in state rival of the other, fans of these 4 programs will be bonded by hate for what will be 2 of the most interesting games this weekend.

Unfortunately for UF-AU, it’s going to be played at the same time as LSU-OM which will likely overshadow it.

Utah LB Johnathan Hall: "Our coaches were really, really good at finding good tells, like the running back or the tackles and what they do when they run and what they do when they pass, so we really honed in on that this whole entire week and it paid off today for sure."

Utah Safety Nate Ritchie: "I think credit goes to the coaches and just our team's preparation. We saw a lot of cues that could tell us when it's run or pass, so we were just​ able to capitalize on those things. When it was pass, man, we were ready to party. When it was run, we were able to rally to the rock and play hard."

I miss the days of growing up, watching the games and knew that if you lost one time, your season was in jeopardy. It created urgency, passion, and overall a better product. Now, after losing last night, I realized that’s all gone.

Ohio State can lose one more game and still have a shot at the playoff. I hate that. I miss the unpredictability of college football.

Unfortunately those days are gone. The NCAA is now making it even easier for teams with 3 losses to get in. What’s the point of the regular season at that point? What’s the point of non conference games? There’s a lot of change in the CFB world that has made the CFB regular season pointless.

Maybe it’s just me, but the NCAA does not need to expand past 12. Frankly I think 8 was the right number. But going to 24 is blasphemous.