Sports Then and Now

It may not have been flashy, but the Florida Gators won a hard-fought game at LSU to remain undefeated.

After weeks of positioning, this was the week where the real contenders and pretenders started to weed themselves out. With a number of big games between contenders over the next few weeks, you can see the national championship picture starting to clear itself up as we head toward November.

Is it about Style or Substance, or Both?
It was very interesting to watch the different ways the top three teams in the college football rankings earned their victories this weekend.

The top ranked and defending champion Florida Gators were very methodical and workmanlike in their victory at LSU. Even though we all know that LSU is a dangerous team and playing a night game in Baton Rouge is usually a huge advantage for the home team, the Gators seemed to never really be in danger of losing the

game.

However, their 13-3 victory may be perfectly fine in the NFL where it is all about wins and losses and moving on towards the playoffs and Super Bowl. But, in college football many take such a low scoring win as a sign of weakness.

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Zultan was a whisker away from being perfect this past Saturday; but the football gods conspired against the surly seer banishing his chance for glory by making players drop and fumble the ball and generally hand victory over to the opposition. Zultan has made certain there is no repeat of those hideous errors this week. He will reveal his secret only to those who are worthy.

Zultan correctly picked 7 out of 10 or 70% for you math-challenged souls. Overall the all-seeing one is 31 of 41 or 76% for the season. Because they sorely disappointed Zultan, the seer cast a spell on Minnesota, Purdue and Georgia – they shall rue the day they disappointed an unforgiving Zultan.

This week Zultan finds the crystal ball murky – the future remains obscured. He is troubled that a handful of lucky guessers outdid the mighty one this past week. Zultan is humbled by their pitiful picks – wondering how many others will pit their puny predicting powers against groggy – Zultan – Big 10 Seer for the ages…

Miami of Ohio at Northwestern

Zultan sees the Red Hawks soaring but falling short at Northwestern this Saturday. The Miami of Ohio team has lost their last five games and even though their coach says they are improving, Zultan must wonder – at what? Northwestern should accept this gift and prepare for far worse company in the near future.

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Jimmy Clausen has thrown 12 touchdown passes in 2009 with just two interceptions.

It was another interesting weekend of college football as several ranked teams received unexpected challenges while a couple teams solidified their place in the rankings.

Putting the Fight Back in the Fighting Irish
I’m not ready to call the 2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish a good team, but they are definitely entertaining.

Now 4-1 following a 37-30 overtime victory over the University of Washington, the last four games for the Irish have been decided by a total of 17 points with all of them going down to the wire.

Except for in the 38-34 loss to Michigan when the Wolverines scored in the final seconds to pull out the win, Notre Dame has been able to make big plays when it counts.

That is a far cry from a year ago when Notre Dame finished 7-6 and seemed to always fall just short in crunch time.

I’m sure that the legions of Notre Dame faithful across the country are ready to claim the return of the “Golden Dome Aura”, and I suspect the Irish will probably inch back into the top 25 this week.

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Zultan promises to lay off the grain alcohol after tanking last week, scoring only six out of 10 or 60 percent.

Overall, Zultan comes in at 77 percent, 24 of 31.  Miami and the Cal Bears cost Zultan mightily while the Iowa win pleased him even though Zultan chickened out and picked favored Penn State.  Northwestern also sorely disappointed the soggy seer whose rain-soaked teams seemed to lay down and drown.

This week Zultan finds the road difficult.  Home wins are favored. To keep the magic number at 10,  Zultan has added four contests outside the Big 10.  Join in the fun – pit your puny predicting powers against Zultan—Big 10 Seer for the ages…

(1) Arkansas State @ Iowa
This no-brainer is just what Zultan needs after last week.  Iowa will win this one at home after drying out the gold and black uniforms and practicing hanging onto those Ricky Stanzi passes.  After upsetting Penn State 21-10 last week on the road, the Hawkeyes will need to cement their new ranking with a solid win at home.  The Iowa faithful will welcome the guys home in grand style and watch the Hawkeyes win their fifth in a row.
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Virginia Tech ended Miami's brief foray into the top 10 with a dominating 31-7 victory.

One of the early themes of the 2009 college football season has been the revivals demonstrated by a number of programs that had struggled in recent years, but gave indications early in this season that they were ready for a return to prominence.

Some, like Florida State, Miami and Michigan were looking to return to their one-time place among the national elite while others, including California, Mississippi and North Carolina, seemed poised to enter the national championship conversation for the first time in generations.

Well, I guess revivals aren’t what they used to be. Many of those teams were soundly defeated, some by lesser competition, and all struggled on the last weekend of September.

The poster child early this season for the theme of returning to prominence has been the University of Miami. Following impressive victories over Florida State and Georgia Tech, many well-respected national college football “experts” were gushing over how the “U” was back in the national picture. In fact, they went from being unranked at the start of the season to ranked 9th nationally after just two games.

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Daniel Murray celebrates his game-winning kick that stunned Penn State in 2008.

Last year on November 8, 2008, the perfect Penn State Nittany Lions came calling at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City hoping to secure a shot at the national championship as one of the teams in the creme de la creme BCS Bowl in Miami.

Unfortunately for them the Iowa Hawkeyes had another scenario in mind.

The Nittany Lions needed this victory to continue the season undefeated.  Penn State was already grumbling  about the possibility of not receiving the call to play in Miami even if they were undefeated at the end of the season.
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