Thursday, July 17, 2008

Shame Watch Special Edition

The 2008 college football season kicks off only seven weeks from tonight, and so I thought it was time for a midsummer Shame Mask update. I'll talk about the Shame Mask wearing teams below, but first, I'll talk about some new shame related material. I've decided to add some additional content here at the College Football Shame Mask, the Shame Watch.

With Florida International's 23 game losing streak snapped in the final week of 2008, the team with the nation's longest losing streak is no longer wearing a shame mask. What if a team were to keep losing and break the Northwestern record without acquiring a Shame Mask? Would I know it? This is something I need to start keeping track of.

Three teams ride 10 game losing streaks into the 2008 season, but one is the worst among equals.

1. Idaho. The Vandals 20-13 win in Week 2 of 2007 was over I-AA Cal Poly. This means their losing streak against I-A teams goes back to when they were still officially called I-A teams. On October 14, 2006, Idaho beat Louisiana Tech 24-14. Since then they have lost 16 games against I-A opponents. Idaho's next opportunity to beat a team is on August 30 at Arizona. At first glance, this might seem like a tough task for the WAC team going against the PAC-10. However, as I pointed out here under Mike Stoops, Arizona in only 2-11 against I-A opponents in the months of August and September, and so anything's possible?

1A. Southern Methodist. SMU's last win was September 8, 2007, at home against North Texas, 45-31. The Mustangs' ten game losing streak includes a couple of tough ones. The second was a 48-45 overtime lost to UTEP in which they led 42-28 in the fourth quarter and allowed a game tying touchdown with 7 seconds left. Loss 5 was 29-23 at Tulsa, allowing the winning 51-yard touchdown pass with 43 seconds left. Loss 7 saw SMU let a 42-27 fourth quarter lead over Rice evaporate with a 31-yard game winning field goal as time expired giving the Owls the 43-42 win. And then the season ended with a 55-52 triple overtime loss at Memphis. SMU's 2008 campaign starts August 29 seeking revenge at Rice. Their schedule has them leaving the state of Texas only twice, and their second game is against I-AA Texas State, and so I don't see their losing streak last all that long.

1B. Minnesota. The Golden Gophers' last win came on September 8, 2007, when they let a 16-point fourth quarter lead slip away at home against Miami (OH), only to win 41-35 double overtime. Following that win there was a 42-39 loss at Florida Atlantic. Along the way, they squandered a 14 point fourth quarter lead at Northwestern, allowed the tying touchdown with 8 seconds left, and then lost 49-48 in double overtime, when Minnesota scored a touchdown in the second overtime and went for two and the win, but missed. The next week, they let a 21-17 fourth quarter lead over I-AA North Dakota State get away, losing 27-21. (To be fair, the go-ahead touchdown was tight end Thor Brown's second catch of the season, and so they can be excused for not covering him. Sort of.) Minnesota hosts Northern Illinois on August 30.

Which one will win? Which one will lose? Who knows? Maybe Duke with their nine game losing streak will come from behind. Watch this space.

The Long Offseason: New Mexico State Aggies

The 2007 New Mexico State season wasn't too awful, finishing 4-9. Of course, two of the wins were over I-AA opponents and the other two were over 4-8 UTEP and 1-11 Idaho. They do, however, have a prolific passing attack led by QB Chase Holbrook. He was seventh in the country in passing yards in 2007 despite missing one game and most of another with sore ribs. As a sophomore in 2006, he was second in the country although his team won only 4 games (again including two wins over I-AA teams).

The defense beat the offense in the spring game 35-17 in April, but Holbrook did not play for the offense.

The 2008 Aggie campaign begins September 4 when I-AA Nicholls State comes to Las Cruces, but this seems to be their only I-AA opponent.

Their October 18 contest against San Jose State will mark their second annual "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" game to raise money to for breast cancer research. Last year's was a success in terms of raising money, but it did apparently involve pink socks. That the event was scheduled against I-AA Arkansas Pine Bluff doesn't exactly scream "toughness," but hey, they did play football in pink socks, so there you go. They're bumping up to an I-A opponent, this year. Let's hope they don't up the ante to pink pants, as well.

The Long Offseason: North Texas Mean Green

"How hard would you fight if you were looking not to go 0-12?" North Texas head coach Todd Dodge said of Florida International's effort in the final game of the 2007season against his Mean Green. The answer is apparently harder than you would if you were looking not to go 2-10.

Perhaps the best way to talk about the 2007 Mean Green season is to compare them to the mean. The North Texas offense, led by Sun Belt Freshman of the Year QB Giovanni Vizza, tied for 78th in points per game at 24.8, and the mean of the 120 teams was 28.2. It was the defense, however, that let the Mean Green down, allowing an average of 45.1 points per game. This was more than any team, and nearly 18 points more than the national average of 27.2. It seemed pretty simple. When allowing fewer than 30 points: 2-0. When allowing more 30, 0-10. Most of their losses seemed rather pedestrian, but there was the season opening 79-10 loss at Oklahoma and a 66-7 loss at Arkansas.

However, the most interesting game of the season was their absolutely amazing 74-62 loss home loss to Navy. North Texas led at the half 49-44, but could manage only 13 more in the second half. Total yardage: Navy, 680, North Texas 635. Navy converted 3 of 5 third downs. 31 first downs, but only 5 third downs. Navy's rushing attack was really quite amazing. Their 57 carries netted 572 yards, but the most amazing thing was their balance. Seven different Midshipmen had at least 6 carries at least 44 yards, and six of them scored at least one touchdown. Their leading rusher had only 131 yards, including a 64 yard TD. Vizza's game wasn't too shabby either, completing 40 of 50 passes for 478 yards and 8 TDs, plus he ran the ball 13 times for 98 yards.

Looking ahead, in the April Green-White scrimmage, the defense did start strong (according to www.meangreensports.com), "allowing just a field goal through the first 13 minutes of the scrimmage." They also returned a fumble for a touchdown. But, the offense seemed to have the upper hand, completing 68 percent of their passes for 391 yards and 5 touchdowns.

North Texas kicks off the 2008 season on August 30 at Kansas State. It the risk of lossing my objectivity, I'm hoping they loose. This is so that they can beat Tulsa on September 6. If Tulsa beats New Mexico two weeks later and New Mexico State losses at Nebraska and UTEP, this would set up a titanic battle that will combine the two Shame Masks on September 27.