MACtracking: Agony of Standard Cable

What on earth do I mean by that? Well, when I sat down to watch football Saturday, my initial reaction (being someone who chooses to enjoy the free cable that was there when he moved in rather than fork over extra cash) to my non-MAC viewing options was "hey, cool, I'll get to watch both Jerry Kill and Turner Gill today!"

Then I remembered that they were playing top 20 teams and thought "oh god, this is all I get to watch right now?" But, this is the feature I write, so I sat through it anyway. Want to guess what happened? Let's discuss after the jump.

Kansas: For a brief moment, they had me fooled, as a D.J. Beshears touchdown with 14 seconds left in the first half to cut the score to 28-14 Kansas State. Unfortunately, the Jayhawks immediately came *thisclose* to allowing long touchdown on the next play from scrimmage (48 yards), then opened the second half by allowing the very same uber-talented athlete (Tyler Lockett) that caught that bomb to take the opening kick 97 yards for a score. Kansas then took possession, fumbled at their eight, and gave up another score. in 1:21 of game time, the score went from 28-14 to 45-14, and it was pretty much over there. Now they get to travel to Texas, who is coming off a bye. Yikes.

Minnesota: Jerry and the Gophers weren't much better. The defense did manage to hold Nebraska to a field goal on three occasions (one of which was missed) and also got them to punt twice. Unfortunately, the Huskers also had four other (touchdown-producing) drives and took a Marqueis Grey fumble back for a score. Now they get an Iowa team that has scored less than 30 points once all season.

Cincinnati: Now we start getting into the better news. It's tricky to judge the Bearcats (now snuck into the USA Today rankings at #23), as they clearly have a talented offense that put up another 37 points this weekend. However, their defense is still suspect, as evidenced by the last six of those points (on Zach Collaros' touchdown run with 12 seconds left) were required to overcome the 34 points Cinci allowed. It's only the second time they've surrendered 20+ points, but they need to make some tweaks during their bye if they want a legitimate shot at winning the Big East.

Miami: The 'Canes made the rankings! As a team in "others recieving votes"...and it's one vote...but they're technically ranked 41st! Ok, ok. Still, they took down a ranked Georgie Tech team with a very impressive offensive performance, holding Tech's vaunted offense to a meager 211 yards, 92 of which came on their lone scoring drive. Lets hope that Jacory Harris can correct whatever plagued him next Saturday against an o.k. Virginia squad.