College Football Week 13: 25 Shocking Worsts of the Weekend
Week 13 of the college football season has come and gone, and there are plenty of key points of discussion that emerged from what was an exciting weekend of gridiron action. There would be plenty to focus on just in terms of the upsets, tight conference races and upcoming huge conference title games.
But in this instance, we'll shed some light on some of the lowest points of the weekend in college football. Whether it was shockingly bad performances by strong teams, individual failures by players in pressure situations or other assorted bad moments of Week 13, we'll cover them here.
It's the antithesis of this week's college football highlights, so be sure to read through for some of the worst performances of the week gone by.
Worst Individual Performance Under Pressure: Boise State Kicker Kyle Brotzman
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It was depressing to watch, particularly if you're a Boise State fan—two chip-shot field goals, one with a chance to give Boise State a win in regulation, the other a lead in overtime.
Both missed by kicker Kyle Brotzman, breaking the hearts of the Idaho faithful and opening the door for Nevada's upset victory that ruined Boise's chances of playing for a national championship—or even making a BCS bowl.
Brotzman gets the blame and gets lumped in with Scott Norwood or, for those Ace Ventura lovers among you, Ray Finkle. It's a rough road as a kicker even at the college level, and two misses like this have to be considered individual flops of the biggest proportion.
Worst Coach Temper Tantrum: Mike Stoops, Arizona Wildcats
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This might need to be renamed the Weekly Bo Pelini Award, but Mike Stoops of Arizona was an absolute joke on the sidelines during his team's loss to Oregon on Saturday night.
Stoops was constantly berating officials and screaming profanities easily identifiable by an audience with at least a little ability to read lips. He took particular umbrage with a questionable defensive penalty called against his team and required his own players to hold him back.
It's understandable to see a coach heated during a game, but there is some type of imaginary line in terms of conduct acceptable by a supposedly grown man, and Stoops crossed that line in Week 13.
Worst Uniforms of the Week: Ohio State Buckeyes
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The fashion police routine may be a little unnecessary, but some attention needs to be paid to Ohio State's throwback uniforms they wore for their victory over Michigan.
They were meant to honor the 1942 Ohio State team that won the national title, but this writer's beef is with the gray-heavy look—not with the idea behind the uniforms. Too much gray from the pants to the socks—a strange look for the Buckeyes.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Worst High-Profile Conference: Big East
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The Big East is automatically qualified for a BCS bowl berth, yet they don't have one deserving team this year in what's an overall poor showing by a once-decent football conference.
Connecticut controls their own destiny and can win their way to a BCS bowl by beating South Florida this weekend, but is that a given? Not even close, considering they've previously been shut out by Louisville.
West Virginia was ranked to start the year, but they totally collapsed with losses to both Syracuse and UConn.
This is not the type of conference that deserves a guaranteed spot in a BCS bowl.
Worst Regular-Season Finish: Texas Longhorns
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The Longhorns lost a ton of talent to the NFL after making it to the BCS National Championship Game last year, but that doesn't excuse the kind of collapse Texas experienced this season.
They started out promisingly enough at 4-2, but they managed to lose all but one of their remaining games from that point on. Their only win after their initial six games was against Florida Atlantic—a nobody team on the national stage.
That's a big blow to Mack Brown and Co., but given their high profile nationally, I expect Texas to bounce back next season. Still, their disheartening finish to 2010 needs to be acknowledged.
Worst Way to Open a Season, a Retrospective: Virginia Tech
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Looking back can often shed light on what's truly bad in the present, and that's the case when you look back on how Virginia Tech started their season.
They lost to Boise State, a tough team but ultimately beatable, as well as nobody James Madison. Those two losses to non-conference opponents were followed by an amazing run of unbeaten conference play that has the Hokies geared for a BCS bowl as long as they take care of business in the conference title game.
If those two losses hadn't happened, though, Virginia Tech could be a national title contender, so it bears repeating that their start to the season was one of the worst for a team still competing on the big national stage.
Worst Home Performance: Alabama Crimson Tide
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The Iron Bowl brings with it a certain level of intensity, but so too does a home crowd dominated by a sea of red ready to carry the Crimson Tide to an upset of one of the nation's top two teams.
And that home crowd was frenzied once Alabama opened up a lead on Auburn. But Alabama went into total collapse mode in the second half, a brutally bad showing from a proud program led by a successful coach.
Alabama was pushed around by Auburn in the second half, and they lost a big lead in embarrassing fashion at home.
Worst Performance in a Win: Auburn Tigers
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Auburn came out flat in a huge rivalry game—a tough conference test of their worthiness as a national title contender.
They were down huge at halftime, and their defense in general played a poor game, allowing Alabama and their passing attack to run free for much of the afternoon.
Yes, the Tigers came back and pulled out a win, but that has to be a red flag to coach Gene Chizik. His defense did not perform well on a big stage, and if they face the high-powered assault of the Oregon Ducks in a title game, that could be a tough matchup for Auburn.
Worst Defensive Secondary Performance: Oklahoma State Cowboys
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In Bedlam, the Oklahoma State pass defense suffered their worst performance, as Oklahoma went wild en route to hanging 47 points on the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State's offense did plenty of damage on their own, but OSU's pass defense was gouged repeatedly by Oklahoma. They did not show up and stop the pass for the biggest game of their season and have missed out on a BCS bowl as a result.
Worst Fourth-Quarter Collapse: Iowa Hawkeyes
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Iowa closed within three points of Minnesota at the end of the third quarter, giving them a good chance to eke out a victory in a historically tough game and stop their losing streak.
The Hawkeyes took the lead with 11 minutes to go, but they could not put Minnesota away and managed to relinquish their lead and their place in the top 25, thanks a late Minnesota touchdown and tough defense from the Golden Gophers.
This was a bad way to finish a game, and ultimately a season, for a team that played a number of ranked teams tough throughout their season.
Worst Rivalry Performance: Florida Gators
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This could go, also, to the Michigan Wolverines, but Michigan has played poorly in the Big Ten throughout the year.
Florida, though, had frequently leaned on the excuse of the toughness of the SEC, as well as the rebuilding nature of their year in the wake of Tebow and company leaving. They seemed like a team capable of giving a ranked, yet not world-beating, ACC opponent in Florida State a run for their money.
Instead, the Seminoles stomped their big rivals, with the Gators not ever being in the game—a major flop for Urban Meyer's squad in their last chance to come away with a big positive in a down season.
Worst Drop: Ronald Johnson of USC
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Ronald Johnson of USC had a chance to deliver a game-winning touchdown, continuing the Trojans' long run of dominance over Notre Dame in a rivalry game.
He was wide open and had a clear path to the end zone, yet he inconceivably dropped the pass. A few plays later USC would turn the ball over, and Notre Dame would hold on for a huge victory.
USC had not lost to Notre Dame in quite a few years, yet in Lane Kiffin's first season as coach, history has already been reversed.
Johnson deserves to shoulder some blame for a poor job in a key moment.
Worst Diplomacy by a Head Coach: Lane Kiffin, USC
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Lane Kiffin deserves a big "worst" for his handling of the key drop by Ronald Johnson, as he basically threw his own player under the bus for his mistake in a big spot.
Yes it's understandable to criticize a bad mistake, but Kiffin did not stand behind a young player who made an obvious mistake. A time like that might be when it's good to show some public support, rather than criticize a player that clearly messed up.
Worst Luck: Landry Jones on a Broderick Brown Interception
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Landry Jones was throwing a pass away, as he had nobody open downfield and was content to just put the ball out of bounds.
However, Oklahoma State's Broderick Brown made an extremely athletic play to bat the ball back in bounds and turn it into an interception for Shaun Lewis. It was an unreal and impressive piece of skill by Brown, and for Jones, just plain terrible luck.
He was making the right move, and it just burned him in the end.
Worst Run Defense: New Mexico State vs. Hawaii
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New Mexico State's rush defense had an absolutely horrible showing against Hawaii in their lopsided loss.
They allowed Warriors running back Alex Green to rush for a whopping 327 yards on only 19 carries, along with three rushing touchdowns. That is straight-up Nintendo-like and has to be a huge embarrassment for the New Mexico State defense.
Worst Television Decision of the Week: Notre Dame/USC over Bedlam
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Notre Dame has a big national following thanks to their NBC deal that airs all their games, but the fact that ABC televised their game with USC instead of Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State in a huge game with BCS ramifications is extremely puzzling.
Regardless of the revisionist history you can use to complain about the lack of airtime considering the game was so closely contested, even heading into the four teams' meetings, it was clear which pairing was more impactful on the college football landscape.
The fact that the network went with Notre Dame and USC over an unbelievably entertaining Bedlam game is a true shame.
Worst End to Coaching Tenure: Randy Shannon, Miami Hurricanes
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Losing to South Florida at home on the heels of the Hurricanes' bad two-touchdown loss to Virginia Tech is no way to end a coaching tenure, but such was the fate of Miami coach Randy Shannon.
A loss to Virginia also did not help Shannon's chances, but sealing the deal was a rough loss at home to a South Florida team that is mediocre in the lowly Big East. Jacory Harris never developed at quarterback, and Shannon is left looking for a new job as a result of the 'Canes' overall struggles.
Worst Conference Without Championship Game: Big Ten
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The Big Ten has three teams worthy of being crowned conference champions, yet their lack of a one-game conference championship means that BCS rankings get to decide who gets the regular season title and gets the bid to play in the Rose Bowl.
I understand the arguments against a conference title game, but the regular-season games were already so important in the Big Ten, why not have something in place to decide the rare scenario like this one where three teams are totally deadlocked even with tie-breakers?
Would be better than letting the BCS wield even more power than it already does.
Worst Waste of Elite Talent: Michigan Wolverines
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Denard Robinson's amazing, game-breaking abilities are lost on a team that has no defense to speak of, nor much of a special teams unit.
Michigan got about as far as they could with one truly great player on offense, and it's a shame to see Robinson go to waste on a middling Big Ten squad.
Perhaps the next coach after RichRod will be able to put together a more cohesive unit than what Michigan currently trots out.
Worst Facility: Nevada's Mackay Stadium
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People questioned whether or not the two field goals missed by Kyle Brotzman were actually no good, and the only reason there was any doubt was because of the smaller-than-usual goal posts in place in Nevada's Mackay Stadium.
This led to a lot of debate and discussion about the kick being good or not, which ultimately shouldn't be necessary. Shouldn't we be able to definitively figure out if a kick is good or not?
It would help if Nevada could step up their game and improve the goal-post situation at their stadium.
Worst Betting Luck: Oregon vs. Arizona
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Oregon was a heavy favorite against the Arizona Wildcats, and if anyone placed a friendly and legal wager on the odds, they would have known Oregon was giving 19 points.
How many points did Oregon end up winning by? Nineteen points, of course, leading to a lot of hand-wringing among those that had a vested interest.
Worst Beating: Wisconsin 70, Northwestern 23
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Northwestern was ranked at one point this year, but you wouldn't know it based on how they finished their season, particularly with the savage beating they received at the hands of Wisconsin.
The score, 70-23, seems more like an Arena Football League score than an NCAA one, but Wisconsin, in need of as much BCS help as they could get, punished Northwestern to a bloody pulp.
Worst One-Week Reversal of Attitude: Bo Pelini
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It must be much easier to be calm and collected on the sidelines when your team is going up against Colorado, as Bo Pelini was much calmer and less insane on the sidelines for the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend.
Perhaps he's in the world's most effective anger management class? The Big 12 title game will be the true test for Mount Pelini; if he erupts again, we'll be able to see it all as an act.
For one week, at least, Mike Stoops took the mantle of posturing coach from Pelini.
Worst Brain Fart: New Mexico Not Covering TCU WR Antoine Hicks
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New Mexico took its share of beatings this season, but an embarrassing moment came in their latest stinker against TCU.
Their defense just totally failed to cover TCU wide receiver Antonie Hicks on his receiving touchdown, thanks to some miscommunication on defense. Hicks was able to score easily on the play, as New Mexico was manhandled 66-17.
Worst Bowl-Eligible Team: UTEP Miners
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No guarantee that they get invited to any bowls, but the fact that UTEP is bowl-eligible at 6-6 and as a mediocre team in Conference USA, able only to win three conference games? Not a great sign and not a very impressive showing in a decent mid-major conference.
They lost two straight to end their season at .500, losing four of their last five Conference USA games. Not exactly a bowl team.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
