Just Another Day At The Office

It doesn't suck when your office is in a mobile unit outside a sold-out college football stadium. And only adding to that satisfaction is run of great finishes I've witnessed and documented in the last several weeks.

Last night it was Louisville coming back from 10 points down in the second half, Teddy Bridgewater throwing for 400+, a late Cincinnati rally led by Munchie Legaux, and the Keg Of Nails changing hands on a game-winning FG in OT.

Here are my last 5 college football assignments:

September 15 - Utah 24, BYU 21

Utah thought they had won on two separate occasions. The sidelines emptied and the fans rushed the field, twice. After a clock adjustment and an illegal participation penalty on a Stanford Band-type play, BYU's tying FG attempt doinked off the upright. Then the Utes got to celebrate for real.

October 5 - Syracuse 14, Pitt 13

It wasn't a barn-burner by any stretch, but one-point games don't suck. It helps that the alma mater actually captured a conference game at home.

October 13 - Texas A&M 59, Louisiana Tech 57

Another one for the history books. Freshman legend Johnny "Football" Manziel set the SEC Total Offense mark (for the second time this season) with 576 yards of total offense, accounting for 6 TDs. The Aggies led 27-0, by 23 at halftime, and by 16 going into the 4th quarter. Still, gutty La Tech had two chances to tie on failed 2-point conversions. Texas A&M hung on in Shreveport.

October 20 - Louisville 27, South Florida 25

It wasn't a classic, but just a run-of-the-mill game-winning TD drive with under 2:00 left. And it was led by Louisville's super soph to preserve a still-unbeaten season.

October 26 - Louisville 34, Cincinnati 31 (OT)

Louisville's late magic continues. Eight down, four to go.

Next up: Bowling Green at Ohio U - Wednesday, November 7. The day after election day in Ohio will be interesting whether the game is or not.

Deja Lou

Haven't I been here before? Yes, just a few days ago. And ten times in the last three years. Not quite the time entrenched as I was in 2008-2009, when I spent 30 days in a 7-month period in Oklahoma.

Louisville is a great city but we're stuck at an airport hotel, which is convenient to the football stadium but not to downtown and 4th Street Live.

Thursday night's dinner was at the Cardinal Hall of Fame Cafe' which is a solid sports bar, and serves Bourbon Barrel Ale in frosty 22-ounce glasses.

As noted in the past, this is a great sports town, home to Churchill Downs, Louisville Slugger, and the Muhammad Ali museum.

It is also the home of some great college sports, headlined by the Preseason #2 Louisville Cardinals hoop team, who plays in the downtown Yum! Center, which is already a Top 5 NBA arena.

And the #16 football squad will be playing rival Cincinnati in a packed stadium tonight for the Keg Of Nails. And each team looks to get one step closer to the Big East's automatic BCS bid.

The weather may be a factor with persistent rain, which may douse some of the fire that's been building over the outstanding quarterback matchup: Munchie Legaux vs Teddy Bridgewater.

The Keg's been in Bearcat hands for four straight years, and tonight the Cardinals look to reclaim it.

On This September Saturday: Football > Baseball

Despite my professional responsibilities, I consider myself a baseball guy first. And September baseball is high drama, but yesterday it was swallowed up by an dynamic week of college football as conference races are off to a booming start.

Let's go through the epic battles yesterday, in order of finish.

Miami 44 NC State 37 How did Phillip Dorsett get behind the defense for a 62-yard TD with 19 seconds left? Stephen Morris passed for 566 yards and he and Mike Glennon combined for over 1,000 pass yards.

West Virginia 70 Baylor 63 Yes both defenses were non-existent, but an incredible game to watch in the Mountaineers' Big 12 debut. Geno Smith's numbers (45-51, 656 yds, 8 TD/0 INT) were unprecedented in our lifetime, and they weren't just dinks and dunks. His passes had air under them and they always landed on their target. The WVU WRs and Baylor Offense guys were also statistically off the charts, but too many to mention here.

Cincinnati 27 Virginia Tech 24 It was a pretty pedestrian 13-7 game going into the 4th Qtr, but then the laser tag game broke out with four lead changes in the last 9 minutes. It was highlighted by Cincinnati's heroic 85 yard drive in final 1:49, capped by a sensational 39-yard TD from Munchie Legaux to Damon Julian.

Georgia 51 Tennessee 44 Lots of big plays and 95 points on the board, but the teams still had time to combine for 7 turnovers. UT QB Tyler Bray's 3 INT proved to be too much to overcome, as well as Georgia's 282 rush yards.

Texas 41 Oklahoma State 36 Another game with 4 final quarter lead changes, and gutsy Texas Soph QB David Ash took his team 75 yards down the field for the win in Stillwater. This sets up the showdown with West Virginia next week in Austin.

Nebraska 30 Wisconsin 27 Huskers were down 27-10 in the 2nd half, and finished with 20 unanswered points. Bo Pelini's defense forced a Monte Ball fumble on 4th & 1 to seal it. In Nebraska's storied history, I've never heard Memorial Stadium so loud or raucous.

I fell asleep before Oregon State came down the field to upend Arizona on the road 38-35, or it certainly would be detailed as well.

I had one eye on the baseball action as well, and there was plenty of compelling stuff it just didn't reach the magnitude of the events on the gridiron.

AL East Yankees blew a lead at Toronto and lost 3-2. Orioles blew a lead but got a Manny Machado HR in the 7th and Jim Johnson nailed down his 49th save in a 4-3 win over Boston. The AL East is tied again.

AL Wild Card The amazing A's trailed Seattle 4-1 late. They got one in the 8th, they tying 2-run HR by Josh Donaldson in the 9th, then winning 3-run HR by Brandon Moss in the 10th. Unfortunately only 21,517 were in Oakland to enjoy it.

The A's crept within one game of the Yankees/O's for the Wild Card lead, and put more distance between the trailing Angels, who were rained out in Arlington and now need to play two there today.

AL Central The Tigers big money guys earned it. Justin Verlander won his 17th. Miguel Cabrera hit another HR and is closing in on Triple Crown (.327, 43, 136) in a 6-4 win over Minnesota. Meanwhile White Sox ace Chris Sale had his worst start of the season in a 10-4 home loss to the mathematically-still-breathing Rays. Detroit now leads by 2 with 4 to go.

NL Wild Card The Cardinals came back from 4-0 down to force extra innings, but lost to Washington. The Dodgers got 2 taters from Matt Kemp in a combined shutout of Colorado. LA inched closer to STL, and are 2 back with 4 left.

Ultimately there was plenty of TV to go around yesterday, just not enough TVs in the house. Maybe baseball wasn't better in one particular snapshot, but that's the thing about baseball. It goes every day, 162 of them. While football may win any given day, baseball wins day after day.

Meanwhile in a Swing State...

While College Football was under the radar on a particular Thursday night in September, the Cincinnati Bearcats weren't distracted. In their opener in the last Big East season as we know it, where a BCS bid will still ultimately be at stake, Cincy routed ACC-bound Pitt 34-10.

While RB George Winn made the lead of most stories with his 58-yard TD run on the Bearcats' first play from scrimmage, it's the Quarterback play that will eventually put them in the middle of the national discussion.

Meet Munchie.  Junior QB Benton Shannon "Munchie" Legaux was a big-time dual-threat recruit out of New Orleans, who filled in well for the injured Zach Collaros last season. Now it's his show.

Legaux, at 6'5" 199, is a bit unconventional with a long, loopy throwing motion. But he threw for 205 and 2 TD last night, and ran for 117 on top of that. And if you combine Butch Jones' system with Cincinnati's schedule, you could see Denard Robinson numbers by season's end (provided he stays healthy).

With West Virginia's exit for the Big 12, I only see two games the Bearcats won't be favored: Sept. 29 vs Virginia Tech (Fedex Field - Landover, MD) and October 26 at Louisville.

There are sneaky games like November 10 at Temple and home Nov. 23 vs South Florida, but the schedule sets up as nicely as any legit darkhorse could expect. If there wasn't enough to watch in Ohio this fall.