As abysmal as this weekend was for seven of the top 25 teams in the country, it was that good for the Boston College Eagles.
With the third-, fourth- and fifth-ranked teams all dropping their games this weekend, the Eagles took advantage of the situation. The door was open and BC walked in with a 24-14 win over UMass. The win boosted their ranking from No. 12 to No. 7 and kept them flawless on the season, 5-0.
The Eagles' powerful offense controlled the field via the running game, as senior running back Andre Callender rushed 32 times for 115 yards and two touchdowns, while his counterpart, senior Matt Lawrence only ran 20 times for 64 yards and no touchdowns.
The two teams faired relatively equally in the air, as BC quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 24 completions of 42 attempts, resulting in 204 yards and one touchdown. In comparison, UMass quarterback Liam Coen completed 12 of 21 pass attempts for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite carrying one of the nation's few undefeated records, Boston College still lacks the same respect that powerhouses LSU Tigers (No. 1) and USC Trojans (No. 2) have received.
But the Eagles are used to being underdogs. In fact, they might be remembered as the most lovable underdogs in college football history.
On Thanksgiving weekend of 1984, a dogged, diminutive quarterback named Doug Flutie heaved a Hail Mary pass that won his team a huge matchup over the defending champions, and won him the hearts of millions.
That team was in a situation similar to the 2007-08 BC squad at this point in the season. Coming into the 1984 season, the Eagles were well-respected but were forced to play their way into the Top 25 with a 4-0 start.
The season led to the historic match-up with the Miami Hurricanes, the incumbent national champions, in which Flutie, who won the Heisman Trophy that year, threw one of the most famous passes in college football history to beat Miami 47-45 in the final play of the game.
Are the 2007-08 Eagles headed for the same fate? A Thanksgiving Weekend game against Miami - 23 years to the day that Flutie prayed his way into history - would be the perfect backdrop for history to repeat itself.
To make a case for the BCS Championship Game, the Eagles will have to go through ACC Division rivals the Clemson Tigers, Virginia Tech Hokies, and Florida State Seminoles. Before then, it will have to focus on a Bowling Green team that recently tore up Western Kentucky 41-21. The pair faces off on Saturday at noon EST.
As the Eagles linger on the door of a return trip to greatness, the Florida Gators are finding that a repeat is harder in football than it was in basketball. The Gators took a turn for the worst this weekend, losing 20-17 to Auburn University. And in the imperfect and competitive world of Bowl Championships, in which every loss diminishes postseason aspirations, Florida's drop from No. 4 to No. 9 in the standings is certainly not good news for the team.
The Gators have a particularly difficult road ahead, playing four teams currently ranked in the top 12, including No. 1 LSU.
The Tigers and No. 2 USC are the frontrunners for the Championship game this season. Both teams missed out last year due to some unexpected losses, but LSU and former quarterback JaMarcus Russell were still able to obliterate Notre Dame and Brady Quinn in the Sugar Bowl.
LSU has carried that momentum into this season, starting off 5-0, scoring an average of 39.8 points per game, and outscoring their opponents 199-32. Their last victory, which came over the unranked Tulane Green Wave, was enough to push them into the No. 1 position in the AP rankings over the USC team which narrowly beat out the unranked Washington Huskies, 27-24.
So while a blast from the NCAA's glory days (well, at least the mid-'80s) plays in Boston on Saturday, the LSU-Florida game on Saturday night will pit the game's present against it's not-so-distant past. The winner of this battle will be vaulted into a higher position, or in LSU's case, solidify its No. 1 ranking; the other will lose significant ground on the top spot in the rankings.
LSU will be chomping at the bit to retake the crown in this SEC rivalry, as Florida won last year's match-up comfortably, 23-10. USC, on the other hand, has the unranked Stanford Cardinal next on the schedule, a team the Trojans beat last year 42-0.
