Notes from the undercard, special doormat edition.10. Bowling Green (2-10). The Falcons cruised to the prize for "Most Hard-Luck Team" of the year: They lost the opener to Troy on a last-second field goal, had a comeback at Buffalo foiled by a missed field goal on the final play, lost at Temple on a failed two-point conversion attempt with no time on the clock and went down in the fog against Miami (Ohio) on another last-second field goal. Four losses on the final play, by a combined nine points.
Of course, the Falcons' other six losses were all by double digits, and one of their two wins came in the final minute, too. That's how the cookie crumbles when you finish dead last nationally in rushing offense and top 27 points just once.
9. UNLV (2-11). The Rebels matched a school record for losses, and they did it with gusto: All eleven defeats were by at least 15 points, six of them by at least thirty. That's mitigated somewhat by the brutal schedule – UNLV came in for poundings at the hands of five teams that finished in the top 25, plus eight-game winners West Virginia, Air Force and San Diego State – but considering his team also went down 30-7 to Idaho and 43-10 to Colorado State, it must have crossed first-year coach Bobby Hauck's mind on more than one occasion to ask for his old job back.
8. Eastern Michigan (2-10). In per capita terms, the Eagles were one of the most improved teams in the country, rebounding from an 0-12 catastrophe in coach Ron English's debut with a pair of skin-of-the-teeth triumphs over Ball State and Buffalo in Year Two. That wasn't good enough to get them out of the MAC West cellar, mostly thanks to a defense that came in 119th out of 120 teams in rushing, pass efficiency and scoring D, allowing upwards of 40 points in seven different games.
7. Western Kentucky (2-10). 2009's other winless wonder managed to break the string with road wins at Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State, and could have had more if not for blown fourth-quarter leads against Florida Atlantic, Louisiana-Monroe and Middle Tennessee – the latter two both double-digit collapses. Still, a last-place finish in the Sun Belt with a 33-6 loss to North Texas is a last-place finish in the Sun Belt with a 33-6 loss to North Texas.
6. New Mexico State (2-10). The Aggies finished 1-7 in the WAC; failed to top 30 points in any game for the second consecutive season; lost by an average margin of three touchdowns; and only managed to win at all thanks to a) A late field goal against New Mexico and b) A touchdown at the gun against San Jose State, two teams that combined to go 2-23 themselves. (See below.) If Texas or anyone else offers coach DeWayne Walker an escape route, no one outside of Las Cruces could blame him for taking it.
5. Buffalo (2-10). For further proof that Buffalo's 2008 MAC championship under Turner Gill really was a miracle, look no further than the Bulls' enthusiastic return to doormat status in their first season post-Gill, in which the only victories came via a I-AA/FCS punching bag (Rhode Island) and Bowling Green's missed field goal on the final play (see above). Elsewhere, the Bulls lost ten of their last eleven, were shut out 42-0 by Temple and finished dead last nationally in scoring offense, at a mere 14.2 points per game. The nation's lowest-rated passing attack did not help.
4. Akron (1-11). Buffalo was so bad, it lost the season finale to 0-11 Akron, which came into the game bound for the nation's only winless season in coach Rob Ianello's first year. You have to credit the Zips for persistence: After dropping four of their first five MAC games by at least 30 (and eight of their first nine by double digits), they fought back with legitimate chances to beat Ball State and eventual conference champ Miami (Ohio) late before breaking through against Buffalo. But persistence doesn't erase an average margin of defeat of 30 points for the season.
3. San Jose State (1-12). You have to feel for the Spartans and first-year coach Mike MacIntyre, that included five ranked teams – Alabama, Wisconsin, Utah, Nevada and Boise State – in the first seven games. Obviously, SJSU didn't come close to winning any of those, but also failed to win a single WAC game (despite coming close on multiple occasions), or any game against a I-A/FCS opponent – its only win came in a hard-fought, 16-11 struggle against Southern Utah. Two weeks later, the Spartans dropped gimme to UC-Davis, and came up empty against fellow WAC doormats to New Mexico State, Utah State and Idaho to go out on a ten-game losing streak, longest in the nation going into 2011.
2. Memphis (1-11). The Tigers didn't win a game in Conference USA, and after a close, 16-13 call against UTEP in September, didn't come close: Their other seven C-USA losses all came by at least 15 points, plunging the team increasing hopelessness over the course of a nine-game losing streak to close coach Larry Porter's first season. Tommy West has no comment.
1. New Mexico (1-11). How bad were the Lobos? Let us count the ways…
Major stat categories in which New Mexico finished in the bottom five nationally
• Pass Efficiency (116th)
• Total Offense (120th)
• Rushing Defense (120th)
• Total Defense (119th)
• Scoring Defense (120th)
• Sacks (116th)
• Turnover Margin (116th)
Major stat categories in which New Mexico finished in the bottom 20 nationally
• Rushing Offense (106th)
• Passing Offense (106th)
• Pass Efficiency Defense (111th)
• Third Down Offense (109th)
• Third Down Defense (106th)
Et cetera. That pretty much covers it.
The Lobos' only win: A 34-31 escape against Wyoming on a field goal on the final play, Mike Locksley's second win – both on walk-off field goals – in as many seasons as head coach. At least he didn't punch an assistant coach this time around, but if not for the $1.5 million the state would be forced to pony up to buy out the rest of Locksley's contract, he may have been the one getting KO'd.
- - -
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
Marc de Reuver Michele Rinaldi Joël Robert Ken Roczen Stephane Roncada
No comments:
Post a Comment