Just as I was again passing on a Saturday liveblog, BG finds itself clinging by a fingernail at Buffalo. Yes, Buffalo. 14-7 in the third. Not good.

And Michigan State learns the BG lesson of defense. Your offense can’t carry you all day if you can’t tackle to save your ass. God that was atrocious.

Alabama facing a 31-yarder to maintain their spot at best in the BlogPoll at Ole Miss. I haven’t watched most of this game, but 10-10 with :03 left, I kinda wish I had.

BC-Wake and Minnesota-Wisky have also looked like games that weren’t great, but still very, very good. And then there’s Miami vs. Temple. Somehow, with about three minutes left in the second quarter, Miami had -1 yard rushing, but a 34-0 lead. Temple wishes they were back in the Doyt, I think. In fact, BG wishes they were there, too.

‘Bama wins.

“Brodie Croyle, you just beat Mississippi to stay undefeated, what are you going to do next?”
“Well golllllly! I’m goin’ to Argentina!”

4:28pm
-BG gets the win, 27-7, but it wasn’t pretty. A win is a win, though, and it’s back home to the Doyt for what should be a pasting of Western Michigan. I hope.

-Toledo is burning down, and the Rockets game isn’t even over yet. As long as they don’t tear down the goalposts (go to the bottom), I think they’ll be fine.

Two links to The Blade in one sentence? Who do I think I am, Brian!?!?

-Michigan is in a battle with Penn State. Between having to chew fingernails during the BG game, and a drive to work that didn’t include much reception at all from WJR, I’m not sure if it’s a “Whew, 3-0!” or a “OMG! 3-0!” (though two missed PSU field goals tend to point to the former a bit), but the fact that Garrett Rivas has already hit a field goal doesn’t bode well for a tight game late. TOUCHDOWN MICHIGAN! I love me some Tyler Ecker! Oh, and Mike Hart, too.

-Wisky escaped a huge bullet in Minnesota today, what a finish!

-USC goes to the half down 7. Everyone seemed to call a “USC lazes through the first half, then turns it on and opens up a big win late” type game. It’s on now, we’ll see what happens. (My thought? 41-38 USC win.)

5:16 pm
-And that’s gonna do it for Michigan. Not only do they go back to the “let’s play tough for 40 minutes then give up a couple 50+ yard plays” defense, but now a strip of Henne for six and that kicker doing whatever that kicker just did to make it an eight point game, I’ll be amazed if U-M can get back in it. I’m not usually one for counting teams out with time left, but 18 straight points and the last eight coming in a sequence like that is about as much of a hole in the sails as you can get and still call it a “sail”.

-LSU has five turnovers today, yet only trail by 3. What happened to “Urban Meyer: Offensive Genius”? Oh yeah, the SEC happened. Hopefully he cashed those checks early. You know, for his wife’s sake.

5:26 pm
-On second thought…

Now that impressed me. That could have been the best drive the Michigan offense has had all year. Even more surprising is that Mario Manningham didn’t just stop behind the goal post and put the #1 jersey on right there. Sure, there’s a sophomore jinx to work with, but this kid has shown signs of being special.

And not “special” in a fun, window-licking way, either.

5:41 pm
-I was just thinking that Michigan might be better off giving Garrett Rivas a 47-yarder to kick, since he’d be sure to miss anything inside of 30 if it came to it. 21-18 Michigan and the defense gets a shot at redemption from last week.

-Notre Dame up 3 early in the fourth. LSU up 3 early in the fourth. Certainly there’s another game somewhere that’s tight in the fourth. This could be the best day to watch college football this year from a “every game across the board has been exciting” standpoint.

5:56 pm
-And while the defense gets one big stop with a pick for U-M, the offense goes three and out and now the defense looks more familiar. They can’t afford to give this kid a chip shot field goal as shaky as he’s been today. Whew! A hold calls back a run that would assure said chip shot.

-Lehigh beat Yale! Lehigh beat Yale! Um, or something.

6:05 pm
-Here’s that defense again. Except not only is PSU assured of a field goal to tie it, it looks like a TD is likely (yep, there it is). On the bright side, they left alot more time than I figured they would down here. At least this one won’t come down to Rivas.

-Notre Dame misses a field goal. While I’m waiting for USC to lose, I don’t know that I want it to be today, the more I watch this one go down.

6:15 pm
-Awwww… Marshall’s losing to UAB. How precious.

-And yeah, why is Michigan throwing five-yard passes at this point? It’s coming down to one play. Karma, anyone?

6:42 pm
-Desmond. Mercury. Mario. Whoa.

-USC guts up and gets the win, laying some sack on the line at the goal line, even.

8:14 pm
-The excitement keeps on going. Not only was the end of the NLCS game tonight a little dramatic, but BG hockey has scored four unanswered goals to tie Boston College at six. My only hope is that a huge crowd showed up (and stayed) for this one, because as many shortcomings as the BGSU Ice Arena may have, few places beat it when it’s packed and energized. Jonathan Matsumoto has a hat trick for BG. Just under 12 minutes left in the third. Man do I miss BG hockey!

-I finally caught the “John L. Smith” incident. Even though it gave OSU a touchdown and a bagful of momentum, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer jackass.

-Other (at least semi-) liveblogs from today’s games can be found at the often imitated, rarely duplicated EDSBS and The Subsidiary ™

-BG hockey now down 7-6, still plenty of time for this one to end up 9-8 in OT.

8:38 pm
-Forgot about the Hurricanes playing the Devils tonight, but thanks to NHL.com, I get to hear the familiar voice of Chuck Kaiton, and find out the ‘Canes are up 6-1. Amazing what the Devils can’t do when they (supposedly) crack down on obstruction and such. Though I don’t see anything that tells me it’s a limited time offer, I really hope these broadcast feeds stay free all year at NHL.com. Between that and the Sirius (not to mention beers and Center Ice at Kurt’s on occasion), I just might be able to follow the NHL in hockey-retarded Indiana afterall.

–Apparently my math was off earlier, thinking that USC was down three when they went for it and got the winner, they were down four. Carroll and Leinart’s testicles are no larger than they were before that play. Well, maybe a little larger, just for running that whole “fake the clock play and dive into the line” play.

Nevermind. I was right. That’ll teach me to listen to others.

-I’m already hearing rumblings that “Michigan got an extra play” by Lloyd arguing for (and getting) the extra two seconds on the last drive, moving the clock from 28 seconds left to thirty. The only water this holds is that with less time, Michigan doesn’t run that OMG! WHY!?!? play to Breaston (?) that went incomplete near the five. No clue if even Lloyd could bitch enough to get a second added there if he comes up with that pass and Michigan tries to get a time out, or even the clock stopping for the potential first down (it was close). But, considering the last two plays were run from the same spot on the field, my bet is that if Michigan has four seconds left instead of six, they go for the endzone there. I still don’t get, on the six-seconds play, how they lined everyone up within about 20 feet of the ball. Even if it provides for some separation and gets a guy open, the risk of it not working takes too much time off the clock while people run around. A mistake Michigan almost figured out the hard way.

-BG hockey loses 9-6, but again a great effort against the #4 team in the country, not to mention playing against the greatest coach in the history of their program.

9:44 pm
-I’m loving that Florida State is down big at UVA, but I’m hoping the game gets a little tighter and keeps some of the day’s adrenaline flowing.

-Going back and watching the Michigan postgame, Brad Nessler (who might be the best, and is definitely top three, college football broadcaster going today) made one of those silly, heat-of-the-moment comments about how Lloyd Carr might remember this game more than any other. As a guy that was the head coach for the 1995 comeback win vs. Virginia, at least three HUGE wins in 1997 and the MSU game last year, this game might not even rank top five on his list. Of course, none of that matters for the next week. Even though he’ll still have his critics, Carr looked like a man with the weight of the world off his shoulders, if only for five minutes after this one.

-And this gem from Martin Brodeur, pulled after two periods (and five goals allowed) against the Hurricanes:

“When the team is struggling, why be in there for the sake of being there?”

Maybe there’s a hidden meaning, but I don’t care how many Vezinas you have in your closet, what’s with the meme attitude, Marty? You done got bitchslapped.