If there was ever an undeserved victory, it was this one.
Arlington Heights 13, Denton Ryan 38 (Area Round)
#4 Texas Christian 45, at Wyoming 10
UBuffalo 42, at Miami (Ohio) 17
Oklahoma 13, at Texas Tech 41
at #25 Nebraska 17, Kansas State 3
at Dallas 7, Warshington 6
Heights was down 31-0 before Denton Ryan took their collective foot off the Jackets’ throat.
All in all, it was a good season as Jacket seasons go.  There was one point during the year where they held their opponents scoreless for 13 straight quarters.  (Granted it was against Wyatt, North Side & South Hills, plus one quarter against Eastern Hills, but still.)
For a perpetually undersized unit with maybe one or two Division I-caliber athletes on the entire team, that’s not too shabby.  Congratulations to Steve Hale and the intrepid AHHS coaching staff.  Keep up the good work, guys.
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Is there someone up at UBuffalo reading me?
I put the Bulls on the SpatulaLine, and they then go out and show me they didn’t need it?
KORRIOTH:  Well, you didn’t exactly do much research on Miami of Ohio, y’know.  They’re even worse than UBeefalo this year – 1-10.
VENOMOUS:  Point.
Anyway, Brandon Thermilus returned from injury to run for 126 yards and two TDs, and caught a 29-yard pass from Zach Maynard for a third, as the Bulls rolled.
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Y’know, OU isn’t the first team that’s ever gotten torched by the Texas Tech passing game in Lubbock – just ask Gary Patterson – but one would have hoped for a better performance from Stoopes’ Troops™ and the nation’s 18th-ranked pass defense.
OU dressed in the same type Nike “combat uniforms” that TCU used in their game against Utah – these inspired by those unis worn by the 1955 national champions.
Problem is, they played like they were still stuck in 1955.
Tech quarterback Taylor Potts abused the Sooner secondary for 388 yards and two touchdowns, and the Raider ground game embarrassed the Sooners for 161 yards, 136 of those by heretofore-unheralded back Baron Batch.
Landry Jones threw for 262 yards, but he only completed 18 of 35 passes in getting there.  And the running game gave him absolutely no help at all, which may have been because by the third quarter, Tech was so far out in front that running would have been pointless.
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Speaking of those who might be reading me…looks like I’ve got some readers amongst the Cornhusker staff.
As you might recall, I ripped Nebraska for allowing themselves to be out-rushed by Iowa State, of all teams, and I admonished Bo Pelini that he needed to re-evaluate what he was trying to do there in Lincoln.
Not that he actually reads me, but it seems as if he’s somewhat scrapped that dreadful West Coast offense.
Back-to-back home losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State started a stretch of four games in which the Huskers scored a total of four offensive touchdowns.
But the Huskers tweaked their offense, installing the power-I formation and using less of the spread. They also overcame a quarterback controversy that saw freshman Cody Green start two games before Lee regained control of the job two weeks ago.
For this game, Lee was efficient if not spectacular.  He was 13-19-166 and a score.  Niles Paul caught four of those for 82 yards.
The Blackshirts kept the Wildcats out of the end zone despite the boys in purple outgaining Nebraska in total yards, 293-267, so credit to them for this win.  They forced a KState fumble on the goal line and also sacked Cat quarterback Grant Gregory on his last drive; KState would eventually lose the ball on downs, effectively ending the game.
The Huskers will now, presumably, become the sacrificial lamb for the TU Shortdicks’ romp to the BCS Championship Game.  But if they play defense like this there, who knows?
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Gary Patterson was not a happy camper.
“We just had two of the worst practices we’ve had all year,” Patterson said. “I can tell you right now we’re in a lot of trouble defensively. Two bad practices.”
On Saturday, it was the offense, not the defense, that started out a little shaky.  After holding Wyoming to a three-and-out, Andy Dalton misfired on three straight passes in the Frogs’ own three-and-out.  And on TCU’s next series, Dalton was intercepted on the Cowboy 2.
TCU slowly began to get untracked, scoring on a Matthew Tucker three-yard run for a 7-0 lead.  But after the two teams traded field goals, potential disaster struck.
Driving for what would have been a commanding 17-3 lead, Ed Wesley, on the Wyoming two, suffered a case of Lonta Hobbs-itis.  That is to say, he fumbled.  Wyoming’s Chris Prosinski scooped up the ball and raced 98 yards for the tying score.  With Cowboy fans screaming and the team believing it could hang with the Frogs, an upset was not out of the question.
Then Wyoming kicked off.
With Jeremy Kerley having been knocked a little woozy earlier, Greg McCoy replaced him and fielded the short kickoff at the Frog 19.  Eighty-one yards later, TCU had regained the lead, the momentum, and re-established their dominance.  Another Cowboy three-and-out was followed in short order by a Dalton-to-Kerley (now back in the game) 45-yard bomb.  Game over.
Andy was somewhat off, only going 10-19-168.  But the ground game, despite Wesley’s two fumbles (he would lose another one in the third quarter and not touch the ball again), rolled up over 300 yards for the fourth straight week, giving the Frogs over 500 total yards, likewise for the fourth week in a row.  The defense, after allowing a first-quarter field goal, smothered Wyoming the rest of the day (178 total yards).
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This should have been a second stright Cowgirl loss.
Oh, the defense was doing its share, for the most part, although they still had trouble getting off the field on third down, and they would give up 20-yard-plus plays to the Deadskins at the most inopportune times.  Yet, they kept the Skins out of the end zone.
Unfortunately, the Deadskin defense was doing likewise to the C’girls.  Romo couldn’t get a pass to a wide receiver until the end of the third quarter – it was either overthrown, or behind the receiver, or bounced in, or tipped, or picked off.  The running game was doing okay, but always seemed to get stuffed for no gain on 3rd-and-2.
Dallas’ only saving grace was that Deadskins kicker Shawn Suisham reminded the Dallas crowd of why Bill Parcells cut his ass three years ago; he missed on attempts in the 2nd and 4th quarters, pushing them left & right, respectively.
But with four minutes left in the game, Romo & the C’girl offense found some rhythm, shredding the normally-dependalbe Deadskin secondary in completing seven straight passes, the last one to Patrick Crayton in the endzone with 2:41 left.  An Anthony Spencer interception off a tip would seal the game for the C’girls.
Yes, they did deserve to lose this game.  On the other hand, I s’pose that – in some small way – it makes up for this.
But if they play this badly on Thursday, there’s going to be a lot of indigestion in Arlington.
This week:  4-2.  Overall:  46-21.
The PFW will return a little early with its Thanksgiving edition on Wednesday, as we’ll have the traditional Thanksgiving post up on Thursday, after which I’m taking the rest of that day off.
At that time, we’ll play Round Three of “Attaboy/Awshit” with TCU, while at the same time celebrating a “victory lap” of sorts as we herald the completion of the Froggies undefeated regular season.
We’ll also attempt to find a replacement “hah skrewl” (a little Rush lingo, there) team, and I have a pretty good one in mind.  Don’t miss it.