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The question has been asked – why am I doing a countdown?

Those of you who’ve been with me for any length of time at all know precisely what this is about – you know what time of year it is, and you know what happens RightAboutNow&#153.

Those of you who haven’t…well, why would I spoil the suspense?&#160 Where’s the fun in that?&#160

Nine.

…let me count the ways.

Arlington Heights 14, Birdville 13

TCU 36, at #5 Boise State 35

#19 Nebraska 17, at #12 Penn State 14

#18 Wisconsin 42, at UMinnesota 13

at Dallas 44, Buffalo 7

Heights couldn’t seem to make up its mind.&#160 Did they want it, or didn’t they?

Down 14-7 with 1:20 left to play, Birdville got to within one on an 8-yard touchdown pass from E.A. Northey to Tyler Klutts.

But Heights defensive end Demetri Webb came around the edge untouched and blocked the extra-point kick to keep the Hawks down 14-13.

Birdville had no timeouts remaining, and Yellow Jackets receiver Matt Lawry recovered the Hawks’ onside kick attempt.

Game over, right? Not even close.

Heights (9-2) lined up in the “Victory” formation, only to have quarterback Vincent Berrones fumble the snap, which Birdville recovered.

The Hawks (8-3) had the ball at the 50-yard line with 1:05 to go and managed to get to the Heights’ 37-yard line with 28 seconds remaining.

Just as it had done nearly the entire game, Heights’ defense stepped up at a critical moment as safety Chucky Lincoln picked off Northey’s pass over the middle to seal the win.

Call ’em the Cardiac Jackets.&#160 Or somesuch.

—

Montee Ball ran over, around & through the Golden Gophers, amassing 166 yards on 23 carries.&#160 Bucky outgained UMinne-haha, 451 to 156.

—

If everyone’s through gushing about how friggin’ courageous&#160 everybody was for even bothering to show up for the game, and how it was jutht tho touching&#160 how tha playerth all came out for that pwegame pwayer and oh it wath jutht tho thcrumptiouth, yumyumyumyumyum…fer Cthulu’s sake, can we get to the actual, you know, game&#160 now?

Rex Burkhead did okay (25 totes, 121 yards).&#160 No one else was all that spectacular – the Blackshirts managed not to screw up another one, and Taylor Martinez isn’t reminding anyone of the second coming of Turner Gill.

Still, as my old friend Polsk said, a W’s a W.&#160 (shrug)

—

Denizens, I admit – I didn’t watch a minute of TCU-Boise.&#160 Given what ARR GEE THREE!!!!!&#160 and SMUT had already done to this bunch, I wasn’t keen on seeing a threepeat.

And to be sure, the Frog secondary got torched a bit – it gave up TD passes of 22 & 54 yards in the 1st & 4th quarters, respectively, plus it let Bronco back D.J. Harper get loose for a 17-yard TD scamper.

But the Bronco secondary is a little banged up, and they were playing backups at the corner spots.&#160 And Casey Pachall took advantage.

Now, I’m still not enamored with 6’5″ quarterbacks – they tend to be statues (see “Testaverde, Vinny” and “Bledsoe, Drew”).&#160 But if the TCU offensive line can protect this kid…he’s got a bazooka for an arm.

Pachall threw for touchdown passes of 74, 75, 69, 2 and 25 yards (and the 2-yarder was preceded by passes of 35, 16 & 12 yards, respectively), then managed to get the ball to Josh Boyce for the last two-point conversion that provided the final margin.

Even then, the officiating tried to give the game back to Boise – a phantom pass-interference on 4th down gave the Broncos new life at midfield.&#160 (How much did the Mountain West wanna stick it to TCU?&#160 They must have imported some Conference USA refs for the game).

But a Dan Goodale field-goal attempt from 39 yards went wide right, and the Frogs now have their swagger back, and a win on which this group can hang its collective hat.&#160 This could be the win that gets the Frog program back into high gear.

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Where has this&#160 team been?&#160 Has the light finally, at long last, come back on in Valley Ranch?

The Cowgirlz have put together three good games out of the last four.&#160 The long-missing running game appears to have returned (DeMarco Murray, 20 carries, 135 yards, 601 yards in his four starts).&#160 El Choko Romo, no longer having to put it all on his shoulders, was near perfect Sunday, 23-26-270 with three TDs and a QB rating of 148.4.

And the defense seems to be catching on, as well – they forced four turnovers (three picks, one a pick-six, and a fumble recovery) and got a sack of Ryan Fitzpatrick from Demarcus Ware.

And – dare I say it? – this stretch of good play all began when Montrae Holland replaced Bill Nagy in the starting lineup when Nagy went down for the season with a blown knee.&#160 That’s right – the same Montrae Holland against whom I was bitching when the team released Andre Gurode.&#160 Either I (and everyone else) was wrong about him, or getting cut was the wakeup call he needed.

One that seems to have spread to the entire roster.

—

In other games, Mizzou embarrassed TU, 17-5, Navy embarrassed SMUT at home, 24-17, and even lowly Rock Chalk extended ARR GEE THREE!!!&#160 and the rest of the Baylor Pandas to OT before falling, 30-31.

All in all, it’s enough for another Perfect Football Weekend&#153 (and I’m gonna count the Cowboy victory for the fact that they finally seem to be depending on someone other&#160 than El Choko for their offensive success, plus the fact that Penn State lost).&#160 Who needs Executive Fiat&#153 when your teams play this well?&#160

This week:&#160 5-0.&#160 Perfect Football Weekend achieved (5).&#160 Overall:&#160 43-11.

The PFW will return Friday, when we report on a non-football tradition that’s kinda cool.