Local time where you're at. ("Where you're at"?)

Heights actually put up a pretty good fight before falling late against the Pirates.  Shouldn’t be enough to save Todd Whitten’s job, but he can teach P.E. at one of the feeder schools, I imagine.

—

Turner Gill’s calling card is usually offense.  But the defense did it for Liberty Saturday.

Nick Sigmon returned an interception for a touchdown as Liberty’s defense forced five turnovers in a 28-14 win over Stony Brook Saturday.

Liberty’s opportunistic defense in the second half led to the win. Sigmon intercepted Kyle Essington’s third-quarter pass and returned it 21 yards for the score, extending the Flames’ lead to 21-7.

—

Given up for dead a few weeks ago, Bucky may actually have a shot at the Big Ten title.

Montee Ball and James White put Wisconsin’s Big Ten title hopes back on track Saturday.

The two running backs ran for 359 yards and five touchdowns and Ball moved into second place on the career touchdown list, leading the Badgers to a 62-14 rout at Indiana and back to the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin finished with a school-record 564 yards rushing and crushed the Memorial Stadium record for an opponent — 441 yards by Michigan State in 1974 and matched by Northwestern in 1999.

That gives you an idea about the Big Ten.

—

I’ve told anyone who’d listen that, had the TCU & OU games been switched for Baylor last year, the Cubbies would’ve lost them both.  Baylor caught TCU when they were inexperienced, and they caught OU last year when they were hurt.

OU’s a little healthier this year, and the results were a little better.

The Bears, who entered the game with the nation’s top overall offense and top passing attack, piled up 252 yards on the ground and became the fourth Sooners opponent to surpass 200 yards rushing. Florence had 83 yards and a score, to go with 172 yards on 12-for-33 passing with no interceptions, and Glasco Martin ran for 60 yards.

Some of what Oklahoma’s defense gave up was by design after eventual Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III threw for 479 yards — and Baylor racked up 616 yards, the most ever by a Sooners opponent — in a 45-38 win by the Bears last season that remains their only win in 22 meetings.

“The way you have to play these guys, to limit their passing big plays, you have to make them hand the ball off and hope you can come up with your third-down stops and fourth-down stops,” Stoops said.

Oklahoma’s defense was up to the task this time. Terrance Williams, the nation’s top receiver, had six catches for 91 yards — but that was 76 below his average. Florence also had a season low in passing yardage, getting held to 127 yards fewer than any other game this season.

—

In Happy Valley tonight, they’re bitching about a call that didn’t go their way…and shouldn’t have.

The turning point, according to Penn State, was a fumble in the middle of the fourth quarter with Nebraska leading 27-23.

PSU tight end Matt Lehman was ruled to have fumbled into the end zone before the ball crossed the goal line. Nebraska recovered, and the call was confirmed on video review.

O’Brien said he thought the ball broke the plane.

Oh, of course  he did.  And so does the rest of Happy Valley – even the jerkwads posing as Nebraska fans who say, “I’m a Husker fan, but…”

Taylor was a pedantic 12-20-171 with a score.  Ameer Abdullah ran 31 times for 116 yards.

—

The Cowgirlz followed the Nebraska Husker Theory™ for success yesterday:  Knock the starting quarterback out of the the game.

The Eagles were losing when Michael Vick left the game with a concussion, but [backup Nick] Foles was already a wanted man in Philadelphia because Eagles’ fans think Vick is too injury- and turnover-prone for a quarterback with four years left on a fat contract.

Foles had teased Eagles’ fans with strong performances in the preseason, and he threw a touchdown pass less than 10 minutes after replacing Vick. But he faltered later, and the Eagles fell apart to the Cowboys.

A punt return for a TD by Dwayne Harris, a pick-six by Brandon Carr and a fumble recovery in the end zone on a subsequent Foles sack sealed the game for Dallas.

—

Kansas State reminds one of the Frogs of two years ago.

Coach Bill Snyder’s Kansas State Wildcats have the stifling defense, the creative quarterback and the bountiful experience to get there.

He has a young, ever-improving defense but a depth chart of TCU underclassmen with some tough lessons to learn.

The Kansas State starting defense lists eight seniors and three juniors. The quarterback, Collin Klein, is a wily senior.

Remind you of anybody?

“I thought they were about like Wisconsin,” suggested [TCU coach Gary] Patterson, harking back to the Badgers team that the Frogs faced in the 2010-season Rose Bowl.

I’ll go, however, with a comparison that should be more familiar. With their savvy, experienced, Andy Dalton-like quarterback, the Wildcats resemble the TCU team that went 13-0 that season.

Agreed.  Senior quarterback that makes almost no mistakes, talent at the skill positions, a suffocating defense.  And  they know how to wear purple uniforms.

Sigh.

TCU will be there, eventually.  It’ll just take a couple of years, that’s all.

This week:  5-2.  Perfect Football Weekend achieved (Executive Fiat – Penn State loses to Nebraska (4)).  Overall:  44-25.

The PFW will return Friday or thereabouts, soon as I can find a replacement for my failed Yellow Jackets.