A Humbled Announcer

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

I rarely watch ESPN's College Football Game Day because of my busy schedule.

But because Nebraska was facing the Michigan Wolverines in "The Big House," this was a great opportunity to hear the crews prediction.

Longtime analyst Lee Corso, 76, seemed quite decisive predicting the visiting Cornhuskers. Corso's famous line "Not So Fast, My Friend" bit him good as Michigan crushed Nebraska 45-17 in front of 113,718, the largest crowd to ever see a Cornhuskers contest in this storied program's rich history.

Not only did Corso look bad with with this prediction, his use of the expletive that begins with an "F" as he was ending his show turned out to be a disaster. Even his sidekick Kirk Herbstreit wondered where the delay button was.

But I'm going to give Corso a pass for this mistake. His public on air apology looked sincere, he showed tremendous remorse and he was very humbled by his actions.

If the former 1985 USFL Orlando Renegades Coach loses his job, he could go back to work for the Indiana Hoosiers, whom he coached from 1973-1982 and compiled a 41-68-2 record. The Hoosiers are 1-10 and were hammered by Michigan State 55-3 Saturday in East Lansing.

Guest predictor Carl Lewis also picked Nebraska while Herbstreit, a former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback, did pick his former rival U-M to defeat Nebraska.

The Wolverines, which improved to (9-2, 5-2 Big 10) officially welcomed Nebraska to the conference with this beating....

Michigan State was glad that Herbstreit's prediction came to fruition because they'll play in the inaugural Big 10 Championship Game on December 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana., as winners of the Legends Division. It must have very difficult for the Spartans (9-2, 6-1 Big 10) to root for U-M, but if it made conference history and earns them a trip to a BCS Game, Rose Bowl, I'm sure no one in East Lansing is complaining....

A few years ago, I was angry that the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens and in state rival Delaware State never played at all. But the two schools finally met in the FCS Playoffs and now face each other regularly.

This time, the focus is on the Arkansas Razorbacks, who refuse to play the Arkansas State Red Wolves of the Sun Belt Conference. This season Arkansas State is (9-2, 7-0 Sun Belt) while the Razorbacks are (10-1, 6-1 SEC).

I don't know what the problem is with Arkansas, but this meeting could only bolster the enthusiasm in that state. The Razorbacks should change their name to the "Arkansas Chickens."

There are lots of other great in state rivalries.

Why should an SEC powerhouse even worry about facing a Sun Belt Conference school when most of these games guarantee big pay days for the underdog schools, and seldom do you see wins from these institutions when they play?

Arkansas is coached by a man that didn't have the guts to finish an NFL Season with the Atlanta Falcons named Bobby Petrino. If Petrino had the guts to schedule Arkansas State, I might not be as critical of him. But I know he doesn't have the courage to face the Red Wolves.

Years ago, the college basketball rivalry which reminded me of "Dodgeball" was Kentucky VS Louisville. They were forced to face each other in the NCAA Tournament and that sparked the beginning of a rivalry which is going strong.

The folks in Arkansas should have former President Bill Clinton mediate this boneheaded impasse....

Two major droughts ended on Saturday.

Baylor University, a private Christian institution of 15,000 students located in Waco, Texas., went into Saturday's home game against the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners 0-20 all-time against their rival from Norman. Most of these games weren't even close.

The No. 22 Bears (7-3, 4-3 Big 12) finally ended years of misery thanks to the performance of Robert Griffin III by improving to 1-21 as the quarterback threw for 479 yards, four touchdowns including a 34-yarder to Terrance Williams with eight seconds left in the game ending Oklahoma's chances of winning a BCS Championship.

The Virginia Cavaliers (8-3, 5-2 ACC) snapped Florida State's five game winning streak with it's fourth straight win in this 14-13 road triumph.

The Cavaliers had never won in Tallahassee going 0-8 in their previous trips to the Florida State Capital. Virginia is now 1-8 in the Panhandle.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at www.scottsports33.com.