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The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 16
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
  
An historic, upset laden Bottom Ten season comes to an end amid the usual calls for a playoff as pollsters, unable to decide between four 1-11 teams, all sporting impressive nine or ten game losing streaks, award to the Wal-Mart Trophy Presented by Motel 6 and The Bottom Ten title to two-win North Texas!
The Mean Green vault to the top of the B-10 rankings from #9 after snapping previous #1 Florida International's 23-game losing streak, amid protests from FIU fans claiming the B-10 is biased against teams that win late in the season.
But did you expect anything less in a season that became the first in history to have two losing streaks of at least 20 games snapped? Or Notre Dame holding down the #1 spot for six weeks, and, after losses to Navy and Air Force, being awarded the Sgt. Bilko Trophy, symbolic of service academy lousiness? The season was so convoluted that of the ten teams ranked in the first B-10 poll in August, only three (Duke, Florida International, BCS) are around at the end and the preseason #2 team, Illinois, is going to the Rose Bowl!
This week's fiasco, as Bottom Ten pollsters get ready for next week's Bottom Ten, Bowl game edition!
1. North Texas (2-10; lost to Florida International 38-19)
Mitigating Factors: Mean Green claim first Bottom Ten title with inspired 19-point loss, snapping nation's best 23-game losing streak...Defense key all season, as fewest points given up in game this year was 21...Team good enough to score 62 points vs. Navy, bad enough to lose to Navy 74-62...Defense couldn't stop team of B-10 pollsters, giving up 700 yards in a game once, 600+ yards twice and 400 or more six times.
Historical Perspective: After winning four straight Sun Belt Conference titles earlier in Double Aughts, team rebounds for 7-28 mark last three seasons.
2. Duke (1-11)
Mitigating Factors: Blue Devil fan(s) crying foul after pollsters ignore nation's second best nine game losing streak, plus nation's best 25-game conference and 16-game home losing streak, as preseason #1 settles for runner-up position on B-10 medal stand...Blue Devils left to raised gloved hand in protest at medal ceremony while issuing accusations of fixing, claiming Northwestern let Duke win to preserve Northwestern's all-time 34-game losing streak record.
Commitment To Excellence: Blue Devils, the only team with two 20-game losing streaks, fire coach Ted Roof to search for coach that can deliver all-time losing streak record.
3. BCS
Mitigating Factors: Left to sort out sordid mess consisting of several worthy teams, BCS chooses Ohio State - whose only redeeming quality was having the good sense not to play the past two weeks and whose three I-A non-conference opponents combined for eleven wins - and an LSU team who has proven they can't win close games and whose two losses came to teams so good they finished the season unranked in the final BCS rankings.
We'll Take What We Can Get: BCS did have good sense not to select Georgia team that wasn't good enough to play for its conference championship, though its done this before, of course.
4. Florida International (1-11; defeated North Texas 38-19)
Mitigating Factors: Golden Panthers left to wonder what might have been after scoring season high 38 points, giving up season low 19 in first win since defeating Middle Tennessee State on 12/3/05....Golden Panthers must content themselves with the Tostitos Plaque, given to team with longest losing streak in a season that actually includes a win.
Historical Perspective: FIU hoping momentum from victory will fade by spring practice and team can focus on having lost 23 of 24.
5. Holy Trinity (Minnesota, Idaho, SMU, 3-33)
Mitigating Factors: Three 1-11 teams, all ending season with nation's best ten game losing streaks, combined into one entry for administrative purposes...Minnesota ends season ranked 110th or worse in eight official NCAA stat categories, SMU three and Idaho two...SMU's only win came against #1 North Texas, Idaho's to I-AA Cal Poly, while Minnesota lost to I-AA North Dakota State.
Historical Perspective: Idaho has won 16 games since 2001, SMU went winless in 2003 while Minnesota had actually played in bowl games the past five seasons.
6. Conference USA
Mitigating Factors: Beats out pesky Sun Belt Conference for B-10 Conference of the Year honors based on strong overall performance, including 10-30 non-conference record, six of 12 teams with losing records and having 58 percent of conference ranking 100th or worse in Total Defense and half of conference ranking 100th or worse in Passing Defense and Scoring Defense...Also, of ten teams ending season with losing streaks of at least six games, a full one third are from Conference USA.
What The Hell's Going On Here: Sun Belt Conference has worse non-conference winning percentage (6-29) and has impressive five of eight teams with a losing record, but, incredibly, the longest Sun Belt Conference losing streak right now is two games by Middle Tennessee State
7. University of Nevada Loss Vegas (2-10)
Mitigating Factors: Shows commitment to strong 2008 B-10 run by retaining head coach who's produced three straight two-win seasons.
Historical Perspective: Rebels have produced four straight two-win seasons overall and have not won bowl game outside of Nevada since 1982.
8. Notre Dame (3-9)
Mitigating Factors: B-10 upstart still learning ropes, as end of season two game winning streak jilts title hopes...Ranked dead last in Total Offense (242.25 ypg), more than 20 yards of runner-up Florida International and almost 30 yards better than Duke...
Historical Perspective: Pollsters bid a fond, thankful au revoir to program that has produced over 800 victories, 28 bowl appearances and eight national championships and, after token preseason ranking to start 2008, will probably win a few games next year, though pollsters do point out team hasn't won bowl game since first Clinton Administration.
9. AP #2
Mitigating Factors: #2's need to start taking lessons from Avis about trying harder, as no less than seven #2 teams lose, including five to unranked teams.
It's Not So Good To Be The King: #1 didn't fare much better, as top team lost four times this season, including each of the last two weeks.
10. Rice (3-9)
Mitigating Factors: Perennial B-10 faves prove 2006 bowl berth complete fluke, rebounding for strong 2007 that featured loss to I-AA Nichols State, plus losing streaks of four, three and two games...Owls heartbreakingly close to winning Total Defense crown, falling just 94 yards short to Minnesota, 6,224 yards to 6,130 yards.
Historical Perspective: Owls win totals this decade fluctuating more than jittery stock market, having totaled one, three, four, five, seven and eight wins in Double Aughts. b
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