What’s with the Top 10, trying to...

What’s with the Top 10, trying to take over the Bottom Ten? It almost happened as five of the top-ranked teams lost, forcing the BT selectors to install that collection of duds at No. 20.

Going nowhere was No. 1 Notre Dame, which unveiled its curious new strategy -- a weak-side defense on each side of the ball -- in a 19-33 drubbing at the hands, feet and elbows of Purdon’t.

Elsewhere, Gentle Penn (0-3) gained possession of No. 2, just ahead of Temple, a 21-37 victim of the Pentagon (Army branch). Also in a bad state was Colorado State (0-4), whose winless streak will be in grave jeopardy against San Diego State (1-3). SDS is capable of losing to anyone on any given Saturday.

Moving up to No. 6 was Rice (0-4), which was idle but looked poor in practice.

*--* Wreck Team, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Notre Dame (0-5) 19-33, Purdon’t UCLA 2. Gentle Penn (0-3) 13-21, Dartmouth Georgetown 3. Temple (0-5) 21-37, Army N. Ill. 4. Fla. International (0-5) 6-47, Middle Tennessee Troy 5. Colorado St. (0-4) 12-24, TCU San Diego St. 6. Rice (0-4) Idle So. Miss 7. Utah State (0-5) 18-34, Utah Hawaii 8. SMUs (1-4) 45-48, UTEP Idle 9. Minnehaha (1-4) 7-30, Ohio St. Indiana 10. San Diego St.* (1-3) 17-52, Cincinnati Colorado St. *--*

The next 10: 11. Very Ole Miss (1-4); 12. Duke (1-4); 13. Syracuse (1-4); 14. Iowa State (1-4); 15. Your choice here; 16. (Tie) North Carolina State (1-4) and North Carolina (1-4) (or the other way around); 17. Toledo (1-3); 18. Stanford (1-3); 19. Buffalo (1-4); 20. Last week’s Top Ten (5-5).

*Nice climate, though.

Crummy game of the week: San Diego State (1-3) vs. Colorado State (0-4).

Rout of the week: UCLA (4-1) over Notre Dame (0-5).

Honorable mention: The meager Beavers of Oregon State lead the nation in interceptions (15), Florida International is No. 1 in fumbles (11) and Notre Dame has allowed the most sacks (29).

Worst scoreboard graphics: Among the bewildering abbreviations flashed across the screen by Fox Sports Network was: OSU 39, SHSU 3. Then there was: UK 45, FAU 17. Also: SC 38, MSU 21 (way to go, Trojans!). And, finally, the long-awaited: TECH 75, NSU 7 (was that Georgia, Texas or Trade Tech?).

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