Blanket Coverage: Miami -- There's No Place Like the Old Home

If you think the integers that led Miami to pastel-slip Randy Shannon are 7-5, you guessed wrong. The pertinent numbers are 40,101 and 41,148. Those are the announced attendance figures at Sun Life Stadium, the Hurricanes' home, the past two weekends.

That Miami lost both games, to Virginia Tech and South Florida matters. That it took two games to attract as many fans as one game at the Orange Bowl used to, matters more.

It is sad to think that there are fans of the sport that are too young to remember the Orange Bowl. For more than a decade the crumbling, decrepit stadium was the greatest home advantage in the sport, if not any sport. That it also hosted a couple of the memorable NFL and college games ever played is also worth noting. Between 1985 and early 1994, Miami did not lose, not once, in the OB. Its 58-game home winning streak remains a record.

Yes, the venue was decaying nearly as fast as the neighborhood that enveloped it. But when Miami allowed the OB to be demolished, it forever imploded a sizable measure of its mystique. Sun Life Stadium, which is on its seventh name in just 23 years of service (no wonder Prince played there), is a soulless, suburban venue located a convenient 20 miles north of Miami's Coral Gables campus.

The U has no shortage of means to attract top talent, both players and coaches, to take their talents a little south of South Beach. But a Miami game will never again make the hairs on your neck stand up quite like those in the OB once did.

When Miami crushed the OB, it created a home field disadvantage. Shannon, a Hurricanes linebacker in the school's '80s heyday, understands that better than anyone.

Did College GameDay Consider Dubbing it 'Convenience Market Weekend?'

It was college football's 24-7 weekend. In no fewer than four major games did one team take a 24-7 lead into halftime. On Friday, No. 11 Alabama led No. 2 Auburn and No. 4 Boise State led No. 19 Nevada at the half by that margin. On Saturday, No. 8 Ohio State led Michigan by that score as did No. 22 Florida State lead Florida.

The difference, of course, is that the teams that led at halftime on Friday lost, while those that led at the half on Saturday prevailed.

Will Shortz-Approved Insight of the Week

Looking for a six-letter word that ends in an "n," includes an "r" and has three vowels. The clue is "Belongs in BCS National Championship Game."

Orange Who? 'Orange You Glad Your School Colors Don't Include Me?'

Granted, Tennessee beat Kentucky for the 26th straight time, buuuut ... Oklahoma State lost at home to Oklahoma in the Bedlam Bowl, squandering an opportunity to win its first Big 12 South championship. Miami lost at home to South Florida, sealing the fate of Shannon, who was pastel-slipped later that evening. Oregon State was rendered null-and-void in Palo Alto, losing 38-0 at Stanford. Florida lost to in-state rival Florida State for the first time in seven years. Texas lost to in-state rival Texas A&M, sealing the coffin on the Longhorns' first losing season since 1997. Bowling Green lost 41-7 to Western Michigan. Syracuse lost at home to Boston College, meaning that the Orange, despite a turnaround season, went winless at home versus FBS opponents.

Not a good weekend for schools that fly the orange.

Something Else to Remember About Kyle Brotzman

A week ago Bronco kicker Kyle Brotzman was named the WAC Special Teams Player of the Week after scoring 15 points in the Broncos' 51-0 mobbing of Fresno State.

Brotzman, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, entered Friday night's contest at Nevada with 418 career points. He is the WAC's all-time leading scorer as well as the leading scorer among all active FBS players. In Reno, Brotzman added to his total with four extra points and one field goal. He now has 425 career points. The all-time scoring leader, Louisville kicker Art Carmody (2004-2007), finished his career with 433 points.

No matter where Boise State plays in a bowl, Brotzman will need just nine points, via any combination of field goals and PATs, to become the all-time scoring leader in FBS history. You may want to remember him by that as well.

On Mallett, Mustain and Migration

The starting quarterback for Arkansas on Saturday was Ryan Mallett, who was considered one of the two QB jewels of the 2007 freshman class along with Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen. The starting quarterback for USC was Mitch Mustain, who was the reigning National High School Player of the Year when he enrolled at Arkansas one year earlier.

What happened? Mustain, a Springdale, Ark. native, had an 8-0 record as a starter as a true freshman for the Hogs. Friction between his family and the coaching staff, however, led Mustain to go from "Sooie!" to USC after that 2006 season. He never started again until Saturday evening.

Mallett, a Texarkana, Ark., native, initially chose Michigan. He started three games in 2007, but then decided to transfer after Rich Rodriguez was hired. Mallett is a sturdy 6-foot-7. He was never going to be the cog in RichRod's spread-option offense.

Mallett has now started 25 games for Arkansas, including Saturday's 31-23 defeat of LSU in which he threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns (Arkansas-LSU, by the way, is consistently the most entertaining rivalry game that gets overlooked every year)

Our point: there are no absolutes on whether to transfer. Mallett made the right choice for himself, obviously. Mustain likely would have been better served staying home -- in which case, Mallett may never have transferred to Arkansas.

Even a quarterback with the best downfield vision cannot see the future. More often than not, it pays to stay put. Mallett may be the exception.

What's Another Misnomer Between Friends?

Now that FanHouse's Brett McMurphy has written the TCU-to-the-Big East story, we want to remind everyone that the civic motto of Fort Worth, the school"s locale, is "Where the West Begins."

This Is What Brown Can Do for You

"Unbelievable!" is how ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit described this Oklahoma State interception in the Cowboys' loss to Oklahoma. Shaun Lewis gets credit for the pick, but we think you'll agree that teammate Broderick Brown, who has a future in beach volleyball, deserves all of the accolades.

Gee, He Never Thought of That

THE Ohio State University president E. Gordon Gee has a juris doctorate and clerked for a Supreme Court judge, so he has experience in research. Legal research.

As for strength-of-schedule research? Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times tweeted this on Sunday: "Big Ten (Little) Sisters of the Poor report: Boise (State) No. 62 in Sagarin SOS this AM. Wisconsin is 71, Ohio State is 64."

Speaking of Tweets ,,,

Just after midnight on Sunday morning, ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay took time to tweet, "How many people actually know that ND beat USC on Saturday?"

ABC ( You remember ABC? Dancing with the Stars? Lost?) televised Notre Dame-Southern California, which the Irish won 20-16, to 48 percent of the country. Among the quaint, bucolic hamlets that received the contest were Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.

The Greg Robinson Award

Balloting for the Eddie Robinson Award, which is named after the late, legendary Grambling State coach and is given to annually to the outstanding head coach in the FCS, ended this weekend.

It got the BC to thinking, What would be the opposite of the Eddie Robinson Award? Might it be the Greg Robinson Award (granted, he is an assistant coach at Michigan now ... for now)? And who would win it at the FBS level?

Our vote: Kirk Ferentz. His career bona fides at Iowa are irrefutably solid: two BCS bowls and two Big Ten championships since arriving in 1999. This year, however, Captain Kirk had his deepest, most talented team since 2002, but the Hawkeyes never attained warp speed. Iowa finished 7-5 (the same record as Notre Dame) and lost its final three, including Saturday's 27-24 loss at Minnesota. In all five losses this season, Iowa allowed the opponent to score the game-winning touchdown with fewer than five minutes remaining.

'Oooooo-weeee! What's Up With stats? What's Up With Stats?!?'

1: Sagarin ratings strength of schedule for Washington (5-6). Eight of the 10 most difficult schedules in the nation were played, according to Sagarin, by Pac-10 schools. Only Texas A&M (9) and Iowa State (10) made the top 10 from outside that league.

3. Games USC has lost in the Los Angeles Coliseum this season.

3. Games USC lost in the Los Angeles Coliseum between 2002-2009 (thanks to @BryanDFischer).

12. Players the Irish had on the field on two of the final three plays at USC (It ain't exactly the Bush Push, but we're sure Mike Lupica will find a way to say that "this just proves Notre Dame is no different than anyone else!"). We thank @cwilk for this one.

35-0. The combined record of Cincinnati (11-0), Florida (12-0) and Texas (12-0) on this date last year. The Bearcats (4-7), Gators (7-5) and Longhorns (5-7) are a combined 16-19 as of today (thanks to @Mengus22)

50. Games Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber started in his career for the Golden Gophers

327. Yards rushing by Hawaii's Chad Green in the Warriors' 59-24 win at New Mexico State. In doing so, Green became the first Hawaii running back to eclipse 1,000 yards since 1992.

496. Passing yards by San Jose State quarterback Jordan La Secla in a 45-38 loss to Louisiana Tech. La Secla threw five touchdown passes, but the Spartans went down to their 11th defeat in 12 games.