Gophers (and everyone) prove comparing scores is a fool’s game

Better late than never. I'll never again use a score from one college football game as part of my expectations for another.

You need look no further than Iowa, of course. Saturday, the Hawkeyes played a Minnesota team that had lost at Illinois in its previous game. Illinois! The Illini had lost at home to Purdue, which didn't offer a great deal of resistance against Iowa. Stupidly after watching the Minnesota-Illinois game, I came to the conclusion the Gophers weren't particularly good.

They're not as good as they were against Iowa, mind you. But they're pretty good.

What about Wisconsin? After seeing how Iowa roughed up Northwestern on Nov. 1, how could you not question Wisconsin's worthiness when you knew it had lost at Northwestern? But ever since, the Badgers have been up to their old tricks of mowing down Big Ten teams.

Ohio State lost by two touchdowns at home to Virginia Tech. The Buckeyes are in trouble without Brandon Miller, most of us thought. We were wrong. OSU is 7-0 since that night. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, is 2-5 since winning in Columbus.

What were we to think of Missouri when it lost at home to Indiana, which had lost the week before to Bowling Green? That last year's SEC East title was a one-year wonder. So who's in front of that division right now at 4-1? Mizzou, of course.

McNeese State opened its season with a 31-24 loss at Nebraska. McNeese State must have been about as good as FCS had to offer this year, right? Well, no. It lost 38-22 to Sam Houston State, and Saturday it was on the wrong side of a 31-16 score against Stephen F. Austin. And that was a home game.

Arizona State lost 62-25 to UCLA on Sept. 25. Who gives up 62 points at home to anyone and is any good? ASU, that's who. The Sun Devils have beaten four ranked teams since it got mauled by the Bruins.

I could go on and on and on. Baylor lost at West Virginia, which lost at Texas, which lost 41-7 at home to BYU, which lost to UCF, which lost to Connecticut, which has lost seven times including against Tulane and Army. So how good can Baylor really be, other than the fact it just won 48-14 at Oklahoma and has given TCU its only loss?

OK, I'm done for now.