For reasons that have yet to be explained, NJIT moved up to Division I three years ago and promptly became the worst team imaginable. They went 5-24 their first season and then put up a big donut in 2007-08. But now with a spiffy 1-18 record, they can almost taste that 16 seed! (Just as soon as they get a conference with an automatic bid.)

Sophomore Jheryl Wilson—who had played 47 college games without a win—scored a career-high 26 points as the Highlanders led by an unheard of 16 points at half time. They held off a rally from the 3-16 Bryant Bulldogs and then there was much rejoicing. Not everyone on the court at once, boys. It might not support you all. [Staten Island Advance + NJ.com]

Inside the Streak: NJIT is 1-18 [Storming The Floor]
NJIT WINS!!! [Searching for Billy Edelin]

In other news:

Virginia Tech 78, Wake Forest 71: Wake's reign as the No. 1 team in the land lasts exactly one game. A lackadaisical performance at home sinks the country's last undefeated team and let's see who is waiting in the wings ... yep, it's Duke. [Rush The Court]

North Carolina 94, Clemson 70: Clemson got steam rolled at North Carolina for the 54th straight time. Fifty four. Even NJIT thinks that embarrassing.

Northwestern 70, Michigan State 63: Grumble, Grumble....

Connecticut 89, Villanova 83: A.J. Price scores a career-high 29 and the Huskies win their sixth-straight to stay in the Big East title hunt.

South Carolina 70, Florida 69: This was fun. Trailing by one with 3.3 seconds left, Mike Holmes and Zam Fredrick caught the Gators napping after a missed free-throw. Holmes grabbed the rebound and threw a perfect strike to Fredrick, who streaked down court, caught the ball in the stride, and laid it in as time expired. If only Sam Bradford had been so accurate.... [Sports Anonymous]

College Scoreboard [Yahoo]

Meanwhile Jim Grobe and Wake Forest try to rebound from a 24-17 loss to Navy that knocked them from the ranks of the unbeaten. Unlike Bowden, Grobe has actually won an ACC Title (2006 victory over Georgia Tech) and in the past two years has taken Wake from a perpetual doormat to the BCS. In 2006 Grobe was the national coach of the year. Wake is coming off back-to-back 11-3 and 9-4 campaigns, and a win over Clemson would go a long way towards ensuring that the 2008 campaign is going to be as successful as the past two seasons. But danger looms in the Clemson Tigers— a team that's probably as unpredictable as any team in college football over the past decade. Knock off Clemson and Wake remains the only undefeated team in the Atlantic Division. What's more they'd have the tiebreaks over Florida State and Clemson, meaning they'd probably only have to get to 5-3 (6-2 at most) to advance to another ACC Title Game.

Don't you get the feeling that Clemson fans are going to look back on the past five years of the ACC—a time when Miami and Florida State are both as impotent as they'll ever be—and wonder how the hell they didn't manage to win a single ACC Title? This is the kind of failure that becomes even more grating the more years that pass. Because Miami and Florida State aren't going to be this bad forever. Meanwhile, Clemson keeps plodding along. Here comes another chance at staying alive in the ACC race. Beat Wake and you've made the inevitable late-season collapse even more painful. Lose now, and Bowden's gone forever. Right? Choose wisely Clemson fans, choose wisely.

1. ESPN's love affair with Tim Tebow is well established. Hell, America's love affair with Tim Tebow is well established. But, even still, did Gameday really need to bring us multiple segments featuring a shirtless Tim Tebow working out? I didn't think the day would ever come where I'd want more footage of Tebow performing circumcisions but, yeah, it did. It's time Vegas starts offering odds on what Tim Tebow's dark side actually is. I'm convinced it's something seismic. Like ESPN is going to do a story from Tebow's apartment where a shirtless Tebow will be reclining on his couch when suddenly 28 little naked Filipino boys keep walking into the room. Speaking of which, how overwhelming was the sexual tension when Erin Andrews interviewed Tebow after the game. Like televised viagra. Is ESPN going to have to pull Andrews off Gator games soon?

2. When did Houston Nutt get fat? The guy has put on about 20 pounds since he joined Ole Miss. Is this because he's not sending as many text messages to hot reporters now? Or does expecting to get fired burn many more calories than having job security? Also, starting quarterback Jevan Snead is white? I'm going to have to really reconsider how many third down conversions he's picking up when the pocket crumbles.

3. Riley Skinner and Sam Swank are Wake Forest football stars. They also have the greatest gay porn names this side of Vince Young. What's the over/under on number of inappropriate posters that are getting confiscated at rival ACC stadiums connected to Skinner's naked photos? Better question, name a BCS team that you would eliminate from contention to win the ACC this year. There isn't one. Vanderbilt would have a chance to win the ACC this year. Seriously, they would.

4. The Bill Stewart honeymoon is over; The Skip Holtz derby is going to be fascinating. Couple of questions about this game. First, what percentage of people turned on West Virginia at ECU and said, "Why is West Virginia playing at ECU?" Any college football fan with a pulse is the answer. This still makes no sense to me. Second, how many more awkward Lou Holtz and Skip Holtz interviews are we going to be subjected to? This thing made The Hills look inspired and fresh. Finally, in the wake of the latest double-digit underdog loss, I'm picturing bodies stacked like cordwood in the ditches surrounding Morgantown/Deadwood. All day Monday there are funeral processions marching up the hills which will end in a wooden cross being stabbed into the bare dirt. Then no one will ever question what happened to the dead. Which reminds me, who made the decision to cut Deadwood yet greenlit an HBO show about southern vampires? Meanwhile, right now, some poor fan base is going to pay Skip Holtz millions of dollars a year to take over their football program after this season. Tough luck.

(This man above will break your spirits. Eventually. But at least his nipples will be as sharp as razors.)

5. Jake Locker has to be the most frustrating quarterback in the country to coach. You have zero clue what he's going to do from one play to the next. His performance on the final drive of the game crystallized this fact. On three consecutive downs he missed wide open receivers. Leading a Utah native I was watching the game with to say, "See, this is when starting white cornerbacks starts to catch up with BYU." Then on 4th and 10 he drops back to pass and rushes for ten yards for the first down. Then, you've all seen it, he scores with 2 seconds left and promptly gets flagged for tossing the ball over his head. What I love about this is how everyone immediately rushes to the rule book to confirm that by rule this is excessive celebration. No shit.

But referees aren't hired to merely enforce the rules without any self-awareness. If they were every college football coach in America would be kicked out of the game for entering the field and arguing a call. What we ask referees to do is show discretion in applying the rules. Consider the situation, consider the intent, and consider the implications of your call. And the ref showed none in this case. Making a call like this isn't unheard of. The same thing happened to Vanderbilt against Florida in the 2005 season. Vandy scored to tie the game and their receiver did a shimmy of sorts. He was immediately flagged and Vandy had to make the ensuing extra point from a great distance. Vandy's coach said they would have gone for 2 and the win rather than play for overtime.

Finally, on Locker, whoever was calling the game for Fox Sports said that Locker would be the best running back in the Pac-10 if he played running back instead of quarterback. This is an insanely stupid comment, right? I'm not an expert on Pac 10 football but this can't possibly be the case.

6. Ohio State survived against mighty Ohio. Yeah, yeah. Is there any college football fan in the country who doesn't root for Ohio State that doesn't want USC to beat them 50-3? That was a couple of double negatives there and might have gotten confusing. Rephrased, unless you're a Buckeye fan the entire country wants to see you utterly destroyed come this weekend. Also, after the game we're traveling to the state and stealing all of your attractive women. All 14 of them.

7. What's up with Jimmy Clausen's hair? He looks like a lame French bus boy from 1963. "Quelle horreur, le JFK!" Was this a penalty for losing the Beer Olympics? Or is he just trying to enjoy having hair before the Clausen genes click in an he follows in the footsteps of Rick and Casey and loses his blond hair? I'm going with the latter. Nice win for the Irish hanging with the plucky San Diego State team that lost to a Div. II school last week. Great moxie. Put them in the top 25.

8. Can we get a referendum on no one else being allowed to be referred to as Tim Tebow-esque? Dave Rowe (who has moved from JP/LF/Raycom to Fox Sports; did he see the ax coming?) constantly referred to Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour as Tim Tebow-esque. Same thing with Jake Locker. As much as I hate the Gators, find another comparison. LeFevour is Jonathan Crompton-esque at best.

9. Did you see Randy Shannon's reaction when Urban Meyer kicked the field goal to cover the spread—this made the score 26-3 and covered the 22 point spread— late on Saturday night? Shannon was cursing Meyer to the high heavens. Which led to the shortest post-game handshake between the two men this side of Bill Belichick. Also, Gators fans, back me up on this, leaving Tebow in until the end of the game was incredibly stupid, right? Why is Meyer doing this? What's more, why is he dropping Tebow back to pass with a unassailable lead and less than five minutes to play? Especially when Tebow had been decked a ton of times in this game. Miami's defensive line absolutely dominated Florida's offensive line for about 50 minutes of the game. Steve Spurrier used to catch an awful lot of crap for running up the score but Meyer does it more than any coach I've seen of late. Of course this might be because Steve Spurrier's teams can't score anymore, but, still, there were lots of Gator fans pissed that Tebow was still in the game, right?

10. I just finished Wille Morris's book, The Courting of Marcus Dupree. It's an amazing book that tells the story of Marcus Dupree, the top recruit of the 1982 football class who happens to be from Philadelphia, Mississippi—the town made infamous by the murder of the three Civil Rights workers in 1964. The book is over 25 years old but is one of the best sports books I've ever read. Insightful, compelling, and if you're like me and had never heard of Marcus Dupree before, incredibly compelling. Fairly often people email me wanting tips on sports books to read. Read this book. I sort of feel like LeVar Burton now.

11. And, lest we end with the literary, Central Florida fans threatened to kill Matt Grothe's father after they got ahold of his cell phone number. Meaning Grothe's father was under police protection for the entire game between South Florida and Central Florida. Ahh, college, such sweet and harmless prankery.

When most people hear the words, “Wake Forest University”, the first thought that enters their heads probably involves Tim Duncan, former Naismith POY/Wooden Award-winning Deacon basketball player and current Most Boring NBA Superstar Who Has Ever Lived – or, for the more dedicated ACC fan, Chris Paul sucker-punching Julius Hodge in the balls. Or for the older crowd, perhaps Billy Packer, Wake Forest class of ’62, recently terminated CBS hoops announcer, and spawn of Satan.

The point? The concept of “Wake Forest football” doesn’t exactly register with most people. It’s a shame, too, since Wake Forest has taken big steps in recent years – both on the field and off – to convince fans nationwide that their school isn’t just a one-dimensional basketball school or an incestuous breeding ground for extremely bright, wealthy, obnoxious private-school-educated asswipes. That, of course, would be conference mate Duke.

Cozy Groves Stadium has officially taken the leap into corporate sponsorship – hello, BB&T Field! – to coincide with what could be a special year for Wake football. Over the past two seasons – since then-redshirt freshman Riley Skinner took over at quarterback for an injured Ben Mauk in the first game of the 2006 season – the Deacs have tied for the third-most victories of any team in the ACC with 20, just one victory behind Virginia Tech and Boston College. And now Skinner enters his junior season with a running game behind him consisting of more than just converted wide receivers and fifth-string emergency tailbacks – a good thing, too, because Riley’s hair (your bearded associate editor may call them ‘Bama Bangs, though Skinner hails from the very un-Alabama state of Florida) are dangerously close to becoming an impediment to his eyesight.

Sophomore tailback Josh Adams made himself impossible to keep off the field last season, as he eventually stole the bulk of the offense’s carries from Micah Andews en route to a 953-yard, 11-TD season and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year accolades. This year, Adams enters the year as perhaps the conference’s best running back and will be expected to carry the offensive load after the departure of receiver/running back/return specialist/stadium vendor Kenneth Moore, who was drafted by the Detroit Lions and, as such, will likely never be heard from again. The offensive line loses three starters from its 2007 group, but should be able to withstand the losses, as the O-line is probably Wake’s single unit best stocked with young talent.

The real strength of this year’s team is its defense, which returns nine of eleven starters, including cornerback Alphonso Smith and his eight interceptions in 2007 – including three for touchdowns – and safety Chip Vaughn, undoubtedly the toughest guy in the country named Chip (even beating out teammate Chip Brinkman…and no – as far as I know, that is not a name stolen from a 1980’s high school movie bully). The linebacking corps of Aaron Curry, Stanley Arnoux and Chantz McClinic may be the conference’s best outside of Florida State, and since we know that at least two of the ‘Noles will probably be arrested before the season begins, I’m just going to go ahead and call the Deacons’ group superior right now. The entire defense should force turnovers incessantly and be nearly impossible for most of the inept offenses of the ACC to score upon, allowing Wake to play the field position game for its ground control offense and stellar kicking game, anchored by kicker/punter Sam Swank.

As for the schedule – it should be presented with the disclaimer that virtually no ACC team plays a difficult schedule – it’s exceedingly manageable, with the only tough road test being a date in Tallahassee against a Florida State team theDeacons have beaten in consecutive seasons (including a 30-0 ass-pounding administered to the Seminoles in Doak Campbell Stadium in the Deacs’ last visit). The toughest game by far appears to be the Thursday night nationally-televised home game against Clemson on October 9th. Despite Wake Forest’s success over the past two seasons, the Tigers remain the one team they just can’t figure out, getting destroyed in Clemson last year and losing a heartbreaker at home during the 2006 campaign thanks in part to a blocked field goal return for a touchdown. The good news? Wake Forest could win the rest of its conference games and not even show up for the Clemson game, concede an “L” and feel confident knowing that Clemson is going to relinquish the division to Wake by losing at least two games it shouldn’t lose.

Anyway, Wake Forest has finally found its own particular formula for remaining a good team in the wide-open ACC: a safe, methodical offense and a defense that is smart and forces turnovers, all capped off by great special teams play. It may not be exciting, but their habit of putting up more victories than teams with far more future NFL players doesn’t figure to end any time soon. I expect this year’s Deacons squad to win the ACC – meaning a likely Orange Bowl date with Big East favorite West (Fucking) Virginia – or at the very least, to return to Skinner’s hometown of Jacksonville in a Gator Bowl appearance. After the season, big-pocketed suitors will throw millions at coach Jim Grobe and he will remain faithful to The Little School That Could. Meanwhile, Clemson and its team full of future pros will go 8-4 and play in the Astroglide Bowl in December and, in spite of this, Tommy Bowden will get another raise.

I'll be back tomorrow for my last full day before Mr. Leitch returns from his South American adventure. And by "South American adventure" I mean "sex with a housekeeper".

To the window. To the wall.

Orange Bowl Preview [Yahoo]