But wait… there is still an entire second half to be played! Mario Manningham is making his name and game known - and making a case to enter the Heisman talks if this keeps up. Unbelievable pace already:

2006
DATE OPP REC YDS LNG TD
9/2 Vanderbilt - W 27-7 3 44 27 1
9/9 Cent MichiganW 41-17 2 27 14 0
9/16 @Notre Dame W 47-21 4 137 69 3
9/23 Wisconsin W 27-13 7 113 38 2
9/30 @Minnesota Progress 2 56 41 1

The worst HS football team in the country

School officials cancelled the football season at the Oscoda Area High School in Oscoda, MI because they lost their first 4 games by a combined score of 164-0. The school of 530 students barely had enough players to field a team, and had no JV program the previous year.

This is a travesty. If a program is so bad that it’s on the verge of elimination, they should just find another crappy team in another part of the country and play them in the Loser Bowl. Surely all these players would make fine additions to football progrms at Temple, Duke, and of course Eastern Michigan.

DELBARTON, W.Va. — Paul McCoy ran for 658 yards in a high school football game and, believe it or not, might not have set a national record with his feat.

The total tops the National Federation of State High School Association’s listed record of 619 yards set by Ronney Jenkins of Oxnard, Calif., in 1995. But high school records historian Doug Huff said Saturday the recognized record is 739 yards by John Giannantonio of Netcong, N.J., in 1950, against Mountain Lakes.

McCoy piled up his yardage on just 29 carries — an average of 22.7 yards per attempt — and scored 10 touchdowns as Matewan beat Burch 64-0 on Friday. McCoy racked up 477 of his yards scoring on TD runs of runs, which covered 69, 1, 52, 56, 52, 20, 31, 84, 87 and 25 yards.

He also had a 77-yard TD run called back because of a penalty.

“The National Federation book for some reason does not include that [the 739 yards], and I think the reason is there’s a formal process for submitting those things,” Huff said Saturday. “This school doesn’t exist anymore. The papers recognized it. The school had a special ceremony. It’s been in my records for years.”

McCoy did set a state record with his 658 yards, and his 10 TDs would tie him with two others for the second most nationally. The record is 12, set by Ken Pearson of Hugo, Colo., in 1930.

McCoy, averaging 345 yards per game, has 1,723 yards and 26 touchdowns this season.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Plenty of big action remaining - particularly the Ohio St - Iowa game and Michigan - Minnesota game. But there has been plenty of Top 25 action already:

15 TENNESSEE (4-1) 41
MEMPHIS (1-3) 7

Pass: E. Ainge (TENN) 23-27, 324, 4 TD
Rush: L. Coker (TENN) 26-125, 0 TD
Rec: B. Smith (TENN) 5-46, 1 TD

COLORADO (0-5) 13
25 MISSOURI (5-0) 28

Pass: C. Daniel (MIZZ) 23-35, 253, 4 TD
Rush: B. Jackson (COLO) 15-93, 1 TD
Rec: M. Rucker (MIZZ) 6-66, 1 TD

MISSISSIPPI ST (1-4) 17
9 LOUISIANA STATE (4-1) 48

Pass: O. Conner (MSST) 15-28, 212, 1 TD
Rush: J. Hester (LSU) 8-49, 1 TD
Rec: C. Davis (LSU) 6-101, 1 TD

PURDUE (4-1) 21
12 NOTRE DAME (4-1) 35

Pass: C. Painter (PUR) 23-46, 398, 2 TD
Rush: D. Walker (ND) 31-146, 1 TD
Rec: R. McKnight (ND) 10-120, 2 TD

22 BOISE STATE (5-0) 36
UTAH (3-2) 3

Pass: J. Zabransky (BOIS) 15-21, 210, 1 TD
Rush: I. Johnson (BOIS) 14-88, 0 TD
Rec: D. Schouman (BOIS) 3-50, 0 TD

ALABAMA (3-2) 13
5 FLORIDA (5-0) 28

Pass: J. Wilson (ALA) 21-40, 240, 0 TD
Rush: K. Darby (ALA) 14-76, 0 TD
Rec: D. Hall (ALA) 6-117, 0 TD

24 GEORGIA TECH (4-1) 38
11 VIRGINIA TECH (4-1) 27

Pass: S. Glennon (VT) 27-53, 339, 1 TD
Rush: T. Choice (GT) 18-105, 2 TD
Rec: E. Royal (VT) 7-102, 1 TD

14 OREGON (4-0) 48
ARIZONA STATE (3-2) 13

Pass: D. Dixon (ORE) 19-30, 215, 3 TD
Rush: J. Stewart (ORE) 12-142, 0 TD
Rec: J. Williams (ORE) 10-137, 2 TD

It’s been posted… in all its glory:

Wow - all of these games had serious playoff implications… and all were spectacular. ESPN.com is already saying that Pujols’ huge homerun could be MVP-worthy - but wait just a second. Ryan Howard was intentionally walked 3 consecutive times from the 8th inning on! How is that not game changing - he’s being treated like Barry Bonds circa 2001. Amazing.

Houston 7, Pitt 6 (15 innings)
Ausmus’ sac fly in 15th helps Astros win eighth straight
Pitching: Miller (HOU) 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 K
W: Sampson (1-0) L: Bayliss (1-1) S: Miller (1)

Philly 8, Washington 7 (14 innings)
Rollins’ two-run triple in 14th helps Phillies beat Nats
HR » PHI: C. Utley (32) - WAS: R. Zimmerman (20)

St Louis 4, San Diego 2
Three-run Pujols blast helps Cards snap 7-game skid
W: Johnson (1-4) L: Linebrink (7-4) S: Wainwright (2)
HR » STL: A. Pujols (47)

Houston Astros third baseman Mike Lamb (26) celebrates after the Astros’ 7-6 win in 15 innings over the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game, with teammate Chad Qualls on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006, in Pittsburgh.

I’ve been searching YouTube for a video of this fantastic roundhouse-kick-through-the-driver’s-windshield by Michael Simko at the Talledo Speedway. He got angry after a car tangling and kicked right through the car’s windshield - in Chuck Norris fashion… making race car driving somewhat cool.

Sir, I Strongly Protest Your Driving Habits

We’re sure you’ve seen this, but we kind of had to bring it up anyway. If you’re like us, you can’t be pulled away from the television with a herd of wild ponies during an ARCA stock car race.* One reason is that these guys are always grapplin’, and they aren’t just your everyday tussles like you see in NASCAR. Take Sunday’s Great Lakes Chevy Dealers/Budweiser Glass City 200 at Toledo Speedway, for instance. The highlight of a fight between two drivers came when one of them leaped up and crashed through the windshield of the other car. That’s how they roll in Toledo, beey-otch. Here’s the quite entertaining video, courtesy WTOL, Toledo. From ARCARacing.com:

Michael Simko and Don St. Denis tangled on lap 112, with Simko’s #06 slamming into the wall. He exited the car and as St. Denis’ car came back around ran up to it, took a flying leap and took out the windshield, then came the fight.

SI.com Stewart Mandel writes that he was writing the obituary for Notre Dame before Quinn’s 4th quarter comeback against Michigan State. Great game? Yes. Great comeback? Yes. Brady Quinn impressed me considering I been a harsh critic of the far too hyped golden boy who has look awful all season long. But Notre Dame is not elite team - and this isn’t up for debate either. They struggled to pull out a week 1 victory, got trounced by Michigan at home and struggled to pull out a victory against Michigan State (a solid team for sure). I think Notre Dame is a top tier team, but not a BCS contender.

I had already written two-thirds of my Notre Dame obit. I had written an all-out apology for allowing myself to be so foolishly duped by the Charlie Weis hype machine (complete with an elaborate Rob Schneider analogy). And I was going to point out the irony that Tyrone Willingham’s new team, 3-1 Washington, now had a better record than the one that fired him.

But as I was writing all this, Brady Quinn led the Irish on a phenomenal 19-point fourth-quarter comeback to beat Michigan State 40-37. Quinn, whose Heisman hopes seemed dead in the water after last week’s debacle against Michigan, may have reinserted himself into the race by throwing for 319 yards and five touchdowns. It was one of the more stirring comebacks in recent memory — and such a cruelly typical collapse by the Spartans.

The favorite team is on the left and the home team is capitalized. Last week we went 11-5 and are 20-12 on the season.

Our confidence picks of the week are Baltimore, Miam and Chicago. Our pick of the week against the spread is Atlanta (-4) on Monday Night Football and Chicago (-4) in Minnesota.

Favorite Underdog
Chicago MINNESOTA
PITTSBURGH Cincinnati
BUFFALO New York (NYJ)
Carolina TAMPA BAY
DETROIT Green Bay
Washington HOUSTON
INDIANAPOLIS Jacksonville
MIAMI Tennessee
Baltimore CLEVELAND
ARIZONA St. Louis
Philadelphia SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE New York (NYG)
NEW ENGLAND Denver
Atlanta NEW ORLEANS

The SportsWrap Top 10 NFL Teams:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Sports Illustrated’s Top 10 NFL Teams
1 Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-0)
Well, first of all, they beat the defending champ. Secondly, I might be getting a little giddy about only one game, but here’s what captured me: The Jags never pulled in their horns. They never stopped coming, either offensively or defensively. Bold football. Attack on both sides of the ball, never mind what the percentages say. Yeah! With Indy coming up, in the Dome, this lofty status might last only one week, but let ‘em enjoy it while they can.
2 Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens (2-0)
They’re not happy about their big win over Oakland because they failed so often in the red zone. Their motto now is, “Keep Stover off the field.” (He’s the kicker, for those of you who need things spelled out.) So why are they still at No. 2? Because they were last week and you don’t drop a team way down after a handy victory.
3 Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts (2-0)
Now it gets dicey. Any number of worthy candidates could fill this spot: Chargers, Falcons, Bengals, Browns (no, strike that … Linda, are you messing with me again?), Bears and so forth. But I’m going with the high-flying Indies because I have a feeling they’re gonna be up here for a while.
4 Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta Falcons (2-0)
An old-fashioned college option attack, good for 306 yards rushing, and yes, I’m a sucker for the ground offensives. Reminds me of a dream I had a few years back that they came out in a single-wing, with Vick at tailback, and I actually called Dan Reeves about it, but … ah, you’ve heard that story already.
5 Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals (2-0)
I picked them to beat Pittsburgh. They’re all banged up. So why didn’t I change my pick? It’s the wounded-animal syndrome. Unless it’s your QB who’s down, injuries often induce a snarling nastiness in those who are left to carry on.
6 Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears (2-0)
Call this drama “Grossman Reborn,” which sounds like a play by Arthur Miller. “Three weeks ago it was ‘Damn Rex,’” says TE Desmond Clark, who has 10 catches in two games. “Now everybody loves him again.” Well, we know how fast that can change, but why knock a rebirth of Rudy Bukich to Mike Ditka? At least for this week.
7 San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers (2-0)
This bothers me: They’re calling their pass rush the Pacific Sack Exchange. Hey, all you clever phrase-makers out there, you ever hear of a Jets unit with Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau, etc.? You know where the term “sack” comes from? No, not looting and pillaging and the sack of Rome and the girls’ dorm. It’s a George Allen phrase, when he was coaching the Rams in a game with the Cowboys and their QB, Craig Morton, was coming up. “We’ll get that Morton Salt,” George said. “We’ll put him in a sack.” Hence the phrase, sack. True story. Honest.
8 Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks (2-0)
They’re doing OK, but there are a few unsettling “since” numbers. They’re not serious sinces. These go back only to 2004, but Shaun Alexander has now had back-to-back games under 100 yards, and that hasn’t happen since December 2004, and Matt Hasselbeck completed less than half of his passes against Arizona, and this hasn’t happened since November of the same year. Not real bad … I mean not like sinces that go back to, say, something like 1945, but still nagging.
9 Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)
Big Ben showed a lot of courage Monday night, but the book still says that if you put him in a position in which other things aren’t working and he has to take charge of the game himself … well, he’s not ready for that yet. It happened in the playoffs in ‘04, and in the Super Bowl last year (although Hasselbeck was bad too), and now it happened again vs. the Jags. Well, the poor guy had 104 degrees of fever that afternoon, and his appendix was still wondering what it was doing out of his body, and my God, was that ever a scary sight when he clutched his midsection toward the end of the game … but still, he has to prove he can control a game without a lot of help.
10 New York Giants
New York Giants (1-1)
An unbelievable win over Philly, but some writers always look for trouble. What I’m wondering is what they’re going to do about their right cornerback, Sam Madison, who played the first half way off Donte’ Stallworth and just gave up everything underneath. You’re telling me that maybe the defense was set up that way? Uh uh, no way. It was like stealing. But the Eagles, for some reason, gave up on trying to further push that mismatch in the second half, and Sam finished the game. I felt he’d be lifted for sure, his place taken by some young guy scared to death, but it didn’t happen. Maybe they were double-covering everything to his side after a while, but doesn’t that really put a damper on your defensive scheme? Just wondering. Just looking for trouble. Just making myself unpopular again. What do I care? I’m off to Nigeria.

ESPN’s Top 10 NFL Teams
1 (2) Colts 2-0-0 It certainly looks like Joseph Addai is going to end up being the No. 1 back in Indianapolis.
2 (3) Seahawks 2-0-0 Maybe he’s not a legit No. 1 receiver, but Matt Hasslebeck is going to love Deion Branch.
3 (4) Bengals 2-0-0 With the Steelers losing Monday night, the Bengals have an opportunity to make a big early statement in the AFC North this Sunday in Pittsburgh.
4 (5) Jaguars 2-0-0 Teams don’t push the Steelers around very often and that’s exactly what the Jaguars did Monday night.
5 (7) Falcons 2-0-0 The Falcons have rushed for an astounding 558 yards in two games, gaining 6.1 yards per carry. Their 558 yards are more than the bottom five rushing teams (TB, Det., Oak., Mia. And Ten.) have combined.
6 (8) Bears 2-0-0 What do you think the odds were on Rex Grossman being the NFL’s highest-rated QB through two weeks?
7 (9) Chargers 2-0-0 When you’ve outscored your opponents 67-7 in your first two games, the last thing you want is a bye.
8 (6) Ravens 2-0-0 Maybe it’s nitpicking, but the Ravens need to find a way to turn more of their red-zone trips into TDs. FGs are nice, but you need to score TDs in the NFL to win.
9 (1) Steelers 1-1-0 Twenty-six rushing yards on 14 carries and no rushing first downs vs. the Jags. That’s certainly not how the Steelers want to play.
10 (10) Patriots 2-0-0 This is pretty obvious without Deion Branch, but if rookie Chad Jackson can make an impact it would give the Patriots’ offense a big lift.