In prior entries we showed the relationship between the population of pirates and global warming, see this one and that one. Finally, a motivational poster that summarizes the situation succinctly (above.)

Haven’t done many music related posts this year, so I decided to slot one in this morning. Let’s start with a little Ray Charles, Hit the Road Jack.

Great quality image and music in that one. Let’s stay with Ray and a cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire.

Love how that song works both as the original Cash tune, but also as a bluesy soulful rendition. Ah, what the heck, here’s Johnny with his version of the tune. Love those horns!

While we’re in the genre, here’s Willie Nelson singing one of my all-time favorites, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.

Here’s one that was new for me, another great tune, Townes Van Zandt’s Pancho and Lefty performed by the unlikely duo of Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan.

Here’s another old favorite, Dolly Parton’s song Jolene. Mindy Smith does an amazing cover of this that I hate to say, but I like better than the original.

Hope you enjoyed this musical interlude. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

And then there were two

Ohio State left the ranks of the unbeaten today. Let’s see how Ohio State’s opponents did, get some commentary on the Big 10 race, review the Top 12, and finally the Bottom 5.

OSU Opponent Watch

• Youngstown State (7-4) – Played Western Illinois at home, won 31-24. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Akron (4-6) – Played Bowling Green at home, won 48-37. Conclusion: Unexpected Win
• Washington (3-7) – Played Oregon State away, lost 23-29. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Northwestern (6-5) – Played Indiana at home, won 31-28. Conclusion: Unexpected Win
• Minnesota (1-9) – Played Iowa away, lost 16-21. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Purdue (7-4) – Played Michigan State at home, lost 31-48. Conclusion: Unexpected Loss
• Kent State (3-7) – Played Northern Illinois away, lost 20-27. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Michigan State (6-5) – Played Purdue away, won 48-31. Conclusion: Unexpected Win
• Penn State (8-3) – Played Temple away, won 31-0. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Wisconsin (8-3) – Played Michigan at home, won 37-21. Conclusion: Unexpected Win
• Illinois (8-3) – Played Ohio State away, won 28-21. Conclusion: Unexpected Win
• Michigan (8-3) – Played Wisconsin away, lost 21-37. Conclusion: Unexpected Loss

Buckeye opponent’s records after the 10th week, 69-59. After 8 weeks of conference play, Ohio State and Michigan each suffered their first conference loss and will play for the Big 10 championship next weekend. Congratulations to Michigan State, Iowa, and Northwestern who became bowl eligible. For the first time since 1959 both Ohio State and Michigan lost before their rivalry game. This weekend, 10 of the 11 Big 10 teams are now eligible for bowl play. The Big 10 is so tough, it’s tough to make it through conference play undefeated.

Quick Hits from Around College Football

These are the undefeated survivors; give them credit for standing tall when others are losing games they should win: Kansas and Hawaii. The Warriors thumped Fresno State and the Jayhawks outscored the Cowboys. Utah State and Florida International maintained their perfect records with zero wins between them this year.

Projected BCS Top 5: LSU, Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

Game of the week? Central Michigan beat Western Michigan 34-31. The teams combined to score 48 points in the final stanza.

Mismatch of the week? Virginia humiliated Miami 48-0 in their final game in the Orange Bowl stadium.

My Special Top 12 rankings: (Why Top 12? That’s where you need to be to get into BCS contention.)

1. Kansas – Outscored Oklahoma State.
2. Oregon – Knocked out Arizona State.
3. Oklahoma – Thumped Baylor.
4. Arizona State – Slipped past UCLA.
5. Missouri – Beat Texas A&M.
6. Ohio State – Spit the bit losing to Illinois.
7. West Virginia – Outlasted Louisville.
8. LSU – Obliterated Louisiana Tech.
9. Virginia – Killed Miami.
10. Georgia – Rallied to beat Auburn.
11. Illinois – Upset Ohio State.
12. Hawaii – Oulasted Fresno State.

My Special Bottom 5 rankings: (Why bottom 5? If you finish there you should be relegated to I-AA)

1. Notre Dame – 1-9 this season. Lost to Air Force.
2. Florida International – 0-9 Bye week.
3. Utah State – 0-10 this season. Lost to Boise State.
4. Colorado State – 1-9 this season. Lost to New Mexico.
5. Minnesota – 1-10 this season. Lost to Iowa.

In the coming week I’ll post an Michigan/OSU preview, a game review of Michigan/OSU, and a Weekend Update Sports edition.

Give Illinois all the credit, they came to play and ran the ball down the Buckeyes throat. Ohio State drops to 10-1 on the season and will play Michigan next week for the Big 10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth. Suffice to say, my game preview was wrong where I predicted a 31-20 Buckeye win.

The Good

• The first two offensive series. Picture perfect, well executed, and effective.
• Heart. Down two touchdowns, the team didn’t fold and continued to battle back.

The Bad

• The first two defensive series. They were thinking rather than reacting and it set the tone for the rest of the day.
• Turnovers. The team could survive a shaky defensive performance if the offense was on. It couldn’t survive bad quarterback decisions and bad defensive execution in the same game.

The Ugly

• Officiating. It was so bad in this game, they ought to resign. Two missed Illini turnovers, offensive holding all day. Bad replay execution. I don’t know that with the Illinois was running it would have made a difference, but the refs are directly responsible for 7 points.
• The run defense. 65 yards per game coming in, they gave up 265 today.
• End of Game melee. That’s good for no one, I was disappointed and embarrassed to see the poor sportsmanship at the end of the game.

Despite the outcome of this game, I’m proud of the season the Buckeyes have delivered. They barely lost to a very good Illinois team and had help from the refs spotting the Illini 7 points in the first quarter, the difference in the game. However, great teams overcome that sort of adversity and the Bucks weren’t up to the challenge this time. Illinois ran us over.

Now it’s time to regroup for next week and beat the Wolverines.

Finkbuilt has a great instructional article on how to build more durable lightsabers, you know, “elegant weapons from a more civilized age.” Wish I’d seen this before Halloween, it would have influenced my costume choice. These not only look great, they’re likely to be more durable than other choices available as you engage your foe…If you build one, let me know!