The Bottom 10 inspirational thought of the week:
Come on, baby, give it all you've got
Get into the power of the plot
You know we'll only get it if we try
Give me your attention for a while
Everybody needs attention
Everybody wants to smile
Everybody needs a mention
Attention, attention, for a while
-- - "Attention," Ringo Starr
Last week during one of our Championship Drive college football podcasts (Listen, subscribe, rate, review!), I made a passing comment that slid by most listeners but boomed through San Marcos, Texas, like a Stevie Ray Vaughn guitar riff at the Cheatham Street Warehouse. What I said was that I wish more people around the nation cared about Texas State football because it was such a hot mess that it would make for a great in-depth feature.
The short version: The Bobcats moved to FBS in 2012 and the once-proud Division II and FCS program jumped out to a promising start under Dennis Franchione, with a three-year record of 17-19. But in the three-plus seasons since, it's 8-34. After a 1-5 start this year, the fifth-largest university in Texas has become enveloped in bickering back and forth between fans, administration, media and head coach Everett Withers.
My comment on the podcast led to a deluge of Twitter comments from Texas State fans.
us TxState fans are happy someone noticed us at least...our plight is real
— Jim Rank (@jim_rank) October 15, 2018
That told me three things. 1. Someone in San Marcos does indeed listen, subscribe, rate and review. Awesome. 2. Someone in San Marcos reads the Bottom 10. That is also awesome. 3. Everyone in San Marcos needs a hug.
With apologies to Jim Wacker, Richard Starkey and Steve Harvey, here's the Bottom 10 after Week 7.
1. UTEPID (0-6)
Perhaps Texas State fans can at least take some comfort in knowing theirs isn't the worst team in Texas.
2. Minute Rice (1-6)
Perhaps Texas State fans can also take some comfort in knowing theirs isn't even the second-worst team in Texas.
3. San No-Se State (0-6)
After the Spartans Not Trojans suffered back-to-back heartbreakers via a five-overtime loss to Hawaii and a squandered 30-point, third-quarter comeback to Coloraduh State, they refused to succumb to such drama last weekend, losing 52-3 to the Black Knights of West Point. It was the most decisive Army victory since Yorktown.
4. U-Can't (1-5)
If you're looking to call your bookie with a sleeper pick to make a late run at the Bottom 10 title, keep an eye on Randy Edsall Charm School University. The Huskies' second half starts with a trip to South Florida this weekend and ends with a Thanksgiving visit from Temple, but in between they face UMess (2-5), Living on Tulsa Time (1-5), EC-Yew (2-4) and Smoo, er, I mean SMU (2-4). And if you're looking to call your bookie with a sleeper pick to make a late run at the Bottom 10 title, then I have some addiction literature for you to read.
5. Georgia (6-1)
For a month and a half, I've been barked at by Dawgs who said their team wasn't receiving the same attention as Bama, Ohio State, Clemson and Notre Dame, or even Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma and UCF. The LSU game was UGA's chance to finally earn respect for their accomplishments. Well ... hey, going from being ranked second in the nation to being in the Coveted Fifth Spot, that is quite the accomplishment.
6. Texas State Armadillos (1-5)
I always jokingly refer to Texas State as the Armadillos. But perhaps the answer to their woes lies within that joke. Where's Ed "Straight Arrow" Gennero these days? We haven't heard from him since his two-day Twitter experiment of 2014.
Johnny Manziel to the #Browns How about another winning quarterback from Texas? Paul Blake. I can deliver him. pic.twitter.com/1GhOVgKXbH
— Coach Ed Gennero (@EdGennero) January 9, 2014
7. Boiling Green State (1-6)
#MACtion is home to four teams with two or fewer wins and three of those teams share three wins between them. Over the next four weeks those four teams will play their own round-robin Bottom 10 tournament as State of Kent (1-6) plays Akron (2-3) and Boiling Green (1-6); BGSU plays Central Michigan (1-6); CMU plays Akron; and Akron plays BGSU. But only one of those schools has already fired their coach. And that's why BGSU is the MAC's Bottom 10 representative ... for now.
8. No-braska (0-6)
If the MAC was smart to schedule all of those games and Conference USA was wise enough to book UTEP vs. Rice (Nov. 3) and the American was astute enough to gift the world with UConn vs. Tulsa (also Nov. 3), then why in the wide, wide world of sports couldn't someone at the Big Ten have had the foresight to gift the world with these guys ...
9. In a Rut-gers (1-6)
... against these guys?!
10. Ore-gone State (1-5)
And why wasn't someone at Pac-12 HQ prescient enough to ensure that the 1-5 Beavers would play the 1-5 UCLA Boo-ins? Forget the College Football Playoff, these conferences don't even understand how to make the Bottom 10 Playoff.
Waiting List: UNC Achilles Heels (1-4), Lou-ugh-ville Cardinals (2-5) Ar-kan't-saw (1-6), Central Michigan Chippy-was (1-6) State of Kent (1-6), Western Kentucky Hillstoppers (1-5), UCLA Boo-ins (1-5), Living on Tulsa Time (1-5), Old Duh-minions (1-6), the team that lost to Old Duh-minions (4-2), overly heated "storming the field" debates.