The Hangover Cure: Week 12

Key Takeaway. Today, it's the same as the Impaired Judgment: Are there really any good coaches, or just average coaches fortunate enough to not make awful mistakes?

Yale's Tom Williams chose to go with a fake punt on a fourth-and-22 against Harvard. Going for it, at all, on fourth and 22 is an only-if-you're-losing scenario, but calling a fake punt -- and a fake punt run, one that put the ball at their 14 before it made any forward progress towards the first-down marker at the 47 -- is as close to trying to fail as you get. Bill Belichick gambled and lost; Williams lost his mind, then lost.

Meanwhile, Les Miles came up with the Mississippi Meltdown.

I don't want to think that there was some cohesive strategy behind LSU's late-game roller-coaster ride, because I don't want to live in a world that would allow such clear contempt for logic and good taste to succeed even once. But, hey, it's Les Miles. You never know. 

He never knows.

Delirious. The Pac-10 doesn't have any interest in close, defensive football like the SEC, but this season, week after week, it has been the country's most exhilarating conference. The latest gems: A 44-41 thriller in Tucson that sets up the first-ever Civil War for the Roses, and a tight, 34-28 edition of the Big Game that swung on a freshman quarterback making a freshman's mistake.

Just when you think it can't get worse for Michigan, it does. And this won't help. Good thing Rich Rodriguez is staying sunny, huh?

Tremendous. The best candidate from a purely statistical standpoint for the Heisman Trophy is Kellen Moore. Boise State's signal-caller leads the nation in passer rating, has 33 TDs and just three picks, and has just two games with less than two scores through the air this year. He's not going to win the trophy, but he passed Houston's Case Keenum in the stat-heavy race a while back, because his team has more of the stat that means the most to Heisman voters (hint: rhymes with bins), and that's worth noticing.

Blacked Out. The meaningful results of this Saturday that you didn't see: Duke's loss to Miami means their bowl quest is over, Army's win means a win over Navy sends them bowling, Kentucky beat Georgia in Athens for the first time since the Carter Administration, and Ohio won to set up a play-in game for a MAC Championship berth. So, yes, it was a relatively uneventful Saturday.

Potent Quotables. Michigan punter Zoltan Mesko, half right: "Ohio State's not that good of a team. We beat ourselves."

Notre Dame's Charlie Weis is facing facts.

Kansas' Mark Mangino, after a job-saving miracle against Texas failed to materialize: "Football is fun for me. Distracted? No. Let me tell you what's on my mind: This week, it was Texas. As soon as I walk out of this room, (it's) Missouri."

Proof. Temple's win over Kent State may not seem like much, especially with breakout running back Bernard Pierce getting no carries. But it runs the Owls' record to 9-2, meaning with a win in their next game, they will tie the best record in school history. Not bad for the only school ever dropped from a BCS league.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.