I had originally planned to put this post together before the Temple-Miami game, but I had too much other stuff to do.

So this comes to you after Temple just barely survived the RedHawks by a 34-32 margin. When Miami took the lead with 2:36 to play, it looked like this whole thing would be moot.

But the Owls came back down the field and got a game-winning field goal, so you can read this post (and I can write it) with a clearer conscience.

On Wednesday night, just a few minutes before Game 6 of the World Series started, I spent a few minutes chatting on the phone with Cedar Rapids Gazette writer Mike Hlas. He's the AP college football poll voter who put Temple at No. 25 on his ballot. You can read his blog, The Hlog, here.

I had no idea what to expect coming in, except that I was only looking for a few quotes. I ended up getting much more than that, so I'm going to give you everything I have.

I asked Hlas about why he voted for the Owls and what kind of attention the MAC gets in Iowa. And since he covers the Hawkeyes every week, I couldn't help asking whether he thinks they'll go all the way to the BCS title game. It's good stuff.

Q. Why did you put the Owls on your ballot?

A. For one thing, it's been getting harder and harder to find teams after the top 15 that I think are deserving. There's a lot of 5-3's and 6-2's.

...

I know Temple's not a top 25 team. But I look at it as 25th place is one point -  it's not going to change anything. If I'm having a hard time finding 25 teams I like, why not give a vote to somebody who's on a roll and doing nice things, and get their name in others receiving votes?

...

A six-game winning streak is nice and Navy's a good team. I think [Temple] is one of the nicer stories in college football this year and who knows how long it's going to last. I kind of enjoyed putting their name out there.

Q. What kind of attention does MAC football get in Iowa?

A. There's none in Iowa. There's one [team] in Illinois and the concentration in Indiana and Ohio. But the Big Ten has a relationship with the MAC - I think every Big Ten school plays at least one MAC team a year. Iowa has been playing MAC teams for a long time, though not this year.

...

There's a respect for MAC football here because Western Michigan came into Iowa City in 2007 and beat Iowa, and kept them from going to a bowl game that year with a really nice team. And nobody's really hidden anymore when they're having ggames on espn every night of the week.

The MAC always has been and will be a lower-level FBS conference, but it certainly has two or three really nice teams every year. I would include Central Michigan in that group, which beat Michigan State - that carries a lot of water. And so it's respected, but it's not held in high esteem.

Q. What do you make of Iowa? Are they really that good?

A. They've got a lot of - I wouldn't say critics, but doubters, and understandably. They've done such a high-wire act in so many games. But if you look at the schedule and you compare it to just about anybody, I think they've been rated the seventh hardest schedule in the country.*

And the places where they've won: at Penn State - nobody else has laid a glove on at Penn State this year. They've won at Wisconsin, which I think has a really good team. And they won at Michigan State, which they'd never done under [Kirk] Ferentz.

They haven't had any let-ups in the schedule since six weeks ago. When you play that kind of competition week after week, I think it lends itself to some jams you're going to have to get out of. Jams that maybe a Boise State or a Cincinnati has been able to avoid this year with their schedules.

Q. Do you think there is any chance that if Iowa runs the table, they could get beaten to a spot in the BCS title game by a one-loss runner-up in the SEC title game?

A. It depends on the team. I could see it, but the thing is that Iowa's strength of schedule is so high - I think they're second overall in the computer rankings that the BCS uses.* Their strength of schedule is going to be so good if they win out that I wonder, if they were to go 12-0, if an SEC champion has one loss, if Iowa wouldn't slip above it.

* - Hlas is correct that Iowa is ranked No. 2 in the computer rankings composite, but I can't find any data to back up his strength of schedule claim. Having said that, Iowa's schedule is No. 2 in Jeff Anderson and Chris Hester's computer rankings, which are used in the BCS formula.

Temple was also the subject of a lengthy discussion between Ivan Maisel and Beano Cook on Wednesday's ESPN.com college football podcast. You can listen to it here.

Let's close the week with a Spectacle of the Week poll and a Top 10 Chart. There are quite a few good games this weekend, and we'll put Villanova at Richmond in the mix with the I-A slate.

I think my vote is for Alabama-LSU, but I have a hunch that many of you will vote for Ohio State-Penn State.

As for the chart, check out the Sagarin ratings. I'm fascinated by Oregon's jump over Alabama into the No. 2 spot, as well as TCU's move up to No. 5. Think about the teams that are in Sagarin's Top 10 that are not in the others.

I'm not covering any games this weekend, so my next blog post will probably be on Monday. Believe it or not, college basketball season starts a week from today, when Drexel visits St. Joe's to christen Hagan Arena.

Are any of us ready?

Poll: What's the Spectacle of the Week? (215 votes)

I know a lot of people are still smarting from the Phillies' loss last night. But the great thing about sports is that we can always find something to talk about, so let's give it a try.

Villanova coach Andy Talley led off the list of speakers at yesterday's local college football coaches' luncheon. His Wildcats are preparing to face Richmond this weekend, and the excitement is building.

"It's a very big game in the country, No. 4 versus No. 1," Talley said. He added that the stakes include the CAA title, at least one home game in the playoffs and a potential top-four seed in the playoff bracket.

Talley noted that the two teams are largely the same as they were last year, when the Wildcats beat the Spiders on the Main Line. Then he did something that I don't ever remember him doing: he put himself in the middle of the conversation.

"This game is everything that I would want in a career game," Talley said. "I think it's one of the more important games in my stay at Villanova because of the implications. And last year, when you miss a championship by 4.5 seconds you come back really hungry to see if your program can get what you need to get to win a championship."

There are plenty of football coaches out there who can talk a lot and make any game into a big deal. This game really is one, and it was refreshing to see Talley admit how much it means to him.

You can hear more from Talley in the audio player below. Before that, though, check out what the region's Division II and Division III teams are up to.

And come back later today for my interview with Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the writer who put Temple on his AP Top 25 ballot. He has an interesting explanation of why he put the Owls on his ballot.

West Chester
Last week: Home win vs. Bloomsburg, 30-14
This week: 11/7 vs. Mercyhurst, 1:00 p.m.

Delaware Valley
Last week: Road win vs. King's College, 47-21
This week: 11/7 vs. Albright, 1:00 p.m.

Rowan
Last week: Road loss vs. Kean, 23-20 (OT)
This week: 11/7 vs. Montclair State, 1:00 p.m.

Yes, it's fair to wonder whether the Profs should have saved up a few points from the last few weeks...

Ursinus
Last week: Home loss vs. Moravian, 20-19
This week: 11/7 vs. Muhlenberg, 1:00 p.m.

Widener
Last week: Home loss vs. Lebanon Valley, 24-0
This week: 11/7 at Wilkes, 1:00 p.m.

Lincoln
Last week: Road loss vs. St. Paul's College, 16-6
This week: Season over

Cheyney
Last week: Home loss vs. Shippensburg, 31-10
This week: 11/7 vs. Clarion, 12:00 p.m.

There are two big games this week. Penn State hosts a rather underwhelming Ohio State team, with much of the talk centered on Terrelle Pryor's first game at Beaver Stadium with the Buckeyes.

At the same time, Villanova travels to FCS No. 1-ranked Richmond in the CAA's game of the year.

We can talk about this more on Thursday when I put together the Spectacle of the Week poll, but I wonder which of those two games you think is bigger.
 
Note that there's a bit of a tweak in this week's rundown. I only just noticed that the Sagarin home-field advantage adjustment fluctuates every once in a while. It's now up to 3.31 points, so the predictions have been tweaked accordingly.

12. Penn State (13)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 98/93 Northwestern, 34-13
This week: 11/7 vs. No. 19 Ohio State, 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
Sagarin predicts: Penn State by 6 (84.66 and 3.31 to 81.59)

49. Villanova (54)
Last week: No game
This week: 11/7 at No. 53 Richmond, 3:30 p.m. (Comcast SportsNet)
Sagarin predicts: Richmond by 3 (74.05 and 3.31 to 74.82

Villanova is the top-ranked I-AA team in Sagarin and Richmond is the second. It's notable that Michigan is ranked below both of them at No. 67.

55. Rutgers (68)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 52/59 Connecticut, 28-24
This week: No game

61. Temple (76)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 45/50 Navy, 27-24
This week: 11/5 vs. No. 145 Miami (Ohio), 7:30 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Temple by 19 (72.00 and 3.31 to 56.04)

Yes, Temple's next game is the same night as a potential Game 7 of the World Series. I guess reaching bowl eligibility used up the Owls' luck?

114. Delaware (87)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 137/121 James Madison, 20-8
This week: 11/7 vs. No. 151 Hofstra, 12:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Delaware by 11 (62.06 and 3.31 to 54.49)

The Dukes' win was their first in conference play of the season after four losses. Their schedule has been tough this year, but I don't think anyone expected results to be this bad.

135. Penn (149)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 165/169  Brown, 14-7 (OT)
This week: 11/7 vs. No. 225 Princeton, 3:30 p.m. (Comcast Network)
Sagarin predicts: Penn by 26 (57.02 and 3.31 to 34.03)

Anyone want to take the over after what we've seen from Penn's offense the last few weeks?

141. Lafayette (142)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 239/236 Bucknell, 35-14
This week: 11/7 vs. No. 163 Colgate, 1:00 p.m. (RCN-4, RCN-8, WBPH-60)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 8 (56.19 and 3.31 to 51.43)

185. Delaware State (184)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 114/109 South Carolina State, 52-10
This week: 11/7 at No. 227 Winston-Salem State, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Delaware State by 9 (44.70 to 32.82 and 3.31)

214. Lehigh (220)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 161/163  Colgate, 27-20
This week: 11/7 vs. No. 150 Holy Cross, 12:30 p.m. (Service Electric 2)
Sagarin predicts: Holy Cross by 13 (54.54 to 38.16 and 3.31)

225. Princeton (227)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 215/220  Cornell, 17-13
This week: 11/7 at No. Penn, 3:30 p.m. (Comcast Network)
Sagarin predicts: Penn by 26 (57.02 and 3.31 to 34.03)

236. Bucknell (239)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 142/ Lafayette, 35-14
This week: 11/7 at No. 194 Fordham, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Fordham by 17 (43.04 and 3.31 to 29.15)

I'll be totally honest with you: I have no idea when this last happened. But it happened today for the first time I can remember, so here it is;

Temple got a vote in the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Top 25 football polls.

Yes, really.

The AP vote was cast by Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I'll try to get in touch with him this week to find out why he put the Owls on his ballot.

Villanova fans might be interested to know that Richmond also got a vote, although I-AA teams aren't supposed to be included in the ranking. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto ranked the Spiders No. 25 on his ballot.

You all might recall that Appalachian State got a few AP Top 25 votes after its famous win at Michigan a few years back.

As for the coaches' poll, we don't know who put the Owls on a ballot because those ballots aren't made public.

But we do know that a few MAC coaches vote in the poll: Toledo's Tim Beckman, Bowling Green's Dave Clawson, Eastern Michigan's Ron English, Ball State's Stan Parrish, and Temple's Al Golden himself.

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, whose Midshipmen lost to the Owls in Annapolis yesterday, also has a vote.

So I have two questions for you. First, does Temple deserve to be ranked? Second, should I-A and I-AA teams be ranked together?

Have at it. And if you see this tonight, join my live chat during Game 4 of the World Series.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Greetings from an unseasonably warm Brown Stadium, where as you can see the fall foliage is out in full splendor.

Before I get to today's game, be sure to check out Joe Juliano's College Football Report. It has the full rundown of all today's big games.

Regardless of what level the football team you root for plays at, you always want to win a championship by taking care of your own business. Any time you lose a game, it increases the amount you have to rely on your team's rivals losing too.

As cliched as that sounds, the Penn football team knows it is right in the middle of that situation today. The Quakers haven't beaten Brown since 2004, and that's one of the biggest reasons why they haven't won the Ivy League since the year before that.

Penn's Ivy League schedule never changes. They face Dartmouth, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Harvard and Cornell every year, only alternating venues.

So the Quakers haven't been 4-0 in conference play in five years either. The league champion is almost always undefeated or has one loss, which has forced Penn to beat perennial powers Harvard to have any chance of being in the race. And they've only done that once since 2003.

We've already seen signs from this Penn team that it is better than its recent predecessors, especially on defense. But they'll have to prove their mettle today against a Brown offense that can really rack up the yards.

The Bears rank seventh in I-AA in passing offense and 17th in total offense, while Penn ranks 10th in pass defense and third in total defense.

So there's the matchup. This game is not on television, so I'll bring you live updates through the afternoon. We can also talk about Penn State, Temple, the Phillies or whatever other games you're watching.

GREENWICH, Conn. - I'm en route to Providence for the Penn-Brown game at the moment, and I know I owe you a blog post heading into the weekend. So here it is.

For yet another week, there aren't many great college football games this Saturday. I wasn't going to do a Spectacle of the Week poll initially, but then I realized that the Washington State-Notre Dame game is on a neutral field and in prime time. So have at it.

My pick is USC at Oregon. Although most everyone around here will be watching the World Series, it will be worth checking out the atmosphere at Autzen Stadium for at least a few minutes.

It's been a while since a game in Eugene has been broadcast to the East Coast. As ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel wrote on Wednesday, the Ducks' house hasn't always been among the most intimidating venues in college football. But it is now, and it should be electric on Halloween night.

I will not be live-blogging Game 3 of the World Series, as I'll be on a train back to Philadelphia at the time. But I will rejoin you for Game 4. And I'll be back on here tomorrow afternoon from Brown Stadium.

For now, though, here's the week's Top 10 Chart. Note that the Sagarin ratings are through games of this past Saturday, and as such do not reflect Virginia Tech being upset at home last night by North Carolina. For the record, Sagarin has Georgia Tech ranked No. 11.

Sagarin also has Oregon winning by four points (89.71 and 3 to 89.13).

Poll: What's the Spectacle of the Week? (19 votes)

One of the oldest cliches in journalism is that you aren't supposed to write ledes about the weather. Well, excuse me for doing it this time.

After everyone played in the monsoons on Saturday, Delaware Valley and Ursinus both found themselves flooded out of their practice fields this week. As you'll hear in the audio player below, the rain was treated with relatively good humor at this afternoon's local college football coaches luncheon.

But for those of you who are fans of Penn State or other Division I schools, it is a reminder that not everyone has a place to go when Mother Nature pays a visit.

Also, regular blog reader Kevin McGuire asked me to give a shoutout to Shippensburg's football team after they won at No. 3-ranked Bloomsburg on Saturday. Between Kevin's knowledge and that of West Chester coach Bill Zwaan, whose team also plays in the PSAC, I've learned enough to get that Bloomsburg is a very hard place to play.

For those of you who don't know, Shippensburg is about 45 minutes southwest of Harrisburg on Interstate 81. So I doubt they'll be showing up at the Philadelphia coaches' luncheon any time soon.

By the way, you probably saw that I liveblogged Game 1 of the World Series tonight. I'll be back in the hot seat for Game 2, and I hope you'll join me.

Now for this week's Division II and Division III rundown:

West Chester
Last week: Home win vs. Cheyney, 59-0
This week: 10/24 vs. Bloomsburg, 1:00 p.m.

Delaware Valley
Last week: Road win vs. Lycoming, 21-7
This week: 12/24 at King's College (Wilkes-Barre), 1:00 p.m.

Rowan
Last week: Home win vs. Buffalo State, 57-7
This week: 10/24 at Kean, 1:00 p.m.

The Profs have scored a total of 252 points combined over their last four games.

Ursinus
Last week: Road win vs. McDaniel, 48-13
This week: 10/24 vs. Moravian, 1:00 p.m.

Widener
Last week: Road loss vs. Albright, 31-17
This week: 10/24 vs. Lebanon Valley, 1:00 p.m.

Lincoln
Last week: Home loss vs. Virginia State, 34-14
This week: 10/24 at St. Paul's College (Lawrenceville, Va.), 1:00 p.m.

Cheyney
Last week: Road loss vs. West Chester, 59-0
This week: 10/24 vs. Shippensburg, 1:00 p.m.

With all due respect to Penn State, the biggest game of this weekend is probably Temple at Navy. The Owls are a win away from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since they won seven games in 1990. They haven't actually played in a bowl game since beating California, 28-15, in the 1979 Garden State Bowl at Giants Stadium.

If Temple really does end up in a bowl game, I will go into the Inquirer and Daily News archives and get the stories from that game.

The other big game this weekend is Penn's trip to Brown, where the QUakers haven't won since 2003. The Quakers haven't beaten the Bears at all since 2004. Sagarin has both those streaks ending Saturday by a narrow margin, which surprises me.

It will be almost entirely on Penn's defensive backfield to win this game. Brown ranks No. 7 in the FCS with an average of 290 passing yards per game. If Chris Wynn and Jonathan Moore can do something about that, Quakers quarterback Kyle Olson will have a chance to put points on the board going in the other direction.

While Brown ranks 21st in rushing defense, allowing 98.33 yards per game, the Bears are 105th in passing defense at 243.67 yards per game.

The Penn-Brown game will not be televised, but I will be in Providence to cover the game for the Inquirer. Kickoff is at 12:30 p.m., and I'll try to provide some live coverage here on the blog.

13. Penn State (21)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 34/46 Michigan, 35-10
This week: 10/31 at No. 98 Northwestern, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sagarin predicts: Penn State by 17 (84.76 to 65.12 and 3)

54. Villanova (58)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 200/197 Rhode Island, 36-7
This week: No game

68. Rutgers (78)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 141/144 Army, 27-10
This week: 10/31 at No. 52 Connecticut, 12:00 p.m. (WPVI-6, ESPN360.com)
Sagarin predicts: Connecticut by 7 (73.72 and 3 to 70.12)

76. Temple (97)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 104/117 Toledo, 40-22
This week: 10/31 at No. 45 Navy, 3:30 p.m. (CBS College Sports)
Sagarin predicts: Navy by 10 (75.91 and 3 to 68.63)

87. Delaware (86)
Last week: No game
This week: 10/31 vs. No. 137 James Madison, 12:00 p.m. (Comcast Network)
Sagarin predicts: Delaware by 13 (66.92 and 3 to 56.66)

142. Lafayette (136)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 194/190 Fordham, 26-21
This week: 10/31 vs. No. 239 Bucknell, 1:00 p.m. (RCN-4 or RCN-8, WBPH-60)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 31 (55.49 and 3 to 27.87)

149. Penn (150)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 196/191 Yale, 9-0
This week: 10/31 at No. 165 Brown, 12:30 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Penn by 1 (54.22 to 50.09 and 3)

184. Delaware State (188)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 178/194 Morgan State, 35-22
This week: 10/31 at No. 114 South Carolina State, 1:30 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: South Carolina State by 20 (61.76 and 3 to 45.21)

220. Lehigh (225)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 233/239 Bucknell, 35-16
This week: 10/31 at No. 161 Colgate, 1:00 p.m. (WFMZ-69, Fox College Sports)
Sagarin predicts: Colgate by 17 (50.87 and 3 to 36.66)

227. Princeton (236)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 172/160 Harvard, 37-3
This week: 10/31 vs. No. 215 Cornell, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Cornell by 5 (37.97 to 32.08 and 3)

239. Bucknell (233)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 225/220 Lehigh, 35-16
This week: 10/31 at No. 142 Lafayette, 1:00 p.m. (RCN-4 or RCN-8, WBPH-60)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 31 (55.49 and 3 to 27.87)

Last week at Big East men's basketball media day, I took my video camera around and interviewed a bunch of reporters to get their predictions on how the season will play out. The piece is finally ready, and here it is.

I talked to Joe Juliano of the Inquirer, Mike Kern of the Daily News, Liz Clarke of the Washington Post, Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune and Mike Waters of the Syracuse Post-Standard. They were unanimous in their praise of Villanova, but they all had their own perspectives to offer as well.