Top 25 Pop Quiz
What you may not, or may, know about some of the nation's best
Oct. 11, 2007

College Football Preview: Week 7
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By Carter Blackburn
Special to CSTV.com
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CARTER BLACKBURN
Carter Blackburn covers various sports for CSTV and writes frequently for CSTV.com.
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Sitting down for enchiladas at Las Minatas this week, a fairly knowledgeable friend asked me, "So, who is this Central Florida team?"
An odd question, since the George O'Leary-led Knights are having no better than an above average season, including a near upset over my local team,
"They're rated 5th in the country, and I don't even know what their mascot is," he continued.
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This is when I realized the error of his ways; it was not Central Florida he wanted to know about, but
I suspect that my friend, the directionless diner, is not alone in this "
So with the Oct. 7, 2007 AP Top 25 poll by my side, I present a mix and match of interesting facts about teams currently ranked. You will really learn nothing meaningful from the exercise, but it makes for good chatter around the sour cream dip at your next football party.
So see if you can identify the university from the football ranking associated with these trivial facts (answers below):
- The author of the TV series The Waltons ran with this undefeated pack of cats.
- The birdlike beast of this school got its name from an 1896 nonsensical cheer.
- Ten years ago, this top 10 program's football team was founded as a I-AA independent.
- Bette Midler attended this school, whose football team is improbably ranked higher than Florida State, Auburn,
OK, only a couple more:
- The song "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" was a cynical take on graduates of this Big Ten bunch going to work for weapons developers.
- When you're in the stands and hear the, "Charge" tune on the organ, it originated at what humbled power?
Feeling a bit like Will Ferrell's Alex Trebek character, I've pulled out these nuggets about some old ranked favorites and the new kids on the college football power list. See if you got any of these right:
- The guy who wrote the Waltons went to Cincinnati, currently ranked 15th and driving the wagon in the Big East. Apparently Earl Hamner wrote the show about his childhood in Virginia.
- Speaking of the
- Truly,
- Picturing Bette Midler in a grass skirt doing the hula? Yep, she is a
- Next time you hear "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" in an 80s movie or at that karaoke bar down the street from your office, think of this inspiration - the Madison, Wisconsin-based duo Timbuk3 envisioned a nuclear holocaust engineered by Badger graduates in a Dr. Strangelove post-graduation party. Makes you think a little differently about My Best Friend Is a Vampire, huh?
- USC trumpeter Tommy Walker trumped up the 1947 Rose Bowl with his rallying, `Charge'.
Even if you have learned nothing at all about the educations offered at these fine institutions, or even about their football teams, you now have some fresh banter for this week's pigskin party.