Back when I was in college and running the student newspaper, the UCF football team went on a hilariously humiliating 17-game losing streak that included a breathtaking 0-11 season. Game attendance was in the toilet and the crowds were nothing more than drunken messes of frat boys and homeless people trying to get free food. Needless to say, a win was a luxury at that point.

So it wasn’t all that surprising that when UCF defeated Marshall to break the losing streak that fans decided to rush the field and tear down the goalposts. I was on the sidelines as fans were pressing up against the rails. Friends yelled to me to ask if they’d get Tazed for going on the field, and the cops I spoke with laughed and said no because they were outmanned and not in the mood to get trampled. When the game clock expired, fans started leaping over the rails.

I watched as body after body was slung over the bars, and I witnessed three different guys snap their legs on the concrete as they dropped like sacks of soil. It was both terrifying and hilarious, but since that day I’ve never understood why people rush the field. And on Saturday it happened three times. In one game.

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Before we get into discussing the NFL playoffs, it’s kind of worth noting what happened on Friday night: a college football team completed a perfect 13-0 season by dominating a highly regarded SEC team that had been undefeated until the SEC championship.  Not too many people gave Utah an outside shot of knocking off Alabama, but the Utes controlled every facet of the Sugar Bowl in a 31-17 win.

In fact, Every Day Should Be Saturday has generously awarded Utah one-quarter of the national title:

Utah beat 5 ranked teams and embarrassed the SEC West champion. They did not lose a game this season. They had a defense that dealt out harm to all they faced and boasted one of the more accurate quarterbacks in the nation. They beat people with spread-option tactics executed with wishbone brutality. If you want more from a team, you’re either unreasonable, a total flaming asshole, or both.

So can we shove something up the BCS’s ass and get a college playoff yet, or what?

The Mid-American Conference officiating crew at Thursday night's Poinsettia Bowl between Utah and Navy has admitted to making an error on a fourth-quarter play at the goal line. A Utah wide receiver fumbled the pigskin into the pylon in what should have been been a touchback for Navy, but the refs gave the ball to the Utes on the 1-yard-line and upheld the wrong call in a replay review.

"The ball was fumbled forward and hit the pylon. The pylon is out of bounds and also in the end zone," read an official statement from the officiating crew, citing Rule 8, Section 6, Article 1, Item 1 in the NCAA college football rule book. "There was a mistake made. It should have been ruled a touchback and the ball should have been placed at the 20-yard line."

Wow! What an exciting scandal, huh? It's a shame the result of this mistaken judgment could have only resulted in Utah still not covering the 8-point spread as I predicted they would. But at least I'll have an excuse when I show up at Christmas without gifts for the family. I guess I could donate some of my plasma for cash. So I can bet on the UCLA/BYU game later. -KD

Once again we've got another NFL game (Steelers-Rams) on Thursday night, and once again who gives a fuck.  Hey, NFL Network: I don't have you and can't get you.  And that would make you just like Scarlett Johansson if I actually wanted you.  Drop Gumbel in a wood chipper and maybe we'll talk.

That leaves the Fuck You, Corporate Sponsors Poinsettia Bowl between Utah and Navy on ESPN.  Or, as I like to call it, the Battle of Running Backs Overcoming Heartbreaking Adversity.  Yesterday, Deadspin highlighted the trials of the Utes' Darrell Mack (drug addict mom murdered with lug wrench, father in prison for life for murder, grandfather who raised him died last week, and he's dyslexic).  It's amazing that Mack has made it as far as he has, but let's not forget the story of Navy's slotback Zerbin Singleton:

Singleton… is on track to reach his ultimate goal of becoming an astronaut. He boasts a 3.1 grade-point average as an aerospace engineering major and last month was named Brigade Commander [leader of all students at the Academy] for the second semester.

Singleton was initially raised in Alaska by his mother, but was left an orphan at age 11 after she was sent to jail for a parole violation. He moved to Decatur, Ga., to live with cousins and did not meet his father until he was a senior in high school. One year later, after the two had begun to build a relationship, Singleton's father committed suicide.

…Singleton graduated Columbia High with honors and accepted an appointment to the Naval Academy [but] was involved in an accident with a drunk driver one week before he was scheduled to graduate as class valedictorian. Undeterred, Singleton spent a year at Georgia Tech then transferred to the academy and joined the football team as a walk-on. The 5-foot-8, 164-pounder has [rushed] for 478 yards and nine touchdowns, all but one of which have come in the last four games.

And his name is "Zerbin."  Tough break, buddy.