College football pundits and fans alike have been waiting for this day for weeks: Iowa finally fell. Northwestern topped the No. 6 Hawkeyes 17-10 on Saturday and dashed Iowa’s slim national title hopes.

From FOX Sports.com:

With that said, there’s no excuse for a loss at home to Northwestern, just as there was no excuse for such a lousy performance against Indiana. It’s not as if the Hawkeyes were playing the world-beaters, and it’s not as if the game were over after losing Ricky Stanzi to his ankle injury. Of course, not having the leader and No. 1 quarterback matters, but 1) Iowa was still winning when he got knocked out, 2) Northwestern also lost its starter, and 3) It … was … Northwestern.

This is a Wildcats team that sputtered and coughed against Eastern Michigan, one of the five worst teams in college football, and this is a team that can’t get a score without it being wrapped in a nice gift basket. If Iowa really were a national title-caliber team, it would’ve pounded away on the mediocre Wildcats D and come up with a point over the final 50 minutes. Pat Angerer and Jeremiha Hunter did their part, combining for 27 tackles, but the offensive line that did such a great job against Indiana struggled to get the running game going and James Vandenberg was miserable in place of Stanzi. And that’s it. That’s the difference between an all-timer of a season and being among the mere mortals.

As the article points out, does anything really change here? Even if Iowa ran the table, it would have had a hard time convincing voters that it deserved to play for a national title with teams like Florida, Alabama and Texas atop the rankings. So now the Hawkeyes can fight for the Big Ten title and the chance to play in the Rose Bowl.

Obviously the outcome today was a massive disappointment. But not all is lost.

Officers said Veronica Hairston, a Florida Gators fan, was arrested and charged with domestic battery for allegedly biting her husband.

According to police, on Saturday Hairston began taunting her husband at the Days Inn in Neptune Beach once she realized the Gators were beating the Bulldogs.

They said when her husband grabbed his bags and tried to leave the room, Hairston bit the man on his thigh.

A police report states that Hairston then punched her husband in the face several times with her fists before fleeing the area on foot.

Officers said the woman was found after a brief search.

Police said both Hairston and her husband appeared to be under the influence of alcohol when the incident took place.

It’s not enough that this poor bastard had to watch his beloved Georgia Bulldogs go down in flames to hated SEC rival Florida, but he also had to endure the beating of a lifetime…from his wife no less.

Announcers deserve a break from time to time for saying the wrong things. Announce enough games throughout the season and you’re bound to stumble of words, mispronounce names and flat out say the wrong thing. But Ward continuously struggles with the easiest things. She gets so excited to get her words out that she doesn’t stop to think what she’s saying sometimes.

Pundits noted all week how the Red Raiders don’t play defense and while they did give up 33 points, the final score wasn’t a true indication of how well they shut down Colt McCoy and the Longhorn offense. Tech did a fantastic job of taking away what Texas does best – moving the ball with underneath routes and racking up the yards after the catch. Of course it didn’t hurt that Longhorn wideouts couldn’t hang onto the ball either. UT just couldn’t match Tech’s intensity the entire night and pressured McCoy with four, five and even three-man rushes.

Texas didn’t match Tech’s emotion from the start. It’s clichéd to say that one team wanted a game more, but it really seemed like the Raiders went out and grabbed victory by the balls while Texas waited for things to happen. Even when they seized their first lead with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, they couldn’t keep Tech out of the end zone when all they were after was a field goal.

So Alabama has to move into the top spot, right? Where do the Red Raiders fit into the picture? Penn State was idle so they could move down, but it’s doubtful. Florida absolutely hammered Georgia so they can only move up. The same could be said for Oklahoma, which waxed Nebraska. It’ll be interesting to see how things fall in the BCS when the new polls are released Sunday.

There’s really no doubt that Rich Rod is going to turn things around at Michigan and get that program back on track soon. He’ll find a quarterback to run his spread option offense and things will start to quickly fall in place. He just needs time to get the right players to fight his scheme and everyone should be patient while he goes through the process.

But there’s no other way to cut it – this season was a total debacle. I realize these young men are learning an entirely new system and will need time to develop, but you can’t lose to Toledo at home. You can’t get beat by Purdue on a hook and ladder on the final play of the game. You can’t turn the ball over six times in an embarrassing loss to Notre Dame.

Rich Rodriguez will turn Michigan around. But they’ve been a total embarrassment this season and an absolute joke.

Urban Meyer and the rest of the Gators didn’t appreciate Mark Richt and the Bulldogs celebrating as a team after scoring the first touchdown in last year’s contest. So Meyer’s team made it personal this time around and while the game was close until the third quarter, once Florida got a lead, it never took its foot off Georgia’s neck.

The Bulldogs really never stood a chance Saturday. There was no way Meyer was going to allow his team to forget about what Richt and UGA did last year and it was comical when he called a time out to savor the flavor with under a minute to play and the game well in the bag. It was nice “up yours” to Richt.

Nothing against Texas, Penn State, Alabama and the rest of the top rated teams in college football, but Florida is the most dangerous team in the nation right now. The loss to Ole’ Miss could have been crippling, but now Tim Tebow and the rest of the Gators are playing with unwavering passion and focus.

Looking at the rest of its schedule, Florida has a solid chance to finish with only one-loss. Vanderbilt, South Carolina and certainly Florida State will provide a challenge, but the Gators should finish 11-1 and with some help, could still play for a national title.

The Razorbacks rode a Dennis Johnson 96-yard kickoff return with 22 seconds left in the third quarter to beat Tulsa 30-23. The loss is the Golden Hurricane’s first of the year and will likely drop them out of the top 25 depending on how the rest of Week 10’s action pans out.

It’s kind of interesting to see how the different conferences shake out when they go head to head. Because it’s not like this is a very good Arkansas program this year. Bobby Petrino will need at least another season to get his personal in place before they start competing again in the SEC, but it’s rather impressive how they held such an explosive Tulsa offense to only 23 points.

Is it a difference in conference strength or were the Razorbacks just a better team today? It’s an interesting debate.