The week in the undercards.

Stop me if you've heard this one already.
Navy beat Notre Dame, did you hear? It's been analyzed quite thoroughly in this space already, but one postgame quote deserves some additional attention:

"I wanted to run on the field and jump up and down, but I was kind of tired," said linebacker Ram Vela, who had an interception and fumble recovery. "We'd done it before and we went into this game not really placing as much emphasis or too much importance on it. We just treated it like another game."

Talk about knowing your audience. Notre Dame, just another opponent for the Middies? Defeating the Irish on their own field for the second time in as many trips is one thing, but failing to acknowledge their status as beautiful and unique gridiron snowflakes is really hitting the Domers where it hurts.

On to things of national import.
Check it! TCU hops to No. 4 in the BCS standings with another thorough dismembering of an overmatched Mountain West opponent and, more crucially, an Iowa loss. Ostensibly their toughest remaining matchup for the Horned Frogs is next week's home stand against Utah, but this year's Utes have been skating by so quietly against a lackluster schedule, it's kind of hard to believe last year's undefeated darlings are still very much in the mix at 8-1.

A brief, heretical thought: We're reasonably confident Texas could handle TCU in head-to-head competition ... but wouldn't you kind of love to see the Horned Frogs jump them (sorry for all the frog metaphors) in the standings, just for a week or so, to see the reaction on Lone Star message boards? Some of the more orange corners of the Internet could actually catch fire.

Smurf-turfers, keep the Ducks in your prayers.
Boise State moves up a notch in the BCS standings, to No. 6, thanks to Iowa's demise and despite a close call at Louisiana Tech that has us wondering, mid-major partisans though we are, what the Broncos are still doing in the top ten. With Oregon's loss to Stanford, the Broncos' only signature win is dramatically devalued, and the Ducks remain all Boise has in the way of a BCS-worthy resumé.

A fond farewell to the "Tommy West Is So, So Fired Watch."
We've had our eye on this all season, but with the length of Tommy West's tenure at Memphis we didn't actually think he'd be the first midseason coaching casualty. (OK, maybe we did, but not until the Tigers' first snap against Tennessee Saturday night flew right over the quarterback's head.)

It's hard for us to feel bad about this, mostly because we are of East Tennessee extraction and are bound by blood oath from the cradle to loathe all sporting endeavors from that other end of the state. What we do wonder about is David Elson's near-simultaneous ousting from Western Kentucky just three-quarters of the way into the Hilltoppers' first season as a full-fledged I-A program. What, did they think everything would just fall into place? It's been a bad year for the program -- 0-9 with a 28-7 loss to I-AA Central Arkansas and the worst statistical defense in the nation -- but they've got every excuse to be cellar-bound for a season, right? Unless something happened off the field that we don't know about, it's too soon.

Bleep, bleep, bloop.
Another week, another preposterous set of numbers from Houston quarterback Case Keenum (40-of-60, 522 yards, three touchdowns), another stupidly close call for the Cougars against a Tulsa outfit that should have given a top-15 team little trouble. Did the Golden Hurricane finally lay hands on a post-Malzahn identity offensively, or is Houston's defense really just That Bad?

Elsewhere in C-USA teams we cannot corral ...
We're exhausted trying to make sense of UTEP at this point, so we'll just point out that in the space of six weeks, the Miners have lost to Texas by more than 50 points, knocked Houston out of the top ten, handed Memphis the Tigers' only conference win, upset heavily favored Tulsa and now lost to Tulane, in overtime. Much like anyone who tries to get a handle on the maddening contradictions in El Paso, we give up.

Oh, Yarbnalls.
Our steady, sunny confidence that Idaho will be the team to take down the blue Bronco threat next week in Boise took a body blow Saturday, when the Vandals fell to Fresno State, 31-21, despite outscoring the Bulldogs 21-7 in the second half. Desolee.

Watch your MAC backs.
Temple's seven-game winning streak, unlikely romp to a near-certain bowl bid and position atop the MAC East are securely intact, but a 1-9 Miami (Ohio) team fresh off its first win of 2009 gave the Owls quite a scare, cutting the Temple secondary to ribbons for 426 aerial yards and holding fast to their final lead until the Owls knocked through the game-winning kick with three seconds on the clock.

Profiles in continuing ineptitude.
Four winless teams trudged into the weekend, and four winless trudge out. Eastern Michigan was downed by Northern Illinois, 50-6, but from there things got a little more interesting: Rice played SMU close to the final minutes, New Mexico hung tough for a whole quarter against Utah, and Western Kentucky only trailed by one at the half en route to a 40-20 loss at the hands of Sun Belt powerhouse Troy, which apparently wasn't enough improvement to save their coach's skin.

... and what never had a prayer:
Memphis has beaten Tennessee once in the program's entire history, and even for Memphis, this Tigers team is atrocious. It wasn't quite the gruesome blowout we predicted last week until you remember the Vols led 42-7 at the half and began pulling starters three minutes into the third quarter.

Player of the Week: Vai Taua, RB, Nevada.
We'd like to give this to UAB quarterback Joe Webb, after his six-touchdown, 400-plus yard performance in the Blazers' win over Florida Atlantic, but the C-USA Tebow held this spot last week, or to Ram Vela for his big afternoon in South Bend, but that would be mean. So let's give it up to Taua, who was a banged-up shadow of his 1,700-yard 2008 self through the first two months, but busted out big with 144 yards on the ground against San Jose State, 138 of those in the first half, and did it all in front of his family in his native California.

Dan LeFevour Stat Watch.
Young master LeFevour had a much-needed bye this week, and has our fervent hopes for a gunslinging return against Toledo Wednesday night.

(A Somewhat Arbitrary) Mid-Major Top 10
1. TCU (9-0) - Look out, world, here comes another undefeated Mountain West team.
2. Boise State (9-0) - Irish loss dramatically improves the Broncos' BCS odds down the line.
3. Central Michigan (7-2) - A bye leaves the Chippewas in better standing than what Houston and Utah managed.
4. Houston (8-1) - A last-second field goal to edge Tulsa? Well, at least it wasn't Tulane ...
5. Utah (8-1) - The worst 8-1 team in the mids, at least.
6. Temple (7-2) - Enjoy your transitive win over Notre Dame, Owls.
7. Navy (7-3) - Lost in the ND hoopla is the realization that the Middies only have one non-quality loss this year (last week at Temple).
8. BYU (7-2) - Back in the Top 25 for reasons passing understanding, but at least they ate their cupcake without smearing frosting on the walls, Utah.
9. Nevada (6-3) - The Wolf Pack continue to delight with the success they should've had in September.
10. Troy (7-2) - Sun Belt frontrunner is our fourth sleepwalking, complacent squad of the top ten. Tsk.
Dropped out: Idaho (dammit)

Stay Tuned.
Our viewing agenda for Week 11: Toledo at Central Michigan, UAB at Memphis, UTEP at SMU, Idaho at Boise State, Fresno State at Nevada, Troy at Arkansas, Utah at TCU, and Louisiana Tech at LSU.

• Most Realistic Upset: VMI at Army. No, seriously. We think they could lose this one.

• Most Unrealistic Upset: Idaho at Boise State. That doesn't mean it won't happen. We believe, Yarbnalls. We believe.

• Most Inevitably Gruesome Blowout: Inter-mid-major horrorshow alert! BYU at 0-9 New Mexico's gonna get ugly, we have a feeling. And just about the only thing higher than the 27-point line on that game is ... the 29-point spread assigned to Boise State and Idaho. Whatever, Vegas. Whatever.

Scoreboard.
Ten weeks in, mid-major schools are 19-89 against BCS conference competition. Three C-USA teams (Memphis, East Carolina and Central Florida) lost by a combined margin of 73 points against "Big Six" foes last week. The lone win for the little guys was Navy's, which, again, you may have read about somewhere. (Note: For our purposes, we count Notre Dame as a BCS program due to its bowl tie-ins.) Be of good cheer: the Mountain West has three teams in the top 25, one in the top 10 for the second year in a row, and Boise State and Houston are repping the WAC and C-USA quite nicely in the top fifteen.

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Holly welcomes your adulation and veiled threats at nastinchka-at-yahoo, etc.