Conquered favorites and other notables picking up the pieces of shattered ambition this week:

We, uh, may have made a huge mistake. West Virginia only beat East Carolina by 41 points in '07, so it's not altogether surprising following a 62-point swing in just one year that the Charleston Gazette's Dave Hickman has to remind 'Eer fans that, yes, the sun will come up tomorrow (although even a level-headed, bespectacled columnist might have his doubts when he files that column at midnight, when the smoke from the Appalachian couch fires is blotting out the heavens). Not surprisingly, Michigan obsessive, noted RichRod enthusiast and prominent WVU antagonist Brian Cook was quick to jump in the driver's seat schadenfreude bandwagon, and, well, Mountaineer message boarders suddenly have a hard time disagreeing with him about boss Bill Stewart:

• I was willing to give him at least three before he collapsed it. Never did I think we would look this bad, flat, soft, and lethargic within the first month of his first year.
[...]
• The players gave up before I did today, and the coaches gave up before they did.

You are upset because you know I'm right. This hire was a huge mistake. Stewart had ONE off-season without RR, Magee, and Barwis and two games into the season the players are playing soft and without emotion.
[...]
• This is yet another thing that Mike Garrison screwed up. He was probably wasted in a luxury box at the Fiesta Bowl and decided what the hell, let's hire Stew.
[...]
• I've kept my mouth shut for the last year. The WVU President was a fraud who is to blame for all this. Stewart is a good ol' boy just like [ex-WVU coach Frank] Cignetti. The players love him. We are in trouble. I saw this happen back in 1977.

And so on, three days and counting. Those are more entertaining when read out loud, by the way. West By God Virginia has the appropriately succinct summation (careful with that one, sensitive clickers).

Also on the Mountaineer message boards: Sour grapes, Slander, Psychosis.+MORE+

Careful what you wish for. Maryland partisans and watchers were baffled by Ralph Friedgen's decision to start Jordan Steffy at quarterback over incumbent Chris Turner, who eventually beat Steffy out for the job in '07, and when Steffy was injured in the Terps' lackluster opening win over Delaware, they got their wish: Turner played the entire game Saturday against Sun Belt who dat Middle Tennessee State, and it was, like, the worst loss ever. Turner get picked three times and the UMD defense give up 400 yards in a 24-14 embarrassment, and he Baltimore Sun's Jeff Barker was left wondering how to fix a quarterback controversy gone very wrong:

I've often thought quarterback controversies can be sort of fun, at least for the fans.

Fans get to ponder a variety of quarterback possibilities and scenarios. If they don't like the incumbent, they can always imagine that their team's fortunes would improve if only the coach would bring in the other guy to call signals.

â¨But what if the other guy is summoned and isn't the immediate answer?

That takes some of the excitement out of it. Suddenly, all the optimistic speculation is replaced by . . . reality.

The immediate reality for the Terps is that the once-beloved Friedgen is probably coaching for his job over the rest of the year, or, as summed up by Testudo Times,

This is sad.

On the Terrapin message boards: Indignation, Ultimatums, Denial

Sympathy won't pay Tyrone Willingham's country club membership. Where to begin with Washington, a team heaped with well-wishes since Saturday afternoon for a bad call at the end of a game the Huskies really shouldn't have been in, anyway? When it so clearly comes down to refs there's not much wiggle room in the opinion column, and the Seattle Times' Steve Kelley uses his to blast away for the home team:

"It really should be a no-call," Washington's remarkably composed coach Tyrone Willingham said. "But it's one that they have to call when they see it."

No, they don't.

Officials should consider the circumstances. They should consider the act and the intent of the act. And, let's be honest, they should consider the player.
[...]
Locker apologized to his teammates after the game. But there really was no need for an apology.

There was nothing excessive in Locker's celebration. Nothing unsportsmanlike.

Referee Larry Farina said officials had to throw a flag, adding: "It was not a judgment call."

Every call is a judgment call. Every holding penalty that isn't flagged is a judgment call.

The new Husky blog UW Dawg Pound says "Oh yeah?" What about the real problems? Like, I dunno . . .

The Times' Bob Condotta rounds up the reaction to the unsportsmanlike call, twice, in fact, and Post-Intelligencer "Fan Blogger" Nathan Ware finds a way to be disappointed in Tyrone Willingham, anyway.

On the Husky message boards: Sympathy (lots and lots of sympathy), Vengeance, Hate.

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â¨Elsewhere in Disillusion: Randy Shannon is fine with that last field goal Florida kicked in the fourth quarter. Urban Meyer will be made to suffer a slow, unmerciful fate when Shannon's nascent tropical depressions are fully-fledged Canes, but it's cool. . . . Building the Dam thinks the Pi Phis posing as the Oregon State defense were alright at Penn State, all things considered. . . . And what are the odds of a post-game thread remaining civil in the immediate aftermath of a nine-touchdown loss? Surprisingly good, actually.

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Photo of Bill Stewart via the Associated Press; Photo of Chris Turner being sacked via US Presswire.