A weekly look at conquered favorites and other notables picking up the pieces of shattered ambition.

The natives are restless, and so are the bosses. And the linemen, the running backs, the cheerleaders ... Here's when you know it's a bad Monday: in the process of reassuring reporters you still have a job less than two months into your tenure, your boss still admits, "We've got to find answers." Welcome, Tony Franklin, to two losses in three weeks at Auburn.

Answers are hard to come by after a paltry 208 yards and three scoreless quarters in a loss to Vanderbilt, but center Ryan Pugh has a suggestion: maybe stick with the running game?

"We came out in the first quarter and rushed for about 100 yards and looked like the Auburn of old," Pugh said. "We got our confidence going and then all of a sudden we completely go away from it. As a player, it's frustrating."

Pugh is effectively calling out his offensive coordinator, and he may have a point: play-by-play shows Auburn passed on all six first down plays with Chris Todd in the lineup in the second half, hitting three for 18 yards and ending with the game-clinching interception. All three completions were short of the marker, and only one led to another first down, thanks to a 4th-and-1 run by Ben Tate.

Also note, though, that the Tigers' runs in the second half netted four yards, and running was generally untenable thanks to penalties, down-and-distance and the defense's complete (and justified) lack of respect for the quarterbacks. Kodi Burns, whom Franklin would prefer never throw at all, was forced to pass three times in a row after a holding penalty and then after a false start turned a manageable 3rd-and-3 into a 3rd-and-8 (Burns didn't get the pass off in the latter case: he was sacked). At one point, Todd was sacked on consecutive plays. No wonder the offense gets an F.

The most frustrating thing for Auburn partisans: the second half collapse wasn't a surprise. On the Tiger message boards: Name-calling ... Ultimatums ... Longing for the familiar.

Reality bites squirts acid in your eye. Michigan could handle a couple losses when it was just another young, freshman-laden team feeling its way through rebuilding mode. And at least the defense was okay. Winning is like hitting your first good golf shot, though: you start expecting to hit the sweet spot every time. After coming back to take a dramatic Big Ten opener against Wisconsin last week, the Wolverines shanked their chance to keep pace in the conference onto the freeway against Illinois, a 45-20 defensive disaster that left Rich Rodriguez winging random objects around the clubhouse:

"I'm mad, but I'm mad beginning with me," Rodriguez said after Michigan fell to 2-3 on the season after being blown out of a game it led, 14-3, in the first quarter. "I told the team we're gonna be sick when we watch the film.
"We're not a very good football team right now, that's obvious."

Yes, coach, it is. Anyone holding out hope the defense could salvage a Michigan-esque season might as well scrap that theory: Juice Williams' 431 total yards was the most ever gained against a Michigan defense in like a thousand years of football, and even Rodriguez called the Wolverines' pass coverage "ridiculous." This is the day it became abundantly clear, for anyone who wasn't sure: yeah, so Michigan kind of sucks.

Beware: Maryland Football ahead. After being initially rendered virtually blog-less, Baltimore Sun blogger Jeff Barker recovered with the perfectly analogy for Maryland's inexplicable, 31-0 train wreck at Virginia:

They were warned all week about letting down against Virginia and I believed they understood. But they still came out flat. Isn't that like driving into a ditch that's marked, "BEWARE: DITCH AHEAD."

Okay, listen, it only looks like . It might make sense if he was. Actually, he's trying very hard, and that's what makes it so incredibly disappointing to follow the Terps, who continue struggling to take two steps forward, followed by three massive steps back in one evening. Maybe they should swear off night games?

Elsewhere in disillusion: South Florida hasn't handled prosperity very well. Or maybe a disproportionate amount of its prosperity is against Florida Atlantic and UCF? ... At least Iowa's not getting outphysicaled ... And Kansas State may be hitting the point of no return.

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Photo of Chris Todd via US Presswire; Photo of Juice Williams vs the Associated Press.