As a Sun Devil alumnus, I’m less than pleased.

Arizona State reached out to Pitt and asked permission to interview Graham. Pitt denied the request. With good reason, seeing as Graham just finished his first season coaching the Panthers. And Graham wasn’t even Pitt’s initial first choice last offseason, but came in three weeks after Pitt had hired former Miami of Ohio coach Mike Haywood, who was then arrested on domestic violence charges and promptly fired by Pitt.

Since Pitt denied the request, Graham took matters into his own hands. He decided to resign and gave the terms of his contract with Pitt a big middle finger. This after he brought players into his office and personally told them he wasn’t going anywhere.

Wow. Some class act we got coming to Tempe, huh?

Not that there was much left to choose from. The Sun Devils were supposedly in talks with Houston coach Ken Sumlin, but he dropped out of the picture when then Texas A&M job became available. ASU was all ready to announce SMU head man June Jones as the next head coach, but then dropped it at the last minute, supposedly amid backlash from alumni and boosters. (Which, DUH! Why would you replace Dennis Erickson with another Dennis Erickson??)

The rest of the head coaching openings in the Pac-12 have seemed to have gone in the right direction – Rich Rodriguez to Arizona, Jim Mora to UCLA and Mike Leach to Washington State. And ASU went with Todd Graham. For some reason the “one of these things is not like the other” tune from Sesame Street is now in my head. Which one of those names just doesn’t belong?

Last year ASU unveiled a new logo and a new (stupid) tagline – Fear the Fork. Now I’m afraid with this hiring, it’s Fear the Wins. Fear Being Elite. Maybe it should be Embrace the Mediocrity.

I’m pretty sure Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Dejan Kovacevic summed it up best with one tweet:

Such is life as a Sun Devil fan. SIGH.

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Kristabella will always bleed maroon and gold and hopes that Todd Graham proves her wrong.

So it is reported that Theo Epstein has signed a five-year, $15 million deal to head up the Cubs and bring a World Series to the Lovable Losers! WE’RE SAVED!

WEEI in Boston has reported that the deal has already been signed and will be announced once compensation has been worked out. It is rumored that the Red Sox are just looking for prospects or cash, seeing as it appears they are more than happy to let the Boy Genius leave town.

Also thrown around the rumor mill is that once Epstein takes the helm, he’ll hire Ryne Sandberg as the new Cubs Manager. Sandberg has spent the last few seasons managing in the minor leagues.

As a Cubs fan, I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much. There is A LOT that needs to be done with the Cubs to make them a contender. But this would be a few steps in the right direction for sure. There’s a reason we’re the most optimistic fans and “Wait ‘Till Next Year” is our unofficial motto.

Looks like “next year” might come sooner than we all hoped!

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Next week has some big match-ups and I for one will be hoping for some upsets. We haven’t had enough of those this season for my liking.

And hoo boy, did we get some amazing games and some AWESOME upsets! I just woke up from my drunken stupor from all my Saturday celebrating on Monday morning, just to write this post!

Let’s get to those recaps!

Miami 24, Georgia Tech 7

The Hurricanes’ defense dominated this battle and held the 22nd-ranked Yellow Jackets to just seven points. Former football powerhouse Miami is now 2-2 in the ACC and won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Purdue 21, Illinois 14

Illinois loses its second game this season, and second in a row, and stumbled its way out of the Top 25. As an ASU fan, this makes me happy. On one hand, the Illini beat my Sun Devils earlier this year, but on the other hand, the self-destruction of the Illini doesn’t help my Devils in the BCS rankings. The Big Ten is a crazy place this year!

Oregon 45, Colorado 2

Remember when Colorado was a good football school? Even worse is that the Ducks were short-handed, without their running back and quarterback, and still steamrolled the Buffaloes.

Michigan State 37, Wisconsin 31

Another unbeaten bites the dust! The sixth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers went down to the Michigan State Spartans on a last-minute, Hail Mary touchdown pass as the clock expired. The game was insane, as both teams blew 14-point leads, and Wisconsin lost their first game of the season, dashing their National Championship hopes. Wah, wah.

Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma 38

Stunner! In a game that was delayed because of lightening, the Red Raiders shocked the nation and the Sooners with an upset. It was just the third home loss for Bob Stoops in his career and the loss snapped a 39-game home winning streak for Oklahoma.

Let’s hope for another wild weekend this upcoming Halloween weekend in the college football ranks. As long as my Devils are on the winning side of things.

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Kristabella would like to point out that Kansas State is quietly still one of the eight unbeatens in the Top 25.

Now here are some highlights from this weekend’s games:

Oklahoma State 38, Texas 26

As if Texas didn’t hate the state of Oklahoma already, back-to-back weeks of getting their asses handed to them my the Sooners and the Cowboys didn’t add any love. Adding to Texas’ misery, they haven’t won at home in Big 12 games since 2009.

Clemson 56, Maryland 45

Clemson came back from an 18-point deficit to beat Maryland. The good thing was the Tigers won. The bad news is their defense gave up almost 500 yards of total offense to the 2-4 Terps. But Clemson stays unbeaten on the season. Barely.

Oregon 41, Arizona State 27

As a Sun Devil, I don’t want to talk about this game. But my Sparkys held their own against the Ducks for the first half. I was impressed with how they played because Oregon is good and FAST. They make any defense look like a bunch of Pop Warner kids.

Michigan State 28, Michigan 14

In a game of ugly throwback uniforms, the Spartans held on to beat, and upset, in-state rival Michigan, making it four straight years that MSU has beaten the Wolverines, the first four-game win streak for Michigan State since 1959-62. (And that was the longest run-on sentence ever!)

South Carolina 14, Mississippi State 12

Earlier this week, South Carolina’s star quarterback, Stephen Garcia, was kicked off the team. The Gamecocks held on for a narrow victory to improve to 4-1 in the SEC this year. The bad news is that the Gamecock’s offensive giant, running back Marcus Lattimore, who leads the SEC in rushing average, left the game in the fourth quarter with a leg injury. On Sunday, Steve Spurrier announced he’s out for the season. That loss, with the loss of Garcia, could be huge for the Gamecocks and their 2011 season.

Ohio State 17, Illinois 7

The Buckeyes reminded the nation that they are down, but not out as they upset the 16th-ranked, undefeated Illinois. The Illini haven’t beaten Ohio State at home since 1991.

Kansas State 41, Texas Tech 34

Kansas State has gone under the radar this season and came back to win to keep them undefeated this season. Kansas State is 6-0. Who knew?

Next week has some big match-ups and I for one will be hoping for some upsets. We haven’t had enough of those this season for my liking.

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The race has been cancelled. The remaining drivers drove a five-lap salute to Wheldon around the raceway to honor him.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Wheldon’s family and friends.

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And on to the highlights from the weekend’s games!

Boise State 40, Toledo 15

Boise State continues to win, and win big. I for one thought they’d start the season off losing big to Georgia and finally show they couldn’t play with the big boys. But they proved me wrong. I’ll still always hate them, though, for Dirk Koetter.

South Carolina 24, Navy 21

The Gamecocks squeaked out yet another close win and they did it on the legs of sophomore running back Marcus Lattimore, who racked up a season-high 246 yards rushing against the Midshipmen. And the Gamecocks needed every single one of those yards to eek out the win.

Notre Dame 31, Michigan State 13

Notre Dame finally got a notch in the win column for 2011 by upsetting the 15-th ranked Michigan State Spartans. The Irish were finally ready this week and used two touchdowns from Cierre Wood and an 89-yard kickoff return George Atkinson III for a touchdown to propel them to victory.

Miami (FL) 24, Ohio State 6

I’m never sad when THE Ohio State gets beaten, nee UPSET. And even better, it knocked the nuts out of the Top 25 for the first time in seven years. This was also the first time in 23 years that the Buckeyes lost a road game to an unranked non-conference opponent. Since my team lost, at least this OSU loss was a boost to my spirits.

Clemson 38, Auburn 24

In a battle of the Tigers, the National Champions and their 17-game winning streak are history, after the Clemson Tigers upset the 21st-ranked Auburn Tigers. With the narrow victories Auburn has been lucky to come by this season, it wasn’t all that surprising.

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Kristabella really needs to start writing these recaps on Saturday night.

Arizona State 37, Missouri 30 (OT)

I am ashamed to admit that I fell asleep before this game was over. I missed a hell of an ending. ASU donned their new all black uniforms and everyone in the crowd wore black, creating a blackout at Sun Devil Stadium. They built up a 30-16 lead and in true Sun Devil fashion, blew it. But thankfully in OT they scored a touchdown and the defense held down the Tigers for an upset of the 21st-ranked team in the country.

Auburn 41, Mississippi State 34

The reigning National Champions survived another close game to go 2-0 on the season. Their wins aren’t pretty, but a W is a W. Thanks to a goal line stand at the end of the game that stopped MSU, the Tigers got a big SEC win and a win over 16th-ranked Mississippi State.

Alabama 27, Penn State 11

For the second year in a row, Penn State proved that the Big Ten can’t hang with the SEC as the third-ranked Crimson Tide rolled over the Nittany Lions. (See what I did there?)

South Carolina 45, Georgia 42

This was a heck of a battle that went down to the last minute. The two teams went back and forth in a typical SEC rivalry game and the 12th-ranked Gamecocks held on for the win. Georgia looked to have the game locked up after going ahead 35-31 with about six minutes to play. But a quick TD by South Carolina, and then a fumble recovery for a touchdown, put South Carolina up 45-35 with three minutes left. Georgia added another score, but couldn’t find another way to tie up the game and the Cocks squeaked out the win.

Michigan 35, Notre Dame 31

Another exciting, down-to-the-wire game on our hands! In the first game played under lights in the Big House, Michigan scored with two seconds left to beat rival Notre Dame. The Irish went up early and were up 24-7 in the third quarter. The Wolverines answered in the fourth quarter with three straight touchdowns to finally go ahead. But Notre Dame silenced the NCAA-record crowd of 114,804 with the go-ahead score with just 30 seconds left in the game. Michigan never gave up and instead of kicking the field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime, new Michigan coach Brady Hoke went for it. And it paid off for the Maize and Blue.

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Kristabella drinks heavily on Sundays watching NFL games, which is why her recaps are always so delayed.

This Sunday marks the 10 year anniversary of the tragic events that happened to our country on September 11. There have been all sorts of news stories and retrospectives in the media leading up to this day. In addition, many cities around the nation are planning to remember the day and the lives lost with tributes and moments of silence.

Sunday is also the opening weekend of the 2011 NFL season. In honor of the anniversary and to remind us to NEVER FORGET, Reebok has created some shoes and gloves to honor the fallen and to celebrate this amazing country we live in. (Reebok, by the way, is the official outfitter of the NFL.)

Some NFL players have decided to don these shoes and gloves for the 9-11 anniversary in games on Sunday. This is obviously against NFL uniform rules. (If you’ve never see what the rules are, you should really take a gander at all the things one CANNOT do while wearing an NFL uniform.) But these players don’t care.

Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, who I would like to slap most days because he’s a selfish asshole, is saying fines be damned and will be wearing the 9-11 tribute gear. According to his Twitter, he says it will be “by far the best fine I will ever pay.”

Other players, including Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley and at least one player from the Chargers plan to wear the Reebok gear and take the hit, which could be close anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000.

But as Briggs pointed out, when the League does the pink gear in support of breast cancer awareness, players are allowed to wear that throughout the rest of the season.

However, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello sent an email to ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike In The Morning” show this morning saying that Briggs “thinks he will be fined. I don’t think he will be.”

Let’s hope not.

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Instead, the NFL will take a page out of college football’s playbook (see what I did there?) and give both teams an opportunity to score. There will be some differences:

• The team who wins the coin toss can no longer win the game automatically by going down the field and kicking a field goal. They have to get back on defense and give the other team an opportunity to score.
• That team then gets to be on offense and gets an opportunity to score points. If Team 1 scores a field goal, Team 2 must score a field goal to continue play.
• If Team 1 scores a field goal and Team 2 scores a TD, Team 2 wins.
• It basically goes on until one team has more points.

This all seems to stem from the NFC Championship Game last year when the Saints secured a spot in the Super Bowl after winning the game in OT over Minnesota on a Garrett Hartley field goal.

I, personally, think this is a much needed change. I don’t think OT in professional football should be at the whim of the luck of a coin toss. Both teams, who ended regulation tied, should get an opportunity to win the game on offense, regardless of who won the coin toss.

What do you think? Will this be good for the NFL? Especially in the Playoffs when there is more on the line?

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Kristabella only thinks this is a good idea, really, as long as it helps her Chicago Bears advance in the Playoffs this year.

Poor Minnesota. Not only did they get a million inches of snow last weekend, said snow also caused the Metrodome to collapse. That meant that the Vikings lost a home game last week when they had to move the game against the Giants to Detroit. Trust me, no one in the NFC North will root for a rival team.

Now, since the Metrodome is still all broken, they had to move Monday night’s game against the division rival Chicago Bears to the stadium on the campus at the University of Minnesota. So while technically a home game for the Vikings because it is in Minnesota, it isn’t really because the Gophers have a brand new OUTDOOR stadium with grass.

So sorry Vikings, we’re making you play outside in Minnesota in December. Against the Bears. Who practice and play outside in this all the time.

And to make matters worse? The seating is first come, first served. That means if you spent a boatload of money on tickets to a Monday Night Football gridiron match-up between the Bears and the Vikings, now you’re going to have to sit outside in the cold, in general admission seats.

But oh, ho, ho, the Vikings aren’t done fucking with you yet, fans. THERE WILL BE NO ALCOHOL SERVED IN THE STADIUM. Ha, ha, suckers! Better conceal that flask well so they don’t find it during the pat down!

And don’t be surprised if they ask you to help shovel the field as well.

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Kristabella will be happily watching this game indoors with plenty of booze on hand.