It was a tough day for the undefeateds in college football on Saturday. Michigan got upset at Michigan State. Ohio State stunned Illinois. And my alma mater, the University of Virginia, shocked the previously undefeated and highly-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
And half of the undefeated teams in the NFL went down this weekend, too.
While the Wisconsin Badgers ran away with their no-contest against Hoosiers on Saturday, the Green Bay Packers made similarly easy work of the visiting Rams on Sunday. And with the Lions’ loss at home to the 49ers, now the Packers are where they ought to be: alone at the top of the NFC North, and the lone undefeated team in the whole NFL.
The Packer win was excellent, of course, but it was to be expected. The truly gratifying game, however, was the Detroit loss. I have become so weary of all the Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson hype, and so I will be delighted to watch that deflate a bit in the coming week. Lo and behold, the Lions are mortal. They can’t always come back. They can’t always pull off the miracle.
On the other side the ledger, it’s hard to know what to make of the 49ers. Are they that good? Were they just underperforming last year under Singletary, or are they overachievers under Harbaugh?
In a strange fluke of schedule, meanwhile, the Packers get to play the Vikings in two of the next three weeks, with a tough trip to San Diego in between. The Lions host the Falcons before going to the Broncos and the Bears. I would expect us to come out of this three-game stretch with the same one-game lead over the Lions.
Ironically, the talk in Detroit this week may not be about the Lions’ performance or their loss, but rather the post-game scrap between the coaches and their teams. That distraction will not serve the Lions well as they try to evaluate their loss and prepare for the Falcons.
Of course, Detroit sports talk radio will have plenty of unhappy choices this week, for there is also the Tigers’ Saturday night massacre at the hands of the Rangers to ponder.
In the end, it was a very good football weekend in Wisconsin -- and for Wisconsin.
Baseball is another story.
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