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ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

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FIU, FAU, Tennessee, Washington navigating in Bottom 10 waters - College Football - ESPN

FIU, FAU, Tennessee, Washington navigating in Bottom 10 waters
By David Duffey
ESPN.com

Updated: September 23, 2008

The Bottom 10 inspirational thoughts of the week:

A gathering of angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said
They said come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me

– "Come Sail Away," Styx


Rules are rules. One of the first rules in the Bottom 10 bylaws states that a win of any kind guarantees removal from the Bottom 10 for at least one week. Wins over FCS teams won't put much wind in the sails of the Syracuse, Washington State and UAB programs, but those wins will allow the trio to sail off the Bottom 10 this week. Utah State earned its exit with a win over Bottom 10 neighbor Idaho.


While it's a sad bon voyage to the Orange, Cougars and Aggies, it's a warm welcome aboard to the latest Bottom 10 crew. They've navigated the Atlantic's coastal waters (Florida), rivers (Tennessee) and lakes (Washington) to reach the Bottom 10's harbor.


Florida Atlantic and FIU are back together again and back at No. 1 in the Bottom 10. As for the highly coveted No. 5 spot, we found the perfect Volunteers. Losing to Florida normally wouldn't mean a week in the Bottom 10's most honored position, but Tennessee has three factors in its favor. First, the Vols were blown out at home by their rivals. Secondly, the fans started abandoning Neyland Stadium by halftime. Finally, we noticed what's happened to UCLA since the Bruins beat UT.


Washington had to break up with road apple partner Washington State, but the Huskies are still in the Bottom 10 boat, as are the other seven winless FBS teams


We'll let some sailing songs help navigate us through the Week 4 Bottom 10 for 2008.



This week's Bottom 10 pillow fight of the week is Idaho at San Diego State.


Have a comment about the Bottom 10 ranking? Send us your thoughts.


So, with apologies to Steve Harvey, here's the Bottom 10:


ESPN.com's Bottom 10
  RANK TEAM RECORD COMMENT
  1.  F_U  1-6  "Full Sail": The wind will blow for Beach Boys FAU and FIU. But it's a foul wind. The Panthers have lost 14 of 15. The Owls have been blowing mostly hot air this season.
  2.  San Diego State  0-3  "Sail On": The Aztecs sail on down the line at No. 2 after a bye week. Even Lionel Richie wouldn't ask them to please just go away. The Bottom 10 certainly won't.
  3.  North Texas  0-3  "Sailing": Christopher Cross' inspiration for "Sailing" was taking sailing trips as a youth in Texas. Well, it's not far down to paradise for North Texas. Two spots away should be plenty of inspiration for the Mean Green.
  4.  Army  0-3  "Don't Sail": "Don't sail around me," sings Charlton Hill. The Bottom 10 wishes Army wouldn't sail around us, but the Black Knights of the Hudson belong in our waters.
  5.  Tennessee  1-2  "Set Sail": The Volunteer Navy knows a sinking ship when it sees one. The abandonment of Neyland Stadium started around halftime against Florida.
  6.  UTEP  0-3  "White Sail": "The Bottom 10 will take the advice of the Cowboy Junkies and raise a white sail for the Miners. Yup, we love 'em right down to the tips of their Tony Lamas.
  7.  Ohio  0-4  "Come Sail Away": The Bobcats have searched for tomorrow on Big Ten, MAC and MWC shores without success in '08. Time for them to pick up their Styx and come sail away with the Bottom 10.
  8.  Rutgers  0-3  "Star Sail": Looks like the Scarlet Knights' star has sailed. But our pals from Piscataway have always had that Bottom 10 Verve. Welcome back.
  9.  Washington  0-3  "Sail On, Sailor": If the losses keep mounting, the Huskies might use that Beach Boys title on Tyrone Willingham. With Husky Stadium sitting on the backs of Union Bay, it won't be difficult.
  10.  Idaho  1-3  "Boat To Sail": While The Carpenters probably would have been offended by those now-discarded cheerleader uniforms, we can't imagine building a Bottom 10 boat without the Vandals.



Waiting list: Eastern Michigan (1-3), Houston (1-3), Kent State (1-3), Michigan (1-2), Miami (Ohio) (1-3), New Mexico (1-3), SMU (1-3), UCLA (1-2) and West Virginia (1-2).



David Duffey is the college football editor at ESPN.com.





58 comments on "FIU, FAU, Tennessee, Washington navigating in Bottom 10 waters"
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Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

ugh, I thought we were forever done with the bottom 10.  Now we've been thrown back to the lowly bottom of nothingness with FIU. No offense fiufanatic you're cool, but man it sucks down here.
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

This is idiotic.  It's not really fair to put us in the Bottom 10 when our 3 losses are against teams that are a combined 10-1.  Besides, how many non-BCS teams would have faired any better against Texas, Michigan St., and Minny? 
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

El Buho Loco says ESPN can group UHN (Universidad Havana Norte) and the Mighty Buhos together in the bottom 10 all they like, but we all know who will emerge as el ganador on Nov 29.
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

S#!t. I thought we would never see this poll again. It is unfair to be paired with FIU simply because we've won a game. All the other teams through #9 have no wins.

When we win next week we will fall of the list with 2 wins.

FAU - THE REAL SLEEPING GIANT
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

In large part the list consists of teams that have not lived up to expectations more so than the 10 worst teams in the country. I am pretty certain that Tennesse and Rutgers are not two of the worst ten teams in the country. The same goes for FAU. The issue is that all three teams came into the season with high expectations and lots of hype. Not living up to the hype results in being put in the bottom 10. I can pretty much guarantee that Tennessee, Rutgers, and FAU will not be on the list at seasons end.

GO OWLS!!!

2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

This just in:

The List is comedic in purpose - ONLY.  Which, it CERTAINLY is.

Now, back to Connie, for tonight's forecast.
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

Florida_Owl said

This just in:

The List is comedic in purpose - ONLY.  Which, it CERTAINLY is.

Now, back to Connie, for tonight's forecast.

Of course it is, but it still sucks to be on it.

GO OWLS!!!

2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

Tell you what…..no one can argue with the fact that we haven't come close to the expectations we all had…

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Re: ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

ESPN Bottom 10--Better win on Tuesday

Silver_Bullet32 said

Tell you what…..no one can argue with the fact that we haven't come close to the expectations we all had…

Well, obviously we haven't played well to this point, but the most anyone could have realistically expected was to be 2-2 at this point, so we are 1 game off that pace.  1-3 with three road losses to BCS teams doesn't earn you a spot in the Bottom 10 in my opinion.  This is just the case of ESPN not doing their homework.  I know this poll is meaningless, but it is a slap in the face of our program to be lumped in with FIU(no offense FIU fans…I just mean in terms of on the field success).  Hopefully the players see this and take offsense too!
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