1. Eastern Michigan’s offensive line has its “Florida moment.”

Missouri fans, if you thought C Evan Boehm’s high snaps were embarrassing last week, imagine how Eagles fans feel.

After turning the football field gray, so that televised home games (few and far between as they are) appear to be in black and white, EMU botched the season-opening run out of the tunnel by setting up a cinder block wall and handing the first three players sledgehammers. Hilarity ensued as it took several strikes before the wall eventually tumbled.

Then the Eagles lost to Florida, 65-0, and Michigan State, 73-14. And then this happened Saturday.

Trying to snap the ball, the center instead slips his hand off the laces as the football pretty much stays at his feet. He smartly picks it up off the ground, but then turns, bewildered, to look at the quarterback while a defender trucks him.

Not quite blocking his own teammate, but close enough.

2. UCLA wins by more than one score, this time on the road against a ranked opponent.

In other news, the NFL doesn’t have a monopoly on sloppy Thursday night play. (Technically the game ended at about 2 a.m. ET, so it was still Thursday on the West Coast.)

The Bruins were down 17-6, then went on a 41-3 run. Arizona State was driving at the end of the first half, down 20-17, and threw a pick six with two seconds left, turning an almost-certain tie at worst into a 10-point deficit at the break, then the Bruins scored on an 80-yard touchdown right after halftime. Game over.

https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/515357430436601856

3. More than a dozen fans got arrested at a tailgate before the Miami-Nebraska game.

In what can only be described as a mob scene, three Windstar buses emblazoned with “HereForBeer.com” arrived to claim a tailgating spot the group apparently had reserved.

But a group of (inebriated) fans basically claimed squatter’s rights and attempted to prevent the late-arriving crowd from ruining their fun.

Apparently in the presence of “a college partying video series” filming there on Saturday, as well as an estimated 3,000 people in close quarters, the buses edged into the lot before getting attacked.

From Yahoo Sports:

The crowd began throwing beer cans and bottles, many of which were full, at the buses, climbing on the buses, kicking them, denting them and ripping off the license plates. Witnesses said some in the crowd were chanting, “Flip the bus! Flip the bus!” 

A police officer got hit in the head with a full beer can and had to be taken to the hospital as “13-17 people” got arrested. Which means the following exchange happened at some point.

Reporter: “So how many fans did you take into custody?”

Officer: “Oh, about 13… or 17… how many are in a dozen again?”

Reporter: “Got it. Just what I needed to know. Thanks!”

4. Charlie Strong kicked a ninth player off the team at Texas.

Apparently Joey Crawford has inhabited Strong’s body.

The roster has gotten thinner and thinner. (Side note: it’s still humongous.) The Longhorns are taking drug testing seriously, a rarity in college football. Strong also is spending the entire year with changing the culture as his No. 1 priority as opposed to just giving it lip service.

It’s an aggressive, principled, all-in approach. But will it work? Any time you’re (Don’t Mess With?) Texas and you lose by 34 points to Mormon flagship BYU, a percentage of the fan base is going to be annoyed, no matter what you do. But with sleaze-balls like Bobby Petrino running around, it sure is refreshing.

5. Speaking of Texas, QB Tyrone Swoopes expects the Longhorns to make the College Football Playoff … this year?

Most everyone at Texas wishes David Ash, who announced the end of his football career due to concussion issues, still was under center.

Unprompted, his replacement Swoopes told reporters he expects the team to make the College Football Playoff — this season. Forget the fact that Texas (1-2) isn’t in the Top 25 and already has lost two non-conference games. It would take something close to a miracle for Texas to avoid a 2-4 start with Baylor and Oklahoma coming soon.

It’s hard to fault a young kid for taking pride in his team, but as the starting quarterback at a program as big as Texas, he has to know better.

6. Sports Illustrated has been running some interesting coaching profiles lately, including this one on Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury.

The Red Raiders head man is trying to avoid a “laid-back pretty boy” label, the same label he seemed to wear with pride when the team started so well last season. But there’s plenty of internal strife now after a 2-2 start, including a bad loss to Arkansas and the sudden firing of the team’s defensive coordinator for non-football reasons.

7. A Cincinnati running back died in a motorcycle accident.

Two teammates were injured. That’s rough stuff for a group of players preparing to face in-state kingpin Ohio State.