Bottom 10? 10 males on the field? Notre Dame a

• Ryan McGee, ESPN Elder WriterSep 27, 2023, 09:30 AM ET Close Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com 2-time Sports Emmy winner
• 2010, 2014 NMPA Writer of the Year

Inspiring idea of the week:

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I backed up her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve

We went to have ourselves a drink or 2
But could not find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the alcohol store
And we consumed it in her cars and truck

We consumed a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
We attempted to reach beyond the vacuum
But neither one knew how

— “Same Old Lang Syne,” Dan Fogelberg

Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, situated behind the fire pit where Ryan Day holds his weekly ceremonial burnings of Lou Holtz-autographed merch he discovered on eBay, there are few experiences we enjoy more than those moments when we suddenly run into something or someone that advises us of days gone by.Like when that smell rolls up the stairs on Thanksgiving early morning from your grandmother’s kitchen area and immediately takes you back to your childhood. Or when all of a sudden seeing an old friend at the airport takes you back to high school. Or when your ex-girlfriend from college slides into your DMs at 3 a.m. to inform you that she must have wed you instead of that chiropractor she fulfilled at the Kappa Alpha mixer and dumped you for.Or, like me on Tuesday morning, looking at a huge statue of Ralphie the Buffalo and stepping through the gates of Colorado’s Folsom Field, the current cultural center of college football, exactly one year after I had actually ranked the Buffs No. 1 in the Bottom 10, a champion the Buffs would clinch by season’s end.Shoutout to a year ago when I had this team as the runaway No. 1

group in the #Bottom 10. Now it’s the psychological center of college football. Life comes at you quickly. Like a 2000-pound buffalo at 25 miles per hour quick. #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/Q8Oe6V04WI!.?.!— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) September 26, 2023 My long meditative moment staring into the bronze eyeballs of that constantly running beast was cathartic. It was recovery. It was confident. Evidence that no matter how bad life might feel, there is always a way out. It felt classic. And after that it was over. A truck horn blasted. “Get out of the way, you idiot! We got ta prepare yourself for the USC game!”With apologies to Darien Hagan, Coach Prime, Fred Folsom and Steve Harvey, here’s the Post-Week 4 Bottom 10. 1. No-vada (0-4) The Wolf Load almost distressed the Artist Formerly

Known as the Kansas Nayhawks two weeks earlier. Then they must have beaten the Texas State Armadillos this previous weekend, leading 17-0 at the half prior to giving up 35 unanswered points and losing 35-24. Now they travel to No. 25 Fresno State, which colleague Kyle Bonagura just recently forecasted to play Alabama in the Peach Bowl. I recommend that if just for the living legends pregame handshake-turned-impromptu arm wrestling match between previous Bulldogs and Tide head coaches Pat Hill and Gene Stallings.

2. Buffalo Bulls Not Costs (0-4)

Our investigative news group here at Bottom 10 JortsCenter has actually discovered that the Buffalo Bulls Not Expenses are attempting to utilize the confusion about their name to sneakily set up a game versus the Denver Broncos, since undoubtedly anybody can score against those guys.

3. U-Can’t (0-4 )The Fightin’Moras do not want much mora this season after capturing unexpectedly amazing Duke one week ahead of the Blue Devils hosting “College GameDay” and getting thumped in the Man Wouldn’t This Be A Mora Awesome Game If It Was Hoops Classic.

4. Sam Houston State We Have Problem (0-3)Sam Houston, former guv and president– yes, president– of Texas was so precious (at least for a while) that the businessmen who founded a city with big cash-in hopes in 1837 called it Houston, and in 1927 a college was opened in the city and named the University of Houston. Years earlier, in 1879, a college was founded in Huntsville, Texas, and was called Sam Houston State. So when Sam Houston State met the University of Houston on Saturday, it seems like the loser (Sam Houston State by a 38-7 rating) should have needed to lose its name for a year. Nor needs to it be permitted to listen to Whitney Houston, fish with Jimmy Houston or talk football with Houston Nutt.

5. Notre Dame Fightin’

Abacuses( 4-1 )Editor’s Picks 2 Related OK, three points to make here. One, there is no reason for having 10 guys on the field in the most pressure-packed defensive stand of the season, especially after that very same mistake had currently been made in a much lesser game earlier in the month. 2, recently I blogged about the history of huge games in which Notre Dame wore green jerseys and lots of Irish fans sent wicked curses my way for glossing over what they think is a green-shirt curse … and now I sort of believe them. And 3 … wait … sorry, we don’t have 3 points. We mistakenly miscounted and came up one brief. Get it? Too soon?

6. UMess(1-4)UMess rallied from 14 points down to Whew Mexico to force overtime through a last-minute 65-yard touchdown pass … however lost in soul-crushing fashion for the second successive weekend. So, to evaluate, Messachusetts beat Whew Mexico State in Week 1, however Whew Mexico State beat Whew Mexico in the Fight of I-25, but Whew Mexico beat UMess the week after that. This resembles “Creation” but just Leo DiCaprio was covered in desert dust and Sam Adams. Now the Minutemen host Arkansaw State, which was going to be the Pillow Battle of the Year of the Century: Episode III, but …

7. Southern Missed(1-3)Just two weeks ago, the Fightin’ Butches of Arkansaw State were at the top/bottom of these rankings and looked like a lock to be in this pie battle all season. However a brand-new opposition is increasing from the Sun Belt after giving up only the Red Wolves’ 5th conference win in three-plus seasons. Possibly alum Brett Favre can discover some cash from the charity container at a local gas station and buy the team something to make them feel better.

8. UTEPid (1-3)The Minors lost by 17 in the house to UNLV. Despite mustering 28 points, they still rank 121st in scoring offense, along with 113th in penalty yards (they drew 8 flags for 74 yards) and 113th in turnover margin (they lost three fumbles). Is that bad? That feels bad.

9. The MCU(1-3) The #MACtion Cinematic Universe continues to make like a forgotten bag of Skittles under your kid’s car seat in the summer, all melted together and difficult to separate. A sticky six of the league’s dozen groups now stand at 1-3. The good news? Conference play has begun, so a few of this is going to arrange itself out. The problem? No matter what happens, we’ll still need to determine a way to get this stain out of the fabric on the back seat.

10. The State of Virginia(0-4/1 -3)

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s Commonwealth. But there’s likewise a typical wealth of discomfort to go around Marty Smith’s homeland, where UVA nabbed defeat from the jaws of triumph versus NC State through a series of late-game charges and Virginia Tech has dropped 3 straight to Pur-don’t, In-a-Rut-gers and We Are Marshall. We’re all still waiting on the Sandman to go into, but he appears to be taking a nap under an oak tree at Monticello.Waiting List: Pretty

much all of the American Athletic Conference of America except for Memphis and Tulane, Muddled Tennessee, Pur-don’t, EC-Yew, Charlotte 1-and-3ers, Bailer, FA(not I)U, Rod Tidwell’s alma mater, Stanfird, Whew Mexico, Denver Broncos.