Lots of teams lose by 28 points to Duke…basketball teams.

However, what happened in Durham on Saturday afternoon was a good thing. Sure, it’s a complete embarrassment, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s what needed to happen.

Mediocre programs don’t fire coaches for losing four, five, or even seven games in a year. They chalk the season up to re-building, extend the coach’s contract another year or two, raise ticket prices, and repeat the process twelve months later. Don’t think that gets frustrating after a while? Talk to a Clemson fan.

Lose ten or eleven games, though, and even mediocre programs have to consider making a change. That said I have no interest in watching my team dig the Grohs’ graves, so I played golf on Saturday. Drinking Bud-fats and torching the back nine at Richmond Country Club was way better than watching the Hoos lose their third game by at least four touchdowns.

As for real college football, it was a heck of a Saturday. The only ACC representatives in the Top 25 both tanked, but the Heels, Hokies, and Twerps all exited the weekend with solid road wins. Meanwhile, the vaunted SEC East is now led by Vanderbilt, the Big 12 has five undefeated teams and six in the Top 25, Penn St. controls the Big 10, and Alabama is really, really good. (picks: 12-9 overall, 6-2 in the ACC)

The lights were off at the Bald home most of the day Sunday. Tylenol and Gatorade was the meal of choice, and naps on the couch during the Packers/Bucs were frequent. Needless to say, the wedding was a lot of fun. A special thank you to the parents of the bride and groom as well as the Groome Transportation bus driver we talked into making a detour to City Limit.

But from the dim surroundings of my living room dawned a feeling I have not experienced for one of my teams maybe ever…confidence. I have often wondered what it would be like to have complete confidence in a team and a coaching staff, and having now experienced it for the first time, the only way I can describe it is as the exact opposite feeling I get while watching an Al & Mike Groh UVA team.

Having received a text message reading “what planet am I on?” and a phone call from a self-described “giddy” friend, many Skins fans seem to share my new found confidence. And why shouldn’t they? Jason Campbell is settling into Jim Zorn’s offense more each week. He is getting off his first reads quicker and taking the short throws when nothing else is available. Santana Moss and Clinton Portis both have over 400 total yards in four games. The Skins lead the league in turnover margin, and the D is in the top 15.

After a disastrous end to the pre-season and equally miserable start to the regular season, dreams of a 3-2 record after five games that include all three of the divisional road games seemed like a stretch. This seemed like even less of a possibility as the rest of the NFC East rose to the top of “expert” power rankings everywhere, but suddenly, things have played out a bit differently than most anticipated.

Heading into the last road game in the division this season, the Skins are 3-1 with home games against the pathetic Rams and Browns (combined 1-7) and a road game at the Lions (0-3) the three weeks following the trip to Philly. The worst-case scenario is now a 5-3 mid-season mark with a real possibility of being 7-1.

The potential dichotomy of a 1-7 Cavs team and a 7-1 Skins team at the end of October was unimaginable just a month ago. But if it is to happen, you will not find a happier person than this guy.