The Fraud Five by Mike Kern – Week 9 Edition

October 29, 2023 –

Mike Kern’s last Fraud Five for October

Hey, time flies!

Oklahoma — Sooners, after escaping last week at end against Central Florida at home, were at Kansas, which ain’t a bad team. Jayhawks can score too. Sooners, who had so much to play for, lost 38-33 on a touchdown with 55 seconds left. It was their first loss to KU since 1997. And KU’s first win over a top 10 team since 2007. Oh well. Maybe we should have seen this one coming.

Pitt — It’s OK to lose at Notre Dame. But maybe not by 58-7. And it was 51-0 midway through the fourth quarter. Then the Panthers’ coach made a postgame comment that didn’t sit too well with some of his players. It shouldn’t happen, but it does. Piling on.

Clemson — Maybe the Tigers just aren’t that good. Still, shouldn’t be losing 24-17 at North Carolina State.

North Carolina — Speaking of which, maybe the same can be said for the Tar Heels, who lost for the second straight week. This time it was at Georgia Tech, 46-42, after they led by 10 with 11 minutes to go.

Utah — It’s OK to lose at home, for the first time in 19 games, especially to a really good Oregon team. But 35-6 does seem a little much.

Dishonorable Mentions

Army — I rarely pick on the service academies, just because, but shouldn’t be losing at home to UMess.

UCF — A week after almost winning at Oklahoma, shouldn’t be losing at home by 13 to West Virginia, which was a TD underdog.

Duke — It’s OK to lose at Louisville, which is pretty good too. But by 23-0. Maybe not.

Southern Cal’s defense — Gave up 49 in near-loss at California. Really?

Phils — Sorry, but it has to be done. It’s maybe OK to lose to the Diamondbacks. But maybe not after you take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS. And score three runs in the last two games at home, where you supposedly couldn’t lose. Kinda like last year, when they lost three straight in the World Series after going up 2-1. They scored three runs (and even got no-hit) in those losses, two of which were at home too. In case you’ve been keeping track, and I know you have, in the last 12 months Philly teams have now blown a 2-1 lead in a WS, had its soccer team lose in the title game despite holding the lead with like a minute remaining, lost a Super Bowl that it led by 10 at halftime, saw its basketball team lose a late lead with a chance to clinch in Game 6 of the second round at home before getting crushed in the second half of Game 7, and saw its baseball team once again let things slip away mostly because its hitters went poof. And I’m not even counting the Sixers loss to the Hawks in the 2021 second round that defies description, or the triple doinker in ’19 against Toronto. Enough said. Maybe it’s us. This city is 4-17 (if my math is correct) in finals since the Flyers won their second Cup in 1975. And 2-11 since Doc and Moses went fo-five-fo in ’83. And we’ve dropped something like seven straight Game 7s. That’s a lot of whatever for one town. So all that’s left to say is … Go Iggles. Please! We need a break. All the more reason why you need to savor it when something like the 2018 Supe happens. Because for whatever reasons it simply doesn’t happen often enough.