Lambert Meadowlands Trophy, Week 10: Boston College Pads Lead With 33-31 Win Over Virginia Tech

Keeping track of how the 10 programs vying for this year's Lambert-Meadowlands trophy fared last week, and a look ahead to next weekend's action.

Standings

Week 10 Results

Boston College 33, Virginia Tech 31
Wisconsin 37, Rutgers 0
Maryland 20, Penn State 19
Temple 20, East Carolina 10
Duke 51, Pittsburgh 48 (2OT)
N.C. State 24, Syracuse 17
Air Force 23, Army 6
UConn 37, Central Florida 29

Lambert Meadowlands Trophy-eligible teams went 3-5 in week 10, with BC, Temple and UConn (?!) picking up victories. Let's start in Philadelphia, where the former Fightin' Addazios notched a 20-10 upset victory over #23 East Carolina. The Owls defense forced five fumbles in the program's fifth ever victory over an AP top 25 program and first since 1998.

Temple wins despite getting out-gained 428 to 135 (!), the largest margin by a losing team in the FBS since 2009...and the 2nd largest over the last 10 seasons. With the victory, the Owls jump into second in the Lambert Meadowlands trophy table, a half-game behind BC (and even in the loss column).

UConn picked as good a time as any to notch its first conference win of the season, defeating UCF 37-29. The Huskies defense picked off UCF QB Justin Holman four times as UConn snaps UCF's 11-game American Athletic Conference winning streak. Of course, it wouldn't be the old Big East Conference without a five-way tie for first place with four more games to go.

And now, the bad...

Rutgers was blanked by Wisconsin, 37-0, on the Scarlet Knights Homecoming Weekend. It, well, yeah...it wasn't pretty.

The Scarlet Knights' homecoming woes continued as they were shutout at The Birthplace, 37-0 to the Wisconsin Badgers. It was one of the ugliest games in recent memory for Rutgers, as the Knights' managed only 139 total yards of total offense. Gary Nova and Chris Laviano combined for 7-27 passing for 63 yards and one interception (Nova). The running game found no holes as the trio of Robert Martin, Justin Goodwin, and Desmon Peoples totaled a measly 76 yards on the ground.

Rutgers has the week off before finishing the season against Indiana at home, followed by road games at Michigan State and Maryland. If the Scarlet Knights hope to go bowling this season, they'd be well served taking care of business at home against Indiana in two weeks.

Penn State falls to 35-2-1 all-time vs. Maryland, as the Terps eked out a 20-19 victory over the Nittany Lions. The Penn State offense squandered an otherwise dominant performance from the Lions defense in the loss.

So, another game, another dominating performance by a Penn State defense that held Maryland to just 192 yards, and a PSU offense that can't get out of it's own way. The running game managed a measly 66 yards on 30 carries on designed runs. Hackenberg alternated between running for his life, and not finding open receivers, and occasionally, yelling at any teammate or coach that would listen. Frustration has clearly set in among the sophomore captain, and with just 4 games remaining, and no more off weeks, time is running out to find 2 more wins, and send a deserving senior class out with a bowl game.

At least Maryland displayed good sportsmanship in the winning effort, oh--

Pittsburgh squandered an opportunity to jump back into the ACC Coastal Division race, falling to Duke 51-48 in double overtime. Panthers kicker Chris Blewitt, well...blew it, shanking a potential game-winning 26-yard field goal in regulation. The boys over at Cardiac Hill are all but writing off the rest of the season.

The season is effectively over here if you were hoping for a Division title. Pitt would need so much help to still win the Coastal that it's not even worth discussing. A bowl game is still in reach, but a 6-6 season (or even to a degree, a 7-5) season with this schedule not only shows no progress, but arguably some regression in the program. Paul Chryst will still get 2015 to turn things around, in my opinion, but if he's unable to take some real steps forward at the end of that season, the calls for his head are only going to get louder.

Up at the Carrier Dome, N.C. State snapped a 12-game conference losing streak, defeating Syracuse 24-17. The Wolfpack's Pharoah McKever returned an interception 82 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. The Orange defense played well, but the Syracuse offense let another winnable game slip away.

So yeah, you have every right to be frustrated with this loss. You have every right to be disappointed, disheartened and depressed. This was a VERY winnable game that was ultimately given away because of a lack of execution. Which should sound familiar to those who have witnessed Syracuse's five previous losses in this full season of woulda-shoulda-coulda football.

From here, you know the drill: win three and we're in the postseason. Lose any of those games against Duke, Pittsburgh or Boston College, however, and we're home for December. Given the hopes associated with this season when we started, it would be an absolutely brutal finish. But here we are, 3-6, with backs to the wall. There will be time to digest this one, but for now, I wouldn't blame you for walking away for a day or two. This Syracuse team has the ability to thrill, but in 2014, it's decided to be a health hazard instead. Go enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks. Little to see here...

Finally, Army's nightmare season got even worse when the Black Knights got pummeled by Air Force, 23-6. The Falcons take home the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for a record 19th time with the victory. Army is now just 2-6 on the year.

Week 11 Schedule

Louisville at Boston College
Memphis at Temple
Penn State at Indiana
Buffalo at Ohio
Duke at Syracuse
Connecticut at Army (Yankee Stadium)

Only seven teams in action this weekend, with one intra-Lambert Meadowlands Trophy game in the Bronx between UConn and Army. Both BC and Syracuse host ACC conference opponents at home this week, while Temple hosts Memphis in an American Athletic Conference game. Penn State and Buffalo are both on the road this week at Indiana and Ohio, respectively.

With only three regular season games remaining, Boston College (6-3) basically controls its own destiny the rest of the way when it comes to bringing home the program's sixth Lambert Meadowlands Trophy and first since 2004.