Melding of the Muck; Terps whack Boston College; Grid Iron Battle of Top 25 Teams Includes Terps

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2013 - obama and friends (this means Harry Reid) sink to new lows: Americans are coming, disgustedly, to the realization that the arrogant refusal of obama and friends to negotiate with the GOP over the current government shutdown will now almost certainly meld with the looming debt ceiling battle.  In truth, the two come from the same artificial can of worms.  The shutdown comes because the GOP, which controls only the House of Representatives - while the dems have the executive branch, the senate, and, for all their whining, the Supreme Court -  has adamantly refused to fund the obamamess bill.  And obama will not discuss anything that doesn't include full immediate implementation of legislation that even the Teamsters have turned against.  So far, obama, acting on his own - which he does not have the authority to do, but when nobody acts to stop him, what difference does it make? - has delayed two huge parts of the legislation until after the mid-term elections.  But he doesn't want to delay the part that requires registration by individuals because, the thinking goes, if he can coerce millions and millions to register, it will be too late to stop implementation no matter who is running the show.  He might be right and maybe this is why people like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is not even hinting he might compromise his demand that obamamess be at least delayed.  John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, who has been accused by more than one conservative of not having the will or nerve to go toe to toe with obama, suddenly sounds, both in word and tone, like a young boxer looking for a fight.  Late last week after some unnamed obama functionary was quoted in the MSM saying the dems didn't want the shutdown to end because "we're winning," Boehner took to the microphone to say, angrily, that "this isn't some damn game."  If you want to illustrate or comprehend the core of the obama situation, just think of it like this: obama has a choice between doing the right thing (getting rid of obamamess) and doing something to enhance (in his mind) his 'legacy'.  Is there any doubt what wins out in his world?  Terps top Boston College, 2-1, remain tied for ACC lead:  With the showdown with No. 2 Notre Dame only days away, No. 8 Maryland took down Boston College Friday night, and that, combined with No. 20 Wake Forest's 3-0 home win over Virginia Tech, keeps the two teams tied for the lead in the ACC as the season marches past the half-way point.  Freshman Michael Sauers scored his first career goal and the Terps added an own-goal against the Eagles (4-3-2, 2-2-1).  While the Terps invade South Bend on Tuesday, Wake Forest plays an ACC match at North Carolina State.  In other ACC games Friday, Duke played North Carolina to a scoreless tie in Chapel Hill as the Tar Heels, who slipped from the top of the National Rankings this week, fell to 0-0-5 in conference play and 3-0-5 overall.  The Tar Heels are now ranked No. 12 by the NSCAA.  Maryland and Wake Forest each have 13 points in the ACC standings, good for a first place tie.  Notre Dame is in third place with 11 points.  The Fighting Irish are 3-0-2 in their first year in the conference and 6-0-3 overall.  The Irish got an overtime goal from Harrison Shipp, his second of the game, to defeat No. 13 Clemson, 2-1 on Saturday in South Carolina.  The Tigers had tied the game with two minutes left in regulation. Clemson is tied with Boston College and improving Virginia for fourth place, each with 7 points.  Clemson is 2-2-1 in the ACC and 7-2-1 overall, while the Eagles are 2-2-1 in the conference and 4-3-2 overall.  The Cavaliers, meanwhile, routed Pitt, 5-0, to move ahead of in-state rival Virginia Tech and into the tie with the Tigers and Eagles.  Virginia is now 2-2-1 overall and 6-3-1 overall.  Virginia Tech (3-3-3 overall, 1-1-3 in the conference) and Syracuse (8-3-0, 2-3-0) are tied for seventh place with 6 points.  North Carolina is alone in eighth place with five points.  North Carolina State is in ninth place with four points.  The Wolfpack is 1-3-1 in the conference and 4-3-2 overall.  Duke is in tenth place with 2 points.  The Blue Devils are 0-3-2 in the ACC and 4-4-3 overall.  And in last place is Pitt, which was looking for a breakthrough week with games at home against Xavier and on the road at Virginia.  Instead, the Panthers, 0-5-0 in the ACC and 0-6-2 overall, suffered an agonizing setback to the Musketeers on Tuesday and the blowout loss to Virginia on Friday.  Besides Wake Forest at North Carolina State  and Maryland at Notre Dame, the ACC has other matches on Tuesday, including Clemson at North Carolina, Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh and Syracuse at Boston College.  Terps get their comeuppance:  It's true that one of the season's dirtiest plays took Maryland's starting quarterback out of the game late in the second quarter, and it's true that Florida State was playing in front of an enthused home crowd, but the 63-0 embarrassment that the Seminoles put on Maryland Saturday afternoon laid bare the Terps' weak early season schedule.  The Terps had broken into the Top 25 (at No. 25) after whacking usually strong West Virginia, 37-0, two weeks ago then sitting idle while the Mountaineers rebounded last week to upset then No. 11 Oklahoma State at Stillwater.  But the bright and shiny undefeated record was little solace in Tallahassee.   The helmet to helmet hit on C. J. Brown, executed while Brown was already in a bear hug by another Seminole, forced the Maryland Quartback to leave the game and enter the locker room immediately.  He never returned.  On Sunday, Terp coach Randy Edsall revealed that he almost certainly will forward information about the hit to the ACC's coordinator of officials, Doug Rhoads.  The Seminole Player who did the deed, Jacobbi McDaniel, said after the game that he hoped Brown's injuries weren't serious.  A Sports Illustrated web site, http://college-football.si.com/2013/10/05/maryland-qb-c-j-brown-injured-against-florida-state/?shared=email&msg=fail, has a continuous circuit replay of the hit.  McDaniel certainly led with his helmet and by the reaction of Brown's head, at least part of the helmet hit something on Brown's head.  All three of Maryland's top receivers were also banged up in the game, which, not unexpectedly, resulted in Maryland's dropping out of the AP rankings.