Winners and Losers After One Week of Madness

Winner: Florida Gulf Coast. It's not just about the school's two comfortable wins over two elite defensive teams. It's not just about being the first 15-seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen. What's truly shocking about the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles is the way they've won -- with brazen swagger, high-flying dunks, excessive sideline celebrations, and jaw-dropping alley-oops. They're like a carnival version of the 2011 VCU Rams. They're fun as heck. Best of all, Florida Gulf Coast University now owns the best winning percentage (2-0!) in NCAA tournament history, at least for a few more days. This is what March is about -- desperately rooting for a school that, just last week, no one even knew existed.

Loser: The Mountain West Conference. This was supposed to be the year that the MWC (ranked as the nation's best conference according to the RPI) finally broke out in the tournament. Instead, the league flopped big-time. New Mexico was the main culprit thanks to a mind-numbing loss to a Harvard team that had literally never won a tournament game before. Fifth-seeded UNLV, easily one of the ten most talented squads in the country, laid an egg against Cal in the first round. Boise State looked mostly helpless in a play-in game loss to La Salle. San Diego State could've reached the Sweet Sixteen on Sunday just by beating a 15-seed, but fell prey to the Florida Gulf Coast Dunk Factory. Colorado State at least won a game before being served to the Louisville Cardinals like a sacrificial lamb. It's not fair to make broad statements about an entire conference based on one year, but this has been going on for a while. In its entire history, the Mountain West is now something like 6-30 against teams from Power Six conferences in the NCAA tournament. That's ... not so good.

Winner: The Atlantic 10 Conference. Like the MWC, the Atlantic 10 got five teams into the tournament, prompting high expectations. And for the most part, the league has had an impressive showing. Saint Louis, VCU, and Butler all cruised in their opening-round games against double-digit seeds (a stark contrast to what New Mexico and UNLV did) before losing to tough opponents in the next round. Temple "upset" a more talented N.C. State team before giving Indiana a serious scare. And out of all of them, La Salle advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by winning a play-in game (against, fittingly, Boise State of the underachieving MWC) before beating Kansas State and Ole Miss. Unfortunately the conference is losing most of its best teams to realignment next year. But kudos for an excellent swan song.

Loser: Gonzaga. The Zags haven't advanced past the Sweet Sixteen since their first magical run in 1999. This was going to be the year they finally performed up to the high standard they've set for themselves. The road was wide-open thanks to the early eliminations of New Mexico, Kansas State, and Wisconsin in the West Region. But instead they couldn't advance past Wichita State in the Round of 32. And it's not like they played poorly. Here are the results of Wichita State's final handful of possessions, based on ESPN's play-by-play record, starting at about the six-minute mark in the second half when Gonzaga was up by seven:

6:05 Tekele Cotton made Three Point Jumper.

5:10 Cleanthony Early made Three Point Jumper.

4:23 Ron Baker made Three Point Jumper.

3:30 Carl Hall made Jumper.

3:10 Ron Baker made 2 Free Throws.

2:55 Ron Baker made Three Point Jumper.

1:32 Fred VanVleet made Three Point Jumper.

That comes out to 19 points on seven possessions. The Shockers turned a seven-point deficit into a five-point lead thank to some ridiculously-hot shooting (14-of-28 from long range in the whole game) by a team that doesn't even shoot three-pointers well. The Zags didn't lose this game. Wichita State grabbed it and refused to let go. Despite this disappointing finish, Gonzaga's accomplishments this year hopefully won't be forgotten.

Winner: Clutch guard play. The first week of the tournament went by without any real buzzer-beaters. There were still some big-time shots made on last-minute possessions, most notably Aaron Craft's three-pointer that rescued Ohio State against Iowa State. Honorable mentions awarded to Vander Blue's final-second go-ahead layup for Marquette against Davidson, Victor Oladipo's top-of-the-key jumper to clinch Indiana's win over Temple, Shane Larkin's three-point dagger for Miami against Illinois, and Tyrone Garland's layup against Ole Miss to improbably send La Salle to the Sweet Sixteen.

Loser: Any program with a poor tournament reputation. Once you get branded as a March underachiever, it becomes almost impossible to change that perception. Those snake-bitten schools did nothing to help themselves in 2013. Pittsburgh, for instance, still can't seem to shake its bad first-round mojo after a loss to Wichita State. Same goes for Notre Dame. Belmont always gets hyped as a sleeper Cinderella but never comes through. UNLV has lost in the Round of 64 in four consecutive years. Georgetown might be the worst culprit: after their loss to Florida Gulf Coast, the Hoyas have now lost five straight tournament games to double-digit seeds. These guys have got some work to do.

Winner: The road ahead for Florida and Ohio State. Of the top eight seeds in the Midwest and East Regions, seven survived to the Sweet Sixteen. Those two brackets are still loaded with landmines. But upsets in the West and South have given two programs an excellent chance of reaching the Final Four. One is Florida; thanks to other circumstances, the Gators can reach the Elite Eight just by beating a 14-seed, an 11-seed, and a 15-seed. That would be one of the easiest routes to a regional final ever -- assuming they get past the Florida Gulf Coast juggernaut, that is. Ohio State might be in an even better position. If the Buckeyes beat Arizona next week, their Elite Eight matchup would be against either Wichita State or La Salle. Pretty sweet deal.

Winners & Losers From Week 2

A whopping 20 teams are 1-1 through the first two weeks of the season, an NFL record. The Arizona Cardinals are of the few 2-0 teams. The New Orleans Saints are one of the few 0-2 teams. The end of the world is nigh.

WINNERS

The NFC West: Once the worst division in football, the NFC West has vastly improved and went undefeated on Sunday. The 49ers look like the best team in football after dismantling two high-powered offenses, the Packers and the Lions, in two weeks. The Cardinals are also 2-0 (and 9-2 in their last 11 games dating back to 2011) thanks to a shocking road upset of the Patriots. The Seahawks absolutely demolished the Dallas Cowboys 27-7. And the Rams, after almost beating the Lions last week, topped RGIII's Redskins thanks to 310 yards and 3 touchdowns from Sam Bradford.

Rookie Quarterbacks: Robert Griffin III was the only rookie QB to impress last week. He was good again on Sunday, but he had company. Andrew Luck threw two touchdowns and won his first NFL game in the final minute against the Vikings. Ryan Tannehill beat the Raiders (thanks to a ton of help from Mr. Reggie Bush). Russell Wilson was good enough to move the ball for the Seahawks and upset the Cowboys. And after looking disastrous last week, Brandon Weeden tore apart the Bengals secondary (322 yards, 2 touchdowns) in a closer-than-expected loss.

C.J. Spiller: When the season began, he wasn't the starting running back on his own team. Through two games, after Fred Jackson went down with an injury, C.J. Spiller has been the best offensive player in football. He's totaled 29 rushes for 292 yards so far--yeah, that's 10 yards per carry--and scored three touchdowns. He has instantly established himself as a prototypical, elite running back.

Eli Manning: More than any other quarterback in Week 2, Manning willed his team to victory. He overcame three first-half interceptions and a 27-13 deficit to throw for 510 yards and storm back for the 41-34 victory. It helps that he's got three premier targets to throw to: Hakeem Nicks (199 yards, TD), Victor Cruz (179 yards, TD), and mercurial tight end Martellus Bennett (72 yards, TD).

Houston Texans: Two games, two dominating performances by the Texans. Their defense only allowed 117 total yards to the Jaguars for the entire game, which is ludicrous if you think about it. And when Houston's running game can have games like this (216 yards on 48 carries, 3 TDs), they're tough to beat. A stiffer challenge awaits next week in the Denver Broncos.


LOSERS

New Orleans Saints: Two games, two miserable showings by the defense, two losses. The Saints will be playing catch-up all year. They might be the worst team in the NFC South, a stunning turnaround from last year's great season.

Baltimore Ravens: They handed the Eagles a game they should have won. The Ravens forced four turnovers and held a lead in the second half, but kept throwing the ball to no result rather than put the game in Ray Rice's hands. The "Joe Flacco is becoming elite" narrative needs to die down for a while.

The 0-2 Chiefs, Raiders, and Titans: Two other teams are also 0-2, but at least the Jaguars and Browns didn't have any expectations heading into the year. These teams did. The Chiefs look like they've already quit on their season and heads will roll soon. The Raiders just let a team quarterbacked by Ryan Tannehill score 35 points in a blowout loss. The Titans' offensive line might be the worst in football, barely keeping Chris Johnson's yards-per-carry average above one.

Jay Cutler: An unspeakably poor performance from the Bears quarterback on Thursday Night Football against the Packers. He was sacked seven times, threw four picks and only managed 126 passing yards. All the momentum from his preseason hype is gone.

Mark Sanchez: There was so much goodwill for Sanchez after he eviscerated the Bills in his first game. Now, like Cutler, Sanchez has lost all momentum. He couldn't move the Jets offense against a depleted Steelers defense, only completing 10 passes for 138 yards. Now that's the Mark Sanchez we all know and love.

Dallas Cowboys: This time week, they had beaten the defending champions are were going to the Super Bowl. A sobering road trip to Seattle has drastically readjusted expectations for the Cowboys. The tougher Seahawks bullied Dallas all game long, with Marshawn Lynch breaking tackles at will and Tony Romo struggling to move the chains. That being said, winning games in Seattle is notoriously difficult. The Cowboys get a chance to right the ship against the Buccaneers next week.

The replacement officials: It's not their fault; the NFL is to blame for letting the situation get out of hand. But regardless, everyone hates these officials. Calls were blatantly missed, clocks were mismanaged, brawls were allowed to escalate, and the pace of the Monday Night Football game was impossibly slow. It's an embarrassing situation for the league and for the sport.

Winners & Losers From Week 1

They say you shouldn't read too much into Week 1 results. I'm doing it anyway.

WINNERS

San Francisco 49ers: No team had a more impressive win than the 49ers. Not only did they win in Lambeau Field--they won handily, completely outplaying the Packers in the process. Alex Smith, armed with new receiving options, may have had his best game as an NFL quarterback and "over-the-hill" Frank Gore looked positively spry. This is a scary-good football team.

Robert Griffin III: It's just one game, but RGIII's debut went as well as anyone could have hoped for. 320 passing yards on just 19 completions to go with two touchdowns, 40 rushing yards, and no turnovers. All of this was in New Orleans, where the Saints went 9-0 last year.

Peyton Manning: Turns out his neck is screwed on straight. 19 completions in 26 attempts for 253 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He ran the hurry-up offense with his typical ruthless efficiency. He's obviously healthy. All of which makes the Broncos heavy favorites in the weak AFC West.

Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco: Both fifth-year quarterbacks have received their fair share of criticism. And both appear poised for breakout seasons. They each threw for exactly 299 yards this week without turning the ball over. Flacco burned a solid Bengals defense for two touchdowns; Ryan threw three against the Chiefs, and ran one in himself. I'm buying Ryan more than Flacco, but both were outstanding.

The Jay Cutler-to-Brandon Marshall connection: Cutler and Marshall were best buds when they played together in Denver. Reunited in Chicago, Cutler completed nine passes to his big receiver for 119 yards and a touchdown. There will be many more days like this.

New York Jets: Their first-team offense failed to score a touchdown all preseason. Then they exploded for 48 points against the Bills' supposedly-revamped defense, and Mark Sanchez was rather excellent. Not buying the offensive output, but this defense/special teams sure is elite: they returned a punt for a TD and notched three interceptions, one of which was also returned for a TD.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: In their 16-10 win over the Panthers, the Bucs showed exactly who they're going to be: a tough, grind-it-out team that won't beat itself or light up the scoreboard. Their defense was abysmal last year; it held Cam Newton and company completely in check on Sunday. With a few breaks, Tampa could be a sneaky wild card contender.


LOSERS

Rookie quarterbacks not named Griffin: Andrew Luck threw for over 300 yards in his debut, but he was picked off three times. Russell Wilson threw for just 153 yards (though at least would have won the game if his receivers could catch footballs). Ryan Tannehill would have had the worst day of them all (three interceptions, no TDs, 219 yards) if it wasn't for Brandon Weeden. The Cleveland quarterback didn't score, was intercepted four times, and completed just 12 of of 35 attempts for 118 yards. Yuck.

Chris Johnson: Oh my god. 11 carries for 4 yards. What a joke. Hard to believe this guy ran for 2,000 yards three years ago.

DeAngelo Williams: His Panthers had the highest yards-per-carry average in the NFL last year. Their opponent on Sunday, the Buccaneers, allowed the highest yards-per-carry average in the NFL last year. A dream matchup. Instead, DeAngelo rushed six times for negative-1 yard. Nightmare.

New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees, who set the NFL record for completion percentage last year, connected on less than half of his passes. The defense was porous to say the least. The running game was nonexistent. They may miss Sean Payton more than we realized.

Philadelphia Eagles: Almost lost to the Browns, whose rookie quarterback had a 5.1 QB-rating and whose rookie running back averaged 2.1 yards per carry. Four and very-nearly-five interceptions for Michael Vick. Embarrassing.

Buffalo Bills: After spending all that money on upgrading on defense, giving up a huge point total to Mark Sanchez's Jets was....less than ideal. The high-profile defensive line was silent, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three picks, and they lost running back Fred Jackson for a month.

Detroit Lions: I know they love coming from behind to win games. But they shouldn't need a last-second touchdown to beat the lowly Rams at home.