On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took one giant leap for mankind and became the first man to step foot on the moon, and in doing so, he personified the will of the human spirit, offering proof that, indeed, anything is possible.

For the next 53 years, nothing much happened. The Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall and the Big East all collapsed, but hope was often in short supply. There was much suffering.

Then, in 2022, a hero emerged. His name was Jim Mora Jr. Like all mythical figures, he had endured the hero's journey -- the slings and arrows and three years with the Atlanta Falcons. But like a phoenix from the ashes, he emerged on a field in New England and offered the world hope.

On Saturday, we saw the fruits of his labor. UConn beat Liberty 36-33. It was the Huskies' sixth win of the season, making America's worst college football team bowl eligible.

Today, the flags at Bottom 10 headquarters fly at half-staff. Pour one out for U-Can't.

It would be nearly impossible to truly express the futility of the UConn Huskies. After earning the distinction of the worst team to ever play in a BCS bowl game at the end of an 8-5 season in 2010, misery ensued.

There was the Bob Diaco era, which has been edited out of all Connecticut public high school textbooks due to graphic content.

There was Randy Edsall Part II, which was only slightly worse than "Weekend at Bernie's Part II." And by mentioning Randy Edsall in a college football story, UConn now owes him a check for $4.85. That was one heck of a contract.

There was the time UConn tried to make a rivalry trophy happen with UCF, but the Knights just left it to rust in Scott Frost's shed. There was the 2020 season that the school just scrapped altogether. There was the decision to leave the American Athletic Conference because the administration wanted to focus on more important things than football -- like basketball and its stamp collection.

From 2016 through 2021, UConn went 10-50, and half of those wins came against FCS competition.

But on Saturday, Mora exorcised those demons in perfect UConn style. The Huskies weren't actually good. Liberty outgained UConn by 156 yards and had nearly twice as many first downs. The Huskies threw for just 110 yards in the game, but Zion Turner's 30-yard pass to Kevens Clercius for a touchdown with 5:43 left to play gave the Huskies a lead, and the defense made two huge fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

And now UConn is going bowling.

It is, perhaps, fitting that UConn's redemption arc reached its climax on the same day Vanderbilt toppled Kentucky for its first SEC win since 2019 -- and first road SEC win since October 2018. The Commodores ran for 264 yards -- the most in an SEC road game, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, since at least 2004 -- and held Will Levis to just 109 yards passing.

All of this comes in the same season in which Kansas rewrote its own miserable narrative, and Syracuse, Duke and Illinois all secured bowl bids, too. The 2022 season has been the most inspiring installment of "Revenge of the Nerds" since "Revenge of the Nerds III" and, depending on the bowl destination for UConn, could certainly be a fitting re-creation of "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise."

So, congratulations, UConn. America has stopped laughing and started cheering. It's been a long ride, but now you can cancel your plans to spend December hanging out in the parking lot of the Mohegan Sun and telling strangers that you know Geno Auriemma, and pack your bags for a bowl game.

Now, go make some crank calls to people at UMass. You've earned it.

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Under-the-radar play of the week

Notre Dame's Braden Lenzy made what might well be the catch of the year in the Irish's 35-32 win over Navy on Saturday, using the defender's back to haul in a 38-yard touchdown.

So few touchdown catches involve hugging the defender, but we applaud Lenzy's willingness to show love to the armed forces.

There weren't many acrobatics for Notre Dame's offense in the second half of this game, however. The Irish were held without a point in the final two frames, as Navy scored the final 19 points of the game and had a chance for an onside kick in the end.

Notre Dame is among the most confounding teams in the country. Lose to Marshall, beat North Carolina. Lose to Stanford, beat Clemson. Score 35 in the first half, disappear in the second. The Irish are going to either beat USC by 30 in two weeks or get lost trying to find their luggage at LAX.

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Gophers break the curse

Minnesota thumped Northwestern 31-3 on Saturday, which might not seem like a big deal, but the Gophers' win actually ended a horrifying curse.

A quick history lesson:

Back in Week 0, Northwestern upset Nebraska. A week later, the Wildcats lost to Duke. They haven't won since.

In Week 2, it was Georgia Southern that pulled the stunner over Nebraska. And a week later, the Eagles lost to UAB.

In Week 3, Oklahoma beat Nebraska, then lost in Week 4. In Week 7, Purdue beat the Cornhuskers, then lost in Week 8. In Week 8, Illinois moved to 7-1 with a win over Nebraska. In Week 9? Down go the Illini.

In other words, the first five teams to beat Nebraska this year all lost the following week. This is actually the plot of "The Ring," but what's the point in suing Nebraska for copyright infringement? The Huskers have enough problems.

In any case, Minnesota finally broke the curse by finally experiencing true love's kiss or, perhaps, just playing a very bad Northwestern team.

Of course, since Northwestern was already part of the curse, it's also possible this isn't a curse breaker but rather some type of "Inception" situation, and Saturday's win actually creates a rip in the space-time continuum. It stands to reason that, when the universe finally collapses in upon itself, Nebraska will be at fault.

Regardless, Minnesota survives and still has a shot at the Big Ten title game. That's a far better fate than most. In all, teams that beat Nebraska are a combined 7-23 afterward.

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Rough week for the Dabo dynasty

Clemson's Dabo Swinney has spent the past decade as one of the sport's best coaches. His network of former assistants, however, hasn't exactly forged a particularly impressive résumé, and in Week 11 was essentially the Harvey Updyke of Swinney's coaching tree.

The week began with USF parting ways with Jeff Scott. Scott was just 4-26 in parts of three seasons with the Bulls, who were just 1-8 at the time of the coaching change.

Things got much worse Saturday.

At Virginia, Tony Elliott's Cavaliers have struggled through a frustrating season with three losses by three points or less, as the offense has failed to find any success under a new scheme. But Saturday's showdown with Pitt was a new low.

QB Brennan Armstrong threw two pick-sixes on his first two throws (perhaps a nice tribute to Nate Peterman for all those Pittsburgh fans), leaving UVa trailing 14-0 just 16 seconds into the game. The Panthers added ample salt to the wounds, with Israel Abanikanda rushing for 121 yards in Pitt's 37-7 win.

Meanwhile in Norman, Brent Venables' first season at Oklahoma continues to go south as West Virginia booted a walk-off 25-yard field goal for a 23-20 win. The Sooners are now 5-5 on the season and 2-5 in Big 12 play. It's the first time Oklahoma has lost five games since 2014 and the first time it's dropped five in conference play since 1998.

Somewhere, Chad Morris watched all this unfold and whimpered the saddest "Woo Pig Sooie" that's ever been wooed.

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Style-point Saturday

Week 11 set up what figured to be some easy wins for a few playoff contenders, which made the games less about who would win and more about how good the favorites would look in the process.

Tennessee 66, Missouri 24

One week after the Vols' offense was suffocated by Georgia, Hendon Hooker & Co. lit all the fireworks at once just to see what would happen vs. Missouri. Hooker finished with three TD passes, Jalin Hyatt had 146 yards receiving, and in all, the Vols racked up 724 yards of offense. And how's this for a little college football transitive property intrigue: Georgia nearly lost to Missouri. Georgia dominated Tennessee. Tennessee stuffed Missouri in a locker and stole its lunch money.

Committee reaction: "S-E-C! S-E-C!"

Ohio State 56, Indiana 14

A week after C.J. Stroud failed to throw a touchdown against Northwestern, he returned with five of them against Indiana. Marvin Harrison Jr. had seven catches for 135 yards and a TD, and both Miyan Williams and Dallan Hayden ran for more than 100 yards. Remember when Indiana was good in 2020? That was a weird year. Like how there was that two-month span when everyone pretended to like sea shanties. That's Indiana. The sea shanty of college football.

Committee reaction: "Do we really have to keep watching Ohio State play Big Ten football? Can't we just fast-forward to the Michigan game?"

LSU 13, Arkansas 10

KJ Jefferson was sidelined, and as a result, Arkansas abandoned the forward pass in favor of a strategy of just waiting to see if LSU would screw up really bad. It nearly worked, but LSU had a secret weapon in freshman linebacker Harold Perkins Jr., who finished with eight tackles (six solo), four sacks (costing Arkansas 33 yards), a PBU and two forced fumbles, including what amounted to the game-sealing takeaway in the final moments of the game.

Committee reaction: "There's always room for more SEC teams. Someone send Michigan to a farm upstate."

Michigan 34, Nebraska 3

Blake Corum remains perhaps the one non-QB with a real shot at the Heisman Trophy still, and he added to his résumé with 162 yards in the win over the Huskers on Saturday. Michigan is now 9-0 and none of its games have been particularly close, save a late comeback attempt by Maryland in Week 4. On the other hand, the Big Ten's social media posted a video this week asking each coach what he'd be doing if not coaching, and Jim Harbaugh said he'd be "a lawnsman."

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 11, 2022

What does that mean, exactly? Would he be really good at mowing lawns? Own his own landscaping company? Just sit on a plastic chair and yell at neighborhood kids to get off his lawn? We have so many follow-up questions.

Committee reaction: "How do we get that cool checkerboard design in our grass?"

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The most college football thing to happen Saturday

Most Saturdays we use this space to highlight the ridiculous in this sport. Today, we're celebrating the genuine beauty of it.

Ohio State was wrapping up a blowout win over Indiana midway through the fourth quarter on Saturday. Stroud threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to fifth-year senior Kamryn Babb. That brought Babb's college box score to this: four ACL surgeries, one touchdown.

An emotional Babb collapsed to his knees at the back of the end zone and the entire Ohio State team poured onto the field to celebrate with him.

Best thing you'll see today, we guarantee it. 😍@kamm_o x @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/ZBVq7pUNGE

— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) November 12, 2022

It's the type of moment they make movies about, and while Rudy might have been offside, this one was absolutely perfect.

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Big bets and bad beats

LSU narrowly squeaked by Arkansas on Saturday, which isn't new for the Tigers in the week after playing Alabama. LSU closed as a 3.5-point favorite, despite Arkansas missing its starting QB, and won 13-10. The Bayou Bengals are now 0-4-1 against the spread in their past five games the week after playing the Tide.

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After Saturday's outright win over Liberty, UConn is now 9-2 against the spread on the season. It's the most covers in a Huskies season since 2010, and no other team in the country has more covers this season.

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Michigan closed as a 30.5-point favorite against Nebraska, and when the Wolverines got the ball with 5:41 to play, they were winning easily, 31-3. But good teams win. Great ones cover. Michigan drove 43 yards on nine plays and drained all but 1:17 off the clock before Jake Moody booted an otherwise meaningless 43-yard field goal. Final score: Michigan 34, Nebraska 3, and a half-point cover for the Wolverines.